Candles for Hannukah are Dee-LIGHT-ful! The clouds are blowing away, and the temperature is dropping back to near-Zero (F!)

Sitemeter Sez: Visitor from Sarasota, Florida (Searching for that pandering hack-for-hire Chris Hitchens -- you'll read nothing but curses about that double-dealing putz here.)

REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, 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
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!





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: Make a Holiday Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: STILL updating the commercial "shopping cart" web pages at the Hockaday Museum of Art -- CSS practice is fun, but that limitation on image height is challenging. Buy some gifts from the Museum Shop, so we can put it through its paces! FVCC party tonight -- but I'm working as much as I'm playing.

Media Watch: December 7th still means something in the USA -- the attack on Pearl Harbor and WWII changed our whole world. Here's what Wikipedia says about one "what if" : Several Japanese junior officers, including (Captain) Fuchida and the chief architect of the attack, Captain Minoru Genda, urged (Admiral) Nagumo to carry out a third strike in order to destroy as much of Pearl Harbor's fuel storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities as possible. Some military historians have suggested the destruction of these oil tanks and repair facilities would have crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet far more seriously than loss of its battleships. If they had been wiped out, "serious [American] operations in the Pacific would have been postponed for more than a year."
Nagumo, however, decided to forgo a third attack in favor of withdrawal for several reasons: (given in article)
At a conference aboard Yamato the following morning, (Senior Admiral) Yamamoto initially supported Nagumo's decision to withdraw. In retrospect, however, Nagumo's decision to spare the vital dockyards, maintenance shops, and oil depots meant the U.S. could respond relatively quickly to Japanese activities in the Pacific. Yamamoto later regretted Nagumo's decision and categorically stated it had been a great mistake not to order a third strike. My take on the matter: GOOD -- our side needed a mistake on their part! The assault on Midway would have had VERY different results if the US had been unable to supply the forces necessary to exhaust and destroy the Japanese carriers when the preposterously unthinkable chance occurred. Things were desperate enough in the Pacific anyway, and the Empire damn near beat us on several occasions.

What's that line again about Something Different?



Photographer William Brooks in an extensivly-filtered digital collage (by ME) with his camera matted into a fashion photo from his website Scilux Studios (see column at left).

Light another candle for Hannukah! A holiday is a holiday, but an accurate transliteration of the proper Hebraic name is impossible -- ain't no vowels in the written language anyway.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Dhaka, Bangladesh (Enquiring about Dave Brothers -- they'll get to read about the Church of Jayne Mansfield); Anchorage, Alaska; Jamaica, New York; Hokkaskyl, Finland; Ward, Arkansas; Perryville, Missouri; Honolulu, Hawaii; New Haven, Connecticut and MySpace USA.

REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, 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
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!





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: Make a Holiday Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: Updating the commercial "shopping cart" web pages at the Hockaday Museum of Art -- CSS practice now.

Media Watch: The U.S. Presidential Horse Race is on! Soft Soap and Soapy Smith-style media consultants rule the airwaves, thanks to a corrupt Supreme Court who sanctioned media bribery back in the 90's. One Republican candidate, Willard (Mitt) Romney, who trembles in fear of the well-heeled evangelical Right Wing, just said:
Freedom requires religion... Historical examples to the contrary are almost infinite in number. ...just as religion requires freedom -- a completely FALSE equivalency! ...Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs... Do I dare think we agree on something? ...and commune with God... Uh, whose version of God? Another false equivalency, I'm afraid. ...Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone... Rank propaganda in this context -- freedom of religion especially means freedom from religious domination. Like this paragraph from the Constitution of the United States of America says:
Article VI. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
Anyway, Romney's objects of fear and supplication hate him anyway because of his OWN religion. It's sad to see him cringing at the feet of sworn enemies, but what is worse is that he wants to be their front-person in destroying the constitution of our country.

Now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!



A digital re-creation of a flier similar to those Dave Brothers used to hang all over the Wasatch Front -- starring Jayne Mansfield, born Vera Jayne Palmer (1933 - 1967), advertising his VERY satirical "church" broadcasts on 106 FM in the late 70's/early 80's. (BTW -- this blog also gets a lot of searches for one of her husbands, bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay.)

A RAINBOW in the mid-morning! I'll take the break in the weather -- Happy Hannukah!

Sitemeter Sez: A visitor from Tallahassee, Florida -- might be my friend George Clinton or his wife Stephanie, who runs the office.

REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, 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
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!





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: Make a Holiday Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: Even MORE new stuff on the website of the Hockaday Museum of Art.

On The Road: (From the P-Funk Board Room)
12 Galaxies 11.23.07 San Francisco, Ca. -- It was a very special night in the city by the bay. The long overdue visit from the 420 Funk Mob was upon us ...

The 420 set started with a liquid thump attack from Lige Curry and his six string bass that would've made Bootsy proud! Here's the set list: 1.Intro Funk Jam; 2. Welcome to the World of DRUGS; 3.This Is Your Brain on DRUGS; 4.She Always Picks Me Up; 5.Don't Mess With Me; 6.Can You Get To That 7.? 8.I'll Stay (featuring ZootZilla); 9.Helter Skelter; 10.Clip Raps to the Crowd; 11.Mellow Instrumental; 12.Eric McFaddin Cut; 13.Mr.Wiggles/Do That Stuff Medley; 14.Running Away; 5.Standing On The Verge; 16.StarChild; 17.You
It was nice to see and hear the 420 Mob. When they started doing Funkadelic's I'll Stay, ZootZilla had found his way to the stage. The crowd was really into it. Clip has really tapped in the Powers of the Funk! You don't want to miss this act when they come to your town. There was a Pro-Recording Company in the house. For $10 you could get a great recording of the entire set! The sound quality was excellent. All of the local Funk heads were there: Gina Hall, K-OS, Illenstein, Rickey Vincent, Big Rob, Satellite, the ever so colorful Solid Swank. There was even a PFUNK1 sighting!
When In Doubt, VAMP! Or at least adlib...

...don't forget about me (Lamar was there too) allow me to make some corrections:
3. Down In The Dumps; 5. Small Town Ways; 7. Southern Man (yes, a Neil Young cover. Clip: "we ain't takin' requests"); 11 & 12 were both McFadden tunes, if i'm not mistaken. Final track (after Starchild) was Never Ever. Yeah, good shit!

The 420 Funk Mob and P-Funk All-Stars were in Atlanta, GA the NEXT DAY!

Band sounded pretty hot. Hopefully I'll post a couple of pics from behind the stage. The backstage was a trip. I'd say security was slightly overzealous. Now I've hosted several Gospel related events at the same venue to none of that negative fanfare that was back in there Saturday night. Its usually soooo chilled at the Civic Cneter that a mugg could walk into the backstage offa the street. Not this time.

I could be wrong but IMHO they were a 'lil scared of the Mob. I mean it was classic seeing all of the ushers/security out there in 3 piece suits only to have Shider walk past in the nappy, LOL. Big ups to all the Atl Pee crew you know who you are. Talked extensively with Danny and P-Nut, the new Secret Army thang is waaaaay out there free form funk.

We missed the Chuck Brown set, heard some of the Go-Go groove coming thru the walls back there. Now this was a PARLIAMENT crowd. The diehard maggots were somewhat sparse in the crowd. I did not actually get a chance to see the set from the front on, but Michael Barnette was out there texting me air chance he got and this is what he was telling me.

Apparently, some folks were saying GC wasn't gonna show about 20 minutes into Funkentelechy or Bop Gun. They took off. the Mob got on stage shortly after 10. 11:40 was the cut off at this union venue so I am already tryin' ta figure out what this is gonna be?

Hard to get a full frontal assault from the side of the backstage but Barnette sez it was way on point. After the usual intro the band hit the Slop. GC 'snuck' on the stage to very little fanfare and immediately begin to hit and piss this predominantly black audience off with Str8 FUNKADELIC. Man this chyt was grooving and according to Barnette some boo birds came out. In my heart of hearts I wish he'd have kept that groove and ran them muggs up outta there!!!!!! Sheeeeeeeit y'all came to see the FUNKS now get offa your asses and jam!!

I Got a Thang rocked hard and then he hit em with some Red Hot Momma. Michael says it was the oldest P crowd he's seen and G would not let up early on with those nastay raps and thangs. One lady was heard saying she did not believe this BS, and can't wait to see Maze next week to make up for it. If you ain't ready for the FUNK, take your dead a**e to the house!!

The Dr. then gave 'em his usual we gone play somn y'all know now, but did not appear to be too enthused about it. In fact, Michael says he mumbled somn into the mic about them wanting that 'top forty chyt'.

And so it went. Aqua Boogie rocked the house, then Give Up Funk/Downstroke. As far as I recall then came Flashlight and it was over @ 11:53.

Kendra, no Trey or Ronkat but GCIII was up there.

...Sounds very similar to CC Hall in DC a month ago. I was luvin it. Can't remember them hitting Funkadelic with that kind of passion in.... ever. My first shows were 75' and they were already pro Parliament by then. Only thing close is a 420 show. This was Funkedelic though. Kinda made me feel like the ghosts of Tawl and Tiki were in the house. Majority of the crowd in DC was into it though.

...Yeah I Forgot About Red Hot Mama..That Sheet Was Raw !

...these muggs had no idea what time it was. They wanted Flashlight bad. Its almost like they put constrictions on what he'd have rather done. But the Parliament stuff rocked too. You could tell he wanted to do that Funkadelic tho' and was really into it.


A new friend: William Brooks -- this is an image called Cornucopia from his website, Soul Caller

Warming up -- a little too much, in that rain on frozen ground is unpleasantly messy, and I sure hope the roads don't glaze over at night -- might find myself ice-skating to work!

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Seattle, Washington; Bad Reichenhall, Germany; Terre Haute, Indiana; Worcester, Massachusetts; Edinburgh, Scotland; New York City, New York and Boston, Massachusetts.

REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, 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
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!





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: Make a Holiday Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: NEW stuff on the website of the Hockaday Museum of Art.

Media Watch: Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese and Brian Wilson were honored by the Kennedy Center over the weekend -- the show is due to be broadcast on December 24th. My totally impertinent thoughts:
Leon Fleisher -- A concert pianist who lost the use of his right hand to a neurological disease, but put himself through years of risky operations and therapy to play with both hands again at the high artistic level he demanded of himself. He also promoted compositions which emphasised the left hand by Gunther Schiller and others. Admirable for sure!
Steve Martin -- Funny guy! I saw him looning out on Saturday Night Live when I was right off the plane from Amsterdam in 1978. The next thing I saw when I woke up was Chuck Barris' Gong Show. (Today's Amerika just ain't the same.) I liked his movie All of Me with Lily Tomlin, but I'm pretty indifferent to the rest of them.
Diana Ross -- The Supremes were one of the BIGGEST groups in the world during Rock Music's second flowering in the mid-60's -- they even shared the cover of Time Magazine in the spring of '65. My favorite record of theirs was 1966's You Can't Hurry Love. The Supremes ' success was a team effort, though, and even though she was a major player on the team, I thought her work diminished as the team changed around her, especially when she went solo. Her movies were OK, and so were her records for awhile. I personally think her greatest achievement during the 70's was in resurrecting awareness of the great Billie Holiday. I would think better of her if she'd sing with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong in order to do justice to the great Supremes legacy, but I have NO say in that matter.
Martin Scorsese -- He's made some excellent movies, and blundered more than once, but nobody's perfect. I admire Taxi Driver and Casino, and thought he did alright with Bob Dylan: No Direction Home. I've seen The Last Waltz quite often, and blogged at length about it. It's too bad he loused up so bad in his attempt to film Nikos Kazantzakis' Last Temptation of Christ, one of the greatest novels of all time. The book alone should have shut up hacks like Pat Buchanan, but Scorsese's movie just wasn't good enough to stand on its own against right-wing schoolyard bullies and their agenda to enshrine ignorance as a national value.
Brian Wilson -- Pop genius, who I have also blogged about. His re-assembly of SMile was an act of emotional courage which has few parallels. He leads a group once known as the Wondermints, who are excellent beyond the ability of words to describe. He was also central to the success of the Beach Boys -- what started out as a mixture of Four Freshman harmonies, Dick Dale "Surf" guitar music, and Rhythm & Blues in Hawthorne, California became something altogether
different. He was rightfully sued by Chuck Berry for stealing the tune for Sweet Little Sixteen and using it in Surfin' USA, and competed toe-to-toe with heavyweights like Phil Spector in the Pop charts. He genreously wrote a song for the Ronettes which turned out to be one of his best -- Don't Worry Baby. He also held his own during the British Invasion, but all that hard work led to a long series of nervous breakdowns, aided and abetted by drugs, a dysfunctional family, and an unscrupulous ex-psychiatrist.

Theatre/Theater: Katie Duck has left the building uh -- country! She is enroute to her next workshop in Madrid, Spain: 6-9 December at Studio Tres. Contact: irene@estudio3.org for information.
From Estudio3's Website (translated by Yahoo's Babel Fish):
DANCE: TECHNIQUE, IMPROVISATION, COMPOSITION This factory is directed to musical dancers and interested in extending its dominion of the space of the Performance by means of a Inter-disciplinary artistic activity. The heating and the exercises will be directed to see how the eyes, the ears and the thought work in coordination with the movement, the sound and the time. The improvisation sessions will be developed around the concepts of pause, fluidity and exits, centering the attention in the joint of the body, the dance, the memory and the presence. The objective is to generate a situation in which dancers and musicians can increase their confidence in their capacity for the live dance, articulating subjects of composition without using previous materials. Katie Duck: Dancer, coreógrafa and pedagoga. She has comprised of the company Salt Lake City MIME Troupe. From 1976 she lives in Ámsterdam and she has crossed Europe like performer of single, duetos with Carlos Traffic and improvisations with local musicians. In Italy she formed the company GROUPO, with which she presented/displayed the productions Ruttles, The Orange Man, Brown eye Green eye and Mind the gap ... professor in the Dartington College ... composition, improvisation and technique in the AHK of Amsterdam ... she has worked with musicians and artists who share their passion by the dance performances, music and text. She has worked next to TristanHonsinger, Michael Moore, Derek Bailey, Alex Maguire, Michael Vatcher and many other artists ... the Fijnhout Theater, the Muiderpoort Theater, the Melkweg Theater and the Frascati Theater ... Magpie Music Dance Company. 6, 7, 8 and 9 of December from 10 to 15 hs.



Magpie Music/Dance featuring my friend Katie (center, etc.) improvising with Justin Morrison, Michael Schumacher, and Andy Moor from a video on http://katieduck.com