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GA Russell

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About GA Russell

  • Birthday November 5

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Raleigh, NC
  • Interests
    eBook reading
    Canadian football

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GA Russell's Achievements

  1. 14 runs in one inning, last done in 1900. Diamondbacks Shatter Modern-Day MLB Record on Opening Day (msn.com)
  2. Ken, I'd like to hear that! I'll look forward to seeing the link.
  3. Only 11% of US revenues is from physical sales. (1) RIAA (@RIAA) / X (twitter.com)
  4. A.C. Leonard will retire, it looks like. https://3downnation.com/2024/03/18/a-c-leonard-hints-at-retirement-in-cryptic-social-media-post/ ***** The Redblacks will be celebrating their tenth anniversary this year. https://3downnation.com/2024/03/18/ottawa-redblacks-to-host-key-alumni-unveil-new-uniform-during-tenth-anniversary-season/ ***** Jason Shivers will be Edmonton's defensive coordinator this year. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/03/18/elks-announce-coaching-staff-bring-back-jason-shivers/ https://3downnation.com/2024/03/18/official-edmonton-elks-hire-jason-shivers-as-defensive-coordinator-finalize-coaching-staff/ https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/edmonton-elks-add-jason-shivers-four-others-to-coaching-staff-1.2091844 ***** Calvin McCarty will be Hamilton's running backs coach this year. https://3downnation.com/2024/03/19/hamilton-tiger-cats-hire-calvin-mccarty-as-running-backs-coach/ ***** The Elks will celebrate their 75th anniversary this year with, inter alia, their largest alumni reunion ever. https://3downnation.com/2024/03/25/edmonton-elks-to-host-teams-largest-ever-alumni-gathering-to-celebrate-75th-anniversary/ ***** (Maybe I already posted in the past, but I didn't realize that) Naaman Roosevelt is now a coach with Hamilton. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/03/24/naaman-roosevelt-micd-up-at-the-cfl-combine/ ***** That catches us up with the headlines, except... I'll plan to start looking at the free agent signings next time.
  5. Raymond Chandler was a friend of Erle Stanley Gardner's. A year ago, I read a collection of Chandler's correspondence. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TSROHM/ In one letter, he said that he had just finished a story by some new guy named A.A. Fair. He said that he enjoyed the book, but that Fair's writing was a complete ripoff of Gardner's style and plot devices!
  6. Bobby Broom Serves Up a Platter of Spicy Organ Jazz with "Jamalot," Set for May 24 Release By Steele Records Guitarist's New Album Features Eight Jazz & Pop Standards As Played Live by His Organi-Sation, With Organist Ben Paterson & Drummer Kobie Watkins, Between 2014 & 2019   March 25, 2024 Acclaimed guitarist Bobby Broom makes a welcome return to one of his longtime favorite formats—the jazz organ trio—with Jamalot, a live album and the second by his Organi-Sation, to be released May 24 on Steele Records. While the trio (which also features organist Ben Paterson and drummer Kobie Watkins) debuted on record with 2018’s Soul Fingers, they have been a working band for much longer; the new release features performances going back 10 years. Actually, Broom’s infatuation with the Hammond organ goes back to his youth. It first bore professional fruit in his twenties, when he joined the band of the legendary Charles Earland. A decade later, in the 1990s, he founded the Deep Blue Organ Trio, which continued working into the 2010s. “I thought after the Deep Blue Organ Trio that I would never feel anything quite like that in terms of chemistry,” Broom says. “And boy was I wrong. It was really incredible to me how much this new group jelled, and the level of music that we were able to play.” Even a cursory listen to Jamalot’s eight familiar jazz and pop tunes is enough to confirm the rapport he describes. The opener, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” offers up a reservoir of groove so rich it might take even Wonder by surprise. If anything, that’s even more true of the Kurt Weill standard “Speak Low”: Already simmering from the start, the band quickly escalates to a frenetic boil. When they slow things down on “Tennessee Waltz,” the result is a smooth current of soul that the listener can ride blissfully across the song. Even one of the most well-worn staples of the organ repertoire, “House of the Rising Sun,” unearths new, funky realms for the musicians to explore. And explore they do. As irresistible as their grooving interplay is, it’s rivaled by the exciting improvisations the three musicians unleash. Broom drenches The Beatles’ “Long and Winding Road” in the mud of the Mississippi Delta; Paterson discovers a heretofore unknown gospel stratum in Eric Clapton’s “Layla”; and Watkins threatens to turn “The Jitterbug Waltz” into a wild frenzy of rhythm and ecstasy. On Jamalot, Broom’s long-enduring love for the organ combo is palpable—and, better still, contagious. Bobby Broom was born January 18, 1961, in New York City. From as early as he can recall, he loved music: just music, style and label notwithstanding. But in his early teen years, the Herbie Hancock and Grover Washington records he heard on the radio had put a new kind of hook into him; the deejays called them “jazz.” By the time he was 16, Broom was attending New York’s prestigious High School of Music and Art and gigging with pianist Al Haig; at 21, he was touring with Sonny Rollins. By that time, Broom had also signed with GRP Records and recorded 1981’s Clean Sweep, which (along with 1984’s Livin’ for the Beat) was a crossover jazz success. But rather than settle into a comfortable career in the emerging genre of “smooth jazz,” Broom took the road less traveled: He left the New York scene behind and established himself in Chicago. In the 1990s Broom formed the Deep Blue Organ Trio and recorded two quartet records before deciding to make a guitar-bass-drums trio his primary outlet. He solidified a lineup with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins with 2006’s Song and Dance. But a chance to go on tour in 2014 with Steely Dan, coupled with the passionate advocacy of his then-drummer Makaya McCraven, brought Broom back to the soulful Hammond organ sound he loved. Thus it was that the Organi-Sation was born, with Broom enlisting noted organist Ben Paterson (r.) and Watkins (l.) to develop the band’s joyful sound. After four intensive years, that sound was finally documented on 2018’s Soul Fingers. The live compilation Jamalot, however, demonstrates that the trio’s empathy and deep pocket were present from the very start. Photography: Tom Chadwick (Bobby), Todd Winters (group) Bandcamp: https://bobbybroom.bandcamp.com/    EPK: Bobby Broom Organi-Sation Live | Jamalot  Bobby Broom Web Site  
  7. Orioles owner Peter Angelos has passed away at age 94 (msn.com)
  8. Larry Dean has retired. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/03/07/larry-dean-announces-retirement-joins-riders-as-player-personnel-coordinator/ https://3downnation.com/2024/03/07/four-time-all-star-linebacker-larry-dean-retires-joins-roughriders-front-office/ https://3downnation.com/2024/03/08/riders-gm-jeremy-oday-goes-full-circle-with-decision-to-mentor-football-ops-rookie-larry-dean/ ***** Both Don Narcisse and James West have been named to Texas Southern University's Hall of Fame. https://3downnation.com/2024/03/09/cfl-legends-don-narcisse-james-west-inducted-into-texas-southern-hall-of-fame/ ***** Dave Ritchie has died at 85. RIP. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/03/11/the-cfl-mourns-the-passing-of-coach-dave-ritchie/ https://3downnation.com/2024/03/09/hall-of-fame-cfl-head-coach-dave-ritchie-passes-away-at-85/ https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/hall-of-fame-cfl-head-coach-dave-ritchie-dead-at-age-85-1.2087561 ***** Sports Tourism Canada says that Hamilton's Grey Cup generated $73.5 million. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/study-indicates-23-grey-cup-provided-economic-boon-for-both-ontario-and-hamilton-1.2088740 https://3downnation.com/2024/03/12/110th-grey-cup-generated-73-5-million-in-total-economic-impact-report/ ***** Just to follow up on Ploen and James, I had Kenny Ploen's bubble gum card in 1964. A few years ago I picked up the Gerry James biography Kid Dynamite. I guess now would be a good time to read it.
  9. Let's start to catch up with the headlines. I'll save the free agent signings for later. If you can't wait, here is the league's list. https://www.cfl.ca/fa24/ ***** Drew Tate has joined the Argos coaching staff. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/03/05/argos-add-former-cfl-qb-drew-tate-to-coaching-staff/ ***** Chris Edwards has retired. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/12/controversial-defender-chris-edwards-retires-from-cfl/ ***** Mathieu Betts has signed with Detroit. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/13/detroit-lions-sign-cfls-most-outstanding-defensive-player-canadian-dl-mathieu-betts/ ***** The Bombers (and the league) lost two greats on the same day - Gerry James at 89 and Kenny Ploen at 88. RIP. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/14/hall-of-fame-running-back-multisport-star-gerry-james-dead-at-89/ https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/14/cfl-mourns-the-passing-of-kenny-ploen/ ***** Marc Trestman has joined the LA Chargers coaching staff as senior offensive assistant coach. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/14/los-angeles-chargers-hire-former-cfl-head-coach-marc-trestman/ ***** Simoni Lawrence has retired. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/15/simoni-lawrence-retires-from-cfl-takes-job-with-hamilton-sports-group/ https://3downnation.com/2024/02/17/city-of-hamilton-declares-february-21-simoni-lawrence-day/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-tiger-cats-simoni-lawrence-cfl-1.7117260 https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/15/longtime-ticat-simoni-lawrence-announces-retirement/ ***** Feb. 19 power rankings https://3downnation.com/2024/02/19/3downnation-cfl-power-rankings-riders-on-the-rise-post-free-agency/ ***** Feb. 21 power rankings https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/21/gas-on-the-fire-the-way-too-early-power-rankings-are-here/ ***** Mike Sellers is ill. A Go Fund Me account has been set up. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/21/gofundme-launched-in-support-of-former-cfl-nfl-fullback-mike-sellers/ ***** Cariel Brooks has retired. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/21/two-time-all-star-defensive-back-cariel-brooks-retires-from-cfl/ ***** Craig Dickinson has joined Calgary as a consultant. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/23/former-riders-head-coach-craig-dickenson-hired-by-brother-dave-as-consultant-with-stampeders/ ***** There is a new documentary about Andrew Harris called Running Back Relentless. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/24/andrew-harris-documentary-running-back-relentless-set-for-vip-premiere-in-winnipeg/ ***** Henoc Muamba, a favorite of mine, has retired. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/26/former-first-overall-pick-grey-cup-mvp-henoc-muamba-retires-from-cfl/ https://3downnation.com/2024/02/29/butterfly-season-henoc-muamba-ready-to-tackle-business-media-opportunities-following-cfl-retirement/ https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/26/one-of-one-henoc-muamba-announces-retirement/ ***** Winnipeg analysis https://3downnation.com/2024/02/28/assessing-the-winnipeg-blue-bombers-post-free-agency-depth-chart/ ***** Craig Roh has died of colon cancer at only 33. RIP. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/28/former-cfl-defensive-lineman-craig-roh-passes-away-at-33/ ***** Vancouver has revealed its Grey Cup Week plans. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/grey-cup-vancouver-2024-1.7130387 ***** Feb. 26 East analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/26/mmqb-the-east-divisions-biggest-moves-so-far/ ***** Feb. 19 West analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/19/mmqb-the-wests-biggest-off-season-stories-so-far/ ***** This thread's view count is today 362,200. That can't be right!
  10. RIP Jimmy Hastings! I mentioned elsewhere that he was a favorite of mine.
  11. Spotify paid $9 billion in royalties in 2023. Spotify Claims Record Earnings in 2023 for Indie Artists, Songwriters and Non-English-Language Songs (msn.com)
  12. They have found someone. Sports Illustrated keeps print, partners with Minute Media (usatoday.com)
  13. Yelena Eckemoff Takes an Intriguing New Direction with "Romance of the Moon," To Be Released May 10 By L&H Production Pianist-Composer Enlists a Superlative Italian Quartet, Including Celebrated Trumpeter Paolo Fresu, To Realize 13 New Compositions Inspired by the Poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca   March 18, 2024 Pianist-composer-conceptualist Yelena Eckemoff tries something a little bit different—but no less cerebral and audacious—with Romance of the Moon, set for a May 10 release on her own L&H Production label. Always a multimedia thinker, Eckemoff has previously made albums that incorporate her visual art as well as stories, poems, and concepts from her own imagination. This time, she presents a suite of compositions inspired by the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, as interpreted by the formidable Italian ensemble that includes bassist Luca Bulgarelli, drummer Stefano Bagnoli, guitarist Riccardo Bertuzzi, and world-renowned trumpet icon Paolo Fresu. If this seems a departure from projects like Eckemoff’s 2023 effort Lonely Man and His Fish, based on her narrative of a human-pet relationship, or 2021’s Adventures of the Wildflower, tracing the life of a single plant, that’s because it is. Romance of the Moon has more in common with Eckemoff’s diptych of albums based on the biblical Psalms, 2018’s Better Than Gold and Silver and 2022’s I Am a Stranger in This World. Those, however, were written as vocal settings (albeit performed without vocalists). These new compositions were conceived, written, and executed as instrumental music. That’s not to say, however, that Eckemoff’s pieces are any less tightly intertwined with the Lorca poems that inspired them. In fact, the composer went so far as to translate the texts into Italian so that her sidemen “would know exactly what every composition is about,” she says. “That’s how important it was that they know exactly what the poem says. These are instrumentals, but the music still corresponds to the poems.” She translated them again, into English, for the listener’s reference. Based though it is in poetry, Romance of the Moon nonetheless has a dramatic sweep. This occurs on the level of the individual tracks—as with Fresu’s taut, suspenseful trumpet line on “Barren Orange Tree” and Bertuzzi’s carefully developing guitar solo on “Old Lizard”—and across the full album, building from the reflective opener “Bells” to the moody crest of the title track, then to the evocative, satisfying resolution of “August.” Like Lorca and other great poets, Eckemoff thoroughly understands the importance of form, both macro and micro. L. to r. Luca Bulgarelli, Yelena Eckemoff, Paolo Fresu, Stefano Bagnoli. Yelena Eckemoff was born in Moscow, where she started playing by ear and composing music when she was four. By seven, she was attending the Gnessins School for musically gifted children, eventually matriculating at Moscow State Conservatory to study classical piano. In her early twenties, Eckemoff found herself drawn to jazz—at a time when the music, or at least recordings of it, were a rare commodity in the then-Soviet Union. Soon, however, came Dave Brubeck’s groundbreaking 1987 concert in Moscow, which for Eckemoff was definitive. Jazz, she then knew, was where her destiny lay. Of course, any thorough immersion in jazz had to be done in the United States, where Eckemoff immigrated in 1991 and settled in North Carolina. Not only did the move entrench her in the land that gave birth to jazz, but it gave her easier access to players who could do justice to her intricate ideas.  Finding those players was no easy task. Finally, though, a MySpace encounter with Danish bassist Mads Vinding—combined with a bold through-the-mail contact with drummer Peter Erskine—yielded her 2010 breakthrough, the album Cold Sun. Her subsequent collaborators have included Marilyn Mazur (Forget-Me-Not); Arild Andersen and Billy Hart (Lions); Mark Turner, Joe Locke, and George Mraz (A Touch of Radiance); Mark Feldman (Leave Everything Behind); Chris Potter and Gerald Cleaver (In the Shadow of a Cloud); Ralph Alessi (Better Than Gold and Silver, I Am a Stranger in This World); and, on 2023’s Lonely Man and His Fish, Kirk Knuffke, Masaru Koga, Ben Street, and Eric Harland. Romance of the Moon is Eckemoff’s first encounter with Fresu, Bulgarelli, Bertuzzi, and Bagnoli. “In jazz, the project is only finished when recorded with jazz musicians,” she explains. “I design each project for them to be able to express themselves.” Disciplined and free, these musicians inhabit Eckemoff’s beguiling themes with the distilled intensity of Lorca’s poems. Photography: Edoardo Cantini Bandcamp: https://yelenaeckemoff.bandcamp.com/    EPK: Yelena Eckemoff | Romance of the Moon  Yelena Eckemoff Web Site  
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