As Ann Miller sang in the 50's -- It's TOO DARN HOT! We are looking at about ten days of 100+ degrees (F -- and I mean F!) temperatures. My cats have been miserable.

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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Another Sunday at the Hockaday Museum of Art -- a recent newspaper article by Candace Chase seems to have stimulated some local interest in our fine collection of Glacier National Park artists. (It's also nice and COOL in here.) One reason I'm grousing about the weather is because the Hockaday's annual fundraiser Arts in the Park is next weekend, and I'll be working outside in this devilish heat over four long days.

Media Watch: Harry Potter frenzy in the Mainstream Media -- the movie Order of the Phoenix is doing very well indeed at the box office, and the final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is due for release next weekend. Some gloomy pundits are predicting that reading among children will decline after Rowling's opus ends. I hope they are wrong -- the popularity of Harry Potter books demonstrates an ongoing need that isn't matched by any other medium.


The first Fantasy Blockbuster in the Mass Media was J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings during the 60's. The Harry Potter movies have been respectful to their source material, but I can't say the same about most reinterpretations of Tolkien's popular imaginative feat. Multi-book creations by other authors were common after the late professor's success, though, and many have been excellent. Reading still RULES!