Boukman Eksperyans/Haiti to Butte

A prophet pointed to the light

in the spirit of Bob Marley and other timeless spirits,

as Boukman Eksperyans,  from Haiti, set the place afire to climax the folk festival in Butte on Sunday, July 10, 2011. Officially, this was the Montana Folk Festival,and this tent was the Montana Tourism Dance Pavilion.

They were the reason I wanted to go to this shindig in the first place, because I saw them twice on Santa Monica Pier many years ago. They knocked me out then, and I figured they would again. Figured right.
This was my Sunday church meeting, a knock your socks off tent revival with spirited hymns of redemption and freedom.

Butte hosted the National Folk Festival for three years, learned how to run the thing well, and figured why not continue the tradition for the state. It worked well with good crowds, numerous shuttles, a wide range of food, and some stunning music.

There are more images of this group on my flickr archive, as well as thousands more of mostly local Missoula performers making music. Coming soon: the Skurfs CD release, a report on July's First Friday a reformed version of Reverend Slanky, and more.

Skurfs @ the Hat, July 1, 2011

El 3-oh on Higgins for First Friday in July

More fun-seekers prowling downtown on First Friday

Butter--January Artist of the Month at the Top Hat

Butter was the featured Artist of the Month at the Top Hat, during January. Fans will immediately recognize the trio above, Bethany, Lisena and Hermina, but the image below might confuse them.

Was Lisena going to abandon her keyboard and move to bass, replacing Maria, who had departed for Spain? No, it was just a sound check, and Ms Brown was soon back at her familiar instrument, and the young gentleman below filled the void.

Burke Jam 

Jesse Netzloff on guitar and Martin McCain on drums

Bethany Joyce, Lisena Brown and Hermina Harold

More Butter, Please

Butter opened for Hillstomp at the Badlander on Friday, April 9, 2010. Their confidence is growing to match the strides they have made with their music, and their fan base is expanding. Their performance this night ignited the crowd, and set the mood for a barn-burning event. KBGA directed the affair, which used the entire Badlander/Palace complex. There was music upstairs and down, socializing in the Central and Golden Rose, gambling in the Savoy, and some consumption of alcoholic beverages here and there.

Lisena sang a song (and the lyrics won't be repeated here), which made the hair stand up on my arm. It wasn't the song, but the intensity Lisena poured into it.

The duo of Hillstomp are regular and popular visitors to Zootown, from Portland, Oregon. They play funky, hard-driving blues, and R.L. Burnside is in their repertoire. This night the crowd was so thick, I couldn't move to the other side of the stage to balance photos of both musicians. I'm pretty sure this guy was having a good time.

Previous posts of this blog, and sets on flickr, have earlier coverage and images of Hillstomp. There are more images of Butter from this night on flickr.

Butter Melts Hat

As I have matured over the decades, I have learned to keep my priorities straight. When four women I love are on stage at the same time, guess what my priority is? If you said getting my ass down to the Hat to see Butter, you would be correct. There was plenty of music in Zootown last night, and I have tons of material from the 13 or 14 band blow out at the Elks Club. Gavin of the Skurfs orchestrated that bash, which came off with a minimum of problems for an enterprise that big. Right now, I just want to give a shout out about some beautiful and talented women musicians. Well, shit, that's hardly fair. What do they call men like me who are prejudiced in women's favor? To be fair, there are two male musicians in Butter. Here is one:

Jesse Netzloff tuning his guitar, and below is Martin McCain.

Maria Kendra and Jesse Netzloff

Maria, Jesse and Lisena Brown

Hermina Harold

Bethany Joyce

Butter was opening for some national name...let me think...son of a real famous singer...what?

OK, dammit, it was Lukas Nelson, son of Willie. That's what the ads said, and then I walked into the Top Hat and saw a lot of promotion for "Promise of the Real." Turns out that's this young man's band, and the whole name is really Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real.

Hey, a bonus for the Kitchenpoet: this is a kick-ass outfit with attitude and style aimed for fun.

Drummers are often hard to photograph because they are behind everyone in the dark. This one also put up a half circle of cymbals right at head level for more protection from paparazzi.

So much music in Zootown, Kitchenpoet can't always keep up, and in my defense I say: no one could cover it all. All I can do is give it my best shot. Capturing the spirit of the moment is one of my many goals. Thank all you denizens of Zootown for welcoming me home, when I arrived.

Timeslip update: Now on flickr a full set of Butter. Click on the set, hit slideshow, let it play, and tell me what you think.  I'm processing a lot of material, again, as well as selling my photos on the street in front of Celtic Connections. I have to get some sleep. Still to come the 13 band blow-out at the Elks. It did wind up 13 didn't it? I'm not really sure, but it was a gas, and I've a bunch to work through.

Baby, it's cold outside

It was five below zero outside, when I first looked out, and everything was dusted with snow. The old myth of too-cold-to-snow was shattered. I was planning to visit my bank and do some errands downtown. Now, I'm thinking it's a perfect day to do some filing and to sort my t-shirts.

Earlier on KBGA I heard someone say they had once equated punk rock with Cheap Trick. KBGA is way too hip to call Cheap Trick punk. I'm thinking X, the Motels, Agent Orange, and the like, while Cheap Trick is merely a novelty. And in that category, I think the Red Elvises blow them out of the water.

Vera is on KBGA discussing their new CD and playing cuts from it. The release is this Friday at the Badlander. Secret Powers and Butter will also play. That is one hell of a line up. This will be the hipnhot event in Zootown on Friday, December 11.

This is Vera playing the November Artini at the Missoula Art Museum. There are more images on the flickr archive from that event. Of course, there are many images of Secret Powers and Butter, as well.

The hipnhot event for Saturday will be at the Top Hat, when Zeppo plays and Reverend Slanky gives their final performance with this line-up. Someone is always leaving Slanky amid rumors the group will be no more, but Cody has always plugged, patched, adjusted and continued on in the Reverend's name. We'll see what happens this time. Chris Ente and Sam White are the departing members.

There's a rant building about the Nobel Peace Prize winner expanding the war in Afghanistan. It's beyond irony and into the adsurd. Holy shades of Kissinger, Batman! Don't you dare compare this mess to Vietnam the neo-con Bushites demanded. Surely, it is OK to make the comparison now. I'll leave it there for now, because I want to work on my next show.

First Friday @the Palace

Oh boy, people having fun, what more can one ask for? It is Friday night in the Palace, and my first print show has just opened. That's not what put the smiles on these folks.

A romping, stomping performance by Travis Seahorn created the smiles and general celebration. Earlier there was a raffle to benefit the American Humanics Student Association.

Mayor John Engen was his usual jovial self, as he drew and read the names of winning tickets.

Ross Voorhees opened the program with a folksy sound aided by a kazoo.

Thanks to friends, Maria Kendra and Hermina Harold, of Butter, and more of their friends, the show went up on Thursday night. The effort was complicated by Metal Militia night with sound volumes, which made communication by anything but sign language impossible. 

There was some wild drumming. 

One of my favorite groups, Walking Corpse Syndrome, blasted out their usual power rhythms with two drummers in the back. If I can just manage to capture a few more good images of the fiddle player, I will have a good grouping for an upcoming print show of metal bands. 

The Show is Up

And opens in 90 minutes. Some friends and I put up the show in the Palace last night. I forgot some basic tools for the installation, which led to some sloppiness on my part. My friends did very well with the Butter module at the end of the pool tables, and Knot Knocked Up was given a properly random alignment. El Zombi Gato is limited to four smaller prints of the guitar and bass players, but I plan full band coverage soon. Adelaide and Chelsea are already stars and feature prominently here.

I have a list of my ****ups to avoid next time, and an improved step list. It's a big step for me to go from digital to print. Holy analog, Batman. My full report on the event should be out by late Sunday.

Santa at the Mall and the Archetype

Some people aren't serious enough about taking care of their kids. This photo was emailed to me and I am using it again, because it illustrates a problem in this country. As Santa, I'm seeing a lot of it. We must all take responsibility for the children. In short, I'm taking my Santa duties to brighten the lives of all the children I encounter very seriously.

Some children are filled with desires for presents. The Wii is very popular this year; Dsi is often repeated, because it has the music options. Musical instruments are desired by more 7 and 8 year olds than I would have thought. Barbie is still popular. Having a special gift for Mother or Father was the uppermost concern to about one-third. Some children were brilliant shining with good will, intelligence and creativity, while others screamed in terror as their parents forced them towards the strange guy in red.

My prejudice against Santa comes from the kitschy Coca-Cola Santa I grew up with. The roots of Santa are deep, going back to Scandanavian, German and Celtic gods. It turns out he is an ancient archetype, and can be found in many forms in many cultures. He carries a sack and arrives at each village with a jangle of bells or a flute trill. Kokopelli was thought to be a hunchback, because of the bag he carried. Hotei also carried a begging bowl. He ate the food people gave him, and used money place in his bowl to buy toys and treats for kids.

The image at the top of this post was captured by an RMSP student, while I was modeling for a class. The beard is longer now, and it really works for the Santa gig. I don't have the belly, however, and the pillow we used yesterday was uncomfortable. My ho,ho,hos are improving, but I can't do them and smile at the same time, which is what I am required to do most. My face is already half frozen. The Santa suit is so hot I'm thinking of doing a weight loss video entitled Sweating with Santa. Of course, the weight loss will be due to dehydration. Note to self: keep water handy.

Life is looking good. I invited the American Humanics Student Association to share the Palace with my photo show 5-8 pm, during the First Friday Gallery Walk in December. They needed a venue for a benefit. They bring a raffle, two bands and Mayor Engen to the event. How does it get better? Mark December 4 on your calendar, come see my photos of Missoula Women Making Music, hear Butter make music and meet the mayor.

More Butter and Revival

Photo credit for these latest shots of the kitchenpoet goes to Teri Llovet.

I have more to say about two recent events. First, we left Artini, with Butter playing under the museum stairway, where it didn't take many to clog the right of way. And there were many who came to see the exhibits, hear the gallery talks by artists, and listen to Butter's music.

Butter wasn't the only thing happening to celebrate the 4th annual Artini. The first ever Montana Trienniel is the big show at MAM. 80+ pieces by 60 Montana artists.

The apple bob didn't attract any interest, and Twister only had one dedicated player.

There were some three-legged races. Here are the winning and 2nd place teams in one competition.

MAM's motto is "Art4All," and Artini is a monthly event on third Thursdays. Check Missoula events to see who is speaking and who is making the music. Then come to one of these hipnhot events.

Speaking of hipnhot events, I can't let Elephant Revival go yet. Part of it is I've recently changed my style, and I'm liking the results I'm seeing. I quit carrying my big lens, switched to a lightweight 50mm and started shooting more with available light.

For example, Bonnie Paine of Elephant Revival looks ethereal. I've been going over that night again, and I'm going to throw more of these on flickr. I just have to, in spite of my vow to reduce the numbers for each event, because the archive is bloated with over 5,000 images already.

Rapt listeners couldn't keep from dancing. This was the hippest and hottest scene of the week in zootown. I know the buzz was all at Totalfest, but this night belonged to the Top Hat.

Butter will be at the Badlander, with Victory Smokes and Low Red Lands, on Monday, August 31. Elephant Revival will soon head to the east coast, as they continue to open for Railroad Earth. You can buy their CD from CD Baby.

Now, I feel Thursday and Friday are complete, and we can move on. Coming next: Saturday. Warning: Blogs can lead to time slip.