GA Russell

Happy Birthday 2009 Aftab!

Darren Johnston is a Bay Area trumpeter. His sound is amazing. His tone reminds me of the Chet in Paris discs from the mid-50s. He has assembled two other guys (accordion and bass) and formed The Nice Guy Trio. Their album is called Here Comes The Nice Guy Trio. First of all, it is not a trio album. There are six guest artists appearing at various times. I love this music, but it's hard to call it jazz. It swings, no doubt about it. But there is no blues to be found. It is more like Django Reinhart music than anything else I can think of. Maybe it is the accordion that gives it its European flavor. The guests play instruments such as tablas, violin, clarinet and cello. You get the idea. It's a unique album. I would love for Sirius to pick up on this one, to lighten up their programming.

I'm stunned to see that Ken Ober has died. There was one time on Remote Control that I remember well. Every day he would ask one impossible question that only an MIT professor could answer, and maybe not even him. Well one day, the question was, "What is the name of the scientific proposition that..." and from there it went on and on in scientific gibberish, and a kid buzzed before he was finished and said, "Khoulam's (sp?) Law." And he was right! That stopped the show for five minutes. No one could believe that a contestant on that show could answer one of those questions. Anyway, here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,6123710.story Ken Ober dies at 52; host of MTV's 'Remote Control' game show The comedian and actor was doing stand-up when he landed the job of guiding the 1980s game show, which featured raucous question-and-answer trivia contests about TV reruns. Ken Ober appeared on "Remote Control" from 1987 to 1989. He later turned to writing and producing TV shows. By Claire Noland November 17,2009 Ken Ober, a comedian and actor who as host of MTV's "Remote Control" in the 1980s guided the raucous question-and-answer trivia contests on the irreverent cable TV game show, was found dead Sunday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 52. Lee Kernis of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who represented Ober, confirmed the death but said the cause was unknown. According to Kernis, friends said Ober had been feeling ill with a headache and flu-like symptoms Saturday and did not meet them later as planned. An autopsy is planned. Ober was a stand-up comic when he landed the job as host of in 1987. On a basement set featuring college-age contestants and audience members, Ober introduced categories spanning the universe of TV reruns -- beginning with the old black-and-white days of "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "Mr. Ed" but returning again and again to "The Brady Bunch." If the players, who were strapped into garish reclining lounge chairs, answered correctly, they got to choose the next category. Those eliminated were ridiculed, then pitched backward in their chairs through the wall of the set. Ober, who grew up transfixed by television, clearly had fun playing the host, even if it wasn't his ultimate goal. "I remember the first time it hit me," Ober said in a 1989 interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. "I was in a supermarket line reading 'TV Guide,' and it said 'Ken Ober, comma, TV game show host.' And I said, 'Oh, no, I'm a game show host.' " Born July 3, 1957, in Boston, Ober studied communications and education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He worked as a substitute teacher in Boston before performing in comedy clubs in New York. Ober left "Remote Control" in 1989 to audition for acting jobs, but reruns of the show featuring Ober and other series regulars Colin Quinn and Denis Leary continued to air. After acting in TV series such as "Parenthood," "Who's the Boss?" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Ober shifted his focus to writing and producing for the series "Mind of Mencia" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Edward Woodward died yesterday. In the mid-80s, Atlanta had a singles magazine where you could place a classified ad for a date. So I placed an ad that said, "I'm so conservative, I make The Equalizer look like a liberal." I got a lot of dates from that! In some cases they were conservatives, and in other cases they just wanted to meet the guy who wrote that! By the way, Breaker Morant remains one of my favorites. Here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-edward-w...0,5792524.story Edward Woodward dies at 79; British actor starred in 'The Equalizer,' 'Breaker Morant' The Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduate also recorded 12 solo albums as a singer. Edward Woodward received five Emmy nominations and won a Golden Globe for his role as Robert McCall, a disillusioned former secret agent using his skills to help people who had nowhere else to turn to get justice, in "The Equalizer," which ran from 1985 to 1989. (CBS) By Dennis McLellan November 17, 2009 Edward Woodward, the British actor who starred in the 1980s detective TV series "The Equalizer" and the movies "Breaker Morant" and "The Wicker Man," has died. He was 79. Woodward, who had suffered from pneumonia and other illnesses, died Monday in a hospital in Truro, Cornwall, England, said TV producer Ned Nalle, Woodward's brother-in-law. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art who launched his career on stage in 1946, Woodward starred in "The Equalizer" on CBS from 1985 to 1989. He received five Emmy nominations and won a Golden Globe for his role as Robert McCall, a disillusioned former secret agent using his skills to help people who had nowhere else to turn to get justice. As McCall's newspaper ad put it: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." "Edward was brilliant in his portrayal of Robert McCall," said Richard Lindheim, co-creator of the series. "One of the reasons for it is you felt beneath what he was doing the sadness and the pain that had driven him to do this. "The brilliance of his performance was not always what he said but the emotion in his eyes and in his behavior. And that's the real mark of a wonderful actor: the ability to convey emotion and have you understand his feelings without having to say a line of dialogue." At one point during the run of "The Equalizer," a survey found that Woodward, well into his 50s and with graying hair and a slight paunch, outranked Don Johnson of "Miami Vice" and Ken Wahl of "Wiseguy" in what one journalist described as "the sexy-detective stakes." "I take this with great humor," Woodward told Australia's the Sun Herald with a raucous laugh in 1989. "I'm the one who gets up in the morning and looks in the mirror, and I don't see a sex symbol. I'm at a loss to see why women see me as a sex symbol. But that's their problem." Woodward had become a household name in Britain as the star of "Callan," a hit spy series that ran from 1967 to 1972 in which he played a British counterintelligence agent/assassin. He reprised the role in the 1974 movie of the same name. He also starred in the 1973 British cult thriller "The Wicker Man," in which he played a police sergeant who is sent to a remote Scottish island to investigate a missing girl and discovers that the locals are practicing pagans. At the time "The Equalizer" debuted, Woodward may have been best known in this country for playing the title role in "Breaker Morant," director Bruce Beresford's acclaimed 1980 film about three Australian lieutenants on trial for murdering Boer prisoners during the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century. "He was sensational in that part," said Beresford. "He's an actor with a tremendous emotional range." Beresford, who also worked with Woodward on the films "King David" and "Mister Johnson," said he "was lovely to work with. He was very unpretentious and had a remarkably easy manner" -- an assessment echoed by Lindheim. "In person, he was a wonderful, warm raconteur who told great stories where he would play every role and would keep you in laughter for hours," said Lindheim. Woodward also starred in the 1990-91 CBS series "Over My Dead Body," playing an English mystery writer and amateur sleuth teamed with a San Francisco newspaper obituary writer played by Jessica Lundy. Born June 1, 1930, in Croydon, Surrey, England, he attended Kingston College and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at age 16. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played roles in "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet," "Pericles" and "Much Ado About Nothing." Other West End parts included the title role in "Cyrano de Bergerac" and Flamineo in "The White Devil," both for the Royal National Theatre in London under Laurence Olivier. He also appeared on Broadway, including in "High Spirits," a 1964 musical comedy version of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," with Tammy Grimes and Beatrice Lillie. Woodward, who was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire, also recorded 12 solo albums as a singer and won an Emmy as host of the 1989 documentary "Remembering World War II." He is survived by his second wife, actress Michele Dotrice; their daughter, Emily Woodward Wakem; his three children from his first marriage to actress Venetia Barrett, actors Tim, Peter and Sarah Woodward; and six grandchildren.

Dana Hall is a Chicago drummer who leads his own quintet. They have released an album called Into the Light. I am not familiar with the other members of the group, but perhaps those of you from Chicago are: Terell Stafford (trumpet), Tim Warfield, Jr. (tenor and soprano sax), Bruce Barth (piano and Fender Rhodes), and Rodney Whitaker (bass). Hall is a rock 'em sock 'em drummer, and this album has a 1970 feel to it throughout, particularly when Barth is on the Fender Rhodes. The tunes are uptempo and loud. The album is on the Origin label. I have received a half dozen promos on that label over the past couple of years (Bobby Broom, Deep Blue Organ Trio, Kobie Watkins), and I have noticed that although I wouldn't call any of them classics, every one has been way above average. I might vote for Origin as Label of the Year in the next Downbeat Poll. Anyway, I find Into the Light enjoyable, particularly because I don't hear much like it anymore.

Congratulations! May I assume that it will be available in forms other than vinyl?

Aggie, it's no secret that I'm losing my mind!

British Columbia Lions 34....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27 http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4266869 The Ticats never led, but they were twice able to come back from ten points down to tie the game. Regulation ended tied at 27. In OT the Lions scored a TD easily on two plays, while the Ticats did nothing. Casey Printers showed no ill effects from his injury of last week. ***** Calgary Stampeders 24....Edmonton Eskimos 21 http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4266939 The Stamps led throughout, but the Esks kept it close.

It's been over a year since I quit. I didn't know that they raised the price to $6.99. Still a good deal, but remember when they were $4.99?

Green Bay lost to Tampa last week, and beat Dallas this week. Go figure.

Tom, that hasn't happened to me, but I have had problems with it completely loading. I emailed them, and they were prompt to respond. I think the email address is support@lala.com.

Thanks for sharing that link, Jim!

Thanks chewy!

Best wishes, Tom!

Anybody know what album that's from? I think I have every one of his albums except one, and I'm not familiar with that song. The one I'm missing is from the mid 90s called something like Ocean Blue, so presumably it's from that, but maybe not.

I bought a Bud Shank cd called This Bud's For You on 32 Jazz. Half its teeth were broken. Remember those black plastic jewel cases that 32 Jazz releases came in? The liner notes page was glued to the inside of the front cover. I've thought about putting the cd in a spare jewel case, but truth be told I've never gotten around to it.

Happy Birthday Eric!

CFL Awards finalists http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/reyn...article1361020/ My picks to win are: Calvillo Chick Cahoon Taylor Flory Mallett But I won't be too surprised if Anwar Stewart beats out John Chick.

What the hell are you people talking about?

David Naylor Semi-Finals preview http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/cfl-...article1360197/ ***** Gregg Xenakes Semi-Finals preview http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.../AJN4265744.htm ***** Eastern All-Star team http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4265759 ***** Western All-Star team http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4265765

I had this one when I was in college. In the US, I'm pretty sure that it was his follow-up to Love Songs. I remember seeing Bernie Living in May of 1970 in DC when he was with Manfred Mann Chapter Three. Great band!

Seeing this reminded me that it had been a long time since I had heard it. So I pulled it out this evening and listened to it. It's different. It's soothing. It doesn't swing. It's not jazz IMHO. For me, it's good to have in the background as I'm getting ready for bed. It's not something to sit by and listen to. For six bucks I would say that it would be worth it to get something unique for your collection. But probably half the people here wouldn't like it. PS - You can hear it and judge for yourself: http://www.lala.com/#album/432627039263996...sen/Cartography

Happy Birthday 2009 S-O-W!

Today is not only Veterans Day, it is also my sister's birthday. For that reason, it is easy for me to remember that it is also Mose Allison's birthday. In his honor, I will later today open up what I believe to be his most recent release, The Mose Chronicles - Volume 2.

Jazz for Moderns is a favorite of mine. It was an Album of the Week back in '05. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...10&hl=Tatro