GA Russell

I see that 25 years later, Benny Green is no longer a kid!

Bartolo Colon has retired. He has been playing in Mexico.

I remember seeing Sonny & Cher for the first time. It was American Bandstand, probably June, 1965. Cher lip-synched All I Really Want to Do to Sonny, while he just stood there! I think this is it.

And so the pre-season games are over, and the season begins Thursday. Here is the tracker for roster moves. https://www.cfl.ca/2023/06/02/cutdown-tracker-teams-make-their-final-roster-moves/ The Stampeders cut Derek Dennis. https://3downnation.com/2023/06/02/calgary-stampeders-release-veteran-left-tackle-derek-dennis/ ***** Here are the current odds for winning the Grey Cup. https://3downnation.com/2023/06/03/2023-grey-cup-futures/

Regardless of her talent, etc., I think she was best known as Frank Sinatra's girlfriend.

Seven of the nine teams will have new starting quarterbacks this year. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-ticats-cfl-quarterback-1.6863390 ***** Here is the 2023 schedule. https://www.cfl.ca/schedule/2023/ ***** The Argonaut Rowing Club started playing rugby football in 1873. So throughout this year, the Argos will be celebrating their 150th anniversary. https://www.cfl.ca/2023/05/26/argos-announce-plans-to-celebrate-150th-anniversary-during-2023-season/ ***** Today's view count is 215.8 thousand.

Western preview https://doorfliesopen.com/2023/06/01/cfl-beat-178/

I bought each Mark Murphy album as it came out over a period of twenty years.

The Bombers enjoyed a profit of nearly C$5 million last year. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/blue-bombers-profit-revenue-cfl-1.6809272 ***** Jeff Reinebold and Scott Milanovich have joined the Ticats staff. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ticats-hamilton-milanovich-reinebold-1.6847588 ***** 5/25 Checking Down https://www.cfl.ca/2023/05/25/checking-down-news-and-notes-from-training-camp/ ***** Kenny Lawler will miss the first three to four weeks while his legal status arising from a problem from the year before last (!) is getting worked out. https://3downnation.com/2023/06/01/bombers-suspend-receiver-kenny-lawler-pending-resolution-of-matters-related-to-2021-impaired-driving-charge-in-winnipeg/

Here is a quick look at this year's uniforms. https://3downnation.com/2023/05/30/all-24-cfl-uniforms-ranked/ ***** Mike Benevides has joined BC's staff. https://www.sportsnet.ca/cfl/article/mike-benevides-returns-to-lions-as-b-c-announces-changes-to-coaching-staff/ ***** Joe Kapp has passed away at 85. RIP. I had his bubble gum card in 1964. https://www.sportsnet.ca/football/article/former-cfl-nfl-quarterback-joe-kapp-passes-away-at-the-age-of-85/ ***** As the Door Flies Open post above said, the league has announced its rule changes for this year. https://www.sportsnet.ca/cfl/article/cfl-unveils-several-rule-changes-for-upcoming-regular-season/ ***** Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg exceeded the salary cap last year. But every case was a small amount, so the only punishments will be fines. https://www.sportsnet.ca/cfl/article/cfl-fines-for-teams-for-exceeding-2022-salary-cap/ ***** Pre-Season Questions https://www.sportsnet.ca/cfl/article/cfl-pre-season-preview-one-burning-question-for-all-nine-teams/

If you had read thoroughly both of those posts, you would know that... The Poutine Fest is a festival that celebrates poutine in various cities across Canada and the US. The dates vary depending on the location, but some of the upcoming ones are in Ottawa (May 13-16), Toronto (June 3-6), and Chicago (June 18-20).

Well, I think you should read both posts thoroughly.

I don't think you read both posts thoroughly in such a short period of time. Go back and read them again.

Jim, go back and read thoroughly Wednesday's Early Preview and today's Eastern Preview. You should find the answers to that and many other questions there. 🙂

Eastern preview https://doorfliesopen.com/2023/05/25/cfl-beat-177/ Last year Door Flies Open was my favorite website for CFL coverage, and the anonymous author ("The Maestro") has done a great job of summarizing off-season events. I recommend everyone take a quick look at his posts from last week and this week.

Early preview https://doorfliesopen.com/2023/05/18/cfl-beat-176/

Patricia (Norway, 1981) https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/may-freebie-a-beauty

Camps opened Sunday, and the first pre-season game will be Monday, so let's take a look at the headlines since Feb. 24. The league has a new TV deal for the US this year. CBS Sports channel will carry 34 games. From what I can tell, this can be streamed on Hulu. Many games will be available for streaming to the US for free on the league's website called CFL+. https://www.cfl.ca/2023/05/19/watch-free-and-online-welcome-to-cfl-preseason-live-and-cfl/ ***** Speaking of streaming, here is the link to watch past Grey Cup Finals. https://www.cfl.ca/grey-cup-on-demand/ ***** Early Power Rankings https://www.cfl.ca/2023/04/04/start-your-arguing-engines-the-way-too-early-power-rankings-are-in/ https://3downnation.com/2023/05/15/3downnation-cfl-power-rankings-were-back-for-2023-baby/ ***** This thread's view count is up to 215.1 thousand, up 8,000 since Feb. 19!

Gordon Lee Finds Space for Self-Expression In Dark Places on "How Can It Be?," Arriving June 16 on PJCE Records Recording Features Nine Compositions by the Portland Pianist, Wrought in the COVID Era & Performed by a Stellar Pacific Northwest Quartet CD Release Shows at The 1905, Portland, July 2, & Christo's, Salem, OR, July 13   May 19, 2023 Deep catharsis is the order of the day on How Can It Be?, the seventh album by pianist and composer Gordon Lee, set to drop June 16 on PJCE Records. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, the album’s nine originals—performed by the Portland, Oregon-based Lee and his quartet with tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto, bassist Dennis Caiazza, and drummer Gary Hobbs—reflect the leader’s urgent need to express powerful emotions at a time when musical performance was limited at best. In addition to inspiring this rich set of compositions, those challenging days were also the direct catalyst for the quartet’s formation. Lee had little to do but write and practice until his wife convinced him to turn that work into performances on the front porch of their home. Those homespun concerts for the neighbors became “my antidote, my personal way of fighting back against not just the virus but the fear,” he recalls. “It felt like something positive I could do.” They began as duos with Caranto, then evolved into quartets with Caiazza and the late drummer Carlton Jackson (to whom How Can It Be? is dedicated). Hobbs is newly recruited for the album. The emotions Lee channeled into his music at that time naturally included some dark and somber tones, as can be heard on the opening title track and the harrowing “Angry Mother Nature.” Yet that’s only a thin slice of the pie. The album also features quirky and amiable burlesque (“Shaky Assets”), offbeat, sardonic humor (“A Robin Weeps,” “Bozo Sulks on the Golf Course”), and small moments of triumph (“’Deed I Did It”). It’s a rich collection of material that reminds us of the full range of humanity that underscores even our bleakest experiences. At a tight 48 minutes, How Can It Be? is also a testimony to the discipline and mastery of Caranto, Caiazza, and Hobbs as well as Lee. Basing their performances here on those highly restricted days of COVID, they demonstrate their ability to hit the bandstand and speak their pieces with economy and precision, but no less emotional weight or expression. In that sense, the album is a distillation of what Lee describes as the musician’s mission “to play from the inside of your soul.” Gordon Lee was born April 26, 1953 in New York City. At 12 years old, he found himself behind the drum kit of a junior high school garage-rock band. By 14 he had transferred over to the piano, on which he obtained his first paying gig at a school dance. The bug had well and truly bitten him, and Gordon matriculated a few years later at Indiana University to study with the legendary jazz educator David Baker. It was also at IU that he crossed paths with trumpeter and Portlander Richard Burdell, who convinced Lee that the Pacific Northwest metropolis was a great place for a working musician. After earning his BM in 1976, Lee made the move to the West Coast and found that Burdell had been right. Though he would return for a few years to New York to live and work, Lee soon enough made his way back to Portland, where he’s remained for nearly 40 years since. He connected there with Jim Pepper, the respected Native American tenor saxophonist who had been a founding member of jazz-rock groundbreakers Free Spirits. Pepper became Lee’s mentor and collaborator, working together in Portland and around the world until the saxophonist’s death in 1992. “I played with Jim all over the world,” Lee recalls. “He really instilled in me that you have to play from the bottom of your soul, every time, even though most gigs are not about that.” Lee also became a steadfast musical partner of drummer Mel Brown, with whom he still plays today. (They worked together as co-leaders on 2014’s recording Tuesday Night.) Lee established himself as an educator, teaching jazz studies at Western Oregon University and Reed College, among others, while also finding time to earn a master’s degree from Portland State University in 1999. In addition, he built a career as a bandleader, beginning in 1990 with his debut album Gordon Bleu. Five more albums followed, with ensembles ranging from the big band of 2004’s Flying Dream to the trio of 2010’s This Path, before the release of How Can It Be? How Can It Be? isn’t his only takeaway from the pandemic. Hundreds of hours with his Baldwin Grand also resulted in his first solo piano album, The Remainder (PJCE Records), “which was a product of the same gestation.” With an unprecedented expanse of free time on his hands, Lee explains, “I ended up practicing a lot, and practicing always leads to composing for me.” Gordon Lee will be performing CD release shows at The 1905, Portland, on Sunday, 7/2, and at Christo’s, Salem, OR, on Thursday, 7/13. Photography: Douglas Detrick   Gordon Lee Quartet Live at the Benson Hotel, Portland, February 18, 2023  Gordon Lee Web Site  

The Father's Day sale is live today. Same as usual, but with a different selection of cigars. No Minimum. No maximum. Good while supplies last. https://www.cigarsinternational.com/shop/10-packs-free-20-ci-bucks/2052514/

A farmer stopped by the local mechanic’s shop to have his truck fixed. They thought it might have something to do with the transmission, so they couldn’t repair it while he waited. He told the mechanics that he didn’t live far and would just walk home. On the way home he stopped at the hardware store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. He then stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store he now had a problem ― how to carry his purchases home. While he was scratching his head he was approached by a little old lady who told him she was lost. She asked "Can you tell me how to get to 1603 Mockingbird Lane?” The farmer replied "Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house. I would walk you there but I can’t carry this lot." The old lady suggested "Why don’t you do this? Put the can of paint in the bucket. Carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the goose in your other hand." "Why, thank you very much, that works just fine!" he said, and proceeded to walk the old girl home. On the way he said "Let’s take my usual short cut and go down this alley. We’ll be there in no time." The little old lady looked him over cautiously then said, "I am a lonely widow without a husband to defend me ... How do I know that when we get in the alley you won’t have your way with me?” The farmer said with some irritation "Holy smokes, lady! I’m carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I do that?" The old lady replied "Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint can on top of the bucket, and I’ll hold the chickens."

Amen!