Winter storm watch in effect, but all we’ve seen are light rain and sunshine so far. The migrating birds are showing up in the backyard – a Golden Eye Duck, a Canadian Goose, Ravens, Starlings, a Canadian Jay, and a Rough-Legged Hawk trying to eat one of ‘em!

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 brighter to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I saw the local symphony at Flathead High School Auditorium, last Sunday. They had a guest violinist named Jorge Saade who led the musicians through some wonderful compositions from South America. They started with the sentimental, but popular, Espana by Parisian composer Emmanuel Chabrier, and then took our ears deeper into the 20th Century. The original Hemispheres started the second half, a somewhat–serial, jazzy piece by conductor John Zoltek, which I found very pleasing. Ravel’s Bolero finished off the show – Ida Rubinstein’s role in commissioning this modern classic for her ballet company is all but forgotten, but you can get a glimpse of this mighty rhythmic tone-poem in its original context HERE.
John could use about ten more experienced brass players – there were moments when the orchestra lacked the punch a full horn section could deliver. My friend Sherry Parmater played a wonderful English Horn solo during Bolero, and the strings sounded great throughout the concert.

Media Watch: Book TV showed a winner! E.R. Braithwaite described his childhood in Africa and the events that led him to write To Sir With Love in 1959, the novel describing the struggles of an African man in England teaching troubled white youths in a public school. Educated as a research physicist at Cambridge, Mr. Braithwaite reluctantly became a teacher but gradually began to enjoy his work. His first book was a memoir based on this experience, and became a movie starring Sidney Poitier in 1967. Braithwaite went on to serve as an UNESCO educational consultant and lecturer, Guyana's representative to the United Nations, and as Guyana's ambassador to Venezuela.



Ida Rubinstein (and Kitty), in her solo dance costume for Ravel's Bolelo in 1928. The music was a sensation, but Ida owned exclusive performance rights until the early 30's. Ironically, just as Bolero made him internationally famous, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was injured in a Paris taxi accident in 1932, which is often blamed for the sudden drop-off of his productivity and his early death.