T.D.

Reese Witherspoon Moon Mullins June Jones III

Sports Illustrated published a long (and well-written) profile of Walsh earlier this year (added: looks like 6 Mar 2007). That was the first I heard of his illness. It was somewhat of a valedictory article, and I got the feeling there wasn't much time left...

First suggestion that comes to mind is Ancient Voices of Children + Makrokosmos II, on Nonesuch: Crumb's music often has a ritualistic performance aspect that doesn't come across in recording. For instance, I once saw/heard Eleven Echoes of Autumn 1965 live, and thought it was fantastic. But the recording I have (on the Swiss Jecklin label) is nowhere near as striking. There's an excellent version of Black Angels by the Concord String Quartet on a discount VoxBox entitled American String Quartets 1950-1970 (may be oop, however). This has some other interesting pieces, eg by John Cage, Christian Wolff and Morton Feldman, although certain others, such as the quartet by Lejaren Hiller, sound somewhat dated and from the "bleeps and bloops" school. Kronos Quartet also recorded Black Angels, but I generally dislike their playing (granted, they've done a tremendous amount in the service of new music).

Courtney Love Townes Van Zandt Lynyrd Skynyrd

Agreed. There's one further complication: Various "intermediate sprints" within the stage offer bonus seconds (and sprint classification points) to the winners. If Evans were to take every intermediate sprint, the total time bonuses would give him the lead. Leipheimer would require even less to overtake Evans. Problem is that various teams' sprinters are competing for the green (points) jersey, and dearly want those intermediate points. Because of that, and since GC contenders are usually flyweights and lousy sprinters, it'll be almost impossible for such scenarios to play out. However, I recall 2005, when the now-disgraced Alexandre Vinokourov launched a kamikaze attack to win the final Paris stage and take 5th place from Leipheimer. So it's not impossible, but teams will fight a lot harder to defend 1st and 2nd than 5th... An interesting "what if" (see cyclingnews story): Leipheimer received a 10 second penalty in an earlier stage for getting a tow from a team car. Without that penalty, he'd be in second by 2 sec.

Lumpy Rutherford Lumpy Gravy Wavy Gravy

If you paid via credit card (I always choose this option from PayPal), and the item doesn't arrive within 30 days, you can do a "chargeback" (contest the charges). My credit card company is very good about this. You may have to mail in some documentation (e-mail printouts and the like).

Awagadin Pratt Gunga Din Jordis Unga

Yes, I know of 3 volumes from the WTC, didn't know whether he covered the whole thing. From what I've read, I can't tell whether he plays the P&F "straight", or improvises to some extent. Also don't know if all the recordings are solo, or some are with a small group. Lewis also has other Bach (or Bach-based?) recordings; Chess Game and Bridge Game get mentioned, but I haven't heard them either. One frequent piano-related poster on rec.music.classical.recordings (Koren) is a big fan of Lewis's playing, but he seems like somewhat of a crackpot (even by the standards of that sociopathic forum... ).

Till Eulenspiegel (Ken Kesey and) the Merry Pranksters Dick Tuck

Bumping this up...I'm a Bach pianophile, and am also curious.

Big Ben Roethlisberger Red Mitchell Frankie Machine

The classic example here is former French rider Richard Virenque who won the best climber trophy seven times between 1994 and 2004 in the Tour de France. Virenque was the star of the Festina team doping scandal of the 1998 Tour. Virenque denied for years having used any illegal substances before finally relenting in 2000 and admitting he did. He was one of the most popular rider in recent years and also became famous because of interviews where he uttered one stupidity after another!! He is now a Tour commentator for the french chanel of Eurosport TV I've read that one reason for Virenque's TV popularity is that he's a favorite of French housewives (apparently he's a handsome guy). Is he doing the broadcasts this year? I believe that he recently had a very serious crash during a cyclotourist ride (the fork broke while going downhill - ouch!), and sustained major injuries (maybe including facial, I don't recall).

Problem resolved. After a three-day period in which two e-mails went unanswered, I called the customer service number. They promptly fixed the problem, sent a revised invoice, and were very helpful. Thanks to MwtGA for providing the contact info / phone #.

I've made many CD purchases from Newbury Comics, both on eBay (auction and store) and Amazon Marketplace. They've been just about the best seller I've ever bought from. Early this week, I read on this board about their eBay store's "Free Shipping Sale". I checked, and there was a list of 51 (at that time) OJC discs, with free shipping offered on purchases of 10 or more, half off shipping for purchases of 5 to 9. The buyer was supposed to request a combined invoice with the reduced shipping. I bought 5 discs (budget didn't allow more), requested the invoice, but the shipping amount was too high. Full shipping was 5x$3.95 or $19.75. Half off would have been $9.88. Instead, the invoice showed shipping of $16.49, which was slightly reduced but seemingly incorrect (I can't even tell how they got the figure). I questioned this shipping total, using the same eBay message feature I used to request the original invoice, but haven't gotten a reply. The whole thing is strange, given my great past experience... Has anyone bought from the recent Newbury promotion? Were there any problems with the order? Any suggestions?

Tony Randall Felix Trinidad Oscar De La Hoya

One odd thing about ESPN is that, despite its increasing focus on the younger (20ish, as mentioned above) demographic, the network is accelerating its hype of "Greatest of All Time" and "Best Ever" rankings. Every year, any close NFL playoff game, NCAA tourney game, golf tournament, etc. is accompanied by "Best Ever?" features. Seems strange to expect young fans to be able to make these rankings ...Oh, I get it! They're cognizant of all the great historical clashes via ESPN Classic!

I don't care for musical theater at all, but earlier today someone mentioned "sending in the clowns" with respect to this farcical Tour, which led me to dig up these lyrics: Don't you love farce? My fault I fear. I thought that you'd want what I want. Sorry, my dear. But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don't bother, they're here. This s**t is just too much. I don't think I can follow the sport any more. Better to just ride my bike...

Charlton Heston Bobby Charlton Charlene Tilton

It's been really annoying for some years, and I quit paying attention a long time ago. SportsCenter is essentially unwatchable. About the only thing I can stand, and that in limited doses, is the Sunday NFL summary (whatever they call the show that goes on c. 7PM Eastern on pigskin Sundays). Judging from the inanity on espn.com, the decline seems to be accelerating, and I've also cut down visits to the website.

Yes, The Quest is a great album. I have certain misgivings about Ron Carter's cello playing, but they don't really detract from enjoyment... Someone on another thread mentioned a "Free Shipping" offer at Newbury Comics' eBay store. There was a set of 51 candidate CDs, 10 purchases required for free shipping, 50% shipping discount for 5 purchases. The budget only allowed 5: Jenkins / Jordan / Timmons Randy Weston, Jazz a la Bohemia Doug Watkins, Soulnik Gigi Gryce, Saying Somethin' Barney Kessel, Some Like it Hot

Ted Kaczynski ("The Unabomber") Lance Armstrong ("The Unab***er") Admiral Horatio ("111") Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

The s**t has hit the fan big-time, with Vinokourov testing positive for blood doping and Team Astana withdrawing from the Tour. Too early to say much, but stories are coming out all over the place.

The Spinners Jack Straw Andrew Gold

Larry Centers Stuff Smith Lawrence Block