Vapor Trails

Those who know me (and some who do not) are aware of my family’s passion of Rush. This illustrates it well.

On August 10, 1997, soon after the conclusion of Rush's Test for Echo Tour, drummer Neil Peart's first daughter and then-only child, 19-year-old Selena Taylor, was tragically killed in a single-car accident on Highway 401 near the town of Brighton, Ontario.

Only 10 months later, on June 20, 1998, his common-law wife of 22 years, Jacqueline Taylor, succumbed to cancer. Peart attributes her death to the result of a "broken heart" and called it "a slow suicide by apathy. She just didn't care."

In his book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, Peart writes that he told his bandmates at Selena's funeral, "consider me retired." Peart took a long sabbatical to mourn and reflect and travelled extensively throughout North and Central America on his motorcycle, covering 88,000 km (55,000 mi).

After several years it looked that RUSH was done as a band.

However, after his journey, Peart decided to return to the band. Peart wrote the book as a chronicle of his geographical and emotional journey.

Peart was introduced to photographer Carrie Nuttall in Los Angeles by long-time Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan. They married on September 9, 2000.

In early 2001, Peart announced to his bandmates that he was ready to return to recording and performing.

The product of the band's return was the 2002 album Vapor Trails, RUSH’s 17th studio album. Its release marked the first studio album for the band since Test for Echo in 1996 (the longest gap between Rush albums until their retirement).

The band felt that the entire developmental process for Vapor Trails was extremely taxing and took about 14 months to finish, the longest the band had ever spent writing and recording a studio album.

Despite controversy concerning its production and sound quality, the album debuted to moderate praise and was supported by the band's first tour in six years, including first-ever concerts in Mexico City and Brazil, where they played to some of the largest crowds of their career. Personally, I attended the Toronto show. There's no way I was going to miss the return. It was quite emotional for myself and likely everyone in attendance to have our favourite sons back again.

The album was certified gold in Canada in August 2002. The song "Ghost Rider" appeared on the album and was written by Peart as a tribute to his travels around the US and Canada after his personal tragedies, while "One Little Victory" served as the first single to announce the band's return from hiatus.

The original audio mix of the album received criticism for its heavy use of dynamic range compression. Not pleased with the results, Rush had two of the album's tracks mixed again and re-released in Retrospective III: 1989–2008.

The positive response to that led to a completely revamped version of the album, titled Vapor Trails Remixed, released in 2013. It was released both individually and as a part of the box set The Studio Albums 1989–2007.

After the release of Vapor Trails and his reunion with bandmates, Peart returned to work as a full-time musician.

It is for this reason that many people, including my family, feel that Vapor Trails is the most important and meaningful album in RUSH’s discography.

And this is why both Braydon and I have the album cover as tattoos. Braydon has had his for a few years and I have finally had mine done. Both were done by the incredibly talented Joey Saindon at Sacred Owl Tattoo who has done all of my tattoos for almost 10 years now.

Purists will note that the original Vapor Trails album cover was orange, red, black and yellow and the image used for our tattoos was from the remixed album cover. It is a much nicer image with many other colours added.

I point out however that the remixed version of the album was the one that Geddy, Neil and Alex preferred, as they had not been happy with the original.

Stay well,
Tim

Time Machine

I have wanted to do this one for ages but was waiting for the right time to do it. Now is that time.

You'll see why when you get to the end.

This is about the greatest rock band in the world, RUSH, and how my life has passed through the years along with them. That's where the Time Machine title idea came from.

One day in 1975 as I was walking home I noticed an old record player in someone's garbage. I don't know if it was just because I was 12 years old or that I had a hunch that this record player may still work but I decided to bring it home with me.

My family had an 8-track player and I had a cassette recorder/player but we didn't have a record player. As such we had no need for vinyl record albums in the house. I had won a Bobby Sherman vinyl album at a School Safety Patrol Christmas party. It had never been played before and even though it wasn't my choice of music to listen to, it would suit the purpose of seeing if my new/old record player worked.

I discovered that the record player "worked" perfectly in that it played the music. The only thing was that when I touched the center post or any metal part of the player I got an electric shock. I suppose that would explain why it was in the garbage but I overlooked that and had myself a new record player/wakeup device.

Soon afterwards I decided to take a trip down to the local public library and check out the assortment of LP's that were available to sign out.

This seems so bizarre to think that the North York Public Library could be a source of discovering the music of the day but they were up to date and anyone with a library card could sign out the albums of their choice.

I can still clearly visualize going through the records and stopping at RUSH - Fly By Night. This was the second album put out by the boys and the first with the "new guy" Neil Peart who replaced John Rutsey as the drummer and lyric writer.

I had never heard of these guys before but the cover of this album was so cool with a big snowy owl coming right out of the picture at me. I had to check this out.



I couldn't even tell you if I signed out any other albums along with it but I made my way home with Fly By Night under my arm. I went upstairs to my bedroom, took the record out of its sleeve, zapped myself as I put the record onto the post and turned the record player on and sat back to hear what this stuff was.

At that moment a lifelong fan of RUSH was born.

I would have been 11 or 12 years old at that time. Roughly 36 years ago. Man, I can't believe it's been that long...

I didn't have a lot of spending money in those years but I usually found a way to get a new RUSH album within the first day or so of its release. For the longest time RUSH would release a new one annually. I could listen to an album for about a year before I was really hungry for new stuff so this worked out perfectly.

I'm not positive of the first time that I saw the lads in concert. I originally thought that it was in 1977 or 1978 but I'm not positive.
What I AM positive of was that I was at their show on Sunday September 2, 1979 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. My family had to speed back to Toronto from a cottage that we were using on Lake Simcoe just so that I could get to see this concert.

I still have the ticket stub somewhere. (I'll have to look for that and scan it, just for fun.). One of the best things about this show was that I finally had the opportunity to see FM who were another of my favourite bands of the time. Both bands were awesome but RUSH was what I was there for.

I've looked around on the internet and found that this show was part of the Permanent Waves Warm Up Tour. Even if this was the case the show was for the prior album "Hemispheres". I'm certain of that because I have this program from the show.



Once I went to my first show it became a tradition that I would see them every time they played in Toronto or somewhere within a few hours driving distance such as Hamilton or even Buffalo. If I had plans of some kind the plans would have to change.

RUSH was my priority.
You'll see later in this post that this hasn't changed after more than 30 years. There were a couple of times that I went to the shows by myself but I always ran into friends and spent the rest of the show hanging out with them.

Last year a documentary "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage" was being released in theaters around the world for one night only.
As luck would have it the only place in New Brunswick that was showing it was in Moncton. It was a midnight show only.
Can you guess what I did? Yep, the family packed up and made an overnight mini-vacation out of it. This was the closest thing we had to seeing RUSH in these parts.

It was a blast. Sure it was late and we were all tired but what an incredible movie it is! Seeing it on the large screen made it even more amazing.

It was almost surreal seeing my old high school named in it.
Even more astounding was when it showed Geddy and Alex walking around outside a church where they first performed shows in the basement. That was where I went to nursery school!
I could still visualize the parade we all had on the church driveway for my birthday that year. That very driveway was right there on the screen.

Guitarist Alex Lifeson attended the same high school that I did. It was several years before I was there as he is about 9 years older than I am so I didn't see him personally. However, I found out fairly recently that our favourite babysitter was his friend at school.

It was when I was at high school that I learned Alex's real last name is Zivojinovich.
One of the walls in the band room was covered with a mural that he had painted. In the bottom corner was A. Zivojinovich. I don't recall how I found out that it was him but I admired the artwork that much more when I did.

In 1997 I heard on the news that Neil Peart's daughter had died in an automobile accident. It was such a strange feeling to feel so much grief and sympathy for someone who has meant so much to me for so long but has no idea who I am or that I even exist. How many of us wanted to tell Neil how sad we felt for him and express our condolences?

Less than a year after this Neil's wife Jacqueline passed away from cancer.

My god, how much could one man take...

For the next 5 years there was nothing from RUSH. Alex and Geddy did solo projects which were good but not the same.
I learned later that Neil packed up his life and rode 55,000 miles on his BMW motorcycle in order to mourn and reflect.

He wrote a book about the journey "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road" which I bought and read. Only when I read this book did it really sink in how close we came to losing RUSH forever. At his daughter Selena's funeral he told Alex and Geddy "consider me retired".

At some point in the travels Neil met a new woman that he married in September 2000.

Thankfully, in 2001 Neil contacted Geddy and Alex and told them that he was ready to get back to work and start writing music again.

In 2002 "Vapor Trails" was released and the boys were back. On July 17, 2002 I saw them play the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. I went by myself but I'd be damned if I was going to miss my first RUSH show in over 5 years.

Since moving to New Brunswick I have travelled back to Ontario to see them in concert.

I really wish that they would consider playing somewhere in Atlantic Canada. I have heard that they played here in Fredericton 30 years ago for the "Moving Pictures" tour but they haven't been here for a while.

I note that when we went to see the movie in Moncton there were about 100 people in the theatre. A friend of mine in the US told me that the midnight movie screening in his city was completely sold out and he couldn't get in. That may tell something of the interest out here.

From the time my sons were babies they have listened to RUSH. Many times we were in the car I would have a RUSH CD or cassette playing and they would rock along.

One of the funniest things I remember is playing the cassette "Roll the Bones" when they were 3 or 4 years old and both of them singing "We are young!" when it came up in the song "Dreamline". I can still hear it.

As you probably already know, both boys have taken up music. T with piano and B playing drums.

In fact, B idolizes Neil Peart. He has photos of Neil and his amazing drum kit in his bedroom and regularily practices playing along to RUSH songs. He's doing darn well too!

A friend of mine is on a mailing list for upcoming concerts. Last fall she forwarded me a message that tickets were about to be sold for a show in Montreal on April 20, 2011. This was to be the first time that RUSH has played east of Ontario since we had moved to New Brunswick in 2003.

I didn't need to think about it very long. We were going. All of us. Myself, Cheryl and the boys. I decided that it was time the boys went to see their first big rock show.

The significance of the show's date didn't immediately strike me but it was taking place just a couple of days after the boys' 13th birthdays.

As luck would have it the grand opening of the new N.B. Liquor store was going to be on April 21, the day after the concert. There was no way we could make it back in time but as I said before RUSH was the priority.

I wish that I could have been there but Mayor Brad Woodside gave me a "shout-out" at the ceremony. What a great guy he is.
Charles took a great video of Brad and the "shout-out". Have a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu8mpxQVap4


I called the Bell Centre in Montreal before we left and found out that it was okay for me to take my camera into the show as long as it wasn't a professional camera with a zoom lens. Excellent.
I took several videos. Here is a link to one that I posted on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaj97g048R4

Even though my camera isn't a professional one by any means I think it did pretty well.
Here are a few of my photos.










That last one was taken at a really nice restaurant named Baton Rouge across from the Bell Centre. We went there for dinner before heading to the show.

There we were with our boys who had just become teenagers about to go to their first big rock concert. Wow.

There is something very cool about that photo and what the boys are wearing.
T is wearing my t-shirt that I bought at the Triumph - Allied Forces 1981 tour show.
B is wearing my RUSH - Moving Pictures 1981 tour t-shirt.
I bought those 30 years ago.

I have seen RUSH in concert more times than I can remember but I think I can honestly say that this show was the best I have ever seen them play.

They played for more than 3 hours with a short intermission in the middle.

An interesting note is that to commemorate the 30th anniversary of "Moving Pictures" album, RUSH played the album in its entirety in the second half of the show.
How's THAT for a coincidence?

For their last song they played "Working Man" from their first album.
We watched in amazement as Neil crashed away, Geddy slapped the bass like a maniac and Alex played his guitar so fast we couldn't keep up with his fingers.
After already playing for more than 3 hours they looked like they were ready to go for 3 more!

We all loved it. The boys had their best birthday trip ever and I got to see RUSH in concert again.

By the way, guess what RUSH has named their current tour?

The Time Machine Tour.

What a cool coincidence. :)

Stay well,
Tim

What I wanted to say was this...

For some reason this text didn't post with the picture of Roberto Luongo and the Canadian flag.

Let's try this again;

I guess there really isn't too much that can be put into words about Sunday's Team Canada Olympic gold medal hockey victory over the United States.
That was one of the craziest roller coaster rides of a game that we had ever seen in our lives. Games like that certainly don't come along very often but when they do it's a classic in the making.
I have even heard today that Sunday's game rivals the 1972 Canadian victory over Russia.
Not quite. Close mind you but not quite.
Nothing will ever match that series as long as I live.
However, having the United States tie up the game with only 24 seconds left in the game was insanity.
I can imagine the feelings in the pit of every Canadian's stomach to see our dream game so close to being won and shattered by Parise's goal.
I know we felt it in our house.
There are many who really don't like games to get that close, and I am one of them.
At that point it can go either way and heavens knows we've been on the wrong side of that equation too many times.
But, our maritime Canadian boy Sidney Crosby took care of business and wrapped it up handily.
Outstanding.
Pretty darn proud to be Canadians aren't we?
(Except for the closing ceremonies to the games. Those were a tad embarassing.)
First off do not make the artists lip synch! It's not a good decision, trust me.
Secondly, include Canadian legends such as RUSH, Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace, Stomping Tom and Gordon Lightfoot and everyone goes away happy.

Oh I almost forgot! I found out last Friday that I  still employed by the Province of New Brunswick for another 3 years. Yay for me!

Stay Well,
Tim

Tim Scammell, PTech

I know this is cheating but it's interesting

I was just looking for a bookmark for a web site on my Blackberry and ran across one for a blog and personal site that I started a couple of years ago.
Obviously I forgot about it and didn't feel up to really getting into blogging further.
There are four blogs on there dated January 18, 2007, January 29, 2007, March 7, 2009 and March 11, 2007 and I'm going to post them here just for fun.
I guess that the January 18th blog is officially my very first blog ever. I don't THINK that I have any other orphan blogs out there but I'm not positive.
I mentioned cheating in the title since I don't really have to get creative for this. I just have to repost some ramblings from back then.
Forgive me for adding ramblings between them. I guess it's just trying to explain myself. :)
Let's do this.



January 18, 2007

Wow, my first blog entry ever

I apologize for not making this a sizzler of excitement and social commentary but it's the end of the day and frankly I'm tired. I didn't want to leave this blank today.
I'm in bed typing this on my Blackberry.
I'll finish it and watch more of "What Happened on the Moon pt 1" on my mp4 player until I can't keep my eyes open. It's a bunch of folks with some very interesting points who are claiming that the Apollo space program was not all we believe it was. Not sure how precise it all is but they make it sound convincing.
Why are the main folks in this thing British? Are they all jealous of the U.S.?
Why do people even look for all these things to shoot great achievements down? It was a great point in human history that we should all be proud of as humans, not Americans or Britons or Canadians. Leave it alone!
Maggie our little old girl cat is in her spot between my legs so that I can't roll over or even move while I type this.
Oh, I finally found that dang "Triple Play" multicache today after starting months ago. The lid was frozen shut.
Dang cold today but at least there was no wind. Only about -10 or so. It was much colder yesterday.
Boo has his first drum lesson finally tomorrow with the drummer with one arm. Should be interesting indeed. I'll be there.
Tiny had his first piano lesson the other night. So far so good.
Goodnight for now.



Wow. The guys were just beginning their music lessons back then.
How far they've come since then.
It was nice to read the part about Maggie the cat. I miss that little lady...


Here's the next one:


January 29, 2007

Too long between posts

It's amazing how easy it is for time to go zipping by as we get older.
I really had intentions of doing this more often but we get busy. Before you know it a week goes by.
The lads are both doing very well in their music lessons now.
Drummer lad surprised the instructor with how good he is. We already knew he can solo with ease but how is he with tempo?
Last Wednesday the teacher dude started into the whole 4 beats to a measure, 1/4 notes, 1/2 notes, 1/8 notes etc. and stressed the drummer is the band's clock and keeps time.
The lad got it and now solos with a rhythm. Amazing.
The piano man lad is also doing great. I've watched his hand and finger styles and it looks pretty darn good to me.
He is playing tunes and has a very good ear for it.
If a note is off he corrects it immediately.
I was sitting in the living room listening to him play in his room the other day and he was just playing around making up cool little tunes of his own.
A lot of talent in these guys.
It must have something to do with the headphones on mommy's tummy when she was pregnant and the classical music all night in their room when they were babies.
And also the constant Rush and Johnny Cash in the car with me.
Anyhoo, this weekend - Feb 2, is the launch of all the new geocaches planted for the 2007 Maritime Challenge.
We did really well around here but it looks like Nova Scotia has also gone nuts so we may get beaten again. Maybe. We'll see.
Sportsman has offered to take me out Saturday at 7:00 a.m. on his snowmobile to be first to find on his new series between here and Hanwell Road.
He knew I wouldn't be able to do them myself without a sled. What a guy.
His new hides are the only ones I don't know in advance. Almost every other local cacher was sending me their hide info so I could warn them of possible conflicts.
I took myself out of the FTF running for all of those.
However, I didn't get Sporty's cache info and his are fair game. Saturday should be good.
Zeeya



I have to tell you about that drumming teacher I mentioned in there, Boo's first teacher.
I felt bad for the guy because Boo continually practices and learns things on his own. He always has. He has a natural talent for that. The teacher had to stop teaching Boo. He said that Boo was developing faster than he could really teach him.
That teacher used to come to our home for the lessons. I think it was last lesson he did that he came down the stairs as Boo was grooving and said to us "Oh wow man, I was going to teach him that." He had already taught himself!
Occasionally I hear the TV in the basement with a DVD with Rush and the drummer Neil Peart or another drum related DVD playing.
I hear the TV play, then nothing as he walks to the drum room, then I hear Boo playing away on his drum kit trying to play what he's just watched.
Then back to the TV to watch again. And on he goes.
He does that with Youtube videos as well.
It's very cool to listen to.
Tiny has a knack for making little tunes up. He amazes me. Not all are instant classics but some are really good!
One thing that I love is how he changes the sound of the piano to suit the song he is playing.
For example, he knows to use a harpsichord sound for a medieval piece. Or a tinnier sound for something Spanish sounding. Do you know what I mean?
Both guys still go for lessons and they are doing very well.
Both have incredible teachers.
We can talk more about that another time.


There is also a lot of my jabbering about geocaching in there. Someone who doesn't follow or care about it would really have a boring time. Sorry about that.
I see that I intended that blog to be more of a personal diary than a column style as this one often is.


Are you still with me?
I know that if Charles has made it this far he's going nuts!
He hates when I carry on. Actually I could probably say all kinds of stuff about him right here and he'll never even know about it! :)


I think I'll do another blog post for the last two posts of that old blog.
You're welcome.

Stay well,
Tim

Maybe you should be nice on your way up because you may come back down?

This is the most star-studded blog I have ever done and may ever do.
Get your sunglasses on and watch your head because names are going to be dropping like raindrops.

It's also very long but I wanted to keep this together.

What got me thinking about this topic was when I was thinking about Roger Federer the other day after he won the French Open and how I believe he is probably a genuinely nice guy.

I started to think about celebrities, how they act towards the public and their fans and how the public sees them.

For those who don't know, I was a bouncer for many years in Ontario in my younger days.
It was always my feeling that defusing a situation is far better than taking the situation down once it has begun.
Many times I would calmly walk with someone out the door instead of physically throwing them out when they became drunk or a bit rowdy.
I was know as "Tim the nice bouncer".

I would spend long nights watching the people and trying to read the emotions and feelings in the room.
I think in doing this for so long I think I started to get a pretty good feel for people.

There have been many times over the years when I have got a less than positive vibe from an individual and have been on the mark.
Other times it appeared that I was wrong but after some time it has was shown that I was right at the start.
Sometimes I really am wrong and missed altogether.

My point here is that when I look at Roger Federer he seems to me like a truly nice guy and I cheer for him because he deserves to be happy.

Here's where my names start to fly.

Many years ago my mother attended a celebrity tennis tournament in Toronto. One of the celebrities in attendance was actor Lloyd Bridges.

Following his tennis match several people including my mother were standing along the route that Lloyd was leaving and hoped to get an autograph from him.

Mom told that Lloyd blew past those few people so fast and acted so ignorant towards them it was unbelievable.
Signing a few autographs for a few ladies wasn't too much of a task really.
But the way Lloyd Bridges acted towards them assured that those ladies would never be his fans again.
Or their families.

Once upon a time Toronto had a WHA hockey team franchise called the Toronto Toros.
The WHA was made up of ex-NHL players who were lured over by money and the promise of renewed glory.
It was a flop.
However one day the Toros had an event called "Scoutskate".

It was advertised that all of us little Cub and Boy Scouts could have a chance to skate with the actual Toronto Toro players themselves!

What a load of garbage that was.

It turned out that we all went for a free skate with hundreds of other Boy Scouts and had a chance to perhaps glimpse a couple of the Toros that happened to be in the area. Without skates on.

One of the Toros players was hockey legend Frank Mahovolich who actually showed up that day.

I remember I was so thrilled to see him! I always loved watching him play and had his hockey cards.

I made my way toward Frank with my pad and pen in hand. It was amazing that I could actually meet him in person.

I asked him if I could please get his autograph.
Then I mentioned that my uncle had also been involved in the Montreal Canadiens hockey organization as he had been before joining the Toros.
I was just making conversation and trying to slip in a little bonding for good measure.

Mr. Mahovolich then told this little Boy Scout to go and "ask your uncle for my autograph" as he blew past all of us.
Pop! There goes that boy's bubble.

I believe he's a member of the Canadian Senate now but I won't be approaching him for an autograph again.

I have stories of a couple of Canadian bands.

A couple of them were pretty popular back in the 1980's. I'm not sure if you recall the bands Bootsauce and The Box.

When I was attending Humber College in Ontario the student council managed to book The Box to do a show in the student bar on campus.
At that time The Box were doing really well for themselves. They had a few really great songs that we're getting plenty of airplay at the time.
I wasn't able to go to the show but read about it in the school newspaper a couple of days later.
It turned out that the band went up on stage, did a couple of songs and left the stage leaving everyone wondering what the heck happened.
The paper reported that the band may have been a little drunk or stoned at the time but possibly not.
When the reporter asked if he could talk to them for a few minutes they told him to forget it and they just wanted to go and "get laid".
I lost all respect I ever had for them and never listened to them again.

I support artists but not when they act like that.

Who knows where they are now. To be honest I really don't care.

Bootsauce was another band from Quebec that weren't as popular as The Box but had music that I really liked.

It wasn't as mainstream a sound but I really admired their talent.
This would have been about the time that I discovered The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Stone Temple Pilot style. Grunge I believe it was called.
Bootsauce fit right in to my tastes.
I have no personal knowledge of what has become of them.
However, at a party one day I met a record company executive time who had signed the band.

He told me that the band members were the rudest, most ignorant people he had ever met.
They acted like they were the biggest rock stars on the planet and noone else mattered.
Could this have been their downfall?
I can't say for certain.

Nickelback is a band that has been around for a couple of years and have become pretty big internationally.
Lately I have noticed a growing sentiment against them.
Facebook even has a group "Friends don't let friends listen to Nickelback".

I have no idea what started this but one day I was browsing videos on Youtube and watched a recent video clip of Nickelback on stage in Europe.
It's difficult to see exactly what brings it on but the singer asks the crowd if they want to rock and roll. He doesn't get the reaction he is looking for so the band leaves the stage and never goes back out.
On the way, the singer gives the crowd the middle finger salute. I'm certain he wasn't telling them they are "number 1" with it.

Maybe I'm wrong but this type of show of affection towards your fans may diminish their love level somewhat.

I am absolutely certain that my friends in Age of Daze and the lovely Miss Maggie B will never treat their fans in such a manner, no matter what level of stardom they achieve.
It's not in their nature.

A smart artist (or anyone for that matter) knows that even though fans may tick you off at some point the fact is that the fans put you there.
And the fans can take you down just as easily.

Why do you think that Rush has had such a loyal solid fan base for so many years?
The big reason is that they are outstanding musicians.
The other is that Rush loves their fans.
And we love them right back.

This last one is my favourite story.
About 20 years ago my mother called me to tell me that a movie was being filmed in her little town Beeton and I should check it out.
It was a made-for-TV movie starring Harry Morgan and Walter Matthau.

I took off up to Beeton that afternoon to see.
Mom and I searched around the town for signs of filming and learned that the cast and crew had gone to the Beeton arena for lunch.

We went there and headed upstairs to the large dining area.
There were people all over the place sitting at many tables.

Over at one table sat Walter Matthau all by himself eating his lunch.
I thought "Perfect! I'll head over and just say hello. He won't mind a quick autograph."

As I started to walk over a geek who felt very important stepped in front of mom and I and said "No, no. You can't disturb Mr. Matthau while he's eating!"
Fine, we would wait.

Mom and I stood off to the side for almost 10 minutes as Walter sat and ate by himself.
I finally told mom "enough of this, I'm going over!"

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Walter Matthau and what his style was.
He was the ideal grumpy old man. He looked and played the part perfectly and it made him a superstar.
He was the slob Oscar in "The Odd Couple", he was a drunk grumpy baseball coach in "The Bad News Bears" (The original, not that crap that Billy Bob Thornton did).
He was one of the "Grumpy Old Men" with Jack Lemmon and Burgess Meredith.
The most fitting was as Mr. Wilson in "Dennis The Menace".
Mr. Wilson spends the whole movie putting up with the torment of Dennis, the neighbour's boy and thinking of ways to exact revenge on the kid.
Walter was fabulous in this. It's one of my favourite roles of his.

Back to the story.
I walked over to Walter as he was eating and he looked up at me.
I asked if it was okay if my mother and I just had a quick photo with him and an autograph and we would be on our way.

How do you think he responded?
Grumpy old man?
No way!

He said "Of course! Come on and sit down! I would be delighted! Please join me!"

I waved over to mom and she sat down beside him and we had one of most pleasant chats I have ever shared with anyone.

I get teary just remembering how nice it was.

I still have the pictures of us with him from that day.
He isn't smiling in them. I bet he was intentionally looked the part for the photo.
But we know better.

It was funny when Mom acted like a mom and asked him about how he was feeling. She had read that he had recently been ill with a virus of some kind.

She was all concerned about him and he told her all about it like she was his mom checking up on him.

I can still picture her look of concern and him describing everything carefully.
We eventually left him and he waved and shook our hands with a big smile of an old friend.
What an amazing man.

It's moments like that which people remember and share as I am right now with you.

Something so simple as sharing a couple of minutes with another warms their hearts forever.

I wonder how many people will never know how different from his roles he really was?
At least you know now.

I should note that in "Dennis The Menace" Mr. Wilson manages to drive Dennis so that he runs away from home.
Then Mr. Wilson sits down and thinks about how awful it is that Dennis is gone and how much he wants the little terror back.
He gets sniffly and teary and sets out to find Dennis and bring him back safely.
THAT is the part of Mr. Wilson that fit Walter Matthau perfectly! He was a nice caring person.

When I learned of Walter's passing years ago I felt so awfully awfully sad.
But I also felt so happy that I had shared a few minutes with him that day in Beeton.


If I had ever had the chance to meet Bea Arthur and tell her that I had a crush on her I think that she would have given me a nice hug and maybe a little peck on the cheek.
I will always believe that she was that type of person who loved us as much as we loved her.

Remember, almost everyone starts out at the same level.
Plus, we are all people after all even if some are more wealthy and famous.

It doesn't take much to make others feel special does it?
Even if you don't like someone just respect them.

You don't have to love or even like everyone but respect is a huge thing.

Stay well,

Tim


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