GA Russell

Paul, I really like the way Wayne plays on Morning Mist. I think you'll get to really like that album!

And now the latest from Fox News: Britney Spears checked into rehab again on Tuesday at the urging of family members, TMZ reported. Spears checked into an inpatient rehab facility in Los Angeles. Last week, she checked herself into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre rehab clinic on the Caribbean island of Antigua — but stayed only 24 hours. This weekend, many speculated that the star was having a nervous breakdown after she shaved her own head. But insiders said not so fast. Less than 24 hours after her act of "shear madness," Spears happily lounged poolside at West Hollywood's chic Mondrian hotel sporting a short blond wig to cover her newly shorn skull. The star had a green cap over the wig and was wearing a multicolored bikini top and a mismatched bikini bottom, reports E! gossip columnist Marc Malkin. Though rumors persisted that Spears had "lost it," witnesses at the pool said she seemed to be in good spirits, chatting with her friends and chain-smoking. Her kids were not with her. "She was definitely having fun with her friends," Malkin said. Cameras also caught Spears sporting a platinum blond wig at The Roxy in West Hollywood Sunday night. Video: Click here to see video of Britney wearing a wig As for the buzz cut, a Las Vegas gossip Web site offers another possible reason for Spears' new do. Three weeks ago, it says, Spears went to a salon in the Palms hotel and casino in Las Vegas. There, staffers found her hair was so badly damaged from repeated dye jobs, bleachings and extensions that it had broken off and thinned to the point "where bald spots had begun to appear," the site reported. So she may have clipped it off to start over. Spears also may have shaved off her hair in an act of rebellion against her mother, a source told the New York Post on Sunday. The source, with the Los Angeles-based X17 photo agency that uncovered Spears' haircut at a Los Angeles hair salon Friday night, said Spears and her mom, Lynne, 50, had been feuding over the mother's demand that her 25-year-old daughter clean up her act and settle into motherhood herself. The source said Spears and her mother had been fighting about rehab since she returned to Los Angeles — and the photo agency has pictures to prove it. So Spears shockingly shaved off her long locks to rebel against her mom, the source said. Lynne, who lives in Kentwood, La., flew to Tinseltown last week to be with her daughter — and to help take care of Spears' kids, Sean Preston, 18 months, and Jayden James, 5 months. "Yes, Lynne took a flight to see her a few days ago," Spears' cousin Ernest Spears told The Post Sunday. Spears strode into Esther's Haircutting Studio in the Tarzana section of Los Angeles on Friday and asked owner Esther Tognozzi to shave her head. "I tried to talk her out of it. I said, 'Are you sure you're not having a bad day and tomorrow you'll feel differently about it? Why don't we wait a little bit?'" Tognozzi told a cable news network. "She said 'No, I absolutely want it shaved off now.' Next thing I know, she grabbed the buzzer and she went to the back of my salon and she was shaving off her own hair," Tognozzi said. When she finished, she declared: "'Oh, my God, I shaved it all off. My mom is going to be upset with me.'" Then as TV cameras rolled, shutterbugs snapped and onlookers cheered and jeered, Spears put a hood over her hairless head, got into her black SUV and was driven to the Body and Soul Tattoo parlor. There, she had red-and-pink lips tattooed on her wrist and a black, white and pink cross inked on her lower hip. Then she got into her SUV and drove off. There may be one more reason Spears hasn't been herself lately. In the star's hometown of Kentwood, La., her aunt Wanda Bridges told the New York Daily News that Spears had been greatly saddened by the death of her aunt Sandra Bridges Covington, 59, who succumbed to cancer last month and with whom she was very close.

In celebration of Shrove Tuesday today, I went to Bob Evans to have a stack of pancakes this morning. The muzak was playing the usual easy-to-swallow 60s music, when then comes Love's Seven and Seven Is!!!! That was a hit when I was in high school, and it was the sort of music that would cause my mother to shout "Turn that off!" The music was very soft, so many people probably didn't notice it. But still, my dear late mother would turn in her grave!

Happy Birthday Hans!

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday Skid!

In celebration of Mardi Gras, today I opened up The Best of Pete Fountain (Decca Jazz). Great stuff!

Received this email today: February 19, 2007 To: SIRIUS Subscribers Today is a very exciting day for SIRIUS customers. As you may have heard, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are merging to form the nation's premier audio entertainment provider. This combination of our two offerings will benefit you - our loyal listeners. As a single company, we'll provide superior programming to you every day with the best of both SIRIUS and XM. Currently, XM and SIRIUS broadcast a wide range of commercial-free music channels, exclusive sports coverage, news, talk, and entertainment programming. Howard Stern. Oprah and Friends. The NFL. MLB. NBA. ESPN. CNBC. Fox News. Additionally, the combined company will be able to improve existing services such as real-time traffic information and rear-seat video as well as introduce new ones. After shareholder and regulatory approvals, we anticipate that the combination will be finalized by the end of 2007. Until then, both companies will continue to operate independently. We will continue to provide you with the uninterrupted service - as well as the outstanding customer support - that you have come to expect and enjoy from SIRIUS. We do not anticipate any changes in your service during the merger process, however, please call our customer care team on 1- 888-539-7474 should you have any questions. We look forward to the many benefits this combination will offer and continuing to make your listening experience an enjoyable one - offering more of the Very Best Radio on Radio. Stay tuned, Mel Karmazin, CEO

Happy Birthday sjarrell!

I expect that it will not be long before the monthly subscription price is increased!

Thanks for posting this Ray! When CDs came out I disagreed with TTK's point. It was my feeling at that time that remastering was akin to the "improvements" made circa 1970 to rechannel mono recordings into "stereo". My feeling was, "Thanks, but no thanks." My opinion has changed because today we have engineers who do a great job in their remastering. What really changed my mind was the Complete Village Vanguard 1961 box of Bill Evans which came out in '05. Joe did a great job on that, and now I am not at all reluctant to see what the remaster sounds like.

The Argos signed Adriano Belli today. He's a great player IMO, but he causes way too many penalties because of his inability to control his temper. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Darren Flutie, Rocco Romano, Pierre Vercheval and Greg Battle have been elected to the Hall of Fame. I'll never forget Flutie's catching the TD pass at the end of the Western Final (Was it in '94?). What a game! And I remember well Romano riding the touchdown horse following the last play field goal which won the Grey Cup! What year was that? http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Dudu and Mongezi Gerald and Groove Monk and Sonny

Happy Birthday Med!

Congrats Durium!

Ask and ye shall receive! Here's an article that says that each team will have one bye. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

The league announced the schedule today. Opening Night will be Thursday June 28. The Grey Cup game will be November 25 in Toronto. I haven't found any mention of bye weeks. I hope there aren't any. I read during the year that a number of teams didn't like them. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...3617676-cp.html

As I understand it, when the industry talks about the North American market, it is talking about American teenagers. I have occasionally read passing references to the idea that there are more than a few teenage boys who spend their money on video games rather than music. The idea is that times have changed, and maybe music is not as important to teenagers as it has been since the days of Elvis. If that's true, then the industry has more to worry about than file sharing. I see on Drudge today that American Idol again this year got better Nielsen ratings than the Grammy Awards show. This is another indication that the record industry isn't offering acts that the American people want to listen to.

Offhand, the only boxes I'm sorry I didn't get when they were available are the Charles Brown, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and the Maynard Ferguson. In every case, the sets were too big for my budget. Now the Selects are a different story. I'm going to be kicking myself when they go out of print!

I have listened to these quite a bit over the last year, and I find that I have listened to the Bill Evans the most; and that I like the Tony Bennett more than I did a year ago.

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...8&hl=Lovers I was thinking about these the other day. A year ago I expected that the Blue Note series also released last year would be available at BMG/Your Music this time this year, but it didn't happen.

The Players Association announced its 2006 All-Star team today. I think more interesting than who made it were the players the press chose for their team who were slighted by their peers: Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray (league-high 5,000 yards passing), Winnipeg running back Charles Roberts (CFL-high 1,609 yards rushing), Eskimos receiver Jason Tucker, Lions offensive tackle Rob Murphy (CFL's top lineman award winner), cornerbacks Byron Park of Toronto (eight interceptions, four returned for TDs) and Coby Rhinehart of Calgary, Argos punter Noel Prefontaine (CFL-best 46.3-yard average) and Bombers kick returner Albert Johnson III (CFL-best 810 punt-return yards, fourth overall with 985 kickoff return yards). It looks like the press used the stats as the yardstick, and the players did not. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home edit for typo

I'm sorry to hear it. Their follow up album to The In Crowd, called Hang On Ramsey!, was my first jazz record.

I just noticed this thread about the JHS: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...amp;hl=Heritage My package arrived today. It looks like times have changed from what others' experience has been. Of my seven CDs, six appear to be brick and mortar editions, except for the JHS barcode. The Garner appears to be the straight brick and mortar edition. They appear to have been in their inventory for years. The Silver is the 1987 McMaster. The Getz/Gilberto is the one that was part of Verve's Desert Island Disc promotion of 2000. The Garner is a "Columbia Jazz Masterpiece" with the blue border. Let's look at the price. The total bill is $23.67. That comes to $3.38 each including shipping. Not bad. The shipping charge is $16.74 for the lot, with no indication of how it was calculated. I remember receiving my first package from BMG ten years ago. The initial offer was "Buy One, Get Unlimited Half Off". A friend who was a member told me that that was their worst price. I found over time that BMG would offer me lower prices, perhaps depending on how often I bought something. This package included a New Member catalogue. So I'm suspicious that it too is offering the club's worst prices. The catalogue offers 200 selections, with the majority priced at $8.49. The current offer is free shipping for orders over $29.00. A few that look interesting at that price are: The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology - Le Voyage (2 CDs for $17.99) Charles Brown - These Blues Milt Jackson & John Coltrane - Bags & Trane Pete Fountain - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans (2 CDs for $16.99) Sarah Vaughan - The Roulette Years Vols. 1 & 2 Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - Sing a Song of Basie Bud Shank and Laurindo Almeida - Brazilliance, Vol. 2 Buddy Rich - Keep the Customer Satisfied Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago Sonny Rollins DVD - Saxophone Colossus ($21.98) As stated above, I can listen to this batch for ten days (30 days for future orders) and then return them. I imagine that there are going to be people who burn a copy and then return everything. So I have to think that they will cut you off if you get in the habit of returning CDs. No credit (except this initial offering). Payment must be made in advance by check or credit card. My feeling is that $8.49 isn't a bad price for anything I actually want; but being used to Your Music's price for two years, if I'm going to take a flyer on something I'm not sure about, I won't be using the JHS to do it. On the other hand, the initial mailing stated that their selection of jazz CDs is larger than that of any other record club. So after I have had the opportunity to scour the website, I will have a better idea of to what extent I want what they have to offer. By the way, both the initial offer and the New Members catalogue were heavy with 50s Verve.

Here's an unusually good article that discusses the new salary cap. It breaks down how payrolls will probably be allotted among the players. Many more will receive over $100,000 than I had thought. Of course, maybe they have always been receiving that amount, and now for the first time their true salaries are seeing the light of day. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...606615-sun.html