Sing with The Boss, paint with Dad and act with Jack

WINNIPEG COTTAGE ROCKERS: While Kenora's year-long population is only 16,000, Winnipeg "summer people" swell the area to 45,000. The Harbourfest concerts last weekend sold out with flashy headliner Tom Cochrane on Friday, Buckcherry on Saturday and Burton Cummings on the final night. The concerts were packed with 'Peggers in shorts and suntans.

On Friday night, Mike Richards of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings came out to the Tom Cochrane show -- after all, Kenora is his hometown. After the last song, Richards gave the boy from Lynn Lake an L.A. Kings jersey. Cochrane pulled it on and ran back onstage for his encore.

Cochrane is riding a magical wave these days. The thoughful lyricist and rocker was personally invited by his idol, Bruce Springsteen, to play Aug. 26 on the Magnetic Hill site at the prestigious Moncton Festival, previously headlined by acts like the Rolling Stones and Jon Bon Jovi. So at Harbourfest, before his signature song Life is a Highway, Cochrane did a little nod to The Boss with an acoustic version of Thunder Road.

Winnipeg's Burton Cummings also experienced a magical night in Kenora. One diehard fan said it was "his best show in 10 years." Cummings played a 95-minute marathon, hit after hit, for the 40- to 70-year-old well-heeled cabin crowd, who sang along with the music. Share the Land became a big '60's love-in, as they swayed and sang the chorus line "smilin', laughin', diggin' each other." Trivia fact? Burton Cummings last played Kenora in 1966 -- 46 years ago -- at the Kenricia Hotel.

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SPOTTED AT HARBOURFEST: Many well-known Winnipeggers such as financial guru Marty Weinberg, Dr. Grant Benningan, real estate mogul Gary Bachman, the Pony Corral's Peter Ginakes, dentist Lorne Acheson, band leader Rod Hussey and his cousin Pepper, of beachwear designers Chip & Pepper fame, who have a swell cottage down by the lake.

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SPEAKING OF MIKE RICHARDS: On Aug. 18, hockey player Mike Richards will have the Stanley Cup in his possession for a day and he's invited 120 people to a private party on the M.S. Kenora touring boat. Each player of the Stanley Cup wining team has the famous trophy available to them for 24 hours. Most share it in their hometown with family and friends.

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DREAM COME TRUE: "What a Grande idea -- a father and daughter celebration!" said magenta-haired artist Megan Vun Wong of The Purple Door Studio as she blew in the Mona Lisa Restaurant for the "art gallery" party Wednesday evening. Owner Joe Grande and his daughter, Giuliana Grande, were celebrating their first father-daughter summer exhibition showing on the restaurant walls. Other Winnipeg artists, business people, friends and glitterati showed up for the combination of 23-year-old Giuliana's paintings and her dad's photography. (Both artists sold some of their best work.) Dad took fine arts, but went into the restaurant biz two decades ago to support his young family. Giuliana found his abandoned art supplies in the basement and started painting at age three.

"It's my dream to be able to live off what I love to do, but it's really hard," says Giuliana. "So, I'm finishing my fine arts honours in 2013 at the University of Manitoba and then taking education." Papa Grande says he's just happy he can give his daughter the chance he never had. Spotted: Auctioneer Bill Knight, who bought an art piece with no dickering, painter/collage artist Aleem Khan, Anthony Fernando of Your Best Shot photography, integral healer Bonnie Schroeder, Forum Art Centre's Daryl Dumanski, comedian Matty Rygiel, and Gerald Day of Pembina Insuurance. Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox, deputy editor Julie Carl and humour columnist Doug Speirs split their attentions between art appreciation and the famous bocce ball pitch outside.

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SO YA WANNA BE A STAR: No experience? Well, okay then, how about an extra? Hundreds of volunteers are needed for Smilin' Jack: the Jack Layton Story for an Aug. 14 crowd scene. Jack Roberts and Sook-Yin Lee have been cast as Jack Layton and Olivia Chow and are filming in Winnipeg. Men and women over 18 must wear casual business attire -- no jeans or the colours black or red. To register email thejacklaytonstory@gmail.com or leave a message at 204-944-4951.

Got tips, events, sightings, unusual things going on? Call Maureen's tip line at 204-474-1116, email Maureen.Scurfield@winnipegfreepress.com, or send mail to Maureen Scurfield, c/o The Insider, 1355 Mountain Ave., R2X 3B6.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 10, 2012 B2