Listening to the radio this morning I heard an add for Manulife Investments and the song they use in the commercial is No Time. It is not the original Guess Who version but rather the sound-alike that Randy made years ago. I haven’t asked Randy but I think they are using the old Bachman Songbook version. The voice you hear is Donnie McDougall and not me.
Archive for February, 2007
SixStringN
The Six String Nation guitar is made of more than 60 pieces that are significant aspects of history or culture from across the country. I met Jowi Taylor in Ottawa and got play the guitar. I sang an Elvis song while they snapped a few pictures. Six String Nation is the product of 11 years of work.
The girl in the picture is my long time friend Sheila. She happened to be in Ottawa so I invited her to our show.
The Canadian Cancer Society has set a date for their fundraiser gala of May 5th. I am the honorary Entertainment chairperson for this event and every year I sing a few songs to kick off the evening. Last year the event featured Sarah McLachlan as our special guest entertainment. Sarah was gracious and while visiting with her, I was struck by her genuine support for the cause. Her set was an amazing collection of hits and the crowd could not get enough of her.
This year the special guest has not been revealed yet but . . . the sad part is I am booked for May 5th already:(
I have a gig in Calgary that was already confirmed before the Canadian Cancer Society booked their venue for the same date. I can’t be in two places at once so I guess I’ll continue to hold the record of “Ten Thousand Dollar Man” (That’s how much an “Up close and Personal” concert by me was auctioned off for at the event last year.
I don’t know about you, but I find the Grammy’s to be frustrating. First of all I rarely watch TV so to sit through endless commercials is painful. I know that is a neccessary evil but with regards to the show itself, who picks these presenters? The Grateful Dead gets a lifetime achievement and I’m sure the presenters had never heard of them before the event. Trying to please everyone in one night has about as much appeal as a telethon, you spend more time surfing the tube and then end up missing what you wanted to see in the first place. I’m sure the “behind the scenes” show would be much more entertaining . . . Best thing about the show was The Dixie Chicks makin’ all those industry whiners eat crow. Way to go girls you ROCK!
It was an “out of the blue” email I sent to marketing professional and copywriting expert, Michel Fortin that resulted in an impromtu jam session in Ottawa.
In my marketing business I have been following Michel Fortin’s blog. Michel lives in Ottawa and our band doesn’t get to Ottawa very often (let alone to play a free outdoor concert) so I took a chance and invited him to our show. He responded saying he would have loved to come but he had a gig. A gig? I didn’t know he was a musician. Turns out he is the drummer for a classic rock band called Jaded Ways.
After meeting him for coffee before our Winterlude show, I decided to surprise him and show up at his gig. I was invited up to do a few songs and we rocked. He is a great drummer and his band are classic rock pros. I was a little tired for the plane the next morning but we had fun.
Luckily the stage was heated and partially closed in but the gusts of cold snow and wind would still cause our guitars to go out of tune and our knuckles to stiffen up.
The stage was set on the frozen surface of the Rideau Canal where people were skating all afternoon during our soundcheck. Mick skated and so did Paxton (our guitar tech) but unfortunately I had to go searching for a new power supply for this computer. Roge (drummer) had to coordinate someone back home to find his cows that escaped his farm.
This year’s Winterlude will celebrate 175 years since the construction of the Rideau Canal, and the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The occasional snowflakes just added to the winter wonderland setting of trees with twinkling lights and skaters on the canal.
Well-bundled audience members crammed the front-of-stage, spilled over onto the ice surface, crowded the NAC’s second-storey balcony and thronged the Plaza Bridge overlooking the stage.
Randy was wearing fingerless gloves, and we opened with No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature. The crowd, which National Capital Commission officials optimistically estimated at 10,000, cheered and sang along with every hit. Let it Ride came off pretty good but the guitars started to go out of tune during Undun. I don’t think anyone but the band could really tell.
Hey it’s cold and the ice is frozen! Will the Randy Bachman Band ice skate tomorrow??
It’s hard to imagine that the Rideau Canal was liquid a week ago. Tomorrow we are playing at the American Express Bowl, on the ice of the Ridea Canal! The stage is actually on the ice. It’s a cool -15 here in Ottawa tonight, and on our way in from the airport we saw people skating down the canal.
Our set of Guess Who and BTO hits starts at 7pm and I guess people can skate right up to the stage.
See a video here: Winterlude 2007
I will try to post some pictures if I can figure out how to upload them from my hotel room.
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