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Last July I reported how much my family and I enjoyed the 70th Annual Folk Festival, held in Butte, MT. Last year, being my introductory experience with this event, I had low expectations that were far surpassed by the wonderful entertainers. I commented on some areas in which I thought improvements could be made for this year’s festival.
This year I had high expectations and I’m happy to report that we, again, enjoyed high quality entertainment and that the areas that I thought most needed improvement — availability/frequency of shuttles and condition of porta-potties — were both much improved this year.
We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at “The Original” Stage.
What a great venue! We enjoyed Bob French’s Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (New Orleans jazz) (we were there for both the 2:00 set by this band and also the 7:45 set), Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited (Zimbabwean chimurenga), Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano (Mexican mariachi), Bill Kirchen & The Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods with George Bedard (Telecaster guitar), Magic Slim & The Teardrops (Chicago blues) and especially Sierra Hull & Highway 111 (bluegrass).
I’ll be checking the tour schedule for Sierra Hull & Highway 111. Sierra Hull’s mandolin picking is fantastic and her singing voice is wonderful. If you have an opportunity to see her with the musicians she is currently picking with, don’t miss it. I’m sure she’ll always be in the company of excellent musicians, but I’d not be surprised to see the young man playing banjo with her at present, Corey Walker, on his own some day so you might be getting extra bang for your buck seeing her with the band she’s currently picking with.
As you probably noticed, we experienced and enjoyed great diversity in the traditions represented.
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
I found Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited to be very interesting. Thomas Mapfumo shared with the audience, in the introduction to a song concerning beer, that he doesn’t drink it any more since beating his mother-in-law while “under the influence.” The blunt manner of his statement was striking.
“Now living in self-imposed exile in the U.S., Thomas Mapfumo is his native country’s most famous musician. In the 1970s, Mapfumo, known as the “The Lion of Zimbabwe,” combined traditional Shona melodies and rock instrumentation with revolutionary political and social lyrics to create “chimurenga” (in Shona, “struggle”) music. …. Throughout the 1980s Mapfumo, remained a national hero and achieved international acclaim through touring. The situation at home was deteriorating, however, and Mapfumo increasingly directed his musical ire at the Mugabe government. He recorded “Corruption,” which once again put him in hot water with the authorities. In April of 2000, Mapfumo quietly left Zimbabwe and moved to Oregon. For a few years he continued to return to his homeland to play, but when his 2005 release, Rise Up, was banned on Zimbabwean state radio, he realized that it was no longer safe to return to his beloved homeland.”
quote from> http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/2009/festivalinfo_performers/thomasmapfumo.html
The weather was ideal — it was a hot July day, but passing clouds and breezes brought relief from the heat. Food and drink vendors were handy and as was the case with the music, a great variety of food represented diverse traditions.
We stayed through until the last act, by which time darkness had fallen and “The Original” Stage was lit.
We returned for more fun on Sunday. We decided the Quartz Street Stage would be our Sunday venue. That turned out to be a most fortuitous decision — a decision which we made based on the performances but which was fortuitous due to the weather. Passing storms dumped rain and even a little bit of hail but we had arrived early enough to be seated under the pavilion. We enjoyed learning about the tradition and music of Finnish kantele by Wilho Saari, a collaborative Irish and Acadian performance by Chuck & Albert with The Pride of New York (fantastic collaboration!) and Texas Fiddle by Texas Shorty. Some of my family stayed for more performances but it was time for me to hit the road for home but not until I had made a trip up to the cd sales tent up near “The Original” Stage to pick up some cd’s from performers I had particularly enjoyed.
I’m already looking forward to the 72nd Annual Folk Festival which will, once again, be held in Butte, Montana. Keep up the good work organizers and volunteers!
On Independence Day, I, once again, enjoyed the pleasure and privilege of attending the Annual Arlee Celebration as a spectator/visitor.
I enjoy everything about the powwow — the drums, the singing, the dancing, the regalia, the ceremony, the culture, the tradition… I also appreciate the honor and respect paid to Veteran’s on Independence Day — a day on which everyone should give honor, respect and thanks to the Veterans that continue to protect and insure our independence, as they have done for 233 years.
Everyone rises to their feet and removes head coverings for the Veteran’s Memorial Dance and the Flag Song, led by the Veteran’s Warrior Society. Veteran’s from all branches of service, from all Nations and nationalities, are invited to participate in this dance and be honored for their service to our country.
One of the many Veteran’s to which honor and thanks are due:
(note the Purple Heart)
A moment of rest, and possibly reflection…
A competitor in the Golden Age Traditional dance exhibition
A young man competing in the boys fancy dance competition.
The dress bottom and footwear of a jingle dancer. If one doesn’t watch the feet of the skilled jingle dancers, one might think their dance is simple. When one watches the footwork, however, one fully appreciates the great practice that jingle dancers have devoted to cultivating their talent and expertiese.
Wisdom of Years
A young man wears an expression of determination
A beautiful jingle dancer — the epitomy of poise and presence.
A celebrant takes a turn at the drums
A youthful face full of beauty and promise
I went for a drive up Elk Meadows Road to take in sunset at Lily lake tonight. It was a great evening trip. There is an awesome crop of beargrass growing about halfway up the mountain. The beargrass up higher is still in tight buds at the lake while the early spring bloomers — glacier lily, shooting star, trillium — are still abundant.
These beautiful and delicate hairy cat’s ears were growing among the beargrass.
A cow moose and her yearling calf put on a pre-sunset show at Lily lake, swimming across the lake lengthwise and diving and coming up with full mouths.
Unfortunately they were too far out for good photos but here they are anyway
And, to conclude the evening, a glorious sunset
Great way to achieve serenity mid work week…!
Bozeman demands Internet passwords
By MATT GOURAS Associated Press
HELENA – Job applicants with the city of Bozeman are finding that those private Internet discussions and pictures may not be so private after all.
The city is asking job seekers for the user names – and passwords – to Internet social networking or Web groups they belong to. The decision is sparking an outcry from those who say the policy goes way too far.
“I liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and your family photos,” said Amy Cannata, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana. “I think this policy certainly crosses the privacy line.”
SNIP
Asking for passwords is over the line,” Wiseman said. “I think that this notion opens up a whole new line of debate on privacy.”
The intense pressure generated in just a couple of days is hitting the city hard.
Bozeman City Attorney Greg Sullivan told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on Thursday that the city may look at changing the policy so it could view an applicant’s social networking sites without asking for login information. One option would be to have an applicant add the city as a “friend” on such sites as Facebook.
source>>
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/06/19/news/local/news04.txt
Friend? Hah! Stalking peeping tom is more like it!
Why don’t they require that all applicants turn in their diaries, medical history and dating history while they are at it?
Reminds me of Honors English Comp my freshman year at the University of Montana.
Day one of class the Prof. asked the 20 of us to answer simple “get to know you questions.” He hated every thing about me that he learned including:
*being a native Montanan
*being from Anaconda
*having a job — with extra despise for my job being off campus and in a casino
*having a car
*the music I like
and probably more that I don’t remember now…
We had private meetings with him 3 times during the semester — two midterm and one final. At the first he informed me he disliked me intensely (exact words). I told him the feeling was mutual but that I expected his personal feelings to not be reflected in my grade.
His MO was to introduce a writing assignment on Monday or Wednesday which was due on Friday. He’d hand out a couple of the papers from students with names omitted on Monday for the class to critique. Nothing was ever graded.
Later in the semester, just before our second midterm meeting, he gave us the assignment to pretend we were applying for our first professional post-graduation position. The prospective employer, in this imaginary scenario, had asked us to write a story, relate a life event, etc — something that would allow the prospective employer more insight into us. However, it could not be a vanilla biography.
Well, having learned not to reveal anything personal to him and finding such an imaginary job application requirement incredibly intrusive, I turned in a refusal. It was a lengthy refusal citing law, principals, privacy, etc. It included a warning to the prospective employer that if my refusal was held against me I would seek legal remedy.
On Monday he walked around the classroom slamming copies of my paper (name omitted but everyone knew who it belonged to anyway) on everyone’s desk then asked the class if the student that turned it in had completed the assignment or should fail the class. 19 of 20 students thought the student had completed the assignment. It was not a biography and definitely gave insight into the applicant.
The following week we had the second midterm private meeting. When I walked into his office I was struck in the face with a balled up piece of paper. He had thrown it at me. He said “You gave me the bird in front of the entire class!” I responded that I had not — I had turned in a paper directly to him. If it was “giving him the bird” it was private between me and him — he was the one that handed it out to the class and took it public. That was a short meeting.
I never thought I’d see the day when such intrusive requests would actually be made by a city in its job application! I thought my professor was more than a bit loopy. Well, I guess he’s keeping company with the City of Bozeman these days.
~Katie
(PS – Only our final, which was a research paper, was graded. The grade for that paper was our semester grade. I got an A)
“the quawmash is now in blume
and from the colour of its bloom at
a short distance it resembles lakes
of fine clear water, so complete is
this deseption that on first sight I
could have swoarn it was water.”
So said Captain Meriwether Lewis on June 12, 1806 at what L&C called the Glade Creek Camp — today known as Packer Meadows. He also noted that “Musquetoes our old companions have become very troublesome.” Well, on June 13, 2009 (missed the anniversary by a day) the camas bloom was just beginning. The vast majority of the flowers are still buds. I expect peak bloom will be in 5-8 days. However, the mosquitos are now, as then and always, quite troublesome.
Hummingbirds, bumble bees and drone flies were busy pollinating and lady beetles were on hand to protect the camas from aphids.
This is a 7 spotted lady beetle, an import from Europe on one of North America’s native camas flowers. The 7 spotted lady beetle (C-7) is a productive aphid predator that has been introduced to North America both deliberately and accidentally. It’s a shame, though, that in Montana they are out competing and replacing the native lady beetles of the region. However, gladly I did see some of the native lady beetles of region making an appearance as well.
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