CA-NA-DA!

Yesterday was the annual "Student's Sensational Singing Showdown."

I got up on stage. Greeted by much hooting & hollering (not sure if they were cheers or jeers), I belted out a version of a perennial Canadian favourite from my youth. Nobody under the age of 40 has ever heard of this tune, but if you were 8 and it was Canada Day during Expo 67 (Canada's Centenary), you were inundated with it. I haven't sung this song since 1967, and some of my lyrics were a little off, but it's not like my audience would notice. (Full disclosure time...I also sang this tune last year, so it was the 2nd time in 40 years.) I was filmed by some of the AV nerds, so I'm going to try to get footage of me up on YouTube!

Meanwhile, get ready for some true Canadian Cheese:



Happy 40th Anniversary to Bobby Gimby's song.

A bonus YouTube for you Hockey Night in Canada Fans. Back at Expo 67, there was a Documentary called A Place to Stand. Ontari-ari-ario was the theme song for it. (It was written by HNinC composer, Delores Claman.)
If you thought Ca-na-da was cheesy, this is Limburger!



Back in our Curtain Call days, Uglahoma spoofed this with these lyrics:
"Give us a place to study
with a dimlit room,
And we will start ...
A baby boom.
Facs girls, Vets and OAC, who really needs the U of G?"

Tale of a Porter.

I first met Mr. A.B. McGregor in Uglahoma and we immediately clicked. Over the next several years, we became quite the comedy team, channelling Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello and Laverne & Shirley. During our innumerable drinking sessions, we could finish each other's jokes (even original ones) and on stage, it became a contest as to who could make the other giggle first.

After My Fair Aggie, Blair became one of the head playwrights composing the next 3 Curtain Calls, with minimal assistance from others. (He couldn't write songs well, but everything else was his.) He'd write it and we'd perform it.

 

The drunken porter a la Foster Brooks. Most of the characters he played were drunks. No typecasting there.

















After we all graduated, he went on to finish his Masters thesis, while working part-time as a Residence Porter. He eventually published "MCGREGOR, BLAIR/COWAN 'Aberdeen and Conservatism: The Scottish Revolution, 1625-1650' - M.A. (1986) Thesis." After acquiring his M. Arts in History, he continued working as a porter and does so to this day. It's sad really, for I'm sure he could have scripted for TV or movies but he became more cantankerous and curmudgeonly as he got older. I popped into see him several years back and his only comment was, "I could never live in Japan, there's too many Japanese there." The next time I was in town, I arranged to meet him but due to inclement weather, had to cancel. He has not responded to any emails since and continues to waste away.


I miss him, (but his racism and misogyny, not so much.)

Golden Shower Anniversary.

50 years ago this week was the very first Curtain Call at the University of Guelph, my old Alma Mater. This year it seems that they're going to be doing a performance of "Urinetown". So if you're in the neighbourhood, go check it out.

So what? You may ask. Well, almost 30 years ago (!), I was in a production of Uglahoma. Uglahoma was surprisingly well written, considering we were tampering with the script just days before opening night. Many moons ago, Guelph was just a little Cow College affiliated with the University of Toronto and this was the story of how we gained our independence and became our own University (sound familiar?) I was just a lowly Chorus person but I had a few memorable scenes, such as the "Star Wars" battle between the Vets and the Engineers or the panty raid on Mac Hall.










I've made note of some of the tunes from the play that I posted back here, though I changed the lyrics a bit to fit into Japan. Over the next little while, I'm going to post the programmes and hopefully some photos of days gone by.



One song I still remember, "Elora", goes to the theme of "Green Acres":

"Elora is the place to be
Farm living is the life for me
Land stretching out so far and wide,
Keep Toronto, just give me that countryside.

Toronto's where I'd rather stay
I get allergic smelling hay
I just adore the Royal York.
Darling, I love you but must you have that fork?

You are my wife {Goodbye Disco life.}
Elora we are there..."

The people I met at this and subsequent Curtain Calls became some of my closest friends. Some of whom I still keep in touch with, others...not so much.

Be sure to click on any pic to enlarge...