From Out Of Nowhere

      Strange, isn't it, how much one's mood can change within a few moments.   A step to the mailbox today revealed a stunning surprise, a gift from an old friend that comes from out of nowhere, and a gift one had wanted but figured impossible to locate, even in this Internet-driven age.   (Insert shivers here.)   What was it?, I can hear you asking, wondering what could cause such a reversal of mood, especially in the generally-cranky Doctor J.   Well, here it is, what dropped my jaw somewhere down around my ankles, an image you'll probably not be able to find anywhere else on The Net:


Wow....   As I write this, AG is reading in the background, and near the end of the magnificent "Little Gidding." The tapes include readings of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "The Hippopotamus" and "Sweeney Among The Nightingales," the readings themselves done for the BBC in the early seventies.   Positively delightful.   Thanks, old friend.   Many, many thanks.

      Later:   AG's reading of The Waste Land is a true tour de force, especially with Alec's capacity to perform a variety of voices in a way that Eliot in his own reading of the poem could never manage.   Wonderful.   Consider the Not-so-Good Doctor's day made.