Longmire at the Silver Dollar Bar, Hootenanny at Dornan’s, Dirt Farmers at Sacajawea, Grand Teton Music Festival

There is music everywhere in the Wyoming/Idaho/Montana greater Yellowstone area, as DJ Choupin and I found on a two-week swing through the area over the Independence Day holiday.

While not a music act, the venue certainly is: DJ got a chance to chat with Longmire author Craig Johnston and the star of the series Robert Taylor at the Silver Dollar Bar in the Wort Hotel in Jackson. They couldn’t have been kinder or more gracious. We are excited about seeing the 4th season (and re-watching the first 3 seasons) of Longmire on Netflix!

Photo of DJ Choupin, Craig Johnson, and Robert Thompson — DJ Choupin has a word with **Longmire** author Craig Johnson and series star Robert Taylor at the Wort Hotel’s Silver Dollar Bar

Photo of Thompson, Choupin, and Johnson — DJ Choupin deep in conversation with **Longmire** series star Robert Taylor at the Wort Hotel’s Silver Dollar Bar–author Craig Johnson stands beside DJ.

We had swung by the party at the Silver Dollar Bar after attending the Hootenanny at Dornan’s in Moose, Wyoming. DJ had worked at Dornan’s for several years; the Roadkill Live!!! comedy review played at the Wort’s Greenback Lounge (enter through the Silver Dollar Bar) for 8 weeks in summer of 1988.

Photo of Choupin and Thompson — DJ Choupin with **Longmire** star Robert Taylor at the Silver Dollar Bar in Jackson, Wyoming

Photo of newspaper ad — Ad for the **Longmire** event in the Jackson Hole News & Guide

At the Hootenanny, we had particularly enjoyed performances by John Sidle and John Byrne Cooke, so I was delighted to catch up with them for a chat at the Silver Dollar Bar. Sidle and Cooke are mainstays of the Stagecoach Band that plays in Wilson, Wyoming, every Sunday, as well as at the Hootenanny in Moose, Wyoming. Back in the day, I had designed the lighting for an Actors Coop production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum that Sidle had starred in as Pseudolus. Turns out Cooke has also appeared in Forum as Senex. But I digress….

Photo of Sidle, Cooke, and Parker — Local music legends John Sidle and John Byrne Cooke at the Silver Dollar Bar in Jackson, Wyoming, with **A Roadkill Opera**‘s librettist Stephan Alexander Parker. The three were enjoying the Wort’s Longmire party after the Hootenanny

It was a musical couple of weeks. In addition to two trips to the Hootenanny, DJ and I enjoyed seeing the Dirt Farmers at their Three Forks, Montana performance; the Lake String Quartet (twice!) at the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone; and two performances under the aegis of the Grand Teton Music Festival. With the latter, I am trying to talk up the possibility of a performance of A Roadkill Opera in the very spot the story takes place, the newly reconverted to performance space in the Silver Dollar Bar. The opening week of the GTMF also saw our ad in the Jackson Hole News & Guide promoting the availability of the studio recording at the Valley Bookstore and at Gifts of the Earth.

Ad reading: Paer's Leonora vs. Fidelio: Better than Beethoven. Leonora adapted to A Roadkill Opera. Peter Maag writes about Paer's Leonora: "an inspired, imaginative work, technically worthy of the highest praise,,, The orchestration is faultless and complements the vocal parts beautifully." Pam Schipper wrote in the Gaithersburg Town Courier "Songs like 'Impress Them,' 'Cod Piece Dining,' 'Jello,' and [Gonna buy my old granddad a] 'Goe' pair offbeat humor with beautiful vocals and music." A Roadkill Opera tells the story of the hour before the lights go up ion opening night for a comedy improv troupe in 1988 Jackson Hole--the Roadkill On A Stick Frozen Foods Theatre Company. During that hour, they find out their showroom at the Silver Dollar Bar is being torn down. Available on iTunes, at Gifts of the Earth & the Valley Bookstore. Fully staged performances Washington, DC, January 8-9, 2016 roadkill opera.com roadkill opera@icloud.com 240-277-6640 — This publicity piece ran as a quarter-page advertisement in the **Jackson Hole News & Guide** the opening week of the **Grand Teton Music Festival**. The action of **A Roadkill Opera** takes place over Independence Day weekend in 1988. The studio recording was released July 4, 2013, marking the 25th anniversary of the opening night of **Roadkill Live!!!** at the Wort Hotel’s Greenback Lounge (enter through the Silver Dollar Bar).

Photo of the Lake String Quartet playing at the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park — The Lake String Quartet plays at the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park

Photo of the Dirt Farmers band playing — The Dirt Farmers playing on the porch of the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, Montana

Photo of string quartet in the Diehl Gallery — The Grand Teton Music Festival brought classical music into town with a string quartet at the Diehl Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming

Photo of two men with a rug — A couple of roadies lugged the gear back to the Grand Teton Music Festival after the performance at the Diehl Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming

Photo of the new performance space at the Silver Dollar Bar — The new performance space at the Silver Dollar Bar at the Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming. With the walls open, the space can accommodate an audience of about 150 to 200. The space restores to performance the area that had been the Greenback Lounge, famously demolished in 1988 to make way for meeting rooms, offices, and sleeping quarters, as described in **A Roadkill Opera**. Viva la musica!