In case anyone else has weird quirky problems,

following all the instructions around, I found one thing missing that helped GREATLY.

When installing /etc/init.d/lcdd and then using the rc update script to spread it into the other run-levels, S20lcdd seems to be too soon after starting lirc (how I'm using it).

I moved it to S40something (right before myth-backend) so that lirc can start, it can start, and then MYTH can start.

All seems happier.

-Ben