mystery of the day

So, for today's blog note, I'm streamin' live from my office at Mad City hospital. Right now I'm working on some horrible drudgery, involving a lot of tedious data entry, so I took the liberty of playing KEXP Live on one of the other computers here. I'm listening to Expansions, DJ Riz's show, from Nov. 10.
Now, I don't know much about DZ Riz. But here's what I do know:

1. I like Expansions, even though I'm not much of a club-dweller or be-bopper or whatever. Years ago, I was introduced to Sparrow Orange by this show, and "Hands and Knees Music" remains one of my all-time favorite CD's.

2. DJ Riz speaks with a lisp. Always has. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

OK ... so why doesn't Riz have a lisp now??? I shit you not. The esses I've heard from him today have been as clear and icy as a shot of chilled vodka. In addition, he sounds about 10-15 years younger than I remember, and he's mellifluous. He sounds like Al Jarreau or Frank Sinatra or Patsy Cline in her prime, or some shit like that.

This all makes me wonder: has he undergone vocal cord surgery? Or just some sort of aggressive speech therapy? How do you get rid of a lisp? This is kind of freaking me out. I want the old Riz! But at the same time, I'm happy for him ...

(Little-known Mad City factoid: I also had a mild speech impediment when I was little. I had a hard time saying words that started with "L." So, I did some speech classes in elementary school. I made great strides, and showed a lot of courage along the way. But ... even now, I'm not completely 100 percent on "L" words! But don't test me, people. Please don't test me ...)