The Pollination Project, a nonprofit organization that gives $1000 a day, every day, to individual change-makers and activists, awarded a grant to local resident Bonnie Goodman, founder of Live and Let Livingston, for her “hard core activism with a gentle touch”.
 
Goodman promotes compassion in Montana by sharing delicious vegan food and recipes with locals and tourists at events that are free and open to the public.  Her monthly potluck has been featured in American Vegan Magazine and Victoria Moran’s Main Street Vegan Academy blog, to inspire others to create events in their own communities.   Live and Let Livingston teaches plant-based cooking classes, shares educational materials and a huge lending library of cookbooks and DVDs, gives away free food samples and recipes at health fairs, and participates every year in The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale.
 
Bonnie explains, “It’s my goal to be there for the ‘veg-curious’, and to help local vegans find a sense of community.  It’s a way to live with kindness everyday. Those who want to make compassion the foundation of their lifestyle will want to consider veganism, because it’s a win-win-win: for people, animals, and the environment! ”
 
The Pollination Project funds projects that benefit people, planet, and animals in areas like environmental sustainability, social justice, community health and wellness, arts and media.   To view a full list of recipients to date please see http://thepollinationproject.org/
 
 Said Goodman, "I’m deeply grateful to The Pollination Project for believing in my work, and also very thankful to my husband, the volunteers, and dear friends who have helped over the years; from feeding spay/neuter clinic attendees, to handing out free kale salad at Farmer’s Market, and even dressing up like veggies for the Rodeo Parade!”
 
For more information visit Live and Let Livingston, on Facebook or Vegans Rock Montana on MeetUp.
 
About The Pollination Project
The Pollination Project awards $1000 in seed money to individual changemakers and activists who are working to make the world – or just their own community – a better, more peaceful, just and more sustainable place. The Pollination Project is a platform for investing directly in committed people who just need a little money to launch their social change vision. For more information or to apply please see www.thepollinationproject.org.

The mood was festive in the lobby of the Ellen Theater in downtown Bozeman on June 5 as fans and friends gathered to celebrate the life of the late Ben Bullington, a doctor, singer-songwriter and performer who touched the lives of many in Montana and beyond.

“Ben is here,” said Joanne Gardner, as she moved among the crowd greeting guests and sharing stories of the tall doctor with the engaging smile who wrote songs that touch the heart. “I’m wearing his ring--Tom [Murphy] is wearing his shoes.” Gardner counted Bullington among her dear friends, performing with him and helping to spread his music to a wider audience, and staying by his side as he dealt with the pancreatic cancer that would take his life in 2013. Gardner was the moving force behind Friday evening’s concert, bringing a talented group of performers (who also happened to be Ben’s friends) together for what would prove to be a wonderful evening of music and memories.

Bill Payne and Darrell Scott

Those performers included Darrell Scott, whose latest release, “10-the Songs of Ben Bullington,” is rising fast on the charts--the Ellen concert was a CD release event of sorts (the first and only other “10“ release show took place in Nashville to rave reviews in mid-May). Scott and Bullington met in Montana, and the fact that Scott (an NSAI Songwriter of the Year, Americana 2007 Song of the Year winner, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, and multiple Grammy nominee) made this recording speaks to the connection he and Bullington made in a very short time. 
Bill Payne (Little Feat), who collaborated with Bullington musically before his death, was also there at the Ellen Theater on the keyboards, as was John Lowell on guitar, Kris Clone (piano, vocals), Tom Murphy (mandolin, vocals), Buff Brown (harmonica), Russell Smith (standup bass), and Gardner herself on vocals.

Inside the theater, the mood was more hushed than in the lobby, almost reverent. The packed house in the Ellen was still as Darrell Scott stepped up to the microphone and started the evening off with these simple words: “Welcome to our Lovefest.”

It was indeed a lovefest, as these friends of Ben Bullington brought their love for the man forth with their renditions of his music in the first set. Kris Clone sat at the piano and gave a solo tribute to his friend. Bill Payne played “The Last Adios,” the tune from the movie “Crazy Heart” that he and Bullington collaborated on. And the stories were there, too, along with the music.

“Ben loved life, family, his friends...but he hated flies,” said John Lowell, as he began a soulful rendition of Bullington’s song “I Despise Flies.” Russell Smith related the time when he was considering getting a “green card” so he could smoke medical marijuana, and discussed the matter with Ben.

“Why would you want the government to know you are smoking marijuana?” was Bullington’s reply. Gardner recalled how Ben got her singing again, and reminded the crowd that “We’re also here to thank Darrell Scott.” The first set closed with all of the performers onstage to play Ben’s tribute to the small town he once practiced medicine in, a little tune with a lot of feeling called “White Sulphur Springs.”

After a break, Darrell Scott took the stage to play the songs he had decided should be on that tribute recording to Ben Bullington. The multi-talented performer did so with a wonderful singing voice, as well as guitar, lap steel, and piano.

“Ben recorded 67 songs,” said Scott. “Picking ten was tough.” The choices Scott made are a good fit. Scott began with “Lone Pine” and “Sage After Rain,” two songs with a lot of Montana in them--and more.

“There’s a lot of depth in these songs,” Scott said. “I don’t think Ben was afraid of death.” Ben wasn’t afraid of the music “establishment,” either, as was demonstrated by his song “Country Music, I’m Talking to You,” his jab at corporate Nashville, especially the industry’s treatment of the Dixie Chicks in the wake of their non-support for the Iraq War.

“In the last months of Ben’s life I started sending iPhone recordings of me singing a song of his,” Scott told the audience near the end of the show. “The first iPhone recording, ‘I’ve Gotta Leave You Now,’ ends this album. That recording is what Ben heard, and he loved it--I think it’s important that the iPhone version be on the album, just as Ben heard it.” And when Scott played the song, in which Bullington essentially bids his sons farewell, there were not many dry eyes in the house.

The show ended with all performers onstage for “In the Light of Day,” which the audience participated in. It was an appropriate end to a fine show honoring a man who loved his life, his friends, and his music.

“10-the Songs of Ben Bullington” is on sale at Cactus Records and Gifts in Bozeman, and even at Target Stores nationwide. Pick up a copy and you’ll know why this recording is so special to so many folks.

Livingston Depot Foundation announces “Call for Pies” in advance of 28th annual Depot Festival of the Arts to be held July 2, 3, & 4
 
The tradition goes forward on the winds like the aroma of a pie in the oven.
 
The Livingston Depot Foundation has announced its “Call for Pies” for the pie booth that hallmarks its longstanding Depot Festival of the Arts over the July 4th weekend.  The summer event is set for July 2, 3, & 4 from 10 to 6 at Depot Rotary Park, next to the Livingston Depot Center, the historic train station that operates today as a museum and community cultural center.
 
The pie booth, featuring a creative range of flavors by the bakers, is not only an important fundraiser for the Livingston Depot Foundation, it is also a highly anticipated tradition.  “It’s a great combination – outstanding crafts and fine art, and outstanding pies to enjoy it with,” said Museum Director Diana Seider.  “We appreciate the people who make it happen – but it seems the visitors appreciate it even more!”
 
Anyone wishing to donate a pie to be sold at the booth can reach the Depot office at (406) 222-2300, and pies can be dropped off in advance at the museum reception desk, or at the Depot pie booth any day of the event.

A Montana State University astrophysicist has won a prestigious international award for her pioneering work on neutron stars.


Sachiko Tsuruta will receive the Marcel Grossmann Prize on July 13 during the Marcel Grossman Meeting in Rome.  Grossman was a mathematician who collaborated with Albert Einstein, and his namesake meetings focus on the latest developments in gravitation and general relativity.  The Grossmann award is given every three years.

“We’re all thrilled for her,” said MSU solar physicist David McKenzie. “To be recognized for a fundamental discovery is awesome.”

Yves Idzerda, head of MSU’s Department of Physics, said, “Montana State University once again stands in good company.”

The other individual winners this year are astrophysicists at Princeton University, Trinity College-Cambridge and the University of Tokyo. Previous winners included several Nobel Laureates, as well as famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking.

“It’s very nice,” Tsuruta said of her prize.

In the 51 years since Tsuruta received her Ph.D. from Columbia University, she has investigated a variety of topics that deal with dense stellar objects, such as neutron stars, black holes, white dwarfs, supermassive black holes and early universe problems such as first stars, gravitational waves and gamma ray bursts.

Her most important contribution to astrophysics is said to be her prediction that neutron stars existed. She made that prediction as a doctoral student and before pulsars were discovered in 1967. Pulsars are highly magnetized rotating neutron stars. Tsuruta also made predictions about the cooling and heating of neutron stars. Her predictions have since been proven true by the Hubble Space Telescope, ground-based telescopes and telescopes in X-ray satellite missions.

Tsuruta’s findings have been published in more than 230 papers and shared in more than 330 lectures at national and international conferences. She has served on organizing committees of several major conferences, including the third and seventh Marcel Grossmann meetings.

During the upcoming Grossman meeting, Tsuruta will give a lecture titled, “How hot neutron stars are.”

Some people might think neutron stars are cold, but they are very hot compared to ordinary stars, she said.

“The problem is essentially calculating the temperature of neutron stars and comparing them with the observed data,” Tsuruta said.

Knowing more about the cooling mechanism of neutron stars allows scientists to answer a variety of questions, such as the composition of their cores, Tsuruta said.

A native of Yokohama, Japan and the granddaughter of a Shinto priest, Tsuruta said she became a scholar because of her father. She became an astrophysicist after moving to the United States.

Her father was interested in history and wanted to become a scholar, but after college he went to work for the makers of Kirin beer and encouraged all six of his daughters to pursue higher education. His only son died as a toddler.

Tsuruta majored in English in Japan, but she switched to astrophysics after transferring to the University of Washington. Explaining, she said she couldn’t compete with English majors in the United States, but mathematics is the language of physics, and any nationality can speak it. She had enjoyed physics and astronomy in high school.

Tsuruta earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University. She then worked for the Smithsonian and Harvard Observatory, now the Harvard Center for Astrophysics. She also became an outside adviser to NASA. For several years, she commuted between MSU and Germany, working half a year at MSU and half a year at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. She started working full-time at MSU in 1989.

The Yellowstone Park Foundation and Nature’s Best Photography magazine announced today their partnership and global launch of the Yellowstone Forever Photo Contest, created to celebrate the world’s first national park through photography and public participation.  

    Designed as a run-up to the National Park Service’s Centennial Anniversary in 2016, the Yellowstone Forever Photo Contest is one of several Yellowstone Park Foundation activities planned to observe the Centennial.  It is also the first global photo competition to be focused on Yellowstone.

     “As we join in the celebration of the National Park Service’s Centennial Anniversary, our goal is to focus on Yellowstone National Park through the eyes of Park visitors,” said Karen Bates Kress, president of the Yellowstone Park Foundation. “What they have witnessed over the years, and the photographs they have made will surely result in a remarkable body of work.”

    Entries for the contest will be accepted from June 1, 2015 through Sept. 10, 2015 in four categories:  Wildlife, Landscapes, Yellowstone Adventure, and a Mobile category for images created on phones and tablets.  The contest is open to all Professionals, Amateurs, and Youth 18 and Under.

    Winners will be featured in Nature’s Best Photography magazine in spring 2016, displayed in a print exhibition at the Old Faithful Haynes Photo Shop during the summer of 2016, and will appear in online galleries and multimedia presentations.  In addition to this exposure, contest winners will receive cash and prizes.  To enter, photographers can visit www.ypf.org/contest or  www.naturesbestphotography.com/yellowstone.

The Downtown Bozeman Partnership presented three awards at the 10th Annual Downtown Breakfast held Thursday, May 28, 2015 at the Baxter Hotel.  
The awards included the Downtown Cornerstone Award, the Downtown Community Award and the “Life is Downtown” Award.  The nominees and recipient for each award were selected by the Downtown Bozeman Association board, Business Improvement District board and Tax Increment Finance board.

The Downtown Cornerstone Award recognizes a business that serves as an anchor to the downtown community not only economically, but socially, culturally and civically.  The business has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to downtown by sponsoring downtown events, supporting the member organizations of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership, while being an exemplary business leader.

Previous recipients include: Country Bookshelf (2014), Rockin’ R Bar (2013), The Leaf & Bean (2012), Insty-Prints (2011), Heeb’s Grocery (2010), Owenhouse Ace Hardware (2009) and First Security Bank (2008). The 2015 Downtown Cornerstone nominees were the Baxter Hotel, MacKenzie River Pizza, Nova Cafe and Schnee’s Boots and Shoes. The 2015 recipient of the Downtown Cornerstone Award is the Schnee’s Boots and Shoes.  Suzanne Edwards accepted the award on behalf of Schnees.

Babs Noelle, DBA President, presented the award saying, “For decades, Schnee’s has been a huge supporter of the downtown.  Both owners have served on Downtown Partnership boards and they have also been consistently involved in nearly all DBA events and programs. We all owe Schnee’s a debt of gratitude for being an anchor on Main Street—a downtown cornerstone—for over 40 years.”

The Downtown Community Award acknowledges a business or organization that has provided exemplary support of downtown Bozeman.  This entity recognizes that the city of Bozeman and the entire Gallatin Valley benefits from a thriving downtown, and therefore, they have assisted the Downtown Bozeman Partnership in its efforts to promote and enhance the community’s historic core.  
Previous recipients include: First Interstate Bank (2014), Town Square Media (2013), Bozeman Daily Chronicle (2012), Bozeman Food Co-op (2011), City of Bozeman (2010), Montana State University (2009) and Kenyon Noble (2008). The 2015 Downtown Community nominees were Bridger Bowl, First Security Bank, Gallatin Art Crossing and Sweet Pea Festival. The 2015 recipient of the Downtown Community Award is First Security Bank.  Steve Wheeler, Executive Vice President, accepted the award on behalf of First Security Bank.

Eric Sutherland, Downtown Business Improvement District board member, presented the award and said, “First Security Bank was founded downtown in 1919. In 1960 they moved to their current location at the corner of Main and Bozeman. Considering First Security’s 95 year history downtown, it is no surprise that they support nearly every Downtown Partnership initiative. We are thankful for First Security Bank’s loyal support each and every year.”

The “Life is Downtown” Award honors a person who has given a veritable lifetime of service to downtown Bozeman.  The recipient has exceeded the expectations of the community in their generous support downtown.  This person has devoted considerable time and effort to the betterment of the downtown community by volunteering for special events, serving as a downtown board member, and playing a leadership role in downtown initiatives.  

Previous recipients include: Ileana Indreland (2014), Bobby Bear (2013), Larry Bowman (2012), Bert Hopeman (2011), Chris Pope (2010), Steve Schnee (2009) and Bob Paynich (2008). The 2015 “Life is Downtown” nominees were Mike Hope, Babs Noelle and Rob Pertzborn. The 2015 recipient of the “Life is Downtown” Award is Rob Pertzborn.

Chris Naumann, the Downtown Partnership’s Executive Director, presented the award and said, “Rob has lived and worked downtown for 25 years. I can tell you from personal experience, Rob thinks about downtown a lot—as in almost all the time. And he constantly asks the hard questions. As an architect and a volunteer, Rob has played a visionary roll in dozens of downtown projects—both public and private. Rob is a true champion of downtown and embodies the meaning of our motto: ‘Life is Downtown’.”

Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute is looking for up to five more high school students interested in engineering to attend a free summer camp on the MSU campus.

At the Summer Transportation Institute, which runs June 15-26, students stay in the dorms and explore various engineering careers. Students complete engineering projects led by MSU engineering professors, meet with local industry professionals and take field trips to experience engineering in action. During one such trip, students take “discovery flights” in small aircraft at the local airport.

For more information and to apply, visit http://www.montana.edu/wti/sti/index.html.

The latest effort to adjust plans for how wild bison are managed around Yellowstone National Park is being released, with interested ranchers, conservation groups and the general public being invited to view the details next week.

The new draft plan is designed to replace the Interagency Bison Management Plan, which has been in place since 2011. Wildlife managers say the new plan is being written around the latest science and research, and what has been learned about the herd's migration in and out of the park the past several seasons.

This plan, being developed by the National Park Service and the State of Montana uses six different alternatives that were outlined in recent public "scoping" efforts.

The three meetings will give people a chance to review the initial work, with an open house where questions can be directed to NPS and FWP officials.

The meetings will be held in Bozeman on June 2 at the Hilton Garden Inn, June 3 at the Gardiner School and June 4 at the Holiday Inn in West Yellowstone.

The new plan could be finalized in 2017.

We have Summer Workshops for kids and teens!
Follow this link for more info and to register your child or teen! http://vergetheater.com/education/summer-programs

Improv to Writing
When: Mon. June 29th-Thurs. July 2nd from 12-3pm. Performance Demo Thurs. July 2nd 5-6:30pm

Who: Kids entering grades 6-12

Teacher: Molly Hannan

Cost: $130
During this great workshop, we will help your child explore writing his/her own material through Improv techniques and games.  Whether it’s comedy or drama, there is nothing better than Improv to spark creativity and imagination.  Your child will learn how to put those ideas to paper and finish in a collaborative show on the final day of the workshop. There is no need for previous improv experience to participate, just a willingness to explore the unexpected!  



Improv
When: Mon. July 13th-Thurs. July 17th from 12-3pm. Performance Demo Thurs. July 13th 5-6:30pm

Who: Kids entering grades 3-5

Teacher: Paige Johnson

Cost: $130
During the fun workshop, your child will learn the basics of Improv and practice skills such as active listening, communication, collaboration, and concentration all while having fun and making new friends.  The Improv technique allows students to explore their imaginations together and will ultimately culminate in a show full of fun and hilarious games!    

Musical Theater
When: Mon. August 10th-Thurs. August 13th from 12-3pm. Performance Demo, Thurs. August 13th 5-6:30pm

Who: Kids entering grades 3-5

Teacher: Erin Roberg

Cost: $130
You know your kid is a star so here's the perfect opportunity for them to shine.  Our Musical Theater classes take the best of Broadway and Disney's big stage numbers. This summer's workshop will present selections from "Shrek the Musical!" At Verge we put the spotlight on all of our students. Ensemble casting is a must so that every child has the chance to strut their stuff!

As a Symphony musician you will perform for sold-out audiences, grow as an orchestral player, play exciting repertoire, engage as a community member, and perform on stage with extraordinary guest artists. Get paid to do what you love – starting at $42.00 per service!  Upcoming performances include the Festival of the Fourth at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds, July 4^th, 2015.  Our regular concert season runs September-April with performances in September 2015, October 2015, December 2015, February 2016, March 2016 & April 2016.

General Audition Requirements:

-String Instruments – orchestral auditions are held at the Bozeman Symphony office by appointment.  The audition will last about 15 minutes and we ask that you bring in a prepared piece that demonstrates your ability/talent.  Please be prepared to play a scale of your choosing and some sight reading may be required.

-Wind/Brass/Percussion – Please call the office for current openings and audition requirements.

Auditions will be ongoing until  sections are filled.  Once positions are filled, players can be added to our wait/substitute player list. For additional information or to schedule an audition, please contact The Bozeman Symphony at info@bozemansymphony.org or 585-9774.