GA Russell

Here's a Spectator article about Bob Young of the Ticats. He has lost $10 million so far, and expects to continue to lose money for the next 2-3 years. This year there will be a substantial increase in ticket prices despite the team's poor performance in recent years. http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/344942

Tomasz Stanko's old rhythm section of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz is now recording under the name Marcin Wasilewski Trio. They have recorded an album called January which will be released on ECM May 6. Wasilewski impressed me on the Stanko album I have, and I'm looking forward to hearing this. The group will tour the US to promote the album: May 20 - New York, NY - Birdland May 22 - Philadelphia, PA - Chris' Jazz Café May 23 - Baltimore - An Die Musik Live! May 24 - Ann Arbor - Firefly May 25 - Los Angeles, CA - The Jazz Bakery

ECM will release a new Marilyn Crispell solo piano album called Vignettes April 22. Crispell is one of those people whose name I have read fairly often over the years, but whose work I have never heard. Does anyone have an opinion of her? She will go on a solo tour to support the album: April 12 - Buffalo, NY - Hallwalls April 25-27 - Concord, MA - Concord Free Public Library April 29 - New York, NY - Birdland May 16 - Baltimore - An Die Musik Live!

Thanks for posting this, Ted. I saw The Hi-Lo's about ten years ago in Atlanta, and they were terrific! I have only one Singers Unlimited album, I think called a capela, which was released on CD about twenty years ago. It's a great one, though not in any way jazz. The Hi-Lo's' pre-Columbia recordings were released on a two-CD set about a year ago, and I have given some thought to picking it up. Maybe this will spur me to do it.

I saw Buddy DeFranco speak at a jazz clinic in Atlanta about 1990, and he mentioned how much he admired the Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra.

In 1972, Herb Peterson invented the Egg McMuffin! http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342089,00.html LOS ANGELES — Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin, has died, a Southern California official of McDonald's restaurants said Wednesday. He was 89. Peterson died peacefully at his Santa Barbara home on Tuesday, said Monte Fraker, vice president of operations for McDonald's restaurants in that city. Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald's breakfast item in 1972. The egg sandwich consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin. He began his career with McDonald's as vice president of the company's advertising firm, D'Arcy Advertising, in Chicago. He wrote McDonald's first national advertising slogan, "Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day." Peterson eventually became a franchisee and was currently co-owner and operator of six McDonald's restaurants in Santa Barbara and Goleta, Fraker said. Peterson created the Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald's, Fraker said. /**/ "Peterson was very partial to eggs Benedict," Fraker said, and worked on creating something similar. The Egg McMuffin made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Peterson co-owned with his son, David Peterson. Fraker said that, although semiretired, Peterson still visited all six stores in the Santa Barbara area until last year when his health began to deteriorate. "He would talk to the customers, visit with the employees, he loved McDonald's," Fraker said. Fraker, who said he's worked with Peterson for 30 years, said "he was amazing as far as giving back to the community." "He embraced the community and the community embraced him," Fraker said. "We loved the man." Peterson is survived by his wife, son and three daughters. A public memorial service will be held April 23 at All Saints by the Sea church in Montecito.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20080326/...ectionfreemusic The music industry is finally comfortable selling digital music without copy protection, but the huge shift hasn't resulted in dramatically higher sales. Instead, it produced something that major music labels have long sought: a strong No. 2 competitor to Apple. Amazon's (AMZN) MP3 store - which sells only songs without copy protection - has quietly become No. 2 in digital sales since opening nearly six months ago. That's even though Apple (AAPL) dominates digital music with its iTunes Store (the second-largest music retailer in the world, after Wal-Mart) (WMT) and its hugely popular iPod. The push for copy-protection-free music began nearly a year ago, when Apple and major label EMI shocked the industry by announcing a landmark arrangement to sell 150,000 songs without digital rights management (DRM) software. It was the first time a major label had agreed to such terms. Consumers had long complained about DRM, saying it hindered what they could do with their purchases. For instance, a song sold at iTunes with DRM couldn't be played on a Microsoft (MSFT) Zune digital music player. Apple, which claims an 80% share of digital music sales, said consumers would be ecstatic about the EMI deal and that digital sales would greatly increase. CEO Steve Jobs predicted his iTunes catalog would be 50% DRM-free by the end of 2007. But that never happened. Warner (TWX), Sony/BMG (SNE) and Universal all opted to sell their DRM-free music on Amazon instead. "The labels think Apple has too much influence," says Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media. Apple now has 2 million songs from EMI and independent labels available without DRM, out of its 6 million-song catalog. Amazon offers 4.5 million DRM-free songs. Amazon's arrival "removed some of the stranglehold iTunes had on the market," says Ted Cohen, a former EMI Music executive and managing partner of the Tag Strategic consulting firm. Apple originally sold each DRM-free song for a premium, $1.29, compared with 99 cents for a song with copy protection. But Apple was forced to lower the price to 99 cents when Amazon launched its MP3 download store at that price. Pete Baltaxe, Amazon's director of digital music, won't say how many songs Amazon has sold but will say that consumers love the experience. "What we hear a lot is, 'Thank you.' They appreciate that everything is DRM-free and so comprehensive," he says. Apple declined to comment for this story. 'Music is mature' The labels are also offering DRM-free songs at other digital media outlets. Universal is working with Wal-Mart, Rhapsody, Best Buy (BBY) and a handful of smaller retailers. Sony/BMG has a deal with Target (TGT). That hasn't significantly boosted sales. It hasn't hurt them either, although music label executives had argued against selling songs without copy protection, saying such a move would increase piracy. About 239 million digital tracks have been sold this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That compares with 189 million at the same time last year, which is not a dramatic jump. (CD sales continue their decline: 74.3 million this year, compared with 89.2 million at the same time in 2007.) That's because "music is mature," says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, which monitors online piracy. "The growth is in TV shows, movies and gaming." Garland says there is no evidence that download sales will be affected by DRM-free songs. "The music consumer holds all the cards, and they have a list of complaints. They want iTunes to be 100% DRM-free. They want unlimited selection and to have more of a social component to their songs. Having one label without DRM (at iTunes) isn't enough to make an impact," Garland says. Amazon's Baltaxe says the best defense against piracy is a good offense. "Songs sold without DRM, at high quality, with album art, that's the best way to get people to buy music instead of stealing it. DRM is a way to punish people who are buying," he says. "Offering a great product at a great price is a way to combat piracy."

My favorite Rodney Dangerfield joke: I live in a tough neighborhood. Ooooh, a tough neighborhood. Last week I bought a waterbed, and there was a guy in the bottom of it!

David Braley doesn't think that the Ottawa team will get on the field until 2012. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Ott...107016-sun.html ***** The NFL is considering requiring players with long hair to keep it under their helmets. This is something I have thought the CFL should do. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

I haven't thought about Richard Widmark in years. He was one of my mother's favorites. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,5436283.story Richard Widmark, 93; actor played both heavies and heroes UCLA Arts Library Special CollectionsRichard Widmark shown as an authoritarian Cold War Navy destroyer captain in 1965's "The Bedford Incident." By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 27, 2008 Richard Widmark, who made an indelible screen debut in 1947 as a giggling sadistic killer and later brought a sense of urban cynicism and unpredictability to his roles as a leading man, has died. He was 93. Widmark died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn., after a long illness, his wife, Susan Blanchard, told The Times today. She said a fractured vertebrae that Widmark suffered in a fall last year was the beginning of his illness. Richard Widmark click to enlarge Photo Gallery Richard Widmark | 1914-2008 "I lost a dear friend, and you don't have friends like him," Karl Malden, who first met Widmark in New York when they were both "hustling for radio work" in the early 1940s and later appeared in five movies with him, told The Times today. "He was a damn good actor," Malden said. "He knew what he was doing, he could do it well, and he hated anyone he worked with who wasn't prepared because he came ready to go." Sidney Poitier, who acted in three films with Widmark, told The Times that Widmark "left his mark as a very fine actor." "His creative work is indelible on film and will be there to remind us of what he was as an artist and a human being," said Poitier. Equally believable playing heavies and heroes, Widmark portrayed a broad range of characters in a film career that spanned more than 70 movies from the late 1940s to the early '90s. He played a rabid racist in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "No Way Out" (1950), an obsessed prosecutor in Stanley Kramer's "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), an authoritarian Cold War Navy destroyer captain in James B. Harris' "The Bedford Incident" (1965) and a tough New York City police detective in Don Siegel's "Madigan" (1968). The lean and rugged Widmark, whom director Samuel Fuller once said "walks and talks like no one else," was known to be equally at home astride a horse -- in films such as William Wellman's "Yellow Sky," John Ford's "Cheyenne Autumn" and "Two Rode Together," John Wayne's "The Alamo" and the star-studded epic "How the West Was Won." But it's as Tommy Udo, the sadistic New York City gangster in Henry Hathaway's 1947 film noir crime classic, "Kiss of Death," that Widmark made what may be his most enduring on-screen impression. Widmark had been working nearly a decade as a successful New York radio and Broadway stage actor when he was cast in the memorable supporting role that set him on the path to stardom. "Kiss of Death" starred Victor Mature as a small-time crook and family man who reluctantly informs on his ex-partners to gain parole from prison. But Widmark stole the show as the revengeful Udo, who gleefully ties up an older woman in her wheelchair with a lamp cord and then pushes her down a flight of stairs. Widmark's chilling performance prompted film critic James Agee to write of Widmark's character: "It is clear that murder is one of the kindest things he is capable of." Widmark received his only Oscar nomination -- as best supporting actor -- and a Golden Globe as "most promising [male] newcomer" for his role in "Kiss of Death." If Widmark's giggling killer in "Kiss of Death" made a big impression on movie audiences, his performance also had an impact on the actor. "I'd never seen myself on the screen, and when I did I wanted to shoot myself," he told the New Yorker in 1961. "That damn laugh of mine! For two years after that picture, you couldn't get me to smile. I played the part the way I did because the script struck me as funny and the part I played made me laugh, the guy was such a ridiculous beast. I was doing 'Inner Sanctum' on radio at the same time, and I remember reading the 'Kiss of Death' script to some of the guys and saying, 'Hey, get a load of this!' and I'd laugh, it was so funny." And that, he said, is the way he played the part in the movie. "I don't think we'd seen quite that level of anti-social behavior in movies, and he never repeated villainy at that level in the movies," film critic Richard Schickel told The Times in 2002. But, Schickel said, even as a leading man "there was a kind of hard-core urban cynicism about him that was really different than previous urban bad guys in the [James] Cagney or John Garfield vein, where there was a kind of sweetness lurking there." "He's, to me, one of those people I was always glad to see on the screen because it promised some edge that wasn't entirely conventional. There was something slightly mysterious about his behavior, and you felt a slight unpredictability about him." Photo Gallery Richard Widmark | 1914-2008 Widmark, Schickel added, later became a much more conventional leading man, but even then his portrayals conveyed "sort of an awareness that the world didn't always work out for the best, that you had to be somewhat wary of people." Widmark was born Dec. 26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn., where his father ran a general store before becoming a traveling salesman. Growing up, Widmark moved frequently before his family settled in Princeton, Ill., where his father acquired a bakery and the family lived in the apartment above. In high school, Widmark played football, acted with the dramatic club and wrote for the student newspaper. He enrolled in a pre-law course at Lake Forest College in Illinois, where he won awards in oratory contests. But he was also active in the drama department and, after playing the lead in Elmer Rice's "Counselor-at-Law" in his sophomore year, began to think seriously about becoming an actor. After graduating in 1936, he became an instructor in the college's drama department and directed and acted in numerous campus productions over the next two years. "I suppose I wanted to act in order to have a place in the sun," he told the New Yorker. "I'd always lived in small towns, and acting meant having some kind of identity." In 1938, he moved to New York City, where his college sweetheart and future wife, Jean Hazlewood, was studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. They married in 1942. Widmark didn't have any trouble finding acting jobs. A former classmate, who was producing radio soap operas, gave him a part on a show. And from then on, Widmark worked steadily in radio. A perforated eardrum kept him out of the service during World War II, but Widmark served as an air raid warden and entertained servicemen under the auspices of the American Theatre Wing. In 1943, he made his Broadway debut playing a young Army lieutenant in the comedy "Kiss and Tell." Roles in other Broadway plays followed, along with his continuing work in radio. Then came "Kiss of Death," which required him to sign a seven-year contract with one-year options with 20th Century Fox. At Fox, which had promoted Widmark in "Kiss of Death" by advising theaters to have local printers make up "Wanted" posters of the actor, he found himself typecast playing psychotic tough guys and "nutballs." In a review of "The Street With No Name," one critic wrote of Widmark: "The timbre of his voice is that of filthy water going down a sewer." Off screen, Widmark was a cordial and thoughtful gentleman who abhorred guns and violence. The one time he went fishing, he once recalled, "I caught a little trout. I took him to the basement to scrape him. I called him George. It broke my heart that I had caused his death." But Widmark played so many heavies early in his screen career that audiences had difficulty separating the man from the despicable characters he played. "It's weird the effect actors have on an audience," he told Parade magazine in 1987. "With the roles I played in those early movies, I found that quite a few people wanted to have a go at me. I remember walking down the street in a small town and this lady coming up and slapping me. 'Here, take that, you little squirt,' she said. Another time I was having dinner in a restaurant when this big guy came over and knocked me right out of my chair." While trying to avoid playing more low-life villains, Widmark was offered what he once called "this terrible, awful racist character" in "No Way Out," the 1950 film that marked the big-screen debut of Poitier as a doctor in a county hospital who must deal with Widmark's character. Widmark later said he would apologize after almost every scene they had together for the bigoted dialogue he had to deliver. But Widmark, who had been a "nut" for films since he saw his first one at age 3, said he loved making movies. "When I finally came to Hollywood I thought I was in seventh heaven," he told The Times in 1987. While under contract at Fox, Widmark made about 20 movies between 1947 and 1954. And while he had achieved variety in characters such as a businessman father who is too busy for his young son in the comedy-drama "My Pal Gus," he didn't like not having a chance to do films of his choice. When his contract at Fox expired, he decided to work independently. He also formed his own company, Heath Productions, to do projects he liked and retain greater artistic control. Among the films he produced and starred in are "Time Limit" (1957), directed by Malden; "The Secret Ways" (1961), a Cold War thriller with a script written by Widmark's wife, Jean; and "The Bedford Incident." Photo Gallery Richard Widmark | 1914-2008 One of his biggest hits came in 1968 when he played the title role in the New York cop story "Madigan." In 1972, Widmark reprised the role in a TV series of the same name that ran on NBC for a year. He continued to show up in films such as "Murder on the Orient Express," "Rollercoaster," "Coma" and "The Swarm," but his stardom began to wane. In the 1980s, he worked periodically in films and television, including "Against All Odds" on the big screen in 1984 and "Cold Sassy Tree," a 1989 television movie in which he played opposite Faye Dunaway as a man who married a younger woman. In 1991, he made his final screen appearance, as a senator in "True Colors." In his later years, Widmark divided his time between a ranch in Hidden Valley, Calif., and a farm in Connecticut. Widmark enjoyed not working. "A lot of actors don't know what to do with themselves when they retire; they have no other life. Me, I love just living," he said. "I read a lot, play tennis, work outside, see friends." As one of Hollywood's elder statesmen, Widmark would periodically be asked for interviews in his later years. And whenever reporters came to call, they inevitably asked about his role in "Kiss of Death." "It's a bit rough priding oneself that one isn't too bad an actor and then finding one's only remembered for a giggle," he told one interviewer. Widmark's wife Jean died in 1997. He married Susan Blanchard, a longtime friend who was once married to Henry Fonda, in 1999. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Anne Heath Widmark. No funeral service will be held.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080325/D8VKBRSO0.html Smashing Pumpkins Sue Virgin Records Email this Story Mar 25, 4:52 AM (ET) (AP) In a file photo Billy Corgan, right, and Ginger Reyes of the Smashing Pumpkins perform at Live... Full Image LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in promotional deals that hurt the band's credibility with fans. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, the rockers said they have "worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public," and that Virgin's use of the band in a "Pepsi Stuff" promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for "artistic integrity." Virgin put out the Smashing Pumpkins' music for more than 17 years, but the only active agreement between the two parties, the lawsuit claimed, is a deal granting Virgin permission to sell digital downloads of the band's songs. The agreement does not give Virgin the right to use the band in promotional campaigns to sell outside products, the lawsuit said. The band members said they would "never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity." An after-hours call to Virgin Records was not immediately returned. The lawsuits demands that Virgin pay with the profits that were earned in the promotion, and asks for an injunction against using the Pumpkins' name or music in the future.

Hold on! I'm thinking of a different record. My database shows that I have one Maneige album, called Les Porches. A review of the CD websites indicates that Maneige was a Quebec prog rock group, and that Les Porches was, it looks like, their second album. In the early 80s, I purchased a pretty fair number of $2.00 cutout prog rock albums from a mail order company named Wayside Music which was run by Steve Feigenbaum, who is now better known as the owner/operator of Cuneiform Records. One of them was the Maneige record. However, the album that I think so highly of was another purchase from Wayside by another Quebec prog rock group. Both the group and the album were called Aquarelle. The Aquarelle album reminds me of the album that came out in 2006 by the Jeff Gauthier Goatette called One and the Same on the Cryptogramophone label. (Gauthier is the founder of Cryptogramophone.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341285,00.html <h1 class="head">Former WCW Wrestler Found Dead of Apparent Drug Overdose</h1> Tuesday, March 25, 2008 E-Mail Print Share: Digg Facebook StumbleUpon Chase Tatum ATLANTA — A former wrestler was found dead in his home after suffering an apparent accidental drug overdose, his father said. Chase Tatum, 34, was found dead Sunday in his home in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, his father, Roy Tatum, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Chase Tatum used to wrestle for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization. More recently, he appeared in the comedy "Who's Your Caddy?" alongside rapper Big Boi of Outkast. Chase Tatum had been recovering from back surgery to repair a degenerative disc. His father said the former wrestler had been fighting a dependence to painkillers for years but had been planning to enter a rehabilitation center. "He was in the process of getting his life back together," Roy Tatum said Monday. "He was confident he was going to turn things around, to live a normal life again without those painkillers." A toxicology report has been ordered by the Fulton County Medical Examiner, which will take about six to eight weeks, said Laura Salm, an investigator with the coroner's office. /**/ Chase Tatum was 19 when he won the Mr. Georgia bodybuilding competition. He began a career as a personal trainer, which he continued until his death. Chase Tatum's wrestling career was unplanned and short-lived. One of his clients was a WCW personality who encouraged him to audition. Chase Tatum was accepted on his first try and debuted in 1999. But his father advised his son against becoming a pro wrestler. "How long can you last in that field?" Roy Tatum said. "They go in with their eyes closed, think they'll make some quick money and then get out." Chase Tatum retired from wrestling after about two-and-a-half years. However, his brief wrestling career left him with severe back problems but without health insurance to pay for the surgery. Painkillers kept him going, his father said. In addition to acting and wrestling, Chase Tatum also worked as a road manager and personal assistant for Outkast.

Here's the Globe's report on today's Ottawa announcement: http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home You will note that the announced price of the franchise is $7 million. I would be interested to learn the truth of how much is actually paid and over what length of time. As it is, the announcement commits no one to anything that I can see, in that it all depends on half the ballpark being rebuilt. That's a big if. But it at least assures the politicians that the stadium will have a tenant if they spend the money.

Thanks for the heads up, Mark! I'm still enjoying the Deep Blue Organ Trio album very much. Did you do the cover photo of this one too?

Wouldn't it be funny if, between all the members and lurkers here, Netflix noticed a run on the movie?

Angola is the federal penitentiary in Louisiana. When I was a kid, that was the last place on earth you wanted to go. People would shudder to think of it. Chris Kenner was murdered there. I think the music sets the mood very well. I've given the CD a few listens, but it's not for me - too powerful. (Yes Chuck and Larry, this was a promo that I didn't write about because I didn't love it.) David Murray is on it, and from what I have heard of Murray in the past, it appears to me that Wiley is influenced by him. My guess is that if you love Murray, you will like this album too.

I agree 100%, Dave.

New this week: Sadao Watanabe - Bossa Nova '67 John Scofield - This Meets That

The Argos have cut Mookie Mitchell. I think he's done, don't you? http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/349305 ***** The news conference to announce the awarding of an expansion franchise to Ottawa is set for tomorrow afternoon. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Over the years I have read Aspinall's name many times, but I never knew exactly how he fit in. I think this obit from the LA Times (dated tomorrow) does a good job of explaining. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,6839007.story Neil Aspinall, 66; longtime Beatles friend and business associate The legendary group's original road manager, Aspinall went on to run the Beatles' Apple Corps empire for 40 years. By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 25, 2008 Neil Aspinall, a lifelong pal of the Beatles from their scuffling days in Liverpool, England, who became their road manager and then spent 40 years as the chief protector of the group's recorded legacy as head of Apple Corps, has died of lung cancer. He was 66. Aspinall died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He had stepped down last year after four decades of running Apple Corps, where he led the company's trademark-infringement lawsuit against Steve Jobs' Apple Inc. At the time, a source in the Beatles camp said Aspinall retired at least partly because of his health. Neil Aspinall click to enlarge "Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come," said a statement released today by Apple Corps on behalf of surviving Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison: Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. The statement did not specify when Aspinall died. "All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him, but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man." Aspinall, whose early role for the Beatles was driving them from gig to gig in a cramped van, conceived the "Anthology" TV series that ignited a new wave of Beatlemania in the 1990s and sold nearly 8 million copies of the accompanying three volumes of CDs. He also was executive producer of the "1" hits collection, which jolted many in the music industry when it debuted at No. 1 on the national sales chart in 2000 and went on to spend eight weeks at the top of the chart, trumping the latest offerings from latter-day hit-makers such as the Backstreet Boys, Rage Against the Machine and rapper Xzibit. The "1" album has sold more than 11 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and an estimated 30 million worldwide. Aspinall helped make George Harrison's dying wish for a final collaboration among the surviving Beatles not just a reality, but a critical hit as well, by facilitating the participation of longtime Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles, to oversee the musical mash-up soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's show "Love" in Las Vegas. Yet while those projects introduced the Fab Four's music to new generations of fans, Aspinall also was seen as the man who largely resisted licensing their recordings for downloading over the Internet, downplaying fan and retailer requests for sonically upgraded CDs and even squelching attempts for a "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" box set in conjunction with last year's 40th anniversary of the landmark album's release. "While fans complained that Apple was slow to move into the digital age and that the core Beatles catalog went more than 20 years without being updated and remastered, Neil was responsible for bringing Apple back to life in the '90s with several key releases," Beatles historian and author Bruce Spizer said today. " 'Live at the BBC' contains several Beatles recordings of songs not on their EMI/Capitol albums. The 'Anthology' video and albums, which evolved from a film project started by Neil in late 1969 or early 1970, have numerous [previously] unreleased live and studio recordings. . . . Although fans wished Neil had authorized more music and video projects while at Apple, one must be impressed with the high quality of what was issued under his direction." Aspinall also went down in Beatles history as the associate who stayed with the group even after manager Brian Epstein fired drummer Pete Best, when Lennon, McCartney and Harrison decided they'd rather have a crosstown rival drummer -- Ringo Starr -- in the group. It was a particularly difficult choice for Aspinall because he had been renting a room from Best's family and had become romantically involved with Best's mother, Mona, a long-term affair that produced a child, Roag Best. After siding with the band majority, Aspinall stayed on as their road manager during the height of worldwide Beatlemania and when Epstein died in 1967, they turned to Aspinall to take the reins of their business affairs. His lack of business experience led to financial disasters that prompted Lennon, Harrison and Starr to hire New York lawyer Allen Klein, who promptly fired Aspinall. But the Beatles re-hired him in a lesser role, until the group's falling-out with Klein in the early-1970s, at which point Aspinall resumed leadership of Apple Corps He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Suzy, and five children. No plans for services have been announced.

Here's what Breitbart has to say: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8...;show_article=1

Here's a link to videos of early 60s Saturday morning cartoon shows. http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/03/22/saturday...-to-1964-video/

This might help: http://www.jazzintoronto.com/

Quebec City is one of my favorite places to visit! I think that you'll be disappointed wherever you go compared to it. I voted for Toronto, though it has been ten years since I have been to Canada. I'm not a fan of Montreal, except a small area around St. Denis (?) St. Montreal does have some great French restaurants, though!