Bernie Jessome
Fan Club Monthly Letter
From the President
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July, 2007 Happy 140th Birthday Canada!! Hello to everyone and welcome back. Hoping your July 1st long weekend was a safe and happy one. On July 6th Bernie was in Terrace B.C. with the Legend show. He as Roy and Tom, [don’t have last name] from North Caroline as Elvis. The celebration is “The Crabfest” a two day celebration that takes place in a little community outside Terrace B.C. Bernie will be performing for 3,000 people or so. This is an annual celebration and is well known as lots of fun... When I asked Bernie about the above Venue his first comment was… Wow! what can I say? That was an awesome experience being at “Crabfest”. The Festival was located three hours north of Terrace B.C. We flew two hours from Vancouver to Terrace. At this time we checked into our hotel and proceed with the trip to our destination by charter bus for two hours which was as far as the road went. The drive was through the steep Rockies, which were beautiful. But, like I said it was a tiring trip. I had wondered if our charted Greyhound would make all those hills…it did! This Festive celebration was being held at the Gingolx Reserve and it is called the Gingolx / Kincolith Crab Fest... what a beautiful place…surrounded by the Rockies and lakes, apparently, just over one hill was Alaska. I would like to thank them for their hospitality and kindness. I will do this by sending them a copy of this letter and a profound thank you. “What Great Folks” When we arrived festivities were in full swing with lots of food and booths set up. We entertainers had a nice V.I.P. tent with unlimited food and drink available. However, instead of opening the show we closed it, going on at 11p.m. to 1:30 a.m. In between there were awesome act’s; included in these were famed sight disabled guitar player, Jeff Healey, who is very well known. He was phenomenal and coincidently I knew his keyboard player well, so I had the opportunity to meet Jeff and have a picture taken of him and I. Our show was very well received and not one soul left during our performance, they stayed to the very end! We left there happy but exhausted at 2 a.m... We then drove back to the hotel in Terrace arriving at 4:30 a.m. and getting up again at 6:am to catch our flight back to Van. While in Van I checked to see if I could get on an earlier flight rather than our flight at midnight. Luckily I got on a noon flight and was back home at 9”00 p.m. and slept in my own bed. July 14th had Bernie, Lori, and Jeff along with the Paco Dizano great band called the “Casino Brothers” performing at the community hall in Zurich, ON. Bernie also informed me that they had found out about the show on our website. I wasn’t sure where Zurich was, so once again, I began a search and I wasn’t far off… located along Ontario’s West Coast and only one hour from London or Port Huron and it’s only two and a half hours from Toronto or Detroit. Now for our Hilltop Report www.thehilltop.ca/ [Soon to be under construction] July 21 & 22 at the Hilltop we had a beautiful new menu… Buffet, choice, chicken kabobs, prime rib roast, salmon, a pasta dish, Parisian potatoes, mixed vegetables - carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. Salad is your choice of, House or Cesar, choice of dressing. Beverage is tea or coffee. Strawberry Short Cake being the desert this evening. Cake was served with the usual smiling faces of the server’s, while the dinner guest enjoys their dinner with the expectation of the great show to follow… Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis! Buddy Holly opened the show, what can you say about our Buddy except lively, fast moving, crowd pleasing and doing a super job of keeping our memories of Buddy Holly alive. Buddy gave us lessons, once again, for the ‘Hand Jive”. He had us all practice the hand gestures a few times then away we went doing the Hand Jive along to the beat of his music. Here, once again, is the website where you can practice your Hand Jive - www.billyfurry.com/gen/handjive.html for next show. Bernie / Roy Orbison entertained us with an amazing performance. I’m one of his greatest fans and pay tribute to his uncanny presence and sound of Roy Orbison quite often, but at this show you would have to say that Bernie was not single-handedly singing those songs! Bernie began his performance with, the all time great, Pretty Woman which very obviously pleased the audience and me. While Bernie is on stage singing my thoughts are… “Roy Orbison is in the building” It was a performance that I will never forget. During Bernie’s appearance I had a mixture of thoughts such as… how many different pitches of that man’s voice are there? Sam Orbison who wrote…When Bernie sings he gives me goose bumps! Me too Sam! It’s very evident the audience is appreciating his talent. The end of his set already? While Bernie is singing did you ever notice the many range’s of his voice? Add to that the presence of Roy he has, his new suits and guitar strap, but once again I neglected checking out the boots! The music is loud and the voices sometimes are not as clear but I have heard other comments about his voice from others; not directly to me, but in general conversation during the intermission. That’s our Bernie! Next were the Everly Brothers, Don and Phil looking their finest, and with those smiling faces that told us they are enjoying what their doing. As I glanced at the crowd it was instantly recognizable that they were also enjoying what Don and Phil were doing. Bernie and his mike gave us some additional entertainment during their performance. While they were singing Berne’s mike began to quiver and at one time it looked as though it may have hit him in the lip. Bernie with his sense of humour played it perfect. His facial expressions were priceless; each time it would start to vibrate again there would be another of his facial expressions that reminded me of the clip of Elvis I had seen. Elvis is sitting on a stool, with a towel around his neck, singing and keeping the beat by tapping his foot on the floor and at which time his mike went from normal taunt position to hanging towards the floor!.. Elvis showed many facial expressions also showing his sense of humour! Next was the great Jerry Lee Lewis with a whole lot of shaking and singing! Jerry was right ready to go but was his drummer and his piano? If you will remember the last time he was here his drummer was not quite prepared to start on time but hail to duct tape the drummer was ready and the famous piano required a slight repair; Bernie then proceeded to announced the Killer which in turn set the show in motion, that not being in a slow way. Jerry ended with standing ovation and a invite back. At this show everything was where it should be, doing what it should do and as being introduced The Killer enters the stage and not in a shy way, which then started the show and definitely not in a slow way. Jerry Lee was at one point, playing his piano with his feet. Another time while he was laying on his back he was reaching down to play the keys while all this time his piano was smoking and the whole while he is singing, right on tune. There were not many songs forgotten from Jerry Lee’s era. Then the drinks came from the audience, he tells his jokes, takes request all this while singing in between statements and the odd sip. At the end of his set, actually remembered the requests he was asked to do. .. Standing ovation, come back again. I ask you - where can you go other than to the Hilltop for an evening out and have the atmosphere of the Hilltop dinning room, their several choices of first rate food, great desserts, and excellent service from smiling servers. No parking fee. Standing Ovations Entertainment. Let’s take a moment and break this down; this $50.00 tax out cost for an evening, where there’s lots of entertainment – choice of great food such as prime rib roast dinner, Salmon, Chicken, Pasta dish. Mixed vegetables, carrots, broccoli, beans, cauliflower and Parisian potatoes. Coffee, tea and desert, seconds at no charge… Please come out to one of our shows and experience our hospitality, menu and entertainment. Bernie has a fan named Paul, who at one time was his rodie, carrying all the gear and who, at a later date, became his road manager and a very good friend. Paul is reminiscing with us in this story that will follow.. While I’m reading his thoughts it brought to mind a man named Paul Harvey who wrote what was called…The Rest of the Story. He would go behind the scenes, find the newest facts on things we would have never heard about and forward them to us, the listeners, in the story form of… Paul Harvey and the rest of the story! But in Paul’s case it’s…Paul Carlin’s stories of yesteryears in the form of - You Now Know Another Story.… Paul first met Bernie back in 1978/79. Ray Elliott, Pat Nash and Mike Firth, all former members of the Newcomers, were putting a band together and they used my basement of my home for auditions. A fellow by the name of John Slorach, who at this time worked full time with Bernie at the Toronto Harbour Commission, knew Bernie was looking for a band and also knew that Ray, Pat and Mike were looking for a lead singer… Along came our Bernie, once again, not missing a step or a beat, and thus the birth of “Showcase” Paul was the rodie, carrying all the gear, Bernie had a lot of contracts, was working full time, as I said, at the Toronto Harbour Commission so we played only on week-ends which was fine for most of us. Ray and Mike were full time musicians and needed more gigs than just week-ends. They in turn left and formed a new band along with a few Irish friends and called themselves “Jaunting Car” Now there are two openings and Gail, who is a fan member [see her fan comment on our fan page] and another John joined in. Along with Bernie’s singing and as the saying goes…the band played on! Paul also shared the following fun part of the “Now you know more of the story”… One night they had a gig in Bolton ON. at the hockey arena. He went on to say he always went early as did Bernie to do his sound check. The theme of the evening was a Casino Night. There were a lot of people who were setting up the tables & booth’s at the back making sure all was ready for the show and that the theme of the evening was all in place. While doing the sound check Bernie, of course, begins singing and he sang the National Anthem. Well, his voice blew them away and they all stopped working to listen. Well if you know Bernie and an audience you know that he just went on singing. When he had finished he turned to me and said that he had always wanted to sing the National Anthem in a hockey arena at least once. He went on to say that he was sorry everyone had stopped working because of the National Athem. I informed him they had stopped to listen to his voice not because of the National Athem. Bernie, you sang the American Anthem not the Canadian one. With that Bernie laughed and asked me why I didn’t make him aware of that and he began chasing me all around the stage. After that part of my job was to remind him what Anthem to sing. From that day on I became his Road Manager… and now you know another story! Paul, thank you for sharing your memories of Bernie’s career with us... Not to forget Valerie, thanks for locating and re-sending it. I lost Paul’s e-mail on this when my computer had a problem in the e-mail dept. I had e-mailed you all about the problem and changed my fan club e-mail address. Thank you all who responded saying that they received the change. Paul sends Bernie and I his stories as he recollects them; remember this, these stories are coming as far back as1978. Bernie is to read them, add his comments, as well as how he re-calls the occasion. At this point in time Bernie then passes the story onto me, which in turn I place in our letters to you, our fans so you will know more about another story!! Bernie had been away, busy, all the usual things and the letter slipped through the system with out him reading it, so this time we have Bernie’s comments as how he recalled the story added on. First John Slorach didn’t work at the Harbour Commission; he was playing in a band with Pat Nash. Gail Selkirk; the well known 60’s band in Toronto called the “Major Hooples Boarding House”. They broke up in the late 60’s. I advertised for an experienced Keyboard Player and she applied. Immediately I hired her. Gail was a genius on the keyboard and also had a beautiful voice. [Streisand voice] Gail was about five feet tall and weighed about 100 lbs. When she sang people would turn to see where this powerful voice was coming from and it was coming from this wee girl! What a wonderful personality she has. We lost her when her better half, Vic, [another gem] got a great job with Proctor Gamble in Stratford. Years ago we did a show in Stratford so Nancy and I went to visit them. We were introduced to Gail’s 9 year old son. He sat down at Gail’s grand piano and proceeded to play. He played as well as any pro I have heard…Gail has taught him well. Gail has also written brail music for folks with sight disabilities, What you have just read is the short story of my short great friend, with the heart of gold, whom I will always love. Now as for my good friend Paul Carlin, Road Manger for “Showcase”. We loved him and his wife, Val. We used to practice at Paul’s place Wed. night; but the Irishman would always have lots of beer available, so by the weekend I would never remember what we learned! His two adorable kids, Vicki and wee Paul were absolute delights. Tragically, a number of years back, wee Paul was killed by a car while working on a road crew. What a tragic loss, what a great son and person he was. Vicki is living in B.C., where Paul and Val reside. I have seen her on a few of my tours. She is still the happy go lucky great kid she always was; which in a large part comes from great parenting. Yes, Paul has a great sense of humour He also worked like a dog for us. The Royal York hotel was one of the hardest places for bands to get in and out of. The Canadian Room was on the second floor, whenever we played there prior to Paul, whoever was taking our equipment in could never get the elevator because it was always filled with chairs.. The first night Paul worked with us; I arrived at 8:00 p.m. for 9:00 p.m. show. The place was packed, and Paul was there dressed to the nine’s, smelling like Irish clover. He had arrived at 3:00 p.m. not only did he get the elevator but he took me back to the room, opened the door to the elevator and there was the truck, ready for load-out! I said, Paul, how did you manage to talk these people into this? Paul’s reply…I have me ways! Any way, it was a tough job he had, but he would slug it out, then shower somewhere, and become the Manager for the rest of the evening. One night there during the show I ripped the rear end of my tux, and Val was there at intermission to mend them…while I wore them!! Some fancy stitching because she didn’t stick me once! Val, thank you again!, In the June Fan letter I was speaking about Bernie’s Black & White Show at Jonny B’s in Ajax. I had mentioned there would be a video available; we have the video but no sound on it… better luck next time. Bernie’s future shows – His Hilltop Dinner Shows, plus his personal appearances. Now you can make a note of it, make time for it, order your tickets early for it, that way you won’t miss it, and now enjoy it! At The Hilltop Sept. 14-15 – Garth Brooks & Ricky Nelson… Get your tickets early; remember last time we sold out very early. Bernie’s Personal Appearances August 23 – Clinton Raceway – Bernie - As part of the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation Fundraiser. August 25 – Admiral Inn – Lindsay ON. – Bernie & Jeff – This is an open dinner to the public. Tickets - $50.00 plus tax… Bernie Jessome Entertainment – 905-433-8838 Visa The Hilltop – 905-433-7001 Cash - visit after 12:00 pm at 1540 King St. E. Courtice, ON
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