We couldn't even see the mountains yesterday afternoon because of forest fire smoke. The wan morning sun looked like a used red lollipop as it struggled to shed some light on the Flathead Valley today. At least the woods aren't burning HERE!

NEW LAYOUT! Footsbarn Thirty-Five at: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley
Look for the NEW main-page link to Footsbarn Theatre

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution as Autumn rushes toward us! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Yep, I'm going to be doing the Hockaday Museum of Art website again. I made some progress on my Autumn Salon piece too -- I think I'm going to rely on photos of the parade at Montluçon for the up-and-down medieval look of that town.

Media Watch: PBS Satellite showed an old American Masters episode featuring Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990) -- when I was growing up, Bernstein might just as well have been Magnetic North, as far as music went. Any time of day or night, watching him, listening to him, or reading him could help anybody find their way around, no matter what types of music they may have liked or not liked. As a performer he was a super-star, and he was a damn good composer as well. There were many scenes of him flailing away at an orchestra in his most flamboyant style, but there was also one sequence where he conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra without a baton -- just turning and smiling, with his arms at his side.
This film helped me, one of his average viewers, get back in touch with the inspirational energy he extruded in the 50's and 60's, not to mention the years before and after those decades:
In the beginning was the Note, and
the note was with God; and
whosoever can reach for that Note,
reach high, and bring it back to
us on earth...and to the extent
of his reach, partakes of the divine.

Theater/Theatre: Speaking of Montluçon:


Juliet hands out affiches to the townspeople, while her Korean friend spins that long white ribbon from her hat on the streets of Montluçon, France. August 4, 2006