Lovely Lounge Lizards

Last friday was the big launch party at Desert Blume Golf and Country Club for the newest radio station in medicine hat where i have the honour of hosting the midday show during their 9 to 5 no repeat workday. I also have the honour of working with my old ... ok, make that dear friend (because i'm older than he is) jeff michaels who keeps us company on the drive home from 2 to 7 before the john tesh show. And then there's Greg Shannon... what can one say about greg shannon in the morning other than you'll never hit the snooze bar. you might hit your alarm clock with a crow bar - just kidding greg. i am thrilled to be privy to your wit, humour and charm, too bad your good looks are wasted on radio - did i mention he's also the program director and ergo my boss so i better butter him up while i still have a job and hope to remain so.

It's the music you know and love with superstars from the 60's, 70's and 80's (and greg shannon who thinks he's one... dang - i just can't stop myself) Christy Mitchell has your CJCY news from 6 to 11 am and stops in to harass greg on the odd occasion - but it's more like the other way around... and joe mcFarland is our news director and on the air with your local news, sports and weather from noon to 6 pm. You can listen online at http://www.loungeradio.ca and sign up to be a lounge lizard to win great prizes - like our 'love in las vegas beatles getaway'.

week one is in the bag and has had it's ups and downs includng dead air during a power outage just before breaking news was set to go on - it was during a lock down at a local high school. We even has a visit from zack warner of canadian idol fame with medicine hat band haymaker who are playing at ralph's texas bar and steak house this weekend. so it's friday afternoon just before my time to sign off the air so i better sign off here too - i have lots of errands to run before going to see the band and taking in spectrum at some point and time in the next 2 days - have a great weekend and tune in sometime to the all new CJCY 102.1 the Lounge!

manyberries acres

It's always an adventure camping with Ray, and always a rush no matter what. This time it was me in the middle of starting a new job, so pulling long days and not much help in preparations, other than pack my suitcase and guitar in the 5th wheel, everything else was up to ray. after i was done work at 9pm, he picked me up and we were off to cremona...and the manyberries acres there, name aptly for all the wild berries and for the wild man who owns the 80 acres off burnt timber road, who is originally from manyberries. we arrived at 2 in the morning, and parked and hit the hay. the next morning was when we rearranged the trailer and unloaded the quad, dirt bikes and the harley - and then i heard a scream - ray forgot the key and fob to turn off the security alarm for the harley back at the farm in his overalls. I should have taken video instead of a picture since that is ray making harley noised - He was ready to drive the 5 hours back just to get it - but no sense wasting the entire day - good thing his daughter was running out to the farm to pick up the cheque for her new motorcycle - so she was willing to jump on her boyfriend's bike and meet ray half way with the key. after a quick ride to the cremona hotel and back, we settled for the night by the fire and the karaoke machine - or 'oakie doakie' as we call it out there.

I've always said things are bigger in alberta, and the bierbachs have double of everything. they built a bigger cook shack, with two beds, two gas stoves, two fridges, two picnic tables... everything is either twice as big or two of them. It's also twice as fun camping with them too. This was the first time we ever took our dog Maggie camping and she was awesome. she has to work for a living - she wasn't our waiter - but there was a bit of a wait if she didn't go straight to the out house out back when sent.

the next day we ventured to sundrie on the bike under billowy clouds and blue skies. i took pictures the entire drive there and tried to capture the mountains in the horizon - we headed north up the highway and then hung a left - and the signs directed us in the right direction - either that or called us names - oh well, i thought it was funny.

my first car

you might wonder what my first car has to do with our motorcycle ride to moose jaw, but i will explain in a minute. it was a matter of choosing to turn left or right at the end of the road, so we turned right and started off with a plan of going to walsh for dinner at the trailside restaurant and then maybe spend the night at the elkwater lodge, but the trailside restaurant was closed (now only open monday to friday) so i said, how about lets go to moose jaw! Roz Church (my ex weekend news gal and now CHAT TV promotions director) was there visiting dustin dion (ex my96er, now morning guy on Moose Jaw's Country 100... our little guy is a big kid now!) so we said what the heck. it is so wonderful on the bike, i feel so close to nature. i could hear the trill of the meadowlark, see the huge red ball of fire setting in the prairie sky, smell of cool dew on freshly turned soil that reminded me of digging for worms in the garden as a kid, and jack frost nipping at your n-n-nose and t-t-toes because after the sun sets, it gets cold on a bike very fast and my chaps won't be in until friday. forget bad to the bone.. more like cold to the bone. we stopped in swift current to find a jacuzzi suite we could warm up in and gave my buddy darwin gooding (ex CJSW morning man etc) a quick call to see if he could come out to the big eye for a round, but his daughter was being baptized the next day so ray and i danced to the live band until the wee hours of the morning.

no need to set alarms for the next morning since my internal body clock is set for the crack of 10, enough time to be checked out by 11 and on our way to the jaw. dustin gave us a quick tour of his newly renovated 1912 home and then we followed him out to a farm with tons of old cars for jason blaine's video shoot! how cool was that. we met jason as they were breaking for lunch, his wife amy was there and his little brother matt (drummer) kept us entertained til the shoot began. we were going to get a picture taken with jason sitting on one of the old rusty cars but he warned us against going into the long grass, it was tick season and they had spent the last two days picking them off themselves... brad paisley's song tick was definitely going thru our heads til jasons new song (which we just added to CHAT today) began playing. can't wait to see the final product when 'My First Car' debuts on CMT and we were even asked about our first cars on camera.. and asked if we would mind if it ended up on CMT in a promo for the song - HECK NO!!!

but then we had to head back home and let them get back to work so we drove past my old place (414 Fairford Ave W) and took a picture for old time sake. ray couldn't believe how small it was, but that was back in 82 when my son was just born. we moved to dartmouth nova scotia 6 months later, but that was our first real house we lived in, but i digress, back to the bike trip, we were planning to head all the way home, but once again, it got cold, and started to rain, and me with no chaps, we decided to stay in swift current again, and aaron pritchett was playing at the pavillion, so we went to the concert, (thank you carmen) bought his last cd (new one is coming out in november) and a shirt and back to the hotel until, yes, 10 am the next day, and headed home. this tim we were able to have lunch at the trailside (missed jeff and carol though, next time we hope to be able to visit) and admired all the ranch brands on the wall (especially dimented acres golf and country club) and then headed home, only to jump in the shower, repack, and jump in the caddy to go to the aaron pritchett concert in lethbridge! lol. we picked up Roz at the end (or would it be beginning) of the etzikom highway and were chauffeured by a hot cowboy to another hotel room and met up with roz's cousin from calgary and my friend andrea from edmonton (ex power92er and now adtel extrordinaire) and then to suede for the concert. Lethbridge's own brianne urban opened the show and WOW! that young girls voice just blew me away. i hope she has another single coming out soon, she made it to #80 with her first one. we had a blast at the concert but ray and i were so tired after so many late nights, we hit the hay early and missed out on hanging with aaron at Boston Pizza (yes, AP goes to BP when he is on tour) and then even to denny's at 4 am.

but it was up and at'em at 10 am, some burger king to get us fed and then drive back to the etzikon to pick up the vehicled, drive to the hat and head to work. so it's been a whirlwind weekend and lots of good memories with ray, roz, dustin, jason and aaron and i haven't been in my own bed for 4 nights and can't wait to crash when i am done my show at midnight. as long as i don't crash ray's caddy on the drive home!

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