Gamut's

Publisher's Notes

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Quotes:

 He who binds himself to a joy does the winged life destroy,
 But he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in Eternity's sunrise.

William Blake

"The hind that would be mated by the lion
Must die for love."

All ’s Well that Ends Well. Act i. Sc. 1.

William Shakespeare

"Time is love above all else. It is the most precious commodity...and should be lavished on those we care most about. When it is not, retribution is swift and certain and there is no turning back the clock."

Sydney J. Harris

"When in difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions."

-Sun Tzu from the Art of War

"I am often asked the question How can the masses permit themselves to be exploited by the few. The answer is By being persuaded to identify with them."

E.L. Doctorow

from Ragtime

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Do you want an arts festival? 2002

by Terry R. Reid

(hey! I don't know if I'm letting you in on a secret, but...) believe it or not, in fact, Laramie has an art community;   there are many creative people here—artists, musicians, dancers, and those blessed with the muse abound. You might not believe it, perhaps because the media keeps this fact under wraps, but for all that it lacks, this area is quite a cultural haven. But while it is populated with the arts and those that make it, the only thing this art community needs, is an Arts Festival to make more people aware of what the artists already know: namely, that the arts make living here even better than it already is.

Consider helping establish Laramie's first annual Arts Festival....in small ways or in big ways, you can make a difference.  

Well, the Albany County Tourism Board has given it some thought of late by putting some seed money on the block as a grant to help develop a Laramie Arts Festival. Their ultimate mission is to bring people to town, to fill up the motels sometime in June. More impressive than that, is that they recognize and are trying promote an under served arts community. Frankly, I, am blown away by this gesture. It is very generous on the part of the Albany County Tourism Board and Gamut's Northern Front would like to commend them. This is precisely the kind gesture the arts community needs, but we need more of it--we need it from our local governmental, we need it from other promotional and fraternal organizations, and we need it from our local businesses.

Your support of the arts...it is generous and unprecedented, indeed.

We have come up with an idea: June Fest! It is still on the drawing board, but we need to raise some funds, to match the Tourism grant and we need your support to plan and organize the project, to promote it, to pull it off. 

Sounds like fun, right? Easy, yes? You tell me. Fun and easy are relative terms.  What do you want from an arts festival? what can you provide? Can you participate? Can you spare a dime? It will be very challenging. Tell us what you want! Do we need musicians, artists, dancers, craftspeople or just artists?  

The Albany County Tourism Board has provided the impetus, but the work is up to the community of Laramie. To make it this June Fest! work, there has to be people—people of all kinds. But most of all we need patrons of the arts to come out and attend the events. If you are up to the challenge and can see your arts group getting involved we need you. With groups such as the Laramie Art Guild and the Society of Figurative Artists (SOFA) already showing an interest we need sponsors and other arts and cultural groups to climb on the bandwagon. Of course, Gamut's Northern Front promises its support and sponsorship of the event.

If you would like to know more about becoming involved, please call Terry at 745-6075. The event is tentatively scheduled for June. 

The Artsit Challenge: (A challenge: please prove me wrong, expand on the topic, rant and rave about the arts, new arts topics welcome...send in your take on the Northern Front Range's amazing art communities vs. its lack thereof... challenge@northernfront.net ) 

The Arts Community in Laramie...Why is it lacking? What is it lacking?... 

Who cares about the arts and culture of this dry, under populated city anyway? Do you? how about giving our artists and performers and writers some thought? Start going out to their events. Give money to the arts organizations.

Why is there so little artistic ‘venue’ in this town? Can there be more 'Cultural Infrastructure'? 

[There isn't much venue space in our town...as it is every time someone wants to set up a gallery or something like an arts or cultural event, the costs are prohibitive. There are no consistent local resources available for the arts, nor is there much patronage overall. Of course, these are cause enough  for many talented people to pull up and leave never to return again. But that is precisely what we don’t want to happen, right? --TRR]

You ask ‘How many gifted people leave the area annually because there is simply “nothin’ to do here”? 

[I don’t have statistics, but I know for a fact that over the years many artists, writers, musicians, singers, dancers, actors, and others, have risen out of relative obscurity and boredom (for lack of events that would give them a venue) here in Laramie and at the University of Wyoming to find success in greener pastures elsewhere. We’re talking about energetic, innovative thinkers and creators, all talented people who’ve started their careers right here, but in the end abandoned our little village project. --TRR]

Where have they gone to and will they will ever return? 

[No. Why should they if there’s nothing for them here? Their ever-lasting impression of Laramie is: "IT'S A DEAD TOWN and nobody cares about the arts!" In fact, ‘mediocrity’ doesn’t even come close to describing how most artists feel about this college town, Laramie. As an art community, Laramie doesn't even register on the cultural scale and that's a shame. I don’t blame them for taking their talents elsewhere, where they will be appreciated and will be compensated for their labors. Personally, I applaud those who have gone on to greater things elsewhere, having escaped this situation. 

Many creative people have stayed put right here and risked all because they liked the laid back atmosphere around here and the small town flavors. I too, appreciate those things, but I think we can do better. As artists we have continued doing what we do and have always tried to promote the local art scene by supporting fellow artists and arts events we have attempted to develop new art venues and new events and programs. Many artists have showed their work in cafés when many of the galleries around here wouldn't even look at their work. You may not know this, but many of those creative people that have stayed have become successful, though they don't seem to get much press.

So, before a measured plea goes out for contributions and volunteers, we should take some time to appreciate all of the arts and artists that we do have around here. Go Out and Discover how many gifted people there are—some connected to the university and others who are not.

We need to think about those who carry the artistic torch, believing great things might one day take hold in this gamapolitan town. They are the ones hopeful that such an event will come about. They’ve stayed the course and sacrificed much to stay put and we need to athink about what we can give back to them? They are the cultural carriers who entertain, who paint the pictures, who sing and dance, who put on plays, who make our quilts and design our crafts…Sometime, even, they are the ones who make living here bearable. What kind of town is this going to be if we don't have them? --TRR]

Don’t let anyone tell you that Bluegrass don’t grow in SE Wyoming

I was down town the other evening, it was the third Wednesday of the month to be exact—I was having a tea and cookie at Coal Creek Coffee House and reading the local paper, when a couple of bluegrass musicians came in with their guitars and equipment and asked if the bluegrass jam was still on. The person behind the counter had no idea of what the musician was talking about, but fortunately I knew what they were wanted to know. The Blue Grass Jam is held every third Wednesday evening of the month at The Old Town Bagels and Ice Cream Shoppe down at 307 East Grand Avenue. Anywhere between five to twenty talented musicians show up each time and the crowd is almost always standing room only.

To get the lost musicians to the Jam session, I gave them directions. They said they had come all the way from Granite Canyon, which lies somewhere between Cheyenne and Laramie. They also said they had read about the event in Power Pickin’ Magazine, a publication devoted to bluegrass. I hated to have to tell them that the information in that magazine had been true a number of years ago, but jeez, it been years since the session had been held at Coal Creek—that was back in the days when Nels Wroe owned the coffeehouse.

Well, I followed them down the street to the jam session and was blown away by the down-home sounds of seasoned musicians having fun with bluegrass. If you’ve ever been in the Bagel Shoppe you’d know it’s only a hair bigger than a horses stall but a heck of a lot more comfortable. Put a little hay on the floor and we coulda’ had a barn dance. It certainly makes you want to step to the strings.

While I was there I was able to talk to several people in the audience about how they liked the event. One of those people, Brian Mealor, a musician who decided to take the night off, told me that the  musicians may be needing a bigger room. “It is a tight-knit group and we feel welcome here.” Coming from Georgia, Brian said “we have stuff like this going on all the time, up here in Wyoming,” he felt, “it (the folk culture) is a little lacking. It’s just good to have a place to play.”

He told me, “the music you hear here is as professional as what you might hear on KUWR’s ‘The Ranch Breakfast Show.’” I had to agree that it’s a lot more special “because it’s from Laramie, Wyoming.”  Another person seemed to lament the decreased emphasis on cowboy music in town. “There used to be two cowboy bars playing a lot of cowboy western music and big names at that. Now if you want to two-step, you’ve got to pick the night their not hip-hopping.” Western musical tradition is important to this town, he said, “it’s part of it heritage.”

Nick Lemme, from the former local rock band, The French Concubine, was in attendance. Asked what he thought he just smiled and nodded in time with the music. I was, however, able to ask him what his plans were now that he didn’t have a band to play with. He told he was just jamming with friends and having a good time and that he was “kind of” putting together a new band.

Of the musicians themselves, there was a great deal of raw talent up there. Susan Maverich pointed out members of the band Big Hollow, Tom Wilhelm, Dave Brinkman, Bill McKay, Brian Peel; there was John Marks from the Stop and listen Boys and many others.

So if you are lookin’ for a foot-stompin’ good time and a down-home get together, then you need to come to where the musicians number as many as the listeners: the Blue Grass Jam Session at Old Town Bagels and Ice Cream Shoppe, every 3^rd Wednesday of the month, from 7:00 to 9:30 P.M.

As the session was closing down I asked three college aged women what they thought and they chimed together  “Awesome!”  But the event is best described in the words of Laramie’s favorite old trumpet player, E.J. Hoffman: “Oh, this is terrific!”  he said. And that just about sums it up. It was a lot of fun!