Rain on top of all this snow again -- I ventured out mid-day, when the roads were passable, and drove north to Whitefish to check out the rumor that their snow was deeper. It is and was, but the rain was falling there too and compacting everything. We are going to lose some roofs and trees if the snow gets too heavy, or it ices up too quickly.

Sitemeter Sez: Union City, California; Los Angeles, California and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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!





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 Swan String Quartet of the Glacier Symphony, with my friend Anita Ho, were delightful. The Liquid Jazz Quartet was led by symphony conductor John Zoltek on guitar, and played quite beautifully at the Hockaday Museum of Art last night. They even did Ralph Towner's Icarus, made famous by the Paul Winter Consort (which included Towner 36 years ago when the song was new.)
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: The Metropolitain Opera broadcast replayed Beverly Sills' debut at the Met from 1975 -- The Siege of Corinth by Rossini, with beautifully lush arrangements behind several excellent female singers, including Shirley Verrett. This opera isn't performed much. Thomas Schippers, the conductor of that production, included other Rossini tunes and cobbled his own eclectic version for Ms. Sills, and Marilyn Horne as well.


The late Beverly Sills at the Metropolitain Opera in 1975, digitally placed on the set designed for the Siege of Corinth's premiere in 1825. She was a personable, hard-working singer who rose to the top of her profession by gritty determination and unquestionable merit.

More snow, but cleaner roads than yesterday. That big Eagle is still hunting over the campus.

Sitemeter Sez: New York City, New York (Manhattan); Jamaica, New York (near JFK Airport) and Lyon, France.

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!





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 Hockaday Museum of Art's Art Mixer with the Swan String Quartet of the Glacier Symphony and the Liquid Jazz Quartet (featuring conductor John Zoltek) TONIGHT!
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Theater/Theatre: From the late Sam Wanamaker's Globe Theater Website --
‘Totus mundus agit histrionem’ (The whole world is a playhouse) ... spoke of a gloriously robust Elizabethan ambition, a desire to brook no boundaries ... this year we celebrate the glorious unruly diversity of (Shakespeare's) work ... his most searching tragedy, King Lear; his most wild and inventive comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; his most thrilling and savage satire, Timon of Athens, and his invention of a new form, the sit-com, in The Merry Wives of Windsor ... We’re also extending our global reach this coming summer ... We bring some of that international energy back to the Globe by welcoming Footsbarn, a Cornish company of thirty years’ standing, who now have an enormous global following, with their Shakespeare Party.
It is wonderful to think that a reconstructed theatre, that opened more in hope than expectation eleven years ago, in a then empty and derelict region called Bankside, is now capable of embracing so much of human life into its own wooden circle, and is now so proud to spread that ineffable Globe spirit elsewhere. All the world drives the playhouse.


Footsbarn's Shakespeare Party
For the first time in over 15 years, Footsbarn returns to London with their unique blend of visual theatre, music and magic. This inspiring company have travelled the world for 35 years celebrating and sharing Shakespeare’s genius with people of all cultures. Now, for five performances only, they join us with a specially conceived celebration for the magical space of Shakespeare’s Globe.
5 PERFORMANCES ONLY
Friday 23rd May at 7.30pm
Saturday 24th May at 2.00 & 7.30pm
Sunday 25th May at 1.00 & 6.30pm
Footsbarn costumes by the brilliant Frederika Haytor magically placed within a computer simulation of the modern Globe Theatre -- Actors: (L) Eavan and (R) Rachelle.

Happy Chinese New Year! Woke up to a real sustained snowstorm Thursday morning.

Sitemeter Sez: Dunnellon, Florida; Burglengenfeld, Germany; (Lookin' for that guy who laughs about Wagner?) Seattle, Washington; Paris, France; Jersey City, New Jersey; Mountain View, California; Nicollet, Minnesota and Dallas, Texas.

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!





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 Hockaday Museum of Art's Art Mixer with the Swan String Quartet of the Glacier Symphony and the Liquid Jazz Quartet (featuring conductor John Zoltek) later on Friday evening.
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Lots of grand New Orleans music over the Mardi Gras weekend -- some of my favorite Funk and R&B. The late Papa John Creach's I Walk On Gilded Splinters is a particularly moving jam. Speaking of which -- when is Amerika going to seriously tackle restoring the population and livability of one of it's oldest cities?

Now, on the other side of the world:


My friend the choreographer Katie Duck is in Japan for most of February. THIS is a fanciful take-off on some of her publicity, with a silly Manga-Katie by M.E. substituted for her real picture. (She doesn't actually play with Samurai swords.) If you are able to read the poster, check her out!

I'm not complaining, just reporting -- another inch of snow overnight.

Sitemeter Sez: Louth, Ireland; Krefeld, Germany; Honolulu, Hawaii; Banja Luka, Bosnia; Miami Beach, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; Lindon, Utah and Toronto, Canada.

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!





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 Hockaday Museum of Art is hosting Art Mixer: A Duet for Art Lovers -- Friday night, with the Swan String Quartet of the Glacier Symphony and the Liquid Jazz Quartet (featuring conductor John Zoltek). Hors d'oeuvres, champagne, martinis and wine will be served, and the event will feature the presentation of the First Annual "Hearts for the Arts" Awards. I'll be working it as well --stone cold SOBER!
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: The almost two dozen primary elections on Super Tuesday coincided with Mardi Gras, but the big news is that the presidental nominations in both parties are far from set, and more people than ever are voting.

Making an Ash Outta Wednesday!


Carnival in Rio continues until all the Samba Krewes go through the stadium, and the winners are chosen, so it's probably going on as I write this. This is a digitized interpretation of multiple images found on carnivalservice.com. Is that Brunhilde gettin' down in the lower left? Are those more Valkyries parading behind her?

A little snow falls every day. Gotta check to see if that Bald Eagle is lurking around the college.

Sitemeter Sez: Brussels, Belgium; Jersey City, New Jersey; Keyport, New Jersey; Berlin, Connecticut; Nuremberg, Germany; Wichita, Kansas; New Haven, Connecticut and Oregonia, Ohio. (They were looking at my Flash Gordon stuff -- Thanks Jim!)

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!





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 Hockaday Museum of Art's Artist to Artist Brown Bag Lunch at Flathead Valley Community College on February 13, March 12, and April 9 Noon to 1:30 PM. Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Sad but true -- (via George Clinton's MySpace page) Sly Stone and George Clinton on stage Jan 24,2008
Who would have thought these 2 funklegends would share the stage again :)
from www.slystonebook.com -- Sly & George Clinton make appearance at the Voices of Latin Rock Show -- Voices of Latin Rock show turns funky at end by Shay Quillen - The Mercury News - January 25, 2008

It had the makings of one of those dream musical moments. Los Lobos were performing Thursday on stage at Bimbo's, the unannounced final act on the fourth annual Voices of Latin Rock benefit show. After paying homage to honoree Ritchie Valens and romping through some of their own classics, the band paused around 11:30 as DJ Chuy Varela came out to announce two surprise guests:
George Clinton and Sly Stone.
The Wolves launched into the signature groove of "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin" and Clinton came out before the excited crowd, but … no Sly.
Clinton peered off stage, urging Sly to come on, haltingly sang the first verse, sang the chorus for a while, led the crowd in some P-Funk choruses, clowned around.
Sly finally emerged, skinny and hunched over and sporting a giant white Kangol hat, and wandered over to a Yamaha keyboard, which he plunked at to no discernible effect. Eventually the groove petered out, and Sly started plunking out "I Want to Take You Higher" on the keyboard. He sang the first line, no one picked up the second, he picked the lyrics up again, belted out the chorus in the real genuine soulful Sly voice we all wanted to hear, then grabbed the hand of the audience member and led a train through the crowd, out the door, and into a white van parked out front. And that was that.
It was a weird ending to a fun night of music.
(earlier related stuff) ...Past and present members ... came and went as part of the monster Voices of Latin Rock all-star band (with Greg Errico of the Family Stone on drums)...North Beach native Sal Valentino joined the fun to sang "Laugh Laugh," one of the big hits from his great '60s band the Beau Brummels.

My note -- Laugh Laugh was produced by Sylvester (Sly Stone) Stewart when he had firm control of his music, his studio, his mind and emotions.


I Wanna Take You HIGHER!
Sly and the Family Stone at Woodstock in 1969, along with two dancers patched in from the same festival. He was suffering a nervous breakdown, but was still able to perform while there were cameras and tape on hand to capture the reasons why Sly Stewart was a STAR.

A little snow overnight. More Raccoons at Dry Bridge Slough.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Jamaica, New York and Hamburg, Germany.

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!





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 Hockaday Museum of Art is involved with the upcoming Artist to Artist Brown Bag Lunch at Flathead Valley Community College's new Arts & Technology Building, Room 144 on February 13, March 12, and April 9 Noon to 1:30 PM.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better.

Media Watch: Super Bowl XLII (42) was a real competitive slugfest! The New York Giants were a few steps faster and a touch more lucky than the New England Patriots, winning by three points. The prolific, but somewhat derivative Tom Petty $ The Heartbreakers performed at halftime.

(Cross-posted from the P-Funk Boardroom)
I happened to stumble on one of these competition shows that saturate the media nowadays. This one exploited the grassroots "dance crew" movement that still plows on -- long after it came to light in the 70's as 'break dancing.'
The show itself wasn't too bad -- it was mostly young people doing their routines, but one act stood out for me on a whole other level than dancing:
A San Diego group called "Jabberwocky" consisted of six guys who all wore white masks, and featured isolation moves. In other words, I saw a half dozen Bucketheads, without KFC hats.
Their act was pretty damn good too -- they had their reasons for the masks, and were nearly Cirque de Soliel in quality. I hope that our mystery West Coast funky firehose guitarist is pleased by them.
If you want to see them for yourselves, take a look at MTV and search for the names Mario Lopez and Randy Jackson. I'm not exactly recommending a show that I can't remember the name of, but there's some funky culture there that someone else may find interesting.


William (Bootsy) Collins and Brian (Buckethead) Carroll
(Click to see a slightly larger image.)
There is also an unidentified event hostess, and my friend Bernie Worrell (inset), who often plays with Bootsy and Buckethead in the group Praxis.

Not much snow today, but WATCH OUT -- the forecast says MORE! A Bald Eagle was hunting over the Stillwater River next to the college yesterday.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Independence, Ohio; Moreno Valley, California; Los Angeles, California; Dallas, Texas and Gainesboro, Tennessee.

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!





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: Nancy Cawdrey's American Silk Road, The Collective Caravan, and Old West -- New Visions at the Hockaday Museum of Art -- also Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better. I shot a full cast picture for Mary Reckin's production of Notable Heroines of America last night.

Media Watch: Live from the Metropolitan Opera -- Die Walküre by Richard Wagner, thanks to Montana Public Radio. I made sure I heard the start of Act III where eight women singers join Brunnhilde for the epic Ride of the Valkyries. It is awe-inspiring the way the high, keening woodwinds and violins swirl around the symphonic brass as they play that mighty, and mightily familiar, tune. Weaving various sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, and contraltos into the sonic fabric is a stunning aural experience. The additional voice of Sieglinde makes ten women in all. I just closed my eyes and listened as Gerhilde, Ortlinde, Waltraute, Schwertleite, Helmwige, Siegrune, Grimgerde, Rossweisse, and the other two ladies made all that beautifully excessive music. Wotan's distant baritone brought the soaring scene to an end, but Sieglinde escaped, thanks to Brunnhilde's reckless bravery.


Sieglinde stands with Brunnhilde (sword), waiting for the eight other Valkyries, as the two ill-fated women flee the wrath of their War-Father Wotan.
(Click to see a larger image.)
Ride of the Valkyries is a cultural nexus where High Art and Kitsch coincide. The bombastic beauty and power of the piece is undeniable, but the image of woman warriors riding sky-horses is fraught with symptoms of psychological distress, especially when they carry dead bodies of male warriors with them. True, Wagner borrowed the Valkyries from Norse legends, but they were the product of an unlettered, violent, and self-destructive Dark Ages culture. Somehow grim barbarity also infected influential social elements in otherwise highly-civilized Germany, leading to some very deadly wars between 1870 and 1945. Wagner's Ring operas often celebrated violence and power, while his artistic patrons practiced REAL violence for the sake of extending their OWN power. Brunnhilde sacrificed herself to save her half-sister, but she wasn't exactly rewarded for her heroism. The Rock Music-like dynamics of Ride of the Valkyries make it easy to remember, but those same repetitions, high energy attacks, and literal one-to-one leitmotifs are anything but subtle. I group the Ring operas under 'Art as Athletics.' They may have shallow or non-existant depths, or even be ridiculously pseudo-romantic in Wagner's case, but they sure can be beautiful on their surfaces!