The Solstice is today, and the weather might even get hot again soon. Big thunderstorms are moderating our temperatures. The Ducklings are getting bigger, but the families aren't mingling quite yet.

Northern section of Dry Bridge Slough.

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 this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Driving up to the Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) is worth one's life if one isn't careful. Not only is the road one lane sometimes with a cliff on one side, and a twenty-foot pile of boulders on the other, but there is massive construction on the main Highway 93 before one even arrives in Whitefish. I think Pulaskis and pictures can wait a little bit.
Tommorow, I'm putting up some BIG paintings at the new Hilton Garden Inn as a community outreach of Hockaday Museum of Art, along with local painters Allen Jimmerson and Marshall Noice.

Media Watch: Montana just lost one of it's finest citizens -- I heard on the radio that Rudy Autio just passed away from Lukemia at the age of 80. Everybody who makes a living in the state's thriving ceramics industry owes something to the efforts of this man -- especially the THOUSANDS of students he taught at the University of Montana.

This photo was taken at the dawn of Montana ceramics in 1952 at the site of the Archie Bray Foundation near Helena, which was a brickyard then:


(L to R) Soetsu Yanagi, who coined the term Mingei to describe finely-crafted Japanese artworks; Bernard Leach, author of The Enduring Art of Japan, Rudy Autio himself as a post-graduate; equally hard-working post-grad Peter Voulkos, later to become THE Modern Ceramicist on the West Coast of America in the 60's; and Shoji Hamada, the greatest Japanese potter of the 20th Century.
This weeks-long visit was more influential than anyone can say -- partly from the energy that Autio gave to the state of Montana in it's aftermath for the rest of his amazingly productive life.

Today and yesterday were perfect Early Summer days! The Ravens, Magpies, and Crows are making nusciances of themselves in the early mornings with their noises.

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 this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Artist/Wilderness Connection show at Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) is done, but I forgot the Pulaski the U.S. Forest Service left at the Hockaday Museum of Art. I think I'll take some pictures when I bring it back to them. (The following 'white space' is an XML artifact)

Media Watch: Lady Miss Kier says on her MySpace site that she wants to meet Cindy Sheehan. I posted her request on Daily Kos in a comment under Ms. Sheehan's latest diary.
(Images: Lady Miss Kier, in her famous 1990 video Groove Is In The Heart -- from Her MySpace page.)
 

The rain still graces our daily life. Going to the Sun Road isn't going to open until at least July! Newly-born Fawns are starting to be seen wherever Deer are found.

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 this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Installation of the Artist/Wilderness Connection show at Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) was delayed. Let's hope the room is ready soon -- it's supposed to open on Wednesday. Summer Theater is getting started at Flathead Valley Community College. (See photo below)

Media Watch: Princes William & Henry Windsor were on TV, mumbling for the U.S. Media. They are promoting a Rock Concert in honor of their late mother, Princess Diana Spencer. Early video darlings Duran Duran are among the headliners, since they were her favorite band. I like them too -- mostly. Their singer loses his voice on the high notes too often, and his lyrics are shallow, but he fronts for one of the best rhythm sections on the planet.
I had the DVD of Cream's reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall running while I was cleaning house last night. Ginger Baker told us all that Pressed Rat and Warthog opened up their shop again -- selling T-shirts and other souveniers! (Boy, that song still reminds me of Jimi Hendrix's Manic Depression.)



Here are some loose digital sketches of fanciful playbills illustrating the productions of our FVCC Summer Theatre company in the new black-box theater space.