GA Russell

From the start of my listening to rock and roll on the radio in eighth grade, I always preferred the instrumentals. I bought a number of Ventures and Al Hirt albums and then moved on to the Tijuana Brass. From there it was on to Ramsey Lewis, and I was on my way. edit for spelling

Congrats guys!

Als over Argos 34-26. Former NFLer Mike McMahon had a good game at QB for the Argos. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home The Eskimos lead the Lions 10-9 at the half. ***** Final: Eskimos 18....BC 12 Defending Grey Cup champ BC lost both of its pre-season games. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ory/GlobeSports

I did't know that the restaurant(s) came before the sausage-in-the-store. When I was in school in the 70s I used to buy the sausage and make Bob Evans cheeseburgers. Yum! edit for typo

The Bombers gave up on former Heisman runner-up Brad Banks today. They traded him to the Als for another QB former NFL bench warmer Kliff Kingsbury. Banks started for the Bombers last week and stunk. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Win...263305-sun.html

Thanks TTK. I can't say that either cover strikes a chord. I have a vague recollection that the album I have was called Sergio Mendes Presents, but that may not be right. I didn't know that they put out two albums. It wasn't long after the second album came out that Mendes hired Gracinha to replace Lani Hall in Brasil '66.

Happy Birthday CJ and Tom!

I had a CFL in the hall that blew out shortly after I got it. Maybe I turned it on and off too much. I think that most people who have tried CFLs find that they are not bright enough to read by.

The B side of The Chipmonk Song was a David Seville instrumental called Almost Good!

TTK, I think I have a tape of this. I can't say that I remember the cover. Is Gracinha Leporace the vocalist? I read in his obituary that Manfredo Fest was the pianist for Bossa Rio. Is he on this album? Is this the album with Girl Talk and Black Bird on it?

Sorry to hear it, but glad you're back home after only a week. Hope all goes well for you aloc!

The Ticats released both Rob Hitchcock and Mike Morreale today. The club offered both front-office positions. Both want time to think it over. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Ham...4273022-cp.html Speaking of front office positions, I speculated in the Hot Stove League thread that Ron Lancaster would be the analyst for the Ticats radio games. But I guess not. When I heard the game in my car the other night, I immediately recognized the voice of Coach Sal doing the commentary. The Ticats' new play-by-play announcer is I'm pretty sure the guy who used to be the Als' sideline reporter. I forget his name at the moment. Maybe he had a connection with the Ticats new GM, who also came over from Montreal.

Dave, this is for BMG, not Your Music: $5.99 CDs, plus free shipping when you order five or more: JU7B3 Offer good until 6/20/07.

When I was a boy I was an AFL fan. Their games were routinely more exciting than the NFL games IMO. One of my favorite players was Jim Norton of the Houston Oilers. He was a defensive back, the punter and also a kick returner. He was one of my favorites because he would often hurdle the tacklers when returning the kicks. The announcer (and ex-pro QB) Paul Christman would always say that one day a tackler would grab him by the shoe and he would land teeth first and learn his lesson. But to my knowledge he never stopped hurdling the tacklers! Here is his obit from today's Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports...nt/4899759.html June 18, 2007, 8:46PM Jim Norton, star on original Oilers squad, dies at 68 By MEGAN MANFULL Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle The Oilers lost an integral member of their history with the passing of safety Jim Norton, the franchise's leader in interceptions. Norton died in Garland on June 12. He was 68 years old, according to an obituary released by the Gonzalez Funeral Home. The cause of death was not disclosed. Norton, an original member of the Oilers, was drafted out of Idaho in 1960 by the Detroit Lions, but ended up signing with the American Football League Oilers that same year. He spent nine seasons with the Oilers and remains the franchise's leader in career interceptions with 45. Norton, who also handled the punting duties from 1961 until his retirement following the 1968 season, was the first player to have his number (43) retired by the Oilers. Only five others have received the honor. Elvin Bethea, Earl Campbell, Mike Munchak, Bruce Matthews and Warren Moon are the others. "Not only was Jim a great original Oiler, but he was also a real good man," Oilers/Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams said. "He was personable. He was popular with his teammates and well-respected by them. "He was such a hard-worker, a leader. He was the kind of player that those Oilers teams took so much pride in." Norton was rookie the year when the Oilers won the first AFL championship in 1960. He moved into the starting lineup in 1961 and was integral in helping the Oilers repeat as champions. In 1962, he earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl while also helping the Oilers back to the AFL title game. Many still regard that game as one of the best pro games ever. The Oilers lost in double-overtime to the Dallas Texans in what was at the time the longest pro football game ever - 77 minutes and 54 seconds. Norton ended up reaching the Pro Bowl two more times in his career - 1963 and 1967. His 519 career punts were a franchise record until Craig Hentrich passed it in 2004. "Jim is going to be missed by many, and I want to offer my condolences to his family," Adams said. Norton is survived by his wife, Ginny; a brother, John Norton; a sister, Janet Cooke; three sons and two daughters. A memorial service is scheduled for June 29 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Richardson, Texas.

Yes, of course. I had a feeling that "almost" didn't sound right.

Congratulations m333! PS - What's the password to see the photos?

Just the other day on the radio I heard Ronnie Laws' Almost There being played by a group that sounded like The Rebirth Brass Band of New Orleans. It got me to thinking that maybe Almost There is a standard because it was such a big hit. Can't say how many other people have recorded it, though.

I'm sorry that race is part of the picture. Let's suppose she was white. I don't think a stripper with that history should be able to ruin the reputations of college students. Well, I hate to say I told you so. I was glad to see that the State Bar Disciplinary Board specifically stated that the cause of this was Nifong's desire to get elected. In the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary metro, Durham has most of the blacks. Nifong was courting the black vote. To my knowledge all of the black spokesmen sided with the stripper. None of them said, "Wait a minute. Just because we're black doesn't mean that we want to be associated with a stripper." I think that was a big mistake. I don't think that the blacks of America will get the respect they deserve until their spokesmen differentiate between the vast majority and the low lifes among them.

TTK, when I was in high school, Constant Rain was my favorite song!

For the first time, I have logged in and found no one else here. Where are the Europeans?

Roughriders over Lions 24-15 I listened to the first half of this game on the internet. Sask's Andy Fantuz had a good game. I still don't like Sask's quarterbacks. Sask's Yo Murphy announced this week that this will be his last year. The announcer said that BC feels that backup Buck Pierce is the league's fourth best QB. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gam...4264998-cp.html ***** Stamps over Esks 28-3 Akili Smith looked good for Calgary. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gam...4265068-cp.html

Ticats over Bombers 35-23. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gam...4261924-cp.html You're not going to believe this, but I stumbled upon CHML and the game while in my car tonight. I had no idea that CHML could under any circumstances reach North Carolina. Former Tulane star QB Shawn King started for the Ticats. Young QB Tim Chang had a better game. Former Georgia star receiver Terrence Edwards has joined the Bombers and had a good game. Both teams left their best players home. The same teams play again next week in Hamilton.

I received this press release today: Sonny Rollins to Appear at Carnegie Hall Tuesday, September 18, Marking the 50th Anniversary Of His Carnegie Debut Special Trio with Roy Haynes & Christian McBride Will Open Concert To Reprise Rollins's 1957 Trio Performances at Carnegie The Entire Concert, Also Featuring Rollins's Regular Group, Will Be Recorded for 2008 Release on the Saxophonist's Doxy Label; CD to Include 1957 Trio Material June 14, 2007 On the evening of November 29, 1957, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, then 27 years old, took to the stage of Carnegie Hall for the first time. Sharing the bill that night with Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, and the Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring John Coltrane, Rollins played three songs -- "Moritat," "Sonnymoon for Two," and "Some Enchanted Evening" -- with bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Kenny Dennis. Come September 18, 2007, Rollins will mark the 50th anniversary of that milestone in his legendary career by revisiting the same repertoire in the same trio format -- with special guests Roy Haynes on drums and Christian McBride on acoustic bass. Sonny's own Oleo Productions will present the concert, which will also feature a set with his working band of Clifton Anderson, Bobby Broom, Bob Cranshaw, and Kimati Dinizulu. "We're making a statement with this event," says Rollins. "First of all, the concert is being produced in-house by the musicians, and being recorded for my own label [Doxy]. It's also a validation of the contemporaries that Roy and I played with, and an affirmation of the music we've been involved with all our lives." A Long-Standing New York Tradition For a 25-year period beginning in the 1970s, Rollins's special-guest concerts -- produced by Julie Lokin's New Audiences, and usually held at Carnegie Hall (but occasionally at Town Hall or the Beacon Theater instead) -- were perennial highlights of the jazz calendar. Among the musicians to appear as Sonny's guests were old friends and young lions: Terence Blanchard, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Branford Marsalis, Tony Williams, Jim Hall, Grover Washington Jr., Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis. The last such event took place at the Beacon, where Sonny hosted Percy Heath, Walter Bishop Jr., Jackie McLean, Gil Coggins, and Wallace Roney way back in November 1995. That 12-year hiatus is now over. "Let's take it to the bridge," Roy Haynes says of the September concert. "I can't wait!" Tickets go on sale Monday, July 30, online at www.carnegiehall.org; by phone (CarnegieCharge) at 212-247-7800; or at the box office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. The concert recording, to be released in spring 2008 by Doxy Records, will also include the 1957 trio material, a 20-minute tape recently made available to Rollins by the Library of Congress. Roy Haynes and Sonny Rollins had a number of opportunities to work together early in the tenor saxophonist's career. (Haynes, 82, remembers that the younger Rollins "used to come to my house, but I didn't even know he played an instrument then.") Their first professional encounter was also Rollins's first time in the recording studio, on an April 1949 Babs Gonzales session. Soon to follow were dates with Bud Powell in August 1949, Miles Davis in January 1951, and Sonny's own debut as a leader in that same 1951 session. Haynes was the drummer for Rollins's first Riverside recording, The Sound of Sonny, in June 1957, and for a 1958 Newport Jazz Festival appearance with bassist Henry Grimes. Their final meeting on record came in July 1958, for Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass (MGM). "The great Roy Haynes," says Rollins, "one of the top drummers in jazz history, has been my buddy and friend for many years -- all the way back to the Hill [sugar Hill, in Harlem]. I am so lucky to have him this night at Carnegie Hall." Christian McBride, 35, was brought to the project on a recommendation from Haynes, with whom he had toured and recorded on several occasions. "When a musician is highly praised by all of his fellows," Rollins says, "it means something. I am looking forward to having this opportunity to play with Christian." On the International Stage Less than a week after the Carnegie Hall concert -- on September 23 -- Sonny Rollins will perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which is celebrating its own 50th anniversary. Sonny appeared at the very first Monterey festival, in 1957. Rollins, who (along with Steve Reich) received the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm last month and gave a concert while there, will be returning to Europe for a seven-city tour this fall. His itinerary for the remainder of 2007 includes the following concerts, in addition to Carnegie Hall and Monterey: 6/22 Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, BC; 6/24 Jazzfest International, Royal Theater, Victoria, BC; 7/14 Perugia (Italy) Jazz Festival; 7/27 Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM; 7/29 Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM; 8/11 Jazz in Marciac (France); 9/21 Schnitzer Auditorium, Portland, OR; 10/13 Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Detroit; 11/16 Palau de la Musica, Barcelona; 11/19 Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville; 11/21 Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; 11/24 Barbican Theatre, London; 11/26 Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 11/29 Opera Rainier, Monte Carlo; 12/1 Salle Pleyel, Paris.

Thanks guys!

That's a new name to me. Who is he, what did he do, and why was he valuable to the company?