GA Russell

Happy Birthday ISBY!

Happy Birthday GoodSpeak!

Thanks again, guys!

Happy Birthday Porcy!

These don't cut & paste well, so here are the links: Final Standings http://stats.globesports.com/cfl/totalstandings.asp Final Stats http://stats.globesports.com/cfl/leaders.asp

Some years ago I saw him on the Charlie Rose Show promoting his latest book. Crichton said something, to which Rose responded, "That's stupid." So Crichton pretty much shut up the rest of the interview.

Many thanks, my friends! I had a pretty uneventful day working. Just came back from Cici's Pizza. I received some money, which will go toward: Stan Getz - Sweet Rain Kenny Wheeler - Gnu High Abercrombie/Holland/DeJohnette - Gateway Norma Winstone - Somewhere Called Home Dave Holland - Extensions

What a huge number of hits this guy arranged! http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,4351915.story Ray Ellis dies at 85; arranger worked with Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, scores of others Ray Ellis, a saxophone player who turned to arranging pop music, wrote charts for hits by the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday and many others. By Jon Thurber 5:57 PM PST, November 4, 2008 Ray Ellis, the versatile pop music arranger who wrote the charts for hits by the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Doris Day and Johnny Mathis, has died. He was 85. Ellis, a longtime resident of Ojai, died Oct. 27 of liver cancer at an assisted living facility in Encino, according to his son Marc, a film and television composer. In a career that began in the mid-1950s, Ellis arranged the music for "Standing on the Corner" and "Moments to Remember" for the Four Lads; "Splish Splash" and "Dream Lover" for Bobby Darin; "Everybody Loves a Lover" for Doris Day; "Where the Boys Are" for Connie Francis; and "That Certain Smile" for Johnny Mathis. According to his son, Ellis worked with producer Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records arranging a number of R&B classics, including Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem," Brook Benton's "There Goes My Baby" and the Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk." He also worked on some Ahmet Ertegun productions. "He's one of the greats that ever lived," said Peter Marshall, the longtime former host of "The Hollywood Squares" who is also a pop singer and worked with Ellis on a couple of albums. "He was so eclectic, he could arrange 'Splish Splash' for Bobby Darin and a version of 'Silent Night' for Barbra Streisand. When you hear his body of work, it is really astounding." Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Ellis took saxophone lessons as a teenager and played in dance bands in the Northeast before going into the Army in 1943. He found his way into the band of the 1st Armored Division; he played dances and tried his hand at arranging. After the war, he played saxophone, clarinet and flute for Paul Whiteman's band, including some television work in a live jazz group at a Philadelphia station. His break came when a friend introduced him to Mitch Miller, then a leading executive with Columbia, who helped Ellis get work arranging the songs for the Four Lads, including "Moments to Remember" in 1955 and "Standing on the Corner" from the 1956 Frank Loesser musical "The Most Happy Fella." Both songs were hits, and Ellis became Miller's protege at Columbia, where he found steady work producing records and often leading the orchestra for his arrangements. In 1958, he gained notice as the arranger for Billie Holiday's last two albums, including "Lady in Satin," which received mixed critical notice. The album seemed to gain greater acceptance over the years and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. "He loved lyrics, and you can hear that on his album 'Lady in Satin,' " Marshall said. In 1959, Ellis became the A&R director for MGM Records, creating hits for Francis, Frankie Laine and Clyde McPhatter. He later worked with Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Maurice Chevalier and Streisand. In the early 1960s he recorded a number of albums of easy listening music for several labels under his own name, including "Let's Get Away From It All" and "Ellis in Wonderland" for Columbia. His career also included work for television and commercials. In 1971, he composed the first of two themes for the "Today" show, which lasted until the end of the decade. A second theme, based on the NBC chimes, was the show's signature for several years in the 1980s. In the late 1960s, he became a composer for the cartoon studio Filmation and wrote the scores or the arrangements for several Saturday morning cartoon shows, including " Spider-Man," "The Archies," "The New Adventures of Tarzan," "Star Trek" and "Fat Albert." As he reached his early 80s, he was still called on occasionally for arrangements. In the last few years he worked with Barry Manilow and on Bette Midler's " Peggy Lee Songbook" album.

The finalists for the CFL Awards were announced today. It will be Burris against Calvillo for Outstanding Player. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home By the way, Calvillo (Las Vegas Posse) and Sask's Eddie Davis (Birmingham Barracudas) are the last two players in the league left from the CFL's American teams of 1993-95.

Aggie, lala.com has 13 Metallica albums you can listen to for free.

The division all-star teams were announced today. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4188953 http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4188955

Thanks Chas!

I believe I read here quite some time ago that Mosaic erred and left one track off its Paul Desmond box; and that this track was included in his RCA box. Does anyone know the title of that track?

Here's a good article in which Ian Busby examines the momentum of each of the six playoff teams. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/200...281531-sun.html

Winnipeg Blue Bombers 44....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 30 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4188528 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/GlobeSports Eastern Final Standings: Montreal Winnipeg Toronto Hamilton ***** Calgary Stampeders 41....British Columbia Lions 30 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4188596 http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home This one had me scratching my head. The Stamps had nothing to play for. If the Lions won, they would host the Western Semi-Final. The Stamps played all of their subs in the second half, yet they dominated the Lions with their subs (including their second and third string QBs). Western Final Standings: Calgary Saskatchewan British Columbia Edmonton ***** Both the Semi-Finals and the Finals will be played on Saturdays at the request of TSN, the television network. This Saturday, Winnipeg will host Edmonton, and Saskatchewan will host BC.

Edmonton Eskimos 37....Montreal Alouettes 14 http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home The Als' second consecutive meaningless game, and their second straight loss. The Als sat six starters, yet it was an entertaining game with exciting plays. For the Esks, Ricky Ray played the first half and completed his first 16 passes. Jason Maas played the second half and also looked sharp. The Als sat Anthony Calvillo, and started Marcus Brady, who saw his first action of the season. The Esks finish at 10-8, so that means that all four Western teams finish with a winning record. This could have been a preview of the Eastern Final, although with so many Als starters out it wasn't the same. The players got pretty testy in the fourth quarter.

About a month ago I read an Ann Coulter column in which she said that there are three types of voters in America - liberals, conservatives and idiots. The idiots are the people who aren't sure whether they are liberal or conservative, and could vote either way!

Here's a good article by Jaime Stein picking the best players of the league. I notice that he picks Henry Burris as the best in the West. I would have picked Wes Cates. I expect that more than a few voters will go for Cam Wake. http://cfl.ca/article/stein-if-i-had-a-vote

Thanks for your suggestions, guys! I plan to pick up at least four, but I have decided to wait until after I have finished my Christmas shopping, to make sure there is enough money in the bank!

Don Matthews today announced his retirement from coaching. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...lobeSports/home ***** Here's a good recap of the Argos' season: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Football/article/527988 ***** Here's a photo of a typical Argos fan! (For future reference, this is the photo of the day for Oct. 31, 2008.) http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Gallery/home.html

Happy Birthday Greg!

Saskatchewan Roughriders 45....Toronto Argonauts 38 http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4188238 Terrific game! The Argos dominated the first three quarters, but the Riders came back and won it with 12 seconds to go. So the Argos finish the season 0-8 under Don Matthews. Sask's victory means that they will finish second in the West if Calgary beats BC. If BC wins, they will finish second.

It's great to see another baseball thread thoroughly dominated by Red Sox fans! (Don't get me wrong, I'm one too, to the extent that I pay attention to baseball.)

I see that Lala has both Groovadelphia and This is the Place! Groovadelphia costs 80 cents! Actually, that seems to be the price for most albums which have eight or more songs. I have found a few albums with major discounts. For example, the 2-CD best of compilation of Julie London has 50 songs and goes for $2.00. So the 10 cents per song model seems to apply mostly to individual songs rather than albums. There are also discounts for downloading albums. A typical album downloads for $7.49, which is Groovadelphia's price.