Rasta, the banjo can become an aggressive thing. And sometimes such a nag I want it to shut up. But it can also make exquisite complaint and gentle lyric.

Where was that cosmic coffee housed? So much coffee, so many houses, so many songs ago. One might turn dreary & dream of measuring out one's life in coffee houses. Or in pubs floating in smoke. Or Kleintheater all whitewashed in stone cellars where pre-Americans stream in for wine & Kultur, even for wild & wooly American germinal Kultur. They look close & are mostly gracious - in Holland they turn into swarming bees between every song - in Germany they can get well lubricated & raucous - in Sweden thoughtful & melancholy - We take their money & look close in return. Everyplace feels more like home than Los Angeles. I feel like a Swede tonight. Morose.

Sandy, you're gracious to have overlooked my screwy syntax. I got carried away ...

Abby, I don't understand how those academic divisions work; What does a "center" do, I wonder. Was there a "center" before the reorganisation, I also wonder.

Hedy