Wildlife: The Pheasant family, about seven of them, are hanging around our yard under the low gray skies. Jasmine, our Calico Cat, is terrified of large birds since some wild Turkeys chased her a few years ago. Speaking of cats, Merry Gold doesn't seem to care, but he never harasses anything bigger than a Robin either. Buttercup hates getting wet, so she's hardly gone outside at all.



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: Lawdy Lawd, we've been enduring that soggy, soggy dew for the last 60 hours.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site So many organizations want your money -- all they want are your clicks.

Media Watch: I'm reading The Yosemite by John Muir -- written in 1912, published in 1914, with updated footnotes written in 1962 for this paperback edition. Muir is one of the most gifted descriptive writers I've ever read.
George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars played at the Fillmore in San Francisco last Saturday night. (Review reprinted from the San Jose Mercury):
Sunday, September 11, 2005 George Clinton celebrates 50 years of the P-funk nation in San Francisco with Bootsy Collins Mark Whittington, 03:41 AM
I am suffering from funk whiplash.
That was the diagnosis of my 16-year-old son after we spent Saturday night at the Fillmore with George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars.
The bandleader, who is either 63 or 64 depending on who you believe, remains a force of nature. This tour is celebrating 50 years since Clinton formed his first do-wop group, the Parliaments. Clinton, sporting multi-hued dreadlocks, a purple Harlem jersey and sweatpants, seems part shaman and part ringmaster.
He and his merry band (I lost count at 20 singers and musicians) still dish up the pure funk. They lay down a groove so thick it sticks to your body. By the time they began to chant "Get Up on the Downstroke," the sold-out crowd was dancing along.
Highlights: Bootsy Collins, who returned to the fold for the first 40 minutes, nailed the crowd to the back wall with his bass lines of old favorites like "Give Up the Fun (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)." I love the old stuff, but even the songs from the new "How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent" sounded double funky.
Before midnight, they launched into "Flash Light" and didn't let up for more than 90 minutes, rotating musicians and switching songs, including a medley of old-time rock 'n' roll that included Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard favorites. At one point, it looked like a "Girls Gone Wild (and Funky)" video shoot with about a dozen women from the crowd dancing with the band on stage.

In-concert photo by Eli The Kid c)2005
Note: ALL the women are decently dressed.
For all I know, they are all still going strong. (After all, "ain't no party like a P-Funk party 'cause a P-Funk party don't stop.") My son and I left about three hours into the set. On the ride home, he declared it "sweet" and "a better show than Metallica." (Fathers live for moments like these.)
He headed for bed. His last words: "I'm gonna pass the funk out."