Behind the scenes of “The Power of Place”

Reading time, about 3 minutes 30 seconds.

This month in the newsletter: The countdown is on for Tell Us Something’s “The Power of Place” live event at Bonner Park Bandshell on June 16th! This newsletter gives a sneak peek at the incredible lineup of storytellers sharing raw, powerful truths, shouts out the local sponsors making it all possible (and paying the artists!), and shares a link to director Marc Moss’s recent appearance on the A New Angle podcast. Plus, the January podcast episodes are finally dropping, and there are still open volunteer slots available—sign up to help out and score yourself a free ticket!

a high-angle, close-up shot of cooking in progress on a stovetop. Key Elements: The Pan: A well-seasoned black cast-iron skillet sits directly on a gas stove burner grate. The Ingredients: Inside the skillet, there is a handful of bright green garlic scapes (the curly, slender stalks harvested from garlic plants). They are curly, tangled, and tossed in the pan. The Cooking Liquid: A visible pool of melted, bubbling butter or oil occupies the bottom left side of the pan. A solid, rectangular pat of unmelted butter sits right in the middle of the pool, speckled with a bit of black pepper. The Background: The background is softly out of focus (shallow depth of field), showing parts of a white stovetop and kitchen counter area.

Standing at the stove last night sautéing garlic scapes I had just harvested from the garden, I was overcome with gratitude. It doesn’t yet feel quite like summer, with the oppressive heat and the cruel wildfire smoke that can sometimes settle into the valley making sunsets gorgeous and sleeping difficult. Yet we are beyond spring. Students are graduating, or at least getting ready to graduate, or celebrate the end of another school year. Gone is the structure, the tedium, and what’s left is an open calendar, play, and exploring. At least that’s what it was like for us when we got out of school for the summer. We didn’t have to be home until the streetlights came on. We were free. Free to explore in the woods, by the river, falling asleep on the banks, fishing pole forgotten, unattended. Ferral. As long as we were home by the time the streetlights came on. And the summer Tell Us Something event is 11 days away. I so look forward to gathering with you, my community again, this time in the open air of Bonner Park in the University District of Missoula. (There are still tickets available. You can secure them here.) I added salt, maybe too much, and pepper, and stirred the scapes in the butter an olive oil. Thankful for my abundance, my health, and that I survived the winter. It was a tough one for me, and I am so grateful to the Tell Us Something Board for their compassion, understanding, and support. I’m grateful for the Missoula Cold Soakers community for showing up in the cold to get into the Clark Fork River, I’m grateful to the underground dance community for dancing our faces off together, and to the hot yoga room where no one knows if it’s sweat or tears running down my face. It’s the community here, in this place we call Missoula, that I’m grateful for. Grateful to you, my community, for helping me grow, stretch, and heal. Walking the saddle on Mount Jumbo with a friend recently, the chokecherries’ fragrance filling my nostrils, we stopped to marvel at the bitterroots in bloom. You have to be looking for them. And, as she said, once you see one, you begin to see so many. They appear to be everywhere. And that is the power of place. If you’re paying attention, magic reveals itself all around us. Thanks for being part of that magic.

This is a square graphic designed for social media promotional use, featuring an impasto oil painting of a landscape as its background with superimposed text details for an event. Background Artwork Style: The background is a textured, thick-stroke impasto painting by artist David Wilson (credited in small white text in the bottom left corner). Subject: It depicts a vibrant green and yellow rolling hillside under a vast, textured blue sky filled with puffy white clouds. Foreground: In the lower right foreground, a tall, round purple allium or thistle-like flower stands out against the green hills. Text and Event Details The text is centered, bold, and colored in a dark charcoal gray. From top to bottom, it reads: LIVE STORYTELLING on the theme “THE POWER OF PLACE” JUNE 16 BONNER PARK BANDSHELL TICKETS: TELLUSSOMETHING.ORG Logo In the bottom right corner, there is a white line-art logo for "TELL US SOMETHING." The logo features text enclosed in interlocking speech bubbles with a small microphone icon and the tagline: "YOUR STORY MATTERS."

Celebrating The Power of Place

I’ve been working these past couple of weeks with the storytellers slated to share their truths with you at Bonner Park Bandshell on June 16th. The theme is “The Power of Place”. They share stories of places behind the scenes, the dirty underbelly, places of discovery and hard truths, places of healing and compassion, small towns (really small towns!) and huge metropolises. Their stories will resonate with you and move you. If you’re free on June 16th, won’t you join us?

We are so grateful to The Montana 250th Commission for their generosity in helping make this event possible. Shout out of thanks to our partner Park Side Credit Union for their support in helping get the word out and providing some of the volunteer support to help make the show happen. Thanks go out to The Good Food Store too, for sponsoring our storytellers. We believe artists deserve to get paid, and The Good Food Store has made it possible to pay our artists, the storytellers. We’re also so thankful to Kettlehouse Brewing Company for providing the beer that you’ll be enjoying at the event.

So, what are you waiting for? GET TICKETS!

Reminder: We’ll have ASL interpretation available, making sure these stories are accessible to everyone in our community!

Marc Moss tells us something
about Tell Us Something

The image shows a dark-themed digital audio player interface for a podcast episode web page. Text Details Podcast Title: In the upper left corner, it notes the show name, A New Angle. Episode Title: The main text reads, "Marc Moss tells us something about Tell Us Something". Episode Number: In the lower left corner, large grey text partially cut off reads "Episode 445:". Imagery & Graphics Center Portrait: Inside a large circular frame in the lower center, there is a portrait of a man (Marc Moss) wearing a dark fedora hat, a white collared shirt, a tie, and a dark vest. The lighting on his face has a moody red or purple hue. Event Poster (Top Right): In the upper right background, a square flyer is partially visible. It features an oil painting landscape with the words "THE POWER OF PLACE", "JUNE 16", and "BONNER PARK BANDSHELL", alongside a small "Tell Us Something" logo. Podcast Logo (Top Left): A small burgundy square icon features the stylized "a new angle" logo featuring a mathematical compass graphic. Player Controls The bottom features a timeline progress bar sitting at 0:00 on the left and indicating a total remaining time of -28:41 on the far right. Standard player icons sit in the center, including a prominent circular white Play button, a "1×" speed modifier, a "skip back 15 seconds" loop, a "skip forward 30 seconds" loop, and a three-dot menu icon (...). Four stacked social icons appear on the far right edge: a heart (like), a speech bubble (comment), a circular refresh arrow (repost/share), and an upload arrow (export/share link).

The gratitude continues flowing. I’m so thankful for the conversation that I got to have several weeks ago with Justin Angle over at A New Angle podcast. It aired yesterday on MTPR. if you missed it, you can listen to our discussion over at A New Angle.

Speaking of podcasts, I’ve been pretty behind on producing the January podcast. (Like I said, I had a hard winter). The YouTube video has been out for quite some time. I’ve been behind in production, and for that I apologize. Episode 1 dropped this week. You can meet the storytellers here.  You’ll be able to hear episode 2 next week. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or stream the show here.

GRATITUDE FOR KINKY BINGO!

The Graphic Overlay (Top Left) In the upper left corner, a rectangular graphic box with a brick-textured background includes logos and text announcing an event: Top text: "Rosie La Secco Presents... A Fundraiser For" Left Logo: "Kinky Bingo: Bingo, Burlesque & Pleasurable Prizes" designed inside a neon pink and blue sign. Right Logo: An 'X' links it to the "Tell Us Something • Your Story Matters •" logo. The People and Poses Three individuals are in the center foreground, striking enthusiastic, joyful poses on the green grass: Person on the Left: A smiling individual wearing glasses, a black t-shirt with a sunflower graphic, and brown shorts. They have extensive tattoos on both arms and legs and are wearing sandals. They are posing with one arm raised high, the other outstretched to the side, holding a white envelope in their right hand. Person in the Center: A man crouched in a dynamic, playful stance, wearing a patterned maroon button-down shirt, blue jeans, and hiking shoes. He has sunglasses resting on his head and a wide, excited expression with his mouth open. Person on the Right: A smiling woman with one arm raised in the air, wearing a black long-sleeve top and a layered, tiered light-blue tulle skirt with black lace trim. She has butterfly and floral tattoos on her arms and is wearing black sandals. The Setting Background: The group is posing on a grassy lawn next to a large tree trunk. In the background sits the concrete structure and wooden roof of the Bonner Park Bandshell. A picnic table and a green hillside are visible in the soft-focus distance under a bright sky.

More thanks! (and a word of caution: Links in this section of the newsletter may be NSFW!) An abundance of gratitude to Rosie LeSecco and Daisey Dagger for bringing us together for a fun night of burlesque, drag and bingo last month at Monks Bar. Thanks to Shauna & the entire Monks staff, femmecee Falcon Nowa, and especially to all of the performers, Karmin Get It, Averydelite, Lovena Deville Letrice, Betty Venom, Whoopsie Goldberg, Summer de Winter, Stella Pearl & to Isa Tumble for capturing the evening.

Volunteer! Get free tickets to the event!

It takes a village to produce a Tell Us Something event, and we’d love for you to join us. There are still some volunteer slots available. Please consider helping out! In return, you get a free ticket to the event! Sign up to volunteer here.

Thanks so much for reading. I’m so looking forward to seeing your smiling face at the event on June 16th! Have a great weekend!

GET TICKETS!

The image depicts a smiling man wearing a fedora, with the background showing the sky. There is text in the image, which reads: "In gratitude and in story, Marc Moss Executive Director Tell Us Something"

 

 

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