THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #354

November 23, 2014


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. We also are being reproduced in Eternal Sunshine at least for awhile longer.


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


We continue with Kendo Nagasaki, join ANY time, just send me a guess!!!
This issue continues the szine/subszine inversion. As most of you know, this thing began as a "subszine" to Terry Tallman's North Sealth, West George, then became its own szine with a host of subszines. The subszines remaining will appear as sub-subszines to our new flipflopped home in Doug Kent's Eternal Sunshine. Doug's incessant nagging is not keeping us on schedule, but will make it so we keep going. I'd like to keep writing and doing some game GMing (note that has been expanding). I'm set on the GMing, and I'm starting to write a bit, hope there might be more. Let's get the new Diplomacy game going. Since Doug is winding down, I may have to flip that back around again and be the centerpiece for all the subszines, we'll see. I do have that option on the table in relation to the next announcement about the big MOVE of the Pouch site to Chris Babcock.
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 subszine (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.
So, the big announcement is that the Diplom.org site is physically moving again (it actually pretty much is moved). Millis Miller has done a great job with the sysadmin job behind the scenes for many years on this, but he asked us all recently if we could move the site. Chris Babcock has stepped forward, where he may be able to do some content refreshment in addition to basic hosting. There are many things to be worked out, including updates on the tap mailing list, we'll announce those in the next "Christmas" issue. For today, let's thank Millis Miller for his hard work all these years and REALLY thank Chris Babcock for helping to make the transition so smooth. It really has gone well, and most of you probably didn't even notice it was happening. But if you find you cannot access the website with the PDFs and HTMLs of all the past issues... well, please let me know and we'll fix it.


THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE FEATURES SECTION (CONS/LETTERS/MUSIC)
((For upcoming cons around the world: /Face/cons/index.php, but note that some of the Americans have stopped posting the tournaments there. Shame, shame, shame... with the move of the diplom.org site, I hope this will be reinvigorated. So, since I will be running TempleCon again, February 6-8, 2015, here in Providence, let's move on to that. It's featured at the top of the Tournament Convention site above. Please consider coming, I have two "pay-what-you-can" hotel rooms and the four round tournament is Friday 6PM, Saturday 9AM and 6PM, Sunday 11AM. I think this year I'm finally going to get a bit of a breakout, so please join us. Let me know NOW if you're planning to come!!!))


Drew James (Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 7:45 PM)
Jim,
It is nice to be able to move on to basketball season given SU's disappointing football season. For my first time I went in on football season tickets with a buddy and SU had their worst home record since the Dome opened. Their only home win was vs. 'Nova - which they only won because Nova missed a chip shot field goal at the end of regulation. The number of injuries was ridiculous this season. Hard to win with a third string QB playing behind your second string offensive line!
I think this will be a fun basketball season. We will lose some games for sure. There is a lot of talent on the team but it is young and unproven. The freshmen look good. We need someone, anyone, who can hit a jump shot, though. Maybe Patterson will be the answer.
Drew, karelanddrew of gmail.com
((Yes, too bad that Providence College and Syracuse are in different leagues now. I always followed Syracuse basketball for that reason, but my attention span may languish a bit now. We'll see. The storyline of the season so far is what Calipari has done in Kentucky, and how they can get in their own way. PC is playing them soon to get destroyed, though PC's young team has been coming together pretty well, and just sneaked into the top 25. Kris Dunn was a 2012 McDonald's All American and then has been injured (labrum), but is coming back in fits and starts toward potential real stardom. Continuing the injury problem, though, he just sprained an ankle and will miss the Kentucky game. PC probably will lose by 30.))


NEW FEATURE: ROCK AND ROLL BANDS AND MOMENTS THAT MATTER
((If anyone from TAP or ES has ideas for more things to talk about here let me know. I do have five or six ideas lined up here already that I just have to write.
I had planned to write more on Richard Thompson, but I'm running way behind. Let's see where we are on the last page. Richard Thompson's son Teddy also has what seems like a fascinating new album, which I've heard some of but don't own yet, entitled Family that I will have to comment on more at some point. Teddy manages to engage the different members of his family, including the parents who left an indelible memory in my mind in their last concert tour here in Providence where Linda hauled off and kicked Richard in the shin in the middle of the concert. So this could be an all-Ghod section for awhile.))


DIPLOMACY WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT IS ONGOING - YOU CAN STILL JOIN!
This is the latest incarnation of this team based tournament. I am helping to lead the Nor'Easter team for people in the Northeast part of the United States. https://www.facebook.com/groups/123795024327261/ is the Facebook page for the event.
And you can sign up for the Tournament at: http://aqmn.asciiking.com/. Other US regional teams are the ones in the Pacific, Dixie, and Chicago. Its unique aspect, that continues to be distorting, but in interesting ways, is its "solo only" feature. You advance from the preliminaries to the finals only by soloing, and then need solos in the finals against the other soloists. Though this started last January, it probably will be going on for at least another year, the finals are starting now. The rules for the finals have been tweaked and the finals are now starting, everyone has been queried. But you also still can join the qualifiers, openings are there now!!! Word is we may cancel them, I think the finals should reignite interest. We also are picking up some discussion for a successor Diplomacy World Cup. I think we all realize that this interesting experiment has not been completely successful. I recently was elected to the Council for DWC IV, so if anyone has any ideas about where this idea should go to reinvigorate it, please let me know!


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. Since I'm not postal mailing the szine any more, I've dropped back to just reporting the disguised E-Mail addresses. As someone notes, if you need some more contact information, go back to past issues or ask me.
Standby lists:
Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Steve Emmert, Vince Lutterbie, Paul Rauterberg, Doug Kent, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, and Hugh Polley stand by for regular Diplomacy. I've pared down the standby list according to who I'm actually in touch with. If I removed you and you want to be added back, just say so. Otherwise, just 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 what?
SPY DIPLOMACY: Heath Gardner (not sure if that is still active), need at least six more.
REGULAR DIPLOMACY: need seven for another game start.


THE DON WILLIAMS 57 MEMORIAL: 2014A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1901 IS DECEMBER 20TH, 2014
Summer 1901
AUSTRIA (Ozog): has a SER, a BUD, f ALB.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): has f ENG, f NTH, a YOR.
FRANCE (Ellinger): has f MID, a SPA, a PIC.
GERMANY (Abbott): has f DEN, a KIE, a RUH.
ITALY (Holley): has f ION, a TYO, a VEN.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): has f GOB, f BLA, a MOS, a UKR.
TURKEY (Burgess): has f CON, a ARM, a BUL.


E-Mail Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Eric Ozog, elferic of juno.com
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, wiedem of telus.net
FRANCE: Marc Ellinger, mellinger of blitzbardgett.com
GERMANY: Will Abbott, wjja9 of yahoo.com>
ITALY: Melinda Holley, genea5613 of aol.com
RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, paul.rauterberg of att.net
TURKEY: David Burgess, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org


Game Notes:
1) I have lots of Fall orders, but well short of everyone's, so we just have the press this season.


Press:
(ST. GALL, SWITZERLAND): A monk in a black habit walks into the library. The doorkeeper meets him.
"Gruss Gott! How may I assist your research?"
"My abbot has instructed me to obtain a copy of Ordo Romanus 45."
"This will take some time. The ordo is only in a manuscript which is quite delicate. I shall have to have a couple of assistants prepare a copy. It will take a few days, unless your abbot needs it on vellum. It will require several weeks longer to obtain the materials in that case."
"No, ordinary paper will suffice. My abbot needs the content, not the quality of the original."
"Indeed. May I ask what your abbot needs it for?"
"I was not told. I presume he wants to add it to the library. I believe he has ambitions to set up the monastery as a center for liturgical research along the lines of Louvain, Maria Laach, or Klosterneuburg. But I am a relatively new monk, and not one of the abbot's confidants. I merely obey, as holy St. Benedict instructed."
"I see. Although we are no longer a Benedictine monastery here, we have a few rooms for visiting scholars. You may make arrangements with the diocesan chancery."
"So I was instructed."
"And in the meantime, you will have access to the library."
"Thank you very much. May God bless your work."
"And yours."
(MUNICH): The new, as yet uncrowned Kaiser and his escort have arrived at the Bavarian capital after a long journey.
"Rest up, your highness; we meet with Luitpold tomorrow."
"But not with King Otto?" replied the Kaiser.
"No, young sire. It is widely known among noble circles, but not so much in those you have come from. King Otto is quite mad and has been since before his coronation. His uncle, Luitpold, is the regent, as he was for the King's predecessor and brother before him."
"His brother was king during unification, no?"
"He was. That was before Leopold II was declared mentally ill. Otto first showed signs of his illness around that time, however."
"So Luitpold is the real ruler of Bavaria?" asked Wilhelm III
"Under yourself, of course."
"Of course. I am still getting used to this."
"Prussia, and indeed the whole empire, will be getting used to the house of Fedewa."
"So we are meeting with the regent. Do you have any notes for me?"
"Indeed, and we will go over them in the morning. But the gist of them is this. Regent Luitpold is the real ruler of Bavaria, and Bavaria is the most powerful of the German states after Prussia. So the regent is the most powerful of your subjects."
"Do you think there will be trouble?"
"No," replied the senior advisor. "He, and all of Bavaria, is loyal to the empire, as long as the empire continues to exist. But in the wake of recent events, the regent will surely want some reassurance that the empire, and Prussia's leadership of it, will continue. Remember, Luitpold's duty is to look after Bavaria. If he believes that the German Reich will descend into chaos, why should he not make a deal with the other south German states? Or with Austria or France? If he believes that Prussia is prostrate, it would only be sensible for him to look to make other arrangements."
"We will have to show him that Prussia isn't dead yet."
"Indeed, sire. But to bed. It is already 9:57 PM."
(ST. GALL, SWITZERLAND four days later): "Brother Matthias?"
"Yes?"
"Your manuscript is ready."
"Thank you."
"Thank my assistants, Don and Wilhelm."
"What is this iconography on this capital?"
"It is a duck, Brother Matthias."


THE PHIL REYNOLDS MEMORIAL: 2006B, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1911 IS DECEMBER 20TH, 2014
Summer 1911
AUSTRIA (Burgess): has a VIE, a BUD, f CON, a GAL, a TYO, a SER.
ENGLAND (James): R f ion-AEG; has f NTH, a LVN, f NWG, a BER, a WAR,
a STP, f ENG, f AEG, f GOB, a KIE, f BAL.
FRANCE (Holley): R a ber-SIL, a tyo-VEN; has f ION, f TYH, a APU, a BUR, a TRI, f ADR,
a SIL, f TUN, a VEN.
ITALY (Crow): has a GRE.
RUSSIA (Kent): R a war-UKR; has a MOS, a MUN, a UKR, a BOH, f EAS, f PRU.


E-Mail Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: David Burgess, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org
ENGLAND: Drew James, kjames01 of twcny.rr.com or karelanddrew of gmail.com
FRANCE: Melinda Holley, genea5613 of aol.com
GERMANY: Marc Ellinger, mellinger of blitzbardgett.com
ITALY: John Crow, johnny.crow of hotmail.com
RUSSIA: Doug Kent, dougray30 of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Fred Wiedemeyer, wiedem of telus.net


Game Notes:
1) No proposals extant.
2) With all the carnage of last turn, there wasn't very much interest in writing all the conditional orders for fall. I do wish we had a bit more press though!


Press:
NONE!!!


FOR THE MEKONS ET AL.: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 12 IS DECEMBER 20, 2014!!
Turn 11: The Pack Approaches the Sprint Finish Line, too late for points
93 (replenish with a 3) Katniss Everdeen
92 (replenish with a 4) Peeta Mellark, Haymitch Abernathy, Effie Trinket
91 (no replenishment) None
90 (no replenishment) None
89 (no replenishment) None
88 (no replenishment) None
87 (replenish with a 3) Travis, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little
86 (no replenishment) None
85 (replenish with a 3) Ernie Davis
84 (replenish with a 4) Arciszewski, Jim Brown
83 (replenish with a 6) Sam Vimes, Jean Van de Velde
82 (no replenishment) None
81 (replenish with a 3) Moist von Lipwig, CMOT Dibbler
-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-
80 (replenish with a 5) Sylvester Carmouche,
79 (replenish with a 6) Roberto Rojas, Ryan Leaf, Houston
78 (replenish with a 9) Bowie, Dziewulski
77 (replenish with a 11) Mustrum Ridcully
76 (no replenishment) None
75 (no replenishment) None
74 (no replenishment) None
73 (no replenishment) None
72 (no replenishment) None
71 (no replenishment) None
70 (no replenishment) None
69 (no replenishment) None
68 (replenish with a 3) Cwierczakiewiczowa
67 (no replenishment) None
66 (no replenishment) None
65 (no replenishment) None
64 (no replenishment) None
63 (no replenishment) None
62 (no replenishment) None
61 (no replenishment) None
60 (no replenishment) None
59 (replenish with a 3) Crockett
58 (no replenishment) None
57 (no replenishment) None
56 (no replenishment) None
55 (no replenishment) None
54 (replenish with a 3) Barszczewski


Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Hank Alme): cobblers of gmail.com (0 points)
Team Name: Vetinari's Terriers; TEAM CAPTAIN: Sam Vimes
A: Moist von Lipwig (3) 3, 3, 3
B: Mustrum Ridcully (3) 3, 4, 11
C: Sam Vimes (6) 6, 3, 6
D: CMOT Dibbler (3) 3, 3, 3
Total Replenishments: 47 + 32 + 30 + 42 + 16 + 19 + 12 + 17 + 28 + 16 + 23 = 282
TEAM 2 (Andy Bate): andydbate of gmail.com (0 points)
Team Name: Racing Froggy; TEAM CAPTAIN: Jean Van de Velde
A: Jean Van de Velde (14) 14, 3, 6
B: Roberto Rojas (7) 8, 14, 6
C: Sylvester Carmouche (8) 10, 7, 5
D: Ryan Leaf (8) 12, 9, 6
Total Replenishments: 18 + 29 + 42 + 52 + 21 + 29 + 17 + 27 + 46 + 26 + 23 = 340
TEAM 3 (David Burgess): burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org (25 points)
Team Name: Syracuse Orangemen
A: Ernie Davis (3) 3, 3, 6, 3
B: Jim Brown (3) 6, 7, 4
C: Floyd Little (3) 3, 8, 3
D: Larry Csonka (4) 4, 4, 3
Total Replenishments: 79 + 55 + 19 + 29 + 17 + 14 + 12 + 29 + 22 + 20 + 13 = 309
TEAM 4 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (48 points)
Team Name: District 12
A: Katniss Everdeen (3) 7, 4, 4, 3
B: Haymitch Abernathy (5) 5, 3, 4
C: Peeta Mellark (3) 3, 4, 4
D: Effie Trinket (5) 3, 3, 4
Total Replenishments: 92 + 90 + 16 + 12 + 16 + 28 + 15 + 15 + 17 + 13 + 15 = 329
TEAM 5 (Brendan Whyte): BWHYTE of nla.gov.au (1 point)
Team Name: The Reverse Polish Notationists (a.k.a. The Unpronounceables)
A: Arciszewski (6) 3, 3, 3, 4
B: Barszczewski (3) 3, 3, 3
C: Cwierczakiewiczowa (3) 3, 3, 3
D: Dziewulski (3) 3, 3, 9
Total Replenishments: 50 + 46 + 14 + 14 + 15 + 17 + 17 + 21 + 14 + 12 + 19 = 239
TEAM 6 (Andy York): (4 points)
Team Name: Team Alamo
A: Travis (4) 9, 3, 3, 3
B: Crockett (3) 3, 3, 3
C: Bowie (4) 6, 4, 9
D: Houston (6) 3, 12, 6
Total Replenishments: 44 + 65 + 20 + 31 + 15 + 19 + 13 + 13 + 21 + 17 + 21 = 279


Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Rules at:
/Postal/Zines/TAP/Tinamou/rules/BreakingAway.htm
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 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 (40/80) and final (120) 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 based on doing this before, about half the players will get scores below 5% and getting better than a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure.
2) A little better on replenishment as a pack starts to form. Racing Froggy has no points, but is getting farther ahead in total replenishment, will he break out soon?


Press:
(RACING FROGGY-ALL): "Has anyone seen the finishing line? I think we've got lost en route..."
(PRESS): Mockingjay part 1 opens tomorrow! (whistles 4-tone Mockingjay tune)


WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KENDO NAGASAKI
Jeremy Clarkson in Iquique, Chile
WE ARE DONE, CONGRATULATIONS TO RICK AND MIKE!!!
Kendo Nagasaki games in Eternal Sunshine continue to multiply like weeds... I'd like to get more people engaged here, not just the usual suspects from Doug's games. The full rules for Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki are in: http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es58.pdf. I asked for some comments, which I print below, any others for next issue, and then start a new one in the new year.

TURN 10
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Jeremy Clarkson in Cuya, Chile No Guess this Time

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess this Time Karl Pennington in Cuya, Chile

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Jeremy Clarkson in Iquique, Chile No Guess this Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
John Cleese in Cuya, Chile Jeremy Clarkson in Iquique, Chile

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
John Oliver in Iquique, Chile No Guess this Time

Press (I solicited some comments this time...):
(DOUG KENT): I hate your clues.
(RICK DESPER): Apparently he referred to Gordon Brown as a one-eyed Scottish idiot.
(MIKE RUTTINGER): Well, unless I've missed something (and I have pretty much all game), this comes down to either Iquique or Cuya, Chile. If it's the former, it's a little ironic that it's a city I have nearly guessed at least 2-3 times before talking myself out of each time. I'm kind of curious how Jim-Bob picks these, too. Iquique is a pretty fun name to say, so I'll go with that approach (though if we were going on the fun-to-say factor, Lake Titicaca would have won every time). As for the "who" factor, I've been pretty clueless throughout. Thanks to someone for doing their homework far better than I did, such that I could just google the names with "idiot" to try to find the right guess. Before that, my best guess that I never made was probably Meghan McCain, who is both the wrong gender and the wrong nationality. So yeah, if I somehow win (or tie for a win, since I suspect several people will get the right answer), it just proves that it's better to be lucky than good. Thanks, Jim-Bob, for a fun diversion.
(JIM-BOB): So, as I was choosing, I was watching a brilliant Top Gear episode on their Bolivia to Chile trek that ended up just south of Iquique. They actually reached the Pacific at Caleta Los Verdes, about 20k south of Iquique, but as Mike said "Iquique" was cooler to say. Top Gear is one of our favorite shows and despite the fact that Doug hated my clues, Jeremy gave me what ***I*** thought was the opportunity for fun clues. Additional commentary welcome for next time. As to why I chose Jeremy Clarkson over James May or Richard Hammond, well Jeremy's Range Rover was declared the winner of the event, despite the fact that Jeremy kept disparaging it. And his only political involvement I could find, as Rick noted, was a disparaging comment about Gordon Brown, you guys went WAY off on the wrong track for a while. For more...
(WIKIPEDIA SAYS): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear:_Bolivia_Special

TURN 9
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Jeremy Clarkson in Copacobana, on the shores of Mario Falcone in Cuya, Chile
Lake Titicaca

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess this Time Karl Pennington in Oruro, Bolivia

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Craig Ferguson in Iquique, Chile No Guess this Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
John Cleese in Santiago de Machaca, Bolivia Piers Morgan in Plaza, Peru

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
John Oliver in Tacna, Peru No Guess this Time

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: You have nailed my location, but someone else has identified me.

TURN 8
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Rush Limbaugh in Copacobana, on the shores of Rush Limbaugh in Pisagua, Chile
Lake Titicaca

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess this Time Alec Baldwin in Sajama, Bolivia

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Sean Hannity in Antofagasta, Chile No Guess this Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Glenn Beck in Tacna, Peru Keith Olbermann in Santiago de Machaca, Bolivia

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
Stephen Colbert in Oruro, Bolivia No Guess this Time

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: I am NOT an American, but most Americans will have access to the TV show me and my buds have, one way or the other, and I am nowhere near as obnoxious as you apparently think I am.

TURN 7
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Al Franken in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Rush Limbaugh in Salinas de Garci Mendoza, Bolivia

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess This Time Gene Simmons in Oruro, Bolivia

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Bill O'Reilly in Arequipa, Peru No Guess This Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Glenn Beck in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia Sarah Lee née Gore in Tacna, Peru

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
Jon Stewart in Montero, Bolivia Michelle Obama in La Paz, Bolivia

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: You still have the wrong gender, while also being quite confused about the real name of the person you accuse me of being.

TURN 6
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Mrs. Bill Clinton in Sucre, Bolivia Sonny Bono in Jesus de Machaca Municipality, Bolivia

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess This Time George Will in Toledo, Bolivia

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Rush Limbaugh in Potosi, Bolivia No Guess This Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
George Clooney in Sucre, Bolivia Jane Fonda in Arica, Chile

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
No Guess This Time John Boehner in Honolulu, Hawaii

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: My appearances on TV are still for entirely different reasons than yours have been, I have referred to something in which you appeared on my show though.

TURN 5
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
No Guess this Time Jimmy Carter in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess this Time Harry Reid in Oruro, Bolivia

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
John Boehner in Antofagasta, Chile Angela Merkel in Managua, Nicaragua

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
John McCain in La Paz, Bolivia Nancy Pelosi in La Paz, Bolivia

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
Michelle Obama in Trujillo, Peru No Guess this Time

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: Although I have discussed the possibility of running for some much, much lesser office someday, it's likely you have never heard of those statements of interest of mine; I much more famously have labeled as an "idiot" a person in a similar specific elected position as you have.

TURN 4
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Mrs. Al Gore in Ascención, Paraguay Michelle Obama's husband in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
No Guess this Time Bob Barker in Santiago, Chile

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Hillary Clinton in Lima, Peru No Guess this Time

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Katie Couric in Sao Paulo, Brazil Dennis Rodman in Bogotá, Colombia

Steen Alme: Edi Birsan
Hillary Clinton in Bogotá, Colombia President Obama in Honolulu, Hawaii

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: OK, but I am part of a larger group than that. ((CLARIFICATION: I am a member of a larger group than the group you imply by your guess.))


TURN 3
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Diana Rigg in Anchorage, Alaska Michelle Obama in Valparaiso, Chile

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
Gov. Chris Christie in Hamhung, North Korea Mark David Chapman in San Francisco, CA

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Stephen Colbert in Brasilia, Brazil Stephen Colbert in Santiago, Chile

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Landon Donovan in Quito, Ecuador Tom Brokaw in Caracas, Venezuela

Steen Alme:
Al Gore in Buenos Aires, Argentina

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: Oooh, I think you have the wrong gender, try again.


TURN 2
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Diana Rigg in Pyongyang, North Korea Jennifer Jones in New York, New York

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
Henry Kissinger in Sao Paulo, Brazil Harrison Ford in Mexico City, Mexico

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Zsa Zsa Gabor in Beverly Hills, CA Dennis Rodman in La Paz, Bolivia

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Stephen Ambrose in Seattle, WA Scarlett Johansson in Havana, Cuba

Steen Alme:
Kim Jong-Un in Sevastopol, Ukraine

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: While I also have appeared on television in some form, I have done so for different reasons than you.


TURN 1
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Diana Rigg in Anchorage, Alaska Rex Roberts in Alexandria, Egypt

Heath Gardner: Doug Kent:
Jimmy "the Greek" in Las Vegas, NV Charlton Heston in Rome, Italy

Rick Desper: Kevin Wilson:
Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards in Sochi, Russia Pierre Trudeau in Montevideo, Uruguay

Hank Alme: Mike Ruttinger
Ian Fleming in Tegucigalpa, Honduras George McArthur in Seoul, South Korea

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: Unfortunately, you are very much dead, while I am very much alive.


LAST WORD: In the sequence of Richard Thompson thoughts, this issue I'm going to talk about four of the songs on Acoustic Classics from the Richard and Linda Thompson years, which of course pretty much were sung by Linda in their originals, and Richard with unaccompanied acoustic guitar here. Three of them are the first three songs on the CD that set the tone, the title track from I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight and "Walking on a Wire" and "Wall of Death" from Shoot Out the Lights (the title track of that one is later on the CD). So, as I've discussed before, Richard has taken voice lessons and sharpened up his voice over the last couple of decades, so he sings better here than he did over the Richard/Linda 1974-1982 period. Still, Linda had an incredible voice, before her more recent bouts of voice problems that leave her unable to sing live on tour at all, so she is missed on these songs. I particularly found "Wall of Death" to be a great acoustic arrangement, but lacking in some of the soaring vocal bite that it had with a full band and different singing. Richard's TWO solos on "Shoot Out the Lights" are particularly noteworthy for the completely gripping acoustic guitar work. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" and "Walking on a Wire" in places where he was simultaneously playing on the high and low guitar strings I could have sworn he must have been doing it with a third hand - though seeing it live verified that he somehow was doing it with only two. All this just makes me want to listen to all the different versions and appreciate each of them for what they are. "Walking on a Wire" has a particularly effective urgent ending. For people who live and breathe Ghod's music, this has been great for getting me grabbing all the different versions and replaying them, but Acoustic Classics really is a great album in its own right as well. More on other songs and parts of it in future issues.


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On 26 Nov 2014, 15:36.