L’Orchestre Symphonique de Skydome!

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Superman/Tequila/Argo’s Theme

I’m not sure when I first felt the urge to perform Canada’s national anthem at a major sporting event, but recently I finally had my chance, but not as some grand-standing soloist. Proudly sporting my new FLUTIE jersey, this is a photo of yours truly taken in the Rogers Centre after a recent Argos game where my dream came true. Still often referred to as The Skydome, Toronto’s Rogers Centre is of course named after the late Ted Rogers (1933-2008), who transformed Canada’s media landscape – and who’s legacy in part inspires this post.

It is actually due to his efforts that I enjoy this Internet connection, that I’m able to put together this post to share with the world…and, with my ROGERS cable connection, that I can have a late night-movie on in the background as I write…uh, Eight-Legged Freaks, if you must know! There may be those in our midst who grumble about their latest ROGERS bill, but with his death yesterday morning, I say credit where credit’s due, and let’s show some respect for his visionary accomplishments.

Some of you might recall that I was impressed band that I heard up in the bleachers at a Toronto Marlies hockey game last spring. I recounted that experience in the rather droll Surfin’ USA. What unfolded afterwards is that I soon joined their ranks and found myself unwittingly a full-fledged member of the Argonotes, the official pep band for the Toronto Argonauts. It would be an understatement to say that playing flute with the Argonotes has proven to be lot of fun, as I discovered at a half-dozen home games this year. It’s a great view from our stage just behind the end-zone, as long as you keep your eyes open for the ball during field goal attempts, and, if you’ll forgive me a football joke, I guess you might even call me an Argo’s ‘convert’!

Okay, so back to the anthem thing…at the last home game of the season, the band was invited to provide the ‘official’ playing of O Canada, which I thought was pretty cool. Naturally, we took it up-tempo – our signature style – and I suspect that we set a record for the shortest version of our national anthem ever played! No saccharin sentimentality for this fine ensemble!

You can get a glimpse of our fine performance of O Canada in the link below, along with our rendition of Smoke on the Water among other classics. Just by chance some of the guys from TFO’s very witty show VOLT were on the case, documenting the best pep band of the CFL…The Argonotes, or, in this case: L’Orchestre Symphonique de Skydome.