Ice on the windshield time again, plus occasional cold winds -- LOOKS good outside, though. I saw the Wild Turkey family yesterday evening and the chicks are almost as big as mom.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from my home town of Salt Lake City, Utah; Bountiful, Utah (just north of my old neighborhood); Brummen, Holland; Eaton Park, Florida; Pau, France; Milton, Ontario; New York City, New York; Rome, Italy; Toronto, Ontario; Clarksville, Tennessee (famous for the Monkees' first hit); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Owings Mills, Maryland; Fredericksburg, Virginia (Is it REALLY America? Palin and McShame are total sleazeballs for trying to divide our country); Freeman, South Dakota; Line, Czech Republic, and Szczecin, Poland. We're seeing hundreds of visitors a week here -- THANKS!

Check out 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.





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's Autumn Salon is finally UP -- with 117 pieces on display. We also have Crown of the Continent and Ace of Diamonds. Ironically, I'm missing the reception tonight because I'm doing tech for a community hearing tonight at the college. Speaking of which, the Climate Change seminars have been quite well attended, and the last one is on October 28.

Media Watch: Trash A Go Go (time shifted because of my insane schedule this week) sent graceful singer Toni Braxton packing. She has heart problems, which surprised me, so maybe it was for the best. I'll surmise that her fans don't watch that show in large numbers. Lucci and Leachman are far worse dancers, but at least Cloris is funny. Derek Hough and Brooke were excellent, but Julliane Hough and her eighteen year old student were almost as good. I'm still rooting for Warren Sapp to reach the final. Maurice and Lance seem to have learning disabilities with ballroom dancing, but they did better than normal this week.

Real Books: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939) didn't put me to sleep, unfortunately, since I picked it up for that purpose. I noticed that Robert Mitchum's movie, filmed in England, followed the plot much more closely than versions set in the original Los Angeles, however the plot is so ridiculous I can't blame anybody for tampering with it. There are four beguiling women in the story -- too bad they are all ridiculous too. Ex-Martha Graham dancer Richard Boone stole the show as a psychopathic trigger man.

A noir-bleu image of lovely Joan Collins. She played the English version of Chandler's lust-inducing, but hapless, grifter who somehow got involved with four nasty murders. The book's version was a blonde who skipped town with some of Phillip Marlowe's money. Collins played the role as a brunette with class, but cursed with a tragic sensuality. Mitchum's Marlowe was convincing too.

The weather unfroze over the last little while -- looks and feels like Autumn again.
I have driven from here to the West Coast and back since my last post, and there is a funkload to write about!

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Istanbul, Turkey; Saint Joseph, Michigan; Louth, Ireland (Love 'ya Rachelle, or is it Roseanne?); Edwardsville, Illinois; Jamaica, New York; Makawao, Hawaii; Vera Cruz, Mexico; San Jose, Costa Rica; Knoxville, Tennessee; Trindade, Brazil; City of London, UK (a small borough of the megalopolis); Cologne, Germany; Carlisle, UK; Ile-de-France (a small borough of Paris); Leeuwarden, Netherlands (They call it Friesland up there -- Famke Jansson's home turf); Omaha, Nebraska; Cincinnati, Ohio; Miami, Florida; Milan, Italy; Zagreb, Croatia; Stockholm, Sweden; Madison, Alabama; Austin, Texas; NYC, New York; Boston, Massachusetts (Sorry about those Red Sox); Caracas, Venezuela; Denver, Colorado; Tuskegee, Alabama; Prague, Czech Republic; Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Warsaw, Poland.

Check out 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.





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 is half empty this morning, after I spent all weekend (with help) taking the old shows down. We still have Crown of the Continent and Ace of Diamonds in place, but the Autumn Salon, with over a hundred pieces, is going up. I am also doing three public events at the college, so the extra help is welcome.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: Levi Stubbs, the fabulous lead singer of the Four Tops finally succumbed to the bad health which plagued his final decade of life in his home town of Detroit, Michigan. He gave so much to Popular Music with his skill and sincerity over the decades -- a truly consummate performer whose voice always lifted my spirits.

Media Watch: The schlubs are almost gone on Trash A Go Go -- too bad Misty May-Traynor popped her Achilles Tendon during practice. Macksim danced with Edyta in her honor, because it's unlikely Misty'll be back anytime soon. Bubbly Australian Kym Johnson finally has a chance at the finals with the remarkably light-footed Warren Sapp. Dereck did an outstanding performance with Brooke, but those stupid judges played the handicap game again -- STOP IT!
The last Presidential Debate bandied about someone called Joe the Plumber, who turned out to be a rather banal impostor, whose first name wasn't even Joe. I say Joe Mama to that sorry spectacle!
Time for a Bollywood movie -- how about Bhoot, an Exorcist crib with the excellent Urmila Matondkar and Ajay Devgan? These actors can make almost anything interesting -- including this derivative thriller.

ANOTHER Road Trip: Central Montana had over a foot of snow, but I went in the opposite direction. The highways were littered with chunks of ice from big trucks coming from the East, but everything was warm and dry as we headed West towards Portland, Oregon. We spent the first night on the Columbia River, then visited friends in Washington State the next day.
Tuesday night we went to see JabbaWokeeZ starring in the roadshow of America's Best Dance Crew. They were something to experience live -- their depth and subtlety were truly satisfying as they matched moves with athletic rivals (phonetically) Super Crew, Brake Skate, Acid, and Fanny Pak, plus took everybody higher with their artistry.


The audience was mostly teens, with a few early-twenties, and a scattering of other ages. We were amazed to see that we weren't the oldest there. The crowd SCREAMED at every bright moment, so they screamed alot! The music was so loud that my pantlegs pulsed with the bass notes, even when I stood still. The kids were tuned-in, well-behaved, and totally enthusiastic. One important thing I noticed was that ALL races were represented -- in the crowd and onstage. THIS kind of thing is when America really becomes America!
Just before the show, we went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner in the artistically vibrant Southeast corner of Portland. Along the way we noticed that the Bagdad Theater was doing live performances, and that X-model Famke Jansson (see above) would be starring in a play on October 30! The old Cat Store was still there, as was an auxillary Powell's Books outlet. Earlier in the day we picked up some Bollywood movies.
Still riding a high from that excellent concert, we left Portland at 7 AM and made it back to Kalispell by 7PM -- beautiful weather all the way.