A tough loss for the Als, but memorable experience for one young fan and his parents

The August 8, 2013 game at Percival Molson Stadium pitting the host Montreal Alouettes against the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts had so many things going in its favor.

-An original forecast of rain and thundershowers turned out to be one of the nicest evenings we have seen all summer;

-Als general manager Jim Popp was the new head coach, taking over from the over matched Dan Hawkins;

-The Als did win their last  game and with a 2-3 record a win would place them in a tie with the 3-2 Argos.

Well the Als lost 38-13, falling behind   28-0 at one point. Nonetheless,   family members who saw the game with me from the 10 yard line behind the visitors bench (their first visit ever to the refurbished stadium) had only good things to say. Of course the final score was a disappointment, but there is such  a warm ambiance in this place it is fun to be there. It is fitting that just before the opening kickoff they play the song  Beautiful Day by U2. As I explained to my family, if it were not for a U2 concert at Olympic Stadium many years ago, forcing the Als to switch a game to Percival Molson, we probably would not even have a CFL team now.

Mark Weightman

The Big O  was not working for the Als, a team which had already folded once before. They were brought back to life when the Baltimore Stallions needed a new home. The U2 fix showed that a smaller stadium in the downtown area was just what they needed. After countless years with capacity crowds, the  provincial and municipal governments teamed up with Als owner Robert Wetenhall to invest nearly $30-million in the stadium on the McGill campus. This  included 19 new luxury boxes and 5,000 additional permanent seats, including an upper deck on the south side of the stadium, bringing capacity to 25,012. There is a diamond vision scoreboard, proper concession stands and bathrooms, a good sound system and plenty of in-between the whistle promotions.

Chief Operating Officer Mark Weightman is doing all of the right things, with staffers like community relations manager Denburk Reid making sure the Alouettes branding is strong year-round. Weightman is responsible for the business side of things. Popp must deal with the on field product. The season is only six games old; there are 12 regular season matches to go. Give Popp some time and the Als will be back in the playoffs.

Bernie Lebovits, Natalie Castiel, Daniel Lebovits and Charles-André  Marchand.

When I visited the Als press box at half time, the happiest people in the stadium were probably the father and son team of Bernie and Daniel Lebovits. At the Cummings Centre for Seniors Foundation Sports Celebrity Breakfast last April, Bernie outbid everyone in the room for a chance to sit in the French language radio broadcast booth of 98.5 FM with Charles-André Marchand and Bruno Heppell for a  regular season game.  This was the game. Bernie's wife and Daniel's mom Natalie took in the experience as well. Daniel, wearing a set of earphones and wearing the shirt of his favorite Al ever - the now retired Etienne Boulay - was leaning over the ledge of the broadcast booth breathing in the entire experience.

"Even though the Als lost, Daniel, Nat and myself had a great time being in the booth of 98.5," Bernie told me after the game. "Our wonderful hosts Charles-André Marchand and former Al  Bruno Heppell made it a night to remember. Seeing how a game is called, was thrilling. Along the way, we also met former Al, Anwar Stewart and Danny Deriveaux. These are memories that Daniel will remember for a long time. Most importantly, the donation we made to enjoy this football evening went to help the seniors at the Cummings Centre."

Don't despair Als fans! Suport your team and win or lose you will enjoy the experience of attending a home game.

Auditions set for WISTA's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

WISTA, the West Island Student Theatre Association, is a non-profit organization founded in December 2006 as a way to allow post-secondary students to interact and perform in the wonderful world of musical theatre. I have seen them in action and this is one well oiled machine.

Well it is already that time of year again! Auditions for the first of the upcoming season's two musicals, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, slated for an opening night in January 2014, are happening. Originally appearing as a movie, it has been revived twice since then as a Broadway musical featuring Matthew Broderick and Daniel Radcliffe as the leading man. WISTA is now looking for the cast of business go-getters to support their  leading man.

Individual auditions are going to be held over two days, August 4 and 11 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Church of the Resurrection (99 Mount Pleasant) in  Pointe-Claire.  Call-backs will take place on August 18 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the same location.

To book your audition, e-mail info@WISTA.ca. Upon receipt of your request they will be in touch to give you the exact time of your individualized audition time.

This is a non-Equity and non-paying production. You must be a student enrolled in a post-secondary institution and be between the ages of 17 to 29. Here is a clip from the Broadway show.

Two hundred potential candidates in line for New AM 600 Radio Station

TTP Media may not have finalized plans for a launch date yet of its English news talk radio station at 600 on the AM dial, but that hasn’t stopped the man pegged by Paul Tietolman to run the show from getting ready.

 

Paul Tietolman

“Since January I have been using social media to let Montrealers know there will be a new choice to get their news and to talk about issues of the day on the radio,” says Steve Kowch from his home in Mississauga where he too is waiting for a launch date.

“Two months ago, I reached out on LinkedIn to connect with people in the Montreal area. The results have been overwhelming. More than 1,200 people in Montreal’s English and cultural communities have connected with me on LinkedIn since May.

"My new connections on LinkedIn include young entrepreneurs, college and university grads, actors, entertainers, artists, sales people, office workers, CEOs and moms and dads who are all integrated in Quebec society and are proud to call the Greater Montreal area home.”

 

Steve Kowch

Steve says some are potential contributors to the radio station because of their commitment to Montreal’s English community through their involvement in charities, social services, business or the arts and entertainment scene.

In January, Steve used social media to reach out to people whose dream is to be on the radio to send their resume to steve@kowchmedia.com and tell him what they can bring to the new radio station. So far his inbox has more than 200 potential candidates, including some well known broadcasters who want to work at the new radio station.

“It is amazing the talent out there for not only talk show hosts, but reporters, anchors, producers, sales staff, production and operators,” says Kowch. “It is a gold mine of emerging talent. We will not have a problem of living up to our promises at the CRTC to introduce new and diverse voices on the radio station”

Steve’s latest On The Kowch blog at http://kowchmedia.com/blogs/on-the-kowch provides more information on what the New AM600 – his working title for the new radio station – is going to be all about.

“Choice … this is what it’s all about,” he says. “With the CRTC decision allowing Bell Media to own four of the five English radio stations in Montreal – including the city’s only newstalk station -  the time is right for another English radio station in Montreal with new compelling, opinionated talk show hosts and live local newscasts 24/7.”

To find out what Montrealers want to hear and what they think is missing on Montreal radio, Kowch has launched the montrealneedsam600@gmail.com email address.

“I have a track record in Montreal and Toronto of bringing stations closer to the community by making myself available to listeners to hear what they like and don’t like,"  Kowch says.  "I just want to get the jump on what Montrealers want to hear by providing them a forum to express their opinions before we launch.

“We’re building this station from the ground up. So it is important we get this right before we throw the switch to go on air. What better way to do this, than to ask Montrealers for their input by sending an email with their ideas to montrealneedsam600@gmail.com .”

Day camp enjoys a truly multicultural experience

From the files of Rabbi Menachem Posner.

Over 800 Jewish children from all across the Montreal area joined together to laugh and sing with a Mexican comic and enjoy the antics of two French-Canadian acrobats. How’s that for a multicultural experience?

Rabbi Dovid Weinbaum, coordinator of the annual event, explained: “We call it the inter-camp day, and it’s an opportunity for Jewish kids from a rainbow of Jewish day camps to see kids just like them deepening their connection to Judaism and having a blast. With kids from eight camps servicing preschool to pre-teen, we work hard to create a program that is fun, meaningful, and memorable for everyone.”

A special feature of this year’s program was guest comic Rabbi Benny Hershcovich, who also directs the Chabad center in Cabo S. Lucas, Mexico. A quasi-celebrity due to his popular weekly Youtube videos, which blend slapstick humor and fast-paced Torah thoughts, Hershcovich led the children in reciting Torah verses and singing classic Jewish camp songs as well as an original humorous composition.

A Montreal native, Hershcovich says he was in Montreal, “to give my children a dose of Jewish community. Back at in Mexico, they can sometimes think they are the only Jewish kids in the world. Having them spend a month in Montreal every summer is crucial to their identities. An event like this is by far the biggest Jewish gathering they have ever experienced in their lives, so it is really exciting.” 

Hershcovich was followed by Circo Comedia, a globetrotting duo of daredevils, whose frolics ranged from silly to downright frightening at times.

“It was so awesome,” said six-year-old Veronique Levy of Hampstead, QC, a camper at Camp Gan Israel of TMR and VSL, “I got to see my friends who are in other camps. Rabbi Benny was super-funny, and the acrobats—especially the guy in roller-skates—were so crazy!”

But most important according to Weinbaum, was “the fact that hundreds of children gathered together to learn Torah, strengthen their commitment to Judaism and celebrate. This was our largest crowd ever. It was amazing to see the happy children, singing, clapping and dancing to new and old Hebrew tunes.”

The brainchild of Rabbi Moshe & Dina Krasnanski of Chabad of TMR, and Rabbi Schneur & Leah Silberstein of Chabad of VSL, inter-camp day has become a summer highlight for Quebec campers. The over 800 children in attendance represented: Camp Gan Israel branches in Town of Mount Royal (TMR), Ville St. Laurent (VSL), and Dollard; Camp Ohr Menachem in Côte Saint-Luc; Yeshivah Levi Yitzchak, Beth Rivkah Pre-School, and the boys and girls divisions of Camp Geulah in Côte des Neiges.

City Montreal's Breakfast Television adds charismatic Verdon-Diamond to their team

To say that Catherine Verdon-Diamond made a good impression on me is an understatement. Until recently, she was  CBC TV Montreal’s weeknight 11 p.m. news weather forecaster, a post she only began last December.  Always known as a shrewd judge of talent, CityMontreal executive producer Bob Babinski has signed her up to do weather and traffic for the local Breakfast Television show, set to launch Monday, August 26 at 6 a.m.

Jeffrey Feldman and Catherine Verdon-Diamond,

Joanne Vrakas and Alexandre Despatie will be the  co-hosts,  with Wilder Weir and Laura Casella reporting from different locations.

I went to meet with  supervising producer Jeffrey Feldman, New Media expert Elias Makos and

Elias Makos

segment producer Melanie Porco (who just came over from CTV Montreal).  Verdon- Diamond was a pleasant and surprise addition to my itinerary. She is charismatic, beautiful and made for television. Not bad for someone 37 years young who had never envisioned a career in front of the camera until six months ago. Give a big assist to Shelagh Kinch, the managing director for English services at the CBC.“I was an administrative assistant at CBC when Shelagh one day told me I was going to be doing weather on the weekend news because the regular Sabrina Marandola was away,” Verdon-Diamond told me. “She saw something in me and she decided, ‘you know what Catherine, I think I am going to give you a chance, I think you’d be great on television and if it does not work out we are never putting you back on air.'  I thought about it, I was a little apprehensive but then decided to take a chance. “

Verdon-Diamond is impeccably bilingual. She speaks openly about being adopted at the age of seven months (something she intends to explore on the show). Her dad worked  for Pratt and Whitney, so  the family spent three years in Egypt when she was very young and  four in Israel when she was a teen.

Prior to landing at CBC, she was a senior executive assistant at a production company  called Cineflix.  

 You can see her amazing personality yourself in this video:

As for City, when Babinski first contacted her she thought it was a mistake. “But it was not,” she smiles. “He said  ‘I saw you on TV and I would like to talk.’ We did and two and  a half weeks ago I left CBC. This is a very exciting opportunity.”

I also chatted with the Vrakas, who said she has already become close friends with her new co-host Despatie. “We clicked right away,” she said.

 

Joanne Vrakas