Tuneys a final outdoor show

For those who have enjoyed sticky outdoor concerts into the late yet well lighted nights, the end of summer can come unwelcomed. But don’t get too bummed out just yet. One fully loaded outdoor concert still remains – The Billings Outpost Tuney Awards.

Started nine years ago following a suggestion by former music columnist Scott Prinzing, the Tuneys Awards (a knockoff of the Grammy Awards) is an increasingly popular awards ceremony that recognizes voters’ choice on the best in Billings’ music within the past year. Between the handing out of awards, local bands and previous winners perform, showcasing impressive, eclectic and original local talent.

The Tuney ballot, available in the last two publications as well as online, includes roughly 30 categories, including best musician, act, local CD, venue, DJ, etc. New this year, Outpost readers were able to submit their ballots online or in ballot boxes at a handful of local venues, instead of through snail mail alone. Because of the better accessibility, hundreds more ballots were cast, which makes for exciting and highly anticipated results.

Every year, the revenue from this event is donated to a worthy cause. Proceeds from this year’s $2 cover charge and additional donations will go to Gy Moody, a local musician who has actively been involved in the Billings music scene since 1996, including his current membership with Funk in the Trunk and Spur of the Moment. Moody recently suffered a heart attack and lacks health insurance to cover the costly bills.

Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. will host this year’s Tuney Awards starting at 4 p.m. Saturday. Featured performers include ENDever, Earthshine, Matt Rogers, Dan Page and the Barn Cats and The Peach Pickers. Come down and enjoy an outdoor concert of local music with a burger and beer before the summer officially fades away.

Yourself and the Air

Chicago-based Yourself and the Air brings its fluid indie rock music to the Railyard at 8 p.m. Sunday. This quintet of childhood friends creates music that flows between impassioned lyrics and intense instrumentation to easily absorbed, almost nonchalant sounds. Rather than sounding unorganized, this polarity is quiet refreshing. If I had to compare Yourself and the Air’s sound to one other band, it would be The Shins.

Nutcracker auditions

Calling all dancers! In preparation for the traditional holiday performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet, the Billings Symphony will hold auditions for local dancer parts on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Billings YMCA. Required rehearsals will immediately follow the auditions and continue on through Sunday.

Betty Loos and Jana Stockton, of the School of Classical Ballet, will direct the 100 local children dancers. There is a $5 audition fee. Please keep in mind the two performances of the Nutcracker Ballet will take place on Nov. 28-29. For more information, contact the directors at 252-5765 or the Billings Symphony at 252-3610.

Tuney time has new meaning for me this year. Before, I was a casual spectator enjoying the show. Now, as a sponsor of the event and a coordinator of all things Tuney, I’ve got a behind-the-scenes look, which has included counting boatloads of ballots, coordinating the performers’ schedules and the awards presentation, and the last-minute kinks we’ve been ironing out. And that’s just the work that goes in before the first award is handed out.

All this prep work will culminate in the ninth annual Billings Outpost Tuney Awards presentation, coordinated by Billings Outpost staff and Tuney volunteers on Saturday starting at 4 p.m. at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. We’ll present the Tuney awards and celebrate local musicians, and have a great lineup of live performers who represent previous Tuney Award winners and some of the community’s hardest working musicians.

Proceeds from this year’s awards show, as in previous years, go toward a great cause: paying some of the medical bills incurred by local musician Gy Moody, who recently suffered a heart attack.

As a friend of Moody, I sat in the hospital with him following his heart attack and knew he was grateful to be alive, and as strange as it may sound, he seemed to welcome this alarming wakeup call. However, Moody, like many of us, is living without health insurance and has mounting medical bills for his care. We’re asking a $2 cover at the door, or more, if you can spare it, for this great cause.

So I hope to see you Saturday, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Come down and show your support for your local music scene, musicians and, of course, your weekly independent newspaper bringing you musical notes each week.

Symphony season opener

The Billings Symphony kicks off its 59th season with a return performance by cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who left her audience clamoring for more following her impassioned performance of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at the BSO’s season finale in 2008.

Weilerstein will perform Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo,” a composition known for its richness of passion and poignant spirituality, written for cello and orchestra by Ernest Bloch. The symphony will also perform Rossini’s “Overture to the Thieving Magpie,” which is heard in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.”

A natural virtuoso hailed for her impassioned musicianship and expressive range, cellist Weilerstein is internationally renowned as one of the premier soloists and chamber musicians of her generation. She has played with many of the world’s top symphony orchestras, including the orchestras of Baltimore, Cleveland, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New York Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra.

“Concert Cues,” a half-hour interactive discussion of the evening’s musical selections led by Marvin Granger with Weilerstein, begins at 6:45 p.m., and is free to all ticket holders.

As part of the Billings Symphony’s Explore Music! program, the accomplished cellist will hold a free master class with at 5 p.m. today at the Alberta Bair Theater. Four area cello students will perform for Weilerstein, who will then critique and offer suggestions to help the students advance their art. The class is open to the public. Those who would like to attend should register at the Symphony office or phone 252-3610 by noon.

Other guest performers announced for the Billings Symphony’s 2009-2010 season include Jason Suchan, a finalist in the Montana Association of Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists Competition, Broadway singer Doug LaBrecque, Celtic artist Christopher Layer on Irish uilleann pipes, and the season finale with pianist Andrew von Oeven performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Tickets for the 2009-2010 season are on sale now.

ICP

Insane Clown Posse, a cartoonish metal/rap band known for unconventional live performances, will perform Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium. The Wayne, Mich., rap-metal duo of Violent J (a.k.a. Joe Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (a.k.a. Joey Utsler) have gained fame for performances that feature open fires, chain saws, liters of soda dousing the audience, as well as outlandish makeup and garb.

Tickets for ICP, costing $25 in advance with applicable fees, are available at Ernie November, the Shrine box office, Rimrock Mall, by phone at 1-800-325-SEAT or online at jadepresents.com and 1111presents.com.