Wild West Fest: East Helena, Montana

Well, the Montana Wild West Fest was held over the last weekend and it was a lot of fun. I ran sound for the main entertainers stage as well as performing several times. There was a Cavalry encampment, numerous shootouts, vendors and displays.

For me, the highlight of the show was Jim Jones; an excellent Western Music performer from New Mexico. I had a great time talking with him and we got our guitars out and jammed a couple of times. If you get a chance to see him perform, I heartily reccommend it!

I encountered one frustrating episode at the WWF. As I have mentioned, I was doing sound for the main stage. The AM String Band from Helena was playing for the Frontier Ball on Saturday, August 10th. When I went to the stage area to meet with them and get them set up, I found that they had already torn down my equipment so they could set up their own! My cables were in a snarled pile by the sound table, speakers disconnected and moved, microphones and stands moved and the cavles tangled...It was quite the mess. At first, you can imagine the responses I was thinking of. But, on the bright side, if they didn't need me for sound, I could go home and go to bed. I got my stuff more out of their way and then did exactly that. It only took me a half hour or so to get things reset the next day. My only real comment was and is that my daughter, at 3 years old, understood the concept of "If it's not yours; don't mess with it!"

I'm back in Virginia City, MT for the week, then Parade Rest Ranch again Friday; Virginia City Cafe Saturday and Sunday and then Parade Rest again Monday. That's my basic schedule for the next few weeks. It's been a GREAT summer!

See y'all later.