Apparently yesterday morning, an errant driver ran into the traffic signal box at the tri-way corner of Orange, Front, and Main Streets in downtown Missoula. Thing is, this wasn’t just any ol’ signal box; it was one of several included in last year’s first round of the Public Art Committee’s traffic signal box [...]
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It’s a harmonic convergence of interstellar and astrological proportions; and it’s happening right here in Missoula.
That theme is spelled out forthrightly in the first act, during the spoken introduction to the song, “My Conviction.”
This Friday night comes another musical, “The Rocky Horror Show,” produced by Montana Actors’ Theatre at the Wilma Theatre. For those who’ve somehow missed the point, “Rocky Horror” is a rock ‘n’ roll musical from 1973 that challenged many of the culturally established notions of conformity in that era. [Read More...] Advertisement I’d heard over the weekend about a schedule screw-up that forced the cancellation of “The Doppelganger,” an original “noir radio play” by Missoula writer Kaet Morris that was scheduled to take place at the Top Hat on Saturday as part of the local celebration of “The Big Read.” Today, I received a copy of an apology sent to the Missoulian by the Top Hat management; I share it here. [Read More...] Celebrity yodeler. Two words you probably never imagined hearing together, in this lifetime anyway.
Wylie Gustafson was a child of the rock ‘n’ roll generation; and for awhile, he chased the rock-star dream. But after rediscovering “the power of the yodel” during a performance in Los Angeles, Gustafson began to craft a new trajectory as a modern yodeler. [Read More...] Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Leonard Bernstein, the composer and conductor who almost single-handedly managed to keep classical music relevant and vital to the general public during the early years of the rock-n-roll age. Though his influence in that regard arguably died somewhat earlier than he did, I look back on his death as a significant blow to the fortunes of classical music in general, which had long suffered a disconnect from everyday people in America, for reasons I won’t get into here. Others have addressed his influence eloquently; and on today’s anniversary, other authoritative voices have added thoughtful tributes, including Bernstein’s own son. In that context, I figure I should stick to my personal experience with Bernstein. [Read More...] This Saturday and Sunday, the Missoula Art Museum will present a pair of advance screenings of “Anything is Possible,” a film about the South African artist William Kentridge. If you’ve never heard of him, Kentridge is a multimedia artist best known for his playful yet hauntingly beautiful animated films. Thus this film is likely to be a perfect idiom to explore his work.
Here’s a trailer for the film, and a press release about this weekend’s screenings. [Read More...]
For the past week, my head has been spinning at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. After spending the past two decades carefully curating a CD collection that includes around 300 classical titles, I’ve suddenly found myself awash in LPs – more than 500 of them, all classical, many older than I am. My music world has been turned upside down. It all started when I received a call from local documentary filmmaker and avid record collector Doug Hawes-Davis. Actually, for Doug, the story started several months ago, when he received a phone call from an elderly man in Helena who had seen Doug’s “wanted” ad for used records on Craigslist. The caller figured Doug might want to come see his collection, which he had decided to sell. “How many records do you have, exactly?” Doug asked. “Oh,” the caller said, pausing for effect, “about 35,000.” Doug had no way to deal with that many records; but together with fellow record collector Mike Steinberg, he rented a moving truck, drove to Helena, and brought home about 10,000 of the records, which the man had collected, carefully catalogued, and graded for quality since the late 80s. Since then, Doug and Mike have slowly dispensed of many of the records they bought. Among those that remained was a sizeable collection of classical music. Doug’s not a classical music listener, but he knew I was. Hence his call to me. [Read More...] When it comes to locally produced hip-hop shows, Missoula audiences have become accustomed to something akin to rap karaoke: One dude on the stage barking rhythmically into the microphone as pre-programmed beats bump in the background. So the main thing that Ryan Bradshaw, aka the emcee Rbiz, wants you to know about this Sunday’s show at the Wilma Theatre is this: It may be all local acts, but it’s unlike all other local hip-hop shows you’ve seen in the past. [Read More...]
Born on the campus of Notre Dame University in the post-Jerry Garcia jam-band heyday, the hard-grooving improvisational rock group (which was named after a Mississippi grain elevator operator named Humphreys McGee) has built a nationwide fanbase in no small part due to its innovative efforts to step off the stage and engage with audiences. [Read More...] Images of bison grace old nickels, multiple state flags, and the logos of countless state agencies and private businesses. Here in the American West, the only place where it seems you can’t find bison is out in the wild. That fact always struck Doug Hawes-Davis as a little strange. Moreover, as a documentary filmmaker, Hawes-Davis found it more than passingly odd that, in a world where everything from ants to whales have merited feature-film treatment, nobody had yet explored the curious plight and cultural history of the most iconic creature of the West. So Hawes-Davis – whose own production company, High Plains Films, features a bison in its logo – set out to change all that. The result is “Facing the Storm,” a 72-minute documentary that celebrated its world premiere at the Kansas International Film Festival this weekend, before coming home for its Montana premiere at the Wilma Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. [Read More...] |
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It all began on Tuesday night, when the University of Montana 
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It’s no longer news when a touring jam-band allows fans to tape shows or offers meet-and-greet sessions after shows. Even so, no band on the scene today goes to the interactive extremes of
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