The Western sky shows the tell-tale plume of a forest fire. Another nasty one blocked Highway 2 to the East of us. This constantly hot weather is just plain unhealthy.

Remembering my friend Georgio at: 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; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!
Read my latest Spitfires in Context essay.

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

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art is catching it's collective breath, with a few events in August, and no new shows until September.

Media Watch: Ingmar Bergman passed away this morning -- he was one of the guiding lights of Art and Cinema in my young life. I was deeply influenced by The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Silence, Through A Glass Darkly, The Virgin Spring, and The Magician. Max Von Sydow sure did some excllent work for him! Bergman did movies another favor by introducing us to Liv Ullman as well. I freely admit to liking other directors more -- but DAMN he was good!
Bill Walsh, the American Football genius died of cancer -- I do not use the term lightly. He turned the San Francisco 49ers from perennial losers into the second-best franchise in NFL history. Without him they degenerated back to their last-place ways.

Now For The LIVING!


Lady Miss Kier will sing, dance, and spin Seattle into a frenzy on Wednesday -- wish I could be there. She'll make the whole town feel THE FUNK!