A lot of commotion outside in the dark last night -- you'd think the wild animals were quieter after the full moon, but NO! It clouded up in the evening yesterday, but if it rained, it was up north, beyond Whitefish.

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art presents Arts In The Park this weekend. I made a copy of the Hockaday's Winold Reiss DVD for a Great Northern Railway scholar named Scott Tanner.

Media Watch: (From the USPS press release) The United States Postal Service announced today that DC Comics Super Heroes will be one of the many American icons that will be highlighted on 2006 Commemorative postage stamps. This is the first stamp pane (20 stamps) honoring comic book super heroes to be issued by the Postal Service.
Half of the stamps on the DC Comics Super Heroes pane show portraits of characters; the others show covers of individual comic books devoted to their exploits.
Upper Half: Batman Art by Jim Lee & Scott Williams; Wonder Woman Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito Wonder Woman has been an iconic inspiration for countless women since her debut in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941. The most recognizable female character in comics, created by William Moulton Marston, remains a figure of strength, beauty and courage; Plastic Man Art by Dick Giordano; Superman Art by Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff Ever since his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the Superman character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster has been an icon; Green Lantern Art by Neal Adams The Flash Art by Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson; Aquaman Art by Jim Aparo; Hawkman Art by Murphy Anderson; Supergirl Art by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye; Green Arrow Art by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer Green Arrow made his debut in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). Since then, the Emerald Archer's most notable escapades were in stories drawn by legendary comics creator Jack Kirby in Adventure Comics #250-256 and World's Finest Comics #96-99 spanning 1958-1959.


Lower Half: Plastic Man #4 Summer 1946 Art by Jack Cole -- Plastic Man ... debuted in August 1941; Batman #1 Spring 1940 Art by Bob Kane -- Batman made his debut in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939; The Brave And The Bold #36 June/July 1961 Art by Joe Kubert -- Hawkman returned in 1960, a reincarnated hero from the earlier "Golden Age" of comics. (Editor's note: The Golden Age of Comics took place from the late 1930s to the early 1950s); Green Lantern #4 Jan./Feb. 1961 Art by Gil Kane & Joe Giella; The Flash #111 Feb./Mar. 1960 Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella (The first of DC's "Silver Age" superhero reincarnations); Wonder Woman #22 (2nd series) Nov. 1988 Art by George Pérez; Aquaman #5 Oct. 1989 Art by Curt Swan & Al Vey (A very durable second-banana hero); The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1 Nov. 1982 Art by Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano (Introduced about 1959); Superman #11 July/Aug. 1941 Art by Fred Ray Green Arrow #15 Sept. 2002 Art by Matt Wagner (An imitation Batman, who also spanned the Golden and Silver Ages.)

I put some more deer netting around my Tiger Lilys -- just in time! Even though they are not really hungry, the wild herds graze around the neighborhood after dark. A little wind takes the edge off this summer heat.

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Great Northern Railroad Historical Society visited the Hockaday Museum of Art last night. We had a lot of things to show them in our Crown of the Continent exhibit, and they liked my video and Power Point presentation. The latter was a good idea on the part of our Executive Director to show the interiors of old portfolios and books that we couldn't allow the general public to handle in good conscience. Many contacts were made and renewed.

Media Watch: Mickey Spillane, the first major pulp writer to make it big in the Post-WWII Paperback Revolution passed away. His Mike Hammer novels re-defined the Detective Genre. TCM recently showed Kiss Me Deadly (1955), a beautifully-photographed black and white B-Movie which owed as much to TV as to Film Noir, and presaged the cheapie horror-flicks that filled up Drive-In theaters all through the rest of that decade.

Theater/Theatre: IT IS MID SUMMER SO DREAM
Magpie Music Dance Company – July 20 Thursday
OT 301 Amsterdam 22:00 - 5 EURO Door opens 21:00
Dancers: Katie Duck, Vitor Garcia, Makiko Ito, Michael Schumacher, Eileen Standley
Musicians: Cor Fuhler (keyboard), Han Bennink (drums), Mary Oliver (violin,viola) Clayton (bass) light: Ellen Knops
www.magpiemusicdance.com / http://squat.net/overtoom301.net


Katie Duck (center) and other Magpie Music/Dancers are pole-dancing and freely reacting to Prince Rogers Nelson's famous song. See the video HERE on Justin Morrison's YouTube page.

High Summer -- not too hot, but nobody'll mistake these kind of days for Spring or Fall! The Goslings were sighted on Firehouse Pond and Little Foy's Lake. I wonder if those ugly algae blooms in the pond had anything to do with anything?

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Webmaster Blues: I called Michael Hampton, one of the finest electric guitarists in the world, and talked about "his" web pages at http://theatrex.net -- he'll be back touring with George Clinton & The P-Funk All-Stars this Fall, but he's doing some other things too.

In The Community: Another Sunday at the Hockaday Museum of Art! I was doing a Power Point project for the Great Northern Railroad reception tomorrow night. Arts In The Park starts this upcoming Friday, so my muscles are requested Thursday night. At least our Executive Director asked me to be there. You know what? I'll be doing two festivals in just under a month.

Media Watch: The Governor of Montana came up and introduced himself to me last Thursday! I wrote a diary about our meeting on DailyKos -- a site to which we both contribute . Some nice people added to my story, including Governor Schweitzer himself!
Book TV had good presenters on two scary subjects -- Polio and Living Wills.
PBS had a whole "string" of good programs, including another chapter in their Blues series, and a fabulous jam led by Bill Lasiwell on Soundstage -- Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, Brain, and Bootsy Collins were only SOME of Lasiwell's guests. Nova had a Physics survey entitled "The Elegant Universe" that hit some high points about the discoveries of Newton, Einstein, and Bohr, ending up with the promise of "String Theory," which has yet to be proven -- but is SO elegant, or so the math guys say.

TWO Vincent Price movies on Sunday! Roger Corman's The Raven again, and a horror-ible flick called Dr. Goldfoot & the Bikini Machine (1965) with Frankie Avalon.

Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs is the sequel ... Made in Italy and released in 1966, Girl Bombs was the final film that (the great) Mario Bava directed for AIP, with Vincent Price as the only returning original cast member. Girl Bombs is perhaps even campier ... and combines elements of both Goldfinger and Thunderball. Also starring are Fabian and Laura Antonelli.
From Brian's Drive In Theater

A big old thunderstorm almost drowned-out my alarm clock this morning -- cool, refreshing rain followed for about a half hour. The Ducklings are maturing rapidly on the lake, but I haven't seen the Goslings for awhile. Usually they start congregating about this time of year, and wander around in mixed-family flocks.

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Chicago, Illinois; Huntington Station, New York; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Gulf Breeze, Florida; Milton Keynes, UK; Palmerston North, New Zealand; Prairieville, Louisiana; Clermont-Ferrand, France; Madrid, Spain; (This one was SPECIAL!) Kalispell, Montana; and El Cajon, California; (Visiting my personal web pages once again. Thanks Justin!)

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art is presenting Arts In The Park on July 21, 22, & 23. I'll be at a meeting of Great Northern Railroad devotees next Monday. The late King Kuka's show doesn't open until AUGUST 10 -- all this activity got me confused. (Now I have to correct my posts from earlier this month.)
The Montana State Board of Regents is at our college today. Governor Brian Schweitzer will be here tommorrow -- work, work, work, but sometimes it's important work.

Media Watch: Justin Morrison, a member of Katie Duck's dance collective Magpie, sent me a comment. It was attached to a blog entry from last April, so I'll re-post it today, close to it's actual time-frame:
Hey Michael, thanks for mentioning us and the Magpie gig! Getting Katie Duck set up with a blog soon, though you can see some of our recent web antics at youtube.
-- Justin Morrison

World-class dancer, choreographer, and teacher Katie Duck performs with Michael Schumacher in this web-video, posted by Justin Morrison on YouTube.

Check out Magpie's Website for details about my friend Katie, and the other Magpie birds-of-a-feather. There are also some more great Dance videos featuring Katie at Justin's own site: http://justinmorrison.net/video

The weather is pretty darn good -- a little rain cools things down, and there's plenty of sunshine inbetween. I drove home at dusk last night after a video editing session and was rewarded by a glimpse of a Whitetail doe and two beautiful fawns.

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: El Cajon, California; (Surfing in from http://theatrex.net!) Forest Hills, New York; Edmonton, Alberta; Chepachet, Rhode Island; Richmond, Tasmania; San Luis Obispo, California; Greenville, South Carolina.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art presents Arts In The Park July 21, 22, & 23! The weathers gonna be fine -- thats the way we like it -- uh huh, uh huh!

Media Watch: (From New Musical Express) Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett dies Reclusive star passes away aged 60
Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett has died at his Cambridgeshire home. The singer, 60, who suffered from an LSD-induced breakdown while at the peak of his career in the Sixties, died last Friday (July 7)... A statement from Pink Floyd said: "The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett's death.
"Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire."
His brother Alan confirmed his death earlier today (July 11), saying: "He died peacefully at home. There will be a private family funeral in the next few days."
Barrett formed Pink Floyd along with Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright in 1965, reputedly naming the band after two blues artists, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, who had a place in his record collection ... the band developed a unique psychedelic style which sat well with the swinging London hipsters of the time. They quickly became the house band at the acclaimed UFO Club on Tottenham Court Road in the West End, which championed acts from the psychedelic underground.
The band recorded their first single 'Arnold Layne', written by Barrett about a cross-dresser, in January 1967. Produced by 60s scenester Joe Boyd, the recording proved enough for EMI to offer the group a contract. After scoring a Top Ten hit with 'See Emily Play', again written by Barrett, the band released their debut LP 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' in August 1967. The UK public liked what they heard - the LP made the Top Ten and the band started to attract a devoted following. However, Barrett was becoming increasingly unhinged, which coincided with regular consumption of LSD ... Towards the end of 1967, friend of the band David Gilmour was asked to join as second guitarist to compensate for Barrett's behaviour ... When Pink Floyd's second album 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' was released in 1968, it contained only one Barrett composition, 'Jugband Blues'. His official departure was announced in March 1968.
Following this, Barrett holed himself up in his flat in London's Earls Court, resurfacing in 1970 to release two solo albums, 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett', which were not commercially successful. Among the people helping him out on these records were Gilmour and Waters. Gilmour also backed Barrett at his one concert during this period, in June 1970 at London Olympia.
In 1972 Barrett resurfaced in a band called Stars, but he quit after one gig at Cambridge Corn Exchange. In 1974, his old manager Peter Jenner managed to get Barrett to return to Abbey Road in hope of recording another album. When this also proved fruitless, Barrett sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label and returned to Cambridge to live with his mother. He never returned to the music industry, and lived in the same house until his death. He was said to be fond of painting, writing and gardening. Pink Floyd ensured he still got regular royalty payments.
Pink Floyd of course, went on to achieve massive worldwide fame, and 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', from the 1975 album 'Wish You Were Here', was a tribute to him...

Pink Floyd's second album featured Interstellar Overdrive, just about my favorite late-60's jam. Marvel Comics hyped this record for MONTHS in 1968 because Dr. Strange was on the cover
(inside oval -- I purposefully defaced this image).

There is/was a club owner in London named Stephen Strange, who dabbled a little in Rock Music. Rumor was that the use of Dr. Strange (who is also named Stephen) was a tip of the hat to him -- unlikely, but possible, is what I say.

Two Red Tailed Hawks were disputing the airspace above Foy's Lake Road -- plenty of room for everybody guys! The thermometers indicate lower temperatures, but it's still warm for here.

DANCE at the Hole In The Wall: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in Summertime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Why did I show up on that Google search for "evergreen border plants?" Keywords can be so literal.

In The Community: Sunday at the Hockaday Museum of Art again! I'll be there in two weeks too -- we are doing Arts In The Park! There have nearly been FORTY of these outdoor art shows. I think ceramic artist Robert Markle may be the champ. If I'm not mistaken, he was at the very first one, held on the grounds of the museum, instead of Depot Park where we hold it now.

Media Watch: TCM played Roshomon, Akira Kurosawa's first international hit not too long ago. Mia Farrow introduced the film, along with Robert Osborne. For some reason, I hadn't mentioned that show yet. Seeing that movie was a life-changing experience for me as a 20-year old, and it made a difference whenever I watched it since then. Maybe that's why the film is called a masterpiece -- very few artworks or entertainments manage to accomplish the feat of applicability over time.
PBS-TV is playing a series entitled The Blues, which cleverly avoids the didacticism of other historical programs. They show rare performances by John Lee Hooker, J.B. Lenoir, and other masters of this rich musical treasure house, which keeps on giving new wealth to our culture -- more so since we've re-discovered it's modal sources around Cameroon, Hausa, and Lake Chad.
The History Channel re-played Look, Up In The Sky..., and threw in a more general overview of Comic Book Superheroes afterwards, emphasizing the way they reflected trends in popular culture. There was one quote I liked: "In the mid-60's Marvel Comics were actually considered smart!" THAT'S how I felt back then myself.
Superman Returns is a bona-fide 21st Century hit. When this character first came out in the Great Depression, his enemies were corrupt politicians and war-mongers. He was also the ultimate undocumented alien. ("Where's your Kryptonian passport, Mr. Kal-El? You got papers saying you can fly around here?")

The empowered Space-Woman carries a gun in Post-WWII comics!
(Left) Planet Comics circa 1948; (Right) Sensation Comics circa 1953

An unknown team of artists at the left, and younger Gil Kane on pencils at the right.