linuxgeek: [LINUX_Newbies] Portaudio and mpg123

OK. So I've got sound in mplayer (which is a start), but nowhere else.
My dmesg reports:

caitlyn linux # dmesg | grep -i audio
[ 0.291819] hdaudio hdaudioC0D0: Unable to bind the codec
[ 1.056699] usb 2-1.2: Product: USB AUDIO
[ 1.057688] input: USB AUDIO as
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.2/2-1.2:1.2/0003:1130:1620.0001/input/input6
[ 1.107813] hid-generic 0003:1130:1620.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID
v1.10 Device [USB AUDIO ] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2/input2
[ 5.669395] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[ 9876.373384] mpg123[26767]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f7b3de060d2 sp
00007fffb2ad8ec8 error 6 in output_portaudio.so[7f7b3de06000+2000]
[220655.422694] mpg123[15566]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f423252d0d2 sp
00007ffd41dae568 error 6 in output_portaudio.so[7f423252d000+2000]
[220848.935994] mpg123[15879]: segfault at 0 ip 00007fb24c4860d2 sp
00007ffee57a2048 error 6 in output_portaudio.so[7fb24c486000+2000]

I have no idea even where to begin how to fix this problem. My mpg123
program reports:

michael@caitlyn mp3 $ mpg123 09\ -\ Doc\ Brown\ vs\ Doctor\ Who.mp3
[/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/mpg123-1.22.4/work/mpg123-1.22.4/src/output/pulse.c:84]
error: Failed to open pulse audio output: Connection refused
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dsnoop.c:614:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open)
unable to open slave
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
unable to open slave
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate)
Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate)
Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm.c:2267:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate)
Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-plugins/alsa-plugins-1.0.29/work/alsa-plugins-1.0.29/pulse/pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect)
PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Connection refused

ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-plugins/alsa-plugins-1.0.29/work/alsa-plugins-1.0.29/pulse/pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect)
PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Connection refused

ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dsnoop.c:614:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open)
unable to open slave
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
unable to open slave
ALSA lib
/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.29/work/alsa-lib-1.0.29/src/pcm/pcm_dmix.c:1024:(snd_pcm_dmix_open)
unable to open slave
High Performance MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 Audio Player for Layers 1, 2 and 3
version 1.22.4; written and copyright by Michael Hipp and others
free software (LGPL) without any warranty but with best wishes

Playing MPEG stream 1 of 1: 09 - Doc Brown vs Doctor Who.mp3 ...
Expression 'paInvalidSampleRate' failed in
'/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/portaudio-19_pre20140130/work/portaudio/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c',
line: 2043
Expression 'PaAlsaStreamComponent_InitialConfigure( &self->playback,
outParams, self->primeBuffers, hwParamsPlayback, &realSr )' failed in
'/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/portaudio-19_pre20140130/work/portaudio/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c',
line: 2717
Expression 'PaAlsaStream_Configure( stream, inputParameters,
outputParameters, sampleRate, framesPerBuffer, &inputLatency,
&outputLatency, &hostBufferSizeMode )' failed in
'/var/tmp/portage/media-libs/portaudio-19_pre20140130/work/portaudio/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c',
line: 2838

[/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/mpg123-1.22.4/work/mpg123-1.22.4/src/output/portaudio.c:91]
error: Failed to open PortAudio default stream: Invalid sample rate

[/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/mpg123-1.22.4/work/mpg123-1.22.4/src/audio.c:645]
error: failed to open audio device

[/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/mpg123-1.22.4/work/mpg123-1.22.4/src/mpg123.c:547]
error: failed to reset audio device: Success
michael@caitlyn mp3 $ cat ~/integris
$Integris2016
michael@caitlyn mp3 $ pulseaudio --start
D: [pulseaudio] conf-parser.c: Parsing configuration file
'/etc/pulse/client.conf'
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup failed.
michael@caitlyn mp3 $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 1: AUDIO [USB AUDIO], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I have no /etc/init.d/pulseaudio service to start. It complains when I
try to start it as root, and when I try to start it as a normal user:
michael@caitlyn mp3 $ pulseaudio --start
D: [pulseaudio] conf-parser.c: Parsing configuration file
'/etc/pulse/client.conf'
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon startup failed.
michael@caitlyn mp3 $

What am I missing here? On my previous PC I couldn't get pulseaudio to
work right, so I disabled it (USE="-pulseaudio"), but on caitlyn when I
do that I lose sound in mplayer, so I guess it's not an option.
Pulseaudio is TRYING to start (I can tell by the 1248 lines in
/var/log/messages that I grepped for pulseaudio and today's date.)
What's my next step?