Glenn Kubish

John Sexsmith was good with words. Let's try that again. John Sexsmith was magic with words. He loved to cast spells with words. He loved to use words to make meanings appear and disappear out of thin air. That's what a pun essentially is, right? A bit of hocus focus.  I first saw Johnny's deftness with the language in a TV news feature sports story he did back in the ITV News/Global Edmonton days. All I can really remember about the piece is that he did his standup in a military tank. "This," he said to the camera, "is the tanks we get?!" Boom. I laughed out loud.  For years, we kept the joke going. If either of us saw a propane tank or an acetylene tank or a septic tank, we'd send each other a note. The joke grew. If we were chatting about bicycles, someone would use the line, and this is the cranks we get? A Bugs Bunny reference would lead to, and this is the Mel Blancs we get?! An actor in the news: this is the Tom Hanks we get?! A hotdog stand: ...

Facts are facts, and, so, eventually (or in six games, whichever arrives first), we all have to face the Brad Marchands in our lives.  It is anathema for me to praise Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand.  I am an Edmonton Oilers fan, and have been since the days of the World Hockey Association. I am an old-enough Oilers fan to have seen, with my own eyes, Jacques Plante play for Edmonton at the Coliseum against New England Whalers’ star Gordie Howe. I am a crazy-enough Oilers fan to have been arrested for throwing firecrackers onto Jasper Avenue during a Stanley Cup victory parade. (I was released because officers were more urgently needed up the block at a fur store break-in. When I say released, I mean from the neck.) I am a tradition-bound-enough Oilers fan to have passed on the identity to my sons. One of my grandsons walked around during the Cup playoffs with three stuffed toys: 1. Woody 2. Buzz Lightyear 3. Ryan Nuygent-Hopkins. No one should doubt my hometown team cre...

Here’s a fact beyond debate:   it’s the end of week. Next up: the weekend. Here are three things that I noticed I noticed made for some happiness and gratitude last week. Three Things from Edmonton, episode 145:                               1. Goalies   Connor Hellebuyck, the goaltender for the Winnipeg Jets, allowed two early goals against the Oilers last week and then closed the door, as they say.   The Oilers lost 3-2, underlining what has been a lacklustre start to the season for the home squad. But enough about them. In an extended interview after the game, Hellebuyck was asked about his unique style. I reached for the remote. I didn’t need to hear again some version of “the team plays well in front of me”   or “I was just seeing the puck well tonight” or some other in the long list of platitudes for the multitudes. Before I could hit the mute button, he said this of his style. “I think ...

Focus. The weekend is in sight. Here are three things that left tracks of happiness and gratitude this past week. Three Things from Edmonton, episode 144:                        1.   The universe and the fundamental attribution error   Chocolate almonds are a weakness. From way back. From the days back behind the Esso station on 66 Street in Steele Heights where we’d put our bikes down next to a telephone pole in the alley and eat the chocolate almonds instead of trying to sell them door to door to support the school fundraising campaign. I was never meant to be a salesperson. I took a no, thanks, or a door closed in my face, or a dog barking a goodbye way too personally.   Andy’s IGA   is a much better chocolate hawker. The shelf stockers there simply pile up plastic tubs of chocolate almonds and, without a word, wait for me to come apart and buy one, which, last week, I did and then did.   I walked up...

It’s approximately the end of the week as we knew it, friends. Here are three things from my daily life that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. I’m confident that two of them actually happened as described. Episode 142:                            1. Wedding  The musician Craig Cardiff from Ottawa was on stage right in front of us at Aimée and Steve’s wedding reception upstairs at Kaffa in Garneau. When musicians get married, things are cranked up a few notches. The equipment itself, the cables and the speakers, are high calibre. There is a sound board at the back of the room. There is a sound technician running levels so that not once is there any feedback. And there is live performance. Cardiff sang four or five tunes, including a cover of the Dawes song, A Little Bit of Everything.   I couldn’t believe it. It’s one of our faves. We saw Dawes in 2014 at the Starlite Room downtown by the old Chic...