big anniversary today..28 years in the SOO

Well I’ve been brought to tears several times this past weekend.
First of all, yes I’m a guy…and I do cry..more as I am older too I may add.

Dolly Parton at the Essar Saturday night was all ‘that and more’!
She proved at 70 years young, she still has it.
Performing without a drummer, to her 35 hundred adoring fans.
She did two sets..the first , being 90 minutes…Taking an intermission to basically change outfits and
come back on fire!

She briefed us on why there was no drummer, but there was a space on the set up for the missing rythumn section.
‘Ya see, he wasn’t gonna play along with this deal..so my guitarist went out and purchased a machine for the drums. I figured I’d save 40 grand not having him here!’
God we laughed……!!
Dolly sang her heart out with a chilling rendition of ‘Jolene’ ‘Coat of Many Colours and’I Will always love you’.
She also played piano, guitar, recorder and more….of course they were all ‘bedazzled up!..in Dolly fashion.
In some tunes I swore she was recorded. Her vocals were spectacular.
Most of the crowd was left breathless and grinning with her humour and storytelling.

The second reason for the tears was two different hits to my skull!
Some material was oozing from the head due to slamming into a 5 foot non- padded doorway.
The other was a knock to my neck from a Gazebo pole that caught me off guard, until it was too late.

Congratulations to Dean Brody for taking home three trophies for ‘Bring Down the House’, ironically he did not perform this at the CCMA Awards in London yesterday ( Sunday)

We are so fortunate to host Brett Kissel here in January of 2017 at the KCTC!
He’s a Twitter buddy with me and always responds back to me, which I truly find amazing…especially with Canadian artists.
Brett sang a new tune , for his mom who has battled Cancer with 40 treatments as he relayed to us on tv during his segment. He sang ‘I am not in love with your hair’, a tune specifically for his mom, who won the battle. Brett brought his mom out after the tune with other survivors. He was brought to tears and again, so was I ( reaching for a second box of KLEENEX)
Brett capped off an amazing night with the ‘Fan’s Choice award’ as well as ‘Male Vocalist’ of the year.

And today marks my 28th anniversary performing for you on radio in the Soo!
Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement on Facebook and Twitter today.
Packed up the stuff and headed West to the Soo from Sudbury…mostly by an encouraging word or three from my late friend John Campbell who always drew me pictures of the geography in the Sault.
The plan was a year long stop here and ‘BLINK” Boom! It’s 28 years ago today!
I wouldn’t have it any other way. Roots have been planted very deeply here in the SOO.
And I’m hoping to have many more years of fun with you!

Thanks for listening!