Clouds on the west horizon during the morning hours -- I hope that means rain is coming. We have a Stage Two fire alert in force right now.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: 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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: New material on the Hockaday Museum of Art's website. I'm STILL pulling cable and installing equipment in the new building on campus today.

Media Watch: Jazz at Lincoln Center had something which caught me unaware, but made a lot of sense -- Spanish Flamenco, adapted for Jazz piano, with signature emotional singing and crazy beats. The Chano Domínguez Trio played Gypsy soul with Seguirilla rhythms, featuring singer Blas Córdoba, and a new composition by Wynton Marsalis exploring these elements -- Hey! It worked with Portugal's distant South American cousin Bossa Nova.
Nothing really special on TV -- saw a bit of another dance competition on a network station, and noted another celeb-reality humiliation with groupie-shagging Bret (Poison) Michaels imitating the dreadful Flavor of Love in passing on the cable.


A digital sketch of English announcer/model Cat Deeley, who towers over all the dancers on the competition show she hosts -- I'm sure those 6 inch heels help her accomplish that trick. You can't tell from this image, but I hope she hasn't indulged in cosmetic surgery -- one of her nostrils is obviously bigger than the other and the bridge of her nose points leftward. All that obsessive show-biz preening tends to dramatize odd details!

Cool mornings warming up to hot evenings -- who knows what this very desert-like year will show us next? Algae is building up on the waters in the slough.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: 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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: New material on the Hockaday Museum of Art's website. I'm STILL pulling cable and installing equipment in the new building on campus today.

Media Watch: Wonderwall from 1968 -- a comedy-drama about obsession, filmed when London was REALLY swinging. The clothes and settings were the best things about this fairly well-done, but frankly none-too-compelling flick. George Harrison's soundtrack of Indian Music wasn't bad at all either, but his audience didn't want any more of it back then -- they'd put up with Ravi Shankar, because he was an undeniable classical master, but turned back towards Rock as another Golden Age of amplified music erupted from their radio speakers.


Wonderwall's co-star Jane Birkin became internationally famous for candidly expressing her sexuality in various artistic media. (There are important differences between performers who are adults, and mere adult entertainers.) This is one of her playful poses digitally transformed (by ME) into a Mondrian-like composition in honor of the 60's.

Thunderstorms yesterday evening -- made it a bit more humid, but cooled the evening down. I sure hope that lightning didn't start any more fires -- we had a dreadfully smokey one about 40 miles south of us near Lake Mary Ronan after those storms blew through last week. They sometimes smoulder awhile before bursting into flame.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: 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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Some new material on the Hockaday Museum of Art's website. I'm going to be pulling cable and installing more equipment in the new building on campus today.

Media Watch: I was busy finishing Spitfires of the Spaceways during the thunderstorms last night -- thank goodness for battery power!


Busy "B" actress Anne Gwynne got her start in the third Flash Gordon serial, playing nefarious spy Lady Sonja, a clone of Milady de Winter from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas Sr. Here are photos of Ms. Gwynne as a pinup, the original Sonja by Alex Raymond, and how she appeared in the movie. The similarities between these poses are remarkable.

I'm not sure these are exactly Dog Days, but it's Dawg Gawn HOT! Blue Herrons sighted at the slough -- two were flying over, and one lingered in the shallows for awhile.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: 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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I'm starting my ninth year at the Hockaday Museum of Art -- Check out the new updates on the website. I'll be up at the community college for a short time this afternoon, setting up a teleconferenced meeting between our campus and Libby, Montana.

Media Watch: HERE is a lady who knows how to make a good time happen -- my collegiate co-worker Shelly Jo put on her own Drive-in theater production last week:

Played the first Drive-in movie on the back of K-mart the other night.. it was a hit (but still would have been much better with audio transmitted...will continue to keep an eye open for a transmitter.)

Playlist

1950's Drive in theatre Welcome, we hope you have a beautiful viewing experience, and please respect other movie-goers, YADA YADA short.

Old US gov PE school film on Good Eating Habits (that kid Ricky sure is bound for a life of bad health, bad teeth, and lethargy!)

1950s commercials for dill pickles and Folgers coffee.

Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligary - feature film.

1950s Drive-in theatre Thanks for coming, please exit in an orderly fashion YADA YADA short.

Pickles and popcorn for snacks. About 10 cars. It was fun.


The great actor Conrad Veidt in 1920's Impressionistic classic Dr. Calagari, playing Caesare the murderous zombie, and as Jaffar, the formidable wizard in 1940's deluxe version of Thief of Baghdad, produced and directed by William Cameron Menzies, Alex Korda, Michael Powell, and other fine filmmakers.

It slowly got warmer after two days of evening thunderstorms, but not nearly as hot as it was before the weather broke. I followed an Osprey through a spotting scope as it soared over Dry Bridge Slough looking for fish.



Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: 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!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
UPDATED! Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution this Summer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Arts in the Park is in its final day -- Bluegrass to Hula for entertainment, plus a hundred different artists in a fundraiser for the Hockaday Museum of Art The Glacier Rod Run was a lot of fun as well yesterday -- dozens of pre-1957 antique cars, all chopped, stretched and spiffed up. They parked their vehicles right next to Depot Park for a "Show & Shine," which pleased our customers a lot. I've been at the park for many many hours since Thursday, but I'm inside the museum this afternoon because it is SUNDAY! I'll be going back to the park to help tear the whole event down once we close.

Media Watch: A trio called the Caribbean Authentics were playing various venues around town, sponsored by a local Subaru dealership -- fine musicians and pleasant guys. They were actually from Philadelphia, but were born in Trinidad, Barbados, and St. Vincent. Where did I get the time to see 'em? I just stayed up late and went to a local bar -- sure was hard waking up in the morning though! Good thing I don't drink much. It would have really sucked to have dealt with a hangover on top of sleepiness.
Vampire movies -- Underworld and Blade -- two comic-book films with lots of CGI and unbelievable action. There were also some pretty good actors embedded in the sensory overload.


(L to R) Scenes from Arts In The Park and the Glacier Rod Run -- July 21, 2007