GA Russell

Lions analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/21/top-of-the-depth-chart-bc-lions-3/ ***** The Trews, very popular in Canada, will be the halftime performers of the Bombers' home opener. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/21/the-trews-to-play-winnipeg-blue-bombers-home-opener-halftime-show/ ***** Ticats analysis https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/tiger-cats-make-roster-move-sign-running-back-khalan-griffin/ *****

This says that the Lions' Opening Day promotions are break-even events, not loss leaders. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/20/how-the-b-c-lions-a-list-concert-kickoff-is-sort-of-profitable/ ***** Calgary beat BC yesterday. Neither team wore white. The Stampeders wore red jerseys with red pants, while the Lions wore black jerseys with black pants. It looked odd. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/19/five-takeaways-from-the-calgary-stampeders-26-16-preseason-win-in-b-c/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/19/former-nfl-qb-p-j-walker-posts-moderate-numbers-in-cfl-preseason-debut/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/20/b-c-lions-treat-vancouver-island-to-predictable-mistakes-in-preseason-loss-to-calgary-10-other-thoughts/ https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/stampeders-open-pre-season-schedule-with-win-over-lions-1.2308667 https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/stampeders-topple-lions-26-16-in-preseason-opener-behind-strong-ground-attack/ https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/positive-takeaways-from-the-stampeders-preseason-victory-over-bc/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/19/qb-tracker-breaking-down-preseason-playing-time-3/ ***** Saturday's broadcasts https://www.cfl.ca/plus ***** Stampeders analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/20/top-of-the-depth-chart-calgary-stampeders-3/ ***** Riders analysis https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/offensive-line-woes-carry-over-to-2025-for-roughriders/

California's economy is bigger than Japan's.

Not jazz. Movie soundtrack. The Lovin' Spoonful You're a Big Boy Now My CD cover LP cover

Hooray! The QR77 Calgary website is working for me today. https://globalnews.ca/radio/qrcalgary/player/ ***** BC's radio is here. https://globalnews.ca/radio/cknw/player/ ***** Stampeders-Lions previews https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/cfl-preseason-schedule-games-on-tv-today-calgary-stampeders-vs-bc-lions-monday-may-19-2025/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/19/preseason-watchlist-eight-rookies-to-know-in-b-c-lions-vs-calgary-stampeders/ ***** ***** Nick Mardner has hurt his knee, and may miss the entire year. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/19/ottawa-redblacks-starter-nick-mardner-likely-to-miss-entire-2025-season/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/17/canadian-receiver-nick-mardner-carted-off-the-field-with-injury-during-ottawa-redblacks-scrimmage-report/ ***** Top DBs https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/19/mmqb-ranking-the-cfls-top-defensive-backfield-players/ ***** *****

I liked Borders' CD selection.

The first pre-season game is tomorrow (Monday) - Calgary at BC. Kickoff at 4:00 pm eastern. I believe this link will allow you to watch the game. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/16/preseason-week-a-calgary-stampeders-at-bc-lions/ ***** ***** Game previews https://3downnation.com/2025/05/18/qb-p-j-walker-to-lead-inexperienced-calgary-stampeders-roster-in-preseason-opener/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/18/qb-nathan-rourke-making-hometown-start-in-victoria-as-b-c-lions-rest-other-stars-for-preseason-opener/ ***** Sask news https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/riderville-roundup-may-18-2025/

***** Riders news https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/mcewen-out-a-while-riders-may-flip-ratio-on-o-line/ ***** https://shop.ticats.forgefootball.club/collections/may-long-weekend-sale

Available Today, ECM's Vinyl Reissue of Bennie Maupin's 1974 Landmark Album The Jewel in the Lotus Today as Part of its Audiophile Luminessence Series ECM’s audiophile vinyl-reissue series Luminessence continues with the release of Bennie Maupin's 1974 album The Jewel in the Lotus.  The Luminessence series is a kaleidoscope, shedding light on the jewels of the label’s deep catalogue in elegant, high-quality editions. The hallmarks of the series: original and evocative music, imaginatively played and sensitively produced. The recordings underline the scope and variety of ECM’s world of sound and the LPs are presented in different formats. Bennie Maupin The Jewel in the Lotus Bennie Maupin | Reeds, Voice, Glockenspiel
 Herbie Hancock | Piano, Electric Piano
Buster Williams | Bass
 Billy Hart | Drums
 Frederick Waits | Drums, Marimba
 Bill Summers | Percussion
 Charles Sullivan | Trumpet ECM 1043 Release LP: May 16, 2025 "An unsung modernist classic from 1974." – Pitchfork "Bennie Maupin, the reeds master whose contributions to the landmark Miles Davis Bitches Brew session and to Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band were so sparingly telling, reemerged last year with an unusual new album… This is the companion-piece… The rich soundscapes of Bitches Brew and early Weather Report are strong references, with Maupin far more of an enabler and a colourist than a flat-out soloist. But his rich tapestries are more acoustic than most early 1970s fusion, and this is an absorbing collage of long flute sounds over marimba vamps and loosely impressionistic percussion, water-churning noises and electric keys washing around brooding bass clarinet lines, airy soprano melodies over Buster Williams’ bowed bass." — John Fordham, The Guardian Bennie Maupin has been an inventive contributor to iconic records including Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi and Headhunters and Marion Brown’s Afternoon Of A Georgia Faun. His recordings under his own name have been infrequent but his leader debut, is indeed a jewel. “A more selfless album is hard to imagine”, said DownBeat in 1975. “On The Jewel In The Lotus, the sound is supreme, and all the players strive to achieve a thorough blending”. Recorded in New York in 1974, the disc’s personnel is drawn from the circle around Herbie Hancock in the period, but the music has a character all its own. Maupin was one of the first musicians to record for ECM, playing on Marion Brown’s Afternoon Of A Georgia Faun in August 1970, when the label was just a few months old. The Jewel In The Lotus, made four years later, was Maupin’s first date as a leader, but he had already left his imprint on some very significant recordings. Born in Detroit in 1940, Maupin was encouraged in his early musical development by Yusef Lateef, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. Jack DeJohnette introduced him to Miles Davis, and Maupin’s bass clarinet was to become one of the signature sounds of the epochal Bitches Brew; he also appeared on Davis's On The Corner and Big Fun. The early '70s, however, were spent mostly working with Hancock’s ensembles – the Mwandishi group and the Headhunters – and the line-up on The Jewel In The Lotus is essential a pooling of players from the Hancock circle, including Hancock himself in his only ECM appearance. If Hancock’s groups were beginning to lean toward funk in this era, the groove – even with three percussionists interacting – is often dispatched altogether on The Jewel In The Lotus, which is essentially a sequence of pulsing tone-poems, full of glowing, compound sound-colors and subtle interactions, a jazz-and-Buddhism-inspired floating chamber music that was way ahead of its time. The recording shows Maupin very much concerned with the totality of the musical conception, with the form as a whole. He is an exceptional improviser, thinking compositionally and directing group music in the moment. For more information on ECM, please visit: ECMRecords.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter # # #  

The league announced its list of game officials today. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/16/49-officials-to-take-the-field-in-2025/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/16/victorias-murray-clarke-eyes-600th-game-as-cfl-unveils-referees-for-2025-season/ ***** Preseason preview https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/16/4-things-to-watch-in-the-cfl-preseason/ ***** In the first 48 hours after the Lions announced that Snoop Dogg would perform at their home opener, the Lions sold 40,000 tickets. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/15/ticket-sales-for-b-c-lions-season-opener-surpass-40000-in-48-hours-since-snoop-dogg-announcement/ ***** There is a rumor that Matt Dunigan will not return to TSN this year. I like him a lot. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/16/matt-dunigan-not-returning-to-cfl-on-tsn-sources/ ***** Bombers analysis https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/bombers-release-patterson-and-they-are-still-in-need/ *****

The Maestro is back! 2025 Season Preview https://doorfliesopen.com/2025/05/15/cfl-beat-231/

John, Wilson performed his recently-completed Smile album in concert at Madison Square Garden in the fall of 2004. It was recorded for radio broadcast, and that's what this is. The sound is OK, but not spectacular. I had read about the Smile album, but never heard it. I recognized almost every song here. I don't know which songs were included on the Smile album. The performance by Brian is not particularly good. There are a million background singers who cover up his deficiencies quite well. I consider all Brian Wilson records to be summertime music, and I am sure I will put this on throughout the next three months. However, I do not consider this to be nearly as good as the last of his albums I picked up, called No Pier Pressure.

Not Jazz.

Kevin, great idea! I'll start an Interesting News Tonight thread.

The league announced today this year's rule changes. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/15/cfl-board-of-governors-approve-six-rule-adjustments-for-upcoming-season/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/15/cfl-institutes-six-rule-changes-for-2025-season-ban-low-hits-on-defenceless-receivers/ https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/cfl-announces-six-rule-adjustments-for-2025-campaign-1.2306383 ***** Stars make predictions. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/15/cfl-stars-make-their-2025-season-predictions/ ***** The Lions will remain on CKNW radio through next year. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/15/b-c-lions-extend-radio-broadcast-deal-with-730-cknw-through-2026/ ***** Dedrick Mills spent the winter in Canada. Too cold! https://3downnation.com/2025/05/15/never-again-stampeders-rb-dedrick-mills-vows-not-to-spend-another-offseason-in-canada-after-frigid-calgary-winter/ *****

To follow up on this year's CI Father's Day sale, I don't think this year's deal is as good as it has been in the past. The cigar selection is OK, but not very special. The prices are not much lower than the usual sale price. The CI Bucks card is like a discount code. It can be combined with other CI Bucks cards, and with a "free shipping" code; but it cannot be combined with a "percentage-off" discount code. However, I have two pieces of good news. 1) The site currently has an unadvertised "free shipping over $49" code: SHIP49...That will save you $8.99. 2) You can see that the two lowest priced items are for $19.99 and $22.50. Considering that you will receive the free $20 CI Bucks card in addition to the cigars, you can do the math.

Bombers analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/14/top-of-the-depth-chart-winnipeg-blue-bombers-3/ ***** Ticats analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/14/5-things-to-know-for-2025-hamilton-tiger-cats/ ***** The Elks have let go Tre Odoms-Dukes. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/14/edmonton-elks-release-former-stampeders-receiver-tre-odoms-dukes-seven-others/ ***** The Bombers have let go Shea Patterson. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/14/winnipeg-blue-bombers-release-seven-including-qb-shea-patterson/ ***** ***** *****

Cigar International's annual Father's Day deal is now up. I'll comment later. https://www.cigarsinternational.com/shop/10-packs-free-20-ci-bucks/2057015/

May 14 Sidney Bechet - 1897 Zutty Singleton - 1898 Norman Luboff - 1917 Al Porcino - 1925 Patrice Munsel - 1925 Dub Jones - 1928 Bobby Darin - 1936 Charlie Gracie - 1936 Vic Flick - 1937 Jack Bruce - 1943 Derek Lekenby - 1943 Gene Cornish - 1944 David Byrne - 1952

League analyses https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/13/1-training-camp-wish-for-every-team/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/13/qb-battles-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-training-camp/ ***** The Lions' home opener June 7 will feature a concert by Snoop Dogg. As I recall, last year's featured Fifty Cent, and they got over 50,000 people. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/13/snoop-dogg-headlines-bc-lions-concert-kickoff-on-june-7/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/13/drop-it-like-its-hot-snoop-dogg-to-play-b-c-lions-home-opener/ https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/snoop-dogg-to-perform-at-lions-home-opener-on-june-7-1.2305177 ***** The Redblacks have finalized their operations staff. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/13/redblacks-announce-2025-football-operations-team/ https://3downnation.com/2025/05/13/ottawa-redblacks-finalize-operations-staff-for-2025-including-drew-allemang/ ***** Canada West has released its schedule. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/13/quest-for-the-hardy-cup-canada-west-unveils-2025-football-schedule/ ***** Brandon Alexander will be a Bombers training camp guest coach. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/13/winnipeg-blue-bombers-bring-back-longtime-db-brandon-alexander-as-guest-coach/ ***** Scott Flory will be an Alouettes training camp guest coach. https://3downnation.com/2025/05/13/university-of-saskatchewan-head-coach-scott-flory-joins-montreal-alouettes-as-guest-coach/ ***** Argos analysis https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/veteran-linebacker-mcmanis-will-anchor-new-look-toronto-argonauts-defence-in-2025-1.2305274 ***** Brady Oliveira spent the off-season "hypoxic training," which is something the Navy SEALS use. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/new-training-regimen-has-winnipeg-blue-bombers-brady-oliveira-prepared-for-2025-cfl-season-1.2305376 *****

These two specials are being re-run today. I found them on Brad's. https://www.cigarpage.com/prime-90-rated-10-cigar-sampler-ks-dealwiki0513.html https://www.cigarpage.com/prime-plus-10-cigar-sampler.html

And now we have the full TSN/CTV schedule. https://www.tsn.ca/2023-cfl-on-tsn-broadcast-schedule-1.1951231 All CTV games will also be carried by TSN this year.