Around the Town: Helena-area arts and entertainment news published Jan. 6 | Local

All Bets are Off, a local band with an incredible female vocalist, covers everything from Linda Ronstadt and Dolly to the Pretenders. They play 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, at Lewis & Clark Tap Room.

Gallatin Valley’s Close 2 Toast plays songs to warm your heart and get you up dancing, 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8.

FilthyFamily presents classic hip-hop artist Shwayze performing live at the Lewis & Clark Taproom 8 to 11 p.m. Monday, Jan. 10.

Shwayze is known for his hit songs “Buzzin” and “Corona & Lime,” as well as having his own hit reality show on MTV. EVENTBRITE TICKETS.

Open mic is back on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month for a showcase of Helena’s best home brewed tunes. Next one is 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11.

Email Russ at [email protected] to sign up.

For info on all the shows: Lewis & Clark Tap Room, 1535 Dodge Ave., https://lctaproom.com/ or call 406-442-5960.

Paulo Rolfes is the featured artist at the grand opening of a new Helena venue, SpaceOneEleven, 111 East Sixth Ave., 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14. Guest musician is Dan Henry.

More info @Paulio84rolfes and @harp_man_henry.

Amazing bites by Bootleg Boards @bootleg.boards.

Baroque Music Montana presents “Sara Levy’s Salon,” 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan 6, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, corner of Cruse and Lawrence.

Artistic director Carrie Krause brings her period instrument quartet to Helena for a concert exploring the musical life of Sara Levy, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn’s great-aunt and a favorite student of one of J.S. Bach’s sons.

Krause’s international ensemble will highlight a rarely heard Mendelssohn early Romantic string quartet, Opus 80, composed in memory of his sister Fanny.

Also on the program is a French battle piece about the Napoleonic Wars, and a string quartet arrangement of Bach’s iconic “Art of Fugue,” paired with young Bozeman composer Athena Carson’s own fugue inspired by Bach.

Refreshments will follow the concert. Tickets are $30, $5 students, available online at https://baroquemusicmontana.org/.

More info: [email protected].

The dynamic, funny singer/songwriter Max Hay will perform at Ten Mile Creek Brewing Company, 48 N Last Chance Gulch, on Sunday, Jan. 16, 5-8 p.m., as part of Build a Better Community, a collaboration between Ten Mile, Gulch Distillers, and Point S to benefit nonprofits in Helena.

All month long, $1 from every drink sold on Sundays at Ten Mile, or on Wednesdays at Gulch Distillers, 790 Front St., will benefit The Myrna Loy. There will also be a drawing for free tickets, as well as other activities throughout the month.

Start out the new year with square dance lessons.

Lessons begin Monday, Jan. 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Jefferson Elementary School, 1023 E. Broadway.

Families, couples and singles welcome.

For information, call Glen at 406-459-6450 or Cathy at 406-459-1616.

Montana Historical Society presents “Scandal at the Montana State Highway Commission with Jon Axline,” 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, 225 N. Roberts.

When Gov. Elmer Holt accused the state highway commissioners of malfeasance in 1936, it sparked an ugly process that eventually involved the Montana Supreme Court and a Helena newspaper reporter named Paul Maclean, who was later made famous in “A River Runs through It.”

More Info at https://mhs.mt.gov/ or 406-444-2694.

Following a move to Helena in 1986 and temporarily discontinuing performing as a drummer, Bob Maffit’s interest in phonographs was sparked by a friend, John Williams, excitedly stopping by with a 1920s portable model with a 78 record of Jogie Jorgenson

Thus…Maffit’s phonograph repair/restoration was started!

Maffit will share his passion for phonographs at this MHS talk 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, 225 N. Roberts.

John Shontz will present “The Great Northern Railway in Helena; Born in the Corporate Board Rooms of New York City” to the Last Chance Gulch Corral History Dinner Group on Monday Jan. 17.

The group will meet in the Natatorium Room of the Delta Hotel (Colonial) at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6. Reservations are required by calling Shirley Thomas at 227-5953 or 431-8196 by Tuesday noon Jan. 11.

Shontz is from a family of seven generations of ranchers and railroaders in Montana. He is a retired natural resource attorney and a retired member of the Montana House of Representatives.

He is an author specializing in books, articles and films about Montana Railroads, especially the Milwaukee Road. He is also the coordinator of the national Orphan Train Making a Difference project.

Former Archie Bray Center fellowship artist Kelly Rathbone Rebo exhibits portraits of well known faces of the Rodney Street neighborhood in a new show at The Myrna Loy.

An opening reception is 2 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, in the Jailhouse Gallery, 15 N. Ewing, when folks can meet those who are featured in the paintings..

Rebo, who grew up in Indonesia, Norway and Texas, but lived in numerous places around the world, is delighted to find herself back in Helena.

And particularly delighted she was commissioned to do a series of portraits for “The Rodney Street Is…” project, which is spearheaded by The Myrna Loy.

The project is creating collaborations among neighbors, businesses and artists to celebrate the creative and economic vitality of Helena’s oldest neighborhood through art.

Rebo’s exhibit features about 30 portraits, mostly watercolors and some embellished with gold leaf.

Fifteen of the images will be printed on art panels that will be installed in the window frames of the historic J.E. Allen Livery Building, across Breckenridge Street from The Myrna Loy.

Rebo, who most recently was a resident artist in Bali, Indonesia, picked up with her husband and three children and moved back to Helena just as borders were closing in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suddenly homebound with three small children, Rebo transitioned from making ceramic art to painting watercolor portraits of friends from photos she took.

She was just beginning a series of “Faces of Helena” when she heard about “The Rodney Street Is…” project and was commissioned to do the portraits.

All of the people featured were nominated by community members.

“The most exciting part of the project is I invited them over to my house for photos. It was really wonderful. I got to ask them their story and their connection to Rodney Street.

“It was an experience I didn’t expect because it became deeply personal and a beautiful interaction with people I wouldn’t have ever met otherwise.

“It felt like the biggest blessing meeting these people and talking to them and studying their faces as I painted them.

“It’s been a really fun project, and it’s felt like a really big honor.”

For more information, visit https://themyrnaloy.com/, or call 406-443-0287. Face masks required.

‘Am I Dreaming It or Is It Dreaming Me?’ a retrospective of works by late artist Sara Joyce is on view in the Baucus Gallery at the Holter Museum of Art, 12 E. Lawrence St., with an opening reception Friday, Jan. 21, 5 to 7 p.m.

Tour the Baucus Gallery through a body of work that is both ruggedly feminine and earnest, encompassing a variety of media; ceramic works, oil and acrylic paintings, and textile sculptures.

Joyce was a considerate and deeply thoughtful artist throughout her life, creating over 370 major pieces and keeping a dedicated practice of daily sketching and journaling. Her journals formed the foundation of many of her pieces, where she investigated her dream world with avid curiosity and diligent exploration.

Among her many influences were linguistics and word origin, folklore, mythology, impactful memories and dreams, Buddhism, and literature.

One notable textile sculpture, and Sara’s first “cloth person” is Ms. Wren, based on a character in “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens.

Joyce’s youngest child, Bill Caccia, offers a deeper view into his mother’s life and work at a talk 6 p.m. April 14 at the Holter.

Also opening on Jan. 21 is an exhibit, “Go Figure,” by Helena artist Carla Potter that showcases her figurine scale vignettes using historical themes of ritual and rite of passage as a pathway to natural rebellion in delightful and at times discomforting scenes.

Potter is a former long-term resident at the Archie Bray Foundation, and holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Her work combines the influences of admired artists and historic masters with her own intricate and playful imagery to create dynamic small-scale scenarios.

She will give an artist talk 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at the Holter.

760 Great Northern, 442-4225, cinemark.com

● American Underdog, PG

● West Side Story, PG-13

● Spider-Man: No Way Home, PG-13

● The Matrix Resurrections, R

● Journal for Jordan, PG-13

15 N. Ewing, 443-0287, myrnaloycenter.com