Nothing like an obscure Medicine Hat connection
The Colin James Blues Trio entertained a packed Esplanade house last Saturday night and one of James’ bandmates, Junoaward winning guitarist Steve Marriner, has a Medicine Hat connection. He told the audience his grandfather was the famous Canadian actor Bruno Gerussi, who was born in Medicine Hat before going on to fame and fortune as Nick Adonidas of the Beachcombers, the TV show which ran for 18 years on CBC.
• At 2 p.m. Monday, CBC News Network had an onscreen graphic saying “Breaking News — Total Solar Eclipse.” Now, considering North Americans have been talking about the solar eclipse for about the past two or three months, it was hardly breaking news that it arrived on schedule. The only breaking news aspect of the solar eclipse would have been that, drat, it didn’t happen after all. ‘Breaking News’ should be ‘Earthquake strikes’ or ‘Bank robbed’, not ‘Total Solar Eclipse.’ That falls more under the ‘Snail Crosses Sidewalk’ headline for ‘breaking news.’
• The upper deck at Co-op Place was required last Friday night as the Medicine Hat Tigers attracted a crowd of more than 5,300 people to see Game 5 of their Western Hockey League playoff series with Red Deer. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Red Deer grabbed a quick 2-0 lead and went on to a 5-2 victory, eliminating coach Willie Desjardins’ charges from further play. The first two games in Medicine Hat drew crowds of 4,400 and 4,100 so it was great to see the largest crowd of the season come out to see if the Tigers could stay alive.
• Canadians eager to watch the men’s world curling championship last week faced difficulty, because game times in Canada were often middleof-the-night events thanks to the time difference between Alberta and Schaffhausen, Switzerland. But thousands of Canadians who got up early, stayed up late, or used their PVR to record the games must have been disappointed to see Brad Gushue come up short again. Niklas Edin of Sweden won his seventh world title, and third against Gushue, who now has one world championship and four silver medals. Has anyone dominated any sport more than Edin’s rink has dominated curling?
• In my world, tomorrow marks the true first day of spring — the opening round of the Masters at Augusta National in Georgia. Three Canadians are in the field and although they’re not among the top contenders, they all have the skills to contend. Nobody in pre-tournament prognostications was picking Mike Weir in 2003 when he won the iconic green jacket in a playoff, so cross your fingers for Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, carrying Canada’s colours this week at golf’s first major of the season.
• My good friend Kate Winquist, who publishes a number of fine community newspapers in Saskatchewan and Alberta, almost got to see her first Major League
Baseball game last week in Minneapolis. A Visual Communications graduate of Medicine Hat College in 1990, Winquist has had printer’s ink flowing through her veins ever since. She now publishes papers in Kindersley, Kerrobert and Oyen.
Last week, she said she was vying for ‘Mother of the Year’ consideration by taking her daughter to Minneapolis for a concert by Fall Out Boy. As a personal perk for Kate, the Winquists (mother and daughter and father Robert) bought tickets to the Twins-Cleveland Guardians ballgame Sunday. Alas, the game was rained out, so Kate still hasn’t seen a live Major League Baseball game. Maybe she can arrange to have MLB Game No. 1 feature the Blue Jays, her favourite club, sometime in the future.
• Short snappers: Deleting apps that are rarely used and getting rid of year-old messages can lengthen the life of your smart phone . ... Ruff news for Labs: The American Kennel Club says the favourite dog breed in the U.S. is the French Bulldog. No. 2 is a former No. 1, the Labrador Retriever . ... It’s official: The world has gone mad. Six inmates at a prison in New York have sued the state because they weren’t allowed to view Monday’s eclipse . ... What was more weird: The moon covering the sun for more than four minutes or Beyonce having the No. 1 album on Billboard’s country chart? ... Astonishing number: One in three Americans has a criminal record. Most are misdemeanours, but still, that number is shocking.