Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Random thoughts as I return from vacation

Yes, I was on vacation last week, and that might explain why, assuming anyone noticed to begin with, I didn't file my usual diatribe.  There are reasons for that, which we'll cover today in this space before getting back to the routine this coming weekend and cover some pretty important arts developments in Niagara and beyond.

The week prior to my vacation there was no shortage of bad news to absorb, and since my two hats are both arts-related and hard news related in my position as producer of the CKTB Morning Show, the latter weighed me down considerably as the days passed by to the start of my break.  So the latter hat is the one I am wearing as I write this today, the first day I have found I have both the spirit and the time to put words to Blogspot.

We lost two great leaders in our community in the last couple of weeks, one of whom I had the pleasure to work with for many years at CKTB Radio.  Our old "Fuddy Duddy Buddy Dougie", or "Fud Dud" as I called him for short, passed away unexpectedly at the far-too young age of 68, suffering a massive heart attack after his customary swim at the new Kiwanis Aquatic Centre in St. Catharines.  Doug had lost weight in recent years and the last time I saw him he looked great; he was healthy and happy, but you never know when your time is up, it seems.  My condolences to the Hobbs family, all of whom I met at the visitation and the memorial service just over a week ago.

Doug's two great professional passions were sports and music, although which took precedence would be hard to determine.  I sat in with him down at Merritton Sports Park when he was broadcasting the Baby Blue Jays many years ago, and even added some colour commentary of my own, which was particularly gracious on Doug's part since he knew I knew absolutely nothing about sports.  That was just the way he was.  He had fun and it was infectious.  His other love was music, particularly music of the 50s and 60s and especially everything Elvis.  He often said no music worth listening to was created after 1969, so that essentially was his own demarcation point.  No more organized or disciplined music fan existed anywhere.

Doug was always playing his music even when he lost a radio show to showcase it years ago, and had it all digitally transferred and catalogued for the modern age.  One could only imagine how many external hard drives he had employed in later years.  Just a few months ago, in fact, out of the blue I received an email from Doug containing a detailed listing of The Best of the 45 RPM Era, 1950 to 1975.  At the time I remember thinking it rather odd he included the years beyond 1969 in this list, but perhaps he was softening his stand in later years.  At any rate I thanked him for the great work and thinking of me, and that unfortunately was the last contact I had with him.  I will always keep this list handy, just in case, in memory of Doug.

The world needs more Doug Hobbs.  Happy, accomplished, family man and creative mind all rolled into one irrepressible force of nature.  He is now and always will be greatly missed.

That same week we lost another, much younger community leader, Matteo Mancini of Thorold.  Young Matteo was all of 12 years of age and was battling the same cancer that claimed Terry Fox in his final trek across the country.  Matteo inspired an entire community and a whole new generation in his gallant battle with cancer, a battle that ended two weeks ago.  The community showed their collective love and respect for Matteo, his mother and the entire Mancini family by coming out en masse to the Thorold funeral home for two very emotional visitations.  Since it was the same day as Doug's, I decided to go to Doug's in the afternoon and the Mancini visitation in the evening.  It was scheduled from 7 to 9 pm, but ran well past 10 pm due to the volume of people wishing to pay their respects to the family.

I arrived at 7 pm to see the line already snaking out the building, around the front and down the street.  It never ended until late in the evening, and I am told the afternoon visitation was just as busy.  It took over an hour and a half to make it to the receiving line, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it.  It was one of those rare experiences you have to be a part of because you want to be there, rather than have to be there, and I for one did not regret the time spent waiting to pay my respects.  I had a chance to meet Lisa, a friend of the family, in line just ahead of me, and somehow an instant friendship seemed to develop.  Funny how things happen.

Matteo might be gone, but he will not soon be forgotten.  His legacy will be found in Thorold and beyond for years to come, and that I know would make him proud and the family remaining happy.  To all of them I offer condolences and a time of healing as they recover from the loss.

Along with these personal tragedies that week came news of the Tim Bosma case in Ancaster, which resulted last week in news of his untimely death.  The story continues to unfold today, in fact with the charging of a second suspect in the case.  This story hit close to home as well as family members live right here in our community of Niagara.  Again, our condolences to the Bosma family on this day when they remembered Tim at a heart-wrenching service in the Hamilton area where the Bosmas were married just three years ago.

When I returned from vacation this week the news didn't seem to get any better with tornados causing death and hardship in Oklahoma on the weekend; again the story continues to unfold.  Something tells me we are not done with the bad news yet, although the optimistic side of me certainly hopes so.

So with all this news happening around me, I had my scheduled week off at precisely the right time.  I didn't go anywhere, save for day trips to Hamilton, Port Dover, Buffalo and Toronto.  I left my cell phone at home, became as much as possible free of any digital connection whatsoever, and simply shut down for a week and a bit to recharge.  It isn't easy in this day and age to do that but perhaps I am of an age I can disconnect still from social media and other distractions without feeling I am totally out of touch with the world.  I was, of course, but I didn't feel any great loss as a result.

This is something I suggest we all do from time to time.  There is simply too much news in the world these days, and to paraphrase Anthony Newley years ago, I decided to say "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!" at least for a little while.  Try it, and you might just like it.

So having said that, I am back, somewhat refreshed and recharged, and ready to cover the arts beat again for the next while before the next vacation period kicks in.  Onwards and upwards we go with lots of news to cover this coming weekend...

See you then!

May 22nd, 2013.

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