Geo’s Media Blog. (Making Movies) 1/22/18. #5 in 2018.

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A few years ago, I got a call from old friend Ermanno Barone (pictured above with me) who wanted me to become involved in his new filmmaking project. He wanted to build some movie studios back in our hometown of Winnipeg because more and more Hollywood filmmakers were looking at Canada to shoot in. Unfortunately, as Ermanno explained it, they only had Toronto and Vancouver now.
He figured Manitoba would be a perfect place to make movies what with its flat prairie look that was also surrounded by lots of lakes. He planned to build a huge soundstage surrounded by smaller buildings that he would lease to those companies who supplied the filmmakers with everything that they needed to make movies. Ermanno’s plan looked so exciting to the city fathers that they sold him some government land which was right across the river from downtown Winnipeg for a dollar.
What Ermanno wanted from me was a little help with the showbiz part and to sit on his board, but unfortunately, before the project even got underway, he suddenly passed away from pancreatic cancer.
However, before Ermanno’s untimely death, I did get to travel back to Winnipeg to meet with him about the project and to also visit the faux western town he’d already built a few miles out of town to shoot westerns in. Along for the ride were fellow board members Wilson Parasiuk and Ed Schreyer.
Willy (pictured right above with me) like Ermanno, is another longtime Transcona friend who also is the brain of our bunch. In fact, Willy is the only Rhodes scholar ever to come out of TCI and before returning to the private sector to build hospitals in places like Dubai, he’d been the Finance Minister of Manitoba.

Ed Schreyer, (pictured above Willy and me) on the other hand, was Canada’s longtime Governor General after being Manitoba’s Premier for a few years. After walking the streets of Ermanno’s town and feeling like we were in the movie, “High Noon,” we all sat down to lunch. There was no doubt who the lightweight was in this crowd, so I planned to stay quiet and learn. However, when I was introduced to Mrs. Schreyer, and she discovered that I used to play for the Jury, she became very excited because she claimed that she had danced to us at many of the community clubs where we’d played. At some point, she asked me what had happened to all those community clubs and the bands that used to play at them. I explained to her that when the drinking age was lowered to eighteen in Manitoba, it brought an end to the community club era because the kids went to bars instead. She immediately turned to her husband and said, “Ed, you killed the music industry in Winnipeg.”

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

The reason some people would rather text than talk is so they can think about their answers making them appear more intelligent than they are. I wonder why that hasn’t worked on Facebook yet?

73% of Americans would prefer a benevolent dictator ’cause the voting thing just ain’t working out for them; they’d rather stay home and watch TV.
 
How does a person who qualifies for food stamps, afford a thousand dollar iPhone?
 
The longest distance you’ll ever travel is going from how it is, to how you want it to be.
 
When a woman dumps you, it’s not in your best interest to be her friend.
 
The only way to get a raise is to make management afraid that you’re going to leave. Don’t look now but they don’t appear to be nervous. 
 
Getting free money from the government should be just as difficult as it is getting it from other sources. 
 
If considering a move to Canada, you may want to consider this … The far right is just a little left of center. 
 
I guess you’re really f**ked if you’re out of whack, whatever whack is?
 
As in life, the only way to become a good sailor is by sailing the rough seas. 
 
When you live in the past, your future becomes nothing more than a sequel.
 
Women who are treated as sex objects are usually dressed as such.
 
Mysterious women are only exciting if you don’t love them.
 
The only way you can see your future is by imagining it.
 
Just as women aren’t as innocent as they appear to be, men aren’t as dumb as they appear to be.
 
When a woman picks out the man that she wants to be the father of her babies, I wish him luck on his not becoming a father.
 
Doctors are just like car mechanics; there is no way that they are allowing you to leave their office without finding something wrong with you.
 
After just coming off a train ride from LA to Chicago and having ridden trains all over America, my fellow travelers and I all agree that Chicago is where the attitude of the Amtrak employees begins sucking.
 
I think the first lie I ever heard was that we were all created equal. The truth is that some of us are gonna have to work harder than others instead of just whining about it.
 
Fame unveils who we were all along whereas political correctness hides it.
 
With only one original member still in the band and with some ticket prices going for a couple of grand, has got to make the Eagles the most expensive cover band of all time. Hell, even the Guess Who from Winnipeg are outed, and they have two sometimes three originals still in the band. 
 
You can never make enough money to make up for the fact that you despise your job.
 
When the guy who lives next door to you makes as much from welfare as you do working for a living, how long do you suppose it will be until you finally say, “The hell with it?” 
 
The method used to harvest rating data more determines what radio station is #1 than how many people may be listening to a particular radio station does.
 
The good thing about rednecks is that at least most of them have a good work ethic.
 
I wish that I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then about women.
 
Speaking of women, just like with men, a lot of what they know is simply not true.
 
Why must we be for all things that are left, can’t we be for some things that are right?
 
The problem with ideas is that everybody has them.
 
Just because a bunch of accountants paid too much for radio stations and are unable to keep up the mortgage payments, doesn’t change the fact that according to Neilson, 93% of all Americans listen to the radio. What other product can make that claim?
 

Speaking of listeners, the folks spend almost 60% of their radio time listening to the stations they love, 30% with the ones they like and 10% with those they just kinda overhear. The trick is to turn the likes into loves, the people who love you have no more to give.

You may have to win the last battle to win the war.

What causes a blind person to be racist.

I wonder what the Queen thinks of the Netflix series “The Crown?”

So it’s Philly and Boston in Minneapolis on the 4th huh.

Stuff about #Canada’s GovernorGeneral, #Ermanno Barone and #Willy Parasiuk and some #Geo #LifeLiners above. Much more@ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 
 

 

 

 

 

12 thoughts on “Geo’s Media Blog. (Making Movies) 1/22/18. #5 in 2018.

  1. George, Does Netflix U.S. have a different title on the “Queen” series? It is called “The Crown” up here…..

  2. Margaret Mayer: Nice one Geo- and great pics of you and Ermanno, Ed, and Willy. I also enjoyed the quotes, with the exception of the elbow to women. I will keep marching every year to remind you. I think Wilma and Lilly will too. See you at the Super Bowl!
    xoxoxo with Love from the Berkeley Hills, looking over the San Francisco Bay. (Making Movies)

  3. Hi George,
    Our friend from home, Ermanno died of pancreatic cancer.
    I tried to help him with the alternative immunotherapy approach that saved my life from untreatable cancer 34 years ago. Ermanno was too far gone for it to work. Also, he had a nightmare in the hospital and pulled out all his tubes wrecking any hopes for him. Sad!
    Subsequently, 4 people with pancreatic cancer have tried the alternative approach I used and are alive, with no side effects. This approach is inexpensive and can’t be patented so drug companies are not interested. The various cancer agencies seem to be caught up with the drug companies. Money keeps pouring in on the supposed ‘ War on Cancer’ but outcomes remain mediocre at best, and terrible for pancreatic cancer. Pity!
    Keep trucking, my friend.
    Willy

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