GA Russell

I have a Georgie Fame CD called Name Droppin' which was recorded live, I think at Ronnie Scott's. In the middle of the set, he welcomes to the bandstand to much appreciation Peter King. Good playing, but it's Fame's disc, not his. I believe that the Fame CD Walking Wounded was taken from the same gig.

Meaning no disrespect, but I don't agree with the inclusion of the Rolling Stones to his credits. The Stones were hugely popular during their days with British Decca (London in the US). When that contract expired, they formed their own label and contracted with Atlantic to distribute it. I don't think that Atlantic contributed to the Stones' popularity. As I recall, Cream was on the Polydor label in Britain. That may not be right. I don't think Cream's popularity was due to any Ertegun influence either, but I may be wrong about that. I've never understood Atlantic's relationship with Stax. It appeared to be a distribution deal. But somehow Atlantic obtained ownership of the masters about 1967. Anybody know why?

I was at BJ's today, and I saw that they have Perry Mason - The First Season, Vol. 2 (20 shows) for $38.99. I don't get cable, so I haven't been watching it on TV Land or whatever. If I get some Christmas money I may pick it up, as well as the first season of Remington Steele (the only good season IMO) which came out last year.

The mandolinists Mike Marshall and Hamilton de Holanda mentioned above have issued a new duet CD + DVD album entitled New Words Novas Palavras. The CD was recorded in 2005. The DVD is three songs from the CD performed in concert in Savannah in March of this year. Marshall plays the mandolin. De Holanda plays something called the bandolim, which looks like a lute with a circular body and sounds to me like a ukelele. No other musicians are on the discs. If you think that Coltrane and Johnny Griffin were fast on the sax, you should hear these two, especially de Holanda. Thirty-second notes galore! All lines are played as clean as can be. The two take turns within each song playing lead and rhythm. Ten of the thirteen songs are Brazilian tunes. The other three are Autumn Leaves, a Bela Fleck song and a Marshall original. Like the other albums from Adventure Music, these songs are not based upon the blues, so for me the album makes a nice change of pace. But it is the technical virtuosity of the two artists that sells this record. Really amazing. The performances command your attention. They are not background music. I would not want all of my collection to be as busy as this, but I highly recommend this if you are in the market for a tour de force. edit for typo

The Argos released R. Jay Soward and Eric England along with four others today, in what is described to be salary cap moves. This is crazy. They are two of their best players. I don't know what they are being paid, but I don't like any league's salary cap for that reason. I think teams should cut players because they find somebody better, not because of a salary cap. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home edit for typo

One I've had enough of for the rest of my life is anybody's version of But Baby, It's Cold Outside. Yecchh.

"I love you Spartacus!" - Tony Curtis "He'll know because I'll tell him." - Jean Simmons Weird -- I totally don't remember him, though it's been a while since I've seen the movie. Guy, in my book Jean Simmons was in those days, as Spartacus's wife, even more beautiful than Liz Taylor or any other woman in the world!

"I love you Spartacus!" - Tony Curtis "He'll know because I'll tell him." - Jean Simmons

This story got a lot of traction yesterday. I saw something about it on CNN. If I understand it correctly, the original report said that sales were off from January. Well maybe that is because January could be the best month for iTunes, what with everyone who received one for Christmas filling up his unit with music in January. Still, an average of only 20 seems awfully low to me. Today, the analyst is backing off, and claims are made that sales are way up from last year. This is from the Barron s website: Earlier this week, Apple (AAPL) investors were getting all jittery about reports on Bloomberg, The Registerand elsewhere suggesting there had been a huge drop in downloads from iTunes. That’s been followed by a backlash of tidal wave proportions. Forrrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff, who wrote the original study on which those alarming stories were based, wrote on his blog yesterday that much of the media coverage was misleading: for starters, he says that his own study, based on credit-card data, was based on too little data. He goes on to say that “iTunes sales are not collapsing,” but he does assert that “iTunes sales are leveling off.” Bernoff also notes what Apple investors should already know: that Apple makes money from selling iPods, not from selling tracks on iTunes. Meanwhile, comScore today reports that iTunes sales in the year’s first three quarters were up 84% from the same period a year earlier, with a 67% increase in the number of transactions and a 10% rise in the average transaction size. Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, estimates that iTunes downloads were running 2.5 million a day in September, up 95% year-over-year. But he notes that the real point is the one Bernoff made: “To us, the iTunes software portion is the more critical and underappreciated part of the AAPL story than the much talked about iTunes store,” he wrote in a research note today. “We believe iTunes software is what gives an iPod its unique user interface and ease-of-use, in particular when synching with a PC and/or Mac, still arguably the best platforms for productivity and to manage content libraries.”

Romans 1:26-27 1 Corinthians 6:9 1 Peter somewhere, I can't find it now Jude, verse 7 PS - I'm not finding what I thought in 1 Peter.

Two sources have told the CP that Charlie Taaffe will be named the Ticats head coach tomorrow: http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home edit to add a later and more full article: http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

I never sensed that he was in poor health. His posts were consistently intelligent and informative. I'll miss him.

RIP. I first became aware of him in the movie Joe in 1968. I thought he was perfect for the role.

I share your views about Bailey vs. Jennifer/Loni. It reminds me of the Ginger vs. Mary Ann deal. Each show had a woman presented as sexy, yet most men prefer the woman who is presented as wholesome!

Here's the link to a good article on the current state of affairs regarding music downloads. I was surprised to see that the average iPod owner has downloaded from iTunes only 20 songs! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...tory/Technology

Happy Birthday!

OK, I have found a CP article that says that Buratto was the head coach of the Lions when they won the Grey Cup in 2000. He was fired during the 2002 season. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...2737469-cp.html And here is a report by David Naylor of the Globe saying that Buratto was Casey Printer's "tutor" at BC the year that Printers won the Most Outstanding Player Award. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home John, I agree with you that the Argos need Printers; and now that the Argos have Buratto, Printers would be a great fit. But I don't think that the Argos owners have the money to spend like they have in BC, Hamilton and Montreal. I figure it's going to take at least $300,000. to sign Printers. Because of their veterans I am under the impression that the Argos payroll is already pretty high. I suppose that with the salary cap it all evens out. And the two clubs that need him more than Toronto does, Sask and Winnipeg, have less money to spend than the Argos do. So where else could Printers go? I think Printers needs to win a Grey Cup or two before he can expect a fair shot at the NFL.

More cassettes tonight: The Kingston Trio - We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Same album, different title as the Kingston Trio above) Trisha Yearwood - Home for the Holidays Marcus Roberts - Prayer for Peace

Well, whatever the source, thanks for posting that White Lightning!

I was a subscriber to Downbeat when Bitches Brew came out, and my vague recollection is that it was unanimously praised. In those days I don't recall a critic who had the guts to say that he didn't like whatever Miles did.

Stefan, I recommend that you try either of the two albums by Manfred Mann Chapter Three. They're not for everybody, but I loved them when I was into jazz rock. If you like Egg, I certainly recommend Hatfield & the North. You might want to go to the website of Cuneiform Records. I think their retail operation called Wayside Music is still in operation, but maybe not.

Ghost, I'm giving my sister June's Got Rhythm for Christmas. Do you have an opinion of it? Her most respected album seems to be Something Cool which I got years ago and enjoy. But I chose this one because Something Cool has her in front of an orchestra, while Rhythm has her with a small group.

BC, you beat me to it! I just found this report from Allan Maki of the Globe & Mail: http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home Maki also says that Charlie Taafe is expected to be named the Ticats head coach. With Buratto on board (no pun intended), I guess we can expect the Argos to use the bunch formation all the time. Didn't he do pretty well when he was the head coach of the Lions? I can't remember, although obviously he would still be the head coach if he did all that great. I think Damon Allen should retire, and I'm not convinced that any of the Argo backup QBs can win. My understanding is that the Eskimos o-line is not very good. I love Edmonton's backfield, but without blockers they've got a problem. Maybe there will be some free agents available for them to sign. Edmonton has never had a problem with money. The salary cap is like baseball - if you spend over the figure you pay a tax to the league. But now that Hugh Campbell is gone for good, things may be different in Edmonton. Taafe left Montreal for the money with Maryland, as I recall. This past year he was with Pitt. My understanding is that Division 1-A assistant coaches make so much more than CFL head coaches they can't turn down the opportunity. George Cortez of the Stampeders was an example of that. But the Ticats' Bob Young has very deep pockets, so maybe Hamilton is willing to match what US colleges are willing to pay. Still, don't the coaches' salaries count against the salary cap?

Hellooo! Anybody home? Where is everybody? Is everyone taking his time to consider making a list? I didn't mean for it to be so hard!

I broke out my Christmas cassettes today. As many of you will remember, in the 80s and 90s (before stations came up with the all-Christmas format for the month of December) it was common for oldies stations to devote to Christmas music the entire evening of the Sunday before Christmas and all day 6:00 pm Christmas Eve to 6:00 pm Christmas Day. I often made tapes of the shows, and now have 12 cassettes of them! In regard to pre-recorded tapes, I played today: Various - Rhythm & Blues Christmas (King) Perry Como - Sings Merry Christmas Music Various - Mr. Santa's Boogie (Savoy) (This is a tape I made for the car of an LP I have. Somewhere along the line the LP was separated from all my other Christmas LPs, and now I can't find it! It's packed away somewhere. It includes Bird's recording of White Christmas.) Various - Merry Christmas Baby (King) Charles Brown - Sings Christmas Songs (King/Gusto) (Same album, original title as the Brown album mentioned above.) Stan Kenton - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Capitol) (Same album, different title as the Kenton mentioned above.) Various - Legends of Christmas Past (EMI)