Amsterdam Russ

Underrated & underplayed...

Lemon squash?

Thanks. It only needed me to shuffle about a little bit - a couple of metres to the left - to get it how you see it. Otherwise it was almost perfectly framed as soon as I saw it. The only challenge was in balancing an open brolly between my left arm and shoulder while trying to get the pic with my trusty iPhone 5!

Thanks - it was worth getting wet for!

Dashed out in the rain to the local supermarket 20 minutes ago and was rewarded with this lovely sight on the way back.

Actually, what the seller states is...

OK, so I've RSVP'd to my own Sept, Oct and December events in Amsterdam.

My brother went to the Lofoten islands some years back and loved the scenery and mountain climbing there. I’m sure you’d really enjoy it.

Only in my dreams!

Just been looking at the website of the competition winner, Audun Rikardsen. All I can say is WOW - amazing photos!! Website here: www.audunrikardsen.com/

Had a search for info about the pic and found this brief description in a press release put out by the organisers of the competition... Source: https://www.calacademy.org/press/releases/winning-images-from-the-academys-annual-bigpicture-photography-competition-announced

Having spent some time digging for information, I've come to the conclusion that the Bayou Blues Band never actually recorded together. Possibly it was just an idea that came to nothing. Cathy Chemi (mentioned as featuring with Randy Hart in the group) is a jazz vocals with a long history and a very respected reputation. However, I can find no reference to her and the group at all. In fact, there seems to be no mention of the group beyond the mention in the Record World article (groups have existed with the name Bayou Blues Band, but these don't appear to contemporary with Magid's announcement. I did find an archived text listing of an ad that appeared in Cash Box magazine 03/07/1971. That clearly associated Hart with his Cajun nickname. I tried to see if I could find out any more info by checking out people Hart had collaborated with. The only thing of interest that I found was a snippet in a publication produced by The American Federation of Musicians and called Report of Officers to the Annual Convention (Volume 70, parts 1967-1972). Ray Rachaels was a member of the group The M-3's, which comprised Rachaels, Hart and Bob Bryant. Just to confuse matters further, entries for Randy Hart in the Catalogue of Copyright (3rd edition) state that Randy Hart is a pseudonym for Gerald Randolph Hard (Hard is a typo as other entries show the name as Hart). But is this the same Randy Hart with the Cajun nickname or a different one? Searching for Gerald Randolph Hart brings up records of a person, aged 80, living in Florida. Could it be the same songwriter? On the other hand, the court case snippet shows that Lee Magid's Randy Hart was a member of the musicians union in Columbia, South Carolina - a completely different part of the country. Mind you, people do move... Anyone got anything else?

From the entry guidelines for the competition... Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vG07USON6Bvo_Z4wfAnbYDfh5sRNYyt1/view

Interesting, but I wonder if this is a different person. Biographical info on Randy Hart seems hard to come by, but it appears he came from Louisiana (hence the "Cajun" nickname) and played in a group called the Bayou Blues Boys. Article below from Record World 02/09/1966. However, in a Billboard magazine article dated 13/09/1975, Lee Magid states that Cajun Hart comes from Atlanta. Confused? I still am!

The Discogs page for Randy Hart states: No idea who provided that information or whether they they know it as fact rather than speculation. Source: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3466168-Randy-Hart-2 Of the three tracks from YouTube, it's only in "When the party's over" that I think there's any possible indication that the singer just might have supplied the vocals to "Got to find a way..."

A real stunner. Would love to know the story of how the photographer captured the shot.

Absolutely stunning photos to be seen in the California Academy of Sciences’ Natural World photography competition. Definitely well worth a look, and the Grand Prize winner is just brilliant! Check them out here... https://www.bigpicturecompetition.org/2019-winners

From Baby Washington - an early soul gem for the price of a couple of pints!

An early gem written by Van McCoy and also recorded by Nancy Wilson, of course.

Absolutely - very handy indeed.

They do. If you have a Discogs account and create a 'Collection', it'll provide you with the minimum, median and maximum prices records have sold for. Minimum prices can be inaccurate as they often reflect the price of a disc when it was first listed on the site, and as we all know, prices have rocketed during the last couple of years. But it can also be the case that the disc has only been listed for sale once some time back and the price from then no longer reflects the market value today. What it all means is that the min and max prices can vary wildly. At the same time, the median price for individual items can be out of date relative to current market price. In my case, the difference between the minimum and maximum sales value of the few 45s I've added to my Discogs 'collection' is greater than 100%!

I see a fatal flaw in your thinking!

Blue moon - autographed by Bobby Bland after the Malaco Review at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1989. Other 45s autographed by Bobby Bland's guitarist Wayne Bennett, whom I had the great fortune to chat with for a good while at the cocktail party the evening before the concert.

Looking forward to this!

Feeding turtles in a clear water stream.