Best Journalist: Matthew Frank
tional renown in 2011 when the United Nations selected his work to display in a special exhibit highlighting the importance of sustaining and growing timberlands across the globe. Dolack helps us to better understand the natural world and our place and time in it. Monte Dolack Gallery: 139 W. Front St., 549-3248, dolack.com
Finalists, Best Artist 2. Courtney Blazon: courtneyblazon.com 3. Kendahl Jann Jubb: kendahljanjubb.com
New Band: Sick Kids XOXO Sick Kids XOXO seem to have their finger on the pulse of New Wave, full-bodied, pop-perfect goodness. It’s why several months ago they played the Wilma Theatre as the headliners rather than as an opening act. Guitarist/singer Michael Gill, who spends his Thursday nights spinning dance music for Dead Hipster Dance Party, knows how to play what the kids (that’s us!) love. Watching them perform is sincerely fun, not least because of singer/keyboardist Karma Baker’s infectious perma-smile. Nothing pretentious about this bunch, though they play their instruments with precision. Nothing vapid in the way pop music can be, though it ends up being fun, fun, fun. That’s something we can all get behind. Sick Kids XOXO: sick-kids-xoxo.bandcamp.com
Finalists, Best New Band 2. DAWNS: dawnsiscoming.com 3. I Hate Your Girlfriend: facebook.com/ihateyourgirlfriend
Photo by Chad Harder
PEOPLE & MEDIA Journalist: Matthew Frank This is an easy one for us to write, working as we do every day with Matt and getting a front-row seat as he mines for one weird and wonderful story after another, not to mention seeing him in gumshoe mode as he aces investigative pieces and brings awards and renown. A soft-spoken man who originally hailed from western New York and has a fondness for his dog Griffin, Sa Wad Dee’s lunch buffet and nailing knaves and fools, he’s almost always unflappable. He also sometimes sits
STAFF PICK BEST RIDE The mechanical bull was never the same after Sissy (Debra Winger) climbed atop one in Urban Cowboy and rode it like…well, let’s just say she rode it very well. Now you can relive that famous scene—either as Sissy or her fuming boyfriend, Bud (John Travolta)—on Missoula’s newest bar attraction, Ruckus. The mechanical bull appears every Thursday at The Elbow Room, and many weekend nights at the Sunrise Saloon. In just a few short months, the bucking black-and-white dynamo has garnered quite a following: he has his own Facebook page and his owners at I Got Bulls say he’ll be making more appearances as word gets out. In fact, his next appearance is at the Best of Missoula party at Caras Park Thursday, July 12.
Missoula Independent Page 7 Best of Missoula 2012