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SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION NOT IMMUNE FROM UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA’S BUDGET PROBLEMS

SHINES WITH AMERICAN COPPER BOOKS RAY

ASKS OBAMA TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ISIS, CLIMATE CHANGE OPINION ZINKE

GYM MENTORS NEWS RONAN WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMP

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[2] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

541-3663

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News

cover photo courtesy of Whitefish Mountain Resort

Voices/Letters Pork, Clean Power Plan and refugees .....................................................4 The Week in Review Parade of Lights, Clamato and Hanukkah....................................6 Briefs Hellgate leak, Free Cycle campaign and weightlifting..........................................6 Etc. Does Missoula need stricter design standards?........................................................7 News Fire, Lehrman shape the future of Downing Mountain ........................................8 News Sexual assault prevention not immune from UM’s budget woes..........................9 Opinion Rep. Zinke curiously blasts Obama for addressing climate change. ..............10 Opinion Looking back on a century of poisoning predators .......................................11 Feature Rise of randonnee ............................................................................................14

Arts & Entertainment

Arts Tyler D. Nielsen on the precariousness of improv and other failures...................18 Music Shane Clouse, Smokestack and the Foothill Fury, and Tornavox ......................19 Theater The Moonrisers say goodbye with werewolves...............................................20 Books Shann Ray’s sentences shine in American Copper ............................................21 Film Heart of a Dog upends traditional documentary .................................................22 Movie Shorts Independent takes on current films.......................................................23 BrokeAss Gourmet Sweet potato latkes ......................................................................24 Happiest Hour Stitt Happens at Tamarack...................................................................26 8 Days a Week Mo’ skimo, please ................................................................................27 Mountain High Rodeo Run Sled Dog Races ................................................................37 Agenda Missoula and Masculinity .................................................................................38

Exclusives

Street Talk .......................................................................................................................4 News of the Weird ........................................................................................................12 Classifieds....................................................................................................................C-1 The Advice Goddess...................................................................................................C-2 Free Will Astrology .....................................................................................................C-4 Crossword Puzzle .......................................................................................................C-9 This Modern World...................................................................................................C-12

PUBLISHER Lynne Foland EDITOR Skylar Browning PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Joe Weston ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Heidi Starrett DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS Christie Anderson ARTS EDITOR Erika Fredrickson CALENDAR EDITOR Ednor Therriault STAFF REPORTERS Kate Whittle, Alex Sakariassen, Derek Brouwer COPY EDITOR Gaaby Patterson ART DIRECTOR Kou Moua GRAPHIC DESIGNER Charles Wybierala CIRCULATION ASSISTANT MANAGER Ryan Springer ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Steven Kirst, Ariel LaVenture, Toni LeBlanc ADMIN, PROMO & EVENTS COORDINATOR Leif Christian CLASSIFIED SALES REPRESENTATIVE Tami Allen FRONT DESK Lorie Rustvold CONTRIBUTORS Jaime Rogers, Scott Renshaw, Nick Davis, Matthew Frank, Molly Laich, Dan Brooks, Rob Rusignola, Chris La Tray, Jed Nussbaum, Sarah Aswell, Josh Wagner, Lacy Roberts, Migizi Pensoneau

Mailing address: P.O. Box 8275 Missoula, MT 59807 Street address: 317 S. Orange St. Missoula, MT 59801 Phone number: 406-543-6609 Fax number: 406-543-4367 E-mail address: independent@missoulanews.com

President: Matt Gibson The Missoula Independent is a registered trademark of Independent Publishing, Inc. Copyright 2015 by Independent Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinting in whole or in part is forbidden except by permission of Independent Publishing, Inc.

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [3]

[voices]

STREET TALK

by Erika Fredrickson

Asked Tuesday afternoon at the Southside Kettlehouse. This week marks our annual winter recreation issue. What’s your favorite way to get out and play during Montana’s snowy season? Followup: What’s your preferred way to kick back and relax after that day in the cold?

Alena DeMillo: I cross-country ski. My favorite spot is Seeley Lake but I go up Lolo Pass and just up Pattee Canyon when we have snow. Internal glow: I’d say drinking a beer at the Kettlehouse. I like Double Haul. It warms me up from the inside out.

Kyle Durrett: My favorite winter activity is backcountry skiing. I enjoy being outdoors, traveling around, rambling on peaks—feeling like you’re knocking on heaven’s door. The essentials: I stuff my face with Cold Smoke and bacon.

Matthew Seaton: I like going snowboarding. I’m a big fan of being up in the mountains with fresh air and the beautiful scenery. And I don’t like doing any of the work or exercise involved in it, so I gotta have a ski lift. That’s what the ticket’s for. Irish holiday: I like to go to the Stone of Accord, because it’s close to Snowbowl. After the mountain, you’ve got to have a few cocktails or some beers to wind down.

Terry Worrell: Late-season duck hunting. Fire starter: I start up the woodstove, sit back and drink a Cold Smoke.

Love, not fear We, the leaders of the Montana Association of Christians, made up of eight denominations, as well as numerous congregations and individuals across Montana, stand in solidarity with the victims of persecution and violence at home and across the globe. With each new mass shooting or act of terrorism, we too experience anxiety and are tempted to succumb to fear. Yet, grounded by God’s peace which passes our understanding and inspired by the biblical call to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we recognize in this stressful time a call to courage. Let us not only pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” let us do it. We at MAC invite all Montanans, many of us descendants of immigrants ourselves, to welcome those fleeing persecution in other countries, including refugees seeking asylum from Syria (see “Letter doesn’t deter activists,” Dec. 3). Consider that Joseph and Mary protected Jesus from Herod by becoming refugees in Egypt. Consider further the possibility that extending opportunity and hope to those fleeing the brutality and oppression that threaten their lives might also lay the groundwork for a safer tomorrow. Scripture instructs God’s people—who themselves have been sojourners, refugees and immigrants—to defend, protect and honor the rights and dignity of the stranger. We encourage our fellow Montanans to follow the laws and protocols currently in place in our nation and to continue to welcome those fleeing persecution from other countries, including Syria. We urge Montanans not to allow fear to degrade our citizenship, but with wisdom and judiciousness to seek a course that upholds the humanity not only of the stranger in our midst, but ultimately ourselves. The Rev. Peter Erickson The Rev. Valerie Webster Montana Association of Christians Columbia Falls

Beatles and pigs I got a little behind in my reading of the Indy and didn’t get around to the Dec. 3 edition until the 8th—the 35th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. So, imagine my surprise to see Jamie Rogers extolling the wonderful pork produced by a local non-factory farm (see “The all-local holiday feast”). These pigs are fed all sorts of glorious food and Rogers gushes, “It’s hard to imagine animals having better lives than the heritage pork they raise.” Really? How about a world where we don’t raise pigs just to kill and eat them? Imagine that—it’s easy if you try. Imagine

[4] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

all the people sharing all the world—not just with their own sentient species, but with others as well. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one ... Chris Barns Lolo

Pro Montana plan Shame on Northwestern Energy and its band of merry men for orchestrating the largest misinformation PR campaign since Montanans were hoodwinked into deregulating the electric system (see “It’s (not) a disaster,” Dec. 3). The most recent effort was orchestrated by some of the same characters involved in deregulation. They were wrong then and they are wrong now. NorthWestern Energy recently released a “report” on the economic impact of the rule that requires Montana to reduce carbon pollution. NorthWestern directed

“It bears a striking resemblance to a petulant child.”

the controversial Bureau of Business and Economic Research (housed at the University of Montana) and apparently some of Montana’s elected leaders to conspire to say that reducing carbon pollution would be catastrophic for the state. NorthWestern only allowed its study to consider the most expensive option available to Montana to reduce carbon pollution. This inevitably resulted in the scariest, most dire and unrealistic economic impact possible. Fortunately, that’s not the case. Montanans cannot afford a major utility wasting money on shoddy financial analyses and overblown scare tactics. That’s not productive and does a grave disservice to what should be a very serious discussion about realistic ways to benefit Montana’s economy and reduce carbon pollution. We can have both, but apparently NorthWestern isn’t interested. Montanans fell victim to equally bad advice for its largest utility not that long ago. That self-serving guidance resulted in devastation for many and saddled Montanan’s with some of the highest power costs in the region. The results of NorthWestern’s analysis aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. They certainly shouldn’t serve as the basis

for any public policy. The flawed study has already been reviewed by independent economist Tom Power, former head of UM’s economics department, who gave it an “F” for intellectual honesty. He said the entirety of it was based solely on NorthWestern’s own unrealistic assumptions about the impacts of the Clean Power Plan on Montana. Other utility providers own about 90 percent of the Colstrip generating plant and the transmission system. None of them are making the hysterical claims that NorthWestern Energy is, let alone actively spreading misinformation to customers. NorthWestern’s behavior is intended to be destructive. It bears a striking resemblance to a petulant child. Montanans need to have a constructive conversation about how to best secure our energy future, grow our economy and minimize the very real impacts of climate change on agriculture, water resources, our outdoor economy and public health. Fortunately it’s up to the state of Montana, not Northwestern Energy, to develop a Montana plan to protect our jobs, create new ones and clean our air. It would be helpful if NorthWestern would abandon its scorched earth legal and public relations strategy and commit to working to move Montana forward. The Clean Power Plan allows states the flexibility to design their own unique energy plans that can be tailored to each states’ unique circumstance. Instead of choosing the most expensive path forward, Montana has the opportunity to design a state plan that will maximize the benefits to the economy, create jobs and minimize electric bills. I am confident Montanans are far smarter than NorthWestern gives us credit. Gov. Bullock recently established the Montana Clean Power Plan Advisory Council to bring Montanans together to gather information and make recommendations for the state to comply with the Clean Power Plan. We have three years to come up with a carbon pollution reduction plan and 15 years to fully implement it. If Montana doesn’t implement the Clean Power Plan the Montana way, then the federal government will write this for us. I think we can all agree that Montanans should write Montana’s plan to benefit Montana. Anne Hedges Montana Environmental Information Center Helena Correction: Our annual holiday gift guide, published Nov. 26, printed the wrong price for Fee Brothers bitters at Grizzly Liquor. They run $9-$9.45 per bottle. The Indy regrets the error.

missoulanews.com â&#x20AC;˘ December 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;December 17, 2015 [5]

[news]

WEEK IN REVIEW

VIEWFINDER

by Cathrine L. Walters

Wednesday, Dec. 2 MontPIRG staff and volunteers dress up in homemade fish costumes while gathering signatures for the Fish Frenzy, a protest against a mine proposed at the headwaters of the Smith River. They later turn in 7,207 petition signatures to Gov. Bullock’s office.

Thursday, Dec. 3 A Ravalli County District Court judge sentences Monte Leon Hanson, 60, to 20 years in prison for homicide and cruelty to animals. Hanson made international headlines in May after shooting a bartender who served him a “red beer” made with Clamato. The victim survived multiple gunshot wounds, though his pet dog did not.

Friday, Dec. 4 BuzzFeed Life posts a list of “The Most Popular Bar in Every State in 2015,” declaring the Iron Horse Bar and Grill as Montana’s favorite watering hole. The post notes it was compiled with information provided by check-in app FourSquare.

Saturday, Dec. 5 Festive floats, marchers and eventually Santa himself stroll through downtown for the 13th annual Parade of Lights. Local Grinches report they forgot the parade was happening and were super confused about the state of downtown traffic.

Sunday, Dec. 6 A local branch of the Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch, led by Rabbi Berry Nash, hosts a menorah lighting at Southgate Mall to kick off the first day of Hanukkah. Chabad Lubavitch’s website cheerfully notes that a customary part of the holiday celebration is eating fried things and dairy products.

Monday, Dec. 7 After considering extensive public comment, Missoula City Council approves a conditional use request submitted by the Unitarian Universalist Church to use the historic Lincoln School building in the Rattlesnake.

Tuesday. Dec. 8 Montana State star quarterback Dakota Prukop says he’s considering spending his final season of eligibility at a top-tier school, such as University of Oregon. Prukop’s announcement comes a day after new coach Jeff Choate is introduced.

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Sgt. Andrew McConnell enthusiastically encourages motorists to drop off gifts for the Toys for Tots Foundation at the Missoula Fresh Market on West Broadway on Dec. 4. All toys and donations made in Missoula County stay within the county and will continue to be accepted through Dec. 23.

Free Cycles

Room to grow Bob Giordano doesn’t look like a man with a $1.1 million ask on the table. Sitting next to a plate of leftover bagels from a campaign kickoff brunch Dec. 4, the founder and longtime director of Free Cycles calmly walks through the nonprofit’s strategy to raise enough cash to purchase its South First Street digs in just six months. People donated about $500 in the first few hours of the Cycles for Change campaign, Giordano says, and he’s already got a pocket full of names and phone numbers of potential supporters. One of his volunteers even staked his life on the fundraiser’s success. “That was actually very inspiring to hear,” Giordano says. “So I joined him and said, ‘Okay, I’ll stake my life on it too.’ Not sure what that really means. We’re not going to go jump off a cliff

[6] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

if we don’t make it. But there are people who are that sure we’re going to do this.” While Free Cycles had known for some time the building it currently rents was on the market, a serious offer from an outside buyer brought reality crashing down in early October. The owners opted to give Free Cycles a chance, however, and the nonprofit’s board unanimously voted to sign a buy-sell agreement in November that gives it until Mother’s Day 2016 to come up with $1.1 million. In Giordano’s words, “there was no other choice” than to rally quickly. Free Cycles has since formed six separate committees focused on everything from events to large donor outreach. Programs Director Emily Jensen says canvassing should start within the next week, and next semester the nonprofit will ramp up its efforts to tap into the University of Montana’s student body. The next all-committee meeting and Cycles of Change potluck is scheduled for Dec. 11.

“We have about 40 committed volunteers working on this at the moment, so we just have to keep the ball rolling,” Jensen says. “It’s definitely hard to manage that sort of manpower, but I think we can make it work.” As busy as the next six months will be, part of Giordano’s mind has already moved beyond the $1.1 million. He talks less about the immediate challenges than the freedom owning the property would give Free Cycles to pursue longstanding goals, like fixing the roof, getting off the electrical grid, adding community gardens and exploring the possibility of a bike hostel. More space will mean more programs, he says, like a bike share and a transportation learning center. “We’ve already been batting around the next two campaigns after this,” Giordano says. “But we do need to stay focused on the present. As Emily likes to say, you can’t start future-tripping.” Alex Sakariassen

[news] Hellgate High

Genie let out of bottle Mark Thane is known for his affable and cool-headed demeanor, but the Missoula County Public Schools interim superintendent was visibly nervous Tuesday as he addressed members of the media about a bizarre and invasive leak of Hellgate High School student and staff ’s confidential records by a school administrator. The breach, he said, occurred Dec. 4 when a Hellgate administrator attempted to send notes from a recent meeting to 30 or so parents on a football team contact list. “The document was in fact corrupted, and it contained an additional 16 pages of personally identifiable information about Hellgate students and one Hellgate staff member,” Thane said. School officials say they contacted the email’s original recipients later that evening by email, and again by phone the following morning, requesting they delete it. The district has since seized four administrative computers for an ongoing forensic investigation. Otherwise, details remain scant, with officials declining to discuss the kinds of files they say appear to have been inadvertently merged into one document or the name of the administrator who sent the email with it attached. Nevertheless, Thane acknowledged “it’s tough to put the genie back into the bottle,” as details about the records circulate through local media, online and on campus. One parent whose child was affected by the leak and spoke with the Indy described the highly sensitive nature of the information, including detailed medical and disciplinary records. This parent, who the Indy agreed not to identify, says she didn’t obtain the full document until it was given to her by another media outlet. The Indy has not viewed the document. The breach puts affected individuals in a difficult position, the parent says. Students will undoubtedly speculate about why others may have turned up on the list, she says, yet the affected students can’t clear up rumors without revealing more about themselves. “He’s just embarrassed,” she says of her son. “People are going to think he’s in remedial classes, they’re going to think he has disciplinary problems.” The parent says she has contacted an attorney and is considering filing a complaint with federal officials alleging a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal law that governs student records. MCPS Director of Technology and Communications Hatton Littman says at this point the district doesn’t believe it has violated FERPA. Adam Goldstein, an attorney

with the Student Press Law Center, agrees. He says while individuals could seek redress under state privacy statutes, FERPA enforcement is confined to an organization’s practices and policies rather than isolated, accidental leaks. Besides, the federal government has never withheld a school’s funding for a FERPA violation in the law’s 40-year history, Goldstein notes. “The best bet would be to reaffirm that this is against policy and retrain the employee,” he says. “FERPA prohibits a lot of things, but not incompetence.” The same may not be true of individuals who later shared the material despite the administration’s request to delete it. Thane suggested as much during his Tuesday remarks. “In that act, those individuals are harming students and families and may be subject to state and federal legal consequences for intentionally sharing information they know to be confidential,” he said. Derek Brouwer

Powerlifting

Arlee woman breaks records Inside a 900-square-foot garage in Ronan, bumper plates clang together as Rachelle Meidinger sets up for her weightlifting routine on a Sunday afternoon. While standing in stocking feet, she gradually adds 225 pounds to the thick silver bar. She bends down and pauses a moment before lifting the entire rack up to her shoulders in one easy movement. She lowers it down to her knees before bringing it back up, breathing heavily. Her trainer, James Greene, counts her reps. “Ugh, I’m out of shape,” Meidinger says. “Suck it up, buttercup,” Greene tells her, with good humor. It’s the 21-year-old Arlee woman’s first day back in the weight room since a recent record-setting victory in Las Vegas. On Nov. 22, she competed at the 2015 World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters Championships and broke her own world record by bench-pressing 265 pounds. She also holds the Montana state record for deadlifting 369 pounds. What’s more, Meidinger has only been competing in powerlifting since March, when she debuted in the Big Sky Montana Classic Bench Press and Dead Lift Championships. She’d been weightlifting since high school, and her family encouraged her to sign up.

BY THE NUMBERS Percent of Missoula renters who are “cost-burdened” by the proportion of household income spent on rent, according to federal census estimates released this month. Families that pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing fall into this category.

57.4

At the Big Sky Classic, she drew the notice of longtime lifters like Greene, who chairs the state chapter of WABDL. He offered to train her at no cost in his garage, where he’s set up a professional-level weight room using an estimated $10,000 in equipment sourced from eBay and Craigslist. Greene says Meidinger, at more than 221 pounds, is bigger and stronger than most other women who participate in powerlifting. “I know what she’s capable of,” Greene says. “With younger lifters, it’s good to have somebody that you’ve trained with to help you.” Greene, 45, has spent decades competing in powerlifting and strongman contests, placing at international meets and even appearing on ESPN2. These days, Greene works full-time as an IT tech but still trains friends and family as a hobby. His mother, Virginia Cornelius, owns two world records for lifting in the 75-plus age group. Greene warns that powerlifting is a sport that offers little chance for fame or riches, but Meidinger is focused on the future, including a regional contest in Spokane in May. She says lifting has already made a huge difference in her life. “I have bipolar disorder and anxiety and depression and stuff like that, so it was a tool in my little toolbox of things to make me feel better,” she explains. After beating the world record and being interviewed by local news outlets, she starting getting fan mail. “All of a sudden people were sending me cards in the mail telling me they were so thankful for what I said in there, that they struggled with it too, that they were happy somebody actually talked about it,” she says. “So that was cool.” Kate Whittle

ETC. Ward 1 Councilman Jason Wiener drives down East Broadway nearly every day. He says it’s hard not to notice the black-and-neon-red color scheme and oversized logo of the Verizon Wireless at Cellular Plus building, which was constructed this summer. “They have a store in Bozeman—and it’s not often that I’m like, ‘Look to Bozeman’—but it’s way less ugly,” Wiener says. “And that is because there’s a law in Bozeman that mandates better design than what [Verizon does] by default.” On Dec. 14, Missoula City Council is scheduled to host a public hearing on a new set of commercial design standards that apply to buildings under 30,000 square feet. Storefronts would be required to be closely situated to the street, have a minimum amount of windows and feature variation on color and texture. Wiener says the standards are a start, but they wouldn’t prevent another building like Verizon’s from going up. “You have to be much more prescriptive to do that,” Wiener says. “We need a bigger community conversation if we’re going to push people to a certain aesthetic.” But what that aesthetic should be is, well, in the eye of the beholder. John Paoli of Missoula’s Inkstone Architecture calls the Verizon storefront a “travesty.” Despite that sentiment, Paoli doesn’t believe particular designs should be mandated by city code. In Bozeman, for instance, city code outlines what kind of materials and colors can be used, with a preference for natural wood and brick facades. “It shouldn’t be dictated what materials you have to use. Then you get the homogeneity of the build environment, which I don’t think is great,” Paoli says. Mike Gilbert of Gilbert Architecture adds that a building’s purpose tends to affect how people perceive it. “The Dairy Queen [on South Higgins] is probably the ugliest thing, but it’s also probably the most loved building in Missoula,” Gilbert says. “There’s happy businesses and unhappy businesses. Flower shops and ice cream businesses can’t lose. But can you legislate good design? That’s a totally subjective thing.” Meanwhile, Wiener says he’s surprised that, given Missoula’s “incredibly energetic advocacy community,” no groups are stepping up to demand more stringent community design standards. Perhaps the Verizon-Cellular Plus store will be the impetus for someone to make that call.

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missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [7]

Beer Drinkers’ Profile

THROWBACK TO THE WAYBACK

[news]

Changing face Fire, Lehrman shape the future of Downing Mountain by Alex Sakariassen

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For John Lehrman, work on the wooded slopes of Downing Mountain west of Hamilton is “somewhat endless.” Less than a decade has passed since he first began guiding backcountry ski trips out of the circular lodge that once housed the Grubstake Restaurant, and in that time Lehrman has had to contend with everything from faulty hot tubs to encroaching wildfires. But already the business has surpassed anything he imagined when he first applied for his special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service in 2008. “We’ve been growing every year,” Lehrman says. “Group sizes keep getting bigger, people come from farther away. By our second year we already had people coming from kind of all points in the USA.” These days Downing Mountain and the lodge bear only a passing resemblance to their former selves. Four seasons back, the mountain’s east-facing bowl was still choked with young pine. The lodge had the wellworn look of a place used seasonally and primarily by people in ski boots. That aesthetic began to change in 2012, reshaped by the combined forces of the 5,927-acre Sawtooth Fire and Lehrman’s outright purchase of the lodge from former owner Richard Kingdon. Both developments were ultimately beneficial, Lehrman says. But they each raised significant challenges for an operation still in its infancy. “It kind of took a whole winter of skiing through the burn and seeing my guests start venturing into the burn but then having all these pokey burnt whips to dodge,” Lehrman says. “Sometimes once you get like 4 feet of snow, there’d be hooks right underneath the snow. Finally it landed in my head, ‘These are extreme hazards. Maybe there’s some sort of hazard tree reduction thing that I could do.’” Lehrman eventually reached out to the Bitterroot National Forest in the hopes of gaining permission to thin the dead, smaller diameter trees posing a danger to his clients. In 2014, Darby District Ranger Chuck Oliver granted the request, and Lehrman began the arduous task of cleaning up dozens of acres of burn. Eric Winthers, Oliver’s replacement, further solidified the

[8] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

agreement this September, drafting a letter Lehrman considers his “gold ticket” to glade portions of Downing Mountain’s bowl in the interest of safety. Winthers considers the agreement a winwin for the Forest Service. The Sawtooth Fire

fore. I was like, ‘There you go. There’s proof. It works.’” He adds roughly 25 skiers skinned up to the same area Dec. 5 during an early season potluck and randonnee rally. Lehrman held the event partly to get folks on the

photo courtesy of John Lehrman

From extensive lodge remodels to slopeside tree thinning, John Lehrman has spent the past eight years transforming Downing Mountain into a highend yet nonexclusive backcountry skiing destination.

did create public hazards that need to be dealt with, Winthers says, and forest personnel have repeatedly been on hand to monitor and aid Lehrman’s efforts. “It removes a lot of that wood that could burn again in the future,” Winthers adds, “so he’s doing himself a favor and us in terms of reducing the fuels threat next to his operations.” Lehrman estimates he and the occasional friend have put in 70 to 80 hours of work thinning close to 100 acres over the past two years. The fire did a lot to open up the skiing potential on Downing Mountain, and Lehrman feels he probably has “years of swinging the chainsaw ahead of me.” He says he started to note the payoff last year when a crew of guests decided to make use of a wet, heavy snowfall that came around Thanksgiving. “They skinned right up into the glade we’d made and basically cut switchbacks from one thicket side to the other thicket side,” he says. “Then they turned around and skied right back down in the glade I had just finished working on a couple weeks be-

mountain and partly to showcase his latest improvements to the lodge, among them a complete remodel of the old steakhouse floor including heated slate along the entryway and fireplace. The bulk of winter may be dominated by clients from across Montana and the country, but Lehrman says he doesn’t want to lose sight of the community sentiment that prompted him to buy the lodge in the first place. “I don’t want it to be an exclusive place,” he says. Lehrman’s to-dos for Downing Mountain never seem to stop growing. The comment “everything looks good up here now” is quickly followed by the addendum “except for the kitchen” and a list of possible upgrades. Weed treatment and restoration of native vegetation around the lodge is on the list as well. Of course, there are limits to Downing Mountain’s evolution. “Some people want us to put in a zipline to town,” Lehrman says, “but I don’t think that’s in the cards.” asakariassen@missoulanews.com

[news]

Staffing struggles Sexual assault prevention not immune from UM’s budget woes by Derek Brouwer

On July 10, University of Montana and director, says her budget this year hasn’t ment with the Department of Justice, workcity officials gathered for a press conference been cut and client support has been re- ing with police, advocates, employees and to announce the university had reached an- vamped, she also acknowledges the fall se- campus groups to rewrite policy and improve sexual assault prevention and reother milestone toward fulfilling the strin- mester has been “challenging.” gent tasks assigned by federal officials to Despite the high profile of UM’s rape sponse. She also organized last month’s state improve its handling of sexual assault. In his scandal, staffing turnover in recent months sexual assault summit. Brown Campbell decided in August to remarks, President Royce Engstrom aimed to has shown how newly enhanced sexual asshow that UM is on its way to transforming sault resources are not immune from the dif- step down to focus on her art therapy practice, but stayed on until last month in part to from a national disgrace to a national leader ficult, campus-wide budget discussions. organize the summit. Even though she and highlighted his investment in “permabelieves UM has made great strides in nent and sustainable” staffing boosts. the past few years, Brown Campbell “We have staffed up in the police desays it will still need a coordinator to partment, we have staffed up in the SARC ensure the progress continues. and some of our other support offices, “This is not the time to say, ‘This and those are base changes, and those will is better, we don’t have to do anything help us make sure that we implement efelse,’” she says. “It’s got to be upheld.” fectively and in an ongoing way,” he said. UM was unsuccessful in its appliWhen Tawnya Cazier, a graduate stucation to renew the DOJ grant, which dent who worked in the Student Advomeans the university must decide cacy Resource Center, UM’s confidential whether to fund a coordinator position survivor support and violence prevention going forward. The position has not office, heard about the president’s rebeen advertised. marks, she couldn’t help but laugh. She was in the process of emptying her desk. The university’s budget crisis It was Cazier’s last day, her position cut, has delayed the process, according she was told, due to budget issues. to outgoing Vice President for Student Affairs Teresa Branch, but she Cazier says she was hired in fall 2014 photo by Derek Brouwer says she’s committed to funding it on a temporary basis as an administrative assistant, though with a background in the Kim Brown Campbell recently stepped for the next year and a half, by which field she also assisted with clients and down as UM’s campus assault prevention point “hopefully … our financial sitSARC’s campus outreach. She was sad- coordinator, a position created to imple- uation will have turned around as an dened to learn in May that her position ment new federal requirements for the uni- institution.” Branch says she was versity’s handling of sexual assault. UM has scheduled to meet with Colling Dec. wouldn’t continue but moved on and yet to finalize her replacement. 9 to discuss Colling assuming Brown found another job in Missoula. However, she became concerned as other key sexual In addition to Cazier’s position, SARC Campbell’s duties. assault staff left the university, with no imme- lost its advocacy coordinator position over “It might take us a little while to find diate plan to replace them. the summer when the employee took a dif- someone who could take on what Drew “We just had all this media attention,” ferent job, leaving Colling to supervise the has been doing, but I think we can kind she says, “I’m like, really, this can’t be office’s group of student volunteers, in addi- of make ends meet for a short period of tion to its team of medical interns. Colling time,” Branch says. happening.” Meanwhile, Colling says that in spite of In one sense, it isn’t. SARC’s budget is did hire an undergraduate to assist with up 30 percent from 2012, according to SARC’s outreach and prevention work, but a hiring freeze, she recently won approval budget documents, though down somewhat has leaned more on the YWCA to maintain to hire one of SARC’s medical interns to a the campus’ 24-hour crisis line. staff position in January, filling a vacancy from a peak in fiscal year 2014. This fall also included the departure of that has existed during fall semester. The adDuring the last three years, however, the number of students who speak with Kim Brown Campbell, UM’s first campus as- ditional staffer will be of particular help as SARC counselors has increased 250 percent, sault prevention coordinator, whose last day SARC assists university efforts to conduct byaccording to figures published in the UM was Nov. 30. Brown Campbell was hired in stander intervention training for every junpolice department’s federal compliance re- 2013 as part of a $300,000, three-year federal ior—one of the last DOJ-directed activities to be implemented. port—a sign that survivors are more aware grant that expires this month. Brown Campbell was a key figure in imof SARC services and comfortable seeking them. And while Drew Colling, the office’s plementing the university’s resolution agreedbrouwer@missoulanews.com

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [9]

[opinion]

Two problems at once Rep. Zinke curiously blasts Obama for addressing climate change by Dan Brooks

Last week, as President Obama met world leaders in Paris to discuss climate change, Commander Ryan Zinke was grilling Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in a House Armed Services Committee meeting. “We have ISIS, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda, North Korea, an emerging China and Russia. Mr. Secretary, where would you rack and stack global warming with that list?” Commander Zinke asked. Carter tried to avoid ordering that list of three terrorist organizations, three countries and an environmental phenomenon, but our man in Washington pressed him. “Would you agree the imminent threat, the 5-yard, 5-meter threat—the most damaging threat facing us today— would be ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and the non-nation state terrorist activities?” he asked. Carter conceded that ISIS posed a more immediate threat than climate change, and Commander Zinke took to Facebook. “I agree with President Obama that his climate summit will ‘send a message’ to ISIS,” Commander Zinke wrote. “The message is crystal clear: Obama is out of touch, he doesn’t understand the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, he is more concerned about his legacy than anything else, and he is willing to do anything to avoid confronting ISIS head-on.” That argument is weird. It started, probably, with the president’s dubious claim that the climate summit would disappoint ISIS. “What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it?” Obama asked at the Paris conference. In the starry sweep of possibility, I can imagine some even greater rejection of the Islamic State than solar panels. But Commander Zinke seems to be implying that either ISIS or climate change can pose a threat to the United States— an idea so stupefying I hesitate to confer on it the dignity of false dichotomy. If the United States dropped a ther-

[10] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

monuclear bomb on Raqqa tomorrow, converting the region’s rich tapestry of ethnic and religious traditions to one manageable sheet of glass, the seas would still rise. Were ISIS to suddenly wink out of existence—either because they disbanded to take jobs as schoolteachers or because Allah got back from vacation and checked his messages—virtually every reputable scientist in the world would still agree that carbon emissions were damaging the environment. If you solve ISIS, global warming can still kill you. In this context, Com-

“While we’re at it, ISIS should let us forget about the deficit and gun control and our stagnating work economy.” mander Zinke criticizing the president for attending a climate change conference is like saying it doesn’t matter that you got fired from your job because the roof is leaking. Maybe the United States can have two problems at once. But if we must compare them, I’m not convinced ISIS is as serious a problem as climate change. Despite last week’s mass shooting in San Bernardino by a woman who had sworn allegiance to it on the Internet, the Islamic State remains confined to north Syria and Iraq. It’s getting hotter all over. A geographically stable terror-state could become a problem in the Middle East for a generation, but mass extinction of sea life is permanent. Even if ISIS were reg-

ularly launching terror attacks on New York City, I’m not sure they could do as much damage as Hurricane Sandy. What ISIS does represent, though, is the kind of problem we can shoot at. In this regard, Commander Zinke is the proverbial man with a hammer, narrowly focused on finding nails. Perhaps that’s because his status as a former U.S. Navy SEAL has constituted pretty much his whole identity this first year of his congressional career. I agree that being on SEAL Team 6 is extremely cool. Lord knows it’s more than I did. But there are different kinds of problems in this world, and Commander Zinke’s expertise at solving the problem of certain other people being alive does not qualify him to dismiss the problem of climate change. Frankly, I wish it did. I wish ISIS were the only problem we had to think about, because it is a problem of men and how to smash them. That’s the kind of problem the United States is good at solving lately. When it comes to problems of making people work together, to reduce carbon emissions or to maintain a functioning government in Iraq, we seem to be losing our touch. So I sympathize with Commander Zinke’s wish that the threat of ISIS would relieve us of our responsibility for climate change. While we’re at it, ISIS should let us forget about the deficit and gun control and our stagnating work economy. I wish war were the only thing that mattered now, too. In addition to being imminent, ISIS is also simple. They are bad and we are good. They are therefore much easier to talk about than problems of how to get several governments and millions of people to give up comfort and money to save our great grandchildren. But Commander Zinke is a leader. We need him to lead us toward the hard problems, not cover our retreat into simple ones. Dan Brooks writes about politics, culture and creative problem solving at combatblog.net.

[opinion]

Dubious anniversary Looking back on a century of poisoning predators by Andrew Gulliford

We celebrate most anniversaries, but there are some we should just acknowledge by pausing to do some serious thinking. This year, for example, marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Congress created the agency a century ago to trap, poison and kill predators and “varmints” across the West. The result was an ecological holocaust of strychnine-ridden carcasses and indiscriminate destruction up the food chain. We tried to kill coyotes; we brought death to eagles instead. The agency’s goal was to eliminate predators to foster game populations of deer and elk and to reduce losses by stockmen who raised sheep and cattle. Back in 1915, the words “ecology” and “environment” were not widely used. Annual reports of the Bureau of Biological Survey and books like Michael J. Robinson’s Predatory Bureaucracy, published in 2005, document the agency’s massive onslaught of poisons and steel traps. Even a skilled naturalist and biggame hunter like my hero, Theodore Roosevelt, referred to wolves as “beasts of waste and desolation.” No one seemed to grasp that healthy predatorprey relationships helped maintain healthy ecosystems. The West’s few remaining wolves became so famous they were given nicknames. Government trappers for the Biological Survey, called “wolfers,” became legendary on Colorado’s Western Slope. “Beneath his admirable exterior he had the cruelest nature I have ever known,” wrote David Lavender, about trapper Slim Hawley. “His business was killing.” Lavender, who ran his father’s ranch in Colorado’s Disappointment Valley, didn’t approve of the bureau placing steel traps in carcasses to lure predators. “I believe the grass which average coyotes save by putting a check on foraging rodents and insects far outweighs the value of the stock they harm,” Lavender concluded. Few stockmen

shared his insight. We poured poison onto public land, and the Biological Survey managed a special poison laboratory in Denver to experiment with strychnine, arsenic and cyanide. In the 1918 Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, E.W. Nelson described the work of 250 to 350 hunters under the direction of district supervisors as making sure that “predatory animals are destroyed by trapping, shooting, den hunting during the breeding season, and poisoning.” He wrote that a “large area in southern Colorado was systematically poisoned with excellent effect.”

“We tried to kill coyotes; we brought death to eagles instead.”

Nelson proudly wrote that three years into the Biological Survey’s work throughout the West, “predatory animals taken by hunters under the direction of this bureau” included “849 wolves, 20,241 coyotes, 85 mountain lions, 3,432 bobcats, 30 lynxes, and 41 bears.” Wholesale slaughter had just begun, and states contributed thousands of dollars to augment the bureau’s federal funding. By 1931, the annual report claimed the public lands had become “breeding reservoirs for predators and rodents,” which “re-infested stocked and cultivated areas.” That year, $35,752 was allocated for research on control

methods and $404,062 was spent on poison, primarily strychnine laced in cubes of animal fat which were placed in carcasses. A horse carcass, for example, might be seeded with 50 or more poison pellets. Such random poisoning killed predators but also everything else—including raptors and eagles. Five years later, the forester Aldo Leopold ventured into a remote area of northern Mexico in the Sierra Madre, and it was there, he later wrote, “that I first clearly realized that land is an organism, that all my life I had seen only sick land, whereas here was a biota still in perfect aboriginal health.” Everything he saw seemed to be in ecological balance with both abundant deer and no coyotes. He wondered if wolves had kept them out. But throughout the West, our war on predators continued. The M44 gun trap blew up when a predator bit the bait, the gun firing a cyanide shell directly into the animal’s mouth. Government trappers also used Compound 1080, an odorless, tasteless poison that’s toxic to mammals. It was finally outlawed in 1972, a year before Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. How ironic that the same agency that sponsored decades of predator control—the Bureau of Biological Survey— evolved into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Congress gave the newly named agency a mandate to protect endangered species, including some of the very species the government had spent years killing off. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, for example, even brought back lynx, animals that had previously been poisoned and trapped. A century later, we know a lot more about ecological balance and land health, and thankfully poison pellets are things of the past. Andrew Gulliford is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an opinion syndicate of High Country News (hcn.org). He is professor of history and environmental studies at Fort Lewis College.

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [11]

[offbeat]

WAIT, WHAT? – After certain takeoffs and landings were delayed on Nov. 7 at Paris’ Orly airport (several days before the terrorist attacks), a back trace on the problem forced the airport to disclose that its crucial “DECOR” computer system still runs on Windows 3.1 software (introduced in 1992). DECOR’s function is to estimate the spacing between aircraft on fog-bound, visually impossible runways, and apparently it must shut down whenever the airport scrambles to find an available 3.1-qualified technician. CULTURAL DIVERSITY – Weird Japan (continued): Sony manufactured a robot dog (”Aibo”) from 1996 to 2006 for a legion of pet-fanciers, but now that supplies of spare parts and specialized repairers are dwindling, many of the beloved family “canines” are “dying” off. Not to worry, though, for many “surviving” owners are conducting elaborate, expensive—and even religious—burials with widely attended funerals for their Aibos. (A March 2015 Newsweek report offered a dazzling photographic array of Aibo funerals.) Aibo support groups proliferate online because, said one repair service director, “(W)e think that somehow, (Aibos) really have souls.” LEADING ECONOMIC INDICATORS – Art Basel, the annual weeklong festival for “One-Percenters” in Miami Beach, is scheduled for Dec. 1 to Dec. 6, and among the many excesses is the sale of on-demand caviar, available by text message, to be delivered in person within the hour, at $275 for a 125gram tin. Miami New Times calls Art Basel “ComicCon for the world’s moneyed elite,” and among the extravaganzas is an “exotic dance club sheltered inside a greenhouse.” Four thousand artists, from 32 countries, are participating. New World Order: “Crowdsourcing” startups (such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter) raise money online for projects such as underappreciated entrepreneurial ventures or families needing help with medical expenses. Day-trading dabbler Joe Campbell went online in November to beg for assistance after being crushed by a bet of the type that many say wrecked the U.S. economy in 2007-08. He held a pessimistic “short” position in his account on KaloBios Pharmaceuticals (KBIO)—hoping to exploit traders overly optimistic about the company. However, overnight NASDAQ trading awakened him with news that KBIO’s price had skyrocketed in frenzied trading and that Campbell now owed his broker $131,000—and Campbell’s new GoFundMe post stoically asks strangers to please help him pay that off.

these are the good old days.

GOVERNMENT IN ACTION – Charles Smith, 62, is set to drive municipal buses for Broward County, Florida, until he retires in 2020, even though his record includes 14 accidents in a recent five-year period (not enough for discipline, in that, according to contract rules, not more than four were labeled “preventable” in any two consecutive years). The bus drivers’ union president told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he “can’t figure out why” some drivers just get into more accidents than others. Elsewhere in transit news, notorious serial New York “joydriver” Darius McCollum, 50, commandeered yet another bus and was arrested on Nov. 11. He faces jail time, just as he has already served for more than two dozen bus- and train-”borrowing” incidents. (Based on news reports of McCollum over the years, he nonetheless might be a better bus driver than Charles Smith.) The federal government confiscated more property from citizens (through “civil asset forfeiture”) in 2014 than burglars did, according to FBI figures publicized by the independent Institute for Justice (and that did not count state and local government seizures, which are not uniformly reported). None of the governments is bound by law to await convictions before exercising seizure rights. (Some of the seized assets must eventually be returned to private-party victims, but news reports abound of suddenly enriched police departments and other agencies being “gifted” with brand-new cars and other assets acquired from suspects never convicted of crimes.)

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MORE THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT – (1) Carrie Pernula, 38, was arrested in Champlin, Minnesota, in October after a perhaps too-aggressive strategy for quieting raucous neighbor kids. According to the police report, Pernula, at wit’s end, apparently, wrote the kids’ parents by mail: “(Your) children look delicious. May I have a taste?” (2) Robinson Pinilla-Bolivar, 24, was arrested in Midland, Texas, in November, accused of threatening a woman at knifepoint because (according to the police report) she would not “smell his arm pit.”

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PEOPLE WITH ISSUES – Author Richard Brittain, 28 (and a former champion at the popular British Scrabble-like “Countdown” TV show), pleaded guilty in Scotland’s Glasgow Sheriff Court in November for his 2014 response to an unfavorable literary review by an 18-year-old supermarket worker posting on an Internet site. Brittain had acknowledged some criticisms of his book “The World Rose” in a blog, but said other critics had compared him to Dickens, Shakespeare and Rowling. However, he confessed, when he read the clerk’s review, he searched for her online, found where she worked, traveled 500 miles to the store and knocked her out with a wine bottle to the back of the head. (She was treated and released at a hospital.)

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LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS – Recurring Theme: The job market in Wayne County, Michigan, is apparently tough to crack, which led John Rose, 25, to the county sheriff’s office looking for a job. He finished the paper application in November and was awaiting his interview when deputies called him back. As he walked through the door, he was arrested, since a routine check had turned up numerous outstanding charges in Kentucky including multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse and sodomy.

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[12] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

Thanks this week to Lisa Robinson and Joel Sullivan, and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.

missoulanews.com â&#x20AC;˘ December 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;December 17, 2015 [13]

photo courtesy of Whitefish Mountain Resort

wo seasons back, I stood at the base lodge of Teton Pass west of Choteau watching men and women in snug-fitting Lycra outfits skate-ski past at top speed. The word “randonnee” was still fairly new to my skiing lexicon despite a lifetime of dedication to the world of boots and bindings and powder alerts, and from the finish line of the second annual Jack-n-Jill race I didn’t quite know what to make of the sport. Was that Nordic gear with a twist? How could you shred powder on such skinny planks? And where were the spectators’ cowbells? Over time I learned that randonnee—the French word for “ski mountaineering”— was a competition calling for skiers to navigate a timed course using all the skills in the alpine touring arsenal: skinning, bootpacking, possibly even fixed-rope climbing, and of course hauling ass down the hill. Two things became clear immediately that day at Teton Pass, though. These were serious athletes, and they were enjoying the rush. The course had unexpectedly changed that year due to a massive ava-

lanche intentionally triggered the night before. But the Jack-n-Jill still pitted competitors not just against each other but against more than 2,000 vertical feet of mountain. Skiers flocked from Missoula, Bozeman and Great Falls for the event, and Teton Pass officially became the third ski area in Montana to cash in on the slowbuilding randonnee craze. By the resort’s third race in February 2015, manager Chuck Hlavac and his crew had upped the game further, adding a pro division route involving 5,000 vertical feet of climbing. Whitefish native Ben Parsons—who placed fourth in the Canadian SkiMo National Championships the season prior—finished in 1 hour, 41 minutes. Parsons was also responsible for tipping off fellow randonnee skier Carl Kohnstamm about this out-of-the-way competition. “I’d always wanted to see that resort because working in the Forest Service and whatnot, I’d drive through that Choteau area and just really appreciated that eastern front and skyline,” says Kohnstamm, who grew up in Whitefish and now lives

photo by Alex Sakariassen

Casual randonnee competitors at Teton Pass, above, race to clip into their skis during the No Name Scramble, a beginner-friendly division of the resort’s annual Jack-n-Jill race. In the image at top, skiers ascend Whitefish’s North Bowl Chute during the annual Whiteout.

[14] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

in Squamish, British Columbia. “The day I went out there for the race, it definitely didn’t disappoint.” Randonnee is in no way new to Montana, which has been home to two such races for nearly a decade. Rather, the sport is catching on at the recreational level as resorts continue to look for ways to nurture backcountry interest and encourage a growing uphill mentality. Randonnee pro divisions boast rosters of elite athletes kitted in the sleekest and lightest gear, but alpine touring equipment and splitboards have opened the doors to a new block of casual competitors. For every racer of Par-

super-G—all featured events in the X Games or Winter Olympics. Some athletes and resorts are attempting to change that dynamic, however, with Utah and Colorado leading the charge to substantiate randonnee in the U.S. and raise the level of competition. Montana’s growth may be a bit slower in comparison, Kohnstamm says, “but I think skimo racing is definitely helped in that fact that backcountry skiing is increasing so quickly.” Skimo, short for ski mountaineering, is the nickname often used by organizations like the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association. On the ground in Montana,

strong hiking component,” he says. “Even right now as I speak I’m watching people skin up the mountain, so it’s very much part of the local culture.” The allure of randonnee in the Northern Rockies became clear during Skin to Win’s infancy. Before the USSMA had formed nationally, skiers were flocking to Bridger from Whitefish and Jackson Hole for a chance at a more European-style competition. It’s by far the most complicated event the mountain hosts, Wales says, involving a significant amount of prep work to flag courses, brief participants on safety protocols and structure

Whitefish Mountain Resort opted to enter the randonnee world at roughly the same time Bridger launched its Skin to Win. The alpine touring trend had already caught on among Whitefish locals, says Riley Polumbus, the resort’s public relations manager. In fact, Whitefish Mountain Resort was one of the first in the U.S. to adopt an official policy for uphill traffic, making its annual Whiteout a logical addition to the event lineup. “Being a mountain town, being a ski town, everybody’s an athlete,” Polumbus says. “Everyone wants to get in shape or stay in shape, and so there’s all sorts of

photo courtesy of Doug Wales

A pro division racer in Bridger Bowl’s Skin to Win removes his skins before tackling a downhill portion of the course.

sons’ caliber, there are a handful of folks just looking to test their skills or get in a good workout. That’s not to say randonnee is easy. In the words of Doug Wales, marketing director for Bridger Bowl and an organizer of the mountain’s annual Skin to Win: “It’s definitely an endurance race. Lungs on skis.”

hile insanely popular and competitive throughout Europe, randonnee remains one of the less visible competitive skiing disciplines in North America. Our popular view of the sport has been far more dominated by Nordic, freestyle skiing and downhill races like slalom and

hear thrown around start feeling a lot more doable and natural,” Kohnstamm says. “It really is a lot of fun to just push hard and feel improvements in your training, and in that aspect it’s very similar to a lot of the more endurance-type sports.” Kohnstamm finished last season’s Skin to Win in a hair over 2 hours, 24 minutes. Parsons did it in 1 hour, 57 minutes.

ocal athletes aren’t the only ones actively upping the randonnee game in Montana. The latest addition to the state’s race offerings—Big Sky’s Shedhorn Ski

photo courtesy of Doug Wales

Recreation division participants sprint up the lower section of Bridger Bowl’s Sunny Side run on their way to the ridge.

however, the phrase you’ll most often hear in reference to randonnee is “a grunt.” It seems a particularly apt description in the case of Bridger’s Skin to Win, a 5,000-foot vertical slog up a mountain already known for its off-piste potential. The style of race appeared suited to Bridger when the resort first decided to host a randonnee 10 years ago, Wales says. While the Skin to Win was never really intended to be a moneymaker, Wales felt it was a natural extension of the lifestyles and recreational tendencies common among Bridger regulars. “Most of the events we do at Bridger are reflective of the interest and the types of activity that people partake in around here, and Bridger’s always had a real

the timing of the race around the resort’s normal operations. The unpredictability of weather and snow conditions can create some curveballs, and Bridger has had to learn lessons about the randonnee world on the go. “One of the biggest challenges we hit a couple years ago, we had a situation where it got real windy and cold and we had several people that were fighting hypothermia,” Wales says. “It’s a mountaineering event and these folks are going very light weight, stripped down with the bare essentials. They’re very conscientious about every extra gram of weight they’re carrying, but there are some basic clothing requirements we do and that was really brought to light.”

people who find that climbing up the mountain is an excellent form of exercise.” The Whiteout also served as the genesis of Kohnstamm’s own randonnee career. He first competed in the race as a high school junior, building on a skill set established during his childhood days in cross-country ski racing. His first skimo race got him hooked, and he eventually joined a list of fewer than two dozen Montana skiers regularly traveling the region to compete in pro-division randonnee events. After a while, he says, all those huge vertical footage stats start to look much less intimidating. “Once you really get the hang of ski touring and the motion of skinning feels normal, these larger numbers that you

Mo, which debuted last year—hatched a course that covered 16 miles and an elevation gain of more than 9,000 vertical feet. Where the Whiteout, Skin to Win and Jack-n-Jill have stuck exclusively to skinning and boot-packing, the Shedhorn threw in technical ascents involving fixed ropes and harnesses. Big Sky’s entry into randonnee helped further Montana’s reputation in the sport, with the USSMA boasting that the race included “some of the most challenging descents in the North America skimo scene.” The podium was dominated by out-of-state competitors as Colorado’s Marshall Thomson placed second and Tom Goth, a Salt Lake City pro and 2015 U.S. National Ski Mountaineering

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [15]

Randonee Backcountry skiing competition in which skiers navigate a timed course using alpine touring skills

champion, claimed first. Polumbus recalls a similar development at the Whitefish Whiteout two seasons back, when an international pro toppled Parsons from his usual spot atop the standings. People were pretty excited, she says, not because they were out to get Parsons but because the Whiteout was no longer just about them. “It brought the outside world to us in a way,” she says. Other resorts are tentatively testing the randonnee waters, acknowledging existing interest while simultaneously gauging the depth of demand. Snowbowl added an uphill component to its annual Vertical Challenge last season, giving participants an option to skip the lifts and stretch their backcountry legs in pursuit of maximum vertical footage. Josh Gimpelson, one of the event’s organizers, says that portion of the challenge was “pretty low-key,” but did attract a fair amount of attention despite the last-minute nature of the addition and the limited advertising it got. The mountain also included a more randonnee-style element to one of its final Thursday night telemark races of the season. “Really it was just another way to create an extra challenge in the event for people that were crazy enough to want to wake up at 6:30 in the morning and skin up Paradise,” Gimpelson says. “It was just

Other names: • Ski Mountaineering • Skimo • “A Grunt”

as simple as that, kind of to see what interest there was.” Gimpelson adds there aren’t any fullon randonnee races on deck for this season. However, the Vertical Challenge and weekly telemark race series may well be expanded to include an uphill option once more. Something “on a very small

Skills: • Skinning • Boot-packing • Downhill skiing/riding • Fixed-rope climbing

cheer at the starting line, but overall randonnee is a sport only easily followed by those competing. “It’s a little bit more of a vicarious observation on the hill,” Wales says. “Because it’s so spread out and they’re covering so much area, it’s really not so conducive for spectators to be quite honest. You’re

Equipment: • Boots • Skis/Splitboard • AT Bindings • Poles • Climbing skins

ning up as merely penance for the right to go down. But the funny thing with randonnee is the more you think about it, the more sense it makes. “When you’re pushing hard and trying to get more skiing in in a day, you start to think about strategies to make your whole day more efficient,” Kohn-

“When you’re pushing hard and trying to get more skiing in in a day, you start to think about strategies to make your whole day more efficient. The distillation of that is skimo racing.” scale,” Gimpelson says. “Nothing extreme like to the very top of the mountain or anything like that.” One factor that has impacted the public visibility of randonnee is the inherent difficulty in turning such races into spectator events. Unlike its more televised and high-profile counterparts, randonnee covers a wide swath of terrain in a fairly short time. Within the first five or 10 minutes of the Skin to Win, says Doug Wales, competitors are out of view from the base area. Friends and family might show up to

pretty much relegated to watching through binoculars pretty quick.”

probably looked like a bit of a dope on the finish line of that Jack-n-Jill back in 2014, trying to suss out exactly what it was I’d witnessed. Growing up with pro idols like Jonny Moseley, Tommy Moe and JP Auclair tends to leave images of fast runs and big air hardwired in the brain. Even after picking up the backcountry bug, I’d always thought of skin-

[16] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

stamm says. “The distillation of that is skimo racing.” It should come as no surprise then that, as gradual as the growth may be, randonnee has carved out a following in Montana. The sport is booming much more in Utah and Colorado, says pro skier Billy O’Donnell, who last year launched an expansive outdoor coaching program for young adults in Whitefish. But he does see huge potential for randonnee to catch on in the region. “The Whiteout race, the Jack-n-Jill— there’s more interest, there’s people mov-

• Helmet • Shovel • Ice axe • Avalanche beacon

ing uphill on skis, splitboards, skimo equipment and everything in between,” O’Donnell says. “As a result there’s just more people wanting to self-propel themselves up into the mountains, and of course a branch of that, skimo racing, grows with it.” O’Donnell’s not just keeping tabs on that growth—he’s banking on it. His new Ridge Mountain Academy, now entering its second year, offers training and coaching opportunities in a variety of sports for students ages 16 to 22. Randonnee is high on that list, and O’Donnell didn’t hesitate to tap Parsons as lead coach. “I think we’re the first really of its kind,” he says, “and the way we have our curriculum built and the amount that we travel uphill and train with heart rate monitors and fitness metrics and training plans, we treat skimo just like triathletes treat training for triathlons. We’re excited about what we’re developing.” While only one or two of O’Donnell’s students have so far expressed interest in focusing on randonnee as a primary athletic pursuit, everyone is required to try it at least once. The academy actually trucked a half dozen students to Teton Pass for the 2015 Jackn-Jill. Ideally, O’Donnell says, exposing a younger generation to the world of

competitive ski mountaineering will give momentum to the sport in Montana. “Most people get into it a little older, a little later, but we’re moving the age groups down I believe,” O’Donnell says. “We have it set up to where we coach it and train it with all different types of gear, everything from a normal touring freeride setup all the way down to the lightest skimo gear.” Kohnstamm says Montana is already miles ahead of British Columbia, where several of his skiing cohorts are only now laying the groundwork for randonnee races in the 2016-17 season. His final year of college in Squamish will likely keep him off the Montana circuit this season, but the sport has already taken Kohnstamm to a wide range of slopes, from Teton Pass to the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. “It’s sort of incredible that we’ve even got the numbers that we’ve got at some of these races,” Kohnstamm says. “At Teton Pass, there was something like 75 competitors [last year], which is pretty unprecedented when you think of the drive to get there and the amount of backcountry skiers at all in Montana. It’s definitely increasing.” photo courtesy of Whitefish Mountain Resort

A skier navigates the slopes of Whitefish Mountain Resort during the annual Whiteout, one of the two longest standing randonnee competitions in Montana.

asakariassen@missoulanews.com

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [17]

[arts]

Homegrown laughter Tyler D. Nielsen on the precariousness of improv and other successful failures by Erika Fredrickson

odd Lankton & the Family Band put on a comedy show Nov. 13, the same day terrorists attacked Paris. Inside the Crystal Theatre, the local sketch and improv group welcomed the audience and opened the performance with a skit where the actors pretended to be apes as they questioned presidential candidate Donald Trump. Throughout the show, there were funny jabs at the University of Montana football team and weird scenarios involving sharks and sex, but when producer John Howard called out to the audience for a location idea and someone in the front row yelled “Eiffel Tower,” Howard swiftly put the kibosh on the idea. “Something else,” he said. Someone yelled, “Antarctica,” and the Todd Lankton crew was back on track. That’s just how you roll when you’re a group of funny people navigating a tragic world. The November show marked the 10th production from Todd Lankton & the Family Band (which doesn’t include a Todd Lankton or a band), who started performing original work in 2006 with Tyler D. Nielsen as director. The cast includes regulars from Homegrown Comedy, a standup crew that also puts on and performs at open mic comedy nights at the Union Club and the Roxy. In anticipation of the troupe’s upcoming holiday show we talked with Nielsen about failing, succeeding and the mystery of Mr. Lankton. I’ve seen you in some dramatic performances, tell me about your interest in comedy. Tyler D. Nielsen: The approach to comedy or drama is the same, to tell the truth. But the stakes are a lot higher in comedy—it seems backwards. Wile E. Coyote probably has something else he could eat, but it is his relentless pursuit of this roadrunner that makes us laugh. He will blow himself up to get what he wants. We don’t laugh at comedy because it’s trivial, but because the character makes something that would be trivial absolutely necessary. How does the process of writing sketches work for you? TDN: We workshop scripts as a group. One or two people write each script, then bring it in and everyone gets to voice an opinion. Sometimes it gets chaotic but we are all trying to make each script as good as it can be, not rewrite it the way that we would write it. We play to our strengths, but we also push everybody. What can people expect from a Todd Lankton & the Family Band performance? TDN: Our improv format is short scenes and games that we’ve picked up or made up, and they all feature audience interaction. The audience involvement is what

photo by Amy Donovan

Todd Lankton & the Family Band includes, from left, Eliza Oh, Mike Calucchia, Tyler D. Nielsen, Colin McRae, John Howard and Michael Beers.

makes this show great—we couldn’t prepare for some of the suggestions if we tried. We’ve had a baby in outer space, a dating game with Miley Cyrus, Abraham Lincoln and Popeye—you never know what the audience will come up with, you just have to be on your toes. Who is Todd Lankton, anyway? TDN: The short answer? He’s a figment of our imagination. We have created an email address and a Facebook account for Todd Lankton. He was born on July 4, 1976—a bicentennial man, a real patriot. He’s also an ex-tennis pro. Some people that have been coming to our performances for 10 years ask, “Is Todd going to make it to this one?” But he’s a bad patriarch. He’s never shown up to support this family. He’s similar to the character Godot—we’re always waiting for him, but without any of that post-apocalyptic junk. I gotta be honest, improv can be a painful thing to watch when a joke isn’t going over well. How do you deal with the times it’s falling flat?

[18] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

TDN: To call back to Samuel Beckett, “Fail again, try again, fail better.” We do fail in improv. That’s how we learn, as in life. The trick is to [fail] successfully, to not give up, keep the ball in the air and keep a scene going. And the paramount goal is to win the audience over, because we all fail in life and we can all relate to that. Then you’ve increased the conflict that is essential for theater and the payoff is that much sweeter for an audience when you do bring it home. What are the ingredients for a good sketch or improv game? TDN: The most important things for any sketch or improv is knowing your audience and knowing your partners onstage. We have awareness of each others’ strengths and weaknesses, and we push those in rehearsal. Improv seems so precarious, which is probably what makes it exhilarating. I noticed some jokes in the

last show walked that line between being funny and being offensive. TDN: For me, the only rule for if something is funny is simple: “Is it funny?” with the caveat that with taboo subjects the joke has got to be a lot funnier and precise in execution, because our goal is not to hurt any person but to challenge an idea. To be a good comic of any kind, you have to be aware of what’s going on around you, politically, socially and locally. As we give each other feedback, someone will ask, “Is that offensive? Should we say that? Is it worth it?” That’s what it’s really about: “Is it worth it?” It is important to us to broach difficult subjects with humor— often laughter can open up a dialogue. We have to allow ourselves to not take everything so seriously. Laughter is good medicine. Todd Lankton & the Family Band perform at the Crystal Theatre Fri., Dec. 11, at 8 PM. $10. efredrickson@missoulanews.com

[music]

Fired up Shane Clouse runs with the big dogs Since the last millennium, Shane Clouse has been rattling around the edges of country music’s Big Stage. Through the Fire just might get him there. It all starts with great songwriting and smart choices. Clouse has assembled a crew of writers and players who give each song just what it needs. Most of the arrangements are tight and proper, thanks to coproducers Ken Triphan and Mike Ward. Clouse’s “Troublesome” comes out of the chute snorting and bucking with a smoldering intensity like that bull with the blood red eyes that’s just waiting for the right moment to toss your ass into the bleachers. Ward’s “Jonesin’ Over You” compares love with addiction, with lines like “Getting over you is harder than

80 proof, and that’s the sober truth.” It’s a little glossy, but the sentiment cuts through. “Country Wild,” with a riff from Webb Wilder’s “Human Cannonball,” is the album’s one nod to modern pop country, with arena-rock guitars and lines like “We pass around the shine and crank up the Hank.” Clouse slips into his Waylon baritone on “Fire and Gasoline,” an authentic country stomper with an irresistible beat and Ward’s high-lonesome harmony. With Through the Fire, Clouse has found his sound. (Ednor Therriault) Shane Clouse and Stompin’ Ground Trio play the Rustic Hut in Florence Fri., Dec. 11, 8 PM– midnight. Free.

Smokestack and the Foothill Fury Like the battered, hardscrabble city of Butte he calls home, Jarod “Smokey” Yerkes has reinvented himself as a vital, thriving entity, offering a big, greasy middle finger to anyone who tries to push him into a box. Falling off a 30-foot roof can tend to change a guy’s perspective, and after it happened to Smokey in 2007 he decided to pursue the life of a troubadour. Billed as Smokestack and the Foothill Fury, he’s been playing festivals, pubs, clubs and porches—anywhere he can sit down behind his rhythm rig and go apeshit. Smokey’s one-man-band setup allows him to make a hell of a racket, although he’s more shambling

and less polished than Missoula legend Eric “Fingers” Ray. What he lacks in precision, though, he more than makes up for in sheer energy. While his feet pound out a crackling beat on his Rube Goldberg device, Smokey hollers and yelps while playing a Deltastyle slide guitar or banjo. Gritty songs like “Make Me Pay” and “Maybe” create a breakneck ruckus that will have you looking around for the other musicians, but it’s all Smokey. This is deeper than roots music. This is the dirt around the roots. (Ednor Therriault) Smokestack and the Foothill Fury plays at Bitter Root Brewing Thu., Dec. 10, 6–8 PM. Free.

Tornavox, Biolumínico The Tornavox catalog is not deep, consisting of one recent five-song EP on Spotify and a handful of YouTube show videos. The Mexico City band does not have a Wikipedia page. They do have a Twitter feed, though, consisting of declarations about how great their band is, plus aphorisms like “Siempre será difícil perseguir un rayo de luz.” (“It will always be difficult to chase a ray of light.”) Maybe my hope is conspiring with my imperfect Spanish here, but I think that is awesome. It helps that

the first song on Biolumínico, “Transparente,” is a pop-metal banger in the most accessible tradition of the Mars Volta. The rest of the album is a bit more restrained, but it provides four more up-tempo rock songs that are as driving and jubilant as any Killers single, but much cooler, by virtue of being in Spanish. The production is crystal clear, and no track lasts longer than four minutes. What we have here is a rock band in its infancy that is obviously ambitious but somehow disciplined. That’s a rarity anywhere. (Dan Brooks)

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [19]

[theater]

Do you secretly try to smell the drinker's breath?

On the hunt

Al-Anon is for you!

The Moonrisers say goodbye with werewolves by Erika Fredrickson

GIVE AN G IVE A N EXPERIENCE E XPERIENCE G Give ive a S Sorella’s orella’s G Gift ift C Card ard Find Find your your holiday holiday happiness happiness at at Sorella’s. Sorella’s. photo by Amy Donovan

Reginald and Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters stars Christopher Magee and Saquoia Raymond.

207 207 East East Main, Main, Downtown Downtown Missoula Missoula sorellasdayspa.com sorellasdayspa.com 7721.3639 21.3639

[20] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

The best thing about Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is how brilliantly it balances the silly with the profound. Though the Hamlet side-characters die at the end—as is foretold in the title—they’ve managed to live on in other incarnations. Even last year’s first season of the television series “Fargo” included a tribute with Key and Peele playing the role of two philosophical police officers riffing off the doomed characters. In Christopher Magee’s Reginald and Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters, idle banter marked with existential moments complement an absurd plot. The director and main playwright for local theater group The Moonrisers has often found his inspiration from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as well as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. You can hear echoes of these influences in his dialog as the two werewolf hunters search the woods, eyeing suspicious footprints. “Build me a fire, Ruckus. There’s a storm approaching.” “I see no clouds.” “It’s a storm of the mind and it threatens to swallow the lonely raft at sea that is my last shred of sanity.” “Well put, sir!” “Do not condescend.” “Shoddy job, sir.” The Moonrisers started as a collaboration between Magee, his brother, Michael, and their friends, many of whom grew up doing theater together at Hellgate High School. Reginald and Ruckus is the third full production from The Moonrisers since 2013 (they’ve also put on a handful of variety shows), but it’s the first one where the Magee brothers get to play sidekick protagonists—Chris as Reginald, the preening wordsmith, and Michael as the goofy but well-meaning Ruckus. Like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or Vladimir and Estragon, Reginald and Ruckus navigate

their world through wordplay. But the tension isn’t just in the words—there’s a real threat out there. “My brother and I have always liked fantastic things and monster movies,” Magee says. “I liked the idea of some werewolf hunters who get the night wrong and go out on the night after the full moon.” Magee’s other plays have dabbled in the fantastical, though he admits they haven’t always been as verbose at Reginald and Ruckus. Their first show, The Moonrisers, was about four homeless philosophers trying to decide if the balloon they see in a tree is really the moon. The second play, Malarial Child, was a Tennessee Williamsstyled drama about a boy put into a coma after choking on an olive and the dysfunctional family vigil that ensues. Reginald and Ruckus is a three-part production. The first part includes a satisfying plot twist involving a werewolf. (I won’t spoil it.) The second part finds the duo in a courtroom and the third part is called “Caper and Crumholtz: Vampire Killers,” but Magee won’t reveal more. The Moonrisers are on the brink of their own plot twist. This show marks the last for them, as the Magee brothers will be moving to San Francisco to continue their work. It’s no secret that Missoula’s independent theater scene can be a struggle when it comes to getting audiences. “There’s a really strong theater community in San Francisco,” Magee says. “Maybe because it is so expensive you really have to have a reason for being there. I like the idea of surrounding myself with other people who are going to challenge me to rise to new levels.” The Moonrisers present Reginald and Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters at the Roxy Thu., Dec. 10, through Sat., Dec. 12, at 8 PM. $15 or two tix for $25. $10 advance. efredrickson@missoulanews.com

[books]

Pretty penny Shann Ray’s sentences shine in American Copper by Chris La Tray

If the typical novel is like a movie enjoyed from move. Railroads are built to link opposite ends of the a serviceable but scratchy old VHS tape, then Shann baron’s empire. Horseback and wagon give way to Ray’s debut novel, American Copper, is like watch- automobile. Racism is ruthlessly portrayed, particuing a film on BluRay disc. It’s not just reading—one larly in the relations between whites and Indians. is pulled into the saddle or onto a train by Ray’s Whether reading of Sand Creek or townsfolk banding magnificent prose and then taken on a trip through together to ambush Indian travelers, these passages some of the most breathtaking landscapes in west- of white-on-Indian violence often left me shaking ern Montana. Every detail is so crisp and sharp, and with rage. If I have any quibble with American Copper it is the vistas he slowly pans across are so breathtaking, in the depiction of Evelynne there were times his writing Lowry. I’m a little weary of nearly brought tears to my fictional women having to eyes. Not just because of be so glowingly beautiful. the story he was telling, but Lowry is almost too perfect. also the simple beauty of She has her beauty and the words on the page. That wealth. She becomes a poet is a rare reading experience of renown. She seems wise for me. beyond her years. I don’t American Copper is the know that she needs to be story of three people. Eveall this in order to serve the lynne Lowry is the beautiful story. She could be entirely daughter of a wealthy imminormal and still catch the grant turned recluse at the eye of the man hired to train tragic death of her brother. her horse. She could still beZion is a troubled mountain come the exotic fascination of a man orphaned as a of a young Cheyenne rodeo teenager who now earns star without all the polish. It money wrestling rodeo doesn’t spoil the book for steers, training horses and me, but it is a point I feel battering opponents in brucompelled to make. tal barroom strongman comOne thing I often see in pet i t i o ns . A nd , fina lly, novels is a propensity for there’s William Black Kettle, American Copper the Hollywood ending, the great-great-grandson of Shann Ray where everything is explodCheyenne Indian Chief Unbridled Books, paperback ing and the good guys Black Kettle. In 1864, the 320 pages, $16 square off with the bad guys chief led his people to Big Sandy Creek in Colorado to seek solace at a local fort, for that final climax. It’s as if the conflict builds only to be brutally massacred by the Third Colorado throughout the story in expectation of an epic Cavalry under command of the “Fighting Parson,” showdown for the close. Ray’s book is rife with conflict and many of those battles do resolve through John Chivington. Ray meticulously weaves this trio together over violence and large-scale scenes. But they aren’t the a span of decades. All suffer at the will of Lowry’s fa- point of the book. There is a path Ray could have ther, Baron Josef Lowry, a copper king whose wife taken that might have ended in smoking guns and died giving birth to Evelynne. He is a cruel, abusive dynamite, but, to his credit, he didn’t choose it. The man who uses the power of his wealth to bludgeon denouement to American Copper doesn’t require any and all whom he sees as challenging him, both the blockbuster scene. We close with some bitterin business and at home. When his daughter tries to sweet happiness, much sadness and the weight of forge a life of her own, first through meeting Zion time having its ultimate say. It’s a beautiful way to and then William Black Kettle, Baron Lowry’s reac- turn the final page on a work of fiction so real it tions destroy all hope for happiness. At every turn his seems like it all must have happened. In many ways, fears and suspicions (and alcoholism) wipe away any it did. Shann Ray reads from American Copper at traces of compassion or sanity. Years pass, and Ray enhances the story not only with vivid descriptions Fact & Fiction Fri., Dec. 11, at 7 PM. of the natural world his characters live in but also the American cultural evolution through which their lives arts@missoulanews.com

The act of giving is wor ortth more mor m re than the gift. worth

Please help by joining our 30th 3 Annual Holida ay Food Driv ve. Drop off your donations to any First Security Bank branch between November 30th - December 23rd. We encourage everyone to join the people of First Security Bank in giving back to our communities by donating to the Missoula Food Bank.

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missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [21]

[film]

Tail play Heart of a Dog upends traditional documentary by Molly Laich

Over 100 Vintage, Handmade & Gift Vendors! European, Christmas & Live Bluegrass Music!

Cozzy Bonfires & Hot Beverages everag & Treats Fri. Dec 11th 5-10pm 10pm t. Dec 12th 10am-4pm 4pm Missoula Fairgrounds $5 entry covers both days, days

The psychedelic furs?

2 and under free , A portion of the fee goes to Summit for Parkinson

About Laurie Anderson’s meditative, biographical documentary Heart of a Dog: I can’t stress enough how rare, audacious and strange the film really is. To call it a documentary only emphasizes our narrow conception of the word. There’s no political agenda, no talking head interviews nor even a narrative thread at work. What we’re given instead is a hypnotic collection of sounds, animation, still drawings and moving images, held together by Anderson’s poetic, sometimes philosophical narration. She fixates on the death of pets, husbands and mothers, as well as government data collection, childhood memories, New York City post-9/11 and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. About her mother’s impending death, she tells her teacher, “My mother is dying and I don’t love her.” Maybe that sounds callous, but I took it as a sophisticated understanding of what love truly is— and it’s a question that keeps coming up. Anderson’s known mostly for her performance art and experimental music, defined by strange and original sounds, some of them on instruments she invented herself. She’s also the longtime partner of the late musician Lou Reed. His music and image pokes its way into the film at a few choice moments, but the dog’s death seems more important. Shots from the pet’s low-to-the-ground perspective serves as a literal reminder that dogs in fact have a special point of view that has nothing to do with us. Autobiographical films face a few extra hurdles. Most art, I think, stems from the personal, but the clever artists hide themselves inside of a piece in such a way that they’ve tricked you into thinking the story is actually about you. To skip this step and put it out there plainly—the artist’s memories and thoughts had better be damned interesting. When Anderson starts talking about her rat terrier right out of the gates, I immediately felt my blinders creeping up. “I’m not

[22] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

interested in some other lady’s relationship with her dog,” I said. “I have a Rottweiler named Dorothy and ours is the only pet-to-human relationship that matters.” Then Lolabelle started playing the keyboard, a talent I have to begrudgingly admit my dog does not possess. (Lolabelle had been clicker trained to bang the keys over top Anderson’s original music.) I had no choice but to let these borrowed feelings in. I call Anderson’s film audacious because one simply doesn’t make intensely personal, abstract, featurelength films with an authoritative, female narrator—at least not with the expectation anyone will want to see it. It didn’t surprise me to learn that the film began as a short and then expanded organically to its 75minute runtime. Heart of a Dog premiered at Telluride Film Festival in September and has enjoyed a slow roll of critical acclaim ever since. It’s been shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, an impressive achievement for a tiny picture with minutes of silent trees, shot with a shaky hand on the filmmaker’s iPhone. Heart of a Dog makes for a tranquil, thought-provoking experience, brought to us by a wise and confident narrator, and it’s surprisingly entertaining to boot. Digressions range from delightful to tragic. Anderson introduces a thought experiment: What if a duck had a heart attack in midair, landed on a man in the woods and killed him? Then she gives us a memory of her childhood when she spent a year or more in a coma-like state with a broken back, while hospital volunteers unwittingly read her the same boring children’s story over and over. And really, what’s the difference between the two? Heart of A Dog opens at the Roxy Fri., Dec. 11. arts@missoulanews.com

[film] their computer-animated debut. Rated G. Showing at the Carmike and Pharaohplex.

OPENING THIS WEEK BROOKLYN An Irish immigrant lands in pre-hipster 1950s Brooklyn, where troubles from her home country finds her, forcing a tough decision. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Roxy through Dec. 17. Check theroxytheater.org for showtimes.

ROOM When young Jack and his mother escape from their enclosed environment, they discover the wonders of the outside world. Like that time you ran out of fabric softener. Rated R. Showing at the Roxy Thu., Dec. 10. Visit theroxytheater.org for showtimes.

ELF Santa Claus brings you this special holiday screening of Elf, starring Will Farrell as the overgrown Santa’s helper who strikes out from the North Pole in search of his biological father. Rated PG. Showing at the Roxy, Sun., Dec. 13, at 3 PM. Free.

SPECTRE Daniel Craig returns as 007. While working to uncover a sinister organization, James Bond reveals the ugly truth about SPECTRE. Turns out they’re a nonprofit. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Carmike, Pharaohplex and Showboat.

FREESTYLE SNOWBOARD TEAM FILM NIGHT The Missoula Freestyle Snowboard Team holds their first fundraiser. Plenty of swag and a raffle, starting at 6 PM with a short film at 7. At the Roxy Wed., Dec. 16. $10. HEART OF A DOG Laurie Anderson’s musical meditation on the death of her beloved pet. Showing at the Roxy through Dec. 16. Visit theroxytheater.org for showtimes. (See Film.) HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH The Roxy’s Movie Cult series continues with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the celebrated story of a transexual punk-rock singer. Rated R. Showing at the Roxy Sat., Dec. 12, 10 PM. IN THE HEART OF THE SEA A whaling ship crew is stranded at sea for months, terrorized by a sperm whale in this Jaws for the cetacean set. Directed by Ron Howard. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Carmike and Pharaohplex. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: MAGIC FLUTE (ENCORE) Mozart’s classic opera follows the trials of Prince Tamino after he is saved from a serpent and given a magic flute. Showing at the Roxy Sat., Dec. 12, 11 AM. NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE: JANE EYRE Charlotte Brontë’s spirited heroine faces life’s obstacles head-on, surviving poverty, injustice and betrayal, before deciding to follow her heart. Showing at the Roxy Tue., Dec. 15, 6 PM.

TRUMBO Bryan Cranston stars in the true story of a top Hollywood screenwriter who was jailed and blacklisted for his political beliefs. Rated R. Showing at the Roxy Thu., Dec. 10. Visit theroxytheater.org for showtimes.

Worst. Whale-watching cruise. Ever. In the Heart of the Sea opens Fri., Dec. 11, at the Carmike and Pharaohplex.

NOW PLAYING

ing for survival along side her ragtag group of allies/enemies. Rated PG-13. Playing at Carmike.

AMERICAN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE FROM THE GRAND OLE OPRY Country music stars perform in this concert film. Showing at the Carmike Thu., Dec. 10, at 7:30 PM.

KRAMPUS What better way to celebrate Christmas than with some pants-crapping terror? A boy having a bad Christmas summons a demon who’s the opposite of Santa Claus. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Carmike and Pharaohplex.

CREED Rocky is back. This time he’s training Adonis Johnson, the son of his old nemesis Apollo Creed. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Carmike, Pharaohplex. THE GOOD DINOSAUR Pixar’s latest follows the exploits of an Apatosauraus named Arlo who makes an unlikely human friend. Unlikely because the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras were millions of years apart, but who’s counting? Rated PG. Showing at the Carmike and Pharaoplex THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2 The wait is over. The final installment in the Hunger Games series finds Katniss Everdeen fight-

THE MARTIAN Left for dead on the Red Planet, Matt Damon attempts to survive until a rescue mission can come for him. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Carmike, Pharaohplex and Showboat. THE NIGHT BEFORE Just in time for the holidays, Seth Rogen and his bros comb Manhattan, looking for the mother of all Christmas parties. Rated R. Showing at the Carmike and Pharaoplex. THE PEANUTS MOVIE Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and, of course, Snoopy join the rest of the Peanuts gang as they make

TV NITE The Roxy presents TV Nite. Every Monday they’ll show retro TV shows and classic commercials. Mon., Dec. 7 at 7 PM. VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN The Frankenstein tale, as told from the perspective of Igor. Daniel Radcliffe and James McEvoy star. Rated PG-13. Showing at the Pharaohplex. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN Be Our Guest series continues with another Christopher Guest classic. Waiting for Guffman follows a small town theatre troupe as they prepare their town’s sesquicentennial pageant, anticipating a visit from a Broadway heavyweight. Rated R. Showing at the Roxy Thu., Dec. 10, 7 PM. Capsule reviews by Ednor Therriault. Planning your outing to the cinema? Visit the arts section of missoulanews.com to find upto-date movie times for theaters in the area. You can also contact theaters to spare yourself any grief and/or parking lot profanities. Theater phone numbers: Carmike 12 at 541-7469; The Roxy at 728-9380; Wilma at 728-2521; Pharaohplex in Hamilton at 961-FILM; Showboat in Polson and Entertainer in Ronan at 883-5603.

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [23]

[dish]

Sweet potato latkes by Gabi Moskowitz I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I prefer sweet potatoes. I know, I know. As an American Jew (two groups known for their deep love of the white potato), it’s practically blasphemous for me to shun the humble Russet. And, yeah, I can see its place in a recipe now and then: The toothsome steak fry. The knish. The pierogi. Potatoes make sense here and there, but given the choice, I go for the yams. It seems like the latke should be the kind of potato exception that a non-potato-lover like myself should make. But when I think about the exterior caramelization that happens when a shredded sweet potato hits hot oil, there’s just nothing else for me. Here, I’ve taken things over the top by adding more sweet root vegetables: carrots (I used rainbow carrots, but any kind will work) and beets, which add a pop of bright purple color as well as earthy sweetness. I’ve kept the seasoning simple—just thinly sliced scallions, salt and pepper—but these would welcome a bit of grated ginger, fresh turmeric and/or minced garlic, too. Feel free to get creative. But whatever you do, be sure to eat this traditional Hanukkah dish hot, right out of the pan (or oven, where you’ll warm them), with plenty of sour cream and/or applesauce. I’ll be serving these alongside mouthwateringly tender brisket and some roasted broccolini. But between you, me and the applesauce, these latkes will be the star of the show. Ingredients 2 pounds (orange-fleshed) sweet potatoes, scrubbed and grated (no need to peel) 3 medium carrots, peeled and grated 4 small beets, cooked, peeled and grated 3 scallions (white and green parts), trimmed and sliced thinly ½ teaspoon each salt and freshly cracked black pepper 1 egg, lightly beaten

[24] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

BROKEASS GOURMET 1

⁄3 cup flour oil, for frying (I like the flavor of a half-and-half blend of olive oil and coconut oil, but vegetable, canola or grapeseed oils all work well) (Recipe serves 6-8) Directions Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sweet potato, carrots, beets, scallions, salt, pepper, egg and flour. Stir well, using a spoon or your hands, until well-combined. Pour the oil into one or two large frying pans until it comes up about ½-inch in the pan. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it sizzles when a piece of grated sweet potato is added. Wet your hands under running water and form a latke into 2 ½-inch rounds that are about ½-inch thick (though you should feel free to make them larger or smaller as desired). Add the latke immediately to the hot pan and continue forming latkes and adding them to the pan until the pan is full, with plenty of space between each latke. (To give you an idea of what this looks like, I cook 4-5 small latkes at a time in my 12-inch frying pan.) Cook for 1-2 minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning. Flip the latkes in the order you added them to the pan so they brown evenly, then cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, until the latkes are crispy on the outside. As the latkes finish, transfer them to a baking sheet (make sure to leave space between them) and keep warm in the oven. Serve the latkes hot, with sour cream and/or applesauce. BrokeAss Gourmet caters to folks who want to live the high life on the cheap, with delicious recipes that are always under $20. Gabi Moskowitz is the blog’s editorin-chief and author of The BrokeAss Gourmet Cookbook and Pizza Dough:100 Delicious, Unexpected Recipes.

[dish] Asahi 1901 Stephens Ave 829-8989 • asahimissoula.com Exquisite Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Try our new Menu! Order online for pickup or express dine in. Pleasant prices. Fresh ingredients. Artistic presentation. Voted top 3 People’s Choice two years in a row. Open Tue-Sun: 11am-10pm. $-$$$ Bernice’s Bakery 190 South 3rd West • 728-1358 It’s the little things we do together. Bernice’s takes these moments to heart. This Christmas when you want “just the right size” gift or party package, think about stopping by Bernice’s having us prepare you a personalized cookie plate, or pick up frosted Christmas trees (Yep! Those famous sugar cookies.) Packaged Bernice’s Hot Cocoa, Mini Macaroons, Gingerbread Coffeecake, and loaves of Poundcake, also make great gifts! Have you checked out Bernice’s wearables lately? Downright smart. Gift Cards? Oh, yeah. Bernice’s wishes you a Merry Little Christmas. xoxo bernice. $-$$ Biga Pizza 241 W. Main Street • 728-2579 Biga Pizza offers a modern, downtown dining environment combined with traditional brick oven pizza, calzones, salads, sandwiches, specials and desserts. All dough is made using a “biga” (pronounced bee-ga) which is a time-honored Italian method of bread making. Biga Pizza uses local products, the freshest produce as well as artisan meats and cheeses. Featuring seasonal menus. Lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat. Beer & Wine available. $-$$ Bitter Root Brewing 101 Marcus St., Hamilton 363-7468 bitterrootbrewing.com The Bitter Root Brewery in downtown Hamilton is your one-stop shop for all your holiday needs. Plan your upcoming party, stock up on tasty beer and check off your holiday present list all at the Bitter Root Brewery. Open 7 days a week. Cheers! $-$$ Black Coffee Roasting Co. 525 E. Spruce • 541-3700 Black Coffee Roasting Company is located in the heart of Missoula. Our roastery is open M-F 6:30-5:30, Sat. 7:30- 4, Sun. 8-3. In addition to fresh roasted coffee beans we offer a full service espresso bar, drip coffee, pour-overs and more. The suspension of coffee beans in water is our specialty. $ Bridge Pizza 600 S Higgins Ave. • 542-0002 bridgepizza.com A popular local eatery on Missoula’s Hip Strip. Featuring handcrafted artisan brick oven pizza, pasta, sandwiches, soups, & salads made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Missoula’s place for pizza by the slice. A unique selection of regional microbrews and gourmet sodas. Dine-in, drive-thru, & delivery. Open everyday 11am - 10:30pm. $-$$ Brooks & Browns Inside Holiday Inn Downtown 200 S. Pattee St. • 532-2056 Martini Mania with $4 martinis every Monday. The Griz Coaches Radio Show LIVE every Tuesday at 6pm, Burger & Beer special $8 every Tuesday. $2 well drinks & $2 PBR tall boys every Wednesday. Big Brains Trivia every Thursday at 8pm. Have you discovered Brooks & Browns? Inside the Holiday Inn, Downtown Missoula $-$$ Burns Street Bistro 1500 Burns St. • 543-0719 burnsstbistro.com We cook the freshest local ingredients as

a matter of pride. Our relationship with local farmers, ranchers and other businesses allows us to bring quality, scratch cooking and fresh-brewed Black Coffee Roasting Co. coffee and espresso to Missoula’s Historic Westside neighborhood. Handmade breads & pastries, soups, salads & sandwiches change with the seasons, but our commitment to delicious food does not. Mon-Fri 7am - 2pm. Sat/Sun Brunch 9am - 2pm. Dinners on Fri & Sat nights 5 - 9 PM. $-$$

JUST ENJOY 2-for-1 drinks (with entree) 3-6pm Mon-Fri

Butterfly Herbs 232 N. Higgins • 728-8780 Celebrating 43 years of great coffees and teas. Truly the “essence of Missoula.” Offering fresh coffees, teas (Evening in Missoula), bulk spices and botanicals, fine toiletries & gifts. Our cafe features homemade soups, fresh salads, and coffee ice cream specialties. In the heart of historic downtown, we are Missoula’s first and favorite Espresso Bar. Open 7 Days. $

$1 OFF drinks with happy hour special appetizers

LUNCH & DINNER VEGETARIAN & GLUTEN-FREE NO PROBLEM

Cafe Zydeco 2101 Brooks • 406-926-2578 cafezydeco.com GIT’ SOME SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH! Authentic cajun cuisine, with an upbeat zydeco atmosphere in the heart of Missoula. Indoor and outdoor seating. Breakfast served all day. Featuring Jambalaya, Gumbo, Étouffée, Po-boys and more. Beignets served ALL DAY! Open Monday 9am-3pm, Tuesday-Saturday 11am-8pm, Closed Sundays. Doc’s Gourmet Sandwiches 214 N. Higgins Ave. • 542-7414 Doc’s is an extremely popular gathering spot for diners who appreciate the great ambiance, personal service and generous sandwiches made with the freshest ingredients. Whether you’re heading out for a power lunch, meeting friends or family or just grabbing a quick takeout, Doc’s is always an excellent choice. Delivery in the greater Missoula area. We also offer custom catering!...everything from gourmet appetizers to all of our menu items. $-$$

Mon-Fri 7am - 4pm

(Breakfast ‘til Noon)

531 S. Higgins

541-4622

Sat & Sun 8am - 4pm

(Breakfast all day)

DECEMBER

El Cazador 101 S. Higgins Ave. • 728-3657 Missoula Independent readers’ choice for Best Mexican Restaurant. Come taste Alfredo’s original recipes for authentic Mexican food where we cook with love. From seafood to carne asada, enjoy dinner or stop by for our daily lunch specials. We are a locally owned Mexican family restaurant, and we want to make your visit with us one to remember. Open daily for lunch and dinner. $-$$

COFFEE SPECIAL

The Empanada Joint 123 E. Main St. • 926-2038 Offering authentic empanadas BAKED FRESH DAILY! 9 different flavors, including vegetarian and (call ahead) gluten-free options, plus Argentine side dishes and desserts. Super quick and delicious! Get your healthy, hearty lunch or dinner here. Wi-Fi, Ping Pong, Soccer on the Big Screen, and music from Argentina and South America. Ask about our Take & Bake and Catering too! Mon - Wed 11a - 6p, Thur Sat 11a - 8p. Downtown Missoula. $

$10.95/lb.

Yuletide Blend

Gifts worth waiting for

BUTTERFLY HERBS

232 N. HIGGINS AVE • DOWNTOWN

Coffees, Teas & the Unusual

Good Food Store 1600 S. 3rd West • 541-FOOD The GFS Deli features made-to-order sandwiches, Fire Deck pizza & calzones, rice & noodle wok bowls, an award-winning salad bar, an olive & antipasto bar and a self-serve hot bar offering a variety of housemade breakfast, lunch and dinner entrées. A seasonally-changing selection of deli salads and rotisserie-roasted chickens are also available. Locally-roasted coffee/espresso drinks and an extensive fresh juice and smoothie menu complement bakery goods from the GFS ovens and Missoula’s favorite bakeries. Indoor and patio seating. Open every day 7am-10pm $-$$

$…Under $5 $–$$…$5–$15 $$–$$$…$15 and over

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [25]

[dish]

Stitt Happens HAPPIEST HOUR What it is: A Griz-inspired mixed drink dreamt up by the staff at Tamarack Brewing Company and made from vodka, lemonade and Lindemans Raspberry Lambic beer. It’s served in a pint glass with a copper-colored straw. Who it’s named after: University of Montana football coach Bob Stitt who led the team to a Football Championship Series playoff berth during his first season. “Stitt Happens” immediately became a catchphrase among Missoula fans. But isn’t the season over? Yes, and this drink is the perfect way to drown your sorrow after an unfortunate 37-6 thumping by North Dakota St. on Dec. 5. “Stitt does happen,” bartender Jessica Holden reasons about the loss. Tamarack advertises the drink with an image of Coach Stitt bobbing just above the drink’s fizzy surface, which comes across as a parable for UM’s season.

Grizzly Liquor 110 W Spruce St. • 549-7723 grizzlyliquor.com Voted Missoula’s Best Liquor Store! Largest selection of spirits in the Northwest, including all Montana micro-distilleries. Your headquarters for unique spirits and wines! Free customer parking. Open Monday-Saturday 9-7:30. $-$$$ Hob Nob on Higgins 531 S. Higgins • 541-4622 hobnobonhiggins.com Come visit our friendly staff & experience Missoula’s best little breakfast & lunch spot. All our food is made from scratch, we feature homemade corn beef hash, sourdough pancakes, sandwiches, salads, espresso & desserts. MC/V $-$$

photo by Derek Brouwer

Where to get it: Tamarack’s taproom and brewpub at 231 W. Front St. A pint will cost you $5. The brewery ran the “Stitt Happens” as a $3 special on gamedays—but there won’t be another one of those for a while. —Derek Brouwer Happiest Hour celebrates western Montana watering holes. To recommend a bar, bartender or beverage for Happiest Hour, email editor@missoulanews.com.

The Iron Griz 515 South Ave. E. • 728-5106 irongriz.com Located at the base of Mt. Sentinel in the UM Golf Course Clubhouse, the Iron Griz proudly serves delicious, affordable, local foods. Montana food producers, partnering with the UM Farm to College Program, supply our kitchen with the freshest, highest quality meats, produce, locally brewed beer and wines. $-$$ Iron Horse Brew Pub 501 N. Higgins • 728-8866 ironhorsebrewpub.com We’re the perfect place for lunch, appetizers, or dinner. Enjoy nightly specials, our fantastic beverage selection and friendly, attentive service. Stop by & stay awhile! No matter what you are looking for, we’ll give you something to smile about. $$-$$$ Iza 529 S. Higgins • 830-3237 izarestaurant.com Local Asian cuisine feature SE Asian, Japanese, Korean and Indian dishes. Gluten Free and Vegetarian no problem. Full Beer, Wine, Sake and Tea menu. We have scratch made bubble teas. Come in for lunch, dinner, drinks or just a pot of awesome tea. Open Mon-Fri: Lunch 11:30-3pm, Happy Hour 3-6pm, Dinner M-Sat 3pm-close. $-$$ Missoula Senior Center 705 S. Higgins Ave. (on the hip strip) • 543-7154 themissoulaseniorcenter.org Did you know the Missoula Senior Center serves delicious hearty lunches every weekday for only $4 for those on the Nutrition Program, $5 for U of M Students with a valid student ID and $6 for all others. Children under 10 eat free. Join us from 11:30 - 12:30 M-F for delicious food and great conversation. $ The Mustard Seed Asian Cafe Southgate Mall • 542-7333 Contemporary Asian fusion cuisine. Original recipes and fresh ingredients combine the best of Japanese, Chinese, Polynesian, and Southeast Asian influences. Full menu available at the bar. Award winning desserts made fresh daily , local and regional micro brews, fine wines & signature cocktails. Vegetarian and Gluten free menu available. Takeout & delivery. $$-$$$

SATURDAYS 4PM-9PM

MONDAYS & THURSDAYS ALL DAY

SUSHI Not available for To-Go orders

[26] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

Pearl Cafe 231 E. Front St. 541-0231 • pearlcafe.us Country French meets the Northwest. Idaho Trout with Dungeness Crab, Rabbit with Wild Mushroom Ragout, Snake River Farms Beef, Fresh Seafood Specials Daily. House Made Charcuterie, Sourdough Bread & Delectable Desserts. Extensive wine list; 18 wines by the glass and local beers on draft. Reservations recommended for the intimate dining areas. Visit our website Pearlcafe.us to check out our nightly specials, make reservations, or buy gift certificates. Open Mon-Sat at 5:00. $$-$$$ Pita Pit 130 N Higgins • 541-7482 pitapitusa.com Fresh Thinking Healthy Eating. Enjoy a pita rolled just for you. Hot meat and cool fresh veggies topped with your favorite sauce. Try our Chicken Caesar, Gyro, Philly Steak, Breakfast Pita, or Vegetarian Falafel to name just a few. For your convenience we are open until 3am 7 nights a week. Call if you need us to deliver! $-$$ River Rising Bakery 337 Main St., Hamilton 363-4552 ORDER YOUR HOLIDAY DESSERTS EARLY! Hamilton’s favorite bakery, deli, and espresso bar. Serving all butter pastries, delicious and nutritious muffins, cream scones, and delectable desserts. Or choose from our selection of home-made soups, salads, and sandwiches found nowhere else. Open 6:30am-5:30pm Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:00pm Saturday, 8:00am-2:00pm Sunday. Weekday local business lunch delivery available 9:00am-1:00pm. $-$$ The Starving Artist Cafe & Art Gallery 3020 S. Reserve St., Ste A 541-7472 missoulastarvingartist.com Local, high quality pastries and desserts from Missoula bakeries. Top of the line coffee blends from Hunter Bay Coffee, and specialty, hand crafted beverages. Monthly events, featured artists, and open mic night every Wednesday. The Starving Artist Cafe & Art Gallery is sure to please your palette! $ Sushi Hana 403 N. Higgins 549-7979 SushiMissoula.com Montana’s Original Sushi Bar. We Offer the Best Sushi and Japanese Cuisine in Town. Casual atmosphere. Plenty of options for non-sushi eaters including daily special items you won’t find anywhere else. $1 Specials Mon & Wed. Lunch Mon–Sat; Dinner Daily. Sake, Beer, & Wine. Visit SushiMissoula.com for full menu. $$-$$$

Korean Bar-B-Que & Sushi 3075 N. Reserve 327-0731 We invite you to visit our contemporary Korean-Japanese restaurant and enjoy it’s warm atmosphere. Full Sushi Bar. Korean bar-b-que at your table. Beer and Wine. $$-$$$

Taco Sano Two Locations: 115 1/2 S. 4th Street West 1515 Fairview Ave inside City Life 541-7570 • tacosano.net Home of Missoula’s Best BREAKFAST BURRITO. 99 cent TOTS every Tuesday. Once you find us you’ll keep coming back. Breakfast Burritos served all day, Quesadillas, Burritos and Tacos. Let us dress up your food with our unique selection of toppings, salsas, and sauces. Open 10am9pm 7 days a week. WE DELIVER. $-$$

Orange Street Food Farm 701 S. Orange St. • 543-3188 orangestreetfoodfarm.com Experience The Farm today!!! Voted number one Supermarket & Retail Beer Selection. Fried chicken, fresh meat, great produce, vegan, gluten free, all natural, a HUGE beer and wine selection, and ROCKIN’ music. What deal will you find today? $-$$$

Westside Lanes 1615 Wyoming 721-5263 Visit us for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner served 8 AM to 9 PM. Try our homemade soups, pizzas, and specials. We serve 100% Angus beef and use fryer oil with zero trans fats, so visit us any time for great food and good fun. $-$$

$…Under $5 $–$$…$5–$15 $$–$$$…$15 and over

December 10–December 17, 2015

THURSDAYDEC10 Graveyard mix a massive swirl of rock, jazz and blues influences into their own authentic cyclone of sound. With Earthless at the Top Hat, doors at 6 PM, show at 7. $15 at the door or at 1111presents.com. All ages show. Artist Nancy Seiler, a GOLDEN Artist Educator, shows you how to sketch, ink, and apply watercolor to objects found in nature at her Journaling with Watercolor workshop. 330 Brooks St. Thu., Dec. 10 at 9 AM, Fri., Dec. 11 at 1 PM. $50 plus materials. To register visit nancyseiler.com. With finals approaching, your stress level might be through the roof. Curry Health and Wellness is here to help with Stress Less. Enjoy refreshments, free chair massages, aromatherapy, and (I am not making this up) puppies. Missoula College South Campus, 10 AM–2 PM. PR experts show participants how to gain support from the media and get the word out about your organization, project or campaign. Missoula Public Library, noon–1:30 PM. Free. Soon-to-be mommas can feel empowered, relaxed and nurtured during a prenatal yoga class, this and every Thursday at the Open Way Center, 702 Brooks Ave., at 4 PM. $11/$10 with card. Drop-ins welcome. Call 360-1521.

Hey, are you impugning my scarf? Jerry Joseph and Steve Drizos are at the Top Hat Sat., Dec. 12. Doors at 9:30 PM, show at 10. $10.

Yoga newbies can get hip to a gentle, mindful practice with Easy Yoga for Beginners, led by Harriet Alterowitz and Marina Zaleski, including basic poses and breath work. Learning Center at Red Willow, 825 W. Kent Ave. Meets Thursdays from 4-5:15 PM. $45 for six weeks, or $10 drop-in.

GIFT CARDS, OH BOY! Y!

DROP BY OR ORDER ONLINE! E! www.bigdippericecream.com om

D E L I C I O U S • LO C CA AL • HOMEMADE missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [27]

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Look, that pigeon is carrying Mr. Trump’s hairpiece! Mary Poppins continues at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish through Sun., Dec. 20. For times and tickets, visit whitefishtheatreco.org.

Indigenous peoples have tied legends from their heritage to celestial objects for thousands of years. Hear some of these stories at Stories Under the Stars, which runs monthly through the fall. Star Gazing Room at the Payne Family Native American Center, 4–6 PM. Free. The 30th annual Art Annex Holiday Sale and Juried Show runs today through Sat. Opening celebration features live music with awards at 5 PM. UM’s Off Center Gallery of the Art Annex. 4–7 PM. Free and open to the public.

nightlife Buying holiday gifts that are already wrapped? It doesn’t get much easier than that. Check out the selection of donated items at the Learning Center at Red Willow. All proceeds go to the center’s scholarship fund. 825 W. Kent St. 5–8 PM. Nate Vernon of Wartime Blues leads the eponymous Nate Vernon and Friends through some acoustic tunes at Draught Works Brewing, 6–8 PM. Free. Smokestack and the Foothill Fury plays some authentic juke joint country at Bitter Root Brewing, 6–8 PM. Free. (See Noise.)

[28] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

What did FDR know, and when did he know it? These questions and many more will not be answered, but to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor you can enjoy a screening of Tora! Tora! Tora! plus a tour of WWII-era artifacts. The Miracle of America Museum, Polson. 6:30 PM. Free. Learn your Swingin’ Thing from your Country Slide when Cathy Clark teaches country dance steps at the Sunrise Saloon every Wednesday and Thursday at 7 PM. $5 per lesson. The Moonrisers Theater presents Reginald & Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters at the Roxy Theater. Doors at 7:30 PM, show at 8. $15 or two for $25 at the door. $10 in advance at theroxy theater.org. (See Theater.) Kick up your heels at the Starlighter’s Swing Band Dance. Missoula Senior Center, 7–10 PM. $7. UM’s Student Ensemble Series presents a UM Concert Band performance at Dennison Theatre, 7:30 PM. $11/$6 seniors/$5 students. Unleash your cogent understanding of the trivium at Brooks and Browns Big Brains Trivia Night. $50 bar tab for first place, plus specials on beer. 200 S. Pattee St. in the Holiday Inn Downtown. 7:30–10 PM.

The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org. Sunshine Unlimited’s production of Richard III, starring Eric Prim and Howard Kingston, continues at the Crystal Theatre. 7:30 PM. $15 at the door, or visit silkroadcatering/ crystaltheatre.com. Bottoms up at the Drop Culture Dance Party, featuring hot beats, drink specials aplenty and attractive local singles in your area. Monk’s Bar. 9 PM. No cover. Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans play the kind of straight-up country rock that should have Jack Daniels sales through the roof at the Badlander. 9 PM. $23/$21 adv. at ticketfly.com. Julie Bug and Northern Exposure play that whoopin’ and dancin’ music (aka country) at Sunrise Saloon, 9 PM. No cover.

FRIDAYDEC11 You’ll see a thousand faces of rock when Magpies, Impossible Girls and Ancient Forest plug in at the Badlander. Doors at 9 PM, show at 10. No cover.

[calendar] Artist Nancy Seiler, a GOLDEN Artist Educator, shows you how to sketch, ink, and apply watercolor to objects found in nature at her Journaling with Watercolor workshop. 330 Brooks St. Thu., Dec. 10 at 9 AM, Fri., Dec. 11 at 1 PM. $50 plus materials. To register, visit nancyseiler.com. Teens go toward the literary light during the Missoula Public Library’s Teen Writers Group, which meets every Friday at 3:30 PM at the library, 301 E. Main St. Free. Call 721-BOOK. Cat Family Paradise is a collection of new monotypes by Leslie Van Stavern Millar. Exhibit and sale at the Brunswick Gallery, 223 Railroad St. Tea and cookies served. 4:30–8:30 PM.

shop at Imagine Nation Brewing Co., 5:30–7:30 PM. Christian Ives’ paintings are swimming abstracts. Ambiguous at first, but more familiarities emerge with each search. See them at the ZACC with an opening reception 5:30–8:30 PM. Jeff Sweten’s paintings are inspired by Montana light, life and love. On display in the ZACC’s Hallway Gallery through the month of December. Opening reception 5:30–8:30 PM. A new Living History program debuts at Fort Missoula. Holiday Lantern Tour examines holiday celebrations from the 1870s to today. Historic Museum at Fort Missoula, 6 and 8 PM. $7/free for members. Will this be the week some joker shows up with bagpipes? Find out at the Irish Music Session, every Friday at the Union Club from 6–9 PM. No cover. This week’s Family Friendly Friday features the culmination of four month’s work for the young women of ZACC’s Girls Rock Camp. Check out their original music at the Top Hat, 6– 6:30 PM. Free, but donations for ZACC’s programs are appreciated.

Keli Rhea Mitchell performs her voice soprano graduate recital for the UM School of Music. UM Recital Hall, 7:30 PM. Free and open to the public. The beloved family classic Mary Poppins is performed at the O’Shaughnessy Center by the Whitefish Theatre Company. 7:30 PM. $22/$20 seniors/$8 students. Visit whitefishtheatre.org. The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org. Dance Up Close continues at the Masquer Theatre, PAR/TV Center, 7:30 PM. $16/$14 seniors and students/$10 for 12 and under. For tickets and info visit umt.edu/ theatredance. The Missoula Community Chorus presents their program Merry Christmas, featuring former Mormon Tabernacle Choir tenor soloist Paul Gates. St. Anthony Church, 217 Tremont, 7:30 PM. $10, tickets at Rockin Rudy’s. The Neverending Story continues at the Stevensville Playhouse, 7:30 PM. Tickets available at Valley Drug, or call 772-2722.

WWW.THEWILMA.COM

DEC

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photo by Amy Donovan

“Would you like to hear ‘Doe a Deer’ or ‘Let it Go’?” MCT’s The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts Thu., Dec. 10–Sun., Dec. 13, and Wed., Dec. 16–Sun., Dec. 20. Visit mctinc.org for times and tickets info.

dec jerryy joseph jerr 12 jan kitchen dwellers 22 jan hey marseilles 23 jan ben sollee 25 Jan tribal seeds | The Skints 26 Jan rob garza (of thiever thieveryy corpora corporation) attion) 27 Jan ppassafire assafire 29

feb mandolin orange 11 feb g llove ove & special sauce 12 feb the budos band 16 feb the infamous stringdusters 17 feb strfkr | Com truise 20 feb matisyahu ma attisyahu 23 mar the fl floozies oozies 31

vo t e d m iss o u l a ’ s b e s t m u s ic v e n u e missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [29]

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metal martyr Last week Scott Weiland became the latest casualty from the front lines of rock and roll. While ODs, suicides and other deaths by misadventure are probably the most common ways that rock stars die young, the list of musicians who met a violent, untimely death is longer than a Jerry Garcia solo. Yardbirds singer Keith Relf, for instance, electrocuted himself while playing guitar in his basement studio. Stiv Bators of Dead Boys was hit by a Paris taxi in 1990. Just three months ago Michael Edwards, a cellist from ELO, was crushed to death when a giant bale of hay rolled onto his car in England. There’s Buddy, Richie, Otis and half of Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name a few, all victims of plane crashes. Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed when a small plane in

Season’s Greenings

death while performing onstage? That is a very small club indeed, with “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott as perhaps its only member.

WHAT: Dimestock ‘15 WHO: Blessiddoom, Black Jesus Vomit, Planet Motherf**ker and Piranha Dog WHEN: Sat., Dec. 12, 8 PM WHERE: Dark Horse Bar, corner of Regent and Strand HOW MUCH: $5

which he was riding clipped Ozzy’s tour bus and plunged into a house.

Holiday shopping that builds community and reduces waste?

Dimebag Darrell

Marvin Gaye and, of course, John Lennon were shot to death. But rockers who were shot to

Now that’s something worth jingling your bells for.

Shop. Donate. Volunteer. 1515 Wyoming St | www.homeresource.org [30] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

The influential guitar shredder formed the thrash band Pantera in 1981, and they would become progenitors of the groove metal sound, a heavier version of thrash without the tight-underwear lead

vocals. Their albums Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven cemented Dimebag’s legacy in the evolution of heavy metal. On Dec. 8, 2004, a year after disbanding Pantera, Dimebag, sporting his trademark pink chin beard and playing his X-shaped Dean guitar, was rocking at an Ohio club with his new band, Damageplan, when a 25-year-old fan killed him with three shots to the head. Dimebag was 38. Known for his generosity as much as his guitar prowess, he left behind a legion of fans who keep his memory alive with periodic festivals and tributes across the country. —Ednor Therriault

[calendar] Randy Oxford Presents is a blues lover’s dream-team jam. Joining Randy are Polly O’Kearn, “Wild” Willy Straub, C.D. Woodbury and Eddie Mendoza. Symes Hot Springs Hotel, 8–10 PM. Free, pass the hat. The Moonrisers Theater presents Reginald & Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters at the Roxy Theater. Doors at 7:30 PM, show at 8. $15 or 2 for $25 at the door. $10 in advance at theroxy theater.org. (See Theater.) Shane Clouse and the Stompin’ Ground Trio fire up some homegrown country at the Rustic Hut in Florence. 8 PM–midnight. No cover. (See Noise.) Win big in Arlee at the weekly karaoke contest, with everything from Asia to Zeppelin in the book to choose to from. Stockman’s, 92580 U.S. 93, starting at 8 PM. Best singer wins 50 samolians. Country Boogie Boys play a style of music that should require no explanation. At the Eagles Lodge, 8 PM–1 AM. No cover. DJ Dubwise spins hot old-school and new dance party traxx at Feruqis, 318 N. Higgins Ave., starting at 10 PM. Free.

Reverend Slanky do some R&B testifiyin’ at Our Lady of the Righteous Soul and Funk, also known as the Top Hat. Down North gets things started. 10 PM, $5.

SATURDAYDEC12 The Paisley Sisters’ Christmas Special opens at the Stensrud Playhouse, 2 PM. For tickets, visit stensrudplayhouse.com.

Bring your kids to Green Ribbon Books and let them make a holiday craft project while you browse the store. 829 S. Higgins, 10 AM–6 PM. What’s Christmas without some nice Greek pastries? Check out the Christmas Bake sale at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 301 S. 6th St. W., 10 AM–5 PM. A ton of books, a busload of authors. That makes for an Author Extravaganza, a full-on book-splosion. Meet some of your favorite writers at Fact & Fiction, 220 N. Higgins, 10 AM–5 PM. For a schedule and list of authors, visit factandfiction books.com.

The Idle Ranch Hands are anything but idle, especially when Mr. Martin digs into a surf tune. Union Club, 9:30 PM. No cover.

Cat Family Paradise is a collection of new monotypes by Leslie Van Stavern Millar. Exhibit and sale at the Brunswick Gallery, 223 Railroad St. Tea and cookies served. 11 AM– 4 PM.

Dusk play a wide variety of music at the Sunrise Saloon. 9:30 PM. No cover.

Learn all about contact improvisation dance at a half-day workshop at the Downtown Dance Collective.

11:30 AM–4 PM. $20–$40, email bowler.liam@gmail.com to register. The Western Montana Veg Society’s Vegan Holiday Potluck is at the Missoula UUF on the corner of McLeod and Higgins. You don’t have to be vegan, but the food does. Noon–2:30 PM, all are welcome. Dance Up Close continues its run with a matinee performance at the Masquer Theatre, PAR/TV Center, 2:00 PM. $16/$14 seniors and students/$10 for 12 and under. For tickets and info, visit umt.edu/theatredance. The Clay Studio throws open its doors for a Holiday Open House. Hands-on pottery lessons, silent auction, live music and refreshments. 1106 A Hawthorne St. 3–7 PM. Free.

nightlife Vintage, specialty and handmade items will be available at the Little Red Truck Vintage Market. Also enjoy live music and food vendors. Part of the gate proceeds go to SUMMIT for Parkinson’s. Missoula County Fairgrounds, 5–10 PM Sat., 10 AM–4 PM Sun. $5, free for kids 12 and under. A new Living History program debuts at Fort Missoula. Holiday Lantern Tour examines holiday celebrations from the 1870s to today. Historic Museum at Fort Missoula, 5 and 7 PM. $7/free for members. Whether related by blood or marriage, The Whole Family unite for an evening of music at Draught Works Brewing, 6–8 PM. Free.

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missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [31]

[32] Missoula Independent â&#x20AC;˘ December 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;December 17, 2015

[calendar] Make the silly season the classy season at White Christmas, the UM Holiday Swing. Swanky diva Eden Atwood joins guitarist/bassist Craig Hall and the UM jazz band for an evening of fun holiday entertainment. Two shows at the Missoula Winery, 6 PM and 9 PM. For tickets and info, call Rob Tapper at 243-6880. Take a trip to 1964 and celebrate the holidays with The Paisley Sisters’ Christmas Special. Enjoy dinner from A Moveable Feast and a full bar from the Badlander. At the Stensrud Playhouse, 7 PM. For tickets, visit stensrudplayhouse.com. Learn tissue texture technique, and choose your project from a variety of ceramic pieces. Painted Color Ceramics, 780 Old Corvallis Rd., Corvallis. 7–10 PM, $20, age 9–adult. Register at steffeni.wix.com/painted colorceramics. The Neverending Story continues at the Stevensville Playhouse, 7:30 PM. Tickets available at Valley Drug, or call 772-2722. Dolce Canto, Missoula’s premier vocal ensemble, perform A Spotless Rose, their holiday concert, with special guests the Hellgate High School Chamber Choir and Chevaliers. St. Anthony Parish, 217 Tremont, 7:30 PM. $18/$15 students. Tickets at Fact & Fiction or Rockin Rudy’s. The beloved family classic Mary Poppins is performed at the O’Shaughnessy Center by the Whitefish Theatre Company. 7:30 PM. $22/$20 seniors/$8 students. Visit whitefishtheatre.org. Sunshine Unlimited’s production of Richard III, starring Eric Prim and Howard Kingston, continues at the Crystal Theatre. 7:30 PM. $15 at the door, or visit silkroadcatering/ crystaltheatre.com. The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org.

Rock & Roll Girlfriend. 8–11 PM, all ages. No cover.

nonprofit booths. Adams Center, 11 AM–6 PM..

Dimestock ‘15: A Tribute To Dimebag Darrell salutes the legendary Pantera guitarist who was killed onstage in 2004. Blessiddoom, Black Jesus Vomit, Planet Motherf—ker and Piranha Dog provide the stomp and shred. Enjoy prize giveaways, drink specials and a pink beard contest. At the Dark Horse, 8 PM. $5. (See Spotlight.)

The JuBELLation Handbell Choir ring in the holidays, literally, with a Christmas Concert. First United Methodist Church, 300 E. Main St., 1:30 PM. Free, but donations are encouraged. The Neverending Story continues with a matinee at the Stevensville Playhouse, 2 PM. Tickets available at Valley Drug, or call 772-2722.

The Moonrisers Theater presents Reginald & Ruckus: Werewolf Hunters at the Roxy Theater. Doors at 7:30 PM, show at 8. $15 or 2 for $25 at the door. $10 in advance at theroxy theater.org. (See Theater.)

Sunshine Unlimited’s production of Richard III, starring Eric Prim and Howard Kingston, continues at the Crystal Theatre. 2 PM. $15 at the door, or visit silkroadcatering/ crystaltheatre.com. A new Living History program debuts at Fort Missoula. Holiday Lantern Tour examines holiday celebrations from the 1870s to today. Historic Museum at Fort Missoula, 3 PM. $7/free for members.

The Contact Improv Jam is open to those of all abilities who are interested in contact improvisation. Every Sunday, 3:15–5 PM. Downtown Dance Collective. $5. Get all keyed up with the Five Valley Accordion Association, which presents its dance jam every second and fourth Sunday of the month at alternating locations, 1–5 PM. $4/$3 for members. Email helenj4318@hotmail.com for info.

Saturday | January 30, 2016 8am-5pm

DJs Kris Moon and Monty Carlo completely disrespect the adverb with their Absolutely Dance Party at the Badlander, which gets rolling at 9 PM, with fancy drink specials to boot. No cover.

Hilton Garden Inn | Missoula, MT

$45-Member | $50 Non-Member

A day of inspiration.

DJ Dubwise spins hot old-school and new dance party traxx at Feruqis, 318 N. Higgins Ave., starting at 10 PM. Free. Cash for Junkers play the kind of swingin’ honky tonk that won’t let you sit still. Union Club, 9:30 PM. No cover. MudSlide Charley pile on heaps of blues at Sunrise Saloon, 9:30 PM. No cover.

Registration Online at www.DiscoverMBN.com

Five bands for the price of none? You got it! Iron Eyes, Codependents, Tiny Plastic Stars, Partygoers and Paris Mingus make for an eclectic night of local rock at the Palace. Doors at 9 PM, show at 10. No cover. Tunesmiths Jerry Joseph and Steve Drizos bring their finest songwriting efforts to the Top Hat. Doors at 9:30 PM, show at 10. $10, SRO. Critical Failure and Teens From Alberton play that rock music at the VFW, and there’s always the distinct possibility that another band may show up. 10 PM.

Breakout Session Speakers Keynote Lunch Exhibitors

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SUNDAYDEC13

Dance Up Close continues at the Masquer Theatre, PAR/TV Center, 7:30 PM. $16/$14 seniors and students/$10 for 12 and under. For tickets and info visit umt.edu/ theatredance.

The Montana ShamRockers perform Christmas with Lewis and Clark, their twisted musical take on our favorite pair of explorers. At the Roxy Theater, 7 PM.

Relocated artist Jon Lester brings his annual Holiday Racket to Missoula at ZACC Below, appearing with mandolin wunderkind Cairns, guitar virtuoso Tommy Pertis and local upstarts

The Holiday MADE Fair offers tons of alternative crafts from 170 local and regional artists and plenty of

Judy Hoberman

Author of Selling in a Skirt

Presenting Sponsors:

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [33]

[calendar]

The Celestial Ringers bring the ding and the dong to their premier Handbell Concert, featuring holiday music. Grace United Methodist Church, 1756 S. 10th St. W. 4–5:30 PM. Free. Mary Poppins continues at the O’Shaughnessy Center, 4 PM. $22/$20 seniors/$8 students. Visit whitefishtheatre.org.

nightlife Captain Wilson Conspiracy plays jazz right out in the open at Draught Works Brewing, 5–7 PM. Free. Take a trip to 1964 and celebrate the holidays with The Paisley Sisters’ Christmas Special. Enjoy dinner from A Moveable Feast and a full bar from the Badlander. At the Stensrud Playhouse, 5 PM. For tickets, visit stensrudplayhouse.com. Enjoy a four-course gourmet dinner prepared by chef Paige Pitzer and Riversong Gourmet, paired with handcrafted beers from brewmaster Mike Howard. Great Burn Brewing, 6 PM. $55, adv. tickets required, available at Great Burn. The 18-piece Ed Norton Big Band puts some swing in the month’s second Sunday when they play the Missoula Winery, 5646 Harrier Way, 6–8 PM. $7. Polish your steps with $5 swing lessons at 4:45 PM. Visit missoulawinery.com. The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org. UM’s School of Music presents Lisa Munoz, flute, in her senior recital. UM Music Recital Hall, 7:30 PM. Free and open to the public. Jazz and martinis go together like cops and pepper spray. Jazz Martini night offers live, local jazz and $5 martinis every Sunday night at the Badlander. No cover. Dig it, and dig it deep, Jasper.

MONDAYDEC14 Dolce Canto sing Christmas carols throughout the dinner hour and beyond at the Thomas Meagher Bar, 6–10 PM.

nightlife Local Deadheads have got you covered when the Top Hat presents Raising the Dead, a curated broadcast of two hours of Jerry Garcia and Co. 5–7 PM. Free, all ages. Step aside, “Shark Tank,” this is the Fall Pitch Competition. Students present ideas for new business or social entrepreneurship ventures. UM’s Gallagher Building, room L14, 6 PM. Free and open to the public. Twirl your partner round and round, just don’t drop her to the ground. Polish your moves at beginning square dance lessons with Solo

[34] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

Stars. Lolo Square and Round Dance Center, 9955 Hwy. 12, 6:30–8 PM. First two weeks free, then $5 per person. Captain Wilson Conspiracy play weaponsgrade jazz for the discerning ear at Red Bird Wine Bar, 7–10 PM. Free. The Badlander’s latest weekly event is Blues Monday, with a rotating cast of local blues musicians hosted by Black Mountain Moan. 9 PM, no cover.

TUESDAYDEC15 Neal Lewing sets the Westward Expansion and other events to music in Singing the Westward Legacy, a musical show full of traditional and original folk songs full of history and laughter. North Valley Public Library, 6:30 PM. Free, open to the public. Chill out with a free, family-friendly movie every Tuesday at the Missoula Public Library, 2 PM. Caregiver Support Group, for caregivers to an older adult or person with a disability, meets every third Tuesday of the month from 4-5PM at Missoula Aging Services, 337 Stephens Ave. Please call 728-7682 for more information.

nightlife The Craicers and Friends will make you feel all jiggy with their traditional Irish tunes at Imagine Nation Brewing Co., 1151 W. Broadway, 6– 8 PM. If the holidays are tough because of past trauma or death, you can find some help at the Holiday Healing Service. Meditation, healing and release will help get you through. Unity of Missoula, 546 South Ave. W., 7 PM. Two-step the midweek blues away at Country Dance Lessons, featuring styles including the waltz, cha-cha, swing and more. Hamilton Senior Center, Tuesdays from 7-8:30 PM, and Wednesdays at a TBA location. Bring a partner on Tuesdays, but the group is open on Wednesdays. Call 381-1392 for more info. $5. The Sentinel Spartan, Jazz and Symphony bands team up for a holiday concert in Sentinel High School’s Margaret Johnson Theater, followed by a hosted reception in the lobby. 7:30 PM. Open to the public, admission is one item of donated food. You some kinda wise guy (or gal)? Prove it at the Quizzoula trivia night at the VFW, 245 W. Main St., with current events, picture round and more. Gets rolling around 8:30 PM. To get you warmed up, here’s a trivia question: What Jerry Joseph song contains the line “Twenty floors to China”? Find answer in tomorrow’s nightlife.

[calendar]

photo courtesy of Allen Seeley

Be a dear and hand me those balls. The Cigarette Girls Burlesque perform Sleigh Belles and Strip Tease, a fundraiser for the Watson Children’s Center. Stage 112, Thu., Dec. 17. Doors at 5 PM, show at 7. $5.

Open Mic Night at Stage 112 gives you a chance to show your stuff on a real mic on a real stage in front of a real audience. Also $2 tallboy cans of courage. 112 Pattee St., 9 PM. Mike Avery hosts the Music Showcase every Tuesday, featuring some of Missoula’s finest musical talent. Also enjoy pool and drink specials. The Badlander, 9 PM–1 AM. To sign up, email michael.avery@live.com.

WEDNESDAYDEC16 Wednesday Night Brewery Jam invites all musicians to bring an instrument and join in. Hosted by Geoffrey Taylor at Imagine Nation Brewing Co., 6–8 PM. Free. The Make Something series of classes continues with learning how to build a wooden step stool from reclaimed materials. Home Re-

missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [35]

[calendar]

Source, 1–5 PM. $15–$75, sliding scale. For more info, visit homeresource.org. Got some vegans bellying up to your holiday table? Learn to cook some plant-based side dishes at Bonnie Goodman’s free cooking class. Natural Grocers, 4–5 PM, seating is limited.

nightlife A Phish Happy Hour? Sounds more like a Trey Anastasio solo. Phish music, video and more at the Top Hat every Wednesday. 4:30 PM, but I know you’ll show up at 4:20. Free, all ages. This open mic is truly open. Jazz, classic rock, poetry, spoken word, dance, shadow puppets— share your creative spark at The Starving Artist Café and Art Gallery, 3020 S. Reserve St. Every Wed., 6–8 PM. Free. Triva answer: “Dixie Mattress.” Cribbage enthusiasts finally have a place to share their affliction at Cribbage Night. Enjoy a few cocktails as you look for nibs and nobs. Boards and cards provided. Rattlesnake Creek Distillers, 128 W. Alder St., Suite B. 6–8 PM.

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[36] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

Rediscover “the magic which makes you legendary in your own mind” via the assistance of Mexican food and beer when “Poncho” Dobson hosts the Live and Loco open mic at the Symes Hotel, Wednesdays from 6-9:30 PM. Call 741-2361 to book a slot or just come hang out and party. Free. Fill your wine glass, load up your pallet and paint your own personal masterpiece. Paint ‘n’ Pour instructors provide easy directions to help get the creative juices flowing. No painting experience required. Canvases, paint and wine provided. At the ZACC, 6–8 PM. $25/$20 for members. Win big bucks off your bar tab and/or free pitchers by using your giant egg to answer trivia questions at Brains on Broadway Trivia Night at the Broadway Sports Bar and Grill, 1609 W. Broadway Ave. 7 PM. Learn your Swingin’ Thing from your Country Slide when Cathy Clark teaches country dance steps at the Sunrise Saloon every Wednesday and Thursday at 7 PM. $5 per lesson, payable in cash. The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org.

THURSDAYDEC17 Captain Wilson Conspiracy bid a fond farewell to one of their own, as Keaton Wilson graduates to life outside the jazz milieu. It’s also their CD release party. Missoula Winery, 7 PM. $10. Soon-to-be mommas can feel empowered, relaxed and nurtured during a prenatal yoga

class, this and every Thursday at the Open Way Center, 702 Brooks Ave., at 4 PM. $11/$10 with card. Drop-ins welcome. Call 360-1521. Yoga newbies can get hip to a gentle, mindful practice with Easy Yoga for Beginners, led by Harriet Alterowitz and Marina Zaleski, including basic poses and breath work. Learning Center at Red Willow, 825 W. Kent Ave. Meets Thursdays from 4-5:15 PM. $45 for six weeks or $10 drop-in.

nightlife The kids are all right. See and hear for yourself at the Washington Middle School String Orchestra Concert at the Wilma, 6 PM. Free and open to the public. The Acousticals got their name after someone forgot to pay the power bill. I kid. Check out their bluegrass style at Hmilton’s Bitter Root Brewing, 6–8 PM. Free. See the newest work in film, animation, design and experimental art at the Media Arts Winter Expo. At the Roxy Theater, 6 PM. The Cigarette Girls Burlesque performs Sleigh Belles and Strip Tease, a fundraiser for Watson Children’s Center. Stage 112, 7 PM. $5 or donate a toy or clothing item. Dolce Canto, Missoula’s premier vocal ensemble, perform A Spotless Rose, their holiday concert, at the LDS Church, 12 Moats Lane, Superior, 7 PM. There is a free-will offering at the door. The Sound of Music continues at the MCT Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 PM. $18–$25 at mct.org. Unleash your cogent understanding of the trivium at Brooks and Browns Big Brains Trivia Night. $50 bar tab for first place, plus specials on beer. 200 S. Pattee St. in the Holiday Inn Downtown. 7:30–10 PM. Bottoms up at the Drop Culture Dance Party, featuring hot beats, drink specials aplenty and attractive local singles in your area. Monk’s Bar. 9 PM. No cover. Nashville 406 pull their twang train into the Sunrise Saloon, 9 PM. No cover. MudSlide Charley slake your thirst for the blues at the Top Hat. Slaking starts at 9:30 PM. No cover. Mr. Calendar Guy wants to know about your event! Submit to calendar@missoulanews.com at least two weeks in advance of the event to guarantee publication. Don’t forget to include the date, time, venue and cost. Or snail mail to Calendar c/o the Independent, 317 S. Orange St., Missoula, MT 59801. You can also submit online. Just find the “submit an event” link under the Spotlight on the right corner at missoulanews.com.

[outdoors]

MOUNTAIN HIGH

kijoring has been around forever. It’s exactly like waterskiing, only instead of a boat, you use a horse. And instead of water, you use snow. But replacing the horse with two or three speed-crazed dogs? That’s just nuts. Evidently, though, enough people are into it that they’ve created a sport out of it. Dog skijoring has started to catch on widely enough that there are organized races. Typically, sprints are in the 3-10 mile range, but there has been recent interest in longer distance events. This weekend in West Yellowstone, skijoring will be one of the events in the Rodeo

Run Dog Races. The 4-mile sprint will be far less grueling than the 32-mile, 12-dog pro event, but if your dogs are anything like mine, all it would take is a VitaBone suspended in front of his face and he would pull you to the North Pole. —Ednor Therriault The Rodeo Run Sled Dog Races are Thu., Dec. 17–Sat., Dec. 19 in West Yellowstone. Spectators are welcome. For more info, visit wysleddograces.com.

photo by Joe Weston

SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 Take a hike up Bear Creek with the Rocky Mountaineers, and check out some cool ice formations. For info, email Steve at stephenschombel@ rockymountaineers.com Learn how to get unlost at REI’s GPS Navigation Basics Class. Missoula REI, 10:30 AM. $50/$30 members. The Eagles’ Annual Christmas Hayride should get your holiday juices flowing. Eagles Lodge, 6:30– 10 PM. $15 for bus.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 13

Check out the Ski and Snowboard Tuning Basics class at REI Missoula. 6:30 PM. Free. At the Five Valleys Audubon meeting, Andy Boyce discusses his work researching tropical birds in Borneo. UM’s Gallagher Building, room L09. 7:30–9 PM.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 15 Join the Montana Dirt Girls every Tuesday for an all-women hike or bike somewhere in the area. You can find the upcoming trip posted at facebook.com/MontanaDirtGirls. Various locations, 6 PM.

Prepare yourself for backcountry emergencies with the UM Outdoor Program’s Avalanche Transceiver Clinic. Student Recreation Center, 9 AM–2 PM. $15, register by Dec. 11 at umt.edu or call 243-5172.

It’s time to get those boards ready for the snow. Check out the Ski and Snowboard Tuning Basics class at REI Missoula. 6:30 PM. Free.

MONDAY DECEMBER 14

Learn how to coexist with the snow and ice at the Winter Camping Basics class. REI Missoula, 7 PM. Free.

It’s time to get those boards ready for the snow.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16

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missoulanews.com • December 10–December 17, 2015 [37]

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What does it mean to be a man? Is it an undying enthusiasm for the Three Stooges? Is it the ability to open a beer bottle with your navel? Well, as the Dude would say, that, and a pair of testicles. Seriously, though, the definition of a man has changed drastically in just a generation or two. Masculinity used to be equated with bloodlust, brute strength and a certain stoic approach to life that revealed as little to the world as possible. But here in Missoula, the Paris of the Northern Rockies, we’re progressive, right? We teach our sons that you don’t hit girls, and you don’t bully anyone because of their differences. We’re enlightened. We’re up-to -speed. We have a very solid understanding of gender issues and sexual equality, right? Right? Hello, is this thing on? Why are so many women in Missoula struggling through abusive relationships? Why are so many members of the LGBT community constantly attacked in acts of fear and hate? Men, we have some work to do. Ben Mincks and Clare Michelson, program specialists at the National Coalition Building Institute, understand that even those of us who consider ourselves somewhat evolved can benefit from some education. Mincks comes at the issue

from the male side, with his after-school group BRAD (Boys Respecting Diversity). Michelson runs EPIC (Empowering People Inspiring Change), using her background in psychology and gender studies. These two educators will team up to lead a discussion about the expectations and that our outdated ideas of gender are at the base of a lot of violence and pain in our own community. Check it out, if you’re man enough. —Ednor Therriault The YWTalk Series presents On Missoula and Masculinity, a discussion about gender ideas in Missoula. Thu., Dec. 10, 4 PM at the YWCA, 1130 W. Broadway. Free and open to the public.

[AGENDA LISTINGS] THURSDAY DECEMBER 10

SUNDAY DECEMBER 13

Enjoy some holiday treats and learn about sustainable communities at Homeword’s Holiday Open House. 4–6 PM, 1535 Liberty Lane.

Join Moms Demand Action and Missoula Mayor John Engen to commemorate the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy. The Orange Walk is a call to end gun violence. Wear orange and bring a candle, flashlight or headlamp. Missoula County Courthouse, 4–5 PM.

Healing Without Medicine: From Pioneers to Modern Practice by Albert Amao, Ph.D will be the topic of discussion at a meeting of the Fellowship Club. Bitterroot Public Library, 306 State St., Hamilton. 6–7:30 PM.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11 The Free Cycles team is working to raise $1.1 million by Mother’s Day to buy the property on which they’re located. Join them for a potluck to be part of the committee or just to find out more. Free Cycles, 732 S. 1st St. W., 6–8 PM.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 Join Buddhist teacher David Curtis for A Day of Buddhist Practice: Cultivating Love and Compassion. 102 McCleod, 9:30 AM–5 PM. Sugg. donation $25– $50, free for students. For info and registration, call the Tibetan Language Institute at 406-961-5131. Helping Hands of Alberton hold their 20th annual Benefit Auction. Fish and chips lunch at noon, live auction at 1 PM. Proceeds go to children in need at Christmastime. River Edge Resort, Alberton.

MONDAY DECEMBER 14 Sip a fancy soda for a cause at this edition of Moscow Monday at the Montgomery Distillery, 129 W. Front St. A dollar from every drink sold is donated to a cause each week. Family friendly, noon–8 PM. Tamarack Grief Center hosts a Holiday Open House. Enjoy some cocoa and create some holiday crafts. 516 S. Orange St., 4:30–6 PM.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 15 Community Pint Night at Tamarack Brewing Co. benefits Seedlings of Change, with 75¢ of every pint sold going to the organization. 6–9 PM.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16 Charity Pint Night benefits the Community Dispute Resolution Center, a volunteer group that works to resolve conflict through mediation, dialogue and collaboration. Great Burn Brewing, 5–8 PM.

AGENDA is dedicated to upcoming events embodying activism, outreach and public participation. Send your who/what/when/where and why to AGENDA, c/o the Independent, 317 S. Orange, Missoula, MT 59801. You can also email entries to calendar@missoulanews.com or send a fax to (406) 543-4367. AGENDA’s deadline for editorial consideration is 10 days prior to the issue in which you’d like your information to be included. When possible, please include appropriate photos/artwork.

[38] Missoula Independent • December 10–December 17, 2015

missoulanews.com â&#x20AC;˘ December 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;December 17, 2015 [39]