Thanks, Adam. I hope to be doing so from Brazil next year.

Make that Monday

Well it does say 10Plus and as I was there for twenty years I believe they hedged their bets. Actually you guys were at our place when I got it. I sent to back to the COO at ASCAP on Momday.

Slartibartfast FTW! In1988 I worked organizing a celebration of Human Rights Day for Amnesty International. One of the celebrants was the Polish jazz pianist, Adam Makowicz, whose agent called and went over the requirements. The first one she mentioned was that the piano MUST be tuned to A440. Makowicz, played beautifully, including a lovely rendition of Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing."

The thing that I especially took away from the Metheny commentary, as someone who played saxophone, is the comment about him playing off key. I always suspected that and I'm glad to see someone credible confirm it.

Chaz, Thankfully, Richard Thompson's bit about Kenny G is available here.

Chaz, Everything about Kenny G is a gimmick. Nobody filleted Kenny G better than Pat Metheny. No one.

You left out "Hail Mary."

I used to go to my dad's house and cut his grass after I left home.

Scott Wyant, Thanks!

A few years ago I saw a comedian recite "The Love Song of J. Fredrick Flintstone." I don't remember most of it, but the end was something like this: In the room the women walk right through - Saying yabba dabba doo.

I speak Portuguese fluently, having a base of Spanish at the intermediate level. I took but one course, that I frankly, found deficient and have merely relied on immersing myself over the years. Don't be afraid to be corrected, don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Sorry for your loss, Rob.

There is no greater way to relax IMHO than to lie in a hammock outside on a covered verandah in a tropical location while a gentle rain with occasional rumblings of thunder punctuate the rainfall.

Actually, they have a cut of meat called prego, which means spike and they serve it always on or with something: prego no prato (on a plate), prego no pao (in bread) and prego com batatas (with potatoes).

Re: Gil Scott-Heron: it's in the works.

For the record, I'm sure that Dinesh D'Souza, Victor Davis Hanson, Donald Rumsfeld, Ed Meese, Condeleeza Rice and George Shultz, among others would be surprised that they are feelows at an institution founded by and named after a statist . . .

He made that comment when he was Secretary of Commerce in the Coolidge administration. I could not imagine Coolidge - or for that matter, Hoover, who effectively fiddled while America burned from 1929 to 1933 - really being considered a statist.

Not really, only because spectrum is usually auctioned for cash, thus there is a direct value to the spectrum that was given away.

Thanks, Akaky. That was interesting!

For the record "we" (i.e. the USA), cannot drag Ghadafi to the Hague as we are not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. Just another fine example of American exceptionalism.

Agreed, but I believe that in the area of volume, the right wins this content.

Gary, Regarding guest blogging, I may very well take you up on it. I have been extremely swamped at work for the past few months and had some personal/health issues that arose and demanded my attention. Nothing serious, but it resulted in less time available for blogging. I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

A lovely, moving tribute that succeeds because the sense of loss is so palpable. Well done, Gary.

Amen - and happy new year.