KBGA - "THE LAST BEST RADIO STATION" MOTION TO MAKE KBGA THE STATE RADIO STATION!
Strolling through the radio stations in Missoula can be quite a depressing affair - four stations playing contemporary country, four more playing BTO, one playing Dave Matthews and another with some bullshit autotune top 40 hit. That is until you turn over to 89.9 FM, your friendly neighborhood college radio station, KBGA.

KBGA has once again married Wantage USA to bring you Total Fest X. The thing of it is, with all of the great music and shows like Ink Mathematics, Ultra-Mega Blast, Muffin Tops, Swimming With the Mermaid, and deejays like H-Rap, Avatar, Bullit and Dr. Katie we feel like we already owe them. Instead they throw some major support our way and make it possible for us to bring bands like Big Business to Total Fest.

So kids, next time you hear KBGA is doing there annual Radio-Thon pick up that phone and support them because they are the best radio station in town and if you don't then you will only have yourself to blame for the eight Sheryl Crow songs that are playing simultaneously on other stations right now (seriously, right now - I checked).

TOTAL FEST JUST GOT A LITTLE SWAGGER IN THEIR STEP, THANKS TO BOOM SWAGGER.

Boom Swagger has only been around for a short while, but in this short while it has become the paramount of hair salons in town. You're going to come out of Boom Swagger looking fresh and feeling good enough to reenact the beginning of Saturday Night Fever, that's a fact. The thing that sets them apart is their major support for community events such a Total Fest. So we have compiled a top five list of why we love Boom Swagger.

In no particular order:

1. Refreshing beverage service while you wait
2. Vintage Betty and Veronica comics in the waiting area
3. A dish of all-red Tootie Pops at the register (because we all know those chocolate Tooties Pops are just plain bullshit)
4. The salon is named after a Murder City Devils song (which I’m assuming means Coady from Big Business gets free haircuts)
5. Super friendly, full of smiles, non pretentious, talented staff

Seriously, Boom Swagger is a fantastic business that really cares about their community and in the words of Wesley Willis, "take your ass to the barber shop and tell him you're sick of looking like an asshole". Just make sure it's Boom Swagger.

WHITE LUNG CONFIRM!

For the last two years the Total Fest stage has been graced with some killer bands from the great land of Canada. Last year, Lethbridge natives Fist City played one of my favorite sets of the fest. Along with the snow blower, Lord Stanley’s Cup, table hockey, top notch maple syrup and Rick Moranis it’s safe to say our friends to the north churn out some great products.

Vancouver’s White Lung have picked up the maple leaf torch and have officially been slated for our tenth anniversary. The three-girl to one-boy ratio White Lung shred through songs like buzz saws through tin, they don’t fuck around either, they get to the point with songs averaging just over two and half minutes. White Lung is way up on my list of “don’t miss” sets at Total Fest and I’m convinced some people will surely find their new favorite band in White Lung.

The Blind Shake at Total Fest X!

In their own words The Blind Shake play “stompy-garage-y punk with some psychedelic influences”. Which means your ears would have had to be blown off in a high school science accident for you not to enjoy something these guys bring to the table. If you missed their set two years ago at Total Fest let me bring you up to speed. Brothers Mike and Jim Blaha have sworn off bass guitars with the result being an intense and nervous blending of guitar with baritone guitar. The riffs come quick and with the mixture of Dave Ropers pounding of drums the music becomes relentless until The Blind Shake pummel you into the ground like a pissed off, coked-up, steroid infused Macho Man Randy Savage – couldn’t help myself. Total Fest is insanely excited to have The Blind Shake on the roster again this year.

Authors note: If you are in the market for some new music, march down to Ear Candy immediately and pick up The Blind Shakes collaboration with legendary outside artist Michael Yonkers entitled Cold Town b/w Soft Zodiac. This is the second collaboration between the two musical entities and in my opinion was one of the best releases of 2009.

TOTAL FEST X: HOT PANTS, SUNBURNS AND SHANNON AND THE CLAMS SET FOR AUGUST.
"If there is one band we knew for sure we would pee our hot pants for when we heard they were playing Total Fest X, it’s these two handsome guys, and one smoking hot babe. Anyone who listens to Women of Action on KBGA (or KBGA at all, for that matter) has heard this band and loved it. Thank the gods, they will be rocketing from horny Oakland, California to our magical land of sunny Montana. This is music probably best experienced in the summer, when it’s hot as fuck and everyone is sweaty and you can look super cool in sunglasses and as little clothing as possible. Shannon + Clams have two full-length LPs and every single song is a dirty, doo-wop stained, rock and roll hit. Shannon Shaw does not fuck around when it comes to crooning with real soul and one of those Clams has a voice that would make Buddy Holly jealous. Emily Newton-John caught them in Portland last summer, when it was 90+ degrees and she was sunburned and nursing her heatstroke with ice packs and Bloody Marys. And guess what? They still blew her away with their ability to lay down sweet, upbeat party songs right alongside such emotive laments." (Women of Action, Emily Denman and Hanna Zimorino)

SAM HUMANS? YES PLEASE!

Before the ipod, going on long road trips required me to fill up a black caselogic with cds of bands that would accompany the lonely highways of southern Wyoming and would keep my mind off the trip long enough to reach Colorado. Needless to say bands like The Minutemen, Pavement, Beat Happening and The Feelies got me through some pretty unbearable trips.

Portland, Oregon’s very own Sam Humans would without a doubt have been one of my go to albums. Besides some extraordinary beards, Sam Humans write some down right extraordinary tunes - tunes that get engraved into your brain for weeks at a time. The package is there, catchy riffs, impeccable drumming and impressive vocals, not to mention some first-class lyrics. Hell, who knows I might have thrown in their album and before I knew it I would have been in Mexico.

...2...3...HAINTS.
Equipped with a guitar, washboard, a single snare drum and a washtub bass, The Pine Hill Haints play music that any fan of rockabilly, blues, punk, or roots music will surely dig. Their stripped down brand of music sparks an honestly to the genre that I haven’t heard since maybe The Gibson Bros. The Haints lo-fi recordings about heartache, whiskey and supernatural affairs fit quite nicely on K Records, but to be honest the first time I heard “Ghost Dance” I thought someone had just dusted off an old Sun Records 78. One thing is for sure, with all of the influences and genres these Alabamans mix-up into a set anyone who sets foot into Total Fest will be in for a treat.

The Pine Hills Haints graced the Total Fest stage back in 2006 and the Total crew couldn’t be more excited to see these raucous rawkers back for our tenth anniversary. We are so inspired we may have to whip up a batch of bathtub gin to celebrate.

TOTAL TIME.

2011 will mark the tenth year we will have gotten all Total out here, and to celebrate, we're working on some extra-ambitious stuff. More on that soon, but for now, let's just commence the accepting of applications. We want you. Deadline: April 1, 2011. Here's what an application looks like:

1) A good recording, CDRs are fine, of three or four songs that best represent your band. One CD is fine. Electronic submissions are a hassle for us, so don't email us saying "Bro! Just go head and go to our myspace page. It's all there." We are old, weird, "traditional" folks for whom computers, MP3s and the like still are confusing and frightening.

2) A promise that you understand that by applying, you're holding onto the days of August 18-20, 2011 and not simultaneously figuring out how to do 16 other things simultaneously.

2.5) Some type of paragraph explaining your deal. Who are you? Where do you live? Why do you play tunes? Why do you like the Pink Fairies and Karp? We don't need a long list of the bands you've played with, but we like context, and if a decent writer has written about your band, that'd be a nice thing to get.

3) Good contact information for you (i.e. a single contact person for your band, a good phone number and email address).

4) Your patience. We will listen to everything we get, discuss it, give it a fair shake and decide upon the bands and artists that most help us with our mission of Totality. Totally. Thank you.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2011. Send to:

Wantage USA Attn. Total Fest X Submissions
P.O. Box 8681
Missoula, MT 59807

AHOY, TOTAL WORLD!
Get your walking shoes on! Total Fest marches into August with exhibitions and events held during the First Friday Art Walk on August 06 from 5 - 8PM (First Friday). We've assembled a few tokens from yesteryear and have branched into the smacktastic world of pinatas. A photo retrospective of past Total Fests will be on display at Taco Del Sol. Betty's Divine will host an evening with wine, treats, Total Pinatas and music by Colin Johnson. We're bursting at the seams to get this party going. Stop by some of the other venues on Friday but be sure not to miss the Total events!!