A Special Note

   Those of you following my blog may remember the post I did about a music-comedy revue called Nightlife.  I talked a lot about the leader and frontman, Joe Fergus. 

Joe was an excellent entertainer. He could sing the ballads or the up-tempo numbers with equal ease.

He had many hilarious, off-the-wall comedy characters and used them in his stand-up routines. He carefully scripted his one-man plays but he could, and frequently did, improvise on the spot. 

I worked in his backup band for close to eight months. We spent more than half of that time on the road, and as anyone who’s traveled with a group of people knows, it’s a crowded social situation that can get tense. But it also allows a lot of time to talk. That’s how I got to know and appreciate Joe.

He was a bandleader, no question.

“I don’t like being the boss, but someone has to do it” was something Gord Lightfoot said to me once, but it could just as easily have been Joe.

Unlike many leaders that I worked with over the years though, Joe was fair. 

It’s apt that I mention Mr. Lightfoot here as it was during my stay with Nightlife that I got the job with him. Also, guys like Gord and Joe are rare in every walk of life, not just in the music business. Men of their word.

Joe and I became friends. We had many long talks, both silly and philosophical.

We lost touch for many years, something I thought was a shame, and then he called—late March of this year out of the blue. Over the next few months, we had at least half a dozen phone calls, all longer than forty-five minutes.

As the pandemic restrictions began to loosen, my girlfriend Jeanette and I started thinking about a get-together at my place with Joe and his wife Nadia and some Nightlife alumni.

Early September seemed practical. It was discussed during a phone call in mid August and we left it at that.

Joe Fergus passed away suddenly on August 25.