Argonotes
- The 1996 Grey Cup in Hamilton, our first road trip
- The 1997 Grey Cup in Edmonton, which we didn't attend but we got to play in the Victory Parade
</li> -
The 2001 Grey Cup in Montreal, our first overnight road trip
</li> - The 2004 Grey Cup in Ottawa, where we discovered how easy it is to sneak onto the field if you look like you belong
</li> - The 2007 Grey Cup in Toronto, including the legendary Not the Grey Cup Parade
- The 2008 Grey Cup in Montreal, where we stayed at an extremely swanky hotel by mistake
</li> - The 2012 Grey Cup in Toronto, where the Argos won it all at home in one of the all time greatest band moments
</li> - The 2016 Grey Cup in Toronto, our first (and last) at BMO Field
</li> - The 2017 Grey Cup in Ottawa, featuring Technically It's A Band If You Haver At Least Two People
- The 2021 Grey Cup in Hamilton because hey, you never know.
- The tempo, which seems to be about a blistering ♩ = 180, or as P.D.Q. Bach called it, Come un pipistrello fuori dall' inferno [Like a bat out of hell.]
- The delighted reactions of the choristers in the back
- The pure joy of the conductor Philip Harper. We should all aspire to enjoy our jobs this much.
- They're not going quite as fast, only about ♩ = 150
- Also an outstanding cornet solo
- The conductor in this clip is the actor Jim Carter, later to find much success as Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey. (In the film, he's a tuba player temporarily filling in for bandleader Pete Postlethwaite, whose character is too ill to conduct the final scene, but he gave one of the all time great acting-conducting performances. Carter isn't conducting quite up to that standard.)
- On tenor horn, Ewan McGregor, later to find much success as Obi-Wan Kenobi
- the band in this film is actually the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, posing as a different coal-mining-community brass band in a film that I think you absolutely should watch.
Remembering Grey Cups past
Part of the reason for this post is that I haven’t blogged anything in a while, but mostly it’s because the 2020 Grey Cup should have been played last Sunday, but wasn’t.
It’s all got me feeling really nostalgic about the Grey Cups I’ve been lucky to attend with Argonotes, from our first in 1996 to our last in 2017.
Some were road trips to Cups in Hamilton, Ottawa and Montreal, and some were at home in Toronto, but they were all memorable, multi day festivals of fun and music and drinking and parties and camaraderie and fierce but good-natured rivalries with the Saskatchewan Roughrider Pep Band, and occasionally a football game at the end, and at this time of year, past pictures, videos and posts keep popping up in my Facebook on-this-day-in-years-past memories feed.
I feel the need to write about each of them.
I don’t much care whether anybody reads this series, but I want to gather all my best memories of each one in one spot. And this seems like a good spot.
More to come.
In no particular order … ok in numerical order … with a few articles still to be written
Tempo!
Check out this showstopper performance by one of the world’s greatest brass bands, Wales’s The Cory Band.
wow
I tried but failed to get Argonotes to play every single piece at this speed, mostly because if it didn’t sound great, at least it would be over sooner.
In this performance please note
my favourite movie conductor
Naturally this reminds me of the finale of one of my favourite films, Brassed Off, in which the (fictional) Grimley Colliery Band performs this piece at the national championship. They’re not going quite as fast though.
Things you might note from this film -
In Argonotes we used to joke that our slogan was Faster + Louder = Better.
The Cory Band is proving it to be true.
Fond memories of Joe Badali's Restaurant
Joe Badali’s restaurant - sadly, now closed - was a great friend of Argonotes. It was the closest thing to a sponsor we ever had.
Nick and I went to the Jays home opener yesterday, which I think was the first time I’d been back to Skydome since the Argo era there ended. This triggered lots of fond Argonotes memories of course. Especially the old tradition of emptying the spit valves on the statue of Ted Rogers.
But I was sad after the game as we walked back to Union Station to see that Joe Badali’s Restaurant (at Front and Simcoe) has closed, and the building it’s in is being gutted, and the adjacent parking lot is now fenced off. Yet another office tower is going up.
Badali’s holds a special spot in Argonotes history. Before our very first game in 1995, we barged in there to play “Argos Rule the CFL” - to a reaction of befuddlement and confusion. But it got better.
For over 20 years, it was where we started and ended every performance. “Meet at Front and Simcoe 90 minutes before kickoff” was the usual rule. We’d gather in the adjacent parking lot for a warmup - where we’d make sure nobody had tuned their instruments, ever - and play for the crowd there, and then head over to Skydome, crashing other restaurants along the way. And we’d always wind up at Badali’s after the game too, for drinks and conversation.
For a few years, it was the official post game Argo bash spot, and everybody would gather there - players, dance team, fans, band - and former manager Mike O’Connor always made sure there was a reserved table for the band. And free beer and appetizers too. I couldn’t believe it. What had we ever done to deserve this grand treatment? A packed restaurant full of people celebrating an Argo victory - and there’s a reserved table for 30 people for the band? This is great, but why? 
(Well, I always thought it was part of an unspoken arrangement: we’ll buy you a beer so long as you don’t ever barge in here and play “Argos Rule the CFL” ever again. go crash the Lone Star and Boston Pizza and East Side Mario’s all you want though.)
Doug Flutie came and sat at the band table once. Doug Flutie! The greatest quarterback in CFL history! And he came and sat at OUR table! I can’t imagine that happening in the NFL. Players mingling with ordinary people. (Naturally we asked him if his Flutie Brothers Band needed another 40 members, and he pointed out “I already have horns in the band.” Well OK then.)
Even after it was no longer the official spot - for one awkward year, the official post game restaurant was Frank D’Angelo’s “Forget About It” Supper Club - fans and players continued to celebrate or commiserate after the games at Badali’s.
Badali’s was also the gathering spot for several CFL Pep Band Summits - wonderful Grey Cup get-togethers with Argonotes and our great friends, the Saskatchewan Roughrider Pep band. This is the 2012 Summit, possibly history’s largest gathering of CFL Musicians. And there’s Bob Mossing, Member of the Order of Canada, Founder of the Roughrider Pep Band -
(Note, former BC Lions band leader Dal Richards is also a member of the Order of Canada. I presume they eventually give this to all CFL band leaders. I will keep an eye on my email.)
Hanging out with the Rider band provided some of my greatest Argonotes memories - and we kicked off the 2007 “Not The Grey Cup Parade” from the Badali’s parking lot!
I celebrated both my 40th and 50th birthday parties at Badali’s, surrounded by all my band friends and family. I was looking forward to celebrating the next big birthday there too … But the Argos moved to BMO Field, the band got ignored to death, and I hadn’t been back to Front and Simcoe until yesterday.
Thank you to Mike, who’s moved on, and all the wonderful staff at Badali’s over the years who treated us so well. We miss you.