KITTITAS

Kittitas is the "Valley of the Long Grass" just east of Ellensberg WA.-The band Kittitas consists of Clint Werner (of Tacoma's finest; Seaweed, The Fuckers) Patrick Conner (has played in and fronted too many great bands to list- currently in MuskOx and they're the shit.) Bryan Garfinkel (came from the swamps of Virginia to rip the drums at a ripe 18 yrs of age) and the amazing Sean Hollister (of Valis, Screaming Trees, King Crab). During the first couple of spontaneous sessions at Uptone Studios in the Fall of 1999', Sean was on drums, Finkel on keyboards, Clint on Bass and Pat on gtr+vox. The fact that Clint was a fill in bassist (for Kitty Kitty-1/2 Tass) and Finkel just flew out a few weeks prior, made the jam session interesting and exciting. Diverse flavors and styles were starting to churn and the results were phenomanal. Fuzzy guitars and funky keyboards laced with fuct up drums and stellar vocals, helped shape the signature Kittitas sound. Several power sessions later, actually 2.5 years later,five or six Kittitas albums were out on the streets of Tacoma/Seattle. The band also played a number of great shows during their amazing three year run of magic. -Right now the guys are on hiatus but a new album is definatley in demand.Kittitas is also known for its hay production. Early settlers harvested hay to sustain domestic livestock through the winter. As with other grains, they used hand-held scythes and, later, horse-drawn mowers to cut the hay and pitchforks to stack it. As cities and industries employed horses as the principle source of draft-work, the demand for hay soared. Seattle, Tacoma, and other Puget Sound cities needed thousands of tons of hay to feed work-horses, as did the state's lumber and mining companies. Hay production was becoming a big business. As a result, county hay farmers constantly modified and upgraded the harvesting and baling machinery and processes to increase their productivity. By the 1920s, however, cities and industries had largely evolved from horses to combustible engines, and Kittitas County and other central and eastern Washington producers felt the adverse effects of the transition. Only the return of horse-racing in the 1930s and pleasure horses in the 1950s have helped to sustain the county's hay industry. Today, Kittitas County hay is marketed to numerous states across the country, including Kentucky, as well as Pacific Rim and European nations.