Wildlife: A small group of what appeared to be hawks or eagles were sailing on the winds over my neighborhood. We got out the bird-identification book, and it seems like they were vultures.

Weather: Rain overnight, still blustery and cloudy today -- GOOD!

Charity Alert: Do SOMETHING -- even if it's just a click -- The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests

Media Watch: The book Metal to Mozart is almost done. There were two movies on the satellite about The Who -- Ken Russell's Tommy, and The Kids Are Alright. I remember reading Paul William's magazine Crawdaddy, about 1967, where he said that all Peter Townshend needed was one good album to turn The Who into the stars they deserved to be. About a year and a half later, Tommy came out, and The Who started to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger -- well you get the point. I remember a Royal Albert Hall performance with guest stars like Rod Stewart singing Pinball Wizard around 1972, and at least two more quality Who albums -- Live At Leeds, and Who's Next.
I will also mention some solo albums by Townshend, Daltrey, and Entwhistle that got scathing reviews, although some hits came out of them -- Smash Your Head Against The Wall by Entwhistle did alright, I was fond of Whistle Rhymes, even though nobody else seemed to like it. These two albums featured Peter Frampton on guitar, with Humble Pie's rhythm section.
Daltrey's first solo album was all songs by Leo Sayer, who did very well in the late 70's. I never heard his second, Ride A Rock Horse, with production, songs, and arrangements by one of my favorite musicians, Russ Ballard. Townshend had some real success on his own at the dawn of the 80's, but heroin addiction, and other problems, almost killed him.
Russell's Tommy had to be a strange "top of the mountain" for the members of The Who. They had been performing these particular songs for almost six years, and were often doing them as a quickly-paced medly in an encore set. While the Tommy movie re-kindled Ann Margaret's star, Russell's follow-up, Liztomania, sank Daltrey's newly-launched movie career -- that WAS an awful film, and I hesitate to blame anybody but the producer(s).
The Kid Are Alright shows a lot of unresolved tension within the band. Townshend makes a very canny statement about The Who potentially becoming a "circus act," meaning "doing what we already know we can do." He goes on saying, "Nothing wrong with that, as long as that's what we really want."
Well, that's what The Who became, but I'm very unsure if that's what the individual members really wanted. As a teenager, I was impressed with The Who's originality as they kept making single after single. I thought that "getting big" was a just reward for their good work, even though it may have ended up as a curse of sorts.
I would call them a "Power Ensemble," eveybody played their part with outstanding ability. Moon was a uniquely talented drummer. Bassist Entwhistle was a sophisticated musician and sound engineer, in a field that underemphasized, but needed, those skills badly. Daltrey was a indefatigatible front man who was able to sing over the loudest (measured) trio in the world.
Townshend not only wrote hit songs, but they got better over the years, and his guitar playing got progressively stronger as his audience demanded more. His first solo album's jacket (circa 1971) shows him standing on eggs -- methinks he was under absurdly intense pressure.
Entwhistle and Moon both died from substance abuse that was, in my opinion, triggered from the pressures of being part of The Who. I'm glad that Townshend and Daltrey are still around. I've also enjoyed Daltrey's acting on Rude Awakening, with Sherilyn Fenn, Lynn Redgrave, and Tim Curry.

Charity Alert: Ya' gotta visit this site and click! The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Wildlife: Golden Eye Ducks are swimming with their broods! They are so small, you could fit six ducklings in each hand.

Weather: A fairly wet weekend, with lots of snow in the mountains. The local news is obsessed with the opening of Going-To-The-Sun Road over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park this time of year. The drought made it look like there would be an early opening, but two weeks of regular snowfall has delayed things.

In the Community: I had to tape The Elephant Man (play) twice. Nobody's gonna regret Thursday's show being consigned to digital oblivion -- Saturday was alright.
The Hockaday's Benefit Auction of Miniatures was a fine ol' time! Check out the archives: Hockaday Museum of Art Web Archive
New material on the Historical Society web site, especially in the Gift Shop and on the Links Page: The M -- Your Museum and More! NW Montana Historical Society Museum at Central School

Media Watch: Generals serving in Iraq answering questions about their behavior, and that of their troops. A congressmen complaining that they should be back at their "commands," while the generals claim ignorance of what's going on in their own army. I doubt they'll be missed if they're as out-of-touch as they say they are, Congressman Creep!
I haven't sat down with CSpan's Book TV much lately, but here's a link: Book TV.org
Johnathan Creek on BBC America's Mystery Monday was rather TOO fast-paced and cliche'd to be a compelling mystery this week -- I hope the rest of the coming season's shows aren't this bad.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy -- Thom Fillicia had one 'Hail' of a job to do making a tiny NYC apartment livable. It was a sitting room, hall, tiny kitchen, and tinier half-bath. 'Butch,' the tenant, had to sleep on a platform above his computer desk in the hall, it was so cramped for space. The rest of the Fab Five got him to cut his hair, and wear clean clothes, but Thom had the hardest job, as usual.

Charity Alert: Four years old and still up & running: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: It rained last night -- let's have some of that EVERY evening!

Wildlife: Robins are sitting on the window sill, pecking at their own reflections, and freaking-out our cats.

Media Watch: 1954's Godzilla (Gojiro) on AMC -- made the mold for this rubber-suited guy! Actually, some of it is stop-action too. EX-cellent dawg-assed show! Books -- I'm reading a how-to-appreciate Classical music book, told from a Rock music point of view -- humorous, and not too bad.

In the Community:
Yesterday, I made some new additions to the Historical Society Web site, and added a LINKS page: The M -- Your Museum and More! NW Montana Historical Society Museum at Central School
Tonight, I'm taping Bernard Pomerance's play The Elephant Man at the college.
Here's an OK fan site about David Bowie's involvement in it: David Bowie in The Elephant Man
NOTE: The folks who are doing our production haven't seen John Hurt's movie, or the video of the stage show.
Tomorrow, I'm assisting with the 3rd Annual Hockaday Benefit Auction of Miniatures.
After taking some pictures, I'm supposed to be a "rapper." I'll turn my baseball cap backwards, change into a football jersey, slouch-dance around, and say "Yo!"
Or is that "wrapper?" I'd better check...
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

One of the greatest drummers EVER has passed on -- Elvin Jones (1928 - 2004) The John Coltrane Quartet/Quintet made music that changed my life as a teenager in the early 60's, and continues to sustain my spirit.
Hear A Love Supreme: ::: JOHNCOLTRANE.COM :::

Weather: No rain in the valley, but the mountains got moisture yesterday.

Wildlife: Oh yes, there IS a Mallard nest on our "floating island." It's actually a derelict raft that our neighbors anchored down, and built a box upon. The turtles are standing guard.

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: A Perry Mason movie from 1935 -- Case of the Lucky Legs -- Hilarious knockabout comedy with lawyer Mason being portrayed in a John Barrymore impression (by actor Warren Williams) as an irrepressible drunk, and two-fisted investigator.

Sublime to the Ridiculous -- Another PBS out-of-time show called Colonial House -- these re-enactment projects are under-prepared, under-funded, and irritating as dramas of ineptitude. I think that the historical stories they want to tell are trivialized by these whining testimonies to failure. ENOUGH!
More ridiculousness: Colonial House . Interactive History . Dress Up | PBS

Wildlife; On my way to work today, a Magpie was swooping down on a fenced yard while a couple of large dogs ran around barking at the bird. Either the Magpie was going after some food, or it was just having stupid fun -- but it wasn't giving up.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Weather: Predictions of thundershowers, let's see if they materialize. Low cirrus clouds overhead in the A.M. -- enough sunlight to cast shadows.

Media Watch: The word about Fahrenheit 9/11 is circulating on the Internet at least! Incendiary 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Fires Up Crowd at Cannes
Here's a couple of articles about the hideous reactionary cabal that's taken over our country for the moment. It took 'em forty years to do it:
Article 1 -- The War at Home
Article 2(from the NY Times)--
For Conservatives, Mission Accomplished
By JOHN MICKLETHWAIT and ADRIAN WOOLDRIDGE
Published: May 18, 2004
Last week Washington was the site of the biggest birthday party you never heard of. The occasion was the 40th anniversary of the American Conservative Union, and the guest list included all the grandees of right-wing America, from Senator Mitch McConnell to Phyllis Schlafly to Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association to, of course, President Bush.
In his speech, the President promised that "for our blessed land the best days lie ahead," and was greeted with several foot-stomping ovations and cries of "Four more years!" But the real flavor of the event was captured by what the president called the "fine group of decent citizens" gathered at the tables in front of him — members of the N.R.A., the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Foundation and countless other groups that make up Conservative America. One man wore a tie with the Ten Commandments; women carried handbags in the colors of the American flag; and when the narrator of a film about the conservative union used the phrase "right-wing nuts," the room roared its approval.
This is the type of partisan anniversary that only one side of America pays attention to — the side that watches Fox News Channel (the host for the evening was that network's Tony Snow). Yet every Democratic politician in the land could have learned a great deal by attending. It would be going a little far to say that the A.C.U. ought to have celebrated under a banner labeled "Mission Accomplished," but it is because of such groups that the right has out-organized, out-fought and out-thought liberal America over the past 40 years. And the left still shows no real sign of knowing how to fight back.
To consider the ground that liberals have ceded, one must look back at the union's founding in a cramped living-room in 1964, a few days after Lyndon B. Johnson had thrashed the first fully paid-up conservative presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. Back then, the self-styled "Mr. Conservative" seemed to come from another planet. "When in all our history," asked the political theorist Richard Hofstadter, "has anyone with ideas so bizarre, so archaic, so self-confounding, so remote from the basic American consensus got so far?"
Fast forward to today. A Republican Party that is more conservative than Mr. Goldwater could have imagined controls the White House, Congress, many governors' mansions and a majority of seats in state legislatures. Back in 1964, John Kenneth Galbraith smugly proclaimed: "These, without doubt, are the years of the liberal. Almost everyone now so describes himself." Today, a Gallup poll tells us, twice as many Americans (41 percent) describe themselves as "conservative" than as "liberal" (19 percent).
Democrats have come up with all sorts of excuses, from the evils of Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy" to the "stolen" election of 2000. They usually ignore the fact that the right has simply been far better at producing agenda-setting ideas. From welfare reform in Wisconsin to policing in New York City, from the tax-cutting Proposition 13 in California to regime change in Baghdad, the intellectual impetus has, for better or worse, come from the right. As President Bush bragged at last week's party, the right is "the dominant intellectual force in American politics."
Yet many Democrats insist this will change once Mr. Bush is ejected from the White House. This shows how little they have learned. First, the right has a history of advancing its agenda under Democratic executives (welfare reform came about under Bill Clinton). More important, it has organized itself for a much longer battle. Whenever it has been forced into retreat — as after Watergate — the flame has burned eternal at places like Heritage, the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute, and at their smaller cousins in virtually every state.
Brains are nothing without political brawn. That's why the American Conservative Union disciplines Congressional Republicans by rating them according to their purity (the average rating for House Republicans has risen from 63 percent in 1972 to 91 percent in 2002). Yes, liberal environmental and abortion rights groups rate members of Congress too, but those figures are more effective as fodder for conservative attack ads than as a way to keep Democrats in line.
There are other battalions of foot soldiers, too. Americans for Tax Reform, which had a table at the dinner, rigidly enforces the party's pledge not to raise taxes. Focus on the Family (which has a campus in Colorado Springs so big that it has its own ZIP code) concentrates on promoting family values. Sometimes these groups feud — Cato libertarians have plenty of differences with Focus on the Family's social conservatives — but as all the back-slapping at the party showed, they share a sense of movement.
In theory, liberals have more than enough brain and brawn to match conservative America. The great liberal universities and foundations have infinitely more resources than the American Enterprise Institute and its allies. But the conservatives have always been more dogged. The Ford Foundation is as liberal as Heritage is conservative, but there is no doubt which is the more ruthless in its cause.
Now, perhaps, a few liberals are waking up to the task that confronts them. Americans Come Together, a group backed by the billionaire George Soros, already has 20 offices and 450 employees in Ohio alone. John Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, has founded the Center for American Progress, which Democrats are calling "the liberal Heritage." But it still seems that liberals are purely reactive. Barry Goldwater may have been strong meat, but at least he had ideas. By contrast, Americans Come Together's entire raison d'être (like that of the John Kerry campaign) remains negative: to send Mr. Bush back to Texas.
"There is no such thing as spontaneous public opinion," Beatrice Webb, the great British leftist, once said. "It all has to be manufactured from a center of conviction and energy." The American Conservative Union is just one of many such centers on the right; it's a lesson that liberal America seems unable to learn.
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, writers for The Economist, are the authors of "The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America."

Charity Alert: It's SO easy! The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Wildlife: Our backyard is an official National Wildlife Wild Bird Environment site -- we heard a new call early this morning, and have to identify the bird now!

Weather: Rain overnight, but it's gonna be warm today -- I'll be planting tomatos with water jackets anyway!

Media Watch: Rudraksh -- meaning 'talisman,' a somewhat juvenile Bollywood movie about an evil Rakesh (demon) vs. a good Brahmin -- he works as a bouncer in a strip bar -- the Brahmin that is.
Ha Ha Funkin' Ha -- That dawg-assed show Troy is number one at the box office, but it's also being viewed by some as an Anti-Iraq War movie:
Trojan War Shows Bush and Blair's Achilles' Heel Say Actors Who See a Modern-Day Similarity
Hey, if the sandal fits -- wear it!
Seriously, the Trojan War was a terrible disaster for both winners and losers.
The real historical event behind Homer's epic was just one example of the Aegean nations destroying their own prosperity and culture by mutual piracy -- much like my ancestors, the Germanic 'Barbarians' and Vikings, did in Europe a dozen or so centuries later.
'Dark Ages' of desperate mass migrations, poverty, squalor, and illiteracy followed victories by those rapacious armies, whose troops, and their families, ended up much worse off than they were before their 'glorious victories.'