Whistle

Leonard Feather's review of the new Billie Holiday 10-CD set on Verve (Nov. 22) was a perfect example of what I've been saying for years about his contributions to music appreciation. Who else would have had the audacity to give a 1 1/2-star rating to such a momentous, elaborately packaged tribute to the most moving and memorable jazz singer of all time? Who else would have done that on ethical principle, and blown the whistle on an attempt to "stretch four or five hours of valid music into a more profitable 11 1/2 hours"?

Carly Simon's so vain. The 45-year-old singer said she is trying to "come to terms" with getting older but acknowledged it has been difficult. "In five years maybe I won't be so attractive. People won't whistle at me on the street anymore," she said in an interview for the TV show "Personalities." "I'm not above having those fears or apprehensions about losing my attractiveness, or whatever," Simon said.

A man killed by an Amtrak train near Ventura was identified Friday as 65-year-old Rudy Lopez of Camarillo. Lopez was out for a walk Thursday near Emma Wood State Beach, where his family had previously camped, said Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Mike Feiler. He was on the track about 2:30 p.m. when a northbound Amtrak train approached. The engineer blew the whistle seven times, Feiler said, but Lopez apparently didn't hear it at first and could not get out of the way in time.

S. J. Diamond's column "Don't Blithely Support Your Local Pitchman" (Oct. 20) struck a responsive chord in me and, I'm sure, in thousands of others who regard mass telephone solicitations as a pain. Some years ago, when I lived in Westport, Conn., I managed to strike back at those "boiler-room" pests, and I've not forgotten the resulting glow of satisfaction. A magazine was soliciting subscriptions by phone and managed to interrupt my Saturday afternoon siesta--not once but twice.

The Oakland Raiders might be piling up the losses, but at least there is still some fight left in them as seen during a 34-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, when three players were ejected for their part in a brawl. After a fumble return for a touchdown by the Raiders' Mohamed Sanu was nullified by an official's inadvertent whistle, a brawl ensued on the next play when a false start led to Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton getting tackled by Oakland defensive end Lamarr Houston, who apparently didn't hear the whistles.

Maybe we have had enough "forgotten sounds," but they exert a powerful nostalgic pull, and my readers have remembered a few more that I think worth mentioning. How about the 9 o'clock whistle at the Eastside Brewery? Rene A. Schweitzer, now of Glendora, remembers that he was visiting a girl who lived on Gates Street, about a mile from the brewery, and his orders were to be home at night before the whistle stopped blowing. "When I heard the whistle blow I bid goodby and started running.

Al Miranda and Roger Torrey listened to the 11:25 a.m. whistle telling them that they had five minutes to finish lunch and get back to work. "You're not going to hear that whistle too many more times," Miranda, 59, a machinist at the General Dynamics Corp. shipyard, said in a tone mixed with sadness and bitterness. The two men, who have worked there for most of their adult lives, are among the last to be laid off.

Hey, Shaq: Thanks for being a great role model for my 10-year-old son! You play a ... game for a living! John van Rossem Irvine After his foul-mouthed tirade at the refs (on live TV, no less), Shaq has proven that he's the biggest baby in the history of sports. He also ranks right up there among the sorest winners and most selfish players of all time. Hey, Shaq, the reason your teammates don't throw you the ball every time down is because you're constantly triple-teamed.

There has been no scarcity in the media of all kinds of experts--market "bears" and market "bulls," those who say "we should be worried" and those who say this is "just a necessary correction," etc.--but no one seems to want to put forward substantive options and ideas for actual leadership away from the brink of possible world recession. At least columnist James Flanigan ["Japan's Dilemma Is a Major Test for U.S.," Aug. 12] is suggesting a proactive approach--for the Clinton administration to do something other than to wring its hands in dismay at the worldwide impact of the continuing fall of the yen. To continue to "whistle past the graveyard" is not reflective of what should be the U.S.' role as a leader in assuring international markets that Washington will do more than let world economies slide into a global free fall.

So I'm standing in the middle of a soccer field, watching a 6-year-old goalkeeper hold the ball over his head with both hands. The 6-year-old goalkeeper has no intention of throwing the ball. He has no intention of doing anything. Because as he holds the ball, about 40 people are yelling at him. And he's never had 40 people yelling at him before. "Throw it over here!" someone yells. "Throw it over there!" someone else yells. For more than a minute, the goalie holds the ball over his head.