YOU | A Quarter Century Celebration

YOU | All Touqued Up And Ready to Go!

PHOTOS COURTESY SHANNON CONVERY

EDITORIAL | Please Sir I Want More

I confess. There hasn't been very many new posts added to Scribbles lately and there's good reasons for that.

The past few months I have been feeling depressed, which is pretty common, kinda like saying in the past few months I breathed air. Winter is always rough when it comes to depression, as I know many of you are aware, since this season affects you the same way.

There's been many times when my f'n chronic pain has pretty much immobilized me. Again, this is certainly nothing new. It just bugs me at times.

After a 4 month wait, I saw a neurologist in January. She had absolutely no new tricks or treatments for me to try, when it comes to pain management, and I'm thrilled that this specialist no doubt billed the government big bucks for having done basically nothing.

When pain, depression or anxiety are present, there's definitely not a lot of Scribbling going on.

There have been other reasons for the lack of new content and they are happier ones. The holidays and past months were great times to get together with many of you and I have been fortunate enough to attend several live music events with my pal Shelley.

When the weather has been nice my old dog Timmi and I have enjoyed long leisurely walks. So far, we've had another relatively tame winter in St. Catharines and most of Niagara, so these walks have been fairly often.

For good or bad, there's always some reason there's never as many posts being published on Scribbles as I'd like there to be.

You never seem to mind if there's a gap between new posts and I really need to adopt a kinder, gentler attitude towards doing Scribbles posts. When it's meant to happen, it will happen, now I just have to convince myself of that.

Enjoy today's new posts,

Ken

YOU | More Than Just "Another Birthday"

ABOVE; FAMILY GATHER WITH JOAN STORIE ON FEB. 12TH TO CELEBRATE HER 76TH BIRTHDAY

It's an unofficial tradition. Each February I host a birthday party for my mom and every year I try to come up with a unique theme.  We've had a rock n roll theme, Valentines, Grammy Awards, Zebras (my mom collects them),  Hot Potato, Family Feud and much more.

This year, I created a special video called 'Another Birthday' that saluted many of those parties for my mother, as well as past birthdays of other family members and relatives.

Below is the video that debuted at my mom's birthday. If you've been a Scribbles fan for a while, you may recognize some of these parties, as most of them were featured on our website in the past.

[NOTE; This video features previously completed Scribbles Videos. Despite our attempts to fix audio levels, you might need to adjust volume while watching]



The Making of 'Another Birthday' Video

The original premise for this video was to be a collection of past family birthday parties that would highlight the many great themes we've had over the years and show how much we've changed (well, the kids at least...LOL). I would premiere the video at my mom's birthday party.

The video was a hit. I sandwiched it between two short clips. We started with the classic drive-in ad featuring the hot dog jumping into the bun and their dancing refreshment friends  After we watched Another Birthday, there was a 4 minute Minions clip called "Puppy",  It was a well rounded line-up. 

For the version of Another Birthday you see  above, we edited out & sped-up a bit of the family stuff and removed the Minions film and drive-in ads (both of which you can likely find on You Tube) Then we added some friends birthday pix plus the lost Family Feud game footage that was found a week after the video was first completed. 

The footage used throughout the video was from past Scribbles birthday videos and a collection of photos and previously unreleased videos. Some of the video clips used were of grainy quality ("I'm Beautiful" for my sister Kim and "Killer Queen" for my sister Jane were two short clips I created many years ago and saved on a small scale, so when I used that stuff here, it looks grainy. I'd rather have exclusive grainy clips than not use the clips at all.)

The sound on much of the video is very low. Again, it depended upon the original source of the footage. If the original video was hard to hear, the version included in 'Another Birthday' will be too. It was important to include all the best stuff on this video, even if it meant sacrificing decent video qualities at some points. 

A Sign of the Times

There may be a great deal of unrest and uncertainty in the U.S. these days, but on Canadian soil, there is definitely a more accepting, inclusive vibe.

Yes, Canada does have citizens who do not welcome refugees and immigrants or may be intolerant of those who look different than they look or don't worship the same way they do. Thankfully, this narrow-minded way of seeing things is not supported by our government or the vast majority of Canadians and as our country prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday, that's something we can ALL be very grateful for.

PETS | TV Goes to the Dogs

PHOTO COURTESY MARLENE JANSEN

  

KIDS | Mixing Business with Pleasure

KIDS | Make a Wish...Make That Two

PHOTOS COURTESY MANDY DICK

KIDS | My Sunny Valentine

YOU | Seeing Red

YOU | Fishy Tales

Jody Edwards is still enjoying her stay in Florida where she is assisting at Clearwater Marine Aquarium -a rescue, recovery and release facility.

When she posted the photo above (left) Jody wrote "Paint for a Cause at the aquarium with Heidi supporting the great work they do..and we now have our own personal painting of beautiful Winter [the dolphin]....who knew I could paint. Heidi's is awesome."

And just in case you weren't already envious of all that Florida sunshine, Jody posted the photo above right. "Butterflies in February..love it", exclaimed Jody.

Keep those toasty warm pix coming Ms. Edwards.

READ ALL ABOUT HOW JODY FINDS HERSELF IN FLORIDA HELPING MARINE LIFE - CLICK HERE FOR OUR PAST STORY.

REVIEW | The Tea Party: Transmission Tour

There’s always been two things I’ve loved about The Tea Party. First and foremost, there’s handsome lead singer Jeff Martin, whose looks, vocals and musical talents are awe inspiring. Then there’s the group’s unique sound. It’s hard to slap a label on what type of music the Tea Party perform, when it includes so many instruments and vast sounds (including rock, blues and Eastern influences.) 

The band kicked off a 28 city tour at the Performing Arts Centre on Feb.3. They performed all the songs from their 1997 album ‘Transmission’. After a 20 minute intermission, Jeff and fellow band members Jeff Burrows & Stuart Chatwood returned for a set of their hits that included the mega successful tune ‘Heaven Coming Down’.

There was plenty of interaction between Jeff Martin and the crowd, including him light-heartedly telling us when to stand and when to sit. One enthusiastic front row fan even asked Jeff if he could stand up, when the band began a new song, much to Martin’s amusement.

Of all the acts I’ve seen at the Performing Arts Centre, the Tea Party is the one to beat, when it comes to putting on a remarkable and memorable show.

VISIT THE TEA PARTY'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE: CLICK HERE 

YOU | Zippity Doo Da!

PHOTOS COURTESY CATHY DICK

PETS | She Shoots. She Scores!

PHOTO COURTESY JANE STORIE

INSPIRING | Hope

PETS |

CLASSIC JOE FRIDAY POSTS IN HIS VERY OWN PAGE - CLICK HERE

YOU | Snow Way!

REVIEW | Classic Albums Live: Fleetwood Mac Rumours album

When my friend Shelley first brought the Performing Arts Centre’s events calendar to my attention last fall, there were several acts I was looking forward to. The one I was most excited about was Classic Albums Live rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album.

Classic Albums Live is an ensemble group whose claim to fame is their ability to recreate entire classic rock albums, “note for note, cut for cut.” It’s like listening to your favourite records without the popping sounds and white noise.

Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours sold 800,000 copies a week at its peak and became the quickest moving LP of all time. Judging by the demographics of the audience, we were all around when the Rumours phenomena occurred (read: older crowd.)

Although the musicians that performed in Classic Albums Live were all very talented and indeed reproduced every song on Rumours with precision and accuracy, there was an awkward disconnect between the group and the audience. Between songs, the group sipped their bottled water, flipped their music books to the next page and waited for their cue to begin the next cut. There was no acknowledgement that they were standing on stage in front of a sold out room full of Fleetwood Mac fans. Maybe the band’s silence was intended to represent the brief silence one would experience between songs when listening to the actual album. Whatever it was meant to be or not to be, it felt odd to be able to hear a pin drop when the group wasn’t performing.

Things took on a lighter tone when Classic Albums Live returned for their second set, which was a collection of Fleetwood Mac hits recorded before or after Rumours. Although at no point did the band introduce themselves, there was some small talk between selections and the group seemed to be enjoying themselves a bit more than when they performed the entire Rumours album.

The highlight of the night was their rendition of Tusk, where several Laura Secord Secondary School band members lined the aisles playing drums, while others joined the band on stage, clashing large cymbals. It was a stunning performance that brought the entire room to its feet and gave the night that “it” moment, which everyone was talking about when the show was over.

If you like a live show that’s heavy on music and very light on idle banter, a Classic Albums Live presentation is just the ticket for you.

REVIEW | Putting Downtown St. Catharines on the Map

How invigorating!

Downtown St. Catharines has become an ideal place to take in live concerts, plays and sports events, thanks to the addition of the Meridian Centre and the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre.

In the past 9 months, I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying live events at both facilities on a regular basis.

I first got to check out the Meridian Centre at Pride Niagara’s Kick Off Party (& Pageant) early last summer. 

I returned to the arena in December with my buddy Doug, sister Jane and nephew Graham, to enjoy a Niagara Ice Dogs hockey game, thanks to the 4 tickets I had won at a Lyme Disease fundraiser for our friend Bylynnda. 

The Meridian Centre scores high marks in my book. It’s just the right size and set up perfectly to enjoy sports and concerts. 

Down the street from the Meridian Centre, we have the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre. There’s actually more than one hall in which to enjoy live music, plays and movies. When I have visited the Performing Arts Centre, I was with my pal Shelley and we were in Partridge Hall, where we saw Burton Cummings, Quinn Sullivan, The Tea Party and Classic Albums Live’s presentation of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album.

The acoustics in Partridge Hall are impressive. The hall is large enough to give you that concert feeling, yet still small enough to make it feel like an intimate show, where every seat is a good one. When Burton Cummings performed there he said it was “a very nice room.” And he’s right. It is.

Before we enjoy a live show at the Performing Arts Centre, Shelley and I usually head over to Gord’s Place on James Street. I love their burgers and those fries....Mmmmm, so good, one of the few places where I eat every last fry on my plate. Another tasty choice are Gord’s Chicken Bites. There’s various sauce options, but my favourite is the dry Cajun. I don’t do real spicy hot food, but these meaty bites have just the right amount of spices to give it kick without knocking you on your ass.

Shelley and I use public transit and walk to go downtown and get back home. If you’re driving, there’s two parking units that are reasonably priced and close to both the Meridian Centre and the Performing Arts Centre.

Cheers to the new pulse of downtown St. Catharines as it continues to grow and attract more patrons. It’s nice to see St. Catharines is now on the map when it comes to live shows and events.

MERIDIAN CENTRE WEBSITE        FIRST ONTARIO PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE WEBSITE         GORD'S PLACE FACEBOOK PAGE     

INSPIRING |

VIDEO | An Act of Kindness After Robbery

This happened a few years ago. It is a heartwarming story that might very well have you looking for a Kleenex.

IN MEMORIAM | David Bowman Poirier

JOE FRIDAY |

PHOTO AND 'SOUVENIR PIX SIGN' BY JIM STEEL

CLASSIC JOE FRIDAY  POSTS IN HIS OWN PAGE - CLICK HERE 

PETS | Puppy Love on Valentine's Day

CLASSIC SCRIBBLES VIDEO | Four Years Ago on Scribbles

Our most recent Scribbles mastheads feature a thought of the idea, perhaps a small graphic and the Scribbles logo with our Scribbles pals all lined up in their rows, looking great.

Back in 2013, our mastheads changed frequently and usually included a preview of whatever new stuff you were about to find on that given day. As a result, we have quite a collection of mastheads, headers, covers or whatever the hell you wish to call that area on top of our website that includes our Scribbles logo.

This encore video features those dynamic mastheads. A look I'm tempted to embrace again. No promises, but something to ponder.

Enjoy this blast from the year 2013.

INSPIRING |

KIDS |

PETS | His Comfy Place

YOU | Slip Sliding Away!

PHOTOS COURTESY: CATHY DICK

PETS | Happy Habby

YOU | Six Years Ago

It's hard to believe, but it was six years ago on Feb. 28th that our young friend Ricky Holditch passed away. He was 26.

I knew Ricky indirectly. One of his dearest friends was Andrew MacNeil and I've been friends with Andrew's dad Doug since we were in high school. Ricky lived with the MacNeil family for a while and I'd see him when I visited there..this was where I got to know the handsome, big guy with a smile that was truly contagious.

Ricky always seemed to light up a room just by being there and you could tell by looking at him that he was a sincere, decent guy.

He went public with his cancer in local newspapers January 2011. Here was this courageous young man sharing his story with reporters as he lived out his final days. WOW!

We read of Ricky preparing a feast for his family and friends even though he was weak and unable to eat any of it. It was just something he wanted to do, while he still could.

You touched a lot of hearts in your brief time with us Ricky and even those who knew you only a little bit, think of you often and aspire to live by your example.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR "RICKY 4EVER" MEMORIAL PAGE 

ENCORE SCRIBBLES VIDEO | Ricky Memorial Fundraiser 

MARCH 2011