BILL AND SUE-ON HILLMAN
A MUSICAL ODYSSEY
The Boggy Creek ~ Call of the Wild Festival Years
1980-1985

PART II
Festival Memories and Behind the Scenes

Saturday Evening show of 1980 got so rowdy that I had to leave my post back stage. I donned an extra black "Security" T-shirt and jumped over the restraining snow fence to help keep over-exuberent fans from breaking through to the stage area.

One of the highlights of the 1980 show was meeting and watching the performance of Doc Watson and his son Merle. It was with great sadness when we learned, a few years later, that Merle had died in a tractor accident on his farm in Tennessee.

I performed the 1981 weekend as a solo as Sue-On was nine months pregnant. Earlier in the week we had fulfilled a contract with the Opry North network radio show in the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall. Sue-On didn't play drums on that show but she made up for it with her a gung-ho stage moves which she carried off admirably. We agreed however that wild remote Boggy Creek was not the place to be on the weekend as she was due any time. The Harvey Henry Band backed me on most of my numbers and "Duck" Donald did a hilarious job of filling in for Sue-On on a few of the duets. I had just finished an afternoon show on Saturday and was relaxing back in our Funcraft Motorhome beside the lodge when I heard someone announce: "Bill Hillman ~ Your wife is having a baby!" Within minutes I had packed the motorhome and was speeding southward toward Brandon... and made to Brandon General Hospital it in time to welcome William Robin Li-Chan Monroe Hillman into the world.

Sue-On and I picked up Orval Prophet and Wayne Rostad at the Winnipeg Airport and they stayed at Maple Grove before moving on to the festival site. I took some great video footage of both of them, including some of 6' 4" Ron telling colourful stories while sitting on our handcarved Chinese coffee table. The storytelling and tape came to an abrupt  halt, however, when the large glass that covered the table cracked from the weight. An embarrassed and gracious Wayne insisted on paying for the damages.

A surprise visit at the festival came from my long-lost cousin Susan and her husband Paul. I hadn't seen her since her dad, my uncle Jim Grant, an army helicopter instructor, had been posted to St. Jean, PQ. We had last seen them when we stayed with them during Expo 67.

A few California musicians were firmly convinced that their lives were in danger from a local Sasquatch they had been warned about back in LA.

I made arrangements for Century 21 Studios to do a remote taping of the festival. They had trouble with their main recorder however, and most of the footage was unusable. I did salvage enough however to put together a pretty good live cassette album

In 1985 we hired a local biker gang for security when various professional security outfits had trouble keeping order in the Party Campground.

John Anderson band's tour bus arrived late... they had spent some time partying with the bikers. When they finally reached the stage after midnight they put on a blistering, hot show.

The adrenaline was flowing on the Monday morning that I rode shotgun (literally) with Lewis as we sped to the bank in Swan River with the weekend's cash receipts.

Whiskey Jack - who currently had a regular spot on the CBC Tommy Hunter Show. They had taken over from us on the Treflan Tour that we had worked a few years before. They needed transportation for the Treflan demo sites in our area so I supplied our equipment van and ended being a driver/roadie for a week on the same tour that we had originally headlined.

Terry Carisse - riding high with hit albums and singles. We've always looked forward to swapping albums with other entertainers and have gathered quite a collection of autographed LPs and CDs over the years.

Wayne Rostad - went on to host a hit CBC TV show: On the Road.

Orval Prophet - Ronnie's cousin died a few years later. A fine person and entertainer.

Ronnie Prophet and Glory-Anne Carriere - this pair have touched most of the sho-biz bases. They appear to have found their niche in Branson.

Family Brown - we were excited to learn that they had played some of the same clubs that we had performed at in England's Northeast. They also had taken over from us when we left the Western Canada Treflan Chemicals rural demonstrations  to tour the NW USA State and County Fair Grandstand circuit.

Marie Bottrell - somewhere in our collection we have a great photo of Marie and Sue-On preparing food for some of the entertainers in the kitchen of the Kaselitz Log Mansion. We first met Marie on a sort of all-star Canada Country show that we did in the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall.

Jean Shepherd - widow of Hawkshaw Hawkins and one of the first country girl recording stars - Dear John, etc. - a Grand Ole Opry legend. She told us that she is Lorrie Morgan's godmother.

"Little" Jimmy Dickens - "tater" had great stories of the old days at the Opry and their tours with an unknown Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys.

The Whites - the girls had great stories of the southern country and bluegrass scene and hubby Ricky Skaggs.

Lonzo and Oscar - the original Lonzo died some years ago and has been replaced with a younger performer. This was/is one of the all-time great country comedy acts. It was quite a thrill working with an act that I had first enjoyed way back in the mid-fifties.

Prescott Brothers - these guys had a real high energy country rock act. Randall eventually married Tracy Brown and went on to become one of Canada's top record producers.

C-Weed -
Len Henry
Harvey Henry
Humber River Valley Boys
Willie P. Bennett
Dick Damron
Jack Greene
Kitty Wells and Johnny Wright
Needham Twins
John Anderson
The Kendalls
Elmer Bird

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BEHIND THE SCENES

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MEDIA
Many of the Brandon Radio CKLQ staff, including
Jerry Agar, Ken Schiller and Rick Garrison, contributed to Festival emcee duties over the years.

We did numerous radio, TV and newspaper interviews for the promotion of the festival.
Following one of these interviews on the CKX-TV Noon Show, we rushed down to the Brandon CPR Station where we did a show for a busfull of media people and hundreds of Brandonites who had turned out to meet Princess Anne's train. We then moved over to the Agricultural Research Station grounds where we performed before and after a "Royal Barbeque." The highlight of this event was the long informal chat we had with Princess Anne.

M.A.C.E. COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA

Since country music week 1980 in Winnipeg, there has been a high level of interest on behalf of the country music community in Manitoba. This interest has resulted in an organization being formed in Manitoba called "The Manitoba Association of Country Entertainment." M.A.C.E. is an organization for the betterment of the country music industry in Manitoba, much the same as the Academy of Country Music Entertainers has been able to bring benefits on a national basis. Some of the organization's goals include becoming a recognized trade industry, to become a voice to represent the country music industry as a whole in Manitoba, and eventually become a government chartered organization. The intent is to work for increased professionaliasm amongst our members as well as the betterment of country music in Manitoba. Membership in the association inclludes all persons legitimately earning their living or part thereof in the couintry music industry, at a cost of $10.00 per year. The M.A.C.E. (M.A.C.A.) Board of Directors  President, Mike Ried from Radio Station CHMM Vice President, Wayne Link form Linkon Steel Guitars and the country music group Red Wine Secretary-Treasurer, Pat Blyth, musician-artist and booking agent Winnipeg Representatives: Paul Graham, CKRC Country Music Terry O'Reilly, Manager of the Downs Recording Co. Rural Representatives: Bill Hillman, artist and owner of Maple Grove Records from Strathclair Lewis Kaselitz the organizer of Boggy Creek's Call of the Wild Music Festival from Roblin

OAKWOOD AUDIO SOUND SYSTEMS
 

The Boggy Creek logo found on the Festival merchandise sold on the grounds.
T-Shirts ~ Caps ~ Decals ~ Magazines/Programmes ~ Pens

MAP OF THE WILD

BILL & SUE-ON HILLMAN ECLECTIC STUDIO