GA Russell

My pick this month is The Tierney Sutton Band - On the Other Side. It was highly recommended by Doug Ramsey on his Rifftides blog. I gave my sister a Tierney Sutton record for Christmas a couple of years ago and she really liked it, so I'm looking forward to listening to one myself. It was a few months down in my queue, when I received the notice to buy it now or forever hold your peace, so I bumped it up to the top of my queue.

OK, I'm now guessing the BMG/Your Music will get it February 10.

Last month it was Downbeat. Now the Jazz Times Readers Poll is online. Five lucky voters will win a year's subscription. Go vote for the members of Organissimo, and the band as a group! http://jazztimes.com/columns_and_features/.../index_form.cfm

Lenny Kravitz will perform at the Grey Cup halftime this year. I guess they have run out of Canadians to hire. I recall hearing on a broadcast last year that hiring The Black Eyed Peas to perform at the 2005 Grey Cup game was criticized by some because they weren't Canadian either. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gre...4583778-cp.html

Folk Music was discussed a little bit at the end of the thread http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...30&start=30 but it's good that you started a new thread because it deserves one of its own. I'm enjoying it. Definitely recommended to Soulstream, ss1 and MG. It's not too greazy, but it's pretty soulful. It has a unique sound, because on 7 of the 9 tracks Greg Rockingham's drums are mic'd very, very softly. The result is that you get the sound of drumsticks but the feeling of brushes. Rockingham is very good at keeping it swinging, but he's not a fancy drummer. He pretty much stays in the background. I expected this to be a Bobby Broom album, but Broom has the spotlight on only about half of the tracks, and organist Chris Foreman has the spotlight on the other half. Foreman plays clean lines when he solos, using very few chords. Apparently Broom likes the Beatles. On his last album Song and Dance he did Can't Buy Me Love, and on this one he does She's Leaving Home. Another familiar melody, even if you aren't an r&b listener, is the song Never Knew Love Like This Before. Also included is the Lee Morgan standard Ceora. Folk Music is a solid effort without a bad track. It's easy to swallow for most of the public without being too commercial for jazz purists. Recommended.

Happy Birthday Holy!

From the WTF? dept.: Rob Hitchcock has come out of retirement to play for the Eskimos! http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Edm...4578401-cp.html ***** Not that there was any doubt, but the Bombers have clinched a playoff spot. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Win...575680-sun.html

I'm sorry to hear about this Joe. I guess the lesson is to not allow oneself to become too attached to material possessions. I'm glad that neither you nor anyone you loved was harmed.

Congratulations Conn!

Happy Birthday Bluerein!

Toronto Argonauts 35....Montreal Alouettes 17 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4107425.htm I listened to the Argos broadcast, and Adrion Smith, announcer and former Argo player, confirmed my suspicion stated above that there was bad blood between Robert Edwards and Als coach Jim Popp. British Columbia Lions 24....Edmonton Eskimos 18 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4107580.htm Saskatchewan Roughriders 40....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 23 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4107714.htm Calgary Stampeders 38....Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4107756.htm Henry Burris is back! ***** Vinnie Testaverde joined Carolina Wednesday and led them to victory today over Arizona. I was reminded of how Casey Printers and Jason Maas needed a week-plus with their new teams before they saw any game action. Apparently a winning NFL gameplan can be pretty simple compared to a CFL gameplan.

Happy Birthday John!

I'm sure that a number of you rock fans know more about this than I do, but here is what I know. A popular group, Nine Inch Nails, is led by a guy named Trent Reznor. Reznor has from what I gather been outspoken regarding his negative opinion of record companies. Today he announced at www.nin.com that Universal has released the band from its contract. I don't know the details. Speculation at Digg is that the band may follow Radiohead's lead and release music for downloading cheap or free. What strikes me is that the majors have in recent years seemed to have change their business model to rely solely on huge hit albums. And now the bands of these most popular CDs are going it alone. So the majors' business model seems obsolete. This would be a problem independent of the declining sales due to pirate downloading and competition from video games. I wonder if Norman Lear and Concord have stumbled upon a business model more likely to survive the changes - sign stars like Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell to single album deals (which I think is the ECM business model) and take it one step at a time. http://www.theninhotline.net/news/

Well, I'm not Dan, but the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5 of the last 6 they played, so I sure would rather them face the Indians than the Yankees regardless of who is pitching!

Today is the first day I have had reliable internet service since Sept. 26. My problems were both computer and ISP related. So today I have logged in using my original account, and everything seems to be working AOK. Thanks again Jim!

During the Bombers broadcast, Bob Irving said that Ricky Ray was gone for the season with his separated right (throwing) shoulder. With rookie Stephane LeFors in there, I don't see how the last place Eskimos can expect to climb into third place or cross over to the East. But what makes it interesting is that third-place Calgary has apparently lost Henry Burris for the season, so they may not win again either. Thanksgiving Day results: Montreal Alouettes 27....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 19 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4106718.htm The loss eliminates the Ticats. Saskatchewan Roughriders 33....Calgary Stampeders 21 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4106739.htm Akili Smith started for the Stamps and showed nothing. He was replaced at halftime by Ben Sankey, who turned in a decent performance, leading the Stamps on two TD drives. The last I had heard of Sankey, he was Jarious Jackson's backup at BC, so how and when he wound up with the Stamps I don't know. Maybe this indicates that Buck Pierce will soon return for BC. It is likely that neither Calgary nor Edmonton will host a playoff game. The last time that happened was in the 1950s.

I heard about this sort of thing on the radio (I think NPR) a couple of weeks ago. It basically scams the credit rating people into thinking that one's credit is better than it is. As I understand it, you allow a complete stranger(s) to list your card as one of his, and the stranger pays the broker for the privilege. The broker pays you $3,000. a month. Obviously, the credit reporting people won't allow this loophole to last long.

Years ago I worked at Borders, and I found that his fans were fanatics. When a new book came out, they sold like hot cakes all right. He was much younger than I thought for a writer so popular. The paper said this morning that he was only 58.

Stan and Chet if they are white! If they're black, maybe Johnny and Lockjaw.

Happy Birthday Dan! Have some cake and coffee ice cream!

Thanks guys!

Do you have a link for the list, Mike?

My understanding is that insurance companies consider nuclear power plants to be too dangerous to insure. So the power companies want the government to insure the plants. I say let's wait until they are safe enough that the insurance companies will take them on. (That's the libertarian argument.)

Happy Birthday vibes! What's the latest news on the retail scene?

There's a story in Edmonton about Rahim Abdullah, but I don't know what it is. As far as I could tell from the Eskimos broadcasts I've listened to, he's good. But apparently he got into the coach's doghouse. They paid him but wouldn't let him attend practices or meetings. He retained an attorney. So they cut him yesterday. Now he has the opportunity to sign with a team that might win the Grey Cup. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Edm...492975-sun.html ***** Here's a Canadian Press preview of the games for Week 12: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...4494141-cp.html