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No regrets as singer honoured

Tom Cochrane given key to city

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 06/19/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Cole Breiland / Winnipeg Free Press Diana Rasmussen of the ALS society, Tom Cochrane (centre) and Mayor Sam Katz.

If you had to choose a musician to remove the tarnish from Winnipeg's key to the city, there are few better candidates than soft-spoken working-class hero Tom Cochrane.

A year ago this week, when Mayor Sam Katz's office chose to hand the key to the city to Kiss frontman and prolific womanizer Gene Simmons, the reaction ranged from bemusement to mild embarrassment. The widely criticized move -- made while the mayor was out of town, at the behest of promoter Jerry Shore -- led to calls for council oversight of future recipients of ceremonial honours.

No new procedures were ever put in place, but the mayor's office got the message. On Monday, there was only applause and approving nods outside city hall as Katz handed the key to the city to Lynn Lake-born singer-songwriter Cochrane, whose previous accolades include being named an officer of the Order of Canada, receiving an honorary doctorate from Brandon University and getting inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

"It's always like coming home when I come to Winnipeg," said Cochrane, who was here to perform at the Red River Exhibition. His afternoon award coincided with a ceremonial flag-raising to mark a month of awareness of the degenerative neurological disease ALS.

Cochrane's wife, Kathleen, a former St. Vital resident, has organized a series of concerts to raise funds for research and treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Cochrane has performed at several of the events. He lost his father to a different degenerative neurological condition, Parkinson's disease.

One of the privileges of having a successful career in music is being able to shine a spotlight on causes, Cochrane told a small crowd gathered outside city hall.

"ALS is particularly vicious and violent, the way it attacks the body and it basically constricts your body. It's hard to imagine going through it," said Cochrane, flanked by Katz and ALS Society of Manitoba director Diana Rasmussen. "We have to try to spend money and effort on solving some of these problems."

Cochrane has won seven Juno Awards during a four-decade career as the lead singer of Red Rider and as a solo performer. He has also supported African famine relief, war-affected children, Asian tsunami relief and Amnesty International, among other causes.

The announcement he would receive an honour from the mayor's office was a source of relief for some city councillors. Last year, council Speaker Grant Nordman (St. Charles) led the criticism of the Gene Simmons award.

"When I saw the subject line (on the email from the mayor's office) this morning, I thought, 'It better not be Rob Lowe,' " joked North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty, referring to the American actor.

Lowe, who's shooting a movie in Winnipeg, infamously tweeted last week he was "trapped in a hellhole" while trying to watch an NBA game at an unnamed sports bar.

Katz, meanwhile, laughed off the notion Cochrane's award puts the whole Gene Simmons debacle to bed, so to speak.

"The whole what?" the mayor asked.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 19, 2012 B1

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