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Country in the Country

I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoy country music. But, my idea of country music and today’s standard of what country music is are probably two different things. I like Carl Perkins, Hank Williams Sr., Waylon Jennings ... you know, “real” country music. I’m not a big fan of what country music has turned into over the last couple decades. Recently I discovered Hank Williams III and fell in love on the spot. I like a country song that tells a good story about drinking, pickup trucks, shotguns, cheating girlfriends ... you know, “real” life.

So, fans like me of “real” country music are in for a treat because the Murder In The Mountains Music Tour is coming through Montana and it is full of “real” country bands. [more]

It's getting hot in here

If you live in Salt Lake City and you don’t have anything to do tonight I suggest going down to In The Venue to check out Hot Hot Heat. Hot Hot Heat is probably the best thing to come out of Canada since sliced bread. OK maybe the Canadians didn’t invent sliced bread but that’s just how good this band is. Uber poppy danceable rawk music with soul is one way to describe them. Lead singer Steve Bays’ infectious voice and keyboards will have you dancing all night, I can promise you that. If you have some extra scratch on you I suggest picking up a CD. My favorite is Make Up The Breakdown but all of them are worth the price.

Hot Hot Heat, Pride Tiger and The Oohlas @ In The Venue 6pm

[more]

Where are you going to be?

Holy cow it’s graduation weekend already! Now I know what you are thinking: What am I going to do with my family while they are in town? OK, maybe you aren’t a student, but you still need to know about all the exciting things going on this weekend. Here are some events from MissoulaEvents.Net that spark our interest.

Oklahoma the Musical @ The MCT Center for the Performing Arts
Thurs-Sat at 8pm, Sun at 6:30 and matinees at 2pm on Sat and Sun. Come see Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical masterpiece done my Missoula’s favorite theatre company. Get tickets here.

The International Wildlife Film Festival @ The Roxy and Wilma Theaters
All day Sat and Sun. The International Wildlife Film Festival is one of Missoula’s biggest and best festivals of the year. Click here to get the full schedule.

Love Your Mother Festival @ Marshall Mountain
Sat 10am to sunrise Sunday. Come experience a music festival with multiple styles of music, food vendors and local artists. Camping overnight is allowed with the purchase of a ticket.

Missoula’s Farmers Market @ North Higgins Ave
8:30am to 1pm. Missoula’s Farmers Market includes fresh local produce, baked goods and coffee provided by over 100 vendors in an outdoor setting. A cultural treat! [more]

Mike Judge knocks this one out of the park

Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt are both animators and they noticed that there wasn't enough ways for people like them to get their names out into the world. Granted, Mike Judge is uber famous for his shows Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill -- but what about the little guys?

So these two fellas came up with The Animation Show and they sent it out on the road. This is the third year of The Animation Show and it just keeps on growing. Besides just touring the show city to city Judge is working on getting it aired on MTV2. Amazingly enough, this is the third animation festival to come to Missoula in just four months. Out of the three, this is by far my favorite. There are about a dozen amazing shorts in this festival. (Note: Even though there is no rating on the show, Judge suggests that no one under 10 see it because there is a little mild violence. )

The Animation Show 3 will be showing at the Crystal Theatre from April 24th-29th at 8:00. For $5 this could be the deal of the century. Why waste $8.50 at the Super Plex on some big-budget headache when you can see some cutting edge animation.

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]

Rawk and roll comedy extravaganza!!

I really can't even begin to explain how cool Pleaseeasaur is. From the first time I brought him to Missoula I've been pretty fascinated with this act. Imagine watching a live funny as hell action rawk and roll cartoon. That's kind of what it's like to see Pleaseeasaur live. To explain this better I sat down via the interweb with the man himself and asked him some questions.

Q: Where did the name come from?
A: A hybrid amalgamation of a Plesiosaur (Loch Ness Monster/Ogo Pogo/Champ (from Lake Champlain)/etc...mixed with pleasure!

Q: What are your biggest influences?
A: Infomercials/The Dead Milkmen/The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra/Mike Post/Lalo Schifrin/Devo/More Television

Q:What comedian dead or alive would you open for if you had the chance?
A: Albert Brooks. His album "A Star Is Bought" (1975) is a comedy/concept masterpiece. [more]

Rawk and roll comedy extravaganza!!

I really can't even begin to explain how cool Pleaseeasaur is. From the first time I brought him to Missoula I've been pretty fascinated with this act. Imagine watching a live funny as hell action rawk and roll cartoon. That's kind of what it's like to see Pleaseeasaur live. To explain this better I sat down via the interweb with the man himself and asked him some questions.

Q: Where did the name come from?
A: A hybrid amalgamation of a Plesiosaur (Loch Ness Monster/Ogo Pogo/Champ (from Lake Champlain)/etc...mixed with pleasure!

Q: What are your biggest influences?
A: Infomercials/The Dead Milkmen/The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra/Mike Post/Lalo Schifrin/Devo/More Television

Q:What comedian dead or alive would you open for if you had the chance?
A: Albert Brooks. His album "A Star Is Bought" (1975) is a comedy/concept masterpiece. [more]

Please take in moderation.

Every now and then you get introduced to a new band and you just can't stop listening to song. While posting hundreds of hundreds of shows on all of New West's event calendars I came across Men, Women and Children. Talk about addictive pop music. I had to enter a rehab center later that week because I couldn't stop listening to them. I'm on step 9 which is to spread the word of the awesome rockness. If you are fans of Junior Senior or any dance music this is for you. I suggest buying a new pair of dance shoes and get ready to sweat. Check them out live here:

Sat April 14th- Salt Lake City @ Kilby Court
Thur April 25th- Albuquerque @ The Launchpad

[more]

MVP Events from www.missoulaevents.net

This Saturday could be one of the best rawk shows to hit Missoula in a long time. The lineup is Volumen (Missoula Spacepop), The Mathematicians (New York Nerdcore), Shellshag (SF Sludgepop) and Two Year Touqe (Missoula Uberpop). The whole thing goes down at the Elks Lodge at 9 p.m. and costs $5. I wouldn’t miss this if I were you. Here’s a video from the Mathematicians:

[more]

Voodoo + Rawk in Roll = Good Times

If Tom Waits and The Devil had a baby it would be the Voodoo Organist. Now I know what you’re thinking “Isn’t the Devil supposed to be a man?” Well lately I’ve put some thought into that and I’m pretty sure it’s a she down there. The Voodoo Organist (aka Scott Wexton) is one badass mofo. While still just a solo act, he played more than 500 shows on the road in three years. Trust me, that’s a lot of driving for one guy to do by himself.

I’ve had the pleasure to book the Voodoo Organist a couple times in Missoula over the years, but one story comes to mind while trying to describe the man: [more]

The Godfather of Missoula Honky Tonk needs your help.

If you live in Missoula you’ve probably seen Russ Nasset play guitar. Maybe you saw him and his son Sam ripping up the stage with their band the Revelators. Maybe you walked into the Old Post on a Thursday night and witnessed Russ take command of the room with one of his solo shows. If you do live in Missoula and you haven’t seen Russ Nasset then you should be ashamed of yourself. You might want to consider moving to Billings. Hands down, Russ Nasset is the hardest working man in the local music scene. I personally believe Russ was born with a guitar pick in his hand.

Russ recently had some health problems and he had to spend sometime in one of those really expensive hotels called the hospital. So some of Missoula’s best bands are getting together and throwing one hell of a show to help the Godfather of Missoula Honky-Tonk out. So if you are one of those people that absolutely love Russ and you don’t want to move to Billings come out this Friday night and show him support. If you haven’t seen Russ, amazingly enough he will be playing shows again next month. What a badass!

The Roots Rock Round Up @ The Elks Lodge Friday March 30th $10 at the Door. Starts at 8 p.m. and it’s 18+. Bands include Bob Wire and the Magnificent Bastards, Tom Catmull and the Clerics, Broken Valley Road Show and The Swillbillys.

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]

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