One Zootown Week--June 12-18, 2011

Summer Carnival

The carnival kicked off the week with jugglers, kids' games and other family entertainment early,

moving on to more adult themes in the evening, including my favorite fire eater

with a soundtrack by Voodoo Horseshoes.

Meanwhile, at the Missoula Winery

The Ed Norton Big Band,

under the direction of this man,

was swinging away in front of a happy crowd.

Jazz Martini

Later, Margi Cates joined the Front Street Jazz Band on stage at the Badlander, during Jazz Martini Night. For those who don't know, Jazz Martini is a weekly, Sunday night event at the Badlander. Bands alternate weeks, and Front Street will be back tonight, Sunday, June 26.

This night was fun for all.

Out to Lunch

Members of Zeppo also had a good time on the Caras Park stage for Out to Lunch on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Anybody visiting Missoula should plan on Wednesday, for lunch, or Thursdays 5:30-8:30pm for dinner. Lots of vendors offer their foodstuffs, and the live music is free at both events. 

Hot Harleys

On Friday night, the annual Harley rally brought a bunch of hot bikes to Caras Park. 

Mudslide Charley was one of the bands providing the music,

and, of course, a good time was had by all.

Christian and the Sinners

Overlapping the excitement in Caras Park was a show at the Top Hat featuring a group new to me, Christian and the Sinners. That's Christian up front, and there are some marvelous musicians backing him up, including Bethany on the cello and Grace Decker on the fiddle. 

More images of every band and event in this post has a set on the flickr archive. Grace also performs with Cash for Junkers, while Bethany seems to be everywhere, but particularly with Wartime Blues and Butter in the archive. 

In the Streets

In Zootown, you can find music everywhere, and some of the travelers playing on the streets are very talented, not to mention varied and diverse in material and style.

Summer is Over; Get Ready for Christmas

Salsa Loca provided a hot and spicy finale to the Out to Lunch program for 2009. Where did the summer go? Three months of live music in Caras Park at noon time on Wednesdays has concluded. Next stop Christmas.

You don't believe summer is over? Check it out. Football season is starting and the final Downtown Tonight pitted the band ShoDown against Montana's football team and cheerleaders. It was not a fair contest.

Obviously, some people were just there to see the cheerleaders.

The band had some loyal fans, ready to dance.

Catch Up Caras

Right up there in the corner, it says I'm old and slow. I haven't covered The Downtown Association's splendid summer series for two weeks. Mark your calendars for Out to Lunch, every Wednesday, 11a-2p, and Downtown Tonight, every Thursday, 5:30-8:30p.

Now let's do the timeslip to Wednesday week and catch up four events.

Full Moon Prophets Out to Lunch

Jazzy oldies you can sing along with played in clean, hard rocking style with an emphasis on bass.

The emphasis on bass is my friend, Teri Llovet. She sings a Cheryl Crowe song that gives me goose bumps.

Bob Wire & Magnificent Bastards Downtown Tonight

Bob Wire was cooking at Downtown Tonight. Only lining the tent with foil could make this venue tougher on Thursday nights. Week after week, brave performers face this trial. Poor Bob's plump turkey thermometer was about to pop. Bob still poured his heart into his "extreme honky-tonk," until the timer went off, and then he ran for the shade and a cold brew.

This is the new proprietor of the Celtic Connection, and I can't spell her name in Irish to save my ass, but it's pronounced Keeva. I'm not sure whether she was telling me to take a picture, or telling me to stuff my camera. She's a delightful woman, and the revival of the Connection has already started.

RMSP photography students showed up in large numbers to shoot the event. It looked like superbowl with all those fancy cameras and lenses waving along the sidelines.

Secret Powers Out to Lunch

Secret Powers is usally fronted by Schmed on the keyboard (above), but they switched up a bit at Out to Lunch. This may be the most professional combo in town, with their technical expertise and polished performances.

Clumsy Lovers Downtown Tonight

The Clumsy Lovers are visitors from Vancouver, B.C. who play zootown two or three times a year. Their music is kicky stuff with a lot of influences, including Celtic, folk and bluegrass. They have several cds, stickers and t-shirts to choose from at their merchandise table. Also Celtic Connection will join the local merchants who sell the cds.

If you have not attended one of these events, shame on you. They live up to the old ad line "fun for the whole family."

There are more images on the flickr archive, although I am trying to cut back on how many I post. The 5000 images over there are overwhelming. There are also older sets of all the bands featured in this post.