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To: SiouxPal who wrote (51027)	4/10/2006 10:19:25 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 104216

"Everybody must get stoned." Dylan, Rat, and a few others... Rolling Stones' China Debut Criticized as `Foreigners Party' April 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Rolling Stones' first concert in mainland China was criticized by local media as a ``party for foreigners'' after the band played to a sellout, mostly expatriate crowd of 8,500 people in Shanghai. Tickets for the April 8 event at the Shanghai Grand Stage were priced as high as 3,000 yuan ($375), or the equivalent of more than five weeks wages for the average worker in the city. Most tickets cost between 300 yuan and 1,800 yuan. The concert was ``a party organized for foreigners,'' the government-controlled Oriental Morning Post said yesterday. The newspaper also criticized the organizers for restricting domestic media's access to the event. The Stones' appearance in Shanghai reflects an increasingly open and permissive culture, in a nation where Western rock music was once denounced as a symbol of capitalist decadence. Still, the concert attracted little attention in Chinese media. The People's Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, and Jiefang Daily, Shanghai's main government newspaper, didn't report on the event. The British-born rock icons performed a 1 1/2-hour set featuring many of their best-known hits -- minus five that were left off the play list to satisfy Chinese censors. Beijing rocker Cui Jian joined the band on stage for a duet with lead singer Mick Jagger on the song ``Wild Horses.'' ``They still know how to play,'' said Nicky Ogilvie, head of marketing at international law firm Linklaters in Shanghai. She estimated the audience was at least 80 percent foreign. Banned List The Rolling Stones agreed not to perform the songs ``Brown Sugar,'' ``Beast of Burden,'' ``Let's Spend the Night Together,'' ``Honky Tonk Woman'' and ``Rough Justice'' after censors objected to the lyrics. The ban prompted Jagger to poke fun at the government at the pre-concert press conference, saying he was ``pleased the Ministry of Culture is doing so much to protect the morals of expatriate bankers and their girlfriends.'' The band performed in China as part of their ``A Bigger Bang'' world tour, which began in Boston in August. In February, the Stones played for free in front of a million people in Rio de Janeiro, the biggest concert they have staged. China Central Television, the state-run broadcaster, filmed the Shanghai concert, though it has yet to show the footage. The average monthly salary for Shanghai workers was 2,235 yuan in 2005, according to government data. To contact the reporter for this story: Matthew Brooker in Shanghai at mbrooker1@bloomberg.net Last Updated: April 9, 2006 23:56 EDT bloomberg.com

To: SiouxPal who wrote (51027)	4/21/2006 7:19:31 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 104216

"Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was at home watching on television when his team’s season took a potentially devastating blow." _____________________________________________ 1st baseman suffered 2 broken bones in wrist after collision with Furcal The Associated Press Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET April 21, 2006 Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was at home watching on television when his team’s season took a potentially devastating blow. He didn’t need a replay to realize Derrek Lee was seriously injured. Lee, the NL batting champion and two-time Gold Glove first baseman, will be sidelined at least two months with two broken bones above his right wrist. His glove hand was bent backward in a collision with Rafael Furcal of the Dodgers at first base on Wednesday. “I figured it wasn’t good just because Derrek has a high threshold of pain,” Hendry said Friday before the Cubs began a three-game series against the Cardinals. “For him to react like that, I did not think it was going to be some kind of a minor sprain. “He’s a tough guy. To me, I was expecting the worst right from the start.” It’s another piece of bad news for the Cubs, whose three biggest players are now on the 15-day disabled list. Pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are expected back next month. A year ago Friday, the Cubs lost Nomar Garciaparra for the season with a torn groin. Now manager Dusty Baker finds himself scrambling to fill the void from the loss of Lee, who batted .335 with 46 homers and 107 RBIs last season. This year, he was batting .318 with three homers and 10 RBIs. The news was tough enough that manager Dusty Baker scheduled a pre-game meeting to give players details of the injury and tell them they’d all have to pull together and do the little things. “It’s not a very pleasant situation, but it’s here and it’s real,” Baker said. “This is a major blow. We’ll play for him and play for us.” Cubs athletic trainer Mark O’Neal said Lee would wear a cast covering his full arm for three weeks, then move into a shorter cast for another three weeks. The team had been expecting worse news, but there were no related cartilage or ligament tears to complicate matters. O’Neal described Lee’s attitude as “very downbeat.” Teammates had not contacted him, although center fielder Juan Pierre said the two exchanged text messages. “I texted him and he texted back to say, ’Keep the guys going,”’ Pierre said. “I didn’t really want to call him. “I think he’s like me: when he gets hurt he doesn’t really want to talk to anybody.” Lee had to jump for the ball when reliever Scott Eyre tried to shovel it to him out of his glove, and when he came down Furcal barreled into him full speed. He had been using his right arm to protect himself, and the glove was bent back. Eyre, who bruised his right knee on the play, blamed himself for the injury. “In the heat of the moment I looked to my right and thought I could flip it and get him out,” Eyre said. “I am hard on myself. I always figure I should get everything right and you don’t get everything right.” Baker joked that he has toyed with 20 lineups without Lee. Todd Walker filled both of Lee’s slots on Friday, batting third and getting a rare start at first base, but Baker said he’d also use John Mabry and Mike Restovich, recalled on Friday from Triple-A Iowa, at that position. Both Walker and Mabry got a chance to play first base while Lee was playing in the World Baseball Classic. The Cubs know none of them can really replace Lee. “He was the one guy, I think, in the lineup that the opposing team really, really feared,” Pierre said. “Even on a bad day he was going to get on two times. “I know a lot of people will count us out now, but I think we’ve still got enough guys in the clubhouse to do what we know we can do.” © 2006 The Associated Press. URL: msnbc.msn.com