[South40]

He took a bullet in the chest for a sweathog?

You're re-writing history there SAJ.

[SAJ]

Hardly. Just de-romanticising, to a modest extent, that curious and filthy town (where, btw, my favourite cousin, for reasons his own, has chosen to live for the past 24 yrs).

I rewrite NOTHING except my own copy, and even then only when the typically illiterate editor or editress insists. History, OF ITSELF, is not mutable -- but, those who write history should have a pistol at the side of their head while they do so, as a preventative against their otherwise ''interpreting'', rather than recounting, historical events.

And, in case you're wondering, I have indeed worn a white sport coat with a pink carnation as a boutonniere once.

The lady who accompanied me to that event asked, and I quote, ''Why are you wearing a carnation?'' (Her corsage was a fairly nice orchid, best I could afford at the time).

The only reply I could come up with, was ''It's a free ticket out of El Paso.''

The dance we attended that evening was in Hanover, NH. Unluckily, she didn't get the joke.

Such, of course, is life. Perhaps, better a good melody about a sweaty town that a no-melody tune about, say, Honolulu. Right? (g!)