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Rawk and Roll Musical

J-Bot from the San Francisco band Captured By Robots has played Missoula over ten times in the last eight years. And every time J-Bot and his band of renegade robots come to town there is a new show theme. There was one time when they acted out the movie The Ten Commandments. One of my favorites was the "Get Fit with Captured By Robots" tour.

Well J-Bot is back and his new tour is aimed at the Bush administration. J-Bot will play our fearless leader George W and his robots will play various administration members. All of the songs will tell the story of the last seven years. So if you ever wanted to see a political robot musical, here’s your chance, probably your last.

Captured By Robots, Bacon and Egg @ The Badlander. Saturday Oct 13th. Tickets are $10. Click here for more information.

Colin Hickey is New West’s Events Editor. Keep an eye out for his “MVP Events” or check here to find your own: www.MissoulaEvents.net. [more]

cd release party saturday

David Boone is releasing his new CD A Tale of Gold this Saturday at the Wilma Theater. Not too many local musicians have what it takes to put on a show at the Wilma. What makes David Boone so special? Well, he's a damn good songwriter for one and an amazing self promoter. For the rest of the answers, I sat down with David via the interweb to find out what makes him tick.

NewWest.Net: Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?
David Boone: I grew up in a somewhat "sheltered" environment early on, but my dad would occasionally sneak me out to his '79 Ford and play me Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced, Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley. Aside from that, I would have to say church hymns. I learned a good bit about melody, harmony, emotion and dynamics from the old hymns, so I guess technically, Fanny Crosby was my biggest influence. Later in life, I got into Dylan, Prine, Hank Williams Sr., Patsy Cline and then the grunge era hit, and I was pleasantly intrigued with that throughout my teenage years. [more]

see you next summer!

Well, the first Big Dipper Photo Contest has come and gone and it was an astronomical success (get it?). We had some great photos submitted and the judging was pretty tough. In the end there was a tie for first place: Greg Twig with his picture of his adorable daughter enjoying ice cream, and Steven Krutek with his impressive floating-the-river-with- Big-Dipper shot. Winners received a Big Dipper T-Shirt and a $25 certificate to the Dipper. Congratulations! [more]

Rawk and roll train wreck!

The Riverboat Gamblers are easily the most exciting live rawk and roll band I've ever seen. Their live show is like watching a planned train wreck. Their music is super high energy punk rawk, and they're bringing it to Salt Lake City, Boise, and Spokane next week. I sat down with lead singer Mike Wiebe via the interweb and asked him some questions. [more]

Missoula's new old school

If my memory serves me right, the first time my band ever played with the Victory Smokes it was Nov 12th 2006. They were a bunch of young kids who talked the owners of the Raven Cafe to let us have shows. I remember enjoying their set but thinking to myself that they should play a little bit more. Soon after that show the Raven started having multiple shows a week and it seemed like the Victory Smokes played them all. Soon enough that young bunch of kids made a kickass rawk and roll band.

Two years later the men of the Victory Smokes are putting out a full length album entitled Walkie Trash Talkie. They recorded the album themselves at the University of Montana and mixed and mastered it at Habbilus Studios in Missoula. I’ve heard four songs off the ten song album and I was completely blown away. Not only are the Smokes putting out a new album but they are going on an insanely long tour of two and a half months. I’m been on a five week tour and I thought I was going to go crazy. I can only imagine what twice that long would do to a man. You have a couple chances to see these guys before they disappear for awhile. Check them out before they hit the big time and forget who all of us are.

Friday August 17th- CD Release show @ The Badlander
Saturday August 18th- All ages CD Release show @ Dauphines
Friday August 28th – Tour kickoff show w/ Get Set Go @ The Loft

Colin Hickey is New West’s Events Editor. Keep an eye out for his “MVP Events” or check here to find your own: www.MissoulaEvents.net. [more]

Missoula Rock City!

Missoula’s biggest rawk and roll fest is back for its sixth year. Total Fest VI is this weekend and it promises to be bigger and better than ever. With more than 40 bands playing in just three days this festival is gaining momentum every year. Bands from all over the world send in their demos almost a year in advance to get a chance to play on one of Total Fest’s stages. This year Total Fest makes its way back downtown to The Badlander and The Palace. TF has always made sure to have an all ages option available to its concert goers. This year The Palace will be that place. Besides the rock show TF also has a record swap at the Big Dipper parking lot of Saturday afternoon. Bring out your old records and trade them to a friend for his old ones.

Here’s a list of bands that will be playing at Total Fest this weekend.

Two Year Touqe, Birthday Suits, Riddilin Que, Lozen, Mika Miko, Trashies, Flee the Century, The Sherlocks, Four Horsemen, Knockoffs, Cicadas, Squalora, Vile Blue Shades, Jacktop Town, Touchers, Pine Hill Haints, Old Time Relijun, Narrows, Kingdom of Magic, Belt of Vapor, Fitz of Depression, Fleshies, Akimbo, Thrones, Basic Practicalilies, The Bugs, Dandelion Junk Queens, Deny the Dinosaur, The Reddmen, Noise Noise Noise, The Pasties, Wham City, Reptil Dysfunction, The Trucks, Yogoman Burning Band, Arrows to the Sun, Mountain High, KLED, Madraso, Mahamawaldi, Nudity and Le Force!

Tickets for Total Fest are $35 for the whole weekend. Individual tickets are $15 a day. For more, visit www.myspace.com/totalfest [more]

Missoula's Hottest New Rawk Band

The Good Neighbor Policy is quickly becoming one of Missoula's hottest new bands. The band is: Thomas: Vocals, Guitar; James: Keyboard; Rob: Bass; Bethany: Cello; Abby: Violin; Pete: Drums. All members are extremely talented and Thomas is one hell of a songwriter. I sat down with Thomas via the interweb for a little Q&A.

Q: Who came up with the name of the band? Are one of you a big fan of FDR?

A: James came up with the name back in high school while leafing through an American history textbook. We had class together. love FDR, Polio can't stop him.
[more]

Hip Hop, Pop, Punk, Salsa, Blues oh my!

All sorts of great musical happenings are going on this weekend. Here are a few that have piqued my interest...

Friday

Best Friends Forever, Good Neighbor Policy, The Apples of Dischord and Sleepeater @ The Badlander. Best Friends Forever are an all girl poppy rock band from Minneapolis. I had the pleasure of seeing these girls a couple years ago and I’ve been waiting for this return show for a long time. With songs about how much they love Abraham Lincoln and Orlando Bloom they will definitely have you laughing all night. Click here for Best Friends Forever’s Myspace page, here for Good Neighbor Policy’s page.

Zeppo @ The Union Club. Zeppo has been around for a couple years now and they just keep on getting better. Missoula has a shortage of good bluesy rock bands and these guys deliver on a regular basis. Chuck, the frontman for the band, has been playing shows since when you were still in diapers.

More after the jump... [more]

the gourds to headline

The River City Roots Festival will be back for its second year, taking place September 15th and 16th, and this time it's looking to be much improved. Last year's one-day event brought in around 5,000 people to the city-wide event. This year the festival is two days and has something for everyone. For the art lovers there will be a juried art show in some of the downtown galleries. The more extreme festival goers can enjoy the inland surf invitational on Brennan's Wave or the skateboard demo at the Missoula Skate Park. All of that goes on before the music on Main Street with Corn Mash, Russ Nassett & The Revalators, Big Daddy the Blue Notes, Big Sky Mudflaps, The Mammals and Missoula's favorite band the Gourds all performing on Saturday the 15th. Sunday's music lineup will be The Shuffle Bums, Tom Catmull & The Clerics, Broken Valley Roadshow and Hot Buttered Rum. So mark your calendars cause this will be an event that you won't want to miss.

Colin Hickey is New West’s Events Editor. Keep an eye out for his “MVP Events” or check here to find your own: www.MissoulaEvents.net.

Roll on Kentucky Moon.

I don’t remember the first Oblio Joes show I ever saw. I do know that I’ve probably seen them more than any other band on the planet (except for Volumen). I’ve cried watching the Oblio Joes. I’ve laughed so hard that I’ve cried watching the Oblio Joes. The Obes have been around for 14 years and they are calling it quits this Thursday at Caras Park. John Brownell, the main song writer for the Oblio Joes said he would give the band 14 years and if they hadn’t made it by then the band would throw in the towel.

I don’t know why the Oblio Joes aren’t as big as bands like Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Pavement and others like them. Maybe it’s because they live in Missoula and the big shots in the industry don’t knock on our doors that often. [more]