WASHINGTON, D.C.—Kids in Montana will stand up to Big Tobacco on March 18 as they join thousands of young people nationwide for the 20th annual Kick Butts Day. More than 1,000 events are planned nationwide for this day of youth activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (See below for a list of local events.)
 
On Kick Butts Day, kids encourage their peers to stay tobacco-free, demand that tobacco companies stop marketing deadly, addictive products to them and encourage elected officials to do more to reduce youth tobacco use.
                                                                                                                         
This year, Kick Butts Day is focusing attention on how the tobacco industry still spends huge sums on marketing and is adopting new strategies to reach young customers. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.8 billion a year – one million dollars every hour – to market tobacco products. In Montana, tobacco companies spend $27.1 million annually on marketing efforts. The industry’s tactics that entice kids include:

·         Splashy ads in magazines with large youth readership, such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine and Rolling Stone.

·         Widespread advertising and price discounts in stores, which make tobacco products appealing and affordable to kids.

·         New, sweet-flavored tobacco products such as small cigars and electronic cigarettes. The latest surveys show that youth use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed.

 
In addition to organizing events, kids are standing up to the tobacco industry on social media through the #NotAReplacement selfie campaign. The tobacco industry’s own documents reveal that they have long targeted kids as “replacement smokers” for the more than 480,000 people their products kill each year in the United States. Kids are taking selfies to say they’re not a replacement and sharing the photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the #NotAReplacement hashtag. (view the #NotAReplacement selfie gallery)
 

“On Kick Butts Day, kids stand up and reject Big Tobacco’s manipulative marketing,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “We can make the next generation tobacco-free and end the tobacco epidemic for good. Elected officials can help reach that goal by standing with kids and supporting proven strategies to prevent youth tobacco use, including higher tobacco taxes, strong smoke-free laws and prevention programs.”
 
In Montana, tobacco use claims 1,600 lives and costs $440 million in health care bills each year. Currently, a disturbing 15.2 percent of Montana’s high school students smoke.
 
On Kick Butts Day, kids engage in creative events that range from small classroom activities about the harmful ingredients in cigarettes to large rallies at state capitols.
 
In Montana, activities include:
 
The Dawson County Health Department and students from the Washington Middle School Teens in Partnership (TIP) will encourage those driving to work to honk and wave for tobacco prevention at the Badlands Federal Credit Union. Mascots “Mo the Moose” and “Ciggy Butts” will wave at cars as students hold signs explaining the dangers of tobacco use. Time: 7:30 AM. Location: 302 W. Towne Street, Glendive. Contact: Laureen Murphree (406) 377-5213.
 
Students from the Students Taking Action Not Drugs (STAND) chapters at Glacier High School and Flathead High School will spread the word about the dangers of tobacco to students at Kalispell Middle School by posting #NotAReplacement selfie statements to Instagram. Time: 8 AM. Location: 205 Northwest Lane, Kalispell. Contact: Genia Tartaglino (406) 250-0054.
 
Healthy Gallatin and students from the Monforton Middle School Leadership Class/reACT will celebrate the conclusion of a month-long online scavenger hunt aimed at youth throughout Gallatin County. The scavenger hunt features point-of-sale tobacco marketing uploaded to Instagram for the chance to win an iTunes gift card. Time: 12 PM. Location: 215 W. Mendenhall Street, Bozeman. Contact: Jennifer MacFarlane (406) 582-3189.
 
On March 19, students from the Malta High School reACT! Team will host a Kick Butts Day kickball tournament at the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line in Malta. Following the tournament, the students will conduct an educational presentation on the ingredients in cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Time: 3:30 PM. Location: 101 South 7th Street W., Malta. Contact: Sonia Young (406) 654-2378.
 
On March 20, Dixon School District students will host an educational carnival about the dangers of tobacco use, featuring educational booths Mr. Grossmouth, tar jar and blackened breathing lungs. The students will also host a poster contest and commit to staying tobacco-free. Time: 12:55 PM. Location: 411 B Street, Dixon. Contact: Marie Michaels (406) 246-3566.
 
Events are on March 18 unless otherwise indicated. For a full list of Kick Butts Day activities in Montana, visit www.kickbuttsday.org/map. Additional information about tobacco, including state-by-state statistics, can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

Pinky and the Floyd is pleased to present their 5th annual theater performance;

a much anticipated concert-turned-‘Bozeman Tradition’ by what has been called “...the Reigning Pink Floyd Tribute Band of the Northwest...” This year’s production will feature in its entirety Pink Floyd’s 1994 studio release, The Division Bell, a certified gold, platinum, double platinum and triple platinum album celebrating and exploring themes of communication, and featuring such No.1 hits as “What Do You Want From Me?” and “Keep Talking.”

 

Often described as the definitive line between the old and new school fans, The Division Bell was instrumental in ushering in a new and fiercely loyal generation of Pink Floyd fans. With surreptitious references to previous albums (The Wall), bringing back to the table a continued discussion of political unease and/or celebration (the fall of the Berlin

Wall) helped solidify the band’s continued relevance in this arena. However The Division Bell’s running theme of communication (even the album artwork “speaks” to this) while it’s refrain may be idealistic (“talking can solve any problem”), it also not-so-subtly cuts- to-the-quick regarding long-standing hostility between Rogers and Gilmore, creating contrast with tension in an otherwise beautifully-orchestrated musical landscape for which The Division Bell is famously known.

If you’ve seen any of Pinky’s previous four theater productions you know that this is an experience not replicated by anyone else in the region; each year’s production topping the previous and gathering scores of fans every time. What started as a 5- piece band has steadily grown in size and audience to a 9-piece ensemble, culling from some of the best musical and technical talent in Montana, and reaching crowds of 5,000 plus. As usual Pinky has some tricks up their sleeve this year including special guests, live video- mixing, laser light show, and other on-stage antics and set designs that you’ll just have to

be there to witness! And for all of you “old school” fans—don’t worry—the 2nd set will quell your fix for all those songs you just have to hear.

And while we’re on the subject, the new Willson Auditorium is something to be celebrated all on its own! After years of planning and design, eight months of construction and an impressive community-based capital campaign, The Willson Auditorium cut the ribbon last month on a beautiful, state-of-the-art $3.5-million renovation that will serve the arts & culture in the greater Gallatin Valley and beyond for

years to come. Pinky and the Floyd are honored to be the 1st official “amplified” show in this newly renovated venue which includes much improved acoustics, refurbished seating, handicap accessibility, an enclosed sound booth and improvements to the lobby including concessions and a ticket booth. You can be sure that the new lighting

capabilities will get a proper chance to stretch out at Pinky’s performance on April 18th.

Whether or not you’re a Pink Floyd fan, maybe you just love live music, maybe you just want to see the new Willson Auditorium, and even if you already have plans that night— cancel them. This is a performance you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!

_______

Tickets $20 advance, $25 at the door. Available for purchase 18 March 2015 only at Cactus Records, downtown Bozeman (406-587-0245) or online at: https:// cactusrecords.net/tickets/

Doors open at 7:00pm. Showtime at 8:00pm. The Willson Auditorium, 414 W. Main St., Bozeman, MT 59715. ALL AGES.

PINKY Pre-Party. 6pm-10:30pm. Bar provided by Sidecar Bar Service (exact location TBA). No cover charge, no-host bar. 21+ only (I.D. required).

OUTSIDE, America’s leading active lifestyle brand, has selected American Prairie Reserve as an honoree of its annual Best of Travel awards. From newly- revealed travel territories to the best deals, OUTSIDE’s Best of Travel 2015 celebrates the destinations and travel providers that inspire people to participate in an active lifestyle. American Prairie Reserve was honored as Best of the Wild West. The entire list of winners appears in OUTSIDE’s April issue (on newsstands March 17), and currently online at http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure- travel/travel-awards/30-Trips-to-Take-This-Year.html.

This year, OUTSIDE’s adventure travel veterans scoured the globe to identify the coolest mountains to climb, food to eat, rivers to float, guides to hire, beaches to lounge on, and lodges to luxuriate in. The result is 30 breathtaking options — from the guides to show you around, to the cameras to capture it all, to the places to stay, to the best place to grab a snack at a food truck along the way.

“Since 2001, the nonprofit American Prairie Reserve has been working to restore the northern great plains to the pristine condition Lewis and Clark found them in more than 200 years ago,” the article states. “The resulting reserve, in northeast Montana, is now 305,000 acres. The aim is to reach 3.5 million by 2030, creating a U.S. Serengeti and the largest wildlife park in the lower 48, where herds of elk, mule deer, and bison thrive. But don’t wait to go. You can sleep under the stars now at the 11-
site Buffalo Camp ($10), four miles north of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, and take a DIY mountain-biking safari on old ranch roads, passing grazing bison and scanning the skies for American kestrels, Sprague’s pipits, and Swainson’s hawks. Or paddle the Missouri River past pioneer homesteads and historic tepees to Kestrel Camp, a set of five luxurious yurts, each with AC, a hot shower, and a veranda for sundowners (from $4,800 for six days).”

The complete list of Best of Travel winners will be featured in the April issue of OUTSIDE, available March 17, and already is listed online at http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/travel- awards/30-Trips-to-Take-This-Year.html. Continue the conversation with #OutsideTravel2015.

About American Prairie Reserve:
Founded in 2001, American Prairie Reserve aims to create and manage a prairie-based wildlife reserve that, when combined with public lands already devoted to wildlife, will protect a unique natural habitat, provide lasting economic benefits, and improve public access to and enjoyment of the prairie landscape. The Reserve, located in northeastern Montana, currently spans 305,000 acres of public and private land that is open to modern day explorers for camping and recreation, providing tangible economic benefits to the surrounding areas. The landscape is one of the most intact prairies left in North America and is home to hundreds of species, including elk, pronghorn, sage grouse, prairie dogs, and a growing bison herd. For more information and to request a visitor map, please visit americanprairie.org.

About OUTSIDE:

OUTSIDE is America’s leading active lifestyle brand. Since 1977, OUTSIDE has covered travel, sports, adventure, health, and fitness, as well as the personalities, the environment, and the style and culture of the world Outside. The OUTSIDE family includes OUTSIDE magazine, the only magazine to win three consecutive National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, The Outside Buyer’s Guides, Outside Online, Outside Television, Outside Events, Outside+ tablet edition, Outside Books, and now Outside GO, a revolutionary, 21st-century adventure-travel company.

Montana Wilderness School (MWS), a recently established 501(c)3 non-profit outdoor education program focusing on Montana youth, is launching a 30-day Indiegogo.com crowdfunding campaign on April 2nd to raise funds for student scholarships. The fundraising campaign will kick off with a launch party at 406 Brewery and Wild Rye Distilling in Bozeman.
 
Crowdfunding Campaign Launch Party
Join MWS for the launch party at 406 Brewery and Wild Rye Distilling in Bozeman, MT. The event is free and open to the public, families and children welcome.  406 Brewery will donate $1 of every pint sold towards the scholarship fund from 6-8pm. Wild Rye Distilling is concocting some drink specials to celebrate the event. Music by Cottonwood Line from 6-8 pm. Items from local businesses and retailers will be raffled off, including a Wilderness First Aid Course from Aerie Backcountry Medicine and a pair of new shoes or boots from Oboz.  Come support MWS’ scholarship campaign!
 
MWS Indiegogo.com Scholarship Campaign
The funding platform is Indiegogo (for nonprofits) and can be found at: www.indiegogo.com/projects/montana-wilderness-school.  It will not go live until April 2nd.  All proceeds from the campaign will go directly into an endowment fund helping support low income Montana teenagers with the opportunity to attend one of four multi-week backcountry expeditions that MWS will run this coming summer.
 
About Montana Wilderness School
 
The Montana Wilderness School is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity organization based in Bozeman, Montana.  The mission is to provide empowering wilderness courses to youth that foster personal growth and cultivate a conservation ethic through connecting with remote landscapes and wild places.
 
MWS is currently enrolling 16-18 year old students for their expeditions this summer, offering 4 exciting and empowering expeditions all with their own flavor and dynamic based on these goals and values:

Building and supporting a rich and diverse community
Personal Growth and Character Development
A goal-oriented multi-week backcountry expedition in Montana
Technical skill competency in backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, packrafting, and canoeing (specific to each course)
Wilderness First Aid Certification (included in every course thru Aerie Backcountry Medicine)
Public land stewardship
Montana-specific conservation issues identification and analysis
 
 
For more information about the Montana Wilderness School, the Indiegogo.com crowdfunding launch party, or the Indiegogo.com campaign, please contact the directors:  Gar Duke or Josh Olsen.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and one of the most recognized science communicators in America today.

On March 4, on his first visit to Montana, he gave an evening lecture at Montana State University. The sold-out event – the largest audience Tyson has addressed in person -- was hosted by the MSU Leadership Institute.

Tyson grew up in New York City and became fascinated by astronomy after visiting the Hayden Planetarium at age 9. He is currently director of that planetarium, and his ability to explain science in dynamic ways has made him a popular figure in American media.

Tyson is host of the popular program, “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey.” He hosted PBS’ “Nova ScienceNow,” wrote for Natural History magazine and is a frequent guest on “CBS This Morning.” Tyson recently announced that he will have his own talk show on the National Geographic Channel, titled “Star Talk.” He has also appeared on numerous talk shows such as “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report” and “Real Time with Bill Maher,” as well as hit TV series such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

A native of the Bronx, Tyson has a doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University. His research is on star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of the Milky Way. He was appointed to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry and the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission by former President George W. Bush. He has been awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by NASA.

“We seek to bring high-profile, world-renowned experts to Montana State University, and Dr. Tyson’s thought-provoking lectures sell out to audiences throughout the country,” said Carmen McSpadden, director of the MSU Leadership Institute. “Our students have worked diligently for the last two years to host Dr. Tyson, and it could not have happened without their efforts, our generous sponsors and students and public who purchased tickets.”

Tyson’s lecture was sponsored by the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana PBS, the MSU Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Leadership Institute, Office of Research and Economic Development, College of Engineering and the Associated Students of Montana State University (ASMSU).

In the afternoon before his lecture, Tyson briefly answered some questions.

Out of all the astrophysical events in the history of the universe, what would you have most liked to witness?

The obvious one is the Big Bang.

Second to that, it would be the formation of our own moon. All evidence points to that being the product of a collision between a Mars-sized protoplanet and Earth. This Mars-sized protoplanet sideswiped Earth. It would have been a tremendous collision, scattering planet guts everywhere, coalescing over the ensuing months to form the moon. The moon would have formed very close to Earth. It would be about 20 times closer than now. The moon would have been huge in the sky. There would be huge tides.

My third choice would be to watch the extinction of the dinosaurs with the comet impact.
 

Since you grew up in New York City, what is the first star you saw in the night sky?

Generally, if it’s the first star you notice, it’s not going to be a star. It’s going to be a planet. For me, it would have been Venus in the evening sky as a kid in the Bronx in New York.

Stars don’t manifest in the night sky in the big city, certainly not most stars. But planets, when they get bright, they outshine all the other stars. So often when people wish upon a star … almost every wish in those cases was wished on a planet, and that’s why your wishes don’t come true. I’m pretty sure about that.


You are involved in so many things.  How do you divide your time?

There is strong overlap.

There’s a famous saying that you have one kid. Then you go to someone else who has two kids and say, “I have one kid. Should I have another kid?” The other person says, “Well, is the kid you now have taking up 100 percent of your time?” The answer is yes, so the second kid can’t take up more than that.

You have said you are a servant of the public’s appetite for science. What is the public most hungry for within science?

I think some people are hungry, and they don’t know they are hungry. It’s up to me as an educator to offer them a (sampler platter). If they don’t know, I will offer some things. Then I see which one they pick.

There are some repeating themes that people care about, like are we alone in the universe? What was around before the Big Bang? …It’s interesting how often catastrophic questions get asked. People want to know when they are going to die if it’s by some cosmic force.

I wrote a whole book called “Death by Black Hole.” People just love that, and kids love it. I thought, well that’s really creepy if kids like stuff like that, but kids also like T. rex better than vegetarian dinosaurs. I conclude that kids like things that can eat them.

You have danced in the past. If you were a competitor on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” and it was audience choice night, what song and dance style would they choose for you?

I like Van Morrison’s music and one by Joe Cocker, “Feelin’ Alright.” The songs are not exactly mainstream, but they are not so completely obscure that you are showing off. … I would happily be choreographed by whomever. They are professionals who do that.

As Tyson played Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright” and Morrison’s “Moondance” on his laptop, he continued, saying:

My real answer is I wouldn’t be interested in going on “Dancing with the Stars.” I danced long ago and I’m finished dancing. When I was dancing, no one asked me to give talks. Now I’m giving talks. If I now started dancing, then I wouldn’t be doing what it is that people ask me to give talks about. I wouldn’t be doing the thing that made me interesting enough to be on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Since your daughter’s name was inspired by the universe, how did you choose your son’s name? (Tyson’s daughter, Miranda, was named for one of the five major moons of Uranus. His son is Travis.)

It was the county where my wife and I first met, Travis County in Texas. We met at the University of Texas. My wife was getting her Ph.D. in mathematical physics.

Which award means the most to you besides Sexiest Astrophysicist (awarded by People magazine in 2000)?

It may be that I was inducted to the Bronx Hall of Fame. In New York City, it’s hard for anything to feel hometown because the town is so large with 8 million people. Hardly anything you do is received the way it would happen in a small town where everyone knows everybody.

I had underestimated the warmth that that would bring to me, knowing that I was a native of the Bronx … It has a quaintness that I didn’t think was possible in a city such as New York.

Montana State University graduate Maurice Hilleman, who saved the lives of millions by developing a wide array of vaccines, will be inducted into Gallery of Outstanding Montanans in Helena at the State Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, March 5.

Hilleman will be honored along with Helen Piotopowaka Clarke, an educator and Indian rights activist, in a ceremony at 11 a.m.

A Miles City native, Hilleman graduated atop his class at what was then Montana State College in 1941 with dual degrees in chemistry and microbiology. His name often accompanies those of Jonas Salk and Louis Pasteur as pioneers who fundamentally changed the game in human health. The abstract on a National Institutes of Health obituary for Hilleman, who died in 2005, describes him this way: “Microbe hunter, pioneering virologist, and the world's leading vaccinologist.”

Over his career he developed dozens of vaccines. According to Paul Offit, who wrote the Hilleman biography “Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases,” history will remember Hilleman as the man who saved more lives than any other 20th century scientist.

Among Hilleman’s scientific achievements:
A hepatitis B vaccine that was the first vaccine to prevent a cancer in humans (liver cancer, or hepatoma).
A measles-mumps-and-rubella combination vaccine that marked the first time vaccines for different viruses were successfully combined in a single shot.
Vaccines for meningitis and pneumonia.
A mumps vaccine that came after Hilleman isolated the virus by swabbing the back of his daughter Jeryl Lynn's throat when she was stricken with the disease (50 years later it is still the basis for most mumps vaccines).
A more complete understanding of the ways different strains of the flu change slightly from year to year, which led to the practice of developing an annual seasonal flu vaccine.
The first successful prediction of a coming influenza pandemic and development of a vaccine that thwarted it, possibly saving close to a million people in 1957.  
Maggie Ordon, curator of history at the Montana Historical Society, said nominations suggesting Hilleman should be included in the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans came from all across the state, with a particular concentration from residents of Miles City, where Hilleman is considered a favorite son.
Hilleman grew up in modest circumstances on his uncle’s farm just across the Tongue River from Miles City. Without the means to pay for college and considering an offer to work at the local J.C. Penney store, a scholarship to attend Montana State College launched Hilleman on the first step of his illustrious career.

A panel of experts in Montana history chooses those Montanans who will be honored. Two are inducted each year.

“The gallery was created in 1979 to honor Montanans who have made contributions of state or national significance to their selected fields while epitomizing the unique spirit and character that defines Montana,” Ordon said.

Both Clarke and Hilleman are fitting inductees, Ordon added. As Gallery of Outstanding Montanans inductees numbers 40 and 41, plaques honoring their achievements will hang in the Capitol’s west wing until 2023.

Mark Jutila, head of MSU’s Microbiology and Immunology Department, will accept the award for Hilleman.

It is a rare achievement in America for a public high school speech and debate team to qualify nine competitors for the prestigious National Speech and Debate Association High School National Tournament.  This year, nine Bozeman students are going to the national tournament in Dallas and they need your help.

The Bozeman Hawkers invite the public to a fun evening that showcases the talents of these bright competitors in rhetorical pugilism.  Please mark it on your calendar:  The event will be held Friday, April 24, at 7:00 PM in the Emerson Cultural Center’s Weaver Room. Admission is free of charge.

“We’re proud that once again we are sending several Hawkers to a tournament where they will compete with the best in the country,” says Hawker head coach Adam Thane. “The showcase we’re hosting is a rare opportunity for the public to see them in action and we guarantee it will be entertaining.”

The Bozeman Hawkers speech and debate team is known throughout the region and its success over the years has made it one of the most successful extra-curricular programs at the high school. Over the years, its alums have gone on to become a U.S. ambassador to Russia, U.S. Legislators, scholars, heads of major businesses, teachers, doctors, writers and more.

The Hawkers who competed in the 2014-2015 season are also extraordinarily diverse. From soccer goalies to physics prodigies, to ballerinas, they are united by a love for going head to head in the non-physical sport of forensics.

Completing an extremely successful competitive season by winning every regular season tournament and placing second at State, the team traveled to the national qualifier tournament in Missoula.  Nine team members qualified for the National Tournament, including two policy debate teams, Kayleigh Abbott and Cameron Tate, and Anna Atwell and Sean Swinford, Lincoln-Douglas debater Blake Dokken, Public Forum debate team Anna Kaveney and Natalie Wilkinson, and Duo Interpretation team Nate Breigenzer and Bryan Kohler.

The showcase promises to be a special evening, featuring performances from these qualifiers as well as other talented Hawkers. Along with entertainment from the team, the night will include a raffle and silent auction. Raffle tickets are $10 each, and among the prizes are two weekend passes each to Targhee Fest and Blue Grass Fest both at Grand Targhee this summer; a Sonos Play-5 wireless speaker; opera tickets and many other items.  

All proceeds will go toward the Hawkers and their trip to the national tournament. Come Meet the Hawkers and be entertained by a talented and engaged group of students while helping them realize their goals. The event will take place on Friday, April 24, at 7:00 PM at the Emerson Weaver Room, admission is free of charge.

20 Years of Nothing But Drama!

Camp Equinox Comes Into Its 20th Year of Theatre Camp!

What?!?! 20 years of Camp Equinox?!?! How is that possible?

Camp Equinox, Bozeman’s oldest and biggest theatre day camp got their start back in 1996 at Headwaters Academy. From 50 campers that first year, Camp Equnox has grown to 250 kids over two sessions, now held at Bozeman Summit School.

“We really believe in creating community first, and nurturing campers to become amazing young people. Theatre and comedy are just terrific ways to do it,” says Co-Camp Director Soren Kisiel.

Kisiel and his wife Katie Goodman do everything together. They built the camp, ran what is now the Verge Theatre (under the previous name The Equinox Theatre) for over 12 years, co-write and direct the nationally touring professional satire company Broad Comedy, and co-wrote a new musical with the Pultizer-Prize winning political cartoonist of the Washington Post, Tom Toles. You may have seen them in Spontaneous Combusibles, the improv comedy troupe that has performed at Sweetpea for 20 years running, that they founded. They met in a play at college, and have never stopped working to teach and create new theatre since. They were even nominated for a MacArthur Genius Award for their unique work in theatre.

Living in New York, they know the ins and outs of the professional theatre and comedy improv world. They know what it takes to be a creative person in this day and age, and they have found that expressing themselves through comedy is powerful. But they also know how to put process over product when it matters. While the professional theatre scene can be quite cut throat at times, it’s important, they say, to remember why you got into the creative arts to begin with.

“The community that is built creating theatre is one of the most enlivening and empowering things in my life,” Goodman says. “I get so much joy out of creating a character and connecting with other actors to bring a show to life. It’s magical. I learned this when I was a kid doing theatre and now we want to create a safe place where kids support each other and feel really proud of both the creative work they are capable of doing, but also of the friendships and culture that they are a part of. Loving theatre is one thing, but loving your buddies and helping them be their best is really what matters.”

The couple just sold their first funny children’s book, The Night Our Parents Went Out, published by POW! Books and distributed by Random House, coming out September 1st.

“It’s really an improv show in book form,” says Goodman. “It is two kids imagining what happens when their parents go out for dinner – like a giant squid taking over the restaurant – and how they imagine their parents creatively getting out of jam after jam.”

Empowering kids to feel self-confident is what matters most to the Camp Equinox staff. And it’s what matters, it seems, to parents of campers too, who keep sending their kids back year after year.

“Our son dropped a little gem on us at dinner one night last summer,” said one parent who wished to remain anonymous so as not to embarrass her pre-teen. “We asked how his day was and he said that he had forgotten how great it was at Camp Equinox where he could totally be himself versus how stressful school was where you had to be cool all the time. The ‘aha’ moment was the realization that it just might be better to be your real self than to be “cool.” This was the best news a parent of a pre-teen could hear.”

Camp Equinox offers two separate month-long sessions for kids going into grades 1 - 8. Camp runs from 8:30 – 3:30 (except Fridays which end at noon). A fiesta of learning includes acting, musical theatre, comedy improvisation, Shakespeare, dance, puppetry, play writing, hip-hop, costume and set design, and much, much more.

The Camp Scholarship program offers varying scholarship amounts to families in need. These are financial need-based awards. Camp Equinox has never turned anyone away with a financial need based on national income guidelines. Please call for a scholarship application.

Camp Equinox culminates in a giant final performance at the end of camp for family and friends. They are also featured in the Sweetpea Festival and Farmer’s Markets every year performing a smattering of their favorite musical numbers.

For more information or to receive a brochure, please call 406-522-7623 or go to the website at www.campequinox.com where you can get more information as well as download and printout a registration form.

The Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board seeks nominations for the Historic Preservation Awards. Nominations are due by 5pm on March 15, 2015 and may be submitted electronically at: http://www.bozeman.net/Departments/Community-Development/Historic-Preservation/Perservation-Nominations

Community members are encouraged to complete multiple forms to nominate numerous buildings, structures, individuals, companies, and projects throughout Bozeman that have been completed in the past three years. Please upload at least two photographs for each nomination. Winners will be selected March 26th 2015 and notified shortly thereafter.

Award-winning preservation projects will demonstrate an exceptional effort in the preservation of a building or structure. Award categories include Preservation Stewardship, Continued Maintenance, Restoration/ Rehabilitation and Infill/ New Addition. Nominations will be judged against the following criteria:
    •    Adheres to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation(http://www.nps.gov/tps/stndards/rehabilitation/rehab/stand.htm
    •    Enhances the character of the property
    •    Respects its context
    •    Maximizes the retention of distinctive features that make the building or structure significant
    •    Contributes to the building or structure’s continued use

The Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board is pleased to reinstate the annual Historic Preservation Awards. The awards ceremony will be held at 6pm on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at the Baxter Hotel, 105 West Main Street. Community members are invited to attend the ceremony and celebrate Bozeman’s preservation projects.

Contact:  Courtney Kramer
              Historic Preservation Officer
              ckramer@bozeman.net
              406-582-2260

Def Leppard returns to the road this summer for an extensive North American tour. The tour hitting nearly 50 cities across the U.S. and Canada will make a stop at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on October 2nd. Joining Def Leppard on their massive summer outing are rockers Styx and Tesla. For complete details, visit www.brickbreeden.com. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 27 at 10am MST and will be available at the Bobcat Ticket Office, online at TicketsWest.com, by phone at 800-808-5940, and all TicketsWest outlets.

Def Leppard's influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, capturing the group's legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard hits such as "Rock of Ages," Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Foolin". The upcoming tour follows on the heels of the band's massive 2014 co-headlining tour with KISS, last summer.

About Def Leppard:
Def Leppard--Joe Elliott (vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick "Sav" Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums)—continues to be one of the most important forces in rock music. With 100 million records sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards to their credit, the group's spectacular live shows, filled with powerful melodic rock anthems, continue to sell out venues worldwide. For the past thirty years the band's epic live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading Def Leppard to be heralded as an institution in both the music and touring industry.

About Styx:
Spawned from a Chicago basement in the early ‘70s, STYX would eventually transform into the virtual arena rock prototype by the late '70s and early '80s, due to a fondness for big rockers and soaring power ballads. Over the course of their 38-year career they've released 15 studio albums, six best-of compilations and four live albums, garnering eight Top Ten singles. STYX has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Throughout their illustrious career, they've performed more live shows since 1999 than all of the previous years of its career combined. Two Super-Bowl appearances, Pollstar box office chart-topping tours with Def Leppard, Journey, Boston, REO Speedwagon and Bad Company (to name only a few), two more studio albums and no end in sight, STYX continues to conquer the planet, one venue at a time.

About Tesla:

TESLA -- Jeff Keith (vocals), Frank Hannon (guitar), Brian Wheat (bass guitar), Dave Rude (guitar) and Troy Luccketta (drums)— One of Rock n Roll's most respected bands, multi-platinum sellers TESLA have remained true to their "no frills" style since the first day they hit the music scene nearly 30 years ago. Their catalog reads like a soundtrack to the lives of a generation of fans worldwide. With their latest chart topping release "SIMPLICITY" they have proven they are a band that continues to consistently deliver energetic, hard-driving, blues-based rhythms with thought-provoking lyrics that die-hard fans expect and today's generation craves.