Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 41
On the coldest day of 2024, Montana's Poet Laureate Chris LaTray spoke in tandem with author Peter Stark at an Open Book Club event in Seeley Lake, lending an Indigenous perspective to Stark's latest book about the West. Those of us lucky enough to attend have been eagerly awaiting LaTray's return. Fresh from a nation-wide tour, Chris LaTray will be presenting his newest book, Becoming Little Shell, A Landless Indian's Journey Home at the Swan Valley Community Hall in Condon, Saturday, Nov. 9...
Alpine Artisans’ 2 Valleys Stage is honored to present a sophisticated jazz band out of Atlanta, Georgia, the Jazz Legacy Project, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Seeley-Swan High School. Following the concert, Jazz Legacy Project will spend two days in our four local schools, providing workshops and in-school concerts. The Jazz Legacy Project was created in 2015 after an epiphany Justin Varnes had while teaching Jazz History at George State University. The JLP has an ongoing residency at the Velvet Note jazz club in Atlanta, where they ha... Full story
Tour some of western Montana's most amazing artist studios while driving through the explosive fall color of our region's tamaracks during the 22nd annual Tour of the Arts. Alpine Artisans offers this self-guided artist studio tour on Oct. 12-13. Saturday hours are 10-5 p.m., and Sunday from 12-5 p.m. This free tour stretches from Condon through Seeley Lake to Ovando and Lincoln, Montana. The tour features 10 studios and galleries and over 25 artists showing and demonstrating their work...
Folk-rock musician Rebecca Folsom and Friends are returning to the Seeley-Swan for a third encore performance in the 24-year history of 2 Valleys Stage, performing on Sunday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. at the Seeley-Swan High School. Tickets are available at the door. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Rebecca's formative years were inspired by the alternative pulse that beats in a town nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She grew up running trails and writing songs amongst the pines and...
The In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Literary Festival announced that its biennial gathering will be held Sept. 27 to 29, 2024 in Missoula, Montana, featuring the theme, Finding Our Place In Nature: The Power of Story. Award-winning authors and artists will examine society's critical relationship to nature through literature, art and music. The Saturday daytime festival at The Wilma will be free, but registration is required at www.macleanfootsteps.com. "The Maclean Festival was initially...
Montana’s Shakespeare in the Parks (MSIP) will perform in Seeley Lake on Monday, Aug. 26 at 6 pm as part of their 52nd summer tour across five states, bringing free performances to 65 communities in the Rocky Mountain West. It has become a tradition for MSIP to set up their portable stage and perform on the grounds at Double Arrow Lodge as the kickoff event to 2 Valleys Stage;s annual season of performances. “Seeley Lake is one of our favorite venues to perform”, said Riley O’Toole, the tour manager. “Double Arrow offers an incompara...
Alpine Artisans' Loon and Fish Festival returns for our 24th year on Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday, July 19-21 in downtown Seeley Lake. The festival is a celebration of art and nature in the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys highlighted by a community art show and sale featuring the work of over 25 local artists from the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys. Held in the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake, the show features marquetry woodwork, jewelry, paintings (all media), copper bowls, b...
All the way from London, England 2 Valleys Stage is proud to present the electric string band, Stringfever. Composed of siblings Ralph, Neal and Sophie Broadbent along with their cousin, Graham Broadbent, Stringfever are world class musicians playing five and six-stringed electric violins, viola and cello in a truly original show. Stringfever's unique acclaimed version of Ravel's 'Bolero' has all four playing on one cello simultaneously. Then they challenge the audience to play Name That Tune as they race through 20 of the best loved film...
Alpine Artisans' 2 Valleys Stage is showcasing the Oregon “Glam Rock” duo, Champagne Sunday, on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall in Condon. Husband and wife members Jessi and Jared Fredeen tear up stages and crowds nationwide with their unique, upbeat, roller-coaster-style shows, firing off gypsy-punk rock songs alongside everything from intimate tear-jerkers to anthemic foot-stompers, peppering their sets with compelling stories behind their music. Champagne Sunday is one of the rare original acts that performs wit...
The teacher shortage in Montana hits communities like the Seeley-Swan Valley hard, and that is particularly true with music teachers. The most recent music teachers for Seeley-Swan High School, Seeley Elementary and the Swan Valley School left for other teaching jobs after several years in the schools, leaving our schools searching to find replacements. Seeley Elementary was able to persuade former kindergarten teacher Sheila Devins, a 2022 finalist for Montana Teacher of the Year, to stay on...
To kick off the holiday season, Alpine Artisans’ 2 Valleys Stage is presenting Missoula’s outstanding dance troupe, Bare Bait Dance, with their holiday show, The Night Before at Seeley-Swan High School on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. Founded and directed by Joy French, Bare Bait Dance is a professional, contemporary modern dance company. A 501(c)(3) non-profit, Bare Bait operates Westside Theater in Missoula. Now in its 13th year of producing professional dance concerts in Western Montana, Bare Bait Dance is bringing a little joyful creativity to...
Alpine Artisans’ 2 Valleys Stage opens their 2023 season with a community concert on Sunday, Oct. 29 with the exciting San Diego band, Jarabe Mexicano. This five-person Mexican American band will be presenting Dia de Los Muertos: “A Celebration of Life” with music and stories that highlight the importance of family connections and the power of cultural remembrance for Latinos and their descendants. Their electrifying performances show how this multi-generational ensemble embraces change while still honoring the past. These celebrations can take...
Alpine Artisans, in partnership with the Double Arrow Lodge, is excited to announce that Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will be presenting the exciting play, The Three Musketeers, on the Double Arrow Lawn on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m. The event is free, and Double Arrow will be offering food and drinks for sale. A swashbuckling tale filled with action and adventure, The Three Musketeers will enthrall all generations of audience members as they get swept away to 17th century France, following...
Missoula author Chris Dombrowski will be reading and talking about his latest memoir, “The River You Touch,” at the Swan Valley Community Hall in Condon on Saturday, July 15 at 7 pm. Co-sponsored by Alpine Artisans’ Open Book Club and Swan Valley Connections, this evening is a ‘don’t miss’ for those who want to spend a vicarious day on the river with one of the most entertaining river guides and poets in western Montana. The “River You Touch” is also an intimate journey into the life of a family working hard to make a living in a rugged, Wester...
The auditorium at Seeley Swan High School will reverberate with the rhythms and dance steps of the Middle East as 2 Valleys Stage presents the band Seffarine, Sunday, February 5, at 3 pm. Charged with texture and color, Seffarine concerts carry the audience on a vibrant musical journey, channeling the heart-wrenching joy of the music and dance of North Africa and southern Spain to wide acclaim. Their music is described by Bass Player Magazine as a "gorgeous intersection of Spanish flamenco, Arab...
For the Seeley Swan Pathfinder 2 Valleys Stage is presenting a "once-in-a-lifetime" concert of classical and unusual music from a European ensemble - The Valencia Baryton Project - on Sunday, Jan. 8. The Valencia Baryton Project is a string trio formed by colleagues from the opera orchestras of Valencia, Spain and Montpellier, France. Their vision is to perform not only the nearly 160 works written by Franz Joseph Haydn for the baryton but also to rekindle the repertoire for this forgotten...
Jamie Harrison's new novel "The Center of Everything" places you firmly in the mind of its central character, Polly, and her life in Livingston, Mont., with flashbacks to earlier years on Long Island. Harrison will be reading from her novel at Alpine Artisans's Open Book Club event at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation. The book begins with Polly recovering from a brain injury caused by a bike accident, and she repeatedly asks, "Am I losing my mind or am I seeing...
SEELEY LAKE - Alpine Artisans’ 2 Valleys Stage 2022-23 season opens with the return of the dazzling Canadian drumming group Fubuki Daiko at Seeley-Swan High School Sunday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. Single and season tickets are available at the door. This four-person band reinvents traditional Japanese drumming with their eclectic and energetic performances that are part martial arts athleticism, part mediation and all rhythm. Collaborations with a wide range of groups including classical, funk, jazz a...
SEELEY LAKE - Doesn't every family have its secrets? Some bigger than others? Six years ago, I was sitting with author Caroline Patterson on the front porch of her cabin at Pierce Lake sharing our family secrets. I told Caroline of a half-sister I didn't know I had until I was 16 years old. And she shared an amazing story from her family – also of a sister whose existence was a carefully guarded family secret. This family story she skillfully crafted as her latest, highly praised novel "The S...
MISSOULA – The In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Literary Festival announced that the biennial gathering in late June 2022 in Missoula has attracted almost 1,000 registrants and will feature the auction of an original Kevin Red Star painting produced just for the event. The event, the fourth to be hosted by the Maclean Literary Festival, is called “Public Land & Sacred Ground: Western Writers Bear Witness.” It is scheduled for June 24-26 at The Wilma Theatre. Admission is free to the public. Registration is required and available on the Festiv...
SWAN VALLEY - 2 Valleys Stage is wrapping up their 2021-22 season with a fun, globe-trotting music and comedy duo, Bridge and Wolak. Due to the band's tight travel schedule, the concert will be on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall. Tickets are available at the door (Adults $14, seniors $12, and students under 18 are free). Refreshments will be served and beer and wine by donation. This exciting band merges traditional instruments with 21st century digital...
SEELEY LAKE - Are you ready for an afternoon of jazz, rhythm and blues and more from an accomplished Los Angeles quartet? 2 Valleys Stage invites you to join us at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 27 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall for a lively concert featuring the acclaimed LP And The Vinyl. Tickets are available at the door. Refreshments will be served, and beer and wine are by donation. Who are LP And The Vinyl? After years of intensive recording projects and concerts for jazz aficionados throughout...
SEELEY LAKE - "If you come to the concert without expectations, you'll rapidly learn what's possible with a euphonium," states U of M Tuba and Euphonium Consort's conductor Benedict Kirby. "You'll hear soaring melodies and blazing technique. We're calling the concert Big Bop Nouveau Tuba! - because the concert will move through some funky styles. It will move through some jazz waltz. It will move through what we would call, perhaps, classical sounds. It's a tour de force." The concert will be...
"People have realized that live music is so special after this long COVID pandemic. Music brings people together and Celtic music in particular is so joyful and uplifting!" stated Greta Gothard, the oldest of the three sisters that comprise The Gothard Sisters trio. Alpine Artisans' 2 Valleys Stage is bringing The Gothard Sisters to our valleys, beginning with a Holiday Concert at Seeley-Swan High School on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. The Gothard Sisters – G...
Livingston poet Marc Beaudin will read from and discuss his new collection, "Life List: Poems" on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the West Wing of the Seeley Lake Community Foundation. The free event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. A kind of field guide to the birds in poetry, "Life List" includes over 70 poems that each feature a bird from Beaudin's own life list (currently at nearly 400 species). According to the publisher, the book "pays tribute to the birds that have flown through Beaudin's...
