Clouding up -- the weekend might have snow or rain depending on what time of day those clouds precipitate.

Sitemeter Sez: Paris, on the Ile-de-France; Elk Grove, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Whittier, California and Lake Forest, Illinois

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!





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: All students are admitted FREE this year to the Hockaday Museum of Art, thanks to Pacific Steel & Recycling. I'm STILL adding images to the Auction of Miniatures page.
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Real Books: J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for maybe the three dozenth time -- I lost count years ago. I'll always remember the winter day I bought the book and started reading it -- the introduction and map of Middle Earth intrigued me greatly while waiting for the bus on a revolving stool inside the old-fashioned soda fountain in long-gone Walgreen's Drugstore at Second South & Main Streets in Salt Lake City, Utah. I finished it as the summer began -- just before my attention was diverted by buying an electric bass and making loud terrible noises with other enthusiastic teenagers on the local garage band circuit. A year later, Lord of the Rings was a phenomenal hit, and I was proud to have been at the leading edge of it's popularity.
The first adventure is still my favorite, where Tolkien introduces Middle Earth from the Hobbits' point of view. The pursuit of Frodo and the Ring by the Black Riders is thrilling because there are mysterious limitations on their powers. Gandalf alludes to magic which is resident in places like Rivendale and the Shire (not to mention Tom Bombadill's domains). A fantastic spell like this required a certain amount of literary dazzle, but the Oxford Professor of Language, with a hobby of translating ancient legends, was up to the task.


Black Rider and the Gaffer
(From a color painting by Stephen Hickman)
This Ringwraith is much more animated than the book described him. His menace resided in looming mystery rather than rodeo-like histrionics like these. Old Gamgee was frightened enough to tell the whole truth as he knew it anyway. Tolkien suggested the Black Riders sensed the world of living beings very imperfectly, to the salvation of Frodo and his friends.

More cold-and-dry weather. A huge Red Tailed Hawk was hunting around the campus yesterday.

Sitemeter Sez: Somers, Montana and Gainesville, Florida.

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!





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: All students are admitted FREE this year to the Hockaday Museum of Art, thanks to Pacific Steel & Recycling. I'm adding images to the Auction of Miniatures page.
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Maggot Brain by George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars

Rather shakey amateur video from the current tour at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

Here's Clyde Talley's review from Long Beach, a few days before --
Actually a really good show.
Didn't hit a snag and there were plenty of surprises.
Started early; looked like 9:30 PM. No opener. Present were Mike Hampton, Rickey Rouse, Blackbyrd, Jerome, Garry, Boogie, Greg, Bennie, Kendra, Bellita, Mallia, PooPoo, Steve Boyd, Shauna Hall, Kim Manning, Paul Hill, Lige, Rico plus another guy on drums, Franky Kash and Shakin' Nagin on percussion. Carlos flexin' and plexin and Overton doin' sketches and throwin' out scribblings.
Opened with "Funkentelechy". They had full frontal guitar assault with Garry, Mike, Rickey, Blackbyrd, Shauna and Boogie with Lige on bass and Danny on keys. Mike and Byrd were spectacular all night, but this fool Rickey Rouse was Ca-Ra-ZEE stoopid!!!
Kim was hot & sultry in a red glitter baby doll and red wig. Her new persona was "Red Hot MAma" and Kendra was resplendent in white pantsuit with match brim and hair bagged in a woven hairnet. Some mystery bass player with a long kotted beard was on for a number I couldn't identify.


My friend Michael Hampton -- photo by C.M. Talley (PFunkJazz)

Mike and Byrd had at it over a MAGGOT BRAIN smackdown. Started with them far apart and they kept edging closer to centerstage. Danny, Lige and Rico provided the rhythm section and Garry stepped out on extra guitar licks.
Then it was Lige, Byrd and Rico jammin' out on "Dog Star" That thang got real funky and the crowd was shakin' ass.
Garry then led a capella into "One Nation". Sound system started soundin' fuzzy and blown out.
I was on a bathroom break and it got all churchy. just piano playin' and somebody singin' "praises to da lawd". got close to stage and knew I was hearin' "Open Our Eyes" I crashed back up to the stage to see everybody crowded around Danny and he was singin' in a deep gospelly voice. DAMN! He was ownin' that song!
Vendor table had CDs, DVDs and Tees. CDs were from Danny, Lige, Kim prices ranged from $10 to $ 15 DVDs were from Lige and Mike. T shirts were PARLIAMENT on a brown tee. FUNKADELIC on a camouflage tee. Ladies MAGGOT BRAIN (pink). LongHairedSuckah in psychedelic colors on a black tee with bigass GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC logo. AEIY Statue of Liberty bleeding eyes and mouth on black. Big CHOCOLATE CITY logo on black. TAKE FUNK TO HEAVEN in 07 with Starchild. All were $25 except ladies MB $20. George hung pre and post show signing tees for $5.

Cold and dry -- what else is there to say? Oh yeah, the air pollution from cars, woode smoke etc. builds up FAST. I saw the Lunar Eclipse starting last night, and finishing. I was in the theater during totality (see below).

Sitemeter Sez: Jamaica, New York; New Orleans, Louisiana; Lucca, Italy; Herndon, Virginia, and Meitingen, Germany. (Beverly Sills fans, and someone looking for info on Jango Edwards in 1978 -- I wasn't around ol' Stan or his scene that year, sorry!)

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!





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: Sometimes it's great NOT to be working a public event, because one gets to just enjoy it on its own terms. I went to a fundraiser for the local Domestic Violence Hotline -- Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues. I knew about it because our high school student-guests were informed about this production last Tuesday at the college where I work. There were 27 women in the piece, and it was VERY well directed. Everybody brought something special to their part. It ended with some outrageous physical comedy by sparklingly talented Jesse Culp, but there was much more going on that evening than big laughs, and censorship was NOT on the agenda.
From the WIKI Site -- In February 2007, a comedy club owner of the Atlantic Theatres in Atlantic Beach, Florida changed the title to the "Hoohaa Monologues" after a complaint from a passing driver who became upset because her niece had seen "vagina" on the theater marquee. The word "vagina" was only restored by the theater owner once the producer of the event made it clear that rights to the play were granted only if the production was not subject to censorship.

Media Watch: DJ/Dancer/Singer Lady Miss Kier is doing a tour 'WAY back East --
Feb 22nd - The Hall, Istanbul, Turkey DJ set and live show at Istanbul Independent Film Festival / Rainbow Party.
Feb 23rd - Gaudi Arena, Moscow, Russia DJ set.
Feb 24th - Bubbles Bar, St. Petersburg, Russia DJ set.


Lady Miss Kier in 2007, liberated from her turntables.
(Digitally reinterpreted from her MySpace site.)

Cold and dry again. Single-digit temps in the morning, tolerable in the afternoon. There's a Lunar Eclipse tonight and it looks like we'll be able to see it for a change. (See below)

Sitemeter Sez: Midlothian, Texas; Louth, Ireland (Ya' doing OK Eavan?); Naperville, Illinois and San Sebastian, Spain.

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!





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: We had about 400 high school students doing College for a Day at FVCC. It was a good time -- we showed them some things that really broadened their horizons. My personal favorites were new professor Jesse Culp capping the Theatre presentation, and charismatic Hillary Ginepra in Culinary Arts. Speaking of which, all students are admitted FREE this year to the Hockaday Museum of Art, thanks to Pacific Steel & Recycling.
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: I saw Step Up 2 The Streets in a movie theater over the weekend, and enjoyed almost every minute of it. The plot was ridiculous, of course, but it was insignificant compared to the break-dancing which is at the center of the whole thing. The 410 Crew AKA "Bad Guys," did the best dancing of all. I'm pretty sure that stunt dancers did most of the awe-inspiring stuff for the "Good Guys," along with some frame manipulation by the FX techs. That masked Jabberwockeez bunch I've seen on MTV performed a short number too. There were about four or five tunes with P-Funk samples -- most notably Digital Underground's Humpty Dance from 1990. I laughed out loud during that sequence -- very LOW comedy.

Look Up In The Sky!


Singer Sarah Brightman in a Le Lune reverie, along with the fully-eclipsed Moon. She does a beautiful version of Claude Debussy's Clair De Lune and based a whole tour on this aethereal personna.
(Click to see a slightly a larger image.)

CLAIR DE LUNE (Moonlight)
Paul Verlaine (Translation by W. Thorley)

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Your soul's a happy pastoral where trimly
The lawns are kept and merry dancers go
To melody of lutes, still wondering dimly
Behind their masks if they are happy so.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

And happy life that hath sweet love for guerdon
They praise in sad notes of the minor scale,
But with wry faces that belie the burden
That melts away into the moonlight pale.

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

And the calm moonbeams fill the birds a-sleeping
With silver dreams, and the tall fountains spear
The dusk with silver jets that fall a-weeping
On marble basins for a bliss too dear.

Cold and dry -- the ice stayed mostly frozen, even in the bright sunshine. The stars are out tonight, so it will be colder. Blue Jays and Flickers at the feeders.

Sitemeter Sez: New York, New York; Toulouse, France; Somewhere USA (An AOL customer) and Cincinnati, Ohio.

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!





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: All students are admitted FREE this year to the Hockaday Museum of Art, thanks to Pacific Steel & Recycling. I was doing some work there today, while it was closed, and about six student-aged kids came by to see if the place was open. Come back tomorrow!
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Trash A Go Go Two is Gone Gone Gone! Dance Wars just SUCKED overall.
As it was said in the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 9, Verse 11:
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
That show never found its voice or got on the good foot. A blow by blow account of what did and didn't blow would be redundant. If the forthcoming CD from the winning team is successful, I'll post a recipe for rotisserie crow right here on my blog.
Trash A Go Go One AKA Dancing With The Stars previewed its next celebrity line-up in several framing sequences during that long two hours -- some of which were pretty funny. Kenny Mayne wore green eye makeup. Jerry Rice wore a bright red outfit. Lisa Rinna seemed to have worn a new set of lips.(Excessive body sculpting makes me shudder.)


A digitized characature of hard-working announcer and actress Lisa Rinna -- wife and mother and above-average celebrity ballroom dancer. She spends a lot of time and money to look the way she does. The more I started to exaggerate, the more this picture started looking like a portrait, so I left it as it was.

A soft wintery day. Plenty of sunshine, but the morning is cold.

Sitemeter Sez: Greenfield, Ohio (Hey! Hey! Tari DeWille -- can ya' make it to the Hilton Garden Inn on April 4? The Hockaday is having an auction then.) Jamaica, New York checked in too -- Stozo Da Klown's second Digi Donz CD will come out soon.

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!





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 is doing our 7th Annual Auction of Miniatures at the Hilton Garden Inn on April 4, 2008.
All students are admitted FREE this year to the Hockaday Museum of Art, thanks to Pacific Steel & Recycling.
Check out Fall for Glacier too -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: I made my first contribution to Wikipedia -- adding a sentence about Ida Rubinstein recreating Sarah Bernhardt's interpretation of Marguerite Gauthier in La Dame aux Camélias.

From Wikipedia's La Dame aux Camélias Page:
Stage performances
Since its debut as a play, numerous editions have been performed at theatres around the world. The role of the tragic "Marguerite Gautier" became one of the most coveted amongst actresses and included performances by Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Margaret Anglin, Gabrielle Réjane, Tallulah Bankhead, Eva Le Gallienne, Isabelle Adjani, and especially Sarah Bernhardt, who starred in Paris, London, and several Broadway revivals, plus a 1912 film. Dancer/Impressario Ida Rubinstein successfully recreated Bernhardt's interpretation of the role onstage in the mid 1920's, coached by the great actress herself before she died.
(The words in italics are my humble contribution -- anything for Madame Rubinstein!)

A characature of Ida playing Marguerite Gauthier circa 1923. The headline proclaims La Dame aux Camélias a "surprise." Rubinstein's loving homage to her friend Sarah Bernhardt ran for well over a hundred performances soon after the iconic actor's death. This drawing is certainly less than flattering to the High Patroness of our Blog, but written evidence attests that obsessive dieting and insomnia had serious effects on her famously good looks.


Kiss Me You Fool! (Click to see a larger image.)
Surrounding Ida are photos of Theda Bara playing Camille (1917), Cleopatra (1917), and other Vamp roles -- including the initial version in A Fool There Was from 1914. The two contemporaries cultivated similar public images during their careers. Theda Bara was born Theodosia Burr Goodman (1885 – 1955). She was the first Hollywood star associated with the term Vamp, and made dozens of movies between 1914 and 1920. Her career was over by the start of moviedom's sound era, but the archetype of the Vamp still lingers.