Young LCCC art instructor shows off work

The official description "Incidental Theatre: The Vignettes" art show at Laramie County Community College is daunting.

"Looped animations are projected amidst an array of objects and printed matter that fill up most of the gallery in an arrangement that chronicles life’s vicissitudes in a distilled, palatable format – paradoxically evoking the dull, repetitive nature of modern life while also alluding to its flux." 

"I guess I had my MFA big boy pants on when I wrote that. The show isn't really that hard to connect with," Artist Daniel Maw said. "Honest."

Kevin Seconds free acoustic in-store tomorrow

Ernie November record store will host a special in-store concert tomorrow with hardcore punk front man Kevin Seconds. The show is free and is one of a few stops Seconds is making across America for his current tour.

Let me spare you the Google search (which I actually had to do) and tell you that Seconds was the singer for 7 Seconds, an influential hardcore group in the late 1970s and 80s. Seconds is also know for being straight edge, though Wikipedia tells me that he is no spokesperson. More like a guy who likes that lifestyle and doesn't see the need in forcing it on everyone else. While he is known for hardcore punk, Seconds has built an imprissive acoustic career. That path has taken him across the U.S. and Europe since 1989, playing with people like Elliott Smith and Ben Lee as well as groups like the Bouncing Souls.

Most of my non-Googled knowledge on Seconds and his band comes from my friend Seneca Flowers who will be opening up the show tomorrow. He was kind enough to answer some questions for me ahead of the show including what an honor he thought it was opening for a guy like Seconds.

Journey will play CFD ... Again.

The delay was not worth the payoff yesterday.

After several set backs, Cheyenne Frontier Days finally announced Journey as their rock act Wednesday, citing contract troubles with another band that dropped out as the reason for the delay.

CFD had pushed this announcement back several times starting in November when they failed to announce a rock band at their annual reveal party. With each passing month nothing was announced, speculation and interest continued to grow. No act would have filled that gap, but I'm sure there were others out there that would have drawn a bit more excitement than what is essentially a Journey cover band that played the exact same venue last year. 

Bluegrass group The HillBenders will play Cheyenne in April

Bluegrass group the HillBenders will play in Cheyenne in early April.

In the same vein as the Steep Canyon Rangers, the group hails from Missouri and brings the heat with party stomping bluegrass. They are touring in support of their 2012 release "Can You Hear Me" and their album "Down to My Last Dollar" is currently available on Spotify.

Aaron Watson talks about "July in Cheyenne"

Country music singer Aaron Watson will be at the Outlaw March 14 in support of his new album "Real Good Time."

During my interview today, I talked with him a little about his song "July in Cheyenne (Song for Lane's Momma) which talks about rodeo rider Lane Frost.

Mac Miller at UW this spring

"I'm white boy awesome."

Hip Hop rising star Mac Miller is going to play a show at the University of Wyoming April 13. Students get in for free, public gets in for $20.

Things that are going to be going over well at the show:

* Converse shoes

* Clear Eyes drops

* Tim Lincecum jerseys

* Tribal armband tattoos

* Flat billed - strap back hats

* Flat billed hats of teams that are not in the Rockies

* Beanies with balls on the top

* A lot of guys saying the word "bro"

2013 Oscar nominated short films: animated

                             "Fresh Guacamole"

My girlfriend and I headed to Fort Collins this weekend to watch the Oscar nominated animated shorts at the Lyric Cafe. The cost wound up being $12 for both of us, tickets only, but I thought that was a low price to pay to look down at everyone at our bosses' party who hadn't seen them.

Just kidding. I don't talk to people less pretentious than I pretend to be.

Banff Mountain Film Festival comes to Laramie

                            "Crossing the Ice"


The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will stop in Laramie Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. The high profile festival, which has visited the University of Wyoming since 1999, focuses on mountain sports and culture while also looking at related topics like global warming. Films range in length as well and each tour date, and even screening night, are specially selected from all of the films to fit the interests of each stop.


The center piece of the festival is "Crossing the Ice" which won the grand prize and people's choice awards at the festival's opening.

Local and regional Valentine’s Day events

Happy early Valentine's Day everyone.

Here is a list of events in Denver, Cheyenne and Laramie going on in and around Valentine's Day. If you know of others feel free to post them in the comments. 

Duo Dmitri: Valentine’s Day Concert

What: Luba Agranovsky and Dmitri Kasyuk will perform on the piano and flute. Winners of numerous competitions, they grew up in Moscow before moving to Jerusalem. Wine and cheese will be served.

When: Feb. 14, 7-9 p.m.

Where: Mt. Sinai Synagogue, 2610 Pioneer Ave.

Cost: Tickets are $10 each or two for $18 with discounts for seniors and military.

“Exit the Body” 

What: Mystery/farce from the Cheyenne Little Theatre Company set in New England.

When: Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Mary Godfrey Playhouse, 2706 E. Pershing Blvd.

Cost: Tickets are reduced to $10 each.

Online: www.cheyennelittletheatre.org

New Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit opens Sunday in Denver

"It is not a country of light on things. It is a country of things in light."

I traveled to Denver yesterday to see the "Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico" exhibit at the Denver Art Museum during a media preview event.

While the display is lacking some of the large name works that can be seen on postcards, posters and perhaps most famously my mom's desktop wallpaper, it does feature a few rare paintings that should draw in knowledgeable fans and the curious first timers.

The One Day Show

The Ozymandian Theater, a local improv and sketch group, will be hosting an interesting show Friday.

The group will be taking ideas and suggestions for their show through social media sites most of the day Thursday. They will then take those ideas and fold them into a full show which will start at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Atlas. It is a massive undertaking, and something the group has never tried before.

More from their their web page after the jump:

The Toasters- Atlas Theatre 1-29-13

"This one goes out to you Cheyenne. Because living here must be a real *Explative*" -Bucket 

The Atlas was empty Tuesday evening, save for about 80 people who braved the weather on a school night to see The Toasters. Still, I'm not sure there would have been a bigger crowd even if Cheyenne wasn't an ice rink already. While they are ska legends, the Toasters are hardly name brand, especially in a place like Cheyenne.

Their case wasn't helped by a string of incoherent local openers, which were often terrible and mostly unlistenable. In their defense, when some 60-80 people (in a room built for hundreds) are there specifically to see one act, any opener is going to have a hard time  Of course that doesn't excuse the terrible NOFX ripoff set (complete with incoherent yelling and swear words) that Ackrite put up or the random collection of over-energized/unintelligible covers and originals that locals It Gets Worse put together. Touring opener Mrs. Skannotto out of New York were the one highlight of the early sets, and I have to commend them for playing with such class and skill to a room which mostly just stared and leaned on the railings.

Upcoming shows of note in the area

The music scene is going pretty well in SE Wyoming these days despite it being the dead of winter. Here are a few shows to mark on your calendar in the upcoming weeks.- JJ

1/29 The Toasters @ The Atlas Theatre, 6 p.m. $10 in advance or $12 at the door. 
The Toasters are a legendary ska band that have been making music for more than 30 years. The lineup is in constant fluctuation as there is only one original member, Bucket, but that's not a bad thing. Bucket invites his friends, often ska legends in their own right, tour with him. The result is a heck of a good time from some real pros. Check out my story here  and the Facebook invite here.

Review: "How to Survive A Plague"

Directed by David France
Written by David France, Todd Woody Richman, Tyler H. Walk
2013 Best Documentary Nominee (Academy Awards)
Currently streaming on Netflix

"PLAGUE! A PLAGUE is upon us and all you can do is argue with each other? That's what this is. Over 40 million infected is a plague! And what have we done, what have we done to stop this? Till we get our acts together we are as good as dead." 

I didn't know this story.

At 26 years old, I am too young to remember the AIDS crisis and have never really looked into. Why should I? AIDS doesn't draw the same fear and visceral reaction that it once did. It is still a scary disease that can and does kill, but we know about it. We know famous people with it. We know how it spreads and how we can protect ourselves. There is little left to the imagination about what it can do.