GA Russell

This is a vocals album. I like it, and wish there were more people making this kind of music. This is not as jazzy as Merrill's last album.

+1 Natalia Zagorinskaya soprano; Gerrie de Vries mezzo-soprano; Yves Saelenstenor; Harry van der Kamp bass; Jean-Guiten Queyras violoncello; Elliott Simpson: guitar; Tamara Stefanovich piano; Csaba Király pianino, spoken word; Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble / Netherlands Radio Choir Reinbert de Leeuw conductor This 3-CD set is a milestone in the documentation of Hungarian composer György Kurtág’s work and also a labor of love. It brings together all of Kurtág’s works for ensemble and for ensemble and choir, presented in chronological order of composition (1959 -2011). The extensive CD booklet includes all song texts with translations, an interview with Reinbert de Leeuw, liner notes by Wolfgang Sandner and Paul Griffith, and a statement by György Kurtág. [learn more] Discover Kúrtag's new release with the video 'Chastushka' from Messages of the Late Miss R. Troussova Op. 17 (1976-1980) © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011

July 6 Born... 1925 - Bill Haley 1937 - Gene Chandler 1954 - Nanci Griffith ***** 1957 - Lennon meets McCartney. 1964 - "A Hard Day's Night" premieres in London. 1971 - Louis Armstrong dies. 1979 - Van McCoy dies. (I had the pleasure of speaking to him once on the phone!) 2003 - Skip Battin dies.

Happy Birthday 2017 Barak!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday 2017 GP!

July 4 Happy Independence Day everyone! Born... 1911 - Mitch Miller 1938 - Bill Withers 1940 - Dave Rowberry 1943 - Alan Wilson 1948 - Jeremy Spencer 1952 - John Waite ***** 1974 - Walter Becker and Donald Fagan play their last gig together until 18 years later. 2003 - Barry White dies. 2009 - Allen Klein dies.

Joey Chestnutt won for the 10th time in 11 years with a personal best 72 dogs.

When I was a toddler, being taken to Howard Johnson's for a hot dog was my favorite thing in the whole world. My dad's uncle worked for Howard one summer. This was shortly after the turn of the century. Howard had a push cart at Cape Cod, and Uncle Fred had the second cart.

Happy 40th Birthday 2017 WD45!

July 3 Born... 1930 - Tommy Tedesco 1940 - Fontella Bass 1957 - Laura Branigan ***** 1968 - At Joni Mitchell's house, Crosby Stills and Nash sing together for the first time. 1969 - Brian Jones dies. 1971 - Jim Morrison dies. 1972 - Mississippi Fred McDowell dies. 1974 - Laurens Hammond dies. 2001 - Johnny Russell dies.

I'm sorry that list only goes up to '67. I saw three DC Left Bank shows, and I think that all three were in the spring of '69: Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Roy Haynes. Both Blakey and Silver were disappointing (too robotic), but I enjoyed the Haynes very much. Haynes' quartet had George Adams on tenor sax and Carl Schroeder on piano.

July 2 1956 - Elvis records Hound Dog. 1969 - Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell quit The Jimi Hendrix Experience. 1979 - Sony introduces the Walkman. 2007 - Hy Zaret dies. ***** Born... 1926 - Lee Allen

Happy Dominion Day everyone! To celebrate the country's 150th birthday, I think they should have brought back the red ensign.

More Week 2 picks http://www.rodpedersen.com/2017/06/week-2-cfl-picks-2017.html https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/28/cfl-ca-writers-make-picks-week-2/ http://www.canadasportsbetting.ca/news/betting-picks/cfl-picks-week-2.html?lang=us http://www.sportsbettingcanadian.ca/cfl-week-2-betting-picks-2017/

Week 1 Plays of the Week https://www.cfl.ca/videos/plays-of-the-week/ ***** Drew Willy has signed with the Alouettes. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/former-riders-bombers-and-argos-qb-drew-willy-signs-with-alouettes/#comments http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/alouettes-sign-veteran-qb-drew-willy-one-year-contract/ ***** The legal battle over the construction problems of Tim Hortons Field is escalating. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/former-riders-bombers-and-argos-qb-drew-willy-signs-with-alouettes/#comments ***** The league will use new statistics this year. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/28/ready-quar-cfl-numbers-game-change/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/30/quar-cfls-new-quarterback-ranking-method/ https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/29/steve-daniel-takes-us-inside-canadian-football-statistics/ ***** It looks like Randy Ambrosie will be the new commissioner. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/28/former-cfl-lineman-randy-ambrosie-named-new-commissioner-report/#comments http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/reports-randy-ambrosie-named-cfl-commissioner/ http://www.tsn.ca/ambrosie-to-be-named-cfl-commissioner-1.791833 ***** 6/28 checking down https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/28/checking-down-week-2/ ***** Week 2 picks https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/28/weekly-predictor-full-confidence-alberta/ ***** Randy Chevrier has retired. http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/16-year-vet-randy-chevrier-retires-calgary-stampeder/ http://www.tsn.ca/chevrier-retires-after-16-years-in-pro-football-1.790308 ***** Henoc Muamba hurt his knee, and will be out for a while. http://www.tsn.ca/roughriders-muamba-out-with-knee-injury-1.793547

This morning's Wall Street Journal says that Sony will begin pressing vinyl for the first time since 1989. The plant will be in central Japan. So I wonder: Does that mean these albums will be 180g? The article also says that last year in the UK, vinyl outsold downloads. I'm surprised. https://www.wsj.com/articles/groovin-sony-to-press-its-first-vinyl-records-since-1989-1498731044 http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/06/30/sony-is-restarting-production-vinyl-records.html

June 30 Born... 1939 - Tony Hatch 1943 - Florence Ballard 1951 - Stanley Clarke 1963 - Yngwie Malmsteen 1984 - Fantasia ***** 1995 - Phyllis Hyman dies. 2001 - Chet Atkins dies. 2001 - Al Jardine sues The Beach Boys. 2004 - Dave Davies suffers a stroke.

Happy Birthday 2017 Face!

Happy Birthday 2017 Late!

Week 1 results... Als 17....Riders 16 Tylor Crapigna missed a 45 yard field goal on the last play of the game. https://www.cfl.ca/games/2371/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-montreal-alouettes/ http://3downnation.com/2017/06/22/tsn-panel-slams-cfl-officiating-disgusting-replay-call/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/23/cfl-issues-explanation-replay-call/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/22/durant-celebrates-downing-riders-credits-football-gods/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/23/reasons-optimism-following-riders-loss-montreal/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/23/rider-faithful-turn-darian-durant-win-celebration/#comments http://www.3downnation.com/2017/06/23/cfl-season-opener-watched-since-2013/#comments ***** Redblacks 31....Stampeders 31 Brett Maher kicked a 30 yard field goal on the last play of the second OT to tie it. Rene Paredes missed a 37 yard field goal on the last play f the first OT which would have won it. https://www.cfl.ca/games/2372/calgary-stampeders-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#preview http://3downnation.com/2017/06/23/replay-controversy-spoils-grey-cup-re-match-ends-tie/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/24/bo-levi-mitchell-tells-redblacks-lb-shut-twitter/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/24/14-thoughts-redblackss-wild-opener/#comments ***** Eskimos 30....Lions 27 Sean Whyte kicked a 9 yard field goal on the last play of the game to win it. https://www.cfl.ca/games/2373/edmonton-eskimos-vs-bc-lions/#preview http://3downnation.com/2017/06/25/mike-reilly-throws-for-315-yards-eskimos-beat-lions-30-27/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/25/three-things-learned-lions-opening-night-loss/#comments JC Sherritt injured his Achilles, and is gone for the yeaar. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/24/esks-j-c-sherritt-goes-achilles-injury/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/esks-lb-j-c-sherritt-done-year-torn-achilles/#comments ***** Argos 32....Ticats 15 Ricky Ray threw for a personal best 506 yards. It looks like SJ Green is back! https://www.cfl.ca/games/2374/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-toronto-argonauts/#playbyplay http://3downnation.com/2017/06/25/ricky-ray-sets-career-high-passing-yards-argos-throttle-ticats/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/25/edwards-ticats-look-terrible-loss-argos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/learned-hamiltons-embarrassing-loss-argos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/even-victories-argos-brand-rebuild-will-take-time/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/argos-sj-green-miraculous-one-handed-grab/#comments Terrence Toliver tore his ACL, and is gone for the year. http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/ticats-terrence-toliver-year-torn-acl/#comments ***** Top 3 Canucks http://3downnation.com/2017/06/27/introducing-3down-top-3-canucks-week/#comments ***** power rankings http://3downnation.com/2017/06/26/3down-power-rankings-snakes-ladders-week-1/#comments http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-1.4179589 https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/27/argos-sailing-nissan-titan-power-rankings/ http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-remain-at-no-1-in-cfl-power-rankings-1.790191

Happy Birthday 2017 Stefan!

June 29 1945 - Little Eva born 1979 - Lowell George dies. 2000 - Eminem's mother sues him for defamation. 2002 - Rosemary Clooney dies.

ECM Stephan Micus Inland Sea Stephan Micus: nyckelharpa, voice, shakuhachi, balanzikom, genbri, guitars, zithers U.S. Release date: July 14, 2017 ECM 2569 B0026947-02 UPC: 6025 575 6547 8 There are inland seas like the Caspian or Lake Baikal which are vast lakes with their own microclimates in the Eurasian steppe. Several of Stephan Micus’ instruments come from these regions and beyond. But for Micus, the Inland Sea is also something within - a state of mind and a very personal landscape. This is Stephan Micus’ 22nd solo album for ECM. He’s a musician like no other, taking his audience on musical journeys to far-flung places and sound worlds that are totally unique. Micus is the master of his own musical landscapes, a one-man universe of sound. For the past 48 years he has been travelling, collecting and studying musical instruments from all over the world and creating new music for them. He often combines instruments from different cultures and continents that would never normally be played together. In each album he focuses on a particular cast of characters, his instruments, and creates his musical journeys with them. At the heart of this album is the nyckelharpa - a keyed fiddle which is the Swedish national instrument. David Harrington of Kronos Quartet describes it as a ‘dinosaur’, partly because it is so extraordinary looking, but also because it has strange archaic elements like sympathetic strings underneath the four playing strings. The strings are stopped by a set of wooden keys, so it’s an impressive piece of engineering as well as craftsmanship. “With most instruments I spend years studying how to play them and then try to forget everything I’ve learned,” says Micus. “I look at it as if it just arrived from Mars, without any preconceptions. Then I experiment and try to find all the possibilities inherent in the instrument and try going to the borders of what it can do”. This is the first time Stephan Micus has used the nyckelharpa. As with most of his instruments, he’s customized the instrument to suit his particular ideas and needs. Traditionally, the nyckelharpa is predominantly used for polkas and other dance tunes so it has a short bow, more suited to rhythmic music. Micus uses a much longer bow enabling him to play more sustained notes. Micus never even attempted to play the nyckelharpa in the conventional manner, slung round the neck like a guitar. Instead he plays it like a cello, holding it upright between his legs. This is closer to the other bowed instruments he plays, the Indian dilruba and the sattar from Xinjiang in China. “Until now I’ve only played bowed instruments from Asia,” Micus explains, “and I like the nyckelharpa because it carries a European spirit which I was keen to bring into the music.” So the opening track, Haze, sounds almost Baroque with its clean textures, plangent string counterpoint and curling ornamentations. Accompaniment comes from the plucked strings of a balanzikom, a rare instrument which Micus brought back from the Wakhan valley on the borders of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. “It’s one of the most enchanting places I’ve seen in my life with mountains of over 7000 metres on each side of the river - which is the border - and small villages on either side. They use the balanzikom for Sufi ceremonies, but I heard it being played only briefly by a farmer.” As with the nyckelharpa, Micus is using the balanzikom for the first time. Sowing Wind introduces the second melodic instrument on the album, the Japanese shakuhachi flute, a favorite of Stephan Micus. He started to learn it 43 years ago when he visited Japan for the first time. Its richly textured, breathy sound has a soulful profundity. It features on three of the tracks of Inland Sea and seems to offer a voice of spiritual wisdom. The third melodic voice is that of Stephan Micus himself singing in an invented language. In Flor del Sur he’s singing over the robust plucking of the balanzikom. “When I bought it,” Micus explains, “it had very cheap nylon strings and I thought I’d replace them with high-quality nylon or gut strings so it would sound even better. But actually it then lost the character that was attracting me. I investigated all the fishing shops I could find and tried different types of fishing line. In the end I learned that the Japanese made the best-sounding fishing nylon. It’s interesting how it’s not always the best quality things that produce a desired result. Sometimes something much cruder has exactly the quality you’re looking for. The balanzikom has a special sound no other instrument has”. The emotional center of the album is probably Virgen de la Mar - the goddess, perhaps, of that inland sea. As well as playing instruments from around the world, Micus has studied polyphonic singing in Georgia and Bulgaria - both of which inform this track which seems like a hymn full of unusual and surprising harmonies. Accompanying the melodic voices on this album is the sound of plucked strings - the balanzikom, the Moroccan genbri, associated with Gnawa musicians and which Micus used for the first time on his last album Nomad Songs. There are also guitars, a chord zither and a vast bass zither with strings 1.7 meters long. The latter two designed by Micus himself. “As on the bandoneon, the keys of the nyckelharpa are quite noisy, which for some people might be irritating. But I tried to make a vice into a virtue and used this ‘noise’ to make separate percussive tracks which are integral to the sound of Dancing Clouds and Nuria. Actually on the whole album no percussion instruments were used. Just different sounds coming from the nyckelharpa”. So over 10 compositions, the nyckelharpa is bowed, plucked, struck and stroked, multitracked and misused in many glorious ways. Rarely has it been played so high or so low or had its sympathetic strings strummed like a sitar as at the beginning of Dancing Clouds, where it also becomes a throbbing percussive orchestra behind the plucked and bowed strings. In the foot tapping finale, Nuria, the nyckelharpa becomes a deliciously irregular rhythm section behind Micus’ shakuhachi and voice to create a satisfying apotheosis. “When I play,” says Micus, “I am listening to the instrument and telling the stories it has inside it. It’s like a human being and each of us has unique stories to tell. Similarly, if I try a tune I composed for one shakuhachi on another one it somehow doesn’t sound right. The melody was really made for, and with, that particular instrument. A composer is like a guide taking you on a walk. He will take you from where you are, lead you into unknown territory and bring you back.”

Yes, Michael. It was in Dallas. He died the next day of a heroin and morphine overdose.