GARussell

I remember him from his many appearances on Ed Sullivan. I suppose that he was a favorite of Ed's.

I first heard it on Herbie Mann's Standing Ovation at Newport with Chick Corea. I don't think I appreciated how popular it was until I heard Mark Murphy's recording on the radio when that album came out.

I used to make it home from school in time to watch it! I don't remember Jayne, but I do remember Carol Lawrence, Phyllis Newman and Rita Moreno being on a lot.

British Columbia Lions 37....Saskatchewan Roughriders 34 http://scoreboards.canoe.ca/merge/tsnform..../final/W621.htm Edmonton Eskimos 16....Montreal Alouettes 10 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4104071.htm Toronto Argonauts 31....Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4104132.htm ***** Henry Burris dislocated his shoulder in the game against the Ticats. It is possible that he will miss the rest of the regular season. An announcement won't be made until Tuesday. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Cal...519756-sun.html

This year's Grand Final will be played this Friday night (Saturday afternoon local time). I expect it to start 9:00 pm pacific time. As far as I know the link posted above should be good for the game again this year. During last year's game the announcers discussed that the contract to broadcast the game was up for renewal and that they feared that they wouldn't be back. So if the game will be on a different station, I would appreciate Kenny or another Aussie to let us know. I took a quick look at the headlines last night, and saw that the game will be between the Geelong Cats and Port. From what I could tell, Geelong has been the strong team all season, and Port is a Cinderella story. I root for the Melbourne/Victoria teams rather than the new teams (my favorite is the Hawthorn Hawks!), so I'll be rooting for the Cats.

I listened to the Raiders network broadcast of their game against the Browns today while in the car. Exciting ending! I'm sure that ss1 had some choice words!

Alice Ghostley has died. She was my mother's favorite actress. I don't know why, she just liked her. The thing I always thought about Alice Ghostley was her indeterminate age. It was like she was born a 60-year old woman. I thought she was an old woman fifty years ago, when she was I now see only 31. Here's her LA Times obit: Alice Ghostley, 81; Tony Award-winning actress template_bas template_bas By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 22, 2007 Alice Ghostley, the Tony Award-winning comedic actress and singer who specialized in playing ditsy ladies and was best known on television for her supporting roles as Esmeralda on "Bewitched" and Bernice on "Designing Women," died Friday. She was 81. Ghostley died at her home in Studio City after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes, said Jim Pinkston, a longtime friend. Ghostley made her Broadway debut in "Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952," the hit revue in which she received critical acclaim for singing the satirical send-up "The Boston Beguine," which became her signature song. "She was just so wonderful," said Miles Kreuger, president of the Los Angeles-based Institute of the American Musical, who saw "New Faces of 1952" repeatedly and recalls Ghostley singing "The Boston Beguine." "There was nothing glamorous about her," he said. "She was rather plain and had a splendid singing voice, and the combination of the well-trained, splendid singing voice and this kind of dowdy homemaker character was so incongruous and so charming." Ghostley won the Tony Award for best featured actress in a play in 1965 for "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window." She also received a Tony nomination two years earlier for various characterizations in the 1962-63 Broadway comedy "The Beauty Part" with Bert Lahr. "She was an exceptional actress," said Kaye Ballard, a longtime friend who appeared with Ghostley as the wicked stepsisters in a 1957 television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," starring Julie Andrews. Although Ghostley was often compared to Paul Lynde, one of her "New Faces" co-stars, Ballard said Ghostley "was completely original. If anyone was influenced, it was Paul who was influenced by Alice." Ghostley, she said, "was gentle and she was sincere and she was kind and she never said a cruel thing about anyone -- ever. I feel humor has changed today; everyone has mean humor. Alice was the epitome of class when it came to comedy. "But Alice was superior in everything she did. She was a very special, special person." Ghostley last appeared on Broadway in "Annie," taking over the role of Miss Hannigan, the wicked orphanage supervisor, in 1978 and playing the part until 1983. During her show business career, she regularly moved between the stage, cabaret, movies and television. On "Bewitched," she played the timid good witch Esmeralda, the housekeeper, from 1969 to 1972. And from 1987 to 1993, she played Bernice Clifton on "Designing Women," a role that earned her an Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a comedy in 1992. Among Ghostley's film credits are "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Graduate," "Gator" and "Grease." She was born Aug. 14, 1926, in the train station in Eve, Mo., where her father worked as a telegraph operator, and she grew up in Henryetta, Okla. "When I was 5 years old, my mother took me to the Legion Hut and stood me on a table," she told the Boston Globe in 1990. "I recited poetry! I sang songs! I tap-danced! I didn't know it then, but that table was my first stage. There was applause. "The second time my mother took me to the Hut, I made her give me a nickel before I stood on that table. I wanted the applause but, even at 5, I knew I had earned the applause." After graduating from high school, Ghostley attended the University of Oklahoma but quit to move to New York with her sister Gladys. Ghostley was known for her cabaret appearances as a singer and comedian before she was cast in "New Faces of 1952." When she first arrived in New York, she recalled in the Boston Globe interview, she couldn't afford to take singing lessons, so she worked as a secretary to a music teacher in exchange for lessons. "The best job I had then was as a theater usher," she said. "I saw all the plays for free. What I saw before me was a visualization of what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I saw all the first jobs I did, from waitressing to patch testing for a detergent company, as a bridge to the stage." But she was a realist, she said. "I knew I didn't look like an ingenue. My nose was too long. I had crooked teeth. I wasn't blond. I knew I looked like a character actress. "But I also knew I'd find a way." Ghostley, whose actor husband, Felice Orlandi, died in 2003, is survived by her sister Gladys.

TSN Week 13 previews: http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4103616.htm ***** Hamilton Tiger-Cats 24....Calgary Stampeders 20 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4103763.htm Surprise! Give all the credit to the Ticats' backup QB Ritchie Williams. Casey Printers started, but left the game in the second quarter with a pulled left hamstring. In the last minute Calgary moved down the field to the Hamilton seven to score the winning TD, but Burris was shaken up on second down; and Akili Smith was intercepted in the endzone on third down. I remember that when he was with the Lions Printers first hurt his shoulder and then his toe. Now we learn that he pulled his hamstring in the Kansas City camp. I'm not sure that he can remain healthy enough to justify his big contract. Williams, on the other hand, has looked great the few times the Ticats have put him in the game. Williams may be the Ticat QB of the future, not Printers. Nick Setta went 5 for 5 in the FG department.

The Eskimos signed Tim Cheatwood this week. What with his knee injury, I think he's done. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Edm...508677-sun.html ***** Canadian Press Week 13 previews: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...4512510-cp.html

Like Lon, I recommend the follow-up to Time Out called Time Further Out.

Tony, I share your enthusiasm for Wasilewski! After I posted my review, it occurred to me that I should have put an exclamation point after his name as well as Seim's.

Very sorry to read this. As I recall I had a few albums in college which he was on, all of them good. The first that comes to mind is Mike Westbrook's Love Songs. He was in the limelight for only a short while. Maybe now we will see a rediscovery of some of his work.

For a number of years now my favorite ECM has been a Kenny Wheeler date with Michael Brecker called Double, Double You. I may have a new favorite now. Manu (nee Emmanuel) Katche is a French (his family is from the Ivory Coast) drummer who has played with Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel and Jan Garbarek. His album from two years ago, Neighborhood, was named Album of the Year by Jazz Magazine in France. He is now leading his own group, which went to New York this January to record Playground. The group consists of Mathias Eick on trumpet, Trygve Seim (!) on tenor and soprano saxes, and two former members of Tomasz Stanko's quartet, Marcin Wasilewski on piano and Slawomir Kurkiewicsz on bass. David Torn plays guitar on the first and last tracks of the album. There are 12 tracks totalling 69 minutes. Most of my CDs have the best songs loaded at the front. I have read that the record companies do this so that people listening to the clips on the internet will form a good first impression. But I feel that the best tracks on Playground are the last half of the album. All of the tunes are interesting and pleasant. Most but not all are somewhat mellow. Trygve Seim is not as cool as he is on other albums I have. I suggest that you go to Amazon to listen to the samples. Amazon says: List Price $17.98; Their Price $13.97. I see that Amazon has coupled Playground with John Surman's The Places In Between, which I also highly recommended a couple of weeks ago. I also see that Amazon has included Neighborhood in its list of the ECMs it is selling for $9.99. The group will tour from September 25 through October 8 in Germany, Norway, Belgium and France. You European guys there might want to keep an eye out for this. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

Forgive me if I've ranted about this before, but I think America needs a concerted effort by the record companies to promote what used to be called adult pop. Tony Bennett wins the Grammy for it every year with little competition. I travel a good deal throughout North Carolina, and I haven't found a station yet that is devoted to it. Sirius has a channel called Seriusly Sinatra that is devoted to adult pop of the fifties and sixties, but nothing current. I have a new album by a San Francisco singer named Alexa (nee Alexandra) Weber Morales entitled Vagabundeo/Wanderings. Scott Yanow calls her a jazz singer, but she's not one here. There is no improvisation anywhere by either her or the band. The CD says, "File under World/Latin". But adult pop is more like it. There are eleven songs, all of which have a latin beat of one sort or another, but the band is not as heavy handed as, say, Tito Puente or Poncho Sanchez. Half the songs are in Spanish. Her accent is convincing, so I'm guessing she's bilingual. There are a number of tracks good enough for radio airplay. She has a fine voice and a sophisticated style. But presently I don't think she has a market in the US. You can listen to the album at this link, and see what you think. I expect that those of you who like latin music will like it. http://cdbaby.com/cd/alexawm2

Dan, the Yankees have the Red Sox' number. It looks to me like they will meet in the playoffs and the Yankees will beat them.

55 with my name.

Mo, I haven't heard that one yet. I have the Miles/Coltrane box, but haven't gotten to that disc yet. Do you like it?

Thanks for starting this thread, sidewinder! I put it on last night and listened to it for the first time in many months. I share fanatic's lack of enthusiasm for this. I don't dislike it by any means. But I just feel that it is overrated compared to most of the Coltrane discs I have heard. I feel the same way about A Love Supreme. Listening now to Disc 2 of the Classic Impulse! Quartet box, and I like it much more than Blue Trane. Oh well, to each his own.

Before: A 1989 PJ CD entitled Trio which features 12 Russ Freeman sides from 1953 and 8 Richard Twardzik sides from 1954. I believe that all tracks are included in the PJ Piano Trios Select. Now: Herbie Nichols, disc 2.

Running low: Tierney Sutton - On the Other Side (recommended by Doug Ramsey)

Thanks for your input guys! I've added Judgment! to my queue. I'll keep in mind that a number of you suggested Black Fire, and if I see it on sale before Judgment rises to the top of the queue maybe I'll get it instead.

Great news, Jim!

I have a nephew and a niece who both met their spouses using online dating services. Each has three kids and solid marriages. We are a Catholic family, and both of the dating services are for Catholics. If you belong to a religion, you might consider looking to see if it has such a service. Religion is an important concept, and many people find that it helps to find a soulmate by looking for someone who shares one's core values.

Correction! I meant Gerry and Chet! I had played a Stan and Chet CD recently and I guess that was still in the back of my mind, but I meant Gerry, of course.

Really bad weekend. All four games stunk. Oh well. I believe that a major appeal of sports is that the product, the quality of the ballgame, is not guaranteed. I think the reason good ballgames are so exhilarating is that you never know ahead of time how good they will be. You appreciate a good ballgame because not all of them are good! I listened to all of Friday's game and parts of each of Saturday's three games. Week 12 previews: http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4102375.htm Edmonton Eskimos 47....Montreal Alouettes 28 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4102480.htm Ricky Ray broke Warren Moon's team record for yards passing. Jason Maas came in in the fourth quarter for the Als and looked like a world beater, leading the team on two TD drives. Calgary Stampeders 44....Saskatchewan Roughriders 22 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4102611.htm The game was sold out with plenty of Rider fans. Greg Peterson, former Stamps DB now the analyst on their broadcasts, likes to point out that more Saskatchewanians live in metro Calgary than in any city in Saskatchewan! Winnipeg Blue Bombers 34....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 4 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4102648.htm Casey Printers started for the Ticats. Kevin Glenn was hurt and may be out for a while. The Bombers' backup QB is Ryan Dinwiddie, and I have no confidence in him. British Columbia Lions 40....Toronto Argonauts 7 http://sports.canada.com/default.asp?c=can.../AJN4102701.htm The Argos have won four games this year, but three of them were against the Ticats. They were awful last night. At this rate the Eskimos will cross over for the playoffs. Jarious Jackson, the third string QB, is now 3-1 as a starter for the Lions!