‘The Methods,’ Good Lovelies and Dirty Bourbon

by Chris Aaland

The coaching carousel never stops going round and round. This week, it picked Mark Kellogg up in Durango and set him down in Maryville, Mo. — a 10,000-person backwater that sits in extreme northwestern Missouri near its borders with Nebraska and Iowa. The Bible Belt. Tornado Alley. Skeeters. Heaven? Methinks no. But to each his own.

Kellogg, as you may know, turned Fort Lewis College women’s basketball from a program mired in mediocrity into a perennial national powerhouse. But the grass, apparently, is greener in the floodplain of the Missouri River … or Little Coach K simply yearned for a new challenge. Northwest Missouri State went a borderline-embarrassing 6-22 this year. Kellogg’s Skyhawks? A run-of-the mill, 26-5 season that saw them make it to the second round of the Big Dance. These are the campaigns most coaches live for. For Kellogg, it was a mildly disappointing affair and perhaps a harbinger of things to come. Perhaps he plateaued at the Fort. Maybe he even jumped the shark.

“MTHDS,” aka “The Methods,” plays the Abbey Thursday night.

For my family, it means one of our neighbors just put their house on the market. For Otto, his friends Camden and Kayli will move away soon. For about 15 young women on the FLC basketball team, they’ll start over with a brand-new coach, someone who won’t likely be chosen for several weeks after an exhaustive search is concluded. Such is the sports biz. Buckle down, study for finals, start shooting free throws for next year.
So we bid adieu to the Kellogg clan and thank them for all they did for the Fort. Adios, amigo.

MTHDS and Air Dubai play a twin bill at the Abbey Theatre tonight (Thurs., April 12). The former combines funk-driven rock, reggae and melodic hip-hop to create an incredibly unique concert experience … or, as their acronym spells out, Music That Heightens Different Senses. Formed in April of 2007, “The Methods,” as they’re more widely known, were drawn together by a love of music and snowboarding and began playing to ski bums, shredders, hipsters, tourists and confused drunken weirdoes who accidentally wandered into various shows. Since their formation in early 2007, MTHDS has supported acts such as The Roots, 3OH!3, Ozomatli, the Greyboy Allstars and others. Air Dubai was voted as Westword magazine’s “Best Hip Hop Band” of 2010 and 2011.

Called funny and upbeat with just a pinch of sass, the Good Lovelies have enlivened the folk music landscape with their three-part harmonies, instrument swapping and witty on-stage banter since Canadians Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore joined forces in 2006. The trio lands at the Community Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. With equal parts city and country, highway and home, wistfulness and sass, the Good Lovelies’ good humor and self-assurance is charming audiences across Canada and throughout the world.

Moe’s throws a disco party with DJ Mateo at 8 p.m. Saturday. Other musical highlights include the weekly Jazz Church freeform jam session from 6-9 p.m. Sunday, Musica del Mundo from 9 ‘til close Sunday and Tuesday’s open mic night auditions.

This week’s Summit slate is highlighted by the Dirty Bourbon River Show at 10 p.m. tonight. Scottie swears these guys are straight-up Mardi Gras, second line type of stuff. They’re sound is certainly rooted in traditional N’awlins forms, but there are also folk, rock, blues, jazz, Latin, Gypsy and circus influences. The Summit also features appearances this week by Chaz McFlash (6-9 p.m. Friday), Bump the System’s DJ Distinct, DJ Wise and DJ Treazon (10 p.m. Friday), Red Eyed Djinn (10 p.m. Saturday) and DJ Dirty Habitz & DjCK at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

KDUR kicks off its annual “Spring into Summer” membership drive Friday and the on-air begging and pleading will continue for one solid week. Visit www.kdur.org or call 247-7262 to pledge your support. I have Mancos’ own Baby Toro appearing on my Cask Strength radio program from 6-8 p.m. Monday, so ye faithful readers can pledge support at that time and help me finish somewhere other than last place amongst the volunteer DJs.

Elsewhere: the Porchlights bring bluegrass to the weekly Ska-B-Q at 5 p.m. tonight in Bodo Park; Black Velvet plays El Rancho from 5-8 p.m. Friday; and Kirk James does solo blues at Mountain Madness (located in the former Sweeney’s building) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Fort Lewis College women’s lacrosse team is “Going Gold for Ghana” on Friday and Sunday. They’ll host a shoe and school supply drive for the Willy-Taylor Academy, located in Asuadei, Ghana. Founded last fall, the school has great need for improvement and supplies. The children who attend the academy come from poor families and many of the students never had the opportunity to attend school prior to its opening. The Irish Embassy Pub donated T-shirts, which will be sold for $15 at FLC’s home lacrosse games (4 p.m. Friday vs. Colorado Mesa, 1 p.m. Sunday vs. Colorado College). You can also donate shoes, school supplies or old-fashioned cash money at the games.

This week’s Top Shelf list recounts 10 numbers associated with Mark Kellogg’s coaching stint at the Fort:
1. 173-46: Kellogg’s overall record the past seven years, a .790 winning percentage.
2. 57-1: the record of this year’s senior class in Whalen Gymnasium. A .983 winning percentage? Talk about your home court advantage!
3. 3.715: the grade-point average his Skyhawks maintained last year — tops of any women’s basketball team in the country, from junior colleges to NCAA Division I.
4. 59: the number of consecutive polls in which his Skyhawks have been ranked in the national Top 25, dating back to Dec. 16, 2008.
5. 36: Kellogg’s ripe old age.
6. 23: the number of active NCAA women’s basketball coaches who had a higher career winning percentage than Kellogg prior to the 2011-12 season. This list includes certain folks named Geno Auriemma, Pat Summit and Tara VanDerveer.
7. 5: the number of consecutive years Kellogg’s teams have made the NCAA playoffs.
8. 3: the number of RMAC championships FLC won between 2008 - 10.
9. 2: the number of RMAC Shootout cups hoisted by Kellogg’s troops the past two years.
10. 1: the number of NCAA playoff berths prior to Kellogg’s hiring at Fort Lewis.

The old folks were hummin’, banjos were strummin’? E-mail me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.