Growing up in the shadow of Hamilton, CHCH TV was our big-city television station. It was like SCTV before there was an SCTV. In the Hamilton era of my broadcasting career, I was fortunate enough to appear on CH and do voice-overs for promos and commercials. …
Every time I read another declaration from a US Republican about refugees, I feel the need to balance it out by making a charitable donation or suppressing a bit of gossip – something that’s an effort toward doing good for my fellow humans. …
“Well, you had me several years ago, when I was still quite naïve.” Those words, and the other lyrics in Carly Simon’s classic, You’re So Vain. have been the subject of so much speculation over the years. Now we know the identity of one of the mystery men with a bloated ego she skewers in her song. …
We had some good times on the Free-FM morning show, The Big Show with Botten, Blair and Brandt. It only lasted a couple of years, but we worked our tails off and had big fun. …
Throwback Thursday – Days of Free Read More »
I’ve never been a big sports nut. I’ll jump on a bandwagon or absorb the important aspects of a sport my spouse is into but given my druthers, I’d watch a movie instead. …
Throwback Thursday Read More »
“Always remember, and please never forget…” With those words, Duane Schneider on the sitcom One Day at a Time would leave the room with some parting wisdom. …
Throwback Thursday – One Day at a Time Read More »
Fake, fake, fake, fake, fake! I hate it when my BS detector lets me down. The photo of Cindy Crawford, supposedly unretouched and showing her with a crinkled and age-appropriate belly, is a fake. The woman herself finally spoke out about it a little while ago, and somehow, I missed it. Maybe you did too. …
As a rock radio-obsessed teen, I must have spent hundreds of hours analyzing song lyrics. Back then, what we now call classic rock was new music, and my friends and I would pore over the album liner notes for everything from Aerosmith’s Dream On to Come Sail Away by Styx to Supertramp’s Even in the Quietest Moments. Those songs had more depth and meaning to us than the required reading that teachers assigned us in English lit. …
Freddie’s Message Read More »
Oh, Mike Holmes. Now he’s a mainstay on the television landscape but during my time on 680 News he was an up-and-coming phenomenon. …
Throwback Thursday: Making It Right Read More »
When I edit bits of audio, from the Prime Minister to a person on the street, I wonder how often a listener considers what’s left out of a sound-bite. As a journalist, they are supposed to be able to trust me to keep things in context, and I do. Unlike the major political parties who isolate three words of a sentence and claim it’s their opponent’s point of view. But I digress. …
Derek got me the entire WKRP in Cincinnati DVD collection for my birthday and we’ve been watching a couple of episodes at a time, when we can. …
Baby, if you’ve ever wondered… Read More »
In my formative years, Styx was huge. So were Aerosmith, Boston, Supertramp and all of those bands that now form the backbone of the classic rock music genre. …
Throwback Thursday – Tommy Read More »
When I worked at MIX 999 it wasn’t unusual to run into a celebrity you didn’t even know was in the building. Movie-star magnet Brian Linehan was working at CFRB down the hall so you might bump into Lauren Bacall in the coffee room or pass Michael J. Fox on his way to the men’s room. Loads of rock stars came in for interviews with those of us at the MIX, mainly Maureen Holloway, who hosted an evening interview show. …
Throwback Thursday – I Guess I Met Joan Jett Read More »
Stephen King’s On Writing is one of the best how-to books I’ve ever read. It came out 15 years ago but I still haul it out every few years and give it another skim. Like his work or not, he’s one of the most successful people who ever put fingertips to keyboard. It’s worth knowing what he has to say about the craft. …
Contradicting the King Read More »
This weekend marks 20 years since OJ Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. And new polling shows more people than ever believe he did it. …
Injustice, Twenty Years On Read More »
Some superstars are divas. They carry themselves in a way that says, I’m better than you. Some are down-to-earth, humble and warm. That’s how I’d describe Michael Burgess. …
Throwback Thursday – Michael Burgess Read More »
When I was a kid, it was the height of cool to drop by a record store and pick up the CKOC street sheet to see that week’s top 40 songs. CKOC was Hamilton’s all-hit radio. If you were in Toronto, it was CFTR. Any top 40 radio station worth its 45s was putting out a little top 40 chart every week.
…
Throwback Thursday – All Hit Music Me Read More »
Apparently, Martha Stewart turned pasta on its noodle a couple of years ago but I missed it. Thanks to a food blogger’s recent Twitter post, I’ve learned the recipe and I’m sharing it here in case you missed it too. …