I got the sad news yesterday that Vern Kennedy, trumpeter, composer, singer, backbone of the Argonotes trumpet section, and all around wonderful guy, passed away this week.

This hurts. I have been wanting to organize an Argonotes reunion ever since the band folded (nine years ago today, as it turns out) and I wanted to play with Vern one more time.

Vern was in Argonotes for 20 years and was just the most wonderful, dependable guy. Every bandleader knows this type - one of a handful of people in your band who just makes everything better, and when you know he’s coming to the gig, you know it’ll be OK.

Up for anything.

And he was up for anything. One year, the Argos called me in a panic, a couple of days before a playoff game that happened to be on November 11, Remembrance Day. They had neglected to book a trumpet player for the ceremonial playing of The Last Post before the game. Did I know anybody?

Well, one phone call later, Vern was happy to do it. I think he was happy to do everything. Here he is on the field at Skydome during the ceremony.

Go Argos Go

And not only that, Vern was one of the quartet of singers on the 1968 Dal Richards album CFL Songs, and every time the Argos score, they play Go Argos Go from that album, and the crowd sings along, and you can sure hear Vern’s voice.

Vern was a popular singer in the 1960s, and did a lot of studio recordings (see above, the Dal Richards album) and even appeared every Saturday night on the CBC, on the popular “Juliette” show, as a member of the Four Romeos quartet. I found this photo in the 2017 Vancouver Sun obituary for Juliette Cavazzi.

the four romeos

That’s Vern at the front left. Dashing lad, eh.

And one day, Vern was a member of a quartet that went to a recording studio in 1968 with Vancouver bandleader Dal Richards, and they produced an album with one song for every CFL team. Go Argos Go, by Toronto songwriter Johnny Burt, was a delightful original song on that album, but it included songs for all the other teams as well.

You can learn more about the album and listen to all the songs here.

It just delights me that even today, almost 60 years later, you still hear those songs. The Argos play Go Argos Go after every touchdown. The BC Lions play Roar, You Lions Roar. The Ticats sometimes play the Ticat Marching Song, and the Elks play the Eskimo Fight Song (excuse me, it needs a new title) - and in each of those, I can hear Vern’s voice, clear as a bell.

Here’s “Go Argos Go”, for instance. (I’ve trimmed it down to just the chorus but you can listen to the full thing too.)

That just sounds to me like Vern.

When the Argos play this after a score, and the crowd sings, it really brings a smile to my face.

Now, I have always been curious about this album, and got to meet its creator, the late Dal Richards, years ago when my wife surprised me with a trip to Vancouver, but that’s another story - go click that link.

a 2006 podcast interview with Vern about Go Argos Go

But, well before that encounter with Dal, I was stunned to learn that one of the trumpet players in Argonotes had been one of the singers! Back in the day, the Argos had a podcast, and I contributed one episode where I interviewed Vern to see what he remembered.

The podcast itself has long since disappeared - it was a one-season wonder, I think - but I saved the episode Vern and I did. And if you’d like to listen, here it is: Skip ahead to about 1:30 if you want to hear me talking to Vern.

In that interview, Vern recalls being in the studio with three other singers - Laurie Bower, Patty Van Evera and Kathy Collier, and this was just another studio job, so they thought, but this turned out to be something big and enduring.

Laurie Bower, a name many Canadians will remember from the Laurie Bower Singers (of which Vern was a founding member), passed away in 2016. Patty Van Evera left us in 2024. Dal Richards passed in 2015. I regret that I cannot find out much about Kathryn Collier.

There can’t be too many folks left from that album.

vern’s other music

The more I learn about Vern, the more I realize what an amazing musical career he had. He played trumpet not just with Argonotes, but with the Markham Concert Band, the Encore Band, the Pickering Community Band, and more, all of whom are mourning his loss this week.

Plus, he wasn’t just a member—he composed music for a lot of these bands. I’m sure you’ll be hearing some of his tunes from each band this summer.

I was very happy to come and hear Vern play with the Markham band a few times - and here is a mini-Argonotes reunion from a 2024 Markham concert.

the double blue blues

He even wrote an original song for Argonotes once, called the Double Blue Blues. I remember the day he brought it for us to try. We gave it a shot, but it turns out he’d included a tenor sax solo at one point, and we didn’t happen to have any of those on hand at that moment, so there was 4 bars of silence in the middle of the song.

I apologized for our ineptness, Vern laughed about that, and I’m sorry we didn’t give it another shot.

how lucky I was to have Vern in my band

Look, I hardly know anything about running a band. For the most part in Argonotes, we were making it up as we went along, doing the best we could to cheer for the Argos and make it fun for the fans.

But there was something about having Vern in the band that thrilled me. Here’s an amazing guy, a great trumpet player, with a fascinating musical background, that everybody loves—and he’s in MY band? Can that be right?

How lucky we all were.

Your voice will live on at the Argos games, we’ll make sure of that.

Thank you, Vern. Rest in peace, my friend.