Skokie's Song
The First Annual Muskoka Winter Carnival in 1971 was a BIG DEAL, and Howard Cable and I wrote a song for it! Skokie was (and is) the official otter mascot for the celebrations. Howard and Skokie and I visited local schools to teach the song - that's me with the crooked head in the lower left corner. When Canada's Minister of Tourism, James Auld, visited the Carnival, he sat in on drums while the ensemble performed! The kids sang "Skokie" for Governor General Roland Michener (who arrived by helicopter), and on a float in the parade and, well, all over the place. Howard also got Stompin' Tom Connors to write The Snowmobile Song for the event - good fun! - and arranged Steve Michell's After-Ski Stomp for orchestra. The pieces were recorded on "45s" (the small 45 rpm vinyl recordings of the day) in Toronto so the orchestra featured the best studio musicians in Toronto at the time. "Danny Smith" who gave his rich jazzy voice to Skokie's Song was actually William "Smitty" Smith of Motherlode.
