Things to do: Top Hat books indoor show; political circus at Free Cycles

Top Hat’s first indoor show since pandemic started

(Sunday, Oct. 16)

The Phoenix jam band Spafford was scheduled to play at the Top Hat Lounge on March 21, 2020, according to the Missoulian archives. About a week beforehand, the concert was postponed as the first cases of coronavirus were reported in Missoula County.

And fittingly enough, they’ll be the first group to play an indoor show at the historic downtown venue since COVID, as Logjam Presents operated it as a bar-restaurant in the interim.

They’ll be joined by Sicard Hollow, a progressive bluegrass group. The date is the first of six announced for the Hat through the end of the year.

Doors open at 7 p.m., the show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 the day of, logjampresents.com.

Disco Bloodbath called off

Disco Bloodbath, the annual Halloween dance party/performance, will not go on this year.

In a Monday Facebook post, BFK Productions said they couldn’t secure a venue. Recent ones were quite large, with thousands of square feet to set up stages. Those include the empty space vacated by Sears at the Southgate Mall. Other recent configurations were multiple venues spread out around downtown Missoula, including Caras Park. Before that, it was held out near the Wye.

“[O]ur venues we create have to meet certain size, safety criteria, and go through rigorous permitting in order to meet a standard we demand in order to host the caliber of event Bloodbath has been known for during its 12 year life, and sadly we did not find what we needed this year,” it read.

The post didn’t elaborate on what future plans they have for that event. During 2020, there was no Bloodbath, either. BFK was running the Giggle Box event space in the mall. The company has also thrown Sky Church dance parties, and the Silver Cloud Campout music festival in Haugan.

Pattee Canyon Ladies Salon museum exhibition

(Oct. 14-Jan. 7)

The salon, a group of artists who’ve met regularly to draw the figure from life since the ’90s, is the subject of the next exhibition at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture.

“Focus on the Figure: The Pattee Canyon Ladies Salon, 1989-2022” surveys their work made together. Outside the collective, they’ve developed individual careers that have garnered large followings here and outside Montana, including the late Nancy Erickson and her colleagues Leslie Van Stavern Millar, Beth Lo and Stephanie Frostad.

The reception is 5:30-7 p.m. in the PAR/TV Center lobby. The public symposium is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 14 in the Montana Theatre.

Watermedia 2022

(Opens Friday, Oct. 14)

See what artists can accomplish with the rich and translucent medium of watercolor as the Dana Gallery is hosting Watermedia 2022, the 40th annual national juried exhibition from the Montana Watercolor Society. The reception is Friday from 5-7 p.m. The show will be on view through Nov. 12.

‘Cabaret’ on the main stage at UM

(Oct. 13-16, 20-23)

A big musical production will signal the start of the main-stage theater season at the University of Montana. The classic “Cabaret” is a joint effort between the School of Music and the School of Theatre & Dance. Read more in this week’s feature.

The full run is Oct. 13-16 and 20-23. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday with matinees at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Go to griztix.com for tickets.

A locally written horror play at the ZACC

(Two-week run, Oct. 13-22)

Local playwright Laramie Dean will see a new work presented onstage. Dean, who taught at Hellgate High School, wrote many touring educational plays for the Montana Repertory Theatre. For “I Am Acquainted with the Night,” he’s teamed up with MissCast Productions, an independent Missoula theater company that formed last year.

Here’s a rundown on the plot, according to news release from the ZACC: “Ruth refuses to think of herself as a scared old woman; even if her son Michael and his husband Kelly want her to leave her familiar, well-loved apartment for an assisted living facility, she refuses to feel scared. But something is coming to her apartment every night; something scratches at the window and pounds on the door; something wants to get in. And what will happen when it does? Does Ruth have the strength to fight back?”

The run dates are Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 13-15, and Oct. 20-22. Doors open at 7, and the show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $15. Content warning: The show has adult themes and is not suitable for children, it includes loud noise and flashing lights.

Montana Film Festival at the Roxy

(Oct. 13-16)

Check out seven features and more than 20 shorts during the eighth annual Montana Film Festival at the Roxy Theater.

The highlights include one of Nic Cage’s two new Montana features, “Butcher’s Crossing,” about a young man who joins a bison hunt in the late 1800s. Lily Gladstone is bringing two films to the state where her acting career started: “The Unknown Country,” an indie road trip about a grieving protagonist driving through the heartland; and “Quantum Cowboys,” an all-star animated feature that involves the Old West and theoretical physics.

Head to theroxytheater.org for a full schedule and tickets.

Naomi Siegel premieres a big band piece

(Tuesday, Oct. 18)

Trombonist-composer Naomi Siegel, a lyrical and adventurous writer and improviser, will premiere a work for big band.

The Hellgate High School Jazz Ensemble I will perform the piece in its public debut in honor of their new director, Jesse Dochnahl, according to Siegel’s newsletter. They’re using “conduction,” a style of group improvisation invented by Butch Morris.

It’s at 7 p.m. in the Hellgate High School Auditorium. It’s free and open to the public.

The Bread and Puppet Circus

(Wednesday, Oct. 19)

Now 40 years running, the Bread and Puppet Circus has softened its politically radical version of theater. There are puppets, some quite tall. There is bread (with aioli) served afterward. And the messages have not grown less urgent with time.

The title for this year’s cross-country tour, which is stopping at Free Cycles, is “The Apocalypse Defiance Circus.”

In a news release, their founder Peter Schumann said the piece is “in response to our totally unresurrected capitalist situation not only the hundreds of thousands of unnecessarily sacrificed pandemic victims but our culture’s unwillingness to recognize Mother Earth’s revolt against our civilization. Since we earthlings do not live up to our earthling obligations, we need resurrection circuses to yell against our own stupidity.”

The “bread” portion of the title isn’t a figure of speech. They’ll serve sourdough rye bread with aioli after the show. They also sell art, which is specifically marked as “cheap art,” including books, posters, postcards, etc.

It runs 6:30-7:30 p.m., donations accepted at the door. All ages are welcome.