There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a fair bit of music in my life, starting from an early age. Legend has it that as a 3 or 4 year old I could unabashedly belt out the old song There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an old spinning wheel in the parlour in front of Mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Missionary Society group (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153spinning\u00e2\u20ac\u009d came out as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pinnin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153parlour\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153parlo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, apparently!)<\/p>\n
Mother had a piano teacher cousin, Tessa Wallace, who gave me piano lessons when I was a pre-teen. An hour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lesson cost 25 cts. I quit when Mother couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t persuade me to keep on going to the lessons. Too bad, really, as I think I could have been a reasonably good pianist. Son Murray has done much better.<\/p>\n
At University in Winnipeg, I became part of the Aggie Quartet. Scott Flewitt, a classmate who, in later years, did a stint in a U.S. prison for fraud, was the leader of the group and had a great voice. There were various tenors, including Bob Hicks, and Ken Shipley was a solid bass. We sang at various faculty of Agriculture events and other University functions and sang \u00e2\u20ac\u201c live \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on CJOB radio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bubb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Electric Sunday morning half hour.<\/p>\n
Perhaps my most memorable musical experience was singing in the University of Wisconsin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Glee Club in the fall semester of graduate school in Madison, Wisconsin in 1958. Mr. Jones, our talented Texas-born director, put us through our paces and we were actually selected to sing on the Ed Sullivan television show. A number of American university glee clubs sang on that nationally televised show in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc50s and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc60s but the University of Wisconsin had a policy forbidding performances on sponsored programs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so we never made it. We DID sing at the inauguration of Wisconsin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new Governor in the fall of 1958. I had class conflicts in the second semester so, reluctantly, had to drop out.<\/p>\n
I remember walking down a dark street in a dangerous part of Chicago in 1957 with friends (both Agricultural Representatives, like I was at the time) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Glen Arnott and Morris Deveson. We were in the U.S. to watch major league baseball games in cities like Chicago, Cincinnati and St.Louis. \u00c2\u00a0I saw Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra play. We saw a sign that read \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jack Teagarden \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in person\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Although we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually go into that smoky venue, we did look in and saw the legendary trombone player \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in person\u00e2\u20ac\u009d playing away with a group of musicians.<\/p>\n
No reference to music in these memoirs would be complete without mention of Cookie and Joe Alexander. In 1971 a group of us from the Manitoba Department of Agriculture were selected to attend Extension Winter School at the University of Arizona at Tucson. We drove, 5 to a car as I recall, from Winnipeg to Tucson. After 3 weeks of classes we headed home. Joy, who, like several other wives who flew down to join us at the end of classes, drove back with Ag. Engineer Terry Oatway and I. I recall on that return trip visiting a huge dairy operation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I forget which state \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where hundreds of cows were milked 3 times a day. So, nearly 4 decades ago, this kind of mega-farming was already underway.<\/p>\n
In South Sioux City, Nebraska, across the river from Sioux City, Iowa, Terry, Joy and I went to a dining room\/bar that had a dance floor. The featured artists were Cookie and Joe Alexander. Cookie, a pert blonde and a very good saxophone player, was accompanied by her black husband, a superb piano player and vocalist who had once sung with the legendary Ink Spots. It occurred to me that, if they were interested, they could add a lot to the entertainment scene back in Winnipeg and after probably one drink too many, I sauntered over and made that suggestion. They seemed interested. Later, back home, I checked with Cliff Gardiner, a radio personality and actor, who I had worked with on Manitoba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Centennial in 1969\/70. He gave me the name of a local booking agent. I contacted that booking agent, who contacted Cookie and Joe. Some weeks or months later, Cookie and Joe arrived in Winnipeg, started a fairly long stint in a downtown Winnipeg hotel and later had a long run in the Norwood Hotel. They rented a house in Fort Garry, and were pleased with the kind of care their handicapped child received \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but what happened next? Where did they go? No idea.<\/p>\n
The Manitoba Department of Agriculture\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new Radio and Information Branch started into 16 mm film making in the early 1960s. Our first feature movie Our Farm Business was a 30 minute effort based on the story of a farm boy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest and eventual enrollment in the University of Manitoba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Diploma Agriculture course. Shot in Agfa color, the film stock was so grainy the images practically walked off the screen! Vern McNair and I shot and edited the film. Certainly no Oscar winner, it was totally voice-over with no synced sound. But the voice was that of Len Cariou of St.Boniface. Len was early in his acting career; he went on to the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and I have since seen him on episodes of Law and Order on television. Joy and I also saw him play opposite Lauren Bacall in Applause in London. Background music for Our Farm Business was provided by the legendary, now deceased, guitarist Lenny Breau. Lenny, also, had not reached the pinnacle of international musical acclaim, and just strummed away while looking at a work print of the film \u00e2\u20ac\u201c up tempo when there was some action; quietly when the film action slowed down. I think Len and Lenny each received about $50 for their efforts.<\/p>\n
Even in earlier times, music was important in our lives. Ryerson, the one-room local school, acted as a sort-of community centre for our rural area. Several times a year, usually in the winter, there would be whist drives or croquinol tournaments \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and dances. School desks would be pushed back against the walls and winter coats thrown over them. Music was pretty basic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c often my Mother chording on the old upright piano (many ivory portions of the keys missing), while Jimmy Smith (no relation) played the violin. That was it, and Jimmy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s repertoire of tunes was pretty limited. These were times when everyone attended; baby sitters hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been invented then! So, as midnight approached, we kids were placed on the coats to sleep while the adults danced, probably until 2:00 a.m. when the men would go over to the school barn and hitch up the teams of horses to sleighs to transport everyone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including half-asleep kids \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to their homes.<\/p>\n
Later, the Friday night dances in the Kenton Memorial Hall were popular. Men (and boys) on one side of the hall, girls on the other and the stage held the band. When the Virden Nite Hawks were playing, the hall was packed. Their leader, Ike Rogers, was a terrific trumpet player and we danced every dance. I guess a few people were outside drinking in their cars, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall anyone being drunk. I do recall watching Ross Johnston and his wife Audrey jitterbugging. Ross, not long home from World War II, where he piloted Lancaster bombers on raids over Germany, was only about 5 ft 6, Audrey was 5 ft 7 so, though she probably would have preferred high heels, wore flat shoes. They could really dance. In fact, people would stop their own dancing to gather \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcround to watch them perform.<\/p>\n
What \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or who \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are MY music favourites? Male vocalist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Frank Sinatra (no contest!). A rotten guy, but what a voice! Female vocalist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tough call. A toss up between Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney, and Diana Krall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not bad either. Piano \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould and Art Tatum. I love the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153big bands\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the \u00e2\u20ac\u212240s and \u00e2\u20ac\u212250s. A local Vancouver Island guitar player, Pat Coleman, is wonderful on the guitar as is Oliver Gannon, also of B.C.<\/p>\n
Actually, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much music I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like, though modern heavy rock is not pleasing to me. But music has been, and continues to be, an important part of my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Music There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a fair bit of music in my life, starting from an early age. Legend has it that as a 3 or 4 year old I could unabashedly belt out the old song There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an old spinning wheel … Continue reading