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Greetings fellow travellers, it’s Gord at the controls today. I have to thank everyone for your emails asking how come I have to stay at home while the rest of the Morning Show gets to go to the Bahamas.

Here is the real “behind the scenes story”. It’s not easy being a wanted man in 34 states and most of Mexico. I’m joking, the reason simply is that I am the man in charge of everything you hear on your radio.

The music, the commercials, the station jingles and Mary Ellen’s news and Halina’s traffic reports. I ultimately have control of Erin and Mike’s microphones ( I let them turn their own mics on and off ) Let’s see…oh! All the Wiseguys sound effects and music you hear.

I clean and inspect the Random Name Generator to make sure she’s up to the latest in design and performance. I listen and record your Feel Good Favourites, all the Ticket Blitz sound effects and music.

I make sure every half hour is as close to being on time with the news as possible. I record all the clips from Oprah, movies and TV shows that we may play during the morning.

 After listing all that, it’s far easier to just stay behind and run the show they way it has been running for 2 years now. Also the comfortable feel of the show between Erin, Mike, The General and I is very hard to let Joe the temp guy step into.

This next part is the coolest part of the mornings.

We can communicate a thought between the 4 of us with just a look, or hand signals. That kind of unspoken language becomes very important when I can’t see them on the beach, also very hard for Joe the temp to take over.

This however takes a long time to say, so I usually say I hate to fly and that’s why I stay home, alone.

Gord here while Ian, Mike and Erin are off. The Wiseguys did it. Friday after the show, we packed up and headed east to Montreal to begin our weekend to see the Van Halen concert.

Arriving downtown, the first thing I noticed is how different the artistry is in the skyscrapers. There is a wonderful marriage of old styles and modern techniques that left me in awe.

Also awesome was the Bar B Barn, world famous for ribs and I could see why. So mouth-watering were the ribs, they are tied for top spot with a rib place in Memphis for my all time favourite ribs.

Now to the concert. We arrive at the Bell Centre at 8:30, got some refreshments and I got a big pretzel. Coop bought himself a Van Halen t-shirt to match Ian and I and the cool thing is that the booth was selling the shirts with 2 prices on them, one for $40 dollars and the other for $45. Finally! The lower price was Canadian and the higher price was American dollars.

 What another wicked show Van Halen put on. I thank my brother for providing the ear plugs as I did not have the ringing in my ears like I did at the show Ian and I saw a month ago (see earlier Van Halen blog).

Sunday morning came and we piled back into the SUV and came home..a few pounds heavier and a lot wiser, which to a Wiseguy is an achievement in itself.

Now how to work it so I can see them in Vegas at the end of December.

General here - and I’m bummed out.
The clocks have rolled back and now it’s dark by 5:30.
I say it’s not worth it. Five months of short days for one - ONE - measly hour of extra sleep!
I wish we sprung forward in the Spring - and sprung forward again in the Fall.
I know it makes no sense what-so-ever, but I can’t think clearly at a time like this.
I hate these short days!
Booooooooooooooo!!!!
(use your Seinfeld voice)

Hey! Gord here. It’s been awhile for us, but we’ve had nothing to say and it’s hard to write something when your life really revolves around nothing. How many times can you hear The General, Mike and I went out for wings?

Today however, I do have something to talk about and here I am. Poppies and Remembrance Day. I know Halloween is tomorrow and department stores want us in the Christmas mood, but first things first. If you’re in the LCBO or a grocery store get yourself a Poppy and wear it proudly as a tribute to those who fought and for those who died for the great country we enjoy today.

I always try and find a Veteran selling poppies and thank him or her for going to war and sparing me and millions like me from the horrors of war. World War II Vets are decreasing in numbers and soon there won’t be any at all.

So if you’re in the Mall and see a Veteran quietly standing near the entrance with a box of poppies, go up, put a loonie in and say thanks for your sacrifice and I will always remember.

General here,
Well, we did it. 
Van Halen came to town and Gord finally saw them live - for the first time. For me, it was concert number nine - every tour since 1982. It’s sad, I know - but we all have our quirks. For me - there’s just no way I could sit at home knowing Eddie Van Halen was playing guitar somewhere in my city. That would be wrong.
Besides, a Van Halen concert is not so much about the concert as it is about the day itself - and the events surrounding it.
You simply can’t just go to work - go home - feed the kids - grab the downtown train - see Van Halen - go home - pay the babysitter - watch the news - go to bed - wake up  - and then tell everyone the next day “oh, by the way - I went to Van Halen last night”.
No - see, that’s wrong.
To properly participate in the Van Halen experience, you really need two free days - the day of the show and the day after. The rest is up to your imagination - but think “Tailgate Party” and you’re on the right track.
And so - on Friday - with Mike’s blessing - we turned his downtown condo into Party Headquarters for the day - and by 9pm - when the lights went down at the ACC - and the first “bum ba-da da dum” of You Really Got Me ripped through the speakers - we knew it was worth the 23-year wait to see Eddie & Dave together again.
Now, I’m faced with a personal dilemma. They’re playing Montreal in about a month - and it’s a Saturday. How do I spin this to Anita to make this sound like it might, perhaps, maybe, perchance be a good idea for me to attend?

Greetings, Gord at the controls today and I have a rather weird list to pass along.

The General and I are going to the Van Halen Concert Friday night and it got me thinking about my past concerts I have attended and let me tell you when you actually put the list down in writing it’s a little bit scattered in terms of musical tastes.

1990 - MC Hammer with Vanilla Ice

1992 - Harry Connick Jr.

1996 - Kiss

2001 - Elvis In Concert (the video of Elvis singing with his old “live” band)

2003 - Shania Twain

2004 - Neil Diamond

2005 - Bryan Adams

2005 - Great Big Sea

2006 - George Strait

2007 - Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

2007 - Van Halen

Just a bit all over the map huh? That’s me though, my musical tastes are just as quirky.

Have a great Thursday and remember that to those who voted (which I’m speaking to around 50% of you) if you voted Liberal then you got what you wanted. To those who voted Conservative you get to say “I didn’t vote for them” if the Liberals screw up in the next 4 years.

Cooper here… with a little Thanksgiving humor!
 
The day before Thanksgiving, a man in Toronto calls his adult son in Calgary.
‘Son, I’ve had enough, after 40 years of marriage, I’ve decided to leave your mother.’
The son hysterically responds: ‘Dad, this cannot be happening. Don’t do a thing until we get there to talk some sense into you!’
The son then calls his sister in Charlottetown who becomes equally hysterical. She also calls her father: ‘Dad, we’re not going to let this happen, you and mom stay put, we’ll be there tomorrow to work things out!’
The father hung up the phone, looked at his wife and said: ‘The kids are coming for Thanksgiving and they’re paying their own way.’

Hey, it’s the General, and I’m here to warn you about the perils of the PVR - the Personal Video Recorder.
If you have one, you know what I’m talking about.
If you don’t - consider my words before you step into this world. You may think the PVR is just a fancier version of your trusty old VCR, but it’s not. It’s so much better - so much easier - so much EVERYTHING - it will not only change the way you watch television, but it will alter your attention span - making it nearly impossible to ever watch live TV again.
 
Remember Thursday nights on NBC? Must See TV.
For almost 2 decades they were a formulaic powerhouse in primetime - 4 sitcoms followed by a drama.
 
In the 80s, you knew Thursday meant Cosby at 8, Cheers at 9, and Hill Street Blues at 10.
By the 90s, if someone tried calling between 8 and 11 Thursday night, you’d actually look at the phone and shake your head.
Don’t they know?
It’s Thursday night. Friends at 8, Seinfeld at 9, ER at 10. Go away!
Your schedule revolved around the TV schedule.
Well - not anymore.

Someone calls - you pause live tv.
You miss some dialogue, you rewind it.
I couldn’t even tell you when most shows are on - or what station carries them.
All I know is that once I’ve set the PVR to record, it shows up in my list of shows - it might tape every day, it might tape every week - whatever I’ve set it to do - and I watch it whenever…

Live TV is actually frustrating to watch - and once you step into the PVR world, there’s no going back. I’m telling you - it’s not a guy thing either - no one is safe.
My wife resisted getting the PVR too, but now…
As soon as she realized she could start watching Grey’s Anatomy at 9:20 - fast forward through commercials - catch up to the program in real time - and still be done by 10 o’clock, she was done.
It changes you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Gordon here with your Blog of Blogs.  James Blunt was in studio for an in depth interview which I will spend my afternoon polishing up so on Wednesday’s show, we’ll have a wicked interview for you to listen to.

I keep saying so long to the summer weather, but it doesn’t want to leave. I’m cool with that…I’m hoping that I can eat Thanksgiving dinner outside this weekend. Speaking of Thanksgiving, our family has decided to pass on the traditional turkey dinner and go with what the Pilgrims may have eaten if they had the power of a BBQ…STEAK!

I am going to pay a visit to the St. Lawrence Market and grab some amazing steaks for a awesome price. If you have never been to the Market, I suggest going…you get way more meat for your buck and even more buck for your dollar, if you like deer meat. I also love the Pea-meal bacon on a bun….mmmmmmmmmmmm… oh sorry how long was I out for?

Hockey is back, Baseball playoffs are on, football is going strong…time to say to your husbands ladies….

Goodbye my hubby.

General here,
I said good-bye to a friend last night. We’ve only known each other 4 or 5 months, but we had a lot of fun this summer. It wasn’t easy pulling the plug on something that had become pretty special - but as we get older, we have to accept these inalienable truths about life. Seasons change.
So - with a heavy heart - standing in the darkness of my garage - I looked my near-empty beer fridge in the door…and pulled the plug.

The gentle hum that had been there all summer fell silent - and the 2 crappy beers left over from a party in June started to warm up.

And it’s a beauty beer fridge too - with a 245 bottle capacity - though not even I could justify purchasing 10 two-fours to fill it.
But it was hard. To say it was the hardest thing I had to do all evening would be an understatement.
I keep telling myself - this isn’t Goodbye - it’s just See ya next Summer - but that’s not helping right now.