Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned in to the Mac city morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start the show off the same way we start every show off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Oh, she caught me loves you're listening to the next anymore.
Speaker 0 00:00:30 Okay. And we're back now. Our guest today holds the record for the most views on the Mac city morning show. He was one of the first guests that came in, I believe week two. And he still holds the record for most views on the show. So on that note, sir, please introduce yourself and tell the people who you are.
Speaker 2 00:00:51 Well, first off my name's Curtis J Phillips, uh, been a long time McMurry. I got involved in the community, but I have to congratulate you on your hundredth show. Thank you. And Tanner, I should have a little present for you guys. I have this blue Jays hat never worn before. They'd go to dinner
Speaker 0 00:01:11 And for you. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:01:13 You were talking. I'm trying to remember you talking about how your, one of your biggest basketball players who liked you went to basketball camp. I did years ago was penny Hardaway. And you said your Jersey no longer fits that's right. So for you, I have an autograph
Speaker 3 00:01:27 Jersey, penny Hardaway. Oh, and autograph Hardaway. That will fit you. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Oh
Speaker 1 00:01:44 Wow.
Speaker 0 00:01:45 You should see Tanner's you can't see Tanner. His jaw is lower than mine. Oh, okay. Listen. A lot of people like you shouldn't have, you shouldn't have, and they'd be like, try to give it back. I'm not going to try to give it back. You know, what's amazing what, okay. So I have a penny Hardaway Jersey and let's beat up. Like I shouldn't wear it anymore. I still squeeze into it every once in a while. I shouldn't. But here's the thing about it. I have the blue Jersey, it's just all blue and I always wanted the black pinstripe, but like at the time my parents couldn't get it. So I very happily for my birthday settled for the all blue and I still rock it sometimes. Shouldn't um, but this is the one I wanted. Shit. I'm almost war. You know what, Matt,
Speaker 3 00:02:29 Thank you so much. What you
Speaker 2 00:02:32 Do so much for the community with this show at one time, uh, I shouldn't really say this, but at one time, ABC cable in shock cable was the heart of the community. And then when the CRTC rules came in, we lost that before you get Barron's games, televised, tell the cast live, you know, sporting events, culture, events, documentaries, and you come along and filled that niche and you show how good Fort MacMurray is and the people. And there's a, you know, say there's a hundred thousand people in this city. There's a hundred thousand stories and that's been missing from the media in town. And you feel that nice telling the stories, the people. And that's just a small present for me saying thank you for what you're doing to support.
Speaker 0 00:03:16 Thank you very much. And I love telling the story. It's my hometown. It means the world to me, but man, this makes it even better. So let's uh, let's talk about how you got your hands on an autograph. Penny, Hardaway Jersey.
Speaker 2 00:03:30 I'm a collector. Okay. I won't tell you how many signed jerseys I have. Right? But also I've been writing for the NBA for nearly 35 years. I'm one of their historians. And so I, you know, I last little while during COVID, um, I stopped doing some of the work for the NBA for my own reasons. Some social issues. I didn't agree with what was going on, but I've been concentrating on doing stories on former Canadian and pro basketball players, guys in their eighties and seventies. What's been really neat to talk to these gentlemen.
Speaker 0 00:04:01 Well dude, thank you. And Tanner. I know he's going to love that hat. He's a big hat wearer. So this is awesome. We're good. I want to frame this. It's going to come. It's going on the set. Thank you so much, man. Let's get to the show. Let's get to the show. Yeah. Jeez. So like I said at the beginning, just so you're aware. Cause most people don't track their numbers. Um, there's one gentlemen, um, Mr. Barber, he has second place and he called me up and he's like, Hey listen, uh, first place. And I'm like, no, you're not. He had like, I think it was like 4,200 views and that's not including reach, but like, I'm just like, I got to keep it consistent. Right? Yeah. On one platform we don't count all the platforms. We're just looking at Facebook. I was like, no, you don't. And he's like, yeah, man. I went through all the episodes. I'm like, you got to go back to episode number eight or 10, whatever. It was like, there's a guy who's still who's crushing it. And so you hold the number one spot. So you obviously, you have some people that like you and enjoyed your story and shared your video. So congrats.
Speaker 2 00:04:59 Well, I may have watched it 4,685 times. That's probably why. Yeah. Maybe who knows. So
Speaker 0 00:05:05 This time there's a like last time we talked about sports a lot, your love for sports, you stayed afterwards and told me in town or some amazing stories about your paraphernalia and your collecting, um, hobby that you have. So I say we could talk to this guy for days, but this time you brought some questions about some pretty interesting stuff about Fort McMurray. I don't know what they are. Tanner's terrified. Cause we're changing up the format of the show a little bit. So these is going to be the talk and topics to keep us somewhat on track. So Tanner hit us with one of the questions that he's he said
Speaker 4 00:05:39 What popular Eve establishment was said to have been haunted down in its basement. Oh no.
Speaker 0 00:05:46 Now here's the thing about me. I'm a big,
Speaker 2 00:05:48 Big fraidy cat, big
Speaker 0 00:05:50 Cat in general. And so the topic of ghost is not what I want to talk
Speaker 3 00:05:54 About, but that's probably the reason you've it, there's a restaurant that's haunted here.
Speaker 2 00:06:00 Mitchells. Mitchell's used to be the police station. And uh, they used to have a gift shop in the bottom of Mitchells. And um, uh, some of the staff sometimes we'll see items missing or moving, something like that. And so Mitchell's what used to be the RCMP headquarters. And down below in the downstairs, we used to have a gift shop is where it says to be haunting, but also close by the old, uh, mixed cinema sex was said to be haunted upstairs. And I, I actually had kind of a, um, a bit, maybe I imagined it right? Every Thursday. I, I did a, a sh a TV show, newspaper called and called, see Jane the flakes. And I go down and do the voiceover for the movies coming up that week. And one time I was up there and I was doing the voiceover, talking about the movies and I felt someone tapped me on the shoulder, but I had to continue doing the voice or they didn't want them to do it. So later I went downstairs and I said, I'm sorry, I didn't respond to you. I was talking to the manager at time. Are we the only two people in the theater that night? And I'm sorry, I didn't respond when you tapped on my shoulder. And she said, I never tapped on your shoulder. So that was a bit spooky, spooky. So it was said both theaters have said to be haunted at one time. Well, it's like the fourth or theater and mixing the six really. But for what reasons? I don't know. I'm not a Poltergeist,
Speaker 0 00:07:21 But somebody who passed their under
Speaker 2 00:07:23 Some, could it be on burial grounds? You never know.
Speaker 0 00:07:26 Interesting. It's funny you say this. And like for everybody at home, like I do zero preparation for this show. So I'm, and I didn't read the questions when you came. I one time, just that you say this, I had no idea. I was filming a gig at Mitchell's one time. And, uh, I was filming in the basement like, cause uh, it was a company that was doing furnace work. That's kind of what they do. And the whole film shoot was horrible because my camera kept flicking off. And then to make matters worse when I was trying to record it, when we went outside to film the outside portion, my microphone kept pitching. So the video is out there and I tried to like, MacGyvered as much as I could, but it's like, it's never happened to me. My camera equipment has never done those. I've made mistakes with my camera corner before, but my camera just kept cutting out when I was in the basement. Well now
Speaker 2 00:08:22 Two and two are together or five. And so you've seen that it's odd number. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:08:29 Look at that. Okay. So like here, like I'm terrified of ghosts and like I'm just a big fraidy cat, so, huh. There's a, there's a lot of ghost stories. Informants. Oh
Speaker 2 00:08:39 Yeah. Gold stories, UFO stories. Yeah. Um, and so some of the interesting, like our most famous person, most people don't know who they are. Okay. Who's this rose Marie turf. She was on the cover of time magazine people magazine 60 minutes. Wow. They wanted to make a movie about her. She is the original Thelma and Louise. She lived here. She was a nurse here. She moved to Houston to work. Her husband had worked at one of the plants and he worked work in Houston. She was a nurse in, at the Northern lights, regional hospital. One time in Houston, she met, uh, one of the patients named Carolyn Stephens. And then together, they went on a crime spree, robbing men, posing as, uh, escorts posing as police officers. And they were on the most wanted list. And the story is phenomenal. You could talk 2030 shows about this, but they were the original film and Louise. Cool. And she's from Fort McMurray. And this happened in the early nineties
Speaker 3 00:09:44 Really well. Not that long ago. Nope. Nope. Wow. How did I not hear about this?
Speaker 2 00:09:49 It's never been in local news. I've written, I've written, you know, 1500 or 2000 word pieces for crime magazines on her, but it's never because it's McCobb and it's a bit dark. That's probably the reasons it's never made local news. Interesting.
Speaker 0 00:10:05 Yeah, we got some, we got some good stories here and I like telling the stories. All right. Tanner hit us with another question please. In
Speaker 4 00:10:12 The 1990s, a gentleman in Addison height had more than 500 of these animals living in his basement. What were they in? What was he doing with them?
Speaker 0 00:10:22 Animals? 500. I'm going to go, like, I think I've heard something. I think it's snakes or reptiles.
Speaker 4 00:10:29 My guess pigeons, Barry,
Speaker 2 00:10:31 Close chickens, chickens. He was selling, he was selling the eggs and selling the chickens to people. Oh, whoa. That was a good one. Tana harmless crime.
Speaker 0 00:10:41 Did he get in trouble for this? I guess you have to have like a license anymore. I think
Speaker 2 00:10:44 He flew the coop. <inaudible> a
Speaker 4 00:10:48 Little bit chicken of what would happen. I,
Speaker 0 00:10:51 I have a story similar to this, to that in regards to just ingenuity. So I'm not going to say what school this was at and I'm not going to give away the grade or anything because if I give too many details, people know, but as most people know who live here, most of our schools are called apple schools. Now they're healthy. So they've taken pop and chips and all that stuff out of the vending machines. So you had this young student who said, and he was a nerdy student. So he wasn't like the cool popular kid or anything. But, uh, he became cool and very popular because he saw an opportunity to make a buck. So because there was no Coca-Cola in the school, what he would do is he'd get the flyers and then he'd go to the local grocery stores and buy a bunch of Coke Coca-Cola um, with his allowance money and whatnot.
Speaker 0 00:11:39 And then he would take it to school and hang out in the locker room and like miss the beginning and the end of his classes, like the five minutes before kids would be coming in and buying actual cans of pop from this kid for like five bucks instead the dollar, because I wanted their, their Coca-Cola. And so anyways, it's, uh, the story is funny because he got busted and he was young and uh, they called his parents were like, yeah, your son is in trouble. We have him in the office right now for selling Coke.
Speaker 2 00:12:11 So this kid, what did your parents say?
Speaker 0 00:12:14 I wasn't me. I wish I wish I had that story. But anyways, the kid, they, he got a little bit of trouble, but he had raised over $5,000.
Speaker 2 00:12:25 Wow.
Speaker 0 00:12:25 Like cash he'd made that it was net and uh, the principal and the parent at the time, parents made him give it all the way to charity. Do you know where he is now? He's still in school.
Speaker 2 00:12:38 Oh, this is recent. This is a recent, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:12:42 I'll give it away a little bit. He was in grade eight when he did it. So, but he's still, he's still attending school to this day.
Speaker 2 00:12:48 So yeah. So that's why I mentioned earlier, it's that any media, they shouldn't repeat their stories because there's so many, every person's unique. Everybody's inter interesting. Everybody's amazing stories. That's right.
Speaker 0 00:13:06 And that's what I love about this. People get all nervous about when they come on the show, what are we going to talk about? Like, I'm not that interesting. I'm like, oh yeah, you're interesting. Trust me. I'll get, I'll get something. Everybody's done something. Especially I find the business owners that come on the show, they're the funniest. Cause they're like, I want to come on my show and I want to talk about my business, but it's 20 minutes. I can't talk about my business for 20 minutes. People will get bored. I'm like, oh yeah, they will. So what are we going to talk about? And I said, oh, don't worry. You're a human being. You have a story to tell.
Speaker 2 00:13:33 Yeah. It's, it's uh, most people, for some reason are terrified of that little object that camera in front of us and you know, and the lights and everything. But basically it's just two people talk. That's what it always boils down.
Speaker 0 00:13:48 It is. And that's what I've tried to create a comfortable environment. So people forget that those cameras are even there. All right, Tanner let's, let's hit them with another question
Speaker 4 00:13:57 Sticking to the 1990s and Avocet Heights. Another gentleman was making news on and off of for a few months in regards to neighborhood pets. What was all the fuss about,
Speaker 0 00:14:08 About neighborhood pets? Again, is this cause I remember a story about like snakes. That's the one thing I remember and that's why I'm falling back. Cause maybe I'm going to get it right on this, this turn. I think it's something regarding snake. Tanner, I'll go with pigeons.
Speaker 2 00:14:23 Um, this was, uh, hats were going missing. Oh, a lot of cats are missing in town and this individual was doing satanic sacrifices. I heard about this and we had, um, done an interview with this individual, but then lawyer wise, legal wise, we were told not to go ahead with it. Right. So it was an individual that was sacrificing the cats for satanic. And a lot of cats are going missing in town at the time. I do remember that's a bit on the dark side though. Hey that's okay. Give it another one down. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 4 00:15:00 What was the first coach of the Fort McMurray oil barons? I have no idea.
Speaker 2 00:15:04 Larry. Bill's a great man, a great team. And uh, uh, the oil Baron's like 10 or when you asked me that show the highlight of sports and assist th the history of this town was the 2000 Royal bank cup of oil barons, winning games, three side Belford, saber cuts,
Speaker 0 00:15:21 Scotty off shore was on that team.
Speaker 2 00:15:23 A lot of players, all of them went on to S you know, university and to the pros and a very special mourn for a community. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:15:31 How, um, well, let's talk about the old a bit, cause that's a, that's a good topic. We've had Pete on the show. Um, Pete's coming back on the show actually in a few days. Um, the old Barron's just like most things in this community, like people really had to fight for these things back in the day that wasn't an easy team to bring up here.
Speaker 2 00:15:50 No, no. The chest X is one of the main people that got that going then went to community based. And so they, there was a lot of restrictions put on the team at the time when they first started out. Uh, but you know, it's community driven people like Bob Campbell over the years have, have done a great job in Terry Connors. And, uh, so it's one of the players know they're coming to a class institution, uh, a team, a franchise with a great history and a great fan base. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:16:18 And we S I have to say, I, I'm not the biggest hockey fan in the world. Stick puck. I'll watch it. I like, like, I like to watch it, but I don't follow it. But, um, that is one thing I can't tell you how many Barron's games I've been to, how many dream home tickets I've bought and never won. Um, uh, like the community really gets behind the oil barons. It really does. And, uh, we had this one hockey team, which I it's a sin that they're not here anymore. Cause I went to a lot of their games as well. Kiano had a college team for a few years there and they were good.
Speaker 2 00:16:52 The Husky, well, I'm, I'm the, uh, voice of the Husky space. I never got the opportunity to do Husky's hockey game because volleyball and basketball were always going on. So I guess the tail end of the hockey game and with the Alberta college athletic conference, the players, there are players that have the stars of the AAC. The stars of Alberta junior hockey league are playing there. Plus a lot of semi pro players are not coming back to get their education. Uh, so when the barons did play, the Huskies, the score was I think, eight one for the Huskies. And there was so it's a different level of hockey, a high caliber, but they cut it because of budget restrictions. But they're looking to get that back in a number of other sports at the, for the kale Huskies in the near future.
Speaker 0 00:17:36 Be awesome. Cause yeah, like I remember going to watch them play a Franklin qua cause it's such a small rink and these guys were playing so fast, hitting so hard. And because that arena is so small, you're just saying, oh my Lord, these guys are going to come through the glass. Like it was fast, played hitting hockey.
Speaker 2 00:17:57 Franklin qual was a great gentleman. He, you know, he was involved in minor hockey in junior B hockey. And I remember the first time I had to go find a hockey outfit for my son who was six years old. And there was the used to have a community community event where all the, uh, use equipment would come in. So you would just swap your equipment for new equipment. And I did, I quit hockey as a young man at 10 or 11, I went into other sports. And so I had no idea what to buy. And he took his time and took me as a new father with a new, a young son to buy all the equipment for my son. So a great man who passed away and deservedly, uh, there Bina was renamed in his honor. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:18:33 Yeah. And it's a good arena. All right, Tanner, let's see, let's have another one of these questions. Those questions are, do you want mine? Are we <inaudible> okay. Tanner, we've got to that point. Everybody at home, this, I got to pump Tanner's tires a little bit here before he gets in his questions. So I'm out and about in the community and I'm working with this organization, which we're not going to talk about right now. And there, they said, Hey, listen, we want you to film and on location. And so we're spitballing ideas and I'm doing most of the talking and they said, okay, we'd like all of your ideas, but we have one that we really want to do. And I'm like, okay, what is it like, we want Tanner to ask Tanner's max city minute question with random people coming through the building. And I'm like, okay, like, yeah, we really, really want Tanner's Mac city minute. Not Elliot's Mac city minute, not just the Mac city minute. Tanner's Mac city minutes. So Tanner it's Brandon now it's yours. So you hit them with your Mac city minute.
Speaker 4 00:19:34 Cool. Question. Number one, who was the most interview, most memorable interview you had
Speaker 2 00:19:43 The most in Fort McMurray overall. Um, oh, that's easy. I I've always been a fan of circus people, especially tightrope walkers, and uh, one of the Lenda, uh, I think it's Rick will end that came to Fort Murray years ago. And he's from the F the great founding of the well lenders who are world famous. And, uh, I talked to him, he's the same age as I am. He'd be 65 now. And, and with tight rope walkers, if you make a mistake, you're dead over. And so I consider those guys the offend amazing athletes. So we hit it off. And he told me about his past when he was doing drugs at the time. And he was walking, then his grandfather picked them off the team and his wife said, how did you manage to get that out of him? We each had a passion for the Los Angeles Lakers. We each had played basketball. We had similar backgrounds. And so that interview, I really liked because, um, uh, it I'm a big fan of, of circus performers and I've interviewed other circus performers. I've been on, uh, I was in a lion cage once during the lines, riding elephant, everything, but just to talk to somebody that risked his life for a job was I really enjoyed that. Cool
Speaker 4 00:20:55 Question. Number two. What is your weirdest piece of memorabilia you've collected over the years?
Speaker 2 00:21:02 Oh my, yeah, that's a tough one. Um, well I got some, uh, I collected, I'm collecting, I collected some rocks. I have a rocks from the world trade center rocks, uh, from the Berlin wall. But the neatest one, my wife was on a trip to New York city and she was on the plane coming back and she was talking to a gentleman about her. Husband's a bit off the wall and that being me. And he said, well, here I'll give you something. And he was, uh, I don't know the term, an archeologist, whatever, but he gave me a rock and I haven't framed everything. And it was the world's oldest rock. But mind you, this is probably 10,000 a million pounds of this rock. And it was a day-to-day as the world's oldest rock. So that was a weird thing. And I got that framed at home. That was tough questions. Geologists is a rock. What do you call it? Question
Speaker 4 00:21:55 Number three. What is your favorite story to tell when somebody asks you about four, make Marie
Speaker 2 00:22:02 Older soul that's tough Tanner, um, um, favorite story. There's, uh, I've been doing this for 40 years interviewing people. So there's thousands of people, thousands of stories. The best is yet to come the most interesting stories still to come
Speaker 4 00:22:19 Question number four. If someone asks you to suggest the most Fort MacMurray meal, you could, what would that be?
Speaker 2 00:22:30 Ravensburger there we go. There you go. Never had, I have Ravens hung up. When I was doing that piece about the burgers, taking pictures of him. I called him timber at a and w whenever I pulled up, he'd automatically fly down and land on my, uh, car, mitigating a car mirror, getting ready to be fed. And the one time I did that, I bent down to pick up a chip and he took the, took off my head. So that was kind of funny.
Speaker 4 00:22:56 And your final question, what is one sporting event you haven't attended that you want to?
Speaker 2 00:23:02 Oh, that's easy. It's um, in, uh, uh, Florence, Italy, and it's a rugby event and they there's four sections of the town. Uh, there are different colors, they compete and, but it's rugby where they, and it's been held centuries. It's rugby, where they fight and kick and hit, and there's no rules. And when I was there, I knew about the sport. I was talking to one of the captains of the sport, and there's an open invite to come back anytime, and I could be captured more than the teams. So that's one of the events I want to see in sports is that one.
Speaker 4 00:23:34 And those have been your five questions later,
Speaker 2 00:23:36 But another great story is about to do with your
Speaker 0 00:23:38 Uncle. Okay. Let's hear this one. Your
Speaker 2 00:23:41 Uncles name, Harold. Harold. Yeah. Um, so my mom was coming Fort McMurray and she was on the Greyhound. She was on a certain bus and, um, the, uh, bus driver didn't count the heads of who was getting back on the bus at wandering river. So she, there, she was stuck in wandering river. And, um, your uncle by chance, she talked to him and he goes, yes, I know Curtis J Phillips. I know Diane Phillips, his wife and my mum was all nervous, you know, strand in the middle of nowhere. And he gave her a ride to Fort McMurray. Oh, look at that. I'm always greatly indebted to him what he did. Cause he, you know, he drove her right to the house and, and good conversation and she felt safe, but everything. So for me, that's very personal because, you know, he helped my mom who was stranded at the time to come.
Speaker 0 00:24:36 The funny thing about my uncle Harold and that highway is he knows every inch of that highway. And I dunno if he like to this day goes on the internet and checks it out. But before you go to Edmonton, like he was my dad's going to Edmonton a few days, uncle Harold will call you if he finds out, you're going to Edmonton. And he's like, Hey, so you know, this is the route you need to go because this is a construction happening here, here, and he'll put you on the most backwards way to go. But it's always the fastest based on the time you're traveling, it's never the same. So like in his off time, he must just go and just drive
Speaker 2 00:25:13 One thing to the viewers. You know, I suggest do this. I, my dad did with me. I do with my kids. We just don't drive too Edmonton. Okay. I pull into wondering show them that there's three streets back there. There's three streets. There's a school. There's a curling rink. Yeah. Pull into brain net, show them there's a town there and everything stop. And you're on your way to, at the basket at the sign for Amber valley, talking about the African-Americans who came up during the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds to farm there. And so I always like to show, my dad always took us to the ghost towns and stuff like that. But if you're driving to Evanston, you have the time show piece of history to the kids. They don't need to be on their iPads or Bluetooth or whatever they're called in the seat. They can get out and see an actual piece of history.
Speaker 0 00:26:05 That's a good little tip. Cool. Well, we're all done, sir. We've blown past the 20 minute mark as per usual. Thank you for coming on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the gifts. I don't say it lightly. This does mean the world to me. Um, I have big eyebrows, so you can tell when I'm telling the truth and when I'm not, uh, my face, I don't have a good poker face. So I, this truly does mean the world to me. So thank you so much for it. I really do appreciate it. And, uh, we can't, we can't wait to have you back on
Speaker 2 00:26:31 Again. And once again, thank you to Tanner behind the scenes and yourself, or, um, you know, you're, you're unlocking something. That's, that's been in the vault for a while. You're showing the stories. Uh, the other media does it too, but this format I like, cause you're, you're putting a face to the name, you putting, telling the stories of the people in our region and it's not a crash or a murder or something bad. Right? It's, you're individualizing showing the faces of the people of our region.
Speaker 0 00:27:04 Thanks man. Appreciate it. Appreciate the kind words. Appreciate the gifts. Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo. This has been a great episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you for tuning in it truly does mean the world to me, and hopefully you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 5 00:27:37 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
