This is the 50th anniversary of the RAGBRAI, the yearly summer bike ride from the Missouri to the Mississippi. I remember the first one happened when I was in high school. Between being a fan of Donald Kaul and John Karras’ writing in the Des Moines Register and hanging out at the local hippie bike shop, RAGBRAI seemed revolutionary at the time. Bicycle touring events were rare, and unheard of in the Midwest. It was a crazy idea that became sane because people showed up. Kaul and Karras built it, and they came.
Fifty years of an event like this is worth celebrating, but Kaul and Karras are gone, and RAGBRAI has lost some of its edge. RAGBRAI’s staff resignations in 2019 and the Des Moines Register’s awkward reaction to it tarnished its reputation.
The ride has steered clear of controversy since then, so maybe it’s time to stir up another, this time about the RAGBRAI concert series. The headliners for 2023 are the Spin Doctors, the Spazmatics, the Pork Tornadoes, Hairball, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foghat and Bush. There are two flavors of bands: aging rockers limping along on the oldies circuit, and novelty tribute bands. It’s a bunch of white men. Unless I’m missing something, there are no minorities represented in the line-up. The Spin Doctors had a Black founding member — the highly regarded bassist Mark White — but he no longer performs with them.
The headliners represent a spectrum from FM radio rock of the last century to … FM radio rock of the last century. It’s like a flashback to KFMH from the 1980s. Nothing wrong with that, per se — I loved KFMH back then — but it’s largely absent of women, minorities and queer people. Whoever put together the RAGBRAI Concert Series seems like they did their work in a cocoon of middle-aged male whiteness.
I’m not accusing the RAGBRAI staff of racism or sexism. Hanlon’s Razor is the snarky maxim that states “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” RAGBRAI’s choices are safe but stupid. It may be that they punted on this and were sold the lineup by a booking agency used to supplying talent to Midwestern county fairs.
As Matthew says in the Bible, “ye shall know them by their fruits.” The lineup reflects a complete disregard for Iowa’s — and RAGBRAI’s — diversity. Ironically, a more diverse lineup would be more attractive to all Iowans. Why no hip hop? Why no women rockers? Why no bands on their way up instead of classic rock bands, some of them touring with only one or two original members?
Diverse lineups attract diverse audiences. Iowa’s population is 90 percent white, but it is also 10 percent non-white and at least half women; local demographics aside, RAGBRAI attracts riders from all over the world. They could have booked lesser-known but well-respected artists, and used RAGBRAI’s reputation to draw an audience unfamiliar with them.
Maybe it’s time for the Register and its far-off Gannett bosses to reflect on what RAGBRAI really means to Iowa over the last half-century. Donald Kaul and John Karras started the ride because they were bicycling buddies, and it was a stunt that appealed to them, fodder for their popular columns in the Register. The Register indulged them. No one thought it would become a tradition.
RAGBRAI started out as a reflection of the founder’s attitude as evidenced by their newspaper columns. They were irreverent, progressive voices, gently scolding a state still struggling to leave the 1950s and join the wider world. They loved small-town Iowa, but were impatient with the stodginess of that culture. They wanted to shake things up.
Now RAGBRAI is a Tradition, with the dreaded capital T. RAGBRAI reflects the personality of the current Des Moines Register, a shadow of the journalistic institution it was before it was bought by Gannett. It is corporate and risk-averse. Maybe they think a RAGBRAI concert series catering to the tastes of white, middle-aged men represents the safe choice.
It may be safe, but to my mind, it’s mostly cowardly. Iowa is always changing, and one of those changes is increased diversity. If RAGBRAI isn’t willing to reflect that diversity — all the people willing to sweat and gasp their way across the state — what is it for?
This article was originally published in Little Village’s July 2023 issue.