Life near the big woods -- those Bald Eagles continue to get TOO close to the back deck, and my cats, in the mornings. (See picture below.) The suet feeders are welcome to Flickers, Woodpeckers, Magpies, and Chickadees. I don't mind the Deer gleaning a few extra Sunflower seeds, but I'm throwing them under rocks and logs so the Pheasants have a chance of having some when they visit.


A mid-December morning on Middle Foy's Lake, with a Bald Eagle parked on the ice about thirty yards from my back deck, after he/she had dived low overhead a few minutes earlier.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

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: Make a resolution as the days get longer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I am going to update the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website over the next week and a half, otherwise I'm off work until 2007! The Hockaday published a slick-cover annual report this year for the first time since I've been there. Most of the photos were by me -- which makes sense, since that's a major part of my job.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Yes, I did it again -- went shopping on a pre-Christmas weekend. Smiles and patience are the best strategies for getting through crowds of people on foot. Cars though -- patience kept me alive and insurable in slow/stop traffic, and John Coltrane's Giant Steps with Mr. PC kept that smile on my face through those backed-up parking lots. Gotta do wut Preznunt Bush sez -- buy more crap. Speaking of which, why are there so many horror/slasher movies coming out in theaters NOW? Those ads are all over the TV -- reminds me how much I like Halloween, but REALLY...

Media Watch: Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 was on the satellite -- the lead actor did a great job of slapstick clowning in a horror movie context. Raimi has given the movie-going public a lot of fun over the last 20-plus years since this sophomore film. Most of his work shows a personal and humorous point of view. Hercules -- The Legendary Journeys and Xena, Warrior Princess had their unique moments on TV. He was ideal as director of the Spider Man movies, in my opinion, the first one showing on prime-time TV Christmas Eve.
Real Books -- Adventures from the Technology Underground by William Gurstelle describes people who love to create sparkling, noisy Tesla coils, model rockets that are too damn big, flame-throwers, dangerously destructive machinery, and various catapulting machines -- the latter gathered in Deleware for "Punkin' Chunkin'" competitions. Burning Man gets a mention, plus some of the San Francisco artists who enjoy playing with fire and blowing s*** up! Crimson Rose, the Naked Fire Goddess, and Burning Man administrator is not mentioned, but a number of her friends are.
Henry Louis Gates was on Book TV talking about the Encyclopedia Africana project he undertook under the posthumous influence of W.E.B. DuBois, who originally proclaimed this idea after a vivid dream in 1909 -- the lecture was funny poigniant., and even scholarly. (The Encyclopedia Judaica created enormously positive effects worldwide for another dispersed ethnicity in 1907.) Gates sure liked the multi-media embedded in his now-published encyclopedia, which was something that DuBois probably never "dreamed" about. Ironically, DuBois died the night before Martin Luther King gave the I Have A Dream speech during the March On Washington in 1963. His last telegraphed words were read to the crowd immediately afterwards.
This program was followed by a discussion about author interviews in the Paris Review -- pieces which stand on their own, even in the glare of reflected glory. On another CSPAN channel, PBS veterans Cokie Roberts, Linda Wertheimer, and Nina Totenberg shared a panel about Journalism -- they had a lot to say, but it was too bad how deeply they were in denial about their unfortunate roles as conduits of governmental and corporate propaganda (so-called talking points) in return for too-easy access to the corridors of power.
"First with a sound bite" doesn't wash as a scoop -- and accomodating corrupt right-wing apparatchiks who despise you and your employer doesn't wash as a survival tactic.
I'm dissing Roberts the most, I will never forgive her for that vile "values voters" abomination she channeled for Karl Rove in 2004, unless she apologizes one day. Twenty five years of integrity in trade for introducing a Dan Quayle-like hand-me-down cynical joke on public sensibility -- bad deal, Miss Boggs!
Totenberg has been much more timorous since she was threatened with arrest over a congressional corruption leak. Wertheimer ramblingly admitted to feeling more fear -- sad all way around.
Lightening up with NFL Football -- Winners go to the playoffs, losers go home during this part of the season. Running back Reggie Bush of New Orleans is cleansing some of the stains off of his surname. The New England Patriots are no longer unstoppable, but still dam' tough. Commercials are still dam' obnoxious -- talking boogers anyone? (Thought not.)
Snowy and cold in Denver, the alternative would be cold and snowy in Cincinatti. San Diego looked pretty strong against Seattle, but I wouldn't want to jinx anybody. I continued to calm down with the wonderfully vulgar and funny Triumph the Insult Dog plus Web Junk 2006 -- host Patrice O'Neil has the knack of milking laughs out of dorky video clips in the latter show.
Monday Night Football was played in rainy Miami, Florida. As Patrice O'Neil himself might say: The teams showed some 'TUDE! -- Ineptitude!
Zero to zero for most of the game, and when the rain slackened, both squads started scoring until time ran out for one of them.

Milestones: One of the greatest artists of the 20th Century passed away over the Christmas weekend -- James Brown lived up to all those hyperbolic titles like: Hardest Working Man In Show Business; Mister Dynamite; Soul Brother Number One; and Godfather of Funk. He was an electrifying singer, dancer, and songwriter. He also led some of the best show bands in history, with the able help of Jimmy Ellis, Bobby Bird, John Starks, Bernard Odom, Melvin Parker, and the fabulous Maceo Parker -- to pick out a few names among many.
In my own white-bread life, James Brown's groundbreaking single Papa's Got A Brand New Bag was unlike anything else on the charts in 1965. His rise to super-stardom in the wake of the Civil Rights Act was testimony to a fundamental change in U.S. culture, and his hard-driving music presented a creative challenge to the entire world in it's excellence and originality. I Feel Good (I Got You) secured his status as a star. His ever-developing rhythmic style co-opted the term Funk, and he turned it into a popular genre of it's own, as listening to Cold Sweat and Sex Machine will prove.
Clyde Stubblefield's drum solo on Cold Sweat itself is a classic -- and the "Funky Drummer" is still gigging in the Midwest. Cincinatti brothers Bootsy and Phelps Collins stood next to Brown onstage when they were barely out of high school -- after J.B. fired them, George Clinton needed their services badly and P-Funk made a quantumm leap when they signed on and started writing songs with George and Bernie Worrell. Maceo Parker even played with both Brown's band and P-Funk in the 70's and 80's.
As my informational tangents demonstrate, James Brown was a focus-point of creative energy, and his influence radiated throughout musical culture until the end -- his inspiration will continue, and I'll always appreciate him.