Month: March 2011
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Remembering Chuck Davis
It was a heartwarming turnout for a tribute to Chuck Davis at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Saturday. Chuck was the heartbeat of this city in so many ways. A little bit of Vancouver died with him. He had such a passion for the history of our town. He was never motivated by money but instead…
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Red Around Town — April 2011
I had a wonderful time in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday. Over 200,000 people showed up on the best day of the year so far. I was riding in an open convertible with former CKNW talk show host Dave Abbott and Alyn Edwards, columnist for the Vancouver Sun specializing in classic cars. He…
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Ferlin Husky dies at 85
Here I am backstage in Portland, Oregon with two of country music’s most talented artists: Don Gibson (left) and Ferlin Husky (right). The year was 1959. Oregon was celebrating its Centennial with a huge six month fair. Part of that fair was the appearance of many country acts, headlined as Country Music America. Just about…
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Wynonna At The “Red”
Wynonna Judd returned to the Red Robinson Show Theatre and we had the pleasure of talking with this talented lady once again. Wynonna first rose to fame in the 1980s alongside her mother Naomi in the country music duo The Judds. The duo released seven albums on Curb Records, in addition to charting 26 singles,…
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CKWX remote at Brown Bros. Ford, 1958
It was quite common in the Fifties and Sixties to do radio remotes from furniture stores and car dealerships. In 1958 we were invited to Brown Bros. Ford to do my CKWX radio show live. A group of teenagers showed up and danced on the parking lot. My operator was Cal George. Cal had been…
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Red Around Town — March 2011
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. A sad note about the end of two of my favorite antique stores. First the Cloverdale Antique Mall closed. The problem was not a lack of customers, it was the high cost of rent. Store owner Tim Garrett was paying $15,000 per month for the 18,000 square foot…
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Rolf Harris Memories
These two emails follow on the heels of my Global BC television interview (above) with the director of the Rolf Harris documentary which aired on BBC December 20. Vikram Jayanti has two Academy Awards for his documentaries. He won for When We Were Kings about Muhammad Ali. This morning I interviewed the noted director and…
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Vancouver’s 125th — Vote For Your Favourite
Nominations are open for 125 people, places and events to mark the city of Vancouver’s 125th birthday. This project is being conducted by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places That Matter campaign. The foundation will come up with a list as voted by you and judged by its panel. The foundation will then mount 125 plaques…
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Jeff Dunham At The “Red”
This photo was taken backstage at Great Canadian’s Red Robinson Show Theatre. I look like I just saw something scary (and it wasn’t the photographer). Pictured with me is American ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham, who put on an outstanding show. He is the top grossing standup act in North America. As of March 2009…