Byrnes pours his soul into Miller baseball ad
SCENE & HEARD: Until Thursday afternoon, legendary Vancouver blues musician and television actor Jim Byrnes had no idea he was about to become a major part of the Toronto Blue Jays playoff telecasts. Byrnes was at home in his West End condo overlooking English Bay when suddenly his booming voice filled the room with a Miller Lite beer commercial between innings of the Jays-Texas Rangers’ American League Divisional Series.
“It was the first time I’d seen it,” Byrnes said Friday. “I got a call from my agent about 10 days ago and went to Koko Productions on 8th Avenue to do the voice-over for TV as well as some radio spots for the eastern market. A couple of hours later I walked out of the studio not having a clue where things would go from there.”
Where things went was monstrous: a masterfully produced national television commercial on Rogers Sportsnet filled with baseball visuals that will run coast-to-coast throughout the Blue Jays telecasts for as long as they survive post-season play.
“My initial reaction was: not bad for an old-age pensioner,” the 67-year-old Byrnes said. “I was pleased with the finished product.”
The three-time Juno Award winner for Blues Album of the Year is on a roll. Byrnes, playing a priest, recently completed four episodes of a new CBC television espionage drama set in Vancouver. It’s titled The Romeo Section and launches Oct. 14 under award-winning director Chris Haddock. Then on Oct. 19, a two-hour weekly Saturday show — The Blues with Mr. Byrnes — debuts on Roundhouse Radio.
For now, his heart is with the Blue Jays. HERE ‘ N’ THERE: Rob Fai spent nine years with the Vancouver Canadians as their play-by-play broadcaster and multi- faceted media liaison before joining UBC’s athletic department this week as senior manager of communications. Along the way, primarily due to hundreds of long and tedious bus trips to outposts throughout the Northwest League, Fai struck up close friendships with many managers, coaches and players.
None closer, it seems, than Canadians field boss John Schneider, who will be married Oct. 15 in Tampa, Fla. And who but Fai will be performing the ceremonies after recently acquiring a licence as an ordained minister.
SHORT HOPS: Canucks fans at tonight’s home opener at Rogers Arena will not have to endure the over-the-top player introductions experienced Wednesday in Calgary. The Flames’ public address announcer, known as Mr. Beesley, made WWE ring announcers sound tranquil with his overly enthusiastic intros to the point they became embarrassing to the players. Al Murdoch, the man in the PA booth for Canucks games, says he might “pump things up a bit,” but to nowhere near the levels of Mr. Beesley.
John Ashbridge, the arena voice of the Canucks for almost 40 years, notes the NHL policy is for announcers to retain some measure of impartiality. “False enthusiasm never works,” says Ashbridge. “I find it degrading.”
END ZONE: It was the late Bob Ackles’ dream to create a B.C. Football Hall of Fame and when the Class of 2015 is inducted before tonight’s Lions game it will mark the fifth anniversary of the project. Carrying on the family tradition, Bob’s wife Kay will be among the dedicated lineup of presenters.