JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The Knotty Pine comes through yet again. Just as other music venues are preparing to shutter for off-season, Ye Olde Victor Supper Club has posted a slew of dates to see us through the fall.

The highlight is the powerhouse quartet Garage A Trois on Sept. 7, with Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, keyboardist Marco Benevento, demon saxophonist Skerik and percussionist Mike Dillon. Tickets are just $15, likely to sell out.

Also on the slate are several reggae shows: Richie Spice on Sept. 26 ($17) and Passafire with Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds ($10) on Oct. 6.

Skerik and Dillon return to close out the run Oct. 19 with The Dead Kenny G’s, who are billed thusly: “The jazz performed by The Dead Kenny G’s is just as irreverent as its name suggests.”

For the full lineup, check out the Knotty’s new web site.

Posted under Music

Tags: funk, galactic, knotty pine, new orleans, teton valley

Tickets are available for the Sept. 16 talk by Valentino Achak Deng at Jackson Hole High School. Pick them up for free at Valley Bookstore, Jackson Hole Book Traders and Main Event. Limit two per person.

Deng, one of the so-called “Lost Boys of Sudan,” tells an extraordinary tale of human suffering and survival in the biographical work of fiction What is the What. Brilliantly written by Dave Eggers, the book chronicles Deng’s exodus from his native Marial Bai in western Sudan to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. The story is told through the prism of Deng’s experiences as a refugee resettled in America, raising additional questions about our own culture.

Coincidentally, I read the book earlier this summer when it was featured in a Teton County Library book group. The library has a dozen or more copies if anyone would like to organize their own group reading in advance of Deng’s talk; contact Marisa for details. (The book is classified as fiction because parts of it were compiled from Deng’s earliest recollections.)

The story is at once horrifying, profound, inspiring, and will leave you wanting to make an immediate donation to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation for education in southern Sudan. I cannot wait to see this man in person.

Posted under Art, Media, Politics, Religion

Tags: travel, writing

Jon Stewart and The Daily Show continue to roast the “Ground Zero mosque” furor in hilarious fashion.

At the center of Rupert Murdoch’s insidious web of terror funding is his media partner, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Prince Alwaleed, you’ll recall, was the Saudi royal who had Jackson Hole abuzz with his eccentric and extravagant stay at Four Seasons in 2004, replete with snowboarding dwarves (later tossed around for the entourage’s amusement).

The prince has been an investor in Four Seasons, as well as Citigroup, Murdoch’s NewsCorp. and Apple. His Kingdom Foundation sponsors no doubt hundreds of humanitarian and educational initiatives, in addition to the proposed Park51 project — which makes the Fox fearmongering so ridiculous.

I’m with Wyatt: Evil.

(Video from The Daily Show, via TPM)

Posted under Entertainment, Humor, Politics, Religion

Tags: jon stewart, Media, new york, teton village

Tonight What’s Good Here? Productions presents the last of its summer concerts with DJ Logic and Willie Waldman with The Dovekins at Town Square Tavern.

Waldman, the avant-garde trumpeter, and turntable master Logic played together at 43 North in 2007 with the Jackson band Fat Albert. The jam turned into a funk and artistic throwdown, with painter Norton Wisdom rendering outrageous scenes on stage.

The Dovekins, a hipster gypsy band from Denver self-styled as “drop-out barbershop” and “psychedelic cowboy,” were the inspiration for the first concerts at the Bait Shop, the promoters’ house and fishing landmark on Millward Street.

Showtime is 10 p.m. $5 cover at the door.

Posted under Music

Tags: funk, hipsters

There likely will be a recount, and who knows, perhaps there are some hanging chads in Meeteetse, but it appears attorney Matt Mead has won the Republican primary for Wyoming governor.

If the results hold, Mead will face Democratic stalwart Leslie Petersen, meaning two candidates with Teton County roots will square off for the state’s highest executive office.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports Mead ahead of State Auditor Rita Meyer by 714 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Ten of the 11 specific-purpose tax proposals on the ballot in Teton County passed, with voters rejecting only the Jackson Hole Museum by a slim margin.

Thank you to everyone who voted in favor of improving the Snake River access at Wilson. Someday we will have a great park there that does justice to the majesty of the river. The Snake won’t wait.

Posted under Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party, Wyoming, Wyoming Legislature

Tags: leslie petersen, matt mead, snake river

Whether voting in the Republican or Democratic primaries, everyone will have a say on 11 specific-purpose excise tax, or SPET, projects in today’s election.

SPET is not a new tax. It is one cent of sales tax that has been collected for 25 years and used to fund projects such as construction of the rec center and bike and pedestrian pathways throughout the county. The 11 projects on the ballot are not competing against each other; the more that pass, the longer the tax will be collected for. If all 11 were to pass, it is estimated the tax would be assessed for about four years, after which new projects could be proposed.

The only way the tax would not be levied is if all 11 projects fail. That is not going to happen, so suck it up. The one cent amounts to about $50 per resident per year. Tourists pay roughly half the tax or more, and the influx of these dollars into the local economy — especially for construction work — is significant. Teton County could use a few more jobs on projects with actual community benefits.

Following is the list of propositions as they appear on the ballot, with my analysis below each.

Read More…

Posted under County Government, Economy, Environment, Politics, Town Government

Tags: conservation, snake river