ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: A MISSION FROM GOD

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 7, 2004

When Amelia Hollis Romero lost her race for a District 2 City Council race four years ago, she took it as a sign from above.

“I wanted to be on the City Council,” Romero, 65, said in a recent interview. “But God said, ‘I don’t think so, Amelia. Turn the page.’ ”
And so she did.

Not long after the 2000 council elections, Romero called up several dozen friends to discuss an idea to remedy a problem she’d come up against while campaigning.

“I’d met so many people who had such apathy and who didn’t know the issues or the policies of the city and the state,” Romero said. “I wanted to form a group to bring to our community forums they could go to and be educated.”

So Romero and her group organized a group called Voices of Santa Fe, which for the past four years has presented forums on a variety of topics.

The Eldorado Hotel has allowed the group to use one of its meeting rooms for its forums. Santa Fe Public Access Television (Comcast Cable Channel 8) has televised most of the gatherings.

Voices has organized public discussions of common political issues such as economic development, health care, forest fires and water. And it has sponsored forums on social issues not frequently discussed by politicians, such as mentoring youth and hospice for those who are dying.

And the group has held candidate forums, which sometimes produce real news. This was the case with the state Legislature candidate forum in May in which a Senate contender saw her candidacy go up in flames when she lied about having been arrested for drunken driving.

Forum tonight

It’s not likely that anything like that will happen at the Voices of Santa Fe forum tonight, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at Eldorado.

For one thing, it’s a presidential forum, so the candidates won’t be there, just local surrogates.

As is the usual practice at a Voices of Santa Fe forum, any local candidate for any office who shows will be allowed up two minutes at the podium.

Voices vice president Al Lopez — running as a Republican against Democratic state Sen. Phil Griego, but that’s another story — says local representatives will speak for Republican President Bush, Democrat John Kerry, independent Ralph Nader, the Green Party’s David Cobb and Libertarian Michael Badnarik.

Constitutional crisis

But there was no mention of the sixth presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka, the Millersville, Md., lawyer who is the nominee of the Constitution Party.

In fairness, there has been little if any visible activity of the Peroutka or the Constitution Party in these parts.

Who are these guys? According to Peroutka’s Web site, he believes Bush is just too much of a namby-pamby liberal on issues like gun control and abortion. However on the issue of the Iraq war, Peroutka is closer to Nader, calling the war “unconstitutional,” which, one supposes, is the worst thing a leader of the Constitution Party can say about anything.

Pop cultural wars:


After about the 15th pre-debate story I read characterizing the Dick Cheney-John Edwards matchup as Darth Vader versus Luke Skywalker (would this make Ted Kennedy “Yoda”?), I realized a national political cliché was being born.

How common is this metaphor? A Google on-line search Wednesday produced 2,190 hits in a search for pages with both “Dick Cheney” and “Darth Vader.” But there were only 268 hits for “John Edwards” and “Luke Skywalker.”

As for the guys at the top of the ticket, the Google search yielded an amazing 2,580 hits for “John Kerry” and “Herman Munster,” a concept popularized by the hilarious bipartisan "This Land!" parody on jibjab.com. But there were only 895 hits for “George W. Bush” and “Alfred E. Newman.”

And for the record, there were three hits in a Google search for “Bill Richardson” and “Ralph Kramden,” but none of the three pages were actually comparing the governor with Jackie Gleason’s character on The Honeymooners.

R.I.P. RODNEY

The death of Rodney Dangerfield reminds me of a line from a Waco Brothers song:

History is written by the winners.
This is a loser's song ...

Rodney spoke to the losers inside us all. He spoke to our flaws, our humiliations our hangovers, our betrayals, our lemon cars and unfaithful lovers.

No respect. No respect at all. Rodney turned it into a mantra, transforming self pity into a cosmic joke. He created a persona of a bug-eyed Everyman slob who could look at the bad luck and injustice of his life and laugh at the absurdity of it all -- with impeccable wit and precision timing, pulling at his tie and sweating like he was the subject of a police interrogation.

(Mantra? Transforming? Rodney would only snort at the idea. As he said, "Some people go to India looking for the meaning of life. I'm still trying to figure out how to start my car.)

He was my favorite comedian for more than 30 years. Even though he eventually became "hip" in the early '80s due to the popularity of Caddyshack, I loved Rodney partly because he was so un-hip. No counterculture pandering. No pretense of political revelance. No rebel anger, not even at the wife who liked to talk after sex -- so she's call him from a motel. Rodney was old school, but Christ he was funny.

When I graduated from college I mailed jackalope postcards to three celebrities I admired: Billy Carter, Patti Smith and Rodney. I'm not sure what my purpose was. Maybe just announcing my arrival to these folks I considered giants. (Or maybe the weed was just real good in Santa Fe that month.)

But I got replies from all three. Billy sent me a postcard with a picture of him drinking a beer at his gas pump in Plains, Ga. Patti, who'd recently been hospitalized after falling off the stage at a concert, sent me a note talking about recovering from a spinal injury. Rodney's fan club president sent me an autographed publicity shot of the man. The picture looked like it was 20 years old. But I loved it. It hung on my wall in who knows how many houses and apartments I lived in since 1976.

Thanks for the photo, Rodney. Thanks for the laughs.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Oct. 3, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Feeling of Gaze/Too Tough to Die by The Twilight Singers
Hard to Be Human by The Mekons
139 Hurnalser Gurtel by Sally Timms
The Right Profile by The Clash
Murder in My Heart For the Judge by Moby Grape
New Feeling by Talking Heads
Becky by The Hollis Wake

A Dying Man's Plea by Mavis Staples
Make It With You by Aretha Franklin
Big Mama's Bumble Bee Blues by Big Mama Thorton
I Wanna Dance With You by Nathaniel Mayer
Act Nice and Gentle by The Black Keys
Open the Door Richard by Louis Jordan
Blueberry Hill by Louis Armstrong

Child is Father to the Man/Surf's Up by Brian Wilson
A Drop in Time by Mercury Rev
Bad Days by Flaming Lips
Light and Day/Reach For the Sun by The Polyphonic Spree
Hush by Jellyfish
Sidewalk Serfer Girl by Super Furry Animals
Cabin Essence by Brian Wilson

Dead and Lovely by Tom Waits
In the Neighborhood by Kazik Staszewski
Innocent When You Dream by Elvis Costello
The Day After Tomorrow by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, October 1, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle by Vassar Clements with Maria Muldaur
Blues About You Baby by Big Al Anderson
Slangshotz 'n Boom-R-Angz by C.C. Adcock
Mon Conne La Cause by David Hidalgo
Black Haired Girl by Dave Alvin
A Six Pack to Go by Hank Thompson
Hucklebuck by The Riptones
Soleil Brille by Beausoleil

Color of Her Eyes by The Gear Daddies
Where the Devil Don't Stay by Drive-By Truckers
With God on Our Side by Buddy Miller
Masters of War by Betty Dylan
Condi Condi by Steve Earle

Little Rivi-Airhead By Junior Brown
Rainbow Stew by Jason Ringenberg
Mrs. Leroy Brown by Loretta Lynn
What Made Milwaukee Famous by Johnny Bush
Drivin' Nails in My Coffin by Floyd Tilman with George Jones
You're the Reason by Nancy Apple
Motel Time Again by Bobby Bare Jr.
Hollywood by Kasey Chambers
That Little Honky Tonk Queen by Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley
Merchants Lunch by Austin Lounge Lizards

Denim Scarecrow by Nels Andrews
Proud Eagle by Bingo
Can Man Polka by Joe West
Root of All Evil by Desdemona Finch
Tell Me True by Grey DeLisle
Feel Like Going Home By Charlie Rich
Alone and Forsaken by 16 Horsepower
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: SOME CDs BY LOCAL FOLKS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 1, 2004

Here’s a round-up of some recent CDs by New Mexico artists, including a couple of famous guys with connections to Santa Fe.

Sunday Shoes by Nels Andrews. The dark, brooding songwriter archetype is a tough one to pull off. The dustbin of recording history is cluttered with third-rate Leonard Cohens, Nick Caves, Mark Eitzels, Mark Lannegans, etc.

But when it’s done right, that is when the singer sounds authentic, when his woeful tales are intriguing and when the music packs a punch, the dark, brooding songwriter is a powerful figure.

Albuquerque’s Nels Andrews pulls it off with his debut album. He’s not in the same league with Cohen, Cave, etc., at least not yet. But Sunday Shoes is a good start.

Andrews is starting to get recognized. He won the "New Folk" prize at t the 2002 Kerrville Folk Festival, an honor whose past winners include Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett. Sunday Shoes, originally self released early this year, was picked up by a hip little Nashville label, Catamount.

He sings songs of forgotten people struggling against terrible odds winning quiet victories and humiliating defeats, of drifters roaming the backroads and back alleys of America, of ambiguous loves and doomed relationships.

The songs are full of Albuquerque references. The first track is “Central Avenue Romance.” The namesake of “Lilli Marlene” is from Martineztown

My favorite tune is “Jesse’s Mom,“ which actually is more about Jesse himself. He’s a child of illicit miscegenation, who grows up rejected in two worlds and continuously pulling up stakes, leaving those he loves to search for a place with “no more hard times,” proving that he’s possessed by the “gypsy in his blood” that his mother thought she had.

Andrews is served well by a crafty little roadhouse band called The El Paso Eyepatch, featuring ex-Hazeldine member Jeffrey Richards on guitar and banjo and Michelle Collins on harmony vocals. Another major contributor is guest mandolinist/lap steel player Jason Daniello. Brett Sparks of The Handsome Family plays accordion on “Jesse‘s Mom.”

The CD release party for Sunday Shoes is tonight at The Launchpad in Albuquerque. Guest bands include Jason and the Argonauts, Shine Cherries and The Darlington Horns. $5 cover.

*Lo Fi-Highs/Hi-Fi Lows by The Hollis Wake. I just recently figured out who this Santa Fe band reminds me of: The New Ponographers, a critic’s-darling Vancouver band that, like the Wake, plays high-charged guitar power-pop with melodic hooks that steal your heart away.

The main difference is that the New Pornographers don’t let Neko Case sing nearly enough while The genderly-intergrated Hollis Wake gives plenty of spotlight to its female singers Krysty Bosse and Sarah Meadows.

In fact the best songs on Lo-Fi Highs are from the female perspective. Take the song “This Time,” which concerns circles and cycles, if you get my drift: “It doesn’t seem the slightest bit fair/My body has to suffer this wear and tear/ especially when it’s two weeks late/ and I don’t want to procreate …”

Initially my only complaint about the album is that it uses four songs that also appear on The Hollis Wake’s first album Suburban Crime Spree. However, there’s apparently a good reason for doing so -- the new versions are better.

This especially is true for the song “Becky,” a tune about a Santa Fe barmaid who is so desperate to leave the City Different she turns to crime. The vocals on the new version is 10 times more passionate, especially on the kicker line in the chorus; “Get me out of this retarded town!”

I don’t care how much you might love Santa Fe, I think most of us have felt this sentiment before.

* After Hours by Big Al Anderson. I just found out a couple of months ago that Anderson, a 22-year member of NRBQ, is a Santa Fe resident, at least part time. (He also has a place in Nashville.)

Billing himself as “300 Pounds Of Twangin' Steel & Sex Appeal,” Anderson is a musician’s musician. His work might remind listeners of the late Charlie Rich -- especially those slow, jazzy, devastatingly lovely ballads like “Love Make a Fool of Me” and “Better Word For Love.”

And there’s a little Dan Penn -- one of Stax Records’ greatest songwriters -- in Anderson too. You hear that in tunes like “Just Another Place I Don’t Belong,” which could only be described as country soul.

Big Al plays some straight ahead country with “It’s Only Natural,” and the Hank Snow influenced “Blues About You Baby,” which was co written by Delbert McClinton.

After Hours is available only on the internet. CLICK HERE

*Down Home Chrome by Junior Brown. When I first heard that Junior was recording for Telarc, a label best .known for its blues artists, I was afraid that he might be making a sharp turn toward electric guitar blues, a style he loves at least as much as the hard-core country for which he’s known and loved.

Indeed the new album ends with a 10-minute blues workout called “Monkey Wrench Blues.” And there’s a cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s “Foxy Lady,” which I’m pretty sure I first heard the artist formerly known as Jamie Brown do in 1968 when we were both at Santa Fe Mid High and he was in a local psychedelic group called Humble Harvey.

But country fans don’t worry. Down Home Chrome is full of Brown’s trademark country cut-up songs, in which he plays the steel part of his guit-steel as much as the guit part.

But my favorite cut here “Hill Country Hot Rod Man,” in which Brown uses a horn section to create a fresh country neo-swing fusion.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 30, 2004

You decide which is sillier:

Having an actor from a popular 1980s sitcom come talk about your candidate’s plan for alternate energy, or reacting to said celeb as if his very presence is an affront to decent people in the state?

John Kerry’s campaign in New Mexico touted a Tuesday appearance in Albuquerque by actor Ted Danson, who played the unrepentant horndog Sam Malone in the old NBC television hit Cheers. According to the press release, Danson came to discus “John Kerry's plan to make America stronger by breaking our dependence on foreign oil, and investing in new technologies and alternative fuels to create high paying jobs and protect our environment.”

Sounds like a tall order for a TV bartender.

Danson, a former Santa Fe resident, was accompanied by state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanna Prukop and state Sen. Richard Romero, D-Albuquerque, who is running for Congress against incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

According to one television report, about 100 people showed for the rally. It’s hard to say whether any votes were swayed.

I didn’t go.

I’m waiting for Norm and Cliff to come here to talk about the nation’s trade deficit.

Actually I didn’t pay the Danson visit much mind. But then I got an e-mail on behalf of a Republican legislator who took advantage of the Danson rally to engage in some good old-fashioned celebrity bashing.

“John Kerry thinks the heart and soul of our nation is represented by Hollywood liberals like Ted Danson, but President Bush knows the heart and soul of America is found in places like New Mexico,” said Rep. Brian Moore of Clayton, echoing almost word for word a stump-speech applause line used by Bush himself in various locales, including a speech in Albuquerque last month.

“New Mexicans have done well with President Bush’s tax cuts,” Moore’s statement said. “We don’t need a Hollywood actor to tell us differently.”

Conservatives in recent years seem to take great offense at entertainers getting involved in politics.

Except Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or Charlton Heston. Or Ronald Reagan.

The war on literacy: You’ll have to move quick to see this one for yourself because if the governor’s office reads this first, it’ll be gone, or at least corrected.

But as of Wednesday afternoon, a Sept. 8 press release on Gov. Bill Richardson’s official state Web site (www.governor.state.nm.us/2004/news/sept.html) announced that First Lady Barbara Richardson was declaring that day “International Literacy Day.”

“The facts speak for themselves — poor reading skills translate directly into poor student achievement, higher dropout rates, and lower financial and personal success,” Mrs. Richardson said in the statement.

That’s undoubtedly true.

But the next sentence made a surprising contradiction, quoting the first lady as saying, “Ending literacy will guarantee a more prosperous future for all New Mexicans.”

{Note: The Literacy Day press release in its original form was still on the governor's Web site at 8:30 a.m. today, but before 9:30 a.m. it was gone.}

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept 25, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Papa Satan Sang Louie by The Cramps
Two Headed Dog by Roky Erikson
I'm Not Down by The Clash
Victoria by The Fall
I'm in Disgrace by The Kinks
Burnin' Hell by The Fleshtones
Dirty Seconds by The Hollis Wake
Johnny Gillete by Simon Stokes

Sins of My Father by Tom Waits
God's Eternal Love by Sally Timms
Strange Fruit by The Twilight Singers
Civil Disobedience by Camper Van Beethoven

I Zimba by The Talking Heads
The Future by Prnce
Cold Bologna by The Isley Brothers
Grown So Ugly by Captain Beefheart
All Hands Against His Own by The Black Keys
Step Aside by Sleater-Kinney
Hang On Sloopy by Lolita #18

Restraining Order Blues by The Eels
Narc by Interpol
Sewers of Bagkok by Brazzaville
Hang Down Your Head by Petty Booka
Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship by American Music Club
Call on Me by Lou Reed
Venus by Shocking Blue
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, September 24, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
In the Satellite Rides a Star by The Old 97s
Worry Too Much by Buddy Miller
Tramps Rouge by Starlings TN
Drugstore Truck Driving Man by The Byrds
Sinner Man by 16 Horsepower
You Stupid Jerk by Peter Stampfel
Bears in the Woods by Nancy Apple
My Blue Heaven by (unknown home recording artist)

Lonely Street by Ray Price
Family Tree by Loretta Lynn
South Dakota Hairdo by Joe West
Guilty as Sin by Kasey Chambers
River of No Return by Jon Rauhouse with Neko Case
Putin' Out an Old Flame by Johnny Bush
He'll Have to Go by Jim Reeves
Moon River by The Bubbadinos

My Own Kind of Hat by Rosie Flores
The Day John Henry Died by Drive-By Truckers
Hill Country Hot Rod Man by Junior Brown
Something in the Water by Charlie Robison
Out of Control by Dave Alvin
F the CC by Steve Earle
I Know You Are There by The Handsome Family

Another Place I Don't Belong by Big Al Anderson
Murder's Crossed My Mind by Desdemona Finch
Charmers by Richard Buckner
Sammy's Song by David Bromberg
Sweet Savior's Arms by Grey DeLisle
Dark End of the Street by Elvis Costello
Old Friends by Roger Miller, Willie Nelson & Ray Price
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: REISSUES CALLING

As published in The New Mexican
Sept. 24, 2004

The punk era of the late 1970s was the result of a loose-knit movement in which the prevailing attitude was that there was way too much reverence toward rock stars, that music should be considered disposable, a fleeting joke, something for the moment.

Trouble is, there were some bands that included some serious musicians whose work, in spite of themselves, transcended the self-imposed limits of punk.

On a DVD interview included in the London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition by The Clash, Joe Strummer recalls having to deal with “the punk police,” purists who insisted that punk rock had to be three-minute bursts of rage and snottiness and nothing else.

But Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon disagreed. Punk was supposed to represent freedom, Strummer said. And that includes the freedom to incorporate the sounds of funk, rockabilly, dub reggae, jazz, R&B and anything else that wasn’t nailed down. If that means using a horn section on a ska version of “Staggolee” (called “Wrong ‘em Boyo” here) and if they sound a little bit like The Band on “Jimmy Jazz,” it didn’t have to distract from the punk ferocity.

One would like to think that the late Strummer is rolling over in his grave at the thought of this album being the subject of a fancy-schmancy multi-disc 25th Anniversary package (list price $29.98).

But remember, the sainted Strummer still was alive in 2002 when the song “London Calling” was used on a television commercial for Jaguar Motors. So I don’t see Joe getting too upset about this.

And not that he should be.

In addition to the original album (which was re-mastered a couple of years ago), the three-disc set includes “The Vanilla Tapes,“ which consists of a recently uncovered demo and rehearsal sessions including versions of most of the London Calling tunes.

It’s a low-to-no-fi affair. It’s got no-frills early takes on what would become signature Clash tunes (an almost tuneless version of the song “London Calling,” an embryonic instrumental “Guns of Brixton,” called simply “Paul’s Tune,” plus some previously unheard songs, like a hillbilly romp called “Lonesome Me” and a reggae-drenched cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.”

There’s also a DVD featuring an interesting, if hardly essential, documentary about the making of London Calling, with interviews with all four Clash members, including Strummer. (The most fun part of the DVD though is the black-and-white footage of the album sessions, which are hilarious due to the crazed antics of producer Guy Stevens, a balding hippy who kept the band on edge by tossing chairs and a ladder across the studio and pouring wine on a piano while Strummer was playing it.)

But the main course still is the original album itself, which retains its joyful, dancing-on-the-trash-heap-of history power and its raw, working-class hero bite a quarter century later.

“Brand New Cadillac,” a cover of a song by obscure rockabilly Vince Taylor, makes most of the punked-up rockabilly that followed sound like Happy Days.

Though the comparison isn‘t obvious, “Train in Vain” follows in the tradition of Frank Sinatra, proving tough guys can sing love songs.

On the DVD documentary Strummer downplays the socialist politics of The Clash, making the obvious point that as musicians they didn’t really have the answers to the problems of imperialism, repression and unbridled commercialism.

But he’s selling himself short. Songs like “Clampdown,” “Spanish Bombs” and of course the title track, haven’t lost a trace of their apocalyptic relevance. “Lost in the Supermarket” remains the quintessential anthem of consumerism angst.

The Clash considered London Calling to be “the last rock ‘n’ roll album.” Well, they were wrong. But there haven’t been many albums in the last 25 years as powerful as this.

Also Recommended:
*The Name of This Band is Talking Heads. To be honest, I stopped keeping track of David Byrne’s solo albums about 10 years ago. I never did like The Tom Tom Club, Tina Weymouth’s and Chris Frantz’s side project, and the one Jerry Harrison solo record I heard was painfully boring.

The depressing post-Talking Heads work of these guys is almost enough to make you forget what a great band the Heads were. But perhaps that adds to the refreshing charm of this double-disc reissue.

For reasons best known to the brain trust at Warner Brothers, The Name of This Band, a collection of live Heads material first released in the pre-CD era of 1982, never was released on compact disc.

It took way too long, but they did it right. The new version of the album is nearly twice as long as the original, spanning the band’s early days -- recorded in front of what sounds like tiny audiences -- to the early ‘80s.

The collection is divided into two eras. Disc One features work from 1977-79, while Disc Two has songs from 1980-81.

Although the group’s signature tune is the too-delightful-to-be-creepy “Psycho Killer” (included twice here, once on each disc), the song that best sums up the spirit of the first disc is “Love àBuilding on Fire.” I try to imagine myself in the audience the first time Byrne, in his loopy-loo voice sang, “I’ve got two loves, two loves/And they go tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet like little birds …” to a hopped-up folk-rock groove.

By 1980 Byrne had started hanging out with Brian Eno experimenting with funk and African music. By this point the basic Heads line-up was fortified by outside musicians like guitarist Adrian Belew and keyboardist Bernie Worrell, a Funkadelic alum, as well as background vocalistsm, an extra bassist and a percussionist.

On paper this might sound rather cluttered. But somehow it worked. This album’s version of the insane, pseudo-African workout of “I Zimba” might be the finest track ever recorded by The Talking Heads.

Stop Making Sense was a great live album. But this one’s even better. I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie version of The Name of This Band is Talking Heads.

YOU DON'T GOT MAIL ...

A personal note:

If anyone tried to e-mail me last -- Nigerian generals' widows, herbal Viagra merchants, whoever -- there apparantly was some problem with my MSN account. A couple of friends informed me this morning that their mail to me bounced back, plus I e-mailed some stuff from work and only one of two made it, and that was about 12 hours late.

Try again. It seems to be working now.