570News Blog: Glenn Pelletier

Ever since the Rolling Stones ended an eight-year gap (their longest) between North American concert tours with their triumphant Steel Wheels tour in 1989, critics have been asking when they were going to retire. In the leadup to that behemoth of a rock romp, their was uncertainty about its success - even on the part of the Stones themselves. Well, they came out like dogs on a bone and proved to fans and critics alike that they not only still had what it took to lay claim to the oft-quoted title of “World’s Greatest Rock ‘N Roll Band”, they had actually gotten better.

Four years after that record-breaking take at the concert box office, and now in their fifties - with the exception of Ronnie Wood who was a mere babe of 47 - they went out to conquer the world again, cleary re-ignited and ready to prove that the success of Steel Wheels was no fluke. The Voodoo Lounge tour of ‘94/’95 was even more successful and the Stones, like a fine wine, had clearly gotten better with age. And on it went. The Stones had turned back the clock to their days of youth and had become once again a working band, touring with regularity and releasing records. After Voodoo Lounge, they were hooked - on the road relentlessly from ‘97 to ‘99, followed by the Licks tour in ‘02/’03 and the conclusion of their most recent two-year odyssey on Sunday, August 26, 2007 in London, England - a mere 13 kilometres from the location of the small club where they made their concert debut 45 years previously. /p>

Mark that date down in the annals of Rolling Stones history, for they may have played for the last time. And, might I add, even as a diehard Stones fan, that’s okay with me.

Not because they no longer know how to rock out, but at long last the rigours of a major concert tour will have simply become too much for them to handle (with the exception of Mick of course.) Jagger is 64, Richards will turn 64 in December (if he doesn’t fall out of a coconut tree and kill himself), Ronnie is 60 and drummer Charlie Watts is 67. If they were to hit the road in a few years, or even a couple, most of them would be close to or at 70 years of age.

I believe that if they retire now, they go out on top, having proven to themselves and the world that there were not crazy to keep performing as long as they did. Just as Wayne Gretzky knew it was time to go, I believe the Rolling Stones know in their hearts that they won’t be started up again.

What a sight! Over the past week, we have been telling you on the 570 Morning News about Premier McGuinty’s plan to name a stretch of Highway 401 the “Highway of Heroes.” The move would acknowledge and honour Canadian soldiers killed in the war in Afghanistan, soldiers whose flag-draped coffins are loaded into hearses at CFB Trenton upon arrival from over there, and then driven along the 401 for the long ride to Toronto for autopsy.

And now, I have seen the sad and moving procession for myself.

I was driving home with my two daughters on Sunday from my parents’ home in Cobourg on a gloriously sunny afternoon, the late-day sun beaming down low in behind hundreds of people who had gathered on every overpass from Trenton to Pickering in anticipation of the passing by of two hearses carrying the bodies of the latest two Canadian soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan: Christian Duschesne and Mario Mercier.

At every overpass, tall proud firefighters in dress uniform stood atop gleaming red fire pumpers, silhouetted by the sun. Ordinary citizens gathered at each bridge, crowding in to greet the fallen young men. Canadian flags were hung. At the side of the road, police officers had taken time out of their day off along with groups of war vets to pay their respects. There was the occasional wave to the cars below, but this was no celebration. This was no excuse to be part of something exciting. This was a true demonstration of support for the fallen soldiers and of pride in the country. And it was powerful to witness.

Suddenly, about 45 minutes into my drive, I saw the flashing lights of a police escort in the far left lane in my rear view. Following behind the police cruisers were two sparkling shiny black hearses - one behind the other - the coffins inside visible as they passed by. “There they are, girls”, I said as we glanced to our left in silence. My oldest daugther - 10-year old Lucy - saluted the hearses as they passed by, and a white-gloved military official in the passenger seat saluted her back.

Seeing the coffins, and knowing that inside of each was a man who only a few days earlier had been on the ground halfway across the world, made the war over there seem more real to me. How much more real must it have felt to the wives and children, mothers and fathers who followed close behind the hearses in accompanying black limousines?

In this modern age of cynicism, skepticism and detachment, it was comforting to see hundreds of ordinary Canadians come together, moved to act by what they felt was the right thing to do.

Just back from vacation this week, after a week off at a cottage in beautiful Red Bay, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron, north of Sauble Beach, where I finished one book I began reading at the start of the summer…..and made some decent headway on another.

Today though, I came across a story about an Associated Press-Ipsos Reid poll released yesterday that indicates that one in four Americans read NO books last year. According to the survey, among those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year - half read more and half read fewer.

All along the Red Bay beach last week though, people were devouring books, mostly paperback fiction.  Anyway, I just finished “Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau - Volume One: 1919 - 1968″, by University of Waterloo history professor and former Liberal MP John English. English is not the most entertaining writer, but his attention to detail in this volume is remarkable. He told me he is working on a second volume to be released in 2009. I am just wrapping up “1967: Canada’s Turning Point - A Chronicle of Canada’s Centennial Year” by the late Pierre Berton, written ten years ago. In it, Berton paints a vivid picture of a country on the verge of moving from adolescence into adulthood, and harkens back to a simpler time…a time when Canada was easier to define. Remember Bobby Gimby and the song CA-NA-DA? Or how about the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final and Expo ‘67? I have enjoyed both of these books.