Roger Daltrey: Lets us down easy

The cover of Roger Daltrey's 1985 album "Under a Raging Moon".

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_a_Raging_Moon_%28album%29

(May be subject to copyright)

His biggest days may have been behind him, but for me Roger Daltrey’s reputation preceded him when I started listening to music in 1984.

I started learning more and more about Daltrey and “The Who” when, low and behold, he released a solo album, with some help from some special friends.

Roger Daltrey was on my mind this morning when I read he turned 80 and said “I’m on my way out”.

First contact
The first time I ever heard about a band called “The Who” was in an episode of “Archie Bunker’s Place”. Archie asked his niece’s new boyfriend what kind of music he listened to. When he told Archie he liked “The Who”, Archie asked who does he like. It becomes a variation on the Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” routine. The result is the same, Archie thinks the boyfriend is messing with him

The next time I heard about The Who was when they played their final concert in 1982 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I didn’t really know much about the band, but Channel 7 was televising that farewell concert and I happened upon it just as it was ending.

At that time the significance was lost on me.

Profile
Christmas of 1984 brought me a ghetto blaster for Christmas. Initially, I settled in on listening to LA-107 FM broadcasting from Lethbridge. The station had quite a number of interesting programs. Weeknights at 11 p.m. they had a show called "Profile" that, well, profiled a band.

One week they profiled “The Who”. There was so much history, they profiled “The Who” over two nights. It was then, listening to my ghetto blaster in the dark after bedtime, that I learned the band was made up of Keith Moon on drums; John Entwistle on bass; Pete Townshend on guitar; and Roger Daltrey on vocals.

I was introduced to all their great songs, but it was sensory overload. It would take me years to truly get to know “The Who” and their songs.

Nevertheless, that’s where I first heard about “My Generation”; “I Can See for Miles”; “Pinball Wizard”; “Won’t Get Fooled Again”; “Baba O’Riley”; “Who Are You”; and much more.

After that, I was interested in the band. I also learned about the “Guess Who”, a Canadian band with Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, and Garry Pederson. I talked incessantly about both bands to my friends, who kind of rolled their eyes.

However, my friend Dave Perlich went on a school trip to Europe, that included some time in England. He brought me back a really extensive coffee table book biography of “The Who”. That was one of the cooler presents I have ever gotten.

Reunion
Given I really didn’t know much about the band, but had developed this interest, I was excited to hear “The Who” was going to get back together to play at Live Aid in July of 1985. Live Aid was a pair of concerts, one at Wembley Stadium in London, England and one at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. They were held on the same day, featuring a good chunk of the most popular bands of the day. Proceeds were going to African famine relief.

I watched the concert at my friend Chris Vining’s in Coaldale, but “The Who” reunion was not part of the coverage we had access to. I did see some highlights on the news, including Townshend’s classic windmill guitar technique, and heard the songs they played were “My Generation”; “Pinball Wizard”; “Love, Reign o’er Me”; and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.

Solo effort
If that wasn’t enough, I heard on LA-107 that Roger Daltrey was releasing a new solo album. It was called “Under a Raging Moon”. It was a clear reference to Keith Moon who had passed away a few years earlier, and came out in September of 1985. The report I heard said there were a lot of great song writers who contributed including Pete Townshend, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, John Parr and more.

The first single, also released in September of 1985, was a great song called “After the Fire”. It was written by Pete Townshend and, Wikipedia reveals, was not only a hit but appeared in the second season finale of “Miami Vice”.

“After the Fire” was also initially intended to be part of the set “The Who” played at Live Aid. However, they didn’t have time to rehearse it, so it became part of “Under a Raging Moon”. Townshend said “After the Fire” was specifically written for Live Aid. It compared the situation in Africa to a fire with the concert figuratively putting it out. Yet it will always still “smoulder and burn”.

“After the Fire” went all the way to number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number three on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

The second single released was “Let Me Down Easy” in November of 1985, which was written by Canadians Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. The first time I heard this song was when I saw the music video on “Video Hits” after school one day. That’s when I also discovered Adams actually sang with Daltrey on it.

“Let Me Down Easy” was another great song. It peaked at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks, and number 82 in Canada.

The third single released was the title track “Under a Raging Moon”. It was written by John Parr as a tribute to Keith Moon who died in 1978. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and reached number 43 in the United Kingdom, but did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Soundtrack sensation
Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial used to have a program called “The Movie Show”, that aired on Saturdays. One time, in 1986, they were talking about a number of recent releases. One in particular was a movie called “Quicksilver” that starred Kevin Bacon as a stockbroker who quits his job and becomes a bicycle messenger.

They pointed to the music in the movie, particularly the title song “Quicksilver Lightning” by – Roger Daltrey.

I recall renting this movie and watching it on the farm with Vining, and hearing “Quicksilver Lightning” in the movie. That wasn’t always the case with movie music.

“Quicksilver Lightning” was another great song, a bit of an ear worm that is playing in my mind right now. The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Parting thoughts
Roger Daltrey kept on writing, recording and performing. He has produced a total of 10 solo albums. 

My favourite moment was when Daltrey and Townshend were inducted into the “Kennedy Center Honors” in 2015. Part of the reason was they did a benefit concert for the victims of families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks right after it happened. Well, tradition is to have someone introduce the inductees. In this case it was Rob Thomas, who started singing “Baba O’Riley”. When it was time for the chorus, a curtain was pulled back revealing members of the New York Police Department and Fire Department of New York singing out “Teenage Wasteland”. It was amazing, and still brings a tear to my eye.

That illustrates to me, the character of those two men. They contributed a lot to music, but it was this humanitarian effort that stands out for me

Roger Daltrey said he may be on his way out. If he is, the world will be a poorer place.

If he is on his way out, he better let us down easy.

Remembering “Never Give Up” by Boulevard

It was a morning to do some house cleaning, so I put on Stingray Music Remember the ‘80s for a little background music. As I wiped down an end table, this song came on that just started me moving.

Suddenly, I was taken back to a res room in Kelsey Hall in the Spring of 1988. That exact same song came on the radio and a friend of mine started moving to the music just like I was today.

I don’t know where that friend is, but the song in question is “Never Give Up” by Boulevard.

End of the hall
Part way through my first year of university, I made friends with some girls who lived on Fifth Kelsey, the all-girls floor in our hall. We lived on 10th Kelsey, so we already knew all the girls by sight. Actually we knew virtually everyone in Kelsey Hall by sight because, living at the top of the tower, we rode the elevator with everyone.

Over time, I spent more and more time on 5K and got to know more and more of the girls there.

There was one in particular who I clicked with. Her name was Seema Sharma but she also used the last name Aries. Her dad's name was Paul, just like mine. He worked, I believe in the oil patch, so Seema had lived in Calgary, but was from the United Arab Emirates. We could not have had two more different upbringings.

She lived at the end of the hall, and I used to go visit her regularly.

We talked about a lot of different things, most especially music. She loved Sting and U2, but more specifically, their lead singer Bono. She was the one who told me Bono’s real name was Paul Hewson. In fact, whenever she signed anything, be it a yearbook, mural, or letter, her signature was “Seema ‘Bono/Sting’ Aries Sharma’.”

That year, so the early part of 1988, U2 came out with “Rattle and Hum”, their much-anticipated follow-up album to “The Joshua Tree”. Seema described to me the elaborate ritual she underwent listening to “Rattle and Hum” for the first time, and their debut single “Desire”.

To me, she will always be the consummate U2 fan. Her name comes to mind whenever I hear U2 mentioned.

“Never Give Up”
One day, I went to visit her near the end of the school year. We may have already been done classes and were studying for finals.

That day, she had the radio playing. That was a bit unusual, because she usually liked to control the music. We were just chatting when the next song started on the radio.

Seema stood up and started singing the words, and dancing. It was a great song, with a cool intro.

The song was “Never Give Up” by Boulevard.

I may have heard it once or twice before, but after that I seemed to hear it all the time. It was big on the radio that first month I was home in the summer of 1988 too.

“Never Give Up” was part of their debut album “BLVD”. The single went all the way to number 23 on the Canadian charts. They had another great song on the radio called “Far from Over”, which peaked at number 26 on the Canadian charts. None of their songs charted in the States though.

I am also pretty sure I got to see them live in the Fall of 1988, when they opened for Boston at the Northlands Coliseum.

Parting thoughts
Seema came back to res the next year and, although I got busy in student leadership, still visited her and spent time on her floor. By then, the university had swapped Fifth and Tenth Kelsey, so she now lived on my floor from the year before and vice versa.

She didn’t come back in our third year, and I thought I would never see her again. Then, six years later, she came back to the University of Alberta to finish her degree. There were no more all-girls’ floors by that time, so she lived on one of the quiet floors. We renewed our friendship, and again I would go visit her.

At one point, she had picked up some stuff out of storage. There were some photos in there from our first year, seven years earlier, including one of a bunch of us singing at a party. We both remembered that moment well. The song playing was “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake.

After that year ended, I never saw Seema again. I haven’t seen her to this day.

Yet, whenever I hear “Never Give Up”, I find myself moving to the music, thinking back to the Spring of 1988, and wondering what ever became of my old friend.

Louis Gossett Jr: Remembering the trailblazing actor

Louis Gossett Jr. in his Oscar-winning role in "An Officer and a Gentleman" in 1982.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/80s/comments/1bqsack/rip_to_louis_gossett_jr_aka_sgt_emil_foley/

(May be subject to copyright)

“Where you from boy?”
“(Recruit names town).”
“Only two things I know from there, steers and queers…and I don’t see no horns boy!”

Those words were uttered by actor Lou Gossett Jr. on his way to becoming the first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1983.

When I heard today that Louis Gossett Jr. died at the age of 87, it reminded me of “An Officer and a Gentleman” and much more..

Pre-history
Gossett’s big break came in 1977 when he appeared as Fiddler in the epic TV miniseries “Roots”. For his efforts he won an Emmy for the role.

Through the 1970s he appeared in a number of TV shows in guest starring roles, before “Roots”, such as “The Mod Squad”; “The Partridge Family”; “Bonanza”; “Longstreet”; “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”; “Alias Smith and Jones”; “The Rookies”; “Love, American Style”; “”Owen Marshall: Counsellor at Law”; “McCloud”; “Petrocelli”; “Good Times”; “Lucas Tanner”; “Harry O”; “The Jeffersons”; “The Six Million Dollar Man”; “Police Story”; “Little House on the Prairie”; “The Rockford Files”; and more.

After “Roots”, he kept on working, appearing in “Backstairs at the White House”; “The Lazarus Syndrome”, and more. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for “Backstairs at the White House”.

He also appeared in a number of theatrical releases, most notably for me, in “The Deep” and “The Choirboys”.

Dawn of the decade
Louis Gossett Jr. began the ‘80s appearing in two shows very near and dear to my heart.

Rural race relations

One show was “Palmerstown, USA” in 1980, a drama set during the Depression about two boys, one black and one white, who become best friends. It also starred a young Michael J. Fox as the older brother of one of the boys.

I loved “Palmerstown, USA”, especially the look into race relations in a small rural, community. However, it was another victim of irregular programming. I would find it one week, then it was gone the next, and back the week after that. What increased my frustration was when an episode opened with “previously on ‘Palmerstown, USA’”. They would show scenes from an episode I had obviously missed, that looked like it would have been a good show.

Gossett was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work in “Palmerstown, USA”.

On the mound

The other show was “Don’t Look Back: The Story of Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige” in 1981. This is one of my favourite baseball movies. Gossett plays the legendary pitcher who starred in the Negro Leagues, only to be barred from the Major Leagues. However, he played long enough not only to see Major League Baseball integrated, but to play in the Major Leagues himself. He even gets a chance to pitch in a World Series, very late in his career, with Cleveland. This movie also looked at some of Paige’s contemporaries and friends, most notably hard-hitting catcher Josh Gibson. There is a touching moment when Paige goes to visit Gibson’s grave shortly after his death, and places a baseball on it.

Interestingly, I saw this movie twice in a relatively short period of time. The first time was when it debuted. The second time was when it was re-aired right after Paige’s death. That second time, I had to go with my parents to visit relatives, and feared I’d miss the movie. Instead, everybody got busy, and I was able to watch the movie, uninterrupted by myself. I distinctly remember crying all over again, in my uncle’s living room, when Satchel placed that baseball on Josh Gibson’s grave.

Groundbreaking
Then, in 1982, Louis Gossett Jr. appeared in a movie that would blaze the trail for African-American actors to follow. He appeared as no nonsense Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman”. The movie is the story of drifter Zack Mayo, played by Richard Gere, who enlists in the United States Navy because he wants to fly jets. He soon runs afoul of a tough gunnery sergeant, and falls in love with a beautiful woman. For his efforts, Gossett won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He Became the first African-American actor to do so. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

African leader
Gossett appeared in another biographical picture in 1983, when he played Anwar Sadat in the aptly titled two-part TV movie “Sadat”. He was the president of Egypt who was able to broker peace with Israel, only to be assassinated. For his efforts, Gossett was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special, and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Anwar Sadat holds a special place in my heart because I did a report on him for Grade 7 social studies. I recall using the Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbooks and handwriting this report late into the night. I also recall getting a good grade.

Star power
During that same period, during the 1982-1983 season, Gossett had a recurring role for 22 episodes in the science fiction TV series “The Powers of Matthew Star”. Peter Barton played the title character, an alien prince who used powers he possessed to fight crime. Gossett played Matthew Star’s guardian.

I recall the release of this show was delayed because of an injury to Peter Barton during production. When it finally debuted, it was on channel 7 of the peasant vision dial. I was kind of intrigued by this show when it was initially supposed to come out. I saw the pilot, I think, but quickly lost track of the show.

It was cancelled after one season.

Enemy Mine
The role I may have enjoyed Gossett most in, I didn’t realize it was actually him until the end of the movie.

In 1985, my friend and neighbour Mat and I went to see “Enemy Mine”. Earth is at war with the Dracs, an alien race that look reptilian. Earth pilot Willis Davidge gets into a dogfight with Drac pilot Jareeba Shigan. They crash an a largely inhospitable planet. They start out trying to kill each other but, ultimately band together because they realize that may be the only way to survive. They became very close.

Jareeba ends up having a child he names Zammis, and dies in childbirth. Before doing so, he teaches Davidge a Drac custom. He is to recite his child’s lineage in the Drac capital so he can join society. 

Ultimately, Zammis is taken away, but saved by Davidge. In the end, Davidge takes Zammis to the Drac home world and recites the Jareeba family line. We also learn when Zammis brings his own child to the capital, the name Willis Davidge has been added to the Jareeba family line.

It was awesome.

I knew Dennis Quaid played Davidge. However, we missed the opening credits and I had seen little about the movie in advance, so only when I read the closing credits did I discover Lou Gossett Jr. had played Jareeba.

He was awesome too.

The rest of the decade in movies
Gossett appeared in a number of other theatrical releases in the ‘80s. He was in “Jaws 3-D” and “Finders Keepers” both in 1983.

In 1984, he was in “The Guardian” where he played a man hired as a security guard at a building suffering through burglaries and murder.

In 1986, Gossett appeared in the first of four “Iron Eagle” movies about pilots. In the first installment, he is part of a team of civilian pilots planning a rescue mission of an American pilot shot down and tried for treason by a fictional Arab state. “Iron Eagle II” came out in 1988; “Aces: Iron Eagle III” in 1991; and “Iron Eagle on the Attack”, also called “Iron Eagle IV”, went straight to video in 1995. Gossett was the only one who appeared in all four films.

He was also in “Firewalker” in 1986, starring opposite Chuck Norris in a comedy where they play treasure hunters seeking a large cache of gold held by the “Firewalker”.

In 1987, Gossett was in “The Principal”. Jim Belushi plays a teacher trying to clean up an inner-city school, while Gossett plays the school’s head of security who initially butts heads with Belushi.

Gossett closed out the decade appearing in “The Punisher” in 1989, a movie starring Dolph Lundgren in the title role, adapted from the Marvel comic book character.

TV time
Gossett was also busy on television.

In 1987 he was in “A Gathering of Old Men”, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special. That year he was also in “The Father Clements Story” where he played the first American priest to legally adopt a child.

Gossett would also appear in some TV movies and reprise his role as “Fiddler” in 1988 in “Roots: The Gift”.

He closed out the decade playing the title role in “Gideon Oliver” in 1989. It was part of the “ABC Mystery Movie” rotation with three others – “B.L. Stryker”; “Columbo”; and “Kojak”. Gideon Oliver was an anthropology professor who used his knowledge to solve crime. The show lasted five episodes.

The years after
Louis Gossett Jr. just kept on acting pretty much up until he died.

One of the TV performances I recognized included the movie “The Josephine Baker Story” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Others included the movie “Gridiron Gang”; guest spots in series such as “Picket Fences”; “Touched by an Angel” for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series; “Early Edition”; “Ellen”; “Stargate SG-1”; “Family Guy”; “ER”; “Psych”; “Boardwalk Empire”; “Madam Secretary”; “The Good Fight”; “Hawaii Five-O”; “The Watchmen” for which he was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie; the miniseries “The Book of Negroes”; and much more.

Some of the movie appearances I recognized were “Toy Soldiers”; “Diggstown”; “Blue Chips”; “Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy”; “Left Behind: World at War”; and much more.

Parting thoughts
Louis Gossett Jr.’s Oscar winning performance in “An Officer and a Gentleman” was anything but a fluke. Not only was it ground breaking, but it was just part of a long line of solid performances that stretches through seven decades.

He was versatile, from action to drama and comedy.

Louis Gossett Jr. really could do it all.

The proof is in his lengthy body of work.

Murray Head’s “One Night in Bangkok”

Earlier this evening I was covering an event featuring high school international exchange students who were talking about their home countries.

Then this charming student from Thailand took to the microphone and talked about the city she was from.

Suddenly, these words start running through my head.

“Bangkok, Oriental city
But the city don’t know what the city is getting…”

It was part of the opening of a unique song that played on the airwaves in 1985.

“One Night in Bangkok” was not only an interesting song, but it has an interesting history.

The musical
“One Night in Bangkok” is just a really interesting song. I recall the video being pretty neat too. It was somehow tied into a movie about chess too.

Wikipedia reveals “One Night in Bangkok” was part of “Chess”, a musical and a double concept album. It told the story of a politically driven, chess tournament in the Cold War era, between two grandmasters. One is American, the other is Soviet, and they fight over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other.

“Chess” has been described as a metaphor for the Cold War. It harkens back to the chess matches between masters such as Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

It was also noted the concept album was released prior to the first theatrical production in order to raise money. That album was released in the Autumn of 1984, and the show opened in London’s West End in 1986, playing there for three years.

“Chess” would come to Broadway in 1988, but it would be heavily altered, and survived just two months.

“Chess” continues to be performed, and was revived in 2018 in the West End.

The song
As it turns out, Murray Head, an English actor and singer, raps the verses. Anders Glenmark, a Swedish singer, songwriter, and producer sings the chorus.

The first time I ever heard the song was actually on “Good Rockin’ Tonite” one Friday night, where I just recall chess being played on the screen.

“One Night in Bangkok” went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It was also number three in Canada on the top singles chart; and number one in Canada on the adult contemporary chart. It was number one as well in Australia, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and West Germany; and number two in Austria, France, and New Zealand.

Parting thoughts
For a long time, I thought “One Night in Bangkok” had something to do with “The King and I”, the long-running musical made famous by Yul Brynner.

The truth is, that’s because it’s the only other song, musical, show or movie that I know that is also set in Thailand.

I remember on “Good Rockin’ Tonite” hearing it was part of what I thought was a soundtrack, but in fact is a musical and a concept album.

I have always been fascinated with concept albums, and I should check this one out, because I really like chess movies too.

In any case, above everything else, “One Night in Bangkok” is the consummate ear worm. It's a song I can’t get out of my head once it’s in there.

Like earlier tonight when that international student was talking about her native Thailand, and more than one night in Bangkok, the city where she lives.

Hostess chips: The silver foil bag

Hostess chips in a silver foil bag in 1986.

Source: Facebook/Old Toronto Series

(May be subject to copyright)

The other day I was driving past the local Dollarama on my way to work, and I started thinking about chips. The Dollarama has become my go-to place for cheap chips. It got me thinking back to the days when I was a kid and chips were really cheap.

More than that, they didn’t all look the same.

There was one brand in particular that stands out for packaging, price and flavour.

But also for where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with.

Foiled
They were the chip in the silver foil bag. Long before the plastic bags that all chips seem to come in now, Hostess chips came in a foil bag. Different flavours had different coloured bands. Plain, or regular as they were called then, had a blue band; salt and vinegar had a yellow band; barbecue and ketchup had red bands; and sour cream n’ onion had a green band;

Free bag
Those foil bags also contained a cool, yet very simple, promotion. Periodically, a bag had a coupon for a free bag.

There wasn’t a separate coupon in the bag, or anything like that. Instead, the coupon was printed on the inside of the bag itself. The coupon took up pretty much the whole inside of one half of the bag. It was so cool to open up a bag and instantly see you won a free one.

The best part was you could redeem that pretty much on the spot at Mac’s, Red Rooster or wherever we bought chips.

Summer fun
For four or five summers in a row, I spent a couple weeks in Brooks, and various cousins would spend a couple weeks at our place.

When I stayed in Brooks, at my Aunt Monica’s place, My Oma Vogt gave each of us cousins a dollar to go to the store. There was a Mac’s within walking or biking distance. Hostess chips were 25 cents a bag. Oma’s dollar bill for each of us, in the days before the loonie, bought us four bags of chips. 

Alternatively, on a hot summer day, she would tells us to get ice cream. In that case, the dollar got us a couple Dingbat ice cream novelties, either plain or mint flavoured.

The first year, we really did this, my cousin Fred shared a theory with me. He figured there was a free bag one in every four bags.

More often than not, he was right.

Parting thoughts
Those summers in Brooks really made me feel connected to that side of my family, especially my cousins and my grandmother. Beyond that, my cousins always made me feel welcome and included.

A few years ago, I went to visit my Cousin Fred in Brooks, and he joked that I knew his friends better than he did.

Some of my best memories are just hanging out, talking and walking around Brooks.

Usually we had a silver foil bag in our hands, hoping it had another free one inside.

Booming ballad: Remembering “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin

It was this booming ballad that took advantage of a fairly new technology that gave it a unique sound. It was part of one of the most iconic movies of the decade, and seemed to start playing at the strangest time.

I had the TV on last night while I was writing and this commercial for Gain laundry detergent came on. It had this slightly less booming but obviously recognizable song.

It was that same “Take My Breath Away”, originally recorded by the band Berlin for the movie “Top Gun”.

Going to the movies
“Top Gun” came out in the first semester of Grade 12. I had begun to hang out with a guy named Cliff at the end of Grade 11 and, when school started again in the Fall, we picked up where we left off.

He had a blue Bobcat or Pinto, and a driver’s licence, and invited me to go to see “Top Gun” with him in Lethbridge. He was really cool because he actually lived norh of Coaldale too, just a few miles south of our farm on the other side of the Picture Butte Highway. Consequently, he had no problem picking me up on the farm.

The clouds were forming when we went to the movie. By the time it was out, it had begun to storm. As we were leaving Lethbridge on the highway to Coaldale, the lightning was more regular. It was so bright, Cliff put on his sun glasses – and it was like 10:30 p.m. or later.

I had taken driver’s ed that summer, and we had talked about hydroplaning.

I asked him if we were in danger of that.

“We did that a bit back there,” he said, as the lightning flashed.

We went back to his place for awhile and talked about the movie. He was a devout Christian, so there was some language that he really didn’t like, and a bit of sexuality. However, he was also pretty pragmatic, so nothing really surprised him.

One thing he said, and I could not disagree with it, was the randomness of the bedroom scenes. They really did not advance the plot, and seemed obligatory more than anything.

We agreed that it was easy to tell when one of them was coming, because that booming intro to “Take My Breath Away” played. We both laughed.

The Rockman
The band Boston made a comeback in the Fall of 1986 with “The Third Stage”, their first album in nine years. Their lead singer was Brad Delp, who brought those signature Boston vocals, but their leader was Tom Scholz.

One day, my Social Studies 30 teacher Mr. Vuch, mentioned Scholz at the beginning of class. Mr. Vuch often talked about music. On this day, he had seen a story in “Time” magazine on Scholz. It described how he drove the same car he had for years, lived in the same house, and was an engineer by trade. I expressed an interest in that article, so Mr. Vuch made me a photocopy.

Around that time, LA-107 also did an album highlight of “The Third Stage”. That feature talked about Scholz’s engineering background, and how he had developed a new piece of equipment that gave guitars a unique sound.

It was called the Rockman. It was some sort of amp that, when a guitar plugged in, gave off a unique sound.

The Rockman was used in Boston songs such as “Amanda”; “Can’tcha Say (You Believe in Me)”; and “Holyann”. You will instantly recognize the sound when you hear it.

During that album highlight, they also mentioned that other bands were using the Rockman as well, and they specifically mentioned – Berlin.

That deep booming intro was courtesy of the Rockman.

The song
“Take my Breath Away” was released in the middle of June of 1986 and went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It would go on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Parting thoughts
I am a sucker for a slow song. However, “Take My Breath Away” just doesn’t elicit the same kind of emotion as a lot of ballads.

Yet, I do like the use of the Rockman. It does give “Take My Breath Away” that twang produced by the Rockman, providing a strong, memorable intro.

Plus, hearing the song takes me back to 1986, and seeing a movie with a long ago friend. It also conjures up that indelible image of my friend wearing sun glasses at night because the lightning was so bright while he drove.

Ken Olynyk: Much more than Kelly’s dad

The profile of Ken Olynyk in the 1983-1984 University of Lethbridge sports magazine.

Source: https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/collection/publications/id/27117/

(May be subject to copyright)

The name is way too unique for them not to be related. Instead, I was more interested in doing the math. I wanted to know if Kelly Olynyk who, at the time was starring as an All-American forward with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, was born in nearby Lethbridge.

After all being a basketball player, and having that name, surely meant he was the son of Ken Olynyk, who in my mind is a Southern Alberta basketball legend.

As it turns out, yes Ken is Kelly’s dad, but no he was not born in Lethbridge. Instead he was born in Toronto, which makes sense to me for another reason.

I was thinking about Ken Olynyk when I was talking to a friend I play basketball with. He likes the Raptors, who had just acquired Kelly Olynyk. I told him his dad Ken used to coach the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, and I thought for a minute Kelly may have been born in Lethbridge.

My friend had no idea.

Southern Alberta is a basketball hotbed. However, Ken Olynyk is another person, like Olympian Perry Mirkovich, who made a huge contribution to the sport in this area, but few people remember.

That has to change.

In the beginning
Ken Olynyk has been coaching basketball since 1975, with more than 40 teams. He grew up in Revelstoke where he was part of the Revelstoke Secondary School class of 1970, then played four years at Simon Fraser University, and a fifth at Laurentian University.

It was at Laurentian where he met Ken Shields. He would become Olynyk’s mentor, and go off to start a dynasty at the University of Victoria.

Olynyk then went to the University of Lethbridge where he coached the Pronghorns from 1979 to 1988.

This is when I first heard of Ken Olynyk

Horn highlights
Ken Olynyk’s first season in Lethbridge was 1979-1980, where the Pronghorns had an 8-12 record in the Canada West, and were 10-14 overall. They didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

They were again 8-12 in the Canada West in the 1980-1981 season, going 13-14 overall, but still failing to qualify for the playoffs.

In his third season in Lethbridge, the Pronghorns finished third in the Canada West in 1981-1982, with a 10-10 record and 13-13 overall, but still didn’t make the playoffs.

The 1982-1983 season saw the Pronghorns go 1-9 in the Canada West and 1-11 overall, but a renaissance was coming.

In the 1983-1984 season, Lethbridge went 5-5, finishing second in the Canada West, and 15-8 overall. They went 4-2 in the playoffs and won the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union bronze medal.

They followed that up in the 1984-1985 season going 8-2 in the Canada West and 12-7 overall. They went 1-3 in the playoffs, but reached the Canada West semi-finals and the CIAU regionals.

In the 1985-1986 season, the Pronghorns were 5-5 in the Canada West and 9-6 overall. However, they ended up the Canada West champions and CIAU Regional semi-finalists.

Lethbridge came down to Earth in Ken Olynyk’s last two seasons with the Pronghorns. In the 1986-1987 season, they were 2-8 in the Canada West and 2-11 overall, while in the 1987-1988 season they were 4-16 in the Canada West and 5-16 overall.

To put these results in perspective, the Canada West was ruled by the University of Victoria Vikings who were the dominant team in the country. Not only did they win seven straight national championships from 1979 to 1986, but sent a good chunk of their roster to the Canadian Olympic Men’s Basketball team.

It’s too bad, because I really rooted for the Pronghorns, although I never saw one of their games until 1987 when they came to Edmonton to play the University of Alberta. Still, I followed the Pronghorns through the news and heard all about the exploits of players such as Perry Mirkovich, Jerome Ell, Ken McMurray, Murray Hanna, and Dave Adams, who I actually came to know well.

Heartbreak
One day I heard the impossible. Ken Olynyk was leaving the Pronghorns. Worse, he was going to pursue his master’s degree and work and study under – Ken Shields at the University of Victoria.

I was heartbroken. I thought the U of L would never be that good again, but these things go in waves. After all, they did during the ‘80s.

Seeing the Blues
The University of Alberta hosts a basketball tournament called the Golden Bear Invitational or GBI. During the 1989-1990 season, my best friend Chris Vining and I, were coming back from class and always cut through the phys ed building to go back to res. We noticed the GBI was on, so we decided to check it out.

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues were playing the Regina Cougars. I was just casually flipping through the program, when I came to the U of T page. There, listed as their coach, was Ken Olynyk. I still had a grudge from him deserting the U of L for Victoria, so I cheered for the Cougars.

I am over it now, but that is why I found it interesting Ken’s son Kelly was born in Toronto. It was when Ken Olynyk was coaching the Varsity Blues.

It turns out Olynyk must have only taken that 1988-1989 year away from head coaching, because he coached at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2003.

The years after
Along with his time with the Varsity Blues, Olynyk also coached the Canadian junior national team, and spent the 2002-2003 season as an observiong coach with the Toronto Raptors under coach Lenny Wilkens.

He has lived in Kamloops since 2003 and is athletic director for Thompson Rivers University.

Parting thoughts
It pains me the first thing that comes up when I googled Ken Olynyk is “Kelly Olynyk’s father”. A deeper dive reveals almost 50 years of coaching from high school to the professional level.

More than that, he had a major effect on basketball in Southern Alberta in the ‘80s. Those University of Lethbridge teams he coached had to compete against the best basketball team in the country year after year, and they gave the Victoria Vikings all they could handle.

Perhaps the most telling thing is, when I was doing some research on Perry Mirkovich, was the way Mirkovich talked about the influence Olynyk had on him as a player and a person. In fact, he said he still keeps in touch with Olynyk. That says a lot to me.

In fact, in my reading on Olynyk, a common theme is that he builds relationships everywhere he goes. There was one comment that he can’t walk into a gym in the country without knowing someone.

It is unfortunate that Olynyk’s years in Lethbridge have been lost in the sands of time, because he was a household name in basketball circles around here back then.

He was, and is, much more than Kelly’s dad.

Kelly Kisio: Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame inductee

Kelly Kisio with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Kisio

(May be subject to copyright)

One minute he played for the enemy with a name that was not too hard to make fun of, the next he was playing for the good guys in the Battle of Alberta, and the minute after that he was laying the foundation for the next generation of hockey players.

Now, he has been named to the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame, and that got me thinking all the way back to 1979 when I first saw Kelly Kisio play.

Wrangling the Broncos
My first recollection of Kelly Kisio is when he suited up for the Calgary Wranglers and they came to face the Lethbridge Broncos at the Sportsplex.

He was a great player for the Wranglers. In his two years with Calgary, he tallied 60 goals and 61 assists for 121 points in the 1978-1979 season, and 65 goals and 73 assists for 138 points in the 1979-1980 season. He was also Western Hockey League rookie of the year in 1979.

Road to the NHL
Despite putting up back to back 60-plus goal and 100-plus point seasons, Kelly Kisio went undrafted by any National Hockey League team.

Instead, he went from junior to a series of minor leagues. In the 1980-1981 season, he split his time. With the Kalamazoo Wings of the International Hockey League, he had 27 goals and 16 assists for 43 points in 31 games. With the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League, he had 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 41 games.

The next year, the 1981-1982 season, he played 78 games for the Dallas Black Hawks, recording 62 goals and 39 assists for 101 points.

He went overseas for the 1982-1983 season, suiting up for HC Davos in Switzerland, where he had 49 goals and 38 assists for 87 points in 38 games. Wikipedia reveals in his second to last game in Switzerland, Kisio scored eight goals and added two assists.

He was ready for prime time.

The Motor City
It’s funny. When I was watching the sports news one day during that 1982-1983 NHL season, and heard Kisio’s name with the Detroit Red Wings, it surprised me. With not a lot of access to sports news, he kind of fell off the radar for me. I was looking too, because he had been such a good player with the Wranglers.

Kisio ended up playing 14 games that season, scoring four goals and three assists for seven points.

In 1983-1984, his first full season with the Red Wings, Kisio had 23 goals and 37 assists for 60 points. He also added a goal in four playoff games.

The next year, the 1984-1985 season, Kisio had a similar season, recording 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 goals in 75 games. He also had two assists in three playoff games.

The 1985-1986 season would be Kisio’s last in the Motor City. He played in 76 games, tallying 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points.

After the season, he was on the move.

Broadway bound
In the summer of 1986, the Red Wings traded Kelly Kisio along with Lane Lambert, Jim Leavins and a draft pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for goaltender Glen Hanlon and two draft picks. Kisio was Braodway bound.

In his first year with the Rangers, Kisio had 24 goals and 40 assists for 64 points in 70 games in that 1986-1987 season. He also had an assist in four playoff games.

In the 1987-1988 season, Kisio had 23 goals and 55 assists for 78 points in 77 games with the Rangers. The next season, 1988-1989, he appeared in 70 games, recording 26 goals and 36 assists for 62 points, but did not hit the scoresheet in four playoff games.

He closed out the decade in the 1989-1990 season with 22 goals and 44 assists for 66 points in 68 games. He also had two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 10 playoff games.

As the decade closed, Kelly Kisio was a solid contributor for the Rangers.

The years after
Kelly Kisio would play one more year for the Rangers, move on to the San Jose Sharks for 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 seasons, then close out his career with the Calgary Flames in the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons. He was also an NHL all-satr in 1993.

He retired after that 1994-1995 season, recording 229 goals and 429 assists for 658 points in 716 career games.

Kisio became a scout with the Flames then moved into the role of general manager of the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League for the 1998-1999 season. In his time with the Hitmen, they made the playoffs every year but one, won four regular season titles, and won the Western Hockey League championship in 1999 and 2010.

He left the Hitmen after the 2015-2016 season to become a scout with the Vegas Golden Knights, a position he still holds.

Parting thoughts
Kelly Kisio is one of those inspiring stories in hockey. Going undrafted, he toiled in the minor leagues then went off to Europe before finally getting his break in the NHL.

I distinctly remember being surprised when I heard his name in Detroit. It seemed like it had been forever since he was killing my Lethbridge Broncos as a member of the Calgary Wranglers.

He made the most of his chance, recording seven straight 20-plus goal seasons and eight overall.

Maybe his greatest contributions are to junior hockey, as an administrator and through his son Brent, who is the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. That is ironic, because the Hurricanes are the Wranglers, having moved from Calgary to Lethbridge in 1986. So Brent is with the organization where it all started for his family.

It has been an interesting career for Kelly Kisio.

Dave King: Restoring Canada’s international honour

Dave King in 1989 when he was coach

of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team.

Source: https://www.tcdb.com

(May be subject to copyright)

He won at all levels, bringing glory to Canada several times, when few thought it could happen. What I will always remember about Dave King was how he moulded a group of players into a team, and brought Canada something this country never had before – a gold medal from the World Junior Hockey Championship.

King would be tapped to bring that level of success to the Canadian Olympic hockey team, and later the NHL’s Calgary Flames.

I was gratified to hear recently Dave King was inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame. It is long overdue, because he is so deserving.

In the beginning
Dave King began his coaching career at the collegiate level, where he was an assistant coach for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the 1972-1973 season. He was head coach of the Saskatoon Quakers of the Prairie Junior Hockey League from 1974 to 1976, then head coach of the Saskatoon Olympics of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for part of the 1976-1977 season. He spent the other part as an assistant coach with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. He then had his first significant head coaching job with the Billings Bighorns of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League from 1977 to 1979. From there he became head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies from 1979 to 1983. During that time he was the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union coach of the year in 1980.

It was while he was at the University of Saskatchewan that he was picked to coach Canada’s World Junior Hockey team in the 1981-1982 season.

World Juniors
Before the 1982 World Junior Hockey Championship, Canada really did not take the tournament seriously. Because of that, they had not won a single gold medal. That was tough to take for a country purporting to have the best developmental system in the world.

The issue was that Canada sent the defending Memorial Cup champion from the preceding season to represent the country at the World Junior Championship. The challenge was the team that went to the championship was substantially different from the one that won the Memorial Cup in the Spring. Sure, the team was usually supplemented with additional players, but that did little for any sort of team chemistry.

Making matters worse was that Canada really was kind of reeling as a hockey power. A team of NHL All-Stars, made up in large part of Canadians, was defeated in the Challenge Cup in 1979 by the Soviets. Then, when Canada returned to the Winter Olympics after sitting them out in 1972 and 1976, they finished out of the medals. The excuse there was we didn’t get to send our best to the Olympics. Canada did get to send its best to the 1981 Canada Cup, only to be defeated in the championship final by the Soviets by a score of 6-1.

Canada was reeling.

Enter Dave King, and a new approach to the World Juniors.

For the first time, Canada would send a select team. The coaching staff assembled a team of players from Canadian junior and collegiate hockey. Dave King and his staff moulded those players from a wide range of backgrounds into a team.

No matter what they did early in the tournament, the Soviets would be looming and the Czechoslovakian team soon after. The road would not be easy.

Team Canada did get the job done, going undefeated into their game with the Soviet Union. Back then there was no TSN, and the tournament was not televised on the three channels on the peasant vision dial. However, this year, CBC did decide to broadcast the World Junior Game between Canada and the Soviet Union.

It was well worth the wait, as Canada hammered the Soviets, and served notice they were aiming for the nation’s first championship. There was a moment during the broadcast when John Ferguson, a long-time player and general manager, went down to the bench and urged Canada to keep pouring it on, to pay the Soviets back for the beating they gave us in the Canada Cup.

Canada remained unbeaten. Back then, there was no playoff round. The team who finished on top after the round robin, won the gold medal. That meant all Canada needed was a tie against the Czechs in Rochester, Minnesota to win gold. They did just that.

Inexplicably, there was no recording of “O Canada” in the rink in Rochester, so the tradition of Canadian players singing the national anthem was born.

Dave King had led Canada where no one else had – to a World Junior Hockey Championship. A tradition was born.

He would return to the University of Saskatchewan, staying until the end of the 1982-1983 season. In that time, he led the Huskies to the Canada West Championship in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and the national championship final in 1981 and 1982, before finally winning the national championship in 1983. He also coached the 1983 Canadian World Junior Hockey team to a bronze medal.

Then his country came calling once more.

This time, the spotlight would be much brighter.

Olympic team
Dave King was appointed head coach of the Canadian Olympic hockey team in 1983.

Back then, professionals were not allowed into the Olympics. Although the Soviet team was considered amateur, they trained together year round and, although nominally employed elsewhere on paper, were being paid to play hockey. Because of that, Canada chose not to even send a team to the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

Canada returned in 1980, with a team made up of Canadian university and American college players, prospects and minor leaguers. It was a miracle we were even competitive, but in 1980 came close to winning a medal, finishing sixth.

Going into the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, the Canadian Olympic team was able to cobble together a solid roster of players who could contend for a medal. Headlining the roster were top NHL prospects such as Kirk Muller as well as Pat Flatley, Kevin Dineen, Bruce Driver, and Dave Tippet. They were strong in net as well with Mario Gosselin and Darren Elliot. King was also joined by Carey Wilson and Jim Patrick who had played for him on that championship World Junior Hockey team. They advanced to the medal round, but 4-0 losses to bothe the Soviets and the Czechs left Canada in fourth place and just out of the medals.

Dave King had brought them one step closer, and things looked good going into the 1988 Olympics where Canada would play on home ice at the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary.

I have always believed too many cooks spoiled the broth with that team. They again had some solid players, led by goaltender Sean Burke. They were a medal contender, not just because they were on home ice, but also because they won the prestigious Izvestia tournament in Moscow at the end of 1987. They were the first Canadian team to defeat the Soviet national team on their home ice since the 1972 Summit Series.

However, by the time the team got to Calgary, changes had been made. Rules had been relaxed, allowing some professional players into the Olympics, including Jim Peplinski who was a popular player with the Calgary Flames. What really bothered me was the team cut Don McLaren, who had been the first player to sign up with the Canadian Olympic team after the 1984 Games. He toughed it for almost four years, only to be let go. That made me sad.

Again Canada qualified for the medal round, but ended up finishing fourth for the second consecutive Olympics.

World Hockey Championships
Dave King also coached Team Canada several times at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. In 1982, Canada took bronze; in 1983 Canada again took bronze; in 1987 Canada placed fourth; in 1989 where Canada took silver; 1990 where Canada took fourth; 1991 where Canada took silver; and 1992.

The years after
Dave King kept on coaching the Olympic team, in addition to the World Championship team. He finally won an Olympic medal, leading Canada to a silver medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. There, they lost the gold medal game to this weird post-Soviet Union group called Team United.

He would leave the national program to coach the Calgary Flames from 1992 to 1995, and later coach the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2000 to 2003. He was an assistant coach in the NHL for Montreal and Phoenix, and also coached in Germany, Japan, Sweden and Russia.

Dave King was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1992; the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1997; and the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2001.

Parting thoughts
Dave King will always be a role model of mine for many reasons. First and foremost, he coached Canada’s national team at a time when he did not have access to the best players, but always iced a competitive, hard-working, well-coached team. More than that, he just answered whenever his country called.

And he got results. He brought Canada its first ever World Junior Hockey Championship, setting the stage for the dominance that has followed. It also came at a time where Canada had not been doing that well internationally.

He restored Canada’s international honour, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Discovering the “new” Twilight Zone

It was a re-boot before that was even a word. In 1985, a new, updated version of “The Twilight Zone” debuted on Channel 7 of the peasant vision dial.

It was not new to me. I had heard about the remake at a science fiction convention in Calgary a few months earlier that just whetted my appetite for more.

Yesterday, a story came across my news feed that some episodes of that version of “The Twilight Zone” from 1985 were not available on streaming services because of their content.

As a journalist, and supporter of freedom of expression, I was offended. More than that, I was saddened that a new generation of viewers won’t get the chance to see some great television – for now.

The “old” Twilight Zone
Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial was always the source of “The Twilight Zone”. The first time I had heard about the show was when Channel 7 was celebrating an anniversary and showing episodes of vintage TV shows at 11 p.m. on weeknights. One night it was “The Twilight Zone”. However, I was home sick from school, sleeping on the couch, so all I did was see a minute or so of the episode before I had to turn out the light. I saw enough to know it was weird, because that was the episode where a driver keeps passing the same hitchhiker.

It was maybe two or three years later when Channel 7 started running marathons of old episodes of “The Twilight Zone”. I was staying at my sister’s place for one of those Saturday afternoons and remember discovering the iconic episode – “To serve man” – about aliens visiting Earth with nefarious intentions.

Over the years, in my junior high years, I would see more episodes – the one where Burgess Meredith is the last man on Earth and can read all the books he wants, until he breaks his glasses. The one where Dick York flips a coin, and it lands on its edge giving him the ability to read minds. The one where Jack Klugman is a pool shark. He gets his shot against a legend played by Jonathan Winters, only to discover he is a ghost and, after defeating him, must answer every challenge for eternity. That one I saw in Brooks when I was visiting my cousins.

There were a few more too.

Sneak preview
In the summer after Grade 10, so 1985, I went to Calgary with my good friends David Perlich and Craig Tanaka to Conversion – a science fiction and fantasy convention. I always describe it as the grandfather of Calgary Expo or Comic Con.

It was an amazing experience where I met some interesting people; played some role-playing games; saw a real live battle between knights in shining armor; checked out the Huckster’s Room, which was a rudimentary market; took in a short story contest; and much more.

I also saw a panel on a new show that was debuting that Fall – a remake or update of “The Twilight Zone”. That was in the day before re-boots, or re-imagining, so this was a unique event at the time.

I don’t recall the presenters knowing a lot of detail, but they shared what they knew, which was more than the majority of listeners. The big thing was that Philip DeGuere was directing this “Twilight Zone” update. He was best known at the time as the creative force behind the TV detective series “Simon and Simon”.

They also speculated on what was going to be on the show, and whether some classic episodes would be remade.

I left that panel feeling kind of cool, like I was in on a secret, and like I had inside information on the show.

The “new” Twilight Zone
The updated “Twilight Zone” debuted in the Fall of 1985, and I caught a few episodes of it on Channel 7. After that, I started going out with friends more and more, first in sleepovers then hanging out and, eventually, cruising the strip in Lethbridge. By then, I had received a VCR for Christmas and started recording “The Twilight Zone”

The show was always an anthology, where each episode was a self-contained story or two. Each story contained a lesson or comment on humanity too.

The first episode I saw was classic. Elliott Gould plays a restaurant critic who gets his comeuppance in part by some magic fortune cookies.

"The Twilight Zone" aired in tandem with an update of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, which I have to say I enjoyed more.

This iteration of “The Twilight Zone” ran for three seasons, from 1985 to 1989, for 65 episodes. The first two seasons were on CBS in the States, with the third produced for syndication. That's why it spans four years.

Parting thoughts
It’s funny. I thought I watched more of the 1985 to 1989 “Twilight Zone”, but when I read the list of episodes on Wikipedia, I only recognized a handful.

I must have mixed it up with the original, which I have seen a lot of episodes of. I could have confused it with the latest version, the Jordan Peele “Twilight Zone”, which I did not miss an episode of. Some of the episodes I thought I remembered of "The Twilight Zone" were actually from “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” as well.

Still, as I read the list of episodes, it sounds like something I would enjoy more as an adult and get much more out of.

In any event, it turns my stomach that some episodes of this series have been removed from streaming services because of their content.

Then again, “The Twilight Zone” always pushed boundaries, sometimes precisely by making people uncomfortable.

“What a Wonderful World” it can be

“You gotta check this out,” my friend Walter Blank said.

It was the Spring of 1988, we were in the lounge of 10th Kelsey in student residence at the University of Alberta, and MuchMusic was on.

I looked over at the TV and saw a black and white photo of Louis Armstrong singing. It was not what was normally on MuchMusic.

It piqued my interest.

Earlier tonight, I was playing cribbage with my spouse. We were listening to a play list of hers when this song started playing.

It was “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, and it instantly took me back to the time I first heard the song.

Reading Week ‘88
First year of university was going extremely well. I had met a lot of new people, experienced new things, got the hang of academic life, and was having a great time living in res with Chris Vining, my best friend and roommate.

First semester ended at Christmas, unlike high school which went another month or so into the new year. Second semester also brought something new – Reading Week.

I hadn’t been to any orientation so, at first, I had no idea what it was. I soon learned from senior students that Reading Week came in February. It was designed as a week to provide a stress relief for the pressures of school. The week also coincided with my birthday.

So many people had plans for Reading Week. The Olympic Winter Games were going on in Calgary, so some people were heading there. I had the chance to go, but I was too damn scared. The excuse I used was that I had an essay due in my History 200 class, and the professor gave me an extension beyond the Friday before Reading Week.

Vining was also in History 200, and was itching to get out of town. He finished his essay Saturday, slipped it under our teaching assistant’s office door, and took off.

I dragged it out because I really didn’t want to go anywhere. I was just too scared. So, I handed in my essay on my Monday morning at the history department office. I told myself that was so I knew it got there.

I also looked forward to hanging around res when it was completely empty.

On Wednesday, I got a call from Vining from Coaldale, our home town.

We had this mutual friend from high school, Walter Blank, who was in Grade 12 and coming to campus for an orientation on Thursday and Friday. Vining said Walter could use his bed.

It turned out to be a pretty cool weekend.

Special guest
Walter showed up on Thursday and I immediately showed him around our floor – the lounge, or TV room; the service centre, where the washers, dryers, microwave and communal fridge were; our wing with the communal bathroom; and our room 1010 Kelsey Hall.

He put down his stuff, and we kind of hung out. People on my floor who had gone away for Reading Week were beginning to drift back, so Walter met all of them. They were all so nice and inviting too. They asked what he was planning to study. When he said cell biotechnology, they didn’t flinch or hesitate, like people in Coaldale might react.

That night, we were watching TV, but didn’t stay up too late because Walter had orientation sessions all day. He went off to those the next day, while I hung around campus, watching TV, playing basketball at the Butterdome, and whatever else occupied my time then.

Walter came back and hung out on our floor again. He fit right in, watching TV with a bunch of the guys. I was doing something in my room when he came in and said he was having a good time with Scott and Avi, two guys on my floor. He was grabbing some money.

One of the things Avi in particular liked to do was order lasagne from Roadrunner Pizza. It was this restaurant that shamelessly distributed their flyers and takeout menus under the doors of our rooms.

“We’re ordering from Roadrunner Pizza,” Walter said.

He had arrived. He was fitting right in.

Later that night, we were all out in the lounge watching MuchMusic.

That’s when Walter pointed to the TV, and “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.

The song
Walter said “What a Wonderful World” had made a comeback on the soundtrack of “Good Morning, Vietnam”. It was a movie starring Robin Williams as an armed forces radio announcer during the Vietnam War.

The song was reissued after appearing in the movie and went all the way to number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It had originally been released by Louis Armstrong in 1967.

Post Script
Walter started university in the Fall of 1988 – and lived in res. Some of my floormates from the year before were still living in res and they always said hi to him. He lived in a different tower, on the Fourth Floor of Mackenzie Hall, and I went to see him regularly.

He did get that degree in cell biotechnology, and a masters and Phd. The last time I saw him, he was working at Tufts University in Massachusetts where I am sure he was a lecturer and researcher.

Parting thoughts
Hearing “What a Wonderful World” always makes me think back to that Reading Week of 1988, and showing Walter Blank the ropes.

I wanted to help him out, because I never got an actual orientation to campus. That would be the same motivation for becoming floor coordinator the next year.

Maybe for me it was some small contribution to making a wonderful world.

Remembering Steve Lawrence in the ‘80s

Steve Lawrence was a singer and actor who co-hosted

the television show "Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders" in the mid '80s.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/

steve-lawrence-singer-half-stage-duo-steve-eydie-dies-88-rcna142396

(May be subject to copyright)

One of the more interesting fads of the 1980s on television was the advent of blooper shows. They started out as TV specials aired under the banner “TV’s Censored Bloopers”, and were outtakes from movies, TV shows and commercials. They could be funny, but also tedious.

They were popular enough to spawn a weekly series called “TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes”, hosted by Dick Clark and Ed McMahon. Of course, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so another blooper show soon appeared on the airwaves.

This one was called “Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders”, hosted by Don Rickles and Steve Lawrence.

I was thinking about that and so much more when I heard Steve Lawrence passed away a couple weeks ago.

Singer
Steve Lawrence made his mark as a singer, often with his wife Eydie Gormé, by the time the ‘80s rolled around. My introduction to him was through appearances he made on the “The Carol Burnett Show”. My Mom also told me about his wife Eydie, and how well they sang together. In fact, I had only seen Steve Lawrence sing solo on the “The Carol Burnett Show”. She eventually did appear with her husband, so I did get to know her.

However, my greatest memories of Steve Lawrence aren’t in front of a microphone.

Instead they are in front of a camera.

The years before
Steve Lawrence started appearing on television in the early ‘70s with turns in “Medical Center” in 1971; then “The New Dick Van Dyke Show”; “Night Gallery”; “Laugh-In”; “Here’s Lucy”; “The Dean Martin Show”; “Sanford and Son”; “Police Story”; and of course “The Carol Burnett Show”.

The ‘80s
Steve Lawrence began the decade with a supporting role in 1980 in the motion picture “The Blues Brothers”. He played Maury Sline, the manager and friend of the main characters played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

In 1985, he appeared in the TV miniseries “Alice in Wonderland” as Tweedledum while his wife Eydie Gormé played Tweedledee.

Lawrence also had a role in “Hardcastle and McCormick”, from 1984 to 1986, which was a favourite of mine early on. He played the sleazy, absentee, lounge singer father of title character Mark McCormick. He was perfect for the role.

He also had a guest spot in “Murder, She Wrote” in 1987.

Everybody makes mistakes
In 1984, Steve Lawrence and Don Rickles appeared in “Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders” on ABC in the United States, and Channel 13 on the peasant vision dial where I grew up.

The show featured outtakes – or bloopers – from TV shows and movies. “Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders” also had a segment reminiscent of “Candid Camera” where hidden cameras caught people in funny situations.

The show debuted on January 10, 1984 as a mid-season replacement then returned in the Fall for the 1984-1985 schedule. By October it was on TV sporadically, and was hard to find even in the three-channel universe.

It was cancelled 1985.

My outstanding memory of the show was Lawrence’s banter with co-host Don Rickles.

I especially enjoyed when Lawrence called Rickles “Hockey puck.”

The years after
Steve Lawrence kept on making guest appearances in shows such as “Bob”; “Empty Nest”; “Burke’s Law”; “Frasier”; three episodes of “The Nanny”, as the title character’s mysterious father; “Diagnosis Murder”; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”; “The Cleaner”; “Hot in Cleveland”; “Two and a Half Men” and much more.

He also reprised his role as Maury Sline in 1998 in “Blues Brothers 2000”.

Parting thoughts
Steve Lawrence reminded me of the classic lounge singer. Not the negative stereotype of a sleazy, oily crooner. No, instead he was an engaging, smooth singer who, it was obvious, enjoyed singing with his wife.

He was also a decent actor, who gravitated to the roles of mysterious, absentee fathers, but also distinguished gentlemen.

Although, Steve Lawrence had his greatest success in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I still enjoyed him in the ‘80s and beyond.

ELO: Remembering the Electric Light Orchestra

Although I first heard about them in junior high, the first song I ever liked was a comeback single in 1986. It was another example of hearing what I believed was a band I recognized, but thought they had broken up.

In fact, ELO had not broken up and “Calling America” not only got some air play but was a hit.

ELO, which stands for Electric Light Orchestra, just announced they are going on their final tour.

It got me thinking about the first time I heard about them, and the last.

Back masking
Back in the early ‘80s, religious groups began to talk about the messages implanted in rock music. If you played a record backwards, you could hear faint messages of devil worship.

It kind of freaked me out, at the age of 11 and 12, but I also wondered one thing? How do you listen to a record backwards? There was no reverse like on a tape recorder. Even then, the reverse on a tape recorder didn’t allow you to actually hear the recording backwards.

The subject had made its way to my family. My Uncle Ed had a friend who belonged to one of these religious groups and went so far as to burn his records. One day, we were visiting and I asked my cousin Carl about this. He said he couldn’t hear anything. I asked how he played his records backwards. He smiled and said he put the needle of the record player in a groove and, using his finger, rapidly spun the record backwards. What else could you do, I thought.

The movement spread, and made its way to my junior high school in Coaldale, Alberta. Two girls in my class went to some meetings in Lethbridge, and brought a recording about back masking – which would be kind of like a podcast now. The speaker talked about back masking, and even shared an example. I couldn’t make out any words, much less the words he was claiming to hear.

The band the speaker was talking about was – the Electric Light Orchestra.

That was my introduction to ELO.

Mixed tape
As ridiculous as all that is, ELO really was not that big on my musical radar when I first got into music. That was in like 1982 and 1983, and I really got into it in 1984.

The first ELO song I actually heard was “Evil Woman”. My brother had begun to make me these mixed tapes for Christmas, with a bunch of songs by a wide range of performers he thought I might like. “Evil Woman” by the Electric Light Orchestra was on one of those mixed tapes.

Comeback
By that time, I thought ELO was a thing of the past, either broken up or no longer putting out new music. That all changed in 1986.

I was working in a greenhouse where we often had the radio playing in the background while we worked. One day working after school, I was walking through one of the greenhouses past the radio. I liked the song that was playing but hadn’t heard it before. I asked around and someone told me they thought it was ELO. I thought that couldn’t be right.

It turns out, it was ELO. They had in fact put out a new single.

It was entitled “Calling America”, and it started playing more on the radio and even the odd music video show such as “Video Hits” and “Good Rockin’ Tonite”.

“Calling America” went all the way to number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the last top 20 single that ELO has had to date.

Prolific band
Over time, as I got more and more into music, it turns out I had heard a lot of music by the Electric Light Orchestra.

Just some of their songs are “Roll Over Beethoven” which peaked at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973; “Can’t Get it Out of my Head”, peaking at number nine in 1974; “Evil Woman”, peaking at number 10 in 1975; and “Strange Magic”, going all the way to number 14 in 1976.

“Telephone Line” peaked at number seven in 1977; “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, went to number 17 in 1978; and “Shine a Little Love” peaked at number eight, and “Don’t Bring Me Down”, peaked at number four, both in 1979.

“Xanadu” with Olivia Newton-John, peaked at number eight in 1980; “Hold on Tight”, peaked at number 10 in 1981; “Rock ’n’ Roll is King”, went to number 19 in 1983; and lastly, “Calling America” peaked at number 18 in 1986.

The Electric Light Orchestra was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017.

Parting thoughts
As it turned out, I knew a lot more of ELO’s stuff than I thought, when I heard that goofy speaker talk about back masking.

It wasn’t the coolest introduction to the Electric Light Orchestra, but it didn’t really matter in the end, because the music speaks for itself.

David Suzuki: Bringing science to the public

Canadian scientist and broadcaster David Suzuki in the '80s.

Source: https://x.com/cbcgem/status/1358803622482608129

(May be subject to copyright)

He may be a polarizing figure in some peoples’ eyes today, but back in the 1980s, he was a respected TV personality who travelled the globe, unraveling the world’s mysteries and revealing to us “The Nature of Things”.

David Suzuki is another one of those unique Canadian personalities who is neither actor nor singer, but beamed into televisions across the nation every week.

His name came across my e-mail the other day. It just reminded me of a time when you tuned in and the person on the screen had a credibility and authority that was, for better or worse, unquestioned.

The voice
What always comes to mind when I hear the name David Suzuki is that voice. It was authoritative and definitive. I think for me, part of that comes from the fact that, from an early age, my various science teachers would play clips from Suzuki’s various shows to enhance whatever concept we were learning.

Most notably, he was the host of “The Nature of Things” on CBC throughout the ‘80s and beyond. I recall finding some old issues of “TV Guide”. Among them was one of the fall preview editions. In that particular edition, it described how David Suzuki’s “Science Magazine” and “The Nature of Things” had merged into one program. It would go on to have some major lasting power. In fact, his time hosting the show went from 1979 to 2023.

Wikipedia reveals his goal in “The Nature of Things” was to stimulate interest in the natural world, point out threats to human well-being and wildlife habitat, and present alternatives to humanity for achieving a more sustainable society.

It also revealed Suzuki started his foray into television in 1971 with a weekly children’s show called “Suzuki on Science”. In 1974, he founded the weekly radio program “Quirks and Quarks” on CBC AM Radio, and hosted it from 1975 to 1979. Throughout the ‘70s he hosted “Science Magazine” until it merged with “The Nature of Things”.

The other show I will always remember was “A Planet for the Taking”, which came out in 1985. It was heavily promoted and each episode was watched by 1.8 million viewers. It was eight parts, took three years of research and travel to make, and looks at the relationship of man to his planet.

Life story – up to 1987
A few years ago I read an autobiography called “Metamorphisis: Stages in Life”, which was originally published in 1987. It was interesting because, before I read it, I knew little about David Suzuki the person. To that point, he was a person interested in bringing science to the masses, which I always respected.

“Metamorphisis” talks about his early years which were hard. His family was one of the hundreds of Japanese-Canadian families that were unjustly and wrongly interned in camps during the Second World War. He was just a kid when his family was relocated to a camp at Slocan in the interior of British Columbia. In fact, one of his sisters was born in the camp.

After the war, with all their possessions sold off by the federal government, the Suzuki family ended up in Ontario, where Suzuki ultimately finished high school before going to university at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He later earned a Phd at the University of Chicago. He returned to Canada where he was an assistant professor at my alma mater the University of Alberta from 1962 to 1963, before becoming a professor at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until 2001.

The book makes two interesting points that shaped Suzuki’s career. One was that his father Carr Suzuki, stimulated his son’s curiosity and interest in science. I recall David Suzuki sharing a story about how his dad had told him about this particular insect that had like armour or plating or horns on it. Suzuki said, in the arrogance of youth, he just dismissed his dad. Years later, he came across that insect in his studies and his dad was exactly right. David Suzuki talked about not giving his dad the respect he deserved early on, and credited him with stimulating his interest in the natural world.

Besides, Carr Suzuki must have been a tough and resilient man to survive the internment and prosper when he and his family had to start all over again. Every person I have met who was interned is resilient.

The other point is that, as David Suzuki learned more about genetics and its applications, the more he realized that knowledge could be used in ways that did not benefit the planet. Unlike scientists who pursue the truth no matter what it is, he had an eye on how science could be used for evil as well as good.

That has informed much of the advocacy he has done over the past few decades, and some of his broadcast work.

Parting thoughts
David Suzuki is a week short of 88 years old now. When he started out, he was viewed as young and kind of a hippie. He had long hair, wore jeans and sandals with no socks, and sometimes slept in a hammock in his lab.

Yet, he realized the knowledge he was accumulating, as he unearthed the mysteries of science, could be abused if put in the wrong hands.

So, he turned to teaching and broadcasting. There, he shared the magic and mystery of science with the public, and began to advocate for a more sustainable way of life.

It is interesting that he has become so polarizing, because David Suzuki’s message really hasn’t changed since the 1980s, and before that. How else could you take the title “A Planet for the Taking”?

Maybe now, with more people tuned in to his wave length, the discussions we should have had 40 years ago, we are starting to have now.

Perry Mirkovich: Unknown star

Basketball player Perry Mirkovich is the only

University of Lethbridge player drafted by an NBA team.

Source: v

(May be subject to copyright)

He is the greatest player in Southern Alberta basketball that no one has ever heard of. You can look at statistics and accolades, and he has plenty of those, but he did something that, quite honestly, will never be repeated.

Yet, no one knows about it.

Perry Mirkovich, who played high school basketball for Winston Churchill in Lethbridge, and college ball at the University of Lethbridge, was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association.

Right now, it is incomprehensible the NBA would even know where the University of Lethbridge is, much less draft one of the Pronghorns.

Yet Perry Mirkovich did it and no one knows about.

I was telling a friend I play basketball with about Mirkovich. My friend is from Lethbridge and he has never heard of him.

That has to change.

The numbers
Perry Mirkovich was born in Calgary, moved to Lethbridge where he played for Winston Churchill High School, and was a six feet, six inch guard from 1975 to 1980 with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

In the 1975-1976 season, Mirkovich played in 19 games. He made 75 of 162 shots for a 46.3 percent average; made 23 of 32 free throws for a 71.9 percent average; pulled down 99 rebounds; and scored 173 points for a 9.1 points per game average. The Pronghorns finished with a league record of 8-12 and were 9-14 overall.

In the 1976-1977 season, he played in 19 games. He made 140 of 333 shots for a 42 percent average; made 14 of 26 free throws for a 53.8 percent average; pulled down 170 rebounds; and scored 294 points for a 15.5 points per game average. The Pronghorns finished with a league record of 4-16 and were 4-24 overall.

In the 1977-1978 season, Mirkovich played in 20 games. He made 140 of 320 shots for a 43.8 percent average; made 63 of 83 free throws for a 75.9 percent average; pulled down 162 rebounds; and scored 343 points for a 17.1 points per game average. The Pronghorns finished with a league record of 6-14 and were 7-16 overall.

In the 1978-1979 season, he played in 20 games. He made 163 of 368 shots for a 44.3 percent average; made 57 of 81 free throws for a 70.4 percent average; pulled down 156 rebounds; and scored 383 points for a 19.1 points per game average. The Pronghorns finished with a league record of 7-13 and were 10-18 overall.

In the 1979-1980 season, Mirkovich played in 20 games. He made 214 of 437 shots for a 49 percent average; made 69 of 91 free throws for a 75.8 percent average; pulled down 170 rebounds; and scored 497 points for a 24.9 points per game average. The Pronghorns finished with a league record of 8-12 and were 10-14 overall.

He was a Canada West First Team All-Star in 1979-1980 and a Canada West Second Team All-Star in 1976-1977 and 1978-1979. He won back-to-back Canada West scoring titles in the 1978-1979 and 1979-1980 seasons. He also was a CIAU, that is the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union, Second Team All-Canadian in the 1979-1980.

That year, he was named the University of Lethbridge Male Athlete of the Year, and Southern Alberta Male Athlete of the Year as well.

When he graduated, Mirkovich was the Pronghorns’ all-time leading scorer with 1,690 points. He also held the single-game points record with 43 against the University of Victoria Vikings on November 9, 1979, which stood until 2018. He is still second on the all-time scoring list, and third in career rebounds with 757.

Mirkovich also made the 1980 Canadian Olympic Basketball Team, and would have played at the Games in Moscow, if Canada hadn’t decided to boycott the Olympics. During the Olympic qualifications, Mirkovich helped Canada win a silver medal at a qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.

He was the 10th pick in the sixth round of the 1980 NBA Draft, 125th overall, and would play professionally in France.

In 2021, Mirkovich had his jersey number 24 retired by the University of Lethbridge.

Cheering him on
I remember when Mirkovich was drafted by Portland and there were a lot of people in Southern Alberta pulling for Perry to make the Trail Blazers. I sure was, because I thought that was so cool.

Back then, I didn’t have a lot of access to sports news, and there really wasn’t nearly as much available as there is now. My only access would be a daily newspaper, which we could not get on the farm, and the TV news. There were no 24-hour sports channels and no Internet to provide me with real time and up to the minute news.

Then one day, I had the TV on to the Lethbridge CFCN News on Channel 13, and they were talking to Perry Mirkovich. They actually had footage of him playing in an exhibition game wearing a Trail Blazers uniform. It was cool but, even joining the interview part way through, I could tell the dream was over. He didn’t make the team.

Still, even at 10 years old, I thought it was awesome a guy from Lethbridge had been drafted by the NBA.

Parting thoughts
Over time, Perry Mirkovich’s name has popped up around Southern Alberta. He became an educator and even taught in my home town of Coaldale, which is just a few minutes from Lethbridge.

Yet, his name never came up in reference to University of Lethbridge basketball. I was always surprised by that, because I would think one of the greatest marketing and recruitment tools, would be that a home-grown player was drafted by the NBA.

What has been more surprising is how few people know about him, at least that chapter of his life.

It really is a case of recency bias, where everything new is way better than anything old. It happens all the time. One of the best examples for me happened in horse racing. George Wolf is one of the greatest jockeys in the history of the sport. In fact, one of the awards for best jockey is named after him. He is from Cardston, but it took the American movie “Sea Biscuit” to highlight Wolf’s accomplishments. After the movie came out, he was inducted in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame more than 70 years after his accomplishments – along with a lot of worthy inductees whose careers spanned the previous 15 to 20 years.

The same is true of Perry Mirkovich. He has an amazing story that should be told.

It is nice that, in 2021, the University of Lethbridge finally got around to retiring his number, but what took so long? Forty-one years?

Perry Mirkovich really is an unknown star