I’ve been in this situation many times myself.

The American people want a new direction on Wall Street and at the Fed. They do not want as chairman someone who has been part of the problem and who has been responsible for many of the enormous difficulties that we are now experiencing. It’s time for him to go.

Bernie Sanders, who’s placed a hold on Bernanke’s renomination

We have a selection of beautiful brand new bronze animal sculptures. In commemoration of the Born Free Foundations’s 25th Anniversary, artist and sculptor Jonathan Sanders has been commissioned to create a series of sculptures.   Strikingly accurate and foundry cast in solid bronze, the limited edition includes cheetas, elephants and warthogs.

Cheetah (the chase) Jonathan Sanders

Baby Elephants, Jonathan Saunders

Higgle of Warthogs, Jonathan Sanders

As furious as the One may get, leaks at the White House cannot be stopped. This purloined  chart, the centerpiece of Obama’s presentation at Copenhagen is in the public domain, to his extreme wrath.

Both Obama and Gore, holders of the most esteemed prize known to mankind, given only for advancing TRUTH AND LIGHT, spent untold hours ginning up this scientific masterpiece.

The following is the contents of the 1964 Programme, held by Bayan Northcott and photographed when I visited him.

[p 1]

Wardour Castle

Concerts and Lectures

16–22 August 1964

President Michael Tippett

Musical Director Harrison Birtwistle

Price 5’-

[p 2]

[map of Tisbury]

[p 3]

Contents

Acknowledgements                        4

The Composers and Artists            5

Programmes

16 August            Lecture            13

Concert            13

17 August            Recital            19

Concert            19

18 August            Lecture            25

Concert            25

19 August            Recital            31

Discussion            31

20 August            Recital            37

Lecture            37

21 August            Concert            41

22 August            Concert            41

[p 4]

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Headmistress, Miss C. B. Galton, and the Governors of Cranborne Chase School for kindly allowing us to use the Castle, both for the Concerts and the Summer School; and the following people for their invaluable assistance:

Mrs. M. I. Mackintosh

Honorary Secretary

Mr. H. O. Young

Honorary Treasurer

Miss G. Selby-Smith

Honorary Librarian

Mrs. T. Hetherington

Miss Caroline Philips

Mrs. R. Porteous

Mr. Michael Thomas

for the loan of organ and harpsichord

The Revd. C. J. Godfrey

for the use of Donhead St. Andrew parish church

The Ministry of Works

for the permission to use the grounds of the Old Castle

Cover Design and Book            Anthony Denning

Programme Notes                        Anthony Gilbert

[p 5]

Notes on the Composers and Artists

[p 6/7]

Harrison Birtwistle

was born in 1934; he studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. He is now teaching music at Cranborne Chase School. His works include: Refrains and Choruses, performed 1959 Cheltenham Festival; Music for Sleep, a work for children; Chorales for Orchestra; The World is Discovered, performed at this year’s I.S.C.M. Festival; Entr’acts and Sappho Fragments, performed at this year’s Cheltenham Festival; and Three Movement with Fanfares, commissioned by The Worship Company of Musicians for this year’s City of London Festival

Peter Maxwell Davies

was born in Manchester in 1934, and studied  1952-57 at Manchester University, and Manchester College of Music; 1957-58, Italian Government Scholarship; studied composition with Petrassi in Rome. Director of Music at the Grammar School, Cirencester, and for the past 18 months he has been at Princeton, New Jersey. His works include: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, 1955; Five Piano Pieces, 1956; Alma Redemptoris Mater, 1957; St. Michael, for wind instruments first performed at the Cheltenham Festival, 1957; Prolation, for orchestra, 1958; Five Motets for a capella choir, 1959; O Magnum Mysterium, for choir, instruments and organ, 1960. His Sinfonia was presented at the Cheltenham Festival by the English Chamber Orchestra in 1962

Anthony Gilbert

was born in London in 1934. He started to study music in 1958; harmony and counterpoint with Anthony Milner; composition briefly with Mátyás Seiber; then since 1959 with Alexander Goehr. Works include: a Duo for Violin and Viola, a Serenade for Six Instruments (commissioned by the S.P.N.M.); and a recently completed Mass for choir and brass.

Alexander Goehr

was born in 1932 in Berlin. Son of the conductor Walter Goehr. Was brought to England as a baby and educated. Studied composition at Royal Manchester College of Music with Richard Hall, and in 1954 was awarded a French Government Scholarship and student at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. For some years taught at Morley College and now works part time at the B.B.C., and its chairman of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. Principal works include: Sonata for Piano, The Deluge; Cantata after Leonardo da Vinci; Suters Gold; Cantata on a text by Eisenstein; Violin Concerto; and Little Symphony.

Michael Tippett

was born in 1905, and at the age of 18 entered the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Wood and R. O. Morris, and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent. In the early ‘forties he was the Musical Director of Morley College and was closely associated with Walter Goehr, who have many first performances of his music from this period. Works from this period were: Concerto for Double String Orchestra; an Oratorio; A Child of Our Time; and the First Symphony. In 1953 Covent Garden gave the first performance of his first opera, A Midsummer Marriage. In 1953 his second opera, King Priam, was given its first performance in Coventry, late at Covent Garden. This Piano Sonata to be played tonight was written shortly after “King Priam” and was given its first performance by Margaret Kitchin.

Hugh Wood

was born near Wigan in Lancashire in 1932. He started to study music when he was 22; academic work with Dr. Lloyd Webber and later with Anthony Milner; composition with Iain Hamilton and then with Mátyás Seiber. His compositions include: a set of variations for viola and piano; instrumental songs to texts by Christopher Logue; a trio for flute, viola and piano; quartets, the second of which was commissioned by the B.B.C. for the 1962 Cheltenham Festival. Several of these pieces have been broadcast. He has taught at Morley College for five years and also, latterly, at the Royal Academy of Music. He is married to the pianist Susan McGaw.

[p. 8/9]

Richard Adeney

wad born in London in 1920. He studied music at Dartington Hall and the Royal College of Music. He is now the principal flute of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. Hs is unmarried and keenly interested in photography.

Lucy Berthoud

was born in Hertfordshire in 1942. Three years later she went to live in New York and there, at the age of 11, started to learn the flute with Ruth Freeman of the Julliard School of Music. When she was 17 she came to England and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Derek Honner; in 1963-64 she went to Paris to study with Fernand Caratgé

John Carewe

was born in 1934 and studied with Roger Desormiere, Walter Goehr and Olivier Messiaen. For several years assisted John Pritchard with the Musica Viva Concerts in Liverpool, and has appeared as conductor with principal orchestras in this country. Is particularly interested in performance of new music and has given many first performances of works by young English composers.

Lamar Crowson

was born in American but completed his musical training with Arthur Benjamin at the Royal College of Music, with he is now professor of the piano. Among the many awards he has won are the Chappell Gold Medal, the Harriet Cohen International Medal and two first prizes for chamber music at the Munich International Competition. His is will known for his solo and chamber music productions.

Barbara Elsie

was born in Yorkshire in 1938 and at the age of 16 won a three-year Scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music in London. Her teacher was Winifred Radford, with whom she still works. Her oratorio repertoire is extensive and she performs regularly with principal choral societies in Great Britain. Since her first important engagement at York Minister in 1959 she has broadcast a cantata for her, and consequently she was invited to take part in the first performance of his opera “English Eccentrics,” which had u

Osian Ellis

was born in Flintshire. He started to play the harp at the age of 10 and at 17 he won scholarships which took him to the Royal Academy of Music, where he is now a professor. He has brought the harp into great prominence with his concert appearances, recitals and broadcasts, and he has taken part in most of the major European festivals. His performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the Melos Ensemble was awarded a Premier Prix in 1962 by the French Society of Authors and Editors of Music. Ossian Ellis is an authority on Welsh Folk Music.

Emanuel Hurwitz

was born and educated in England. At the age of 14 he won the Bronislaw-Hubermann Scholarship for the Royal Academy of Music which was adjudicated by Hubermann in person. In 1939 he became the youngest member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he has played solos and obligatos with his orchestras and has always been singled out by the critics for his excellent performances. Since the war he has been leader of the Jacques Orchestra and is now leader of the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1954 he formed a string ensemble which has gained considerable success playing music of the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. He has been a member of the Melos Ensemble since 1955.

[p 10/11]

Margaret Kitchin

was born in Switzerland and studied with Jacqueline Blancard. She has played all over Europe, giving recitals and as a soloist with all the leading orchestras, playing classical and many modern works in which she specialises. She has given many first performance of modern works, including the Piano Sonata by Alexander Goehr, and work by Ian Hamilton, Peter Maxwell Davies, Peter Racine Fricker, etc.

Susan McGaw

studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she son the Liszt Scholarship and many other prizes. On leaving she won a Caird Scholarship and one from the French Government, and studied in Paris for two years with Yvonne Lefébure Since returning she has played regularly in London and the provinces. She is a frequent broadcaster. He husband is Hugh Wood. They have a son and daughter.

Gervase de Peyer

was a scholar at the Royal College of Music and completed his studying under Frederick Thurston in 1958. He has played for many of the London symphony and chamber orchestras and is at present principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra. He is well known as a soloist and has performed with nearly all the major orchestras in the country under many well known conductors. He has also appeared at many festivals, including Edinburgh and Holland. He has made records for Decca, H.M.V., l’Oiseau Lyre and Parlophone.

Neill Sanders

was born in London in 1923, son of violinist, and has a brother who plays the flute. He won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1939, after which he did a season with the Scottish Orchestra before becoming principal horn with the L.S.O. He spent seven years with Denniss Brian in the Philharmonia Orchestra and is at present co-principal in the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra.

Michael Thomas

is at present recording concerts and making permanent recordings of music of keyboard instruments of exceptional historical importance on the continent and in England and Ireland. During the past few years he has recorded recitals on most of the famous old harpsichords, organs and clavichords. He is a person who has made the most thorough study of the technique, phrasing and ornamentation of old music and has, through his long experience and experiments with old instruments, learned how these techniques may best be applied to the old instruments that were used in historical times.

Terence Weil

studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won numerous prizes for Chamber Music including the Sir Edward Cooper prize. He was a member of the Hurwitz String Quartet until it disbanded in 1951. He has been principal ‘cello of many chamber orchestras but is at present free-lancing. He is a founder member of the Melos Ensemble.

[p 12]

[advertisement, Universal Edition, for the path to the new music by Anton Webern]

[p 13]

Sunday 16th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

[p 14/15]

Music in Our Time

Lecture 5.0 p.m.

ALEXANDER GOEHR will lecture on certain aspects of contemporary music with particular reference to works being performed in the evening concert.

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Introduced by MICHAEL TIPPETT

A concert of contemporary English Music

Promoted by: Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Society for the Promotion of New Music

Barbara Elsie            Soprano

Margaret Kitchin            Pianoforte

Peter Maxwell Davies            Pianoforte

Richard Adeney            Flute

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Neill Sanders            Horn

Osian Ellis            Harp

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

John Carewe            Conductor

Three Piano Pieces, op.5            Hugh Wood

These pieces were written for my wife to play, the first for a Wigmore Hall recital in January 1961, and the whole set for a midday recital at the 1963 Cheltenham Festival. the first, Lento, consists of a long tune with rises to a climax, after which some introductory material is heard again. The second, Energico, is the longest of the three, a rondo with episodes and an introduction; the first episode features constant trills, the second is lyrical, in a slower tempo. The main theme appears in a different register each time. The third piece, Calmo, is very short, reminiscent in its materials, valedictory in its nature.

[p 16]

Monody for Corpis Christi Harrison Birtwistle

[lyrics reproduced in original]

The first movement is a simple arch whose main member is the vocal line (to which all other parts are embellishments and from which they may be said to stem). Its rise and descent are emphasized by the gradual addition of instruments from the beginning and their subtraction towards the end, and by the gradually increasing complexity of the instrumental episodes separating the couplets.

This movement leads without a break into an instrumental fantasia Quasi fanfara in contrasting sections, at first very short and static, then longer and more flowing, the whole serving as a transition between the different levels of tension of the two movements for voice.

The third movement follows without interruption and again the overall form is very simple. Each stanza grows in intensity towards its end; in between the two there is a brief instrumental episode ending with a flute cadenza.

Sonata for Piano Anthony Gilbert

This sonata was written in 1961-62 and was first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the S.P.N.M. Cheltenham Festival concert in 1962. There are three movements:

1. Vivace. The overall shape is that of classical sonata form with two contrasting subject-groups, a bipartite section of development in which each group is treated in accordance with its individual character, and an elliptical reprise and coda.

2. Cantilena is a simple, song-type movement in three sections of continuous variation. The middle section, characterized by a pedal, forms a central point of repose for the whole sonata, while the third part recalls the other two and has the function of a coda.

[p 17]

3. Scherzo. This opens with two contrasting motifs and the first part of the movement is concerned with their development and gradual integration. As they become more completely combined the section reaches a climax which triggers off Trio 1, a set of short variations on a rhythmic motif. After a short link using first-section material there follows Trio 2, which is free and rhapsodic in character, and has echoes of the first and second movements. The final section is a telescoped and varied version of the first.

Sonata No.2 for Piano Michael Tippett

This Sonata was written early in 1962 and first performed by Margaret Kitchin at the

Edinburgh Festival of that year. It is in one continuous movement.

Composed very shortly after the completion of “King Priam,” the sonata derives form from the dramatic structure of at opera, and some of its materials from the orchestral piano part. It constitutes a complete departure from normal sonata procedure in that there is virtually no development; the sonata grows by statement – the constant addition of new material and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of new materials and by variation and repetition of material previously given. Constant use is made of contrasts: contrasts of texture, contrasts of tempi and timbres and contrasts between static and dynamic. Towards the end the phrases and motifs get shorter and tension grows until the final page, which is a coda concerned with the elimination of the principal motifs.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Five Little Pieces Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance)

The five little piano pieces were composed between 1960 and 1962.

Suite, op. 11            Alexander Goehr

This work was commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival Committee for the Melos Ensemble who gave its first performance in June, 1961. The object was to produce a piece of light, serenade-like character with an important part for flute and harp. There are five movements.

The first is a quick movement in three main sections. The first and second of these alternate two sharply distinguished types of material in continually varied forms; the third in contrast is a flowing section for solo flute with string accompaniment. There are two repeats: the first section is played again immediately, and the second again after the third.

The second movement is an Intermezzo for harp in improvisatory style. The structural principle is the note-by-note changing of two superimposed chords by pedal shifts.

The third movement is a Scherzo. This is very lightly scored, being almost all in one part over a pedal. Of its two main motifs, the first on the ‘cello is recognisable as the clarinet motif from the first movement in equal notes. Its “head” is used throughout the movement as a sort of punctuation mark dividing sections. The Trio comes right at the end and is for the three stringed instruments only; finally there is an eight-bar coda on scherzo material.

The fourth movement is an Arietta for solo flute, backed by a horn pedal of three notes, with brief answering figures on viola, ‘cello and harp.

The finale is a true Quodlibet in which short blocks of material from all the previous movements are juxtaposed mosaic-wise. There are two cadenzas: one for flute on Scherzo material, and one for harp on Trio material. The whole is held together by a horn-call which recurs like a rondo-theme, and whose origins are revealed to the sharp ear on its final appearance.

[p 18]

[Advertisement for UE composers Harrison Birtwistle and Hugh Wood]

[p 19]

Monday, 17th August

5.0 p.m. RECITAL

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. CONCERT

in the Assembly Room

[p 20/21]

Early Organ Music            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Peter Maxwell Davies will introduce and play early music on a newly restored Snitzler organ. Works by: Dunstable, Taverner, Byrd, Tomkins, Gabrielli, Scheidt, Zipoli etc.

The Organ

The organ belongs to Peter Maxwell Davies and was made by Snitzler in 1768.

Snitzler’s soundboards have little pallets directly under the keys which are operated by a pin on the underside of the key, thus giving an extremely light and responsive touch. The disadvantage of this method is that the wind channels are small, so that it is only possible to play three or four rows of pipes at once.

This organ originally possessed an ordinary stopped Diapason 8’, and open Diapason 8’ which contrasted with it, a Dulciana with tongues and beards, and a very small scale, also 8’, and small Dulciana Principle: the effect was rather soft and lacked virility. The pipes were therefore transposed to give a stopped Diapason and Principle, and the Dulcianas became the 12th and 15th. In this way the incisive Snitzler tone was immediately regained.

Chamber Concert            8.30 p.m.

Melos Ensemble

Lamar Crowson            Piano

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin

Neill Sanders            Horn

Terence Weil            ‘Cello

Pianoforte Trio in F sharp minor Haydn

Haydn’s Piano Trios belong rather to his piano music than to that for string ensemble. The keyboard plays a dominant part in all of them and the use of the violin, and particularly the ‘cello, is held by some authorities to be optional. The first editions describe them as “Sonatas pour le piano-forte avec accompagnement de violon et violoncello,” and the violin rarely goes above 2nd position, the ‘cello merely duplicating the bass of the piano.

This interesting work is one of a group of three composed in or before 1795 and dedicated to his English friend, Mrs. Schroeter.

There are three movements, the first of which, a sonata allegro, is notable for its wealth but as it reaches the dominant cadence it acquires a minor flavour, providing an excuse to plunge straight into A for the middle section. The procedure in reverse brings back the tonic towards the end.

The Finale is a Minuet in F-sharp minor of great beauty, with a trio consisting of the same material transplanted to the tonic major. Without going beyond the canons of Haydn’s normal minuet procedure, it provided a most satisfactory ending to the work.

[p 22]

Six Little Piano Pieces, op. 19            Schoenberg

Light, tender

Slow.

Very slow.

Quick, but light.

Somewhat quick.

Very slow.

The first five of these pieces were written on 19th February, 1911; the sixth was written in June, just four weeks after the death of Mahler, to whom it constitutes a kind of epitaph.

Around this time perhaps more than at any other period Schoenberg was preoccupied with problems of form – particularly of finding more appropriate vessels for his rapidly evolving atonality. There is no doubt that he was struck by the aphoristic manner of Webern’s op. 6, and particularly of the violin pieces op. 7, to the extent of being impelled to see what possibilities the very short form held for himself.

In addition, in these little pieces we find him for the first time calling into question the traditional relationship between melody and accompaniment, and investigating the possibility of more interesting functions for the latter. So, for example, in Nos. 1, 2 and 4 it becomes merely an extension or feature of the melody, serving to heighten its expressiveness in various ways, and No. 6, the strangest piece of all, is concerned with the almost elimination of both elements.

Seven Sketches, op. 9            Bartok

These piano pieces were composed between 1908-10, and are, in a way, a diary of Bartók’s development as a composer in these years. The first ones reflect his early preoccupation with western mannerisms – particularly impressionism; the later ones show his growing interest in the folk-idioms of his own land.

1. Portrait of a Young Girl: to wit, Marta Ziegler, its dedicatee, whom he married in 1909. A short piece in ternary form, betraying the influence of, surprisingly enough, Busoni in its harmonic style and its treatment of material.

2. A Swing. Two motifs are used in alternation: the first a rocking, polytonal figure, the second a bagpipe tune in not quite a whole tone scale.

3. is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Z. Kodály. The lack of title emphasizes Bartòk’s abandonment of impressionism; the piece is simply a rhapsodic melody unfolded in rubato-parlando style over an accompaniment of major tenths.

4. is another rhapsodic piece. After an 11-bar introduction a Hungarian-style melody is presented in varied forms over a florid accompaniment.

5. A Rumanian Folk Melody, and 6., a dance in the Valachian manner, are still closer to popular sources, and foreshadow the Bartók of Mikrokosmos.

7. In this piece, perhaps the most interesting of all the Sketches, brief modal phrases succeed one another with striking juxtapositions of tonality; there is a gradual metamorphosis to irregular rhythms and whole-tone scales, and in the long code to note-clusters.

Première Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano            Debussy

This piece was written in 1910 as a test piece for clarinet competitions at the Conservatoire at which it was Debussy’s duty to adjudicate. It was subsequently orchestrated (the style of the accompaniment seems to indicate that this was his intention all along) and in this form is said to have been regarded by Debussy as one of the most pleasing pieces he had written.

It is freely constructed (as befits a Rhapsody) from static blocks of contrasting material in three main categories: slow and dreamy, poco mosso and scherzando, sharply juxtaposed or joined by brief linking passages.

Four Pieces for clarinet and piano, op.5             Berg

These pieces were written in the summer of 1913, and are dedicated to Schoenberg’s “Society for Private Performances,” under whose auspices they were first played more than six years later. Their epigrammatic style is an untypical of Berg as Schoenberg’s op. 19, their obvious model, is of him.

1. The clarinet’s opening six-note figure is a skilful simultaneous exposition of all the motivic elements of the piece, which in any case all spring from the single governing principle of intervallic expansion. Its form is very simple – the piano and clarinet move in opposite directions to the central climax which is held for two bard and then quickly falls away to a code of static harmonies.

2. This utilizes the same motivic elements as No. 1 in a pianissimo conflict between two kinds of ostinato accompaniment in the piano and a simple melodic line in the clarinet. The climax is expressed without rising above p, simply being the point at which the conflict resolves in favour of one of the ostinati.

3. Another very quiet piece, falling into four sharply contrasted sections, the first two quick and nervous, the third slow and flowing and the fourth an elliptical reprise and headlong code to be played as quickly and quietly as possible.

4. This piece takes farther the idea inherent in No. 3. The contrasted sections, each characterized by a different ostinato, are again present (though the speeds are the reverse of those in No. 3); likewise the sonata-like reprise before the code. Now, however, in spite of the ostinato, the piece is not static: it is aimed at the explosive climax which ends the first part of the code. The coda proper is simply three bars of echo.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

[p 24]

Fantasia in C minor, K475            Mozart

This piece, written in 1875 for his gifted pupil Thérèse von Trattner, is one of four Fantasias for the piano composed in Mozart’s later years. It was customary for him to precede performances of his sonatas with an improvised introduction in the same key; the present Fantasia, published by Mozart as a prelude to the Sonata K457, may be taken as a fairly close indication of the nature of these improvisations.

It is made up of five contrasted open-ended sections: the first Adagio, the second a D major episode in the same tempo, the third a stormy Allegro in two halves, linked by a brief cadenza to the fourth, Andantino in B-flat; the fifth is another stormy Allegro. The whole is rounded off by a recapitulation and code on first-section material.

The organization of keys is interesting. The first, third and fifth sections are unstable and constantly modulating, any affirmations of the home (or any) key being rigorously avoided. The second and fourth are anchor sections firmly in keys two removes [sic] from home on the dominant and the subdominant sides respectively – so that the acute ear may sense an implied tonic midway between. However, not until the final section is the home key reached and established.

Trio for Piano, Violin and Horn, op.40            Brahms

This is one of a group of works composed after Brahms’ resignation in 1864 as Director of the Vienna Choral Society. It is a very much a horn trio; the horn part is as it were the backbone of the work, and the character of all the melodic material is determined by its appropriateness to that instrument.

The first movement is an Andante of unusual design, with boldly planned key relationships. There are two balancing sections, each in two contrasting parts, organised as follows: Andante in E-flat (2/4 time); poco più animato in C minor and G minor (9/8); Andante in E-flat; poco più animato in E-flat minor and B-flat minor, leading to a final Andante in G-flat which modulates back to the home key at the final climax.

The Scherzo begins with a long (12-bar) upbeat to the principal motif, whose four bars of 2/4 rhythm in 3 contrast strikingly with the overall 3/4 pulse.  The whole of the first section is built up from the material of these first 16 bars – a secondary motif given out by the horn on the next page plays little part in the growth of the movement. The Trio in the subdominant minor is less exuberant and decisive in character; the melody owes its outline to the “upbeat” motif of the previous section. After 76 bars uninterrupted by any form of full cadence the Scherzo is given de capo.

In the third movement, Adagio mesto in E-flat minor, there are four sections whose exact symmetry and the economy of whose material are belied by the flowing, almost rhapsodic manner in which the music unfolds.

The Finale is a lively movement in sonata form, through whose many modulations the horn is handled with such adroitness that accidentals seldom appear in the part.

[p 25]

Tuesday, 18th August

5.0 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Concert

in the Assembly Room

[p 26/27]

Quartet for the End of Time            Lecture 5.0 p.m.

Olivier Messiaen, the Man and His Music

given by Hugh Wood

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Members of the Melos Ensemble

Emmanuel Hurwitz            Violin [viola]

Gervase de Peyer            Clarinet

Terence Weil            Violoncello

Lamar Crowson            Pianoforte

Clarinet Trio in E flat K498            Mozart

Andante;

Menuetto;

Rondo – Allegretto

The year 1786 was a trying one for Mozart. He was heavily in debt, his newly completed Marriage of Figaro had been withdrawn after only nine performances, and he had lost his third son. Nevertheless in the space of only six months he managed to turn out eight masterpieces, of which this Trio is one. It was written for his friends Francisca Jacquin and Anton Stadler with Mozart himself playing the viola part.

The unusual choice of instruments gives a mellow, closely-knit ensemble capable of considerable expressive power, and it was no doubt with this possibility in mind that Mozart made the first movement an andante rather than an allegro, almost – but not quite – discarding the sonata in favour of the song-form. The movement grows continuously from the motif in the first bar, and very little other material is introduced,

The second movement is a vigorous Minuet with a Trio effectively contrasting the timbres of the clarinet and viola in dialogue.

The theme of the final Rondo springs from a fragment of the “2nd subject” in the first movement. Little important music is given to the viola in the first section, in order to heighten the effect of its striking C-minor entry in the second episode. Save for a few bars of A-flat melody in the central part, its rôle is secondary until nearly the end, during a final brilliant reworking of the Rondo theme.

[p 28]

Four Impromptus, op. 142            Schubert

This is the style under which, mainly for commercial reasons. Schubert published the first of four piano sonatas written during the last 10 months of his life. And although undeniably a sonata of sorts, there is a certain looseness about its construction which suits its new name better.

For instance, in the first movement, Allegro moderato, there is an F-minor first subject and an A-major second subject, but where we might expect a development there is a longish passage of new material which moves into all sorts of interesting keys but does not grow. This innovation is taken a step further when the passage is reintroduced in the recapitulation, and at last Schubert’s scheme – a simple binary form – becomes apparent.

The second movement, Allegretto, is a Sarabande and trio going hand in hand with the first movement in key and character.

The third, Andante, is a set of variations on a tune from Rosamunde.

The finale, Allegro Scherzando, is in clearly defined ABA form, but the manner of organising the material in the outer sections gives it certain Rondo characteristics. It is perhaps the most imaginative of the movement. Cross-rhythms abound, the harmonic structure is striking, and the lead back from the central to the final section is magical.

INTERVAL (25 minutes)

Quatuor pour la fin du temps Olivier Messiaen

“And I saw another might angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as pillars of fire… and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth… and standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his head to heaven; and he swore by him that liveth for ever… that time shall be no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished…” (Apocalypse of St. Jonn, Chapter X).

Conceived and written during my captivity, the Quatuor pour la fin du temps was first performed in Stalag Villa on 15th January, 1941, by Jean le Boulaire (violin), Henri Akoka (clarinet), Etienne Pasquier (‘cello) and myself on the piano. It was directly inspired by the above quotation from the Apocalypse. Its musical language is essentially immaterial, spiritual, catholic. Modes which, melodically and harmonically, realize a kind of tonal ubiquity, being the listener nearer to eternity in space or the infinite. Special rhythms, not bound by regular metre, powerful serve to put the temporal at a distance. (All this is but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject).

This “Quartet” is in eight movements. Why so? Seven is the perfect number, the six days of creation sanctified by the divine Sabbath; the seven of rest extends into eternity and becomes the eight of undecaying light, of unalterable peace.

1. “Liturgy of Crystal.” Between three and four in the morning, the birds awaken: a blackbird or solo nightingale improvises, surrounded by a fine sprinkling of sound, a halo of trills lost high in the treetops. Transfer this to the religious place, and you have the harmonious silence of heaven.

2. “Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of Time.” The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of this mighty angel arrayed in cloud with a rainbow upon his head, who places one foot upon the sea and the other foot upon the land. The “middle section” depicts the impalpable harmonic of heaven. Gentle cascades of orange-blue chords on the piano surround with their distant carillon quasi-plainchant recitatives on violin and ‘cello.

3. “Abyss of the birds.” Clarinet solo. The abyss is Time, with its sadness, its wearinesses. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, stars, rainbows and paeans of jubilation.

4. “Interlude.” A Scherzo, more extrovert in character than the previous movement, but linked with them, nevertheless, by a number of melodic “reminders.”

5. “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus.” Jesus is considered here as the Word. A long ‘cello phrase, infinitely slow, magnifies with love and reverence the eternity of this might and gently Word, “whose years shall never be exhausted.” Majestically the melody spreads out, into the tender and sovereign distance. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

6. “Dance of fury for the seven trumpets.” Rhythmically, this is the most characteristic piece of the set. The four instruments playing in unison take on the sound of gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the apocalypse following by various catastrophes, the trumpet of the seventh angel announcing the consummation of the mystery of God. Use is made of added values, augmented or diminished rhythms, and non-retrogradable rhythms. Stone music, formidable granitic sound; the irresistible movement of steel, enormous blocks of purple fury, glacial drunkenness. Listen above all to the terrible fortissimo augmentation of the theme with its notes all changed in register which comes towards the end of the piece.

7. “A confusion of rainbows, for the Angel who announced the end of Time.” Certain passages for the second movement return here. The almighty Angel appears, and so, particularly, does the rainbow which he wears (the rainbow, symbol of peach, goodness, and of all vibration in light and sound). In my dreams I hear and see groups of chords and melodies, known colours and shapes; then after this transitory phase I move into the unreal and experience with ecstasy a whirling and mingling together of superhuman sounds and chords. These fiery swords, these torrents of blue-orange lava, these sudden starts: these are confusions, these are rainbows.

8. “Praise to the Immortality of Jesus.” A broad violin solo, acting as pendant  to the ‘cello solo of the 5th movement. Why this second praise? It is addressed more particularly to the second aspect of Jesus, to Jesus the Man, to the Word made flesh, returning immortal to give us His life. It is all love. Its slow climb to the heights is the ascension of man towards his God, of the child of God towards its Father, of the beatified creatures towards Paradise.

– And I say again what I said above: “all thus us but mere tentative stammering if one thinks of the overwhelming grandeur of its subject.’

(Notes translated from score by Anthony Gilbert)

[p 30]

At the age of 56, Olivier Messiaen is almost certainly the most distinguished composer working in Europe today. He was born in 1908 at Avignon, song of a Shakespearean scholar and a poetess. He entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was only 11, and there studied the organ under Marcel Dupré, theory under Maurice Emmanuel and composition under Paul Dukas. At 18 he won the first prize for counterpoint and fugue, and he went on to win first prizes for piano accompaniment, organ playing, improvisation, music history and composition. His first mature work was, like so much of his later output, for the organ: Le Banquet Céleste, written in 1928. The Eight Preludes for piano followed in 1929: it was on the recommendation of Dukas that they were published. In 1931 he was appointed organist at the Great Organ of Holy Trinity, Paris. Other works of these years include Les Offrandes oubliées, L’Ancension, the Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano, and the Nativité du Seigneur cycle for organ. In 1936 he appeared as the leader of a group of young musicians calling themselbes “La Jeune France,” the other being André Jolivet, Daniel Lesur and Yves Baudrier. In this year also he was appointed professor at the Ecole Normale and at the Schola Cantorum. Works 1936-39: Poemes pour Mi, Chants de terre et de ciel, and the Corps glorieué for organ.

Messiaen enlisted at the beginning of the war and was taken prisoner during the fall of France in 1940. It was in a German prison camp in Silesia that he wrote the Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941). This work was the harbinger of the most prolific period of his career. He was repatriated to occupied France and then wrote the Visions de l’Amen for two pianos, for Trios petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (the first work of his to become widely known after the war), the immense piano work Vignt regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, the similarly large-scale song-cycle Harawi, and then his chef d’oeuvre the Turangalila Symphony. This was written in 1946-48 and has been performed many times all over Europe and in America since its first performance in Boston in 1949. In 1953 and 1954 two performance took place in London, conducted by Walter Goehr. The work has recently been recorded.

On his return to France, Messiaen had been appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, and before the end of the war a lively group of young pupils had gathered themselves round him, including the 19-year-old Pierre Boulez. The title of his appointment was changed in 1947 to that of Professor of Aesthetics, rhythmic studies and of the analysis class; a wider range of pupils now included Karheinz Stockhausen, Jean Barraque, Yannis Xenakis and Gilbert Amy. During the years 1947-53 Messiaen gave classes at various musical centres, including Budapest, Sarrebruck, Tanglewood and Darmstadt. His Quatre Etudes de rhythme for piano was begun on Darmstaft in 1949, and this work has had a great influence on composers of the Darmstadt circle. Other works of this time: Canteyodjaya for piano; the Cinq Rechants for choir; the Messe de la Pentecote for organi; Le Merle Noir for flute and piano; and the Livre d’orgue.

During the last 10 years Messiaen’s name has become well-known all over the world and his importance recognised as one of the sources of new musical thought. Latterly his works are even to be heard in England, where in particular his organ music now received regular performances. A recent group of works springs from the composer’s lifelong preoccupation with bird-song: the Réveil des oiseaux (1953) for piano and orchestra; the Oiseaux exotiques (1956) for piano, wind ensemble and percussion, and the piano work Catalogue d’oiseaux (1959). More recent still is Chronochromie (1960), an important work for large orchestra, and the Haikai for piano and clarinet solo and chamber ensemble (1962).

Hugh Wood

[p 31]

Wednesday, 19th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Old Kitchen

8.30 p.m. Discussion

in the Assemble Room

[p 32/33]

Flute and Harpsichord

Recital 5.0 pm

Lucy Berthoud            Flute

Michael Thomas            Harpsichord

Suite in D Major            Rameau

Sonata in B Minor            J. S. Bach

Ordre in B Minor            Couperin

Sonata No. 6 in E Minor            J. S. Bach

Rameau and Couperin

Couperin (Le Grand), 1668-1733. His music for clavecin was called “Ordres,” another name for suite. They were published between 1713-30 with varying numbers of movements, some with 10 or 15 and the longest 23. He was a master of a musical miniature and pieces include portrait studies and nature sketches, e.g. Les Tricoteuses and Les Petits Moulins a Vent.

Rameau, 1683-1764. He was the most prominent figure of his day in French opera but won fame in all musical arts including writing for the clavecin in which he followed Couperin. Picturesque titles of his music for harpsichord include La Poule and Les Tourbillons.            G.S.S.

Flute Sonatas J.S. Bach

Bach wrote six flute sonatas, the first three have a fully written up part for the right hand of the harpsichord and can, therefore, be regarded as trio sonatas with the harpsichord playing the solo melodic part as well as the base. No. 1 in B minor has a long first movement marked andante in which the flute and the harpsichord alternate in a long melodic line and, of course, often play the two subjects against each other. Indeed both subjects are played together in the very first line. The faster semiquaver subject can really be regarded as two parts in quavers, as is so common in much of Bach’s music, which looks like a single part. It contains no harmony but tonic and dominant till the third bar. The harmony changes abruptly when a chromatic movement is introduced. This is, of course, developed in the course of the movement. The middle section of the movement is a much lighter subject in quick moving triplets. This is perhaps the longest and one of the most beautiful movements in all the Bach sonatas. The 2nd movement, a largo, is really a development form the siciliano but considerable complications and additions have arisen in the rhythm by the second bar. The 3rd movement is a short movement marked presto and starts with a canon with the harpsichord following the flute nine bars later. This time there is a chromatic climbing movement. The movement is in the form of a fughetta without cadence to the end. The last movement is a jig but of the highly developed type and note suitable for dancing in so far as the first beat of the three semiquavers instead of being an articulated down beat is actually a sustained syncopation in the very first bar. Again this contains a canon but it is at the unison pitch instead of at the 5th, the harpsichord entering in the fourth bar. Bach’s flute sonata No. 6 begins with an adagio but which is a completely expressive work and it would be difficult to say that it was closely related to any of the dance movement but bears more resemblance to a slow movement by Quantz. The 2nd movement is allegro in straight-forward binary form and in the Italian style. The 3rd movement is again a siciliano. The 4th movement is allegro again in binary form.

[p 34/35]

The Harpsichord

While engaged in restoring harpsichords, Michael Thomas became interested in two types of this instrument, which seemed to him to be particularly fine: one being the Italian and the other the French type.

After much experimenting independent of any specific model, Michael Thomas constructed this instrument in which he has sought to incorporate the best qualities of each type.

He uses the light construction and small bridge found in the Italian model, thus giving it simultaneously a deep hollow resonance and an enormous harmonic range; and by bending the wood of the curved side only as far as it will naturally and easily go, he has obtained the depth of tone of the French instrument. A clear attack on each note is achieved by the use of quills for plucking the harpsichord.

Opera Today            Discussion 8.30 p.m.

Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tippett

Chairman: Harrison Birtwistle

Opera Today

Michael Tippett’s activities in the operatic field are already well known to all. His two works for the stage, dating from 1952 and 1961 respectively, for which in both cases he was his own librettist, are among the most striking and original contributions to opera this century.

Peter Maxwell Davies has for the past two years been working on his first opera, based on the life of John Taverner, and now nearing completion.

Alexandr Goehr began, and abandoned, his first opera some years ago. Its subject was the Women of Troy, and a fragment survives in the orchestral work Hecuba’s Lament. His activities in recent months as musical director of various stage productions at the Mermaid Theatre have resulted in his increasing absorption with music on the stage, and he has recently been commissioned to write an opera on the play Arden of Feversham.

[p 36]

[advertisement for Schott’s composers: Banks, Blomdahl, Davies, Franciax, Fricker, Gilbert, Goehr, Hamilton, Hartman, Henze, Hindemith, Huber, Nono, Orff, Rainier, Schoenberg, Schuller, Searle, Seiber, Stravinsky and Tippett.]

[p 37]

Thursday, 20th August

5.0 p.m. Recital

in the Assembly Room

8.30 p.m. Lecture

in the Assembly Room

[p 38/39]

Matinee for Erik Satie            Recital 5.0 p.m.

Susan McGaw            Piano

Four songs without words Mendlessohn

F sharp minor op. 19, no. 5

B minor op.67, no. 5

F minor op. 62, no. 3

A minor op. 38, no. 5

1st Gymnopedies Satie

3rd Gnossiemme Satie

Vieux sequins et Vielles Cuirasses Satie

Passion Sonata no. 6, A major            C. P. E. Bach

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Pieces friod 1st set            Satie

Airs a faire fuire Satie

Three songs without words Mendelssohn

G major op. 62, no. 1

D major op. 85, no. 4

A major op. 102, no. 5

Erik Satie: 1866-1925

The amount of discussion of a non-musical nature aroused by Satie’s eccentricities led people for many years almost to forget he was a musician; now, with the arrival of new eccentrics on the musical scene, most people have even forgotten Satie the lunatic. Even when, at the age of 54, he suddenly found himself hailed as leader of the Parisian avant-garde, it was less as a musician than as High Priest of a new aesthetic cult devised by Cocteau that he was worshipped, and rarely at any period since his death have any but a dwindling number of devotees taken the trouble to disregard the funny words and listen simply to his music.

This is a pity, because although undeniably a most interesting character in many ways, it is in the light of his contribution as a composer pure and simple that he new deserves to be considered.

Maybe he never produced a large-scale masterpiece, and maybe his influence is not as profound or as far-reaching as other influences this century; nevertheless, musically he is a true original, and the best of his work has a timeless quality that puts it in another category altogether from all the bizarrerie.

His was a fairly prolific composer, the bulk of his output being for the piano, either solo or duet, and this portion of his work contains his best and most characteristic pieces. Few of them are long; most are in groups, generally of three; and quite often, like the Gymnopédies and the Sarabandes, they are just three ways of looking at the same idea.

He had a way of anticipating points of technique in other composers by some 15 or 20 years. In his earlier piano pieces are to be found harmonic innovations used much later by Debussy and Ravel; slightly later pieces gave Stravinsky his mechanical accompaniment figures, and in later ones still, in particular the “3 Valses du Précieux Dégoûté” and the 20 “Sports et Divertissements,” his masterpiece, we find utilizes Messiaen’s techniques of incantatory repetition and the systematic juxtaposition of brief unrelated phrases.

The groups of pieces we are to hear this afternoon are among his best-known and least-known works. The Gymnopédies were published in 1887 and quickly achieved popularity; Vieux Séquins et Vielles Cuirasses (1914) belongs to a period of advanced buffoonery through which Satie went during the years following his celebrated return to the Schola Cantorum

[p 40/41]

Lecture 8.30 p.m.

Musical Characterization in Mozart Opera

with particular reference to Don Giovanni

Stephen Pruslin, Princeton University

Friday, 21st August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Old Wardour Castle

Saturday, 22nd August

8.30 p.m. Concert

at Donhead St. Andrew Parish Church

[p 42/43]

Concert 8.30

Nocturnal

A concert in the open air* of English and Italian echo-music from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for brass and voices.

Given by: Gabrieli Ensemble and Choir conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr.

Music by: Maschera, Isaac, A. and G. Gabrieli, Locke, etc.

* Under cover if wet

Concert 8.30 p.m.

Participants Concert

A concert given by the participants of the summer school

Conductors: John Carewe, Michael Tippett

Morgengesang C. P. E. Bach

Symphony Haydn

Sequentia Sanctia Evangeli Secundam Lucan, in illo Tempore XXII 14-20 Peter Maxwell Davies

(first performance written for the summer school)

Fantasias Gibbons

For these concerts a more comprehensive programme will be available on the day.

In an earlier post, I indicated that my conversation with Charles Harper Webb about his book, Shadow Ball, would air on Monday, 11/30. However, the show will air 12/7. In the meantime, the first half of a conversation with Scott Russell Sanders is now available as a Podcast, and the second half of that talk will air on 11/30. We discuss his new book, A Conservationist Manifesto. Thanks for listening…

As with any religion, to put an end to the folly, one needs a crucifixion.
I’m all for that…

Lets have one

I wonder if he can see his house and boat from up there?

… and they are both Independents  who meet in the Democratic Caucus.

“The overwhelming majority of Americans want to be able to choose between a strong public option and a private insurance plan. Without that competition, there is very little in this bill that would keep health insurance premiums from escalating rapidly. This legislation cannot simply be a huge subsidy to private insurance companies that will get millions of new customers and be able to raise their rates as high as they want.”

-Bernie Sanders (I – VT)

“My only resort, and every other senator — and there will be others who feel exactly the way I do about the public option, if the public option is still in there — the only resort we have is to say no at the end to reporting the bill off the floor.”

- Joe Lieberman (I – CT)

So how do we get this aligned (or how do we get the 60th vote from someone other than Lieberman?)

Something I ought to remember, something you ought to remember:

 

Current Sounds: That Mouth -Owen
Current Words: Hunting for Hope -Scott R. Sanders

Where Are the Doctors to Implement ObamaCare?

A University of California chancellor warns that America could soon look like Massachusetts.

Looking like Massachusetts is a rather unpleasant idea, particularly when it’s you needing the shaman.

Fear not,

our

government

provides,

ObamaCare!

Health care reform will fail to achieve its promise of affordable access to medical care unless the nation’s physician workforce is substantially expanded to meet the demand that newly insured patients will place on an already over-burdened system. [snip]

Without this, gaining access to prompt medical care for all patients will become even more difficult. There will be longer wait times for appointments, less face time with a physician and, in all likelihood, delayed diagnoses leading to more expensive treatment and increased risk of complications. One need only look at the experience of Massachusetts, where the adoption of universal health coverage has intensified the physician shortage. (emphasis added) [snip]

Dr. Neuman,

Dean of Naturopathy

at

Prophylactic U. says,

“ObamaCare controls the costs of medical care by limiting what fees paid to hospitals and providers and what procedures are covered. Rapid cost containment with no arguments.”

Perhaps importing doctors educated in places other than American universities is appealing. Some rather unique treatments will enter the medical system and rare elixirs into the formulary.
These ophthalmologists will be working at John Hopkins performing cataract surgery and retinal reattachment.

You tell me why anyone would put seven years into study after college to be told how much they’ll make and what field they’ll work.

American trained doctors will be sweating  street elbows into pressure lines, performing SAE certified part replacements, having nights and weekends off, NOT paying malpractice insurance premiums and playing golf too.

Bridge over Rio Puerco of the East, Cuba, New Mexico

One of the more confusing aspects of the geography of the Southwest is the fact that there are two completely different rivers with the exact same name, and they’re quite close to each other.  The name is “Rio Puerco,” meaning “dirty river” in the New Mexico dialect of Spanish.  It’s an apt name, since rivers in the area tend to carry a lot of sediment and the water in them tends to look rather dirty.  Nevertheless, the use of it for both rives can lead to considerable confusion, and while in technical and scholarly contexts they tend to be carefully distinguished, in more accessible public contexts there isn’t much clarification out there.

Rio Puerco of the East, Cuba, New Mexico

One Rio Puerco originates in the Jemez Mountains and flows south through the village of Cuba, then parallels the Rio Grande for a considerable distance before joining it south of Belen.  In contexts where careful disambiguation is necessary this river is generally called the Rio Puerco of the East, on maps and signs where highways like US 550 cross it it’s usually just labeled “Rio Puerco.”  Today the Puerco of the East forms a rough eastern boundary for the Navajo culture area, and the communities along it (especially Cuba) serve as important points of contact between the Navajos and the New Mexico Hispanic culture area.

Rio Puerco of the West and Train Tracks at Petrified Forest

The other Rio Puerco originates on the southern slope of Lobo Mesa near the Continental Divide and flows generally southwest through Gallup and the Red Mesa valley, paralleling the railroad and I-40 into Arizona.  It passes through Petrified Forest National Park before flowing into the Little Colorado River at Holbrook.  This river is generally called the Rio Puerco of the West, and it forms a very rough southern boundary for the Navajo culture area, with the area further south dominated by the Zunis along the eastern portion and by Anglos (largely Mormons) along the western portion.  The towns along the river are mostly nineteenth-century railroad towns.

Sign at Bridge over Rio Puerco of the East, Cuba, New Mexico

Clearly, these two rivers are very different and have nothing to do with each other.  They are on opposite sides of the Continental Divides and belong to completely different drainage systems: the East flows into the Rio Grande and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico, while the West flows into the Little Colorado, which flows into the Colorado just upstream from the Grand Canyon and ultimately ends up in the Gulf of California.  Confusingly, though, they’re really quite close.  If you drive from Albuquerque to Flagstaff on I-40 you cross both of them, and each is marked only by a sign saying “Rio Puerco.”  They are also both close to Chaco, and both areas were integrated into the Chacoan system, though probably to different degrees.  The only major Chacoan site known from the Puerco of the East is Guadalupe, while the Puerco of the West has a whole string of sites that have been identified relatively recently as Chacoan outliers, including Allentown, Chambers, Sanders, and Navajo Springs.  Unfortunately, the names are so entrenched at this point that there’s little prospect of changing either (or both) to something less confusing, so it looks like this is something we’ll just have to keep dealing with.  Hopefully this post will help reduce the amount of confusion over this issue.

Bridge over Rio Puerco of the West at Petrified Forest

Everyone needs to recognizeyour government health care worker on sight; Obama decreed by fiat they will have a special insignia to make them stand out. Look for it every time you go for care or to pay your taxes.

The Federal Bureau of Insurance Compliance Offices has this Logo on the door. You can’t miss it when you go to pay your fine for not having the mandated amount of coverage.

To ease the invasive largess of the ever providing government, Harry Reid is lubricating the passage of the bill.

The $100 Million Health Care Vote?

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?

Here’s a case study.
On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

Senator Joe Lieberman isn’t playing along. Shame on you Joe, you won’t get your Caduceus and you are out of the club!

Joe Lieberman slams public option, brushes off critics

Sen. Joe Lieberman’s threat to filibuster any health care bill with a public option could kill health reform this year — and embolden Democratic challengers who’d like to send him packing in 2012.
But Lieberman doesn’t seem worried.

Hang in there Joe, there’s always the Kenesset. There you’ll be appreciated, unlike running with the fascist dogs in CT.

One of my favorite duds out of TX Cody Sanders ripping it up with Mike Torres. Now thats a good edit.

via Rolling Mission

Wir leben in verrückten Zeiten. Die seltsamsten Verschwörungstheorien und Gerüchte kursieren rund um den Erdball, besonders im WorldWideWeb.

Wir von houseofchi.com halten uns der Regel zurück, wenn es darum geht Verschwörungstheoretische Inhalte zu posten. Es gibt aber immer wieder dermaßen seltsame “Zufälle(!)”, das auch uns nichts anderes übrig bleibt, als darüber zu berichten, auf das sich jeder Mensch eine eigene Meinung bilden kann.

Heute werfen wir einen Blick auf eine der unglaublichstenVerschwörungstheorien überhaupt.
Leugnen läßt sich dabei eines nicht: es ist spannender Stoff, der durchaus eines utopischen KinoThrillers angemessen wäre………:

1994 veröffentlichte Dr. Carl W. Sanders (siehe Nexus Magazine June-July 1994), er habe 32 Jahre lang an der Entwicklung von Microchips gearbeitet im Auftrag verschiedener Regierungsorganisationen und Konzerne, darunter IBM und General Electric.

Dr. Sanders erklärt, da diese Chips in Wechselwirkung zur Körpertemperatur stehen, hätte man versucht, die günstigste Stelle für ein solches Implantat herauszufinden. Forscher fanden, in einer MillionenDollarStudie, zwei Stellen die besonders geeignet sind: Die Stirn kurz vor dem Haaransatz und der Rücken der Hand. Der Mikrochip hat einen kleinen Sender eingebaut, der ständig eine Kennziffer aussendet, welche von Satelliten empfangen werden kann und der Chipträger so auf 3 Meter genau geortet werden kann.

Hierzu ein Auszug aus einem Artikel von Dr. Carl W. Sanders, der 1994 in der Juni – Juli Ausgabe des NEXUS erschienen ist:  Dr. Sanders ist ein Elektronikingenieur, Erfinder, Autor und Berater von verschiedenen Regierungsorganisationen sowie von IBM, General Electric, Honeywell and Teledyne.

“32 Jahre meines Lebens verbrachte ich damit, Technik und Elektronik zu entwerfen – und Microchips auf biomedizinischen Gebiet. 1968 wurde ich, mehr durch Zufall, in ein Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekt involviert, das einen Wirbelsäulenbypass vorsah für eine junge Dame, deren Wirbelsäule durchtrennt war. Sie wollten sehen, ob es möglich wäre, Nerven zu verbinden, etc.

Es war ein Projekt, bei dem wir alle aufgeregt waren. Dort waren 100 Leute dabei und ich war der Hauptverantwortliche des Projektes. Das Projekt gipfelte in dem Microchip, über den ich eben sprach – ein Microchip, der, glaube ich, besser als ‘Zeichen des Tieres’ bezeichnet werden kann.

Während wir an dem Microchip arbeiteten, hatten wir keine Ahnung, daß es jemals ein Chip zur Identifizierung werden sollte. Wir betrachteten ihn als sehr humanitäre Sache… Unser Team bestand nicht aus Leuten von San Jose, Motorola, General Electric oder Boston Medical Care – es war wirklich eine Gruppe von Menschen. (…

Als der Chip entwickelt wurde, kam eine Zeit, wo sie sagten, daß der finanzielle Gewinn für uns nicht sehr lukrativ sei bei der Behandlung von gebrochenen Wirbelsäulen, und so sahen wir uns nach anderen Gebieten um. Wir bemerkten, daß die Frequenz des Chips großen Einfluß auf das Verhalten hatte und so begannen wir uns aufzuteilen und nach möglichen Verhaltensänderungen sehen.

Das Projekt veränderte sich fast in elektronischer Akupunktur, weil das, was schließlich herauskam enthielt einen Microchip, der ein Signal aussendete, welcher verschiedene Bereiche beeinflußte. Sie waren imstande, eine Verhaltensänderung bei dir zu verursachen.

Eines der Projekte wurde das Phoenixprojekt genannt, das mit Vietnamveteranen zutun hatte. Wir hatten einen Chip, den wir Rambochip nannten. Dieser Chip sollte tatsächlich einen zusätzlichen Adrenalinfluß verursachen. (…) Es gab 250 000 Komponenten in dem Microchip, einschließlich einer winzigen Lithiumbatterie. Ich war gegen das Benutzen von Lithium als Batteriequelle, doch die NASA machte zu dieser Zeit eine Menge mit Lithium und es ging. Ich sprach mit einem Doktor über die Lithiumkonzentration im Körper, falls der Chip zerbrechen sollte. Er sagte, daß du schmerzhaftes Brennen und große Qualen bekommen würdest.

Da die Entwicklung weiter ging, verließ ich das Projekt und kam verschiedene Male zurück als Berater. Ich war bei vielen Treffen dabei als Experte, der über den Microchip Kenntnis hatte. Ich war bei einem Treffen, bei dem folgendes diskutiert wurde: ‘Wie kannst du einen Menschen kontrollieren, wenn du ihn nicht identifizieren kannst?’ Leute wie Henry Kissinger und CIA-Leute waren auf diesen Treffen. (…)

Als wir diesen Microchip entwickelten, gab es mehrere Dinge, die gewollt waren, da der Identifizierungschip in den Mittelpunkt rückte. Sie wollten einen Namen und ein Bild (Gesicht), Sozialversicherungsnummer mit internationaler Ziffer darauf, Fingerabdrücke, Körperbeschreibung, Familiengeschichte, Adresse, Beschäftigung, Einkommenssteuerinformation und Verbrechensaufzeichnung.

Ich war auf 17 ‘One World’ Treffen, wo das diskutiert wurde, Treffen in Brüssel, Luxemburg, die die Finanzen der Welt miteinander verbanden.

Es gibt jetzt Gesetzesvorlagen vor dem (Amerikanischen) Kongress, die ihnen erlauben, einen Microchip in deinem Kind einzupflanzen, und zwar zur Geburtszeit, zu Identifizierungszwecken. Der Präsident der USA hat im ‘Emigration Control Act von 1986’, Section 100, die Macht, eine Identifizierung, auf welche Art auch immer,als notwendig zu erachten – ob es ein unsichtbares Tattoo oder ein elektronisches Medium unter der Haut ist. “

Derartige Projekte gibt es auch in der BRD.

36.000.000,00 DM stellte die Bundesregierung für die Entwicklung eines implantierbaren Gehirn-Bio-Chips zur Verfügung. (Quelle: Zeitschrift “Wissenschaft ohne Grenzen” Nr. 2/98).

Am 9. Januar 1998 strahlte das Wissenschaftsmagazin “Modern Times” in ORF2 einen Beitrag aus, in dem ein 0,8 mal 2 Millimeter, also reiskorngroßes, Implantat vorgestellt wurde, das lt. “Modern Times” in Zukunft allen Bundesbürgern eingesetzt werden soll.

Inzwischen sollen die Elemente noch kleiner und injizierbar in die Blutbahn sein. Damit ist der kriminellen Verabreichung Tür und Tor geöffnet: ein Ampullenpräparat kann etwa auf dem Weg zwischen Großhandel und Apotheke in eine normale Packung eingeschmuggelt und vom ahnungslosen Arzt implantiert werden. Dazu sagen die Kriminologen B.L. Ingraham und G.W. Smith: “Die Entwicklung von Systemen zum Austausch von Informationen durch in den Körper implantierte Sensoren wird es bald ermöglichen, menschliches Verhalten ohne direkten Kontakt zu beobachten und zu steuern.

Übringens: IBM hat bereits  im Jahre 2000 mitgeteilt, man habe EDV-Chips aus nur noch fünf Atomen entwickelt, angestrebt ist der Ein-Atom-Chip.

Wie aber bringen wir nun noch die biblischen Offenbahrung in dieser Thematik unter?
Sehen Sie selbst und machen sich ein Bild, zu dieser vieleicht größten Verschwörungstheorie aller Zeiten.

Zum Film =>

Etwas undramatischer:

Zum Film =>

Und die offizielle Version:

Zum Film =>

Gehts noch obskurer? Ja…..

Hier noch ein weiterer Film zum RFID-Chip und anderen (wie manche glauben) Übereinstimmungen zwischen biblischer Offenbarung und der heutigen Zeit:

Zum Film =>

These have to be one of the coolest box toppers that can be pulled from 2009 Topps Mayo Football.

Brandy Sanders with guests

A link(above) to coverage on the first annual Spotlight on Sisters Award & Fashion Show by Diversity News.

Sweet Little Sugarfoot!

San Diego, CA to Minneapolis, MN
November 14 – 15 & 21 – 22, 2009

Sweet little Sugarfoot was turned into the Pasadena Humane Society with a very mangled paw, which eventually required part of her foot to be amputated, hence her name. She was on the urgent list and her sweet face tugged at the heart of a rescuer 2,000 miles away. I went and pulled her so she would be safe, now we need to get her to Katie so that they can find her forever home!!

Who can say no to this face?

Please, please, please – I need crossposting help from EVERYONE!! Much of this is a new route for me!!

Transport Coordinator:
PLEASE CONTACT DIRECTLY IF YOU CAN HELP
Kelly Gibson
mdgrrrl@msn.com

Please provide the following:
Leg offered:
First & Last Name:
Location (city/state):
Please provide full address if volunteering for an overnight.
Email:
Is email available from home or only work?
Home phone:
Cell phone:
Vehicle make/model/color/etc:
Name of coordinators or groups for whom you’ve driven before. If none, please give vet name and contact number.
Recommended meeting place, if any:

Passenger details are at the bottom of the post.

SATURDAY, NOV 14

LEG 1: San Diego, CA to Yuma, AZ (I-8)
Time zone change, +1 hr
172 miles; 2 hr 40 min
7:00 AM – 9:40 AM PST
8:00 AM – 10:40 AM MST
Filled by sender (that’s me!)

LEG 2-a: Yuma, AZ to Gila Bend, AZ
117 miles; 1 hr 50 min
10:55 AM – 12:45 PM MST
Filled – thank you Cyndi!!

LEG 2-b: Gila Bend, AZ to Phoenix, AZ
77.4 miles; 1 hr 35 min
1:00 PM – 2:35 PM MST
Filled – thank you Andy & Penny!!

LEG 3: Phoenix, AZ to Cordes Junction, AZ(I-17)
66 miles; 1 hr 5 min
2:50 PM – 3:55 PM MST
Filled – thank you Maura!!

LEG 4: Cordes Junction, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ (I-17)
78.7 miles; 1 hr 7 min
3:55 PM – 5:00 PM MST
Filled – thank you Maura!!

LEG 5: Flagstaff, AZ to Sanders, AZ
143 miles; 2 hrs
5:15 PM – 7:15 PM MST
Filled – thank you Pat!!

LEG 6: Sanders, AZ to Albuquerque, NM (I-40)
182 miles; 2 hr 30 min
7:30 PM – 10:00 PM MST
Filled – thank you Amy!!

OVERNIGHT IN / AROUND ALBQ
Filled – thank you Brandy!!

SUNDAY, NOV 15

LEG 7: Albuquerque, NM to Tucumcari, NM
176 miles; 2 hrs 30 min
7:00 AM – 9:30 AM MST
Filled – thank you Diane & Laura!!

LEG 8: Tucumcari, NM to Amarillo, TX
Time zone change, +1 hr
114 miles; 1 hr 40 min
9:45 AM – 11:35 AM MST
10:45 AM – 12:35 PM CST
Filled – thank you Megan!!

LEG 9: Amarillo, TX to Elk City, OK
147 miles; 2 hr 12 min
12:50 PM – 3:00 PM CST
Filled – thank you Marjean!!

LEG 10: Elk City, OK to OK City, OK
117 miles; 1 hr 47 min
3:15 PM – 5:00 PM CST
Filled – thank you Marjean!!

ONE-WEEK LAYOVER IN / AROUND OK CITY
Filled – thank you Kelly!!

SATURDAY, NOV 21

LEG 11: OK City, OK to Perry, OK (I-35)
64.1 miles; 1 hr 5 min
8:00 AM – 9:05 AM CST
Filled – thank you Ethel!!

LEG 12: Perry, OK to Wichita, KS (I-35)
96.3 miles; 1 hr 30 min
9:20 AM – 10:50 AM CST
Filled – thank you Neil!!

LEG 13: Wichita, KS to Emporia, KS (I-35)
82.6 miles; 1 hr 15 min
10:55 AM – 12:10 PM CST
Filled – thank you Penny!!

LEG 14: Emporia, KS to Lawrence, KS (I-335 / 70)
73.9 miles; 1 hr 8 min
12:25 PM – 1:35 PM CST
Filled – thank you Annie!!

LEG 15: Lawrence, KS to St Joseph, MO (I-70 / 29)
77.2 miles; 1 hr 14 min
1:50 PM – 3:05 PM CST
Filled – thank you Annie!!

LEG 16: St Joseph, MO to Rock Port, MO (I-29)
62.7 miles; 1 hr
3:20 PM – 4:20 PM CST
Filled – thank you Charlene!!

LEG 17: Rock Port, MO to Omaha, NE (I-29)
63.5 miles; 1 hr
4:35 PM – 5:35 PM CST
Filled – thank you Charlene!!

OVERNIGHT IN / AROUND OMAHA
Filled – thank you Charlene!!

SUNDAY, NOV 22

LEG 18: Omaha, NE to Sioux City, IA (I-29)
96.7 miles; 1 hr 32 min
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM CST
Filled – thank you Charlene!!

LEG 19: Sioux City, IA to Sioux Falls, SD (I-29)
88.7 miles; 1 hr 27 min
9:45 AM – 11:15 AM CST
Filled – thank you Deanna!

LEG 20: Sioux Falls, SD to Jackson, MN (I-90)
91.2 miles; 1 hr 29 min
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM CST
Filled – thank you Pat!!

LEG 21: Jackson, MN to Albert Lea, MN (I-90)
86.6 miles; 1 hr 20 min
1:15 PM – 2:35 PM CST
Filled – thank you Laura!!

LEG 22: Albert Lea, MN to St Louis Park, MN (I-35)
96.2 miles; 1 hr 29 min
2:50 PM – 4:20 PM CST
Filled – thank you Laura!!

*************************************
PASSENGER DETAILS
NOTE: All dogs on the transport are UTD on shots and will be accompanied by a health certificate.
*************************************

RECEIVER:

Wags & Whiskers
Minneapolis, MN

http://www.wagsmn.com

SENDER:

Puggles & Pitties
San Diego, CA

http://pugglesnpitties.petfinder.com

PASSENGER:

SUGARFOOT

Sugarfoot

Female pit mix
6 – 7 months old, approx 30 lbs
UTD on all shots, dewormed, and already spayed
Very playful, loves belly rubs & ear scratches
Left ear is always either straight up or flopped over her head.
Had one toe and partial pad amputated from back left foot, no apparent complications

Geithner and the rest of the Administration clowns proved themselves right when they said,

“It’s not your money!”

Geithner ‘burned billions’ on CIT

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is directly to blame for taxpayers’ loss of $2.3 billion in the CIT bailout, says professor William Black of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and a former federal bank regulator.

“We put ourselves on the hook in a completely inept way where we lose first. We lose entirely as the taxpayers.”

Black specifically faults Geithner for negotiating an arrangement in which CIT can repay its senior creditors 70 cents on the dollar in bankruptcy, but taxpayers are completely left out in the cold for their investment.

When Geithner pumped taxpayers’ money into CIT this summer, “it’s like he burned billions of dollars again in government money, our money, gratuitously,” Black said.

If you’re wrecking the house, you don’t bother saving anything useful for  rebuilding.

Obama’s hellbent on destroying the economic structure of this country; Geithner is the tool!

Between Elise’s legs lay something every man seemed to want. The vicar had likened it to a sanctum once. A holy place. Elisa had felt oddly proud at this comparison. She liked to think that she could please men, and that she liked pleasing them.

Elise continued to stroke the war criminal’s hard penis and kissing your his shoulder with her somewhat-chapped lips as they lay on the prison floor, beneath an itchy blanket. The war criminal stared at the ceiling as contently, breathing deeply with his arm around her, enjoying her touches.

The door bell went, it’s chime echoing through the unusually silent house. Edmund wrenched his eyes off of the page of So Bad, It’s Good, the sequel to So Wrong, And Yet So Right – as it turned out, Karen had written over ten books, none of which really made much sense.

So Bad, It’s Good seemed to be much the same as it’s predecessor, only a rather strapping war criminal took the place of the vicar and Elise was, if possible, even more virginal than she’d been at the beginning of the last book. Which was odd, considering that she’d had several encounters with the vicar in the confession box by the end of the last book.

Edmund stood and headed to the door, praying it wouldn’t be Lamb, back for another questioning – not so early in the morning, he couldn’t handle it.

“Hello, Mr Greene,” Lamb said smoothly, sidestepping in past Edmund as soon as the door was open, “I hope you’re well today.”

“I’m fine,” Edmund answered coldly,

“That won’t be necessary, Mr Greene,” Lamb smiled again, his thin, pale lips stretching into an unconvincing grimace. “No, I’d much rather talk to you. As I understand, you applied for a job in the mine where Arthur Sanders died yesterday? I found that quite interesting. Do you know what day yesterday was, Mr Greene?”

“Monday,” Edmund said, dully. He was beginning to get very annoyed – he almost wished that the detective would come straight out and accuse him, instead of wasting both their time with these inane questions.

“It was the day after Mr Sander’s funeral,” Lamb hissed. “How strange that as soon as Arthur Sanders dies, you swoop in and-”

“If you’re implying that Arthur was killed to create a career opportunity,” Edmund said slowly, his voice low, controlled, “Then you’re wrong. An opportunity was created because Arthur died. Not that that matters – the mines were understaffed anyway – few people want to work in mines anymore, detective. Certainly not enough to kill a man for the chance to.”

Lamb was about to speak, but a shriek from the stairs interrupted him, and both he and Edmund started slightly then turned to see Karen on the stairs, wearing her knee-length, flimsy white nightdress, a mink stole around her shoulders. Edmund knew better than to question the stole – Karen did and wore bizarre things on a regular basis – but he couldn’t help thinking that Lamb would now think he lived with a madwoman.

Well, he wouldn’t be far off.

“This must be Miss Price.”

“No, I’m Edwin Greene,” Karen said unironically, and as she came down the stairs, Edmund swore she hiked the skirt of her nightdress up to reveal more leg. “And you must be Detective Lamb. Edmund did tell me you were a downright cold hearted bastard, but he definitely didn’t mention how handsome you were.”

For the first time since Edmund had met him, Lamb appeared flustered, speechless. Karen smirked laviciously and stepped closer, slipping between them, hooking her slender arm around Lamb’s thick one.

“Shall we have tea, Detective?” She asked, her voice high and girlish and saccarine: quite unpleasant. “I’m sure Edmund would like to join us, but unfortunately he has a prior engagement he simply must attend.”

Edmund was not aware of any prior engagement, and he was suddenly reluctant to leave Lamb alone in Karen’s company, but she shot him a meaningful look and gave a half-hearted shrug, at which she took the opportunity to steer him out the door, calling “bye!” a little too enthusiastically for someone who thought his leaving was unfortunate, and slammed the door.

Once out in the cold and sleet and wind, he tried immediately to get back in.

Karen had locked the door. She could have least let him get a coat before forcing him out.

He began to walk, unsure of where to go; he didn’t want to visit Maude again, probably more out of his own reluctance to see her in that state than anything. Unconsciously, he rounded a corner, and he knew where he was going.

Ivan’s house was the smallest in the village, the most run down and, notoriously, the most dangerous. Four men had died in the bungalow’s construction, one of whom’s body was still trapped in one of the walls. This gave the house it’s unshakable reputation of hauntings and bad luck, as well as it’s constant smell of decomposing flesh.

Ivan came to the door almost as soon as Edmund knocked, then looked slightly disappointed when he saw who it was.

“Oh. Edmund. I thought you were Maude.”

“Well, I h-have been t-told I look l-l-like her,” Edmund said, teeth chattering from the cold. “A-are y-you going to let me in or am I g-going to f-f-freeze to death?”

Ivan flinched at the word death but stepped aside, nodding. “Yes, come in. I will get you dry clothes. And tea? You like tea?”

Edmund gave a jerk of the head which was supposed to be a nod, but Ivan seemed to understand any and pointed into the room at the end of the hall. “You go into living room.”

Edmund headed into the room, sitting down on the threadbare couch. Ivan’s house was decorated sparsely; the walls were painted a dirty beige colour, and a wooden Christ on a cross was glaring down at him from His place on the mantelpiece above the meager fire. He was flanked on each side by two black and white photographs; one of a woman Edmund assumed to be Ivan’s mother, and one of Maude, which were both framed in ornate picture frames, and seemed to be the only pretty thing in Ivan’s hous

Ivan came into the room briefly, tossed him dry clothes and then left again. Edmund pulled them on reluctantly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, only pulling on Ivan’s patched, too big clothes because it was preferable to dying of hypothermia. Just.

Ivan reappeared, clutching cups of weak tea. He gave Edmund his before sitting down on a worn armchair and picking at the loose threads on the arm.

Edmund bit his lip. “Look, Ivan, I’m sorry for just barging in like this-”

“No, no, not at all,” Ivan protested, shaking his head, “It is good to have company. And your visit is quite good time. You can take something to Karen for me. Her last chapter of book. Now I won’t have to go out in rain.”

“Yes, it’s rather awful weather, isn’t it?” Edmund mused. “Still, it can’t be worse than Russia.”

There was silence. Ivan looked awkwardly at his mug as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Edmund thought he should apologise for bringing it up, but then Ivan said, “Yes, but in Russia, I had furs. And beard.”

Edmund stared. “And, uh… why don’t you have them now?”

“Sold them to come here. Didn’t get much for them. I was cheated,” Ivan’s normally monotonous voice betrayed a little anger, so he cleared his throat and forced it to go back to betraying no emotion. “A detective came here yesterday. He said he spoke to you at Maude’s house. True?”

“I’m afraid to say it is,” Edmund said grimly, nodding, “He had questions for me. He seemed to think that getting a job meant I’d killed Arthur

Ivan snorted, his eyes darkening. “That man. Arthur’s death was terrible, yes. Untimely. Yes. But murder? Why would anyone hurt Arthur? No one in this town has a – what is it? – no one has a motive.”

Edmund would’ve liked to point out that quite a few people had motives. Ivan, who had loved Maude for some reason unknown to Edmund for years, probably wouldn’t have minded having him out of the way. Karen had had a stormy relationship with both Maude and Arthur in the past, and he wasn’t able to deny that she did have some sociopathic tendencies.

But he supposed he could understand what Ivan was driving at. Arthur was always a fairly likeable man, even if he could be a little old fashioned. But sometimes old fashioned was good, and it had been good for Maude to meet someone down to earth and to get someone stable in her life – previously, her only friend had been Karen.

“But I can see why he might think that… that foul play was involved,” Edmund said, trying to sound reasonable. “I mean, I don’t like the idea any more than you do, but you have to admit that there’s something funny about how Arthur died. I mean, he’d worked in that mine for near enough ten years and never lost so much as a finger, then one day he dies on the job?”

“Now you listen to me now, Edmund,” Ivan snapped, leaning forward slightly, eyes darkening. “Mines are dangerous. I hear you have job there now too, so you listen especially good now. Arthur might have had experience in there, but experience can’t help you when every bit of mine looks the same. Maybe he had a lot on his mind. Maybe he was tired. But I know it would be all to easy to take a wrong turn and fall. Just. Like. This.”

Ivan illustrated his point by bringing his fist down on the arm of his chair. Edmund struggled to find a hole in his explanation.

“But-”

“No!” Ivan roared, “No but! You are thinking like a detective now, Edmund, trying to see murder when it has not happened. There was nothing strange about Arthur’s death. It could have happened to anyone. Just because it happened to the husband of an extraordinary woman does not mean it was anything out of the ordinary.”

Edmund frowned. “Well then, what if… what if he wasn’t dead at all?”

“No-”

“You said it yourself, it was a closed casket and-”

Ivan was massaging his forehead, which was creased in concentration. Edmund trailed off, and after a few seconds Ivan looked up.

“Now you are sounding like Maude,” He said, suddenly sounding tired, “I thought you were sensible twin. But your brother is taking Arthur’s death better.”

“Edwin is celebrating Arthur’s death,” Edmund snapped, enraged. Suggesting that Edwin was more emotionally mature than him was nothing short of an insult

“But he is accepting that Arthur is dead,” Ivan went on, “And he is not running around making up silly rumours about people plotting to kill Arthur, or creating conspiracies about Arthur being some sort of miracle man who can fall thirty feet and survive broken neck and head being driven up into body. Can you see now why what you are saying is unreasonable?”

+

wordcount: 5193/50,000

The foreman thrust a helmet and a lamp into Edmund’s hands before hobbling back over to the entrance of the mine, where workers were making their ways in an out. Edmund frowned. They looked exhausted.

“You’ll be up at six. Work a ten hour shift. You can leave then,” The gaffer rung his hands together, “No beards, no moustaches. You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

“Maybe a little, why?”

“No reason,” He said with a wave of his hand, “It’s good to have you on, boy. No one’s been to keen to sign up lately. They say that mining’s too dangerous. Well, we don’t need any pansy boys down here anyway. Mining is a real mans work.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Edmund agreed dully, without much enthusiasm, “So what are we even mining for, anyway?”

He was ignored. The gaffer just went on, rambling, “Fine mine, this one is – been in charge since it opened. Hey,” He stopped suddenly, and looked at Edmund sharply, small eyes narrowed in his round face. “You aren’t one of those men, are you?”

Edmund stared at him blankly. “What men?”

“We’ve been getting a lot of funny men round here lately,” The gaffer grunted, “Ever since old Arthur died. You know, that actress lady’s husband? Quite famous about here, she was, don’t know if you know about her.”

Edmund only nodded non-commitedly. The man leaned in close to him, his voice hushed, his jowls quivering with excitement.

“Anyway, the police have been lurking about here past few days,” He whispered. Edmund’s nose wrinkled at the stench of fish and onion on his breath. “Anyway, they think that there was funny business involved in that. I said to them, now you listen here, ain’t nothing funny happening in this mine. Nobody gets in there but the employees – safety precautions, you know? – so they could just buzz off. Arthur Sanders death was a horrible accident.”

“And what did they say?”

“They asked if I trusted all of my workers, and whether or not I’d seen Arthur had a disagreement with anyone else. I said no, he was very popular – had a lot of dinner parties. Dinner parties for the working class, I know, but he was always a bit funny. Him and that wife of his. Mind you, she was a doll. So I told them all this,” He paused to take a breath, then went on, “And they said, So Sanders wife was popular, was she? We’ll have to have a word with her.”

Edmund felt uncontrollable rage build up inside him. They were going to question Maude, of all people? In her state, she’d probably confess to triple murder if pressed hard enough.

The gaffer had apparently noticed the look on Edmund’s face, because he went on, “Now don’t you go messing with the police, lad. You don’t want to be put on their persons of interest list. If you want to help the best thing you can do is get that young lady to the doctors, that’s who she needs right now – preferably before she says anything to the detective to get herself into a sticky situation.”

“Yes,” He said nodding, turning and beginning to walk away, “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

He was stopped by a clearing of the throat, and he looked, interested, back to the gaffer, who only looked at him incredulously. “Son, you’ve got a shift to do.”

“Oh, yeah,” Edmund said, embarrassed, “Well, I’ll do that too.”

*

By the end of the day, Edmund was beginning to think that maybe Karen’s book idea wasn’t so ridiculous after all. His back was aching, and his arms felt ready to fall off, but he still had to visit Maude. He’d decided it would be better to do it sooner rather than later, especially if the police were going to question her. If God had any decency, Edmund thought, he’d make sure he got a word with her before Detective Accusations did.

The Sanders probably lived as far away from he, Edwin and Karen as was physically possible without them moving to another town. Their house was larger, but it looked less homely – or maybe Edmund was just intimidated by the French windows, the large, open porch which looked ready to fall apart, and the peeling paint. The garden had also fallen into disarray, weeds and long grass taking over the large grounds.

Edmund wondered how long the house had been neglected. It surely couldn’t have fallen into such a state of disarray just since Arthur had died.

He made his way up the path, almost tripping on a loose flagstone, and (carefully) up the rotting wooden steps of the porch, before rapping the door with the brass, lion-shaped knocker.

He waited for a few moments with no answer, then the lacy, yellowing curtains in the bay window shifted slightly, and there were footsteps from behind the door, which then opened.

Maude looked calmer than she had done when they had last talked, but she still looked very tired, and very sick. Her hair was greasy, flat against her skull, and it was not the only evidence of her not taking care of herself; she was still wearing the same clothes from the funeral.

“Edmund,” She breathed, relieved, “Thank God. You can tell them to go away.”

“They?”

“Yes, these men- oh, never mind, you can meet them for yourself, come in,” She ushered him inside, closing the door and hurrying him along the hall. He tried to speak to her as they went, but she only shushed him and ushered him into a door on his left.

They were in the lounge. Three men sat on the lemon-coloured suite, holding tea cups awkwardly. The cups were filled with watery millk – Maude appeared to have forgotten to put teabags in.

The youngest and largest of the men stood up suddenly as Edmund entered the room, putting his cup and saucer back on the end table. Edmund thought he looked something like the vicar from Karen’s book – only the vicar hadn’t had a glass eye, and this man didn’t look like he’d even think of sweeping someone off their feet and ravaging them.

Edmund stared at his hands. They were quite large. Murderer’s hands, he thought deliriously.

The man extended a dinnerplate sized palm and smiled professionally, without warmth. “I’m Detective Lamb. You’re Edwin Greene?”

“What? Oh, no, Edmund-”

“Maude was just showing us photographs.” The tight smile did not fade. It looked very uncomfortable. “She looked nice on her wedding day. Very nice.”

“I should imagine so,” Edmund conceded, impatience and irritation growing.

“You should imagine so?”

“I wasn’t there,” Edmund said shortly. He had already guessed this was the detective mentioned by the old man, and he wasn’t keen to answer his questions.

“Really?” The detective’s tone didn’t change, but his smile had become more sincere – more malicious, too. “May I ask where you were? Why didn’t you attend? Maude speaks about you as though you are an old friend.”

“We are old friends,” Edmund insisted, “I wasn’t at the wedding because we’d had a falling out. But now we’re friends again. Any more questions?”

“Maybe we should reschedule, Mrs Sanders,” The detective said to Maude, disregarding Edmund’s somewhat impudent tone. He then turned to Edmund, proffering a hand again, “And perhaps I can speak to you another time, Edmund. I think I’ll be calling on you – you live with your brother and your mutual female friend, don’t you?”

“I think they could be described as that, yes,” Edmund said snidely, pretending not to see the hand.

Looking a little annoyed, the detective regarded him with a sour look and gathered up his men, leaving the house without another word. Edmund looked to Maude; she did not seem upset.

“Maude,” He began, not really sure how to ask. “They didn’t… hassle you or anything?”

“Oh, no,” Maude said quietly, “No, they tried, but I told them my husband wouldn’t have them barging into our house and causing a racket and asking me such nosey questions. They quietened right down when they heard that, of course.”

“Of course,” Edmund agreed stiffly. He tried to think of a smooth way of bringing up the doctor word and then, unable to think of one, blurted out, “Maude, I- I think you should come to the doctor’s with me on Saturday?”

“The doctor’s? Why? Are you sick?”

“Uh, no,” He shifted awkwardly on his feet, trying to think of a lie. “But my friend is, and I- I wanted to see about getting her some help.”

Maude was quiet for a few seconds, before she smiled warmly, dimples appearing on her pale cheeks. “Oh, Edmund – you’re such a good friend.”

“Yeah. I don’t know. I like to think I am.”

+

wordcount: 3310/50,000

“What a beautiful funeral.”

Edmund stared at his twin despairingly, although he had to admit that, yes, it was quite a… nice funeral. Strictly aesthetically, of course. The graveyard had always been well kept, and on a sunny but crisp Spring day it did look quite striking. But he could never relish someones death quite like Edwin did, who was full of glee at Maude getting what he thought she deserved.

Edmund could have pointed out that it was Arthur who had died, and not Maude, but he didn’t. Instead he straightened his tie and looked around.

Only a small group of mourners had gathered to attend the funeral: Maude, of course, and she and Arthur’s children. A boy and a girl – he didn’t know their names, hadn’t ever had the chance to ask since Karen and Edwin had fallen out with them. Then beside them was Ivan, who occasionally looked ready to put his hand on Maude’s shoulder to comfort her, then apparently thought better of it and put it back in his coat pocket.

Then there was him and Edwin – Karen had been invited, as well, but she’d been out of town at the time and, though she’d said she would attend, she hadn’t shown up.

“Show a little respect, Edwin,” Edmund hissed under his breath. “Stop smiling so much.”

Edwin just snorted and looked across the grave, to where Maude stood, a hand on each of her children, hugging them tight.
“She deserved it,” He said, plainly. “It’s her fault, you know – running off and marrying Arthur when she knew how Karen felt about it.”

Edmund looked at him witheringly, before glancing back over to Maude and Ivan – Maude looked rather distressed, and Ivan was looking quite confused. Curious, he slunk closer, struggling to hear Ivan’s hushed voice beneath the heavy Russian accent.

“Maude,” He said, his voice level – of course Edmund thought bitterly, how could he be expected to feel any sadness at Arthur’s death? Ivan had only been in love with her for the past five years.

She looked up at him, tears glistening in her wide, pale grey eyes, but otherwise her face was blank. She replied, a little impatiently, “What?”

“I was wondering,” He began, awkwardly, “If you’d like to get drink… after the service?”

Maude stiffened, then, tittering, asked, “Service? What service?”

Ivan only stared at her.

“This. This service. This funeral service.”

“Funeral?” Maude looked around as though she’d just noticed they were in a graveyard. Then, innocently, asked, “Why? Who’s funeral is it?”

He didn’t answer her. She gazed absently into space before saying, “Really then, Ivan, if that’s all, I must be off. Arthur will be waiting.”

She took her children’s hands and began to pull them away. The little boy struggled, trying to squirm out of her grasp, but the girl traipsed after her mother silent, her gaze directed at her feet, her cheeks burning red.

Ivan turned sharply to face Edmund.

“You – you used to be her friend.”

It was not a question. It was a statement, one he said with especial emphasis on the word used. Edmund nodded slowly, and Ivan pointed at Maude’s rapidly retreating back and said, “Go after her.”

“Why can’t you?”

Ivan glared at him, and Edmund sighed and headed after Maude. He caught up with her at the cemetery’s gates, catching the crook of her arm. She turned suddenly, sharply on her heel, to face him.

Edmund took an involuntary step back.

She looked terrible; her face was drained of colour, her large, dark eyes bulging out of her paper white face, swivelling from Edmund then back to the distant crowd wildly.

“M-Maude?” Edmuynd stammered, releasing his hold on her arm. “Are, uh, are you okay?”

“They say he’s dead, Edmund,” She choked, dropping her childrens hands and knotting her fingers together, tugging them through her short, sleek hair and wrapping them round the locks and tugging with such ferocity that Edmund worried briefly about her pulling clumps out her scalp.

Edmund bit his lip, not knowing what to say, then slung an arm round her shoulder without a thought for the years of estrangement between them.

“I know,” he began, keeping his voice quiet and what he thought was calming tone, “but Maude, you do know… you know he is dead, don’t you?”

She flinched, recoiling into herself. “No, no, don’t say that – he’s not dead, I won’t hear it, he can’t be – I’d better go, sorry, goodbye Edmund-”

“Maude, wait-”

But he stopped arubtly, thinking better of what he was about to say, then sighed, “Okay, alright, you can go, but let me have a word with the kids before you go, okay?”

She paused, before giving a curt nod and taking a few steps away to wait for her children. Edmund knelt so he was eye level with them. The girl eyed him suspiciously, and the boy kicked the gravel on the path with his shoe.

“Hello,” Edmund said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know your names-”

“Susan,” the girl interrupted. “Susan and Phillip.”

“Okay,” Edmund began, then hesitated, “Okay, Sue, your mother’s not well.”

“Noticed that, have you?”

Edmund was slightly thrown. Shaking his head, he went on, “Look, don’t talk to your elders like that. Anyway, I’m going to see about getting your mother some help, but just look out for her, okay? D’you know where I live? We’re in the last house on the village – you’ll see it, it’s covered in ivy – but anything funny happens, you come and get me first, okay?”

She was staring at him as though he was dirt. It was very unsettling – he’d never been looked at like that before, and he certainly hadn’t expected the first person to regard him with such loathing to be an eleven year old girl.

“We will,” She said coolly. “We had better get back to our mother now. Thank you for your time, Edmund.”

She grabbed her brothers hand and dragged him off just as a hand clamped onto Edmunds shoulder. He jumped, startled, before the scent of strong perfume stung his nostrils and he relaxed slightly.

“Karen,” He sighed, turning to face her, “You came.”

Her tall, slender figure was dressed in a shocking red cocktail dress, cut scandalously to just above the knee. Her hands and lips had both been painted a matching scarlet, her long, dark brown curls piled atop her head in a messy bun. She was clasping a bottle in her hands.

“It seems I’m late to the party,” She said airily, smirking, “Look, I even brought champagne! But it seems we’ll have to drink it ourselves, now – not that there’s much to celebrate.”

“You didn’t get the part, then?” Edmund asked as they began to walk.

Karen snorted. “No – it was the director. He gave the part to a blonde. Probably liked blondes, the dirty old man. Still, maybe I should bleach my hair-”
“Nah, Karen, don’t do that,” Edwin said, joining them and winking at her, “Everyone knows that it’s the pretty blue haired girls who get the lead roles.”

Karen shot him a look of sheer venom that quickly at something Edwin then said that Edmund didn’t hear – probably something thought, although he wasn’t really listening. He was thinking.

*

“So I was thinking,” He said, pouring himself a glass of brandy and taking a seat by the fire.

“Really? Hard work, is it?”

Edmund glared at Edwin before going on as though he hadn’t been disturbed. “So I was thinking – I was thinking we should get jobs. Real jobs,” He added quickly as Karen opened her mouth.

There was silence. Even Karen’s giggling stopped. She and Edwin stared, dumbfounded at him, before Karen managed to choke out, “Edmund, give me your glass. You’ve had enough to drink.”

“This is my first!” Edmund snapped, taking his glass out of her reach and staring at them, “I am not drunk. I just think it would be sensible; you’re not getting any jobs and Edwin and I’s inheritance is going to run out some day, and with the way you two spend it’ll be sooner rather than later.”

“But Edmund,” Edwin choked. “Jobs. Jobs.”

“Jobs.”

“Where are we supposed to find jobs?” Edwin demanded, obviously desperate to shoot down the idea, “Where are we supposed to look?”

“Well, I had this insane idea,” He said sarcastically, “That maybe now Arthur’s dead he wouldn’t be able to go into work anymore.”

There was a long pause. Karen put her drink down, and asked slowly, “You want to be a miner? Seriously?”

“It’s not about wants!” Edmund snapped, more exasperated than ever. He’d known that the idea of work, proper work, not occasionally going into town to audition for a part in a play, would be difficult for them to accept, but this was driving him mad. “But let’s face it – we spend constantly, we don’t put anything away for the future, the economy’s in a slump and none of us have a reliable source of income.”

The continued to stare at him. Then, quietly, almost self-consciously (although Karen had never been anything close to self-conscious in the years Edmund had known her), she said, “I’ve been writing a book.”

Edmund raised his eyebrows. “A book?”

She nodded and stood, sashaying to the writers bureau that stood in the corner of the room. Edmund had never seen her look at it before, let alone write at it. She pulled a drawer open and took from it a stack of off-white paper.

Edmund took them from her, and read the front page.

So Wrong And Yet So Right

by Karen Price

Edited by Ivan Gavrilov

Intrigued, he flipped forward a few pages, skimming the lines, which were typed, though some had been corrected in red pen by Ivan’s large, careful handwriting.

“I didn’t even know Ivan could read,” Edwin commented snidely.

“Oh, he’s a journalist-”

“He writes like someone who has to think very hard about what he’s doing,” he snorted.

Edmund shushed them both.

Elisa looked at the vicar. He was not like ordinary vicars. His dog collar was tight against his bulging neck muscles just as his black corduroy trousers were tight against his large, straining member.

‘Let us pretend we are married in God’s eyes,’ he said, sweeping her into his arms and then onto the couch and ravaging her.

“Karen,” Edmund gaped, looking up, “This is nothing but smut.”

“I write what I know,” She snapped, grabbing her manuscript back and making to store it back in its safe place.

“You know a vicar with bulging neck muscles?”

Karen sighed and waved him off. “When it gets published, I’m not sharing any royalties with you, Mister Cynic.” She turned to face him, then asked, “So, do you still want to go get a job in that filthy mine.”

Edmund met her gaze before saying with more determination than ever, “Yes. I do.”

+

wordcount: 1842/50,000

Better than Michael Jackson’s footwork!

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

From the Viking Pundit: “I’m sure the boys in Oslo are so proud.”

Maybe our troops’ enemy is in the rear.

Phone: 954 603 8772.
Please leave a message and you will be contacted ASAP.

A/C not fixed = $20 (diagnosis/service)
If your air conditioning (A/C) is not fixed, the charge $20 to diagnose the problem.

A/C fixed + No parts = $50
(If your A/C is fixed and no parts are needed, the charge is $50 total.You will not pay more than $50 unless parts need to be purchased.)

A/C fixed + Parts = $50 + Cost of parts.
If your A/C is fixed and parts are needed, the charge is $50 + the cost of the parts.

Please note: Freon/refrigerant is a part and is not included in the service fee.

This is not an hourly fee – the labor fee is $50 no matter how long the repair takes. The charge is $20 if the A/C is not fixed.

Please note that the following services are not currently being offered: 1) coil change-outs, 2) compressor change-outs and 3) installations.

Here is a list of cities currently being serviced:

Boca Raton
Coconut Creek
Coral Springs
Deerfield Beach
Fort Lauderdale
Hillsboro Beach
Lauderdale Lakes
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Lauderhill
Lighthouse Point
Margate
North Lauderdale
Oakland Park
Parkland
Pompano Beach
Tamarac
Wilton Manors

South Broward, West Broward and Miami-Dade County are not currently serviced.

Here is a list of some of the units that may be repaired…
- Commercial A/C units
- Residential A/C units
- Split A/C units
- Package A/C units
- Wall A/C units
- Window A/C units

Please note: Personal Checks and Business Checks are not accepted as payment at this time.

If you can’t call, feel free to email your phone number to the email address at the top of this listing and you will be contacted ASAP.

Any and all air conditioners have a possibility of repair.

Here are some (but not all) brands that repairs are possible for..
Goodman, Trane, Carrier, York, Rheem, Ruud, Fujistsu, American Standard, Lennox, Mitsubishi, Bryant, Payne, Duchane, Fedders, Heil, Janitrol, Armstrong, GE, General Electric, Honeywell, Amana, Comfortmaker, Tempstar, Briggs & Stratton, Kohler, Guardian, Generac.

License # CAC014666

5.  Figure It Out (Nickelodeon – off air)

—Ahh, Nickelodeon.  The old Nickelodeon, none of this “new-era animation” that makes clay animation look like a godsend.  The two personalities who stick out most in my mind are host Summer Sanders, and mainstay contestant Lori Beth Denberg.  Oh Lori Beth…I think I speak for any kid who grew up in the mid to late 90’s that we miss you.  Maybe “All That” could re-enter the world of television as well (not to mention eveyone’s favorite fast food restaurant movie “Good Burger”).  The great thing about “Figure It Out” was not only the fantastic prizes offered (mountain bikes, stereo systems, SPACE CAMP), but the always anticipated slimings.  Green goo poring from the ceiling onto some unsuspecting guest?  Doesn’t get much better than that.

4.  Jeopardy (CBS/GSN – on air)

—What kind of trivia list would be complete without the legendary Jeopardy?  Thankfully the good people at GSN provide multiple doses of Trebek each day; my preference is the 1:00AM showing where I can’t quite yell at the screen, but still get upset when Wolf Blitzer confidently answers that Jesus’s birthplace was Jersusalem.  C’mon Wolfy, I know it’s for charity, but you can do better than that.  The mysterious appearing and vanishing of Trebek’s mustache is another highlight that always intrigues me.  No-mustache brings me back to the younger days, while mustache-Trebek screams “Hooked On Phonics.”  And who could forget the Jeopardy God himself, Ken Jennings?  Please respect his authority:

3.  Supermarket Sweep (PAX – off air)

—Groceries, food trivia,  and old people racing through aisles to load up on today’s specials and looking for the all-mighty “bonuses”.  Three of my favorite things.  Someone needs to get in contact with PAX or UPN or some other seconds rate station and remind them of all the great things the Sweep offers.  Three teams of pairs, generally husband and wife, face off to answer questions regarding the products located in the store.  The Sweep also wins the award for Most Entertaining Finale, as it offers up some of the most hectic shopping in less than two minutes.  Never have I seen three full-grown adults scuffle and shove to see how many honey baked hams they can fit in their carts (maximum of 5) until this.  Extra points awarded for the teams that can get the ground coffee beans, candy, and bagels/donuts.  All part of the pursuit to find a wad of $5,000 sitting behind the Planter’s Cashews.  Well done.  Plus (bonus knowledge), the shoddy excuse for a gameshow “Show Til You Drop” was generally aired after Supermarket Sweep.  I don’t want to get all worked up over how such a terrible concept of a show can hold my attention for so long, so I won’t.

2.  Cash Cab (Discovery Channel – on air)

—Ben Bailey: my favorite TV personality.  Incredibly intelligent and funny show, I find myself rooting for the group of four old women on their way to a matinee and against the pompous pricks that seem to be way to good to play along with the game.  Cash Cab is a true trivia show, in that there is no category per say, so the question genre is always mixed up.  Bailey never ceases to amuse me with his array of accents and cultures he fronts to the contestants as they enter the cab.  He can do anything from a whiny old guy to the infamous Brooklyn accent.  Then of course, after the passangers’ destination is requested, off go the plaid lights.  Some people freak out, some know what’s going on (“OH MY GOD, I LOVE THIS SHOW!”), and some just look irritated.  Regardless, this show is a 10/10 for watching with interesting contestants.  The good ones will always name 5 of the 7 Wonders of the World in 30 seconds, and will also go for the video bonus question at the end.  You know what?  All of the above information is irrelevant.  This gameshow is happening in a moving vehicle.  I think that’s enough said.

1.  Stump the Schwab (ESPN – off the air)

—Being a huge sports buff, Stump the Schwab takes the cake.  You know those guys that answer every question they hear on the TV or radio…or anywhere else, that has to do with sports?  The Afflack Trivia question is “What was the record of the 1922-1923 New York Yankees?”, and they will jump off the coach to scream “101 wins and 61 losses!”  Yeah, everyone knows at least one of those guys.  Anyway, this show consists of three of them per show.  Not to mention “The Schwab” who is an absolute guru.  Seriously, there can’t, just CAN’T, be anyone else on this planet that knows more random sports trivia than this guy.  Stuart Scott hosts, who will never run out of original ways to say to the exiting contestant “You’re not as good as you thought, get off my show.”  I love watching The Schwab put these guys in their place.  The lucky contestant that manages his way to the final round rarely out-knowledges The Schwab, who is quick to shake the losers hand.  Which reminds me, this guy has to have the largest selection of pro jerseys known to man.  Everything from the Polomalu jersey to Brett Hull, he has them all.  Excellent gameshow; hugs and handpounds, everyone.