COAST TO COAST WITH SOOK YIN LEE AND “DEFINITELY NOT THE OPERA”
As I’m writing this week’s Sunday Update (I do it on Saturday afternoon) I have my fingers on the keyboard and my ears on the radio in the kitchen. I’m listening to “Definitely Not the Opera” on CBC Radio. The show’s host is Sook Yin Lee, and this week’s topic “The Human Voice”. I was approached to be interviewed for the show several weeks ago and readily agreed, as the show is very popular and is carried right across Canada on every CBC station every week.
Joff Schmidt, the associate producer of the show, had arranged studio time for me in downtown London for 10A.M. this Monday morning. Sook Yin actually interviewed me from Toronto over the phone. The interview pieces you hear from me are edited from a longer interview. Sook Yin is an interesting interviewer who brings out the best in her subjects and her shows have a real “up” feel. We hope everyone checked it out. For more go to www.cbc.ca/dnto.
Front & Side of House 1993
Lynda and I bought “Planet Helix” in 1992. Back then it was just “52 Terrence St.”, a very ordinary, boxy, 1 story house in the east end of London, Ontario. Over the years it became my passion to renovate the house from top to bottom with Victorian architectural antiques from the Southern Ontario region. Along the way built an extension with a vaulted ceiling on the back of the house, a foyer with a wine cellar at the front of the house, upgraded the joists & rafters in the attic and turned it into a loft with a large dormer, and completely re-arranged and renovated the basement into a Helix memorabilia room, a guest room, and an entertainment room. We’ve had visitors from all over the world stay with us, and two years ago a crew from MTV came to film the house for the show “CRIBS”. To the left are some pictures of the house in the early 90’s...
BRITISH COLUMBIA NEXT WEEK
On Thursday we’ll be flying out of Toronto for Vancouver, landing around 9A.M. From there we’ll be grabbing a van and car and traveling to Kelowna, where we play that night at Flashbacks. Our next two dates (in Hope and Port Conquitlam) are with Trooper. Scott Montgomery, aka “The Otter” is hooking up with us in Vancouver, and on the Sunday we’ll be heading over to Vancouver Island via the ferry for a couple days of R&R in Victoria at The Otter’s. Hope to see all our B.C. fans out at the gigs.
RUDY BLAIR COMES FOR VISIT
As reported previously, I was coaching Rudy Blair of 680 News in Toronto for the “media portion” of Canadian idol. Rudy would travel from Toronto to London and I would talk to him about voice projection, what song we were going to audition with, etc. In the end we realized we might be fighting a losing battle when it came to Rudy singing on-key, so we decided to change the words of the Doobie Brother’s song he was singing (Listen to the Music) to Killing the Music. Unfortunately Rudy had to sing his song while I was out west on tour. Anyway, he went on wearing a Helix hat and backed by the Toronto Argonaut cheerleaders and ended up winning $1,000 for charity. Being his voice coach, my name went out on every CTV news release across Canada. To celebrate Rudy is coming down to Planet Helix to visit tonite. Robin Hawkins (Ronnie’s son) is playing just a couple of blocks away, so he’s coming over for a little visit as well. I met Robin a couple of weeks ago when Ken Tizzard, Robin, & I were judges of a singing contest held at a resort up in Burleigh Falls. Gord Prior is also dropping in, as are a few other close friends. Should be fun.
www.680news.com/features/MediaIdol/
LETTERS
Brian,
It was nice to see you tour Saskatchewan for a few dates. I was hoping for a stop in good ol' Regina, are there plans in the not too distant future for a stop in our lovely town. Keep on rockin, You’re never too old.
JASON MASHALL
Dear Jason,
In the next few years I would think that there will be more & more dates for us in Saskatchewan. With all the province’s oil and potash deposits, look for a lot of money being made in that area. Money usually translates into more entertainment venues-casinos, clubs, etc., and that means more work for us. Perhaps the next time out we’ll hit Regina, Medicine Hat, and North Batteford. You just never know…!
Brian
Back of House 1993
Side of House 1995
Malcolm Installing Weather Vein
Brian & Rudy Blair
