yukonradiodave

[yukonradiodave]

So Long Bruce

Well, the Yukon is a sadder place today, a bit more empty. If you know Bruce Bergman, then you probably know by now that he died on Friday night. And if you didn't know Bruce, you're probably realizing you missed out. Bruce was surrounded by family and friends at a hospital in Vancouver when he died on Friday. He was unconscious, but people were playing music for him on his headphones. Because that's really what Bruce was all about -- music. Actually, no, that's not true. Because as great as he was as a musician -- and he was a terrific musician -- he was an even better person. Bruce came to the territory in the 1970s, and his brothers joined him off and on, over the years. Trying to put together a Bergman musical tree would be a truly immense task, but let's put it this way: if you went to a music festival or a gig or a campground in the Yukon in the eighties and nineties, there was probably a Bergman playing something somewhere. Bootjack, Goin' South, King Frog, and of course many shows with his wife Deb.......Bruce played all over the territory. He was also a huge part of the Yukon music scene off stage as well. He was trained as an electrician, and worked as a sound engineer. He worked on the tech crews of pretty much every music festival in the territory, but he had a special fondness for the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival. That was kind of his thing.

I really got to know Bruce on the road between Whitehorse and Dawson City. Back in the day CBC used to record acts at the Dawson City Music Festival for various network programs, and our local shows as well. Then we started doing the kick off concert. The Friday of festival weekend, we would do the show live from Dawson, featuring some of the acts from the festival that weekend. Bruce and I would drive up a day or two before. We'd grab a stack of CDs from the record library here at CBC, but I doubt we listened to more than one or two of them, because Bruce liked to tell stories. So I got lessons in Yukon musical history on those drives, I learned what it was like to drive to Dodge in the middle of winter in dicey vehicles to play a weekend of shows at the Pit. And I loved every one of those stories, I only wish I had written some of them down. Once we got to Dawson, there was always some wrinkle, some kind of challenge. The power wasn't on at the gazebo, or poor weather would force us to make a last minute move to the KIAC ballroom or the Palace Grand. We'd pack up the gear and roll to another spot, or try to figure out why something wasn't working, and at the last minute Bruce would get it sorted. It's working he would say, for now. One time we moved the show to the KIAC ballroom and Bruce had to do some weird wiring thing that involved the stove in the little kitchen, then the comrex, the device we were using to send the signal back to Whitehorse, didn't work. With a room full of people, and a stage full of musicians, the thing finally came together about a minute before we were on the air. Bruce accepted every challenge head on, with a smile and good humour, and he figured every mishap would lead to another good story for another road trip. He had more than his share of health challenges over the past few years, and met those challenges in the same way. In the end, I guess, he ran out of time. A loss for all of us. I spent most of the day trying to find some friends to come on and talk about Bruce, but it's too soon. I talked to more than a dozen people, but they're just not ready. I completely understand that. And thankfully, we have Bruce's music, so we're going to play some on the show today. That's probably how he would want it. Bruce wasn't one for the interviews, but he could sit around a campfire or kitchen and play all night. Which is what I hope he gets to do now.

[yukonradiodave]

Old Cabin, Soda Pony and Colin Close came by to share some songs during our Culture Days open house on September 29. And Oscar Karais came by to read the weather forecast. Check it out.

[yukonradiodave]

Amazing talent in this little town. Madi Dixon and Sara Ott joined me to talk about their upcoming show on Canada Day, and to share a nice tune.

[yukonradiodave]

Indie 88 is, I am given to believe, a hip radio station in Toronto. And they’re asking people to vote on the top 150 Canadian songs of all time.

There are plenty of classics in there, but an online poll like this is definitely going to skew young, and hip, as in Tragically Hip.

But if you really want to talk about a songs or a hand that should be honoured, you should think of April Wine.

April Wine weren’t breaking a lot of new ground when they hit their stride in the mid-seventies and eighties. They played good, solid hard rock, sold some records, got some airplay

The thing that April Wine did perhaps better than anyone else was tour this country, all of this country, A cross-Canada tour for April Wine didn’t start in Montreal and end in Vancouver, with stops in only the major hockey rinks. April Wine played just about every small city in this country, places like Moncton, New Brunswick, where I grew up.

My first concert was April Wine, on The Nature Of The Beast tour, in the Moncton Coliseum. And if you’re of a certain generation and grew up outside a major urban centre in Canada, chances are your first concert was Myles Goodwin and crowd as well.

So you know the story: the lights go down, the crowd roars, the police lights start up and Jerry Mercer leans into that ride cymbal for all he’s worth and you are off. Lazers, fog machines, three guitar players, overpriced t-shirts to be worn during school photo day to brown off your mom, it was everything. And a lot of years it was the only full rock and roll show we would see.

How many kids were inspired by those nights to pick up a guitar or a pair of drumsticks and start a band? Listening to records or music on the radio, or even videos, has inspired a lot of young kids, but nothing can match lining up, pouring through the doors of the coliseum or the forum or the memorial arena, and seeing people rock out.

Touring is more important than ever, it’s how a lot of musicians, including big ones, make their money. So small cities like Moncton get lots of shows now, but back in the day we waited for a new April Wine album, because that usually meant the radio ad that included the phrase “Donald K. Donald presents.......” was coming, which means in was time for a show.

I doubt April Wine will make Indie 88′s Canada 150 cut, and maybe they shouldn’t, but man, the memories......

[yukonradiodave]

This is simply an amazingly beautiful project.