Those big clouds I mentioned yesterday had some rain in them! Good thing -- it was smelling pretty ashy around the valley, but after some showers, the air was clean and sweet-smelling for the reception at the Hockaday Museum. (see below)

Remembering my friend George-O 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.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Ace Powell reception at the Hockaday Museum of Art was excellent in every way. Dr. Nelson's stories about Mr. Powell were vivid, informative, and provided the key to Ace's most enduring quality -- his prolific, accurate witnessing of lives and times now changed forever. Thelma Powell, his widow, was very moved at the sight of the hundred or so people who showed up to honor her late husband's memory. "I was afraid he'd be forgotten when he died, but you have shown me that his memory will last.."


Dr. Van Kirke Nelson and Thelma Powell at the Hockaday Museum -- there's a photo of Ace Powell circa 1957 at the right.

Media Watch: Blues on the Move over the local NPR station -- host Bob Presthus played one of my favorite album cuts from the mid-60's -- Muddy Waters' Two Trains Running by the Blues Project off of Projections. I used to be able to play along on bass and harmonica for all 11 minutes and 35 seconds, which was the same amount of time the Rolling Stones took for their jam Goin' Home on Aftermath. There were also other great cuts on that album: Wake Me, Shake Me; I Can't Keep From Crying; Steve's Song; Cheryl's Going Home; and Caress Me Baby.
The Blues Project packed a lot of talent into a five man group -- Leonard Bernstein featured their guitarist Danny Kalb in his CBS special about Pop music, along with Andy Kulberg and Roy Blumenfield taking off on Flute Thing. Steve Katz co-founded the original Blood, Sweat & Tears, along with ace organist Al Kooper -- most noted for the sound of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone -- a VERY influential sound indeed! The Blues Project broke up during 1967 -- Kooper did some successful albums with Michael Bloomfield later, but his singing voice never tickled the public's fancy, and BS&T replaced him. He had a long career as a producer, though, and taught at the Berklee School of Music. Katz later went into sound engineering. Kulberg and Blumenfield carried on with the excellent, though underrated, Sea Train. Kalb did a fair album with guitar legend Stephan Grossman, but his later recorded work was less than stellar, to put it mildly. He has been known to put on some remarkable solo performances in the San Francisco area, so he's worth a listen live.


A digitized re-interpretation of the great Victor Moscoso's Matrix poster, featuring a performance of the Blues Project in early 1967.

The rain slacked off, and the air is filling with smoke again. There are big clouds overhead, and they are welcome to pour out some more water at anytime.

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.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Big reception at the Hockaday Museum of Art tonight! Dr. van Kirke Nelson will talk about Ace Powell and his art at 4 PM. Our Executive Director scored a deal on some new museum pedestals and display features, so the place will be kind of redecorated this evening.

Media Watch: LIVE music -- Freekbass from Cincinnatti played at Flanagan's in Whitefish last night. I wore my black Bootsy tee, which got a double-take from road manager Paul. "I thought I was the ONLY guy in the world who had that shirt!"
Chris (bass), Josh (guitar), and Chip (drums) were all pleasant guys. The audience was dancing about ten minutes into the first set, and never really stopped. They liked it best when both front guys were vocalizing, and there was a complete song-vibe going on. The jams didn't get everybody all the time, unless they had segue'd from a song. The tall-ceilinged room with big glass walls did NOT help clarify vocals at all, but their new song Sin City got a fabulous response.
Chris' bass-playing was awe-inspiring indeed! He's a protege of bassmaster Bootsy Collins, and there were a few of Collins' older tunes spread around the setlists -- Psychoticbumpschool was a particularly well-received selection. Parliament/Funkadelic's Red Hot Mama was slammin' -- played at close to double-time. Chip is an excellent drummer and fleet soloist, so he was able to keep all the rhythms together. Josh had the necessary skills to play good melodies and still jam against the roar of the Mutron Bass. I didn't think that making up Chris to look like a Buckethead clone was worth stopping the show -- my personal opinion is to use this riff sparingly, and as comedy. Even Montana audiences know about Buckethead, and simple imitation would be very unwise if it offended people who would otherwise enjoy a laugh.
There was one unfortunate moment which wasn't the bands fault at all -- a bunch of drunken patrons fell over each other on the dance floor, then some dumbass struck somebody else -- he was rushed out of the place immediately. We picked a guy off the floor who was nearly unconscious. He tried to brace himself up by leaning on the tables, but those things just tipped over and made a bad situation worse. About HALF the audience left after that incident for reasons I'll probably never know.
The second set hit it's climax for a couple of dozen enthusiastic dancers -- including Amber the barrista from Columbia Falls. Freekbass' encore was welcome to everybody except the doorman and the cops waiting outside. I got my merchandise autographed above the loading dock in the back while the doorman watched the front nervously -- nobody was fined.


A digitized collage of Freekbass and Bootsy, in costume at the back watching Chris plunking his bass up front.

We've had some rain over the last few days -- slow and steady. The air is much cleaner and everything is greener. Man! Those damn Deer don't seem to care that Woodland Drive is a thoroughfare -- no wonder it's posted at 25 MPH.

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.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Yes, me and our Executive Director ran that stuff between the Hockaday Museum of Art and Whitefish Theater Company early Monday morning -- they are very nice to loan us their props and staging. I wish it wasn't such a long haul though. Museums and Music will be better as a result -- thanks!

Media watch: Buzz be damned -- I took a look at the latest episode of the Sci-Fi Channel's Flash Gordon myself. I will continue to check them out, since this blog is so invested in that once-great franchise, but so far it looks like a loser. (Kingdom Hospital anyone? Me neither.)
First -- there were almost as many commercials as there was show. Thank goodness for videotape and the fast-forward button!
Flash & Dale had ONE somewhat-funny scene together. Baylin was OK -- not as scintillating as some fans said, but she dominated the whole episode for better or worse. Ming and Aura and the world of Mongo were a little more realized, but not that compelling. New villain Tyrus was boring. Zarkoff was more lame than funny -- I'm going to start calling him Zarkoff to differentiate this doofus from Frank Shannon, and the other pseudo-scientists who have bourne the name Zarkov. Flash's mom was absent. Dale's policeman/fiance was hardly present. Flash seems to pack a punch, but then again, action heroes are supposed to be able to fight -- a skill scrawny Marathon runners aren't normally noted for having. (They are usually underweight, with back and knee problems.) The producers are 'way too slow in dribbling out what little plot they have.


Al Williamson drew some guest panels during Jim Keefe's run on Flash Gordon -- published July 8, 2001. Check out this LINK for other guest artists!

The Big Sky was gray and dark with forest fire smoke -- it was this way all over Idaho and Western Canada too. A temperature inversion meant that alpine Glacier National Park was fairly clear, but the valleys were socked-in with grime.

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.

Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I'm working at the Hockaday Museum of Art again -- today's agenda includes moving Hugh Hockaday portraits, and putting up antique maps of the aforementioned Glacier National Park in their place. I should give a thought to our Ace Powell reception on Thursday too -- the grounds need some attention, plus I'm driving out to Whitefish tomorrow morning to exchange some borrowed items with their resident theater company for our Museums & Music event at the end of the month. (Gotta take that stuff BACK afterwards!)

Media Watch: The new Flash Gordon is limping along to mostly-bad reviews on the Sci-Fi Channel. A strikingly beautiful female character named Baylin is creating some buzz simply by being stranded on Planet Earth -- she's funny and charismatic as well. That's all well and good, but Flash and Dale are supposed to provide the thrills on Planet Mongo. The producers put this thing together backwards. BTW -- Baylin looks very much like the other women in this show, what's striking is that she has a fun part to play.


This is a picture of Baylin, re-digitized from the Sci Fi Channel's Website. She's played by an actor named Karen Cliche.
(I swear I didn't make that up!)

Time Passages: The late Max Roach (1924-2007) was one of the original BeBop players -- and one of the best Jazz musicians of all time. His revolutionary generation was never really supplanted or excelled. Other things came along, but nobody ever took the music apart the way Parker, Gillespie, Christian, Monk, Davis, Coltrane, and Roach did -- and put it back together in startling new forms. (Some names, like Mingus, are missing from my list, but I hope y'all get the point!)