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

It’s that time again. JH Underground has made a much-needed change in latitude, on assignment at the 40th anniversary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Contemporary journalistic fashion dictates that I be Twittering and Flickring minute-by-minute as the festival unfolds. But that would be annoying, for you and me.

New Orleans is all about enjoying the moment. So I’m unplugging, mostly, for the next few days.

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Posted under Music

Tags: festivals, funk, jazz fest, Music, new orleans, travel

Musically, the highest time of the winter came in February, when Galactic roared into Teton Valley with a couple of New Orleans horn players in tow.

The addition of Andrew Baham on trumpet and Corey Henry on trombone brought a blast of Jazz Fest to the land of ice and snow.

I would be remiss if I did not post these fine photos by David Stubbs. (Andrew Wyatt wrote a review with his pics here.)

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Posted under Music

Tags: david stubbs, funk, galactic, jazz fest, knotty pine, new orleans

Earlier this week, with Jackson Hole in the throes of tantalizing spring splendor, I was enlisted by the Winter Wildlands Alliance for an aerial photographic survey of nearby wilderness boundaries.

Flying over the spectacular peaks and canyons of the northern Tetons, the many rivers percolating through the volcanic rock of Idaho and the surprising number of clear-cuts that dot the forest like leopard spots, I was afforded a perspective known to pelicans and ravens.

Quite a thrill, despite misgivings about Jackson Hole Airport.

My favorite frame from the shoot.

Posted under Art, Environment

Tags: grand teton national park, photography

Now that Barack Obama has made America safer from pirates, we can again poke fun at buccaneers.

This particular ship of lost sailors sailed several weeks ago in the Pole Pedal Paddle. Ostensibly a team headed by Ali Shafranek, the pirates were listed as “DNF” on the race results.

That’s because they took off the river at around 5 p.m., nearly six hours after the winner, Aaron Pruzan, crossed the finish line beneath the Astoria Hot Springs bridge. So lagging was the booze cruise that the Fun Class already had been judged by the time the plundering partiers shotgunned their final can of PBR.

We have an idea of what it takes to be No. 1 in the PPP. But what does it take to come in dead last? Video correspondent Christie Koriakin reports from way behind the finish line.

Posted under Entertainment, Humor, Sports

Tags: christie koriakin, pole pedal paddle, snake river

At JH Underground, powered wholly by renewable energy without the slaying of trees, every day is Earth Day.

But once a year, the rest of America decides to pay at least token attention to the health of our planet, and eco-savvy Jackson joins in solidarity.

So, at risk of inviting parody from Stuff White People Like, here is the list of events slated for Earth Week. Yes, a whole week. (Insert your own jokes about Birkenstocks, Toyota Priuses, organic food and Barack Obama.)

The fest culminates in the ECO-Fair on Saturday in the Jackson Whole Grocer parking lot, where all things crunchy will be on display. Also noteworthy: Green Drinks at LMC on Wednesday and a showing of the frog movie “The Thin Green Line” on Friday at Center for the Arts.

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Posted under Economy, Environment, Food, Holidays

Tags: conservation, films, recycling

The Colbert Coalition’s Anti-Gay Marriage Ad

True, lawmakers from the “Equality State” did vote down an anti-gay marriage bill this session, but the measure never should have wasted as much time and attention as it did.

Fortunately, Stephen Colbert is here to put the issue in perspective and take on the gay storm before it sweeps Wyoming.

Posted under Entertainment, Humor, Politics, Republican Party, Wyoming Legislature

Tags: Humor, stephen colbert