This just in: Marco Pantani is still dead. So is Frank Zappa, but nobody killed him, not even the Mafia, Darren Wilson or Daniel Pantaleo.
That’s right, kiddies, it’s Round One of Zappadan, also known as BummerNacht, the anniversary of FZ’s departure to The Big Studio In the Sky. But don’t freak out, working yourself into an imaginary frenzy — he shall rise again on Zero Day, December 21, the anniversary of his birth.
So whip up a tasty platter of hot rats in lumpy gravy, ring up Uncle Meat and the Grand Wazoo, and go cruising with Ruben and the Jets. But first clean up that cosmik debris (it’ll cure your asthma, too). Now, everybody sing along: “Look, here, NASA … who you jivin’ with that cosmik debris?”
Mad Blog Media 
O’G,
Did someone put something strange in your Cheerios this morning?
Russ
First Day of Zappadan, Russ.
// the 1999-2000 period, he had four car accidents. In one, he collided with eight cars in one hour and came to a stop down the wrong way of a one-way street with his Mercedes SUV on top of another car. //
But, come on, who hasn’t?
Patrick, did you have a Mercedes? And lay off the tramadol, man. I don’t think this dog stuff is the same as people stuff.
Funny you should mention it. I learned how to drive on a 1962 Mercedes 200S. I had fewer accidents than Pantani, even as a 17-year-old faux-hippie stoner.
Boy, was I ever pissed off when Mom sold it and bought a Pinto. She must’ve forgotten who was going to be picking her nursing home.
Changing subjects for a minute, we are enjoying the AppleTV. We have it running on the wireless network instead of plugged directly into the modem. Our wireless normally runs about 30 Mbs download speed. We get 720P video and stereo audio from just about all the programs available on PBS and Smithsonian channels, the only two we have really explored to date. We did watch two old Kate Harris Vimeo videos on her transcontinental ride. The iTunes radio feature is really neat, and I use it for music when cooking. We have a home theater receiver with pass through for HDMI, so I run the HDMI from the Apple TV to it. You do have to have the TV on to use the Apple TV, but it switches to a good screen saver when playing music.
The Pantani saga never seems to end in Italy. He really is the modern version of Fausto Coppi, another tragic figure who fascinates as a result of an early demise. RIP Pirata e Airone….and Zappa too, though I don’t know s__t about Frank.
Definitely not a knockoff version. Still the greatest rock song ever!