T.D.

I actually got both snail- and e-mail on this today (no doubt stemming from last summers "Blow-Out"). Agreed. not a great deal, but I believe there's free shipping on orders above $50. I'm too lazy to calculate numbers, but this free shipping, coupled with the absence of sales tax (I live in NY State, so J&R charges me sales tax), seems to make the "deal" fairly competitive with J&R on orders just over $50.

Does OJ still have enough money to hire pricey lawyers like Shapiro?

Nick Danger, Third Eye Fearless Fosdick

Hybrid SACD is only worth paying up for if you own (or intend to buy) a SACD player. It has layers which can be read by SACD and regular CD players. I only have regular CD players, so never pay up here. I'm not sure what "Enhanced" means for jazz CDs. In classical CDs, "Enhanced" generally refers to CDs including extra material (scores, composer interview videos and the like) that can be viewed on your computer.* [Added]* Same meaning. It's explained on the Amazon site ("Enhanced" is clickable). In fact, if you read the Amazon listing, the enhanced CD contains extra photo images and musician interviews.

Carrie Snodgress Fred Snodgrass Fred "Bonehead" Merkle

Mark Pavelich Jim Craig Herb Brooks

I dunno why you guys are taking this s**t so seriously. I mean, the "article" is bunk. It's an El Pollo Loco Inc. press release, that the company's press agent, via payola, strip club visits, sucking of d**k or whatever, managed to get onto the AP newswire. It's like bitching at a TV commercial. I'd be more inclined to bitch about the AP's "journalistic standards"...

Well, of course this isn't journalism: A company managed to get one of its press releases dressed up and reported as a "story". This is extremely far from rare (check out newspaper entertainment and style sections for myriad examples), but I'm slightly surprised to see it happening on the Associated Press newswire.

Just got Silver's Serenade. Not the most exotic choice, and I already have at least 10 Horace-led CDs, but this had fallen through the cracks. Very good: I rank it in the upper echelon of Silver recordings (granted, I'm partial to the Mitchell-Cook front line).

Lon Chaney Lon Armstrong Lon Nol

Eddie Gaedel Bill Veeck Jon Rauch

This whole thing has been magnified by the extreme animosity that prevails between the Pats and NYJ. It's become a really toxic rivalry over the years, especially off the field, which is a little weird...

Didn't Kirk's Work just recently get reissued as a "Prestige RVG"? That really makes me scratch my head about the coupling in question. I wonder whether the Jaki Byard Experience tracks have been remastered, though it's probably not possible to salvage the horrid Richard Alderson-engineered masters.

Saffron Burrows Taye Diggs Harold Miner

Alfred Jarry Al Jarreau Keith Jarrett

If the 87% feedback rating was one negative item out of 8 transactions, I'd sell to you, figuring it was a fluke. But any larger samples with that percentage: 2 out of 16, 3 out of 24,...,13 out of 100,... and I wouldn't.

Fu Manchu Laurence Harvey (film link) Angela Lansbury

Eric "Sleepy" Floyd Fred Brown John Thompson

Next week's Michigan-Notre Dame clash isn't exactly shaping up to be a barnburner... Best you can say is that somebody will have to win. Michigan doesn't seem like the type of program that would fire a coach mid-season. A post-season Carr "retirement" is more likely.

So much for the theory that Michigan would bounce back this week...down 39-7 to Oregon approaching the end of the 3d quarter.

Alexei Lalas Marcelo Salas George Halas

Tiny Archibald Don Ho

Wow! The mentally tough Justine H. beat Venus in straight sets, completing a Williams sister sweep, and advances to the final vs. Kuznetsova. Never thought that'd happen.

CDs arrived, many thanks

I saw Pavarotti once, but past his prime and late-career: Tosca, Metropolitan Opera NYC, 1995. The voice was still excellent, but at that point he no longer lived up to the hype. He was severely overweight, and didn't even attempt acting, but rather stood motionless and sang. Fans still applauded loudly. Of course, seeing Pavarotti in his prime would have been different, and I don't want to diminish his legacy.