GA Russell

Here's the News & Observer article that spurred me to resurrect this thread: http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/fas...ry/1010973.html Men drawn to shaving wars For the closest shave, use your grandpa's method Cyber shaves A lively cyber-world guides shaving buffs through the minefield of "drugstore" products and specialty items. Those include the Art of Shaving's $175 "classic" safety razor and Dovo's $178.95 badger-bristle shaving brush with ivory handle. (Hair from the badger's neck is most desirable and expensive. No kidding.) Some sites are commercial and some are buff-driven, but they're all worth a look on the way to shaving Nirvana. www.shavemyface.com: Shaving author Michael Ham's site. No products for sale, but plenty of good information and links. www.shavingstuff.com: Entertaining site has frequent updates and product reviews of various shaving modes. Also has shaving stuff for women. www.shavers.com: Site devoted to electric shavers sales and lore. Located in Hendersonville, but it's purely a Web-based business. www.straightrazorplace.com: Just what the name implies, with reviews and lots of interaction. www.theartofshaving.com: Has upper-end versions of mainstream products, including the $150 Fusion Chrome Collection model. www.classicshaving.com: Site has everything from vintage razors to strops. www.qedusa.com: Mail-order site has information on staples such as Taylor of Old Bond Street shaving creams and links to many other products. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/: This witty MSNBC piece offers a tour through the fine points of the retro wet-shave culture. By Thomas Goldsmith, Staff Writer There's a battle going on over men's faces. And much is at stake in the shaving wars.Fewer than one in 10 U.S. males wears a beard, while the rest of us spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on blades and razors for this exclusively male face-defining ritual. The rhetoric among the shave-obsessed factions can get sharp. Just listen to Raleigh barber Richard Creech on the hugely successful multi-blade razors. "Once the first blade is dull, it doesn't matter how many more are behind it," Creech said the other day at Man-Mur, his workplace on Hillsborough Street. "It'll still pull." And don't even mention electric shavers. People who use those are summarily dismissed. "They are not worried about a quality shave," said California razor-blade revivalist Michael Ham, author of the self-published "Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving: Shaving Made Enjoyable." In a looks-dominated society where dermatology is one of the hottest medical specialties, anything that makes a man come across smoother stands out amid lots of competition. And in this politics-soaked year, it's worth remembering that in an election cycle long ago, the U.S. presidency may have been lost to a dull blade. "He didn't understand how important it was," Ham, 68, said sadly of Richard Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow during his 1960 debate with a younger and clean-shaven John F. Kennedy. Keen competition In a war of swords, shaving giants Gillette and Schick are locked in a technical, marketing and legal duel over who can sell the most products. Each seeks to win over a worldwide "shaverati," as they pursue the best shave possible. People consult blogs and Web sites, frequent specialty marketers, and search for razor manufacturers in a dozen foreign countries. It would seem that the closeness of a shave shouldn't be a matter of debate. Isn't it possible to measure whiskers before and after shaving in some scientific test? There must be some data behind claims such as this one from Gillette: "The Fusion will give your face the cleanest, closest, and most comfortable shave you'll have ever experienced." Neither Gillette, the market leader, nor Schick responded to requests for the basis of their claims. But deep in federal court records, it seems that the companies do get down to measuring micrometers of whisker length, if sometimes only as part of litigation. In 2005, Schick carried out its own tests to successfully challenge Gillette's claim that its M3Power razor caused facial hairs to "stand up," producing a better shave. "Schick's study took place over three days and included 37 test subjects," a verdict in Schick's favor said. "With respect to each test subject, twenty hairs were measured before and after strokes with an M3 Power razor." Science did not support Gillette's "stand-up" claim, the court found. The straight truth For all the fancy marketing, the basic idea for a shaving tool hasn't evolved all that much. Straight razors date to at least 3000 BC, to copper razors found in India and Egypt, and they remain in vogue today as a specialty item. Modern straight razors are usually handles that have replacement blades inserted into them, rather than a single blade requiring regular honing. "Nobody uses the kind that you strop any more," said Creech, the Man-Mur barber, marking the change down to hygienic concerns. Creech can and does still shave customers with a straight razor. Best customers for that luxurious, complicated rite tend to be men in wedding parties, who sometimes come in en masse to get a super-smooth look for the ceremonies. Safety razors, with the flat, double-edge blades that once dominated men's shaving, were patented by King C. Gillette in 1904. The English company Wilkinson, now part of Energizer along with Schick, made a run at Gillette with its Sword blades in the 1950s and '60s."Wilkinson figured out how to coat a blade with chrome or platinum," creating a longer-lasting and sharper blade, Ham said. "They pretty much took over. Gillette was losing market left and right." That's when Gillette started the two-blade cartridge, once again winning patent protection. Though overpowered domestically by multi-blades, double-edge razors are enjoying a major cult revival and are used to trim beards worldwide these days. "The double-edge razor is still the most common way to shave globally," Ham said. "If you look at where razor blades are made -- in Japan, Pakistan, India, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany -- they make some very good blades." Bad buzz Electric razors, as noted above, generally get poor reviews from experts, as do disposables. Available to the general public since 1929, the electric devices get dissed as best for people who want to read the paper or drive when in the act. "They're OK for college students," said Russ Neufeld, editor of the popular site shavingstuff.com. "It's convenient for a quick and easy shave." Opinions like these are common at shavingstuff, where guys can read up-to-date profiles of King Gillette or enjoy "Celebrity Facial Hair Friday." On Ham's shavemyface.com, readers encounter ads for specialty products, such as brushes that use badger hair to apply shaving soap, as they debate the merits of razors old and new. "The multi-blade razors do give a closer shave than, say, the dual-blade razor," said Dr. John Romano, a New York dermatologist. "It might be too close a shave for some people if they have sensitive skin." Said Ham: "The cartridge war, that's a marketing war. You want to keep the market share and you convince people that you need one that vibrates and has a little flashlight on it. But that tugging and cutting is not that good on your face." The real secret, Ham said, is that all faces are different. Some African-American males have to risk razor bumps from shaving that irritate and scar the skin. Ham says that the Treet blade that's great for him may be worthless to someone else. The solution to finding a great shave, he says, is to get a pack of 20 different razor blades from someplace like West Coast Shaving (westcoastshaving.com), try them all and discover what's best for you. That knowledge might have helped Richard Nixon, who was locked in a fierce presidential race back in 1960. It's become a cliche of shaving lore that Nixon lost the election to JFK because he sported a 5 o'clock shadow so dark that makeup couldn't conceal it. History does not seem to record the exact shaving implements Nixon and Kennedy employed that day. But there are hints. "The President-elect waved his aides away and retired to his bathroom to shave, with a straight razor," Theodore . White wrote of Kennedy in "The Making of the President 1960." And Nixon? A researcher at his presidential library found he used two devices shunned by the shaverati, at least during the post-presidential years. "He kept an electric razor (they could not remember the brand) at his office and used disposable razors when he traveled," wrote Ira G. Pemstein, archivist at the Nixon library in Yorba Linda, Calif. So did Nixon's presidency fall victim to an unserious electric shaver or a dull disposable? Perhaps not, said Ham. It's the individuality thing again: "Nixon's problem was that he had a heavy beard and had thin, transparent skin. There's no way he could have looked cleanshaven."

This Wall Street Journal excerpt is so short that there isn't much point in my summarizing it. I guess they will depend almost entirely upon good reviews in the newspapers, the Book of the Month Club and its competitors and word of mouth. Maybe Berigan will give us his opinion. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1207236315...=googlenews_wsj Marking a radical departure from traditional book-publishing practices, HarperCollins Publishers says it will launch a new book imprint that won't accept returns from retailers or pay advances to authors. To be headed by veteran publishing executive Robert S. Miller, the imprint also likely won't pay for more desirable display space in the front of bookstores, a common practice. Instead, the as-yet-unnamed unit will share its profit with writers and focus much of its sales efforts on the Internet, where a growing portion of book sales are shifting.

Wisconsin QB Tyler Donovan has decided to skip the NFL draft, and has signed a four-year contract with Edmonton. He will start in camp as the #4 QB behind Jason Maas (whom I don't expect will make the team). http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/200...181941-sun.html ***** Here's Dan Ralph's article on the Hall of Fame inductees: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/200...5155136-cp.html

That's an interesting name. Yes, her full name is April 7 Russell.

Here's a website that sells expensive creams and such: http://www.theartofshaving.com/taos6/home.php ***** Here's another retailer of interesting shaving gear including straight razors: http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html ***** Here's another retailer, e-Barbershop: http://www.qedusa.com/ ***** How to get that perfect shave, from Today Weekend: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/

Freddie shares his birthday with my sister, April 7.

I saw in the paper this morning that Larry Coryell turns 65 today. He was on the cover of the first issue of Down Beat that I bought, in the summer of '67. The theme of the article was that he was a young lion, and that it was time for the oldtimers to step aside if they don't like his long hair! I guess we're all getting older every day!

My introduction to Hank Mobley was one of the Miles Blackhawk LPs, which I bought about 1973. To this day, it remains one of my least favorite Miles albums. So I never gave Mobley much of a chance. But since so many here like him, I thought I would try Soul Station, which, as the liner notes say, most people consider to be his Saxophone Colossus. Looking at the lineup, it appeared to me that the weakest link in the chain was the leader of the date! I like this much more than I thought I would. It reminds me of Kenny Dorham's Quiet Kenny. They both feature a single horn with a piano trio rhythm section, a rather laid back vibe, and apparently low-budget production values. My kind of record! I don't consider the originals to be on the same level as the standards, and I think the album would have been better with another standard. But it's a very good record, and it does move me to think about which of his records I'll get next. Right now, I'm thinking that I'll get Workout.

I want to give you a heads up that the AotW for the last two weeks of April will be Sonny Clark's Cool Struttin'. I think that most Clark fans consider it to be his best album, but in our discussion we can discuss what we think about that. It is available from BMG/Your Music, and from Amazon (Use the Big O link!) for $10.99. http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Struttin-Sonny-...3238&sr=8-1

Here's a new Old Spice aftershave commercial that's pretty funny.

Here's a site dedicated to electric shavers: http://www.shavers.com/

Happy Birthday Kyo!

The Globe & Mail reports that Doug Flutie, Pinball Clemons, Mike Pringle, John Bonk and builder Tom Sheppard have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Poor Bonk. No one is going to pay any attention to him at the ceremony with those other three guys there! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Here's an article which contrasts the way the Fed has bailed out Bear Stearns shareholders and helped JP Morgan with the way Norway, Sweden and Finland took over their bankrupt banks ensuring that the shareholders would get nothing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...31/cnfed131.xml By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor Last Updated: 2:06am BST 01/04/2008 The US Federal Reserve is examining the Nordic bank nationalisations of the 1990s as a possible interim solution to the US financial crisis. The Fed has been criticised for its rescue of Bear Stearns, which critics say has degenerated into a taxpayer gift to rich bankers The Fed has been criticised for its rescue of Bear Stearns, which critics say has degenerated into a taxpayer gift to rich bankers. A senior official at one of the Scandinavian central banks told The Daily Telegraph that Fed strategists had stepped up contacts to learn how Norway, Sweden and Finland managed their traumatic crisis from 1991 to 1993, which brought the region's economy to its knees. It is understood that Fed vice-chairman Don Kohn remains very concerned by the depth of the US crisis and is eyeing the Nordic approach for contingency options. Scandinavia's bank rescue proved successful and is now a model for central bankers, unlike Japan's drawn-out response, where ailing banks were propped up in a half-public limbo for years. While the responses varied in each Nordic country, there a was major effort to avoid the sort of "moral hazard" that has bedevilled efforts by the Fed and the Bank of England in trying to stabilise their banking systems. Norway ensured that shareholders of insolvent lenders received nothing and the senior management was entirely purged. Two of the country's top four banks - Christiania Bank and Fokus - were seized by force majeure. "We were determined not to get caught in the game we've seen with Bear Stearns where shareholders make money out of the rescue," said one Norwegian adviser. "The law was amended so that we could take 100pc control of any bank where its equity had fallen below zero. Shareholders were left with nothing. It was very controversial," he said. Stefan Ingves, governor of Sweden's Riksbank, said his country passed an act so it could seize banks where the capital adequacy ratio had fallen below 2pc. Efforts were also made to protect against "blackmail" by shareholders. Mr Ingves said there were parallels with the US crisis, citing the use of off-balance sheet vehicles to speculate on property. All the Nordic banks were nursed back to health and refloated or merged. The tough policies contrast with the Fed's bail-out of Bear Stearns, where shareholders forced JP Morgan to increase its Fed-led rescue offer from $2 to $10 a share. Christopher Wood, chief strategist at brokers CLSA, says the Fed's piecemeal approach has led to "appalling moral hazard". "Shareholders have been able to lobby for a higher share price only because the Fed took over the credit risk on $30bn of the investment bank's dubious paper. The whole affair also amounts to a colossal subsidy for JP Morgan," he said.

Thanks Jim. I never saw the show either. I was out of the country. I remember well when The New One came out in early '68. I was very fond of it at the time, but haven't heard it since. In the mid-80s I saw Buddy Greco at an industry private party in Las Vegas. He was great! I guess you could call him my guilty pleasure!

By the way, looking at the first clip that started this thread, I think that's George Carlin when he was still cleanshaven along with Steve Rossi introducing the band. Anybody want to disagree?

Here's a very sad story. I am reminded of a case in Toronto less than a year ago when a man of apparently similar ethnic background killed his teenage daughter because she wanted to dress like other Canadian girls and wear blue jeans. A century ago immigrants from Italy wanted their daughters to date only Italian boys. That was understandable, although not for making the American melting pot. But today some immigrant fathers from non-Western countries appear to be brutal. Life must be hell for the women still living in the old country, although maybe it is not as bad as I imagine when everyone in the society is on the same page. Maybe the problem these teenage girls have is that they live in a Western culture all day, and then their fathers expect them to live like they still live in the old country. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343677,00.html A child prodigy with a talent in mathematics that won her a spot at Oxford at the age of 13 somehow found her way into prostitution. Sufiah Yusof, who calls herself Shilpa Lee, advertises her body on an Internet sex site, charging 130 pounds an hour or $258. Yusof and two siblings won university places in their teens but she ran away at age 15 with claims of pressure from her parents. "It is all desperately heartbreaking," a friend of Yusof said. "With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead, her life spiraled completely out of control." Yusof describes herself as a "sexy, smart student" who prefers "older gentlemen" and offers services every day from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Yusof claims her father was "controlling and bullying," which led her to ending the relationship with her family.

The Als have offered a contract to Corey Holmes, but his agent can't find him! http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...82-8b61f88f617a ***** Bob Ackles announced today that the Lions have extended Wally Buono's contract, but the article doesn't say for how long. This is the last year of his current contract. Wally is second all time in coaching victories, behind Don Matthews. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/BC/...5152306-cp.html

My thoughts as well. I've been checking Google and the LA Times every day, and haven't found anything yet.

TTK, I don't think so. He left the group about 1959, and he was the first to die, in the mid-80s I think. But of course I could be wrong.

Here's an interesting blog site. It claims to have info for women, but I didn't see any. http://www.shavingstuff.com/

Highly recommended. One of my favorite vocal albums.

I don't know how I feel about this. Maybe competitive swimming should be done in suits the closest thing to au natural that modesty will allow, so as to make it a competition between the athletes rather than between the swimwear manufacturers. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343232,00.html A new, faster competitive bathing suit is the buzz of swimmers worldwide, but the revolutionary athletic attire could be banned from the upcoming Beijing Olympics. The LZR Racer, developed by Speedo with the help of NASA scientists, has been worn in 16 record-breaking swims since its release six weeks ago, the London Daily Mail reported. The suit, which according to Speedo can cut down on swimmers drag in the water by five percent, has been worn by several British swimmers who are praising it. "I just dived in and it felt like I was gliding for ever. It was really effortless through the water," Caitlin McClatchey, 22, one of Britain's brightest swimming stars, told the Mail. But swimming's international governing body, the Federation Internationale de Natation is reviewing claims the suit is giving an edge to swimmers due to allegations it provides greater buoyancy, according to the New York Post. In fact, several leading sportswear companies are preparing to launch their own supersuits, similar to the LZR Racer, according to FOX Sports. Despite rave reviews, not everyone is happy with the suit's performance. Australian world record holder Jessicah Schipper complained the suit slowed her down after she revealed water got inside her suit during that country's Olympic trials Thursday. Speedo officials planned to meet with Schipper, who won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2 minutes, 6.82 seconds, far off her world record of 2:05.40. She wore the Speedo LZR Racer "open back kneeskin" during the butterfly final. "We are conducting a thorough investigation but are confident this is not endemic to the LZR Racer suit," said Rob Davies, general manager of Speedo Australia. "Obviously, we will be working closely with Jessicah on a resolution and providing all the assistance she needs." The LZR Racer is made of a lightweight blend of Lycra and nylon, and electronically bonded to fit tighter around one's body, the Post reported.

Thanks, Jim. The PJ band is my favorite Buddy Rich. When I have a free half hour I'll go through the others there at YouTube.

I'm very willing to stand corrected in that regard. I haven't heard that much of Murray. Maybe the cut that Murray appears on flavored my impression.