Green Room, Missoula News

Fifteen years later, the New Yorker's story on Missoula's Sputniks is online

Erika Fredrickson — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:50:00 -0600

In 1998, a Missoula band called the Sputniks went on tour with a writer from the New Yorker. Those of you who remember the band and read the article might be interested to know that it's now online and available to read on photographer Mary Ellen Mark's website.…

Graduation Party Dos and Don'ts

Kate Whittle — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:22:00 -0600

Here in Missoula, a town dominated by the presence of the university, graduation day is a big deal. Perhaps you are graduating, after working hard/hardly working for a long four/six/23 years, or perhaps you know someone who is. Families are in town.…

Cannes to screen two Montana-made films

Kate Whittle — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:56:00 -0600

The Big Sky will appear on screens at the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 15 - 26 this year, thanks to two films shot in Montana that star big Hollywood names.

The first, Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), was shot in Browning and East Glacier in July 2012 and stars Benicio del Toro.…

King Elephant tour documentary details adventures on the road

Erika Fredrickson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:30:10 -0600

It's not often that a band tour documentary begins with the band members wanting to go home. In Tim Goessman's new film about Missoula band King Elephant, the first words we hear are, "We're in fuckin' danger" as we see the tour van with a smashed in window.…

Support DIY/Punk Shows at the ZACC Starting Sunday

Josh Vanek — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:34:00 -0600

The Zootown Arts Community Center (or “ZACC”), a nonprofit arts organization, just took a huge step and secured the basement space under their main-floor digs on Missoula’s North First street. It’s pretty awesome news if you’re like me and you consistently long for an informal, hang-out-watch-bands, talk-about-stuff situation compared to the average show.…

Lucid dreaming: Q&A with Synthetic Spring actor Jeff Medley

Erika Fredrickson — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:05:00 -0600

A Synthetic Spring, a one-time-only art/dance/performance event, goes up tonight at the Crystal Theatre. It's the MFA show of artist Jack Metcalf.…

Graphic novelist Theo Ellsworth awarded national prize

Kate Whittle — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:58:00 -0600

I was first introduced to the trippy, elaborate artwork of Theo Ellsworth a few years ago by a former Butterfly Herbs barista, who loaned me a copy of Ellsworth's lovely Capacity. I remember poring over each page before going to bed, feeling like I was reading an adult version of a kid's storybook.…

Missoula's Needlecraft release classic-style video game

Thomas Helgerson — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:47:00 -0600

Though I was born early enough to spend my elementary school years in the midst of classic Nintendo fever, my parents were never the kind to buy their children a console. They assumed that having a computer in the house would foster a more "educational" gaming experience and I was left playing the original "Oregon Trail" and most of the "Carmen San Diego" series, only later filling them with terror as their son discovered "Doom," "Warcraft," and "Wolfenstein."…

Missoula's Magpies fly east for tour

Josh Vanek — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:18:00 -0600

The Magpies are one of those bands that you're certain you've heard before the first time you hear them. They've got that built-in familiarity, and kind of walk the well-worn streets of slacker mode independent rock that all kinds of great bands have.…

Zoo City Apparel says goodbye with farewell blowout

Tim Arrowtop — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:35:00 -0600

On March 30, Zoo City Apparel, on 139 E. Main St., hosts a farewell blowout pop-shot super show! Featuring the crushingly soothing beauty of Seattle’s Helms Alee, Missoula’s own hairy wunderkinds Total Combined Weight and a buncha other bands, all as a fundraiser for our own massive awesomeness that is TotalFest, Thee Premier Musica Festivus of Missoula, Montana.…

VFW hosts stop-motion animated opera Wednesday night

Kate Whittle — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:36:00 -0600

In one of the more unusual events to pop up in town in a while, the Ole Beck VFW hosts a screening of Floating Oceans, a 40-minute stop-motion animated opera by video artist and composer Alexis Gideon. It first premiered in October 2012 at a Portland theater.…

Gonzo Chicago focuses lens on Missoula music scene

Kate Whittle — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:14:00 -0700

If you've been to a show in the Missoula indie/punk scene at all in the last few months, you've likely run across the effervescent John Yingling, photographer and editor of the Gonzo Chicago blog.

Gonzo Chicago started out documenting, well, Chicago, but since Yingling moved to Missoula last fall, he's been photographing and filming Missoula events and posting the results online—all for the joy of it, saying he doesn't expect payment for covering DIY shows.…

Local Crank Says: Don't Stop For Me, Driver

Josh Vanek — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:32:00 -0700

I ride a bike or walk to work most mornings, mostly because I live close enough and it's my preference, but also because, you know, you don't drive if you don't have to. I'm probably gonna sound like a crank/curmudgeon here, but I found two things sort of annoying in the small piece on cycling "Missoula stacks up" in the Feb. 14th Indy.…

New trailer released for Missoula-made Gourds doc

Kate Whittle — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:16:42 -0700

High Plains Films, a Missoula-based company, has released a new trailer for All The Labor, a documentary about one of the area's favorite bands, the Gourds.

The trailer shows what looks to be a feature-length romp with this high-energy band.…