The man behind Metro died Tuesday of a heart attack in his winter home in Arizona.
Les Pavelick, 71, gained fame with his ethnic humour in comedy albums and local television commercials.
If you don’t know Metro, you’re not from Saskatchewan, says Rod Kidder, host and program manager of CJWW Radio in Saskatoon.
Kidder met Pavelick in the early 1980s and remembers him as a true Saskatchewan original. He had a variety of jobs, from radio sales to owner of the Birch Hills bar. But his biggest claim to fame was his first Christmas album.
“I don’t know how many people didn’t have Metro’s Christmas album in the ’70s,” said Kidder.
Along with others, Victoria broadcaster and former CJWW morning man Ed Bain expressed his condolences on the Metro website.
“I can’t believe my great funny friend is gone. What memories I have of this wonderfully entertaining guy, a guy that was my roommate in the late ’70s and was always so supportive, encouraging and in my corner whenever I had a challenge in my life.”
Recorded in 1975, 11 Days from Christmas sold 50,000 copies and went gold. It featured songs like Walkin’ In My Winter Underwear and Chesnik Roasting On A Open Fire.
“He sold a shwack of those. He did it as a joke and they took off,” said Kidder.
Metro never claimed to represent any nationality but he ran afoul of the Ukrainian community from time to time. Kidder remembers Saskatoon city councillor Morris Cherneskey phoning in to complain.
“That was the thing about Metro. We got the gears and people mad about us playing 11 Days From Christmas.”
Metro released four other albums – Metro Goes Country; Metro Live; Metros Next To Last Xmas Album (2008); and, Metros Rural And Was-turn Album, which included the song If My Nose Was Runnin’ Money I’d Blow It All On You. On his DVD, he posed in front an outhouse; it was called Metro Unplugged.
The character of Metro, a Ukranian dressed in uniquely stylish clothes who delivered his jokes with an accented voice, was created for a Halloween party in the late 1960s. Opinions always diverged on the political correctness issue. A YouTube posting of the song 11 Days from Christmas generated this comment from a fan: “I love this song. I am Canadian Ukrainian and I think this song is great. My mother and my grandparents all loved this song. They were Ukrainians from Canora, Sask., the home of Ukrainians in Canada. They loved it. Metro rules.”
Pavelick helped various service groups raise money, and his appearances at community fundraisers over the years helped the groups raise $1 million.
Kidder hosted a handful of live Metro fundraisers over the years and was featured in Metro’s memoirs, a book called Standing Ovulation self-published in 2011. Pavelick maintained a sense of humour about himself, calling his act “old jokes for new money,” Kidder said.
Pavelick lived in Bruno with his wife Barb and built bird houses in the summer. He was still doing his act around Yuma trailer courts with Freddie and Sheila Pelletier at the time of his death, said Kidder.
From www.thestarphoenix.com
Source:
http://christmas.blog7up.com/2013/01/24/metro-dead-at-71/
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