[Typoxic]

Has there seriously been no activity all this time, or is the chat still active?

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I'm afraid I don't know much about Joel Grey. I have a broad if not deep knowledge of things musical (as in theater), and that's just what you reminded me of. All I know about his daughter is that her honker hasn't been so large in recent years. Any new developments with the web vibrations? It has been a while, and who knows, it might be significant. In case you can't tell, we're sort of grasping at straws. Speaking of Genesis, and speaking of straws, do you know much about Peter Gabriel? Your "be very careful" bit is a little Lovecraftian in sentiment, but I've always been a bit of a Lovecraftian hero, so naturally it sounds like nonsense to me. Busily, Luke

[Typoxic]

This was two separate emails.

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Oh, my Dear Luke, surely you jest. Florida is eternally spring. In the same way that the barren ice fields at the heart of the 9th circle are eternal.

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My. Dear. Luke. Please don't tell me you are a devotee of the immortal and sublime Mr. Joel Grey. I do believe you may have hit very, very close to a truly universal definition of perfection with that one. Alas, but for that large-honkered, lemon-sucking daughter of his, the man would a been a new messiah. (Has any young lady ever been more sour, I ask you? Other than our Fume-Manx, of course.) As to current events; just the usual beefy boys (and in this case taught-sinewed young ladies, as well, it seems) wishing to become better acquainted with yours truly. I actually don't have much real information, just the microscopic vibrations one feels from the farthest reaches of one's web. What was it the carpenter's wife's son said some time ago, as transcribed by his dear friend Matthew; chapter 7, I believe, verse 7-8. Verse 9 should have gone on, "but be very careful what you seek, lest in finding it you are destroyed." But one supposes that he probably wouldn't have said that. They got all that destruction out of their systems way back in Genesis, didn't they? Good night, Dear Luke. So glad to hear that you are safe and sound. QS

[mortality]

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Hi Mort, Very interesting. Not sure what to make of this, I'll have to give it a good read and see if there are any more direct refs. The other thing that I was thinking about was the fact that all the words outside the square in MSG4 are in the first 4 songs of the Live Over Europe CD (which I am chagrined to report was their 6th live record, apparently). I'm having a hard time shaking the fact that all the words occur on that one CD. Oh well, off to study lyrics (but at least they have that Gabriel touch.) Regards, Ethan

[mortality]

Glad to see a little more life out of the rest of you and our PMs. Welcome back, the thread is always open and the lights are always on.

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Dear Mort, So I guess this Smoke person is a Dune fan, huh? Yes, I can just imaging that about Jade. That was funny, because it made me think of one of his Portfolio shows that I watched when I was sick. Some photographer in a mu'umu'u was talking about him and said he had a head the size of a watermelon. Still makes me laugh. Regards, Ethan. On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 10:48 PM, Mortality <mortality82> wrote: Funny, you should talk about being that disturbed. Smoke contacted me and provided "an emotion" as her prompt. So I asked what I needed to know about "fear." Don't really have any other emotions associated with these cases other than say...frustration. So she said "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration." Seems kind of apropos given your response to the musical samizdat. By the way, can't you just picture Jade wearing a trenchcoat and fedora in some club listening to that song with some broad who just hired him to investigate something or other? -Mort

Ethan's blog wrote:

I would have thought… Posted on March 6, 2008 by ethangrant …they were more prolific. But I guess that's what happens when the only talented member of your band leaves to chew on the greener grass. Or to shake the tree. Or to look into yor eyes. Or to live his big life. (OK, enough) Anyway, haven't been able to get the Genesis stuff out of my head (literally and figuratively) so whenever I have a spare moment or two I Google around or play letter games or mess around with free association or hold pictures of Phil Colins up to a mirror while being lit by a black light, et bloody cetera. (This is just a general rant, by the way. No Revelations, still.) So, on one of the pages I was looking at (not sure which one at this point) I noticed that this CD that the 4 songs are from was a live recording. Actually, I suppose I had noticed that at some point in the past, but what I fixed on this time was the small number of live albums they've released over the year. You'd think that a bunch of old duffers like that would be touring around recording everything they could point a mic at and then turning those cuts into quick cash - but they've only done 5 of them. Hmmmph. (Sorry for the screediness. I really don't know why I dislike this group so much. I must have been frightened by Miami Vice when I was a child. On to happier thoughts, I hope.)

Genesis "Live" is the only live album from when Gabriel was still in the band.

Only 5 songs:
1. "Watcher of the Skies" – 8:34
2. "Get 'Em Out by Friday" – 9:14
3. "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" – 8:14
4. "The Musical Box" – 10:56
5. "The Knife" – 9:47

Track 4 seems particularly interesting. MSG4 is a square. 4th song. Musical box. Outer clues were to an album...square is a box.

And a box could have its own fate sealed. The lyrics:

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While Henry Hamilton-Smythe minor ( was playing croquet with Cynthia Jane De Blaise-William (9), sweet-smiling Cynthia raised her mallet high and gracefully removed Henry's head. Two weeks later, in Henry's nursery, she discovered his treasured musical box. Eagerly she opened it and as "Old King Cole" began to play, a small spirit- figure appeared. Henry had returned - but not for long, for as he stood in the room his body began ageing rapidly, leaving a child's mind inside. A lifetime's desires surged through him. Unfortunately the attempt to persuade Cynthia Jane to fulfill his romantic desire led his nurse to the nursery to investigate the noise. Instinctively Nanny hurled the musical box at the bearded child, destroying both. Play me Old King Cole That I may join with you, All your hearts now seem so far from me It hardly seems to matter now. And the nurse will tell you lies Of a kingdom beyond the skies. But I am lost within this half-world, It hardly seems to matter now. Play me my song. Here it comes again. Play me my song. Here it comes again. Just a little bit, Just a little bit more time, Time left to live out my life. Play me my song. Here it comes again. Play me my song. Here it comes again. Old King Cole was a merry old soul, And a merry old soul was he. So he called for his pipe, And he called for his bowl, And he called for his fiddlers three. But the clock, tick-tock, On the mantlepiece - And I want, and I feel, and I know, and I touch, Her warmth... She's a lady, she's got time, Brush back your hair, and let me get to know your face. She's a lady, she is mine. Brush back your hair, and let me get to know your flesh. I've been waiting here for so long And all this time has passed me by It doesn't seem to matter now You stand there with your fixed expression Casting doubt on all I have to say. Why don't you touch me, touch me, Why don't you touch me, touch me, Touch me now, now, now, now, now...

Some interesting imagery in there, particularly:

"in Henry's nursery, she discovered his treasured
musical box. Eagerly she opened it and as "Old King Cole"
began to play, a small spirit- figure appeared."


A summoned figure and a reference to an old king.

Here's the scoop on Old King Cole:
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/old_king_cole.htm

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Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he; He called for his pipe in the middle of the night And he called for his fiddlers three. Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he; Oh there's none so rare as can compare With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Wise king commanded three fiddlers? Hmm.

And there are three kings considered to be possible King Coles. St. Ceneu ap Coel, son of Cole Hen, allegedly attended the coronation of King Arthur.

So now we have one ring that was not a ring but might be a seal.
The Second Book of the Key of Solomon, the wise king?
3...
The 4th song, The Musical Box (Old King Cole)...he commanded three fiddlers...but what about being executed?
5...something to do with Lamb or B-line.

[badaim68]

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

[Typoxic]

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Quinton, What a card you are, dear Luke. I do so hope it's not the Tower. I am by means expert either, but if young master Phillip had a particular interest, and if it was written in English (but a translation from some other tongue), then chances are it is not more than 100 or so years old. I know that doesn't help, but then again I don't suppose it hurts, either. Apparently I'm the Hermit. This document was just some weird cipher, coded from English. It struck me as a recent thing. It was just stuck into a copy of the book, but it didn't belong there or, as far as I know, have anything to do with it. Oh, and here I thought you were perhaps sincerely an "ice"-thete (just couldn't help myself). Alas, sincerity is so hard to find these days. Don't get me wrong, me and ice sculpture have history. The "goose" part was the joke - ice is serious business. What is perfection? The only thing I can think of, in the context of your comment, is a "life is a cabaret, my friend" attitude. As to whistling; interestingly, no. Weirdly enough, me neither. Maybe it's catching. To answer your question, we do have one guy, but he's the one running around chasing Phillip's clues. It would be very strange for him to ask after you, if for no other reason than it would be easier to just ask us. I'm about 95% sure it's not him. What's been going on? Belatedly, Luke

[Sylvia]

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Hi Sylvia, how are ye? I hope you are as kooky as the rest of the folks I've had the please to meet in the course of this little adventure - you can never meet too many kooky people. Hello Jade, I came from the same nut tree as a few others who have had you running all over Tampa trying to solve Philly's silly riddles. I hope you can forgive me/us for that and allow me to say hello. Hello. Now guess what, I've got a few hair brained ideas to run by you. You know those towers, SunTrust and WaterGate I think it may be River Gate, but I could be wrong since I thought it was officially named the Sykes building until Mort clued me in. (did Nixon have something to do with that?) and those numbers 119 and 153 could the numbers be referring to times like 1:19 am/pm and 1:53 am/pm. Maybe if it's pm there could be something hidden in the shadows of the buildings around or between those times of the day using the buildings and their shadows like sundials. However, that doesn't explain the far east/south thing just yet. I need to look into that part a bit more cause for all I know the numbers could be referring to angles. I know this is all somewhat far fetched but you never know. Cool idea, but if it has to do with shadows that could be very tricky (and very annoying) in light (haha) of the area that the shadows would cover. Also, I guess we would need to know what day (or at least pretty specific time of year) to get the shadows right. Could be, but that would be a tough one. What were you thinking re: angles? Could be something to that, what with all the geolocative potential from a bunch of points, lines, angles and such. My other thinking is about the lights from the two towers. The SunTrust has two19-foot torchieres but I'm not sure yet if that is of any importance or how it might refer to the numbers we've been given. The only exterior lights on the WaterGate Tower is two lights that point skyward and since we don't expect you to sprout wings and fly I guess that's out of the question. I did notice, however, in the description of the building, in the lobby there is concentric circles that mark distances of time and space. That coupled with the fact that it resembles a light house, (showing the way) could mean something, and that's another thing I need to seek more info about. Which brings me to the reason I'm running this by you. Since you live in Florida and have probably visited those buildings you would probably know more about how these things are laid out and could help us with our research by being our eyes on the ground. So if there is anything you could share with us that might help it would certainly be welcomed. I was mentioning to Mort that I know the Sykes building (it's a good place for mischief) but I've never messed around in the Sun Trust building. I know the lights you mentioned on Sykes, they are pretty cool with the atmospherics are right. And of course the Sun Trust building has a huge lit-up pyramid on top, but I doubt that has anything to do with anything. I guess you can tell, I'm not all here today by my silly ramblings and it's true I don't feel very good at the moment but any ideas you may have will be greatly appreciated. I'll do some more research soon and see if I can come up with something that might make more sense as soon as I'm feeling a bit better. Looking forward to any thing you can help us with. Thanks Sylvia You've brought up some good points, I'll let you know if anything strikes a bell (although I would be surprised if you cats weren't banging gongs long before me). More soon, Jade

[mortality]

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Hi Mort! Not sure about the Sun Trust building, but I know that the River Gate building (which we lovingly refer to as the Sykes building for the obvious reason) does not have any real retail on the ground floor. I know this because I am a fan of the little park that sits next to this building, and have been known to leap about on the premises. More soon, Jade

I politely asked him for his local expertise on suggesting alternative theories.

And I told him about Slider's email.

[mortality]

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My query is this; do any of you little rascals haunt, physically, my particular wood, that being the tri-city area of western Florida comprising Clearwater, St. Pete, and Tampa? I ask because there is a hint, the faintest whiff mind you, that some party - or parties - un-named may be asking, rather covertly as it turns, after my health and well-being. Asking quietly and in person, but not quite quietly enough, perhaps.

Typo, other than Jade--who, as far as we know hasn't done that and has no interest in it--who else, other than Brighton Early, would be doing that?

And in fact, given Brighton Early's stupid name and other stupid names like Fenian Caltrop, maybe BE is actually in Reality Now.

[Typoxic]

Like I said, my attention has been elsewhere for a little while. I've been keeping up with the thread for the most part, but is there something I skimmed about RN and Slider?

[mortality]

Time to let him know about Reality Now. Just don't let on that we found out about them through Whitechapel specifically.

Yay, new story element.

[Typoxic]

I just came home to a letter from QS, and I feel sort of bad for neglecting this thing. I'm not abandoning it, or getting especially disinterested, but I've been a little busy lately. Anyway, here's the letter.

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My Dear Luke, Perhaps I should start to worry. I attempted to contact Dear Paul the other afternoon, but there has been no reply (see below). I shudder to think of some nastiness befalling him, or worse, all off your troupe. Would you mind terribly taking a gander at the missive below and switching his name for yours, as appropriate. If nothing else, I would at least like to know that you still exist, in some form. I'd be in your debt; perhaps not eternally, but at least until the Spring is upon us. QS Quote: My Dear Paul, I do hope you, and yours, have been exceedingly well. Seems that it has been no little time since we have traded quips across the great expanse of the void. Perhaps you have answered all your questions and have no further need of yours truly. Perhaps you have followed young master Phillip off into the sunset. Just another of life's tiny mysteries. A mystery something like this one, maybe: I believe you, and of course dear Luke, are emissaries of a larger concern; seekers of truth (or at least kicks), unpuzzlers of life's lesser known puzzles. My query is this; do any of you little rascals haunt, physically, my particular wood, that being the tri-city area of western Florida comprising Clearwater, St. Pete, and Tampa? I ask because there is a hint, the faintest whiff mind you, that some party - or parties - un-named may be asking, rather covertly as it turns, after my health and well-being. Asking quietly and in person, but not quite quietly enough, perhaps. Could be related to oh so many other things, or could not be related to anything, but I thought I'd ask, since you appear to be a stand-up guy. Adieu, Dear Paul. QS

[petunia]

I couldn't find a suite 153 in Rivergate Tower or a suite 119 in SunTrust Financial Centre, but there do seem to be suites in the 100s in both buildings. Right now the problem I'm having with "far east, far south" is, HOW far? The St. Pete Times Forum is to the southeast, but it's still less than a mile.

[Sylvia]

well that helps narrow it down. now if we can figure out how the numbers and far east /far south fit. what in SunTrust and WaterGate Tower is accessible by the public. Or maybe it's not inside but somewhere outside. I believe the lighting of those buildings will light the way. (see my previous post on the lights)

[mortality]

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Hey Mort, You know, I was looking back over the little note and it struck me that "point the sky" is on a line by itself. Now apparently there is a building called SkyPoint, but aside from that Point the Sky kinda strikes me as a hint of sorts, in that tall buildings do just that. They point to the sky. So, if that was a clue (actually sort of a double clue, or more of a clue and a confirmation) then maybe the fact that it is on a separate line, away from the next two sections means something. Maybe the next two sections ID the next point (and I hope I am not alone in thinking that this is leading to a place on the ground that cretinous Philly wanted to send Slider to). It seems like the fact that those next two buildings are together, separated by the first and third sections by a blank line, might mean that whatever is going on is going on with those buildings... Ah hell, never mind. Just rambling. I'm sure you cats have dissected that 6 ways to Sunday already. I'll let you know if trip over a clue. More soon, Jade

So he's saying something like Point the Sky means "skyscrapers" which we found, and of which SkyPoint randomly happens to also be one. The numbers could be 1st floor suites or shops in those buildings.

Then we have Light the Way and far east, far south: probably points to the Forum where the Lightning play.