President Obama speaking today at the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony. See this article in the New York Times for more information.
If you have 30 minutes I highly recommend listening to the whole thing, it is quite remarkable.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day in the Bitterroot Valley. Steve and I made the most of it and went climbing. We did No Sweat Arête, a moderate 4-pitch 5.7 in Mill Creek Canyon.
For Hilary’s birthday our destination was Symes Hot Springs in Hot Springs, Montana, population 531. We had originally planned to go biking in Yellowstone but poor weather forced us to reschedule at the last minute. We decided to try something new.
We originally booked a room in the actual hotel itself, but were called the following day and told a mistake had been made, our room was double booked, and we were moved to what they said was a cabin outside the hotel.
Hot Springs Montana is not a town that is awash in capital. And Symes seems to be its economic centerpiece. The reasons why our visit to Symes ended up being akin to a weekend spent in a trailer park are too lengthy to discuss here. I will say that there is a low probability we will ever return.
Sunday we went went with our friends Steve and Ann down the Bitterroot to Lost Horse Canyon for a fine day of climbing. It turned out to be a wee bit chiller than forecasted, but quite reasonable for March in Montana.
We were lucky enough to see Vampire Weekend a few weeks back at the Wilma Theater in downtown Missoula. Scheduled to play 3 shows in a row at Radio City Music Hall in September and with a current tour that has sold out almost every date, they have been gaining popularity rapidly in the last year or so.
The Blow opened, an interesting choice that we spectulated might be local, but turned out to be from Portland.
When Vampire Weekend finally came out the crowd was certainly receptive. Their songs are happy and fun, and the live sound was clear and bright like their records. Playing almost every song off of their new album Contra, and most from their self-titled debut, the energy level in the room was super high from start to finish.
Highlights for me included M79 with the crowd providing the intermittant ‘whoas’ and the choice of one of my favorite songs off their first album, Walcott, to finish their encore. I have listened to their 2 albums countless times and it was a thrill to see the musicians behind the music.
I didn’t take a camera but it looked a lot like this, with the addition of a half-dozen or so chandeliers similar the one on the cover of their first album.
It was their 3rd time in Missoula and their first US show from their current tour.
Our last day we were fortunate enough to be escorted by the Parkers.
I can’t think of anything I would rather have done on my 30th birthday.
Saturday, February 27th was my 30th birthday. To lessen the mental trauma of such a milestone in my journey to oldmandom, plans were devised to slide on snow. My brother Davy flew in from San Jose to celebrate the occasion. Jeff drove in from Denver with his friend Robert. Friday, my pre-birthday, was a sunny day in Bozeman and we were all at Bridger.
Stephanie, the weekend was dedicated to you. Sorry you had to stay and rescue Seattle.
Voices Voices and The Gaslamp Killer, both from Los Angeles, California opened.
Stolen from their Myspace sites:
“Over the course of the last few years, Gaslamp Killer has established a solid rep for devastating beats and intricate cuts. This nomadic West Coaster has steadily smashed the scene from San Diego to Los Angeles to San Francisco.”
“It’s hard to think of a name that carries as much weight in both hip-hop and avant-rock circles as Prefuse 73, who in the past year alone has been asked to remix TV On The Radio, Pelican, BLK JKS and Cornelius, not to mention his early collaborations with School of Seven Bells and Battles.”
The last of the pictures from Yellowstone. Most of these are taken early in the morning at Mammoth Hot Springs.
