T.D.

Meadow Soprano Marco Di Bari Ivan Basso

King Bhumibol Adulyadej (of Siam)* Chang Bunker Eng Bunker * he's a jazz musician and composer

John Malkovich William Peterson Gary Sinise (alumni of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Co...)

Walter Hagen Don Meineke James Wolfensohn (for non-opera fans, from a famous scene in Götterdämmerung)

And I read today that the Raider QB savior, Russell, hasn't signed a contract yet! Agreed re. NE.

Paul Quantrill Éric Gagné Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson Martin Jr.

Thanks, I guess you can tell I don't pay much attention to exhibition games.

Gregg Easterbrook, aka TMQ, just wrote his first column in a while (since just after the draft?) at espn.com, so the season must be approaching ...Not one of his funnier efforts, though. [Disclaimer: I have no connection with ESPN (heaven forbid!) or Easterbrook, but simply like the column.]

A shock to me too... I only began reading the novels this year, and this is the first I heard of his death. Thanks for the (sad) information.

To some extent, Freddie Redd?

I'd rate Connelly's books higher than "pulp fiction", though he's definitely very commercial. I've read most if not all of his Harry Bosch novels, and was also very impressed by The Lincoln Lawyer. If you haven't heard of Robert Crais, he's a somewhat similar author, LA-based, whose work you might also like (I think he and Connelly are friends, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a novel where Connelly's Bosch and Crais's Cole or Pike team up to some extent). I've been reading more of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen mysteries, most recently A Long Finish. These novels are Italian-based, with a high degree of cynicism. Recommended if you like, say, Bill James's Harpur and Iles books. Recently finished Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union, and was slightly disappointed.

Irene Castle Josh Towers Sean Rooks

Happy birthday, Lon! Best to you and your wife.

Sugar Ray Robinson Miles Davis Frank Bruno Bruno Sammartino Sam Jones Pat Martino

There were a couple of similar Interstate bridge collapses on the East Coast. One (iirc) was on I-90 just West of Albany. The other was the Mianus River Bridge (I-95) in Connecticut. They were 20 or more years ago (also iirc), and there were fatalities. I thought that Interstate highway bridge maintenance would have picked up after those...

Hey, I'm a big KB fan. So freakin' shoot me... Re. Hank, haven't heard as much, prefer his playing as accompanist to that as leader, but not qualified to pass judgement.

Joe Besser Frank Messer Phil Rizzuto

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