GA Russell

Happy Birthday VANJ!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

The Argos today chose as their new head coach former NFL Europe head coach Bart Andrus. Andrus was the Amsterdam coach for seven years. He is known as an offensive genius. He has no Canadian football experience. Apparently the Argos are hoping he will be another Marc Trestman - an offensive guy with no Canadian football experience. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...044831-sun.html http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...044826-sun.html

I heard her recording of the song Guess Who I Saw Today on the radio the day before yesterday, and I was surprised by how much she reminded me of Dinah Washington. I hadn't heard that in her voice before.

Great news Bruce!

Don Randall was Leo Fender's partner. He was the sales guy, and he was the guy who came up with the names Telecaster and Stratocaster. His LA Times obit is too long to cut and paste. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3724149.story

Eric Scoggins was a linebacker whose name rings a bell, probably because he played in the USFL (I had tickets for the Philly Stars.). I am posting this because he died of Lou Gehrig's disease. I posted on the CFL thread some months ago that the number of Canadian league alumni who die of ALS is way out of proportion to the population in general. It makes you wonder. Here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,2861888.story Eric Scoggins, 49, an outside linebacker who helped USC beat Alabama in the teams' big 1978 matchup, died of Lou Gehrig's disease Saturday in Tracy, Calif., USC announced Tuesday. Scoggins played three games for the San Francisco 49ers in 1982, then spent time in the United States Football League with the Los Angeles Express and Houston Gamblers. He was a four-year letterman at USC (1977-80). He recorded 164 career tackles, including 11 as a sophomore in the 24-14 win at Alabama. That performance earned him the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week award. The Trojans finished the 1978 season 12-1 and won the United Press International voting for the national championship. Alabama, at 11-1, won the Associated Press national title. Born Jan. 23, 1959, in Inglewood, Scoggins was a star quarterback at Inglewood High School. After he retired from football, he became a businessman and joined former 49er teammates Ronnie Lott and Keena Turner in auto dealerships. A resident of Tracy, Scoggins was diagnosed in 2007 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease often called Lou Gehrig's disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

When my family lived in Seattle in '61, Preston Gomez was the manager of the San Diego Padres team in the Coast league. Eight years later he was named the manager of the Padres big league expansion team. I remember well his pulling Clay Kirby while he was pitching a no hitter. I didn't know he also did it to Don Wilson. It's awfully hard to believe that he would make that mistake a second time. Hard enough to believe that he would do it once. The LA Times obit is too long to cut and paste. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...,0,857778.story

Happy Birthday 2009 HBJ!

Talk to me about your rich Corinthian leather! Quien es mas macho, Fernando Lamas o Ricardo Montalban? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479941,00.html http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,4189863.story The LA Times obit is too long to cut and paste, but here is something noteworthy that I didn't know: "A deeply spiritual man, Montalban once said that the guiding force in his life was his Catholic faith. In 1998, Pope John Paul II made him a Knight Commander of St. Gregory, the highest honor bestowed upon non-clergy in the Roman Catholic Church."

I am reminded of the time I saw Secret Agent dubbed in French while in Quebec. It was called Destination Danger. The French actor sounded nothing like McGoohan, much higher pitch and less dry, and it really changed the mood for me.

To this day, Secret Agent remains my favorite television show. One day I'll get the dvd box set of it. I read a couple of interesting things about McGoohan not too many years ago. 1) He was Britain's highest paid television actor when doing Secret Agent (Danger Man), and had veto power over the scripts. He vetoed sex and violence. 2) Related to 1), he was a Catholic who took his faith seriously, and once gave an interview in which he condemned pre-marital sex. You won't see many famous Hollywood actors doing that! 3) Most of his roles for the past thirty years have been villains, and the younger generation sees him as that. Baby boomers see him as a hero. Here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3951859.story Patrick McGoohan, TV's 'Secret Agent' and 'Prisoner,' dies CBS Patrick McGoohan in "Danger Man" on CBS in 1961. The British actor, 80, often played villains on TV and in movies. But he gained his greatest fame as the TV spy John Drake. He also won two Emmys for 'Columbo.' By Dennis McLellan 9:57 AM PST, January 14, 2009 Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series "Secret Agent" and "The Prisoner" and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80. McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details. It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in "Secret Agent," a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government. The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of “Danger Man,” a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character. But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic. Once described in The Times as an "espionage tale as crafted by Kafka," "The Prisoner" starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6. McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes. Among the memorable villains he played on screen was England's sadistic King Edward I in Mel Gibson's 1995 film "Braveheart." As a guest star on TV's "Columbo, McGoohan won Emmys in 1975 and 1990.

Brendan Taman has quit the Bombers. He's a pretty high profile guy, so I expect that he'll land on his feet. If not, he can park himself as a tv analyst for a year or two until the next job opening comes up. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Win...008576-sun.html ***** He didn't get the head coaching job he wanted, so Greg Marshall has signed with the Ticats as their new assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Congratulations impossible and SS! I haven't noticed this thread before. For the past couple of years the vibes has been my favorite jazz instrument. I admit to knowing nothing about the subject, so correct me if I am wrong. But I read somewhere that the correct name of the instrument is vibraharp, and that vibraphone is the trademarked brand name of the Musser vibraharp. Anybody know about this?

My favorite album was on Timeless: Mike Nock - In, Out and Around.

Dave, The Chantays were a surf guitar group, and the Pipeline is the name of a Hawaiian surf break.

As I recall, Shindig did not debut until Sept. of '64. So other than Ed Sullivan, there was no opportunity for a rock group to appear on prime time tv. I can't imagine that they would have considered turning down the opportunity to be on Welk. Besides, they were an instrumental one hit wonder, so for them it was a paying gig if nothing else!

I haven't found a list of free agents, but here is the best article about it that I have found: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...7950666-cp.html ***** The Argos have cut Kenny Wheaton, who has been an Eastern all-star the past four years. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...7975431-cp.html ***** Cam Wake is entertaining offers from 12 NFL teams. They're talking about signing bonuses of up to $500,000. http://www.theprovince.com/sports/bonus+aw...7902/story.html ***** Nick Setta has decided to sign with the Ticats rather than see what he could do in the NFL. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Ham...7945216-cp.html

Happy Birthday 2009 Andy!

The caption says 5/18/63, but they are wearing Beatles collarless jackets, which would have been 1964. Am I right?

Happy Birthday 2009 patricia! 103? You're even older than I am!

Happy Birthday 2009 7/4!

Be careful Dave! Those Prestige Plays For Lovers albums can get you in trouble around here!

It was for this reason that I quit Your Music. I have about 1,000 cd's, which I know is a small collection compared to many of you, but that's more than I can listen to twice over the course of a year. It's enjoyable to hear something new to the collection, but when you listen to an album only once or twice a year it seems almost new too.

Happy Birthday CT!