The Canadian Geese are migrating through, as are Mallard Ducks and Pintail Ducks. Instead of Coyotes last night we heard DOGS -- that'll keep 'em a little further away, I hope. We are off to Canada ourselves for the weekend -- a relaxing getaway or reverse migration?

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris, from my jet-lagged first 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: Keep that resolution as Autumn settles in! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Gotta update the Hockaday Museum of Art's webpage before I go North. We signed up a lot of new members last Thursday!

Media Watch: I was loading up and testing my new laptop computer at home with the TV running in the background -- Detroit literally "dropped the ball," against St. Louis in Game 4 of the World Series. Too many errors lost the game, and being down 1-3 won't help them win the series either.
PBS -- A scientist explored his theory about a global cooling event during the Sixth Century A.D. He needs more evidence, for sure, but the Dark Ages might just have been as cold as they were "dark."
Western Europe's situation sucked bad enough with whole populations migrating all over the still-rotting corpse of the Roman Empire, but China and Asia were also trying to climb out of the mess left in the wake of the fall of the later Chin Dynasty. Sassannian Persia acted as a stabilizing force -- their existance enabled the "Silk Road" to continue, for instance. Buddhism and Christianity met at the Sassannian crossroads, but this promising cultural tapestry was forcibly torn apart by the violent rise of Islam in the Seventh Century. The Caliphs did NOT abandon Civilization, but they altered it considerably, plus aided and abetted it's destruction at certain times and places during the expansion of their empire.


There REALLY was a Brunhilde -- not a Valkrie, but a warrior/queen of sorts who did a pretty good job overseeing a small country on the Rhine River during the Dark Ages. Her name was remembered when people started writing again, and she became a character in many a mythic romance. This is my own version of a post-classical tile portrait, based on Arthur Rackham's portrayal of her.

More Eagles, more Hawks, the Deer are roving the neighborhood irrespective of day or night. The Canadian Geese paid us a short visit, but they flew off by the hundreds towards Big Foy's Lake -- must be an issue of room.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris, from my jet-lagged first 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: Keep that resolution as Autumn settles in! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Setting up a P.A. for the Scholarship Luncheon at Flathead Valley Community College!

Media Watch: Trash-O-Rama -- Jerry Springer's real fans showed up and booted him off Dancing with the Stars. GAWD! What a travesty. I wonder if the Australian and English shows have the same problem with fan votes skewing competition results 'way beyond the point of pathetic? That show lost two pretty good dancers because a country singer and a talk-show host had lots of active fans.

I've seen the original version of The Producers many times, but there's one aspect of it that I've never really commented about, until now -- Dick Shawn's portrayal of LSD/Hitler really made the movie for me. That guy was just so balls-out funny! I've always suspected that Mel Brooks let Shawn create his own lines and business for the most part. Springtime for Hitler, the Busby Berkeley-ish production number was likely the genesis of the whole show, and resembles much of Brooks' overall work.

I got a flattering email from a reader: ...Since you mentioned Dario Argento , I thought that you might be interested in posting about Masters of Horror on your blog? You seem like a reputable influencer, so I think you'd be a big help to us.
Well, I visited their website (link below) and took a look at what they offer. There's a whole bunch of "buddy icons" to paste into cooperating blogs, which I do not choose to do, and plot descriptions of their shows. All I can say is that I'll keep an eye on the series, and say something if it tickles my fancy.
From the Masters of Horror Website (With MY comments in parentheses!): Dario Argento is Italy 's leading director of innovative surreal thriller and horror movies. The son of Salvatore Argento, one of the big movie producers of the 60's and 70's, and Elda Luxardo, the well-known photographer, he began his career as a film critic. Together with Bernardo Bertolucci he then worked as assistant scriptwriter to his great maestro, Sergio Leone, for whom he wrote the story for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968). In 1970, Argento made his directing debut with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. This was followed by CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971), and FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1972). This trilogy contributed to establishing Dario Argento as a recognized master of the thriller genre. In 1975, after a brief departure from his usual fare, during which he made LE CINQUE GIORNATE (THE 5 DAYS WAR) (1973), he returned to his own unique vision of horror, generating terror amongst movie audiences with DEEP RED, considered by many critics his masterpiece. (Good flick!) The year 1977 marked the release of SUSPIRIA, one of his best-loved films abroad. (Jessica Harper's movie? I like it -- whatever THAT means.) He then undertook work on the screenplay and post-production of George Romero's classic DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979). (One of the true classics of the Horror Genre, for sure!) During the 80's Argento went on to tackle his supernatural thriller INFERNO (1980)(Unfortunate, uninspired follow-up to SUSPIRIA!), followed by the sophisticated, disturbing TENEBRE (1983), and PHENOMENA, A Tale of Horror (1985). In 1987 Argento directed one of his most shocking movies, OPERA, set in Parma 's Teatro Regio. In 1990, he moved to the U.S. where he worked with George Romero on TWO EVIL EYES, for which he wrote and directed the episode THE BLACK CAT. Argento directed TRAUMA in 1992, casting his young daughter Asia , for the first time, as leading actress. (And not for the LAST time!) THE STENDHAL SYNDROME (1996) announced his return to working as director in Italy , followed by THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1998), SLEEPLESS (2001) and THE CARD PLAYER (2004). Dario Argento also wrote the screenplay for Patroni Griffi's LOVE CIRCLE (1968). He produced two films directed by Lamberto Bava: DEMONS (1985) and DEMONS II (1986), (Those last two films are real gory carnival-rides, but they are original!) as well as Michele Soavi's THE CHURCH (1989) and THE SECT (1991), and Sergio Stivaletti's M.D.C (THE WAX MASK) (1996). Argento has also worked for television and he directed four short films for the 1972 series LA PORTA SUL BUIO.

COMPLETELY Unrelated -- I caught Wes Craven Presents Wishmaster over the satellite, and let it go right away. He was the executive producer, or some damn thing, but the movie was cheesy, predictable and lame, despite Tammy Lauren's solid performance as lead actress, and Robert Englund in a supporting role.

This is MY kind of Monster Movie!


Puca, Rachelle, and Christophe re-enact St. George, the Princess, and the Dragon LIVE at the opening of Footsbarn 35 -- A Celebration of Theatre, August 9, 2006.

Day and night the Whitetail Deer are grazing our neighborhood as if they knew that hunting season was upon them. I haven't seen any males for quite a while, though. We have heard Coyotes lately, even during the afternoons -- our cats are coming in early, and they are NOT going out before 9 AM!

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris, from my jet-lagged first 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: Keep that resolution as Autumn settles in! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Media Watch: (Let's get this out of the way first.) Rob Zombie, Rock musician and director of House of 1000 Corpses was a guest host on TCM, and showed two of Russ Meyer's most famous exploitation flicks -- Faster Pusssycat, Kill Kill!, and Mudhoney. BOTH of these titles were later used for names of not-too-bad Rock bands.
The movies themselves were gritty black and white sleaze-o-ramas, starring women with huge breasts being brutalized by awful men, and striking back by doing more than their fair share of the killing in Faster Pussycat. Meyer was a first-rate cameraman who won a Bronze Star in WWII, and was commended for his combat footage of the Normandy Invasion on D-Day. He made his living shooting skin pictures, and what were called Nudie films in Postwar America. His actresses and models were most often strippers, prostitutes, and women whose jobs were various combinations of the two professions.The theme of these two movies is hatred of women, even though most of the male characters are pretty damned awful. What humor exists is crude, belittling, and the funniest scenes are only inadvertently so. Herschel Gordon's grossly violent stuff may have been in worse taste, Roger Corman's big money-makers might have had less craftsmanship, Hal Wallis' Annette, Frankie, and Elvis movies may have sported equally inept acting and scripts, but Meyer was still a pimp -- selling "forbidden fruit" at cheap prices.
Empowerment my ass, Camilla Paglia. From Kitten Natividad on back to the high school dropouts flashing for cash in the 50's, those women deserved better than what men like Meyer provided in return for their sensuality -- degradation, guilt, and very little money.

In The Community: Members Only Autumn Salon at the Hockaday Museum of Art was a big success. Over 180 people visited us and cast ballots for their favorites. We sold a number of pieces right away, but the buyers will have to wait until Christmas to take them home. My Footsbarn-inspired digital watercolor was VERY well received, but nobody's going to know who won prizes until after the night of the Kalispell Art Walk on December 1.
Speaking of Footsbarn, that's what I did at FVCC at the Intercultural Brown-bag Lecture on Monday, October 23 -- spoke about Footsbarn, that is. Their amazing story, and my admiration and enthusiasm for their art and work overcame the anxiousness I felt when attempting to present 35 years of theater history in less than 50 minutes. I have committed myself to another illustrated lecture next Wednesday for the college's Theater 101 class -- I ought to be committed, for sure. 2000 pictures are a lot of images to sift through, and selecting the best of them is a challenge!



Me again -- at the Hockaday Museum of Art, holding Masques On Parade, before we hung it on the wall.
View Masques Here!