OPC's Coverage of the NFL Draft and Corinne Bailey Rae

JaMarcus Russell, a massive, strong-armed quarterback out of LSU, is potentially the top overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in this weekend's NFL draft. Russell has been frequently likened to onetime Viking and current Dolphin Daunte Culpepper, another enormous QB with a strong arm. Russell has not, for some reason, been compared to the Steelers Ben Roethlisberger, who is of roughly the same size and physical skills.

Russell actually reminds me of Corinne Bailey Rae, the diminutive British singer who surged onto the Adult Alternative charts over the past year. Rae, or Bailey Rae, or whatever she's supposed to be called on second reference (what is it with the British people with two last names? Why isn't Sacha Baron Cohen's last name "Cohen," or at least "Baron-Cohen"?) has been frequently compared to Billie Holiday, although despite a little crack in her voice and a certain girlishness, she doesn't sound all that much like Holiday (see? We Americans know a surname when we see one) to me. The answer to this mystery, I think, can be found if you look at that picture of La Bailey Rae up there at above right. Madeleine Peyroux, now she sounds like Billie Holiday.

Who would I compare Corinne Bailey Rae to? Her first single sounded so much like "I'm Like a Bird" it should have been called "Girl, Put Your Nelly Furtado Records On." But she's not Portuguese-Canadian enough for that.