Spring Semester is just about DONE -- and so are the students and faculty. The weather couldn't be better. Gotta keep that Skunk-gate up on my back deck. We think he/she found an unused, nearly-forgotten pet door leading from the pantry to the back deck and tore the none-too-sturdy fixture away. Insulation was pushed in from the outside wall of the pantry, and it's all-too-possible that one of these badger-like creatures was the culprit. About six weeks ago we saw one at the same spot. A Skunk in the pantry, or ANYWHERE inside your house, is too ugly to contemplate!


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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

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

In The Community: Check out Hockaday Museum of Art's online preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park!
I'm videotaping the keynote speaker tomorrow at Flathead Valley Community College's graduation ceremony. The last time I was anywhere near one of those things was back in 1979 when I was pedaling my 10 Speed up a long sweaty hill at the University of Utah on a hot weekend afternoon. Suddenly I was navigating through a sea of suits, ties, and other formal wear, while I was only clad in cut-off Levis. (I'd clamped my shirt and other scraps of clothing onto the back of the bike.) "This is MY college graduation!" I thought, and I was correct -- my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree arrived in the mail soon afterward.
My high school graduation ceremony was a full cap-and-gown affair, and everyone had a pretty good time -- until Robert Kennedy died from an assassin's bullet later that night.

Media Watch: T - R - A-S-H! That spells TRASH! Cheryl Burke wasn't able to loosen up her uptight partner Ian enough on dancing With The Stars to advance any further. We voted completely for Apolo and Jullianne Hough, even though Kym Johnson and Joey were alright in their second dance. Karina Smirnoff and Edyta Slyvinska did an ultra-slow number, with professional partners, to an ultra-slow ballad by Enrique Inglesas (and the Lip-Sinques). The women were decked-out in typical Edyta costumes -- mostly nude with fabric flowing off the limbs on one side, which worked well for all the turns and flourishes they needed to liven up that dead-weight song. Someone might ask in fun, "Why don't all these ballroom dancers wear their dresses over the MIDDLE of their bodies like everyone else?"

Theatre/Theater: Footsbarn Theatre's The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

Mankind is a mouth, of which I am the cry
One night, one night of storm, a little deserted child, an orphan, alone in this immeasurable creation, I made my entrance into this darkness which you call society; the first thing I saw was the law, under the form of a gallows; the second was riches, your riches, under the form of a woman dead of cold and hunger; the third, the future, under the form of a child, left to die; the fourth, goodness, truth and justice, under the figure of a vagabond whose sole friend and companion was a wolf.
This adventure begins on the coast of Cornwall in a stormy night, where Footsbarn began it’s own epic journey 35 years ago. Our protagonists are travelling clowns. Set against the background of a Shakespearean world, we travel to Southwark Fair and the royal court in London -- An epic, a great human adventure to be told simply and fully, what’s more exciting!?!


Remaining Tour Dates -- Montbard, France
25th May - 8.30pm
26th May - 8.30pm
27th May - 5.00pm

Spring Fever -- but the semester isn't over until the end of THIS week. Final tests and projects are still going to be due! I got some photos of Wild Turkeys and an Osprey on Sunday. (See picture below)


Wild Turkeys on Conrad Drive; Kalispell, Montana -- May 13, 2007

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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

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

In The Community: Check out Hockaday Museum of Art's online preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park! Jeff Walker's formal opening was fun -- avid Walker collector Bernie from Big Sandy showed up to see his stuff, as did Jeff and his wife Julie.

Media Watch: Another movie in another theater, with a REAL audience. This time it was Georgia Rule, starring the still - controversial but excellent Jane Fonda and long-time screen actor Lindsay Lohan, who has yet to see her 25th birthday. The audience repeatedly laughed out loud at the mention of "blow job," "boner," and other such things, but the story was supposed to be about alcoholism and child abuse. Former comedy director Garry Marshall and his screenwriter never got close to the devastating reality about those extremely serious matters. Desperate Housewives co-star Felicity Huffman looked like she COULD be Fonda's daughter in a number of scenes, but a lot of visual magic was made with large-lensed sunglasses. I didn't even recognize Cary Elwes as the loathsome stepfather, and the rest of the cast did OK too. Lohan's career is in danger from the celebrity meat-grinder -- she doesn't need to feed the ever-hungry publicity machine if she just does her job. THAT is tough enough! Another big writing flaw was setting the story in a supposedly "Mormon" community. The young male lead's future "mission" was the only plot point which justified THAT, but it was almost irrelevant. Unfaithfulness to his absent fiance was much more important. The filmakers would have done better without even naming a local church or religion -- there was almost no verisimilitude in their depiction of what a Mormon community is like, in Idaho, or anywhere else. Whatever -- from the box-office lists, it looks like 10 times more people paid to see Spider Man III rather than Georgia Rule.

Theater/Theatre: Maribor, Slovenija -- Workshop improvisation for dancers and musicians June 22 – June 27, 2007 Katie Duck (dance) Wilbert de Joode (music – counter bass) -- Workshop takes place daily from 11:00 to 15:00 / Performance at the end of the workshop period by the workshop participant. UNION building, Partizanska cesta 5, 2000 Maribor (in the city center) -- rooms Zelena dvorana 2nd floor and V 2 in the basement. You can apply and pay on arrival. However, the number of participants is limited to 10 dancers and 5 musicians. We suggest you apply in advance by email in order to insure your place in the workshop. You need to take care for your accommodations. We will gladly assist you with making reservations.
To register and for more information go to: zulk@zulk.sli
More information about the artists: www.katiedauck.com / http://www.doek.org/wDeJoode.html
This workshop is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ljubljana, JSKD, Plesna izba Maribor, JSKD OI Maribor and KPC Narodni dom Maribor.


A layered collage from videos found on http://justinmorrison.net -- that's Justin dancing with Katie Duck in the center. If ya' look, there are dancers Makiko Ito and Eileen Standley in the mix. Wilbert de Joode is over to the left at the back.

Big Blue Skies -- the mountain snow is still deep for now. I saw a Mountain Blue Bird in the neighborhood, and a Red Tail Hawk soaring over the nearby fields.


Mountain Blue Bird -- May 6, 2007
Little Foy's Lake, Montana USA

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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

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

In The Community: Check out Hockaday Museum of Art's online preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park! Jeff Walker's formal opening is Thursday, May 10, 2007 -- the next night is open to the public with no admission charge.

Media Watch: Queen Elizabeth II was in the US for a few days, watching the Kentucky Derby, getting Bush-wacked in Washington, and commemorating the 400th anniverary of the Jamestown Colony. Her lineage tangles up with the Tudors and Stuarts via Hanover, Germany. Virginia was named after "Virgin Queen " Elizabeth I of England, whose cousin's son King James VI of Scotland succeeded to her throne as James I of Great Britain -- Jamestown was named after him. (I have stayed at Ascot, home of QEII's favorite racetrack, if that counts for anything.) Helen Mirren is shooting a movie in South Dakota and can't accept hasty invitations from the White House or Buckingham Palace, so London's Daily Mail can go straight to bloody 'ell for slandering one of their country's greatest actresses.

Theatre/Theater: THIS counts! Dee-Lite-ful MySpacer Lady Miss Kier performed in South America last month. Here's a few comments from the lucky witnesses:
i couldn't believe you were dropping cuts from the first Deee-Lite album, live vocals and all. unreal. you were definitely the hidden gem of the whole weekend, and it was an honor to see you still doing your thing, phenominally as always ;) keep bumpin' it, kid, and don't evva change!!!

I wanted to stop bye and thank you for coming out to Coachella this year. It's been almost a decade since I have seen you perform...and you looked absolutely beautiful!!!! Thanks for the memories Lady K


DJ/Singer/Dancer Lady Miss Kier watches herself work at a festival in Coachella. Standing next to her is the photographer "Henri." Digital magic is by ME! As Bootsy Collins once said: Groove IS in the heart, and Dee-Lite has been known to SMOKE!
Onstage, that is -- shhhh, shhhh!

Another Big Blue Sky -- I'd settle for some more mountain snow though. The squacky Yellow Head Blackbirds are nesting again around our lake, and I saw another family of Canadian Geese on Firehouse Pond.


Yellow Head Blackbirds -- May 7, 2007
Middle Foy's Lake, Montana USA

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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution as Spring finally gets into gear to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art's online preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park page is worth a look. Jeff Walker's formal opening is this Thursday, May 10, 2007 -- the next night is open to the public with no admission charge.

Media Watch: The ultra-dull NASA channel had an interesting panel about a Super-Nova called SN 2006gy -- they've been viewing it since last September, and it's HUGE, something like 150 times the size of our Sun. It's millions of light-years away, so it means the explosion happened millions of years ago, but we can still study it NOW!

Theater/Theatre: July 7-16 / Improvisation for performers and musicians - Katie Duck - 220 euro
This is a 10 day workshop. If you can not do the entire event you can let us know and receive a discount for the time you can do. There is a gig for the workshop group on the Friday July 13 at the OT301. Please send a letter with your details about how many days you can do. You can register by emailing katie@katieduck.com


Not really a collage, but part of a re-digitized sequence featuring Katie Duck dancing with Michael Schumacher from a Magpie video on Justin's site.
Justin Morrison recently wrote: Michael, I think the collage work you've done is brilliant. Thanks for helping to get the word out on me and the Magpie gang. I've got some new video up from recent work. Feel free to click around http://justinmorrison.net and stay tuned for more over the coming days. BTW -- Justin's new work is excellent!

It rained all day yesterday, except on the east side of the Flathead Valley -- where it snowed. The Canadian Geese have Goslings swimming on Firehouse Pond! (See photo below from last Sunday.)



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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution as Spring finally gets into gear to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art's two-week preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park is taking over the lower gallery, starting this weekend -- once we finish getting Jeff Walker's 70+ etchings and paintings on the walls upstairs!

Media Watch: I got a tip about a website that engages in some online observations about how ridiculous Comic Books could and can be. It is almost TOO obvious an idea, but it takes REAL fans of the medium to care enough to do it. Their main theme is "Superman is a dick," and they prove it by many examples. (Maybe it was the fault of his editors.) Other features of this site include Sexual Innuendo, Stupor Powers, Propaganda, Stupid Comics, Weird Science (NOT the EC type!), Suffering Sappho, and Frames & Pages. Their comments are pretty funny most of the time -- variations of "...if this isn't intentional..." abound.


Clark Kent/Superman tells off childhood sweetheart Lana Lang and long-suffering Lois on this mean-spirited cover from Lois Lane #63 (1966). Art: Kurt Schaffenberger and Wayne Boring; Script: Leo Dorfman; Editor: Mort Weisinger.
Characters copyright by Time/Warners Inc.
I remember reading a story in a fan magazine (Trumpet perhaps) around 1969 with this interesting angle: If I'm Superman when I'm wearing tights, and I'm Clark Kent when wearing a suit, then who am I when I'm naked, sitting on the bed writing these words?

During the out-and-back to Big Sandy, Montana yesterday, the temperature got HOT! It was even warmer when we got back to the Flathead Valley. A brilliant Full Moon rode through the night sky. We saw well over a half-dozen Pronghorn Antelope on the Great Plains.

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!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution as Spring finally gets into gear to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art is re-hanging nearly everything for a two-week preview of the 4th Annual Spring for Glacier Auction on May 25, 2007 in Glacier National Park. (More about the crazy Jeff Walker art-collecting drive later!)

Theater/Theatre: SUGAR BABIES: The Burlesque Musical May 4 , 2007 to May 13, 2007 Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm; Sundays @ 3pm at Snug Harbor Cultural Center (in the Music Hall), 1000 Richmond Terrace Adult: $25.00 Students/Seniors/SHCC Members: $23.00
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founders Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu will be singing, dancing, acting, juggling, and presenting a number of their variety skills in "Sugar Babies"
...a homage to a classical American theatrical form -- NY Post
The original Broadway production starred the talented and energetic Anne Miller and Mickey Rooney in 1979. This show features actual Burlesque sketches and musical numbers. It is a historical re-enactment of one of the greatest eras of show business where America's greatest comics received their training before moving to Vaudeville, Broadway, Film and TV.



Ann Miller -- Was Too Darn HOT in Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate movie; With Sugar Babies co-star Mickey Rooney; Ms. Miller's second banana Julia Ann in the same show; All-American Ann Miller circa 1944; and Mr. Pennygaff and Mistress Philomena, stars of the Snug Harbor Sugar Babies revival. They DO know their Burlesque!
Man:(picks up phone) Hello, Cohen, Cohen, Cohen and Cohen. Caller: Let me speak to Mr. Cohen. Man: He's dead these six years. We keep his name on the door out of respect. Caller: Then let me speak to Mr. Cohen. Man: He's on vacation. Caller: Well then, let me speak to Mr. Cohen. Man: He's out to lunch. Caller: How about Mr. Cohen? Man: Speaking.