Anecdote: in the mid-nineties, I was sitting on my deck in Regina in the summer, having a beer with my next-door neighbour, who was involved in the entertainment scene in Regina.
“Bargainville” was playing on my CD.
Neighbour takes a pull on his beer, and says that he’s been hearing some stories about Ghomeshi, about his sex life and tensions it was causing with the band.
I said something about rock musicians and we moved on to other chat. It made an impression on me, though, because my neighbour wasn’t a malicious gossip. He heard things, but was a straight shooter. I stopped listening to Bargainville after that.
Now, if I heard that sort of rumour in Regina, admittedly not the cultural capital of Canada, in the mid-nineties while Moxy was touring …
The article has a bit to say about the roots of the investigation, telling about Ghomeshi’s meeting with a CBC’s executive director Chris Boyce a few months ago. I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out form the wording of the article if the Toronto Star allegations date from around this time (a few months ago), though.
Not many new developments in the story as far as I know, but I found a couple of articles that might be of interest.
From Jesse Brown’s site - What Management Knew about Jian. He argues that some of the higher-ups at the Q show knew about these allegations but didn’t seem to do much about it. The article says it’s part 1 - I don’t think part 2 has appeared yet.
That is what I get for trying to type on a cell phone with my thumbs. What I wanted to say, was I don’t know who the new host of Q should be, but the first thing they do should be to interview David Bowie.
Jian wrote a book, and much of the book was about his love of David Bowie. Plus, Bowie doesn’t give many (any?) interviews these days, so it’d be a special occasion.
This is not coming at a good time for CBC, who’s done some excellent shows throughout the decades. A lot of lay-offs, and ultimately they may privatize it, and if they do, that will be the last time I watch CBC news.
Last thing I want to see is a Canadian version of CNN.
That being said, the higher-ups looked the other way because Ghomeshi was a cash-cow.
Talk is, the take down of Jian, and the unprecedented public support for the victims, that followed, (in Canada), emboldened some of Bill’s victims to come forward.
