Pottawa & Opera

I think it's fantastic when someone like Michael Potter - a retired high-tech guy - gives all kinds of money to the Arts.

For an Opera Lyra matinee of Puccini's 'Turandot' for which a couple of thousand school kids were shipped in to the NAC, Mr. Potter donated tens of thousands of dollars to pay for the entire performance.

This act of munificence comes from a fellow who once ran Cognos Inc. and also has to annually fork out an egregious amount of money (a Canadian record) to an unmentionably avaricious woman who knew a good thing when she found it.

So where are the other Michael Potter's of Ottawa? This city is rife with wealth, but funding for the Arts on a municipal level, is fiscally as dry as Larry O'Brien's scalp. This place could be a hotbed of cultural activity without relying so much on what seems to be the same tireless individuals constantly tilting at windmills. Impresarios such as Julian Armour continually come across more red tape than he has volunteers - the altruistic grass-roots people that really keep this place alive.

As an aside, too bad Potter's nephew wasn't Harry, then he could fill his vintage aviation museum with a series of Quidditch broomsticks, and really make the sky the limit.

CBC's big Dick

Why do Canadian cultural institutions constantly insist on hiring toxic bureaucrats who know very little about Canadian culture?

CBC in its finite wisdom six years ago hired Richard Stursberg - the man who nearly destroyed Telefilm because he was interested solely in making the place an American cloning device. It may have ended up being a financially viable idea, except the decision-makers responsible decided to green-light absolute clap-trap - devoid of any indigenous character whatsoever. They were expensive movies with cardboard actors, generic plots, and huge financial losses. Telefilm finally got rid of him, as did CBC just a month ago, for similar reasons.

Stursberg became hated by virtually every employee of the CBC because of his smugness, weird non-sequiturs, and for making Peter Mansbridge stand up while reading the news.

His other accomplishments include:

- a bitter 7 week lockout during his second year
- the loss of the broadcasting contract for the Olympics
- the loss of the broadcasting contract for the Grey Cup
- the loss of the broadcasting contract for curling
- the loss of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song
- the complete revamping of Radio 2 which has lost 20% of its faithful fan base
- the complete revamping of CBC Newsworld which has lost viewers to CTV
- sold off 1000 hours of CBC programming assets to foreign distributors

Ian Morrison, a spokesman for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, says Stursberg was appointed "as a complete outsider" with no previous radio or television production, scheduling or marketing experience.

In fact, Stursberg didn't even know that CBC had a radio station when he accepted the job...until he pretty much destroyed it.

He was most likely chosen because he is the son of famed foreign correspondent - Peter Stursberg - who ran around the world, reporting back to Canada, but hardly living here. That means little Ricky didn't grow up with 'Friendly Giant' & 'Don Messer's Jubilee' and doesn't give a rat's ass about what makes this country distinctive from the States.

So now Head Honcho of CBC - lawyer and sports colour commentator, Hubert Lacroix - has dismissed Richard Stursberg, saying: "We are in the midst of developing a new strategic plan that will guide CBC/Radio-Canada through the next five years. This is the opportune time to bring new leadership...." meaning, the CBC has no idea what direction it's taking, as long as it's not Richard Stursberg's.

Gosh, Telefilm could have told Lacroix that seven years ago. But at least Stursberg was savvy enough to buy 'Jeopardy' and 'Wheel of Fortune.' Fortunately, Alex Trebek just happens to be a Ukrainian-Canadian from Sudbury.

Singing in Canada

Canada has produced an amazing array of musicians - the list of top-notch classical singers alone is enough to make St. Cecilia ratchet up her organ bench to its top notch. One only needs to consider early beacons of warbling icons such as Emma Albani, Lois Marshall, Maureen Forrester, Jon Vickers, George London and Louis Quilico. Today we have singers such as Isabel Bayrakdarian, Measha Brueggergosman, and much easier ones to spell, such as Ben Heppner and Gerald Finley. But what is it in this country that keeps spawning such uvulatic behemoths? I have a few theories, but the most important attributes which all of these great artists have shared are the unbelievably long Canadian winters and Kraft Dinner. Historically, it has been just too freaking cold to do anything but stay indoors, vocalize, and build up a tremendous reserve of carbohydrates. Kraft Dinner to the Canuck singer is as the potato was to the 19th century Irishman - lots of starch, inexpensive and no fuss to prepare.

(A little talent may have something to do with it too).