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

We Paid for Another Swindle

Everybody keeps saying $700 billion, but the bill passed at $850 billion and that is a minimum, not a maximum. In short, we just poured another trillion dollars down another rat hole, and the economy continues to sink. Kiss that money and the promised benefits good-bye. The only benefit will be to make the rich richer. Timeslip: amount may double.

Thank the powers that be, Bush and his neo-con cronies didn't get social security privatized, or it would be gone, too!

Note: McCain has campaigned for privatizing social security. Of course, he might not bring that issue up right now. Note: Obama supported the bail-out, in spite of the overwhelming public opposition.

I came to Montana from Arkansas, where the congressional delegation was particularly wimpy towards Bushite legislation, but I thought it was different here. Tester is different and I like him a lot, but Baucus appears to be another corporate democrat. I must recontact the Backbone Organization and get more of their "spineless tickets" to send to representatives who sell out. My first one goes to Baucus. That is just because he is the closest and most recent example of a Democrat being a wuss. I want tickets for Pelosi and Reid, too. Who put them in charge?

Our system no longer rewards excellence; it rewards mediocrity. Our leadership is mediocre in every category, on both sides of the aisle. Will someone, please, have the guts to step forward and say we must end this war. I'll send Obama a ticket for saying the "surge" worked. Bullshit! We've segregated Iraq and built walls to keep everyone separated. It's a reverse of the cold war, when the Soviets built the walls.