Night on Bald Mountain 25 December 1858, has been interpreted as an indication of Mussorgsky's intent to write an opera on the subject of Gogol's short story "St. John's Eve" (, "Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala", "St. John's Eve"). Gogol's tale contains the elements of witchcraft common to other stories in the "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" collection, but does not feature a witches' sabbath. No further plans for this project were mentioned. The theme of a witches' sabbath, the central theme in all subsequent "Night on Bald Mountain" projects, appears to have been derived from the nonextant play "The Witch" (, "Ved′ma") by
Bobby Bare a Western with Troy Donahue, "A Distant Trumpet", and had a memorable scene being branded for desertion, and a few episodes of the TV series "No Time for Sergeants". He turned his back on Hollywood to pursue his country career. From 1983 to 1988, Bare hosted "Bobby Bare and Friends" on The Nashville Network which featured him interviewing songwriters who sang their hit songs on the show. In 1985, Bare signed with EMI America Records where he scored 3 low-charting singles. In 1998, he formed the band, Old Dogs, with his friends Jerry Reed, Mel Tillis and Waylon Jennings. In