T.D.

Taras Balzov Kotcha Kokov Bendin Spredyachiks (These are fictional names from the National Lampoon's "KGB Phone Directory" published some time in the '70s...)

Loren D. Estleman, Retro. Fairly recent in the Amos Walker series (#17?). I used to read lots of Estleman, but got out of touch in recent years. This is a good one, but it'd help to have read some in the series going in.

"Parkeriana" from The Great Concert of Charles Mingus.

Harvey Pekar Peter Bonerz Steely Dan

Dummy Hoy Prince Myshkin (The Idiot) Parsifal (der reine Tor)

Is it easy for a US citizen to emigrate to Canada? My impression (vague, I haven't researched the matter) is that there are pretty strict work permit issues.

Whatever course the Raiduhs elect, you can pretty much count on them messing it up. [Added] Not looking good for my NY football Giants. They pretty much stayed out of the free-agent derby, are being hit hard by the injury bug, and there's possible dissension (Umenyiora).

That Naxos (ex-Koch) was my least favorite Feldman recording, and I sold it (after buying as a Berkshire cutout). The only other Feldman recording I ever sold was "For Philip Guston" by the California Ear Unit (on Bridge), which I liked in places, but was just too long for me... Disclosure: No more than personal taste, but I don't find the string quartet timbre optimal for Feldman; apart from solo piano (a favorite), I seem to prefer hearing, say, mallet instruments, perc., piano, winds, etc. mixed in. I haven't heard (or had a big ambition to hear) the monster String Quartet #2 for that reason. The one-disc Koch quartet disc dragged, and even grated on me a bit. On the other hand, YMMV and Naxos price encourages experimentation. I listened to "Neither" again last night, and now more strongly recommend it. I prefer it to, say, "For Samuel Beckett", which I also listened to last night. Sound quality was better than I recalled, though a wee bit murky.

I have that recording (original release). It's a re-issue. There's another recording, on the Col Legno label, which I haven't heard. I admit I haven't listened in quite a while. I'd call it more a "nice to have" than a MUST-have. But my personal taste in Feldman's music runs more to small ensembles than to orchestral pieces. From what I recall, it has very "dark" tone colors for Feldman, with an ominous pulsing effect. Not really an "opera" structurally, most of the singing is in vocalise/melisma. The sound quality of the hat art recording is not immaculate; I recall some tape noise (also audience noise, but I don't consider that too important). I did see above that you have a recording of "For Samuel Beckett", so "Neither" might fit in well. I'd go for it if the price is reasonable (wouldn't pay up for oop disc). I also thought the old Montaigne recording of the radio play "Words and Music" (Feldman/Beckett) was interesting. There's very little music (but it's recognizably Feldman), and more straight Beckett text. Much more a Beckett than a Feldman work. But it's likely hard to find.

Remarkable! I'm not ashamed that I didn't guess.

Funny. I never could have guessed it, but as soon as I read the answer, said "yeah, sure!". Used to love those Truffaut films, but it was decades ago...

George Wallington Giacinto Scelsi Marc Ribot

Nothing more than a curiosity, but Wayne Gretzky's teenage son just signed with the Cubbies.

Excellent one! The car was a total fake-out! I got the answer by Google, but too late...

Phil Spector? (going from the vanity plate)

Correct! The other two pictured are Jackie Robinson and Kenny Washington. The pic was part of an interesting Sports Illustrated story sometime in the past year or two [added: 2009, link to story].

Nope...The movie I mentioned above should provide a hint.

GA, the interesting thing I recall from the "Once...West" DVD commentary is that CC grew up in Tunisia (!), and didn't learn to speak Italian until she moved to Italy and began appearing in films. I'd never have thunk it! Here's a pretty easy one...the dude on the left (others are noteworthy in their own right...)

Claudia Cardinale? [big fan of Once Upon a Time in the West, recently rented it and watched for the umpteenth time. She figured in some of the bonus feature commentary, interesting history.]

Very cool and surprisingly Earthlike. Reminds me of some of the landscapes in the movie No Country For Old Men...half expected to see Javier Bardem with a weird-ass haircut blowing somebody's brains out...

Big Daddy Lipscomb Idi Amin Dada Irene Papas

I recently saw the film Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him?). Jimmy Webb is one of the main talking heads in the documentary.Happy birthday!

I've never paid much attention to Mr. Rose, but my understanding is that he played a significant role in documenting the Joyce Hatto fraud (I won't go any further there... ), and I give him credit for that.

Damn...I would have gotten Curley Russell, but wasn't paying attention.

Thanks. Babayan has been on my list to hear. I liked posted samples, and have had pretty good experience with recordings on the Pro Piano label.