A Blue Heron, and later a Bald Eagle, were flying over Middle Foy's Lake in the golden hours before sunset yesterday. It has been overcast, windy, and rainy since early morning today.

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 Springtime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemaster Sez: Serbia/Montenegro was surfing for Ida Rubinstein, Raleigh, North Carolina was looking for Tanya, Unspecified USA was seeking Herman Schnitzmeyer -- whose photos were on display for the first time at the Hockaday Museum of Art earlier this year.

Media Watch: Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1959) was on IFC's Samurai Saturday, where it actually belongs. There are some critics who praise this film, but I don't think it compares well against Kurosawa's half-dozen masterpieces, or even his Underworld Movies. In my opinion, it is a Comic-Book Flick or Samurai Western, neither of which are unworthy genres to me, nor are they the highest forms of art either.
Fortress's primary importance in cinema history is it's admitted influence on George Lucas while he was developing Star Wars.
The audience mostly sees Fortress from the perspective of Tahei and Matakishi, two peasant characters -- mirrored later by R2D2 and 3CPO. The trouble is that Kurosawa's two "clowns" are cowardly, greedy, treacherous, and altogether loathsome, without any redeeming character traits. I find it insulting to think that that average viewers, including myself, are supposed to identify with them, or think their constant fuck-ups and crimes are humorous.
Toshiro Mifune portrayed General Rokurota Makabe, an idealized medieval Samurai, with his typical grace and ease -- looking like a Kuniyoshi print in action. Mifune was very comical as a commoner in Seven Samurai -- much more so than either of the dimwitted stooges in Fortress, which leads me to consider them Kurosawa's mis-steps. General Rokurota was such a larger-than-life hero that he was big enough to split into Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Konobe in Star Wars.
Han Solo had a vague counterpart in General Tadokoro, who surprised everyone with his sudden heroics near the end. If there was ever a firm correlation between the Death Star and this movie's hidden fortress, I can only GUESS what it might have been. They had completely different purposes -- one was the location for an (important) incident in the middle of Kurosawa's rambling tale of escape, the other was the focus of George Lucas' whole plot.
Misa Uehara played Princess Yuki -- as feisty as Princess Leia nearly 20 years later, but ridiculously spoiled and insensitive at first. Ms. Uehara was made-up and dressed in an un-historic, contemporary style through most of the film, and she was stunningly beautiful that way. Her character changed for the better, revealed by an episode where she initiated a tavern-girl's rescue. The two women were unusually active for actresses in a Japanese movie -- but cultural issues held them down, like similar issues held down their female counterparts in Europe and America.


(Center) Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki; (Clockwise from Upper Right) Actors Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as Kurosawa's pathetic clowns; Ms. Uehara on horseback; Princess Yuki, incognito, as a mute servant. Toshiro Mifune on the movie poster, as General Rokurota, with a tiny mounted Princess Yuki below the title.

Rain this morning, but it's clearing up now. Everything's green -- Firehouse Pond is getting %$#@! algae blooms already. No Canadian Geese chicks yet, but any day now ...

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 as Summer approaches! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Seattle, Washington rode in via Yahoo! -- looking for *Tanya Memme nude* and got that page where I beat feet to Jackson Hole and back, stopping to see B.B. King, and take his picture. It looks like they read a lot of it too. Check it out HERE. *BTW -- Nude refers to theatre impressario Ida Rubinstein, and Tanya's name comes up in a later reference to Sell This House.

Theater/Theatre: I called Footsbarn Theatre in France EARLY this morning. (Yawn) Oh sorry -- fell asleep again. I spoke with Paddy Haytor, since John Kilby wasn't in, but it was GREAT! He's working on their new play, so his head isn't into the details of the 35th Anniversarry Celebration. He is certainly excited to see me, and the other ex-Footsies, this summer. I told Claire, the nice lady who answered the phone, my name was Mike Evans -- she found Paddy and told him that "Kevin" was calling from the USA. His voice was really tentative and puzzled when he spoke at first, but he recognized me in short order -- "Of course I remember YOU!" (Claire heard KEVIN instead of miKEVINs over the line.) I'm flying out on July 27, and will be back in Montana on August 16.

In the Community: I needed to wake after that experience, so I stumbled into the Montana Coffee Traders on the way to work. It was a good thing I did -- Jennifer Jameson was visiting town for the holiday weekend, and we swapped hugs and stories. She used to be a volunteer at the Hockaday Museum, and a dancer with Carol Jakes -- and what a dancer! Jennifer's performing with the fabulous Alvin Ailey Company in New York this summer.


Members of Carol Jakes' Northwest Ballet Company -- I've worked with Katy in the upper left on a Seussville production. Jennifer Jameson is in the lower left of the picture, doing her extensions at the barre. If they all look young, it's because they ARE! (Get ready for Judith Jamisson jokes, Jennifer.)

The Eagles and Ospreys visit Middle Foy's Lake every morning. There are fish for them, too. It's been raining at night, with a few squalls during the day between cold winds and bright sunshine. Montana Spring!

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 as Summer approaches! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Monroe, Louisiana was looking for Kim Cattrell's scene in that stupid movie Porky's. They out-clicked on Jillian Barbarie's picture -- but there's a dandy nude of Ms. Cattrell further down the page, from the cover of her book Sexual Intelligence: http://northernborder.blogspot.com/2005_12_01
Salt Lake City, Utah was searching Yahoo! for Canada Geese, and found John Barrymore.
Lisbon, Portugal was a Blogspotter, surfing through.

In the Community: (Cross-posted from DailyKos) Immigration bill diverts Senate...
...from it's "normal" business. I know that there are many opinions out there about what that business may be. My ballyhooed teleconfrence with Conrad Burns and some local Glacier National Park stakeholders mutated into a confrence call via telephone, because the Senator had to stick close to the Chamber.
He listened to some real concerns -- and promised action to ensure safe potable water in the Park's campgrounds, but he also made a joke about making laws being similar to making sausage -- distasteful to watch.
I personally find this racist diverson mis-named 'Immigration Reform' to be distasteful. Whatever problems exist need to be handled by clear-thinking adults, but guess what...?



Raquel (Tejada) Welch, daughter of a Bolivian immigrant, and co-star of PBS' American Family -- Journey of Dreams.

A new Duck Family (for us) -- these ducklings are much bigger than the others we have seen, although they are a third of the size of their mom. I think they hatched in another part of the lake, and ventured over to our side just recently.

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 as Summer approaches! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Blogspotters have clicked their way over here from Switzerland, Germany, and the USA -- I'm not sure if those Dixie Chicks pictures scare them, attract them, or what.

Media Watch: The Wild Party (1974) starred the late James Coco, and the beautiful Raquel Welch -- who was/is a perfectly good actor. The film had a little social truth in it, but it was NOTHING like the Fatty Arbuckle incident of the 1920's, which gave it's seedy screenplay some form. The excellent acting is ultimately wasted in this pointless downer of a flick. She and Coco got jobs in better shows over their careers, thank goodness


(Upper Left of collage) Raquel Welch as "Queenie" in The Wild Party -- Ms. Welch (Clockwise) as Hollywood's biggest "Poster Girl" in the 60's; As Aphrodite in a pant suit circa 1970;

As herself (goddess enough for anybody) in a pant suit circa 2001; Dancing and singing around 1967; On Broadway in 1981; and (Center) as an exercise diva in the 90's. Raised as Raquel Tejada (her father was born in Bolivia), she has been EXCELLENT on PBS' drama American Family -- Journey of Dreams, where she teams up with Edward James Olmos, playing his sister in an extended clan of Latin American immigrants.

Two very large raptors were hunting over the fields around Little Foy's Lake and Firehouse Pond this morning. It ended up raining a little yesterday, and we also had pretty stout winds!

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 as Summer approaches! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Columbus, Ohio stuck around to read about Ms. Rohe, Huffington, and Maines. I still get a lot of hits from Blogspotters looking for nudes – well you just might see lots of pictures of women, wildlife, and other beautiful things on this blog – If I wanted to look at ugly white men, I’d just peek in the mirror -- so there won’t be much of the latter (except at the top of the page).

Media Watch: CORRUPTION ON PARADE – Congressman William Jefferson had a hundred grand stashed in his freezer, allegedly received surreptitiously from an FBI informant/agent. He’s the only Democrat who's been caught recently, but his case doesn’t make the large-scale Republican Culture of Corruption any less corrosive or evil, despite all those bought-off talking heads on TV making claims to the contrary.
While I was cutting cantaloupe, I saw Larry King with a huge panel of those Howdy Doodys (i.e. puppets) like Leslie (Wolf) Blitzer and James Carville repeating their standard unsubstantiated talking points without any of their fellow flacks refuting that rubbish.
NPR ran a story about Republican corruption this morning, as well as Jefferson’s unfolding saga. They also played yet another interview with Natalie Maines. (Contrary to expectations, I am NOT blogging the famous unclothed Dixie Chicks picture from Entertainment Weekly below!)


Free Speech in Action: Not Ready to Make Nice is the latest single by still-popular Country Music stars The Dixie Chicks (L to R) Emily Burns Erwin, Natalie Louise Maines, Martha Elenor Erwin Seidel -- Hmmmm, I wonder who they might be talking about?

Hummingbirds and Lilacs are everywhere! We don't know if those clouds have any rain in them, though.

Funk Master Bernie Worrell at: 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 as Summer approaches! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Sitemeter Sez: Arlington, Virginia -- home of the CIA, NSA etc. etc. took a look at Arianna, Jean, and Natalie exercising their Constitutional rights. They exited on Ringmistress Philomenia, though.

Media Watch: Leonard Da Vinci is getting some exposure, because of the cinema version of Dan Brown's book. There was a fairly expensive two-part biography on the History Channel last night, but we still know only fragments of his life, and have to speculate to bridge the gaps of our knowledge.



Cecilia Gallarani (Left) and La Scapigliata (Right) by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)