Rich & Gary

How do you know you’ve ‘made it’ in the world of show biz??

Well, you can be a guest on Larry King Live, or be the lead story on Entertainment Tonight with Mary Hart. You can get your picture on the cover of  the Rolling Stone, or be Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

But, if you really want to know that ‘you’ve arrived’, you must be a guest on Sesame Street!!

Here’s a short list of celebs that have worked with The Muppets:

Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Anderson Cooper, R.E.M., Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Cash, Norah Jones, Vincent Price, Mark Hamill and William Shatner……to name a few.

And, on August 11th, as part of the launch of the 39th season of Sesame Street, Canada’s own Feist makes a guest appearance. Her biggest song to date is a natural for the show:

Alright. You sat down with the family, looked over the finances, and things just aren’t adding up.

We wanna help. Often, its cutting back on the small things that can make a big difference in overall expenditures.

Here are some tips that could save you up to $5,000 over a year:

1. Cut back your daily shower time. Instead of 15 minutes, go for 10.

2. Your water-heater setting can be lowered by 10 degrees. (Have teenagers in the house? This will help cut costs!)

3. Brew your own coffee and take it to work. (Big savings here.)

4. Make and take a lunch to the office.

5. Use the watercooler at work. Bottled water is expensive.

6. Carpool once a week if possible.

7. Cut your own lawn, and do your own nails. (Guys, biting your nails is not really a self-manicure. Use the scissors.)

8. Rent movies. (People in the theatre will usually talk during the movie you really want to see. ‘The Dark Knight’ will be on DVD soon enough.)

9. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are ‘green’ products. They will save electricity.

Do you have more money-saving ideas? Feel free to add to the list. Just click on comments and send us your thoughts.

At our home, we could save even more electricity (and money) if a certain radio host spent less time on the computer!!

Price of gas got you down?  

One of the great things about humans is, there’s always someone thinking about a way to solve any given problem at any given time.

Here’s some amazing hope for our future and for our kids’ future:

It seems ‘The Dark Knight’ is now tops at the movies.

Totals from the 1st weekend of release:  $155 million state-side,  $195 million for the planet!

Lots of spills and chills, great reviews, etc.

But admit it. Wouldn’t it be even better if Batman was a bit of a flake like the ‘Adam West’ Batman of the 1960’s??

Maybe, just maybe, a Batman movie producer will see this clip and have the Caped Crusader (and his rival) lighten up in the next film.

Enjoy this bit of tv history:    

The other day, we tossed out the topic of a possible federal Carbon Tax in Canada. Right now, it’s just a proposal by the Liberal party.  It’s said to be a potential tax aimed at big polluters.

However, our listeners saw it as something that could easily end up in the laps of the average Canadian taxpayer. 

Calls came in fast and furious, at 525-7271, and throughout the morning show, we aired a number of calls.

The recurring theme seemed to be:    “It’s just another tax grab.”    “Enough is enough!”    “How will this money be mis-spent or mis-directed?”    “Why would I put good money after bad? What a silly idea!”     “How ’bout a tax break for all the recycling we already do?”

We also got this e-mail:

Good Morning:

This email is being sent in response to your recent discussion about a carbon tax being proposed by the Liberal Party.   I am quite surprised at the negative responses that this subject has elicited from your listeners.  By no means am I a supporter of the liberal party…however, something very serious has to occur to make people aware of just what is happening to our natural resources and just how blatant our disregard has been particularly in the area of our use of gasoline.  I would suggest that you take the time to look at the vehicles that are on our Sudbury roads these days….for every compact car, there are 10 vans, trucks, SUV’s, etc.  These are gas guzzlers.   At the coffee shop today, I counted 15 trucks and one small car (mine) in parking lot.  If your listeners are not prepared to downsize their vehicles, then they should be slapped with a significant carbon tax.  Furthermore, your listeners are very naive when they say that they are already taxed too much.  So what are they prepared to give up, to get their taxes lower.  Our health care system (as fragile as it is), our federal pensions, our social services, schools, etc.  Our taxes contribute to the maintenance of our country and the Canadian people.  Don’t forget we believe we have the best country in the world and indeed, many people around the world believe that as well.   It is interesting to note a recent television documentary about Denmark and the fact that its people are found to be the happiest people in the world.  They have universal health care, child care, free university and college tuition, etc.  All of these amenities are funded by their tax system.  They pay more taxes than we do, and ironically they are happier than we are.  Go figure… 

After 12 semi-finalists gave it their best that afternoon, the judges picked 3 to return at 7 p.m. for the finals.

When all was ’sung’ and done, just before 8 p.m., the crowd’s applause decided the winner. 

From Christine Catt at Science North / Dynamic Earth, here’s the official press release:

SUDBURY, ON – A young girl from Sudbury is the grand prize winner in the first Canada Day EZ Rock Idol Competition, held as part of the Canada Day Family Celebrations at Science North!  Payton Mills beat out 11 other semi-finalists in the competition, and has been awarded a grand prize package presented by Ostara, 105.3 EZ Rock, CTV and Science North which includes:

-An Ostara Internet TV special including a DVD and CD portfolio package

-A getaway for two (2) to Toronto (including accommodation and $200 spending money.)

-Two (2) tickets to be a part of the studio audience for CTV’s Canadian Idol Top Four episode on Monday, August 25, 2008.

“The Canada Day EZ Rock Idol competition brought out some of Sudbury’s best singing talent!  We had a huge response to the auditions, and are very happy with the way this whole event played out,” said Rich Griffin, from EZ Rock’s Rich & Gary in the morning and co-emcee of the EZ Rock Idol competition.  “Don’t be surprised if you see this event again next year!”

“The talent we saw today on the main stage was incredible and definitely added to the Canada Day Family Celebrations at Science North,” said Emily Torgerson, Canada Day Family Celebrations Event Organizer.  “The EZ Rock Idol competition also resonated with the public and drew the crowds!  We had visitors on the grounds of Science North today, cheering as the EZ Rock Idol competitors sang their hearts out!”

The Canada Day EZ Rock Idol competition is presented by Science North and 105.3 EZ Rock, and is supported by Ostara and CTV.

For more information about Canada Day events held July 1, 2008 at Science North please visit www.sciencenorth.ca/canadaday.

Thanks again to everyone that was there. By the way….we were wondering if you’d like to see the return of Canada Day Idol at Science North in 2009?  Please send us your comments…