Rutabaga

Whoa. Just . . . whoa. R

I'm a bit confused. I had the impression from an earlier chapter that Nick was reading from printed music, but the latest chapter makes it sound like he is playing entirely by ear. Meanwhile, I was suitably misled by where David's conversation with Colley was going. Won't say any more. Whatever blew things up, I can only assume Luther was involved. R

I always like "Let's Put On a Show" stories from Cole (such as the talent show in "The Prom" or the four-clarinet concert in "Duck Duck Goose"). I hope we'll see something like that with Nick and Dillon. R

I did not immediately associate the title with the underlying story but as soon as I started reading I recognized it. I would agree with Nigel's comments. It's kind of an interesting twist on the "hero's journey" paradigm. It leaves us with a mystery as to what happened (or didn't) that night in the hogan with the Turquoise Boy. Good Pick from the Past. R

Of course, we'll have to see what Lute does to muck things up. R

David's instinct for what to do with his campers reminds me of Matt from "Duck Duck Goose" during his summer job with the Parks Department. R

Duck pins were the thing where there grew up and n the DC suburbs. Never heard of five pin. The small ball with no holes was the same for duck pins. Very well done R

A truly charming story. R

Poor Jamie. Always "later." R

I like the attitude and approach of our hero. R

I bought one of those flip-over waffle-makers like they have at the Comfort Inn-type places, where you pour the batter in, close the two halves, then rotate the handle to flip the whole thing over for cooking. It makes great waffles, crisp outside, soft inside. And for those of us who are really lazy, Krusteaz makes a good Belgian waffle mix that is dead simple to use. R

Like virtually everyone in my generation, I was circumcised at birth in the California hospital where I was born. I stumbled upon the below article and found it quite interesting. http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/phony-phimosis-diagnosis.html?m=1 R

It was quite a shock, actually. I never expected that outcome. R

Before he got busted, though, Hec was fond of ordering people around with the statement "I own this ranch." You can see why I thought of him when Lute pushes people around on the basis of "I'm the Senior Counselor." R

Hec )Hector) was the arrogant and ne'er-do-well son of Mrs. Hanson, the owner of the ranch where Ren ended up. R

Lite reminds me of Hec from the story "Ren." R

Story is gone -- I'm concerned. UPDATE: And now it's back. Weird R

At least I had plenty of (hands-on) experience! R

Again starting a topic that the proletariat can respond to. An interesting premise. I confess that the main character didn't seem to have many redeeming qualities at the outset. Will be very interesting to see how he fares in this position. I worked in recording and then broadcasting while in college and during summers, and was never at a loose end Pity there were no openings for professional sperm donors at the time. R

Cole would have given Dick Clark a run for the money as America's Oldest Teenager. R

I've always wondered if "Josh, Evolving" was the first story. R

I can't find a previous thread for this story, to my great surprise. It is very well done with an immense number of satisfying developments. It's my nomination for a Pick from the Past. R

I have to admit that the current story listings are still reminiscent of the legacy nifty.andrew.cmu.edu version from long ago. Wonder how many people still remember that? R

I would not have remembered the title but I recognized it immediately. A delightful reprise in this Pick from the Past. Edith's family seems like something out of a Faulkner novel. R

I have done some research and have further information, but let me preface it all by saying that I have been reading and playing music since I began piano lessons at age 5, and 60 years later I'm still going strong, playing bass semi-professionally (which means it is not my sole means of support, but the work is at pro level). In all this time, I have never seen the note or key names presented in lower case. I have worked from at least hundreds and probably thousands of scores and charts in this time. Researching the question, I found a number of sources that are guides for academics writing about music, or people preparing Symphony concert programs, or students submitting research papers on music. These in turn cite published books which I do not have nor have I access to them. The consensus for formal music writing seems to be as follows: 1. The names of notes and the names of keys are always upper case. 2. If a key is minor, it is written as < C minor > with no hyphen. 3. If a note is altered by an accidental (sharp or flat), it is written with a hyphen.and with "sharp" or "flat spelled out -- e.g., B-flat or C-sharp. 4. Things only get fuzzy when we talk about the names of chords, which is not something your example touched on. Clearly the majority rule is to use capital letters for all chord names, and to modify those letters if necessary to denote (for example) minor chords. Thus, G major is simply shown as "G" whereas G minor is shown as Gm or G- (minus sign). But there is a minority, apparently, that believes minor chord names should be shown as lower case letters (i.e., D minor = d). I cannot imagine anything more confusing to a working musician, and as I say, I have never seen it in the field. In any case, this issue is separate from your inquiry. Based on my research, your specimen sentence would read: Why is the sound of the note F-sharp so dissonant when it intrudes on the melody of a piece that is written in the key of F major? My computer is starting to act up. I'll come back later and add a link or two to the sources I looked at. R P.S. -- I participate in several online discussion groups for musicians, and those groups always use the pound sign for sharp and a lower case b for flat, even though those are not strictly speaking the "official" characters. Immense amounts of discussions among pro musicians take place with these substitutes, and no one has a second thought about it. UPDATE: Some links: http://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/2266001.ch01.pdf http://cola.siu.edu/music/_common/documents/writingonmusic.pdf