# General Mandolin Topics > Jams, Workshops, Camps, Places To Meet Others >  Missoula, Montana  29 July - 6 August

## B. T. Walker

I am traveling with my sainted, white-haired mother to visit her older (more saintly and whiter-haired) sister in Missoula.  We will be there for several days to give the two sibs a chance to get on each others nerves one more (perhaps final) time.  I wonder what is going on in what my cousin describes as the "Austin of Montana."

If it's anything like Austin, Texas, it will be busy. Any local jams?  Good music upcoming?  Music stores?  Is the flooding up yonder causing serious disruption there?  I'm sure looking forward to some cooler temperatures to go with porch pickin'.

I'll be much obliged for your input.  Thanks in advance.

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## Pete Martin

Look up Greg Boyds House of Fine Instruments.  Always a LOT of good stuff there!!

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## ahollan

The Celtic Festival is July 30th.  http://www.celticfestivalmissoula.com/ They even have road bowling.

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## journeybear

Member John Rosett lives there, and last winter was talking about (among other things) playing a restaurant gig with a guitarist. So there is _one_ night's entertainment.  :Wink:

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## catmandu2

We played the Green Grasss festival last weekend, and friends are opening for Grisman when he comes through in a couple of weeks, I think it is.  I'm told there is a bluegrass festival down around Hamilton this weekend.  There's bluegrass at the Top Hat Aug. 5.  Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett Aug 2.  What kind of entertainment do you like?  http://www.missoulaevents.net/index....vents.main.htm

John and them are playing at the Red Bird restaurant on the 8th.  Don't forget to tip!   :Wink: 

Free stuff: First Friday (Aug 5) downtown, and Saturday market.  Flooding is over.

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## Jim Roberts

You can always head over to Rock Creek Lodge near Clinton, Montana for the Testicle Festival August 3-7.  Your bound to have a ball but you may want to take along some extra Lipitor as well as Metamucil, Alka Seltzer and Preperation H.  Have your liver enzymes checked by your doc when you get home.  Music, too!

From the Testy Festy web-site:

TESTICLE FESTIVAL


"Rocky Mountain Oysters feed served with cowboy beans. Music day and night. There will be over 2 1/2 tons of this gourmet food served. Starting small in 1983, the Testicle Festival has become the largest party of its kind in the world! Enjoy the music, food and adult activities organized by the Rock Creek Lodge hosts. 

This event is for mature audiences, not suitable for children under 21 years of age. 

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mt-t...efestival.html

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## B. T. Walker

Thanks for all the replies.  Wow!  Missoula is a busy place.  Boredom is a hazard this trip due to the nature of the visit (a week of Grandma and Great Aunt Winifred rehashing their adventurous youth in Europe as WWII was starting), so I'm grateful there will be plenty to do and see with the kids.  

Celtic Festival likely, Testy Fest ... well, hmm ... we'll have to see what others might like to do, so don't scratch us off the guest list.  Rocky Mountain Oysters are a delicacy in cattle country, be it Montana or Texas, but I think the thought of it makes the Pepperidge Farm crowd turn a little green.

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## journeybear

I dunno - hearing about the adventurous youth of Grandma and Great Aunt Winifred in Europe sounds kind of interesting - unless you've heard these stories before ... and I guess a _week_ of that could get a bit thin. 

I found this website while researching festivals in the Midwest and there may be something there that piques your interest: http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_...festivals.html

I would pass on the RMOs too. Trying to comprehend 2 1/2 tons of them ... 5000 pounds ... lawdy!  :Disbelief:

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## John Rosett

Yes, my little jazz group(EL-3OH!) is playing 7/29 at the Ten Spoon Winery, 8/5 at the Bayern Brewery, and 8/8 at the Red Bird Wine Bar, all in Missoula. Send me a message if you'd like more info.
There's alot of good music to be heard in Missoula just about any night of the week. A couple of bands that have great mandolin players are the Acousticals, the Li'l Smokies, Broken Valley Roadshow, and Pinegrass. Check the Missoula Independent's music listings at http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/...tegory=1140330 .

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## John Rosett

Oh, and a word of caution on the Testicle Festival: If you enjoy being really up close and personal with a large crowd of really drunk people who may take off all of their clothes at any given moment, the Testy Fest is for you. Otherwise...

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## Jim Roberts

I think the Testy Festy would test(y) my patience!  Just trying to add a bit of humor to life here on the Cafe!  

We need a few laughs here in Kansas with the unrelenting heat we have been enduring.  Bike rides at daybreak before the blast furnace fires up around 11:00 a.m. and mandolin in an air-conditioned music room at night.  I cut off my long beard the day our heat index hit 114 last week...and that temperature was in the shade.  The lighter jowls seems to have improved my pickin' a bit.  I guess lighter chops equates to faster chops!

Cheers!

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## WELSrev

If you get bored in Missoula come join us in Livingston - http://fiddlerspicnic.blogspot.com/.

You are not that far away (by Western standards at least) from Logan MT and the home of Sound to Earth (Weber)

Enjoy the Big Sky

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## Dan Cole

Google Chad Fadely to see if he's playing anywhere in the area.  Greg Boyd can hitch you up there too.  The is was a restaurant called the Mandolin that had some jams.

Go Griz!

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## John Rosett

> Google Chad Fadely to see if he's playing anywhere in the area.  Greg Boyd can hitch you up there too.  The is was a restaurant called the Mandolin that had some jams.
> 
> Go Griz!


Was.

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## catmandu2

> Was.


What, Google is no longer?   :Disbelief: 

I was invited to play at that Soula thing...never thought I'd play at the same festival as Dawg!  (No, I'm not that good a mando player...drums)

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## B. T. Walker

The Celtic Festival in Carras Park was fun.  I got so spend a little time there.  The music was great, and my cousin had a really good time.

Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett were at the local baseball stadium last night.  The Red-Headed Stranger and his guitar were on the front page of _The Missoulian_ today.  Believe it or not, I've never seen Willie live, and I guess it will have to wait for another day.  Wah!

I'm headed for Logan and Sound-to-Earth tomorrow.  Mary put me down for the grand tour while they re-certify my Yellowstone.  I've been on two raft trips, horseback riding, and will be going to Glacier National Park, but this will be the highlight of the trip for me.  I couldn't talk my girls into going; they put up with my mandolin addiction enough as it is.  They're forgiven.

Greg Boyd's House of Instruments Friday day, then Friday night, the Bayern Brewery for fine beer, bratwursts, and John Rosett's jazz band.  What a great way to end the "work" week.

All this and no sales tax.  Life is good.  I'm sure there will be more good stuff to report soon.

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## montana

Montana is a great place to live but it's full. I hear North Dakota is nice!!

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## B. T. Walker

I have never been anyplace (in the summer) that I didn't like, including North Dakota, but don't worry montana, I'll be headed south soon.

Sound to Earth in Logan, MT, is a wonderful place.  They were very happy so see us, and gave us a very informative tour.  Bruce gave my Yellowstone a thorough going-over, and we discussed what it needs to bring it back to 100%.  It needs a refret, and the neck needs some work.  They're also going to refinish it instead of going around the instrument correcting individual flaws and dings I've inflicted.  I'll be getting it back in a few months.

The building has some history.  Though the Catholics had been operating parochial schools in Montana for many years, Logan was the state's first public school.  The main shop area is the old gymnasium/auditorium.  Bruce's work bench isn't in the principal's office as you'd expect, but right in the thick of things.  Instruments in various stages of construction all over the place.  Got to see Paul's "design-a-Weber" hanging in the curing room -- a lovely mandolin, the lucky dog.

I'm headed for Greg Boyd's in just a few minutes.  More later.

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## catmandu2

Hey BT, PM me if you'd like to come over for a cup of coffee. We can pick a few tunes on the front porch.  I'm in the middle of doing some roofing, but all that rain last night made it too wet this morning..

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## B. T. Walker

Danger!  Do not go to Greg Boyd's House of Instruments if affected by MAS in the tiniest bit.  Couldn't get out of there with just a CD or an instruction book.  No, I had to buy the Vega cylinder-back that spoke to me the first strum.  God help me, I've added to the herd I'm trying to thin, but I still have a mando to play the rest of the trip and then some.  Got to meet Chad Fadely and the big boss hisself.  Nice folks.

There were some real beauties there, too.  Collings, Ellis, Givens, Brentrup, and (of course) Weber.  Mandos, guitars, and banjos.  I was lucky to get out alive.   :Grin:

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## journeybear

Dang! I was killing time, doing a little googling, and I saw something about a restaurant in Missoula called ... wait for it ... The Mandolin!  :Disbelief:  Got lots of good reviews, mentioned a mandolin jam Tuesday nights, all this stuff, sounded perfect for your last night in town. Then I saw one of these sites had an update from May - it's closed!  :Crying:  Oh well ...

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## John Rosett

Don't pine over it too much. They had no interest in supporting live music-mandolin or otherwise.

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## swampstomper

So did you get to Greg Boyd's?  Hear Greg's wisdom and many stories?  Resist the temptation to walk out with that perfect instrument?

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## B. T. Walker

*swampstomper*:  Yes, yes, and no (see post 20).

*John Rosett*:  Too bad The Mandolin didn't live up to it's promise.  Your band, EL-3OH! (pronounced "el three-o"), really sounded great.  Classic jazz tunes like "Caravan" and "As Time Goes By" entertained three generations of my family, a musical hat trick.  Good job!  Nice to meet you, too.

*catmandu2*:  It's like "Arkansas Traveller":  When it's raining, it's too wet to fix your roof, and when it isn't raining, the roof doesn't leak.  Still want to get caffeinated and do some pickin'?  Shoot me a PM.

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## journeybear

I guess I was just charmed by the mere existence of a restaurant called the Mandolin, so to learn of it and then of its demise in one fell swoop ... bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride.  :Disbelief:  There is a Mandolin Café out in Portland I believe, whose presence has been noted before.

Ah, fix the roof _mañana_ - have some fun _hoy!_

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## catmandu2

Coffee's on ... PM sent

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## John Rosett

> There is a Mandolin Café out in Portland I believe, whose presence has been noted before.


I think that it's in Tacoma, Wa.

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## journeybear

Right-e-o! Knew it was NW but not Seattle. My yard sale buddy pulled up so I hadn't time to research properly. Anyway, sorry _your_ Mandolin went bust. Always tickled anyone would name an establishment that.  :Mandosmiley:

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## B. T. Walker

Coffee was tasty, porch was huge, pickin' was minimal since we both have the gift of gab, but it was still fun.  Thanks, catmandu2.  Folks are so generous and accommodating, I'm tempted to just stay here instead of returning to the Hinges of Hell (AKA Texas this summer).

Just kidding, montana.  Gotta head out tomorrow morning.  <wah!>

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## catmandu2

I've learned that...the more I talk, the longer I can put off working on the roof.  We could have picked more too, but then you would have had to meet my wife   :Wink: 

Be careful--there was another grizzly vs 50-year-old encounter up in Glacier.  And that young gal who punched out that black bear--that was just on the other side of that hill you see from my front porch..  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/439691...ple/?gt1=43001

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## B. T. Walker

One final post.  We took Amtrak to Montana, and on the way back the attendant in our car, Michael G., saw my cafe ball cap.  He had a mandolin with him, and told me he had been playing about six months just picking through songs.  Of course, I told him to check out the cafe (as well as jazzmando) and register for the forum.  He asked me to show him some chords when he got a break, and I drew out the chord charts for I, IV, V, and vi (chop G, C, D, and the mystery Em).  I also gave him an instruction book I'd found useful by Austin's Eddie Collins, "Simple and Intermediate Fiddle Tunes".  

*Pete*, he's from the Seattle area and looking for an instructor, so I sent him your way.  He seemed determined to learn, and I hope he contacts you.

MORAL: Wear your Mandolin Cafe ball cap wherever you travel!  Beginner or demigod, you never know who might be looking and glad to see you're a fellow devotee.

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## montana

Just kidding, montana.  Gotta head out tomorrow morning.  <wah!>[/QUOTE]
 I was just kidding also. I saw that saying on a bumper sticker. You should come to Red Lodge MT. It's the prettiest place in MT.(just my opinion). Plus we can always use another mando player.

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