The Eagles vs Saints-Arrrrgggghhhhhh!

Oy. What a frustrating game. On Sunday, the Eagles traveled to the Louisiana Superdome to play the suddenly-resurgent New Orleans Saints. Maybe it was the letdown after the big win over Dallas & T.O. the week before, or maybe it was crowd noise, but they came out really sluggish. It was 10-0 in short order, and the Eagles were reeling. They were getting the ball back with just under 2 minutes left in the first half, when Dexter Wynn & Ryan Moats totally muffed the punt return, which gave the Saints the short field they used to score another TD.

OK, they did look a little more alive coming out for the second half: two touchdowns to tie it up, one a sweet 60-yard catch & run by Reggie Brown. But the Eagles blew some coverage, letting the Saints retake the lead, and in the end, let them march downfield to kick the winning field goal. McNabb did not impress, although I suppose he's entitled to an off game after some of the numbers he's put up. Still, this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Those Saints will bear watching the rest of the season.

"Lost"-Season Three Begins Tonight ...

... and it's about time!

So many questions to be answered after a terrific ending to last season, including:
-Did Desmond, Eko, and Locke survive the hatch explosion?
-Will anything happen to Claire's baby?
-Will Michael & Walt make it back to civilization?
-What's the deal with the Others?
-What amusing nicknames will Sawyer bestow upon people?

We'll start to find out (I hope), starting at 9 o'clock Eastern.

The Monsters Among Us

There are some really sick, disturbed people in this world, and there are some who are just plain evil. Because of them, the past few days have seen some horrific killings at schools in Colorado, Wisconsin, and now, Pennsylvania. We shake our heads in puzzlement and sigh in frustration as we ponder how a low-life thug in Colorado and devoted family man in Lancaster can apparently just go crazy, enter a school, target girls for molestation, and then start shooting before killing themselves.

I thought about this even more when I heard that another monster, Charles Conner, was arrested in suburban Philadelphia on Monday. He had been detained by the police after a drunk driving accident on Garrett Road, and taken to Delaware County Memorial Hospital, where he made threats against health care workers and police during his blood alcohol test. Later, a huge arsenal of guns, knives, and home-made bombs was discovered in his Drexel Hill house, which sits just 200 feet from St. Charles School in the 3800 block of Dennison Avenue. And, as reported in the Delco Times yesterday, this was not this bastard's first run-in with the law:

It was while Conner was awaiting arraignment for the DUI that Detective Sgt. David Madonna remembered the defendant from the previous suicide attempt last year when police removed 59 potentially dangerous items from the house including guns and knives.

"Over the next months, Conner came to the police department several times for return of his guns and knives and the police department refused," Chitwood said, noting Conner appealed to Common Pleas Court and received a court order in April signed by Judge Joseph Cronin for the return of his property.

"Needless to say, today we’re here after obtaining a search warrant and have 53 guns. It shows how the system works," Chitwood added while waving the court document and a bound folder containing information on how to make bombs and fuses.

Thank God for the quick work of the Upper Darby police, and particularly Superintendent Michael Chitwood, who has also gone after nuisance bars and pawn shops illegally selling guns. But shame on this Judge Cronin! He needs to explain exactly why he did this, and reassure the public that he will be far more careful in the future in making his decisions. Otherwise, he should be gone from office. Period.

Because a lot of this comes down to how some people are able to manipulate the legal system to evade justice.That may have been the case with Conner. And, I just read about how an actress, Pauley Perrette ("Abby") of NCIS, is being stalked and harrassed by her ex-husband, Francis Shivers. I was literally sick to my stomach reading about how he has also harrassed another former wife and a former girlfriend, and uses the courts to file false charges against all three of them. Whether he's sick or evil, someone needs to do something more about him, before he kills.

Philadelphia Daily News Story Of Conner's Arrest

Delaware County Times Story Of Conner's Arrest

Pauley Perrette Of CBS-TV's NCIS Stalked By Ex-Husband

Mark Of The Beast??

One of the crazy dichotomies of our modern age is that the same computer databases that provide so many conveniences can also wreak havoc with our lives. Take, for example, Social Security numbers. A task force appointed by the President just issued a preliminary report urging the passage of legislation restricting how the S.S. numbers are used, due to the threat of identity theft. It seems like every week there are stories in the media about various companies or government agencies being hacked, or having laptops with personal records stolen. This puts a lot of people's financial well-being at risk, when criminals get their hands on the data.

When the Social Security system was created back in the 1930s, people nervous about the government creating a citizen registry were assured that the data would only be used for administering the program. But over the decades, the Social Security has become a de facto national ID number. Many government forms, as well as financial applications, contracts, etc., require it. I'll hav eto do some research on it, but I remember hearing before that legally, one can't be compelled to provide it in most of these instances. I hope my memory is right.

Interim Task Force Recommends Social Security Number Limits

Top 885 Artists-Numbers 11-20

Well, my original Excel spreadsheet of artists got up to just under 200 names before I stopped. These are the artists I considered for the top 10. I didn't put them in any specific order, because in the XPN voting, they're only worth one point. They are:

Billie Holiday
Artie Shaw
Jeff Buckley
Richard Thompson
Marvin Gaye
The Smiths
Patsy Cline
Van Morrison
The Cure
Renaissance

Top 885 Artists-Number 1-Johnny Cash

He was a true American original, a man who lived on the edge, both personally and professionally. He was touted by the Left for his sympathy for prisoners, American Indians, and working men, and by the Right, for his turn towards spirituality in later years. But the Man In Black was always his own man. He was Johnny Cash.

Although he originated his career in Nashville (Sun Records), Johnny Cash was never "of Nashville", at least not for most of his professional life. His independent attitude and frequent brushes with the law saw to that. But in much of his music, in songs like "Folsom Prison Blues", "Cry Cry Cry", "Ring Of Fire", "Ghost Riders In The Sky", and a hundred more, there is a purity and nobility that comes through more than any other performer of the 20th Century. His deep baritone voice and a style that combined the world-weariness of country and the emotional honesty of folk, with the rebelliousness of rock.

In the 1990s and beyond, his career enjoyed a resurgence. He worked with producer Rick Rubin on a series of recordings; he covered "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and performed with U2. But really, he was cool even when Nashville and the larger musical establishment didn't think he was cool.

As shown in the Academy Award-winning film "I Walk The Line," Johnny could raise sure raise hell, eventually saving himself, with a lot of help from June Carter. Sometimes the biggest sinners do make the best saints.

Top 885 Artists-Number 2-Ella Fitzgerald

Her voice could make a champagne glass shatter in a famous TV commercial for Memorex. She was the greatest scat singer ever, and much more as well. She was the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald.


Lady Ella's career spanned six decades, but it was her work beginning in the late 1950s, interpreting the Great American Songbook, that defined her as a stellar figure, as far as I'm concerned. Among the greats she covered were Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and Harold Arlen. And besides that, she put her hornlike vocal style (and three-octave range) to good use on various records over the years, including collaborations with giants like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie.

Top 885 Artists-Number 3-Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello is one of the more recognizable faces in pop music over the last 30 years. It's kind of hard to miss those big glasses after all. He's performed with Burt Bacharach in an Austin Powers movie. And he's married to jazz singer Diana Krall as well. But there's so much more.


Elvis Costello is one of the first artists I associated with the New Wave, but I soon learned that his music and style were a lot more complex. He didn't really fit in with Television, the New York Dolls, or other acts of the time. And over the years, his music has been all over the place, from ska lite to R&B, to post-punk pop, to classical, and, to jazzy ballads. He's collaborated with Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Brian Eno, Chet Baker, Allen Toussaint, Lucinda Williams, and the Brodsky Quartet. But probably my favorite record of his, even more than Blood and Chocolate, was Almost Blue. He rips through a fine selection of country music covers, from Hank Williams' "Why Don't You Love Me" to Merle Haggard's "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down", and Gram Parsons' "How Much I Lied". He captures what makes real country music so great: the weepy ballads, and jumpin' honky-tonk.

Top 885 Artists-Number 5-David Bowie

Growing up in suburban Philadelphia, it seems like there was never a time when I didn't hear a lot of David Bowie on the radio. DJs like Ed Sciaky and David Dye were big fans of his music, and they helped shaped the tastes of Philadelpia audiences.

And what wasn't to like? There's the big catalog of fine songs: "Space Oddity", "The Jean Genie", "Suffragette City," "Golden Years", "Rebel Rebel", and many more. But what has made Bowie so great is that he was a true rock icon without being stuck as any specific one. In a few years, he morphed from a folkie to the androgynous glam alien Ziggy Stardust to the alienated addict, the Thin White Duke. And along the way, whether working with the Spiders, or producer Brian Eno and guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew, Bowie also incorporated elements of funk, R&B, and pop into his music.

Top 885 Artists-Number 4-Miles Davis

When it comes to Miles Davis, nearly everybody thinks of Kind Of Blue, which is a masterpiece. Bill Evans is on piano, of course, and all the tunes are deservedly considered standards. But there are two other records I like which also show his genius.

A Tribute To Jack Johnson is the soundtrack to a film biography of the famous boxer. Here, his band includes John McLaughlin on guitar, Steve Grossman on soprano sax, Billy Cobham on drums, Herbie Hancock on organ, and Michael Henderson on electric bass. This is a fine jazz-rock record, where Davis & Co. solo at will, and they just sizzle.

On Sketches of Spain, Davis teamed again with arranger Gil Evans. In adapting and building around a classical composition, Rodrigo's "Concierto De Aranjuez", Davis showcases his mastery of the flugelhorn as well as the trumpet. Some self-styled jazz purists don't like this record, taking issue with its incredible lyricism. That's too bad, and rather fortunate that Davis and many fans over the years have brushed this opinion aside. It is a lovely record, with an emphasis on flamenco and a relaxed tempo.