GA Russell

Here's an interesting idea. In the hope that there might be some drama the last day of the season, all 15 games will begin at the same time - 3:00 pm eastern. http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-promoting-final-day-drama-with-simultaneous-starts/ar-BBitf6e?ocid=ansSportingNews11

Here's an article from Yahoo's CFL correspondent Andrew Bucholtz, in which he points out that the May 12 date is about ten days later than the past few years. The draft date is all about determining who will sign with the NFL for the money, so that nobody wastes a high pick on him. https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/2015-cfl-draft-set-for-may-12--which-should-be-perfect-relative-to-the-nfl-draft-192819144.html ***** Edmonton's backup QB Pat White has decided to retire. http://www.tsn.ca/eskimos-qb-white-retires-1.235206 http://cfl.ca/article/esks-qb-white-calls-it-a-career ***** I've been following the league on a weekly basis since 1974, and last year was by far the least enjoyable for me. If all the games were as boring as they were last year, I wouldn't be a fan. I believe that the league added two players to the game roster, and the coaches put those two players on defense. Thus the games were boring. Now Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun says that there is a great deal of talk to change some rules to put the offense back into the game. Hey guys, why not just reduce the game roster by two players? http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/19/cfl-toying-with-rule-changes-to-increase-scoring

I had no idea that The Way It Was was a respected album!

I agree with this. I think casting Mary Astor in the part was a mistake. Notwithstanding the actors' lack of chemistry... The character in the book was an extraordinarily beautiful 24-year old, passing as a 19-year old looking for her sister. The screenwriter stuck as closely to the book as she could, including the dialogue. So I felt that it didn't make sense for Mary Astor, who I think looked older than she was, and who I never thought was all that good looking, saying what she did, and getting the reactions of both Spade and Archer, in their initial meeting.

The league has announced that the amateur draft will be held May 12. http://cfl.ca/article/2015-cfl-draft-order-broadcast-info-revealed http://www.tsn.ca/cfl-to-hold-draft-on-may-12-1.235065

This one came out Tuesday. I see that both Here's to Life and It's Always You mentioned above are on Spotify, but this one isn't yet.

The promo copy of this arrived in the mail Saturday. I opened it up right away, and have been playing it ever since. I really enjoy it.

Today I stumbled upon a reference to the Burnside rules on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnside_rules

Yes, Joe. I believe that the term "the Canadian league" started in the US in the late '40s, when the organization's title was the Canadian Rugby Union. There was probably a reluctance among some people to use that name because they weren't playing rugby!

Well, not to be argumentative, but... Duane, I felt that the book was much better because I didn't think that Bogart and Mary Astor had any chemistry. At the end they were professing their love for one another, and I was thinking, Where did that come from? Well, of course it was a great movie (one of my very favorites), but I think that we should remember that Greene based the novella on his screenplay. It was not a case of a movie based upon a respected book. I very much enjoyed the book in its own right. By the way, I read many years ago that Welles was on screen for only ten minutes of the movie.

Here's the complete transcript of today's Jim Barker reddit AMA interview. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2zhk9v/im_jim_barker_general_manager_of_the_toronto/?sort=old ***** Chris McKenzie last played in 2012. Today he made it official and retired. http://www.cfl.ca/article/former-db-chris-mckenzie-retires-a-rider ***** The union has posted a page listing the upcoming events the players will attend. https://cflpa.com/category/community-events/ ***** The Toronto Sun's Frank Zicarelli opines that the Argos need a new owner! http://m.torontosun.com/2015/03/17/cfls-new-commissioner-must-find-a-way-to-get-david-braley-out-as-argos-owner ***** Here is the video of yesterday's press conference introducing Jeffrey Orridge as the new commissioner. http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/108819

Happy Birthday Rooster!

BeBop, thanks to self-publishing (and eBooks), I think that your observation is relevant to many fields. For example, in the past three months I have purchased two eBooks and six print books regarding the Canadian league.

The league announced its new Commissioner today - Jeffrey Orridge. Orridge was at one time an executive with the CBC. His appointment surprises me very much because he was born and raised in New York. I remember that during the last search for a Commissioner, the idea that he might be an American was a non-starter. http://cfl.ca/article/jeffrey-l-orridge-appointed-cfl-commisioner http://www.tsn.ca/orridge-named-new-cfl-commissioner-1.233018 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=810094 ***** Yesterday the Argos announced their coaching staff. I think that the most notable change is that Jim Daley will not be back. http://cfl.ca/article/milanovich-argos-announce-2015-coaching-staff

By the way, not too long ago I found on the web a list of every English #1 song going back to (I think) 1960. I was surprised to see that of all the British Invasion acts, 1) The first to have a #1 hit was not The Beatles, it was Gerry & the Pacemakers; 2) The song was How Do You Do It?; and 3) This was in April of 1963. How Do You Do It? was a hit in the US in August of '64, some 16 months later. That's quite a long time. And you Brits might also be interested to learn that the B side in the US was You'll Never Walk Alone, which had already been another of their hits in England, was later re-issued in the US as an A side and became a hit, and was the basis of the Liverpool fans singing that song at their games.

My first 45...

That's terrific! I'll look forward to seeing it on YouTube (I hope).

Too late, Head Man! I'm sorry I didn't know about that earlier. Oh well, we'll see how good the item I ordered sounds.

I would be interested to see a list of the best-selling jazz CDs sold over the past 30 years. Excluding smooth jazz. I bet that most of those artists are today dead. So I wonder, are many musicians today making similar records? I think that (outside of classical music) there has never been much of a market for the recordings of the now-deceased. And if today's musicians are making records which don't remind anyone of the most popular sold over the past 30 years, why would anyone expect those new records to be popular? Just because they are new?

Perigeo was an Italian fusion band in the '70s. I've never heard them, but they've got their fans on Amazon. Perigeo - Antologia (8 CDs + 1 DVD) - $54.06 + $3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Antologia-Perigeo/dp/B00OXSIZFW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426531674&sr=1-1&keywords=perigeo

Other than Diana Krall, who else is being issued on Verve nowadays? Is Verve primarily a re-issue label now? PS - I am referring to jazz, of course. Donny Osmond and Barry Manilow don't count!

Happy Birthday 2015 Chucky!

I am thinking about getting an inexpensive unlocked smartphone to use with magicJack's new app for Android. Any recommendations?

It occurs to me that none of us has asked the question...Where would jazz have ranked in 1970? 1980? 2010?

Beware the Ides of March! Jim Barker will be fielding questions on Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) this Wednesday March 18, at 1:00 pm eastern. https://twitter.com/TorontoArgos/status/577228020014002177/photo/1