As a resident of the city of Vancouver, a proud Canadian, and a hockey fan, i was appalled, ashamed, and embarrassed at how we rioted following the loss to the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. However I must admit I was not surprised at how people reacted. In fact, i have a feeling that even if we had of won the game a similar reaction would have ensued. If you look back to the 94 riots in Vancouver some say this situation could have been avoided. But how so really? You have a large mass of people in one location that have been drinking for several hours. Despite whether the team wins or loses the emotions have been building up for awhile before the damage starts. It only takes a handful of people to start something and the wave continues to grow and build momentum. In Vancouver a 17 year old Maple Ridge boy has come forward after being identified and is genuinely sorry. This boy is the son of a doctor and from a well off family. He is a model student and a championship water polo player..yet he was caught on camera trying to ignite a police car on fire using a cloth doused in gasoline. He has admitted that the was completely swept up in the moment and the emotions of the situation and lost control. Does this really happen? You bet it does! Now our city seems to have a reputation for rioting , like the 94 cup loss and the cancelled Guns and Roses concert a number of years back. But there are several other cities that have lost their minds temporarily while being swept up in the moment. Montreal is notorious for its passion and behavior. The Los Angeles Lakers fans seem to riot every time they win the championship. Over in the Uk they seem to go crazy every weekend following a footy match of some sorts. IN fact even the fans in Boston started to riot when their beloved Red Sox finally won the World Series.
I personally think that here in Vancouver we have a bit of a problem with certain anarchist groups and professional demonstrators who know how to ignite a crowd. It almost all happened the first day of the 2010 Olympics but was quickly stomped out before it escalated.
What should be noted is the way the city rallied in the wake of the damage caused that night. Groups were organized on facebook and through other social media sites to help cleanup. By 8am the next morning apart from some boarded up windows it was as if nothing had happened. Now if only that was true....because now we will suffer from large scale events happening in the city. The events of June 16th 2011 will go down in history as one of the worst sporting riots to date.
Take a look at the following video to see just how the mob mentality works. How it escalates to levels beyond control The video is long but worth watching.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Home is where I be...
We have just completed another US leg of the Crazy Love world tour and are nearing the end of this record cycle. Man it seems like just yesterday the Olympics had ended and I was flying to Jacksonville Florida to begin the first run of the new Buble world tour. Time sure does seem to fly, especially if you are having a good time, surrounded with good people, and part of an amazing organization.
I was fortunate to make some really wonderful new friends that will hold value in my heart and life for the rest of my time on this earth. People like David Boisvert, Marc Depratto, MarcO Magnon, Russ Keith,Todd Green, Bianca and Sari, and a few others have become really good friends of mine and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time on busses, venues, pubs, restaraunts, parks, tourist sites, hotel lobbys, and of course late night truck stops. Its tough to explain to those who do not live this life, but your road family becomes everything to you. When your having a shit day they can pick you up, as you can do the same to them.
During the Crazy Love touring my mom had a brain anuerysm and I without hesitation left my post at stage left and went home to Calgary to be with my mom and family during our time of need. Everyone that i mentioned above, as well as the rest of our entire crew stepped up to the plate and covered me, supported me, listened to me, and made sure I was okay. This just does not happen when you work a 9 - 5 job or any other job for that matter. i am lucky, fortunate, and grateful for those in my life and the career that i chose to pursue.
We have one more leg of this tour left which will begin in Kelowna BC and finish in Mexico City. After that it will be back to the universal crew that i am a part of and our world promotions of Michael's new full length brand new Christmas album.
I apologize for not always updating, for not following through with more crew introductions, and for being downright lazy sometimes. However I am who I am and make no excuses for just being plain lazy sometimes.
Thanks to those who read and follow, who are patient, and who message me telling me they need an update. I will continue to use this blog site as an outlet when i need to vent, share, or just update.
Cheers to Michael and my road family! They say you are only as strong as your weakest link, and man oh man are we one helluva a strong crew!
I was fortunate to make some really wonderful new friends that will hold value in my heart and life for the rest of my time on this earth. People like David Boisvert, Marc Depratto, MarcO Magnon, Russ Keith,Todd Green, Bianca and Sari, and a few others have become really good friends of mine and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time on busses, venues, pubs, restaraunts, parks, tourist sites, hotel lobbys, and of course late night truck stops. Its tough to explain to those who do not live this life, but your road family becomes everything to you. When your having a shit day they can pick you up, as you can do the same to them.
During the Crazy Love touring my mom had a brain anuerysm and I without hesitation left my post at stage left and went home to Calgary to be with my mom and family during our time of need. Everyone that i mentioned above, as well as the rest of our entire crew stepped up to the plate and covered me, supported me, listened to me, and made sure I was okay. This just does not happen when you work a 9 - 5 job or any other job for that matter. i am lucky, fortunate, and grateful for those in my life and the career that i chose to pursue.
We have one more leg of this tour left which will begin in Kelowna BC and finish in Mexico City. After that it will be back to the universal crew that i am a part of and our world promotions of Michael's new full length brand new Christmas album.
I apologize for not always updating, for not following through with more crew introductions, and for being downright lazy sometimes. However I am who I am and make no excuses for just being plain lazy sometimes.
Thanks to those who read and follow, who are patient, and who message me telling me they need an update. I will continue to use this blog site as an outlet when i need to vent, share, or just update.
Cheers to Michael and my road family! They say you are only as strong as your weakest link, and man oh man are we one helluva a strong crew!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Boston Fanatics take it too far
A good friend of mine whom I have not spent much time with lately recently made the trip down to Boston for games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between our Canucks and the Boston Bruins.
The following is a letter that my friend felt compelled to write following his trip to beantown....
Dear Mr. Mayor,
I am writing to you today to express my disappointment of the treatment we received in your city.
As a Canadian, and a life long hockey fan, I know what it means to be a passionate fan for my home team.
I work in the film industry, which grants me the opportunity to travel for work, and to attend conferences and trade shows through my labor union, I.A.T.S.E. Between this travel, and my personal vacations, I am able to see hockey in many markets, even occasionally seeing my home team Canucks in another city.
The opportunity to watch the Canucks in a Stanley Cup playoff series in another city seemed like a wonderful opportunity, too good to pass up. So on Sunday, my brother and I drove from Vancouver to Seattle, boarded a plane a made our way to Boston. We were both very excited about the whole trip. We arrived in Boston Monday morning, fully expecting the cold shoulder. We're big boys, we can take it.
After all, we we're now in your town, and Boston does have a reputation as being a tough city. So we were fully prepared for some banter and ribbing.
After checking in to our hotel, and a nap, we made ticket arrangements for that night's Game 3.
We then made our way down to the TD Garden.
From the moment I got out of that cab on Causeway St., I knew there was going to be trouble. The profanity that was instantly showered upon us was shocking. We ignored it and I suggested since we were in Boston, and being of Irish/Scottish decent ourselves, it was only fitting that we hit up an old Irish pub. Which we did. The server was fairly reluctant to serve us at first, but she did, and we enjoyed a good meal before heading into the Garden.
Once in our seats, things just went from bad to worse.
The verbal and physical abuse we were subjected to was disgraceful.
I'm 41 years old, my brother is 39, and never have I witnessed or been the target of such disrespectful behavior.
It's my understanding from the ticket brokers I spoke with that approximately 12-15% of the tickets went to Canucks fans who made the trip to Boston. Somewhere in the range of 2000 fans, for a cross continental trip, I would say that's fairly significant.
After the game we met up with a few of my brother's friends who also came to Boston. One of them told us that he was repeatedly hit with marbles. Security later told us that this has happened before, and that marbles don't show up on the metal detectors.
When two of his other friends refused to respond or engage with the taunts from a group of Bruins fans, they then instead took to verbally attacking their wives. Calling them whores, and using degrading racial slurs.
We were told of Canucks fans who were using the washrooms, standing at the urinals, and had Bruins fans turn and urinate on them. Fans who were spit on, both inside and outside he arena. Multiple people, including a group of girls in Canucks jerseys were pepper sprayed. Fans who were punched and head-butted in the stands. The fact the the now famous Canucks fans known as The Green Men had to be escorted out of the Garden under police protection. And of course by now we have all heard about the father and his 9 year old child who were dragged out of a downtown cab and assaulted by group of thugs.
The most ironic thing I heard was being told by number of fans after the unfortunate Rome/Horton incident was that "All Canadians should just F*****g Die" I tried to remind these people that 17 of the 22 Bruins on the roster are in fact Canadian. Milan Lucic is even from Vancouver. Head coach Claude Julien, Canadian. Bruins GM, Cam Neely is Canadian. And your two greatest hockey icons, Ray Bourque and Bobby Orr, Canadian. It didn't matter, the abuse continued.
Tuesday we wanted to see some sights. Do the tourist thing. But the verbal abuse that ensued throughout the day just ruined things for both of us. We met up with a couple Vancouver film industry friends of mine at Fenway Park. His experience and stories were much the same.
Game 4 was much the same. Taunts, yelling profanities, personal threats and insults. With the added touch of having beer poured on us. To which I will say that one brave and decent Bruins fan stood up to the hooligans with us, and had the offender ejected from the game. Verbal and physical abuse that continued outside until we were able to get a cab back to our hotel.
Now, to me, the most disturbing part to all of this, is that it all happened with Bruins victories.
I shudder to think what would have happened had the Canucks won one or even both of those games. How would these "fans" have reacted had a Stanley Cup been presented to the Canucks in game 4. We will never know, I think it's safe to say that it would have been the shortest on-ice Cup presentation in modern NHL history.
I don't mean to be down on all of your citizens. We did meet some wonderful, interesting people on our trip. People who tried to make us feel welcome. People who wanted us to feel perfectly comfortable in your city supporting our team. People who genuinely wanted us to be there, and to enjoy what your city has to offer.
Unfortunately for me, in the 4 days I spent in Boston, the negatives far out weighed the positives.
Of all the cities I have traveled to, I am sad to say, that Boston is the one and only that I have ever said that I have no desire to ever return to.
Regretfully,
Vancouver, B.C.
The following is a letter that my friend felt compelled to write following his trip to beantown....
Dear Mr. Mayor,
I am writing to you today to express my disappointment of the treatment we received in your city.
As a Canadian, and a life long hockey fan, I know what it means to be a passionate fan for my home team.
I work in the film industry, which grants me the opportunity to travel for work, and to attend conferences and trade shows through my labor union, I.A.T.S.E. Between this travel, and my personal vacations, I am able to see hockey in many markets, even occasionally seeing my home team Canucks in another city.
The opportunity to watch the Canucks in a Stanley Cup playoff series in another city seemed like a wonderful opportunity, too good to pass up. So on Sunday, my brother and I drove from Vancouver to Seattle, boarded a plane a made our way to Boston. We were both very excited about the whole trip. We arrived in Boston Monday morning, fully expecting the cold shoulder. We're big boys, we can take it.
After all, we we're now in your town, and Boston does have a reputation as being a tough city. So we were fully prepared for some banter and ribbing.
After checking in to our hotel, and a nap, we made ticket arrangements for that night's Game 3.
We then made our way down to the TD Garden.
From the moment I got out of that cab on Causeway St., I knew there was going to be trouble. The profanity that was instantly showered upon us was shocking. We ignored it and I suggested since we were in Boston, and being of Irish/Scottish decent ourselves, it was only fitting that we hit up an old Irish pub. Which we did. The server was fairly reluctant to serve us at first, but she did, and we enjoyed a good meal before heading into the Garden.
Once in our seats, things just went from bad to worse.
The verbal and physical abuse we were subjected to was disgraceful.
I'm 41 years old, my brother is 39, and never have I witnessed or been the target of such disrespectful behavior.
It's my understanding from the ticket brokers I spoke with that approximately 12-15% of the tickets went to Canucks fans who made the trip to Boston. Somewhere in the range of 2000 fans, for a cross continental trip, I would say that's fairly significant.
After the game we met up with a few of my brother's friends who also came to Boston. One of them told us that he was repeatedly hit with marbles. Security later told us that this has happened before, and that marbles don't show up on the metal detectors.
When two of his other friends refused to respond or engage with the taunts from a group of Bruins fans, they then instead took to verbally attacking their wives. Calling them whores, and using degrading racial slurs.
We were told of Canucks fans who were using the washrooms, standing at the urinals, and had Bruins fans turn and urinate on them. Fans who were spit on, both inside and outside he arena. Multiple people, including a group of girls in Canucks jerseys were pepper sprayed. Fans who were punched and head-butted in the stands. The fact the the now famous Canucks fans known as The Green Men had to be escorted out of the Garden under police protection. And of course by now we have all heard about the father and his 9 year old child who were dragged out of a downtown cab and assaulted by group of thugs.
The most ironic thing I heard was being told by number of fans after the unfortunate Rome/Horton incident was that "All Canadians should just F*****g Die" I tried to remind these people that 17 of the 22 Bruins on the roster are in fact Canadian. Milan Lucic is even from Vancouver. Head coach Claude Julien, Canadian. Bruins GM, Cam Neely is Canadian. And your two greatest hockey icons, Ray Bourque and Bobby Orr, Canadian. It didn't matter, the abuse continued.
Tuesday we wanted to see some sights. Do the tourist thing. But the verbal abuse that ensued throughout the day just ruined things for both of us. We met up with a couple Vancouver film industry friends of mine at Fenway Park. His experience and stories were much the same.
Game 4 was much the same. Taunts, yelling profanities, personal threats and insults. With the added touch of having beer poured on us. To which I will say that one brave and decent Bruins fan stood up to the hooligans with us, and had the offender ejected from the game. Verbal and physical abuse that continued outside until we were able to get a cab back to our hotel.
Now, to me, the most disturbing part to all of this, is that it all happened with Bruins victories.
I shudder to think what would have happened had the Canucks won one or even both of those games. How would these "fans" have reacted had a Stanley Cup been presented to the Canucks in game 4. We will never know, I think it's safe to say that it would have been the shortest on-ice Cup presentation in modern NHL history.
I don't mean to be down on all of your citizens. We did meet some wonderful, interesting people on our trip. People who tried to make us feel welcome. People who wanted us to feel perfectly comfortable in your city supporting our team. People who genuinely wanted us to be there, and to enjoy what your city has to offer.
Unfortunately for me, in the 4 days I spent in Boston, the negatives far out weighed the positives.
Of all the cities I have traveled to, I am sad to say, that Boston is the one and only that I have ever said that I have no desire to ever return to.
Regretfully,
Vancouver, B.C.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Keep Austin Weird
Okay, it is high time I write a little bit and try to be more productive with my down time. This includes getting back to taking more photographs, and trying to keep this little venting outlet of mine alive and current. So here I am once again with the intention of staying on point, and updating more often. However i do get easily distracted and often times a wee bit lazy.....
Most of you know I am in fact back on the road , and have been since about the 28th of May. We were very fortunate this time around in that we got to have 3 production/rehearsal days in Austin Texas as well as one show in the same venue to kick off this round of Crazy Love touring. Now if you have ever been to Austin then you would understand just why I say we were lucky to have four days in that amazing city to start a tour off. Austin is the Live Music Capital of the world, and this goes without saying. There are more bars, pubs, clubs, parking lots, and general spaces for bands to play than anywhere else in the world. During SXSW, an annual festival that runs in March of every year, thousands of bands, okay maybe hundreds, converge on the city and it is nothing to hear styles ranging from funk to death metal, all within a block or two of each other. Austin is the home of the famous Austin City Limits, both a TV show as well as an annual festival, and it is full of people who march to the beat of their own drum. Often times you will hear people say that Austin has no business being in Texas as it simply does not belong. They have a saying around town, often printed on tshirts that simply states,"keep Austin weird".
Austin is also the home of some pretty serious bbq joints like Stubbs and Ironworks. A few years back I had the pleasure of working for the Magic Numbers who played the SXSW festival and one of our gigs was at Stubbs. Its a cool outdoor venue that packs in about 1500 people and serves alot of BBQ meat!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
