Moments That Matter - Early February 2009

Pop Culture:
Music: Dierks Bentley "Feel That Fire" / The Bird and The Bee "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future" / Bruce Springsteen "Working On A Dream" / Buddy Holly "The Best of Buddy Holly - "The Millennium Collection".
Book: "Johnny Cash - The Biography" by Michael Streissguth.
DVD: "The Buddy Holly Story".
TV: Superbowl XLIII / The 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

Milestones:
-50th Anniversary of "The Day The Music Died" - plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (February 3rd 1959).
-45th Anniversary of The Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan (February 13th 1964).

Hello:
John Kucera (Gold Medal Winning Canuck Ski Racer at Val D'Isere, France).
Steve Omischl (Canadian Winner of 3 straight World Cup Skiing Aerials Season Titles).

Goodbye:
Dewey Martin (Drummer from Buffalo Springfield)
Estelle Bennett (Singer with The Ronettes)
Gerry Niewood (Sax player with Chuck Mangione's band)
Coleman Mellett (Guitarist with Chuck Mangione's band)

Good, Bad and Ugly:
Good: Canada winning medals galore in winter sports - 1 year out from Vancouver Olympics.
Bad: Brushfires in Australia, Plane crash in Buffalo.
Ugly: Chris Brown beating Rihanna.


Superbowl Sunday
Great game. I was kind of hoping for the underdog Arizona Cardinals to win, but giving up a 100 yard interception return for a touchdown with no time left at the half kind of hurt their chances. Although, you have to give Kurt Warner props for bringing the team back and taking the lead late in the game. The Cardinals left Pittsburgh with too much time left on the clock though. Credit the Steelers for working the two minute drill to perfection to seal the win.
Best play of the game might have been Bruce Springsteen's knee slide right into a camera during his half time performance. I don't care if you think Bruce sold out to do the halftime show. I'll take 12 minutes of seeing the master showman at work anytime. It sure beats watching Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson halftime show - although the "wasdrobe malfunction" made for good water cooler talk. I think the last two Superbowl halftime shows have been great, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. How can they top that next year? Maybe Van Halen? That would be sweet!

Groundhog Day
Who came up with this concept? How does a varmint's shadow predict the weather?
Come on! We live in Canada. On February 2nd we know damn well that we've got at least 6 more weeks of winter coming. We'll be lucky to be golfing before the third round of the NHL playoffs start in late April or early May. Stupid groundhog! Stupid winter!

50 Years After The Day The Music Died.
February 3rd, 1959 - the day the music died. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash outside of Clear Lake, Iowa. I watched "The Buddy Holly Story" on DVD on the anniversary of the tragedy. I think it is Gary Busey's best role ever. It got me thinking about what the hell one of the biggest music stars of the time was doing playing a show in a town of about 5000 people in early February. That's how they developed fans and put faces to the names that people were hearing on the radio back then. There were no music video channel . There was no internet. If you wanted to get known you had to go out and hit the people where they live. More artists should do that now. Get a good backing band and put 3 or 4 artists on the bill. Pile into a bus and barnstorm towns, big and small. If you want to reach people with real music do it the old fashioned way. Sure it's a lot of work, but I bet the concept still works in developing long lasting careers. Paul Brandt's Small Towns and Big Dreams tour worked pretty well, didn't it? People in Brooks, Alberta and Fort St. John, B.C. are starved for entertainment. Go play those places and the residents will never forget you. I know I thought seeing Red Rider at the Fort St. John Arena in 1983 was like the Beatles playing Shea Stadium. Okay maybe not quite like that, but still a pretty big deal to have a big rock show in a fairly small town.
I can see arguments about economics coming. I think that's just an excuse. Work hard, plan properly and I think the artists will make money and get to be better performers for playing more gigs in more widely ranging situations. They will also develop a lasting fan base.

Juno Who's Had a Good Year?
On Tuesday, February 3rd, the nominees for this year's Juno Awards were announced. I was especially proud to see that Edmontonian Kreesha Turner was nominated for two awards, Best New Artist and Pop Album of the Year. I was also happy to see Serena Ryder up for a couple of awards. The Junos take place in Vancouver on March 29th.

If This Game Was Happening In My Backyard I'd Close The Drapes
On Tuesday, February 3rd I went to see the Oilers play the Chicago Black Hawks with my buddy Michael Hogan. The Oilers looked bad, real bad. They seemed to have no effort and no heart. Chicago played a decent, but boring, road game and put most of Rexall Place to sleep. At least Michael and I got a chance to catch up on things. I wish the real Edmonton Oilers would stand up. After this loss they rebounded and started playing good hockey again. What's up with this team this year?

Country Connections
I had several good visits with Country artists in the first two weeks of February.
On February 3rd I met with Chad Klinger to hear his new, Bart McKay produced, CD. I think he's got some solid tunes on the disc. I could hear 3 or 4 songs being radio hits.
On February 4th I had a visit with Craig Moritz and Natalie Harper. It was nice to catch up with them and hear about Craig's new video.
On Thursday, February 12th I had a visit with Deric Ruttan and Travis Switzer. Deric was in town for the night. He was on his way up to Whitecourt to play a couple of solo acoustic shows at the casino this weekend.

Grammy Weirdness
Even more bizarre than some of the winners at the 51st annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 8th, was what happened behind the scenes. It's alleged that Chris Brown assaulted his girlfriend, Rihanna, the night before the awards show. This news was just breaking as the rest of the American Music industry was strolling down the red carpet for the night's showcase event.
The Grammy's are always hard to predict. My earlier blog is proof of that. I was blown away with some of the winners this year, but ever since Jethro Tull won the first ever Grammy for Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Performance in 1989, nothing about the Grammy's shocks me any more. It really is a night where anything can, and usually does, happen (remember the "Soy Bomb" incident from 1998?).

Visitors from Away
Lesley's sister, Laura, is here for a visit. She flew in on Monday February 9th. The girls are very excited to have Aunt Laura here. Laura and Lesley have had a good time catching up. I am happy that Laura will be here for most of the time that I am away on the Dierks Bentley tour next week.

Jeremy Summers, one of my old bosses from my Universal Music days, was in town on Tuesday, February 10th. I met up with Jeremy and John Dunham for drinks that evening. While I waited for them I visited with Jane and Will at Jake Daniel's Table Team Trivia night at the Beehunter in the West End. I won a car seat warmer as a door prize. It might still come in handy this winter.

Getting Lucky on Valentine's Day
I left things too late to book a dinner reservation. Lesley and I weren't sure what we were going to do for Valentine's so we didn't really plan ahead too well. When we finally decided that dinner out would be nice, all of the local St. Albert restaurants and all of our favourite Edmonton ones were booked solid. We were thinking we might just have to go to some place that didn't take reservations. Luckily for us though, Brad Slater, from The Team 1260, read my Facebook status about not having reservations and offered me his, as he and Lacey had made other plans. Lesley and I ended up having a fabulous dinner at Yianni's Taverna (although they didn't have their belly dancers on Valentine's Day). After dinner we ventured out to the River Cree Casino and Lesley won $60 playing the nickel slots. There's nothing like getting lucky on Valentine's Day.