Jalan Crossland In Concert

The Basin City Arts Center presents Jalan Crossland in concert at 7 p.m. Friday, January 28.

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"There ain't much to see in a small town, but what you hear sure makes up for it" is the old adage. In Ten Sleep WY, population 307, what you'll hear - more often than not - is a clanky old banjo ricocheting off the storefronts and buttes, like a renegade .22 rifle shell. This clamor is Jalan Crossland, the local trailer park troubadour. His singing voice is as dusty as the Triassic shale hillsides, spinning yarns and painting portraits of the lives and people of the rural Rocky Mountain West. "Gossip is even better when you sing it" says Jalan.

Raised in a small Wyoming town, Jalan Crossland is one of a very few “alt country” artists his age who still claims the “country” as home. Maybe this explains the lyrical, 'truth is stranger than fiction' wobble to his songs about 21st century rural life. Live and on recordings he adds dazzling guitar and banjo fingerpicking to his kanky tales of hobos, tires, “mobile homes”, strippers, motorcycles, trucks, cars, vice presidents and methamphetamines (“Drugs are bad” says Jalan).

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Jalan has been touring both solo and with a band for ten years, but his musical upbringing is of course longer, and more sordid. Though the guitar spends a lot of time in Jalan's hands these days, the first stringed entity that caught his young eye and ear was the banjo, his uncle Dan figuring prominently in this. Despite this banjo affliction, Jalan somehow survived his Wyoming Teenage Boy Instinct for Self-Destruction well enough, to emerge in his twenties playing electric guitar for money on the road. All big hair playing a whammy-bar Ibanez Firebird copy, in Iron Maiden wannabe bands."

But the 'country' was and is always with him. Later Jalan's metal phase gave way, to touring with honky-tonk country bands as a hired gun. He moved to solo status in the late 1900s, which is also when he began crafting his strange, new-old-timey tales of sagebrush and asphalt. While building his reputation as a solo artist, Jalan spent a lot of time at home in Tensleep, Wyoming (pop. 300) either by the woodstove or on the porch, picking and picking and picking, becoming a roots music virtuoso. True to his slacker past, Jalan managed a mere second place finish in the 1997 Winfield National Guitar Fingerpicking competition but grabbed onto 1st in the state flatpicking contest of his Wyoming home.

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Crossland's songs are vivid, first-hand accounts of life in the small towns and backcountry of 21st century America. Like the people they portray, the songs are tough and honest. They also reflect the tremendous heart and soul of their colorful characters. Even where the warp and weave is of hardship or heartbreak, the songs are threaded with strings of optimism and humor.

Crossland’s lyrics travel in a musical vehicle more akin to a rusty, hopped-up '66 Ford (with 3-on-the-tree) than an air-conditioned Prius. The sound glides along on the wheels of a country music clearly not to be mistaken for mainstream. Old-time and bluegrass are present, but treated to the creative freedom of rock-n-roll.

"More than just a great picker, Crossland's performances feature graceful delivery and genuine character." [Planet Jackson Hole, Jackson WY]

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Whether performing solo or with his band, Jalan's concerts are energetic, upbeat and fun. On stage, he is as comfortable as he would be pickin’ on his own front porch. This relaxed demeanor disarms the coolest of audiences, pulling everyone onto that porch alongside him, with their luke-warm beer and paper plates full of hot-wings.

Crossland has been the opening act on several tours with alt-country legend Robert Earl Keen. He has also appeared on television, radio, and in dozens of magazines including The New York Times, No Depression, and Fingerstyle Guitar, and has shared concert and festival stages with many of the biggest musical acts in the nation.

"If you're lucky enough to hear Jalan play live, observe the audience. It will be made almost entirely of drop-jawed, glassy-eyed, altogether astonished listeners." [Panache Magazine, Black Hills SD]

All tickets are $12 each and will be available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m.

For more information contact Wendy at 568-2915.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Have a

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!

from the Basin City Arts Center!

Open House December 16

The Basin City Arts Center Board of Directors invites our community to an Open House on Thursday, December 16 from 4 to 8 p.m. A special presentation will be held at 7 p.m. that will recognize the many supporters of the upstairs renovation project at the Basin City Arts Center, a nonprofit organization developing and supporting the arts in the Big Horn Basin.

The Open House will begin on the first floor with a continuous slide show presentation created by Mark and Mary Hillman who have been instrumental in the upgrading of this historic structure that once served as Basin’s movie theater for many years. The slide show will give the community members a brief overview of the history of the Basin City Arts Center and its rejuvenation starting with a grant in 1998 that renovated the first floor. With that beginning many concerts, school plays, movies, and other events have been held on the first floor.

Now, with most of the second floor renovation complete, community members will be invited upstairs to sign the guest book and enter the Ballroom. Upon entering, let the imagination go to visualize all the fun and worthwhile activities that can take place here for the benefit of our community.

Refreshments will be served as the community is invited to view the Joel Ostlind Etchings Art Exhibit on loan from the University of Wyoming Art Museum. Go on a tour of the new facility and receive an update on future plans to finish the renovation of the third floor. Mark Hillman will be available to answer any questions, and the members of the Basin City Arts Center Board of Directors will be happy to show off our new community arts center and dream along with you about all the possibilities (see right sidebar for a list of the Board of Directors).

At 7 p.m. everyone will be invited to the first floor for the special presentation that will recognize and acknowledge the many who have supported this project.

So, mark your calendar for Thursday, December 16 4 to 8 p.m. for the Basin City Arts Center Open House that will celebrate the opening of the second floor!

Raffle Tickets for Sale!

The Basin City Arts Center is holding a raffle to supplement funding from the Grant issued to renovate the second and third floor of the Arts Center.

There are four baskets total with many goodies perfect for the upcoming holiday! There will also be a drawing for art by local artists that all raffle purchasers will be eligible for in addition to the basket that they purchased tickets for. The raffle drawing will be held just before the Cloud Peak Middle School Music Concert at the Basin City Arts Center December 7 at 7 p.m.

The Wyoming Basket is full of University of Wyoming items such as a blanket, T-shirts, a cooking mitt and hot pad, coasters, cups, a mug, and candle holder plus a Wyoming flag and its history, original tied flies by Shane Schaffner, a digital camera, a woodcraft picture by Dan Frisbee, Wyoming symbols made of stone, and a book by Al Wight.

The Wine and Chocolate Basket is decked out with fine wine and delicious chocolates.

The Kids Basket is stuffed with a digital camera, MP3 player, portable radio, movies, games, match cars, toy figures, books, markers, colored pencils, caps, gloves, word finds/crosswords, wrist rubber bands, play-doh, and a $25 gift card.

The fourth basket called The Ladies Leisure Relaxation Basket is loaded with a $60 gift certificate from Shelly Ravera, CMT, for a full body massage session, $30 gift certificate from Sisters in Fitness, Shampoo

& Conditioner Set from Kay’s Corner Kuts, $10 gift certificate from Diana’s Place, 2 Sets of towels from Pamida, A candle and box of chocolates from Basin Pharmacy, Jewelry & a Pill Box from Aesop Fables; Avon products from Debbie Lewis including Vita Moist Hand Cream, Anew Stretch Mark Smoother, Odyssey Cologne Spray, Skin-So-Soft Perfect Legs, Sweet Honesty cologne, Skin-So-Soft Hand Cream, Outspoken Perfume, Bug Guard, and Deodorant; Strawberry Cheesecake Body Lotion/Short Hair, Candle & Moisturizer from Marti Rannells, “Color My World” Aroma Therapy Stress Relief, Mini Spa Kit & Bath beads, “Let It Snow” pillow from Aesop Fables, and BBQ Sauce and Mitt.

The winner of the Big Horn Sheep print by Jerry Pyle will be drawn using all the raffle tickets.

The baskets are currently located at the bank, town office, library, and the Wyoming Retirement Center.

Raffle tickets are $5 each and may be purchased at their display location or from BCAC Board Members Kathleen Nichols, Wendy Taylor, Muriel Alderson, Becky Allred, Liz Carr, Debbie Lewis, Jim and Marti Rannells, Ben Frint, Kris McNay, and Nichol Duncan.

The Basin City Arts Center is a nonprofit organization developing and promoting the arts in the Big Horn Basin.

Joel Ostlind Art Exhibit

An art exhibit featuring Joel Ostlind will be showing at the Basin City Arts Center now through mid-December.

Joel Ostlind is a Wyoming born and self-taught artist whose etchings are on display at the Basin City Arts Center through the courtesy of the University of Wyoming Art Museum’s Touring Exhibition Service. In this 17 piece exhibition the subject is one that Joel Ostlind knows well: cowboys, horses, and cattle in the open lands of the western landscape. Following in the footsteps of Wyoming's earlier cowboy-turned-artists Hans Kleiber and Bill Gollings, Ostlind draws on his cowboy life experience as the subject of his images. Joel Ostlind says, "I was raised in Wyoming and have chosen . . . to live in this region and work to interpret the things I value here: the light, the land, and the people who move through it."

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Ostlind is a master printmaker who moves fluidly between the intaglio printmaking processes of etching, drypoint, aquatint, sugar lift, and lithography. All of these processes are represented in this exhibition in addition to that of monoprint, a process of applying ink to a flat surface that results in a single, unique print.

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"I am working through my slice of life savoring the atmospheric volume, watching the light change by the hour, the seasons shift day by day. The fun for me is trying to catch, in two dimensions, enough of what refuses to be caught so that as you stand looking at these images you will remember how the light really is, where the mountains are blue like that, why the songbird sings . . . " says Joel Ostlind about his art.

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Ostlind was born in Casper and lives near Big Horn, Wyoming. He has degrees in Soil Science and Ranch Management, and worked the cow camps in Texas, Wyoming, and Montana. Today, he is a full-time artist. Ostlind was the featured artist of the Coors Western Art Show in 2002 and 2005, and had a solo exhibition at the Bradford Brinton Museum in 2004.

"I have a real appreciation of this region - a lot of people do,” Ostlind said of Wyoming and of the Big Horn Mountains. "I try to convey that but I also try and do it in an open enough manner so that the viewer, when they are look at something, can sort of inject their own emotions and complete some of the imagery to their own satisfaction. If the imagery is left a little open to interpretation, it lives longer."

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The University of Wyoming Art Museum located in the dramatic Centennial Complex on the University Campus in Laramie, Wyoming, is an educational institution that was founded in 1962 on the principle of bringing the diversity of American art and the art from other countries and cultures to the people of Wyoming. Supported by public and private funds, admission is always free including spacious free parking for visitors. The University of Wyoming Art Museum offers a year-round source of education and entertainment for the entire family.

The University of Wyoming Art Museum's outreach program, Art Express, is comprised of two distinct programs, the Ann Simpson Artmobile and the Touring Exhibition Service. The Touring Exhibition Service offers exhibitions at no charge to Wyoming organizations such as libraries, schools, community centers, galleries, and museums.

To view this free exhibit visit the Basin City Arts Center the first three weeks in December every Thursday-Saturday 4-8 p.m. A sign will be out on the sidewalk indicating that the exhibit is open.

To schedule a group visit at a different time, contact Wendy Taylor at 568-2915.

The Basin City Arts Center is a nonprofit organization developing and supporting the arts in the Big Horn Basin.

Heaven Bound performing on Veteran's Day

Heaven Bound, a group of eight local Country Gospel musicians, will be in concert at the Basin City Arts Center on Thursday, November 11, at 7 p.m. This Veteran's Day performance is free and open to the public with donations appreciated.

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Heaven Bound musicians include Dorothy Bollman, Don Weeks, Dave and Doris Todd, and Jim Rannells all of Basin; Alesha and Ashley Dern of Burlington; and Carole Blakeman from Emblem. Together they've come up with a great Country Gospel Sound. Some of their favorites that they've just worked up since their last concert are 'Footsteps', 'Life's a Railway to Heaven', 'One Day at a Time', 'Sanctuary', 'According to They Loving Kindness', and 'Hear the Voice'. According to Carole Blakeman, their unofficial director, they have tons of fun practicing and learning new songs. "We all bring in songs that we think would be good for the group, and we have brought together a lot of music for this concert. We share lots of love and laughter each week during practice. Some of us read music and some don't - several of us play and sing 'by ear' - but we put it all together in the group!"

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While Heaven Bound has several songs that they do all together, they also have a wide variety of solos and small groups who "break out" for different songs. To honor Veteran's Day they'll sing patriotic songs with gusto and respect. Also included are some fun songs; there are different pieces for a lot of different tastes. You might even be treated to some "drama"!

The group came into existence in June 2009 when their choir director at the First Baptist Church in Basin suggested that the community needed some small musical groups. He asked Carole to put together a Country Gospel group. The rest is history! Together, Heaven Bound has perfected a Country Gospel sound and group that is very effective. They share their music with lots of diverse groups around the community.

Heaven Bound shares a love of presenting the gospel in country music style. Dave Todd plays 12-string guitar and sings tenor; Doris Todd sings soprano; Dorothy Bollman sings tenor; Jim Rannells plays keyboard and sings bass; Don Weeks sings bass; Alesha Dern plays mandolin and guitar and sings soprano; Ashley Dern plays 6-string guitar and bass guitar and sings alto; and Carole Blakeman plays accordion and sings alto. The group has a large repertoire of Country Gospel and Southern Country Gospel music which is much appreciated by their audiences.

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Heaven Bound has played at the Big Horn County Fair, Shell Community Church, First Baptist Basin, Farmer's Market, the 2010 Greybull All-School Reunion, and several Music in the Park engagements.

Heaven Bound's concert on Veteran's Day, Thursday, November 11, at 7 p.m. is free and open to the public with donations appreciated.

The Basin City Arts Center is located in Basin, WY, at 121 South 4 Street. The Basin City Arts Center is a non-profit organization supporting and developing the arts in the Big Horn Basin.

For more information, contact Wendy Taylor at 568-2915.

BCAC Movie this Saturday

"Marley & Me", featuring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, will be showing at the Basin City Arts Center this Saturday, November 6 at 7 p.m.

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This family movie is a big-screen tearjerker based on the best-selling memoir of a newly married couple who, in the process of starting a family, learn many of life’s important lessons from their trouble-loving retriever, Marley. Packed with plenty of laughs to lighten the load, the movie explores the highs and lows of marriage, maturity, and confronting one’s own mortality, as seen through the lens of family life with a dog.

“Marley and Me” (2008) is rated PG.

Admission is $2. Concessions will be sold.

The Basin City Arts Center is a nonprofit organization developing and promoting the arts in the Big Horn Basin.