On all of the walls of the underground station in Pioneer Square, posters advertising the emptiness of Montana:
The posters are colored in a way that produces a dreamy effect. Each is a view of reality from the distant regions of sleep. The dream affects everything. The buffalo seem to be sleep-grazing; the mountains are lost in a slumber that no amount of human noise (a train, a plane, a car) can disturb. The posters appeared just in time for the arrival of light rail. It’s as if the advertisers expected the light rail would make clear the distinction between the being in the city and being in the wild. Here (the underground, the trains running back and forth), more than anywhere else in Seattle, you could finally understand the meaning of Montana and the reason why you needed to wake up and go there.
Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory... More by Charles Mudede
Did you mean to spell Great wrong?
Oh, graet.
Montana? Go to Montana?
Charles, did you miss the Slog/Line Out memo? People who’ve chosen to settle in Auburn and Bellevue are ignorant/backwoods/suburban zombies who deserve Motley Crue concerts! God forbid we venture even further out to Montana and the slack-jawed yokels that spend time there.
Just a couple months ago, Grandy was talking about the drive to Sasquatch like he’d never seen an open road before. Can you imagine him even surviving the wilds of Montana?
Does sleep-graving have anything to do with gravy? ‘Cause I like gravy. It tastes graet.
The graet (sic) thing about visiting the wilds of Montana is that you seldom have to deal with the PEOPLE (some of whom are perfectly fine; many of whom make Idaho Neo-Nazis appear quaint by comparison) – or any people at all for that matter.
And of course, the graving (sic) buffalo are truly a wonder to behold.
those photos aren’t colored. that’s the way montana looks.
1. Funny how other states advertise for tourism like Michigan, Montana, but not Washington State, which has way more to offer.
2. Hey Montana: the light rail riders of SE Seattle are probably not your best demographic for ads about huge road trips thru vast empty spaces.
3. Good example of why we don’t need $200,000 art installations, advertisers will provide visuals and pay us for it.
I was born in Montana, I was reared in Montana. Charles, Montana is the last place you as a black man would want to go to. (seriously, the “N” word is used quite frequently by the rednecks who live there) And you little gay boys who want to go there? Well, bring a couple of guns, you’ll need them.
But the scenery is really quite pretty. And if you go float the Yellowstone River, very very nice. Just don’t talk to the locals.
Er. Montana is hilarious and wonderful and awful and Ivan Doig etc etc. In my youth I found a string of gorgeous willowy newly arrived Montana refugees, atremble at their luck finding Seattle such an easy escape from their tiny-town family terrors. They all wound up power bottoms after awhile, though. It was kind of spooky.
Just go already.
So that the rest of us may have more room.
Especially those of you who think Charles needs an unpaid editor. He’ll find the spell-check feature. Give him time.
charles was just sleep-writing, like always.
These ads have been up for a couple of months at least…. I wouldnt say “just in time for light rail”.
Rejected tagline: “Montana, I wish I knew how to quit you.”
I just got back from a trip through MT, and I did forget how beautiful and vast it was. I certainly don’t miss the lack of city life and culture that Seattle affords, but I was hit with a pang of nostalgia.
So yeah, go and check it out, just get the F*$% out before you sully it with your hipper-than-thou Seattle stink.
As someone born in Montana, we actually are required to send one person to Seattle in each generation. Some stay and the ones that go back open coffee shops and help keep a few Democrats in office there – which I think is a good thing.
So ddvelin, you admit we ARE hipper-than-thou (albeit stinky).
@CommonKnowledge~ In the capital hill reality you’ve created around yourself, certainly. Would the rest of the world agree? The jury is still out on that one.
@13, I was just thinking how “Backroads Montana” could be misread at a glance as “Brokeback Mountain.”
Ah, the empty, windy places from which people like Max Baucus are attempting to screw us in the butt.
Way to go Charles. I’ve seen those ads in the tunnels and I think their great!
As a Montana transplant of 14 years, I think its pretty awesome that the state is reaching out to metropolitan cities like Seattle. Some of these comments about how awful the people are in Montana are baseless, grudging responses from douchebags who grew up in Montana with a chip on their shoulder. Its a great place, with great people, who have been nothing but kind and accepting of all my friends who have gone, regardless of your identity. Obviously, if you go to some small, shitbox town in ANY state (this one included) you’ll find ignorant doucebags. But that’s not the point here. The point is go…its a 7 hour drive, and the National Parks, lakes and even college towns (like Missoula) are a lot of fun.
@19
Go Griz.
Boycott Montana. Tell Senator Baucus to stop selling out to the insurance and drug companies. If there is no public option in the Senate health care reform bill then I won’t be spending my dollars in Montana period. More info: http://artistdogboy.blogspot.com/2009/07…
How come there are no posters in the rest of the bus/lightrail tunnel? I mean, compared to France, it’s kind of empty.
My grandma used to live in Missoula. It’s hot and boring out there.
Somebody should spray paint that. That’d be radical.
No roaming charges is somewhat of a fallacy. All the national parks have fees to enter.