Zero degrees Fahrenheit! March officially came in like a lion -- %$#@! I hope it won't be lyin' when it's supposed to go out like a lamb. I talked with Montana Fish and Wildlife yesterday about who is supposed to remove those Deer carcasses next to Buckboard Lane. The Magpies like having them there, but nobody else does.
Spin-offs, wrecks, and snowslides in the local area yesterday -- nobody died, but vehicles can kill people as well as animals.

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 Spring (slowly) approaches to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I did a presentation about Footsbarn 35 to our Theater 101 class on Wednesday -- Microsoft Vista caused some problems, but we overcame them. My main point was: Theater goes on all over the globe, it is a vital component of human culture in every country. Everyone hears about Broadway, Las Vegas, or even the West End of London, but it happens everywhere else too.
Auction of Miniatures thumbnail pictures and a bid form on the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website!

Media Watch: Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko came in second place (again) on PBS' America's Ballroom Challenge. The winners were Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova. The latter couple also did the best dances on that particular program, with the best music. Tony's celebrity dance partner, Stacy Kiebler, was recently on an episode of the George Lopez sitcom too. Getting out of the sleazy world of pro wrestling will be good for her.

Theatre/Theater: Katie is going to Milan, Italy later this month!

Festival exPULSI Milano
Fondazione Mudima via Tadino 26 -- entrance free
March 9 19:00 performance
Katie Duck – dance Thomas Lehn – music (analogue synthesizer)
March 10 15:20 Workshop Katie Duck
Spazio USI – Milano Viale Bligny 22 Milano / 40 euro


The Completely Fictitious Adventures of Katie Duck
Katie is shown scaling the heights of Milan Cathedral, for a meet and greet with local gargoyles.
Digitized collage from images by Justin Morrison and others.
Check out Justin's excellent Website!

Shallow snowfalls all week -- Bald Eagles on the lake, and Whitetail Deer trying to make it through the winter. We are going to rig a little gate on the back stairs -- a skunk came up on the deck the other night.

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 Spring approaches to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Auction of Miniatures pictures and a bid form on the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website!

Media Watch: We rented the movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera -- it was over two hours long, but still had more good scenes than ridiculous ones. I was amazed at how much they used from Gaston LeRoux's cheesy pre-WWI novel. They went their own way at times, but the original plot was so lame that it didn't matter much. I wonder if anyone would really use LeRoux's convoluted and unhappy conclusion -- Webber's version got close, but he didn't allow the vile Phantom to win in the end.
I may be making too much out of that silly dawg-assed tale, but it expresses a dark resignation to ruthlessness and wealth triumphing over any resistance that youth, love, morality, or justice could muster against exploitation by those who are already powerful. LeRoux's Phantom was a shark-like predator who swam in a sea of rich backstage hustlers – similar to types who troll the dressing rooms of young entertainers today. The "Opera Ghost" is a "Stagedoor Johnny," a particularly ugly and murderous one, but a classic "Sugar Daddy" nevertheless.
I enjoy the songs in Webber's musical, but prefer the singing on the French soundtrack from this DVD. I still think Michael Crawford would have been perfect in the movie version of this role -- the Phantom wasn't supposed to be young. Minnie Driver's clownish portrayal of Carlotta the operatic diva was OK too -- shrill notes included. (I'm glad they didn't offer THIS part to Sarah Brightman!) I’ll never know, but it looked like most of the money for this film went into sets and production. It WAS a creature-feature, despite romantic protests to the contrary!



Jessica Harper played a meek Christine Daae clone in Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Brian De Palma's Rock N' Roll adaptation of LeRoux's gothic novel. Jessica is saving her OWN life as a much more proactive lady-in-distress at the climax of Dario Argento's Suspiria.
Just for fun, check out:
Sarah Brightman's Phantom Medley on YouTube!

Pleasant, sunny late Winter day today. The roads and parking lots look like gravel quarries from all the anti-slick treatments they've had lately. I have to put out more bird food as spring approaches because there's not a lot of natural forage left -- the deer are eating anything they can.

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: Take a look at the 2007 Auction of Miniatures at the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website -- look at the thumbnails and start your bidding early!

Media Watch: The Academy Awards wasn't too bad, but it went long -- not from exuberant speeches, but self-congratulating half-baked films and set-pieces which wasted a lot of time IMHO. One welcome exception was the Dream Girls medley. Melissa Ethridge delivered the goods too, and I was glad to see Alan Arkin recognized for all his fine work. Helen Mirrin was QUEEN of the award shows this season -- no doubt about it, and she deserved her honors.

Theatre/Theater: She Moves International Women’s Day Benefit Program
March 8 at 191 Bos en Lommerweg, West Amsterdam
Podium Mozaiek / 20:30 (That means 8:30 PM)
Dance: Katie Duck, Eileen Standely, Makiko Ito
Music: Mary Oliver (violin)


Katie Duck and a shrine in Seoul, Korea
Digital collage from images by Justin Morrison
Take a look at Justin's fabulous Site!

Lamb or Lion? The weather's been been bouncing between Winter and Spring all weekend, and Monday brought fresh snow. Sunday, we walked over the snow-covered ice on Middle Foy's Lake, looking for Eagle feathers, but didn't find any.
We took our little cats for a walk since there were green paths winding through the snowdrifts. While we were literally herding them around the neighborhood, I saw Jasmine the Calico, facing off with a skunk. They were about ten feet apart when I started making noise and interrupting their encounter. The skunk casually walked away, and I carried Jasmine across a snow field to safety.

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: Our 2007 Auction of Miniatures at the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website -- look at the thumbnails and start your bidding early!

Media Watch: A real dandy on TCM the other morning -- thanks to time-shifting, I finally got to see Ready, Willing, and Able (1937), the last Ruby Keeler film made by Warner Brothers. It also co-starred one of my other Busby Berkely favorites -- Winifred Shaw, although it wasn't a Berkeley movie. Producer Hal Wallis' slick style was already apparent, as well as his penchant for running formulas into the ground, as he'd later do with Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, and the Beach Party flicks. Low comedy was supplied by his wife Louise Fazenda, veteran of Hal Roach Studios, and Allen Jenkins , who would play the same basic character throughout his career.


Fine singer Wini Shaw (Above) and fine dancer Ruby Keeler (Lower Left) in Ready, Willing, and Able, a movie based on a mistaken-identity play called The Two Jane Clarkes. Ruby does a fancy tap-dance with Lee Dixon on an oversized typewriter -- there's a quote from that scene in the illustration -- with chorus girls' legs as strikers. Bobby Connolly did the specialty numbers for director Ray (Dames) Enright. Carol Hughes did a great job as Ruby's partner in fraud -- three years later she was Jean Rogers' somewhat - hapless replacement as Dale Arden in the last Flash Gordon serial.