Sound Tribe Sector 9 in Missoula

On Monday, Sound Tribe Sector 9, otherwise referred to as STS9, played a show at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula. I am an avid fan, so at about 1:00 Monday afternoon I departed Bozeman with a car full of friends and made the three hour drive to Missoula (I only missed one class to make this happen...school first!).

If you haven't heard of them, Sound Tribe has a unique sound. They're somewhere between jam band and electronic. I'm terrible at categorizing by genres, so you can find out for yourself: you can [legally] download an entire live show they performed at Red Rocks here, for free. In fact, you can get most of their music for free, and live recordings are the best, which is what makes their shows so amazing.

The show in Missoula was no exception. It surpassed my expectations. Emancipator opened; he's a DJ who also plays the guitar and I really liked him. Then Sound Tribe came on and played two sets and an encore, and I danced the entire time. The crowd was full of energy. There was an 18+ afterparty at the Top Hat down the street as well, which my friends and I all had tickets for. After the Sound Tribe show we were pretty tired, however, so we went back to our hotel (everything was within four blocks of each other) and probably would have stayed there had we not already payed for our afterparty tickets. By the way, the hotel we stayed at was full of people from Bozeman, many whom we knew. After the Sound Tribe show everybody congregated on the balcony of the hotel and cheered spontaneously...I feel sorry for the families staying there that night. Anyway, as it was, only three of us made it to the afterparty, which Mimosa played at; he's a DJ from San Francisco, and he was awesome. Even though it was really late at night/early in the morning he was so into the show, dancing crazily on stage and at one point standing on the table all of his equipment was on. If you want to check his music out there is a free download mix available here.

All in all, it was a great night. And yes, it was a Monday, but that's what I love about the flexibility of college. As I said, I only missed one class on Monday to drive to Missoula, and I only have one class at 2:00 on Tuesday so I was able to make it back in time to go, albeit a little sleep deprived. It was definitely worth it.

*The above pictures were obtained from STS9's website. I didn't bring my camera or phone to the concert because I probably would have broken or lost them.

***UPDATE***

There is a recording of the live show that I saw available for download online. Check it out!

Click here

Yoga

In my last post I talked about our awesome gym and all of the cool stuff it has to offer. One of the things I mentioned was the group fitness classes. When I was looking on the gym's website to check my facts, I happened upon the group fitness schedule and saw a 6:15 am yoga class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I usually do not do my exercising early in the morning, but I thought yoga would be a nice way to start the day and it's really the best time to fit it into my schedule.

So, I committed and paid the $40 for the group fitness classes, bought a yoga mat, and went to class this morning at 6:15. There were quite a lot of people there, more than I expected, of a variety of ages and a variety of skill levels, so I didn't feel weird having never been. I'm definitely glad I went; I really liked it. It put me in a good mood and I started the day awake and on time, not in a daze after speed biking to campus like I usually do. Yoga is great because it is exercise that you don't realize is exercise until you're done. It was also crazy doing it early in the morning because when the class started it was pitch black outside and by the time it was over it was light out, and I hadn't noticed.

I'm going to try to start going every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, so maybe I'll be a zen master by the end of the year.

The Hosaeus Recreation and Fitness Center

Commonly referred to as "the gym," the Hosaeus Recreation and Fitness Center is quite a popular spot on campus. It features three gyms that can be used for recreational use, indoor tennis courts, a bouldering wall (for climbing), a swimming pool, an indoor track (12 laps to a mile can get repetitive), and plenty of workout equipment from treadmills, ellipticals, rowing machines, and stationary bikes to everything needed for weightlifting of any sort (not my specialty). Also, there are several group fitness rooms in which group fitness classes are offered, including yoga, tai chi, zumba, spinning, ab lab, and many more — for $40 a semester students can attend any of these.

I've become somewhat obsessed with physical fitness this semester, so I've been going to the gym more than usual. It's nice to have such a good gym on campus because I can go when I have a break between classes, or after class (I'm not the type that wakes up super early to work out in the morning, but a lot of people do). I have a locker at the gym ($40 a year, $25 a semester), which means I can keep my running shoes and swimsuit there, and am also provided with a towel I can exchange for a clean one every time I use it. I personally enjoy swimming, and I run on the indoor track too, although like I said it can get a little boring. On an unrelated note, I went running outside last night and it was pleasantly good conditions, so I might start doing that more often.

Anyway, I just found out through President Cruzado's Monday Morning memo that our gym has been awarded the 2010 Outstanding Sports Facilities Award by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, so that's exciting. A nice gym at your fingertips is one more perk of being a student at MSU!

The ASMSU Exponent and Read This!

Today I got to Reid Hall about 15 minutes before my Spanish class started, so I had some time to kill before I could actually enter my classroom. I wandered towards the main stairwell looking for a place to sit, saw an empty bench by the stairs, and decided to sit there. There happened to be a campus publication on the bench—MSU's Literature and Arts publication, Read This! The above picture was obtained from their website.

The issue was from Fall 2009; I'm not sure how or why it was there. However, I am an English major so I decided I should look into it. It is composed of poems, short stories, photos, and various artwork all aesthetically arranged for the reader/viewer's pleasure. I opened up to the first page and read a striking poem which alluded to some aspects of Bozeman I am all too familiar with; I was immediately glad I had chosen to read it.

Last spring, I remember looking through the same publication because my friend's sister was a Senior in the Photography program and had about eight photos in the last issue of the magazine. It's almost off-putting because there are no ads or editorials, save blurbs about the contributors and a note inviting anyone to send in their contributions of any sort. If I dabbled in creative writing or poetry more, I probably would send something in.

On a related note, the more mainstream school newspaper at MSU is called the Exponent, sponsored by the Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU). It includes music and book reviews, relevant articles about activities going on around campus and around town, and my favorite, "ExpoRants!" in which contributors rant about a subject of their choice — always entertaining. They also run classified ads 30 words or less free for students.

One of my classmates from last semester is an editor from the Exponent, and I talked to him about becoming a writer. He said they are always looking for more people and I should look into it. I fully intend to do so, but I haven't gotten around to it because I've been quite busy...it's definitely on my to do list. It also turns out that another classmate of mine is an editor for Read This! So MSU really is a small world. Or a small piece of the world.

Reading community publications like the Exponent and Read This! is a really cool part of being a student here; it makes me feel more connected (especially when I know the author of the article I'm reading, which has happened on numerous occasions). It's also a lot more enjoyable than reading Puritan literature...the downside of taking American Literature I.