Ernie Hudson: “Ghostbusters” and so much more

Ernie Hudson played ghostbuster

Winston Zeddemore in the "Ghostbusters" movies.

Source: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

(May be subject to copyright)

Even after 40 years, I still look at him as the newest ghost buster, the guy who answered an ad because they needed some extra help battling the paranormal.

Yet, Ernie Hudson is not an add on, he was a ghost buster, and so much more.

Last week, I saw him play a wise older basketball coach in “Champions” and it reminded me of “Ghost Busters” and much more.

The years before
Ernie Hudson had already had quite a few supporting roles on television as the 1980s dawned. He had guest starred in episodes of “The Man from Atlantis”; “Fantasy Island”; “Baa Baa Black Sheep”; “The Incredible Hulk”; “Roots: The Next Generations”; “The White Shadow”; “Detective School”; and “One Day at a Time”.

He had also begun to land small roles in motion pictures, most notably “The Main Event”.

Dawn of the decade
He continued to appear on a multitude of TV shows in the 1980s such as “Skag”; “Too Close for Comfort”; “Diff’rent Strokes”; “Little House on the Prairie”; “Bosom Buddies”; “Taxi”: “The Dukes of Hazzard”; “Flamingo Road”; “The New Odd Couple”: “Webster”; “The A-Team,”; “St. Elsewhere”; “The Last Precinct”; “It’s A Living”; “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer”; “Gimme A Break”; and “Full House”.

His film career picked up steam too with roles in “The Octagon” and “The Jazz Singer” in 1980; and “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone”, “Going Berserk” and “Two of a Kind” in 1983.

That’s when he it it big, playing Winston Zeddemore, who answers an ad to help Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler fight the paranormal in “Ghostbusters” in 1984.

He would go on to appear in “Weeds” in 1987; “Leviathon” in 1989; and reprise his role as Winston Zeddemore in “Ghostbusters II” in 1989.

The years after
Ernie Hudson would go on to have a prolific career in the 1990s and the 21st Century with roles in “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”; “The Crow”; “The Cowboy Way”; “Airheads”; “Speechless”; “The Basketball Diaries”; “Congo”; “The Substitute”; “Mr. Magoo”; “Miss Congeniality”; “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous”; the “Ghostbusters” re-boot in 2026 as “Uncle Bill Jenkins”; “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”; and most recently “Champions”.

On television his most famous role was Warden Leo Glynn on “Oz” from 1997 to 2003. He also had roles in “Cop Rock”; “TriBeCa”; “Wild Palms”; “Touched by an Angel”; “Without a Trace”; “Everwood”; “Crossin Jordan”; “Stargate SG-1”; “ER”: “Desperate Housewives”; Cold Case”; “Las Vegas”; “Psych”; “Bones"; “Private Practice”; “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”; “Heroes”; “Law and Order”; “Criminal Minds”; "White Collar”; “Torchwood”; “Grey’s Anatomy”; “How I Met Your Mother”; “Rizzoli and Isles”; “Modern Family”; “Scandal”; “Hot in Cleveland”; “Once Upon a Time”; “Twin Peaks”; “Blue Bloods”; “Arrow”; “MacGyver”; and so much more.

He keeps working to this day. Not only was he in “Champions”, but is currently entering his second season as the head of the new incarnation of a time travel project on the “Quantum Leap” re-boot.

Parting thoughts
I did not realize just how prolific Ernie Hudson really was until I did some research for this post. He has been in a wide variety of film and TV productions spanning six decades. Some of his earliest roles in shows such as “Detective School”, “Skag”, “The New Odd Couple”, “The Jazz Singer”, “Going Berserk”, and “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone” brought back some memories – and grist for the blog.

He has always had this way of carrying himself where he is stern and serious, but also has a softer side, and can even be a little bit tongue in cheek.

That’s how he played Winston Zeddemore in “Ghostbusters” and how he still acts, playing Coach Phil Peretti in “Champions” and how he runs the Quantum Leap project as Herbert “Magic” Williams.

I like Ernie Hudson a lot, and I think it comes from having become very familiar seeing him on the screen, both big and small, over six decades.

Andy Kim: Baby I love you…

Andy Kim had hits such as

"Baby I Love You" and "Rock Me Gently".

Source: https://cecescott.com/

(May be subject to copyright)

It was an episode of the “Alan Thicke Show” where I first met Baron Longfellow. He was tall, dark, and handsome but, as I hadn’t really got into music yet, had no idea who he was. I didn’t recall ever hearing anything he sang either

Then he told Alan Thicke he had this agent who thought it would be beneficial to his career to change his name to Baron Longfellow. After all that same agent had convinced another client to change his name to Englebert Humperdink.

My first thought was, “You changed your name to Englebert Humperdink?”

That didn’t seem like a career boost.

In any event, through that whole interview, I don’t recall hearing what Baron Longfellow had changed his name to.

Only later did I discover his real name is Andy Kim, and in fact I did know more of his songs than I thought.

All of this came back the other day when it was announced Andy Kim would be invested in the Order of Canada.

Special offer
Not too much after that, I was watching TV and saw a commercial for one of those K-tel type compilation albums they often advertised on TV. It included a song by Neil Diamond called “Longfellow Serenade”, which was one of the snippets played on the commercial. The album cover was purple and silver and I ended up buying the record for my Mom for Christmas one year.

When they listed the artists with songs on the record, I noticed “Baron Longfellow” for the first time.

Heart of Gold
Back in the mid 1980s, CBC aired this documentary on Saturday nights on the history of Canadian pop music, called “Heart of Gold”. It was narrated by Donald Sutherland, and went into great detail.

At one point I heard this great song “Sugar, Sugar”, but it was sung by this group called The Archies. Then there was some footage of one of the Archies and it was Baron Longfellow, but it said his name was Andy Kim.

I soon discovered Andy Kim was Baron Longfellow’s actual name. He had talked about the Archies on Alan Thicke but I never made the connection, because I had never seen him before.

Pop sensation
Later on, I also discovered Andy Kim had quite a prolific career in the late 1960s and 1970s, with songs I knew fairly well. He even had two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Baby I love You” reaching number nine in 1969, and “Rock Me Gently” reaching number one in 1974. Both songs hit number one in Canada.

Parting thoughts
It is amazing how music can just permeate everything. If you listen to enough of it, even as background noise, songs will sink in.

That was the case with Andy Kim. I had no idea he was involved in “Sugar, Sugar” or sang “Baby I Love You” and “Rock Me Gently”, yet I know those songs well.

What makes it even funnier is that often, when I want to tell my spouse how much I care about her, I will sing, “Baby I love you…”

So I have Andy Kim to thank for that.

Being such a part of the fabric of Canadian culture also shows why he so rightfully deserves to be invested into the Order of Canada.

Jim Burrow: Joe’s dad was a good player too

Jim Burrow played for Montreal and Calgary of the CFL .

Source: https://www.lapresse.ca/sports

(May be subject to copyright)

When quarterback Joe Burrow won the college football championship with LSU, he said afterwards that his family hadn’t won anything. He talked about his own defeats then mentioned that his dad had come close but lost in the Grey Cup.

I had heard that Joe was Jim Burrow’s son, but I did not quite believe it at first because the math didn’t really line up. I watched Jim Burrow play in the CFL with Montreal and Calgary, but that was a long time ago.

Yet, it was the same Jim Burrow.

North to Montreal
Jim Burrow, a defensive back, played his college football at Nebraska then was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1976. After a season there, he found his way north, joining the Montreal Alouettes in October of 1977 to finish out the year with them.

He would play just four games in the regular season, but intercepted two passes. Montreal finished first in the East with an 11-5 record. After a first round bye, they defeated Ottawa in the East Final, advancing to the Grey Cup, which was on their home field, the brand new Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Alouettes hammered the Edmonton football club, 41-6 in a game called “The Ice Bowl” because the field was covered in ice. Montreal ingeniously put staples in their shoes to give them traction, and the big win.

So, Jim Burrow actually had won a Grey Cup, but maybe Joe is thinking of the next few years.

Jim Burrow played a full 16 games in the 1978 season, intercepting five passes, and scoring one touchdown, to lead the East and earn an East all-star selection. He also returned six punts for 59 yards and a 9.8-yard average, and recovered a fumble. The defending champs finished second in the East with a record of 8-7-1. They hosted Hamilton in the East Semi-final, defeating them by a score of 35-20, then went to Ottawa and beat first place Rough Riders by a score of 21-16. They would once again face Edmonton in the Grey Cup, who exacted some revenge for the previous year’s loss, defeating the Alouettes by a score of 20-13.

The 1979 season was another good one for Burrow, as he led the East again in interceptions, with six, and was named an East all-star again. He also had an interception return for a touchdown. Montreal finished first in the East with an 11-4-1 record, earning a first round playoff bye, then beat Ottawa 17-6 in the East Final to advance to their third straight Grey Cup, and third straight meeting wit Edmonton. The Eskimos again prevailed by a score of 17-9 to win their second of what would become five straight Grey Cups.

Heading west
Burrow split the 1980 season with Calgary, where he played six games, and Montreal, where he played nine. He had one interception with each team, and blocked a kick while with Montreal.

At the time I was just getting into football and I thought Montreal was a powerhouse while Calgary was not quite there yet, unable to beat Edmonton and get to the Grey Cup. So, when the Stampeders got a Montreal Alouette, I thought he had to be good. After all, he played in the Grey Cup, something the Stampeders hadn’t done since 1971.

End of the line
Burrow rounded out his CFL career in 1981, moving on to the Ottawa Rough Riders where he played in three games and had two interceptions.

His career totals were 17 interceptions in 54 games, 239 yards, and two touchdowns.

Father figure
He would go on to coach college football teams for more than 40 years, including stints at Washington State; Iowa State; his alma mater Nebraska; North Dakota State; and Ohio. While coaching at Iowa State, his youngest son Joe was born in Ames, Iowa. When Joe entered his final year of college football in 2019, Jim Burrow had retired after 40 years of coaching at the end of the 2018 season, so he could attend all of his son’s games.

Parting thoughts
Although Jim Burrow played in the CFL in the 1980s, so much of his story was written after he finished playing at the age of 28.

Despite the wins, losses, interceptions and big plays, perhaps his greatest accomplishment is his son Joe.

Peasant vision part two, Channel 13

It was more than a decade ago I wrote “Peasant Vision – part one, Channel 7” where I described in detail what it was like watching TV back in the 1980s on the farm.

Somehow, I thought I would get back to the other two parts of these peasant vision trilogy, but never have.

Then earlier tonight, I was covering the Willow Creek Gospel Music Jamboree in Granum. The emcee for years has been Darrel Janz who, for so many years, was known as a TV personality, or news anchor, for CTV Calgary.

CTV Calgary was actually called CFCN Calgary and CFCN Lethbridge, and it was Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial.

Seeing Darrel Janz, who I watched for years read the news on Channel 13, brought back all sorts of memories of the channel I probably watched more than any other growing up on the farm.

Three channel universe
The biggest thing was that we only had three channels – Channel 7, an independent channel broadcasting from Lethbridge and loosely affiliated with the Global TV network; Channel 9, which was the nation’s broadcaster, that is the CBC affiliate; and Channel 13, which was the other national network, the CTV affiliate, also broadcasting out of Lethbridge.

Best on the box
Being the CTV affiliate, Channel 13 always seemed to have the best shows, or would get them. Every fall, I would anxiously await the fall preview issue of “TV Guide” to read about all the new shows. Invariably, most of the best ones were on Channel 13 – or would be.

A lot of shows in the 1980s that started on Channel 7 and had some success, would be on Channel 13 the next fall. It was like Channel 7 would test drive them for Channel 13 to see if they ran. Some shows I can think of off the top of my head were “Family Ties”; “Cheers”; “Knight Rider”; “Moonlighting”; “Knot’s Landing”; “Dynasty”; "Miami Vice" and “The Cosby Show”.

Home-grown shows
Where Channel 7 was part of a loose affiliation of independent stations that made a lot of excellent, hyper-local programming, Channel 13 was part of the CTV network. With that came more resources to make their own shows, beyond just news and sports.

They made a lot of drama and comedy and as I think on it, more shows kept coming back to me. There were comedies such as “Check It Out” and “Snow Job”; science fiction such as “The Star Lost”; drama such as “The Littlest Hobo” and “Swiss Family Robinson”; variety type shows such as “Circus” and “Stars on Ice”; game shows such as “Definition”, “Headline Hunters”, and “The Mad Dash”; news magazine shows such as “Live It Up” and “W5”; and so much more.

Some more really good, some were passable like much American TV, and some, like American TV, were brutal.

The difference was, CTV kept airing them over, and over, to fill space and fulfill Canadian content requirements. CTV still does the same thing today, airing “Corner Gas” over and over, after it went off the air years ago.

Sports connection
CTV carried a lot of American shows, as it still does today, and the same was true of sports. They carried ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”, but added some Canadian content as well. They also simulcast NFL Football, but only after the CFL season had ended in November.

That’s because they carried what they called “Canadian Professional Football” which later became something along the lines of the “CFL on CTV”. That’s where I first learned all about Canadian football, from announcers such as Pat Marsden, Leif Petterson, Frank Rigney, and Al McCann, who I discovered was actually from my hometown of Coaldale.

Sadly, CTV would abandon the CFL, creating a vacuum soon filled by TSN.

CTV carried “Blue Jays Baseball”, which was really cool when the Jays started winning at the end of 1982 season and into 1983. It was hosted by Don Chevrier and Tony Kubek, who did a really good job. Back then however, because the games started at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., Channel 13 would join them “in progress” after they aired their local news. It was a bit frustrating because you could miss a third of the game or more and, with the announcers referring to earlier parts of the game, get a little lost. Still, it was all that we had.

For awhile, CTV also got into hockey, and started broadcasting NHL games on Friday nights. This was in addition to their broadcast of a lot of international hockey. They seemed to have the rights to the World Hockey Championship every year. Back then, in the three-channel universe, they would broadcast and re-broadcast some of those games days and even a week later. They also broadcast the Canada Cups of the 1980s. Although the CBC and "Hockey Night In Canada" is most associated with hockey, it was CTV who broadcast moments such as that epic Gretzky to Lemieux goal to win the 1987 Canada Cup for Canada.

When they got the rights to NHL games, CTV realized what all us fans already knew – they were weak in the broadcast booth. Ron Reusch and Bernie Pascall needed an upgrade. So CTV went out and got Dan Kelly, a bonified hockey broadcaster, and he vastly improved the quality of the games on TV. He was also the won who called the 1987 Canada Cup.

The other odd memory I have of CTV hockey was that they had Brad Park as a colour commentator. Then he got hired to coach the Detroit Red Wings, and was gone just as fast.

On the hot seat
CFCN Calgary also did some of their own programming. A show I used to watch on Saturday nights was “Sports Hot Seat”. It featured a panel of broadcasters who would interview a sports personality. Two of the journalists I recall regularly were Russ Peake and Ken Newins. There were also two guests I remember distinctly.

J.C. Watts had been a college star at Oklahoma, came north to the CFL, and came within a whisker of leading his Ottawa Rough Riders to one of the greatest upsets in league history in the 1981 Grey Cup against Edmonton. On “Sports Hot Seat”, he talked about finishing college and being a black quarterback. He had an offer to play with the New York Jets – at defensive back or running back – just not quarterback. That may have been one of the things that got me interested in the plight of the black quarterback, and the systemic racism in the NFL at the time

Ed McIlaney was a pass rusher with the Calgary Stampeders. He talked about the money paid players in the CFL, and how the league and agents could do more to find endorsement deals and other revenue streams for players. He cited the example of Kenny Stabler, a quarterback in the NFL, throwing a can of motor oil in a commercial.

It was an interesting show, but I honestly could not find a trace of it on the Internet.

Home Cookin’
Another local show, produced in Calgary, was one I wish I had paid more attention to. It was called “Home Cookin’” and it was hosted by Jim Ripley, a local radio deejay. “Home Cookin’” featured live music in studio, which was simulcast on C-JAY 92, the radio station Jim Ripley worked for.

Parting thoughts
Channel 13 was my favourite channel on peasant vision. It was just the most dynamic with a lot of the best American shows, some good home grown shows, and some really good sports.

In an era, when a channel had to try and cater to a broad audience, it had something for everyone.

It was a huge part of growing up in the 1980s, my pipeline to a lot of pop culture, and I will always remember it fondly.

Sinead O’Connor: Starting out in the ‘80s

Her career was just getting going at the conclusion of the decade, as she released her first album in 1987.

Yet, just three years later, Sinead O’Connor’s career would explode with a song that was both haunting and eerie.

I heard the news yesterday she had died at the age of 56.

Nothing compares…
It was my third year of university, so the 1989-1990 school year, when I heard this song that just sat with me. It wasn’t as much enjoyable as uncomfortable. But I suspect that was the intention.

Heightening the whole sensation was the music video, which featured this shaved bald woman singing straight into the camera.

It was called “Nothing Compares 2U” and it was by this newcomer from Ireland named Sinead O’Connor.

The song would go all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and be a worldwide success, propelling O’Connor to stardom.

Parting thoughts
Wikipedia says Sinead O’Connor would go on to use her music to draw attention to social issues such as child abuse, human rights, racism, and women’s rights.

I do recall she tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II when she hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 1992. For whatever reason, I thought it had something to do with her Irish nationalism.

Boy was I wrong.

She tore up that picture to protest abuse in the Catholic Church.

Yet, as the 1980s ended, Sinead O’Connor was just getting started.

The magic of Baseball: Remembering the Lethbridge Dodgers

The cover of a program for the Lethbridge Dodgers baseball club of the Pioneer League.

Source: https://albertadugoutstories.com/2022/04/25/lethbridge-dodgers-all-time-team/

(May be subject to copyright)

It was one of those cool moments you remember as a kid.

I was always hoping to catch a foul ball when I went to a Lethbridge Dodgers game at Henderson Stadium. The problem was, if we sat behind home plate, we were protected by a screen. If we sat down the third base line, we were way too far away. The only way was to hang out behind the Dodgers’ dugout along the first base line. If we were lucky, a batter would foul a ball off and it would land on the really thin line of grass down the first base line. That only happened once, when a friend of my cousin Carl’s beat a herd of other teens to that ball. Otherwise, it was hopeless.

Then one day, we were by the dugout and one of the players said to me and Carl “Do you want a ball?” We both nodded. So, he kicked a couple under the fence to us.

It was so cool.

My beloved Toronto Blue Jays just finished a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon. Ever since I was about nine years old, I have had a soft spot in my heart for the Dodgers.

It’s all because of the memories their minor league affiliate in Lethbridge left me in the ‘80s.

Pioneer League baseball
No professional sport has a more developed, well-structured developmental system than Major League Baseball. Leagues or levels are classified by the letter “A” from Single-A to Triple-A, with Triple-A being the level just below the major leagues. The majority of teams are affiliated with a major league team, although there are some unaffiliated teams.

Below A ball, is the entry level, often called rookie ball.

Back in the 1980s, rookie league baseball was pretty big in Southern Alberta, with three teams in the Pioneer League.

There were the Calgary Expos, Medicine Hat Blue Jays, and Lethbridge Dodgers. The rest of the franchises were all located in the United States, primarily in Montana. There were the Great Falls Giants; Butte Copper Kings; Idaho Falls Angels; Helena Phillies; and the Billings Mustangs.

These teams were all affiliated with major league teams, who would stock these teams with their young prospects.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were renowned for their scouting system which found baseball players in the most unlikely places from the four corners of the world.

Some would get their start with the Lethbridge Dodgers.

Sustained success
It showed in the performance of the Lethbridge Dodgers on the field. They would win three Pioneer League championships in four years. Interestingly, those championship teams were all coached by the same manager, Gail Henley, who did not manage the team in the intervening year when they did not win.

The Lethbridge club was initially called the Lethbridge Expos and affiliated with the Montreal Expos of the National League for 1975 and 1976. Their biggest claim to fame was future hall of famer Andre Dawson who played in Lethbridge in 1975. It was cool because on the back of Dawson’s baseball card, it listed Lethbridge as one of his former teams. That was a thrill to read for a bunch of kids from Coaldale, which really wasn’t that far from Lehbridge. Also, I think my brother, who is 10 years older than me, may have seen the Lethbridge Expos play, but I could be mistaken.

The team affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977, and were an immediate success, winning the league championship in 1977, 1979, and 1980.

The players the thing
Even with all that success, I don’t recall any of the scores of any Lethbridge Dodger games I watched. What I remember is the players. There were some that stand out, and others that came to mind when I read the rosters of the team last night.

Super cool
The player I remember best was Rafael Montalvo. He played two years with the Dodgers, and he was the one who kicked us those balls under the fence. He also talked to us and he gave us several autographs.

Behind the plate
Montalvo’s catcher was named Gilberto Reyes, and he was there standing beside Rafael when he talked to us. He was the first player I saw live, playing for the Lethbridge Dodgers, then a few years later on TV playing with the Montreal Expos.

Pitching ace
The player I had heard about most, because he was the ace of the Dodgers pitching staff, was Rich Rodas. Wikipedia revealed he would win the triple crown in 1979, with 12 wins, a 1.12 earned run average, and 148 strikeouts, leading them to the Pioneer League championship. I was lucky enough to see Rich Rodas play in the very first game I ever saw at Henderson Stadium. I also started collecting baseball cards around that time and got one for Rick Rhoden, and thought it may be Rich Rodas.

Running the Gauntlett
Another player I had read a story about in the Lethbridge Herald, who was touted as a good prospect, was catcher Todd Gauntlett. I just loved the name even then. My cousin Carl and I saw him play, and both thought he wouldn’t be in Lethbridge long, likely called up to the next level or the next. He also painted the part of his glove around the pocket in orange neon so pitchers could pick it up easier.

Name game
Greg Brock played first base one year. When I heard his name announced, it reminded me of Greg Boras, a guy who was a couple years ahead of me in junior high and was a great baseball player. His team, Lakeside, had made it to the Canadian Little League Championship and the final was broadcast on CFCN Channel 13, so I actually got to see him play on TV. It was wild, seeing someone I actually knew on TV.

Maple leaf forever
Something I noticed was the Dodgers didn’t have one Canadian on their roster. I scoured the program every time we went to a game, to see if there were any Canadians. Finally, I found one. His name was Bill Max – but he played third base for the Butte Copper Kings, not the Dodgers

Programs
The Dodgers did what the Lethbridge Broncos hockey team did with their programs. They would have a glossy program they gave out all year, with a typewritten sheet with the rosters and game details for that particular game inserted.

The 1982 program featured on its cover the four members of the 1981 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers who played in Lethbridge – Greg Brock; Steve Sax; Mike Marshall; and Candy Maldonado. I had seen Brock and Sax play, missed Marshall by a year, and never heard of Maldonado until he got to the Major Leagues.

The sad part about being a minor league team is that players could get called up any time, and they would just be gone. Sometimes, the program insert was printed before players were called up. The player I remember that happened to was a pitcher named Robert Kenyon. He was already out of town when the program hit our hands.

Promotion nights
The Dodgers, like every baseball team, ran a lot of promotions. One day, I came home from school and my Mom showed me this coupon. She had three actually. I could not believe my eyes. When she was shopping at Safeway, she saw a whole bin of them. They were coupons for free entry to a Dodgers game. That was so cool. I called my friend and neighbour Mike and invited him. His mom said, maybe some other time. I scoffed. There was no other time we would get free tickets. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun.

The best promotion was Autograph Night. The Dodgers gave away free, miniature bats that we could get signed. I also brought my glove. I got Rafael Montalvo to sign my glove, and circled among the players the Dodgers made available to sign the bat. One autograph was from Jose “Joe” Ventura, who spoke very little English, and printed his name. Another was Brian Williams. He talked with a deep voice and a bit of an accent I could not understand. Another autograph seeker asked him where he was from. “Beggersville,” is what I thought I heard. I checked the program, and it was actually Bakersfield.

The coolest experience I had with a promotion was when we got the number in our program drawn for a prize. We went to the office and got a dinner for two to A&W. A few weeks later, my Mom and I went and cashed in that prize at the A&W which was then not far from Woodward’s in downtown Lethbridge.

1980 Dodgers
The players that roster I recently saw reminded me of were John Houston; Greg Smith; Mike Strawberry; Orlando DeLeon; and Robert Kenyon. This team also had Montalvo; Gauntlett; and Reyes.

When I saw Darryl Strawberry make his debut for the New York Mets, I mistakenly thought it was Mike who I had seen with the Lethbridge Dodgers.

1981 Dodgers
The players the roster reminded me of were Jerry Bendorf; Ralph Bryant; Chris Chavez; Harold Perkins; Sid Fernandez; Jeff Moscaret; and Dean Rennicke. Montalvo; Reyes; Jose Ventura; and Brian Williams also played for this team.

I am pretty sure Moscaret and Bryant also signed my bat, and I do recall Ralph Bryant talking to us too, along with Montalvo and Reyes.

Fernandez would go on to a long major league career and play in the World Series with the New York Mets. I do remember seeing him pitch and he, like Rich Rodas, was dominant.

Perkins was the lead-off batter and I remember hearing if a base runner is running and gets hit by the ball when it’s hit, he’s out. Perkins was hit by a ground ball, and called out shortly after I had learned about that rule.

End of the line
The Lethbridge Dodgers played right through to the end of the 1983 season, after which two things happened. The Dodgers moved their affiliation to Great Falls and became the Great Falls Dodgers, and the team was bought by new owners. They were unsuccessful in convincing Lethbridge City Council to allow the sale of beer at the ball park, so they moved the team to Idaho to become the Pocatello Gems.

Parting thoughts
It is amazing how many memories came back as I started thinking and writing about the Lethbridge Dodgers. Going to their games was more than just a sporting event, like when we went to Lethbridge Bronco hockey games.

Dodger games were an experience, creating all sorts of memories.

It is neat to think that some players I saw get their start in Lethbridge, such as Greg Brock, Steve Sax, and Sid Fernandez, I ended up seeing a few short years later on TV playing in the World Series.

That’s pretty magical for a baseball fan.

Woody Harrelson: Evolution of an actor

Wood Harrelson played bartender Woody Boyd in "Cheers".

Source: https://doyouremember.com/143515/woody-harrelson-career

(May be subject to copyright)

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that an unknown actor who got his start playing a dim-witted but funny bartender went on to have a storied career that continues to this day.

Yet that is exactly what happened to Woody Harrelson.

He has been nominated for Oscars and played a bevy of memorable characters, yet even today I sometimes have a tough time not seeing him as Woody Boyd, a bartender at “Cheers” who was originally from Indiana.

Tough act to follow
“Cheers” had become firmly planted as one of the top comedies of its time. Set in a bar in Boston called “Cheers”, the show centres around bartender and owner Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson, who is a retired baseball pitcher and womanizer. The rest of the cast is made up of rich characters who work there or hang out at the bar.

One of the most memorable characters was another bartender named Ernie Pantusso, but simply went by “Coach”. He was on the Red Sox the same time Sam was and was a dear friend to him. Coach was a bit dimwitted, but he also had this wisdom he brought to the bar.

He was played by Nicolas Colasanto, who died in 1985, before the start of the fourth season. That meant the show had to deal with his death on the show. So, sadly, Coach also died.

The fourth season began with the show dealing with Coach’s death, and introducing Woody Boyd. He was a new bartender who was dim witted and charming in his own way, played by a relatively unknown actor named Woody Harrelson.

“Cheers” and its denizens would never be the same.

Memories of Woody
Woody Harrelson would play Woody Boyd for the final eight seasons of “Cheers”. Through that time, I have some fond memories of him.

Whenever Norm Peterson would enter the bar and everyone would chant “Norm!”, Woody would call him “Mr. Peterson”.

One time, they were talking about the “Far Side” cartoon, and Woody said, “I don’t get the ‘Far Side’.” Everyone just nodded then Frasier Crane started explaining that in the cartoon that day the cows were acting like people.

“I understand the ‘Far Side’ Mr. Crane,” Woody said. “I just don’t get it in any of the newspapers in Indiana.”

Frasier just nodded.

Soon, Woody met Kelly, the love of his life, and they would eventually marry. Kelly was as dim-witted as Woody, which played for a lot of laughs. When Woody gets invited to a birthday party for Kelly in an episode in 1989, Frasier suggested Woody give her a gift from the heart. Consequently, he he writes a song he performs for her at the party. He couldn’t think of anything to rhyme with “Kelly”, so he sang a song to her, accompanied on piano, where he just kept singing the same word over and over – Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly…

Then, after “Cheers” ended, Frasier got his own show. In one episode, Sam comes to visit Frasier in Seattle. Sam fills him in on what everyone back at Cheers is doing.

“Oh, Woody and Kelly had a baby,” Sam says.

Frasier smiles and says that’s great.

“Is he, is he, you know…”

“Oh no,” Sam replies. “He’s smart.”

Still my favourite line.

Harrelson would be nominated five times for Primetime Emmy Awards for the role of Woody Boyd in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991, winning for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989. He reprised the role in “Frasier” in 1999 and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

You oughta be in pictures
Harrelson had appeared in one motion picture before “Cheers”, as an extra in “Harper Valley PTA” in 1978. That was it. While he was working on “Cheers”, Harrelson got his next role in movies, and it would be his only role of the decade.

He appeared as a highschool quarterback in “Wildcats” in 1986, a movie starring Goldie Hawn who takes over coaching a bad highschool football team.

I saw “Wildcats” on VHS at my friend Mike Schaber’s birthday party on Nov. 15, 1986 in Coaldale. I remember that, because it is the same date as my brother’s birthday.

It may have been his only film role in the 1980s, but by the end of the 1990s, he was a bonified star.

The years after
Woody Harrelson has gone on to a stellar career, including three Oscar nominations and four Golden Globe nominations. Just some of the movies he has appeared in are “L.A. Story”; “Doc Hollywood”; “White Men Can’t Jump”; “Indecent Proposal”; “Natural Born Killers”; “The Cowboy Way”; “The People vs. Larry Flynt”; “Kingpin”; “Wag the Dog”; “Welcome to Sarajevo”; “The Thin Red Line”; “The Hunger Games” movies; “LBJ”; “War for the Planet of the Apes”; the “Venom” movies; and “Midway”.

Parting thoughts
We just saw Woody Harrelson in a funny and touching new movie called “Champions“ which, as expected, made me cry. Harrelson was excellent as a basketball coach sentenced to do community service coaching a team of players with intellectual disabilities.

Even as I watched, I found myself thinking, he sure has come a long way since those days serving drinks at “Cheers”.

Woody Harrelson is a talented versatile actor, and almost 40 years later, has the career to provide.

Remembering “Give to Live” by Sammy Hagar

We were pulling out to a field like I had never seen before. Planted in neat rows, with weeds darting in and out, were these plants that looked like onions.

My friend and neighbour Bill must have been reading my mind.

“They aren’t onions,” he said. “They’re leeks.”

Yup, he had somehow got this job hoeing this field of leeks by Iron Springs, about 40 minutes north of where we lived. However, he could not finish in the time he had, or the boss wanted.

So, for a week, he would pick me up, and we would drive to that field, talking about girls, and cars and TV, and everything else teenaged boys talked about.

When we weren’t talking, we were listening to music.

The first day we pulled up to that field, we were listening to Casey Kasem’s Coast to Coast Top 40 Countdown.

The song playing on Bill’s radio as he turned into the field, and the one place we could park, was “Give to Live” by Sammy Hagar.

I heard that song the other day when I found an old recording of Casey Kasem’s Coast to Coast Top 40 Countdown from September of 1987 on YouTube. It was just a few weeks after our time in the leak fields.

It reminded me of what was going on in my own life, and in Sammy Hagar’s.

Van Hagar
When I started high school in 1984, Van Halen’s album “1984” was all the rage, with the number one song “Jump” as well as “Hot for Teacher”, “Panama” and others. They seemed to be on top of the world.

Looks can be deceiving.

As soon became evident, Eddie Van Halen the founder and leader of the band that bore his name, was not getting along with David Lee Roth, the lead singer who in many ways had become the face of the band.

Roth would release an EP, a term I did not recognize at the time, but is a short record. In this case his EP, entitled “Crazy from the Heat” had just four songs.

Two of them, a remake of “California Girls” by the “Beach Boys” and “Just a Gigolo (I Ain’t Got Nobody)” were hits.

I am not sure if Roth had left Van Halen before “Crazy from the Heat” came out, or after, but he was done as lead singer of Van Halen – for the time being. The rest of that story stretched well beyond the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Eddie Van Halen had begun the search for a new lead singer.

Rumours started to surface he was considering a singer named Sammy Hagar.

I recall thinking, “Who’s Sammy Hagar?” and even asking one of the guys at school who knew more about that kind of music than I did.

“He sings ‘I Drive 55’,” he said.

“I don’t know it,” I responded.

“You know ‘I Drive 55’,” he just yelled.

Louder and slower didn’t make me know it.

I would eventually hear “I Drive 55”, but by that time Sammy Hagar was firmly established as the new lead singer of Van Halen.

They would soon be dubbed “Van Hagar”.

5150
My Grade 11 year was in so many ways a watershed year for music for me. It spanned the fall of 1985 to the summer of 1986, and a lot of good music came out.

In early 1986, maybe March or so, talk began to increase that Van Halen was releasing a new album – their first with Sammy Hagar at the mike.

Soon, it was no longer a rumour. The album was out.

It was called “5150”, which I later discovered was the name of Eddie Van Halen’s home studio. It was also the Los Angeles Police Department’s code for the criminally insane, or disturbed.

The first single had that Van Halen sound, but the vocals were just different. Hagar wasn’t David Lee Roth but his voice did jive with the play of Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony.

The song was called “Why Can’t This be Love” and it was absolutely awesome. I recall hearing it full volume cruising down Mayor Magrath on a Friday night in my friend Dave’s truck. We also listened to it on the speaker system in the gym of the Lethbridge YMCA while we played basketball Fridays during “Teen night”.

“Why Can’t This be Love” went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100, but that would not be the only single off the album. Instead, “5150” had a lot of staying power.

The next two songs, did sound a bit the same, but maybe only initially when I hadn’t heard them enough. Besides, I really didn’t care because I liked them both.

“Dreams” came out after “Why Can’t This be Love” and it was awesome. I liked the message. It also went up the charts, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Next was “Love Walks in”, which was a true ballad, and maybe my favourite song off the album. It too was a chart success, also going to number 22 on the Hot 100.

Eat ‘em and Smile
While Sammy Hagar seemed to have the magic touch with his new band, David Lee Roth had set to assembling a new band to back him on his new solo career.

He found a number of musicians who had made their names elsewhere, guys such as Billy Sheehan on bass guitar and Steve Vai on guitar who came to be called the “Power Twins”. Gregg Bisonette rounded out the band on drums. I only know any of this because my cousin Fred was big into heavy metal music at the time, ad these guys were a big deal in that genre.

So, in 1986, David Lee Roth also released his first album since leaving Van Halen.

It was called “Eat ‘em and Smile”, and led off with a single that had one of the most unique openings I had ever heard.

“Yankee Rose” begins with a guitar strumming, but almost sounded like a voice, maybe an alien talking. Then, David Lee Roth starts talking to it, the same way an owner talks to their pet.

The song was a success, going all the way to number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

I imagine it galled Roth that his solo project was not as successful on the charts as his former band with his replacement at the mike.

Flying solo again
There was no strife or turmoil, but Sammy Hagar was back in 1987 with another solo effort. This time he released the single “Give to Live” in June of 1987, not too much before Bill and I heard it on the radio. It went all the way to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Starting a band
Bill and I had a lot of time to talk and joke in the leak fields. We started to joke about starting a band, a spoof of heavy metal bands, called “Garage Door Opener”. We were “This is Spinal Tap” without even knowing it. At the time, Iron Maiden had this creature named “Eddie” on its artwork, so we thought we’d have one named “Stanley” – which was the company that made garage door openers.

We also had a name for an album. Casting a gaze around the field we were hoeing, we came up with the name “Taking a leek”. On the front of the album would be a cartoon character like the Hamburgler from McDonald’s, bending down and stealing a leek out of the field. On the back would be a picture of a guy from the waste down, wearing jeans, with his legs spread as he was you know…

We thought it was pretty clever.

Parting thoughts
Working with Bill for Bill Stronks in the leek field near Iron Springs was a time of transition. Once we finished up, we headed back to Coaldale where we had a big pizza at Dilo’s in Coaldale. That may have been the last time I ate there.

Maybe two weeks later, I was off to university never to look back. Bill was heading back to high school and another year in the sun.

It was a simple time, when all we cared about was girls, music, and having fun.

Every time I hear “Give to Live”, my mind drifts back to that time.

Memories of Boston Pizza

Boston Pizza locations in Lethbridge and Brooks

hold special memories from the '80s for me.

Source: https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Boston_Pizza

(May be subject to copyright)

It may have been the greatest night of my teenage life.

It was around October of 1986, and I had mooned over this girl in my class for well over a year. Finally, through a strange set of circumstances, primarily of my own doing, I was actually going out with her on Friday night.

Was it an actual date? That is still the subject of speculation and conjecture. Whatever it was, all those 37 years ago, it was a magical night for me and one that, obviously, I have not forgotten.

The vast majority of it was spent at the Third Avenue Boston Pizza in Lethbridge, so when I saw the Boston Pizza logo on TV the other day, it took me back to that night in October of 1986.

It also reminded me of some other special nights at Boston Pizza over the years across the province.

Two of a kind
When I was growing up on the farm, the closest Boston Pizza was in Lethbridge. The funny thing was, there wasn’t one, but two locations.

One was on Third Avenue, pretty much next to the Burger King. The other one was wedged in a sort of strip mall just off Mayor Magrath Drive South next to what was then a Zellers and is now The Movie Mill.

Both of those places would be the site of some special memories.

Birthday bash
Elementary school was always a bit of a jungle, where friendships came and went pretty freely. My neighbour Mike was a good friend for awhile but we grew apart when the bus routes changed. Although our farms were side by side, our route was split because there was an accident in the intervening intersection in which the bus driver was killed. We never rode the bus together again.

Before that all transpired, Mike was turning 10 on February 7, 1980. I remember this so clearly for two reasons. One, my birthday is exactly 11 days later, and they were always kind of bunched together at school and in community sports. The other was that, as odd as it sounds, in our small town Mike was the New Year’s baby. Seriously.

To my surprise, Mike invited me to his birthday party, along with a couple other guys, Doug and another one who escapes me at this point. I remember buying Mike a few presents, including a blue t-shirt with horseshoes on the front. The strange things a guy remembers.

The itinerary was simple. We went bowling at the Holiday Bowl in Lethbridge, then went for supper at – the Third Avenue Boston Pizza.

Date night – sort of
My first actual date was a convoluted story. You see I had mooned over this girl all through Grade 11. During that time, I lost a bet with some friends, which forced me to ask her out. I did, but made out like it was all a big joke. Well, I kept mooning after her that summer, and into Grade 12. We ended up bench partners in a class and became close. One day I asked her if she would have said yes, and she said she would have. So we set a date.

At about the same time Bruce Hornsby and the Range released their debut single “The Way It Is” and album of the same name. One day I was humming the song in class and she took to calling it “Get a job” after one of the more pointed lyrics.

Well, Saturday night arrived and I was so excited. I got dressed, sporting my brand new high school jacket, and drove to her house, which was on the edge of my hometown. She invited me in to meet her mom and that went really well. She asked about Thanksgiving, and I told her about my family and what we did to celebrate. We headed to Lethbridge, where we took in a movie – “Heartbreak Ridge” with Clint Eastwood. At one point he was putting some camouflage paint on his face.

“Should I do my makeup like that?” she asked, and we both laughed, much to the chagrine of the people around us.

Afterwards, we had supper at Boston Pizza, where we had brutal service. She actually filled out the comment card at the bottom of our bill, noting it wouldn’t hurt the waitress to smile at least once. The manager was at the till when I paid the bill. He noticed the comments and said he’d follow up. He also showed me the correct way to hold the pizza box – straight up and not sideways like a binder – so the cheese would not run on the leftover pizza.

On the way back to Coaldale we stopped to watch the stars by the CJOC radio tower, then I took her home.

When I pulled into her driveway, she got out of the car then paused.

“I guess I can make it all the way to the door by myself,” she said. I just laughed.

I have thought about it a hundred times over the years. Did she want me to walk her to the door, and what would have happened after that.

I always wondered.

Taking it on the road
There was another Boston Pizza I frequented, often in the summer, in Brooks. It was one of my Aunt Monica’s favourite places to eat back then. It still is, although the location has changed.

My first experience was actually on one of our Sunday visits. We went to see my aunt and uncle in the early afternoon, and they were going out for supper. They invited us to come along, and that was my introduction to Brooks Boston Pizza.

I recall we had just been given a dog, and were debating what to name him. The name he had when we got him from our relatives on the farm was Toby. My sister and I bandied about a number of names, and settled on either Jody or Toby. Eventually, we stayed with Toby.

That was the back drop when we were deciding what to order. I settled on a pizza, while my Mom asked my Aunt Monica what she ordered.

“I like the Boston Brute,” she said.

Even though, it sounded like a barbaric food, or a deodorant.

Yet, that’s what my mom ordered, and let me try. I quite liked it, and have had dozens of times since then.

My Uncle Pete had the ribs, so my Dad followed suit.

I actually think, that trip to Boston Pizza was the next time I had eaten at one of Boston Pizza’s locations after the birthday party.

The years after
Boston Pizza would play a very special place in my life, especially in the 1990s. It was where I first played video lottery terminals, and had some really good times during some bad situations. They were all at the Boston Pizza on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton.

In the 1995-1996 school year, I would go virtually every Friday night to the Boston Pizza for some team pitchers with my dear friends François and Kari. We’d vent, laugh, and try and sort out the stress we all were under.

Eventually, by the Spring of 1996, my days at the University of Alberta were numbered and I knew I wasn’t going to be returning, I convened what I called the Boston Pizza Summit. It was a sort-of going away party, although I still had a few weeks left on my contract. When it was finally over, I convened a second summit, which really was a goodbye. I went off to work in Vermilion at Lakeland College a year after that. When that did not work out, I convened a third summit. Then, about a year after that, in November of 1998, I convened the final Boston Pizza Summit when I left Edmonton for good.

Amid that, on March 17, 1997, I was invited to celebrate my friend Darcy Whiteside’s birthday. It was fitting that he was Irish celebrating his birthday on St. Patrick’s Day. It turns out, Boston Pizza was having the Beer Olympics. Somehow I ended up on a team with Darcy and Michel Ouellette, who really was not a drinker. Yet, through a series of games where we had to chug beer, throw bottle caps into a cup, try to whistle with a mouthful of crackers, and use a straw to blow a toy car across a finish line, we won. Our prize was Rickard’s Red t-shirts. Mine still lives in my garage.

There were more but that is for another place.

Parting thoughts
It may have great food, but what makes Boston Pizza so great for me is all the great memories that literally go back to the dawn of the 1980s.

Whether it was a birthday party, time with my cousins, my sort of first date, or binge eating after Friday night basketball , it was always a place to be for me.

Coles Notes: A Canadian institution

"Coles Notes" which contained summaries of works of literature were a staple of Coles Books, especially to high school and university English students.

Source: Facebook/ Miles Macdonell Collegiate Friends

(May be subject to copyright)

It is part of the Canadian language and culture. If someone wants a quick summary or description, they say something like “Just give me the Coles Notes version.” Even years after Coles disappeared from a lot of communities, that phrase lives on.

It comes from a section of the Coles bookstores that was unique to the franchise. There would be row upon row of books that all looked the same – yellow and black on the cover. Each one would be the summary of a work of literature. The ones I recall seeing most often were the various plays of William Shakespeare. However, there were other titles, and even other topics.

Coles Notes also included some analysis and questions, if memory serves.

Hamlet
The first time I used Coles Notes was in English 30, the first semester of Grade 12 in the fall of 1986. We had to do a presentation, in the form of a debate, on an aspect of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. Like a debate, we had to answer one side of a question, while two other students answered the other side. If memory serves, our question was, “Is Hamlet sane?”

Using Coles Notes was more for the analysis, and a back-up, rather than anything substantial.

That changed in university.

Caught in the act
It was the first semester of my second year of university, the fall of 1988, and I was taking English 210, the first level English class virtually all Arts and Education students took. My professor was Stephen Slemon, and I never really clicked with him. At the time, I really had no interest in getting to know my professor. I was partly scared of them, and partly ashamed, embarrassed and guilt ridden because I cut a lot of classes.

As Christmas approached, we were studying Jane Austen and reading “Pride and Prejudice”. I had a job as a floor coordinator that took a lot of time, and life in res was just really busy, so I fell behind in all my classes.

I cut a good chunk of the classes on “Pride and Prejudice”, but knew what the essay was on and when it was due.

I tried to read the book, but I just ran out of time. I had sworn I would never use Coles Notes as a crutch, but that seemed to be more and more likely. One of my classmates also lived on my floor, and she told me Coles Notes had some good stuff, and she used it. I thought if she used it, and she was going to every class, and doing well, why couldn’t I? Still, I did what I could, before I did the unthinkable – I used Coles Notes.

It was a couple weeks before Christmas. I went back to skipping class, then showed up the last class before the break to pick up my essay. At the end of class, Slemon left them in a pile for us to pick through. I grabbed mine and went out into the hall before I looked at the mark. When I did – I was shocked.

There was no mark. Instead, Slemon wrote that the paper appeared to rely on Coles Notes, and he actually cited the pages of Coles Notes I pulled from. He told me to attribute what I took from Coles Notes, and show him what my actual thinking was. Then hand that back in.

I was embarrassed, angry, and kid of dumfounded.

Slemon’s timing couldn’t have been worse. Right before Christmas, meant I thought about it and ruminated on it, on and off, through the whole break.

When it was time for class to start again in January, I did as Slemon asked, and attended the first class. After class, I handed Slemon the paper. I prepared for the worst.

All he said was, “Thank you.”

A few weeks later, I got the paper back, and he basically gave me a four, which was not a fail, but I needed a 5 to pass the course, if that makes sense.

Still, I learned my lesson.

Parting thoughts
Incidentally, there is an odd American equivalent – Cliff’s Notes. I am not sure of the origin of that though.

Yet, I really don’t think it has the same meaning in the States as Coles Notes does in Canada.

It really was a Canadian institution. 

Coles Books: Remembering the book people

In the 1980s, at one point there were three Coles Books outlets in Lethbridge.

Source: https://coles-15.wheree.com/

(May be subject to copyright)

It was always a place I had to stop at when we went to the Lethbridge Centre Mall. It had this attraction, this magical power that just drew me in. No matter if I was with my mom, or my friends, whether we had all the time in the world, or were in a major hurry, I had to stop at Coles Books.

For a long time I thought the old national chain of bookstores had been folded in to the Chapters mega-bookstore empire, until something happened to me in Kamloops the last time I was there.

I saw a Coles Books,

That brought back a lot of memories from childhood but, quite frankly, any time I am in a bookstore I think of Coles.

Three times the charm
To be honest, I cannot recall the first time I stepped foot in a Coles. It always just seemed to be part of the mall.

What was interesting was that over time, if you said Coles in the mall, the next question was, “Which mall?”

Back in the 1980s, Coles had three bookstores in Lethbridge. There was the downtown one in the Lethbridge or Woodward’s Mall. That was the one I frequented the most often. There was the one in the Simpson Sears Mall, which I went to as well, because that was also on our shopping route. The third was one I went to rarely, because it was in the College Value or Woolco Mall, at the end of Mayor Magrath Drive, and not really part of our regular shopping route on Saturdays.

Each one contributed to the overall good feeling I had about Coles.

Autograph session
One Saturday, I was listening to the radio, which always played on 1220 CJOC on our kitchen radio, and heard something very interesting. Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, had written a book and would be signing books at the Coles in the Sears Mall.

I was able to convince my parents to go to the mall and get an autograph. When we got to Lethbridge, we went downtown first as we always did, and the autograph session did not start until later. My mom asked me what I planned to have autographed. I didn’t know.

Awhile earlier, my sister had run into the band Air Supply and got them to autograph a couple post cards her friend had. So, my mom suggested we get some post cards, which we did.

When we got the mall, we were pretty much the first people there. Schultz was just sitting there, waiting. So I went over and asked for his autograph. He seemed a little stunned and confused, but signed the post cards. Looking back, he was there to sell books, and we weren’t buying.

As I was getting the autograph, my mom must have seen everyone buying books, so she bought one, and I got that signed.

As we were leaving, this stranger came up to us. He was a photographer from the “Lethbridge Herald” and wanted my name and age. At school the next week, one of my classmates had a clipping of my picture in the paper.

It was my 15 minutes of fame. Incidentally, you could also see my mom’s hand in the corner of the picture, holding out the money to buy a book.

Christmas time
Every Christmas, I wanted to buy a present for my sister, partly because she always had something for me, and partly because she did a lot for me. She was an avid reader, so I thought I’d get her something special from Coles. So, every year I bought her a leather or fake leather bound book of collected writings of someone such as Sherlock Holmes or H.G. Wells or Shakespeare.

Parting thoughts
Unlike so many institutions, Coles hasn’t gone away. Locations still do exist, although the vast majority were folded into the Chapters and Indigo stores. Interestingy, when I Googled “Coles” it took me to Chapters.

Yet, when I am in a Chapters or Indigo, I don’t think of Chapters. They no longer had that small bookstore feel.

Instead, I think fondly of Coles when I am in a small, independent bookstore.

A salute to the loonie

The one-dollar coin, which would affectionately become

known as the "loonie", replaced the Canadian one-dollar bill in 1987.

Source: https://www.ebay.ca/

(May be subject to copyright)

Today, my spouse was packing up some laundry and a loonie came flying out of one of the pockets. Not a bird but the gold coin.

It reminded me of a time when we had green one-dollar bills and the federal government came out with this outrageous idea to replace the one-dollar bill with a one-dollar coin.

The year was 1987, and I have some odd memories of that time.

A one or a twenty?
When I was a kid, often my allowance, or money from my parents and grandparents, came in the form of one-dollar bills. When I was in the States a few years ago, and my wallet seemed to be full of money, it was just bulging with one-dollar bills, and reminded me of that time when I was a kid.

The one-dollar bill was green, with Queen Elizabeth II on it. Interestingly, the twenty-dollar bill was a lighter green with Queen Elizabeth II on it. They were sometimes confused with each other, so I recall people were glad to see a coin to end that confusion. Interestingly, the two-dollar bill at the time was an orange colour and was mistaken for the fifty-dollar bill. Now we have a toonie too.

Is it real
There are several relatives in my extended family who are really funny. We were at a family gathering of relatives on my mom’s side. One of my cousins pulled out one of the new loonies and showed it to me.

“I can’t figure it out,” he said, as he used his finger nails to pull at the edge of the coin. “No matter what I do, I can’t get the chocolate out of the middle.”

I laughed,

Hidden loot
The summer of 1987 I got this job with the Lethbridge Exhibition board. When Whoop-Up Days came to town, it brought its popular midway of rides such as the Ferris Wheel, Octopus, Zipper, Tilt-A-Whirl and others.

One of the jobs every morning was to pick up litter from the grounds. The first morning, the senior guys in the crew told me to go clean up underneath the rides. It was not a popular job because you never knew what fell from the people on the rides.

So, my first stop was the Octopus. There was garbage everywhere underneath the ride. It was also assembled on top of a field that had not been mowed, so there were weeds too, which trapped more garbage.

I started picking up the debris of crumpled up cups, pop cans, chip bags, and the remnants of fair food when something shiny caught my eye. I looked down and, in the weeds, was a loonie. A little further up was another loonie. As I picked up all this garbage, I found probably ten bucks. It was like a tip.

Things only got better.

When I got to the Zipper, which literally turned riders upside down, there were dozens of coins lying around.

The next morning, when the guys said I didn’t have to do the rides again, I said I didn’t mind. I was happy to do it all week.

“Fine, suit yourself,” one of them said.

“Thank you very much,” I replied.

Busking bonanza
As that first year with the loonie went along, I heard a bunch of stories of people who were not used to the new coin. Everyone had grown used to thinking a pocket full of coins was literally pocket change, not of much value. Loonies changed that, and people had a lot more money in coins than they thought.

Consequently, people thinking they were leaving a one or two dollar tip were inadvertently leaving four or five bucks, because they thought they were just putting their pocket change on the table. The same was true of tip jars at bars.

The best example was this busker I knew. He was a balloon artist named Mike Ouchi, and he told me what happened when he went to the Edmonton Street Performers Festival, and dropped his hat for people to contribute to.

He worked away, not paying much attention to the hat until he was done for the day. When he looked down, he was disappointed because he did not see one bill in the hat.

Then he dumped it out.

It was full of loonies, and turned out to be one of his best days ever.

Parting thoughts
The loonie is now 36 years old and I think anyone would be hard pressed to find an old dollar bill. Instead, the dollar bill has gone the way of the do-do bird, the two-dollar bill, and the penny.

Yet, I can still remember when the loonie flew into wallets and cash registers across the country.

At the time, people were not too thrilled with it, and really did not like the name “Loonie”.

Yet like any change, over time it just became ingrained in every day life.

Now, there are millions who either weren’t alive before it came along, or can’t remember the time before it existed.

Every so often I still do wonder one thing.

“How can I get the chocolate out of the middle?”

Stan Lee: Memories of TV's "Spider Man", "Incredible Hulk", and "Dr. Strange"

His fingerprints are all over so much of pop culture now, but the same was true back in the 1980s.

Stan Lee created a wealth of interesting super heroes that permeated not only comic books but TV as well.

Back on November 14, 2018, I created a file to eulogize Stan Lee because my spouse, with her voice cracking, left a voice mail on my phone that the legendary founder of Marvel Comics and consummate story teller, had died.

I had been fortunate that she invited me along to meet Stan Lee, months before he died, at the Calgary Expo, or more commonly referred to as Comic Con.

Yet, what motivated me to finally reflect on the life of Stan Lee was that we watched a new documentary on him simply called, “Stan Lee”.

It delved into his world, his experiences and philosophy of life.

It reinforced all the reasons I liked him and much more.

As seen on TV
My entire Stan Lee experience in the 1980s was the shows on TV made from the comic books he created. I have never been one of those “either/or” comic book readers. I refuse to pick either Marvel or DC, just as I refuse to pick either Coke or Pepsi.

In fact, it took me a few minutes to think about which comics I saw on TV were DC and which were Marvel, because it really doesn’t matter to me.

In any event, Stan Lee’s work was all over the decade, punctuated by three experiences for me – “Spider Man”; “The Incredible Hulk”; and “Dr. Strange”.

He’s amazing
“Spider Man” was on Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial, but only for a handful of episodes. It was another victim of never being on at the same time, or so it seemed to me. I just could never find it. One day I did, on a Sunday afternoon, when our house was full of company. Everyone crowded around one TV in the living room, and only about half really cared about the show, so I had to battle side conversations and odd comments such as “You know he’s not really climbing up the side of a building.” I actually did know that.

Beyond all that, I recall Peter Parker/Spider Man was played by Nicholas Hammond.

I only remember one episode, where some university students steal some plutonium to make a bomb out of protest. It was the first time I ever heard of plutonium, and I remember the bomb looking kind of like a space ship.

“Spider Man” actually ran from 1977 to 1979, just before the dawn of the decade, and lasted 13 episodes. Wikipedia reveals two interesting notes.

One is that Stan Lee initially clashed with the producer because he thought the series was too juvenile. The other was that the series performed well in the ratings, finishing 19th in the Nielsen ratings at one point, but was cancelled because CBS did not want to be seen as the super-hero network. It also was expensive to make and not doing well with older audiences.

I actually bought the series on DVD at the Calgary Expo, or Comic Con, and plan on watching it this winter.

Green with envy, not rage
By far, the most successful comic book on television back then was “The Incredible Hulk”. It starred Bill Bixby, who had been on television in one show or another seemingly forever, as Dr. David Banner and body builder Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk.

Interestingly, when I went to school and we talked about the “Incredible Hulk”, some of my classmates had read the comic books and kept referring to him as Bruce Banner. I insisted it was David Banner. Again, Wikipedia revealed the producers of the TV show changed the name because both Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno have said the network thought the name Bruce was “too gay”. That is so ridiculous it is laughable. Alternatively, the producer of the show said it was to distance the show further from the comic and later because his son was named David and it was a tribute to him.

The show ran from 1977 to 1982, for 80 episodes, and there were five TV movies.

I distinctly remember the pilot, specifically David Banner sneaking into the lab at night, strapping in to a chair and exposing himself to gamma rays. It transforms his body so he becomes a green hulking beast when he experiences rage. My sister watched with me. When I asked why the Hulk turned green, she answered maybe because the gamma rays were green. The Marvel movie starring Edward Norton pays homage to that scene in its back story, which I really appreciated.

And the opening each week which had a scene of David saying, “Don’t make me angry, you woudn’t like me when I’m angry.”

There were other episodes too, such as when David fell in love again, with a dying woman, played by Mariette Hartley, who was also a scientist. He endeavoured to help her find a cure, but she died in the end, and he was back on the road to the next destination.

I was also lucky enough to meet Lou Ferrigno at Comic Con, one year, and heard him speak at two different cons, including earlier this year.

Not normal but strange
Long before Benedict Cumberbatch immortalized the role of Dr. Strange, the Marvel comics character was played by Peter Hooten in a TV movie in 1977.

Stan Lee consulted on the project. I thought it had the look and feel of a pilot, and it was, but never got picked up as a series.

To be honest, I may have been too young and actually misunderstood what the plot was. I have faint memories of Dr. Strange seeing a patient. Later, Dr. Strange sees a window with the same pattern as the ring he wears. Then, and this is where I really got it wrong, I thought he was from another race, and someone visits him.

Right after that, my Mom made me go to bed, so I never did see all of “Dr. Strange”. I had to rely on my sister telling me the next day what happened.

Then, I did not think about Dr. Strange again, until I started watching the Marvel movies.

One other odd note. Dr. Strange aired as a sort of movie of the week on Channel 7. Another movie the next week was “Dr. No”. I wondered if only “Dr.” movies were allowed on Channel 7.

Parting thoughts
Stan Lee has reached legendary status, and for good reason. Not only did he create some great characters, as illustrated in that documentary we watched, but he is a great person, and I know that personally from meeting him twice.

I didn’t really have a lot of knowledge about the man back in the 1980s. That all came later. But I did know some of his characters and they were memorable.

What that documentary did, more than anything, was inspire me. It showed just how creative and prolific Stan Lee was. It’s what I would like to be myself.

At the end of the movie, he was given a commencement address at a university convocation. He concluded by sharing his simple philosophy.

Do what you like and give it everything you got.

What else could you ask for?

The Return of Zellers

Zellers is returning in The Bay, including in Lethbridge.

Source: https://www.newswire.ca/

(May be subject to copyright)

“So you have to go into The Bay to go to Zellers?”

That was my spouse’s reaction today when I brought up the subject of Zellers re-opening, including a location in Lethbridge.

Granted, it is not a return to the actual Zellers, but what is being called a pop-up store.

Yet for someone as nostalgic as I am, I sure am willing to give it a look.

After all, Zellers was part of the shopping experience in Lethbridge in the 1980s.

Looking back
This is the first time I can think of when I am writing an actual follow-up post. My experiences with Zellers in the 1980s were well documented back when Zellers went quietly into that good night – or so I thought.

It was located on Mayor Magrath Drive, which was not part of our regular shopping route. It would migrate to North Lethbridge in the former Centre Village Mall, which had been home to Simpson Sears.

Then, it closed, with some of the Zellers assets bought up by Target to establish a beach front in Canada. That also did not work, where it was attempted and Target stores also closed. That did not matter in Lethbridge where Zellers closed and was replaced by nothing.

However, that has changed.

Looking ahead
Lethbridge has been announced as one of the locations for the return of Zellers, set to open on August 11. It will be within the Hudson’s Bay but the company said pop-ups will showcase a curated assortment of quality, value and design-led Zellers merchandise and a bite-sized taste of Zellers.

Parting thoughts
Everything old is new again, and there is a market for nostalgia, whether it is vinyl records, old television shows, or stores.

It was sad to see Zellers close in 2013, joining other Canadian and Lethbridge stores in the dust bin of time such as Woolworth’s, Kresge’s, Eaton’s, Woolco, and Simpson Sears.

Although it is not a full-fledged Zellers, it is nice to see the brand is back, even if it is a curated, bite-sized taste.

Lourdes Gurriel: Cuban baseball star

Lourdes Gurriel was a star baseball player in Cuba in the '80s and '90s.

Source: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21233006/houston-astros-yuli-gurriel-father-was-part-different-winning-squad

(May be subject to copyright)

When I first heard the name Lourdes Gurriel, when he was playing with the Toronto Blue Jays, I thought I had heard that name before.

When I heard he was actually Lourdes Gurriel Jr., I figured he had to be the son of a player I saw close to 40 years ago. It was in an obscure, or so I thought, baseball tournament played in Edmonton, and broadcast in the evenings on Channel 7 in the summer time.

It turns out that was his dad, playing at a time for a country that would never have allowed him to play in the Major Leagues.

Intercontinental Cup
In 1981, the baseball Intercontinental Cup was held at John Ducey Park in Edmonton. I stumbled onto it by accident, when I was flipping channels, which is easier when you only have three channels.

It was an amateur baseball tournament, because there were no professionals allowed. Just like hockey of the era, Communist countries skirted those rules by having what were essentially professional national teams, but were still somehow considered amateur in the eyes of the baseball governing body.

In hockey it was the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. In baseball, it was Cuba.

The Cubans were a baseball powerhouse, because President Fidel Castro had played the game, loved the game, and wanted to beat the Americans at their own national pastime. The Cuban government invested heavily in their baseball program and it showed. Their national team had not lost an international tournament dating back to the 1960s. I learned they were heavily favoured in this tournament too.

Of course, the focus was on the Canadian team, who I don’t think I saw. It was too bad, because they beat the Cubans in the round robin. Canada beat the Americans too in the round robin. Yet, they would go down without winning a medal.

The Americans were good, as they obviously have a deep talent pool to draw from. I remember Spike Owen played for that team, and he had a long Major League career with Seattle, Boston, and Montreal among others. They likely would pose the biggest challenge to the Cubans.

South Korea was strong, led by their pitcher Choi, who I also remember distinctly. He was a work horse, logging tons of innings. The Dominican Republic was also strong, again with a deep talent pool to draw from.

The Cubans were loaded with talent. The announcers made a lot of their clean-up hitter, Luis Casanova, because he was just an intimidating force at the plate.

However, the player I remember best was their lead-off hitter. His name was Lourdes Gurriel, but the announcers, who admitted having trouble pronouncing the names, nicknamed him Lou Gurriel and pronounced the last name “Goo-reel”.

The tournament
I didn’t intentionally tune in to the Intercontinental Cup, but kept finding the games at night on Channel 7. I discovered that Choi led South Korea to the medal round, where they lost the bronze medal game to the Dominican Republic. I later heard he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, but my research revealed he never played with them.

The Cubans would face the U.S.A. in the gold medal game, and the Americans gave the Cubans all they could handle. Just like the Soviets, when the Cubans faced adversity, they just didn’t know how to handle it. They fell behind the Americans, and really had no answer.

A key play occurred when the Cubans were fielding. An overthrow went into the Cuban dugout, then mysteriously the ball popped back out for the Cuban fielder to get back to the infield. The call went the Americans’ way and helped them on their way to the gold medal.

Gurriel hit .297 in the tournament.

Father figure
Lourdes Gurriel Sr. had a long, distinguished career behind the Bamboo Curtain in Cuba. He won gold medals at the Summer Olympic in 1992; the World Baseball Cup in 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1994; the Intercontinental Cup in 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, and 1995; the Pan American Games in 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1995; the Central American and Caribbean games in 1986, 1990, and 1993; and the Goodwill Games in 1990. In international play, he excelled at the plate and in the field. He also accrued a number of honours in Cuba including rookie of the year, most valuable player, and much more. After his playing career ended, he moved into coaching where he had more success.

Yet, Lourdes Gurriel Sr. never had the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues. Cuban baseball players were trapped behind the Bamboo Curtain.

However, he passed his love of the game on to his two sons, Yuli Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who became stars in their own right. They too, were trapped behind the Bamboo Curtain, but took a different path from their father.

They defected in February of 2016 when Yuli was 31 and Lourdes was 22, and would both join Major League teams.

Parting thoughts
It’s funny, the Jays had a number of players with dads who played professional baseball – Cavan Biggio, whose father is Craig Biggio; Beau Bichette who father is Dante Bichette; and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. whose father obviously is the incomparable Vladimir Guererreo.

Yet, the one who intrigued me the most was Lourdes Gurriel, because I seemed to be the only one who knew of his father’s career.

From the time I heard his name, I wondered how Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came to be a Blue Jay. I wondered if he was actually Cuban, or his dad had left the country. Was he able to freely join the major leagues, or did he have to defect? Wikiedia answered all my questions.

Seeing Lourdes Gurriel’s name again also just drove home the point that it is a small world in baseball, just like it is in life.

The Nylons: A capella style

It began slowly then gradually built to a crescendo of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.

I was at a celebration of life earlier today, and one of the granddaughters of the deceased, who is a musical therapist, paid tribute to her grandfather by singing, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, and asking everyone to join in.

The result was this magical moment because this a cappella song has the power to conjure up emotions.

It reminded me of one of the bands who sang that song, and some of the other hits they had in the 1980s.

They are The Nylons.

A cappella sound
What exactly is a cappella? A cappella music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment.

The Nylons were one of the best a cappella bands I ever heard, although they are one of the few I heard. Yet, they had a signature sound that sticks with me, even to this day.

The Nylons
They formed in Toronto in 1978, are best known for their covers of pop songs, and continued performing until 2017.

The first song I heard was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, which is a cover of the Tokens’ classic which went all the way to number one in 1961. I just loved the harmonies in the song.

The Nylons’ version, off their first album “The Nylons”, which came out in 1982, went to number 91 on the Canadian charts and did not chart in the States on the Billboard Hot 100. Incidentally, the album “The Nylons” peaked at number eight on the Canadian album charts.

Things would be much different for their next single.

Goodbye
For years, at hockey games primarily, but other sports too, when the home team was ahead and the game was almost over, members of the crowd would start singing, “Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye”. I never heard who that song was by, or where it came from. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was actually called.

Then, in 1987, I heard it on the radio for the first time. The band sounded familiar, because they just sang. There was no guitar, no drums, nothing. Just guys harmonizing and sounding like a barbershop quartet, or what I thought one would sound like.

I stay tuned and discovered the singers were The Nylons, and the song was actually called “Kiss Him Goodbye”. It got a lot of air play, and went all the way to number 15 on the Canadian charts. It was a remake of Steam’s song entitled, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”.

Interestingly, it actually did even better in the United States where it just missed the top 10, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album it was on, “Happy Together”, also did better on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, peaking at number 43. It peaked at 45 on the Canadian charts.

Pretty soon that version just increased the song’s popularity in sports arenas, because it was everywhere. Often, it was the Nylons’ version that played too.

TV talk
The Nylons would appear on various TV programs as well. According to Wikipedia, they appeared on an episode of "Sharon, Lois and Bram" in 1986; performed the theme song for a short-lived sitcom in 1986 called “Throb” starring Diana Canova; appeared on an episode of the “Super Dave Osborne” show; and their songs appeared in the 1987 movies “The Tin Man” and “Made in Heaven”.

Ice tea ear worm
You know when you get a song in your head, and you just can’t get it out? My spouse calls that an ear worm. Effective commercials can be ear worms. I know there are songs, or jingles, from commercials that still stick in my head, long after the products they promote have ceased to exist.

One echoing in my mind goes like this:

“California, California, hey

“When you’re hot, you’re hot and you know that you’re hot and a cool is what you need

“Give me grape fruit, give lemon lime…

“Nielsen’s California ice tea, Nielsen’s California ice tea.”

That was brought to you by the Nylons.

I liked the jingle so much that I taped it straight off the TV using an old tape recorder with a microphone my brother left behind when he went off to college.

Parting thoughts
The song “Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye” is a staple in hockey arenas, and The Nylons took it out into the general public. Their sound fits the song perfectly, because at arenas there is no backup band or background music.

Beyond that, “The Nylons” have that unique sound.

There is nothing like a cappella, and no one does it like the The Nylons.