GA Russell

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

I would go back to the way it was fifty years ago. I would get rid of the divisions, get rid of the playoffs, get rid of interleague play, and get rid of unbalanced schedules. This would reduce September ticket sales for those teams that are out of the pennant race. My solution to that would be to end the season on Labor Day. Play the World Series in September when it is cool, not cold. Times have changed. It has been decades since baseball had a lock on people's interest. When Labor Day comes, the public's attention shifts to football. Labor Day was nearly two months ago, and they just finished playing baseball last night. Of course, none of this will happen unless a television network pays for it to happen. If the Nielsen ratings continue to decline, maybe one day a network will do just that.

I don't believe that some of my favorites from the 70s have been released on CD: Warren Bernhardt - Manhattan Update (Arista) Warren Bernhardt - Floating (Arista) Warren Bernhardt - Solo (Arista) Blood Sweat & Tears - Brand New Day (ABC)

Doug Ramsey discusses jazz under communist rule in his Rifftides blog dated tomorrow. He mentions Stanko thus: ...I thought of the Skvorecky and Tyrmand stories when I read Nate Chinen's New York Times article about Tomasz Stanko, the Polish trumpeter who was captured--and freed--by jazz when he first heard it half a century ago. "The message was freedom," he said one afternoon last week in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room. "For me, as a Polish who was living in Communist country," he continued in his slightly broken English, "jazz was synonym of Western culture, of freedom, of this different style of life." To read the entire interview, go here. Stanko's new recording is Lontano (ECM). He is one of dozens of Eastern European musicians who, since the collapse of Communism, have joined the top ranks of jazz musicians in the world. He, George Mraz, Emil Viklický, Robert Balzar, František Uhlíř, Adam Makowicz, the late Aladar Pege, Laco Tropp and many others kept the music alive underground during years of subjugation and proved that in art, talent and the human spirit trump race and nationality.

Happy Birthday!

Tom. I think I played JuJu more often than any other album last year. The title track is my least favorite cut. I burned a copy for the car without it.

LOL at Al!

Here's the AP article: Tony Romo is now the first-string quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, and will make his first career start Sunday night at Carolina. Coach Bill Parcells said Wednesday that Romo, who replaced 14-year veteran Drew Bledsoe in the second half of Monday night's 36-22 loss to the New York Giants, will start. "Any time you do something like this, it's not without a lot of consideration," Parcells said. "I've been thinking about it for some time. ... Hopefully, maybe as the team is comprised right now, he might be able to do a couple of things that assist us." Neither Bledsoe nor Romo appeared in the Cowboys locker-room Wednesday. The team said Bledsoe would talk later in the day. Romo, a fourth-year pro who had never thrown a pass in a game until this season, will be the ninth different starting quarterback for the Cowboys (3-3) since Hall of Famer Troy Aikman retired after the 2001 season. Bledsoe joined Parcells in Dallas last year, reuniting with the coach who made him the No. 1 pick in 1993 for the New England Patriots. His last pass Monday night was an interception at the goal-line just before halftime when the Cowboys had a chance to take the lead. Bledsoe had already been sacked four times, once for a safety. Parcells rarely changes quarterbacks mid-season, often showing loyalty to veterans. Two years ago, Parcells stuck with 41-year-old Vinny Testaverde during a 6-10 season. Like Bledsoe, Testaverde had also played with Parcells earlier in his career. But Bledsoe apparently made too many costly mistakes for Parcells. His last interception came in a game that could have given the Cowboys first place in the NFC East. In Dallas' three victories, Bledsoe had six touchdown passes and one interception. But those have all been against teams with losing records. Against playoff contenders Jacksonville, Philadelphia and the Giants, he has one TD and seven INTs. Parcells told Bledsoe about his demotion Wednesday morning. "He was emotionally under control. I'm sure he wasn't happy to hear the news," Parcells said. "I just told him we're going to make this change right now, and that he needed to stay around ready. He assured me he would do that." Romo was intercepted on his first pass, on a ball tipped by Michael Strahan and caught by Antonio Pierce. He threw two more interceptions, one returned 96 yards for a touchdown. "He's got to be more careful with the ball than he was the other night," Parcells said. But Romo also showed he could be effective. He scrambled and completed 14 of 25 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns, and flashed more footwork running for a two-point conversion. Terry Glenn, the Cowboys' leading receiver with 29 catches, said the team has confidence in Romo and likes his mobility. But it's still a difficult move personally for Glenn, who spent the first six seasons of his career in New England with Bledsoe and has become a favorite target. "Well, you know Bledsoe is my guy. I wish things weren't going the way they are, but obviously the coaching staff sees something," Glenn said. "I'm just out here playing. I want to win. Whoever's out there, let's make plays and let's try to win." Before Monday night, Romo's only two passes were a pair of completions with a touchdown to Terrell Owens. That came in the closing minutes of a 34-6 victory over the Houston Texans. The limited game experience for Romo doesn't seem to bother the Cowboys. "The guys believe in him," receiver Patrick Crayton said. "His mobility, man. He's an improviser sometimes when he gets out there. You kind of expect the ball to come to you on every play."

Happy birthday!

Yesterday Doug Ramsey posted his review of Sonny, Please on his Rifftides blog: Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please (Doxy). A canny balance between new compositions and show tunes he loved in his youth. The great tenor saxophonist proves that since 2001's Without a Song, and following the loss of his wife two years ago, his strength, imagination and intensity are undiminished. Steady work together has finely attuned Rollins and his five bandmates. His solos, laced with allusions and quotes, are notably cheerful. Stephen Foster is on his mind. "Oh! Susannah" pops up on two tracks, and he summons "Old Folks at Home" on another. Of the new pieces, his tribute to Tommy Flanagan, "Remembering Tommy," should have the staying power to become a jazz standard. With this release on his own label, Rollins joins the ranks of musicians taking their business affairs into their own hands. Universal will distribute Sonny, Please as a digital download in November and a CD in January, but now it is available in both forms only through Rollins's web site.

I'm far from the Coltrane expert here, but my first thought is the Concord/Fantasy box of live recordings from European concerts.

Happy Birthday!

Slo mo replay indicates the correct call was made. I'm surprised they showed it! It was late and I was ready for bed, so I just turned it off, figuring that they wouldn't want to cause controversy and decrease their ratings for the rest of the Series.

On the last play of tonight's game, I thought the guy sliding into second was safe.

I remember like it was yesterday Tony Kubek getting hit in the Adam's Apple by the ball in the seventh game of the '60 World Series. After that the players seemed like people, not icons.

I don't see any AFL ballparks listed. As I remember, the Oilers played mostly in Jepperson Stadium, didn't they?

Jane Wyatt died Friday at 96. She was another celebrity I thought had already left us. I didn't realize that she had appeared in so many famous movies with so many famous leading men. I knew her only from Father Knows Best. Here's her AP obituary: 'Father Knows Best' Actress Wyatt Dies By BOB THOMAS (Associated Press Writer) From Associated Press October 22, 2006 8:03 PM EDT LOS ANGELES - Jane Wyatt, the lovely, serene actress who for six years on "Father Knows Best" was one of TV's favorite moms, has died, her son Christopher Ward said Sunday. She was 96. Wyatt died Friday in her sleep of natural causes at her Bel-Air home, according to publicist Meg McDonald. She experienced health problems since suffering a stroke at 85, but her mind was sharp until her death, her son said. Wyatt had a successful film career in the 1930s and '40s, notably as Ronald Colman's lover in 1937's "Lost Horizon." But it was her years as Robert Young's TV wife, Margaret Anderson, on "Father Knows Best" that brought the actress her lasting fame. She appeared in 207 half-hour episodes from 1954 to 1960 and won three Emmys as best actress in a dramatic series in the years 1958 to 1960. The show began as a radio sitcom in 1949; it moved to television in 1954. "Being a family show, we all had to stick around," she once said. "Even though each show was centered on one of the five members of the family, I always had to be there to deliver such lines as `Eat your dinner, dear,' or `How did you do in school today?' We got along fine, but after the first few years, it's really difficult to have to face the same people day after day." The Anderson children were played by Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin, and all grew up on the show. In later years critics claimed that shows like "Father Knows Best" and "Ozzie and Harriet" presented a glossy, unreal view of the American family. In defense, Wyatt commented in 1966: "We tried to preserve the tradition that every show had something to say. The children were complicated personally, not just kids. We weren't just five Pollyannas." It was a tribute to the popularity of the show that after its run ended, it continued in reruns on CBS and ABC for three years in primetime, a TV rarity. The show came to an end because Young, who had also played the father in the radio version, had enough. Wyatt remarked in 1965 that she was tired, too. "The first year was pure joy," she said. "The second year was when the problems set in. We licked them, and the third year was smooth going. Fatigue began to set in during the fourth year. We got through the fifth year because we all thought it would be the last. The sixth? Pure hell." The role wasn't the only time in her 60 years in films and TV that Wyatt was cast as the warm, compassionate wife and mother. She even played Mr. Spock's mom in the original "Star Trek" series and the feature "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." She got her start in films in the mid-'30s, appearing in "One More River," "Great Expectations," "We're Only Human" and "The Luckiest Girl in the World." When Frank Capra chose her to play the Shangri-la beauty in "Lost Horizon," her reputation was made. Moviegoers were entranced by the scene - chaste by today's standards - in which Colman sees her swimming nude in a mountain lake. Never a star, Wyatt enjoyed career longevity with her reliable portrayals of genteel, understanding women. Among the notable films: "Buckskin Frontier" (with Richard Dix), "None But the Lonely Heart" (Cary Grant), "Boomerang" (Dana Andrews), "Gentleman's Agreement" (Gregory Peck), "Pitfall" (Dick Powell), "No Minor Vices" (Dana Andrews), "Canadian Pacific" (Randolph Scott), "My Blue Heaven" (Betty Grable, Dan Dailey) and "Criminal Lawyer" (Pat O'Brien). "Father Knows Best" enjoyed such lasting popularity in reruns and people's memories that the cast returned years later for two reunion movies. She also remained active on other projects, such as "Amityville: The Horror Goes On" in 1989, and in charity work. When Young died in 1998, Wyatt paid tribute to him as "simply one of the finest people to grace our industry." "Though we never socialized off the set, we were together every day for six years, and during that time he never pulled rank (and) always treated his on-screen family with the same affection and courtesy he showed his loved ones in his private life," she said. Wyatt was born in Campgaw, N.J., into a wealthy family in 1910, according to McDonald, her publicist. Her father, an investment banker, came from an old-line New York family, as did her mother, who wrote drama reviews. They gave their daughter a genteel upbringing, with her schooling at the fashionable Miss Chapin's school and Barnard College. She left college after two years to apprentice at the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge, Mass. For two years she alternated between Berkshire and Broadway, appearing with Charles Laughton, Louis Calhern and Osgood Perkins. While acting with Lillian Gish in "Joyous Season" in 1934, she got a contract offer from Universal Pictures. She agreed, on condition she could spend half each year in the theater. During college, Wyatt attended a party at Hyde Park, N.Y., given by the sons of Franklin D. Roosevelt. There she met a Harvard student, Edgar Ward. In 1935 she married Ward, then a businessman, in Santa Fe, N.M. Ward is survived by sons Christopher, of Piedmont, California and Michael of Los Angeles; three grandchildren Nicholas, Andrew and Laura; and five great grandchildren.

I lived in Atlanta twenty years ago, and there were no avant garde concerts there that I was aware of.

I read all of MacDonald's novels in 1980, listening to Mike Nock's In Out & Around the whole time. The perfect CD to read hard boiled detectives by! I liked MacDonald, but it seemed like he was writing the same story over and over again. After a while, I forgot what the plots of the books I had read were because they were so similar. I agree that Hammett and Chandler are the best, but I'm open to suggestions!

Happy Birthday! It's also Annette Funicello's birthday!

Most of my favorites have been mentioned... Stablemates Tenderly Nancy with the Laughing Face Since I Fell for You Donna Lee Empty Faces Anybody else remember seeing Pete Barbuti play Tenderly on the broom?

Looks great, Mark! Hope you find the time to post more.

I received word today that Sonny, Please "will be available thru all digital stores, including eMusic."

Berrigan, Mays played years after he should have retired. The playoffs did not begin until 1969, when he was already at the end of the line. In terms of the World Series, do not forget his catch of the Vic Wertz fly in 1954!