Operation: Hockey Assignment

Living in Montana, I always considered myself half-american and half-canadian. As angry as that make some nationalistic types, if you think about the culture, environment and other tangibles here in Montana - it's very true.
So on Sunday, Dec. 16, I headed out on my first hockey assignment in three years, this time with camera in hand.
Hockey is a great sport to watch live. It's known as 'the fastest sport in the world.' I'd call it the fastest real sport in the world (I don't like racing). Watching it on TV isn't too bad either. My grandfather Keith used to watch it religiously at his house in Feeley (he was raised on Minnesota/Calgary border). At the Harp Pub, we used to watch Colorado Avalanche games on Fox Sports. I can't remember if it was before or after the strike.
After my recent purchase of EA Sports' NHL 08, I couldn't wait to watch some high school hockey.Here a player for the Butte Blues tries to round up the puck on the offensive end. Notice how Jackson Hole has its defenders lined up. The middle of the ice is a vulnerable spot for defenses.
Much of hockey games is kind of like watching a track meet. Especially if the teams are struggling to control the puck. Every time the puck gets knocked towards their goalie, the team will have multiple players retrieve it, and occasionaly an opposing player will try to disrupt the other team's offense. It's kind of like a full-court press in basketball.
The white player here was riding the boards and paid the price. Checking opposing players into the boards isn't about trying to get a big hit to look bad ass. It's a defensive strategy to try to get the puck away from the offensive player. For this Butte player, you can see it worked as the puck is sliding to the middle of the ice.
This happens all the time, but I haven't had a chance to talk about it. Referees always get in sports shots. It's always bound to happen. The only sport where you can halfway predict is baseball. If I had a good photo for every time a referee stuck his big butt in my lens...
The face-off. This is one of the more individualistic features of the sport. Two centers line up across from each other after a penalty or after the goalie holds the puck and swipe at the puck to try to get control. Similar to the concept of a jump ball in basketball.

This was Sunday's winning photo. Another good example of how defensive players line up, particularly when the puck is behind the net. A Butte player is fighting in the middle for a possible one-timer.
This is a good example of why the sport is called the fastest in the world. It's surely the fastest on ice. Subjects tend to blur with my camera lens. Sometimes it looks interesting, other times it ruins shots. It's all about the exposure and the light. Notice the reflection of the Butte players in the glass. Obviously, this wasn't a really intense defensive moment for them.
This was my runner-up pic from Sunday. This Butte player took a shot and the goalie knocked it wide of the net. You can see the puck floating near the back of the net. The player with the shiny hockey stick and the blurry helmet on the middle defender ruined this shot. The defender with the shiny body stick is doing a body check, a common tactic used by defensemen.

When all was said and done, the Blues lost in overtime 5-4. I was really hoping for a shootout, even though I couldn't have had a very good angle.

I'd like to encourage anyone semi-interested to check out some hockey at the Butte Community Ice Center. Living in a place where it's cold in the winter, you should show some interest in this sport. It's not that difficult to understand and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

I'll be posting a more in-depth report on the Butte Daredevils the next time I get to shoot them. So, stay tuned. It's the closest you can get without actually being in the Civic Center.

The new and the old

The Dumas Brothel - a Butte relic
The Brothel is open at random times. I ride by there on my bike rides somedays and the door is open.
There are a few old bridges like this around Butte.
This is a photo from the firecracker celebration on Chinese New Year in front of the Mai Wai museum.
Butte has a modest dragon, but it's better than none at all.
No one allowed to crash here anymore. There are a ton of killer homes in this neighborhood with a lot of potential in photography.
The vandals wrote some single line prose on a brick building in the same neighborhood. The cops may be dirty, but at least they don't spray paint "4:20" on the walls of schools. Our tax money is so well spent sometimes...

Scenes from Anaconda and Butte

Jim and Mick the Russian hang out on one of their last nights in town.



Jim sings Willie Nelson off of a lap top.


The south wall of The Harp and Thistle Pub


A night shot of Butte's legendary M and M. I'll probably get an early morning shot on here soon.


One of the few photographic moments from my time at An Ri Ra. The Dillon fiddlers:

The Walkerville Diaries

One man's garbage is another artist's treasure... Or something like that.

Walkerville is filled with artist's treasure, not that all of it come from actual garbage.
On a typical day, one of my few with no work, I headed up the Butte hill to Walkerville. I used to live in Centerville back in the day.

First stop - The Alice Pit
My old neighborhood where I grew up had some smaller pits than this. They were all filled with garbage (tires, mufflers, nudie mags). This used to be a pit for open pit mining.
A homely viewing stand for the Alice Pit. The Berkeley Pit gets all the glory.

Along with mining relics, dogs and the Irish, Butte is also a 'truck' town. On my trip I spotted dozens of neglected trucks.
These next two apparently still run, so maybe they all aren't so neglected.



The Old Wood Truck - this is one of my favorite captures of the day. I like the cropped version.
Reminiscent of a Company Childhood - my childhood neighborhood backyard was a stone's throw from the railroad tracks. I hadn't seen one of these black and yellow BA&P signs in a very long time. A lot of empty space, but I love this photo, probably my favorite on the day. For personal reasons of course.
I heard strange noises from this shack. Hopefully whatever is in there is all right.
This neat little tunnel on the Copperway walk keeps walkers safe. Upon approaching I noticed a horde of grasshoppers spreading out of my path. It reminded me of a comment my friend Brian made the other day about people who go to Triple S to buy mass bee killer. His comment: Do these people even know what bees do???

Self portrait - I've never officially done one of these.

The sun found its way through the cloud as I walked out of the overhang on my way back to the car.

Here is the Copperway sign on the trail. Notice how the grass is exactly as green as in the logo.

Well, almost.

The way the clouds affect sunlight and shadow in Butte is truly unique. Especially in shots with headframes. WARNING: Several generic photos of gallus frames follow, but there is more good stuff after that.





My neighbor's dogs - I'm still searching for that elusive Butte Special shot. These bastards still bark at me and they've lived next to me for seven months. The malmute-looking one isn't too bad. The other uglier one used to jump on the neighbor's garage and sit there watching the neighborhood. I just wish they wouldn't bark so much.


Justice - these neat statues in Uptown Butte look neat when I get psychedelic on them.
This photo will go nice with the other blacknwhite photo I have from Evel Days. How about Butte, America?

I wasn't sure if I should call this "The End of an Era" or simply "The Beginning." You know the end of that trail is the beginning depending on which side you start from.

Open Mic at the Dollar

A rather boring Open Mic night at the Dollar this week, but in case you missed it, here is the scene:

Ali serves up the cold drinks to patrons and musicians alike.


Chad Okrusch and Dr. Dave Hobbs took over after I played two sets and my good friend Jim played one. There was a woman named Joanne who sang in between there somewhere.
photo title: When You Were Young Once...
Hobbs and O tear it up on some Hank Williams.
Hobbs is also a gifted harmonica player with his eye on the camera.

Late night serenade with Open Mic regular Glenn Bodish.

I might change this next one to black and white.
The Israelite
Trent in the eye of a cycle
The crowd stood around outside and checked out the orange moon on the East Ridge horizon near the Lady of the Rockies.

No Grayling Left Behind

Evel Knievel Days - Part Deux

Evel Knievel Days 2007 burned out like a flame a fire during the fireworks show Saturday night. With two of the most spectacular events slated for Saturday evening, the crowd swelled in the streets of Uptown Butte. First up - the fire wall break by some guy whose nick name is "Rocket."
He drove through 12 burning walls that looked like they were about an inch thick. After some good acting before the stunt, the stuntman jumped up and down like he won the lottery. After watching this twice last weekend, I don't really think he was in as much danger as they were saying, but I sure as hell wouldn't have the ball to do that.


Luckily on Saturday night I picked a spot right next to where Evel Knievel was parked for most of the big jump. Trigger jumped only 19 cars after Evel Days advertised a 39-car jump. Of course the festival had the rights to change or back out of any stunt during the weekend.


Evel wasn't in the best shape as seen here in this photograph with some of his relatives (I think). The long-haired hippy looking guy in the doo-rag is Matt Vincent. I used to work with him.



Finally - the jump.


Andy Larson sang some patriotic songs before the big jump.

Some people tried to get a good shot by getting on this thingy. To the far right is John Emeigh and with the camera second from the left is Lisa Kunkel. Both work for the Montana Standard.

Over The Top - After the jump the Party Palace held an arm-wrestling competition and a band named Speculator Fire played AC/DC up the street with a 10-year old guitarist.
Earlier in the day the Party Palace had karaoke in the street. Call it amateur hour or whatever - it's still entertaining.
Some of the crowd
This little girl was listening to Journey on a motorbike in front of the Party Palace. What a great way to babysit your kid.
The streets and alleys filled with people after Trigger's jump. This black and white photo probably looks reminiscent of old Butte - aside from the people on cell phones of course.
Someone had written on a light pole on East Park Street. Jesus vandalized?
Later I spotted the culprits. Dean ambushed them from the back while I took a fauxto of them.
More on the religiousness of Evel Days in a second. This poor guy was dancing with his sticks and couldn't get anyone's attention. Maybe because he kept dropping them.


commentary:

The religiousness of Evel Days seems quite ironic. Why would all the Jesus freaks show up at a motorbike festival? Maybe among the bikers are some born-agains that just got out of the slammer in time for Evel Days.

The two missionary guys in the photo I posted earlier were spotted by numerous people during the weekend. My friend Melissa called them "those poor guys." Later we came up with a brilliant idea for a film about two missionaries at Evel Days. One of them would be a midget. Who knows?

It's not the first time I've spotted spreaders of the Word in a situation where they seemed out of place. Sometimes they bother patrons in bars around Butte. Could they really find reliable Christians in the bars? The other church members must be in a sad state.

By the time Saturday rolled around though, I had had it with Evel Days. Sick of the motorbikes, sick of all the out-of-towners and sick of all the underage kids with irresponsible parents.

I did start to notice the yuppies in the crowd by Saturday. It looked more like the crowd that will probably be at the Folk Festival next year. Either the yuppies were outnumbering the bikers temporarily, or the bikers had holed up at a bar after two straight nights of drinking.

On Friday night I helped close down the watering hole I frequent and two policemen were outside screaming at three drunk bikers to get on their bikes and leave. Drunk driving is A-OK.

Last night some idiot kids were kicking the orange safety barrels down the hill. People would scream at them only to have the kids continue to kick the can. Finally, a policeman spotted them and told them to go home.

Finally, you would be amazed at how cheap people are. I worked the door last night and people wouldn't pay a $2 cover charge. Two freaking dollars. That's less than a gallon of gas.

I'll be around these next few weeks with more reporting.

I'll post on the An Ri Ra Festival for sure.

God bless you from the missionaries who didn't get anything done this weekend,
~meatballs~