by Richard Skelly » Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:20 pm
One of the lesser known tales of The Guess Who is that Live At The Paramount was a consolation event for Burton and the boys. They were originally supposed to record a concert at New York City's venerable Carnegie Hall. Back when Burt blogged on MySpace, he confessed to having run himself ragged and got sick. The gig was cancelled and never re-booked.
The Paramount concert was the public debut of guitarist/vocalist Donnie MacDougall. A former mainstay of Vancouver's Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck (One Ring Jane), he replaced Greg Leskiw as complement for hard-charging lead guitarist Kurt Winter. Donnie even got to sing his own Glacé Bay Blues which made it onto the subsequent album.
Alas, the Paramount gig proved the swan song for band co-founder and bassist Jim Kale. Legend has it that Jim passed out and tumbled backwards either in a sound check or during the concert. Shortly thereafter Jim joined Leskiw, Randy Bachman Bob Ashley and Chad Allan as ex-Guess Who members. Jim went on to minor success in Scrubbaloe Caine. But his craftiest move occurred a few years later. After Burton went solo and collapsed the band, Jim trademarked the Guess Who name.
As for Running Back To Saskatoon, it inspired the first tour of an authentic Guess Who in 2000. Dubbed the Running Back To Canada tour, it featured Burton, Randy, Donnie, drummer Garry Peterson and bassist Bill Wallace who, at the last minute, replaced Jim Kale (who instead got a royalty for the others calling themselves the Guess Who). Wallace, of course, had been Jim's successor following the Paramount event.
Needless to say, Running Back To Saskatoon opened the show on that triumphant first tour. It's in the pantheon of recorded tributes to Canada.