The Shirley Years part 9

Thanks Evelyne for the pictures

It took a good deal longer for the new airplane to arrive from Trenton than initially estimated. Soon after we were aboard, I fell asleep and didn’t stir until our final descent into Alert.  It could have been another planet as the bright runway lights revealed nothing but snow and ice on either side.  …

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SORRY FOR THE LULL

Hi everyone. I’ve been really busy lately with overdue productions, rehearsals and the big MASSEY HALL EXTRAVAGANZA.  I’ll get right back to the blog soon.  Thanks always for checking in and remember there are quite a few posts going back to 2016 and you may have missed some of them.  Because I’m a dunderhead, not…

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The Shirley Years part Eight

Coughed Up From The Belly Of The Beast Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut, one of three territories in northern Canada. Prior to 1987, it was called Frobisher Bay. It is situated in the south-eastern section of Baffin Island.This is where our airplane would re-fuel.Even though it is south of the Arctic Circle, it was…

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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…

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The Shirley Years part 7

FINALLY, OUR CHARIOT We board the C-130 and find our places in the “slings” arranged in rows facing laterally across the aircraft. Every spot is an aisle seat, and some (not all) are also window seats. I’m thinking these seats will become more and more in demand as the tour progresses. I manage to get…

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The Shirley Years part six

Breakfast with Shirley In the early spring of 1979, Shirley and I had a meeting with a CBC television producer concerning a show they were planning, a Christmas tour of Canada’s arctic Armed Forces bases.  They were looking to put together a one-hour special with clips from concerts in Alert, Inuvik, and Yellowknife.  We left…

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No Comment

Some readers have brought it to my attention that they are having problems leaving comments. Some say that they aren’t being allowed to leave any and others say the comment section doesn’t even exist. I’ve contacted my IT people about it and they’re at a loss. What would help is to know how widespread the…

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Hi everybody

I haven’t much time to elaborate. I have a full dance card today but I’ll talk more about this soon. This is an example of the remote recording I’ve been doing during the pandemic.  It’s a cross Atlantic production. A German producer, Douglas Graham  sent me a vocal and guitar track of a tune by…

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Lockdown. Almost.

I have a little time on my hands like most people these days. Sometimes to amuse myself, I dig back into my past and view some of my life events like they were movies. It takes little effort as I have a type of episodic memory that can retrieve events in detail, complete with sounds,…

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Off To A Rip-Roaring Stop

Off To A Rip-Roaring Stop We finally got a break from the rigid Canadian travel rules and took the show out to Chicago, Davenport, and Clear Lake, Iowa.  For the record, I’m completely in favour of these careful measures.  As I said in an earlier post, getting into the US is no more of a…

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