Continuing beautiful Summer days, with cooling breezes all week long -- couldn't have better weather for Arts In The Park.

Fabric artist Ami Davis welcomes a customer to her booth at Arts In The Park on Saturday, July 26, 2008.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from South Dartmouth, Massachusetts; Washington, DC; Jamaica, New York; Athens, Greece; Warsaw, Poland; Lake Forest, Illinois; Saint Louis, Missouri; Victoria, British Columbia; Norwalk, Wisconsin; Andalusia, Alabama; Englewood, Ohio; Humble, Texas; Debelec, Bulgaria; Wayne, Pennsylvania; Nottingham, England (Yes, there was a Robin Hood); Enfield, Connecticut; Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran; Hanover Park, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Cambridge, Massachusetts; El Paso, Texas; Portland, Maine; Louth, Ireland; Kugluktuk, Nunavut (Canada); Winnipeg, Manitoba; Jamaica, New York (Yo, Stozo!); Madison, Wisconsin (Mad Town USA) and Visakhapatnam, India.

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 celebrated its 40th Arts In The Park last weekend. We are still showing Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Also -- Ace Powell -- Ace of Diamonds and Native American Interpretations from our permanent collection.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: The judges saved a VERY deserving squad of dancers on America's Best Dance Crew II last week. We are thinking of seeing the tour in Portland, Oregon this Fall -- JabbaWokeeZ and Break Sk8 are featured, and I hope Status Quo from Boston are too.

I saw the low LOW LOW Brow comedy Dick on the satellite/cable -- Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams played two ridiculous characatures of teenage girls who managed to bring down Dick (Dan Hedaya) Nixon for being mean to his dog Checkers. Deep Throat referred to Dunst's stoner brother, who was caught going to a porn movie. Williams sang Olivia Newton-John's I Honestly Love You onto one of Dick's tapes, which he erased right away, probably for 18 minutes. ("A 15 year old -- they'll CRUCIFY me!).
Anyway, it was exuberant and totally goofy. The halter-top costumes at the end were a bit sexist, but the two young women looked so damn funny unfurling their banner saying YOU SUCK etc as Nixon flew away from the White House. They got "the finger" in return from the befuddled ex-president, but he was stymied and knew it.

I made these drawings of White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen (moaning) and Gerald Ford (laughing) thirty-four years ago when the REAL Dick Nixon gave his resignation speech. I was listening to the radio in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and they played Keep On Smilin' by Wet Willie afterwards. We had a heck of a barbecue later that night!

Beautiful Kirsten Dunst later became VERY famous playing the female lead in Sam Raimi's excellent Spiderman movies. What else might be going on in Comic Book Land?

Batman, Dark Knight is still riding high at the box office -- a dead actor just might get the Oscar this year for playing The Joker, and the putative hero might go to court for a domestic disturbance.

Beautiful Summer days, with cooling breezes most of the weekend. One gust sent my patio umbrella over the housetop, however! I went to the Kalispell Farmer's Market with long lines for fresh lettuce and tomatoes. I mowed my lawn too, which probably means my vacation is officially over, and I've got to get that automatic sprinkler system working. Spotted deer in the twilight off Woodland Drive two nights in a row.

Late sunset over Dry Bridge Slough -- July 20, 2008.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Espoo, Finland; Pinckney, Michigan; Encinitas, California; Watertown, Connecticut; Saunderstown, Rhode Island; Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey; San Antonio, Texas; Toronto, Ontario (Ida fan); Bryne, Norway; Jamaica, New York; Hermitage, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California; Moulineaux, France and Princeton, New Jersey.

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 presents Arts In The Park this upcoming weekend! The Museum itself is still showing Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Also -- Ace Powell -- Ace of Diamonds and Native American Interpretations from our permanent collection.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Bollywood movie time! Saawariya (Beloved) was a re-interpretation of Dostoevski's White Nights from 1848. In THIS East Indian version (There are at least two others)) the director was Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and it was more about the production than the stars -- Salman Khan had a tiny, important role, Rani Mukerji was excellent, but supporting actress Zohra Sehgal was the BEST. The two leads were both named Kapoor, and did their jobs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a round of applause for the REAL STAR of this movie -- let's hear it for THE SET!
Saawariya pretty much delivered everything it had in the first forty minutes -- set, music, and imagery. I liked how it tried to evoke a red light district with some sad verisimilitude, but I got tired of the gimmicks long before the interval, and used fast-forward to hit the few high points towards the end.

VH1's Rock Honors The Who had too much ass-kissing to suit me, plus too many performances by other groups that were off-key because of the high registers in which they tried to sing.
Townshend and Daltrey made the right decision by continuing The Who as a duet (with very skilled backup musicians). Guest spots by Chris Stamp and others who knew them back in the day were priceless. If I ever met these guys and could share my OWN memories with them, without boring them to death, I'd mention their astounding performances on Shindig in the 60's, and their long string of quality singles which brightened up AM Radio in my teenage years. I was glad when they captured the 70's generation of rock fans too, but their overall story is laced with sadness. BTW -- I liked Roger Daltrey as an actor on Rude Awakening. That series featured some wonderful performances by Sherylyn Fenn, Lynn Redgrave, Tim Curry, and others.

Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924) was fun to see on TCM -- dangerous stunts and trick photography abounded!

X-Men and X-Women

X-Men III was alright. I knew as a teenager (see above) that the idea of alienated mutant youth was a gold mine -- with the right storyteller at the helm. Unfortunately, the series was often used for training new Marvel bullpeners until writer Chris Claremont rose to the challenge after one of Marvel's bankruptcies.
Beautiful Famke Jansson died (again) in this movie, along with Patrick Stewart (who has only died once so far). Super Villain Extraordinaire Magneto (Ian McKellan) survived, though, and there were plenty of other first-rate actors looning it up in this fantastical nonsense to give it uh, should we say, wings -- just remember to respect the basic material. Magneto made the initial 60's series special, and there are over two generations of ideas with which to play.

Famke Jannsen as a model (foreground), and an actor (background). I'm not sure it's even possible to destroy Class V Mutant Jean (Phoenix) Grey -- they've tried it twice. She MIGHT have taken Scott (Cyclops) Summers and Charles (Prof. X) Xavier along to her special netherworld, if I know my way around comic book cliches!
Halle Berry's Storm survived X-Men III, so one arguable candidate for Most Beautiful Woman In The World will continue to star in future X-Men adventures -- the former term being as hyperbolically ridiculous as any superhero fantasy. So to honor reality, my congratulations to Ms. Berry for successfully giving birth recently.
Speaking of Comic Book Flicks -- the new Batman: Dark Knight movie looks like the hit of this summer! The History Channel showed a bunch of psychologists, rabbis, sociologists, and comics professionals analyzing this 70 year old character. (Some of the best comedy is straight-faced.)
Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy II did very well, as did Jon Favreau's Iron Man, and the ever-green Hulk.
Star-driven superhero films featuring Angelina Jolie and Will Smith did some business too, but I bet they were awfully EXPENSIVE to make. If Hollywood paces these things properly, they can avoid burning out this genre. I'm hoping for the best, but there's no telling what greed can do to louse up good (or simply fun) things. I wish ALL movies were good, no matter WHAT their genres might be!

Getting hot again, but not too hot I hope -- Arts In The Park will find me outdoors most of the week. A flock of noisy Canadian Geese at the slough last night.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Copiap, Chile; Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Manchester, UK; Rice Lake, Wisconsin; Waterford, Michigan; San Francisco, California; NYC, New York; Biasca, Ticino (Switzerland); Lincoln Park, New Jersey; Irvine, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Tarrytown, New York; Louth, Ireland (thought Eavan was on the road); City of London, UK; Salt Lake City, Utah; West Lafayette, IndianaDoorn, Netherlands; Columbus, Ohio; Slobozia, Romania; Pittsburg, Illinois; Tucson, Arizona; Charlestown, Rhode Island; Rolla, Missouri; L'Assomption, Quebec and Lexington, Massachusetts;

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 presents Arts In The Park this upcoming weekend! The Museum itself is still showing Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Also -- Ace Powell -- Ace of Diamonds and Native American Interpretations from our permanent collection.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: The second season of America's Best Dance Crew has no incredible acts like Break Skate or JabbaWokeeZ, or over-the-top acrobats like Status Quo had. All those young dancers are fun to watch, but the contrast with Season One is profound! Choreographer Shane Sparks was nominated for a Grammy for his work on So You Think You Can Dance. He's an OK judge on the Crew show too.

B.C. Vacation Rambles

While we drove around the VERY big city of Vancouver B.C. we found ourselves counting Starbucks shops. We did not see the entire town by any means, but we saw more than two dozen Starbucks stores, sometimes located as close as a block from one another. There were plenty of other coffee bars around too. Methinks someone may have over-expanded their business. The company published a list of 600 franchises slated to close earlier today in the USA. Lawd knows how many will shutter-down in Canada too.
When I lived in Seattle, I caught the Espresso bug, but my favorite brand was Seattle's Best Coffee. The best places to get it were cart vendors on the streets, who had the necessary experience as baristas. There was a local outfit in Spokane, so I dealt with them when I relocated inland. I was acquainted with a former Seattle's Best employee named Simon Craven-Thompson, an Englishman who moved there soon afterward and started his own roaster and company as Craven's Coffee. He supplies many vendors here in Northwesten Montana too, and I drink his product as often as I drink the local roasts from Montana Coffee Traders. I make a lot of my own Espresso now, as prices have gone through the clouds. We even took our own machine with us on vacation.

Click to see a much larger image.
Looking North and South from Totem Glen in idyllic Stanley Park towards the surrounding skyscrapers of bustling Vancouver, B.C. near sunset.

On our first night in Vancouver, we walked to a club named Richard's On Richards (Street) to see a long-time favorite of ours, Jonathan Richman. The house was FULL, the audience was mostly twenty-somethings, but there were people even older than they, including us, plus Richman and his drummer Tommy Larkins. They knew his songs, and enthusiastically embraced his eccentric delivery -- Spanish Guitar that night, along with Larkin's drums. His voice is unique on any stage, but ideally serves his personal expressivness. There is nobody like him. Who else sings songs about Pablo Picasso or Jan Vermeer? Who else ascends to the heights of childlike joy, then dives into the abyss of sorrow? Who else sings in three languages, or more? Who else crafts stories in song like the one below, and inspires people forty years younger than he to sing along? (Without prompting!)

Well I was dancing at a night club one Friday night / And that night club bar was a little uptight / Yeah, I was dancing all alone a little self-conscious / When some kids came up and said, "For dancing come with us." / And soon...

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

Well I was dancing in the lesbian bar in the industrial zone. / I was dancing with my friends and dancing alone.

Well [in] the first bar, things were all right / But in this bar, things were Friday night. / In the first bar things were just all right. / This bar things were Friday night

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

I was dancing in the lesbian bar way down town / I was there to check the scene and hang around / Well [in] the first bar, things were stop and stare / But in this bar, things were laissez-faire / In the first bar things, were stop and stare / In this bar, things were laissez-faire

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

In the first bar, folks were drinking sips / But in this bar, they could shake their hips / In the first bar they were drinking sips / In this bar they could shake their hips

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

Well in the first bar, things were o-kay / But in this bar, things were more my way, / In the first bar, things were just o-kay / In this bar, things were done my way

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

Well In the first bar, things were controlled / But in this bar, things were rock-n-roll / In the first bar things were so controlled / In this bar things were way way bold

Four hundred sing-along voices: I was dancing in the lesbian bar, I was dancing in the lesbian bar. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

Jonathan Richman today -- from Vapor Records' Website
The back-and-forth between Jonathan and Tommy kept things flowing. One might criticize the way his acoustic guitar reinforced some sameness during the two-hour show, but he faced a raucous standing ovation, and waited for a long while with a smile for the noise to die down before singing an encore. We walked back to the hotel with light feet for the experience. It was the fourth time we'd seen him live. The last time was in Seattle almost eighteen years ago, where he sang solo and played electric guitar -- a better instrument for his Pablo Picasso song. The Spanish Guitar serves him very well, and I have NO problems with it per se.

Clouds and cooling-off temperatures. I wish it would rain a little. The Ospreys and Deer didn't miss me at the slough, but I missed them.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Atlanta, Georgia; New York, NY; Vaasa, Western Finland; Kaneohe, Hawaii (Dave Fagiolli); Jamaica, New York; Mexico, Distrito Federal; Hamilton, Ontario; San Antonio, Texas (a Daily Kossak); Round Rock, Texas (Is that you, Lee?); Riverside, California; Galloway, Ohio; ??? United Kingdom and Columbus, Ohio.

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 has Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Also -- Ace Powell -- Ace of Diamonds and Native American Interpretations from our permanent collection.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Concert Reviews:
George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars at B.B. King"s in New York City on July 8, 2008
Snabby said -- Had a great time
I'm sorry I'm not better at collecting the setlist, but my recollection is that it was fairly standard, but with some nice variations of some Funkadelic cuts I haven't heard for a while.
Back on stage (first time I've seen him this year) was Michael Hampton, as was Kim Manning. Kendra and Belita were on quite a bit, and Sativa came out once for Somethin Stank.
Other songs for sure I remember (in no order, and no surprises) were Funkentelechy, Red Hot Mama, Atomic Dog, Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop, Gamin On Ya, Bop Gun, Flashlight, Up for the Downstroke, One Nation, Aqua Boogie, P.Funk, Give Up the Funk, Mothership Connection. Show clocked in at about 3.5 hours, maybe more.
I thought it was a great show, lots of energy on both sides of the stage.
What is the name of the drummer who isn't Rico or Frankie? Man, he works his ass off.


(L to R) My friend Michael Hampton, my acquaintance George Clinton, and Kim Manning, whom I have never met. The back of Garry Shider's head is behind them.
(Digital collage from live on-the-scene pictures by Snabby.)

SWANG said -- the third drummer is Foley McCreary.

P-Bee said -- The Set list in no particular order, from what I recall:
Funkentelechy
Flashlight
One Nation Under A Groove
Cosmic Slop
Aqua Boogie
You & Your Folks
Good Old Funky Music
I'll Betcha
Stuffs & Thangs
Tear The Roof Off The Sucker
Bop Gun
Maggot Brain
Up For the Downstroke
Red Hot Mama
Gamin On Ya
Mothership Connection
Rumpofsteelskin riff
P-Funk
Bounce to This
Traylewd's rap
Atomic Dog
Somthin Stink
Nice to hear Stuffs & Thangs. Can't remember hearing that before.
Think I'll join the Ricky Rouse Club. The man was on fire!

Props to Lige too, an unsung p-funky hero.
The man was all over the bass all night. Remember when P-Funk had 2-3 bass players at shows? Thank goodness they retired the R&R end of the show. By eliminating that part of the show & shortening some of the songs that are usually stretched out, they were able to play more songs than usual. The show was the best I've seen in years.
- Missed Boggie
- Always miss Bernie


P.S. Advertisements in Holland say Bernie Worrell is playing with the P-Funk All-Stars there this Fall!

Bob said -- I had a great time. Good musically. Mike Hampton was out playing on quite a bit and saying hey to the fans after the show. The Dr. had lots of energy and was out front for a long stretch. Trey's rap was super tight, Sativa sounded great, and once again Belita blew my doors off. Can't think of a highlight for me at the moment. Shaunna got a short solo and torn it nice.

Snozzle said -- Every time that I think that P-Funk will put on the 'auto pilot' switch and give a 'by the numbers' type gig, they throw me curve ball and fry my consciousness in the process. After witnessing the absence of three major guitarists at the Stone Pony in NJ(May 8th), it was a relief to see Michael Hampton back in the line up. While he was only on stage primarily for the first half of the show, he definitely made his presence felt, supplying some nastay searing solos on "Funkentelechy", "Cosmic Slop" and "Red Hot Mama".
The part of the set that features early Funkadelic never ceases to amaze me and last night was no exception, especially when they jumped into "Stuffs And Things". Not a medley either, but the entire song. They followed this with "I Got A Thing...", "I Bet You", and "You And Your Folks...". They also, to my surprise. pulled out "P-Funk", which I haven't heard live since 1995, as well as "Mothership Connection".
After that came the standards: "Maggot Brain" "One Nation...", "Flash Light", and "Atomic Dog".
M.I.A.: Cordell Mosson

Media Watch: Gaughhh -- Reality shows! I saw the final episode of Celebrity Circus, and all I can say about it is that the physical art of Circus benefits from exposure to the public. Model Rachel Hunter looked good at her six foot height, plus they had an athletic small person in their final three who called himself Wee Man. So You Think You Can Dance was extremely popular in Canada, so it was hard to miss an episode. One lady was slammed by the judges so hard, she got broken ribs and quit the competition. (Just kidding a little about the cause, but not her condition.) Matter of fact, there were some injuries in the Circus series too (makes sense).
Let's see -- Mario Lopez was announcing America's Best Dance Crew II, and there was a Ballroom Dance competition on PBS from Moscow, Russia. The announcers on the later show WOULDN'T SHUT UP. They drowned out the music, and made the show about THEM, rather than dancing. Their wheezy English accents made me think of Monty Python's History of Ballooning, where relentless chatter ascended over everything else.

TV or Not TV
High winds last Friday caused downed wires around the Northwest, and this urban forest fire burned over a thousand acres and a dozen houses near downtown Spokane, Washington as we drove through town on our way to our hotel right across the Idaho border, where I snapped this somewhat vague photo off the TV, about twenty miles away from the conflagration itself.

Hot and dry -- glad my neighbor buzzed my lawn while I was gone and watered a little. The valley had a mosquito infestation because of the slow spring -- five years of eggs hatched in the high waters. (Really BITES when that happens!) Things are better since I got back -- saw a large male Deer at the slough, and was greeted by circling Ospreys.

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Saint Louis, Missouri; El Cajon, California; Austin, Texas; Brooklyn, New York; Vienna, Austria; Aalsmeer, Holland; Kansas City, Missouri; Rocklin, California; Ardmore, Alabama; Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec; Flagstaff, Arizona and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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 has Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
My boss also loaded up two more galleries with Ace Powell -- Ace of Diamonds and Native American Interpretations while I was away.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!

Media Watch: Montana PBS has been carrying the Butte Folk Festival LIVE all weekend -- excellent stuff! Shemekia Copeland from Sirius Satellie Radio performed with her Blues band -- she announced this gig over the air when I listened to her broadcast three weekends ago.

I purchased Funkadelic's By Way of the Drum from a little record store near "Punjabi Village" on Main Street in Vancouver B.C. It is a reclamation of the abandoned MCA project from 1989, put out on an obscure offshoot of Geffin Records called Hip O Select dot Com. Lots of Dwayne McKnight on guitar, plus the great Eddie Hazel. Other funkers include Garry Shider, Mallia Franklin, Donnie Sterling, Tracy Lewis, keyboardists David (Chong) Spradley, and Joseph "Amp" Fiddler. The music is absolutely fabulous!

Get Up and DANCE!

Bollywood movie star Urmila Matondkar is a remarkable dancer, and has studied acting and film-making all of her life -- she's a popular pinup, but there is much more to her than just good looks.

Speaking of Punjabi Village, we bought a load of Bollywood movies there -- plus scored big in a library sale downtown where they were dumping East Indian DVDs. We saw a couple of good ones, but our first was called Daud -- and we re-christened it Dud after an hour or so. The cast was very good -- led by Sanjay Duit and Urmila Matondkar, but the material was insultingly trite, and lacked the essential spark of ingenuity that makes screwball comedies work.

More of British Columbia!

A composite of two separate photos from the Olympic Nordic Center near Whistler, B.C. about July 4, 2008. That is a real bear, and a sign warning all of us that it, and its family, live in the same area.

Back from vacation! Highlights included -- Beautiful British Columbia, not just a slogan; Canada Day and Black Bears at Whistler, getting to know the Olympic sites; Eccentric singer/songwriter Jonathan Richman in Vancouver B.C; The observatory on Vancouver Island; Colorful Gay Pride Parade and Concert in downtown Victoria; KRAZY -- an art show about Comics, Cartoons, Video Games, and Manga/Anime at the Vancouver Art Museum; Cirque de Soliel LIVE under canvas in Vancouver, and spectacularly, if unhappily, a suburban forest fire on the hills overlooking Spokane, Wahington, caused by a windstorm knocking power lines into trees. (More to come in future posts -- including pictures.)

Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from all over the dang world by the literal hundreds -- thank you!

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 has Rails, Trails, and A Road -- honoring the 75th Anniversary of Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Check out Fall for Glacier -- a fundraiser for several programs that make Glacier National Park even better!


An artfull arranged digital mix of satellite and Flickr images showing the location of our hotel (X) and the nearby location of Cirque de Soliel and their show tents. It took about fifteen minutes to walk there. The bottom curtain will metaphorically rise when I describe some of the things I saw in a later post.