GA Russell

I've finally gotten around to listening to this one. I like it. The songs are uptempo and swing. Pretty easy to swallow without being bland. Electric keyboards and bass, if you like that sound.

Here's the LA Times obit for Earl. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-orioles-manager-earl-weaver-dead-at-82-20130119,0,5750729.story And here is his book, which is temporarily 39% off at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Weaver-Strategy-Classic-Managing-Baseball/dp/1574884247/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358627267&sr=1-1&keywords=earl+weaver

Marc Trestman is loading up his coaching staff with guys he worked with in Montreal. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413922

Here are the dates of Chris Potter's upcoming tour. I'm jealous of those of you who will have the opportunity to go. Chris Potter on tour: Feb 5-10 - New York, NY at the Village Vanguard Feb 21 - Montreal at Salle Jesu Feb 22 - Philadelphia, PA at Chris’ Jazz Café Feb 23 - Cleveland at Lakeland Performing Arts Center Feb 24 - Oakland, CA at Yoshi’s Feb 25 - Santa Cruz, CA at Kuumbwa Feb 26-27 - Seattle, WA at Jazz Alley Feb 28 - Hollywood, CA at Musician’s Institute March 2-3 - Denver, CO at Dazzle March 8 - Jacksonville, FL at Terry Theater (Quartet w/Community Big Band) March 9 - Jacksonville, FL at Terry Theater (Quartet) March 14 - Boston, MA at Regattabar March 16 - Washington, DC at The Hamilton

At my age it's not often that I have the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do that I've never done before. A 40-year old black woman at work appears to be an excellent cook regarding soul food. A couple of weeks ago she offered me some fatback which I had never tried before. She often offers to share a little bit of her lunch. (She has a boy friend, so she's not coming on to me.) At the end of last week, I asked her if she would make me some chitlins (aka chitterlings) if I paid her expenses, and I explained that I had always wanted to try them, and had never had the opportunity. She agreed, and brought me lunch on Monday which she heated up in the office microwave. There were chitlins, ham, collard greens and white rice! The chitlins were excellent, but finished with a little vinegar as is the custom here in eastern North Carolina. I'm not a big fan of this local custom of putting vinegar on pork, but the people here are very proud of their pork with vinegar tradition. The ham was particularly good. It reminded me of Virginia ham, but she said that it was called "Whole Picnic Shoulder Ham." The greens were very tasty. The white rice was nothing special, but I gather that most blacks put hot sauce on their rice, and I don't do hot sauce. Of course traditionally blacks didn't have much money, so their groceries were products with low price points. I think the "soul food" moniker was an attempt to put a positive spin on necessity. Anyway, I loved every bite of that lunch! Another black woman perhaps a little younger saw that I was enjoying it all, and said that her sister-in-law had made some chitlins over the weekend and left them with her, so she brought them in for me Tuesday. These too were very good, but different. There was no vinegar, which resulted in the chitlins being a little bland. Instead, the s-i-l had used red peppers. At first I didn't notice them, but as I was finishing up my serving, I could feel the burn of the peppers starting at the back of my tongue and working its way to the front! So now I am an experienced soul food aficionado, and I feel good about myself!

Ricky Ray was said to be the league's highest paid player at $400,000 a year. The Lions have signed Travis Lulay for $450,000 a year, so I'm guessing that makes him the new highest paid player. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413744 ***** The Lions have released Arland Bruce III and Byron Parker. The year that Bruce played for the 49ers, they insisted that he drop "the Third" from his name. Now with RGIII I guess the NFL doesn't care! http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413895

Some of the old Django movies are being spruced up with good masters, if that's the word, and last week I picked up four: A Man Called Django Django and Sartana's Showdown in the West Django Kills Silently Django's Cut Price Corpses A year ago I gave a friend a box of Spaghetti Western DVDs, and it included what some fans feel is the best Django movie, Django Kill. But not everyone believe that it is the best. I'd like to see the original with Franco Nero, but right now it is priced high because of the popularity of Django Unchained. I'll wait till the price comes down a few bucks.

Thanks for that info, Marty! I too found it at Big Lots in mid-December, and gave it to myself for Christmas. I haven't opened it up yet, though. Big Lots had a number of interesting jazz titles for five dollars that day, including Erroll Garner - The Elf on Savoy and Sonny Rollins - The Sound of Sonny on Riverside.

Happy Birthday 2013 VJ!

Yesterday the Ticats released Quinton Porter. He seemed to have so much promise when he was a rookie, but things never worked out for him. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413590 ***** Former Stamps backup QB Mike McCoy was named the head coach of the San Diego Chargers yesterday. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/ex-cfl-quarterback-mike-mccoy-agrees-to-become-chargers-coach/article7375743/

Happy Birthday mjb!

The Chicago Bears have hired Marc Trestman away from the Als. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413656

The Bears have hired Marc Trestman as their new head coach. Here's some background on him. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=413656

This one looks like it has promise. Singer/Composer Molly Holm Debuts with "Permission," To Be Released February 19 On Her Rinny Zin Records Holm Works with Bay Area Cast Featuring Frank Martin, Jeff Chambers, Larry Schneider, Wayne Wallace, and Bill Bell, As Well as Famoudou Don Moye CD Release Show Sun. April 21, Freight & Salvage, Berkeley January 16, 2013 Molly Holm has been a visionary presence on the Bay Area music scene -- as an original member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, as a featured singer with Terry Riley and Zakir Hussain, as a Mills College adjunct faculty member -- for more than three decades. Her far-ranging artistic pursuits, however, have not included recording an album of her own -- until now. Holm's overdue and highly anticipated debut, Permission, showcases her unique, fully-formed jazz vocal artistry. The CD will be released February 19 on her Rinny Zin imprint. "It is a debut in the sense that it is her first official offering under her name," writes CD annotator Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, "but given her long and extensive career as a jazz vocalist, improviser, composer, ensemble director, arranger, and educator, Permission is more of a continuum than a prologue." Permission combines classic songs by Chick Corea ("Sea Journey"), Joe Zawinul ("Go There Now" aka "74 Miles Away"), Charles Mingus ("Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," with Rahsaan Roland Kirk's lyrics), Mongo Santamaria ("Afro Blue"), and Thelonious Monk ("Straight No Chaser") with six original compositions, some sporting her richly poetic lyrics. Holm's "The Bear" is a gorgeously harmonized a cappella piece performed by ten Bay Area singers, including Linda Tillery, Rhiannon, Raz Kennedy, and Nicolas Bearde, and was inspired by her former Mills instructors Pandit Pran Nath and Terry Riley. On the disc's opener, "Improvised Raga," Holm sings non-word syllables in the Kirana tradition of North Indian raga derived from Pran Nath, one of her major mentors. "Instead of waking from a dream, I feel like a dream has awakened me!" says Holm. "I've had such wonderful opportunities throughout my performance career -- working with, and learning from, diverse and highly-acclaimed artists who know how to push the envelope. And now, to finally bring together my own musical ideas into a single recording, I have to say it does my soul good." Besides members of Holm's own band -- pianist (and CD producer/arranger) Frank Martin, bassist Jeff Chambers, drummer Deszon Claiborne, and trombonist Wayne Wallace -- the participants include drummer Famoudou Don Moye, soprano and tenor saxophonist Larry Schneider, vocal percussionist Antonia Minnecola, pianist Bill Bell, bassist Mark van Wageningen, percussionist David Frazier, the late drummers Paul van Wageningen and Eddie Marshall, and some of the key singers who, like Molly, sang in the original Voicestra. All, with the exception of Art Ensemble of Chicago member Moye, are based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Salem, Oregon in 1954, Molly Holm grew up hearing Mingus, Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan around the house and impromptu singing with her jazz-fan mother and four siblings. Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro were important early vocal influences. "In high school," Holm recalls, "I learned to sing by listening to them. I didn't take voice lessons till I was 23." Holm moved to the Bay Area at 18 to study at Mills, but followed a circuitous path of singing and study elsewhere before returning to complete her bachelor's degree in 1979 and a master's in composition in 1982. Her classes at Mills with Pandit Pran Nath, Terry Riley, and W.A. Mathieu had a lasting impact on her own music. "One of the most important things I learned from Terry is that he's not afraid to just try anything," says Holm. "He doesn't seem to have any self-consciousness if he makes a mistake. I try to emulate that freedom, that lack of worry about making mistakes." Bobby McFerrin first encountered Holm when she was directing a 14-member choir called Jazzmouth. He tapped her to run the yearlong auditions for an a cappella vocal ensemble he was putting together, and in 1986 she was one of ten singers handpicked to join him in that innovative new vocal orchestra, Voicestra. "Bobby came up with the idea to use a group of singers by leading the improvising himself," she says. "He'd do the improvising and give the singers a repetitive part-circle singing or what we used to call 'add a part, change a part.' It was a huge thing to learn from him." Holm subsequently used these lessons in various singing groups she's led, including her new women's group, Molly Holm and The Impermanent Ensemble; in classes she's taught at Folsom Prison, the California Medical Facility in Vacaville; and for the past 14 years as an adjunct faculty member at Mills. In addition to her work with ensemble singing, Holm has self-produced concerts as a solo vocalist with rhythm-section support in years past, one of which led writer Fred Setterberg to describe her voice as "a fluid, birdsong alto, winding and lilting, with barely a hint of vibrato; a voice like the woody middle register of a clarinet." Her new CD gives her, well, permission to explore more deeply this aspect of her music. Molly Holm will be performing a CD release show with her band (Frank Martin, Jeff Chambers, Deszon Claiborne, Wayne Wallace, Melecio Magdaluyo, Antonia Minnecola) on Sunday 4/21 at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Photography: Irene Young Web Site: www.mollyholm.com Follow:

The Amazon UK price has decreased a pound to 9.00 GBP.

Howdy Hi, Shindiggers! It might be a stretch to consider Jimmy O'Neill an artist, but for everyone of a certain age, he was a major celebrity, well remembered I'm sure. Jimmy O'Neill died Friday at age 73. RIP. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jimmy-oneill-20130115,0,5482138.story

RIP. I'll have to dig out my Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine discs and play them.

I distinguish between cheating by using drugs, and cheating with emory boards and spitters. I think that drug-using cheaters should never get in, regardless of their early career success. I'm a huge fan of Jim Kaat. Not only did he win more than 280 games by changing his pitching style over the years, but he won (IIRC) over ten consecutive Gold Gloves. When someone of any position wins ten consecutive Gold Gloves, I think that he belongs in the HOF. And speaking of fielders, in my book there's has never been a better fielding first baseman than Vic Power!

Happy Birthday 2013 Andy!

Belated Happy Birthday 2013 Patricia!

Happy Birthday 7/4!

Jim, the first thought that comes to my mind is this: The program is for people who like to buy CDs. This will get them used to using Amazon's cloud player. For many people, their entire CD collection (not us, certainly) will be available in one location, in addition to wherever the CDs may be found (or lost) at the moment.

Here's a link to an article in today's Chicago Tribune which says that Amazon will allow its customers to download for free mp3 copies of CDs they have purchased from Amazon. Right now the offer is good for 50,000 albums. The offer is retroactive going back to 1998. The program is called Amazon AutoRip. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-amazon-to-give-music-cd-buyers-a-free-digital-version-20130110,0,2359412.story

Soft Machine - NDR Workshop (1 CD, 1 DVD) - $16.85 http://www.amazon.com/NDR-Jazz-Workshop-Germany-1973/dp/B003GEDLEY?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ7T5BOVUVRD2EFYQ&tag=camels-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003GEDLEY

SI.com is reporting that Carolina has passed on Jim Popp, and will hire the New York Giants' David Gettleman. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/football/nfl/wires/01/09/2020.ap.fbn.panthers.gettleman.2nd.ld.writethru.0951/index.html