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Everything posted by GA Russell
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Return To Forever - Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor) 1973 I've had this album for 24 years, but never played it very much. I'm hearing now for the first time the influence this had on Hugh Hopper.
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Phil Kelly (SGUD Missle) reported at AAJ today that Tommy Newsom died yesterday of liver cancer. He was 78. I'll post the LA Times obit when it comes up tomorrow. http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=20914
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I remember well those senses of discovery and revelation when I was in college and getting into jazz by buying $1.99 cutouts of Riversides and Prestiges; and later when I was getting into Canterbury prog rock which were only available as import LPs. But in both cases there were two factors: The music was new to me, and there was a shortage of what was available in the record stores. Nowadays, I'm not aware of any new music trends that excite me. And the ability to easily purchase all of an artist's catalogue currently in print is a definite improvement to me. Plus, even though I am on a strict budget, I have more money to spend on music now (especially with Your Music!) than I had when I was a student; so each individual album is not going to be as precious as it was then. And also, I'm more than thirty years older than I was in those days; and maybe with time the thrill of the hunt wears off. But I think that it would return if I discovered a new type of music which excited me.
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Happy Birthday Joe Gloss!
GA Russell replied to Free For All's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Happy Birthday Joe! -
Happy Birthday Niko!
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Durium, I think the guy is amazing! I've raved about him in this thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...mp;hl=Adventure Hope you get to see him.
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The Searchers - Love's Melodies (Sire) 1981 Gerry & the Pacemakers - Ferry Cross the Mersey original soundtrack (United Artists mono) 1964 Gary Farr - Addressed to the Censors of Love (Atco) 1973
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What's your "Claim to fame"
GA Russell replied to The Magnificent Goldberg's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
What's his name? Should I know him? -
Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys - The Street Giveth...and the Street Taketh Away (Polydor 24-4001, US Polydor's first release) 1969
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What's your "Claim to fame"
GA Russell replied to The Magnificent Goldberg's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
ejp, you're making me laugh again! -
What's your "Claim to fame"
GA Russell replied to The Magnificent Goldberg's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
In 1976 I had a summer job working for MCI. I sold their long distance service at a time when no one had heard of them. I would call up businesses and give the presidents the pitch. I spoke to four relatively famous people without knowing when I dialed that they were in charge: Dagmar (late night TV personality) Ralph Guglielmi (Notre Dame and St. Louis Cardinals quarterback) Van McCoy (Do the Hustle! ) Bob Purkey (Cincinnati Reds pitcher) edit for typo -
Paul Erdman died Monday. I enjoyed very much The Billion Dollar Sure Thing and The Silver Bears back in the day. I remember seeing him interviewed on television. This obit is the first I've heard about his being charged with fraud. The minimal $25,000. judgment makes it sound bogus to me. At the time he made it clear that he felt that the only "crime" he committed was presiding over a Swiss bank that failed. He said that the Swiss don't tolerate that sort of thing. He suggested that he was a fall guy of the real powers that be in international finance. So in his first novel his hero was a guy that the powers that be tried to make take the fall. Here's his obit from today's LA Times: Paul Erdman, 74; banker-turned-novelist By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer April 27, 2007 Paul Erdman, a noted economist and former Swiss banker who tapped his knowledge of international finance and monetary trends to write best-selling financial thrillers, including "The Billion Dollar Sure Thing" and "The Crash of '79," has died. He was 74. Erdman died of cancer Monday at his ranch in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, said his son-in-law Hernan Narea. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), in a statement to The Times this week, called Erdman "one of the leading financial minds of the 20th century" and "a dear friend whose intellect was dazzling." Dubbed "the king of the financial thriller" and the "Adam Smith of the crime novel," Erdman launched his career as a novelist three decades ago in an unlikely venue: a 17th century Swiss jail. He was chief executive of United California Bank of Basel, Switzerland, in 1970 when he presided over what has been called "one of the most spectacular collapses in the history of Swiss banking." Erdman and seven other bank employees, according to a 1972 story in The Times, were charged with fraud, forgery and other crimes in connection with commodity speculation resulting in a $53.4-million loss. Erdman began writing his first novel, "The Billion Dollar Sure Thing," during the months he spent behind bars after his arrest. Published in 1973, the international tale of various attempts to manipulate the value of the dollar and the price of gold reportedly sold more than 2 million copies and earned Erdman an Edgar Award for best first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. "I had just come off the excitement of international banking," Erdman later told Time magazine, "and I was full of theories. Primarily, I was convinced that the world was facing the first cataclysmic financial events since World War II: a massive increase in the price of gold and the devaluation of the dollar." Erdman originally had intended to write a book on economics. "But since I was in jail at the time, I had no research facilities, so I decided to try it in novel form," he told the New York Times Book Review in 1981. Erdman's 1974 novel "The Silver Bears" became a 1978 movie starring Michael Caine and Cybill Shepherd. "The Great Game," his 10th novel, is expected to be published this year, his family said. "I probably have a better background in international economics than most economists in this country," Erdman told San Francisco Business Magazine in 1990. "I think my credentials are just fine. It's just that it's a rather boring profession. Who in hell wants to spend their life being an economist?" Born May 19, 1932, in Stratford, Canada, to American parents (his father was a Lutheran minister), Erdman received a bachelor of divinity degree from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1954 and another bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. After stints as an assistant editor of the editorial page at the Washington Post and working in a brokerage house in Washington, he earned a doctorate in economics, European history and theology from the University of Basel in 1958. During the late 1950s and early '60s, Erdman served as an international economist with the European Coal and Steel Community (the forerunner of the European Common Market) and the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, Calif. With funding from San Diego financier Charles Salik, Erdman launched the Salik Bank in Basel in the mid-1960s, reportedly becoming the first American to establish a private bank in Switzerland. By late 1968, the Salik Bank reportedly had assets of nearly $50 million. It was bought by United California Bank in 1969. Then came the bank's closing in 1970. The Swiss prosecutor, according to the 1972 Times story, said the bank's losses were incurred through large-scale unauthorized speculation by key bank officers on silver, cocoa and other commodities and by foreign exchange dealing in the late 1960s. The losses, the prosecutor said, had been covered up by falsifying the bank's books. Erdman, who blamed the bank's commodities traders for the problems and disclaimed personal responsibility, left Switzerland after posting bail. Tried in absentia, according to a 1987 Times story, he was convicted of fraud, sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. He also was banished from Switzerland for 15 years and would have faced incarceration had he ever returned. Under U.S.-Swiss treaties, however, he could not be extradited. Erdman's time in jail became a colorful biographical footnote as he pursued his career as a novelist and continued to be sought after for his views on international finance as a speaker and writer. In addition to his novels, Erdman wrote several nonfiction books, including "Tug of War: Today's Global Currency Crisis." And from 1998 to 2005 he wrote a column on international finance and affairs for MarketWatch, an online financial news service. "Paul was one of these characters who could really capture the intersection of international relations and the financial markets," MarketWatch managing editor Alexander Davis told The Times this week. "He wrote with a kind of idiosyncratic wit and flair; he was a pretty rare talent." Erdman is survived by his wife, Helly; his daughters, Jennifer Erdman and Constance Erdman Narea; and two granddaughters.
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What's your "Claim to fame"
GA Russell replied to The Magnificent Goldberg's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Speaking of pushing aside, I did it once myself, and I've felt bad about it ever since. This was about 1979. I was in a record store in Pittsburgh. The import section was upstairs. I don't recall why, but I was in a really bad mood. As I was leaving, a punk rock and roll band in black leather jackets were lined up side by side at the foot of the stairs. Perhaps to have their photo taken. Really posturing like they were bad. I stepped between this short skinny petite guy and a guy that looked like a girl and pushed them aside so I could leave. The band went on to have some hits. They were called The Talking Heads. The skinny guy was the lead singer, I think his name was David but you rock fans would know. He looked startled and hurt, and the bravado disappeared in a flash. The blond guy really was a girl. Her name I'm pretty sure was Tina. -
Couch is now the third string quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts. P.S. Oops! Couch is not with the Argos. The Argos QB is another NFL bust named Eric Crouch, I think. Jackson is now the third string QB for the British Columbia Lions.
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Stan Getz - Another World, disc 2 (Columbia) 1978 Elton Dean's Ninesense - Oh! For the Edge (Ogun) 1976
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The league will webcast its draft at its cfl.ca website on Wednesday starting at 1:00 pm eastern. ***** Calgary has signed former Cincinnati QB Akili Smith to challenge Henry Burris. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home
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Stan Getz - Another World, disc 1 (Columbia) 1978
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Tjazz, Marsalis Music is the name of the label. It is owned by Branford Marsalis. Wynton has nothing to do with this.
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ejp, you're making me laugh!
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Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive (A&M) 1981 The Animals - Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted (It. Polydor) 1977 Manfred Mann - Soul of Mann (Br. See For Miles) 1964-66
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Yes, Bertrand. Brasil '66 was the first in the US to do it, to my knowledge, with lyrics by Lani Hall (their lead singer) and called it Empty Faces. Mark Murphy covered it on his third Muse album Sings with a great solo by Randy Brecker.
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Dreams was a jazz rock band from the very early 70s. In 1971 I had their first album (self-titled), and I remember recommending it to a friend who then bought it. I don't recall ever seeing anything else by them in the stores. Some years ago, about 2000, I ordered the CD of what I believe was their only other album, Imagine My Surprise. I didn't open it up right away, and then I misplaced it. I came across it not too long ago, and waited till today to open it up. Despite the presence of Randy and Michael Brecker, Don Grolnick, Will Lee and Billy Cobham, it is not very jazzy. Less so than their first album (which also had John Abercrombie). It's not bad, but not great. Because it is of my era, I'll give it three stars. Younger people might give it fewer.
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Thanks Moose! I knew nothing about this.
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My second jazz record was his Gotta Travel On on Cadet (1966), with Clark Terry and Snooky Young guesting on some tracks. As I recall Walter Booker was on bass, but I don't remember who the drummer was. Haven't heard it in years. Nice, a little heavy-handed, uncomplicated. Great for a jazz beginner.
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I'm an Astrud fan. I know of ony two or three albums of hers I don't have. This one is one of my favorites. I'm with you, Soul Stream!