A MUSICAL ODYSSEY
CBC’s Coleman & Company
feature on
Bill and Sue-On Hillman
BACK TO HILLMAN HOMEPAGE
Theme and Opening Credits with title balloons and montage of past shows:
COLEMAN & COMPANY with SANDI COLEMAN
SANDI: Tonight
on Coleman and Company a musical couple from Strathclair who
have quite a record - 10 of them to be exact.
VIDEO: Shot
of Hillmans and Friends performing on stage.
VIDEO: Fast
cuts of record covers
VIDEO: Long
shot of Hillman country home -- Maple Grove
MUSIC: Bill
& Sue-On singing "One Day at a Time"
VIDEO: Hillman
living room - Bill with acoustic guitar - Sue-On singing at Grand
Piano - Pan to Sandi’s intro.
SANDI: Hi there. I’m
Sandi Coleman. Welcome to the show. Where we start
off tonight at a family farm set about 100 kilometres north of Brandon.
This proved to be an inspirational base for one of Manitoba’s most
prolific music groups. You may never have heard of them but Bill
and
Sue-On Hillman have been making beautiful music together for 30 years.
VIDEO: Closeups
Sue-On ...then Bill followed by fast cuts of 10 album covers
AUDIO: Sound
bites of original songs Montana...China Song...One Night Stand
SANDI: They’ve
toured all of Canada, the US...even England and on their own
Maple Grove record label they’ve put out 10 albums and CDs.
VIDEO: Hillmans in their
Media room on sofa in front of a wall of Chinese
instruments, tapes, records and recording equipment.
BILL: Both
my parents were musicians in the home ...they loved jams sessions
and I guess they instilled a love of music.
SUE-ON: I took
classical piano lessons for about seven years, I guess, and
sang in the church choir. I used to watch Bill on TV with his show.
I got to know him through his sister and my brother -- we were in
the same community. Then when we got married, it was matter of
either I stayed home or go along to dances and be bored or else get
involved.
VIDEO: Cut to a clip of
Manitoba Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg.
Shot of crowd over the shoulder of MC Mike Ried.
AUDIO: Ladies
and Gentlemen. Bill and Sue-On Hillman!
VIDEO: Hillmans
run onto Concert Hall stage in front of 30 piece
orchestra and begin performance.
VIDEO: Superimposed
text over performance video: “1980 Manitoba
Country Entertainers of the Year”
AUDIO: Original
song Cajun Stomp performed live.
VIDEO: Back to Maple
Grove Media Room chat
SANDI: Is there
anything you are trying to say in your music?
Is there a point you’re trying to get across?
SUE-ON: Hire
us!
BILL: Don’t
notice the mistakes...don’t notice how rotten we are.
SUE-ON: I don’t
know...it’s just having fun ... and being together.
We’ve done so many things all these years -- together --
and music has certainly kept us together.
VIDEO: Cut to close up of
large Chinese wok in Soo’s Restauraunt kitchen.
Sue-onsupervising the staff and giving directions in Chinese.
AUDIO: Ambient
sounds of a busy kitchen... much talk in Chinese.
SANDI: Away
from the glamour of the music industry, Sue-On manages Soo’s
Restaurant in downtown Brandon. It was her family’s business until
she and Bill bought it up three years ago and expanded it to include
a banquet hall.
VIDEO: Sue-On
carrying a large bowl of deep fried shrimp out to the dining
room buffet -- mingling with and talking to customers on the way.
AUDIO: Buzzing
dining room noise. Customer overheard saying: “Are you on
TV?” Sue-On reply: “No. You are.”
VIDEO: Cut to Strathclair
Collegiate and Bill’s integrated
Computer/Social Studies/English classroom. Bill at chalkboard...
students at computers.
BILL: Take
the first file...
SANDI: Bill’s
full-time job puts him at the front of a high school classroom in
Strathclair.
BILL: So it’s
time to get organized.
SANDI: Getting organized
is something that Bill and Sue-On are pros at.
You see in addition to the music and day jobs, they’re collectors.
AUDIO: Heavy
guitar chord.
VIDEO: Pan
across 20 guitars displayed on music room wall.
SANDI: There’s
the guitar collection.
SUE-ON: Every
one of the them has been a favourite at some time or other.
He tends to favour the Fender guitars and the Gretsch guitars.
AUDIO: Sounds of the old
Red Skeleton radio show.
VIDEO: Pan
across shelves filled with boxes of reel-to-reel tape and 16 inch
Electrical Transcription (ETs) discs. Then to Sandi and Bill
examining tape collection on shelves.
SANDI: The
old radio show collection.
BILL: I’ve
compiled a collection of about 10,000 old radio shows from
the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. This is part of it and it sorta goes on
and on all through the house.
AUDIO: Chinese gong.
VIDEO: Close-up
shots of Chinese carved furniture.
SANDI: There’s
the collection of carved and inlaid Chinese furniture.
SUE-ON: My
secretary here -- it’s carved in teak and camphor wood as well.
VIDEO: Quick closeup shots
of magazine covers: Country Music Magazine,
National Lampoon, Mad, Architectural Digest, etc. and wall shelves
full of magazines and comics.
SANDI: The
magazine and comics collection covering five decades and just
as many topics.
VIDEO: Close-up
Bill opening Playboy and starting to unfold the centrefold.
Sandi reaches out an quickly closes the magazine.
AUDIO: Hillmans performing
original song Good Time Jamboree.
VIDEO: Flipping
album covers and pan of record collection, cassettes
and video tapes on shelves.
SANDI: And
their huge music collection in all formats, not to mention
the 3000 video tapes crammed with movies and TV shows.
VIDEO: Bill
at computer desk at Kensington home keying titles into a
computer database.
SANDI: Not
only have they all been collected but they’ve all been catalogued
on computer.
VIDEO: Shot
of Bill and Sandi in front of video and magazine walls
thumbing through large book of computer print outs of video titles.
BILL: All
of the "All Creatures Great and Small" series. A lot of
English stuff -- a lot of British comedy.
SANDI: And
every copy of Coleman and Company that’s ever been made so far? LOL BILL:
I have some. [LOL] I pick your show up on Brandon and it’s
Sunday morning on the Brandon channel, so I’m not always home
to get it.
SANDI: Yeh.
Yeh...excuses. [LOL] Too well organized.
VIDEO: At front door of
Maple Grove country home.
Sandi walks down brick steps and out among spruce trees.
SANDI: OK.
Time for a review -- there may may be a test later on... Bill and
Sue-On have recorded 10 albums. They have performed just about
everywhere. They have homes in Brandon and in Strathclair.
They’ve catalogued their collections of musical instruments...
the comic books.. .Chinese furniture... O yeh...They own and
operate a 260-seat Chinese restaurant...and did I mention that
Bill also commutes for his teaching job 200 kilometres a day
from Brandon to Strathclair?
VIDEO: Closeup of hand
surfing a car radio dial and then to Bill driving van...
waves to local traffic...cut to over the shoulder view of Highway 16.
BILL: It’s
almost easy driving, cause we’re so used to driving at 4 and 5 in the
morning after setting up and tearing down and performing and all
...and driving for three hours after that. We’re just here for such
a short period of time, so you try to cut down on your sleep.
SUE-ON: Do
as much as you can.
VIDEO: Long
shot of van going by on highway.
BILL: You try
to do a great number of things at once.
VIDEO: Sandi takes down
a family portrait from Media Room picture wall.
SANDI: And
did I mention that the Hillmans also have three children.
VIDEO: Ja-On
and Sue-On at front till serving customers.
SANDI: There’s
17-year-old Ja-On who helps out at the restaurant.
VIDEO: Robin
working in clean up prep room washing dishes.
SANDI: 13-year-old
Robin who is also picking up some of the family work ethic.
VIDEO: China-Li
playing harp in the Kensington music room.
SANDI: And
9-year-old China-Li.
VIDEO: Back to Media Room
chat
SANDI: Have
you two always been this busy?
SUE-ON: We
were busy from the day we got married. We were painting
a school house in Elphinstone for money to go on our honeymoon.
I think we finished painting on a Friday, so we phoned our friends
up and said we’re getting married on Monday, because we had to
be back in two weeks for another gig he was playing -- that
was before I joined the band.
SANDI: With
you both being so busy, what do you do to relax?
AUDIO: Chinese chimes
and gong
VIDEO: Long
shot overlooking City of Brandon from upper balcony of
their North Hill residence. Camera zooms back to show Hillmans in
silhouette on balcony doing slow Karate and Tai Chi moves.
SANDI: I guess
we forgot to mention that Bill and Sue-On both have their
black belts in karate.
AUDIO: Oriental
music
VIDEO: Cut
to side view of work out on balcony. Cut to shot from ground
level looking up for long shot of Hillmans on upper deck of Cedar home.
VIDEO: Cut to stage
shot. Closeups of band warming up. Barry Forman tuning
fiddle. Kerry Morris tuning bass. Kevin Pahl missing from shoot.
Bill tuning Roland Synth Guitar. Sue-On adjusting drums.
SANDI: It seems
for the Hillmans, their music, their jobs, and their many
obsessions are part of a basic whole.
VIDEO: Dancers
on dance floor. Sue-On singing and band performing:
“Can I Have This Dance?"
AUDIO: “I’ll
always remember, the song they were playing -- The first time
we danced and I knew -- As we swayed to the music -- and held to each
other -- I fell in love with you.”
BILL: I think
that the things we pursue -- that we’re busy in -- are relaxing
things in general and we gain energy from trying different things.
BILL: A change
is as good as a rest...or whatever
VIDEO: Sue-On
while playing drums sings “One Day At A Time”
AUDIO: “I’m
just a woman. Lord help me believe in all that I am...
and all I can be.” SUE-ON: We’ve never
been idle --
we’ve always done things. Maybe we’ll grow old and slow down...
BILL: We have
each other to lean on a lot, you know. We gain strength
from each other.
SUE-ON: And
it’s worked out great for 29 years. I don’t know what
would happen if one of us wasn’t there.
AUDIO: “Lord
help me today...Show me the way...One day at a time.”
VIDEO: Fade
out with band performing.
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