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Eric Cantor chickened out of a long-planned lecture at Wharton when he found out Occupy Philly was planning a march in his honor: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leader in the U.S. House, canceled his scheduled speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business because if was going to be open to the first 300 people who showed up. Given that hundreds of Occupy Philadelphia protesters were planning to march from City Hall to the campus to protest the speech, that could have been a lively audience. “The Office of the Majority Leader was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met ,” Cantor spokeswoman Laena Fallon said in an email. “Wharton is a educational leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and the Majority Leader appreciated the invitation to speak with the students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the UPenn community.” Cantor had expected that his speech, on income disparity in the country, would be open to the media, Wharton students and faculty and guests of the university. The Daily Pennsylvanian , the student newspaper, has more here. You might want to read the comments from some of the Wharton students, who are clearly convinced of their own superiority.

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We have written extensively about Delta here at Crooks and Liars. This union busting, consumer hating enterprise is the Scott-Walker-in -the-Sky Airlines . So it was no surprise this week when we learned more disturbing information about how Delta continues to screw American consumers while buying the politicians in D.C. Over at AmericaBlog, Aravosis wrote this week how carriers like Delta have been basically making “a windfall” during recession by taxing American consumers through exorbitant baggage fees in recent years. Now comes a report from the Roll Call that Delta has been buying congressional influence through offering ridiculous perks not available to average consumers (emphasis added): Some perks reach beyond the Beltway. Most major airlines have phones lines dedicated to customers on Capitol Hill, aides and lobbyists told Roll Call. To accommodate their unpredictable travel schedules, Members are allowed to reserve seats on multiple flights but pay only for the one they board. A spokesman for Delta confirmed the airline has a Congressional call desk and allows Members to double-book flights . United Continental Holdings Inc., US Airways and American Airlines, all of which are rumored to have similar practices, did not return Roll Call’s request for comment. “We get on every single flight,” said one Capitol Hill aide familiar with process. “Every offices uses it. … The scheduler uses it for Members and chiefs of staff who fly.” The perks have long raised the ire of consumer advocates. “They are treated completely differently from the time they book their ticket until the time they land at the airport ,” said Kate Hanni, director of Flyers Rights, an airline passenger advocacy organization. The news about Delta is not surprising. They have a history of rewarding members of congress – mostly Republicans – who help further their anti-union goals. As Campaign Money Watch reported recently, “Delta’s been spending money wisely to try to overturn the decision to let workers organize more easily. They spent $1.6 million on lobbying during the first half of 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. (Over the past ten years they spent at least $32 million to influence Washington.) Their PAC has given $826,243 to members of Congress since 2000. Adding additional incentive for Republicans in Congress to stand with them, Richard Anderson, Delta’s CEO, made a $5,000 contribution to the Senate Republican’s campaign committee earlier this year — apparently his first one ever.” Also reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution were Delta’s timely contributions to key Members of Congress to drive the unrelated, ideologically anti-union provisions included in the House version of the FAA Reauthorization legislation. It sounds like Delta is making a clear stake at positioning itself as the airlines of the 1 percent. Maybe it is time to #OccupyDelta?

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Former Republican Congressional Candidate Accused Of Paying Male Escort For Sex

A suburban New Jersey mayor who unsuccessfully sought a congressional seat as a Republican is being accused of paying for sex with a male escort and not following through on a promise of other gifts for the hustler. The Burlington County Times reports that Medford, N.J. Mayor Chris Myers is being accused by the male escort of paying for sex during an October 2010 encounter at a California hotel. The man said Myers identified himself as a mayor from New Jersey and offered his township identification card and gold ID shield as proof during the early-morning meeting at the Fairmount Hotel in Newport Beach. The website – www.mayormyers.webs.com – has photos that show a man who appears to be Myers in his underwear lying on a bed, as well as other photos of him and personal IDs. Myers unsuccessully ran for Congress in a south Jersey district in 2008, losing to Democrat John Adler. Myers defeated two Republicans in the primary for an open seat left vacant by the retirement of longtime Rep. John Saxton (R), before losing the general election to Adler. The race was one of the Garden State’s two open seat competitive races in 2008, with Adler becoming the first Democrat to win the seat – which encompasses parts of Camden, Burlington and Ocean Counties – in over 100 years. Adler defeated Myers, a Persian Gulf war veteran and business executive, 51.6-percent to 48.4-percent. Adler was unseated by Republican Rep. Jon Runyan in 2010 and passed away from a heart ailment in 2011.

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Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound (still) bound for Verizon on November 10th, Droid RAZR bumped to October?

Three’s the magic number, and the third time is the charm so, this triple confirmation of release date gossip’s got us thinking an Android avalanche is on its Big Red way. We’ve seen November 10th bandied about as the day Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich flagship Galaxy Nexus and HTC’s awkwardly monikered Rezound would hit Verizon’s shelves. Now, this latest leak over on Android Central appears to set that date in stone and give us potential $299 on contract pricing for both handsets. Alas, eager beavers hoping to get their hands on Motorola’s just unveiled Droid RAZR are in luck, as this chart outs an earlier October 27th date for the device. These launch windows could easily slip and slide further into the end of year, so take all this talk with the usual dose of skep. At least we now have the consolation prize of knowing a vanilla Android experience is officially headed back to VZW’s chunk of radio waves. Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound (still) bound for Verizon on November 10th, Droid RAZR bumped to October? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Gadhafi%27s Last Words

Game Over For Gadhafi cheesehead1976 says: Yahoo: “# Gadhafi ‘ s last words ..” — my guess they were something like: “Oh shit…”

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Daylight Savings 2011

Topic at Hand: Galaxy Nexus, iPad 3, iPhone 4S and Daylight Savings! Daylight Savings 2011 nz smoptions says: Daylight Savings 2011 : Ends Nov. 6, and It’s Good for Your Body: What is commonly referred to as Daylight Savings … http://t.co/UHUgIdf1

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Wolverhampton Wanderers v Swansea City | Scott Murray

• Mail scott.murray@guardian.co.uk in the electronic fashion • Follow the rest of the day’s goals as they go in • Press F5 for the latest, or switch on the auto-refresh HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. The teams depart to a chorus of boos. Wolves, more accurately, depart to a chorus of boos. They’ve been as dreadful as Swansea have been scintillating. Molineux is miffed. Here’s Roy Allen with “It’s Oversimplification Time! So here goes. Swansea are a well-coached team of players picked for their ability on the ball. Wolves are a disorganised shower of players picked for brawn and getting stuck in. It’s past v future, and the future is 2-0 up.” 45 min: Dyer is down getting some treatment on his right leg. He’s been outstanding in this first half; Swansea certainly won’t want to lose him. 43 min: Sinclair cuts inside from the left and hammers a shot goalwards. Hennessey parries. On the edge of his own area, Johnson looks to clear, but only succeeds in hammering the ball straight into Berra. The clearance could clank anywhere, but ricochets out of play down the left, well away from danger. Wolves are now officially a shambles. 42 min: Dyer diddles down the right, cuts inside, and is afforded an age to take a shot at goal. Luckily for Wolves, his effort is low and lame; for a second, that looked like a third. Swansea are nothing short of superb in attack, especially down this right-hand side. Wolves, on the other hand, well, let’s not riff on their pain. 38 min: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sing the Swansea fans. Black Dog is scampering up and down the vomitories. 35 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. So simple. Graham tears down the right after a clever looped pass. He’s in acres, and sends a low cross into the centre for Allen, who sidefoots brilliantly into the net, Hennessey having no chance whatsoever. Brilliant play from Swansea, though the closing down by Wolves in the middle, as the move developed, was questionable to say the least. Molineux erupts in booing, a mix of pique at the (correct) non-penalty decision, and the inadequacies of their own team. 33 min: Jarvis looks to spin Monk on the left-hand edge of the Swansea area. He’s upended by Monk’s lunge as he turns, and it looks like a penalty kick, but that’s an excellent decision by the referee, who only awards a free kick: on second viewing, the challenge was millimetres outside the area. The referee, of course, only had one chance to see it, and the poor buggers get pelters just about every week, so hats off for that. The Wolves fans don’t see it that way, of course, and boo accordingly as O’Hara steps up to send a free kick straight at Vorm. 31 min: Wolves can’t get anything going. “Up early here in the USA watching the match,” reports Herman Hooker from Atlanta. “I just wanted to let you know that my TV’s program guide calls this English Championship Soccer. They usually call it English Premier League Soccer. Perhaps an omen?” If Wolves fans didn’t already feel the chill winds of 1984 against their necks, they will now. 28 min: Graham, Dyer, Gower and Sinclair are coming at Wolves from all angles. The home defence looks very nervous whenever anybody runs with the ball at them. A couple of corners for Swansea, the first nervously cleared behind by Henry, the second a free kick to relieve the pressure after Graham puts himself about a wee bit too much. 25 min: A free kick for Wolves, 30 yards out, just to the left of goal. Hammill hits a beauty, the ball heading for the top left corner, Vorm fingertipping over spectacularly. A very decent response by Wolves, but one made in a very quiet stadium. Outside, you can hear Black Dog creaking through the turnstiles. 23 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Swansea City. Dyer, cutting in from the right, shoots just over. No matter. A minute later, Gower, 30 yards out, lifts the ball straight down the middle, over Johnson and to the feet of Graham, who has broken clear into the area down the inside-left channel. He’s clear on the edge of the six-yard box, and pokes the ball past the advancing Hennessey and into the bottom-right corner. 20 min: Wolves so nearly take the lead. Good work from Doyle down the right, whose low cross finds Jarvis level with the far post. Jarvis spins and shoots, but his effort is blocked. The ball’s quickly swung back in, and there’s a wee melee, O’Hara finally hitting a shot in the crowded area from six yards straight at Vorm. The resulting corner’s wasted, but that’s raised the crowd. 18 min: Dyer, Rangel and Gower are causing Wolves all manner of bother down this right wing. Ward is spinning around like a teenager after two warm cans of Special Brew. He’s helped out this time by Jarvis and O’Hara, albeit not particularly convincingly, Dyer nearly threading a clever pass past two old-gold shirts for Graham in the box, but the ball’s eventually hacked clear. A concern for Wolves, this wing. 15 min: O’Hara busies himself down the left, giving Jarvis a bit of space to cross. The ball’s flung into the area, but easily cleared. Henry has half a second to unleash another long-distance effort towards goal, and he’s encouraged by the crowd to do so via the medium of holler, but he can’t get the shot away and the crowd go back to quietly seething. Don’t judge, a five-match losing run does this to people. 13 min: Swansea aren’t all pretty passes; they snap into the tackle, and harry all over the pitch. Like Barcelona, sort of, only admittedly not quite as good, but very much less self-righteous. 10 min: From the corner, the ball’s worked out to Rangel on the right. A cross to the near post, where Graham guides the ball well right of the target. He was free of the all-gold back line there, and should have done better. Swansea took a while to warm up, but they’re the better team now. Molineux is a wee bit quiet all of a sudden, anxiety having just arrived, Black Dog still queuing up outside the stadium for admission. 9 min: Swansea are pinging it around nicely, all of a sudden. Allen hits a rising shot from 20 yards that’s fingertipped over by Hennessey. 8 min: Swansea have settled a bit now, with Dyer their main outlet. Again he gives Ward a torrid time down the right, and sends a daisycutter into the area. Berra gets across to intercept, sidefooting the ball wide right of goal for a corner. The corner kick… yeah. 7 min: It’s sunny in Wolverhampton, by the way. Crisp and cold, I’ll be bound, coat and sunglasses weather. A good atmosphere, too, both sets of fans giving it plenty. 5 min: Dyer twists Ward this way and that down the right, some good old fashioned Garrinchaisms, but the Wolves man holds firm and Dyer has to lay the ball off. It’ll never make much of an anecdote, but it’s all that Swansea have managed in the Wolves half so far. 4 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but then this is Premier League football. 3 min: A strong start by Wolves, this. Ebans-Blake sends Jarvis free wide down the left, and the resulting cross to the far post is dangerous, but Henry miscontrols. Wolves come straight back at Swansea, though, the promising Hammill twisting and turning down the right to win a corner. And we’re off! Wolves set the ball rolling. Nobody manages to control the ball during the first 30 seconds, but then nobody managed that for nearly 70 minutes during the Liverpool-Manchester United game last week, and few complained about that. Then, after 39 seconds, Henry latches onto a loose ball 35 yards out, and unleashes a super-screamer towards goal. The ball’s low, rising slowly, and swerving all over the place, but by the time it reaches the six-yard box it’s straight at Vorm, who can parry clear. What a shot, though! And what a start. More, teams, please! The teams are out! They’re running about. They’ll soon be playing football. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Allen, Gower, Britton, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Orlandi, Routledge, Lita, Moore, Richards, Moras. Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey, Stearman, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Jarvis, Henry, O’Hara, Hammill, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: De Vries, Craddock, Hunt, Vokes, Milijas, Doherty, Guedioura. Kick off at the grand old Molineux: 12.45pm. Perhaps more pertinent, is the fact that Swansea are the only side yet to pick up a point away from home this season. And that Wolves have lost their last five league matches, their worst run in the top division since 1984, which was another relegation season for them I’ll be bound. No pointers worthy of note, then. I don’t know why I mentioned it. These two clubs have only ever met in the English top division twice. That was in 1981/82, when John Toshack’s Swansea were on their way to finishing sixth, and a place in Europe, while Wolves were on their way down. In October at the Vetch Field, the teams played out a goalless draw. Come March at Molineux, Swansea scuttled off with a dour 1-0 victory, Ian Walsh heading the winner. The result “salvaged Welsh pride”, it says here, as it sent Swansea top of the division on a day Wales got spanked in the rugby, 34-18 against Scotland, their first home defeat in 28 championship matches. Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers Swansea City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

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Wolverhampton Wanderers v Swansea City | Scott Murray

• Mail scott.murray@guardian.co.uk in the electronic fashion • Follow the rest of the day’s goals as they go in • Press F5 for the latest, or switch on the auto-refresh HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. The teams depart to a chorus of boos. Wolves, more accurately, depart to a chorus of boos. They’ve been as dreadful as Swansea have been scintillating. Molineux is miffed. Here’s Roy Allen with “It’s Oversimplification Time! So here goes. Swansea are a well-coached team of players picked for their ability on the ball. Wolves are a disorganised shower of players picked for brawn and getting stuck in. It’s past v future, and the future is 2-0 up.” 45 min: Dyer is down getting some treatment on his right leg. He’s been outstanding in this first half; Swansea certainly won’t want to lose him. 43 min: Sinclair cuts inside from the left and hammers a shot goalwards. Hennessey parries. On the edge of his own area, Johnson looks to clear, but only succeeds in hammering the ball straight into Berra. The clearance could clank anywhere, but ricochets out of play down the left, well away from danger. Wolves are now officially a shambles. 42 min: Dyer diddles down the right, cuts inside, and is afforded an age to take a shot at goal. Luckily for Wolves, his effort is low and lame; for a second, that looked like a third. Swansea are nothing short of superb in attack, especially down this right-hand side. Wolves, on the other hand, well, let’s not riff on their pain. 38 min: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sing the Swansea fans. Black Dog is scampering up and down the vomitories. 35 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. So simple. Graham tears down the right after a clever looped pass. He’s in acres, and sends a low cross into the centre for Allen, who sidefoots brilliantly into the net, Hennessey having no chance whatsoever. Brilliant play from Swansea, though the closing down by Wolves in the middle, as the move developed, was questionable to say the least. Molineux erupts in booing, a mix of pique at the (correct) non-penalty decision, and the inadequacies of their own team. 33 min: Jarvis looks to spin Monk on the left-hand edge of the Swansea area. He’s upended by Monk’s lunge as he turns, and it looks like a penalty kick, but that’s an excellent decision by the referee, who only awards a free kick: on second viewing, the challenge was millimetres outside the area. The referee, of course, only had one chance to see it, and the poor buggers get pelters just about every week, so hats off for that. The Wolves fans don’t see it that way, of course, and boo accordingly as O’Hara steps up to send a free kick straight at Vorm. 31 min: Wolves can’t get anything going. “Up early here in the USA watching the match,” reports Herman Hooker from Atlanta. “I just wanted to let you know that my TV’s program guide calls this English Championship Soccer. They usually call it English Premier League Soccer. Perhaps an omen?” If Wolves fans didn’t already feel the chill winds of 1984 against their necks, they will now. 28 min: Graham, Dyer, Gower and Sinclair are coming at Wolves from all angles. The home defence looks very nervous whenever anybody runs with the ball at them. A couple of corners for Swansea, the first nervously cleared behind by Henry, the second a free kick to relieve the pressure after Graham puts himself about a wee bit too much. 25 min: A free kick for Wolves, 30 yards out, just to the left of goal. Hammill hits a beauty, the ball heading for the top left corner, Vorm fingertipping over spectacularly. A very decent response by Wolves, but one made in a very quiet stadium. Outside, you can hear Black Dog creaking through the turnstiles. 23 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Swansea City. Dyer, cutting in from the right, shoots just over. No matter. A minute later, Gower, 30 yards out, lifts the ball straight down the middle, over Johnson and to the feet of Graham, who has broken clear into the area down the inside-left channel. He’s clear on the edge of the six-yard box, and pokes the ball past the advancing Hennessey and into the bottom-right corner. 20 min: Wolves so nearly take the lead. Good work from Doyle down the right, whose low cross finds Jarvis level with the far post. Jarvis spins and shoots, but his effort is blocked. The ball’s quickly swung back in, and there’s a wee melee, O’Hara finally hitting a shot in the crowded area from six yards straight at Vorm. The resulting corner’s wasted, but that’s raised the crowd. 18 min: Dyer, Rangel and Gower are causing Wolves all manner of bother down this right wing. Ward is spinning around like a teenager after two warm cans of Special Brew. He’s helped out this time by Jarvis and O’Hara, albeit not particularly convincingly, Dyer nearly threading a clever pass past two old-gold shirts for Graham in the box, but the ball’s eventually hacked clear. A concern for Wolves, this wing. 15 min: O’Hara busies himself down the left, giving Jarvis a bit of space to cross. The ball’s flung into the area, but easily cleared. Henry has half a second to unleash another long-distance effort towards goal, and he’s encouraged by the crowd to do so via the medium of holler, but he can’t get the shot away and the crowd go back to quietly seething. Don’t judge, a five-match losing run does this to people. 13 min: Swansea aren’t all pretty passes; they snap into the tackle, and harry all over the pitch. Like Barcelona, sort of, only admittedly not quite as good, but very much less self-righteous. 10 min: From the corner, the ball’s worked out to Rangel on the right. A cross to the near post, where Graham guides the ball well right of the target. He was free of the all-gold back line there, and should have done better. Swansea took a while to warm up, but they’re the better team now. Molineux is a wee bit quiet all of a sudden, anxiety having just arrived, Black Dog still queuing up outside the stadium for admission. 9 min: Swansea are pinging it around nicely, all of a sudden. Allen hits a rising shot from 20 yards that’s fingertipped over by Hennessey. 8 min: Swansea have settled a bit now, with Dyer their main outlet. Again he gives Ward a torrid time down the right, and sends a daisycutter into the area. Berra gets across to intercept, sidefooting the ball wide right of goal for a corner. The corner kick… yeah. 7 min: It’s sunny in Wolverhampton, by the way. Crisp and cold, I’ll be bound, coat and sunglasses weather. A good atmosphere, too, both sets of fans giving it plenty. 5 min: Dyer twists Ward this way and that down the right, some good old fashioned Garrinchaisms, but the Wolves man holds firm and Dyer has to lay the ball off. It’ll never make much of an anecdote, but it’s all that Swansea have managed in the Wolves half so far. 4 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but then this is Premier League football. 3 min: A strong start by Wolves, this. Ebans-Blake sends Jarvis free wide down the left, and the resulting cross to the far post is dangerous, but Henry miscontrols. Wolves come straight back at Swansea, though, the promising Hammill twisting and turning down the right to win a corner. And we’re off! Wolves set the ball rolling. Nobody manages to control the ball during the first 30 seconds, but then nobody managed that for nearly 70 minutes during the Liverpool-Manchester United game last week, and few complained about that. Then, after 39 seconds, Henry latches onto a loose ball 35 yards out, and unleashes a super-screamer towards goal. The ball’s low, rising slowly, and swerving all over the place, but by the time it reaches the six-yard box it’s straight at Vorm, who can parry clear. What a shot, though! And what a start. More, teams, please! The teams are out! They’re running about. They’ll soon be playing football. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Allen, Gower, Britton, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Orlandi, Routledge, Lita, Moore, Richards, Moras. Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey, Stearman, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Jarvis, Henry, O’Hara, Hammill, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: De Vries, Craddock, Hunt, Vokes, Milijas, Doherty, Guedioura. Kick off at the grand old Molineux: 12.45pm. Perhaps more pertinent, is the fact that Swansea are the only side yet to pick up a point away from home this season. And that Wolves have lost their last five league matches, their worst run in the top division since 1984, which was another relegation season for them I’ll be bound. No pointers worthy of note, then. I don’t know why I mentioned it. These two clubs have only ever met in the English top division twice. That was in 1981/82, when John Toshack’s Swansea were on their way to finishing sixth, and a place in Europe, while Wolves were on their way down. In October at the Vetch Field, the teams played out a goalless draw. Come March at Molineux, Swansea scuttled off with a dour 1-0 victory, Ian Walsh heading the winner. The result “salvaged Welsh pride”, it says here, as it sent Swansea top of the division on a day Wales got spanked in the rugby, 34-18 against Scotland, their first home defeat in 28 championship matches. Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers Swansea City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk

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Edmundo Ros, Latin American music pioneer, dies aged 100

Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk

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Edmundo Ros, Latin American music pioneer, dies aged 100

Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk

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