Happy birthday MCML!  Also congratulations and sincere thanks to Dave
Lampson for the masterful and unobtrusive way in which he manages the
list so that we can all learn from it.

All? Well -- I, at least, have learned an immense amount.  My first
exposure to the List came while living in Laguna Beach, California in 1996
(I think) and has subsequently been followed by subscriptions from homes in
Virginia and now back in the UK. Indeed, it was thanks to recommendations
from List members that I was able to find decent radio stations as I drove
from CA to VA.

I have learned a wealth of information about composers and artists I had
never heard of.  I have learned much about recording issues, historical
performance techniques, orchestral politics and musical ephemera.  I have
also learned that music can excite passionate, sometimes heated, debate in
exactly the same way as art, religion, politics or sport.

More important thatn any of this I have learned to appreciate being part of
an international community that behaves itself.  I once had the privilege
of being in a small group addressed by Justice Clarence Thomas, who said
something I have never forgotten.  "Civility is the sine qua non of doing
this job right." Would that more people espoused the thought -- I consider
myself lucky to be part of the MCML community, which I believe operates in
line with Justice Thomas' philosophy.

Thanks Dave -- here's to the next eight!

Tim Mahon
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