In Honor of Rock Iowa’s March “Midwestern Sound” Ottumwa feature,  5-1-5 is going 6-4-1  \\\  6 questions + 4  facts about 1 person you should know.

Andy Ruble  |  Editor, Ottumwa Scene | www.myspace.com/theottumwascene

6 Facts:

1. Where you can usually find me: Downtown on Main Street in Ottumwa-the heart and sole of our musical, creative, independent business, and everything else scene in my opinion.
2. In high school my nickname was:   Barney -  Andy Ruble (pronounced Roobul), was a pretty easy target for “Andy Rubble”.
3. Most people don’t know that I actually: Enjoy watching Pro Wrestling  and am a small encyclopedia on the subject when it comes to pro wrestling moves.
4. My childhood hero/idol was:   I’d have to say my Grandfather. He was a minister his whole adult life. He fought in World War 2, raised my mom and four other children living in a three room house in Eldon Iowa and was the kind of man that I can only hope to be some day.
5. My dream job is: Any kind of print journalism would be my dream job even though there are much higher paying and prestigious jobs I could chose from I’m sure. . .
6. I’m REALLY good at: Being happy? I can be content in some pretty crappy circumstances which I hope is an admirable quality.

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Andy Ruble is just one of the many reasons we think that Ottumwa is awesome.  Born and raised in the south-eastern Iowa City,  Andy positively bubbles with enthusiasm over his hometown, “Trust me, I’ve been around and seen other places, I’m not just saying that. I was born here. I’m not sure if I plan on dying here, but I try not to think about my own mortality that often.”

Andy’s enthusiasm for O-town (can we call it that?)  is mostly what led him to start writing Ottumwa Scene, the local ..  He wanted to dispel the myths that haunt most iowa cities: “We had all heard growing up that there was nothing to do here and that this place was boring.  .  . Ottumwa has had some really great bands come and go and still has a lot of great musicians and artistic people living here. We also have a lot of independent businesses  here and that was the logical next step to write about after the music scene.”

Since it’s inception in 2007, Ottumwa Scenehas has  produced one printed issue and is now an online zine exclusively on their Myspace managed by Andy and 10 other staff members.   OS has run into it’s fair share of set backs.  First, producing a print version in August 2007 was “was a lot more exhaustive than any of us had anticipated.”  Andy and his staff all work full-time jobs, and even running an online zine gets to be time consuming.

Andy Ruble, left, with his band “Pants Are Overrated.”

In the near future, Andy would like to get a website built for the Ottumwa scene and contune to expand his knowledge of mass media.  He says he plans on continuing to write OS ” until it stops being fun, I eventually move away, or enough people tell me to shut up!”  In fact, writing about music seems to be the perfect combination of Andy’s passions.  His “free time”is spend writing songs, siging, and playing guitar with his band “Pants are Overrated.”  Yes, you heard right.

”With my band I put my money where my mouth is and I perform without any pants on! I wear boxer shorts of course. Usually bulky ones so as not to offend too much! We once had a show where people got a dollar off at the door if they took their pants off for our performance and we seriously played in front of about 20 guys in their underwear. It was a frightening and amazing experience that I’ll personally never forget.”

See? We told you Ottumwa is awesome.

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4 Questions:

1. What is one person in Iowa everyone should know and why? The Reverend Cooper in Iowa City. He’s the owner of Nemesis Tattoo studio. He performs marriage ceremonies for cartons of ciggarettes! In my book, that’s awesome!
2. What the next show or event you’re most excited about? My friends at Flipside are in the process of planning the “Flipside arts and music festival” this summer here in Ottumwa (www.myspace.com/flipsidestore). It will be an all day FREE event open to the public. As I’m writing this they are currently taking applications from bands that want to perform. They are hoping to have an ambitious 15 bands/artists perform as well as showcasing local artists! It should be a lot of fun!
3. If you were Iowa/Ottumwa’s superhero, what would your name and powers be? I’d be Brainy-guy-that-you’d-want-to-have-over-to-help-you-do-your-homework-but-not-date-because-”I-only-think-of-you-as-a-friend” Man! I’d be able to control that other %95 percent of my brain that you always hear about us not using to do all kinds of crazy stuff! Would I use my powers for good or evil? That’s the real question…
4. If money were no issue,  what would you spend the rest of your life doing? Playing music for people, writing for people, something involving jet packs, helping people, and hopefully there’d be girls there. Lots of girls.

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