THE BEST OF 2016

Air Raid 25 featuring Manic Drive, with KJ-52, Leina and The Walk, May 14, 2016
 at Trinity Community Church in Oro Station.

 

KJ-52 and me.

hanging in the office at rock and roll central

My last day with Anthem For Today - in Kingston on Good Friday.

Cruise to Belize

The LIFE DJ's with guest speaker Adrian Bell.

Breakfast

Living on the waterfront

New floor

Coke tat for my birthday

Me speaking at Banting Memorial Secondary School

The CKLC on-air guys - reunion.

hanging with Eric Tremblay at CJAI

To Tell playing in my house.

Brian Wilson at Massey Hall

Dan Bremnes and the band at my house

Alice Cooper at Rama

Paul McCartney in Hamilton

Grandkids

Teaching Kyler to ride

Kai and me.

35th anniversary

Silent auction for the Alice photo.

Handsome and Gretyl Tour in Nashville

The RV that took us across the country.

Jake Stanley and Cody Marshall with me - xmas party

Visiting JR Ewing at Southfork Ranch, Dallas

Good to see Tim Cardascia again, in Sacremento

Summer

Visiting the James Dean crash site - L.A.

Home

Handsome and Gretyl in L.A.

The Mint in L.A.

Former site of CBGBs New York

Tim and Ros Maassarany visiting.

Hanging with the PM



Joyceville

Visiting Jason at Easter

Mark Lindsay in New York at the Beacon.

Times Square

Luke Langman and me - LIFE xmas party

Crystal, AJ, Janice and me.

Jimmy Needham at Rock The Lake

Alcatraz

The best gym - San Francisco

Me and Crystal at Rock The Lake

The cell in Alcatraz

Haight Ashbury in San Francisco

Tim Maassarany at Sharathon

Sharaton - Jay Davis, me and Tim Maasarany

Giving away a hot tub - Andrew Robertson, Todd Gale,
me, winner, owner, Steve Jones

Rolling Stones Exhibitionism, me remixing "Doom and Gloom"

me and Pastor Wayne Lucas.

 

Miss you Kingston.

The LIFE staff at I Fly Toronto. L-F - Todd, TVD, Steve, Cathy, me, Crystal, Luke
Jillian, Cody, Jake, Tim, Luke, Glen

me with The Color

Pastor Jim and Pat Woolcott

I LIKE TALKING

Throughout my radio career I've done many emcee events and appearances on behalf of the radio station.  Lots of concert intros, although not recently. Haha!  The regular on-air guys are requested more often.

Sunday mornings, a couple of us at LIFE speak in local churches, giving a radio ministry update to keep our church listeners in touch with our expansion, changes and general ministry progress. Churches give us about 10 minutes as part of their service.

More often than not, I also give an evangelical sermon message. Believe me, I never thought I'd be in that situation!  Listen, I'm not a fan of sitting in a pew listening to someone ramble on, go off on bunny trails and then tell me I'm a sinner for an hour. I'm not sure how people look forward to that. It's a bit like being in school - sitting still, quiet, taking notes, while someone talks.

That's the kind of speaker I do NOT want to be like. So, as I prepare my messages, I try to keep it fun, without watering down what I hope is a relevant, Jesus-based message.

And the funny thing is, I actually love doing it.

For the last 10 years, I would prepare a 30 minute message for churches on the LIFE tour. When it was time to return to a church, I'd prepare a new message. One message a year...? No problem.

Recently, at my home church, Pastor Jim Woolcott has challenged me to do a message a month!

I thought - "No way, I'll run out of ideas!" Or - "I don't know my Bible well enough to even qualify to be a regular speaker".  And of course I feared "people will be bored with me".

So far, so good. Just when I think I'm dry of ideas, another one comes along, and when think "Oh boy, this is gonna be rough. I'm going to bomb today!" - someone will throw me a compliment.

Some churches want a steadfast Biblical sermon with lots of applicable scripture. I've been told my style is more like an entertainer than a preacher. Hey, I'm definitely not a preacher.  I just share my own story of how God works in my life - the things I've learned and the stuff I struggle with. True stories and examples seem to move people's hearts so that seems to work well for me. I've only been called "irreverent" once. (True.)

So, here I am, thinking, "I'm not a preacher" and God seems to be using me in this capacity. I'm filling at need at my home church and - my goodness - I'm really lovin' it!

JAMES DEAN - AN UPDATE ON THE ANNIVERSARY

James in "Rebel"

Well, on this day, in 1955, James Dean died in a tragic car crash. Pop culture-ologists proclaim that James Dean was the inventor of "being cool".

After celebrities die, sometimes, they become bigger than life.  Like Elvis. Like Marilyn. Like Jim and Janis. His face is recognized in mass marketing, more now, 60 years after his death. Not bad for a guy who only made three movies.  Three. That's it. Two of them released after his death.

In two of the movies he played a character, very close to his own personality. He was unloved by his father, or so he thought. "Rebel Without A Cause" is thought to be the first major movie about teens, for teens. In that movie he wore a red jacket, not the black leather jacket we tend to associate with Dean. Watch the clip - check out the nagging wife!

Indiana - the marker has since changed.

In "East of Eden" there's a fabulous scene of Dean playing the son, trying to bless his father with money he earned, that his father won't accept. Classic, tormented scene, recreated very well when James Franco played the role.

In "Giant", I love the classic scene is of Dean striking oil and watching the oil geyser spray into the air and soak him, drop by drop.

Then, in 1955, he drove his Spyder racing car into another driver, killing himself. He was 24.

I've visited the James Dean Museum in Indiana. I've been to his very modest gravesite and last summer - 2016 - I visited the crash site in Cholame, California, at the junction of Route 46 and 41.



The junction - from my vantage on the side of the road.

It wasn't marked well. It's not preserved for any organization, so you're on your own to find it. But having researched the location I knew alot about it and I knew what I was looking for.

The highway was extremely busy with speeding transport trucks that made it difficult to cross to get to the exact location. The fact that James was killed in traffic made the whole experience a bit creepy.

I was travelling with my family in an RV - we pulled over to the side of the road on a busy interstate. I got out and walked around in search of the fence with the plaque.


A humble memorial - not sure who
maintains it.

I crossed the busy interstate and spotted a small American flag draped over the fence and ran over to get a selfie. I wasn't there more than 30 seconds but it was dangerous to leave the RV parked at the side of the road.

I ventured across the first two lanes of northbound traffic. I peeked to see oncoming traffic and WHOOOOSH!  A car raced right passed by my nose!  Man, that was close! I almost got killed on the same road as James Dean!
Well, now my James Dean journey is complete. From movie location, to gravesite to crash site.

If any of this has you curious, rent the movie "James Dean" starring James Franco. Franco is amazing in the role.

Today, September 30, is the anniversary of the death of James Dean - and the beginning of "cool".

ANXIETY - STOP THE WORLD FOR A MINUTE!

For some people, anxiety is a mental disorder and they need meds to keep the anxious feelings under control. I get that. I'm on meds for depression and sometimes anxiety triggers the depression.

When I get anxiety, I start cancelling things. It's like a mild panic and my (irrational) reaction at the time is to bail out on whatever the plans are. Even activities I was looking forward to!

I hate it when people bail on me. It's a trigger for depression. When people cancel on me, it's probably too late for me to do something else. I try to remember that when I cancel my plans that involve other people.

Another trigger for anxiety is being too busy. I'm generally quite organized but too many activities gives me anxiety. I get cranky and sweaty and negative.

My psychologist showed me that I need to pace myself. "You can't handle the busyness now, like you used to."  So, now I do three things to attempt to control a busy life. (If you have anxiety with life's activities, one of these things might work for you.)

1 - When I schedule I make sure I don't have too many things night after night. I need a night off. If I'm out of the house Monday and Tuesday nights, I need to leave Wednesday open.

2 - But sometimes I can't control everything. Say, a concert Monday, a family dinner Tuesday, a business meeting Wednesday, an out of town appointment Thursday, a friend visit on Friday, a station event Saturday and a Sunday church speaking engagement. (This is an actual example).

When this happens I look at each individual activity and remind myself, "Ya, I really want to do that on Monday, and see them on Tuesday."  If I look at each activity by itself, I don't panic because I chose to do each for a reason.

3 - Lastly, as often as possible, I avoid planning anything on Mondays and Fridays. They tend to take care of themselves.

These things work for me. How bout you?

 

ANXIETY - STOP THE WORLD FOR A MINUTE!

For some people, anxiety is a mental disorder and they need meds to keep the anxious feelings under control. I get that. I'm on meds for depression and sometimes anxiety triggers the depression.

When I get anxiety, I start cancelling things. It's like a mild panic and my (irrational) reaction at the time is to bail out on whatever the plans are. Even activities I was looking forward to!

I hate it when people bail on me. It's a trigger for depression. When people cancel on me, it's probably too late for me to do something else. I try to remember that when I cancel my plans that involve other people.

Another trigger for anxiety is being too busy. I'm generally quite organized but too many activities gives me anxiety. I get cranky and sweaty and negative.

My psychologist showed me that I need to pace myself. "You can't handle the busyness now, like you used to."  So, now I do three things to attempt to control a busy life. (If you have anxiety with life's activities, one of these things might work for you.)

1 - When I schedule I make sure I don't have too many things night after night. I need a night off. If I'm out of the house Monday and Tuesday nights, I need to leave Wednesday open.

2 - But sometimes I can't control everything. Say, a concert Monday, a family dinner Tuesday, a business meeting Wednesday, an out of town appointment Thursday, a friend visit on Friday, a station event Saturday and a Sunday church speaking engagement. (This is an actual example).

When this happens I look at each individual activity and remind myself, "Ya, I really do want to do that on Monday, and see them on Tuesday."  If I look at each activity by itself, I don't panic because I chose to do each for a reason.

3 - Lastly, as often as possible, I avoid planning anything on Mondays and Fridays. They tend to take care of themselves.

These things work for me. How bout you?