This is one of Sally’s favorite songs so let’s see if she’s checking my news posts while she’s over in Thailand with a group of women.  We’ve seen Keiko Matsui a bunch of times over the years when we used to go to the Saratoga Springs Jazz Festival up in NY.

Keiko started playing at the age of 6 and has developed an interesting sound that blends Western and Eastern music.  She has a very spiritual view of composing music, feeling out each composition as though it were, in her words, “coming to me from another space, another dimension,”  If you’ve never heard her before, I encourage you to try something new…

The final standings are in for Larry’s Sunday Night Mixed Doubles league.  At Canal, Steve & Elena finished in 1st; John & Debbie in 2nd; and Larry & Pam in 3rd.  At Hibiscus, Joe & Cindy ended up in 1st, John & Mary in 2nd; Les & Michelle in 3rd.

This Sunday is the banquet at Hibiscus at 6 PM.

The schedule for the next session is now posted.

Information about the league along with the latest standings and schedule are on his league’s page here. 

Fred sent in the Week #2 standings from his Friday Advanced 14.1 league.  Mike Dunn is in 1st with the highest point ratio.  Close on his tail are Don Hunter and Mike Kellough.  He’s got a big field of 15 very good players this session so it should be an interesting battle.

Complete results as well as the schedule and info about the league are posted on his page here.  There is also a paper copy of a scoresheet in case you don’t get to play on a table with beads.

Ginger had her Friday Night Billiards Open tournament at Silver Lake.  Bob Huebsch seems to be struggling with how many fingers to put up.

Here’s how they finished last night:
1st – Steve Luskey 
2nd – Mark Kynett
3rd – tie – Bob Cornell, John Stalbaum, Bob Huebsch

Check out Ginger’s Friday Nite Billiards Open here for additional info and pics of the winners.

Week #8 standings for Ron Boyle’s Advanced 8-9 Ball league that plays Fridays at 9:30 at La Hacienda Rec Center are now posted.   John’s team is still way out in front with 295 wins now; Zeb’s team is in 2nd with 268; Mike Groom’s team is in 3rd (241) and Jon Kluft’s is in 4th (220).

More info about his league and the complete Latest Standings can be found on his page here…

Week #2 of the Hickey Men’s Advanced League is now in the books.  Dan had another good week and stayed in 1st.  Almost all of Larry’s team were in double digits so we stayed in 2nd.  Paul and Greg’s teams are battling it out for 3rd.  But it’s still early days — the order will likely change.

Current detailed standings for this session can be found here…
The league details and history can be found here…

The Final Standings for Sherree’s 8-9 Ball league are in.  Joan and Elena finished in a tie for 1st place with 52 wins.  Sherree edged out Char Potochar for 3rd with 50 wins.  Char and Robin Huey tied for 4th with 49 wins each.  The next session will start after the Ladies Cup.

The league is limited to 12 players, runs for 11 weeks and is currently full.  They play each other 4 games each of 8-Ball and 9-Ball.  Stats and information about the league are posted on her page here…

In 1988 Tracy Chapman she released her self-titled debut album, which became a commercial success, boosted by her appearance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, and was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received six Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year, three of which she won: Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single “Fast Car”, and Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2025, the album was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

I had a hard time picking which of her songs to post so…

My Ballz In Hand team got back in 1st place with 87 points.  Zeb’s Tar Heels and Jim Cupilary’s 9-Ballers are on our tail with 86 and 85 points respectively.  There’s only one week to go so it’s gonna be a close finish.

If you want to get in as a new player, let me or Jim Turner know by Wednesday.  Bill Turechek will be preparing the list of names for the following week’s wrap-up party and draft.

The Latest Standings, Master Schedule and Roster for the session are here and on Bill’s main OBG site here.

Stan Martin sent in the standings from Week #9 of his Sur de 44 league.  

Session XII   High MSP Scores:  

1st          Dennis D        107 
2nd         Gary C            106
3rd          Dennis D        104 

Their schedule along with a description of the league, its format and complete, detailed standings are posted on his page here.

Stu LoGuercio sent in the Week #6 standings of the Intermediate Straight Pool league that he runs at the Canal Rec Center on Wednesdays at 6PM.   Matches played ahead are not included.  Larry Hicks is still undefeated and out in front.  Rich Patterson is in 2nd but still has a makeup match to play.  Ron Taylor is in 3rd.  He and Jon Knoble have high runs of 11.

Here are the latest Weekly Results from This Session.

Mike Asselin’s team is still in the lead. Jerry Keating’s team moved into 2nd and  and Mike Grooms’ team is now in 3rd.  Tim’s team is in 4th.

Click here to go to their web page with a description of the league and the complete stats.  Contact Ron Boyle here if you are interested in playing in this Advanced 8 & 9-ball league that plays on Tuesdays at Silver Lake.

Ginger sent in the Week #3 standings of the new 2026 Winter session from her 8 & 9-ball league that plays on Tuesdays at the Odell Rec Center.  Tommy Maffatone is now alone in 1st with 19 wins.  Art Paraiso moved up to 2nd with 15 and Glenn Allen is in 3rd with 14 wins.

The latest results and other info are now posted on her league’s page here.

My Monday Music Memorial theme continues but this also could qualify as a Two For Tuesday posting.  Jesse Colin Young was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972, Young embarked on a solo career.  Jesse passed last March at the age of 83 and was one of my favorite singer-songwriters in the 70’s.

Below are 2 of his hits – one as a soloist in 1976 (sorry for the not-so-great video quality but the recording is still nice) and the other with the Youngbloods. – not sure what year.

Don Hunter’s Bank Pool Leagues played their Week #3 matches this past Monday.  In Div-1 at Hibiscus it looks like Don Hunter is now in 1st place, Don Simpson slid down to 2nd, and Bob Kubinec is still in 3rd.  In Div-2 at Allamanda Walt Zarnoch is still in 1st, Bill Canty in 2nd and Roger Pollock moved up to 3rd.
Check out the detailed standings for both divisions here…

After 3 weeks of play, Doug Edward’s team is in 1st place with 30 wins. They’re followed by Jim Turner’s team with 28 and Frankie Lambertie’s team with 27 wins.  The latest stats are now posted on Bill’s website.  My page here has links to his site – the Current Schedule, Roster, Member List, Latest Standings, etc.

Info about the league is on Bill’s website.

You’re getting two for more or your music money this AM!  You know by now that I do love 40’s Big Band music – and  Glenn Miller is right at the top of my list.  Throw in Tex Beneke & the Modernaires along with the Nicholas Brothers dancing in the middle and I just had to post this one.  If you enjoy them too, I recently posted a couple of other Nicholas Brothers videos here.

I recently recorded “Orchestra Wives“, the movie “I Got a Gal In Kalamazoo” is from, off TCM recently and was watching it last night.  If you get a chance to catch it, do so.  Enjoy…

I had a bunch of requests for pics from last Fall’s Men’s and Women’s Invitational Tournament that the VBC runs.  Roger Vigrass was nice enough to forward over the pics he took.  They can be found in my Photo Gallery here.

The Villagers Billiards Hall of Fame will be having their annual inductees ceremony on Saturday, February 7th, at 11 AM – just prior to the Feeney Cup tournament. Please join us to meet and greet the new inductees along with those who were inducted in 2025. More information to follow…

Well this one definitely falls into the Better Late Than Never department!  Last November Sherry Alexander had her annual North-South tournament to honor veterans.  Roger Vigrass took numerous pics and was kind enough to send them my way but right after the event I headed up to the International Tournament in St. Augustine and completely forgot about them when I returned. Then the holidays hit and I was swamped with other stuff….yada-yada…

But somehow I ran across them tonight so here they are!  I’ll go back and label the players when I get a few but in the meantime, I thought you might like to check them out.  They can be found in my Photo Gallery here.