A Spring-like Saturday. The Canadian Geese found an old nesting box.

Sitemeter Sez: Louth, Ireland (Hi Eavan!); Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey; Jamaica, New York (Shout Out to Stozo Da' Klown!); Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; Okemos, Michigan and Overland Park, Kansas.

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: Check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site. Keep that Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I worked all day today at the Hockaday Museum of Art, getting ready for the Cawdrey tour and building some bookshelves.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: I took a chance and saw Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I'd enjoyed seeing a community theater production of Sondheim's grim musical almost thirty years ago. The movie wasn't as goofy or exuberant as the play I saw back then, but it worked as kind of a musical horror movie. I rather enjoyed seeing Borat/Ali G being the first to have his throat cut. Johhny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter did well in the lead roles, but their costumes and makeup were a bit overdone. The production looked like a puppet show sometimes, except when it didn't, which was a little confusing.
Before Demon Publisher Rupert Murdoch, London's Fleet Street was the center of Journalism in Britain and it's far-flung former empire, for good and bad. The Demon Barber never really existed, which helps make his gory tales fun, but the location of his myth makes one ponder the motives concerning why those stories were told.

Ida Inspires!
I got an email from an Ida Rubinstein fan in London, who is writing poetry about the High Patroness of our Blog


Ida Rubinstein circa 1910, when she first became famous as a Fatale Femme vision of Cleopatra. She took her act to theaters in London, Berlin, and even New York City!

No bloody wind from the northwest today -- gray and raining, but Springlike. Canadian Geese are nesting next to the slough.

Sitemeter Sez: Greensboro, North Carolina; Berkeley Springs, West Virginia (Searching for my musical friend, the late Wanda Day -- read more HERE); Lindon, Utah; Burton, Washington; Audubon, Minnesota; Gainesville, Florida; Paris, France; Lindon, Utah; Dundalk, Maryland and San Diego, California.

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: Check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site. Keep that Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: George Gogas Reception and gallery walk TONIGHT at the Hockaday Museum of Art, plus our annual Children's Show, and local High School Art Show.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Trash A Go Go -- Marlee Matlin's miraculous run is over. She proved that a profoundly deaf person can dance, and enjoy the experience too. She is also a living embodiment of what determination can accomplish.
Mario and Karina did NOT belong in the bottom two -- Derek and Shannon's dance was one of the worst on Monday. (Their pathetic whining might have made a difference with the viewers.) I'm glad that the music on the show is good again.
Real Books -- I can't believe I read this thing, but I did -- Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson. The author might have had a higher-class British education, but this book is no better than an average post on a blog site. His historical scholarship is erroneous, superficial, or "rum," as the English say. I learned a few things about cruel, manipulative Mary of Guise, mother of Mary (Queen of Scots) Stewart, but most of the book was shallow rumination at best, and right-wing propaganda at worst.

Tall (5' 11") and reportedly beautiful Mary Stewart circa 1570 (redigitized by ME) -- she kinda looks like her mom, but some other pictures seem to resemble her older cousin Elizabeth Tudor. Already-stylized European portraiture was seriously afflicted by the Catholic/Protestant wars of the Sixteenth Century.


As Great-Granddaughter of Henry VII, some of Mary's aristocratic genes reside in the British royal family today. Henry VII's Granddaughter Elizabeth I had no children, and Mary's estranged son James was elevated to the throne. The maternal lines of the Normans, Plantagenets, Lancasters, Yorks, Tudors, Stewarts, Hanovers, and Saxe/Colburg/Gotha/Windsor/Battenbergs never failed. Princess Diana Spencer herself was descended from the Stewarts through a mistress of Charles II -- that unchaste fox-hound fathered over a dozen illegitimate pups, but neglected to produce an heir to his throne. That means Diana's sons William and Harry are related to Henry VII through BOTH sides of their family tree, and their parents weren't even cousins! (Inter-familial marriage is/was all-too-common in their old man's genealogy.)
Henry Tudor really became king because most of his royal relatives wanted the fratricidal War of the Roses to end. Tudor was the Great (times three) Grandson of Edward III. Like Diana, his mother Maragret Beaufort was from a once-illegitimate branch of the royal family tree, raised up to nobility. Margaret's ancestor was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III, and father of usurper Henry IV, but by another relationship. Tudor was also Henry VI's nephew, once removed, because his father was one of the king's two half-brothers.
Catherine of France, the king's mother, ran away with commoner Owen Tudor after he liberated her from a gilded prison where she'd been forcibly separated from the royal heir of Henry V, who had died at war soon after his son was born. The Tudor clan was only related to the Lancaster kings by marriage, but they were given lands and titles, fighting against the House of York in return.
Once Henry VII entered into a marriage contract with Elizabeth, daughter of his late blood-enemy Edward IV of York, and they started having children, then marrying them into other royal families, Tudor legitimacy was established.
All of these battling Plantagenet kindred were descendants of William the Conquerer's granddaughter Matilda, whose son Henry II survived a similar blue-bloodbath to inherit the Norman Dynasty.

My own ancestors were fortunate if they became merchant captains on the cold seas off Norway, Scotland, and Wales. A few others were simple agriculturalists or townspeople in Germany or Switzerland. I'm glad my Northern European forebearers moved to America, where their ancestry did not necessarily determine their social class among other European immigrants.

Our weather pattern holds -- cold wind from the north and west bringing arbitrary snow, rain, hail, or sunshine. There were FOUR Ospreys hovering over Dry Bridge Slough the other day.

Sitemeter Sez: Albany, New York; Salmon, Idaho (Home of the outlaw recluse called "Bigfoot"); Budapest, Hungary; Melbourne, Australia; Jersey City, New Jersey; Chatham, Louisiana; Kansas City, Missouri and Denver, Colorado.

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: Check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site. Keep that Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: George Gogas Reception and gallery walk this Thursday at the Hockaday Museum of Art, plus our annual Children's Show, and local High School Art Show.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Trash A Go Go -- Pretty good dancing all around, except I didn't really care for the "Cowboy" number. The rules say someone's gotta be eliminated, though. I could watch Miraculous Marlee Matlin every week, but her deafness makes competition like this irrelevant -- even if everyone else wore earplugs, they'd still hear better than she can, which makes her dancing wonderful indeed. Shannon got savaged by the judges. Those same judges were very kind to Big Jason because of his perfect posture. Christiane did well, and it was a pleasure to see him shine. Tracy Turnblatt and Mario could make it to the finals, but I doubt that anyone will "catch" the ever-improving Kristi Yamaguchi, who started out better than anyone else.


More great dancers -- (L) Vernon & Irene Castle; (R) Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in their penultimate movie as partners.

Parlor Tricks: The Pennsylvania Primary is today. Barack Obama has won MY endorsement. On another subject -- public pressure and some brave union workers in South Africa have all-but-stopped a shipment of weapons to Zimbabwe. The US State Dept. has even stepped up to prevent their delivery. The blogs of the world played a part in this action too, speaking of which, Markos of Daily Kos was on Bill Maher's sometimes-funny show, but there were other guests on the program with a lot more to say.

Kinko for President!
On tour until November 4, 2008
As the 2008 presidential election draws near, the American people demand a new kind of leader. With "Kinko for President," the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus offers the big-top solution! Kinko the Clown stands for change...spare change. He's willing to do whatever it takes to bamboozle the public. And when it comes to throwing his hat in the ring, Kinko can't be beat--from hat tricks to juggling hats, this clown is your candidate! Bindlestiff Family Cirkus's newest production is a full-force spectacle, where the circus meets the media circus, sideshow marvels meet campaign carnivals, and the audience meets one of this country's oldest traditions--the variety arts.


Like all political campaigns, Kinko's campaign will include sleight of hand, tightrope acts, death-defying feats, slapstick comedy, and more. It's time to put a real clown in the White House -- Kinko for President! So if you have a bit of spare change and can help Kinko get the word out to the people, send us your support. Contributions of $3 (includes one dollar for shipping) to $2300 (maximum campaign contribution allowed), with a specific note that states "Kinko for President" will receive a "Kinko for President" campaign button.

Still cold -- ice sicles on the shady side of houses and hedges.

Sitemeter Sez: Elizabeth, New Jersey; Toronto, Ontario; Hyderabad, India; La Junta, Colorado; London, UK; Le-Perrot, Quebec; Warrenville, Illinois and Manassas (Bull Run), Virginia. (Two of Steven Stills' best albums were with a supergroup called Manassas, featuring Chris Hillman as co-leader.)

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: Check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site. Keep that Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art features abstractionist George Gogas, our annual Children's Show, and local High School Art Show.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Look who won our Battle of the Bands
at the community college two weekends ago:


The Flathead Valley's local Connoisseurs of Chaos
Redigitized from their MySpace site. U Go Grrlz!

Media Watch: Ahhh -- Great junk from Vitaphone's Broadway Brevities:

Saw this guy Hal LeRoy over the weekend in another short film called Wash Your Step (1936) about a tap-dancing washing machine salesman. There were a couple of remarkable tap dancers in that showlet too -- Cherry Preisser and June Preisser, the latter being a fearless tumbler as well.

Theater/Theatre: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at Coney Island Sideshow
April 29, 2008. Tuesday Coney Island Sideshow
1208 Surf Ave., Brooklyn, NY Showtime: 8 pm Admission: $10
For more information: http://www.coneyisland.com
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus returns to Coney Island Sideshow for one night and one night only. Celebrating Coney Island's Congress of Curious Peoples, we invite you to experience a Spectacular night of amazing circus acts and sideshow feats. (Note Keith was raised on Coney Island.)

Cowboy Keith's Fun with Ropes and Knots
April 22, 2008. Tuesday Pratt Juggling Club Student Union, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY Starts at 8:30 pm FREE
Sponsored by the Pratt Juggling Club, Cowboy Keith is offering a knot throwing and lasso spinning workshop. Beginners are welcome. Ropes will be provided. (Just enuff rope ta' HANG yerself!)

More Upcoming Bindlestiffery
* Keith Bindlestiff performs at Leonard Public Library, Brooklyn, NY 5/14/08
* Keith Bindlestiff performs at Clinton Hill Public Library, Brooklyn, NY 5/19/08
* Bindlestiff Circus Summer Camp at Time and Space Limited, Hudson, NY 7/28-8/1/08
* Bindlestiff returns to Spiegeltent at Bard College, NY 8/15-17/08
* Stephanie Bindlestiff joins the fabulous Miss Una to perform motorcycle thrill show at select locations throughout summer

Kinko for President!
On tour until November 4, 2008


As the 2008 presidential election draws near, the American people demand a new kind of leader. With "Kinko for President," the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus offers the big-top solution! Kinko the Clown stands for change...spare change. He's willing to do whatever it takes to bamboozle the public. And when it comes to throwing his hat in the ring, Kinko can't be beat--from hat tricks to juggling hats, this clown is your candidate! Bindlestiff Family Cirkus's newest production is a full-force spectacle, where the circus meets the media circus, sideshow marvels meet campaign carnivals, and the audience meets one of this country's oldest traditions--the variety arts. Like all political campaigns, Kinko's campaign will include sleight of hand, tightrope acts, death-defying feats, slapstick comedy, and more. It's time to put a real clown in the White House--Kinko for President!
So if you have a bit of spare change and can help Kinko get the word out to the people, send us your support. Contributions of $3 (includes one dollar for shipping) to $2300 (maximum campaign contribution allowed), with a specific note that states "Kinko for President" will receive a "Kinko for President" campaign button.