In the lobby of the Merc as you walk by, you’ll see this very cool construction by UNT design students. (In real life, it does not tilt. Only in my photo does it tilt. )This not-really- leaning tower of children’s books will be distributed during the Christmas season.

The missus and I were seated at dinner with a bunch of Hillwood guys. It was loud in that tent. But not so loud that they couldn’t hear me when I broke the ice by asking, “So what’s the deal, anyway, with Victory? You guys defaulted to the Germans, right?” One tablemate was kind enough to tell me all about the current state of affairs at Victory, but his comments were off the record. (Jealous?) Finally, Kent Rathbun catered. If I’m not mistaken, he’s lost weight. Looking good. And the short ribs were scrumptious.

The lost JFK assassination recordings from the old KXOL-1360AM in Fort Worth will play this Sunday night, November 22, over KMNY-1360AM from 6PM-7PM as a special presentation of “The Hi-Fi Club” radio show, commemorating the 46th anniversary of the event. These recordings, made by KXOL-AM reporter and former KXAS-TV news anchor Russ Bloxom and his former wife, Sanda, mainly cover the late afternoon, evening and nighttime coverage of the assassination, and extend through Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder two days later. Condensed to a one-hour presentation, the tapes showcase the non-network affiliated KXOL and its worthwhile effort to cover the tragedy locally and on the scene. Listeners will hear North Texas radio notables Russ Bloxom, Roy Eaton, Bruce Neal and others as they report the events in November, 1963.

The program will also stream on the internet at www.thehificlub.net, and can also be heard this weekend over KPIR-1420AM in Granbury, KLDE-104.9FM in San Angelo, and on the North Texas Radio for the Blind. Check www.thehificlub.net/affiliates.html for days and times. A podcast of the recordings will be posted to the “Hi-Fi Club” website by November 25.

“One thing I was going to tell the media, to give them tomorrow, by the way, is the article in the September 2004 of the Observer written by Eric Celeste. Because a lot of the people who cover us don’t understand the history and environment I came into in 2004. That article does a good job talking about internal politics and external issues affecting the department.”

It pains me to post this.

On his favorite former teammate:

I think still to this day, I love Steve and Mike, but one of my favorite teammates is Nick Van Exel. Man, he was great. You hear a lot of stories, about how he pushed a ref and head-butted a ref, how he’s a little selfish and stuff. He came here — first of all, he had to give up the last year of his contract, which was like $13 mil or whatever. Who does that, first of all? He was around here, in a great mood always. He had leadership on the court. He would make tough shots for us.

On why he stopped playing saxophone:

What happened was, I started playing the sax, and I even had lessons. Then I got my teeth knocked out. I had those front two, those rabbit teeth that were, like, this long. [Points to his lower lip.] The first, first time I got them knocked out was in Germany. Then over here, it was in the playoffs against San Antonio. I couldn’t really put the plate here anymore and play. I had to be careful. I had, like, a brace from the back on it—I was like, “Screw it. That’s not going to work.” So I started playing guitar. My brother-in-law is actually a good guitar player. He’s got a Rolling Stones cover band in Germany. He showed me some tracks, and that’s how I got into it.

On his first participation in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program this summer:

It was great. I’ve never really been to Africa. I’ve been to Tunisia, North Africa, on the beach — but that’s not really the real Africa. When I found out I definitely wasn’t going to play at the Euros — because the NBA has asked me for years, and I always was busy in the summer, playing. So I asked them if they still had a spot and they said yes. We were in Johannesburg for a little over five days. Usually what we did, we went to the camp in the morning, taught the kids some stuff, hung out with the kids. In the afternoon, we did community service stuff. Saw some great stuff. Built a house, actually, in one of the poorer areas. Played with the kids one day. Saw some eye-opening stuff, so I’ll definitely want to go back and help out when I get a chance. Definitely an experience. Did a safari afterwards, for a week — that was great. I think when you live in a modern world, you get away from nature a little bit. All you do is sit at house and watch TV or whatever. There, you kind of sleep in a tent outside, and at 3 in the morning, you get woken up, like, “What is going on?” An elephant just walks by, grazes the tree your tent’s in, wakes you up. It was amazing. Saw every animal there is in the book. Had a blast. Then I went home real quick to Germany for a couple of days.

Which one will show up tonight to emcee the premiere installment of the DMA’s “State of the Arts” discussion series? Hint: his interlocutors will be Veletta Lill and Ann Williams.

“I work for Tom, I wanted Tom to be successful at this, but, frankly, we can’t sell Tom,” said one. “Our fans, for the most part, will not buy Tom. And our former season-ticket holders, and we’d lost a lot of those because of Mr. Hicks, will not come back if Tom is still the owner.”

Really? That’s the problem in selling tickets? The owner?

2. Some people would say that the appearance of the word “some” in a headline is a sure sign of a newspaper covering for a thin local angle on a national story.

3. If a fire breaks out in east Fort Worth, and NBC5 isn’t there to provide “team coverage,” does anybody care?