THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #325

February 21, 2011


Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287, jfburgess of gmail.com


E-MAIL/WEB ONLY ISSUE! PDF will be available on the website incorporating all subszines.


Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


I'm clearly working too hard these days to keep this on track, but if John Boardman can restart Graustark who am I to wimp out? I really do want to finish these games up here and then decide if I want to continue or not. Doug Kent, the turbophreak that he is, always makes me feel wimpy and inadequate with his productivity. I still think there is a place for the banter and discussion that can happen in a szine, as opposed to pure web gaming, but we are to see, aren't we?
If there is more reading material that you sent me that should have been in here, that was a casualty of the long delay. I was going to give you a few other surprises but when Mike Barno's letter came in and I spent quite a few hours "monkey typing" and listening to things for it, I thought discretion was the better part of valor. If you have something I should print, please remind me.
And I tried to copy Mark Wightman's rules for running 23 Tunes, but the record keeping turned into a real mess. When in doubt, get Dougie to do it, so Doug Kent is running 23 Tunes and I'm playing. Here are the rules for 23 TUNES. You send me three tunes for the first turn, and then two tunes in each of the last ten turns for a total of 23. If you missed the first turn, you can still catch up by sending five tunes next issue, and guess on submitters to this issue of Eternal Sunshine. Actually, you can send all 23 tunes at once if you want to, but then you’ll need to remember to guess everyone else's each month. Doug also is submitting his own tunes. After we're done, Doug would like to exchange CD's/Tapes for as many of the tunes players as possible, but this is not required. Doug will be sending the winner his 23 Tune list.
The winner is determined by having you guess each issue who submitted what list (Doug lists the submitters for you). For each list you get right, you get a point, you also can win bonus points from Doug for really cool tune selections. That's it, not complicated. I share with Doug the hope that by starting this up, he'll get more to join. So, put simply... you send in the name and artist of songs you really like or have special meaning to you. DON'T SEND THEM TO ME, send them to Doug Kent at dougray30 of yahoo.com.
Doug already has printed 3 of them the first turn, and will print 2 for each turn after that (you can submit that way, or send in all 23 at once, or anything in between). Each issue Doug lists the songs for that turn, without revealing who submitted which song. Doug also prints a list of who submitted songs (again, without telling you which songs they sent in). Your mission is to match the people with the songs. Simple. I would note that he says "list" but there is no easy way to get someone's whole list, even when they have themes (as I do in my list, for example). And Doug will be offering other prizes as well, to be determined later. If you miss a turn, make it up my sending enough songs to catch up with the other players (and the overdue songs will simply be revealed immediately).


Some of you are still not on the E-Mail list for this szine, I keep trying to sign you up, please accept the offer! I am going ahead and finishing all the games here, and then we'll see what happens.
We will theoretically have four subszines going forward, from Dave Partridge, Doug Kent, Andy York, and Peter Sullivan. But Dave Partridge is even farther behind than me on finishing Tinamou, Andy York is working on By the WAY, but Peter is back active! Doug of course puts us all to shame otherwise. This issue only has an Octopus' Garden from Peter with a game start. Dave and Andy are working on getting back in the swing.
For production, in addition to the HTML's of each separate product on the web page, I will also have a PDF that you can print of the entire szine (including my famous handdrawn maps!). You can just print the maps if you like, but remember maps are for pikers anyway, you don't need no steenkin' maps, keep them up in your head where they belong. I don't think there are very many people I owe money, but if you think I owe you money, just ask and I will pay. ONE GROUP that is definitely owed money is the players with NMR insurance. NMR insurance still continues, I will still call you for it, and when your game ends, I will refund the money.
I have now tried to sign up all the players, some multiple times, but please check. THIS IS A PROBLEM, sign up now if you're playing so you get proper notification!!! General information about the mailing list is at: /mailman/listinfo/tap
You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you.


TEMPLECON 2011 Report (First Round of Four Tournament Nor'Easter)
Let me start with the great successes. Travis Pagliarini played in his first Diplomacy game ever in Round 2, participated in what turned into a solo by the Tournament winner, then came back in his second ever Diplomacy game in Round 4 and battled (and I do mean BATTLED) to a board topping tie with that same Tournament winner as the time draw was called. This was great. Two or three of the other players in the tournament were playing in their first Diplomacy games ever as well. But, as usual, this did not make for bad games, everyone was engaged and the games were all good - even Dirk's solo game that won him the tournament.
Then the disappointment. I had a full board (seven people, including several people with hotel reservations that they had to cancel) cancel out on me within the last week before TempleCon - a number of them on Friday, this was more than the usual "I might come" and then not that you always get. I'll rank on the one where I have the most influence, my brother David really owes me. He called to cancel on me as I was driving with Dirk Knemeyer (who I picked up in Boston) down to TempleCon. It was missing these seven potential players that really was the problem, we had only 15 unique players this year (counting me) as compared to 23 last year. I don't want to whine or complain, these things happen, but it was regrettable for the travelers who did come in from afar for less than they bargained for.
Anyway, I went from thinking I was pretty safe at having two boards in each round where I could do the usual pickups from people hanging around, to really needing to sell the game around the con. I ended up needing to do those pickups to get to five boards total (only Round 2 had two boards). Only Mike Boden of the new Diplomacy players we picked up last year came back and played in a round this year, though they were all around and kept saying they might play, but then the timing kept coming up wrong. If they (five or six of them) had played in a number of rounds we would have been OK as well, but I don't blame them for playing other games. I'm going to get them together with some of these other new players in some games at the Temple store that the TempleCon people run sometime later this year. This will help start promoting Diplomacy for TempleCon 2012.
So, since I originally started the Nor'Easter, I am going to try to claim that we count the TempleCon results for the Nor'Easter anyway, even though we didn't meet Grand Prix six boards in best of three rounds standards. Everyone who came had a great time. The background Steampunk atmosphere made the environment always interesting to look at. And that should count for something.... ;-) As I understand the GP rules, this means we can't qualify again next year either, we can just try to get back up over the 6 board standard and then apply for 2013? This seems unduly harsh, but I'll get over it. I do plan to keep doing TempleCon in the future.
Here's the results with the raw totals from the scoring system and the adjustment from the ante system (I know some people don't like the ante system, if that did actually keep anyone away, let me know and I can adjust or delete it, I'm no longer convinced that it matters):

NAME Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 RawTot Adj. Final Total
Dirk Knemeyer 34.48 110.00 14.04 23.21 181.73 0 181.73
Roland Cooke 5.17 33.33 19.30 12.50 70.30 0 70.30
Bob Holt 13.79 24.56 26.32 64.67 5 69.67
NAME Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 RawTot Adj. Final Total
Jim Burgess (TD) 13.79 15.79 12.50 42.08 5 47.08
Robert Rousse 15.79 14.04 29.83 10 39.83
Chris Morse 22.41 22.41 15 37.41
Travis Pagliarini 0.00 23.21 23.21 10 33.21
Brent Waddington 10.34 0.00 19.30 2.00 31.64 0 31.64
Carl Ellis 5.26 0.50 16.07 21.83 5 26.83
Will Ferioli 0.00 12.50 12.50 10 22.50
John Ruzzo 7.02 7.02 15 22.02
Mike Bodem 5.26 5.26 15 20.26
Dave Cohen 1.75 1.75 15 16.75
Paul Lewis 0.75 0.75 15 15.75
Jim Burgess 2 (TD) 0.00 0.00 15 15.00
Robert Rousse 2 0.00 0.00 15 15.00
Daniel O'Connor 0.00 0.00 15 15.00

Thanks to everyone and to the great TempleCon hosts, I reserved one crash room and that ended up with only two people in it because of the cancellations. I still think having a crash room is a really important part of helping travelers who come from a distance to the con.

Here are the board results (with detour09 basic points in parentheses):


Round 1, Board 1
Austria (Bob Holt): 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 (13.79)
England (Dirk Knemeyer): 4 5 6 6 7 7 10 11 (34.48) BEST ENGLAND
France (Chris Morse): 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 8 (22.41)
Germany (Jim Burgess-TD): 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 5 (13.79)
Italy (Dave Cohen): 4 4 4 3 3 2 1 0 (1.75) Carl Ellis 1905 substitute
Russia (Roland Cooke): 5 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 (5.17)
Turkey (Brent Waddington): 4 4 5 7 7 7 5 4 (10.34)


Round 2, Board 1
Austria (Paul Lewis): 4 3 3 0 - - (0.75)
England (Jim Burgess-TD): 4 5 7 7 7 6 (15.79)
France (Bob Holt): 6 6 7 8 8 9 (24.56) BEST FRANCE
Germany (Carl Ellis): 5 4 1 1 1 1 (5.26)
Italy (Robert Rousse): 4 5 4 5 6 6 (15.79) BEST ITALY
Russia (Mike Bodem): 4 5 4 4 3 1 (5.26)
Turkey (Roland Cooke): 5 6 8 9 9 11 (33.33) BEST TURKEY


Round 2, Board 2
Austria (Travis Pagliarini): 5 6 4 5 5 4 3 3 (0.00)
England (Brent Waddington): 5 5 5 5 5 3 2 1 (0.00)
France (Robert Rousse-2): 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 (0.00)
Germany (Daniel O'Connor): 5 4 4 4 3 2 1 1 (0.00)
Italy (Will Ferioli): 4 4 5 4 4 5 6 7 (0.00)
Russia (Dirk Knemeyer): 6 7 8 8 9 14 17 18 (110.00) BEST RUSSIA
Turkey (Jim Burgess-2-TD): 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 (0.00)


Round 3, Board 1
Austria (Dirk Knemeyer): 4 5 6 6 6 5 (14.04) BEST AUSTRIA
England (Carl Ellis): 3 2 0 - - - (0.50)
France (Brent Waddington): 6 6 7 7 7 7 (19.30)
Germany (Roland Cooke): 5 6 7 7 8 7 (19.30) BEST GERMANY
Italy (John Ruzzo): 4 4 4 3 2 2 (7.02)
Russia (Robert Rousse): 6 7 6 5 5 5 (14.04)
Turkey (Bob Holt): 4 4 4 6 6 8 (26.32)


Round 4, Board 1
Austria (Jim Burgess-TD): 4 4 5 5 6 7 6 6 4 (12.50)
England (Roland Cooke): 4 5 5 6 6 7 6 6 4 (12.50) Greg Buchanan 1907 substitute
France (Will Ferioli): 5 4 4 6 6 5 4 4 4 (12.50)
Germany (Dirk Knemeyer): 4 3 3 3 4 4 6 6 8 (23.21) SECOND BEST GERMANY*
Italy (Brent Waddington): 5 5 4 4 2 2 2 1 1 (2.00)
Russia (Carl Ellis): 6 7 8 5 4 3 4 4 5 (16.07)
Turkey (Travis Pagliarini): 4 5 4 5 6 6 6 7 8 (23.21)

*TD Determined to Award BEST GERMANY to Roland Cooke

This is also the first tournament in the regional sub-Grand Prix tournament that is in its third year that we've dubbed the "Nor'Easter". The next tournament in that group is Boston Massacre in Cambridge in June; HuskyCon in July; and Carnage, November 4-6 in Vermont which also will be North American DipCon. We will again have a First Place Nor'Easter prize to be awarded and with more help from Robert Rousse (Carnage co-organizer) we should have Second and Third Place prizes as well. More on that to come. Most of our TempleCon players were from Boston, so I'm hoping we can get almost all of them to Massacre and build on that tournament again as well with its relatively new Tournament Director, Alex Amann. Come on out and support Alex as originating director Mel Call is now in Melbourne.
Drop Dead Time Deadlines: These worked like a charm again, this is the way to play tournament dip, you're always moving, no waiting around while people write orders. The games really moved along, I again used my loud voice with reminders to people as needed, and people respected other players' space with need for order writing time. And the atmosphere was great. I ended up going again with the 17 minute spring, 15 minute fall continually running clock that Melissa has been using at Boston Massacre for some time. There were NO time draws (though potential for a time draw may have ended a few games), we did have a Saturday night game go until 3AM and still had four rounds in the weekend.
Then some highlights from the social experience. Roland Cooke, Brent Waddington, and Dirk Knemeyer traveled to get here and all three were a little disappointed at the turnout. Yet, all three didn't let it affect their fun on site. A good thing about being in a hotel is having a good bar on site. This was better than previous years since we were much closer to the bar and we even had a window into the restaurant. So lots of good fun and convivial drinking was had by all. I spent a lot of time with Dirk Knemeyer and made a great new friend, so that was a big winner for me. Dirk is relatively new to Diplomacy, so I could take advantage of conveying lots of old hobby lore and experience. Dirk, if he wants to be, is a future big time FTF tournament champion. I hope to see him again at DipCon at Carnage in November.
Lastly, more experience on selling Diplomacy on site: I was still not as successful as I would like to be here. I was very careful to post notes on the game forums on the web site so that people knew we were there. Again, about half a dozen of the players either saw the inviting sounding notes or were grabbed from around. Many of these people were playing in their first ever Diplomacy games. I tried direct E-Mails to Judge players and other players I could identify as being in the area, this again was not successful, but I will keep trying again. The only person I got that way ended up being one of those last week cancellations as the snow earlier in the week convinced his boss to have everyone work on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't try walking around the Con playing Edi Birsan's Teaching Videos from You Tube again like I did last year.... don't believe me, yes, I really, really did this two years ago, but it didn't really gain anything but laughs, so I didn't do that this time around, but I did play it some in our Diplomacy corner.


THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE LETTERS SECTION
((I want to go back to encouraging more letters again, right now I'm going to focus on just pumping issues out, but I hope to start writing more again too as the year progresses. Mike Barno is my loyal music correspondent! And next issue we will need our baseball predictions and discussion. Guess who I'm going to pick to win the World Series? I actually have a tough choice between my San Francisco Giants repeating and the Boston Red Sox, which will I choose?? Stay tuned. But first up are some Diplomacy tournament announcements from Down Under... both face-to-face and E-Mail. As noted, Melissa Call has moved to Melbourne and she is going to energize the DAANZ hobby like she energized us here in New England for the last decade.))


Ronald Mehmet (Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 3:11 PM)
Re: World Diplomacy Championships, 1-3 October 2011, Sydney, Australia
Hi Jim, Please find some information links below from Australia and New Zealand relating to the World Diplomacy Championships and other tournaments down under. Hope you can let your Dip Zine readership (The Abyssinian Prince) know about it. Thanks.

At this stage the best link is the WDC webpage:
http://www.daanz.org/wdc2011/index.php
And the flyer is linked at that page:
http://www.daanz.org/wdc2011/WORLD%20DIPCON%20XXI%20FLYER.pdf


DAANZ Tournament Calendar 2011

a. Sat 22 - Sun 23 January 2011: Australian Diplomacy Championships (Sydney, NSW)
b. Sat 19 - Sun 20 February 2011: New Zealand Diplomacy Championships (Auckland, NZ)
c. Sat 9 - Sun 10 April 2011: Victorian Diplomacy Championships (Melbourne, VIC)
d. Fri 23 - Sun 25 September 2011: Auckland Diplomacy Championships (Auckland, NZ)
e. Sat 1st October - Mon 3rd October 2011: World Diplomacy Championships XXI (Sydney, NSW)
f. Continuous Email Tournament last game starts end of August 2011: ANZAC Cup 2011 (Online)
Kind Regards, Ron Mehmet, mehmetr of bigpond.com
((Thanks, Ron, more than happy to give you some publicity. Any anyone can join the E-Mail tournaments they're running, which look like lots of fun. I won't make it to Sydney this year, but I'm planning an Australian trip for 2013, so I'm hoping I can meet lots of Dippers while there at that time.))


Mike Barno (Feb 16, 2011)
Dear Jim, This publication has a tradition, ever since the Eighties as mailed photocopies, on the year's best (or worst) music heard by the editor and various lettercolumn writers. This is mine for the 2010 musical year. I had more fun listening to more music than any other year in my life, hands down. Festivals were the big story; over the summer and fall I attended ten multi-band events, including a four-night camp at one of the nation's best bluegrass festivals. Throughout the year I heard most of my favorite 2009 local bands, and added several new bands including two of my very top picks. And there were a few (but not many) locally-produced CDs released by these bands. So I was able to enjoy a lot of music while giving my money to the people who create the music and the people who give them a place to play, rather than big corporations.
((Thanks, Mike, for doing this. For me, this was a year of mostly older music. I did attend the one Maine festival that I talked about last year that's held near my Maine summer house, and I hope this year you can make it to that (and others who might like to join us). I have so much music, that even delving into music I already have sounds new. Plus, on the more classical choral front, I've been listening to lots of new things that I'm also singing. E.g. Gabriel Fauré wrote a school graduation piece at the age of 19, called the "Cantique de Jean Racine" that is just gorgeous to listen to and really fun to sing, you can hear an amateur recording on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantique_de_Jean_Racine though we did it better... ;-) I also have been listening to the two Crooked Still records I picked up last year, Still Crooked and Some Strange Country. I love those two records and the ethereal singing of Aoife O'Donovan.))
((Pretty much all of the more rock oriented things I've been hearing lately sound lame and boring when pitched next to pretty much anyone I've ever loved from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, or 90's. Though Taylor Swift is cute and fun to listen to among the current pop stars. I sometimes wonder if I'm getting old, but I read something lately that clicked it for me on how younger people are looking at the newer music they're listening to was someone 40 or so who slipped in a somewhat obscure, but not too obscure, Beatles song into an iPod or whatever mix of recent rock. The woman he gave it to liked the Beatles song the best by far until he told her that it was the Beatles and she went "ugh, something old (meaning prior to 2000)". In the same conversation, she referred to "Manson" meaning Marilyn, and had never heard of Charles. I do understand the EXPLOSION of information and knowledge and the lack of time we all face to dig into anything we might want to dig into. But great rock will only continue to be made if it can be done in the context of a musical language that builds on something from before. We also are about to debut somewhere, somehow, an entirely different type of music. I don't know what it will be, but it will sound brilliant and fresh when it comes out. I only know what I do NOT want it to do. It is possible that all of our greater understanding of brain chemistry will allow us to build a music, that like the jingle/jangle of slot machine sounds digs deep into our addiction centers in the brain and grabs at that (research in general suggests that what we might want to better call music actually inhibits the brain reactions of addiction and lost track of time that casino noise is trying to create). I've heard such music out there (Philip Kent Bimstein, a name that should go down in infamy, has actually written a classical piece called "Casino" that does this, I don't know who does the other things I've heard), so I'm sure others have thought of it. I would hope we would figure out something that would spark the more creative centers of the brain.))
((I bought lots of other older things, mostly in the folk/string genres (where no one, even young people, in those genres can possibly ignore the past) and classical vocals, but only one other new band for me in the last year, and that was The King is Dead by the Decemberists. Mike, you would like them if you are not already familiar with them. I'll intersperse some comments on them below as I type to break things up. [aside: Mike also has sent me a CD Intelligent Design by Monkees Typing... as I am a Monkey Typing what Mike handwrote, this is of course a brilliant joke - it also allows me to focus on listening to it while I type]))
The biggest change in my music in 2010 compared to the previous year was how much deeper I dove into festival season. Small single-day shows, midsized weekend concerts, and a hundred-hour pickin' party at one of the biggest festivals with some of the top names in bluegrass. Throw in a lot of blues, some rock, and bits of other music, and it added up to more good times than I could imagine. Every single time I attended a multi-band music event, I had enough fun to sustain me through later rough times. When you're middle-aged (I turned 47 at the end of the year), they say you're not going to have much fun. Well, I had more fun at eight festivals and a showcase in twelve weekends from mid-July through early October than I ever had in my entire teens or twenties. Supported old friends, made new friends, saw some legends, got happy feet and danced goofily.
((Yeah, I'm six years older, as you know, and I agree entirely! You're about to talk about bluegrass, I've been listening to a local WRIU bluegrass show every once in a while lately, and there is some REALLY inventive stuff going on in that genre at the moment. I'm mostly driving, so I don't know the names of some of the bands I've been really liking that they've been playing. "Freaky World" by Monkees Typing is a very cool jammin' song with an uncredited alto sax in it, and the next song "Chucky" sounds even more freaky - probably referencing the slasher character. Interesting....))
(trumpet and trombone flourish) My favorite event for 2010 music was definitely the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in mid-July. Holy cow. I've done state fairs, NFL parking lots, NASCAR infields, Dead shows, you name it: nobody parties like bluegrass pickers. Thousands of small-time bands, all camped in a huge farm field for four nights and four days, either playing in their site, wandering and maybe sitting in with friends playing elsewhere, or listening to paid bands way up at the west end. A huge main stage with bring-your-own-chair seating for thousands, and a chair-sharing ethos. Six big-tent other stages: the Dance Pavilion with a wooden floor, the Masters Stage hosting workshops with top players, the Grass Roots Learning Sessions tent, the Family Stage, the Slow Jam tent, and the Bluegrass Academy for Kids. For four days, most of the daytime there are two or three well-established or most-promising string bands playing full gigs, a couple of places to learn from the best, and places just to play. No wonder the '09 edition was named Bluegrass Event of the Year. But if you buy a day ticket and just experience the organized parts, you won't see the best of it. All over the lot, little groups of musicians play through the wee hours, not for TV time or money or applause but for the joy of it. Old friends would cross paths, hug, form a circle, and play a Bill Monroe song as if they'd been rehearsing together for weeks. I was lucky: my group of about fifteen people included The String Band, so without leaving my seat and cooler I could often see and hear their usual songs or ones they were learning. Better yet, some fine musicians sat in to jam with them at various times, including Rick Marcera of Stained Glass Window, Dan Hubbard of the Dan Hubbard Band, Susie DiRiancho, Ben Ellsworth-Feher of Dr. E.F. and the Rudimentary of Sound, and more. Other highlights of the campground include the Schooner Bar (they set up a bar) and the Grillbillies (a grill plus a near-permanent pickin' session with members of ten bands). Truly, you could get your money's worth without ever going to the stages to hear the paid acts. But those were pretty damn fine shows, too.
((I would agree that sitting around in the main venue at these events is precisely the wrong way to experience them, you really want to hunt for intimate experiences of whatever sort. So, the title track "Intelligent Design" is sort of Deady in its perambulations, I can see why Mike likes it. It's good to type to...))
The Del McCoury Band remains awesome, playing old-school material crisply with ease and professionalism. "Del Yeah!" Railroad Earth gave a great show that felt good. David Grisman's Bluegrass Experience (far more traditional than his "dawg music" other band) suffered from technical problems, but not as badly as the Sam Bush Band did on Saturday night. That gig was interrupted by the biggest, brightest lightning storm I've ever seen east of the Rockies. My "Ready for Anything" award goes to Carol Simek (fiddle for The String Band) for saying "Ohmigod, this storm could kill us!" and touching-up her lipstick. The main stage's speaker towers were impossible to power up, so after an hour of the best sky-show ever, Bush and his band gave up and played down at the dance tent instead. Some of my other favorites included veterans Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (IBMA Vocal Group of the Year for seven straight years) and young groups Crooked Still and Della Mae.
(("Terrorist" by Monkees Typing has a killer deep beat for slow dancing, but is the sort of song that doesn't do a huge amount for me, though I know Mike likes this sort of thing. I may switch to my Crooked Still in a bit... then "Monkey Mind" kicks in with some minor chords, interesting funky groove, and a killer chorus and grabs my attention back, back to Mike...))
The rest of my festival adventures were smaller and more Binghamton-area in scope, but they were still fine times. After Grey Fox, nearly every weekend for months brought musical kicks bigger and better than routine bar shows. On Rooney Mountain, home to wild RooneyFest bluegrass parties in decades past; Hee Haw Nightmare and Driftwood played for the annual Pig Roast, a tremendous time. I went to Pickin' in the Park, a couple of miles into Pennsylvania, and again camped with The String Band, hearing late-night collaborations. The Chris Thater Memorial, a bicycle race on the national tour, expanded its music festival from one day to two, and the music ranged from steel drums to several of my favorite area bands. West Fest 8, in the lot behind Cyber Café West, had two days of a good mix of rock, jazz, folk, bluegrass, groove, and the uncategorizable. The only indoor show in this list was Harp Attack, a showcase for three kick-ass harmonica bluesmen (Brian Potenziano from Binghamton, Ted Townsley from Syracuse, and Ted Hennessey from Albany) taking turns cutting loose backed by the Parlor Cats. The day after Harp Attack was the sixth annual Zooneyfest, a ten-band fundraiser in memory of my second cousin, Joe Zunic, who died of Lou Gehrig's disease. Binghamton's biggest music festival, Blues on the Bridge, was delayed a week by rain, but wound up being excellent, with 17 bands squeezed into one day thanks to the twin-stage-alternating setup. A church expanded its Oktoberfest to two and a half days under a circus tent; I made it to parts of two days and enjoyed it. I don't know how I did all this in two and a half months without winding up in jail or a mental hospital. Add the one-day, eleven-band "Save the Cyber" event in November, and you can see that's far more than a year's worth of music just from multi-band festivals.
(("One Half Plus Seven" kicks off with a four minute drum solo that was OK, but didn't do a heck of a lot for me... so I welcomed the old traditional "I Know You Rider" that closes off the Intelligent Design Monkees Typing offering. I know I didn't like this as a whole as much as Mike, but THANKS very much for it! The parts I liked, I really liked.))
All those big events didn't keep me from enjoying a full load of single-band local music. Probably 30-35 bar and restaurant gigs, sometimes two a weekend. Almost all of my favorite local bands from my best-of-2009 article in issue 323 (/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss323.html) entertained me again in 2010, just not as often as I'd wish to hear each band. Two bands I already loved gave best-ever amounts of fun throughout the year; and I added two more bands with super skills and wonderful songs. I managed to hear a bunch of other bands, old friends and new ones, at least a couple of times counting both full shows and festival short-sets. All this added up to a great year, and here are the highlights. The String Band has been among my very top picks every year they've existed. Most of the members were my favorites before that, in the Morgan String Band, whose second independent CD I reviewed in issue 311 (/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss311.html). Really skilled bluegrass players who also rework songs from rock'n'roll, blues, or old-time. The collaborations at Grey Fox and Pickin' in the Park stretched my mind. Unfortunately a conflict left the bassman "retired" late in the year, but his replacement (less than half Mark's age) is fitting in and the band is developing new songs for 2011 including originals. My other "most fun all through 2010" band is Driftwood, whose debut CD and live shows got my raves last year. They keep writing good new songs (their next album will be out soon) and learning great old ones. Driftwood played for a friend's birthday party in the loft over another friend's garage, and it was simply the funnest funnest time. I saw some people dance for the first time in twenty years or more. The after-party lasted past sunrise. Driftwood raised money from fans for the van that took them on their first national tour in the autumn.
((I did indeed switch to Crooked Still, I love the dynamite strings in "Baby, What's Wrong With You?", the Mississippi John Hurt song. Aoife's singing was SO wonderful on this, as compared to that whispery style with just the hint of Bob Dylanish nasalness that Mississippi John Hurt used to sing with that on this song in his original I have.))
There were several new or new-to-me bands who impressed me in 2010 enough to go see again. Two of them have already proven they're among the best musicians I've ever heard. People told me I should hear the Hickory Project at the Beef, a local restaurant, so I made a point to go. I had no idea who they were, but they played so well that I couldn't believe they weren't world-famous. I asked Google, and it turns out they're world-famous after all: They've performed on several continents, with a European tour coming up, and Anthony Hannigan was the 1999 National Mandolin Champion. They're not "one big star and his average sidemen" but five superior string players" fiddle, mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, standup bass. Whenever they played a song I recognized as sixty or eighty years old, they gave it new life. When they played originals they were lively as hell, with complex interplay in perfect sync. So I jumped to hear one of Hannigan's side projects, Garcia Grass, playing happy acoustic versions of Jerry-Ra's songs from the Grateful Dead, Old and In the Way, and the Jerry Garcia Band. Absolutely loved it.
((I'll bet you have a likin' for the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band too...))
My other favorite new band is the Lutheran Skirts. They're a side project for a half-dozen people (such as Joe Kollar and Claire Byrne of Driftwood) to play old songs for their own pleasure: blues, bluegrass, old-time, folk-rock, or whatever. Banjo, fiddle, harmonica, electric bass, washboard vest, and soulful female vocalist make up the typical mix, with occasional resonator guitar, flattop guitar, pennywhistle, kazoo, or stampbox. Sometimes they'll launch into a song I haven't heard in decades, and by the end of the first chorus I like their version better than the original.
Plenty of other live musicians helped me have a good time over the course of the year. Strong newcomers included Woodshed Prophets (five songwriters who aren't limited to any sound or genre) and Dutch Bucket System (bluegrass groove, hard to describe but easy to enjoy). Returning favorites would take too long to describe, so just see last year's article for the scoop on Dirt Farm, Nate and Kate, Panhandle, GoGone, Chris Merkley, the Terry Walker Project, Badweather Blues (whose CD I reviewed in issue 317 (/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss317.html), Bohemian Sunrise, Hooch, Hi-Way Fruit Market, the Blue J's, Half Baked, String of Pearls, and Dr. E.F. and the Rudimentary of Sound. I would have preferred to hear all of them more often, because they lift my spirits.
((You saw my comments on Monkeys Typing up above as I played the disc, now let's see what Mike has to say about them...))
The 2010 album that really gives the feel of the live music I heard week-to-week, month-to-month, is Intelligent Design a CD from Binghamton band Monkeys Typing. Two guitars, electric bass, two drummers. Guitarist Jeff Kahn owns Cyber Cafe West so they've played (unrehearsed) almost every week for a decade. A lot of what they play is either Bob Dylan or Grateful Dead material played as if covered by the opposite, so it's encouraging that they released this CD of all originals (except a very old encore). The disc has five original organized songs, three original one-time jams, and the encore, all taped at live shows. All five real songs are winners, wehterh I've had the Cyber's double-strength beers and ales or not. The only song with a guest artist is guitarist Steve Strauss' "Freaky World", with Robert Weinberger on alto sax. Weinberger has performed masterfully on every instrument and in every genre that I've heard him, and I know he excels with instruments and genres I haven't yet heard. I'm giving this song my Collaboration of the Year award, the second time Bob has been thus honored. (He was one of three local brass players who teamed up with visitors Bohemian Sunrise at West Fest 6, noted in my best-of-2008 article in issue 319 (/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss319.html).)
((Yeah, I agree, it definitely filled out the sound and was a great collaboration. I didn't see it credited anywhere on the disc, though I might have missed it. Cool.))
Strauss' other song here, "Terrorist", is a reaction to the Dubya administration's practices, but still carries a bite whenever Obama continues a Bush policy that he campaigned against. Great song. The comfiest grove on the album is bassman Chuck Hinton's "Monkey Mind". The encore, "I know you Rider", is from John and Alan Lomax's 1934 songbook of traditionals. Even the cover art is on-theme, with the usual "evolution of man" image reversed to start at left with a man walking straight-backed, descending through Cro-Magnon man and other predecessors to end at right with a monkey dragging its knuckles on the ground. Fun CD.
The most artistic and ambitious album I heard in 2010 is A Deep Breath from Randy McStine's new band Lo-Fi Resistance. Randy's earlier CD's were collections of young-guitar-prodigy singles, really ripping stuff but with no cohesion, no theme or story to tie individual songs together. This album does have a unifying vision:
With humanity on the brink of destroying itself (judging by the readied ICBM launcher in the cover-art scene), our protagonist struggles to understand, seeks hope, despairs, rejects religion, bitches about religionists blaming AIDS on "God hates gays", and ends "Wasted". The music (written and mostly performed by McStine) is much less rocking but deeper than any of his older material. Some people will love it, but the vocals seemed far too emo for my tastes, both in lyrical content and in delivery. Still a notable work.
My final album pick is An Evening with the Parlor Cats. They've been one of my favorite blues bands for years, my number-one harmonica band, but in late 2009 they were reconstituted. Brian Swan, Jamie Osterhout, and John Brown all left, and for 2011 they're playing something very different, "alternative-grunge-punk-old metal", as Channel Monster. Brian Potenziano, meanwhile, rounded up three blues veterans to back him, and this CD is from one of their early live shows at a good venue, the Hideout near Binghamton. Only three originals out of eleven songs, and two of them are repeats from the old Parlor Cats' Help Me! which I reviewed in issue 314 (/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss314.html). This is good music, but I liked the old album better. That had studio-quality sound reproduction where the bending notes and tonal texture really came through. The new album sounds like you expect a typical bar show's tape to sound, which is what Brian wanted.
So that's my year in music: Most ever, best ever, fully immersed, wouldn't trade it for a million bucks.
Mike, 717 Dawson Hill Road B, Spencer, NY 14883-9793
((Thanks very much, Mike. Great listening to this here and planning some other things to listen to in the future. Next up, one more music letter from Eric Ozog that needs some set up. Eric and his brother Kurt were pointing me and Paul Rauterberg to this commentary on the recent tour by the Church:
http://blurt-online.com/features/view/816/.
At first I thought Kurt had written it when quickly skimming, but it IS a GREAT review, please go read it. Unfortunately, if you blinked you missed the US part of this tour by the Church and they are off to Sydney, Australia for the next leg. But listen to some classic music of great power and depth next time you get a chance in the second best reproductive music environment.))


Eric Ozog (Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 3:04 PM)
Hi Jim - a Seattle fan of The Church and concert reviewer wrote that review, but it's accurate on how awesome their Seattle show was - the best concert I have ever seen - their songs were going through my head a few days later! They played three of their albums back to back and note for note, one was immersed in the music. By the way, Kurt and I were flying down I-5 in my Cougar to the Church show ((I still remember the trip flying down the road to Pudgecon in that car, amazing it is still going!)) and we were playing Mekons, including selections from Retreat From Memphis: The Flame that Killed John Wayne. The Chicago Ozog brothers reunited for a rock and roll weekend. I also took Kurt to a Green Pajamas show right after he got off the plane (they happened to be playing that Saturday night) - he was impressed by their live performance.
Best, Eric, elferic of juno.com
((Thanks, Eric, very cool, I like Retreat from Memphis more and more the more I listen to it. I will welcome more letters next time, especially if people sent me letters that I should have published this time. I will come out again in three weeks since I'm waiting myself very expectantly to see how Secrets turns out. Is this the penultimate season?))
THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION
I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.
Standby lists:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Jeff O'Donnell, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, and Jeff O'Donnell stand by for regular Diplomacy. Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF given the new policies.


GAME OPENING INFORMATION
I'm going to start the game opening list over. Under the new regime, who wants to play? First off, another regular Diplomacy game is open. Doug Kent, Fred Wiedemeyer, Brad Wilson, and Shaun Thompson were interested, but they have to let me know they're still interested (with reserved slots if they do).


THE PHIL REYNOLDS MEMORIAL: 2006B, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1905 IS MARCH 19TH, 2011
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1905 IS APRIL 9TH, 2011
Spring 1905
AUSTRIA (Burgess): f tri-ADR, a BUD-vie, a tyo-PIE, a VIE-tyo, a rom-TUS,
f nap-TYH, a smy-CON, a alb-TRI, f ION s f nap-tyh.
ENGLAND (James): f ENG S f iri-mid, f NAO S f iri-mid, a BEL h,
f iri-MID, f NWY S GERMAN a fin-stp.
FRANCE (Williams): f mid-NAF, a bre-GAS, f spa(nc)-POR, a pic-BUR,
a mun-tyo (d r:boh,otb).
GERMANY (Ellinger): a kie-MUN, a RUH S a kie-mun, a BER S a kie-mun,
f hol-HEL, a FIN-stp.
ITALY (Crow): f wes-TUN, a sil-GAL, a bur-MAR.
RUSSIA (Barno): a war-SIL, a MOS-stp, f ANK h, a LVN S a mos-stp,
f con-AEG, a arm-SEV, f stp(sc)-GOB.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: David Burgess, 101 Laurel Lane, Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 761-6687, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org
ENGLAND: Drew James, 3644 Whispering Woods Terrace, Baldwinsville, NY 13027
(315) 652-1956, kjames01 of twcny.rr.com
FRANCE: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org ($5)
GERMANY: Marc Ellinger, 751 Turnberry Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109
mellinger of blitzbardgett.com
ITALY: John Crow, 946 S. Medalist Circle Plano, TX 75023-2851,
(214) 532-1418, johnny.crow of hotmail.com
RUSSIA: Mike Barno, 717 Dawson Hill Road B, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 481-4526
mpbarno of gmail.com
TURKEY: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA
CANADA T6T 1N1, (780) 465-6432, wiedem of telus.net or wiedem of shaw.ca


Game Notes:
1) We have lots of press, keep it up! I have Red Kings 12 in hand as well, which I will print with the one summer retreat next issue. Get writing, Johnny for Lucky 13 and beyond!!


Press:
(FRANCE to AUSTRIA): We’re coming to get you, Day-vid ... I see you counting to Ten Little Indians, but then I see you counting back down ... ten little nine little eight little Indians, seven little six little five ...
(ENGLAND to ITALY) - Told you so (X5)...
(FRANCE to ITALY): It was good while it lasted, my friend, but the Austrian treachery has undone your integrity and defenses, and threatens to hinder mine.
(FRANCE to RUSSIA): You may want to reconsider your friends ... you probably don't want to be on the wrong side of this decision.
(BOOB to BIG EAST FANS): I know this is my game with a fair bit of Big East basketball fans. Anyone notice the 52 points from Providence's Marshon Brooks against Notre Dame last week? I thought not, Providence has SUCH a bad team it is a real shame that Marshon couldn't lead a decent team into the postseason. This 52 point outburst came one point short of actually upsetting Notre Dame, with Brooks' shot at the buzzer falling short. At least you guys rooting for Syracuse are watching a team that has hopes.
(FRANCE to FRANCE): I expected better of you. I'm very disappointed in your play.
(ENGLAND to FRANCE/GERMANY/ITALY) - Is that a steamroller I hear off in the east?
(FRANCE to FRANCE): Come on, give me a break. Who do you think I am, Fassio? Cooley? As has been pointed out elsewhere, I can't even see a solo win when it's handed to me.
(RED KINGS 11 (Dark Press –- not for attribution) a chinaman's chance is bad odds):
The diner was one of those old train cars that had been set up on the side of the street, its shiny silver sides reflecting the bright Hobby sunshine of a new day. Like every new day it was starting with promise, but in the Hobby promises aren't always kept. The diner boasted a bottomless cup of joe for a nickel on a sign next to the door; over the door was the moniker The Diplomatic Paunch.
Inside Glenn Miller was on the jukebox and Louie and Hewey were on stools at the counter. They had steaming cups of the famous joe in front of them, and Hewey was weighing into a thick stack of flapjacks. Louie was waxing eloquent.
"Nah, dey put peener' butter in his mouth, Hewey," said Louie, motioning with his fork for emphasis, "dat horse don' really talk."
Hewey stared big eyed in disbelief, and maybe a little disappointment. He put his head down and went back to eating his breakfast, but was now troubled and had difficulty spearing his sausage on his fork. He tried again, but it rolled in the syrup and the tines didn't go in.
"Heres, lemme helps you out." Louie reached over, "youse gotta sneak up on it like. Uses yer fork like a kind word to hold it there." He placed the tines gently on the sausage. "Den ya stabs it with the knife when it's not lookin'. Like in da game." He cut the sausage cleanly in two for Hewey, "eats up, da ink is drying, and we ain't found dat gumshoe yet."
They had been pounding the pages since Chapter 9, seen the sun go down as they haunted the dimly lit streets of the Hobby and lurked in the alleys between szines. They were on the waterfront when the sun rose over the Sea of Press, with its rays blinding off the white of the page, and so had taken a break at the Paunch. All the while Louie had had the uncomfortable feeling that they weren't alone, but he couldn't peg why. And they still hadn't turned up the detective or the blonde…or the elephant.
Down the counter a duck was sitting next to a Dormouse, he leaned over and said sotto voce to the mouse; "yeah, every yokel knows that animals don't talk."
"Ain't dat da truth, Soc," answered the Dormouse. He chuckled and when he did the ring of keys on his belt jangled.
The duck shook his head and went back to his breakfast ignoring the two hoodlums.
Me and the dame were still at the Mojo Dojo, or whatever the chicken scratch above the door named this place. I still was questioning the whole massive conspiracies competing for the end of the world deal, but I didn't figure they had anymore of those little strips of paper with all the answers on 'em. So it was time to move on. The monks had shown more hospitality in supplying some clothing for the blonde. That plussed out for me in that I could get my trench coat back. It felt more natural to be back in my complete togs; felt more... in character. I tapped out a Red King and put it unlit into the corner of my mouth, yeah, felt much better.
"Here, you will also need this," said the monk handing the blonde another piece of fabric.
"What's dat?"
"You will not understand the Chinese, but it translates to "The Cloistered Hand that Lifts the Breathing Rock," answered the old monk. Them squints, they got a sentence for every word. She held it up to look at it and I busted out laughing.
"That translates to an over the shoulder boulder holder where I come from," I said to the blonde. She blushed and took the clothes hurriedly to the back room to change. When she came out, it was like the air in the room took a holiday. No one was breathing. They didn't have normal type women's clothing, they had given the bombshell a shimmery silk red thing called a slow song, for some reason. After she put it on I could see why. It was skin tight and reflected light like it was the fireworks on the fourth of July, and a stray spark had caught the grass on fire, and they'd had to roust out the volunteer fire department to pump a few thousand gallons of water to quench the heat, and the steam billowed into the sky like... well, you get the idea. That kind of light... damn, I needed a cold beer. The previous tenant of the dress didn't have as much in the balcony area, if you catch my drift, and the buttons were doing yeomen duty to fight together in a losing battle; it looked like they were taking casualties and losing ground... I could wait. A slow song it was indeed.
"We should blow," I mouthed to the dame.
"Virgule here will accompany you, as a guide," said the Sensai in his reed thin voice, he swept his hand to indicate the young monk who had initially approached us and brought us here.
I didn't know if I was too happy with that, I was already towing the blonde and figured the chink would be so much more baggage... and if things were gonna' be so hot where we were going that we needed Virgil as a guide, he might be dead weight at that.
Master Stylus nodded sagely at me; "Deep and convoluted construction, that is. Mixed metaphors, and it is Virgil with a different spelling, so not so much an allusion to a journey through hell as you might think. Overall impressive; you have the Way in you."
I started, surprised, and looked at the old monk. "Hey, there were no quotations marks on that. I didn't say it out loud."
I know... and there were no quotation marks on that either. Spooky shit. We had to blow, next he'd be giving me points for lines, items per page and an average for Press of the Month. It brought back bad memories.
"Do youse really tink we have any possibility of findin' da Maltese Dipcon before anyone else?" asked the blonde.
The old Monk nodded slowly, "I believe there is a chance to do so."
Great, a Chinaman’s chance... not the odds I wanted to hear.
Louie patted his mouth with his napkin and tossed it on the counter, he picked up his fedora and put it on his head, "c’mon, let's hit da' bricks. We’ll go down dat dere Real Politik and snoop about." Hewey picked up his ill-fitting porkpie hat, sat it on his head and followed Louie out the door.
You could hear Louie once again waxing eloquent and fulfilling his self-appointed task of educating Hewey as they left, the beginning fragment of their conversation could just be heard before the door to the ‘Paunch’ swung shut; "Y'know dat dere Real Politik is named after a Spinach Road, means da' King’s Highway, or some such, in spinach." And they were off.
Inside the diner, the Dormouse shook his head, "what a couple of maroons," he muttered. The duck nodded agreement.


SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy
THE NEW DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1908 IS MARCH 19TH, 2011
THE NEW DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1909 IS APRIL 9TH, 2011
Fall 1908
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a nap h (d ann), f WES-tyh.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): f por h (d ann).
FRANCE (Tretick): a bre-POR, f SPA(SC) S a bre-por, a GAS S a spa, f GOL S a mar,
f MID C a bre-por, a MAR h, f IRI S f mid.
GERMANY (Ozog for Tallman): a MUN h, a PIE h, a BUD h, a VIE S a bud,
a TYO h, a rom-NAP, f SKA h, a tus-ROM, a BEL h, f NAO S FRENCH f mid.
ITALY (Kent): a APU S GERMAN a rom-nap, a SER S a gre, a GRE S a ser.
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): f RUM-sev, a UKR-sev, a bul-CON, a SYR S a sev-arm, a sev-ARM.
TURKEY (Biehl): a ANK h, f SMY h, f BLA h, f TYH h.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): none (out)
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): none (out)
FRANCE (Tretick): PAR,BRE,MAR,spa,lvp,edi,lon, (has 7. bld 1)
por
GERMANY (Ozog/Tallman): KIE,BER,MUN,hol,den,bel,swe, (has 10, bld 2)
nwy,vie,rom,bud,nap
ITALY (Kent): VEN,tri,ser,gre (has 3, bld 1)
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): WAR,STP,SEV,MOS,rum,bul,con (has 5, bld 2)
TURKEY (Biehl): ANK,SMY,tun (has 4, rem 1)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) paul.rauterberg of att.net
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of telus.net or wiedem of shaw.ca
FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 5023 Sewell's Pointe Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22407,
cell (540) 226-5571 (E-Mail) berniebuddy33 of aol.com
GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
GERMANY: Temporary Standby is Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138,
(360) 691-4264, ElfEric of Juno.com
ITALY: Doug Kent, 911 Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149
dougray30 of yahoo.com
RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 816-0460 (cell) ($7); jrb of dccnet.com


Game Notes:
1) The FGR draw proposal is rejected. Since, as you all know, failure to submit a vote leads to rejecting any draw vote and now two more players are out of the game, I'm going to automatically repropose the FGR draw. Please vote with your winter orders, for it to pass I need assents from the five continuing players.
2) Hi all, as most of you know, Buddy's been having a tough time medically, but he really wants to stay in the game, so I'd like to try to help him. If you need to call Buddy about the game, mid-afternoon seems to be the best time. Buddy and I talked and I did get these orders from him, but haven't talked to him recently.


Press:


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1912 IS MARCH 19, 2011
Summer 1912
AUSTRIA (Wilson): R A mos-WAR; has a GAL, a WAR, a VIE.
ENGLAND (Kent): has f NWG, f IRI, f NWY, a DEN, a BER, f ENG, f SWE, f KIE.
FRANCE (McHugh): has f MID, f NAF, f MAR, a MUN, a BUR, f SPA(SC), a GAS.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): has f BAL, a STP.
TURKEY (Levinson): has f AEG, a MOS, a VEN, f TYH, a UKR, f WES, a TYO, f ADR, f GOL,
a TRI, f TUS, a RUM, a BUD.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Brad Wilson, 713 Tasker St. #1, Philadelphia, PA 19148-1237
bwdolphin146 of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Doug Kent, 911 Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149
dougray30 of yahoo.com
FRANCE: Jack McHugh, 810 School Lane, Folcroft, PA 19032, (856) 456-5984,
jwmchughjr of gmail.com
GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org
RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com
TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, Beeklaan 504, 2562BP Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS, don't need phone,
al of tolkin.nl ($5)


Game Notes:
1) The Bobo FET draw (that really is just France, England, and Turkey) is rejected.


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1926 IS MARCH 19TH, 2011
Summer 1926
FRANCE (Sasseville): has f SPA(NC), f EAS.
GERMANY (Barno): has a BUL.
RUSSIA (Osuch): has a SEV, a STP, f DEN, a WAR, f NAO, a LON, f WAL, f IRI, a ARM,
a KIE, a BEL, f ENG, a HOL, a BER.
TURKEY (Linsey): has a RUM, f BLA, a UKR, a GAL, f ION, a SER, a BUR, a SIL, f MID,
a MUN, f WES, a BRE, a TYO, f GAS, a MAR, f POR, a PIC.


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Doug Kent, 911 Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149
dougray30 of yahoo.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
rolands6 of verizon.net
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 717 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883-9712, (607) 481-4526
mpbarno of gmail.com
RUSSIA: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885
ROsuch4082 of aol.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) There currently are no game ending proposals. Fall orders please for what might be... well, who knows? I really want to get to the end of this game and I'm sure you do as well. Get those orders in.


CAST NO SHADOWS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
Rules at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/Tinamou/rules/BreakingAway.htm
DUE DATE FOR TURN 14 IS MARCH 19TH, 2011
Turn 13
92 (replenish with a 2) Travis (Breaking Away! - Not really... much)
91 (no replenishment) Empty
90 (replenish with a 3) Wally, Bowie, Bonham
89 (replenish with a 6) Rincewind
88 (replenish with a 7) Kyoto, Xavier, Zorro
87 (replenish with a 10) Drugs (1 point), Crockett
86 (replenish with a 12) Water (3 points), Carrot
85 (replenish with a 14) Mideast, Agnus (2 points), Gloria, Kyrie, Granny
84 (no replenishment) Empty
83 (no replenishment) Empty
82 (replenish with a 3) Sanctus
81 (no replenishment) Empty
-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-
80 (no replenishment) Empty
79 (no replenishment) Empty
78 (replenish with a 3) Vidic
77 (replenish with a 4) Krstajic, Dragutinovic
76 (no replenishment) Empty
75 (no replenishment) Empty
74 (no replenishment) Empty
73 (no replenishment) Empty
72 (replenish with a 3) Gavrancic
71 (no replenishment) Empty
70 (no replenishment) Empty
69 (no replenishment) Empty
68 (no replenishment) Empty
67 (replenish with a 3) Yorick, Death


Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (15 points)
Team Name: The Turtle Moves; Captained by Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler
A: Rincewind the Wizzard 8 8 9 6 (3)
B: Granny Weatherwax 11 15 14 (10)
C: Captain Carrot 9 21 12 (15)
D: Death 3 3 3 (3)
(Rincewind with the Luggage, Granny on Her Broom, Carrot of the City Watch, and Death is just DEATH!)
Total Replenishments: 12+58+18+15+33+33+18+28+19+31+16+42+35 = 358
TEAM 2 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (13 points)
Team Name: Never Ending Worry Source; Manager: Rumour; Team Captain: Ye Olde Manager
A: Water 15 4 5 12 (6)
B: Kyoto 3 3 7 (10)
C: Mideast 6 10 14 (3)
D: Drugs 13 4 10 (8)
Total Replenishments: 12+35+37+44+30+22+16+30+24+23+18+27+43 = 361
TEAM 3 ((David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (0 points)
Team Name: Famous Four
A: Krstajic 16 8 17 4 (3)
B: Vidic 6 19 3 (5)
C: Gavrancic 3 3 3 (3)
D: Dragutinovic 7 17 4 (3)
Total Replenishments: 12+35+40+28+13+18+16+28+20+29+14+56+14 = 323
TEAM 4 (Brendan Whyte): obiwonfive of hotmail.com (9 points)
Team Name: The Reverse Alphabeticists
A: Zorro 4 3 3 7 (4)
B: Yorick 3 3 3 (3)
C: Xavier 5 3 7 (10)
D: Wally 3 3 3 (15)
Total Replenishments: 12+26+24+28+28+38+17+18+16+19+15+31+20 = 292
TEAM 5 (Alexander Woo): aswoo of yahoo.com (24 points)
Team Name: Just Ordinary; Manager: Credo
A: Agnus 7 6 6 14 (5)
B: Sanctus 4 10 3 (4)
C: Kyrie 14 5 14 (4)
D: Gloria 5 3 14 (3)
Total Replenishments: 12+44+22+17+22+42+28+25+27+26+17+24+45 = 351
TEAM 6 (Andy York): wandrew88 of gmail.com (17 points)
Team Name: Alamo
A: Crockett 4 5 3 10 (8)
B: Travis 4 4 2 (20)
C: Bowie 3 5 3 (14)
D: Bonham 3 5 3 (13)
Total Replenishments: 12+12+12+60+20+22+21+19+16+38+17+55+18 = 322


Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. We can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure.


Press:


LAST WORD: Well, now it remains to be seen if I can "stay back". I think I can. I really want to get the next issue out, partly because it will be the baseball preview, and partly because it will be the end (most likely) for Secrets, which already is the longest game ever here in TAP. In the longer term, Dougie is putting me to shame for actually producing a real dipszine, but maybe the inspiration will come back. Let's see if I can go a few months keeping closer to schedule and then try to start some new games and things. If John Boardman can keep going, so can I. And in that sense, if I can get through this next decade of way too much work (I recently was promoted to Professor at Boston University, so it feels like something got rewarded) then I know I want to do a whole lot of Diplomacy in retirement. I still have an intense interest in Diplomacy as it fits into the search for Artificial Intelligence technology. Making a computer that can play Jeopardy is trivial. Making one that can play Diplomacy and be indistinguishable from a human player would be a real accomplishment. It may not even be possible. Right now, I'm pondering game theory on how to conceptualize things like accountable care organizations in health care, but modeling Diplomacy will be more fun. I have lots of other projects in mind as well, so if I keep this thing going, maybe I'll someday catch Boardman. He's only at #789 and I can publish even more frequent issues then.



File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.85.
On 27 Feb 2011, 17:24.