Wednesday, February 28, 1996 — North Shore News — 15 NEWS photo bilce Wekehetd “MICHAEL FOSTER practises for GM Place” hockey crowds in the quiet confines of his North : Vancouver apartment. Foster's latest night-gig is organist for Vancouver Canuck home games. ; wNE OF the off-ice’ diversions fused by Orca Bay* Sports and “XH Entertainment during . Vancouver “Canucks games is to show, movie. clips ‘during stoppages in play.” | By ‘Andrew McCredie’ Community Editor a ‘And while no survey can back up this claim, ‘a clip from the 1977 classic comedy Slap Shot “appears tobe the. fan favorite. “You ‘know, the “scene where the rink organist'Wears a beat-up ~ hockey helmet te ‘Protect himself. from’ way- ao Yep," everyone in GM Place’ gets a a big laugh out Of that one. Everyone, that i ‘is, except GM ‘Place organist Michael Foster. : . minted: ‘arena just: two o games ‘into the regular season last fall. Having served ‘as ‘the Canucks Otganist fora brief stint in the Coliseum — and a‘:five-year term as organist’ at Vancouver _ Canadian’ baseball games —. Foster sent GM . Place-a‘demo tape prior to the season with the ~ hope of landing the high-profile night gig. (At the end of the tape he inelyded a stirring rendi- ‘tion of, what else, the Hockey Night i in Canada theme). The call came for an audit on, and Foster visited GM Place for the first-time. Let’s just say it was'a different surrounding than the‘old Mausoleum on Renfrew. “I walked into this huge, empty place, way, way up near the roof,” Foster recalls of his first session at the Garage’s organ. ‘‘i’d never played anything so loud and clear as that Bose sound system.” Foster’s empty-house audition impressed the Orea Bay executives in attendance, and that night he was playing to 18,000 paying cus- tomers. A fair size larger than the hotel piano bars he had been haunting the past three years, most notably the Delta Place in Vancouver. “My tirst game at GM Place I brought three packs of gum with me,” Foster says, adding ‘that chewing gum quelled his knees shaking from opening night jitters. “The only other time “1 was that nervous was the first time I played the national ‘anthem at.a Canadians baseball game.” ; A 15-year-old Carson Graham student at the time, Foster was thrown into the breach when the Nat Bailey Stadium’s chief organist failed to return from a pre-game beer. “Tm sitting there and I hear the announcer say ‘Please rise for the singing of the national anthems,’ so I just started playing,” Foster says. “And as I continued I noticed my leg was bouncing up and down. I had no control over it atall” Eleven years later, control is what Foster's latest gig is all about. Indeed, the job of a hock- ey organist is part musician, part motivator. “The club’s first concern is traditional, ‘hockey organ music,” says Foster. “Especially in a brand new building, it’s important to have some connection to the traditions of hockey.” But he’s not just there to entertain the crowd — he’s there to motivate the audience into ral- lying around their on-ice heroes. | “I feel that if I can get the place rocking on a face-off when we're down a goal I'm doing my job," Foster admits. One look at the Canucks* patchy on-ice per- formance this year and it’s obvious Foster has been earning his money. And he wouldn't want to be anywhere else et this point in his career. “As a writer and composer I'd like to be able to write a piece that will become the ‘theme’ of - the Canucks,” says the talented 26-year-old. . Foster’s already written an ode to superstar’ - Alexander Mogilny, a military- -like piece echo-' ing famous Russian arrangements, He’s slipped - it in during a few games this season. And like the hockey players he plays for,» . Foster and his NHL organist brethren have their super-stars. ; “The guy in Chicago is a legend, and Toronto and Los Angeles are also right up there,” he says. “I’m just a real hockey fan and - I watch a lot of games so'] usually try to pick out anything new I hear.” In addition to playing Canuck home games, Foster plays corporate functions at Hollyburn Country Club and continues to pursue his goals of scoring movies and writing songs for enter- tainers. And in case you're wondering, Foster doesn’t * wear a helmet way up in his perch at GM Place. NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge | TONY MASSIL'S: slumber is disturbed by dreams of good and evil in > Listen to the Wind, a a mystical drama at Hendry Hail March 1 to 16. ARTS EVENTS Compiled by Ann Hamilton Around Towa is s free service provided for non-profit and community arts groups. Please fax a press release for your enter- tainment event to 985-2104. The News tries to ensure items appear in the paper at least once before the event t2kes place, but space constraints may limit the number of sub- missions printed. For guaranteed publica- tion contact classified (986-6222) or dis- play advertising (980-0511). Hendry Hall Theatre: Listen to the Wind, runs March 1 to 16. Info: 983-2633. Presentation House Theatre: Family Matters, an evening of one- act plays featuring Slight Misunderstanding and Denying the ' Obvious, March 2, 8 and 10 p.m. in the Ann Macdonald Studio. Tickets are $5 at the door. Info: 258-5191. Lullaby in A Flat, a fast-paced psy- cho-sexual, black comedy, mystery farce in two acts, preview, two-for- one tickets, March. 5, regular run March 6 to 23, Sat. matinee, March 16 at 2 p.m. Tickets $12 and $9. Centennial Theatre Centre: Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, comedy show, March 1, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20, adults, $19, seniors, $16, students. Puce Piano Ensemble Festival, free perfor- mance by the Capilano College, Community Music School, March 2,3 p.m. West Vancouver’ United Church: Universal Gospel Choir, March 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 926-1812. Orpheum Theatre: The Boont Tinie with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (over 30 members of the Learning explored on Net NORTH VANCOUVER resi- dent Greg Dixon has parlayed his academic interest into a World Wide Web presence on the Internet. HOME BASE By Michael Becker The Knowledge Explorer Centre, a site developed by Dixon under the auspices of his home-based business Dixon Design Works, takes advantage of the snulti-media potential of pub- lishing on the Web. You'll find the centre on the web at (http://www.dsoe.com/explore). : Eight years ago, Dixon developed an English language software pro- gram. He calied it English Structure and Style. “It started off on the char- acter-mode computer systems that were available at the time,” he said. After he completed the project Dixon went to school to leam more about computers. A detour along the way brought expertise in expert sys- tems. He went on to. work as a pro- grammer’ and systems engineer for SHL System House for about five years. He maintained an interest in edu- cational software. About. two years - ago Dixon picked up where he left off - on his English language application and .converied the character-based English Ssructure and Style to.a_ Windows-based application. He’s been selling it through shareware dis- tribution channels: for about a year VSO are from the North Shore) and guest conductor Newton Wayland, March’ 1,..2, 8 p.m. Also: ‘Hey. Fredheads, Wygat a Day! Entertainer ’ Fred Penner joins the VSO and con- ductor:.Clyde Mitchell for, this March.3, '2 p.m. family -entertain- ment: pfesentation. info: 876-3434, ° West Vancouver Library: Musical Interludes and Conversation Series: Kathleen and John’ Rudolph, flute and percussion, March 6, 10 a.m. info: 9 922-6406 : Shaugiinessy _ Heights - United. Chureii: Evening of Great Music, - the ~Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, which has 11 N.S. mem- bers, performs March 9, 8 p.m. Info; 921-7340. Ferry Building Gallery Concerts: Pro Nova Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 29. Free, limited seating, arrive early. Info: 925-7290. Silk Purse Arts Centre Concerts: Noel MacRobbie, pianist, Feb, 29 See more page 17