Wildlife: A pair of female Whitetail Deer greeted me at the entrance to my neighborhood while I was on my way home from the Hockaday Museum.



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

Weather: No rain since Tuesday, but it's cloudy.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Just click -- no obligation, just help for the hungry.

In The Community: Last night we held the reception for Two Generations Merle Olson & Darlene Olson Morgan's show at the Hockaday Museum, plus a "related" photography exhibit by Michael and Robert Livsey at a new place, Gallery 344 on Main Street, run by our friend Ed Gilliland.
(From the Hockaday's Website) Merle Olson (1910-1999) sought to “paint the landscape uncluttered by man...the serene and restful beauty, the grandeur of the land.” Both a painter and sculptor, she lived in Bigfork and exhibited around the country. Merle Olson’s daughter Darlene Morgan began drawing and painting at a very young age. In her paintings of Native Americans and other western themes, Darlene uses India ink in an ink wash, creating very detailed images that are sometimes mistaken for photographs.
Not by ME -- but they're nice anyway -- take a look: Exhibits at the Hockaday Museum of Art


Darlene Olson Morgan (Right) looks
over her mother's paintings at the Hockaday.
I'm trying hard to edit Flathead Community College's Current Events show in time to get it on the cable service in time to promote the theater department's production of Ira Levin's Deathtrap, which is opening next week.

Media Watch: I looked all over the Sci-Fi Channel, but I couldn't see Dubya's speech on the schedule there, where it belonged.
(From DailyKos.com) Lights in New Orleans. For Bush. by kos Fri Sep 16th, 2005 at 09:24:17 PDT
Brian Williams:
I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS (President of the United States) drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.
No jumping required to reach those conclusions.

Wildlife: It was so dark earlier in the week the deer must have thought it was twilight all the time. I saw a mama and her very large, still-spotty fawn twice in twelve hours. There was a big single female running alongside me for awhile when I was driving to work the other morning too.



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

Weather: The sky finally lifted on Tuesday, and Wednesday was very pleasant. Those might be rain clouds building up today.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click to help feed people -- no obligation.

Media watch: Make It Funky on VH1, with some of my favorite New Orleans musicians -- especially Allen Toussaint. It was recorded in New Orleans before the disaster, but they had intervening spots requesting donations, instead of commercials. Toussaint spoke on one of them, so I hope that means he's out of there and OK.
Cast: John F. Cleary -- Host with a bright red nose -- makeup, lights, or Mr. Cleary may have a problem there; The Dirty Dozen Brass Band -- Extraordinarily Funky; The Neville Brothers -- Almost TOO Funky; Arthur Neville -- Keyboards (Original Meters); Ian Neville -- Guitar (Arthur's son); Aaron Neville -- Master Falsetto Vocalist; Ivan Neville -- Sax and Vocals; Bonnie Raitt -- Singer/Slide Guitarist; Keith Richards -- Guitarist & VERY BAD Vocals; Allen Toussaint -- Piano, Vocals, Great Songwriting; Irma Thomas -- Major Studio Singer; Lloyd Price -- 50's Hit Singer; Funky Meters -- VERY Funky indeed! George Porter, Jr. -- Bass (One of the original Meters too); Snooks Eaglin -- Polyrhythmic Guitarist; Walter "Wolfman" Washington -- Phat, Greasy, Ass-kickin' Guitarist.
Keith Richards is kind of endearing when he sings, but frankly he's terrible at it. I must say he's better than he was fifteen years ago, but compared to his guitar playing, his vocal prowess is more suited to the campfire than the stage. I WOULDN'T have chosen to end the show with his croaky version of Fats Domino's I'm Ready (Willing and Able to Rock N' Roll All Night.)
Hey! Here are some words from my friend, ex-P-Funk drummer Gabe Gonzales, about George Clinton's new CD:
Got Damniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!
They got me again,diggin the new P-Funk All Star cd for the new direction.I also hear my drumwork SAMPLED on the loop half of Somn'Stank with the pitbull growling,that spanking beat is yours truly.BTW been listening to me play the whole gig from 95'NYC & 96 Central Park. Damn,Dr.Funk open yo ears & listen to that shit with all due respect it ain't Frank or Ron I forgot it was I until I recently took a closer listen. Pretty impressive tempos & music direction for then! Plus I was grooving and enjoying the Funk without giving a damn that I was in the hotseat! George was actually having a mad muthafunking blast,especially on songs like "just say ding".

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."

Wildlife: Lesser Scaups and Ring-Necked Ducks in Middle Foy's Lake today. The migrations are happening! The male pheasant brought his whole family over for a Sunday brunch of sunflower seeds. They spend a lot of time under the Alder tree sheltering from the soggy sky too.



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

Weather: Another dark, wet, cold, and dreary day -- Autumn is unpacking it's bags.

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

In The Community: I finished my methodical exhibit photography of Winold Reiss, Artist of the Great Northern Railway yesterday. The show goes bye bye in about a month. Get on down and see it for yourself! Hockaday Museum of Art
How about Jeanna Nixon's new design? Just fine, I say!

Media Watch: How Late Do U have 2BB4UR Absent? by George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars -- CD Two is really entertaining! Their fans are divided about having the old Rockabilly standard Whole Lotta Shakin' in the setlist, but this version is a 50's medley with Bobby Womak alternating leads with gravelly-voiced George. I enjoyed them jamming on Don't You Just Know It -- Huey (Piano) Smith and the Clowns (from New Orleans) were an important precursor of Sly & the Family Stone and the Temptations.