World-touring rock star comes home for street-naming

Memories of burning Wayne Gretzky rookie cards while biking up and down Bellavista Crescent came flooding back to Brent Fitz on Friday morning as the local rocker revisited his childhood neighbourhood for a street-naming ceremony in his honour.

Bellavista Crescent has been given the honorary name Brent Fitz Way to celebrate the prolific Winnipeg musician, who has played drums and keyboards alongside such rock legends as Slash, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons and Vince Neil.

“Having this location now officially geotagged, it’s incredible. But it’s geotagged attached to people and friends and family,” Fitz said to a crowd of supporters gathered at the corner of Bellavista and Voyageur Avenue.

The Toque and Streetheart member said growing up in the community is where he learned how to connect with people, which led him to form countless relationships that would change the course of his life.

One of them was childhood friend Bob Chisolm, who would play the drums with the window wide open for the neighbourhood to hear.

This was how Fitz first came to hear the album Destroyer by Kiss, which sent him spiraling into rock ‘n’ roll mania.

“It’s the reason I’m standing here. It really has a whole importance in my life and our friendship that he was very integral in influencing me as a drummer,” said Fitz, a multi-instrumentalist who has toured the world.

Fitz, 56, was in tears as black eye makeup ran from under his sunglasses while thinking about how proud his late mother, Audrey, would have been of the moment. He said he shares the honour of the new street name with his whole family, including his father Merv, who only moved out of the family home a few years ago and still lives in the area.

“It’s a great tribute to Brent, to the music industry and to the City of Winnipeg,” said Don Kane, who taught Fitz music history, piano and music theory growing up.

Kane still remembers the first time he visited Fitz’s house in 1983 to teach him piano. Fitz, 13 at the time, made a striking impression with his short pants and wristbands that went all the way down his arms.

“I thought, ‘Now that’s different,’ and in many respects you always got the impression there was something very special about this person,” said Kane, his eyes also wet from tears.

Kane still makes time to visit Fitz in Las Vegas, where the musician now lives, when he can, and said it was very emotional seeing the number of people who came to support him Friday.

“He really is very much a symbol of an ambassador to Winnipeg and promoting it abroad,” he said.

Cindy Newman, who has been friends with Fitz for 30 years, said it means a lot to see his family honoured in this way.

“I’m so incredibly proud of him and everything he’s done in his adult life. He’s an amazing human. He’s one of my favourite humans,” she said.

Newman first met Fitz at an old bar he used to play at when he was in a band called Shake Naked. Newman went so often that eventually they met and “it just sort of stuck.”

“He is amazing to everybody he meets. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody that doesn’t get along with him or like him,” she said.

The street renaming has been in the making for several months and it was difficult to pin down a date with Fitz’s busy touring schedule, said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

“He represents our city so well as a great ambassador, no matter where he is around the world. Today, surrounded by the love of family and friends is just indicative of who Brent and his family are,” he said.

Fitz will play the Burt Block Party next Saturday as a member of both Streetheart and Toque.

tiago.resko@freepress.mb.ca