GA Russell

My dad took me to see Satchel Paige pitch for the Portland Beavers of the Coast league against the Seattle Rainiers in 1961. He had just joined the team, making a comeback. He started and pitched four innings, not enough for the decision. He looked like Gumby out there - all rhythm, no muscle. As I recall, the Rainiers hit nothing but ground balls. They never solved him. ***** In his prime, I would say Sandy Koufax. Every start was an event. But that lasted only, what, four seasons? A few years ago I saw a film that showed Koufax pitching a dozen or so pitches, filmed from a stationary camera on a tripod. Every delivery was identical. Really amazing. The last two or three years, Koufax would receive a cortizone shot from the doctor before every game. In one sense, I don't see that as too much different from the hitters who have used steroids. The difference it seems to me, and I think it is a big difference, is that the cortizone was administered by the team doctor candidly and above board. The steroid users would buy the substance on the sly and self-administer it. ***** I lived in the Atlanta area from 1985-2002, so I saw Greg Mattox with the Braves on TV many times. My objection to calling him the greatest is that he pitched everything a foot outside and got the called strike. Of course, he had great control; and it wasn't his fault that the umps gave him the pitch. If the ump gave me a pitch I would take it too. But that prevents me from considering him one of the greatest. Another 300 game winner, Tom Glavine, always got that foot-outside pitch too. ***** From what I have read, the only competitor to Koufax for being so dominant over a three year period was Dizzy Dean. And apparently Ol' Diz was the best interview in the history of baseball! ***** Edit to add: The best season a pitcher ever had that I am aware of was Steve Carlton in 1972 for the Phils. They were a very bad team. As I recall, at one point they had won 20 games, and Carlton had won 10 of them.

Vista is considered a bad joke at Digg.com. One well-dugg link was to a photo of a repair shop with a big sign out front that said "We remove Vista". I plan for my next computer to be a Mac.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Tan Canary at the New Orleans Jazzfest, either in '90 or '91. I had never heard of him before, but friends strongly recommended that I check him out.

Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,1552343.story Teo Macero, 82; jazz producer worked with Miles Davis, other big names template_bastemplate_bas By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 23, 2008 Teo Macero, whose innovative work as a producer of jazz albums in the 1960s and '70s helped define the recorded sound of artists such as Miles Davis and redefine the meaning of studio production, died Tuesday at a hospital in Riverhead, N.Y. He was 82. Macero, who lived in Quogue, N.Y., had been ill for some time, said his stepdaughter, Suzie Lightbourn of Morristown, N.J. The cause of death was not given. The thousands of recordings produced by Macero include the original cast album of "A Chorus Line," Simon and Garfunkel's album "The Graduate" and numerous gold records. Beginning with his work at Columbia Records in the mid-1950s, Macero helped make some of the most enduring jazz recordings of the era. He was musical editor for Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. Later he became a producer and exerted an even greater influence on the music. For many years he produced Davis, including albums such as "Bitches Brew," "In a Silent Way" and "Sketches of Spain." Although Davis had the final say, Macero was given wide latitude -- and he used all the space given him to express his creativity. "I mean Miles never came to the editing room," Macero said in an interview posted on Perfect Sound Forever, an online music magazine. "In 25 or 30 years he was there maybe four or five times. So I had carte blanche to maneuver, do things with his music that I couldn't do with other people's." Macero spliced tape, used overdubbing and pitch manipulations and employed electronic effects. Columbia Records sometimes had to create the equipment Macero needed in production. The "instant playback" allowed a passage to be played back in defined intervals. In those days, such techniques were not the common fare they are today. "Even back then, we were always experimenting," Macero said in a 2007 edition of Remix magazine. "That was half the fun, to see what you could do with some of this stuff. It didn't matter if it was a monaural or a two-track tape machine -- if I could help make the music sound different or adventurous, I was right there." Macero sometimes had to weave in "bits and pieces" of music that Davis had recorded on cassettes. "Miles would say, 'Put this in that new album we're working on,' " Macero said in the Perfect Sound Forever interview. "I'd say, 'Look, where the hell is it going to go? I don't know.' He says, 'Oh, you know.' " Their collaboration was legendary. But in later years, when the unedited recordings of some of Davis' works were released, some critics complained that Macero had been too heavy-handed. A writer for Slate magazine referred to Macero's work as "post-production meddling." Macero had strong views of some of the reissues. "They're discovering the things that we threw out and they're putting them in," he said in the Boston Herald in 2001. "I wouldn't have anything to do with it. It's just a lot of blowing. What is that?" Macero was born in Glens Fall, N.Y., on Oct. 30, 1925. His parents owned a restaurant, said his sister, Lydia Edwards. Early in his life, he took up the saxophone, and music became his passion. After serving in the Navy in the mid-1940s, Macero earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's degree in 1953 from Juilliard School of Music. He received Guggenheim Fellowships twice in the 1950s and played saxophone with Mingus and many others. The list of artists he worked with as producer includes Dave Brubeck, Mahalia Jackson and Leonard Bernstein. After more than 20 years at Columbia, Macero left and continued to work as a producer. He also composed for several ballet companies and was a composer and conductor with several symphony orchestras. In more recent years Macero worked with Wallace Roney, Geri Allen and Robert Palmer and composed for television and film. In addition to Lightbourn and Edwards, Macero is survived by his wife, Jeanne.

I agree too. I think that the golden age you refer to peaked a few years ago. Shortly before they were acquired by Concord, Fantasy bragged that there were more Contemporary label recordings available at the same time than there ever were when the company existed as an independent. My mindset has been changed by the internet. Prior to 1995, albums in print could always be ordered by your record store; but I never knew what was available to be ordered. Now all mail order companies have websites which not only make the ordering process easy, but some websites also have pretty good descriptions of each album.

Berigan, one difference between the two sports is that the baseball players started taking steroids surrepticiously. The pro football players in the mid-60s started taking them under orders from the strength coach. I remember reading that in the pro football locker rooms they would have out in the open a bowl full of steroid pills like a bowl of candy.

Here's a new article from a Wall Street website called TheStreet.com that says that Apple TV has a new program that makes the video downloads look fantastic: http://www.thestreet.com/s/apple-tv-nails-...E&cm_ite=NA

Moose, it sounds like you would enjoy sports car racing! There are two pro series - the American LeMans Series and the Grand American series. Both have four classes of cars racing at the same time. Usually, but not always, the slower cars get out of the way! Rather than being a fan of a particular series, such as Nascar, I am a fan of road course race tracks. I went to a number of races at Road Atlanta in the 90s. My favorite Nascar race is the one at Sonoma in California. In order to win a race at a road course, a driver must be good not only in passing but also in braking. Few Nascar drivers have that skill, and at Sonoma most of them have lost their brakes by the end of the race, so only Robby Gordon, Jeff Gordon, Juan Montoya, Tony Stewart and maybe a couple of others are in contention to win.

The agreement was signed today. Only three of the Champ Car sites will hold races this year, but look to have a number of them hold races next year. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...portsOther/home

Happy Birthday tf! Are there any Trane albums left that you don't have that you could have asked for for your birthday?

Now that you mention it, I should have asked for it for Christmas!

I have just finished reading a 1997 book by New York pianist Jonny King called What Jazz Is. I've never heard of King. He says that he is also an attorney, and I wonder if he has given up music to take up the practice of law. Anybody know? This is a book for people who like what little jazz they have heard, but know nothing about it. He explains some pretty fundamental concepts. The book comes with a ten-song Blue Note sampler of recordings from the 50s and 60s. Each of the songs is given a three page analysis, for example going over what the rhythm section is doing while each soloist takes his turn. The ten songs are: Hank Mobley - Remember Sonny Clark - Speak Low Art Blakey - Blues Chick Corea - Matrix Wayne Shorter - Miyako Sonny Rollins - Reflections McCoy tyner - African Village Lee Morgan - Ca-Lee-So Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage Ornette Coleman - Round Trip I see that Amazon resellers have used copies starting at 99 cents. I have to wonder if they have the CD at that price. Be sure to use the Organissimo link! http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/080...8003&sr=1-1

Today is not only George Washington's birthday. It is also the 90th birthday of Don Pardo! I'm sure that most Americans now living think of him as the booth announcer of Saturday Night Live, but for me he will always be the announcer of The Price is Right with Bill Cullen. I didn't know that he, Milton Berle and Bob Hope are the only three people to have signed lifetime contracts with NBC! http://www.tv.com/don-pardo/person/137979/summary.html

I've been listening to Holon for a week now, and I like it a lot. It really is not what I expected. Stoa was straight out of Philip Glass's bag. I like Glass, although I don't listen to him very often, and I liked Stoa in part because it was my first minimalist album in years. Holon is not a minimalist album, although there are parts of songs where they get into that mode. It reminds me of what some of the Canterbury groups were doing in the 70s, particularly Hatfield and the North, and maybe National Health. The songs on Holon have beats that make you want to get up out of your chair, which Stoa did not. Holon's electric bass is in the foreground, like Richard Sinclair's of Hatfield. Holon sounds like it might be a transition album from the minimalism of Stoa to the prog rock of Hatfield. I suppose whether they continue the transition will depend in part on how the audiences of their tour respond to their new sound. Too bad they won't be coming to my area.

Kevin, your argument is with the New York Times, not with me. The article posted above states in its first sentence that the Patriots were "illicitly videotaping the signals of opposing N.F.L. coaches" beginning in 2000. I agree with the sentiment expressed by most of you that it shouldn't be against the rules. But it is, and everyone should play by the rules IMO.

I was familiar only with Commander Cody's recording of Hot Rod Lincoln until a few months ago when I heard on Sirius for the first of a number of times what I assumed to be the original version. Can't say for sure that Sirius has been playing Ryan's recording, but probably so. Here's his AP obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,7248174.story Charles Ryan, 92; co-wrote pop hit 'Hot Rod Lincoln' template_bastemplate_bas From the Associated Press February 22, 2008 Charles Ryan, the musician and songwriter who co-wrote the hit song "Hot Rod Lincoln," died Saturday in Spokane, Wash., after a long battle with heart disease, his family said. He was 92. Ryan and W.S. Stevenson wrote "Hot Rod Lincoln" and in 1955 Ryan first recorded the song with the rockabilly beat and the vivid lyrics describing a nighttime car chase: "My fenders was clickin' the guardrail posts; the guy beside me was white as a ghost." It began with the line "My pappy said, 'Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln.' " The song was inspired by Ryan's commutes in his 1941 Lincoln from Spokane to play gigs at the Paradise Club across the state line in Lewiston, Idaho. It has been recorded many times since. Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen made it a hit in 1972, and it has been a mainstay of popular culture for decades. Ryan was born in Graceville, Minn., on Dec. 19, 1915, grew up in Polson, Mont., and moved to Spokane in 1943. He served in the Army during World War II. He worked as a musician and songwriter, touring with Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton and others. Ryan's version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" hit the Billboard Top 100 charts in 1960 and stayed there for six months. Many versions exist, with the words often altered by each new group.

Now a former Patriot says that the videotaping has been going on for years. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/sports/f...rtner=TOPIXNEWS By JOHN BRANCH and GREG BISHOP Published: February 22, 2008 INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots’ pattern of illicitly videotaping the signals of opposing N.F.L. coaches began in Coach Bill Belichick’s first preseason with the team in 2000, a former Patriots player said. The information was put to use in that year’s regular-season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Belichick’s debut as New England’s coach. Skip to next paragraph L Enlarge This Image Victoria Arocho/Associated Press Patriots cornerback Ty Law tackling Keyshawn Johnson in Bill Belichick's first game as coach. The secret taping of signals, which is against league rules, continued at least through three championship seasons to the 2007 season opener against <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkjets/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="Recent news and scores about the New York Jets.">the Jets, when the Patriots were caught and subsequently sanctioned by the league. As coaches and executives gathered here Thursday for the N.F.L. scouting combine, many saying they were satisfied with the league’s investigation and ready to move on, new details were emerging about the history of the Patriots’ videotaping. According to several executives in the league, the season opener against the Jets was not the first time the Patriots had been spotted taping another team’s defensive coaches at Giants Stadium. In the final preseason game of 2006, the Patriots were caught taping a Giants defensive assistant giving signals, the executives said. The incident prompted a letter addressed to all teams seven days later from the N.F.L. vice president Ray Anderson that detailed the league’s interpretation of the rules. That letter was cited by Commissioner Roger Goodell when he punished the Patriots. Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted with disbelief by some peers and league officials. In a news conference last week, Goodell said Belichick’s explanation led to the assumption that he had been videotaping opponents’ signals “as long as he has been head coach.” The league’s nine-member competition committee spent three days this week discussing various rules changes that it might recommend for next season. After a 90-minute briefing on the Patriots’ videotaping activities Thursday by Goodell and three league vice presidents, the committee said taping rules would not be changed in the aftermath of the controversy. “The rules are very, very clear,” said Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a committee member. “There is no need to be more specific or clarify any rules whatsoever.” Questions linger about how much of an advantage the Patriots may have had if they intercepted defensive signals. Under Belichick, the Patriots have often run a no-huddle offense, which forces opponents to quickly call a defensive play. N.F.L. rules allow quarterbacks to hear instructions from coaches — through a headset and into a speaker in the quarterback’s helmet — until there are 15 seconds left on a play clock. When the defensive play call is deciphered, the Patriots could call a play to counteract. The Patriots lost the 2000 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when videotape of signals was used in preparation, according to the former Patriots player, who was among several former players interviewed by the N.F.L but said he did not want to speak publicly because the investigation is continuing. The Patriots appear to have continued the practice of taping opposing signals for seven years. Last September, Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, fined the Patriots $250,000 and took away one of team’s first-round draft choices in 2008. After the sanctions were announced, the Patriots submitted six tapes, from games in 2006 and 2007, and some notes that dated to 2002, Goodell said. The tapes and notes were destroyed days after being handed to the league, because Goodell considered the matter closed. But questions remain about how wide and deep the Patriots’ taping habits extended. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who met with Goodell last week, is among those still questioning why the league was so quick to sanction the Patriots and destroy the evidence. Goodell met with the competition committee Thursday to discuss his handling of the spying case. Committee members seemed satisfied and eager to turn the page. “We were all satisfied, every one of us,” said John Mara, the Giants’ president. “All of us have our different opinions about the Patriots, but we were all satisfied that this thing was investigated properly and that they came to the proper conclusion.” Bill Polian, the president of the Indianapolis Colts, said: “It’s behind us. It’s time to move forward.” But emerging details continue to pull the league back in time. On Feb. 2, The Boston Herald reported that the Patriots might have taped a St. Louis Rams walkthrough practice the day before the teams played in the 2002 Super Bowl. The Patriots won, 20-17, on a last-second field goal. Belichick, speaking to The Boston Globe, recently denied that the practice was taped. In the hallway at the convention center here, Mike Martz wanted to talk about his new job as San Francisco’s offensive coordinator. Instead, reporters peppered him with questions about the Patriots. Martz was the coach of the Rams when the teams met in the Super Bowl six years ago. He took exception to the theory that the Patriots could not have gleaned much information from taping the walkthrough. He said indeed they could, but added that was not the point. “For somebody to say that, it’s kind of disgusting,” Martz said. “The whole point is if they really cheated. To say he took some steroids and it did help or it didn’t help, that’s never the point. The point is, to all these high school coaches and high school kids and college kids, that if they did cheat, that’s the point.” Martz said he assumed the walkthrough report was false. A similar sentiment was voiced by Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith, the Rams’ defensive coordinator that season. “It’s just hard for me to fathom anyone would do anything like that,” Smith said. “I’m sure, if there’s something to it, No. 1, it will come out later. Time has a way of taking care of all things.” Martz was asked if he wanted the N.F.L. to continue investigating the walkthrough. “Of course,” he said. “I was involved in that. I was responsible for a lot of people in that game.” Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league. “I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.” Belichick was not seen in the hallways of the convention center Thursday. Representatives of 21 teams are scheduled to meet with reporters for news conferences from Thursday to Sunday. Belichick and the Patriots are not among them.

Welcome back brownie! It's not on the LA Times obit page yet. I'll post what they have when it comes up.

This article says that they are suing for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. I would like to see their arguments, but I can't imagine that it will go to court. Maybe the court papers filed are available online. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...portsOther/home edit to add link

Bev, a few months ago I was given a promo by ECM of a Scandinavian folksinger named Sinikka Langeland. The album is called Starflowers. I didn't review it because I didn't think anyone here would be interested. It's the only Scandinavian folk music I have ever heard, so I don't know how to compare it to others of that genre. I enjoy it because it is unique in my collection. I can't say that I understand it, or that it's up your alley, but you might like it too.

Me too, montg. That's usually during the summertime. I listen to a lot of surf guitar then.

Noj, I've mentioned this in the distant past, but since no one is expected to remember what everyone says, I'll repeat it... I "explore what I already have" by starting each New Year with the resolution to listen to all of my CDs at least once in the calendar year. For the first time in a number of years, in 2007 I actually did it. Here's my method: I do not shelve my CDs in alphabetical order. I keep one shelf separate for the CDs opened in the past twelve months. They get by far the most play. All of my other CDs, regardless of genre, I keep together. There is no order except one - I place the CD I have just listened to at the end of the top shelf. When that shelf is filled up, I slide all of my CDs down to make the top shelf empty again. I call this the LIFO method (for the accounting term "last in, first out"). Because there is no order except that of having been played, I sometimes cannot find a CD I am looking for. But that doesn't happen very often. The benefit of this system is that I know right where to go to find the CDs I haven't listened to in a long time. They are on the bottom shelf. I believe that my habitual browsing of the bottom shelf keeps me from getting burned out on my collection. And I often hear things in a record that I hadn't noticed before when hearing something for the first time in many months! edit for typo

Any opinion of the Desmond? I think that was an A&M, wasn't it? I don't recall ever reading much good about any of his A&Ms.

Chalupa, it seems to me that there are two different markets. The first would be the group (probably most people, maybe not) for whom the old DVD is good enough. I can see this group downloading videos when it becomes more convenient and the price is competitive. The second are the people who want the high def. They spend the money for the high def TV, and will go out to buy the Blu Ray player and discs. As long as the picture quality of downloads is relatively low def, I don't see the second group moving over to downloading.