I have a friend from high school who has a band. A couple bands, actually. Not play-on-the-weekends-at-open-mic bands, but world tour bands. He’s known as M. Ward now, but I still call him Matt.
Here’s a little bio:
“Matthew Stephen Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. In addition to his solo work he is known as a member of She & Him and Monsters of Folk.”
Matt doesn’t usually play Montana, so when I heard he was doing a show in Missoula, I really wanted to go. Plus, it was a good excuse to spend a couple days in Zoo Town.
Friday night, Matt and I met at the Iron Horse for a couple beers. We got to catch up on each others’ lives and do a little reminiscing.
Run
I started our first full day in Missoula with a run up the back side of Mt. Sentinel. It was drizzling and cold. At first, I wanted to run back to our cozy hotel and sip tea, but I was soon glad I kept going.
I was passed by several uber-fit individuals, and I was the only one stopping to photograph wildflowers, but I didn’t even care. It was lovely.
Eat & Play
It wasn’t only huffing and puffing, there was also a lot of eating and playing. Missoula is good for that.
Music
We found a babysitter for Saturday night and Henry and I went out to dinner with Matt. We ate at the Pearl Cafe. I interviewed the owner earlier in the day for an article I’m working on, and couldn’t resist going back. It was so good.
After dinner, we walked over to the Wilma Theater, checked out Matt’s tour bus and went in through the back stage entrance. Even though it’s embarrassing to admit, we felt pretty cool walking out from the stage with all those M. Ward fans out there. Henry and I felt cool, Matt stayed back stage until the show started.
We got back to the hotel to find this:
Soaking
Big Henry and Mogie gave H a gift certificate to Fairmont Hot Springs for his birthday and we decided it was time to use it. We booked a room, got H a swimsuit, and drove through a rainstorm to Fairmont. More eating, some slide riding and lots of swimming.
Lunching
On the way home we stopped in Butte America for lunch and ate at the iconic M&M.
Not a bad way to spend a long weekend.
Jealous about your date night – and that ice cream. Looks like a lot of fun!
That’s so awesome that you got to catch up with Matt and see him play live!
The date night was awesome, Debi! It doesn’t happen too often, so we have to make it count ๐
@Noelle, it was really fun hanging out with Matt! Go see him next time he plays in LA.
Your Memorial Day looked WAY more exciting than my Memorial Day ๐
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