NewWest Missoula
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- Montana to Play South Dakota State in Playoffs
- More Nuggets on Montana Pain Management
- MT Board of Regents Discuss Budget Shortfalls
- Enviro Groups Enraged by Lawsuit Abuse Allegations from GOP
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Plane Talk
Fireworks, Real Estate, Frogs and Famous Football Players: All in a Morning’s FlightIt was way too early in the day to be talking, but listening, especially in the close confines of the airport gate and jam-packed airplane, was unavoidable.
My 7:40 flight out of Glacier Park International Airport was sold out. The gate agent began offering the standard $400-flight, usable for up to one year, and by the time we were boarding, she'd upped the ante to "breakfast, lunch, dinner, and $400 flight to anywhere in the U.S....please?"
A woman standing at the gate with her two children announced over her shoulder to her travel friends, "they're paying for hotel too, so we're staying until tomorrow. I'm fine with it-- we get another day in Montana!"
Blogvertorial
A Year-Round Recreation Destination
The Bitterroot Team aspires to build a family-friendly recreation venue that is accessible to and benefits all members of the Missoula and Bitterroot Valley communities. Bitterroot Resort is designed to be a year-round recreation destination with alpine, snowboard and cross-country ski venues, signature golf, fly-fishing, mountain biking, ice skating and other amenities existing alongside a four-season resort village and residential community.
Bitterroot Resort has recently submitted a special use permit application to the forest service requesting 1,680 acres of federal land, adjacent to the Maclay Ranch in the northern Bitterroot Valley, be designated as part of a destination ski resort. This proposal represents only a small portion of the envisioned 12,800 acres of potential skiable terrain on Lolo Peak and Carlton Ridge.
Show your support and sign the Bitterroot Petition online.
Let the Games Begin
U.S. Senate Candidates Tester and Burns to Face Off in WhitefishMontana U.S. Senate candidates Jon Tester, Democrat, and Republican incumbent Conrad Burns will square off in their first debate Sunday morning at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish. The debate begins and 9:00 A.M. and will last an hour. It's the first of two possible debates in the senate race that has captured national attention both because of Burns's ties to scandal-ridden lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Tester's honest (organic) farmer appeal.
The Whitefish Pilot reports that C-Span and Time magazine will both be there to cover the action. At the end of the debate, the floor will open to questions from the audience. The debate is not open to the public but will be shown on television across the state.
New West Music Review
Review: New Heathens Debut Pulls Up a Bootful of Great Songs
Nate Schweber -- he's one of a kind, with a lot on his mind. The sprawling subject matter on the New Heathens' debut disc, "Heathens Like Me," will attest to that. From the autobiographical "141," to the topical "Kansas Romeo," to the wistful "Goodnight Paterson," he's all over the map with nine original tunes and one cover of a Yayhoos song.
The scarves-to-riches story of Missoula's Favorite Son is well known to a lot of us here in his hometown: Journalism school wünderkind embraces gonzo writing in the college paper, hijacks the airwaves of KBGA (winning Best of Missoula polls in the process), creates a bizarre spectacle at U of M Grizzly games by dancing, half-naked, in the stands while playing his tuba with the pep band, and fronting various rock bands with an outrageous, flamboyant, Bowiesque persona that has half the town buzzing.
And like Bowie, Nate has reinvented himself, emerging fully formed as a swaggering, sweaty alt-country rocker with an ass kicking band and a bootful of great songs.
Internetting on Vacation
Tourist Season In My Mountain TownBy Heidi Borg
Guest Writer
When do you really know the tourist season has arrived in the Flathead Valley? Maybe it can be displayed by the multitude of brand new Subarus with tiny barcode stickers in the back window. Or maybe your favorite restaurant is backed wall to wall by 6:30 pm.
But in my small town of Columbia Falls, gateway to Glacier National Park, gauging the start of the summer tourist season just takes a trip to the local library.
Rockin
Schweber Asks Schweitzer to Make Pyromania Song Official Ode for July 1
One of Missoula's favorite ex-patriots, Nate Schweber, is making his music career work in New York City. And, he's asking the governor to take notice.
Nate, the famous "gyrating," feather boa-ed, sequined University of Montana tuba player left Missoula amidst much fanfare several years ago (his farewell was actually covered by the Missoulian and a few local TV stations at the time). Today, he's working in the big city, stringing for the New York Times, writing home sporadically here on New West and of course, playing Rock and Roll. (Note capital R's) His band, the New Heathens, just released their first album and Track No. 8 is a touching tribute to teenage debauchery in the biggest state in Nate's heart: Montana.
It's such an ode, in fact, that Nate has sent Gov. Brian Schweitzer a letter asking that "July 1, Near Helena MT" be dedicated the "Song of the State of Montana" for July 1, 2006. (Click here to hear "July 1, Near Helena MT.")
