GA Russell

TTK, how is that one?

That picture makes Coltrane look like Kevin Eubanks!

The CFL now has its own channel on YouTube! I think this is important enough to reprint the article and not just the link: http://blog.canoe.ca/remotecontrol CFL Joins YouTube World The CFL has been working hard the past few years cultivating the image of being a younger, 'hipper' league. Another step in that direction: Today's announcement that the league has launched a new YouTube channel. CFLtv, as it's called, is designed to offer “football fans with 24/7 access to unique, high-quality CFL video.” And yes, you can even catch the highlights you missed on Saturday, when someone at CBC decided most of the country didn't really need to see the final 13 minutes of the Edmonton-Saskatchewan game in Regina. In typical YouTube fashion, fans can also contribute their own videos and post comments about anything they see there. Another smart move, it says here, from a league that truly seems to have grasped the changing media landscape out there. PS - Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/cfl It talks about subscribing. I don't know what that's all about, but it sounds like it might cost money. I have only dial-up here, so I can't check it out.

Best wishes, Mark.

Yesterday our local paper published a lengthy obituary of Gardner from the New York Times. I guess better late than never. It said that he wrote a total of eight Boysie Oakes books. I'll have to see if I can find any of the others I haven't read.

medjuck, Universal is the distributor of ECM and I think Concord. So maybe whatever Universal does they will do too.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070821/mtv_mobile_...rvice.html?.v=1 MTV, RealNetworks Challenge Apple Music Tuesday August 21, 4:47 pm ET By Jessica Mintz, AP Technology Writer MTV Networks, RealNetworks, Verizon Announce New Music Service SEATTLE (AP) -- Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks and digital media company RealNetworks announced Tuesday a digital music joint venture that will compete with Apple's dominant trinity of the iTunes store, iPod player and iPhone. MTV will merge its Urge music service into the Rhapsody offering from RealNetworks Inc., forming a new company called Rhapsody America. The new service will be accessible on computers and music players and integrated with Verizon Wireless's VCast multimedia service for cell phones. MTV will heavily market the Rhapsody America service starting in September and will provide music playlists and other programming. The companies did not say how much the new service will cost. Rhapsody currently charges subscribers $12.99 a month for unlimited listening and sells individual tracks for 99 cents, with a discount for subscribers. Executives from the three companies said in a conference call that RealNetworks owns a majority of the new venture, though MTV's stake is "substantial." The relationship with Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain, is exclusive and long-term, the companies said. Further financial details were not provided. Michael Bloom, previously the general manager of Urge, will head up the new company. In an interview, he said Urge's existing customers will be migrated to Rhapsody America over time, but would not give further details. For now, Urge customers can use their accounts on Rhapsody and enjoy access to both services. So far, no other company has come close to rivaling Apple Inc.'s successful combination of music store and music player. Microsoft Corp. worked with MTV to build Urge into its Windows Media Player software, but after Urge launched last year the software maker shifted focus to its own Zune music player and store. So far, the Zune has captured only a tiny sliver of the digital music market. Early wireless music programs were hindered by the relatively tiny amount of storage space available for music on cell phones. John Stratton, Verizon Wireless' chief marketing officer, said in Tuesday's conference call that phones with 8 gigabytes of storage -- comparable to the biggest iPhone -- would be available by the end of this year. Stratton also said that phones with 16 GB of storage should be ready by mid-2008, and he hinted that the service will include over-the-air downloads of songs straight to cell phones. RealNetworks also began testing the sale of songs from Universal Music Group's catalog without copy-protection restrictions Tuesday, joining several other retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. That would allow such songs to play on the market-leading iPod. Rob Glaser, RealNetworks' chief executive officer, said music free of such restrictions should go mainstream in 2008. That fits with the companies' un-Apple-like strategy of running a music store that can connect with any number of different devices. Apple's copy-protection technology generally limits songs bought on iTunes to its own iPods and iPhones. "This is a close collaboration of partners that believes in the idea of openness," Glaser said. "Consumers should get to pick what mobile phone they want and get great music on it." And in that vein, the executives said in an interview that they're not planning to launch an "iPhone killer." "This is not somehow about how we collectively compete with the iPhone," said Verizon Wireless' Stratton. "I think that's a very limiting definition." Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff said Rhapsody America was a clear challenge to Apple. "It is an attempt to create a powerhouse that's going to be able to compete with iTunes," Bernoff said. "It's going to be very tough to compete that way. Many other companies have tried to do that and failed, including the limited success that MTV and Rhapsody have had separately."

Yes, it's an ECM release. I rank this in the middle of my seven Bley albums, although that is not quite fair because it is so different from the others. My first two were recorded in concert at Copenhagen and Haarlem in 1965 and 1966, and I think those are really special. I would next rank an ECM album called Ballads. I like this more than his Open, to love solo album, which I've noticed is very popular on AAJ and maybe here too. I rank last his two Milestone albums with synthesizer, which are good but not as great as the others I have. So I can't say that any of his albums have left me cold the way you feel, but as I say 1972 was a long time ago, and I have been out of touch with what he has been doing for 35 years.

Paul Bley has a new album out, Solo in Mondsee. Mondsee is a city in Austria where a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand piano is located. As the title says, this is a solo piano album. There are ten tracks, entitled Mondsee Variations I-X, totalling 55 minutes. I may be wrong, but I don't think a lot of forethought went into the music. I think this was a case of a master sitting down at the piano and improvising for an hour. Spontaneous jazz! This is my seventh Bley album, but the other six were recorded between 1965 and 1972. I would expect an artist to change his style over the course of 35 years, and Bley has. The songs here are not as dry as the playing I associate with him. The chords and sound are not uniquely his. This reminds me a little bit of two Warren Bernhardt solo piano albums from the 70s that I have. All the music is pleasant to listen to, and you can pay attention to it and be rewarded or else just keep it in the background. CD Universe says: List Price $16.97; Their Price $15.45. 4 stars

I was told that this is a federal matter because Bad Newz Kennels organized the fights in Tennessee and elsewhere (Georgia?) in addition to Virginia.

And the second of the two games: Saskatchewan Roughriders 39....Edmonton Eskimos 32 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4097692.htm This game started at ten o'clock eastern time, so I listened to some of the Riders network pre-game show and the first three quarters before going to bed with Edmonton leading 32-27. It is just as well that I turned it off when I did because the game was delayed for an hour at the start of the fourth due to lightning. Here's an article about the CBC discontinuing its broadcast of the game due to the delay. I guess it's no wonder why the league chose to sign an exclusive deal with TSN starting next season. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home It rained for much of the game, and kick receivers were having big trouble holding onto the ball. Ricky Ray completed his first eleven passes. Val St. Germaine played for the Riders at left tackle, so he is back in the league. An announcer commented that Kerry Joseph is healthy this year, explaining his much-improved play. He said that last year Joseph was bothered by a leg injury. The halftime show discussed the history of the Roughriders dinner. The story of Allan Sherman's getting booed off the stage by the very drunk crowd after he showed up late was pretty amusing. I saw Sherman in New Orleans about 1967 and really enjoyed him. We had all of his albums when I was growing up. "Hello young lovers, you're under arrest!" ***** The Als released Robert Edwards today, and the Argos signed him hours later. Walter Payton's son Jarrett has looked terrific running for the Als, so I guess they figured they didn't need his contract. As I recall, all contracts extant after Labor Day are guaranteed for the remainder of the season. Edwards' brother Terrence left the Als for the Bombers in a huff over the off-season. He was a free agent, and I think he felt that GM/Coach Jim Popp did not sufficiently value his worth. He may have been right, considering how well he has played for the Bombers. Anyway, I wonder if the problems with Terrence carried over to the relationship between Popp and Robert. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...4430294-cp.html ***** The Ticats traded Corey Holmes back to Sask today for Jason Armstead. this comes as a surprise to me. Holmes has not enjoyed the success with the Ticats that he did those years with the Riders, but I still rate Holmes better than Armstead. The Ottawa people loved Armstead, but I always felt he was a little overrated. Still, with Jesse Lumsden having a good year I guess the Cats don't really need another runner like Homes. The Ticats also gave up a prospect named Chris Getzlaf from the Univ. of Regina. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Week 8 previews: http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4097349.htm ***** Week 8 first result: Calgary Stampeders 45....British Columbia Lions 45 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4097540.htm

And here's the New York Times on the idea that Michael Vick is in trouble because of the illegal gambling which occurred regardiing the dogfights: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/sports/f...amp;oref=slogin Greatest Threat to Vick May Be Links to Gambling By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT Published: August 15, 2007 The assertion that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick gambled on dogfighting appears to be a more serious threat to his professional football career and freedom than the federal felony charges that he helped organize and run a dogfighting ring. Federal prosecutors are preparing a new set of indictments in the case against Vick. The charges are believed to include counts stemming from gambling that he is suspected of having financed. That is one reason Vick’s lawyers are considering a guilty plea that would avoid a new indictment. Whether or not Vick pleads guilty, his suspected connection to gambling could jeopardize his football career. The N.F.L. prohibits any association with gamblers or with gambling activities. Such involvement may result in severe penalties, including “a suspension from the N.F.L. for life,” the league’s gambling policy states. Tony Taylor, one of Vick’s co-defendants, said in a statement of facts that he signed when he entered a guilty plea July 30 that the “gambling monies” used by the suspected dogfighting ring run from Vick’s property “were almost exclusively funded by Vick.” Taylor cited at least nine instances in which gambling took place on Vick’s property in Surry, Va., or in which Vick was one of the sponsors for a dog in a fight in which a purse was won. John Goodwin, who leads the dogfighting unit for the Humane Society of the United States, said: “There are normally two types of gambling on fights, one in which side bets are made by spectators at the fights. The other is by owners who put up half the money for a purse in the fight, and the winner takes the whole pot.” In the indictment brought by the government July 17, the government said that after a dog Vick sponsored in a fight lost in March 2003, “he retrieved a book bag from a vehicle containing approximately $23,000 in cash,” and gave the money to the owner of the winning dog. Vick and his lawyers continued to weigh whether to accept a plea agreement from the government that would probably put Vick in prison for one to two years, according to a person with direct knowledge of the case. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Vick’s trial date is Nov. 26, and he will face up to five years in prison if he is found guilty. Jim Rybicki, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia; and Collins R. Spencer III, a spokesman for Vick’s legal team, declined to comment. As Vick pondered his next move, N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell awaited a recommendation on how to punish him. On July 23, Goodell appointed Eric Holder, a former deputy United States attorney general, to investigate the charges against Vick and provide the league with a report on how to proceed. According to Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the N.F.L., Holder’s investigation is relying only on “public record material” and is not being provided with any sealed evidence by the United States attorney’s office in Richmond, Va. “The commissioner cannot make a decision until he has the report from Eric Holder,” Aiello said in an e-mail message. “So we do not have a timetable on making a decision.” Vick, who by Goodell’s order is not in training camp, is the only defendant in the case who has not decided to plead guilty. On Monday, plea hearings for the two other defendants, Purnell A. Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach and Quanis L. Phillips, 28, of Atlanta, were scheduled for tomorrow and Friday. As part of the plea agreements, Phillips and Peace would testify for the government against Vick, who is facing three felony charges. Legal experts say that by holding the threat of more charges over Vick, with the possibility that the three other defendants may testify against him, the government has increased the leverage and pressure on Vick. “The government is doing two things at once,” Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School, said in a telephone interview. “It is putting more pressure on him to plead guilty by raising the potential sentence. And the government is also creating a framework within which it can prove a broader range of criminal activity and increase its likelihood of gaining at least one conviction at trial.”

The Smoking Gun makes the sports page! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home Pittsburgh Steelers hotel demands leaked Associated Press August 15, 2007 at 7:04 PM EDT PITTSBURGH — When the Pittsburgh Steelers go on the road, their equipment managers get filet mignon, even if it must be eaten on plastic plates. There is water, water everywhere. And nobody asks for a suite, not even owner Dan Rooney. But Rooney gets foam pillows only — no down pillows are allowed. The Steelers' 17-page hotel contract rider that lists their requirements down to the tiniest detail was leaked to the website The Smoking Gun this week. While the NFL regular season hasn't started yet, the Steelers have played one road pre-season game and have another Saturday at Washington. The Steelers have not commented about the document being made public. The website did not specify how it obtained the rider. The rider is provided to the hotels where the Steelers stay and is much like those for rock stars and other travelling entertainment acts. It stipulates what services and food are to be provided and what is not allowed — namely, alcohol. All minibar alcohol must be removed and players can't request it from room service. The Steelers also want all players on the same hotel floor or, if that isn't possible, on adjacent floors with no outside guests on those floors. Meeting rooms must be private, and weddings, parties and musical events can't take place in adjoining rooms. The Steelers' rider makes no specific room type requests, such as a suite for Rooney or coach Mike Tomlin. The rider also provides sample lists of names and room numbers, both alphabetical and numerical, that show the hotel how to print up the information. The examples include some interesting names: Chuck Noll, who hasn't coached the Steelers since 1991; Tom Donahoe, who was let go as director of football operations in 2000; and Richard Rydze, a former team doctor who was questioned earlier this year about his dealings with an Orlando, Fla., pharmacy that is accused of being involved in steroid distribution. Also, the hotel staff is asked to contact Chet Fuhrman if it cannot supply any of the food specified for meals. Fuhrman was the conditioning coordinator under former coach Bill Cowher but was not retained by Tomlin. Other highlights of the rider, which is printed in the identical font the team uses for many of its news releases: — A Catholic priest and a meeting room must be provided for a Mass the day the team arrives. The Rooney family is devoutly Catholic. — A hotel security representative with a master key should be available to accompany the Steelers' security director during the players' bed check that occurs just before 11 p.m. on the night before a game. — Only Heinz ketchup may be provided for meals. Heinz paid US$57 million for the naming rights at Heinz Field. — The team will ship Gatorade to each hotel prior to arrival so it can be placed in iced coolers located on the players' floors. — Players with a number of years in the league get single rooms, but many players are two to a room. — While all NFL teams carefully monitor what their players eat at training camp and on the road, the Steelers don't serve only health food at meals. Among the items made available at the team snack on the night before a game are chicken wings, pizza, hamburgers, french fries, ice cream with toppings and cookies. — Water must be available everywhere: in meeting rooms, at all meals and in iced coolers on the players' floors. There are numerous mentions of "heavy water consumption" throughout the rider. — The pre-game meal is to be served five hours before kickoff, or at 8 a.m. before a 1 p.m. Sunday game, and includes chicken breasts, filet mignon, prime rib, linguini, salad, fruit and various breakfast items, including made-to-order omelets. Because the equipment staff must go to the stadium early, filet mignon is to be packed for them in plastic containers.

LOL @ Jim! It seems to me that most kids would get sick and tired of the same song every day. Maybe the parents would buy four at a time for an outlay of forty bucks, and the kid can rotate the brushes depending on the song he wants to here today.

I always confuse William Demerest with William "Bub" Frawley.

We'll see. My favorite Stevie Wonder is the mid-70s period with songs like Master Blaster and I Wish (if that's what the song is called). I can't imagine Bennett singing something like that. And if Wonder just joins in on typical Bennett fare, I can't see it appealing to anyone except Stevie Wonder completists. Maybe the best hope is to allow Bennett to do most of the singing, and let Wonder play jazz on the harmonica.

I remember watching a Dizzy Dean/Pee Wee Reese Yankees game probably in 1961. Before the game there was an old timers game of maybe three innings that lasted about a half an hour. I'm pretty sure that it was an American League vs. National League deal. Pee Wee was the National League shortstop and Phil Rizzuto was the American League shortstop. So in the bottom of the first as Rizzuto comes up to the plate, as a gag they bring out a wooden crate for him to stand on. So he did, and he lined a single to left! The American League team won. So it took a little bit of time for Pee Wee to change and get up to the broadcasting booth to join Dizzy. When he did, Dizzy asked him when he knew that the Nationals were in trouble, and Pee Wee said that he had a good idea they weren't going to win when Rizzuto got a hit standing on a box! edit for spelling

The Stamps are thinking about giving up on punter Burke Dales. They have signed Duncan O'Mahony for a one-game tryout. Dales was the toast of the town his rookie year. He has a decent 45 yard average this year, but apparently he has kicked poorly in the clutch. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Cal...416658-sun.html ***** The Hall of Fame has improved its website since the last time I visited some time ago: http://www.footballhof.com/index.htm

I departed from the jazz routine this month and picked Willie Nelson - The Great American Songbook. This is one of a series of Columbia compilations. Others include Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire and Aretha Franklin. As I am a lover of melodies, this one is a good selection. This is only my fourth country album; the others being Reba McIntyre, Lyle Lovett and Prairie Oyster (a Canadian band). It's good for a change of pace.

This is from Fox News today: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293256,00.html Study: Major League Baseball Umpires Call Strikes Based on Race Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Major League Baseball umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major-league seasons to explore whether racial discrimination factored into umpires’ decisions to call a pitch a strike or a ball. Just as discrimination in the labor market can affect disparities in wages, promotion and performance evaluation, the researchers said, possible discrimination by umpires could affect the outcome of games and careers. During a typical baseball game, umpires call about 75 pitches for each team (they call about 400,000 pitches over the whole season, excluding foul balls), so an umpire’s evaluation heavily influences pitcher productivity and performance. “Umpires judge the performance of players every game, deciding whether pitches are strikes or balls,” said study leader Daniel Hamermesh, an economist who will present his findings next month at his campus and later at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “Discrimination affects the outcome of a game and the labor market, determining the pitcher’s market value and compensation.” The researchers found if a pitcher is of the same race or ethnicity as the home plate umpire, more strikes are called and his team’s chance of winning is improved. The power to evaluate players’ performances disproportionately belonged chiefly to white umpires, while negative calls particularly impacted minority pitchers, Hamermesh said. But this behavior diminishes when the umpire's calls are more closely scrutinized — for example at ballparks with electronic monitoring systems, in full-count situation where there are 3 balls or 2 strikes, or at well-attended games. Hamermesh said the study is drawing more comments, so far, from his colleagues than any of his previous work. "I did not know how many economists are hung up on baseball," he told LiveScience.

Happy Birthday Soul Stream!

Can't say that it was a hit, but I saw the video many times on MTV.

Because Merv dared to have a nighttime show on CBS opposite the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson often insulted Merv, making snide comments about Merv's theme shows, even long after Merv had retreated to the daytime. That all stopped on a dime the day that Griffin sold Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to King World for $400 million. All the world then realized that Merv Griffin, the butt of the sneers, was a lot wealthier than Johnny Carson was.

Ever had a job where you had to use a Cole's Directory? This is that guy! Here's his LA Times obit: Jack Cole, 87; pioneered computer use in compiling address directories By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 13, 2007 Jack Cole, who used early computer technology to recast the phone book as a marketing and investigative tool by creating directories that were organized by address instead of alphabetically by name, has died. He was 87. Cole died July 29 at his home in Spearfish Canyon, S.D., after a brief battle with cancer, said his daughter, Susan Wright. Sixty years ago, Cole was a salesman at IBM when he thought to use the company's punch-card technology to turn the traditional phone book upside down. In 1947, by relying on machine sorting of data, he published the first Cole Directory, which listed information for Dallas in order of address. Door-to-door salespeople could then know who would answer their knock, and detectives or reporters could easily track down the next-door neighbors of someone suddenly in the news. The idea for such a directory wasn't new, but using technology to re-sort existing information was. Earlier attempts at publishing this type of directory relied on neighborhood canvassing to collect data. Cole's book sold strongly from the start, and he soon expanded the concept to Houston and beyond. He also made the directories more useful by incorporating information from census data, tax rolls and birth records. The directories are still published -- with the Cole name on them -- in print and digital form by MetroGroup, which owns Cole Information Services. While his son, Dana Cole, has called him "the father of data management," others might consider the senior Cole "the father of junk mail" for being among the first to apply punch-card technology to mailing lists. "Jack was the first to sell the lists just for marketing. He became the largest independent publisher of that data," James McQuaid, president of MetroGroup, told the Black Hills Pioneer newspaper in Spearfish last month. Major clients who wanted to target consumers soon came calling, including Time magazine, Reader's Digest, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and General Motors Corp. In the 1950s, Cole moved company headquarters from Dallas to Lincoln, Neb., and sold the business in the early 1970s. He invested in a Canadian-based network of remote hunting and fishing lodges aimed at the wealthy but sold the venture after about a decade, his daughter said. He retired to a cabin in Spearfish Canyon that had been in his family since the late 1800s and dedicated himself to local conservation causes. The cabin's walls were "covered in history," papered with photographs of famous people who had touched his life, his daughter said. Cole -- often decked out in a white shirt, tie and cowboy boots -- liked to give tours of the home he called "the museum" to show visitors that he had done something with his life. "It was great for conversation and gave him credibility when he was talking about water-quality and mining issues," his daughter said. Jack Ridnour Cole was born Feb. 12, 1920, in Lincoln, Neb., the eldest of two children of Dana and Vera Cole. His father was an accountant. At the University of Nebraska, Cole studied business and met his future wife, Lois Keller. After graduating in the early 1940s, he joined IBM and briefly served in the Navy during World War II before returning to the company. "He had a real creative mind," his daughter said. "A woman who came to his funeral had a neat way of putting it. She said, 'Jack didn't think outside the box, Jack thought outside the stadium.' " In addition to his daughter Susan, of Prescott, Ariz., Cole is survived by two sons, Dana Cole of Lincoln, Neb., and Jeff Cole of La Quinta, Calif.; a sister, Patricia Sinkey; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. His wife died in 1997.