July 2014

Sometimes They Get Caught

The news releases we get from OPP detachments fascinate me. Many times they have no relevance to our audience and the issues they concern are so small, they’re not newsworthy.  But once in a while one comes in that’s so unusual, it bears some sort of mention.  …

Beyond Tragic Circumstances

It was unexpected, as these incidents always are.  London’s southwest Costco, jammed with Friday afternoon shoppers, suddenly ducking and covering from raining shards of glass as a vehicle backs through the front doors.  How it missed the posts that hold the huge panes of glass, how it ended up going backwards into an area full of people, are still under investigation.   …

Rock The Park 11

As I write this, I wonder how I’ll ever talk on the radio this week! My throat is shot, my neck is killing me, my feet are swollen and I’m grinning like an idiot. Rock the Park 11 was a huge success as one of London’s most-beloved annual events and a fundraiser for an important charity founded by two of the most wonderful people I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet.

A Friday Moment of Zen

This is Rock the Park weekend here in London. For those of us on The Big Show on Free-FM it means a five-hour live broadcast from Harris Park followed by band intros, meets and greets and such.  We have appointment with Huey Lewis & the News, Burton Cummings and the band whose big win in our contest got them the right to open the day, Highway Jones.  …

Sucking It Up

When you do voice-overs, you always hope to land a big one. The smaller one-at-a-time jobs are your daily bread and butter but the major campaigns are what everyone hopes to get. I got lucky this year and hooked me a big ‘un in Dirt Devil.  …

Professor Weird Al

The Weird one is back. The man who brought us Eat It to the tune of Michael Jackson’s Beat It, King of Suede to King of Pain by the Police and many, many more parodies has returned. His first release left me a little cold. Tacky is a take on Pharrell’s Happy and the only thing it seemed to have going for it was a bunch of celebrities. Watch it once, and you’re done with it.   …

Brandt’s Randt – Joe Fontana’s Sentence

Our city’s former Mayor is either a terrific actor or a broken man. In my kindest thoughts, I assume the latter, because his life was built around being the big-talking man with a swagger whom everybody wanted to talk to when he entered a room.  Not so much anymore.  On Tuesday he was sentenced to four months’ house arrest and 18 months of probation for doctoring an invoice and taking the money after submitting it to the government as an expense.  So I randt.   …

House Proud – Touchless Technology Enters the Home

The first time I saw a commercial for 1980s invention, The Clapper, I nearly fell off the couch laughing. The device enabled the sharp sound of clapping one’s hands to turn a switch on or off. The clappers in the commercial were used mostly on lamps. Unfortunately, The Clapper could also be triggered by a dog’s bark or a cough but it was an early attempt at hands-free technology.  …