Meeting Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney was elected Prime Minister of Canada in 1984.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/

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It is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life – the day I met the prime minister of Canada, and even got to shake his hand.

That moment has been flickering in my mind ever since I got a news alert late this afternoon that Brian Mulroney, the 18th prime minister of Canada died.

He was 84.

It was just part of a whole host of memories I have of Mulroney that have ranged from bad to good and everything in between.

Had to be leader
The first time I heard the name Brian Mulroney was in 1983. The Progressive Conservative Party had held a leadership review and gave leader Joe Clark a luke warm 67 per cent approval rating. Many party members had never forgiven Clark for, in their view, costing them government in 1979. The perception was he tried to govern with a majority, when he had a minority. He paid the ultimate political price, because the NDP ganged up with the Liberals to bring down the Conservative government on a vote on non-confidence on the federal budget.

An election was triggered and the Liberals proceeded to win a majority in 1980.

Soon after that, calls already came for Clark’s removal and replacement as leader.

A lot of machinations were engineered behind the scenes by a lawyer from Quebec named Brian Mulroney, who Clark had defeated for the party leadership in 1976.

Clark did not think 67 per cent was enough, so he resigned and called for a full-blown leadership convention.

Now, Mulroney was sniffing blood in the water, and ultimately defeated Clark to become leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.

It was that behaviour, the undermining of Joe Clark that made me very distrustful of Mulroney. It looked to me as if he was an opportunist, a manipulator, and someone more interested in getting a job than doing a job. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

A year later, in 1984, Mulroney would lead the Conservatives to the largest majority in Canadian history, winning 211 seats, becoming Canada’s 18th prime minister.

Rough start
The Mulroney government did not have the most auspicious start, getting embroiled in a number of controversies. One of the first was Tunagate, which was likely blown out of proportion by the opposition. Of more concern was when the government decided to de-index old-age pensions to inflation. That triggered a firestorm of protest from seniors, because their pensions would actually be worth less as inflation ate into them. The backlash forced the government to back down from its plans.

Big ideas
Mulroney also had some big ideas that ended up being the hallmark of his government. The Conservatives were elected with a large caucus from Western Canada, due in part to the hatred of the previous Liberal government’s National Energy Program. Mulroney worked quickly to dismantle the National Energy Program, and replace it with a series of measures more friendly to energy producers called the Western Accord.

Accommodating Quebec
He seemed to like the idea of “accords”. The Conservatives had a large caucus from Quebec as well so, in 1987, he negotiated what seemed to be impossible – bringing Quebec into the constitutional family through the Meech Lake Accord. Quebec agreed to sign the Canadian Constitution five years after it had been outmaneuvered in the patriation of the constitution. In exchange was constitutional recognition of Quebec as a distinct society; greater provincial control over immigration; the federal spending power was curbed in areas of provincial jurisdiction; all provinces received a constitutional veto over future changes; and provinces had a greater say in the appointment of senators and Supreme Court justices. The challenge was having all 10 provincial legislatures ratify the accord. That ended up being his undoing, as opposition mounted and the accord died before ratification. A second agreement, the Charlottetown Accord, was negotiated in 1991, but that one went down to defeat in a national referendum in 1992.

Free trade
Mulroney also sought a free-trade agreement with the United States, that would lower the wall of tariffs and countervailing duties between the two countries. After the agreement was negotiated, Liberal leader John Turner instructed the Liberal majority in the Senate to not approve the free-trade agreement until the matter was put before the Canadian people in a federal election. The 1988 campaign was the “Free Trade election” and the Conservatives won a second majority. The Free Trade Agreement was passed shortly after.

Goods and Services Tax
At the end of the decade, the Mulroney government signalled their intention to replace the hidden manufacturers’ tax with a federal sales tax of nine per cent. Protests erupted across the country, especially in Alberta where there was no sales tax of any kind. A federal sales tax would force businesses in Alberta to incur the costs of collecting sales tax, because they had no existing apparatus. In the end, the government reduced the tax to seven per cent and whipped all the Alberta MPs to vote for a tax their constituents disagreed with.

Playing favourites
Another decision that incurred the wrath of Western Canada, and increased Western Alienation, was when Mulroney reversed a decision to award an airplane maintenance contract to a Manitoba company in favour of one from Quebec.

Kissing cousins
More than anything, Mulroney valued Canada’s relationship with the United States, and bent over backwards to strengthen it. Part of that was the famous “Shamrock Summit” in 1986 where Mulroney cemented his close professional, and personal, relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. They capitalized on their shared Irish heritage. Mulroney even sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” at the conclusion of the summit, which was televised on national television in Canada.

From what I have seen, that relationship paid dividends for both countries.

The environment
The Mulroney government was the first Canadian government with a comprehensive environmental plan. They also negotiated a treaty with the United States to combat acid rain.

Human rights
Another trailblazing initiative was Mulroney’s steadfast opposition of the racist Apartheid system in South Africa. Mulroney’s government imposed sanctions, gave African National Congress Leader Nelson Mandela a voice, and led the charge in the Commonwealth to compel South Africa to end Apartheid.

Legacy
Mulroney retired in 1992, far behind in the polls. In the 1993 election the Conservatives were reduced to two seats – that’s right two seats. The Reform Party, fueled by Western Alienation, swept every seat in Alberta capitalizing on the dissatisfaction over the imposition of the GST. The Bloc Quebeçois took 52 seats in Quebec, to form the official opposition, fuelled by Quebec nationalism and what Quebecers saw as their rejection by the Rest of Canada.

Mulroney’s machinations had a political price, but he didn’t stick around to pay it.

However, his successors did not repeal any of his big ideas. In fact, they kept the GST, although the next Conservative government reduced it to five per cent, and they kept – and strengthened – free trade. South Africa did dismantle Apartheid and Mandela became the first president elected in the post-Apartheid era. Acid rain seems to be a thing of the past, and environmentalists still point to Mulroney’s green plan.

So, it is safe to say Mulroney’s legacy is severely mixed.

Meeting Mulroney
In 1987, I was in Grade 12 and got a special invitation. Brian Mulroney was coming to speak at the Lethbridge Lodge, and high school student union leaders were being invited to attend. Ed Fetting, an alumnus of our high school, was big in the Conservative Party and he set it up. Our student union was essentially David Perlich as president, and a few others. Consequently, he invited me to come, along with Wendy Sandberg, Bonnie Boisclair, and Brad Mattson.

David picked me up and the others were already with him. When we got to the Lodge, it was already packed and I recognized a few guys. There was Gerald Veldman of Immanuel Christian School, who I had known from basketball and hot shots, and there was David Legg, from LCI in Lethbridge, who I had also met at a party.

It was time for Mulroney to speak. The Free Trade Agreement was the focus and he really gave a passionate, powerful speech. I was directly to his left, and I could see the beads of sweat glistening on his brow.

Once he finished, he immediately got off the stage and started moving through the crowd. We worked our way towards him, and I was right in line to shake the prime minister’s hand.

At that moment, Bonnie darted in front of me, stuck her camera in my chest and asked me to take a picture of her and Wendy with Mulroney. I took the picture, and he turned in a different direction, away from me.

Undeterred, I worked my way around and back in line with Mulroney. This time he was right in front of me.

He stuck out his hand and said, “Hello Rob”. I was wearing a name tag.

“Thank you sir, for letting me take your picture,” I said.

“That’ll be on the front page of the Calgary Herald tomorrow,” he joked.

“No,” I responded. “The National Enquirer.”

Mulroney laughed, but the security behind him sure didn’t. They were all business.

I turned around and Perlich was just looking at me.

“You smart-assed the prime minister,” he said.

Perlich also told me I could have done what David Legg did, and physically turn the prime minister to shake his hand. I wondered where security was then.

Brad said he was about to shake Mulroney’s hand, but security jumped in front of him and took him away. I guess that’s where they were.

Parting thoughts
Recently, I was going through a box of things I had in my mother’s basement. I found the buttons of Brian Mulroney and the House of Commons from that night at the lodge in 1987.

That came to mind when I heard Brian Mulroney had died. I recalled how much I disliked him for the way he won the party leadership, then loved him when he won the 1984 election, only to loathe him over the Meech Lake Accord and GST, and love him for battling acid rain and Apartheid.

Yet, at the end of the day, what I will remember most is shaking his hand, and the fact that, at the heart of it, we are both just living, breathing people.

Rae Dawn Chong: Much more than Tommy Chong’s daughter

Rae Dawn Chong in "American Flyers" in 1985.

Source: https://www.tvtime.com/movie/7fa2bfbd-8168-418c-b8e5-4d568ef85b1f

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She really broke on to the scene in a fantasy science fiction epic that turned heads, and the Academy Awards, with its special effects make-up in 1983.

However, “Quest for Fire” was just the beginning of a career for Rae Dawn Chong that continues to this day. It is a career that has firmly established her as much more than the daughter of her quirky father comedian Tommy Chong.

Today is Rae Dawn Chong’s birthday, and a chance to look back at the great stuff she has been in that started in the ‘80s.

“American Flyers”
The Rae Dawn Chong movie I remember best really tugged at my heart strings. She played Sarah, the live-in love of Dr. Marcus Summers in the 1985 movie “American Flyers”. He was played by a young and relatively unknown actor named – Kevin Costner. Marcus has a strained relationship with his mother and younger brother David, partly over the way they all handled the death of their father. Marcus pays a visit and, ultimately, he and David compete in a grueling three-day bike race in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. David believes he has the same disease that killed his father. It turns out, it is Marcus who has it, and wants to ride with his brother in the race.

“American Flyers” is an emotional movie that really brought a lot of tears to my eyes. Rae Dawn Chong was excellent as Sarah, who was supportive and strong, especially when she stood up to her ex-husband who is a rival of Marcus’. However, she is obviously in pain over the pending death of her soulmate.

She was awesome.

Breakout
Rae Dawn Chong actually got her start with guest roles on “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour” and “Lou Grant”, as well as a TV movie and a feature film.

Then she got her breakout role.

“Quest for Fire’ came out in 1981, and is about the struggle for control of fire by early humans, according to Wikipedia. For her efforts in the role of Ika, Chong won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

Her career took off after that.

Busy
Rae Dawn Chong appeared in four movies in 1984 – “Beat Street”; “Choose Me”; “Fear City”; and “Cheech and Chong’s the Corsican Brothers”, with her father Tommy Chong.

The next year was even busier. In 1985 she appeared in “City Limits”; “American Flyers”; “Commando” with Arnold Schwarzenegger; “Badge of the Assasin”; “The Color Purple”, opposite Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover, and directed by Steven Spielberg; and “Running Out of Luck”.

She was in “Soul Man” in 1986, where C. Thomas Howell plays a law student who pretends to be Black to gain a scholarship. In 1987, she was in “The Squeeze” and “The Principal”.

I really liked “The Principal”. Jim Belushi plays a high-school principal who restores pride to an inner city school with the help of the school’s head of security played by Lou Gossett Jr.

Rae Dawn Chong rounded out the decade by appearing in “Rude Awakening” in 1989.

She also did some work on TV most notably a recurring role on “St. Elsewhere” from 1983 to 1985.

The years after
Rae Dawn Chong just keeps on acting until today.

Her movies included “Tales from the Darkside: The Movie”; “Amazon”; “Time Runner”; “The Visit”; “Constellation”; “Reborn” and much more.

Most notably, she has done a lot of television work including recurring roles in “Melrose Place”; “Mysterious Ways”; “Zoe Busiek: Wild Card”; “Impeachment: American Crime Story”; “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!”; and “Interview with the Vampire”. She guest starred in “Lonesome Dove: The Series”; “The Outer Limits”; “Highlander: The Series”; “Poltergeist: The Legacy”; “Judging Amy”; “That’s So Raven”; “Better Things”; and “911”.

Parting thoughts
The first time I ever heard Rae Dawn Chong’s name was on “Canada AM” during a review of “Quest for Fire”. Their first reference to her was as Canadian Tommy Chong’s daughter. I get they were saying that for context, but it had no bearing on her performance.

Now, I have seen some of Rae Dawn Chong’s work, but not a lot. What I will always remember is “American Flyers”, because she did such a great job portraying someone so in love but with a relentless sense of impending doom.

That role coupled with her award-winning performance as Ika in “Quest for Fire” make her much more than Tommy Chong’s daughter.

Elizabeth Manley: A skate for the ages

Elizabeth Manley won a silver medal for Canada at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Source: Facebook/Skate Guard Blog

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It was a warm Saturday night and we were all gathered around the television watching what was expected to be the coronation of a champion in women’s figure skating.

Katarina Witt had won the Olympic gold medal four years earlier in Sarajevo, and now in Calgary in 1988 she was poised to win gold again.

The real battle would be for second place, and it all came down to the long program.

The favourites were the likes of Debi Thomas of the United States and Midori Ito of Japan.

Canada became the first Olympic host nation not to win a gold medal, something the country would rectify in Vancouver in 2010. In fact, many of our gold medal hopes faltered. Some not only did not win gold, but did not medal at all.

Yet, the heart of Canada still beat strongly in its athletes who gave their best in front of their country and the world.

Amid all that was a dark horse, with an outside chance at a medal in women’s figure skating.

Her named was Elizabeth Manley, and she would turn in the performance of a lifetime.

This morning I saw her on Global Morning. She is in Calgary for the Special Olympics, and to work with the skaters.

Seeing her immediately took me back to that warm Saturday night in February of 1988.

Leading up
Elizabeth Manley broke on to the world stage in 1982 when she won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Obertsdorf, West Germany. She competed in her first World Championships later that season in Copenhagen, Denmark where she finished 13th. Manley also placed sixth at Skate Canada in Kitchener in 1981.

Manley was third at the Canadian championships in Halifax in 1981; second in Brandon in 1982; fourth in Montreal in 1983; second in Regina in 1984; won it in Moncton in 1985; was second in North Bay in 1986; and won it in Ottawa in 1987.

She placed eighth at Skate America in Lake Placid in 1982; second at Skate Canada in London in 1985; won Skate Canada in Regina in 1986; and was second in Skate Canada in Calgary in 1987.

She represented Canada at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, finishing 13th. Manley also represented Canada at the World Championships from 1984 to 1987. She placed eighth in 1984 in Ottawa; ninth in 1985 in Tokyo, Japan; and fifth in 1986 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Wikipedia reveals at the 1987 World Championships in Cincinnati she was in a position to win a medal after the compulsory figures and short program. However, a poor result in the long program kept her off the podium, as she finished fourth.

She would not make that mistake again.

Calgary ‘88
Life was busy in February of 1988 as I was just finishing my first year of university. Part of the Olympics was during Reading Week, and I had stayed behind because I had an essay to finish. My Mom and sister had actually gone up to Calgary from Southern Alberta to go to the Olympics and they wanted me to go along. I was too afraid and hid behind the excuse of that essay. Nevertheless, I stayed in res.

Figure skating starts
Figure skating consisted of three parts back then – the compulsory figures, which have since been eliminated; the short program; and long program.

The compulsories were always a mystery to the general public, because they were never televised, nor even explained that clearly. The only thing the vast majority of us knew was the score in the compulsories, which no one saw, could be the difference in winning a medal.

In any event, Manley did well in the compulsories, finishing fourth. I never did see her short program that I recall, because I was busy doing something else, but she did well in that too, finishing third.

Those results put her in third place going into the crucial long program.

A night to remember
Katarina Witt of East Germany, the defending Olympic and World Champion, was in first place and American Debi Thomas was in second place. They were the favourites to win gold. Wikipedia reveals they both skated to music from the opera “Carmen”, so their rivalry was dubbed “The Battle of the Carmens”.

I remember the long program well. A good chunk of our floor was crowded around the TV in our lounge on Tenth Kelsey as the drama unfolded.

I cannot recall the precise order of skaters but I remember the skates. Japan’s Midori Ito was awesome, and set a standard that would be hard to beat. I remember everyone being so surprised by Ito and the future looked so bright for her.

Witt’s long program was good, but she didn’t take any chances. It looked like she knew the gold medal was hers to lose if she made a mistake, so she skated conservatively.

Given Manley had a shot at a medal, and I never really liked Americans, I was hoping Debi Thomas would falter. It was as if everyone was cheering for Thomas, because they seemed to keep saying she had a shot to beat Witt. What I will always remember was the point in her skate when Thomas did not fall but slipped and put her hand on the ice. That was a certain death for her gold medal hopes. I cheered because the American media machine was just too much for me.

But that simple hand on the ice gave Manley an opening.

What unfolded as Manley took the ice was nothing short of magical.

The thing I will always remember was the confidence, power and determination she skated with. She was attacking every jump, every twist and every turn. Her skate was flawless, and I could feel the excitement build in our own lounge.

Then, it was over. When Manley finished, she just smiled and shook with excitement.

Knowing little about the intricacies of figure skating, I didn’t know just how good her long program was.

It was one of the best. Manley won the long program, catapulting past Debi Thomas into second place, winning the silver medal. Witt finished second in the long program, good enough to win the gold medal. Midori Ito was third in the long program, signaling she was a force to be reckoned with. She finished fifth overall, but would win the World Championships in 1989. Thomas finished fourth in the long program which was still good enough to win her the bronze medal.

Elizabeth Manley’s come from behind victory on home ice to take silver made her a national hero and darling of the nation.

She would cap off her amateur career taking silver at the 1988 World Championships in March in Budapest, Hungary, once again finishing behind Katarina Witt.

Elizabeth Manley retired from amateur competition after the 1988 World Championships.

Parting thoughts
One of the things I will always remember about the 1988 Winter Olympics is the comparison of Elizabeth Manley’s silver medal in figure skating to to fellow Canadian Brian Orser’s silver medal. He came into the Olympics the defending world champion and favoured to take gold, but fell just short to arch-rival and 1986 world champion Brian Boitano.

The contrast with Brian Orser was stark. Many viewed Orser as getting his silver medal by losing the gold, while Manley came from nowhere to win her silver medal.

I don’t view it that way at all.

One thing I do recall is that Canada had not won a gold medal on home ice, and it didn’t look like we would. It had been a successful and entertaining Olympics, but it would have been nice to have a win.

She may not have won gold, but Elizabeth Manley turned in a golden performance that warm Saturday night at the Saddledome in Calgary

It truly was a skate for the ages.

The enduring appeal of Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne in 1986.

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/

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The career of Ozzy Osbourne seems to transcend all place and time, from heavy metal music and sell-out concerts to reality television and so much more.

This is best evidenced by the fact I went to an Under-11 hockey game two days ago and, in a break in play, “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne was playing.

Again, it was interesting that obviously none of the players were born when that came out, but neither were many of the parents.

It reminded me of when I first came across Ozzy Osbourne and his music back in the 1980s.

Heavy metal history
To be honest Ozzy Osbourne was part of the heavy metal craze that began in junior high for me and carried on into the first year of high school, so like 1982 to 1985.

Head bangers, as they were called, wore black t-shirts with Ozzy stencilled on them.

Only later when someone was talking about Ronnie James Dio that I learned Ozzy Osbourne had been the front man for Black Sabbath, a 1970s heavy metal band that actually formed in 1969.

They were still going in the 1980s, but I never listened to them. The name actually kind of scared me, a residue from my religious upbringing.

They had a new lead singer, Dio as a matter of fact, because they had fired Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 for his excessive alcohol and drug use.

That set the stage for Ozzy’s solo career.

A new decade meant a new start for Ozzy Osbourne.

Solo act
Ozzy Osbourne released “Blizzard of Ozz”, his first solo album, in 1980. He hit the airwaves with a bang, because his first single was the aforementioned “Crazy Train”. It did not hit the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, but did peak at number nine on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and reached number six on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart in 1981. “Blizzard of Ozz” is one of a few albums to reach quintiple platinum status without benefit of a top 40 song.

He released several albums throughout the rest of the decade, including “Diary of a Madman” in 1981; the live album “Speak of the Devil” in 1982; then “Bark at the Moon” in 1983.

The title track “Bark at the Moon” is a fan favourite. The first time I heard it was on “Solid Gold”. In fact, that was the first time I actually heard Ozzy sing at all. On Monday morning at school, I would have been in Grade 9, I was talking about it with my classmate Tony Curtis. I remember how he really liked it when Ozzy stopped mid-song to sing “bark at the moon”.

A few weeks or months later, I saw Ozzy on TV once again. It was an excerpt of him singing “So Tired” on “The New Music Magazine”. It was kind of interesting. That show would basically air live footage someone shot at a concert, so the sound was not always clear. Sometimes it sounded like you were standing pretty far from the stage, so you couldn’t necessarily make out all the words.

Osbourne’s next album was “Ultimate Sin” in 1986, with the single “Shot in the Dark” which hit number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. He also released the extended play album “Ultimate Live Ozzy” in 1986. In 1987, he released the live album “Tribute”, in memory of Randy Rhoads, a close friend and guitarist who had been killed in an airplane crash five years earlier. “Tribute” peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 album chart.

In 1988, he released the extended play album “Back to Ozz”, and his next studio album “No Rest for the Wicked”, which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200.

Ozzy also teamed up with Lita Ford on the single “Close My Eyes Forever”, which went all the way to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It is a powerful power ballad.

He closed out the decade in 1989 with the greatest album “Best of Ozz”.

By the close of the decade, Ozzy Osbourne had cemented himself as one of the top heavy metal singers around.

The years after
He continues to write, record and perform to this day. In 1991, He released the album “No More Tears”, which peaked at number seen on the Billboard 200 album chart. It had four top-10 singles on Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock Charts, including “Mama, I’m Coming Home”, which went to number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100; “I Don’t Want to Change the World”, which won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance; and the title track which went to number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100.

He has had other hits, including the song “Changes” with daughter Kelly Osbourne that hit number one in the United Kingdom. He has also had his own reality show with his family; and done so much more.

Parting thoughts
Ozzy Osbourne will always symbolize heavy metal music to me. When I was in junior high, then into my first year of high school, heavy metal fans wore black Ozzy Osbourne t-shirts with white three-quarter length sleeves. I remember those long before I heard his music, and quite honestly I hadn’t heard a lot.

Yet over the years, he has not only endured, but grown a new audience through reality television and how it has turned his wife and children into celebrities. In some ways it echoes Gene Simmons of KISS, and his enduring appeal.

The career of Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand in "Yentl" in 1983.

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086619

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She is a legend and an icon, someone whose movies from the ‘60s and ‘70s I enjoyed while growing up in the 1980s. However, I didn’t see a thing she made in the ‘80s, only to catch every movie she made in the 1990s.

When I heard today that Barbra Streisand was given a Screen Actors Guild life achievement award, I reflected back on her career.

Three-channel universe
It is hard to imagine turning on a television and seeing vast swaths of empty space on the dial, because there are only three channels. Unlike today where there are so many channels and the appetite for programming is insatiable, with only three channels there was no demand to create unlimited hours of shows. As a result, there were a lot of re-runs of old shows, especially in the hours outside prime time, and a lot of movies. Some of those movies were made specifically for TV, but most were theatrical movies. A lot of those movies were aired over and over too.

That is where I first saw Barbra Streisand.

The years before in the movies
Barbra Streisand had quite a career in movies leading up to the ‘80s, that I had encountered.

It started with “Funny Girl” in 1968, which was her first film. Based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, the role earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1968.

“Hello Dolly”, based on the successful Broadway production about matchmaker Dolly Levi, came out the following year in 1969.

“What’s Up Doc?” was a comedy in 1972, involving several cases of mixed up luggage, that co-starred Ryan O’Neal. I am pretty sure this was one of the many novelizations of movies my brother and sister left behind when they went off to college.

The next year, Barbra Streisand was again nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in “The Way We Were” in 1973. It is a romance between two people with opposing political views, and ultimately their experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

More than anything, what I remember is the song “The Way We Were” performed by Streisand, that just melts the heart. “The Way We Were” went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the Grammy for Song of the Year. However, those went to the songwriters not Streisand.

“Funny Lady”, a sequel to “Funny Girl”, came out in 1975, picking up the story of comedienne Fanny Brice in her later life and career.

The next year, 1976, “A Star is Born” came out featuring Streisand as an up-and-coming singer falling in love with an established star played by Kris Kristofferson. I recall my Mom having the soundtrack record for “A Star is Born”, and seeing it in the living room. The album cover was also very memorable with Streisand and Kristofferson kissing passionately. The soundtrack featured the song “Evergreen” by Barbra Streisand, which went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Streisand also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Song of the Year for “Evergreen”.

Streisand closed out the decade in 1979 with “The Main Event”, where she plays an entrepreneur who is bankrupt trying to make some money getting a washed-up boxer, played by Ryan O’Neal, back in the ring.

The years before in music
Something I had initially forgotten about what was that Barbra Streisand had made her name in large part through her voice, starting back in 1962.

Songs I recall include “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” both in 1967; and the aforementioned “The Way We Were” and “Evergreen”.

She also released “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” in 1978, a duet with Neil Diamond that just melts my heart. “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as well.

Streisand had a number one duet with Donna Summer in 1979 called “No More Tears (Enough is Enough); and a number one song in 1980 called “Woman in Love”. She also had two singles with Barry Gibb that hit the top 10. “Guilty” peaked at number three in 1980, while “What Kind of Fool” peaked at number 10 in 1981.

So, by the dawn of the 1980s, Barbra Streisand was a household name, someone my Mom sure liked in our household.

Music memories
Barbra Streisand continued to produce quality work in the 1980s. She released six albums starting with “Guilty” in 1980 which contained “Woman in Love” and “Guilty”. “Memories” followed in 1981, a greatest hits album that reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Next was “Yentl” in 1983, a soundtrack for the movie of the same name which peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200; and “Emotion” in 1984 that peaked at number 19.

In 1985, she released “The Broadway Album”, which I heard a lot about. It was a departure from her last few studio albums where she had sung pop, rock, folk and disco songs. This album was a return to her roots in musicals, featuring classic show tunes such as “Send In the Clowns”, which songwriter Stephen Sondheim had written additional lyrics for.

The album was a massive hit, going all the way to number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. I had heard about “The Broadway Album” on “Entertainment Tonight”, but it was not top of mind because it did not have any single playing on the radio in support of it. That in itself makes it an even more impressive feat to reach number one. It is also a testament to the popularity of Barbra Streisand and her fans.

In 1988, she released the album “Till I Loved You”, which I had never heard of. It was in that void when I wasn’t into music, busy with the start of university. The title track is a duet with Don Johnson of “Miami Vice” fame, who was also Streisand’s boyfriend at the time. The song reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. I just listened to it, and it is pretty good.

Streisand closed out the decade with another compilation album in 1989 called “A Collection: Greatest Hits…and More.”

Movie memories
Barbra Streisand made just three movies in the 1980s.

In 1981, she starred opposite Gene Hackman in the comedy “All Night Long”, about a man who is demoted at work, leading to an extra-marital affair.

Her most celebrated work of the decade, and maybe her career, came in 1983 with the release of “Yentl”. It was a romantic musical drama where Streisand plays a young Jewish woman in 1904 Poland who disguises herself as a man to get an education in Talmudic Law. She produced, directed, starred and sung in the movie. She won a Golden Globe for Best Director, and was nominated for another Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Streisand closed out the decade with the legal drama “Nuts” in 1987. She played a prostitute who kills a client in self-defence. Her parents want her declared insane, but she resists, and is aided in her efforts by a defence attorney, played by Richard Dreyfuss, who takes on her case.

I actually haven’t seen any of her work from the decade, but am thinking I have to.

The years after
Interestingly, I saw all her movies in the 1990s – all two of them.

“The Prince of Tides” with Nick Nolte came out in 1991. I saw it with my friend Karry Close, who I went to movies with pretty much every week. It tells the story of a man battling the demons of his upbringing.

I saw “The Mirror Has Two Faces” in 1996, about a romance between Streisand and co-star Jeff Bridges. It was part of one of my first birthday movie marathons, along with “Shine” and “Mother”. I also had tickets to “Mars Attacks” as well, but was done with movies by the time it was to start at 10 p.m.

Streisand has also been in “Meet the Fockers”, “Little Fockers”, and “The Guilt Trip”.

She recorded a duet with Canadian singer Bryan Adams called “I Finally Found Someone” for “The Mirror Has Two Faces”. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and is the last top 10 single for either Adams or Streisand.

Streisand also released “Back to Broadway” in 1993. A follow-up to “The Broadway Album”, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

She continued recording, with her most recent live album “Live at the Bon Soir” coming out in 2022, and her most recent greatest hits album “Evergreens: Celebrating Six Decades on Columbia Records” coming out in 2023.

Streisand also released her memoir, “My Name is Barbra” on Nov. 7, 2023.

She is 82 and going strong.

Parting thoughts
It is strange. When I hear the name Barbra Streisand, I think actor.

Yet, she has really made her mark singing. As I wrote this, thought about the songs she has released, and checked some out on YouTube to see if I heard them before or not, I am just struck by her talent.

She has a golden voice that really can melt my heart.

Even now “The Way We Were” just echoes in my mind.

Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car: A time of transitions

Earlier tonight I covered a fundraising talent show, and one of the performers introduced himself and the song he was going to perform.

It was instantly recognizable by that beautiful piece of guitar work in the opening, followed by, “Who’s got a fast car…”

I turned to someone I knew and joked, “I haven’t heard this song in 20 years”. I actually meant to say 40 years.

She responded she hadn’t heard it in two days. She may have also said two hours, because the music was pretty loud.

In any case, we were both joking around. The song that was a hit for Tracy Chapman in 1988, had a resurgence when country singer Luke Combs covered it last year.

Then they performed that moving and inspiring version together recently at the Grammys.

“Fast Car” is another song that symbolizes a time of transition for me.

The Spring of ‘88
Wikipedia reveals “Fast Car” came out on April 6, 1988. I was living in Edmonton at the time, going to university and living in student residence.

Three things were going on simultaneously for me – I was trying to wrap up the school year both personally and academically; I was preparing for the next school year when I was set to take on a role in student leadership; and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for the summer, knowing I was destined to head back to the family farm.

The end of a year
My first year of university was amazing. One of the highlights was getting to know the ladies of Fifth Kelsey, an all girls’ floor, in the same tower I lived in. I had developed a serious crush, but just never got up the courage to tell her how I felt, even when she pretty much confronted me head on. After that, I tried to move on, and did, and we stayed really good friends. Plus, I developed a crush over the last couple months of school on various other members of Fifth Kelsey. After all, I was barely 18 at the time.

When the weather turned, I remember Fifth Kelsey having a barbecue in Hawryluk Park, which was not really that far a walk from res. It was great. I remember sitting in the sun, playing catch with a football with that same girl I had a crush on for so long, and eating some hamburgers and hot dogs straight off the grill.

It kind of symbolized the end of that year socially, although there was a lot of other stuff going on, such as final exams.

The next year
Every floor in res had what was called a floor coordinator. He or she was elected by all the floor members at the end of one school year to serve as coordinator the next year. I was elected coordinator of Tenth Kelsey and started to take over soon after. That meant holding floor meetings, going to what was called joint council which was a bi-weekly meeting of all coordinators, and attending hall council meetings which were meetings of all the coordinators in Kelsey Hall. I had been a proxy for my coordinator a couple times, but it was a steep learning curve. To add to the uncertainty, I was given no indication how the following year would unfold, not even what day or time to come back to res in the Fall.

Going home
While these two things were going on, the clock was ticking down on what to do when the school year ended and summer started. I had toyed with the idea of trying to stick around Edmonton for the summer and go to summer school. However, there was just too much I didn’t know – like where to live.

So, I was consigned to the fact I was heading home to the farm, and this amazing year would be over, gone and done with, as quickly as it had started.

Once I knew for certain I was going home, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion to everybody but me, my Mom told me she had talked to the Gergeleys. I had worked for them at their greenhouse the last two years of high school, and my Mom was currently working for them.

So once I got back to the farm, it was back to the greenhouse too.

Through all these things, I remember hearing “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman in res, on the farm and at the greenhouse.

The song
“Fast Car” came out in April of 1988, and quickly moved up the charts. It went all the way to number six on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Chapman won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, as well as Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Folk Album for her self-titled debut “Tracy Chapman”.

The years after
Tracy Chapman had another big single in 1995 called “Give Me One Reason” from her aptly titled album “New Beginning”. It went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song.

It had been so long since I heard Tracy Chapamn, I wondered if it was the same one.

It was.

Then, Luke Combs released his cover of “Fast Car” in 2023 as a country song, and it went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Sings chart. It also earned Chapman the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year.

Parting thoughts
Usually when I hear a song, it takes me back to a particular place in time. Because of when it came out, when I hear Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”, I am taken back to three places in my life that were all happening simultaneously.

It really was a time of transition, and “Fast Car” was part of the soundtrack of that time.

Heavy metal craze: Remembering “Cum on Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot was in Calgary yesterday at the Grey Eagle Casino, and immediately “Cum on Feel the Noize” was called up from my memory bank.

It was one of the ear worms that reminds me of junior high dances and the heavy metal craze that took hold for a couple years.

Heavy metal craze
By the time I reached Grade 9 at St. Joseph’s School in Coaldale, we were finally the big kids in school. We were beginning to develop unique tests that took us in wildly different directions when we went to high school the next year.

One of the things that was popular in 1983 and 1984 and 1985, in particular, was heavy metal music. It was loud, obnoxious, featured the sawing of guitars and loud beating of drums, as well as a lot of hair – so much hair.

Many of the fans sported similar hair – so much hair – and black t-shirts. They the name of the band on the front, and some sort of graphic which was often from the album cover. If they were concert shirts, as they some times were, they would have the date and place of their tour stops.

There were so many bands, some that may have been considered but preceded the heavy metal craze, such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and KISS, or transcended it, like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi.

Yet, there were so many others that were such a big part of it.

The first band I remember was Iron Maiden with “Run to the Hills”. They had this creature on all their swag named “Eddie”. Bruce Dickinson was one of the big players for them. They would put “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” to music, and do some interesting things.

There was Judas Priest and “Breaking the Law”, with their unique lead singer Rob Halford, who had this white blonde hair cropped tightly to his head. Judas Priest was also used as a kind of a proxy swear word back then too. I first recall hearing it said by Howard Hunter, a character on the police drama “Hill Street Blues”, played by James B. Sikking.

Krokus was a Swiss band who did a great cover of “Ballroom Blitz” by The Sweet. It was played at many a dance.

Twisted Sister had an amazing run with “I Wanna Rock”; “We’re Not Gonna Take it”; “The Price”; and a cover of “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-La’s. Their song “Under the Blade”, garnered a lot of attention from the Moral Majority, Tipper Gore and the other pro-censorship, anti-free speech crusaders. It was more about unnecessary surgery than anything, but hey, why actually read and listen to the lyrics. They were a band whose members were also well known, especially lead singer Dee Snyder who went a bit heavy on the rouge to go with his thick, long, frizzy blonde hair. Twisted Sister also included Mark Mendoza with his red guitar and a black spiral pattern painted on it, and Jay Jay French.

There was Ratt, who had “Round and Round” from their album “Out of the Cellar”. I saw them on an episode of “The New Music Magazine”, where they were autographing the bodies of their female fans, and in some pretty provocative places.

Autograph had the song “Turn Up the Radio”, which was another candidate for ear worm status.

Slade also had an ear worm with “Run, Run Away”.

KISS had a bit of a resurgence with the heavy metal crowd. They were no longer wearing their face paint. Their costumes were more of the bare torso, heavy metal band variety then the love object, demon, cat variety. They had a bunch of songs including “Lick it Up”; “Heaven’s On Fire”; and “Tears are Fallin’” from the “Lick it Up” and “Animalize” albums. My best friend, Chris Vining, went to see them and got an “Animalize” scarf. He would later hang it in our room in student residence at the University of Alberta. The members of KISS were also well known from front man Gene Simmons to Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and drummer Peter Criss.

Motley Crue would start out as a heavy metal band with favourites such as “Shout at the Devil”. they would transcend that, starting with their third album “Theatre of Pain” and a cover of the single “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” by Brownsville Station. They too, had a band whose individual members were well known – Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, and Tommy Lee.

Bon Jovi was yet another band that started out heavy metal with the first albums “Bon Jovi” and “7800 Fahrenheit” and singles such as “Runaway” and “In and Out of Love”. Everything changed with the release of their third album “Slippery When Wet” and the number one hit singles “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

For a bit of Canadian flavour, there was Helix, who actually came to Lethbridge, with “Rock You” and a cover of “Anything You Want”, initially recorded by the group Foot in Cold Water. They would put out an album called “Long Way to Heaven” that produced the singles “The Kids are all Shaking in the USA” and the ballad “Deep Cuts the Knife”.

There was Kick Axe, which I always thought was a cool play on words with “With a Little Help from My Friends”, and I believe they actually opened for Helix in Lethbridge.

For really loud and angry music there was Wasp.

There was even Christian heavy metal with Stryper, who threw Bibles in the crowd and had an album called “To Hell With the Devil”.

“Cum on Feel the Noize”
And then there was Quiet Riot. Their album “Metal Health” had this man in an iron mask in a straight jacket on the cover. They had a successful single in “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)” to go with their smash hit “Cum on Feel the Noize”.

“Cum on Feel the Noize” went all the way to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1983. It propelled the album “Metal Health” to number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The song was initially recorded by Slade and was a hit in Europe about 10 years earlier.

When I was in junior high, I was erroneously told that Slade sued Quiet Riot for “ripping off” a bunch of their songs. That was not true at all, as Slade gave their permission to Quiet Riot to cover “Cum on Feel the Noize”.

Summer time
My cousin Fred was one of my musical mentors. For a lot of summers in the first half of the ‘80s, I would spend a couple weeks each summer in Brooks.

One summer, 1985, Fred was really into metal. He talked a lot about bands such Twisted Sister, and had compilation tapes such as “Metal for Breakfast”.

It gave me a new appreciation for heavy metal.

Parting thoughts
Initially, I detested heavy metal, but for the absolutely weirdest reason. My Uncle Ed had this friend who believed heavy metal was an instrument for worshipping the devil. If you played certain records backwards, called backmasking, you could hear subliminal messages. I heard the same thing at school from a couple girls who added another layer to the message. They said there were subliminal messages in heavy metal music. If you woke up with a song in your head, your subconscious was worshipping the devil. They also pointed out that KISS actually stood for “Knights In Satan’s Service” or alternatively “Kings In Satan’s Service”, while AC/DC stood for “Anti Christ Devil’s Children”. These people also indulged in record and tape burning, which even now disturbs me.

It turns out my uncle’s friend and these girls all went to the same church, so this all came from the same source. Interestingly, I went to Catholic school. All this came up on the playground and at lunch hour from non-Catholics, not in religion class.

However, once I actually listened to more heavy metal, spent that summer around my cousin Fred who was an afficianado, and started Grade 10 at another school, I began to like the driving beat, the loud guitars, and the distortion that comes with heavy metal music.

It may have been a craze in the mid-80s, but it still has a massive and loyal following.

So, whenever I hear “Cum on Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot, it takes me back to those days of frizzy hair, tight jeans, thick eye make up, and black concert shirts.

Myer Horowitz: A great educator

Myer Horowitz was president of the University of Alberta in 1988.

Source: https://jewishcemeteryofvictoriabc.ca

(May be subject to copyright)

“Free!”
“Mandela!”
“Down!”
“Apartheid!”

That was the chant we were yelling out as we marched through the University of Alberta campus in the early months of 1988.

Barely 18 years old, it was my first protest.

It was also the day I met Myer Horowitz, president of the University of Alberta.

Today, I was cleaning off my desk when I came upon an article I tore out of the Alberta Teachers Association magazine awhile ago on Myer Horowitz.

It took me back to that day all those years ago.

Roomies
In September of 1987, Chris Vining, my best friend growing up. We headed off to the University of Alberta to study Education and live together in residence.

There were two other guys from our high school grad class who we hung out with to varying degrees, who also made the trek north and lived in res.

Our friend Randy had a single room on Sixth Mac, while Craig had a double room, like we did, on Eighth Mac, so he had a roommate.

Craig's roommate was Patrick Church. He was from Drumheller, and he was a really interesting person. He was in Arts and, where a lot of first year students took history, he took Classics. I wasn’t sure what that was until I took a Classics class of my own four years later. Where a lot of students took French as their second language requirement, he took Russian.

And he really got into causes.

I would run into him periodically and ask him how things were going.

One day, pretty early in second semester, I saw him on campus and he told me about something that changed everything.

Down Apartheid
One day, Vining and I were coming back from class and we were cutting through SUB – the Students Union Building. Back then there was a courtyard as you entered the building from the south. Patrick was set up there with some others, and they were asking people to sign a petition.

We stopped and he filled us in. He said a high-ranking official from South Africa was scheduled to speak on campus, and they wanted to stop it in protest over the country’s policy of Apartheid. I am pretty sure the speaker was a de Klerk. I am not 100 percent sure it was the man who would eventually be president and bring an end to the racist, segregationist policy.

Patrick asked us if we were interested in signing the petition.

Long before that day, I had read about Apartheid and the idea sickened me. It bothered me the world stood by as a country proclaimed to be free and democratic yet had this racist system in place. We still traded with them, although sanctions were beginning to sink in their teeth.

Vining and I had talked about Apartheid and so many other issues.

This was a chance for us to make a statement, so we happily signed that petition.

Then Patrick said in a few minutes they were going to march through campus, then deliver the petition to the leadership of the university.

I looked around, and saw students with signs and others still painting them.

It was kind of exhilarating.

Hijacked
While we were standing around this guy we knew came walking back. We had a bunch of classes with him, and just started getting to know him. He was on his way back to res from HUB Mall when he saw us.

This time we told him what was happening and invited him to sign the petition. He did.

That was great for another reason. I had actually seen him working one of the welcome tables the day we moved into res, sat with him in History 200 and some other classes, but only ever knew that Chris was his first name. Now I had the chance to read what his last name was.

Only I couldn’t read his writing. Was it “Jensen” or “Johnson”? I wasn’t sure. So I had to ask him.

“Jesswein, my name is Chris Jesswein.”

He would become one of my closest friends, I would live with him, and he would be there in the chapel when we buried my Dad.

Chris would later say he was simply doing some shopping when we hijacked him for that protest.

Marching
The majority of people who had gathered were Black, and were from a campus student organization that I think was an anti-Apartheid group. They were led by one man who, I believe, was from South Africa. He had a megaphone and led us on this march through campus.

He would yell, “Free!” and we would respond “Mandela!”

Then he would yell, “Down!” and we responded with “Aparheid!”

We turned a lot of heads, and got a few thumbs up.

Since we came late, I was not sure what would happen next. We were lead back in front of the Students Union Building and stopped.

The group then split in two. I went in one direction with a bunch of people including the man with the megaphone. Vining was with the other group, so I had no idea what they were doing.

I had no idea what we were doing either.

So I just followed along.

Pretty soon we were in the annals of power at the University of Alberta.

We were ushered in to see the president of the university.

That’s when I met Myer Horowitz.

Yes, Mr. President
He was a small man, but had kind eyes. He listened as the leader of our group presented the petition and expressed our utter opposition to Apartheid.

Horowitz took in everything we said, listening intently and receptively.

I had a healthy distrust of authority at that point, and expected a bit of a fight.

That was not at all forthcoming.

Instead, the president said he was not unaccustomed to protest. He had experience with it when he was at McGill. Horowitz was gracious in hearing the group’s message, thanked us for bringing the petition, and shook all our hands.

He was quite impressive, because he listened.

I will never forget that.

Afterwards
When we left the administration building, I found Vining. His group had gone up to see Tim Boston, president of the students’ union to present the petition.

At that point, Jesswein left. He said he had to get back to res.

He had to put away the stuff he bought in HUB.

And he had a date.

The aftermath
The speaker from South Africa never did come to campus. He cancelled his speaking engagement.

Martin Parry, another student, said something that got me to thinking. He was opposed to our protest pointing out that as an institution of higher learning, shouldn’t we listen to all points of view. If we were preventing someone from speaking, were we any better than the South African government who was stifling the free speech of the Black majority?

That really sat with me.

About a week after that, I was walking out of the cafeteria after lunch, and I heard, “Free!”

I looked around. There was Chris Jesswein smiling.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Parting thoughts
Looking back, I am pretty sure Myer Horowitz had the same view as Martin Parry.

What I have always respected was the fact he did not share his point of view with us, nor did he debate or lecture us.

He just listened, and let things unfold so we could see them for ourselves.

This article I tore out of the Alberta Teachers Association magazine said he was a great educator.

That day in 1988 proves it to me.

Remembering Buffalo Bill’s: Good pizza, an arcade, good times

The iron gate at Buffalo Bill's in Lethbridge.

Source: Facebook/Lethbridge Historical Society

(May be subject to copyright)

It really was a cool place for a birthday celebration. Not only was the pizza great, but there was an actual arcade too.

There really was no place that typified ‘80s pop culture like Buffalo Bill’s on Mayor Magrath Drive in Lethbridge.

When I was commemorating my birthday back on February 18, I started thinking about that place, and all it had to offer back in the day.

Birthdays
I don’t recall exactly the first time I went to Buffalo Bill’s, but it was for a birthday, I am sure of that. It was in junior high, and I had heard about it at school.

I am pretty sure I went there with my sister after we saw a movie, because she knew the way to go. When you entered the building, you were greeted by a plastic pony you could ride for some change, and the bathrooms. An arcade was to the left and the restaurant to the right.

What I recall most was the pizza. The pepperoni and salami and I think even the ham was shredded, which gave the toppings a different texture. It made it really tasty.

I really didn’t have a lot of money at the time, so there was no real chance to use the arcade, beyond walking around it.

What I saw was pretty amazing for a 12-year-old kid. The first thing that greeted me entering the arcade was whack-a-mole. It was something I had only seen on TV. Someone was playing it and I was just enamored by the way they just kept striking out at these moles and missing. There was also skeet ball, which I had played a few times on the midway at Whoop-Up Days in the summer time.

The most interesting game was “Dragon’s Lair”. It was a laser disc game, meaning it did not have computer-generated graphics as much as it had animated pictures of a knight on a quest. This game I had seen profiled on “That’s Incredible”. It described how difficult it was, compared to other games, because it was not computer-generated. Because I saw how hard it was, I never played it, realizing I did not know the pattern necessary to progress through the game.

I would have just wasted my money.

It was interesting to watch other people play though.

My parents weren’t always game to try new things, but I managed to convince them to go once or twice, and it was with my sister to show the way.

I do remember, when my we got there with my parents the first time, my parents actually had been to the building before.

“It’s the old irrigation district,” my Mom said.

In fact, it was the office of the St. Mary’s Irrigation District, which actually covered our farm.

The last time I celebrated a birthday there was in 1984. It was my 14th birthday and we had just won the consolation final in a basketball tournament in Taber. I was excited to go because my brother and his wife were down visiting. He really did not seem that interested in celebrating my birthday, or that I was relishing our first ever trophy, but the pizza was good anyway.

An arcade token from Buffalo Bill's in Lethbridge.

Source: https://en.numista.com/207251

(May be subject to copyright)

Friday nights
It was a few years before I went back to Buffalo Bill’s, and I was in a much different place in my life by then.

Starting in the Spring of 1986, some of my friends and I starting going to the YMCA in Lethbridge on Friday nights. It was “Teen night”, where we could have our run of the place for a dollar. That meant the pool, weight room, gym, racquetball courts and more. So we would show up when it started at 7 p.m. with our dollar bill, and played racquetball. Eventually, we moved on to playing basketball and some floor hockey in the gym.

Things closed up around 10 p.m. I think, and we went somewhere for something to eat. Initially we went to Boston Pizza. By Grade 12, however, we migrated to Buffalo Bill’s. Actually, we started going to the arcade after we ate at Boston Pizza, then started eating there.

It was a more happening place, right on the strip where teenagers from around Southern Alberta cruised around. I think we wanted to see if anyone we knew was there.

I also wanted to play “Space Invaders”, which was my favourite arcade game. I got pretty good at the Intellivision knock-off “Space Armada”, so I could make my money last. Or should I say tokens, because initially you bought tokens to play the games. That may have changed later.

Another thing that changed was the arcade was scaled back over time, and not as exciting as it had been in earlier times.

The good times
There were some other good times at Buffalo Bill’s. I recall one time, we went to see “Can’t Buy Me Love” in the theatre, and grabbed some food at Buffalo Bill’s afterwards. The movie had such an effect on me, it sparked my creative juices for something I wanted to write. I ended up scribbling notes all over one of the place mats while we waited for our food to arrive.

A few weeks later I went to see “Can’t Buy Me Love” with my friend and neighbour Bill. We were both lamenting our respective love lifes and went to Buffalo Bill’s after to hash everything out.

Another time, we went there in the summer after first year university. We were with some of our friends who were a year behind us and in Grade 12. There were enough of us that we were at two tables. I recall watching the girls at the other table order a pitcher of Coors Light. They got ID’ed and weren’t old enough. All I could think was if they’d ask us to order for them we were all 18.

The years after
I found a bit of history on Buffalo Bill’s, and it did last until 1990 before it closed. By then I had left Southern Alberta and didn’t return to live until November of 1998. By then, the building was Treat’s Eatery and again, I found myself going there a lot. The arcade was also gone, replaced by a bar.

However, for a long time, the building kept the Buffalo Bill’s iron gate as a reminder.

Parting thoughts
When I found some information online about Buffalo Bill’s I was struck by the comments. They expressed the same feelings I did about the place – good pizza, an arcade, and good times.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Remembering “Electric Blue” by Icehouse: A time of transition

I had set my mind to do it. It was the summer of 1988 and I was working at Gergeley’s Greenhouse two miles south and two miles west of Coaldale on the Jail Road. I had just come home from my first year of university a week or two earlier, and I had seen this video of a song I then heard on the radio. It was really good. So I resolved to pop into Lethbridge and buy it after work.

When I got to the Woolco Mall, which was on the eastern edge of the city, I realized I wasn’t sure if there was any place I could buy it. Then I popped into Coles Books, looked at some stuff, and had second thoughts.

I never did buy that tape by Icehouse that had “Electric Blue”, that song I liked so much.

Recently something came across my social media that “Electric Blue” debuted on this day in 1988 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. This day being Feb. 13.

The funny thing is, when I think of that song, I am taken back to a time of transitions for me.

First year
First year of university was a life-altering experience. Not only did I begin my post-secondary education, but I met new people and experienced so many new and different things. Then, in an instant it was over.

Just as Chris Vining and I had arrived in Edmonton in his orange Pinto, we were now leaving Edmonton in that same orange Pinto. My Mom and sister had come a couple days earlier and picked up the bulk of our stuff and took it home. We stuck around a couple more days so we could get every last drop out of our time in Edmonton.

Now, we were on the road home. It was funny because we kept talking about people in the present tense. For instance Chris suggested I ask this one girl out. All I kept thinking was the year was over. We may very well never see these people again. History showed that in some cases, we never did see them again.

Friday night lights
As we got close to home, we started talking about the future. We both realized it was Friday night. During our last year and a half of high school that meant one thing – basketball at the Lethbridge YMCA.

It was teen night and, for a dollar, we could have full access to everything the “Y” had to offer. We usually just settled in to play basketball.

We both joked that we were actually still teens, not that it mattered because the regular rate was something like $3.

So, after Chris dropped me off at the farm and he dropped his stuff at his Mom’s in town, I hopped in my parents’ Oldsmobile Omega and picked him up.

Immediately something was different at the “Y”. None of the guys, even the staff, we’d see around were there. Some of the staff were students too and, looking back, weren’t that much older than us really. They probably moved on to other jobs. The guys playing ball were hit and miss anyway, showing up on and off. They too probably found something else to occupy their time.

In their place were some kids, but not many, and even fewer to play pick-up with. We ended up playing two-on-two with a couple guys still in junior high. One had a ball with “Bullock” written on it. His name was Curtis. I asked if he was related to Benjy Bullock, who had been a phenom at LCI when we were in Grade 12. Curtis was his younger brother.

Beyond that, it wasn’t that much fun. Where just a year earlier we would close the place down, on this Friday night we didn’t turn out the lights. We left an hour after we came.

We never went back to the “Y” again and won’t – it was torn down a few years ago.

Friends for life?
We also tried to pick up where we left off with some of our high school friends. There were these two brothers we used to cruise down Mayor Magrath with, and we re-connected with them. There were a couple other guys I knew that we connected with as well.

However, the summer was altered forever when Chris went up north to work and, much to his dismay, live with his dad.

Initially, I still hung out with those brothers, and a couple other guys, but it just wasn’t the same. Everyone really was going their own way. Besides that, they were all staying in Southern Alberta and going to school in Lethbridge, either to the college or the university. I was headed back to Edmonton.

About halfway through the summer, I stopped calling those guys, and they never called me. I became much more of a home body, just going to work at the greenhouse until the season ended, then hanging around the farm.

I was just biding my time until it was time to go back to university when life would really start again.

I recall one day clearly at the greenhouse. It was actually part of their farmstead, so they had a bunch of graineries and buildings out back too. We were actually cleaning and organizing a bunch of wooden graineries. I was walking between buildings and I thought to myself, “I can’t wait to get back to Edmonton – and I am never coming back here.”

And I never went back to the farm to live again.

The song
There was always music playing in the greenhouse while we worked, and I heard “Electric Blue” a bunch on an old radio.

“Electric Blue” was actually co-written by Iva Davies of Icehouse and John Oates of Hall and Oates fame. It was released on Aug. 31, 1987, and was the second single from their “Man of Colours” album. The first was “Crazy’, which I had also heard and liked. That was also probably part of the reason I wanted to buy the tape initially.

Anyway, “Electric Blue” went all he way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also was number one in Australia, and reached number 10 in Canada.

Parting thoughts
I distinctly recall, at one time or another, walking around the greenhouse that summer of 1988 singing “Electric Blue”.

Even now as I write this, I am taken back to that summer which truly was a transition. Everything I left behind, metaphorically, was gone. Now, everything was waiting for me in a new place.

Remembering “Human Touch” by Rick Springfield

Some strange sounds come out of the Claresholm Arena in the town I live in. Today was a very good example. It is Family Day, a day created by our provincial government intended for Albertans to spend time with their families. I went down to the rink to take some pictures of parents skating with their children.

At first, when I entered the arena and passed through the foyer, I didn’t hear it.

However, once I got on one of the players’ bench to set up in my usual perch for these sorts of things, the sound was unmistakable.

My boss’s daughter and her boyfriend were there too, and I looked at her.

“This song is 40 years old,” I exclaimed.

She nodded. She knew that too.

I was surprised to hear it because it wasn’t an iconic song, much less one I ever heard at the rink.

But there it was, “Human Touch” by Rick Springfield, playing over the arena sound system.

The in-between song
When I first heard it, I kind of laughed. It really wasn’t that long ago that I blogged about Rick Springfield’s last big hit “Love Somebody”.

I had referenced how I had listened to a lot of Rick Springfield before that, because he had been a staple of the junior high dance. Beyond his signature song “Jessie’s Girl”, he had “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, “I’ve Done Everything for You”, and “Love is All Right Tonight”.

It made me think, where does “Human Touch” fit in, because I do remember that song from my junior high days. In particular, I remember my neighbour Mike talking about it.

So, I had to look it up.

Rick Springfield broke out with his “Working Class Dog” album in 1981. It was the one with “Jessie’s Girl”, “Love is All Right Tonight”, and “I’ve Done Everything for You”. His next album “Success Hasn’t Spoiled me Yet” came out in 1982 and produced another big hit in “Don’t Talk to Strangers”.

I also knew “Love Somebody” came out in 1984 on the soundtrack album for “Hard to Hold”.

So where did “The Human Touch” fit in?

Well, Rick Springfield was even more prolific than I remembered. It came out in 1983 off his album entitled “Living in Oz”.

It came out between “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “Love Somebody”.

It was the in-between song.

The song
“Human Touch” peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, not as successful as the other songs. Interestingly, it also peaked at number 23, making it his most successful song in the United Kingdom. In fact, “Human Touch” was his only top 40 song in the United Kingdom. None of those others cracked the top 40.

It just shows you every country has its own unique taste.

Parting thoughts
I listened to “Human Touch” again when I got back to my office, and it does have a catchy riff. It has actually been an ear worm much of the day as I have been working writing news stories.

It made me think of a couple things. One thing is that, looking at the lyrics, Rick Springfield uses some interesting word choices. They are more complicated than repeating the same phrases over and over. He does that too, but his verses are really interesting to listen to. I first noticed that when I watched “Hard to Hold”. My spouse has a tough time hearing the TV sometimes, so we always have on the closed caption. Reading his song lyrics while they played gave me a new perspective.

The other thing is that I never give enough credit to my neighbour Mike for the influence he had on me when it came to music. That was really the case in 1982 and 1983 before I really got into music in 1984.

“Human Touch” came out in June of 1983 when we would have been in the summer between Grade 8 and Grade 9.

Today, I could actually hear him singing the chorus of “Human Touch” in my mind’s eye as well.

I am still curious as to how that particular song ended up on the sound system at the Claresholm Arena, when the vast majority of children and their parents weren’t even born when it came out.

Maybe Rick Springfield has a little more staying power than I thought.

Or maybe it’s just a random playlist from Spotify.

Remembering the 1984 Taber basketball tournament

It was a moment I will never forget, and one of the highlights of my basketball career.

Forty years ago today, on my 14th birthday, the St. Joseph’s School Jaguars won the consolation final of a tournament in Taber.

It was a weekend to remember that started horribly and got a whole lot better.

The season
Hockey was the sport boys played in Coaldale back in the 1980s. They played basketball as well, but whenever there was a conflict between the two, hockey always won.

That left a small school such as ours with two choices. The basketball team could have hockey players who would show up all week for practices and games, but abandon the team in an instant on weekends when we had tournaments and the playoffs. Or, hockey players were just not welcome on the team if they could not commit to playing every game.

In Grade 9, our coach decided he had had enough of not knowing how many players he would have from week to week and weekend to weekend.

The result was that, on most nights, we had six players. That meant one sub for the entire team every game. If we got in foul trouble or had back-to-back games, as we had in tournaments, we had our challenges.

At the end of my Grade 8 season, our team lost Garry Spiess, our best player, to graduation. He was second in the league in scoring, but we had one of the best Grade 8 players in Joseph Ivacak, who finished 10th in league scoring.

Until he moved to Edmonton.

We still had three Grade 9 players, but Joseph would have taken us to another level.

Instead, we had not won a league game going into this tournament in Taber.

It was a tournament St. Joe’s played in every year, and we had never had a lot of success.

Friday night darkness
Our first game was against Milk River. When we got to the gym, they just looked intimidating by the way they practised. It was with military precision.

We just did some lay-ups then shot around.

Shawn Kingston always took the opening tip for us, and usually won it. On this day, he was up against their best player, this huge mountain of a boy, with an afro, named Dewey. Not only did Dewey win the tip, but they had a play designed off it where he tipped it to their guard Ray Saga who triggered three passes and a lay up.

We didn’t know what hit us.

They were relentless, and just kept on scoring. Beyond Dewey and Ray Saga, they had another monster named Shawn Balog who also filled the net.

The game was over by halftime.

Milk River did kind of call off the dogs and put in their subs for much of the second half. They kept on scoring, partly because they kept running, and partly because we had six guys. It was brutal.

I do recall hitting double figures with 10 points, but they were hard points.

After the game, we were just shell shocked. We went back to this classroom we were changing in, and our coach just reamed us out.

“You guys played the shits,” he growled. That was the only time all season he ever said anything like that. In fact, it was the only time he even yelled at us.

I rode back to Coaldale with my friend Mike Hartman and we agreed on one thing.

It couldn’t get any worse.

Home team Saturday morning
Our loss put us on the consolation side of the tournament, and set up a date with the host team – W.R. Myers of Taber.

We heard their captain was another beast who could shoot with both hands. That seemed like a big deal.

We were loose warming up. I think that was because we really had nothing to lose. We couldn’t have had a worse game then the night before.

When Shawn lined up for the tip against their vaunted captain it was really cool. Their captain, and I really wish I would have got his name, sported this bleached red head band. He made a point of shaking Shawn’s hand and wished him and the rest of us good luck.

I felt bad that Shawn won the tip and we went down and scored. I was on the base line, got a pass, and took a a shot I practised all the time in shoot arounds before class started. However, I never got a chance to use in the offence we ran. It went in.

The next time down the court, Shawn collided with their captain, and he went down. Instead of running off, he stuck out his hand to help up Shawn while the play was still going on down the court. That act of class has always stuck with me.

After I hit my third base line jump shot, our whole bench – so our coach, one sub, and assistant coach Mr. Roth – stood up and cheered.

In one of my less than finest moments I ran past them all yelling at our coach, “I told you I could make that shot. I told you.”

He just smiled.

As the game progressed we found ourselves hanging around and eventually got the lead. I remember being able to get a bunch of offensive rebounds and putting them in. That base line jumper kept falling for me too.

We also had these two Grade 7 guards that our coach used to trap the opposing team in their own end. He called it the rabbit trap. (I just got that after 40 years). They forced some turnovers, but the bigger effect was Taber could not set up.

We ended up winning by two or three baskets. When the final whistle blew I remember spiking the ball like we scored a touchdown in the Grey Cup.

I was stunned when I saw the score sheet. I had netted 18 points to lead all scorers. I just couldn’t believe that.

When we lined up to shake hands, there was that Taber captain again. He too a minute when he shook each of our hands to tell us we played well and wished us luck in the consolation final.

I couldn’t believe that either.

We were going to the consolation final.

“You’ll have no problem”
Our game wasn’t for a few hours, so we actually all went to Dairy Queen in Taber. While we were sitting in our booth, I overheard this conversation.

It was two parents of players on teams in the same tournament.

“Who are you playing next?”

“I have never heard of them. St. Joseph’s?”

“Oh, you’ll have no problem with them.”

I just shook my head and said nothing. That was my first experience of that. People making crass comments without even thinking they may be around to overhear them.

I didn’t share that with anyone. I just put it in the back of my mind for later reference.

One for the ages
Warm up was looser than ever. We had already won a game, something we had not done in the regular season, and only once all year. That was against Redcliff in a tournament in Stirling a few weeks earlier. Anything after that win against Taber was a bonus.

We were playing Vauxhall and again they had a tall, talented centre. This guy had rosy cheeks, frizzy brown hair and just had this kindness about him.

Shawn beat him on the opening tip and again we were off. This time, we really did control the boards. Shawn pulled down a lot on defence and I got a bunch I put back for scores on offence.

We went back and forth with them, but incredibly every time they put together any sort of run, we responded.

Our biggest challenge was that we had six guys. I had played the entire game against Taber, and it was looking like that would happen with Vauxhall too.

I was getting tired, but everyone else was too.

At one point, I remember one of our guys got fouled, and had two shots. When we lined up in the blocks, I actually sat down. A minute later the same thing happened, and I sat down again.

It was enough of a rest to get me through.

Once more, there were no buzzer beaters or miracle comebacks.

We won that game by two or three baskets.

Again, at the final whistle I spiked the ball. This time I grabbed it and spiked it again.

We all hugged each other, jumping up and down, and thrusting our fists in the air.

We had won the consolation side.

I gathered up everyone and we went to shake hands. Vauxhall was all class too, and I will always remember that.

We had to wait until the final was done, where Milk River mauled some team to win the championship.

Then, they called for the captain of the St. Joseph’s Jaguars to accept the consolation trophy.

I was in my street clothes, but went up there and accepted the trophy.

It was the first one I had ever held.

My parents had come to Taber with my brother and his wife who were visiting. They were taking me to Buffalo Bill’s for my birthday. It was a pizza place with a games room in Lethbridge.

All I could think was – what a great birthday present.

Parting thoughts
Afterwards, my coach said something to me that was quite profound. I had observed that we seemed to do well playing teams outside our league. We won that game in Stirling then two in Taber. He said that was the point of tournaments – you don’t realize how tough our league actually is.

That tournament also echoed in my life for years.

When I was in Grade 8, my Mom, sister and I took a bus tour to Disneyland. There weren’t many boys my age on that bus. There was one, Ulf Larson, who I befriended and we spent a lot of time together. We also talked about basketball, and how we both played – me in Coaldale, and him in Milk River.

Ulf was one of the subs that Milk River team put in when they blew us out. I was actually guarding him, but he had no memory of me.

When I started Grade 11, I went to my first English 20 class and there was this new kid in class. We got assigned to some group work and he was in my group. He had rosy cheeks and frizzy brown hair. He said his name was Brad and he moved to Coaldale from Vauxhall. It took me a minute, but I remembered him. He remembered me too. A year later we, and all our classmates, would cross the stage together as graduates of Kate Andrews High School. Brad even gave the toast to parents at our graduation banquet. This, after Brad's dad gave this amazing and emotional toast to the grads.

The weirdest thing happened about 15 years ago. I had been playing basketball Tuesday nights at the LDS Church for years. One night, this huge guy named Dalton Rowland showed up asking if he could play. He was very nice, and gracious, and he fit right in.

Afterwards one of the guys asked him where he was from. Dalton said he was from Milk River.

I turned and said that, “Back in junior high we played Milk River in a tournament and they smoked us. They had two big guys – Shawn Balog”.

“Balog,” Dalton nodded.

“And this guy named Dewey who was just a beast.”

“I’m Dewey,” he said.

“Oh,” I stuttered. “You’ve grown up.”

We both laughed.

Dewey became a close friend until he moved away a few years ago.

One last, odd coincidence.

Dewey and I were at a basketball tournament at the high school, talking to one of the teaching assistants.

Milk River came up, and she said she had a cousin who played basketball there.

“Who’s that?” Dewey asked.

“Ray Saga”.

It is a small world.

And it all started 40 years ago today