Speaker’s Corner
A Stories From The Jukebox Story
Calling all Poets, Fiction or Non Fiction Writers that love music - Share your prose of 1500 words or less, using the prompt Brian Wilson.
The reality is I could have chosen any Barenaked Ladies song for today’s prompt as this prompt is more about an event rather than a song. I chose Brian Wilson because it is my favourite song of theirs and the fact that Brian Wilson, the musician, would play it in his concerts from time to time. To me this makes it just that much more special. I was fortunate to see The Barenaked Ladies live at Massey Hall in Toronto during the early part of their career. It was quite an enjoyable event.
Here is an article about Brian Wilson, the musician and the song, and the Barenaked Ladies.
https://rock95.com/bnl-brian-wilson/
Prompt for: Stories from the Jukebox
Prompt by Bill Ferguson 🇨🇦
Prompt: Brian Wilson by the Barenaked Ladies
This story is a blending of fiction with a real life event.
It was lightly raining on a Tuesday March night in Toronto.
“The guy at the hotel said there were bars and live bands along Queen St.”
“We’re on Queen Street.”
“No bars yet.”
They walked on.
“I wonder what 1992 is going to look like.”
“We’ll know in nine months.”
“I guess so. Has to be better than the past couple of years.”
“Let’s forget that stuff and enjoy our vacation.”
“Hey! Look at this. It’s a TV Studio.” They looked up. City TV said the sign. They stood looking in the window for a few minutes as cameras were moved around.
Raffi smiled. “It looks like they are setting up for the news broadcast.”
“The big screen is ready,” observed Neil.
“I need a drink,” added Raffi as they turned and walked along the building.
“That’s quite the lineup,” observed Neil as they spied people standing outside the building in groups of 2 to 5. “I wonder what is going on.” Neil and Raffi stepped closer to the building to get out of the drizzle. They stopped beside the door and read:
“Any subject, any time. Open 24 hours a day. Every day of the year. Forever.”
Neil turned to Raffi as they watched City TV, live, through the window “I wonder what that means?”
Five young guys with a guitar and not much else were walking by and overheard the conversation.
“It’s a video recording booth,” one replied. “I noticed your accents. You are not from around here are you?” His friends kept walking and joined the queue.
“We just flew in from St. John’s for a vacation,” Neil replied. “There is nothing like this where we live.”
“We heard there was live music in the area, were walking by and saw the sign,” Raffi added.
“I’m Ed,” said the guy with the guitar. “You are at Speakers Corner.”
“Neil.”
“Raffi. They record what you have to say?” he asked, rather surprised. “Does this mean anyone can be on TV?”
One of Ed’s friends came over to join them. “The guys are waiting in line. We need to practice a bit.”
“Okay, I will be there in a minute.” His friend wandered back to the line.
Turning back to Neil and Raffi, Ed explained, “Anyone. Any time, as the sign says. It costs one dollar. You get 2 minutes. Everything that happens in there is recorded. It gets edited to fit the station’s needs and if you are not rude or insulting, some of it will make it onto the air. Rants, big-ups, shoutouts, jokes, music performances, kudos, political diatribes, songs, marriage proposals are all welcome.”
“You’re kidding?” Neil blurted out.
“Nope. Every time it’s on TV we catch it. Some of those moments are pure gold. Even some famous people have dropped by. Mike Myers, Harrison Ford, Madonna, Weird Al Yankovic, and Will Ferrell have all given it a go. A friend told me that Prince has driven by and given the corner a thumbs up.”
“This is bigger than we thought,” Neil said, turning to Raffi. “What do you say we get in line?”
“Excellent idea,” Raffi intoned with a small smirk.
“My band and I are going to perform a song we have written. Let’s go down and join my group.” They walked along eagerly. “What are you going to record in the studio?” Ed inquired.
“Maybe a Jig,”
“Hey guys,” said Ed as they joined his friends. “This is Neil and Raffi.”
“Nice to meet you. Steve.”
“Andy.”
“Tyler.”
“Jim.”
“What are you doing for the taping,” inquired Steve.
Raffi and Neil looked at each other and started to sing.
I’se The B’y that builds the boat and I’se The B’y that sails her and I’se The B’y that catches the fish and Brings ‘em home to Liza
The band started clapping and joined in rather raucously.
Hip-yer-partner Sally Thibault Hip-yer-partner Sally Brown Fogo, Twillingate, Morton’s Harbour, All around the circle Salts and rinds to cover your flake, Cake and tea for supper Cod fish in the spring of the year, Fried in maggoty butter
As they finished, those waiting around broke out into applause.
“Thank you. Thank you,” deadpanned Steve. “I hope we passed the audition!”
“What are you performing?” Raffi inquired, noting the guitar.
“We have a couple of things we could do. Like this one.”
If I Had $1000000 (If I Had $1000000) I’d buy you a house (I would buy you a house)
The guys smiled as the band hammed it up a bit.
“Or we could do this one,” added Tyler.
You can be my Yoko Ono You can follow me wherever I go
They stopped as the line moved forward.
“Where’d you learn to do that funny stuff in the songs?” Raffi inquired.
Jim smiled. “We were on tour with Corky and the Juice Pigs. They have a musical comedy routine. We liked what we saw and adapted a bit of it to our shows.”
“Although I think we have been funny all along,” laughed Tyler.
“Makes it interesting.”
“Or we could do this new song,” said Steve.
Drove downtown in the rain nine-thirty on a Tuesday night, just to check out the late-night record shop.
The line moved forward again.
“Which one do you think we should do,” asked Steve a little mischievously.
“Hey look!” yelled Jim. “It’s a marriage proposal!” They looked through the window and watched as the young woman pushed her hands to her face, gave a vigorous nod and leapt to her feet showering her husband to be in kisses. They joined hands and walked out the door where the band played The Wedding Song.
“Congratulations,” the guys yelled as they filed past the newly engaged couple into the studio.
Ed turned at the door and whispered. “Be My Yoko Ono.” He closed the door.
BNL Speakers Corner Then & Now
Neil and Raffi watched them as they set up inside the studio with their humorous routines before settling into the song.
“Oh here,” said Neil. “Ed slipped this into my hand while they were singing.” He handed Raffi a cassette tape.
“Barenaked Ladies,” he read. He looked up quickly. “Fine lads with a sense of humour. Wonder if they will ever make it to Newfoundland?”
“Hang on to that tape. They could be famous someday.”
Ed walked over as the group exited the booth. “We’re playing a gig at The Rivoli. Come and join us after you do your bit here.” He handed them two tickets.
“We’ll be there,” replied Raffi as they ambled into the studio.
“Well, if nothing else happens here, we can say that we were on TV.”
“Singing to boot! Won’t our ma’ams be surprised.”
“We came to Toronto to do something different on our vacation. I think this qualifies,” said Neil. He started singing as they walked through the door.
Well I’m, lying in bed, just like Brian Wilson did
Songs Mentioned:
I’se The B’y traditional
If I Had A Million Dollars Barenaked Ladies
Be My Yoko Ono Barenaked Ladies
Brian Wilson Barenaked Ladies
The Wedding March Felix Mendelssohn
Barenaked Ladies Copyrights are through © Warner Chappell Music
Shout out: Get Back ending spoken part on The Let It Be album by The Beatles.
CITY-TV in Toronto, is a TV station that went on the air for the first time on September 28, 1972. It was an outlier amongst television stations at that time. Initially it operated as an independent station, Channel 79 on the UHF dial. It had an intensely local format based on newscasts aimed at younger viewers, nightly movies, and music and cultural programming. Moses Znaimer, the principal owner of City TV, believed in interactive television. Local people on local tv. There is still no news desk to this day (anchors read the news standing up, walking, or on stools), and cameras are sometimes hand-held. Citytv produced shows such as Speakers’ Corner, CityLine, Fashion Television, SexTV and MediaTelevision. The station attracted attention and controversy by airing The Baby Blue Movie, a softcore pornography film showcase on Friday nights after midnight. This was somewhat of a scandal in the early 1970’s. One of City Tv’s earliest series - Free For All (1972) - featured a live studio audience off the street who in turn spoke their minds about anything they desired. The City TV building still has a rather large glass window that looks in one the studio from the street.
I give this background as Speaker’s Corner was something different from a TV station that was different. It was where the people of Toronto could use their voice! And they did. The video snippets they paid a dollar for, (the proceeds went to charity organizations) were edited and put together in a compilation format for 2 one half hour segments per week. At times very famous people would drop by and let loose with whatever was on their mind. Toronto was much more open then about the bigger picture. And we all benefited from it.
The Barenaked Ladies performed on Speaker’s Corner in 1991.
Very cool that you saw them live, and this is one of my fav songs of theirs, too! Really enjoyed the story, as always!