Welcome to the Wednesday (EBD) SDA Late Nite Radio.
Anyone who has ever stumbled across MTV – in a restaurant, for example – has heard the sort of music discharged by poodle-haircut-sporting wannabe-Satan types who clearly spend too much time in front of a mirror. Puffing out their lips and sneering like tattooed, cross-dressing derelicts, they wear their uber-coolness like a self-inflicted injury as they blast twenty-thousand watts of dehumanizing noise to drugged-up kids with STDs and nose rings. Oddly, they never seem to take any pleasure in performing their music.
Tonight we take a happy joyride in the opposite direction, and hand the stage over to the enduring one-man phenomenon known as Walter Ostanek, aka Canada’s Polka King. Flying blissfully under, over and around popular music’s radar, this legendary performer has been known throughout his more than fifty-year career for his ability to lift the spirits of his fans, many of whom are of European immigrant stock, with his live performances and his over eighty high-quality records and CDs . His Slovenian-style (sometimes called Cleveland-style) polkas evoke good food and good times with family, friends, and neighbours, and are always delivered with a smile. We’re talking about a man who knows what side his bread is buttered on:
To Walter Ostanek, the title, “Canada’s Polka King” is much more than just a name. It is a special honour that carries with it an obligation to a special dedication and a promise to his fans and followers that wherever and whenever the Walter Ostanek Band appears in public, the band will do their utmost to please the audience and keep them happy.
That they surely do. Here then, performing with his crack band, is three time Grammy Award winner, International Polka Hall of Fame inductee, member of the Order of Canada, and proud owner of Ostanek’s Music Centre in St. Catherines Ontario – which carries a wide range of musical instruments including a selection of quality button and piano accordions, and whose friendly staff will walk you through the process of finding the right accordion for your price range and skill level – Walter Ostanek – he’s the fellow in the white shirt on the left – as he makes three or four generations of folks forget their troubles on the dance floor with the merry musical announcement that yes, indeed, it’s Polka Time!
You are invited to type out your merry Reader Tips in the comments.
Roger Kimball, “Humor vs. Contempt: Obama and the Question of Character”:
“Why did (Obama) find it ‘amusing’ to contemplate the anti-tax rallies undertaken by (let us remember) the people he serves? Where was the humor? Let me add that I like a leader with a sense of humor. It was something that Winston Churchill, for example, possessed in spades. Clement Attlee, he said, was a modest man who had much to be modest about. Ronald Reagan had the same gift. Having been shot by John Hinckley, he said to the doctor: ‘I hope you are a Republican.’
“But it’s one thing to have a sense of humor. It’s quite another to regard one’s opponents with amused disdain. One key difference is the presence of contempt. Obama’s modus operandi excels in the deployment of contempt. Is it part of his instinctive embrace of Saul Alinsky’s ‘rules for radicals’? I do not know. But in some ways Obama’s habitual expression of contempt is the most alarming component of his style of governing. Together with his evident self-infatuation and notorious sensitivity to criticism, it bespeaks a character that is volatile, heedless, and disengaged from the palpable realities faced by the people he represents. Hence his suggestion — meant, I feel sure, in all earnestness — that the people who rallied against bigger government and higher taxes should thank him for . . . for what? For not taxing them into penury?
“Obama doesn’t see this, of course. He really cannot twig why everyone is not lining up to thank him for being their leader. Such imperviousness is worrisome, for it betokens a disconnection from reality….”
The whole thing here.
Thanks for that selection, EBD. The couple at 01:51 reminds
me of my mom and dad, on those rare occasions when mom
manages to coerce dad out on to the dance floor !-)
I know what you mean, Vitruvius. I love how everyone looks so happy. Even the drummer looks like he’s having the best day of his life.
Hey, here’s a handy tip for SDA readers: for those who are a bit queasy with National News Watch’s arguably Lib-centric coverage, there’s an attractive new aggregator up for Conservative news and opinion called Blue News. Good links to a variety of news stories, conservative-minded columnists, etc. One additional great feature is that it prominently displays all the NHL playoff results – and nothing else – on the right hand side of the page, so you can quickly see which team’s ahead, and by how many games, and what the scores were in the previous games, etc. – all right there on the page. Really handy, it is.
Here’s a diagram that Vitruvius might like:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/circuit_diagram.png
Thanks, PiperPaul, I saw that this morning ~ it’s very droll 😉
I also like, EBD, the notion embodied in your selected “the band will do their utmost to please the audience and keep them happy” quote. If one replaces “the band” with “the blog”, then that I think provides an interesting perspective on matters audiencial hereto, although it is not necessarily clear that happiness is the operative metric in the politico- blogo- audiencial space. On the other hand, perhaps it always is some sort of happines, say, of differing kind, if not degree.
Drats! Foiled on an “exclusive” link yet again!
[PiperPaul stomps away tearfully like a spoiled child, disappointed and dejected yet inspired, but solidifying his resolve to eventually one-up Vitruvius with a hypertext link]
I’ll get you later, Vitruvius, with my photographed extensive drafting template collection!
Bwah-hah-hah!
(The above is best experienced by imagining me wearing a black cape and a twirly moustache, swirling both around me as I run away)
Thanks EBD I needed that; don’t tell Indiana Homez I was here though. Imagine, ordinary people having fun!
What’s really in the CBC’s Memorandum Of Understanding?
Parker Donham, referring to the same poll Kate referred to in her 7:35 post, writes: “A survey of 24 CBC Radio national news reporters shows dismal morale and widespread dismay over organizational changes that funnel all radio and TV news assignments through a single ‘hub’ in Toronto.”
I know what you’re thinking: “You mean, the CBC’s national output didn’t previously get funneled through Toronto?” But the question I have is, does the MOU actually say that the CBC’s output in other parts of the country will now be funneled through Toronto as Donham suggests? 100% of respondents to the survey (excepting those who chose “does not apply to me”) said they’d like to scrap the MOU, but here’s the thing: some of the reasons they give for their unhappiness more than suggest that, far from resenting assignments being funneled through Toronto, they’re actually unhappy that more decision-making power is being given to other “regions.”
Example responses from unhappy reporters:
“The MOU seems designed to neuter the concept of national news. Why is this something we want? How can the journalism of a national network be dictated in a cohesive way by so many distinct regions that all want control? National news is supposed to be a team of people who think about stories in a way that connects the country – not in a way that pits one regions stories against another or against the interest of the nation.”
Complaining about regions “dictating” coverage seems kinda different than complaining about everything having to be funneled through Toronto, no?
Another reporter complains:
‘Why should the regions have this and not Toronto and Ottawa (emph. mine – EBD) …it puts in play a two tier reporters system.”
So, what’s actually in the CBC’s MOU? I wonder if anyone out there – maybe a CBC reporter, or tech staff, or someone like that – has any idea as to whether reporters are “dismayed” about assignments all being funneled through Toronto, or unhappy that other regions of Canada are getting more of a say. There certainly seems to be a discrepancy between Donham’s assessment of the source of the reporters’ unhappiness, and the actual comments of the reporters. Hmmm.
Nothing stirs the blood and brings a smile like a polka. I used to sing “She’s Too Fat For Me.”A young female chemist was sure I made up the words. Coming from a politically correct planet and all. I had someone play it at the Christmas party. Her friends looked stunned when she sang along. You stretch the line from time to time.
“While searching for the lyrics of the Cure’s ‘Why Can’t I Be You’, I was confronted with a much more profound question.”
From James Taranto’s WSJ piece “Why the Left Needs Racism“:
“The political left claims to love racial diversity, but it bitterly opposes such diversity on the political right. This is an obvious matter of political self-interest: Since 1964, blacks have voted overwhelmingly Democratic. If Republicans were able to attract black votes, the result would be catastrophic for the Democratic Party. Even in 2008, the Democrats’ best presidential year since ’64, if the black vote had been evenly split between the parties (and holding the nonblack vote constant), Barack Obama would have gotten about 48% of the vote and John McCain would be president.
“To keep blacks voting Democratic, it is necessary for the party and its supporters to keep alive the idea that racism is prevalent in America and to portray the Republican Party (as well as independent challengers to the Democrats, such as the tea-party movement) as racist. The election of Barack Obama made nonsense of the idea that America remains a racist country and thereby necessitated an intensifying of attacks on the opposition as racist.”
Some questions for the recently whipped Liberal MPs.
Michael Ignatieff is proposing to no longer make it a criminal offence for the first time that gun owners fail to register their firearms by issuing a ticket instead, in the absence of aggravating factors. By ensuring legitimate gun owners would not receive a criminal charge for forgetting to register a firearm, this change would give front line officers the legal tools to differentiate between an honest mistake and a threat to public safety.
http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/17956_michael-ignatieff-addresses-police-and-rural-concerns-with-gun-registry-reforms
Hmmmmmmmmmm? So if there is no criminal charge then there would be no criminal record. Can’t use CPIC to search for a record of that ticket.
But there’s a ticket right? Carbon paper copies for sure. A record of some kind that police can pull to determine if it’s the second time around and a summary offence has been committed.
Perhaps, but man that’s going to take some time.
Especially if the ticket was issued in say New Brunswick and the second failure to register occured in Manitoba.
But what if there was a way that the police could check and see? Say like a registry!
Is Michael Ignatieff proposing to Canadians that the solution to the long gun registry is not to abolish it but to create a whole new sister registry of issued tickets?
It ain’t a polka unless it’s one played by The Ukrainian Oldtimers!
http://www.worldwidesunshine.com/emerchantpro/pc/Ukrainian-Oldtimers-c175.htm
Seriously though, Ostanek is the Polka King!
Sorry, the only reader tip I have is the grain elevator in Waskatenau, AB burned down today. I was out of town doing building inspections today and I caught the action first hand as I was driving home. Got some great photos too.
On a related note, Waskatenau, for those not familiar, is definately in the heart of polka country and home to the Duzhe Groovy Restaurant, your source for home made dine-in or take-out Ukrainian cuisine! 🙂
POLKAS!!!!
Just for you EBD, Navihanke – Volim Jožeka and Zapeljivke – Prvi je prvi.
Ahh, yes, the polka. The music and video pretty much looked and sounded like every one of my cousins’ weddings. All that was missing was a stumbling drunk who is talking far too loud.
I watched Wrestlemania with Walter one year. Can anyone top that?
from “the Last Polka”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uICUA0AX7E&feature=related
Walter should start a Polka registry and charge Ottawa.
KG, I drove with Walter through a blizzard in North Dakota. We thought we were going to die…DIE I tell you!
Well, that might say more about your extended family than it does about polkas, LC. If one’s extended family is loud and dysfunctional enough, one can soon get to the point of saying “Ah, yes, pants. They remind me of every one of my drunk uncle’s backyard brawls…”
Who’s your daddy? Well,…
“Three quarters of children in some parts of Britain will be born to unmarried mothers within the next parliament, official figures indicate.
“The number of births to single mothers and unmarried cohabiting couples is set to exceed 50% across the country in the next five years.”
Sorry to bum you out with reality for a second…
“The election of the Democrat Obama has meant the abandonment of serious opposition on the part of the official “anti-war” movement, although popular hostility to the Iraq and Afghan wars is pervasive in the US. For those on the liberal left, the brutal conflicts have now become “good wars,” since these political elements all agree that the Obama administration is “progressive” in both domestic and foreign policy.”
Electing Obama to defuse the anti-war movement…
This is something to be looked into. Anybody else come across people talking about this?
Again, my apologies. POLKA ON!!!!!
Walter Ostanek has been an icon performing at the Kitchener Oktoberfest every Fall for as long as I can’t remember. His best show may have been the year that he shared the billing with Big Sugar at Queensmount. Draft beer, goldschlager, and Walter topped off with some Gordie Johnson guitar played at his usual volume. And yes, Polkatime was a weekly show in the 70’s on the local (Kitchener) CTV station.
I met Walter Gretzky once, surely that is as close as Spike Jones is to Spike Milligan in yesterdays selection.
For those of you who think the Polka is a sissy dance – think again. I was very physically fit, agile and strong in my early 20’s – could play any sport hard and not suffer any ill effects whatsoever. Then come that fateful July wedding where my partner and I polkaed the night away. I was so stiff and sore the next day, I could barely get out of bed let alone walk – took me 3 days to recover. I’ve never had so much fun at a wedding.
Victor David Hanson at PJM:
“…does rampant borrowing for government spending reflect our despair over the inability of millions to know what is best for themselves? For democracy to work, all of us must fully participate. But because of endemic racism, sexism, class bias, and historical prejudices, millions of Americans do not have access to adequate education and enlightenment. Therefore, a particular technocratic class, with requisite skill and singular humanity, has taken it upon themselves to ensure everyone gets a fair shake — if only government at last has the adequate resources to fix things. If it proves problematic for one to register and vote, then there will be a program to make 100% participation possible. If some of us are too heavy and too chair-bound, we can be taught what and how to eat. If some of us do not study, we can adjust academic standards accordingly. In one does something unwise, like buying a plasma TV rather than a catastrophic health care plan, then we still can ensure he is covered. In other words, an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-moral guardian class requires resources to finish the promise of participatory America. After all, why would we allow the concrete contractor to ‘keep’ 70% of his income only to blow it on worthless things like jet skis or a Hummer in his garage or a fountain in his yard — when a far wiser, more ethical someone like Van Jones could far more logically put that now wasted capital to use for the betterment of the far more needy?”
EBD, thanks for the link tip, ‘Blue news’.
My FF home page is now; gmail/ bluenews/ smalldeadanimals/ hotair
No-One: “I could barely get out of bed let alone walk – took me 3 days to recover.”
You plagiarized my tequila story.
In my wasted youth, I used to play a mean version of Beer Barrel Polka on my accordian.
(coulda been famous)
Thank-you for the Polka music EBD. It was a joy to hear some peppy, melodious music played by musicians with big smiles on their lips. Hearing that music made my feet want to dance.
My most notable polka story: a few years ago I was in a local den of iniquity (bar) and they had an old time band for a lure to bring in the old folks – this was because they were really hard up for business due to the smoking ban (most of them have since gone bankrupt). A fellow Yukoner who has been up here many years, a freedom fighter who escaped from Tito’s Yugoslavia in the 1960’s asked me to Polka – he is a chain smoking man of seventy-five but he spun me around the floor with the greatest of ease; my feet barely touched the floor; he never missed a beat and was barely puffing after 5 minutes of the Beer Barrel Polka. I was amazed. So much for out of breath, out of shape = tobacco smokers. Walter built the only nice looking rock walls in Whitehorse, by himself, using a wheel barrow and his powerful hands. He is a long time Yukoner and a member of Jim Robb’s Colorful 5%. Also: he is a Fabulous dancer – that dance was really thrilling!
Newsweek has just printed a poignant reminder that the world as they know it may end.
http://tinyurl.com/ydh763x
In their world, polar bears hibernate in the summer time, and Chicago is a place you’d like to visit.
Hurry and buy a copy before they all sell.
More McGuinty’s Folly….unbelievable!
See Macleans, April 19th…page 40
Ontario residents pay as little as 4.4 cents/Kwhr
Migsquinty promises to pay up to 80.2 cents for your hopme based solar power.
Hey, this is the trustworthy Mcleans talkin’.
Loblaw Co. ltd. plans to turn 136 of its roofs in solar money makers.
It’s like science fiction. See page 40.
Guess Mcsquity says anything Arnold and Obahma Hewsanity can spend, he can easily outspend.
its the polka for sure. very nice blog design.. so minimalist
PET Cemetery Report:
the end result of multiculturalism, aka Liberal Iffy’s Liberal Party.
MSM avoids the use of Liberal in the headlines.
…-
“Apology not enough, B.C. politicians say
Vancouver Sun – Kim Bolan – 3 hours ago
Two BC politicians who complained to police about controversial comments made by a director of a Surrey Sikh temple last week say a purported apology issued to the media Wednesday is not good enough.
Dosanjh dismisses apology Victoria Times Colonist
Canada’s top Sikh politician warns of rising Sikh extremism AFP”
More from MSM:
“Etobicoke Sikh temple ousts 10 board members
Toronto Star – Denise Balkissoon – 38 minutes ago
A Sikh temple in Etobicoke voted off almost half its board of directors on Wednesday afternoon, but the ousted group is refusing to accept the decision.”
(googlenews)
http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/04/21/and-then-they-came-for-me/#comment-80261
I think it’s St. Catharines.
Kimball re O:
“One key difference is the presence of contempt. Obama’s modus operandi excels in the deployment of contempt.”
(Posted by: EBD at April 21, 2010 10:05 PM)
O’narcissist re O: O’s “mask”.
“Displays false modesty and unctuous “folksiness” but unable to sustain these behaviors (the persona, or mask) for long.
It slips and the true Obama is revealed: haughty, aloof, distant, and disdainful of simple folk and their lives.
– Sublimates aggression and holds grudges.”
http://www.globalpolitician.com/25109-barack-obama-elections
Hey Canuck carbonators! It’s hump day for Earth Week Virtual Cruise-In at Iowahawk, and not a single entry from Canada, home of the oil sands and Gaia-raping, V8-powered snowblowers. Let’s get those entries in, people.
Mao Stlong/Iffy ask,
Hey Canadians, you wan NEP/PET Cemetery?
You wan Separatist Coalition? MaoIffy, Taliban Jack LaytoNDP, commie Duceppe Bloc have a socialist Separatist Coalition for you.
Martin discriminates: doesn’t mention “cranky old” women.
Iffy’s “vision”? Government of, by, and for the polls/pollsters.
Iffy is hoping to “resonate” with the “broad sweep”.
…-
“Lawrence Martin
Michael Ignatieff is tacking left – finally”
“He’s been told to stop worrying about cranky old men in Alberta. Is there a culture war ahead?”
“Liberals from the old Jean Chrétien school feel Mr. Ignatieff has been pitching the party too close to Conservative country. But his chief of staff, Peter Donolo, an old Chrétien hand, appears to be making his presence felt. There’s a leftward tilt in Iggy’s moves.
This follows a warning by pollster Allan Gregg. His research suggests the Liberals have lost ground because they no longer are seen to represent values that resonate with the broad sweep of Canadians.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/michael-ignatieff-is-tacking-left-finally/article1542198/
and this from polka central Alberta
http://mynews.ctv.ca/mediadetails/2379133?collection=742&offset=0&siteT=
data at 150million bits a second. this should prove the obvious cause of climate change.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solar-observatory-first-photos-100421.html
Every single day last week The National covered the Guergis/Jaffer affair as a massive government scandal – it was top of the hour, breathless, speculating stuff, and Frank Graves, president of EKOS Research, said “(Harper’s) got to have…cold beads of sweat popping out on his brow right now. He’s got to be very uncomfortable.”
Monday night of this week, all of a sudden, The National not only buried the affair deep in their broadcast, but backed off greatly in their tone: instead of the breathless, prurient glee-for-all, they covered it in the manner the story deserved all along, which is to say, made clear that the facts aren’t in, that there are conflicting stories, and no evidence of malfeasance by the government, etc.
Well, whaddy’a know:
In Tuesday’s (this week’s) G&M Jane Taber begins –
“The scandal now being dubbed ‘Rahimelena’ appears to be losing some appeal in official Ottawa. The distancing began a couple of days ago. On CTV’s Question Period Sunday it was clear that liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay was uncomfortable with the personal aspects of the affair…”
– and then she drops, as if it’s an aside, what I submit is actually the explanation for why Liberal mouthpiece The National suddenly changed their coverage:
This would explain the 180 degree turn on the part of The National: polling done by EKOS suggested that hammering on the Guergis/Jaffer story isn’t good for the Liberals, so the CBC backs off.
Now, this morning, this tidbit in the G&M from (sorry, Kate!) Norman Spector:
“…over the years (I’ve) learned that the most important question to ask about a poll is not the margin of error or the sample size, but the amount of business the firm conducting it has done with government, or hopes to do with government in future. A related question is whether the pollster has any political background to speak of – especially with the two parties that have a realistic chance of forming government – which unfortunately is too often the case for my tastes.
“Still, even a poll skeptic such as myself was surprised to read in The Globe and Mail this morning that Ekos’s Frank Graves is simultaneously polling for the taxpayer-supported CBC and providing partisan political advice to the Liberals…”
So, to wrap up: the CBC treated Guergis/Jaffer like it was a massive government scandal (remember that significant new revelations coming out of Gomery often didn’t make The National until ten or fifteen minutes into the broadcast.) But then, all of a sudden, when research from EKOS – which is conducting polls for the CBC AND providing advice to the LIberals – suggests the Liberals’ focus on Jaffer/Guergis was turning off voters, the CBC adjusted their coverage, bumping it further back into the broadcast and delivering it in a much more subdued tone.
Revolting stuff. The CBC is not providing a news service on behalf of Canadian taxpayers, they’re working for the Liberal Party of Canada.
“Experts say things are collapsing. Maybe they’re not collapsing fast enough.”
*
the real reason they call it…
“the sport of kings”.
*
A little polka backgound for y’all.
Actually, the real king of polka was Frankie Yankovic from Cleveland Ohio. That is where Walter, a clone of Yankovic got the ‘Cleveland’ style polka music.
Yankovic was famous for hiring very handsome young virtuoso musicians who, when not playing “Who Stole The Kishka” the Frankie, were doing Jazz and R&B gig as well as studio work.
The entire West side of Cleveland is “Bo Hunk” territory where the most popular food is Kielbasi and some sort of potatoe dumplings.
A couple of late night comics used to host the midnight movie doing skits during the breaks that poked fun at the West side. I remember the Kielbasi Kid who rode a pony. He had a hunk of Kielbasi in his holster and his feet would drag on the ground as rode because the pony was only about three feet tall.
They joked about Parma (west side burb) as a place where everyone wore white socks with brown shoes and so on. It was a very funny scenario and in less politically correct times EVERYONE had fun with it including the Slavs who populated the West side of Cleveland.
There was less fund poked at the East side where the population was, Italian, Jewish, Black and everything between. I lived on the East side.
Yankovic died in 1998 at the age of 83 … He won a Grammy in 1986 … first ever for a polka accordion player.
Now you know.
Defective McAfee update causes worldwide meltdown of XP PCs =[ Headline ]
Hold off your McAFEE update if you can.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=2003&tag=nl.e589
[Quote]
As I commented on Twitter earlier today, I’m not sure any virus writer has ever developed a piece of malware that shut down as many machines as quickly as McAfee did today.
[/Quote]
It’s different in a small community, EBD. A wedding dance includes most of the town. The stumbling drunk is the natural effect of the open bar attracting the townsfolk that really, really, really like to take advantage of the free booze. To be fair, though, I did neglect to mention how much I enjoyed those dances.
U Vic’s Weaver going after National Post.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Climate-Scientist-Sues-National-Post-for-Libel-1151667.htm
the next crisis. line up behind climate change, water and now…….
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/20/peak_phosphorus?page=0,0
Want to suck $4 billion tax dollars from the middle class?
“New projections from the Congressional Budget Office estimate that four million middle-class Americans could be hit by an average of $1,000 in penalties for failure to get health insurance under Obamacare.”
_http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTVmMDc5YWYxM2JiNDNhZDRkZTUwZDk1YjYyMzY0YTQ=
And people thought Obama would not tax the middle class. Fools.
and now a favourite double X chromosome page
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2010/04/22/wheres-liberal-hollywood-when-you-need-them-no-outrage-over-sigourney-weavers-breasts-remark/
Ici Radio-Voodoo.
Liberal Citoyen Dionky says, It’s not fair.
…-
“French is out of fashion in Rwanda
English replaced French as the official language of instruction in schools in 2008
When Governor General Michaëlle Jean visits Rwanda next week she might have to bite her tongue about the country’s new language policy. After a century of close ties to France and Belgium, the East African nation is phasing out français and embracing English. “English is becoming more and more dominant in the world,” says Arnaud Nkusi, anchor of Rwanda’s state-owned TV news. “It’s all about business. You have to move with the rest of the world.”
Jean’s trip will mark the first state visit to Rwanda from a Commonwealth country since it joined that 54-state organization late last year. But cozying up to Britain and its former colonies is only the latest chapter in Rwanda’s move to English. Many say it all started with the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when members of the country’s Hutu ethnic group killed up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The country blames France for helping arm the instigators, and then not doing enough to stop the carnage.
In the wake of the genocide, Rwanda’s main donor became the United States. Meanwhile, thousands of exiles returned to their homeland from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda—neighbouring English-speaking countries where many Rwandans picked up the language. Then, in 2006, a French judge dropped a bombshell. He accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, of helping start the genocide because of his alleged complicity in the rocket attack of April 6, 1994, that killed Rwanda’s Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana—the spark for the massacre. Furious, Kagame shut down the French Embassy, kicked out the ambassador, ordered Radio France Internationale off the air in Rwanda, and closed the local French cultural centre.”
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/04/22/french-is-out-of-fashion-in-rwanda/
I remember Walter doing his small bandshell gigs at Marineland when the kids were little. It was infectious and Walter was ever the congenial host. Not sure how blown away the kids were in the day, but I loved it!!! I have video; may post to You Tube one day.