First Friday--August 2011

I began August First Friday at the Missoula Art Museum. I was there to see the opening of Wendy Red Star's show.

Her work featured montages of nine photographs grouped by subject and quilts with photos woven into them. Subjects included the government issue houses of the day, church buildings, vehicles, signs and family gatherings. Most of the photos were taken by Wendy's father in the 70s. A few in one quilt were of him performing with the Maniacs, evidently quite famous on the Crow Reservation.

A sweat lodge  completed the installation, sitting in front of nine images of sweat lodges.

Strolling Higgins, I found Jeffrey had company on his corner in front of the Dark Room.

Meanwhile, three incredible women, and one incredible drag queen prepare to perform a religious, sacrificial ritual in the name of street art and other holy concepts. This piece was titled Escape Velocity and performed only once, on First Friday in August, 2011. 

Even Tank Girl showed up for this event, and she delivered a mighty blow.

The beast was worshiped, bashed and prayed to. As rituals go, it was cathartic and satisfying in so many ways.

Later, I found the Lil Smokies (well some of them anyway) making music behind the Old Post.

And then I called it quits. Not even dark yet, but I returned home to the book I was reading, and let the rest of that night run away on its own.

The Turtle trudges onward, hoping to catch up...

Halloween--2010

Party at the Broadway Inn

My hipnhot award for best Halloween party goes out to the Demonlily production at the Broadway Inn on October 30, 2010. These folks are into costuming and make up 100%. 

Finalists in the Scariest Costume category above, and the winner below.

Blessiddoom

High Voltage

Meanwhile at the Union Club

Russ Nassett and the Revelators were on stage, 

Disney characters were in attendance, 

and everyone was having a terrific time. 

Next stop--the Top Hat

Lil Smokies were providing the music, 

and another favorite character was seen. 

Other sightings:

Yes, this old man is way behind again. Can you imagine, just getting to Halloween, as the world rushes to Christmas? Well, there was this computer crash, as I was putting together my Top Hat show, and I have a bunch of other excuses for being slow. Instead of speeding up, in some cases I slow down. For example: being offline was terribly frustrating at first, then mildly annoying, and then I was reluctant to return to the Internet. 

Several sets have been uploaded to flickr, since I rejoined the digital web. This might be the blog introduction of High Voltage, but they have other images in the archive. Blesseddoom and Russ Nassett have several sets on flickr. Lil Smokies were recently at MAM in addition to their regular performances at the Hat. I'm working on several new images of them. 

Of course, there are also more images of all the venues and events covered here on flickr.