T.D.

GA, are any gambling odds available? I haven't been able to find any. [i know nothing about the CFL, but was going to crib a pick based on point spread and over/under lines...]

I've been following "dadashampoo"'s eBay auctions for a long time, and have won at least one. Definitely an interesting seller, and uses funny flowery language to describe the items iirc . Another seller with interesting jazz items is "sgt_ishi". [Disclaimer: I have no connection whatsoever with these sellers, but have been a satisfied customer, blah blah blah.]

The FIDE Chess Olympiad in Dresden has started (now three rounds in). As usual, chessbase.com is posting updates, including many chess babe shots. [i posted this here so as not to monopolize the chess babe thread. ]

Yeah, you got me. I actually followed the link to check up on all the new titles...

Used to enjoy his music on radio back in the '80s. I only have one album, a compilation "Waiting for a Miracle: Singles 1970-87" which I like a lot. The songs are left-wing and highly politically engaged, but I never noticed any particularly Christian slant, and never even thought of it, given tunes like "If I had a rocket launcher".

Here's my guess at the endgame study: White needs to get the Black bishop off the g1-a7 diagonal to promote his a-pawn, so forcing a bishop swap with 1. Bf2 is an obvious try. This seems pointless after 1...K:d5, but then I think that the subtle 2. a6! might win.

Yeah, forced but I liked the "combine offense and defense" theme. Endgame studies are definitely tougher and more aesthetic, but I like "combination" puzzles because I study them a lot ; chessgames.com has a good one every day, for instance.

I think I see the solution... Here's a pretty real-life puzzle (courtesy Tim Krabbé's excellent site): Kamsky-J. Polgár, Buenos Aires 1994 Black to play and win

Anyone heard/can comment on the Al Haig? Thanks.

Yes, great album. I bought this as a steal (after it was OOP) at a used shop, without tray card but with booklet. It was the first IQ-led recording I bought (having only heard the one track on Sonny Clark's Leaping and Loping), but I've subsequently purchased 'em all. I dig the fact that it's kind of 2 albums in one (bluesy vs. ballads). Surely Easy Living must be somewhere in the RVG queue...

Hope you can work the problem out. I've had only good experiences with Jazz Loft. Have found Alan very responsive, and "one of the good guys."

:party: (I considered translating a greeting into Italian, but since I don't speak any Italian, that would have been lame.)

Happy birthday! :party: Rather than success for your beloved Patriots, I'll wish you a bounteous crop of Elo (chess rating) points in the new year, and many chessic babe encounters.

I listen to a lot of piano music, and really enjoy a lot of the 12-tone stuff, e.g. Barraqué's Sonata (come to think of it, all of his music is excellent, though sadly the performance of the Sonata on the cpo Complete Barraqué box is horrendous), Schönberg, Babbitt, Stefan Wolpe, B.A. Zimmermann. Never got into Boulez very much, and don't care for the extremely pointillistic serialist style (e.g. a lot of Stockhausen).

Not that I don't listen to recordings, but Crumb's music often has a sort of ritualistic quality that seems much more effective live (IMO). Once heard Eleven Echoes of Autumn 1965 at a small obscure concert at a church in NYC, and it was one of my most memorable concert experiences. Got a recording (on the Swiss Jecklin label) years later, and it just wasn't the same. OTOH, the ritualistic thing may not always work: saw/heard Vox Baleanae at Miller Theater in NYC, and and wasn't so impressed either musically or theatrically (players wore masks IIRC). I haven't purchased many of the Bridge CD series, because I find his work a bit uneven.

Happy Birthday! Many causes for celebration! :party:

With the Bengals' win, Lions now the only winless club.

It was f*****g hell here recently... Got hit with a freak early snowstorm Monday night through Tuesday. Twenty inches of wet snow, which no one was prepared for. Trees down all over (some still had leaves, which didn't help). Lost power for close to 80 hours, just got it back this evening. Fortunately it only got down to around 20 the next couple of nights, so no pipes froze. Had to shovel everything out by hand, as local plow guy hadn't yet put either plow or studded snow tires on his truck.

Peter, it's funny, but I have this album on CD and recalled that Art Taylor was listed as drummer, which stuck in my mind because the only non-Caucasian musician pictured in the cover photo is Donald Byrd. Consulting the booklet (straight reproduction of LP notes): George had disbanded a very swinging group he was heading, and when a couple of months later, he formed a new one, only Donald Byrd remained. (Art Taylor of the first group did make these recordings as Junior Bradley, who is pictured on the cover, was out of town at the time.)

(Possibly dumb question from soccer non-expert) One angle I saw in a news story is that Beckham wants to get high-level Euro exposure in the hopes of being selected for England again. Is this a real possibility, or just spin-doctoring? England selection seems very unlikely to me.

My bad. I just checked the jazz "New Arrivals" again, and they seem to have yanked all the classical. Honest, I last looked at the page no more than a week ago, and there were a bunch of classical titles, admittedly some schlock, but some fairly reasonable-looking discs, too.

But the last time I looked (a day or two ago), many of the jazz "New Arrivals" were classical...

I'm halfway with you here. Personally, I think the album is a mixed bag, with some very good compositions, and some that are a bit on the dull side, but it doesn't hang together well as an album. I love the track "Enitnerrut" for one. Also, it's supposedly one of the worst RVG's soundwise, as ghost pointed out----a lot of others would agree with him. This might add to the sense of it just sitting there (if you've got the RVG.) Along with "Enitnerrut" I wanted to add that "A Fickle Sonance" is another standout track, IMO; some amazing playing by Butch here. I really like "Five Will Get You Ten", and sometimes play the CD to hear that tune. Agree that the album's uneven, but I don't find it too disappointing. The sound quality of the RVG is really horrible (I've heard it called the "AM radio RVG"), so I don't listen to the disc that often. It sounds like it was recorded in a toilet stall; maybe Sen. Larry Craig was moonlighting as an engineer...

Agreed on all but the last point. Anand has been totally dominant, to the point where it's painful to watch. It is over for Vlad, and his playing style has become so dry that I can't conceive of him reascending to challenger status. I don't expect much interesting chess for the rest of the match. Maybe one more excellent Anand win. Vlad needs to just draw a couple of games to stop the rot and avoid a historic thrashing (Lasker-Marshall ugliness territory).

The WCh match has turned into an ugly rout. At the (nominal) halfway mark (can't imagine the "full" 12 games being played) it's essentially over: Anand +3 with 3 draws. I won't bother to watch any of the remaining games.