Hey, Canada, especially you Winnipegers, I think I may have a solution for our home and native sons.
For those who don’t know, way back in the day, Randy Bachman played for a group called Chad Alan and The Expressions, Burton Cummings played for the Deverons, and I played for The Jury.
All of us performed at most of the Winnipeg Community Clubs plus we all shared the same dream. Cutting records!
Unbelievably, our dreams did come true and we all had tunes on the charts. However, then things began to change. Randy and Burton came together and formed the supergroup The Guess Who, and I left the band business for the radio business.
As you know, the Guess Who had a string of hit records, but then Randy left to form Bachman Turner Overdrive.
Burton continued with the Guess Who, and they both had a lot of hits.
Now it starts to get ugly when Burton decides to leave The Guess Who and become a single.
When he leaves, the bass player, Jim Kale, registers the Guess Who name, which means that Burton and Randy can no longer use it without paying Kale a hefty fee. Ouch!
To make matters even worse, when the copyright on the Guess Who music runs out, Burton grabbed up the publishing.
This, of course, caused a big rift between him and Randy, which I believe still exists today.
Now, the latest drama is that Burton and Randy have come together to sue Kale’s Guess Who group for using the songs they wrote.
Can you spell “Big Mess?”
My solution? Randy and Burton should buy back the Guess Who name from Kale, allowing them to tour the world as the original Guess Who.
Then, just like The Eagles, they individually could perform their non-Guess Who hits as part of the show making it even bigger..
Randy could continue to tour as BTO, and Burton could still do his popular one man show and of course play with his band.
Also, to keep peace in the family, Burton should sell Randy half the publishing on all the songs they wrote together.
We may need to bring in the big guns like John Einerson to help out because these guys may be sp blinded by their rage that they can’t see the light.
Unfortunately, they’re running out of time.
COMMENTS
@Ray Whitworth: Trump is a mob boss; he acts like one with his puppets and stirs up gullible at his rallies to violence. He’s borrowed from Hitler in syntax, oratory, and ideas.
Geo: Strange how only Democrats feel this way, Ray; we right-leaning Centrists just think of him as a clown.
@DaveCharles: Go Oilers. I was in Edmonton working at CHQT when the Oilers were trying to get into the NHL. Bill Hunter owned them. Then one night, I got to do the PA and penalty announcements at the game when Gordie Howe was playing against the Houston Arrows. Howe got an elbowing penalty. I get on the PA and say, “‘Number 9 Gordie Howe, 2 minutes for a WICKED elbow, time 12 24.” My PA booth was between the two penalty boxes. Howe looked up at me, twitching, and shook his head, and laughed. Then I got an urgent call from Bill Hunter, the owner, saying DON’T ADLIB AROUND ANY PENALTIES …DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? Yes, sir, I do. The bastard docked my pay for the PA work by $ 25.00 for my adlibing skills. What the fuck. I look back on that moment in time. I started my on-air career in Hamilton at the Forum doing Jr. A and Jr B hockey games, so I had lots of experience. Adding humour was not a good idea, especially when the Oilers lost the game. Young and full of adventure, I cost myself my talent fee. So many people commented on what I did. Add some colour to a blood sport, I say. I could have been a contender!!! Dave Charles is still a crazy mother f**ker.
Geo: Great story, Mr. Charles, and it supports my theory that the good stuff always comes from the innocent folks who don’t know what the hell good stuff is. Oh, and we sent the oilers home weeping.
@Doug Erickson: Bill Gardner and Bill Lee are the best air talents I ever heard. I actually got to work with Bill Lee, and I’ll always regret not getting to work with Bill Gardner. (6/10/24)
Geo: Doug, as you missed out on Bill Gardner, I missed out on Bill Lee, but I believe things turned out alright for all of us.
@AndreGardner: Couldn’t agree more with your comment about my brother Bill Gardner. He is the gold standard, George! (6/10/24)
Geo: True Dat!
![](https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/3HKA3IYz2ZqF745MAiGH5vf9XXamuVlMIrSQHcn7c9vvXo5WxcxV0LNFqj-DfG4FN0WS1bjD5OT6yOixVFLKcELX0PMaV9HWlufIrbPhzIYBM__ZUXF8ywp6usaeApXg_STzJWa4FqCX_RyzP3KWOgetdIJmq1jIVTg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://georgejohns.com/the-blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/11039459_10153637862849307_216853826_n-1.jpg)
Like this:
Like Loading...