Small changes with Herald
We have made two configuration changes to the pages of The Herald. Our regular Wine and Dine page which has run every Wednesday for the past several years is now being moved to the Okanagan Saturday beginning this week.
In its place we will have a committed, weekly business page each Wednesday which today is anchored by Susan McIver’s Inside Agriculture column. Please send any local business news to us at the email address listed at the bottom of this column.
Speaking of business, I’m not sure I’m a fan of mobile vending trucks, a popular concept in Calgary that may work its way into Penticton. In fact, I’m not a huge fan of food trucks for the same reasons (although I respect there should be a few and if they ever did away with Jeffer’s Fryzz we would have another riot in town.)
The issue with mobile vendors, the way I see it, is that it’s highly unfair to the businesses that pay property tax, rent/mortgage, obscenely-high utility bills, and many other costs associated with running a business with a store front. If the City wants a nice, vibrant downtown don’t bring in direct competitors that don’t have to play by the same set of rules.
On the issue of cash for access, I’d like to offer a different way of thinking about it. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with B.C. Premier Christy Clark (and to a lesser extent Opposition Leader John Horgan) are being criticized for their cash for access fundraising events. Private citizens and businesspeople are paying big bucks to spend time with prominent elected officials.
But as we’ve just witnessed with Donald Trump, politics has become more about celebrity. For years fans at rock concerts have paid an additional fee for the “meet and greet” which is often a five-second picture with the artist before the concert. Retired athletes charge for autographs at card shows.
For political junkies is meeting Justin Trudeau really any different than a teenage fan paying to meet Justin Bieber or a sports card collector paying for Justin Tuck’s autograph?
Donald Trump’s inauguration party line-up sucks. Little Jackie Evancho from America’s Got Talent — I forgot about her, and the novelty of her being 10-years-old has since passed. I think the ventriloquist who had the puppet dressed like Roy Orbison would have been more entertaining.
Toby Keith will be there. When Toby played at the SOEC, I’ve never seen a concert with so much product placement in my life.
A better idea would have been for Trump to invite everyday Americans — children’s choirs, college marching bands, jazz ensembles and skip the big names because the cool factor comes nowhere near to matching Obama’s.
In my article on Weezer I erroneously neglected to mention the band’s biggest hit Beverly Hills, from their 2005 album Make Believe, which peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100. According to songwriter Rivers Cuomo, he was inspired to write the song, in part, after seeing a photo of the girl group Wilson Phillips. Weezer plays at the South Okanagan Events Centre, April 8.
Dating and relationship advice. Guys, take your woman to see La La Land, they will love you for it. My wife and I caught the front runner for the Academy Awards on opening night and I was surprised how good it was. I highly recommend this film to fans of jazz music (one of the subplots is about the origins and future of jazz) as well as aspiring actors or anyone who has ever had a door slammed in their face.
Let’s go the phone lines now. Pam, from Penticton, wants to recognize Leigh Follestad and SmartShopper for its continued effort to supply groceries in the downtown. “They have just about everything,” Pam told me. Long-time residents of our city will recall the downtown has been without a supermarket since Super Valu vacated.
James Miller is managing editor of The Herald. To contact the writer: editor@pentictonherald.ca.