Missoula Rabble, Tamara, front end manager at Bernice's Bakery, says she represents the red velvet cupcake at the Hip Strip Block Party fashion show today. She is also very pregnant. She's two weeks away from her due date. She doesn't know if its a boy or girl. "We have a midwife so I haven't had any sonograms or ultrasounds," she said. "The element of surprise is awesome." I asked her what she is most excited about being a new mom. "I'm excited this child gets to be with the tribe of people I run with, my Bernice's family, and this community," she said. "[Missoula] is a good family to bring a baby into."
Missoula Rabble, Joe, 31, took first place in the individual Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge today. He's one of Missoula's own. "It's basically nonstop training," he said. The challenge consists of an obstacle course that simulates realistic duties of a firefighter like tower climbing with a 42lb bag, victim rescue, hose hoist, etc. "When you throw it all together, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do," he said. He's headed to Las Vegas in October to compete in the world challenge event. I asked Joe about his daily life as a city firefighter. "We show up when someone else is having their worst day," he said. "So it's important for us to have our best days when we are at work."
Missoula Rabble, "Everybody thinks I've been here forever," Charles said. He came to Missoula in 2007 to take a summer course at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. "I got out of my car, walked around downtown, and said, 'I'm home,'" he said. Charles is a prominent music photographer in Missoula. It didn't start out that way. "I came here to do landscape and wildlife," he said. He changed his mind. "There's so much of it. I'd rather just look at it then take pictures of it." He started to admire and shoot Missoula's architecture and soon moved onto bands. He was asked to take pictures of the local band Swizzlegrit and then Russ Nasset. "I took pictures of Russ Nasset at the Union Club and I was hooked," he said. Charles has a show up at Monk's Bar next month. I recommend taking a look. This guy is very good.
Missoula Rabble, Audrey, 31, was a woman in the military. "I had it good because I got out before I had to go to Iraq," she said. She was in the navy for 2 years before she was honorably discharged. She was on base when 9/11 occurred. "Everything got crazy," she said. "We were watching tv all day and checking cars for bombs." I asked her how she felt about it all now. "It's not about the war anymore," she said. "It's about taking care."
Missoula Rabble, I finally met Neeko. I've heard of her and seen her artwork but her face remained a mystery until today. She was standing outside the Wilma trying to score Jane's Addiction tickets with her husband. "We're keeping our fingers crossed," she said. Neeko is a tattoo artist at Altered Skin. She made art in high school and decided she wanted to make art for a living. She's been tattooing for four and a half years. Neeko says she mostly enjoys working on color pieces. "I like a lot of cartoony, bright, colorful things," she said. "It's a lot of fun to create a lot of depth with colors." I asked her if she had any struggles as a tattoo artist. "It's hard to do side art because I need to concentrate on tattoos," she said. And lastly, I asked if she had any advice for this big, wide world. "Don't be afraid of anything. Ever."
Missoula Rabble, I got home from work today and found these two rabble hanging out on my porch. Cameron, left, and Andy are two of Missoula's most talented musicians who play in The Lil' Smokies, voted Best Band in Best of Missoula this year. Apparently they're also looking for an apartment. I asked them a few questions about their music while they waited for my landlord. The Lil' Smokies have been together for four years and just released their first self-titled album this year. "We played a lot of covers and this year we are finally writing our own songs," Andy said. Andy describes their sound as cerebral folk music with an emphasis on lyrics and melody. "Melody is what gets me up in the morning," said Andy. Cameron laughed and said, "Melody is what keeps me up at night. And for a few hours between morning and night we exchange melodies."
Missoula Rabble, Mercedes, 23, befriended Lou Reed without even knowing it. She was raised in Missoula but decided she needed to leave it for the big city to pursue dreams of working in the fashion world. While living in New York she worked at a cafe that Jake Gyllenhal and Lou Reed frequented. A coworker informed Mercedes she was being friendly to the Lou Reed. "Once I realized who he was I became shy," she said. Mercedes called it quits in NYC saying she needed more space. "I get why my parents live here now," she said.
Missoula Rabble, Richard is a man of very few words. He was standing on the sidewalk watching people walk by when his hat and leather jacket caught my eye. I asked him what he was doing. "I'm being a part of the community," he said. Richard grew up in Montana on a farm. Most of his family has passed away. He calls himself a loner. "I never have that much to say."
Missoula Rabble, Mike has built many friendships around death. He grew up across the street from the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery and has managed it for 42 years. He grew up helping his father run and take care of the cemetery and took over once his father decided to retire. I asked him how he dealt with death. "Each [death] is a little different," he said. "There are certain ones that hurt more than others. You grieve just like anybody else."
Missoula Rabble, Mills, left, and Stef met about a month ago in Missoula. "We just walk around and drink and listen to Justin Timberlake," Mills said. They both ran away to Missoula at different times in their lives. Mills says she moved here for a fresh start. "I moved here for myself," she said. Stef says she came here for a boy. "I was supposed to meet a boy here, but I ended up meeting another boy," she said.
Missoula Rabble, I asked Joe to tell me something about himself. "I met my biological father when I was 22," he said. I asked him how it went. "He mailed my mother an iPhone with his number in it. I called, flew to meet him. It didn't go that well. It seemed to be more about relieving himself." Joe, 24, came to Missoula from Chicago. He has been homeless since January. He stays at the Poverello or sleeps in the woods a few miles out of town. He wants to be a writer. "I feel like somewhat of a voyant," he said. "I need to experience these things to be a better writer, but it isn't always pleasant."
Missoula Rabble, I knew if I ever ran into Donnie I'd have to ask him to be in the rabble. Donnie serves drinks as well as his ears to many lost Missoula souls at one of it's best known watering holes. "They tell me I'm the face of Flippers," he said. Donnie has worked at the bar for 16 years. "People get to let there stuff out here," he said. "I hear all the stories, young and old." He says he hasn't gotten sick of the drunk sob story yet. "I still like to listen. I can't judge. I've been there, too."
Galan hitchhiked all the way to Missoula from Florida with a person he just met on the beach. "He asked me to go to Montana," he said. "I could tell he'd give me attributes and things I wanted so I thought it'd be a good idea." They camped the whole way here. When I asked Galan about his troubles along the way he dropped a scripture from the bible that says, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers..." I asked him what it meant. "We don't fight people. Your enemy are those that are possessing the people."
Jason and Aurelia call themselves traveling vaudevillians. Vaudeville was variety show entertainment at the turn of the century like juggling, acrobatics, magicians and music. They dressed in steampunk garb and had a variety of instruments before them. The two are partners and work as traveling street musicians. Jason explained the difficulties the pair have had competing against panhandlers and street kids in Missoula. "You're witnessing something authentic when you watch us," he said. When they aren't traveling street musicians, Jason works on an organic farm and Aurelia teaches circus arts. "We are committed to a creative lifestyle that allows us to be who we are," Aurelia said.
Marlo and I got to talking about hair. She shaved her head 7 years ago and her boyfriend at the time broke up with her. "When I shaved my head he was't attracted to me anymore," she said. Marlo studied abroad in Malta years ago and met two Kenyan women who wore wraps around their heads. "I think it's admirable in a culture that removes that element," she said. "That it was more about the connection with how they looked you in the eyes." We talked about different hair styles, dyes, and cuts and how much emphasis people can put on someone's hair. Marlo says her current cut she named the "poomboom," shorty, flowy, and shaved on one side. "Ultimately, I dont want [hair] to be what expresses who I am."
Brian is a hunter and a mountain climber. He almost lost his life this past winter ice climbing alone up Holland Peak of the Swan Range in Montana. "I had to perform self arrest," he told me. He explained to me self arrest is when a climber falls down a snow or ice slope and sticks an ice axe into the slope and maneuvers his body in such a way he can hang from the axe to avoid falling down the mountain. He made it, as you can see.
I found Brett, 26, sitting on a skateboard, eating a Jimmy Johns sandwich as music blasted from his headphones wrapped around his neck. He recently moved to Missoula after being stuck in Great Falls for five years for legal reasons. He was spray painting graffiti on churches and got himself into trouble. He currently plays drums in a two-man grindcore band called Grunt. "People either really love us or really hate us," he said. "I can't tell."
Meet Pepper Wilson. I was putting gas in my car when I saw her stroll by on Higgins Street. It took effort to get her attention and when I did she told me I must have caught her daydreaming followed with laughter. Pepper was more than excited about my project. She immediately started to tell me about a fashion show she's going to be in for Betty's Divine. I asked her how old she was and she told me 85. Shocked, I asked her how she manages to look so good. "I don't know what I do'" she said. "I'm just lucky." Pepper moved here 21 years ago from New Jersey. She became a widow at 49 and retired shortly after. That's when she decided to move here. "Once I became independent I told myself it's time to do what I want. So I moved out here and do whatever I want to do."
