As the Temptaions once sang: Oh how I wish that it would RAIN! Let it RAIN... Red skies at morning -- forest fire warning. Red skies at night -- diffused f%@#in' light. Three Whitetail Deer ran in front of me at Dry Bridge last night. What were those white ducks we saw -- escaped domesticates?

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: Special events at the Hockaday Museum of Art will start up next week, and continue to Labor Day Weekend. I'm going to be hauling stage risers between Whitefish and Kalispell after next weekend for Music & Museum Sunday, August 26 -- there are some things about performing arts that I do NOT love. Wonder if there's some of those things closer into town?

Media Watch: Besides the TV and Radio being full of forest fire updates --
Ridiculous -- The VERY silly Epic Movie on DVD. Parody is often considered the lowest form of comedy, and this flick provided no proof to the contrary. The funniest moment for me was the Mutant Academy sign saying "Home of the Wolverines." (If you are an X-Men fan you'll get the joke.) Carmen Elektra as a "nude" blue mutant was OK, and Narnia adaptations deserve all the derision they get and more.
Sublime -- Magpie collective workshop week -- August 27-31 in Amsterdam, Holland
August 27 Monday 19:00-21:00
BRAIN STUDIES OT301 health studio - 2 euros
Brain Studies is a laboratory initiated by Sylvain Meret for performing artist. The aim is to confront different disciplines which involve a practice or an access to understanding the relationship between the body and the brain l(neuron sciences, hypnosis, clinical case study, meditation, cognitive science ect). Brain studies session's takes place through out the year. You can join the Brian studies mailing list to be up dated on sessions that take place and to receive reports about this work. In this lecture we will focus on how the brain works when we perform and improvise by articulating the different organisations of the brain: the low brain (the reptilian brain) that we have in common with basic animals in the evolution - the middle brain (mammalian brain) that we have in common with more evolved animals - the third brain (the neo cortex) the most recently evolved part of the brain found only in human beings. We will also discuss the duality of right and left brain (reason and intuition)
August 28 Tuesday and August 30 Thursday 13:00-14:00
WONDERLAND OT301 studio 1 - 4 euros (children for free)
The performance moves from being FOR the children to being WITH the children and offers them a carefully guided adventure of the senses and the imagination. Wonderland performances take place through out the year every last Sunday of the month at the OT301 studio 1. These two performances are placed within the Magpie collective workshop week in order to pen their season to Amsterdam families.
August 29 - Wednesday 19:00 - 21:00
MAGPIE CONFERENCE studio 1 OT301 - 2 euro entrance
Lead by Vincent Cacialono - Developing and expanding existing knowledge about Improvisation practices, methodologies, critical languages and theories - Magpie has developed its' practice from the use of Instant Compositional notions traditionally seen in music which emphasize an interest in the ongoing study of composition, a fluid process, and continuum, intertwined with formal methods of creating. Improvisation in Magpie is used as a means to acquire high levels of complexity and depth in their performance work without high production cost. (Say what the people can expect to do at the conference - interactive or listen and watch?)
August 31 Friday 21:00
MAGPIE PERFORMANCE OT301 studio 1- 5 euros (3 sets)
Music: Mary Oliver (violin), Michael Moore (winds), Cor Fuhler (electronics), Wilbert de Joode (counter bass), Yannis Kyriakides (electronics), Colin McLean (electronics), Andy Moor(electric guitar), Rosemarie Heggen (counter bass)
Dance: Alexandra Manesse, Makiko Ito Katie Duck, Masako Noguchi, Vincent Cacialono, Kyungsun Beak, Sharon Smith, Sylvain Meret, Martin Sonderkamp, Michael Schumacher
Light: Ellen Knops
September 1 Saturday 15:00
Improvisation Saturday sessions / Studio 7 eerste nasaustraat 7 Amsterdam
Improvisation Saturday sessions are centralized by Magpie. The sessions are open to all dancer, performers and musicians who have a desire to meet, dance, play, discuss and collect. These sessions do not have a workshop leader. The rent is split between the groups of artists who come on the Saturdays.
On September 1 Saturday Magpie has been given the studio 7 to open the Saturday sessions for the season. No rent needed! Starts 15:00 and goes until people are tired.


Katie Duck and Michael Schumacher of Magpie Music/Dance -- all new digital image by ME from a video shot by Justin Morrison.