Montana

Tin Finley: Polson show marks homecoming for Montana-based band

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2024

Tin Finley: Polson show marks homecoming for Montana-based band

For Polson native Kati O’Toole, the concert April 8 at the Theatre on the Lake in Polson marks a musical homecoming. The Polson High School grad joins another alum, bassist Eric Hogenson, and friends and bandmates Annette Strean and Kirk Cornelius in Tin Finley – a band named after Nashville’s famed Tin Angel restaurant (where three of the four members either met or worked) and inspired by the quartet’s Montana roots.

O’Toole began playing keyboards when she was just 3, under the tutelage of longtime music teacher Marilyn Coffee. She went on to perform at Good Lutheran Church, in local talent shows, and was a member the PHS Select Choir and a smaller ensemble called Connection.

She also played some smaller roles in Port Polson Players’ student productions, “where I was doing mostly singing and no acting. I’m a terrible actor,” she says.

Her real passion was songwriting and crafting melodies. She earned a degree in music production and engineering from the Berklee College of Music in Boston and then headed to Los Angeles where she worked in a world-renowned studio, The Village Recorder, before landing a job as the head of production at StudioPros, an online recording studio. She also worked as a touring musician, playing keyboards and singing.

“I knew that I wanted to do something creative in my life and music makes me happy,” she says. Coincidentally, her compatriots in Tin Finley are also successful professional musicians who made their way back to Montana.

Whitefish native Strean traveled across the United States and around the world with her band, Venus Hum, which also opened for, and performed in, the touring show for Blue Man Group. She remains a professional recording artist, singer, songwriter and writer. She and her husband, Cornelius, met at the Tin Angel and played music and toured together before moving back to the Flathead.

O’Toole first met Strean in Nashville 18 years ago when both were working at the Tin Angel and were introduced by a mutual friend. They were reintroduced in 2020, pre-pandemic, when they were both living in the Flathead Valley.

The two women launched the band – and invited Strean’s husband to join them on guitars. Within the past year, Hogenson added bass to the mix. He also grew up in Polson, graduating in 1997, and was a friend of O’Toole’s husband, Darin Robison (PHS Class of ’99). Also, both Hogenson’s and O’Toole’s parents taught in the Polson Schools.

When O’Toole first moved to L.A., Hogenson and his wife, Cat, were living there. “He was really kind in hooking me up with shows here and there where I would open for his band, The Quick Six.”

“Polson people look out for each other like that, and it’s kinda cool,” says O’Toole.

Hogenson is now department chair and Professor of Elementary Education at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo. The two families have become good friends, “and it just made sense to have him join the band on bass,” says O’Toole. “It has really filled out our sound.”

The band often choses unconventional venues, although the Port Polson Players’ “intimate and nostalgic” theater at the golf course marks their first show in Polson. Other venues have included Home Ranch Bottoms in Polebridge, Max’s in Bigfork, Kalico Art Center in Kalispell and Camp Tuffit at Lake Mary Ronan

Since their inception, band members have co-written “an album’s worth of material” which they’ve been producing at their home studios. As one might expect from a quartet for professionals, their music is propelled by strong melodies, thought-provoking lyrics and tight, graceful harmonies.

In a review for the Daily Inter Lake, Margaret Davis described Tin Finley’s music as “expertly penned and arranged, disarmingly honest, riveting,” and writes that their songs “take listeners on whole journeys to new places and sound like nothing else.”

The Polson show begins at 7 p.m. April 20 and admission is free, although donations to support the artists are welcome at the door.

For more on the band, visit tinfinley.com.

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Montana

Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for March 2, 2026

Published

7 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing

02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from March 2 drawing

03-08-17-24-34, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from March 2 drawing

06-12-19-29, Bonus: 11

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 2 drawing

21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25

Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing

28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

19 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

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