ARTS Pick: NYMPH

Transcendental whimsy With no less than seven members, spiritual rock group NYMPH blurs traditional musical genres to the point of nonexistence.  Deriving their visionary sound from the realm of free-jazz, the Brooklyn-based group weaves their way through pulsating African beats and jazz thrills to ethereal guitar harmonies, providing a musical trip across cultural, artistic, and […]

A movie’s source material doesn’t matter

It’s the perfect time of year to discuss a longstanding moviegoers’ gripe: “The book was better.” Or “they changed the ending.” Or World War Z is an in-name adaptation only. (To be fair, that last statement, sort of uttered by World War Z novelist Max Brooks, isn’t a gripe. It’s the book’s fans who are […]

ARTS Pick: Balto

Hidden monuments Portland, Oregon-based folk collective Balto has been called “the band everyone should have heard of, but nobody has.” All that anonymity may be on the brink of dissipation, as the group heads east with a suitcase full of tunes from its latest EP, Monuments. The album was recorded in an old church over three days in […]

Local kids shine in Missoula Children’s Theatre

While the summer sun beats down outside this weekend, the Paramount stage will be replete with winter wind workers, blizzard bringers, icicle sharpeners, and snow smoothers – all local children cast in the Missoula Children Theatre’s modern adaptation of The Princess and the Pea. From kings, queens and phony princesses to flower gardeners and dust […]

ARTS Pick: Delta Rae

Turn it up Delta Rae (left) is known as a folk rock act, yet such a flat description is no match for the electrifying tunes from this North Carolina-based sextet. On their debut album, Carry the Fire, the Hölljes siblings complement rich Carolina soul with rockharmonies a la Fleetwood Mac and the storytelling narratives of folklore and mythology. The result […]

Film review: Man of Steel

After seeing Man of Steel, the Christopher Nolan-iphied Superman update, it’s become clear: Nolan is limited. He needs real-world characters who can supply real-world solutions, even if those real-world characters are fighting The Joker or swimming in someone else’s dreams. Starting off on an alien planet? It’s just too otherworldly for him to make worldly. An alien infant crash-landing on Earth needs a […]

ARTS Pick: Two Gallants

This past year San-Franciscan folk rock duo Two Gallants returned from a five-year hiatus with a new sound on its ATO Records debut, The Bloom and the Blight.

ARTS Pick: The Rocketeer

The record-breaking success of 1989’s Batman green-lit a wave big-budget retro-adventure films, including the outlandish, neon ensemble piece Dick Tracy; the brash, moody grotesquerie of The Shadow; and the feather-light, straight-faced camp of latecoming entry The Phantom. Nestled amongst them is 1991’s The Rocketeer; though it was considered a modest disappointment upon release (Disney thought […]

Showtime, Charlottesville: Japandroids are in town

Let’s get this out of the way: The name Japandroids doesn’t mean anything. Both members of the Vancouver-based rock band happened to come up with two-word names before their first billed show. Neither of them liked the other’s suggestion, so they combined them. The result is a play on words that Brian King and David Prowse expected to change before […]