GA Russell

Happy Birthday David!

Allen, didn't they bleach da Vinci's Last Supper a few years ago?

LOL! FFA, that's my laugh for the week!

The Jockey underwear people have apparently signed an endorsement deal with Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. Here's the deal: If the Broncos win the Super Bowl, Jockey will give a $25 gift certificate to everyone who signs up before Feb. 5. http://promo3.cfapromo.com/jockey/

I regret that I forgot to tell you this a month ago, when there was still plenty of time to place your order for Christmas. Here's the situation: The first Grey Cup game was played in 1909. They have played the game every year since then except for three years during World War One. As a result, the 100th Grey Cup game will be played in 2012 in Toronto, and the league is making a very big deal of it. I don't blame them for emphasizing the hundredth Grey Cup, but it was my opinion in 2009 that they should have done something out of the ordinary to celebrate the Grey Cup's centennial. (I might add that this year's Indianapolis 500 was its centennial, and they made a big deal of that.) The league's website now has a few items left over from the 2009 Grey Cup including two $4.99 caps. I think that any Canadian league cap is a bargain at $4.99, so I think it is extra special when it is for the Grey Cup's centennial. http://www.cflshop.ca/store/G2950BLK!REEB/Grey+Cup+2009+Basic+Slouch+Cap http://www.cflshop.ca/store/G2952BLK!REEB/Grey+Cup+2009+Black+Basic+Flex+Cap http://www.cflshop.ca/istar.asp?a=29&icon1=7&sortby=&numperpage=12&pos=0

Here's an LA Times report on Etta James and the nature of her illness, chronic leukemia. http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-etta-james-chronic-leukemia-20111216,0,6511026.story

Thanks Bev!

I wonder what he thinks of atheism and Mother Teresa now.

The Riders today named Ticat defensive coordinator Corey Chamblin as their new head coach. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=382810

Happy Birthday 2011 Gheorghe!

Jim, were these recordings made when he was still with Cadence?

Is anyone familiar with a poster named JSngry? It's his birthday today. Happy Birthday 2011 Jim!

As expected, Wally named his defensive coordinator Mike Benevides the Lions' new head coach today. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=382652

Correct, it's David McCallum!

Here's someone we haven't done before.

I received this word today. Bay Area Jazz Vocalist Ed Reed Announces East Coast Dates In Support of His Third Album, "Born to Be Blue" Jazz Standard, NYC 1/17; Scullers, Boston 1/18; Cafe Eiko, Hartford 1/21 December 12, 2011 San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist Ed Reed and his quartet will be performing three dates on the East Coast next month in support of his third CD, Born to Be Blue. He'll appear at the Jazz Standard 1/17, his third visit to the New York club in the last four years; Scullers in Boston 1/18 for the first time since 2008; and Cafe Eiko in Hartford, CT 1/21. In New York and Boston, Reed will be working with tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz, pianist Randy Porter, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and drummer Akira Tana. (In Hartford, the pianist will be Gary Fisher, who's heard on Reed's first two albums, and the drummer Tido Holtkamp.) This is the band (with Okegwo replacing Robb Fisher) that appears on Reed's masterful new release, Born to Be Blue, which was released last June by his Blue Shorts label. The entire project was an outgrowth of Reed's hugely successful five-night run at Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland in September 2009. Although he had performed with Porter, Fisher, and Tana previously, the Swiss engagement was the first on which they backed Reed as a unit. They jelled so well that they decided to make an album, adding saxophonist Schwartz for the Bay Area sessions produced by Reed and Bud Spangler last fall. Ed Reed, who'll turn 83 on February 2, has pursued a most unconventional path to his present-day career as a highly regarded jazz singer. It was not quite five years ago that he released his recording debut, Ed Reed Sings Love Stories, when he was 78. The following year came The Song Is You, along with expanded touring opportunities, a guest spot on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, and a Wall Street Journal profile by Nat Hentoff. Reed also placed in the "Male Vocals, Rising Star" category of the DownBeat Critics Poll in 2008, 2009, and 2011, and in the Male Vocalist category of this year's DownBeat Readers Poll. Reed's career may be late-blooming, but blooming it is. In June he was honored as a Bay Area Jazz Hero at the Jazzschool's satellite party for the Jazz Journalists Association Awards. Prior to leaving for his East Coast tour, he is launching a new Jazz at the Chimes series at Chapel of the Chimes, the Oakland landmark designed by Julia Morgan, with a 1/15 concert in the company of Anton Schwartz and Randy Porter. He is also in the early stages of planning a new recording of Nat "King" Cole material. "I'll be happy to be back on the East Coast celebrating my new CD, and honored to be on the bandstand with these world-class musicians," says Reed. "This record means a lot to me because it tells so much of my own story. I think everyone is born to be blue, or at least have the blues. And though most of us tend to hold onto our sadness, I think we need to shout about it and sing about it, so that we can let go of it." Press reaction to Born to Be Blue: "[Ed Reed] puts me in mind of Jimmy Rushing, Joe Lee Wilson, Abbey Lincoln--folks who sing (or sang) from the gut, from life experience, doing it with nobility and smarts, while feeling inside a lyric." --Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News "Certainly a singer who weighs lyrics carefully and treats them with very honest speech inflected respect. His choice of material seems to avoid the obvious, and he seems very comfortable in his aged vocal skin, as it were." --Alan Bargebuhr, Cadence "Mr. Reed has developed a jazz voice that is distinct--full of the pain, sorrow, love and beauty that go along with taking that long, hard trail through life. . . When Ed Reed sings, don't expect scat--instead look for an intimate story every time." --Frank Alkyer, DownBeat "He makes his mark with spectacular control and a grand sense of phrasing. Reed has a marvelous knack for knowing just how much room a lyric needs to breathe, timing his pace and pauses to build emotional impact." --David Becker, Bay Area Jazz Examiner "His deft handling of the likes of 'Some Other Time,' 'Inside a Silent Tear,' 'End of a Love Affair' and the title track do, indeed, suggest hard-earned wisdom, stylistically harkening back to the elegant tenderness of Johnny Hartman while also echoing the intuitiveness of fellow octogenarian Jon Hendricks." --Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes "[Born to Be Blue] possesses all the distilled emotion and narrative coherence of a jazz masterpiece." --Andrew Gilbert, Contra Costa (CA) Times "This is refined vocal jazz that only a lifetime can produce." --C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz.com Ed Reed Web Site: www.edreedsings.com

Big trade today. Offhand, I would say that it's the biggest trade since the Als sent Sam Etcheverry and Hal Patterson to the Ticats fifty years ago. The Eskimos traded Ricky Ray to the Argos for Steven Jyles, backup kicker Grant Shaw and the Argos' first round draft pick (second overall). This is the second time Eric Tillman has traded for Jyles. He did it when he was with the Riders too. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=382540

aloc, these are the news clippings I referred to: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/jets-cruise-past-chiefs/article2267347/singlepage/#articlecontent I just quickly skimmed through it, and didn't count how many injuries were head injuries. But it seemed like a number.

Looking at the news capsules, it seems like there were a lot of quarterback head injuries today.

Thanks for remembering to start this thread, LWayne! My Top Ten for 2011 are (in rough chronological order): Kenny Werner - Balloons Art Pepper - Blues for the Fisherman Lee Konitz - Live at Birdland Randy Brecker - The Jazz Ballad Song Book Deep Blue Organ Trio - Wonderful! Chick Corea and Stefano Bollani - Orvieto Rahsaan Barber - Everyday Magic Michael Pedicin - Ballads...searching for peace James Carter - At the Crossroads Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Live

Jeff Garcia signed with the Houston Texans Thursday. At 41 he is now the NFL's third oldest player. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/houston-texans-sign-quarterback-jeff-garcia-after-losing-schaub-leinart.html

Today's song is the Robbie Hardkiss remix (whatever that is) of Duke Ellington's Jingle Bells.

Some, including Mike Ditka, wonder if the game wouldn't be safer if they did away with all the protective gear, and played like the rugby players do.

Happy Birthday 2011 Dmitry!

I once saw Maryann Price, her husband (or boy friend) John whatever, Symphony Sid Page and a fourth person appear on The Gong Show. Everyone behaved as if they were nobodies, without making any mention of the Hot Licks. They were, as you can imagine, by far the best act on the show.