Pearl Jammer trades bass for basketball this weekend

Rock musician Jeff Ament will return to his hometown of Big Sandy this weekend to play in a high school alumni basketball game.

Ament, a former standout point guard for Big Sandy High, and his sister Stephanie, a former star at Northern Montana College, will both be in town for the event, their father said today.

Ament, lead bassist for the rock band Pearl Jam, studied art at the University of Montana before launching a successful career as a musician.

"I think his music got him a little farther than his basketball," said Big Sandy boys basketball coach Roy Lackner. "But he's played a lot, and...