GA Russell

Toronto Argonauts 34....Montreal Alouettes 34 http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gam...5863271-cp.html ***** Hamilton Tiger-Cats 12....Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10 http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gam...5862791-cp.html ***** In regard to the radio websites, I learned last night that the four eastern teams have the same websites as last year. I'll plan to check out the four western teams tonight. Sirius is broadcasting the BC-Sask game tonight at 9 pm eastern.

I was listening to Sirius this morning, and the disc jockey on the 60s channel Pat St. John said that Curtis Amy had the sax solo on The Doors' Touch Me. I didn't know that. edit for typo

HP, thanks for that effort! I'm surprised you listed Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods. I gather that a great many critics consider it to be his best album. 5xMonkx5 was my second Monk album. I've always loved it. I think that it is a lot more popular than the others on your list. Now Soul Sauce is an example of what I think of as inessential recording but a great album nonetheless!

Former Argos head coach John Rauch passed away Tuesday. His obituary is featured on the LA Times website because he had great success coaching the Oakland Raiders. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...,0,403627.story ***** The CFL exhibition season has begun tonight. I've been listening to the Ticats play the Bombers, and the Bombers are leading 8-6 at the half. I'll post the websites to listen to the games after I have checked them all out.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

In the 50s, Steve Allen had a routine in which he would claim that rock 'n' roll lyrics were great poetry. He would then recite the lyrics of a hit in a deadpan manner. Darling, you ooo ooo ooo send me. Darling, you ooo ooo ooo send me. Whoa. You ooo ooo ooo send me. Honest you do. Honest you do. Honest you do. Whoa.

The Argos looked very strong at RB having acquired Tyler Ebell. But now he has ruptured his achilles tendon and is out for the year. His career may be over. http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Football/article/438266 ***** The Als have a prospect named Corey Jenkins trying out for middle LB. He was a first round pick of the Red Sox in 1995, and spent four years in the minors. He then went to college and was drafted by the Dolphins in 2003. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...e5-03693b231e85 ***** The Eskimos cut DB Stanford Samuels. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...0a-f107f070a023 ***** The league broke off talks with the NFL regarding extending their past agreements. I'm not sure what the league has to offer the NFL. The provision to allow players to skip their option year to jump to the NFL was written into the latest contract with the CFL players union, so that bargaining chip is gone. With the NFL horning in on Toronto, it looks like the NFL doesn't care what the CFL thinks or does. ***** Corey Holmes is threatening to retire. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home edit for typos

Congratulations Kristina!

I saw Buddy DeFranco speak and perform at a workshop in Atlanta about 1990. He made a special point to say how much he liked the Sauter-Finnegan Band. Here's his LA Times obituary from today: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...,0,599161.story Bill Finegan, 91; arranger for Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller bands ORIGINAL, INVENTIVE: Bill Finegan wrote more than 300 arrangements for Glenn Miller, including "Little Brown Jug," "Sunrise Serenade" and "Song of the Volga." Nelson Riddle was his student. By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 9, 2008 Bill Finegan, an architect of the big band sounds of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller who later traded in commercial success to co-create the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, which produced music that still stands as some of the most experimental of the swing era, has died. He was 91. Finegan died Wednesday at a Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., from complications of pneumonia. In 1938, Dorsey bought Finegan's score for "Lonesome Road" and played it for Miller, who offered the young arranger a job. Between 1938 and 1942 Finegan wrote more than 300 arrangements for Miller, including some of the band's biggest hits: the classic "Little Brown Jug," "Sunrise Serenade" and "Song of the Volga." Finegan also wrote arrangements for the films "Sun Valley Serenade" in 1941 and "Orchestra Wives" in 1942, and had begun a lifelong profession as a teacher. One of his students was Nelson Riddle, celebrated arranger for Frank Sinatra. "Bill's arrangements for Glenn [Miller] demonstrated that great originality and inventiveness are possible even within the restrictive confines of a highly stylized band, which the Miller Orchestra was," Riddle said in the book "September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle." When they met, Riddle was a young trombone player, intent on becoming a professional musician. Finegan encouraged him to leave the trombone behind and focus on writing. "I cared a lot about what I did, and I think I transferred that to Nelson," Finegan said in "September in the Rain." "I once saw a documentary on the artist Chagall. In it, Chagall said, 'Never say "That's good enough." ' That's what I think I taught him." Finegan worked intermittently for Dorsey and wrote arrangements for the film "Fabulous Dorseys" in 1947. He also wrote for bandleaders Horace Heidt and Les Elgart. But Finegan bristled at the restrictions placed on the writing by the industry and bandleaders. In 1952 he teamed with another leading arranger, Eddie Sauter, to create a band that would explore and expand the concept of the jazz orchestra. Time magazine called the group "the most original band heard in the United States in years." Their albums include "New Directions in Music," recorded in 1953, "The Sons of Sauter-Finegan" (1955) and "Adventure in Time" (1956). The band lasted about five years and became known for its rich harmonics, extraordinary voicing and varied instrumentation. In addition to the standard instruments, the orchestra included kazoos, toy xylophones and recorders. "They came up with this idea to supplement the big band with all this extra orchestral instrumentation that would allow them to expand their writing and give them more color to work with," Finegan's son, James Finegan, who is also a musician, told The Times. "They had very specialized musicians, very high level musicians." Humor, fun and adventure came with the music. When the orchestra's record label required them to play show tunes, the group responded by playing them on kazoos. Born April 3, 1917, in Newark, N.J., Finegan grew up in a family of musicians. Like his parents and siblings, he played piano. While still in high school in Rumson, N.J., Finegan formed a band and began writing for it. In the early 1930s the band played on Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, a popular radio program that featured a talent competition. Finegan's band won and was hired to tour the U.S. and Canada, performing in Bowes' vaudeville-style shows on a bill that might include a dog act, an opera singer and somebody playing a classical piece on the piano while wearing mittens. "The humor of it all never escaped him," James Finegan said. During World War II Finegan served in the Army, and after his discharge he spent time in Europe and studied at the Paris Conservatory; he also studied with composer Stan Wolpe. In the years after the breakup of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Finegan wrote music for commercials and taught at the University of Bridgeport and elsewhere. He also wrote and arranged, notably with vocalist Carol Sloane, saxophonist Sonny Stitt and the Mel Lewis Ensemble in the '80s. His most recent work includes arrangements for Warren Vache's "Don't Look Back" and for the Gotham Wind Symphony in 2007. "My father is obscure because he never was interested in the limelight," James Finegan said. "He was a behind-the-scene guy until the end. He just cared about his work." Finegan, who was a widower, is also survived by a daughter, Helen Dzujna, of Shelton, Conn., and three grandchildren.

Buy 1, get 5 free. That works out to $5.95 per CD. Code: U8X1 expires June 15

Happy Birthday Bertrand!

I noticed on Thursday that the Stacey Kent is available from Your Music, but not from BMG.

My first thought when you said Discotheque Sybil was Sybil Burton! Talk about celebrity hype! I have never had any interest in the love lives of celebrities, but the headlines were so omnipresent that I remember that after Richard left her she took up with a guy named Jordan Christopher who was the leader of a discotheque band called The Wild Ones. Never heard the band on the radio. They never had a hit anywhere to my knowledge. But the whole story was in the papers often enough for me to remember it over forty years later.

ECM has released a trio album with Norma Winstone on vocals, Klaus Gesing on soprano sax and sometimes bass clarinet and Glauco Venier on piano. It's quite different. It has sort of an "experimental small group playing in a coffeehouse" sort of feel. All of the vocals have lyrics, and the melodies are all singable if you have talent like Norma Winstone. Venier on piano plays along with the song. Gesing on the horn is doing his thing in the background more like a colorist than playing a song. I first heard Winstone on one of my favorite albums from my college days, Mike Westbrook's Love Songs. She dropped off my radar for twenty years, but in the past ten years I have seen her name on the internet fairly often. I imagine that the Brits posting at AAJ are very familiar with what she has been doing all these many years. Her voice is still in fine shape. Very sexy IMO. The three will tour the US late this month: June 21 - Ann Arbor, MI- The Firefly June 22 - Baltimore - An Die Musik Live! June 25 - Philadelphia, PA - Chris' Jazz Café June 26 - New York, NY - Joe's Pub Definitely recommmended.

I have a recording of a song The Animals did when Alan Price was still with the group called The Story of Bo Diddley. It was quite long, maybe seven minutes or more, and featured the Bo Diddley beat throughout. There was no real melody other than the chorus of "Oh, Bo Diddley!". It was Burdon talking about the time The Animals played the blues with Bo Diddley in the audience (I think they were his warmup act), and he told them, "Man, that's the bigget bunch of bull I've ever heard in my life!"

I'm not an aficianado of artists, but I'm guessing that his Skull and Roses for The Grateful Dead is his most famous work.

Jim McKay has died. I remember well his calling the first CFL game I ever saw, the 1962 Grey Cup game (the famous Fog Bowl). His attempt to see through the fog to tell what was going on made the game more interesting than it probably was. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...portsOther/home

I remember seeing Incense and Peppermints as a Rate-a-Record on American Bandstand!

I should have known that we could count on Bev for some Robert Wyatt! Here's my vote: Come on all of you big strong men Uncle Sam needs your help again he's got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder in Viet Nam so put down your books and pick up a gun we're gonna have a whole lotta fun (CHORUS) And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die Come on generals, let's move fast your big chance has come at last now you can go out and get those reds cos the only good commie is the one that's dead and you know that peace can only be won when we've blown 'em all to kingdom come Come on wall street don't be slow why man this war is a go-go there's plenty good money to be made by supplying the army with the tools of its trade let's hope and pray that if they drop the bomb, they drop it on the Viet Cong Come on mothers throughout the land pack your boys off to Viet Nam come on fathers don't hesitate send your sons off before it's too late and you can be the first ones on your block to have your boy come home in a box

Happy Birthday Ray!

Happy Birthday Kalo!

I remember Jerry Cole and the Spacemen, but I had no idea that he was a member of the Wrecking Crew, or in the Shindig and Hullabaloo bands. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,2429479.story Jerry Cole, 68; guitarist, songwriter recorded surf music albums From a Times Staff Writer June 6, 2008 Jerry Cole, a guitarist and songwriter who released several surf music albums in the 1960s and recorded with prominent bands such as the Beach Boys and the Byrds, died of a heart attack May 28 at his Corona home, said his wife, Gale. He was 68. With his own group, the Spacemen, Cole released four albums of "space-age surf music" in just over two years, beginning with "Outer Limits" in 1963, according to the Allmusic Internet database. Jerry Cole Cole was a member of producer Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew studio collective, a group of musicians who played on many pop hits in the 1960s. Cole can be heard on the Beach Boys' 1966 album "Pet Sounds," the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" single and the band Them's self-titled 1965 album. Born Jerald Edward Kolbrak on Sept. 23, 1939, in Green Bay, Wis., Cole moved to Los Angeles and joined the Champs in 1959 after the instrumental quintet had recorded the chart-topping "Tequila." Fellow band members included Glen Campbell as well as Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts, who became successful as the duo Seals and Crofts in the 1970s. On television, Cole led the pit bands for the mid-1960s rock-'n'-roll-oriented shows "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo." He also cut a number of instrumental rock albums under a variety of names. Cole went in a country-rock direction after session work with Roger Miller and country singers Chuck Howard and Susie Allanson, Allmusic reported. In 2004, Cole was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In addition to Gale, whom he married in 1984, Cole is survived by daughters Monique and Katrina and a son, Cane. A celebration of his life will be held at 1 p.m. June 28 at Corona Christian Center, 1901 W. Ontario Ave., Corona.

Two news items from the Alouettes: Peter Warrick flunked his physical. Bad knee. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home They signed Jason Armstead. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home The Warrick article also says that David Boston was suspended by the Argos because of a foot injury. He may be back in mid-season.

Sorry to hear it, Noj. Good luck!

The Ticats have signed Florida QB Chris Leak. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Ham...5761556-cp.html ***** Here's a Winnipeg Free Press look at the situation around the league as training camps open: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/fo...p-4770457c.html