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

It’s overwhelming staring down CMJ Music Marathon’s line-up of 1,200-plus bands — especially coming from Wyoming. The annual weeklong music festival that takes place in October throughout New York City showcases some of the world’s top emerging bands. If you’re an up-and-coming artist, you play it. And if you want to discover some of that music, you go. As a volunteer DJ at 89.1 KHOL, Jackson Hole Community Radio, I went.

CMJ is a fractured event. Bands play simultaneously across the city in small lineups where each act plays for about a half hour. Because of this, you just have to pick one of these lineups and commit. You can’t be bombing around the city trying to catch so-and-so in Brooklyn, then some other band in Manhattan. Just go from lineup to lineup and stay as long as you want. Most of the shows take place in bars or small music venues where you can meet almost every band you see. At CMJ, you’re not close to the music; you’re in it.

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Posted under Music

Tags: hipsters, jackson hole community radio, new york, sam petri, travel

Update 11/3: Ben was re-elected by nearly 300 votes. Thank you, everyone who supported him!

Today is County Commissioner Ben Ellis‘ birthday. At 44, he remains by far the youngest commissioner and as such brings a vital perspective to the board.

As I’ve written before, it’s imperative that we re-elect Ben to represent us, particularly with revision of the Comp Plan nearing completion. He has been a stalwart voice for progressives and is fearless in pursuing concrete solutions.

Other candidates talk about pathways and energy efficiency, but these have been Ben’s signature issues. He spearheaded the 10×10 initiative in which local government has reduced energy consumption by 10 percent. He rode the sheriff’s department hard to comply. He also pushed to encourage composting as the cost of trash collection rose.

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Posted under County Government, Democratic Party, Environment

Tags: ben ellis

I’d be remiss in not joining the chorus of tributes to the late Virginia Huidekoper, an icon of Jackson Hole who passed away Sunday in her cabin above Wilson at 88 years old.

Angus Thuermer of the News&Guide has penned a couple of fitting obituaries (here and here). Columnist Todd Wilkinson also wrote a remembrance, in which he accurately declares, “What Huidekoper didn’t countenance well was B.S.”

Virginia was a pioneer of skiing on Teton Pass. Her exploits were chronicled in the excellent ski film Legends of the Fall Line. She co-founded the Jackson Hole News with Ralph Gill in 1970 and took the famous photo of Bill Briggs’ ski tracks after his first descent of the Grand Teton.

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Posted under Deaths, Democratic Party, Politics

Tags: Media, photography

Well, that didn’t take long.

Looks like a couple intrepid powder hounds took to Telemark Bowl west of Jackson earlier today. Considering one of these skiers made a token few turns off Rendezvous Mountain on Sept. 10, they were actually being conservative.

The new snow is deep. I went for a walk in the moonlight early this morning, and on yesterday’s rain-snow line at nearly 8,000 feet, the powder underfoot suddenly went from 4 inches to a foot or more. Made hiking difficult.

There was a brief respite from the storm between roughly 5 and 7 a.m., revealing an egg-shaped moon so bright that I cast a shadow. Orion, the hunter, cocked his bow above Snow King. Too bad there were no elk in the vicinity.

(Photo courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort)

Posted under Ski Resorts, Sports, Weather

Tags: backcountry, hunting, jackson hole mountain resort, powder, skiing, teton pass

This is becoming routine, but might as well pass on the USGS report.

The quake struck at 11:44 a.m., triggering a flurry of Facebook status updates. The temblor was magnitude 4.6, centered in the Gros Ventres 25 miles east of Teton Village. My house in east Jackson shook for several seconds.

Funny, just this morning I contemplated swapping out the Wyoming Earthquakes link on the list of “Fall Essentials” at left in favor of the Teton Pass web cam, given the 12 to 18 inches of snow in the forecast.

Update: Geologists later downgraded the quake to 4.4.

Posted under Environment, Weather

Tags: earthquakes

Tonight is the Political Pizza Party at Betty Rock, a crash course for anyone interested in learning more about the upcoming local election. There will be candidates for Teton County commissioner, Jackson mayor and Wyoming House of Representatives District 16, in addition to live music, pizza specials and BYOB.

The Rise Up tab at the top of this page contains information about the various offices. It’s incredibly easy to vote in Wyoming; anyone may register at the polls on Election Day, Nov. 2, or (for those heading out of town this fall) when filling out an absentee ballot at the Teton County clerk’s office, downstairs at 200 S. Willow St. (corner of Willow and Simpson). As a sage Teton County politician often reminds, You need to have lived here only a minute to vote.

KHOL has audio of the mayoral debate posted for streaming.

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Posted under County Government, Democratic Party, Economy, Environment, Food, Politics, Republican Party, Town Government, Wyoming Legislature

Tags: ruth ann petroff