Strombo is in Calgary on Friday June 6

George tweeted Thursday evening from the airport in LA that he is traveling to Calgary for The Canadian Olympic Team's Parade of Champions. 

Stroumboulopoulos (@strombo)

2014-06-05, 8:04 PM Peace to LA! #Calgary bound. Looking forward to seeing you at the @CDNOlympicTeam: Parade of Champions tomorrow pic.twitter.com/LkRT0Na7A3   The Canadian Olympic Parade will take place on Friday June 6, 2014 at 11:30 am, and will depart from 8th and 10th Avenue SW, running east along 8th Ave. SW. The Parade will culminate at Olympic Plaza where an outdoor Celebration will take place with live entertainment and Olympian interaction, including autographs and onstage interviews.

"Live from Vancouver"

I briefly mentioned this at the end of my Olympics rant, but have since, received more information:

Jim Richards from the Jim Richards Showgram, of Toronto's radio station NEWSTALK 1010, will be broadcasting his show this Friday, live from Vancouver, with special guest host, George Stroumboulopoulos. I've been told they may be discussing/watching the Men's hockey finals.

As well as George being on the show, one of Jim's guests will be B.C. Premier, Gordon Campbell. I think I'll give it a listen to see just what our Premier will weigh in on, in regards to the Olympics.
If you're interested in tuning in on-line you can go to the NEWSTALK 1010 website & click on the "Listen Live" button. The show runs this Friday, Feb. 26, between 1pm - 4pm EST.

5 Ring Circus?

"Ladies & Gentlemen, Children of all Ages (& for the rest of the ages)....Welcome to the Greatest Expenditures on Record!"

From one B.C.er's perspective:
It's hard to hear & see everything going on, while the ringmasters hold center stage & shout their boasting of what sights & events lay ahead: "We will be amazed, entertained & quite possibly shocked, but OH, won't it be wonderful?! We'll cherish the memories for years!"
At least, that's what we're supposed to take from all the smoke & mirrors delivered to us via government & corporations.

Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoy & respect athletes for their abilities, their dedication, their individual & National pride, however, it's hard to view these Winter Games only for the love of sports, yet turn a blind eye from the negative impacts B.C./Canada has suffered & will continue to do so for many years to come.
If only I could just wave my flag, cheer for my hometown guys & gals, and pretend that 'this' is what the Olympics are all about! I love our athletes & if I were of a religious nature, I would say God-Bless them. They are, without a doubt, definitely 'doing us proud'!

On a few other positive notes; it's infectious & enjoyable to get caught up in the excitement of the competitions. To converse with friends & strangers over medal standings, observations, the stories behind the athletes....that in itself, is gold.
Then I must mention the world-class venues built for the host city & her athletes of 2010, to be utilized & enjoyed by future hopefuls. It's feels pretty great to have something so new & shiny...I get that.

Now, back to the ugliness of it all. The underlying costs, greediness & undemocratic nature of this beast. Now, I may have my facts off from actual figures, but I'm pretty sure I'm close....
2% of the B.C. population were given the right to vote whether or not to host these Games, of which, they obviously won, by approx. 60/40. The voters were actual Vancouverites, not citizens of Vancouver's 25 surrounding communities, nor the populations held on Vancouver Island or the cohabitants of the remaining 4 large regions of B.C. I can pretty well assure you, had the rest of the Province had a say, or even just a few more of those communities, you would not be watching this year's Olympics in Vancouver. A democratic vote? Not bloody likely.

OK, so now onto the projected spending.
I seriously cannot type those words without yelling a "HAH!" out loud.
In 2006, it was reported that approx 2.5 billion dollars would be spent on 2010 Olympics....spending to date: an estimated 6 BILLION dollars! Short term tourists spending is projected to be close to one billion & oh, let's not forget about future international attraction coming to B.C. We may just get this paid off in a few decades!

And lastly, for now, the corporations or as they prefer to be named; "The Sponsors".
Let's see....35 corporate sponsors are named the "Official Sponsors" & for receiving exclusive marketing rights, we are bestowed with their blasting of products & services. VANOC will make damned sure of that! To the point of ridiculousness, I say.
A small example: Vancouver's Public Library employees were told that if they were hosting any kind of gathering/event for businesses, other than the sponsors, that all logos had to be completely hidden or covered. Fines for not following these procedures were 'implied'.
Another: Very minimal food/refreshments were available on Cypress mountain, for the hundreds of spectators that waited for hours to even get to the venue. Mostly because of the red-tape unofficial vendors had to go through to provide a service for this International crowd. Families with children, ended up turning around and missing their ticketed events, to ensure their kids some nourishment. Businesses all over Olympic areas were bullied & threatened legally by these sponsors over such things as selling their hamburgers, with the name: 'hamburger'. Instead having to get creative by selling this item using a different name, such as, 'buffalo sandwich', which I'm sure, did not appeal to most. Since when did McDonald's have the exclusive right over the word, hamburger?

Don't even get me started on the statement the government made, promising the world, the "Greenest" Olympics yet! Lets just ask David Suzuki, shall we?

I'm sorry if I've rained on your Olympics parade, but this to me, has been more about a corporate marketing circus & the all-mighty dollar.
"Go Canada Go"........"Do YOU believe?"
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Speaking of the Olympics:

Jim Richards from the Jim Richards Showgram, of Toronto's radio station NEWSTALK 1010, will be broadcasting his show this Friday, live from Vancouver, with special guest host, George Stroumboulopoulos. I've been told they may be discussing/watching the Men's hockey finals.

What's new this week... August 17 to 23

It's the middle of August, how's your summer going? Having fun yet? There's always fun going on around the Stromboulopouli, make sure you come back on Wednesday, when Barb puts Tracy in our own 2:20 hot seat!

This week on the Strombo Show:

Orginally scheduled to appear on last week's show, George Stroumboulopoulos welcomes Slipknot into the newly renovated Edge studios and Alex returns for another week. Make sure you check out The Strombo Show! Facebook Group and the Strombo Show website for more information and fun stuff from the show!

( This is indeed a clock that runs counter clockwise. You can buy one here.)

Due to the second week of heavy Olympic coverage, The Hour will only broadcast sporadically over the next week. According to the CBC schedule, you can catch The Hour on the CBC Main Network and CBC Newsworld during the wee morning hours of August 18-21.


The new season will premiere next month on Monday, September 15, so if you're planning to be in Toronto that week, make sure you order your tickets for the first few shows of Season Five. You can order your tickets through The Hour's website.

Cheers!

The 1st week of August what's on

The studio at The Edge is all nice and renovated now and look nothing like in the picture I took of George on air this winter... Can't wait until George is back in that studio.
Not this Sunday though, there will likely be a Best of The Strombo Show... Last I heard George was still on the road heading back to TO.

Sunday August 3

The Strombo Show is Live(?) from 5-8Pm EST on 102.1 The Edge (Toronto), 99.3 The Fox (Vancouver), Power 97 (Winnipeg), Y108 (Hamilton), and FM96 (London)


What's on The Hour the week before the Olympics take over ?

Monday August 4
Look back at the interview with writer/comedian Ricky Gervais on The Hour.
Ricky is starring in, Ghost Town coming out this September.
Also on the show
Sebastian Horsley

Tuesday Aug 5

Alan Alda is timeless , I think MASH is as funny today as it was when it first aired.


Look back at Richards Branson talking with George, now see what he just revealed a few days ago...

This a song called 'Pick Yur Nose' from Ani DiFranco who is on The Hour this night.

Wednesday Aug 6
On the show
Michael Pollan Author of In Defence of Food
and

Mike Holmes

Thursday Aug 7
George interviews

Vicente Fox
and
Wyclef Jean

That's not all
There will be a post about a Simple Plan special CBC is airing Wednesday night and we will tell you more about it soon.