Spring is showing its colors at last! Red Tailed Hawks and Osprey are hunting over the streams and stubbly fields all over Northwestern Montana.

Sitemeter Sez: Milan, Italy; Olympia, Washington; Somewhere, Japan; Jamaica, New York; Suwon, Korea; Lindon, Utah; Lowell, Indiana; London, England; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Louth, Ireland (Hey Hey Eavan!); Frederick, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio and NYC, New York.

ROCK against Reaganomics 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!
NEW --Launching NOW! Outre Space Cinema -- Featuring: 1930's Rocketry, Spitfires of the Spaceways and Cellulose to Celluloid, Flash Gordon in the Saturday Matinees and Sunday Comics -- UPDATED!





Many 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. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.

In The Community: The Honors Symposium at FVCC went long last week, but Lowell Jaeger delivered an interactive class rather than a sit-down lecture.
The Hockaday Museum of Art had our Childrens Show and High School Art Show ready for the opening reception last Thursday night before I ran off to the Symposium.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Politics is dominating TV news, but not the issues -- trivial rubbish has crowded out substance to an irritating degree.
I found Ginger Rogers' Roxie Hart from 1942 -- based on the the source material for Bob Fosse's Chicago. Adolphe Menjous' fast-rapping finale should have been the model for Richard Gere's version of sleazy Billy Flynn's triumph, but it wasn't. Director Rob Marshall's choice of a tap dance RUINED the movie for me, no matter what it's provenance might have been. Perfectly competent actor Gere has NO ability in that regard. I understand that George Hamilton is doing Flynn's role onstage in New York. Hammy is an OK comic actor, but inept dancing isn't really funny.

In Concert: The Elton John Band in Missoula, Montana Friday, April 11, 2008. I was there, with my wife and 8000 others. THIS show was audibly and visually more spread out than the show last Fall -- the sound mixer was sometimes very busy with sonic effects on the vocals and grand piano. The separation between instruments was clearer, and more dynamic. The musicians also jammed brilliantly during some numbers -- especially Madman Across The Water. They re-arranged a few songs, and skillfully re-created other classic tunes from their vast repertory. There were also a couple of mistakes here and there, which I didn't mind -- they proved you were at a live concert! I enjoyed their syncopated version of I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues. The melody and vocal were untouched, but both of the drummers and the second keyboardist were joyfully messing about with the background rhythms. During the wonderfully simple Bennie & The Jets I looked through my binoculars at drummer Nigel Olsson while he was joking with the percussionist as the latter struck the song's characteristic hard-slapping beat. Olsson played a more intricate arrangement on his own kit. I particularly enjoyed a couple of additions to this year's setlist -- Pete Townshend's Pinball Wizard from Ken Russell's Tommy movie, and the pensive All The Young Girls Love Alice, featuring Davey Johnstone's beautifully-distorted and LOUD electric guitar.
This band represents one of the last existing examples of British Rock groups from their Golden Age (1963-1974). The Rolling Stones come to mind as a continuing ensemble, but there are few other bands who have stayed together over such a long period of time, or have generated the amount of quality material that Bernie Taupin, Reggie Dwight, and other collaborators have written. The Moody Blues may have led the way in this kind of Symphonic Rock, but they lost a lot of original members. I guess guitar-heavy Led Zeppelin and Cream deserve honorable mentions if and when they settle their differences for occasional shows, but their surviving members have their own careers. Blooze-Rockers John Mayall, Savoy Brown, and Alvin (Ten Years After) Lee do well-reviewed tours. Jeff Beck is absolutely superb, but he's not a group, and transcends the Rock genre. In a similar category, Paul McCartney deliberately gave up his leadership over 30 years ago, although he is still capable of good performances. Van Morrison can deliver a whole evening of original material, with an awesome band led by Georgie Fame. The mid-70's version of Fleetwood Mac is still active, but they are only partly British, and only in origin, as is soloist-by-choice Rod Stewart. Hmmm -- as a matter of fact, except for Elton John, his own bandmates are either Americans, or US residents.

Digital reinterpretation of a Flickr photo from Atlanta in 2007

Two of my favorite musicians happen to be Nigel Olsson (L) and Davey Johnstone (R) who have been with Elton John for over 35 years. Olsson is a fine singer as well as possessing a warm, relaxed, and symphonic style of drumming. Concert Master Johnstone's guitar parts are tasteful, and well-integrated into the keyboard-oriented sound of his band. The music these men play year in and year out is Rock & Roll at it's very best.