We still have Ospreys lurking about and fishing. It's been raining a little at night, but another %$#@! forest fire ignited near Hungry Horse Resevoir. Oh yeah -- moving SUX!

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Atlanta, Georgia; Dublin, Ireland; (Hugs to 'ya too Eavan!) Tacoma, Washington; and nearby Whitefish, Montana.

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: I was cleaning our new heavy glass display cases to get them ready for the Inuit Art show at the Hockaday Museum of Art.

Media Watch: Over 50,000 people at Luciano Pavarotti's funeral in Modena, Italy.
You WILL be missed, Maestro, and remembered fondly!

Theater/Theatre: FIM - Festival of Multidisciplinary Improvisation in Bilbao, Spain -- October 15 – 19
Workshop for Dancers and Musicians with Katie Duck (my friend) and Mary Oliver
(Other workshops too.)
Magpie Melt project at La Fundicion – Bilboa, Spain October 19-20-21
Dancers: Katie Duck, Martin Sonderkamp, Eileen Standley, Vincent Cacialono and Justin Morrison (A good friend of this blog!) with Musician Mary Oliver perform on the October 19 Friday as Magpie. October 20 Saturday and October 21 Sunday in collaboration with choreographers, dancers and musicians from Bilbao.
For reservations and further information go to: laura.e@lafundicion.com
www.lafundicion.com / www.dantzaldia.com / www.lekuzleku.com



Osprey (Fish Eagle) overlooking the Flathead River off of Conrad Drive. Roadside photo by ME.

Moving SUX! My house is full of stuff that's piled deep and high and colored brown -- cardboard boxes.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Emeryville, California; Columbia Falls, Montana; Raleigh, North Carolina -- I notice a lot of people are looking for Lowell Jaeger's poetry book. Buy It! Buy It! Buy It!

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: I have about a week of breathing room before we start taking down and putting up new shows at Hockaday Museum of Art. I'm working on my Members Only project too.

Media Watch: Andrea Bocelli will sing at Pavarotti's funeral in Modena, Italy tomorrow. Opera purists may complain that Bocelli is a Popular Singer who does arias as part of his shows -- so he is, and he sings SO NICELY! I totally disagree with the well-meaning sentiments of those who are saying that Luciano Pavarotti was Italy's last great voice.
Oh MAN! Some people ... (Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007) Eleven people from The Chaser's War on Everything (in Australia) have been charged with offences...Eight ABC cast and crew members and three hired drivers have been charged with entering a restricted area without justification. The group was arrested after staging a fake motorcade through Sydney's Central Business District and were stopped near the InterContinental Hotel where US President George W Bush is staying. One of the Chaser crew was dressed as Osama bin Laden. All 11 have been charged under the new APEC legislation with entering a restricted area without justification. They were all granted bail, but on the condition that none of the group can enter any of the declared security zones during APEC.
I heard on the BBC that they actually turned themselves in when they passed the second checkpoint, otherwise who knows what could have happened. Another crew from the show was hassled by Aussie cops today over another matter.


VERY fanciful collage of Pavarotti playing Phantom of the Opera (back) with Bocelli and original castmember Sarah Brightman (front).
All three singers have versions of Nessun Dorma on YouTube:
Luciano Pavarotti (1980)
Sarah Brightman
Andrea Bocelli

Moving SUX! I was at it until after 11 PM last night. Now I have to unpack my life from the various boxes.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Ciudad Nezahualcyotl, Mexico; Ogden, Utah; New York, New York; Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (looking for Magpie Music/Dance); Someone from MySpace got an eyeful of Ringmistress Philomena; Another MySpacer was greeted by Bettie Page.

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: I got a glimpse of that movie about Inuit (Eskimo) Art we are showing next month, in conjunction with the Hockaday Museum of Art -- EX-cellent!

Ch - ch - changes: Luciano Pavarotti just died at the age of 71 -- the greatest operatic tenor of the late 20th Century. Not counting the inhuman histrionics that a tenor is required to do, Pavarotti delivered a beautiful sound when he sang that nobody else could duplicate. I believe it's called Belle Canto -- singing pretty.


Here's a particularly expressive version of Giaccamo Puccini's Nessun Dorma: Link to YouTube video of Nessun Dorma.
The late maestro's last performance was at the Winter Olympics in 2006, and he sang Puccini's painfully beautiful melody again: Link to YouTube video of Torino 2006
No-one shall sleep (Nessun dorma)

No-one shall sleep! (Nessun dorma!)
No-one shall sleep! (Nessun dorma!)
You too, oh Princess, (Tu pure, o Principessa,)
In your cold room, watch the stars (Nella tua fredda stanza guardi le stelle,)
Trembling with love and hope! (Che tremano d'amore e di speranza!)

But my secret lies hidden within me, (Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,)
No-one shall discover my name! (Il nome mio nessun saprà!)
Oh no, I will only reveal it on your lips (No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,)
When daylight shines forth! (Quando la luce splenderà!)

And my kiss shall break (Ed il mio bacio scioglierà)
The silence that makes you mine! (Il silenzio che ti fa mio!)

[Choir:]
No-one shall discover her name! (Il nome suo nessun saprà!)
And we will, alas, have to die, to die! (E noi dovrem ahimè morir, morir!)

Depart, oh night! (Dilegua o notte!)
Set, you stars! (Tramontate, stelle!)
Set, you stars! (Tramontate, stelle!)
At dawn I shall win! (All' alba vincerò!)
I shall win! I shall win! (Vincerò! Vincerò!)

Moving SUX! Ya' have to do it sometimes, but only mentally-disturbed people could enjoy the dislocation it entails. We had a little rain late at night -- that's fine, but wait until I'm all moved-in to rain in the day willya?

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from NYC, looking for Gretchen Mol -- they found a Bettie Page collage instead, along with well-deserved praise for Ms. Mol's acting in the movie The Notorious Bettie Page.

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 elevator broke down during the FIRST week of classes in the only two-story building at Flathead Valley Community College. The son - of - a - gun worked FINE all summer too! Our movie about Inuit (Eskimo) Art is still on for next month, in conjunction with the Hockaday Museum of Art's exhibit.

Media Watch: M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water wasn't as bad as the critics made it out to be. It was a monster flick -- no more, no less, and pretty entertaining on the whole. Shyamalan became famous with the great movie Sixth Sense, but few people have such good fortune at all, much less serially -- ask Orson Welles next time you contact the dead.
There were some riffs in Lady in the Water which reminded me of Charles Williams' excellent Place of the Lion -- an over - the - top English fantasy novel about the supernatural world of Angels and the ordinary world of Mortals making contact with one another -- which meant destruction for us mortals unless things were put aright. Williams became a close friend of C.S. Lewis during WWII, and his intense Christian Mysticism influenced Lewis' subsequent writings -- not necessarily for the better, as J.R.R. Tolkien stated in his letters. I tend to agree with Tolkien -- That Hideous Strength was the least interesting of the Ransom Trilogy, and was written in Williams' style. The Narnia books were an outright rejection of Tolkien's anti-allegorical aesthetic about Faerie Stories, to their detriment. (Applicability -- YES, determined by the Reader. Allegory -- NO, imposed by the Author.)
I've only RE-read The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, and have no interest in re-reading any of the others. I agree that allegory spoils the willing suspension of disbelief -- especially in the Narnia books.


One of the great Mystical Epics is John Milton's Paradise Lost, written in the 17th Century. Don't even TRY to tell me that Williams, Lewis, and Tolkien weren't influenced by it in the 20th Century. This illustration of Angelic conflict in Milton's poem is by 18th Century mystic and proto-Romantic William Blake.

It's hot again -- no rain, but it's a holiday weekend, so nobody's complaining. I'm moving into a house, so I'm not complaining about the weather either. High temperatures just mean I work slower -- rain ruins my stuff, especially delicate artworks.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from -- Belleville, Michigan; Emeryville, California; Saint Louis, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; Millwall, Newham UK; and NYC, New York.

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: We've been teaching the teachers how to use their new equipment at Flathead Valley Community College. The new fully-equiped lecture hall will mean fewer load-ins and load-outs for me, although I kind of LIKE doing remote events if they are spread out a little. I'll be doing a series of movies about Inuit (Eskimo) Art there next month in conjunction with the Hockaday Museum of Art.

Media Watch: I rented The Notorious Bettie Page and watched it while I was packing -- not bad! They captured the cigarette-smoke-stained atmosphere of the 50's to a remarkable extent. Gretchen Mol did very convincing work as an actor. In order to portray Bettie's image, she followed the lead of one of the most talented photographic models of all time. Creating her elusive character was a lot more difficult -- congrats to her and writer/director Mary Harron, writer Guinevere Turner, and costume designer John Dunn. Miami-based model - turned - photographer Bunny Yeager was portrayed as sensible and dignified -- they even recreated Yeager and Page's sessions with real Leopards!



Bettie Page herself in a redigitized collage of filmed images from the mid-50's. Mary Harron was awfully kind to the memory of Irving Klaw -- I think the central image of Bettie undressing was shot in his office -- he sold photos of movie stars out front. I see Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, maybe Arlene Dahl, and maybe Judy Holliday on the walls. Inset are scenes from Varietease, an Irving Klaw film which starred Burlesque Queen Lili St. Cyr. Ms. Page was a featured co-star, and Grechen Mol said she mimiced her silly dancing from this obscure novelty during the credits. Like me, the filmmakers probably saw it on a Something Weird Video. Klaw was a well-entrenched New York businessman, and the Mafia unfortunately had a lot to say about who was allowed to deal in hard and soft-core pornography and burlesque. The sophistication of the Klaw family was beyond Ms. Page's comprehension I believe, and I still don't hesitate to call him sleazy because of his various associates in high and low places.