Juno brass snub Randy Bachman
By TOM BRODBECK — Winnipeg Sun
Talk about a slap in the face.
Winnipeg rock legend Randy Bachman spends the past couple of years lobbying to help get the Juno Awards to come to Winnipeg for the first time.
He’s asked by Juno organizers to contact another Winnipeg rock legend, Neil Young, and convince him to perform at the televised event, scheduled for April 3 at the MTS Centre.
Bachman travels to the U.S. and finds Young and gets him to agree.
And what does Bachman get from Hogtown Juno organizers for his enthusiasm and effort? A pig sticker in the eye.
Turns out there are no plans for Bachman to perform at the Junos.
He wants to. But they won’t invite him.
The folks in Toronto didn’t mind using Bachman for their own purposes. But when it came time to pick the lineup for the ceremonies, they told Bachman to sit at the back of the bus.
They want him to hand out an award. That’s it. So Bachman says he may not show up at all.
“Something’s broken there and I don’t know how to fix it without being a dink,” Bachman told Winnipeg Sun entertainment reporter Rob Williams in Toronto this week. “If they don’t want me on the show, what’s the point of going?”
I don’t think Bachman’s the one being a dink here. I think Juno organizers are being dinks.
Burton Cummings, another Canadian rock hero from Winnipeg, isn’t scheduled to perform at the ceremonies, either.
What’s up with that?
The Juno Awards are — finally — being held in Winnipeg and they’re not inviting two of Canada’s most important rock icons who grew up in Winnipeg and launched their music careers here.
These are the guys who blazed the trail for future generations of Canadian talent.
The Guess Who was the first Canadian band to score a No. 1 hit single on the U.S. charts in 1970 with American Woman.
Isn’t there any recognition of that in Toronto among Juno organizers?
Winnipeg has played a tremendous role in the growth of Canada’s music industry.
And now that the Junos are finally being held here, shouldn’t the industry be showcasing that contribution by having pioneers like Bachman and Cummings perform at the ceremonies?
It’s great that Neil Young has agreed to perform at the awards.
But snubbing Bachman the way they have is a low blow.
It’s not only a slap in the face to Bachman. It’s a slap in the face to Winnipeg.
Perhaps not altogether surprising, though, coming from we-are-the-centre-of-the-universe-Toronto.
Perhaps Neil Young should boycott the Junos if they don’t invite Bachman to perform.
After all, if it wasn’t for Bachman, Juno organizers wouldn’t even have Young for the event.
I say we flood Juno organizers with a petition demanding that they invite Bachman to perform at the ceremonies.
Bachman deserves to perform at the Junos.
Let’s speak up on this one.
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