Vegas turn a smash for dad St. Germain

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2012 (5160 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS… Winnipeg musician Ray St. Germain blew the doors off the Palms casino resort in Las Vegas Saturday night — a sneak attack. He was visiting his daughter, Sherry St. Germain, who entertains in the 300-seat lounge with her six-piece band, The Lost Vanguards. Sherry casually mentioned her father from Winnipeg was in the audience and she’d like to bring him up — no fanfare, nothing about his 50-year musical career across Canada. Daddy walks up like any old pop in a black suit, takes the microphone — and breaks into his rock-a-billy song Where’s My Lucy? followed by an impersonation of Tom Jones singing Delilah and finishing up with a wild version of C.C. Rider. The audience went nuts and gave him a standing ovation.

“What a fabulous time we had!” said Daddy St. Germain after arriving home late Sunday. “Brent Fitz, an ex-Winnipegger now the drummer for Slash, stopped by, also Celine Dion’s piano player and many more.”

At Sherry’s midnight show, she is known for inviting musicians to sit in with her. She’ll be back in the Viva Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show to help them finish off their run this summer.

As her entrance, in the years she first played with them, she was lowered from the ceiling playing piano and singing an Elvis medley. Did it ever fall? “Yes, once! And I was hanging by a rope!”

 

ROCKIN ’80s ZUMBA PARTY FOR ALS: Egged on by Austin Powers (a.k.a. Wayne Lambert), 100 women and one courageous guy went to the Springfield Collegiate gym and danced an hours-long Zumba class Friday night, raising more than $2,000 to help fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Zumba is a workout of vigorous Latin dance moves strung together — salsa, meringue, samba, and rumba — and it’s exhausting. Most people can’t do more than an hour before they drop, but somehow the gym full of people in ’80s Spandex outfits more than doubled that, hopping in and out for drinks of water and a few minutes’ break.

“We were dancing for people who can’t dance anymore,” said co-organizer Cindy Thoroski, whose dad, Walter, and a cousin both died from ALS. She and instructor Annie DePaulo co-own Springfield Zumba and Fitness in Oakbank.

To keep people jumping and excited right to the end, 12 well-known instructors — most working in the Winnipeg area — joined in. The group included Melissa Boychuk, Sharon Delbridge, Amber Desrochers, Trina Latrofa, Stacey Lockhart, Lana Maidment, Cyrile Ong, Cindy Ostryzniuk, Erika Riley, and Jessica Rambally.

Dressing in ’80s garb helped boost morale on the floor. “I was dressed in neon-pink tights with a big bow in my hair — a Madonna/Desperately Seeking Susan kind of look,” said Michelle DeArcangelis, 40, manager for Starbucks in Osborne Village. “In four months doing Zumba, I’ve lost 12 pounds without dieting!”

Nicole Benes, 32, a one-year veteran of Zumba and “a nurse at Workers Compensation,” said: “Everything’s sore. My bum hurts, my legs hurt, my hips are sore.” But she isn’t sorry she did it!

“I understand the impact on people who have the disease,” Thoroski said. “That’s why I love to challenge my body to move joyfully and live an active life.”

 

PSSST! Got a secret debt — something you’ve been keeping from a loved one? If it’s been eating you and you’re ready to confess and get help, a new reality TV series is looking for people to spill the beans. They will send crews within one hour of any major Canadian city. This Canadian film and TV production company, called Anaid (The Quon Dynasty, X-Weighted, Family Restaurant, The Rig and Taking It Off), is based in Edmonton and Vancouver. Its financial expert is well-known money coach David Lester from Toronto.

Pilot producer Candice Tipton says they have 100 applicants ready to let ‘er rip, but are taking more this week, with a decision for the pilot made by next week. They’re offering debt-sufferers a concrete plan to get out of the red ink, a new outlook on money and a “small honorarium” (three to four figures).

The creative director is Sophie Mardirossian; her sister, Margaret Mardirossian, is executive producer and owner of Anaid. To apply, you can call Shantel at 1-780-413-9285 or write “a few sentences” telling your sad story to casting@anaid.com

 

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