Putting on the Ritz for Halloween

The Ritz is one of Missoula's grand old buildings, and home to several businesses, including the Badlander, the Palace, the Golden Rose and the Savoy. The guys on the doors want to see those wrist bands.



Themes bounced back through town, going from Minneapolis to Portland this time. They've made the trip many times, but hope to reduce travel time by moving to Portland. Tonight, they opened festivities in the Palace.



Olivia crept in for a shot of Themes, while another photographer faced the stage. Both may be seen in the previous post, regarding Black Velvet Elvis.

In the streets, I find a scary clown and a woman with multi-colored eyes.

My friends, Ruthie and Kyle, are also there.

Adelaide, from Ceretano's Studio is a member of Rooster Sauce, along with the Count.
The Count has a flair for the dramatic, which sometimes detracts from the music. This night, I thought the pitch was a tough one, to cover Ween for Halloween. Rooster Sauce knocked it out of the park with a dead-on blast. In fact, this was one time when Reverend Slanky got upstaged by the downstairs.



A triumph!

Reverend Slanky wound up the celebration in the Badlander.
I don't remember seeing a woman sing with the group until now.





Some folks showed up in both the Badlander and the Palace, while others picked their level and settled in. V darted around some, while Mary and Joseph held their spots in front of the Badlander stage.

I made my way home about 2am and downloaded 320 photos. Almost half of those may be found in the flickr archive.

Visitors from Minneapolis

The Badlander hosted guests from Minneapolis, on Memorial Day. Themes and Mute Era proved there are other music scenes around the country creating new sounds. Both bands admitted it is getting more difficult to travel to gigs and get home, as gas prices continue to rise. I had not considered how bands would be impacted by that problem. Once more, let me say turn off the TV and get out to a local venue for some live music. If you like what you hear, buy band merchandise. You can support the arts, feed starving artists and help someone get home by that simple action.Kelsey Crawford, on the keyboard, and Jacy McIntosh formed Themes and stayed together, as other members came and went through live gigs and studio sessions. Their website is here, with links to their travel blog and a myspace site, where their music can be sampled. When I told them I had moved to Missoula from the armpit of America, Kelsey immediately guessed correctly I came here from Arkansas.



































And now for something completely different. Sho Nikaido augments his wailing vocals and guitar strokes electronically, producing a singular sound, while Jessica Driscoll drives the drums. Together, they form Mute Era, a spellbinding duo. (Sometime I will have to do a post featuring duos who produce bigger music than expected by just two people.)

The electronics combined with Sho's style makes Mute Era totally modern, while at the same time, something primal. The sound harks back to the first drummer picking up a stick and striking a hollow log, hoping to scare away the wolves he hears howling.