Bozeman Magazine

Sweet Pea Festival 2012 Poster and T-shirt contests

BozemanMag — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:49:54 +0000

Sweet Pea Festival 2012 announces its annual poster and T-shirts contests. Details of guidelines and application process can be found online at www.sweetpeafestival.org.

The poster contest will award a $1,000.00 prize for this year’s Festival poster winner. All ages and levels of expertise are encouraged to enter. Deadline for entries is April 27, 2012.

The T-Shirt art contest has two categories for entrants: Category 1 (ages 5 – 13) with a $100 grand prize and Category 2 (ages 14 and above) with a $500 grand prize. Winning designs will be used on this year’s Sweet Pea Festival T-shirts. Deadline for entries is March 30, 2012.

The Sweet Pea Festival, in its 35th year, is Bozeman’s summer celebration of the arts. This year’s festival dates are August 3, 4 and 5. The Festival in Lindley Park includes music, children’s activities, dance, arts and crafts, food concessions and more. Preliminary events begin July 28 and include a ball, juried and open art shows, the Bite of Bozeman, a parade, and children’s run.

ABOUT SWEET PEA FESTIVAL:
The Sweet Pea Festival is a three-day festival of the arts held in Bozeman, Montana, since 1978. The event includes everything from dynamic music to children’s activities to dance lessons. Sweet Pea is committed to its mission statement of “promoting and cultivating the arts.”

Over 1,500 volunteers run and organize this annual event, a testament to the community’s desire for its ongoing success. All the money raised above what is needed to operate the Festival is given back to the community in the form of grants for the arts, art education, and special projects in the Bozeman area.

SPRING BREAK ARTCAMP @ the Emerson

BozemanMag — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:30:45 +0000

The Emerson invites children grades 2-6 to participate in our Multicultural ArtCamps with artist-educators Maggie Carlson and Allison McGree. The affordable camp runs from Monday-Friday, March 12-16 from 9 am – 3 pm. The cost is $135 for Emerson members and $160 for non-members. Students will participate in fun art activities along with outside recreation in a supportive environment with individualized instruction. Art projects include creating imitation Plains Indian parfleches (hide bags) decorated with traditional designs; Japanese rice paper collages; pastel still life studies; abstract paper designs, printmaking projects and wire sculptures.

Allison McGree is a sixth generation Montanan, a graduate of Gonzaga University, a K-12 certified art instructor from MSU Bozeman, and a practicing artist. McGree has worked with the nonprofit “Art Mobile of Montana” (2008-2011) that brings artwork to audiences of all ages throughout the state and she has also worked as an artist in residence (2005-2012). Today, McGree is collaborating with Maggie Carlson in a pilot program entitled: Project MArt (more art), that includes teaching affordable multicultural art classes at the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture and school residencies throughout the state.

Maggie Carlson Yellowtail is a certified art instructor with 20 years of teaching experience. Her primary media is acrylic paint and collage. Carlson Yellowtail holds a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland CA and a Masters degree from Regis University in Denver. She has taught art on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations for the last 18 years. She is now affiliated with Project MArt (More Art) and the Emerson’s Multicultural Art Education program. She has been an artist in residence at the Archie Bray and has taught art through the Montana Arts Council’s Artist- in-Schools program and throughout the state for Indian Education for All.

For further information about this exhibit and our education programs consult our website: www.theemerson.org or email ellen@theemerson.org.

Seniors should apply for Montana Homeowner/renter tax credit

BozemanMag — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:21:59 +0000

Montana’s elderly may be eligible for a 2011 homeowner/renter tax
credit for a portion of their property taxes or rent paid, based on their
income.

1/27/12 Contact: Marsha Goetting, Extension Family Economics Specialist,
(406) 994-5695 or goetting@montana.edu

MSU News Service

BOZEMAN – Are you a Montanan who is 62 or older as of Dec. 31? If so, then
check to see whether you qualify for Montana’s elderly homeowner/renter tax
credit for 2011. If you can answer “yes” to all of the following questions,
then you may be eligible for the credit:

1.   Were you 62 or older as of Dec. 31, 2011?
2.   Did you occupy a Montana residence(s) as an owner or renter for 6
months or more during 2011?
3.   Did you reside in Montana for nine months or more during 2011?
4.   Was your total gross household income less than $45,000 in 2011?
Instructions for determining total gross household income are included with
the form required to request the credit, Form 2EC.

Montana allows qualifying citizens a credit for a portion of their property
taxes or rent paid based on their income. The credit can be used against
state income liability or as a direct refund if the person is not required
to file a Montana state income tax return. During the years 2008 and 2009,
the average claim was $494. Only one claim is allowed per household.

To determine eligibility, complete Form 2EC, which can be found at your
local Department of Revenue, library, post office or tax preparer office. It
is also available on the web at revenue.mt.gov.

Help is available to complete Form 2EC by calling the Department of Revenue,
(406) 444-2830 (hearing impaired only) or toll free: 1-866-859-2254. If you
are in the Helena area, call 444-6900.

MSU College of Business offering free tax help for MSU students and individuals who made less than $58,000

BozemanMag — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:49:37 +0000

Senior and graduate accounting students from Montana State University’s College of Business are offering free help preparing tax returns for MSU students and individuals who made less than $58,000 last year.

The help sessions will be held on the MSU campus in Reid Hall 302. No appointment is necessary. Sessions will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on the following dates: Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28; March 1, 6, 20, 27, 29; and April 3. At the sessions, students will be available to prepare federal and state income tax returns and answer tax questions. Free electronic filing will be available for most 1040 forms.

Individuals who are interested in free help should bring their 2011 W-2 forms, other tax documents, social security cards and copies of their 2010 tax returns (if available). International students and employees should also bring their passports and visas. Tax assistance for international students and employees begins Feb. 21.

The student accounting volunteers are part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which was established by the Internal Revenue Service to assist people who may find it difficult to pay for tax preparation services. The program also gives accounting students practical experience.

Each student accounting volunteer has passed an IRS tax preparation exam, completed at least one comprehensive tax course, received specific training related to common tax issues, and has access to a variety of federal and state reference materials. The sessions are sponsored by the MSU College of Business and Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals.

Mountains of Courage: Dialogues with the Living about Death and Dying

BozemanMag — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:30:29 +0000

Feb 12 DEADLINE

Saturday February 25th
7:30 am Check-in 8:15-4:30 Conference
Gallatin Gateway Inn
Gallatin Gateway, Montana
7 Miles South of Four Corners on Hwy 191
406.763.4672
For additional information call:
406-600-4052
Or visit us online at
www.gallatinvalleycircleofcompassion.org

Join us for heartfelt, authentic dialogues about the end-of-life journey.
Explore practical issues, emotions, myths and traditions and learn how to shift the current paradigm.
Discover practical resources, tools and information available to help you make informed decisions.
Experience new empowerment, courage, a sense of calm and confidence, and the ultimate realization that
you need not be alone on this journey.

MAJOR SPONSORS
Registration required because lunch is provided!
$30 – General Public until February 12 $45 – General Public after February 12 $20 – MSU Student Rate (valid college ID required)
●Scholarships Available ●Certificates of Attendance Available ●CEU’s Available for Social Workers

Futurebirds

BozemanMag — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:55:35 +0000

In Athens, Georgia, the future can look a lot like the past. Often not too many changes down that way and Futurebirds certainly don’t mind. Some folks think good music comes from making a whole bunch of sounds no one’s ever heard before. Some folks think that you can sit back and take her easy for a little while without trying too damn hard. Some folks think you can have a little of both. If you push yourself every once in awhile, you might wind up in the right place around the right friends and come up with something worth playing on the porch-swing over an ice- cold beer. That’s exactly Futurebirds’ situation. Surrounded by a sleepy-living music community—more earnest than you’ll find elsewhere—the band works to set things right where they belong. Provide people with an infectious melody and a refreshing song about things they understand and they’ll sing with you.

Last spring saw the release of their eponymous EP, a euphoric backwoods sing- a-long that made the six guys in Futurebirds a lot of choir buddies. After only a short, hazy lifespan, the band signed with Autumn Tone Records. In January, the band recorded at Athens’ own Chase Park Transduction under the supervision of Drew Vandenburg. Hampton’s Lullaby sees Futurebirds harnessing the youthful exuberance of the EP to fashion songs of a grander scale. Listening to the full- length, one hears a band that finds faith in Flying Burrito Brothers and The Band. The group’s psychedelic fare is highlighted by ragged Stanley Brothers-styled harmonies, moonshining guitar work, and pedal steel playing which would impress the likes of Ralph Mooney.

On the heels of their extremely promising debut, this collection of hellions has spent the past months caravanning across the United States with friends and fellow Athens natives, Dead Confederate. In November, Futurebirds embarked on the Double Down Tour across the southeast and midwest with Jonny Corndawg.

Catch the Futurebirds (if you can) at the Filling Station on Wednesday Feb 29th. This is a Compound Production show. Tix at Cactus Records.

Getting to Know You Lunch with Danny Freund at Pinky’s in Livingston

BozemanMag — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:53:15 +0000

JG: Isn’t this a great spot? That’s Pinky right there, he’s an amazing musician in his own right – plays keyboards in all kinds of bands around here, for decades.

DF: It’s my first time in here – (and as the homemade world famous turkey pasty arrives in front of him) and probably not my last! (laughter)

JG: How’d you get to Montana, Dan? Tell me about you, musically.

DF: I started playing back in college, back in Springfield, Missouri and St. Louis. I moved to London my last year of college and that changed my life, that just changed everything and I became a traveler. I did a lot of traveling by myself, went to Greece. I came back from that, and I’d seen a couple of bands play and when I saw them playing up on stage I thought – that’s what I want to do. It was the music, it was them, it hit me so hard. I had NO idea what I was doing, I’d always played piano and organ when I was a kid but I had no training. When I graduated from college I moved back to St. Louis and a friend said “Go to Park City, Utah. If you’re looking to get somewhere, Dan, go there.” So, I did. My drummer came out and we started playing in bars all around Park City. I came to Montana – I wanted to see Glacier National Park – and I found this little town Polbridge and when I saw that little town off the grid, all the artsy people and the scenery, I just said, “I am moving here. I’m going to buy a cabin here.” Three of my friends bought cabins there, I couldn’t afford to yet, so I lived up there through their houses.
JG: When was that?

DF: That was in 1997. We would get together there every 4th of July – me and all my best friends from all over the country that all met in Utah, and we put together a jug band and played in the 4th of July parade in Polbridge. Next thing you know my drummer was getting married, and I thought, “Let’s go out on a bachelor tour!” I’d started playing solo quite a bit up there so I went out and opened and another band played and then the 7 Smart Fellers came together as the finale set. We went out for seven days or something, and then we started doing 20 days at a stretch, and 7 Smart Fellers just had some connection for people. It worked.

JG: So, basically 7 Smart Fellers is a buncha friends? How fun.

DF: It was all my songs, and then country covers cause we were playing in Montana and then we got into the getups and it just went very well. As always happens, everyone started having kids – which I did as well and I moved to Seattle to play music and lived on a small organic farm there for a bit. Eventually, my now ex wife and my son Henry and I moved back to St. Louis where I started a recording studio and fell in love with working on songs for other people and I did that for 9 years. I did a lot of hip hop there when Nelly has happening in town, and ultimately sold it to a NFL player. A few years ago, we had a 7 Smart Fellers reunion sort of thing, and ended up visiting some friends in Paradise Valley, which is how I got to Livingston.
JG: Your son and ex wife are still in St. Louis?

DF: They are, and that’s the luckiest thing I have in my life, my ex wife is so supportive of what I do. My son Henry has been on tour with me, he lives with me in the summertime, he’s 12 now. I’ve looked at going to so many places, Asheville, Los Angeles, Nashville, but strangely enough I’ve picked Montana now to make a music career.

JG: (laughing) I know. But it really is percolating around here, starting to buzz, which is so fun. Is Henry at all into music, does he play anything?

DF: He’s got a great beat with the drums, he’s taking piano lessons and does his recitals – he’s good.

JG: We were talking last week about the tour you did with the pop band Train. Tell me about how you hooked up with those guys. That’s another departure –

DF: A sound guy from Lawrence, Kansas, who was a close college friend got involved with Seven Mary Three and Whiskeytown with Ryan Adams and then Train.

(Here a long winded interruption about when DF was actually ON the road with Train, as I made several videos and long form concerts with them. After ticking off several, Danny and I realized we had absolutely been in the same place several times. Small world.)

DF: I’d been out with Seven Mary Three with him and Whiskeytown – never got paid, but enjoyed being on the bus and learned a lot about performing and songwriting from hanging with those guys. My friend Jeff asked if I wanted to come out and I went out as a tour manager among other jobs – I was also a drum tech and Pat’s assistant (Pat Monahan, lead singer of Train) for a while. I would listen to everything in the back of that van and learned so much. I think I was the first guy to hear “Drops of Jupiter” right after Pat and a buddy wrote it on a mini tape – just a piano and voice. You could hear it, you could hear that was going to be a hit.

JG: Did you ever let on that you were a songwriter?

DF: They have no idea. I worked hard, and I’ve always been so shy. I didn’t feel like it would be right to put myself in there like that. I wanted to do it authentically, on my own. I care about music and about songwriting but don’t NEED to be onstage to be happy.

JG: You got to be the fly on the wall for some pretty cool stuff.

DF: I did. And I love the logistics of it all. The getting from point a to b, I crave it. I can’t wait to go out next month for two months. I’m going out with two songwriters from Knoxville and have some dates booked in Montana through the West and then back through Asheville, Nashville, New Orleans. They’re great guys on the road. It’s what I ultimately want to do – be on the road, opening for a bigger band and living out there for a while. I like it.

JG: So, about Norris – isn’t it a wacky little place?

DF: It’s a wacky little place and I can’t believe how many people are comfortable being in that hot pool together. Well, maybe I would. There were 150 people.

JG: Sure, you would.

DF: I really enjoyed it. What a great scene, really…a great spot. Everybody’s in the pool – for two hours!

JG: What a wild ride you’ve been on, Dan. Jug band, hip hop recording engineer, on tour with a giant pop band and now troubadour. Good for you. Can’t wait to see what comes next.

Joanne Gardner is the music booker at Norris Hot Springs, and regular contributor to Bozeman magazine.

The Crystal Method’s Rail Jam 2012

BozemanMag — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:51:20 +0000

Ever since they started making their first singles in the mid 90’s out of the Bomb Shelter–their congested home studio in Los Angeles, California–Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland of The Crystal Method have held strong as forerunners of the electronic music revolution in America. A Grammy nomination; a slot on Linkin Park’s recent monster benefit for their Music For Relief fund; catwalk DJ’s for Rock ‘N Republic’s Fall 2004 Los Angeles Fashion Week show; and “Community Service,” their popular Friday night weekly radio show on Indie 103.1 FM–these are all small parts of what makes up The Crystal Method’s overall recent presence.

The Crystal Method’s full-length major label debut Vegas in 1997 spawned the hits “Keep Hope Alive” and “Busy Child,” followed by a flurry of remix projects for the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Garbage. Meanwhile, the pair steadily divided its time between a long line of live appearances and DJ dates, including the first Community Service Tour (live) with Orbital in 1998 and the Family Values Tour with a variety of bands that included Limp Bizkit, Filter and Staind in 1999.

For 2001’s Tweekend, the band pulled together all its diverse influences to create an album that not only reflected its dance music roots but its lingering passion for hard rock and soul. The disc featured collaborations with Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello and Beck turntablist DJ Swamp.

Following these two groundbreaking albums came Kirkland and Jordan’s first ever mix CD, Community Service (ULTRA Records/3 AM) which seamlessly captured the kinetic spirit of their popular club sets. It included The Crystal Method’s distinctive remixes for artists like Rage Against The Machine, Garbage and P.O.D.; underground twists on some of their own hits; and blistering, forward-looking tracks that only the most dedicated crate-digger could excavate like Orbital’s “Funny Break,” Force Mass Motion vs. Dylan Rhymes’ “Hold Back,” Scratch D vs. H Bomb’s “The Red Pill” and Stir Fry’s breakbeat masterpiece “Breakin’ On The Streets (False Prophet Remix).”

Today, The Crystal Method have distinguished themselves as two of the most recognizable faces in the American electronic music landscape, boasting over a million-and-a-half in album sales combined between all their releases.
The Crystal Method are settling in to their newly designed state of the art studio and beginning work on their fourth full-length album, which they will support with an extensive live tour. The will be at Big Sky Resort as part of the Chamberlin Rail Jam on Friday, March 2. Try and Catch it if you can. For more information visit thecrysatlmethod.com or chamberlinrailjam.com

Rail Jam Big Sky March 2 and 3

BozemanMag — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:48:38 +0000

Big Sky Resort presents the 2012 Chamberlin Rail Jam for the Montana South West. The weekend of March 2 and 3 the Streets will rumble, windows will shatter and the firmament rises. Cold steel and rebar shall sprout from deep, hungry fissures of Lone Mountain.

Fear not the mighty beast that approaches to spew style and frost upon the teeming masses, the Rail Jam this way comes. The annual eruption of unequivocal skills is primed and ready to climb above the clouds to its own tremulous war cry. Let us echo this cry together as shredders and shreddettes hone their bones upon the stark framework of rails, and slice the electric mountain air.

As stated, this year’s competition is presented by Big Sky Resort and is set to crush the expectations of the past four years Rail Jams into fine pink goo. Two full days of hip hop and electronic music, epic riding, killer giveaways, raging bonfires, crowded hot tubs, great bar specials, video games, and of course a huge rail-sliding colossus transformation await those who are smart enough to attend.
If you will be away and can not attend this event there is another event similar to this one in Missoula on March 9 and 10. Info for both events are at ChamberlinRailJam.com

Black Box Theatre Presents The Understudy

BozemanMag — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:46:08 +0000

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes of a Broadway play? Enjoy a peek backstage in Theresa Rebeck’s fast paced comedy, The Understudy, presented by Montana State University’s School of Film and Photo at the Black Box Theater (11th and Grant on campus), Friday and Saturday evenings, February 17th through March 3rd, at 7:30 pm.

Directed by MSU theatre professor Stephanie Campbell, The Understudy takes place behind the scenes during the Broadway run of a long lost Kafka play, introducing a cast of characters including a star who doesn’t understand the play, a disgruntled stage manager, a stoner set technician and an understudy trapped in a thankless job amidst all the comic chaos. In this bitingly witty and entertaining comedy the Boston Globe called, “…funny, funny, funny,” the lights of Broadway cast an affectionate glow over this look at one of the most notorious roles in the theatre: the understudy.

Playwright Theresa Rebeck is one of her generation’s major talents. A highly prolific and award-winning writer, Ms. Rebeck has enjoyed much success writing for film, television and theatre. The Understudy was well-received during its off-Broadway run in 2009, and her latest comedy, Seminar, starring Alan Rickman, is currently receiving rave reviews on Broadway. Ms. Rebeck’s television career continues, as well, with the upcoming NBC series, Smash, for which she is head writer.

Tickets for The Understudy are $10 for students and $12 for adults, and are available in advance at First Interstate Bank in the SUB, Cactus Records downtown, at the front desk of the Visual Communications Building at 11th and Grant streets, the Black Box reservation line at 994-3904, or purchase at the door.