Govfest 2018

Last updated on April 29th, 2021 at 10:51 pm

I think it’s possible to have fun with just about anything we do.

Govfest: Because We Do More Than Just Sit Behind Our Desks.

There to Care—A Spotlight on Father Figures by Dove Men+Care—Paul Burns

Back in 2009, after jumping from the Ontario Public Service’s internship program to a contract opportunity that didn’t end so well, I started working for someone who wound up profoundly changing my life.

A Night Thirteen Years in the Making

If you’ve never met Paul Burns, I promise that you’re missing out.

As a guy I’ve worked for three times now, I can tell you some stories about this guy. Like how the question right after my introduction at our first team meeting was what instrument I played. Or that even as a white guy from the depth of Winnipeg, Manitoba, he’d routinely have some of the most diverse teams known to the organisation. He’s a special kind of guy, and it’s that kind of guy who you need to run something like Govfest—the annual battle of the bands in support of the United Way and Ryan’s Well, running more than a dozen years now!

The Abridged Story of the Band Called the Calamities…

There was once a band called The Calamities, with whom I sang a bunch of songs. We actually took Govfest’s People’s Choice Award home a few years running, because with twelve or thirteen bandmates with friends who wanted to see them, how could you not?

But after life came along and changed things up for the lot of us, we all went our separate ways, and I thought that’d be that.

Yeah… Govfest had other plans.

As the show got bigger and bigger each year, they wanted a flashier finale that’d keep the audience living in the moment.

And that, friends, is how I became the annual MC for the Govfest finale.

The Calamities | Martha and the Vandellas “Heatwave”

Last updated on December 12th, 2020 at 02:28 am

Last Updated: December 12, 2020

The first of the videos to surface of The Calamities’ performance last Thursday! One of Carny’s friends brings you “Heatwave”.

Another classic done Calamities style! Please note that without monitors on stage, the singers couldn’t hear themselves sing.

Which is the reason I’m giving you for sounding like I’m yelling.

I can sing, really. I’ll prove it to you sometime!

I’ll karaoke with the best of ’em…!

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