GA Russell

John, Cortez was both head coach and player personnel director. Perhaps they wanted to put in a new man for that second role. This causes me to lose a lot of faith in the Ticats' management. Their president will be leaving soon. I don't think a well-run sports team has a revolving door of coaches and GM's regardless of how many games they lose the first year. With Cortez fired, I wonder if that $400k counts against the cap. I suspect not.

I've been listening to this, and I'm glad it's up at Spotify for you to give it a try and see if you disagree with me. To follow up on John's point, I am of two minds. Vizzutti is terrific here. Based on this, he ought to be a household name. But it's not until the final few tracks that the album starts to swing. For most of the album, the beat is leaden, and the electric bass guitar is too loud. Whether the lack of swing is due to the drummer or the compositions I can't say, but I suppose the leader takes responsibility for the album regardless.

Here is the new list released today of the Scouting Bureau's Top Fifteen prospects for the draft. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/feature/?id=82904 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=411486

Actually, I deliberately bought what I did because the reviews on Amazon said that the lid didn't fit tightly. Some were complaining about that, and others saw it as reason for praise.

DGS, original Drifters, yes. Ben E. King Drifters and Johnny Moore Drifters no. With the exceptions I mentioned in post #38, I don't think the Hall of Fame should include folks with just a few hits. Although my primary disdain for the Brill Bldg. folks is their music, I also object to the corporate nature of it all. The rock 'n' roll heroes of the 50s, the British Invasion groups, and the New Wave bands were artists who drove the trends, not pawns of the record companies.

Jim, yes. They're not my idea of swinging rock 'n' roll. When the Brill Building was at its peak, the American market was easy pickings for the Brits.

It's that time of year again to reflect on the past twelve months, and consider what ten albums you've picked up are your favorites. This year there really hasn't been a great deal of discussion on the board about new releases, so let's open it up to CDs you have purchased (or were given) in the past twelve months regardless of when they were recorded or released. I've still got a couple of promos I want to listen to before deciding on my list, so go ahead and start without me!

If you haven't taken the time to listen to this on Spotify, I recommend that you do so. It's my kind of jazz. I give the album four stars. My rating would be a little stronger, except that I think it lasts a track too long (but I haven't decided yet what track I would delete).

BIG SURPRISE: The Ticats fired George Cortez today. He was hired because of his great success as an offensive coordinator over the years. So in his one year as head coach, the Ticats led the league in offense while finishing last in the standings. That tells me that they needed a new defensive coordinator, not a new head coach. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=411431

I think that all of the 1964 British Invasion bands, and all of the 1983 MTV New Wave bands, should be inducted as groups. They changed the course of things. And I would eject anyone who had anything to do with Don Kirschner, although I'd make an exception and induct The Monkees.

BM, following up on your suggestion, I bought a pyrex 2-qt lidded casserole dish, a jar of Orville's popcorn and a bottle of Orville's butter oil. I'll try them all out Christmas Day. By the way, I introduced Orville Redenbacher's to my college campus! In 1969 I lived in New Orleans when not at school, and that summer New Orleans was a test market for Orville's. I loved it, so I got a popcorn maker and brought a jar of Orville's back to school with me. The picture of Orville on the label was exactly the same it is today, except that he had a crew cut!!!

The Eskimos hired Ed Hervey as their new General Manager. Here's an interesting interview. http://watch.tsn.ca/clip823887#clip823887 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=411355

Happy Birthday Dmitry!

Here's is the league's Scouting Bureau's original list of top fifteen candidates for the 2013 draft. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/feature/?id=75785

Happy Birthday West Coast Ghost!

Jerry Brown, the Dallas Cowboy who this morning died in the auto driven by his teammate, played for the Ticats last year. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/dallas-cowboy-charged-with-manslaughter-after-former-tiger-cat-dies-in-car-crash/article6136416/

Thanks BM! That sounds good!

Amazon will offer 25 free Christmas songs to download between Dec. 1 and Christmas. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000862171

The Eskimos released Cory Boyd yesterday. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=411179

Here's an interesting article about common foods that the quoted experts say are too unhealthy. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/12/01/7-foods-should-never-eat/?intcmp=features

ss1, here's the Complete Sanford and Son for $21.76. http://www.amazon.co...complete series

This is a Facebook offer. Get a five dollar discount off a purchase of $25 or more. Expires this Sunday night, 12/9/12. http://www.amazon.com/gp/socialmedia/promotions/holiday5off/

On the one hand... To me Brubeck was like Starbuck's. I love everything about Starbuck's except their coffee. And I love everything about Brubeck except his piano playing. The most boring jazz concert I've ever attended was a Brubeck quartet at The Cellar Door about 1970 which featured his son on clarinet as I recall. On the other hand... It was decided quite some time ago that I would receive for Christmas his 5-CD Original Album Classics odd time signatures box, and I've been looking forward to it! I'm sure I'll enjoy it. RIP. As posts here affirm, he was a very decent man. And I don't think that he is properly recognized (if what I am about to say is in fact true) for introducing jazz to college campuses. It's my understanding that he with Desmond were the first to make the campus rounds.

Jim, my credit card was never charged for my kickstarter pledge.

I found he was very sympatico with both Palmieri and DeJohnette, even though the styles were very different. He seemed to be less engaged with Haynes than the other two, but that is not to say that there was no empathy between the two of them. As I recall, the Haynes track involved a fair amount of repetition, as if they didn't have enough ideas to cover the fifteen minutes. I will have to watch that again with that in mind to see if that is the case. I felt that Glover was at a loss as to what to do with McCoy. There was a drummer on that track (Brian Grice), and he seemed sufficient. Perhaps if there were no drummer, Glover's work would have seemed to be a greater contribution. One other idea: It occurs to me that the proof in the pudding will be how often I want to listen to this, not just sit down in front of the TV to watch it.