The weather was perfect for the huge B.C. Day celebration in Victoria. Singer Feist, who won 9 Juno Awards this past year, was just one part of the amazing performances in celebration of the province’s 150th Birthday. Also on stage Sarah McLachlan, Burton Cummings, and legendary bandleader Dal Richards. But there’s more, Jim Byrnes, blues guitarist Pat Milano and vocalist Colin James rounded out the program… Vancouver singer Jessie Farrell is at the top of the list for this year’s Canadian Country Music Awards with seven nominations for 2008, including Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Our congratulations… Seth Rogen, the talented writer-actor, who attended Vancouver’s Point Grey High School, is riding high with his latest celluloid comedy Pineapple Express, now showing at theatres. The 26 year old star was already writing movie scripts with high school pal Evan Goldberg when he was 13. He also appeared doing stand up comedy locally… Pamela Anderson, Ladysmith’s gift to the world of glitter, has a new reality show titled Girl On The Loose. This eight-episode series can be seen on E! Channel. It is interesting that she features her older brother and mother on the show…
“Click me – I talk!”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet dissident writer and Nobel Literature prize winner, has died at the age of 89. His monumental work The Gulag Archipelago is the definitive work on Stalin’s forced labour camps, where tens of millions perished… I had the pleasure of decorating the winning horse in the 9th race at Hastings Park. I had bought a “win” ticket on Krazy Koffee and the horse came through. Also on hand to decorate various winners throughout the day was Hockey Hall of Famer Jim Robson, actor Jackson Davies (Constable Constable on The Beachcombers) Canadian 1988 Olympic boxer Manny Sobral, kingpin manager of music talent Bruce Allen and other notables. Also on hand was MLA Rich Coleman, political guru Patrick Kinsella, former talk show host Gary Bannerman, Dr. Sport Greg Douglas (public relations for the track), Ross McLeod, CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, and Vice-President of media and advertising for the corporation Howard Blank. Carole and I were joined by my business associate Corby Coffin and his wife Jeanette. All in all a splendid day… Word is that after 16 years with CKNW intrepid community reporter Kevin Hayes and the management of the frequency have agreed to disagree and Hayes is without a job… Also, fill-in host and sometime reporter Andrew Dawson is leaving CKNW and heading for Regina where he will be the new morning news anchor at a station there… Sports legend Ted Reynolds has undergone three serious operations within months. He is making slow but good progress and is looking forward to going home. We wish him a full recovery.