40 Years Ago Already!

Please try to make it to the end of this. I’m sorry it’s so long.
This is another of my end of August, end of summer memories, from 40 years ago, August 23, 1980 when I was 17 years old. This is one of my fondest memories of the time.
I mentioned the other day that my cousins had been visiting from England but had to return home when my uncle was killed in an airline tragedy in Saudi Arabia.
We had bought tickets and were very excited to be going to Heatwave Festival at Mosport Park in Bowmanville.

So I ended up going with my friends Mark Downing and Winston Medford.
Heatwave was labelled to be the "Punk Woodstock ", the “New Wave Woodstock", or "The 1980s Big Beat Rock and Roll Party". We headed out the evening prior to the festival to the site and planned to sleep in the car. I had borrowed my mother’s Mustang. When we arrived at the parking area there were thousands of people and cars everywhere.
It soon became clear that there would not be much sleeping going on that night with the huge wild party going on.
We met a couple of guys who had come over from the US and were mainly there to see The Clash play at the festival. Unfortunately, no one had told them that The Clash had some problems at the border and had to back out of the show. They were not happy to hear that.

At the time the price of gas was considerably lower in Canada and the US dollar was doing much better than ours. I asked them if they often zipped across the border for the cheap gas since they lived so close. He said “Man, I would but I can’t go anywhere without at least an ounce of grass on me!”

The parking area was just a huge farmer’s field.
At some point in the night someone decided to set fire to the big barn in the field several hundred metres away. The orange glow lasted for a little while until it burned out. I don’t remember if fire trucks came or not.
I think we did end up sleeping for an hour or so. All we had with us was some warm beer and baloney sandwiches that I had thought to bring along. What a healthy nutritious breakfast.

A couple of weeks prior to the show I was working on a road construction crew in the Queen/Spadina area in Toronto. I spotted the bass player from Teenage Head coming out of a bar just after lunch time. I recognized him because they had played at my high school AY Jackson.
He was a little drunk but gave me an autograph he signed Steve Head. His name is Steve Marshall. Lol.
He told me that they were set to play at Heatwave. I had no information stating this thought perhaps it was the alcohol talking.
I was pleasantly surprised when sure enough, Teenage Head came blasting out to wake up the sleepy folks still trying to get focused after the night before. Their set was great.

When we entered the concert area the security had set up huge dumpsters for people that hoped to bring in bottles or other undesirable things. They were filled to the brim.
I remember one guy with a large watermelon in a plastic bag. It looked innocent enough to me. The security guy pulled the watermelon out of the bag, jiggled the top of the watermelon and opened it to take a large bottle of booze out. They had hollowed it out to try and hide the bottle. It was brilliant but didn’t work.
We were smart enough to leave things back at the car.

Now, I don’t personally remember all of the sets these bands did but Wikipedia is kind enough to refresh my memory. Thanks very much Wikipedia! Look at this lineup!
Don’t get me wrong. I always have and always will love RUSH as the greatest band in the world.
However, when the B-52s call themselves “The World’s Greatest Party Band” there is a reason for it and when I was 17, I wanted to be a part of it. I was a huge fan of almost every one of these acts.
In some cases this was the last time I would see some of them play live.
There are many people in this list who are no longer with us.
Who would have known that on this day the Talking Heads had Adrian Belew playing with them who would go on to join another of my favourite bands of all time King Crimson!

I took this information from Wikipedia.

The groups that played were:

• Vladymir Rogov (opening artist) with his band ARKITEX
• Teenage Head
• BB Gabor
• Holly and the Italians
• Rockpile featuring Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe
• The Rumour without Graham Parker (just after he had gone solo)
• The B-52's
• Talking Heads (at sundown)
• The Pretenders
• Elvis Costello and the Attractions
• The Kings

Teenage Head set list

The reviewer saw "two scraggly guys playing guitar and bass, and a crop-haired singer in long-tailed livery coat and eyeliner. ... good ol' head-banging ramalama punk rock. A large and vocal following cheers them on, and they play with confidence, as if they belong up front of all those people." A year or so later, Teenage Head's live album had a picture from their Heatwave set on the cover. Their set included "Wild One" (from the Frantic City album).

1. Top Down
2. Wild One
3. Picture My Face
4. Some Kinda Fun
5. Little Boxes (Alimony)
6. Fist to Face (Everybody's Growin' Old)
7. Let's Shake
8. Lucy Potato
9. Brand New Cadillac
10. You're Tearing Me Apart
11. Somethin' Else
12. Kissin' The Carpet
13. Disgusteen
14. C'mon Everybody

The Pretenders set list

1. Precious
2. The Adultress
3. Kid
4. Space Invader
5. Private Life
6. Brass in Pocket
7. Stop Your Sobbing
8. The Wait
9. Louie Louie
10. Porcelain
11. Tattooed Love Boys
12. Up the Neck
13. Audience
14. Mystery Achievement

The B-52's set list

Performing the strongest material from their first album and debuting much of the Wild Planet material before the largest live audience they had experienced up to this point.

1. Planet Claire
2. 6060-842
3. Devil In My Car
4. 52 Girls
5. Quiche Lorraine
6. Dirty Back Road
7. Lava
8. Give Me Back My Man
9. Strobe Light
10. Private Idaho
11. Runnin' Around
12. Rock Lobster
13. Dance This Mess Around
14. Party Out of Bounds

Talking Heads set list

The band that toured for the Remain in Light album, including Adrian Belew, performed for the first time at Heatwave as the sun was setting. Their segment began with the four original members and then as the songs progressed, they added musicians and vocalists, including Nona Hendryx (vocals), Busta Jones, Steve Scales, Dolette McDonald, and Bernie Worrell (keyboards).

1. Take Me to the River
2. Psycho Killer
3. Warning Sign
4. Stay Hungry
5. Cities
6. I Zimbra
7. Once in a Lifetime
8. Houses in Motion
9. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
10. Crosseyed and Painless
11. Life During Wartime

Elvis Costello set list

The Heatwave festival was the only 1980 live concert in North America by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

1. Shot With His Own Gun (sometimes listed as "How does it Feel"), accompanied only by Steve on piano *
2. Accidents Will Happen
3. The Beat
4. Temptation
5. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding
6. Mystery Dance
7. Green Shirt
8. You'll Never Be a Man
9. (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea
10. Secondary Modern
11. Pump It Up
12. Lover's Walk
13. Less Than Zero
14. Big Tears
15. High Fidelity *
16. Lipstick Vogue *
17. Radio Radio
18. I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
19. Alison
20. Clubland
21. Oliver's Army
22. Watching the Detectives
23. You Belong to Me *

The Kings

Their set started about midnight, and they played for an hour.

1. Borrowing Time
2. Don't Let Me Know
3. Run Shoes Running
4. My Habit
5. This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide
6. Partyitis
7. California Girls
8. One Day Off
9. Go Away

From what I remember the acts that I was most looking forward to seeing live for the first time were the B-52s, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and Rockpile.
I liked the other bands of course but I had already seen some of them.
I recall that the B-52s and Talking Heads were the best acts of the day and did not disappoint.

Teenage Head did pretty dang well playing for thousands when they were mainly playing high schools and bars at the time.

When the show finally ended we dragged ourselves back to the car and made our way out. I’m sure it must have taken a while to get out but I really don’t recall.

I DO recall though that I tried to drive home but was so dang tired I had to pull over and let Mark drive. He was in better shape than I was.

This has always been one of the fondest memories of this period in my life.


**Of highly particular note, this day would be the last time that I would drink alcohol or consume/smoke any substances such as weed, hash etc.

40 years ago.

True story.

Check these fantastic links. Great videos here.

New Music coverage of the festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCOuaHEGXYc

Talking Heads - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL228SiyUTw

https://www.festivival.com/history/heatwave-festival-1980

B-52's! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=194&v=3o7MZWs-fT0&feature=emb_logo

Take care, Tim

Teammates For Life

I wrote a post on Facebook the other day about the loss of Cameron.

Cameron was a pleasant young man who was a friend and teammate of our son Braydon.
We will likely never know the reason why but Cam took his own life about a week and a half ago.

Every year we have a day called Bell Let's Talk day where Canadians take to social media en masse and deluge the internet with messages telling anyone and everyone who may be experiencing difficulties to TALK TO US. We want to help! Not just for one day but every day, any time.
Are we winning? I would like to believe so but I'm not certain.
But we must keep trying to reach them. These must stop. The loss of one troubled soul is too many. We must keep trying.

Here is my Facebook post;

There are a few things that we all experience in life that we really don’t want to but we have to. We have no control over.
We especially hope that our kids won’t have to deal with them. A parent would try to move heaven and earth to protect our kids from experiencing this pain.

But they will, and they do.

Today, Braydon and his teammates will be saying goodbye to their friend and teammate Cameron. A young man who left us far too soon.
They’ll go through this as they have been since the day it happened. Together.

I hesitate to use the word “positive” anywhere near this tragedy but one positive thing from Cam’s passing is that these young men have discovered that they have far more in common than just their love of baseball.

Their love of humanity.

This day is going to be very hard on them. Of this I am certain.
But, when we reach the other side of this these young men will be stronger, wiser, and more sensitive to the feelings of others.
When they need us, we are there for them.
When someone in pain needs them, they will be there to do what they can to help.
No matter how much we plead for someone to please talk to us these things happen.
We must still try to do everything possible to stop them.

One day at a time.

Let’s get through today...

Oh Toy Story, Here We Go Again...

Hello there. I realize that it's been a while since I've composed a decent blog entry here. I guess it's not for lack of content. Heck, life has been very busy for quite a while now. I can't say exactly what has kept me from here. I think it could have something to do with too much content and being overwhelmed with how to properly compile it to make it readable by others.

At one time I was posting everything from the boy's sports news to what was going on in their education. One thing I do want to mention is that a couple of years ago, Braydon had "retired" from baseball when he completed his final season with the Fredericton AA Midget Royals.
As far as we were concerned he had completed his last season of organized ball. (This was the same season that both guys finished up hockey so you can imagine how rotten Cheryl and I felt.)
I've mentioned before that the Fredericton Senior Royals are the best show in town in these parts. The game is top notch ball and we've always enjoyed attending the games. The next best ball in town (in my humble opinion) are the Fredericton Junior Royals.
We had not gone out to see them very much over the years. Perhaps two or three times.
Last year a whole bunch of guys that used to play with Tyler and Braydon joined the Junior Royals and looked like they were having a great time. Braydon started to feel the pangs of missing playing ball so this season he went out and joined the team.
One thing about players this age is that most of them have jobs and school so the coaches don't expect the guys to be at every game. So far B has played 3 or 4 games. Their record isn't great but the guys all get along very well and have a great time. That's what counts.
Needless to say, Cheryl and I get out whenever we can to the games. I'm the team pitch counter and she sells 50/50 draw tickets when we are at home games. We love it. :)
They play games all over New Brunswick and even in Prince Edward Island so we go when we can.

So, the main reason for this post...

If you've been around my blog for a while you will recall this post from 9 years ago. I'm sorry that I don't know how to get the link clickable but if you copy and paste this you can read it. http://tim4nm.blogspot.com/2010/06/no-toy-gets-left-behind.html

You know that Pixar and Toy Story hold a very special place in my heart with my sister Hayley, my mother, my wife Cheryl and of course my sons.
After posting that post in 2010 we did go to the theatre as a family to see Toy Story 3.
Wow, was it emotional. I still tear up just thinking about it.
Toy Story 3 was the perfect and very emotional conclusion of the perfect movie adventure story.
In our minds Woody, Buzz and the gang had come full circle in our hearts. As much as we would love to see them again we were resigned to the fact that the story was done and the book was closed. We were okay with that. Pixar had carried us along and gently placed us somewhat tearfully at the end.

Or so we thought.
Toy Story 4 opens tomorrow. On my birthday.
Seriously.
So Cheryl, Tyler, Braydon and I are heading off to the movies again this weekend. One of the big differences from year's past is that both of the guys have jobs so we couldn't arrange to go tomorrow on my birthday.
That would have been pretty cool but it will probably be packed to the rafters anyway so it's just as well.
I have heard that this one is the most emotional of them all. That's hard to imagine after the last one. One thing that I know is that I will most certainly be a weepy mess.
I heard that Tom Hanks became so emotional when doing his lines that he had to turn around and not face anyone while he did them.

Okay Tom, thank-you for the warning

Bring it on Toy Story. I can take it. You've done it to me for almost 25 years now. What's one more time? :)

Stay well,
Tim

Don't Give Up, Especially On Old Friends

My good friend Dave Savage and I first met almost 15 years ago when I was busy with my efforts to save the York Street Station with Steve Boyko and the Fredericton Friends of the Railway. Dave called me from Ontario one day to talk about the station but we talked about everything from rails to politics to family.
We quickly became good friends.
I always loved it when we spoke and would always be at least an hour chatting.

I remember on one of my solo trips to Ontario I stopped in to see him and we drove all over the map to see Dave’s Grand Railway History tour.
My god, the knowledge he had. If you ask him anything about any area he had the history in his head. It was marvellous to behold.

You see, Dave used to look after a little publication called the Canadian Railway Station News. That’s why he initially called me in the first place. Railway stations had always been his passion. He had actually published a couple of books and picked my brain for details of New Brunswick stations. Of course I was only happy to help my friend in any way that I could.

Several years ago the York Street Station was saved and became an NB Liquor store. It was restored and looks beautiful today. I am proud to say that the efforts of the Fredericton Friends of the Railway and our friends and members were successful.

Over the years I switched careers and moved homes but that should not have affected Dave and I.

Yet we lost contact.

The phone number and information I had for him didn’t work any more. I tried sending a letter but never received a reply.
I was a member of numerous Railway Yahoo groups and tried reaching out to the other members if anyone had any information about him. Someone must know something. I had no luck at all. I feared for the worst.
Once in a while I would think of my friend and try another Google search for anything about him. To no avail.

Until about 6 months ago.

A Google search came up with a little paragraph in a little newsletter with his name. He had spoken to some people at a gathering about some local railway history in Cobourg, Ontario.
I sent an email to a contact in the newsletter.
She replied to me and copied another gentleman who knows Dave. He took my information and told me he would tell Dave that I had been in touch.

This gentleman gave me a brief update and I’m afraid that the story of Dave since we had last spoken was not a happy one.

Several years ago he suffered a stroke which confined him to a wheelchair. He had been living with his girlfriend in a house but she had decided that caring for Dave was not something she was up to doing. So she left.

As a result of his stroke his kidneys failed and he requires dialysis three times a week.
Dave entered a nursing home. All of his possessions from his house were placed into a storage locker where they remain to this day.
He lost my contact information among many other things. That explained why I had not heard from him.

A short while later I received a call from him. He had received my message.
It was just like old times. It was so nice to talk to my old friend again.
He sounded pretty good. Considering all that he has been through.

Our family decided to visit Ontario last week to visit family and some friends.
I was determined that I was going to visit Dave and see him for the first time in more than 10 years.
I dropped Cheryl and the boys off at her mother’s place and headed out to Cobourg.

When I arrived at the nursing home the residents were having lunch. I asked one of the nurses where Dave was and she pointed him out. His back was to me.

When he saw me his face lit up. We were so happy to see each other and we gave each other a big hug.
Dave didn’t look quite how he did 10 years ago but he was a sight for sore eyes.
Recently, Dave has developed a hearing problem and requires a device to help him. Between that and my deafness our conversation was not the easiest but we didn’t mind.

After lunch I took him in his wheelchair and we went for a pretty long walk.
Dave knew absolutely everyone we came across and said hello to all.
We went into his credit union so that he could do some banking. Every lady in the place knew him. I took him to the counter.
He didn’t need a bank card or bank book or anything. They know who he is and exactly what he needed. It was amazing.
The photo above was taken by one of the ladies at his credit union.

When we got back to the nursing home he asked me to do a favour and go to the storage unit office where his possessions are and pay his monthly charge.
I told the young lady that it was for Dave and she was disappointed that he had not come with me.
She told me how much she enjoys when he drops in.

She said that in the summer Dave will get dropped off and she wheels him back to his storage space where she will take out the same 2 boxes every time.
She takes him over to the rear of the property beside the train tracks where he watches the trains go by for a couple of hours while he goes through his boxes of memories.

When she told me this I visibly teared up and still do as I write this.

I wish that I lived closer to him so that I could sit with him and watch those trains.

When I returned to the home to give him his receipt I could see that he was looking tired.
It was time for me to get back to Cheryl and the boys.

I gave Dave a big hug and could see that he was sad that the visit was ending.
I promised him that every time I visit Ontario I will visit him.

Without fail.

I’m looking forward to the next time I will see my friend.

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

It Will Be Okay

Quite often I’m amazed when I look around and see how amazing most of us have done in raising incredible kids that are going to win this world.
When I think about some of the stupid stuff we got into in the day I have a very hard time getting upset when something goes amiss with my guys.
I’m not only proud of my kids and Cheryl and I, but I’m proud of all of you.
Sure there are the occasion setbacks here and there but overall, we’ve done pretty well.

My Dad

It's not easy being as awesome and groovy as I am. It takes years of special training and guidance with a highly skilled trainer who has had a lifetime of being awesome himself.

That would be my dad.

I don't often mention special occasions and holidays here but felt that a huge Happy Father's Day to my dad was in order.

Thanks for everything Dad. Thanks for all of the amazing times and wonderful memories that I have locked in my mind for the rest of my days. Thanks for always being there when I needed something. Thanks for being the best sports coach anyone could ever have. Thanks for having the tolerance to go with my friends and I for a week every summer into the wilds of northern Ontario for a scout camp/week long party. Thanks for the coolest family road trips of places that most of the details are now lost, but the awesomeness of the moments are still fresh. Thanks for putting up with me when I wasn't making the best educational or career choices for myself that I should have, but had faith that I would bounce back and land on the right path. Eventually. Thanks for being so great that my sons recognize it in you too.
Most of all. Thanks for teaching me that being a good father isn't easy, but it's necessary. It doesn't pay well at the time, but the payoff in the end is priceless.

You've taught me that in order to build a massive clear bright future for our entire species, we have to take these little blocks that are right in front of us, plant them in the right place and hope that they take root as long as we nourish them properly.

I'm confident that most of what Hayley and I became in our adult lives is a credit to the way you raised us.

I say this with confidence because of what I see in my own sons. Cheryl and I have happily worked hard and continue to do so. We are very proud of the results.
Without the guidance of our parents we likely would not have been as prepared as we were.
Happy Father's Day dad. I love you. Thanks for everything. xo