G-Day is the BEST day!

Saturday:

After paying $3.75 for 2 hours of parking downtown, which isn't bad really I guess, I walked down Smith in the icy wind to the Ramada Marlborough. It really is true what they say about the corner of Portage and Main. I was a couple blocks from Main, but crossing Portage Avenue even on Smith was unbelievably windy. It's like the buildings there create an insane wind tunnel. It's unreal.

So I managed to not lose any ears, cause not only was it windy but it was a cold wind, and made it into the hotel. There was a large group of people there in the lobby and I was told that if I wanted to join the murder mystery I was welcome to, just go and sit down. Ah, no, thanks...I'm here to see George. A kind lady that was part of the historical tour of the city showed us (myself and this guy I met in the lobby that was also looking for George) that you had to use the 'special' elevator to get to the 9th floor, where the workshop was. Interesting.

We get to the 9th floor and are shown to the only room there, a small conference type room that had about 4 other people in it already. Tables and chairs and glasses set neatly on each table. Free coffee and donuts too. A main table set up at the front with microphones and everything special like that, felt like a press conference. I find a seat dead center, second table from the front. Yeah! The room slowly started to fill a bit more, but only ended up being maybe 25 people. Very small and cozy.

Right around noon George walks in with Bartley Kives from the Free Press who moderated and kept the discussion rolling. All very calm and cool, he walks up to the front and puts his coat on the chair. Quick test of the microphones and George decides the table is too far away and that we don't need the microphones. ("I paid $150 for those microphones!" LOL!) So he and Bartley pull up chairs right in front of the first table, say hello and off we go.

Way too much discussed to recount. But it was awesome. Bartley asked about George's life and his beginnings as a forklift operator, haha, and on to Humber and radio and tv. As we went along it was all very informal and questions were asked and we went off topic many a time. In the end we got to ask questions and have our say and hear George's and everyone else's. It was fantastic. He shared some insight into how music gets selected to be played on the radio and how videos got selected for play on MuchMusic...talked about what it meant to get your music played on the radio and if it even mattered any more. We spent quite awhile discussing internet radio and getting your music out there via various other sources than the main stream radio. Really interesting stuff. He was charming, candid, honest, insightful, hilarious and everything else you want in a boyfriend...I mean, host, speaker person. Ahem.

He was very genuine and friendly to talk to afterwards too and he didn't leave til he'd talk to everyone in that room that wanted to talk to him and even some that seemed too shy to approach him, he approached them. He was amazing. Myself and another chatty lady talked to him for awhile and she took my photo with him. Yeah! Now I have a slightly less retarded photo of myself with George! Haha. No, it is alot better than the other one, though I do still have a ridiculous grin on my face. He was very sweet and obliging. And just when you thought he couldn't be possibly more endearing, he tells me that after the show wraps on Thursdays he flies to another part of the country to do stuff like this, speak to people...for free. Just about always for free, he says. What a great guy.




It was a truly awesome day. He was such a great speaker and it felt so casual and intimate. It was an amazing experience. Dunno why he'd be reading this, but thanks George for your generosity, time and insight. And big thanks to MARIA for putting the workshop on.
Visit: http://www.manitobamusic.com

Don't forget to check out George on The Hour, Mon-Thurs on CBC Newsworld. http://www.cbc.ca/thehour

And as if that wasn't all awesome enough. What was supposed to be a 2 hour workshop ended up being 3 hours by the time we'd all finished asking questions and chatting with George...my parking had expired an hour before I actually got back to my car and I didn't get a ticket! There is a parking God!

G-Day Part Two - GREEN DAY! - coming soon!