Order of Canada for Ronnie Hawkins-Gord thinks so too..

[charlene]

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National...94056-sun.html

Tue, July 8, 2008

Hawk soars above Order of Canada
By EARL MCRAE, OTTAWA SUN

"It's an outrage that the Hawk doesn't have the Order Of Canada."

-- Burton Cummings, The Guess Who, 1972

Charles Aznavour? Give me a bloody break.

A bunch of precious, ignorant, pompous stuffed-shirts on the Order of Canada advisory council approve Charles Aznavour, the singer from France who's been around since the Dead Sea was only sick, for the award in the honourary category for non-Canadians.

You heard me right. Charles Aznavour. What the hell has Charles Aznavour ever done for Canadian culture that has a smidge of comparison to the cultural greatness of what another Order of Canada-overlooked non-Canadian singer has contributed to this country -- Ronnie Hawkins?


Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins.

Mr. Dynamo.

The Hawk.

Ronald Cornet Hawkins, Arkansas-born and bred, the "Grandaddy of Canadian Rock 'n' Roll," the rockabilly sensation who came to this country in 1958, loved Canada so much he never returned home, single-handedly kicked down the barriers to Canadian pop artists, hired them for his bands, trained them, showcased their talents that others wouldn't, sent many of them on their way to national and international stardom including The Band, David Clayton-Thomas, King Biscuit Boy, Robbie Lane and The Disciples, Dominic Troiano, Crowbar -- the list goes on and on.

Robbie Robertson, formerly of The Band, has the Order of Canada. He credits Ronnie Hawkins with giving him his start.

David Foster has the Order of Canada. He credits Ronnie Hawkins with giving him his start.

Gordon Lightfoot has the Order of Canada. He didn't get his start with Ronnie Hawkins, but the Canadian legend is one of the legion of Hawkins fans who doesn't understand why he hasn't been inducted into the Order -- Gordon Lightfoot who even wrote a song about the iconic Hawkins, The Talking Silver Cloud Blues.

Canadian rock singer Tom Cochrane has the Order of Canada. Tom Cochrane. Spare me. When it comes to talent, teaching, charisma, promoting Canadian musical culture, Mr. Thomas Cochrane is not qualified to stand in the same room as Ronnie Hawkins.

In fact, none of the Order of Canada music stars who -- with the exception of Lightfoot -- are as qualified as Hawkins for the honour he's never received, not one of them.

Hawkins has been nominated. His nomination has been dissed. Ronnie Hawkins who -- the dolts on the advisory council should know -- has a place of honour on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, has a Juno Award, has the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for "his development of Canada's music industry" and has been inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.

There are 16 non-Canadians with the honourary Order of Canada, supposedly for the award's mandate of significantly contributing to the Canadian way of life. Oh really? Nelson Mandela? How? Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former secretary-general of the UN? How? Vaclav Hamel, the former president of the Czech Republic? How? Did they leave their homelands to settle and work and contribute in Canada? Geez, I must have missed it.

Another who has the honourary Order of Canada is the late economist/academic John Kenneth Galbraith. John Kenneth Galbraith who loved living, working, and contributing in Canada so much that he took off for the States a million years ago, stayed and became a U.S. citizen.

But Ronnie Hawkins who came the other way, stayed, never went back to America to live? Nope. Not good enough for the nation he fell in love with and in which he is more "Canadian" than most Canadians, including the massive oafs on the Order of Canada advisory council.

The Hawk is 73. His health isn't the greatest. He's hugely cut back his performing. Yet he still cracks about "the Big Time just being around the corner."

For God's sake, let that Big Time be the honourary Order of Canada for Ronald Cornet Hawkins.

[Jesse Joe]

I would agree 100% with that...

[RM]

So.....what's the problem ? Why isn't he receiving the recognition that many feel he deserves ?

[Auburn Annie]

Who actually makes the decision as to who is awarded the Order of Canada? The Governor General? A committee?

From the OoC website:

Eligibility and Nominations
Any person or group is welcome to nominate a deserving individual as candidate for appointment to the Order of Canada. Nomination forms are available from the Chancellery, Rideau Hall, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A1. There is no posthumous award.

The Chancellery of Honours keeps all nominations confidential to respect privacy and to avoid disappointment if the nominee is not selected. We ask that nominators and others involved respect this policy.

The Order of Canada nomination form is also available in Adobe Acrobat format. (See http://www.gg.ca/honours/nat-ord/oc/oc-info_e.asp for forms.)

Nominations should be accompanied by biographical notes detailing the career and achievements of the nominee. It is helpful to include the names of persons who would support the nomination and who could provide information about why the individual deserves the honour.

There is no deadline for nominations, as it is an on-going process. It takes a year to a year and a half for the nomination to be submitted to the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada. This independent advisory council, chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada, reflects the diversity and excellence in Canadian society. The Advisory Council reviews all nominations and makes recommendations to the Governor General. The average number of nominations received in recent years has been approximately 700-800 per year.

All Canadians are eligible for the Order of Canada, with the exception of federal and provincial politicians and judges while in office. There are no posthumous appointments. Officers and Members may be elevated within the Order in recognition of further achievement, based on continued exceptional or extraordinary service to Canada. Usually, promotions are considered five years after the first appointment.

The Order’s constitution permits non-Canadians to be considered for honorary appointments. They may be considered for outstanding achievement that reflects honour on Canada and/or lifetime contributions to humanity at large.

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Okay, please note above there are no posthumous awards. I surely believ Ronnie's outstanding achievements reflect honour on Canada - at least. Somebody needs to get off the stick.

[jj]

Originally Posted by RM

So.....what's the problem ? Why isn't he receiving the recognition that many feel he deserves ?

speaking of unrecognized talent, in recently reminiscing with long lost musical friends, it came up that an unheralded guitar hero (no, not that, a real guitarist...self-indulgent, LindseyBuckingham-ish) and impeccable harmony singer had died suddenly while returning home from a gig back in 2006...an eccentric who had really raised my eyebrows during a few Grant Ave studio sessions, yet, like so many studio musicians, never to be known to the masses and probably just missed 'that' career changing break a few times

on the contrary, the local awards show that year was dedicated to him so that his local industry peers might tip their caps...they also awarded to him the guitarist of the year award...of Lightfoot note, Bob Doidge (good guy, Harmony & APPT producer, studio co-founder, multi-talent, etc, etc) took bassist of the year (pictured with Amy King, slick engineer & multi-talent)

to get back on track/thread, The Hawk was honoured with Lifetime achievement award at that function (his joy is captured in this pic)

ok, to get back off track, I thought this link was something that might touch our unsung musicians - although Mark was more or less a stranger (a tad strange also ) to me, I'm glad he went out in song and that his naive cousin was able to partially fill in those missing years

http://www.tcn.net/~severn/cousinmark.html

ps) good article, Earl (that aside, I've never been a big Earl fan)

[charlene]

well The Hawk is getting an honourary Order of Canada ! http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/paul-gr...ents-1.1346159

[Sydney Steve]

I am sooo going to steal one of the funnier phrases in that rant from Earl Mcrae i.e. : " ..who's been around since the Dead Sea was only sick,"....

Fabulous line.

[charlene]

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.c...rder-of-canada

video at link above..

OTTAWA - Stoney Lake's Ronnie Hawkins gave a fist pump in the air Wednesday morning after being congratulated by Governor General David Johnston as he accepted his honorary Officer of the Order of Canada honour at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

The 79-year-old rockabilly legend came to Canada in 1958 from Arkansas. The honorary Order of Canada was announced in June “for his contributions to the development of the music industry in Canada as a rock musician, and for his support of charitable causes.“

There were plenty of laughs during Wednesday's Order of Canada investiture ceremony -- author and artist Douglas Coupland's selfie with Johnston, for example. Hockey broadcaster Dick Irvin complemented the Sun on its Montreal Canadiens belt buckle.

Speaking of the Habs, even the Governor General himself took a moment to speak about hockey when he quoted Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden in his opening address, before ending with "Go Carey Price!".

But, the order of the day wasn't hockey, or humour -- it was gratitude. A total of 45 Canadians were honoured for their "desire for a better country."

Rabbi Reuven Bulka -- broadcaster, community volunteer and founder of Kindness Week, called the honour the greatest he's ever received.

"It's the quintessential Canadian experience," he said.

Asked about where his drive to be a good Canadian comes from, Bulka believes it was something which developed from a calling into "an addiction." He tries to stay healthy and only sleeps four or five hours each night, trying to keep up with all he wants to do.

Honoured as Members of the Order of Canada were Arctic expedition leader Geoff Green, digital-age health expert Hether Menzies, entrepreneur Wesley Nicol, Community Foundations of Canada CEO Monica Patten, philanthropist Sara Vered, and astronaut Bob Thirsk was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

“I’m gonna be chasing them high-society girls now,” Hawkins said in an June interview with The Examiner after the announcement of the honour.

“They called me last week” about the award, he said at the time. “Oh, my goodness gracious. I told them it’s gonna be hard for me to be humble now. For a rock and roll bar act, that’s the most fantastic thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know how in the world I got in there, but I think it’s the greatest thing.

“Now I’ve won every award I reckon you can win in Canada ’cause I won all them music things,” Hawkins said.

“I used to joke about it and say the only thing I wish I could get would be the order of Canada.

And here it is.”

Hawkins recalled his arrival in Canada.

“When we came up here, a bunch of rednecks and hillbillies, poor people could go to doctors and hospitals even if they didn’t have any money,” he said. “That was the greatest thing any of us had ever heard of.”

Hawkins was a prominent player in the Toronto music scene in the 1960s.

In the 1950s and the 1960s, he said, “Yonge St. was the greatest place on the planet. Oh, my gosh. The law was all the bars were downtown, and they weren’t anywhere else. You had that little strip there, and we hit it lucky playing that rock and roll, and I’m tellin’ you what. Nero didn’t have as much fun as we did.”

“Thank you Canada,” he said. “We’re living in the promised land.”

Some members of his backing band The Hawks — Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson — went on to form The Band. Hawkins performed in their acclaimed 1978 movie The Last Waltz.

In 1969, Hawkins hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a stay at his Mississauga home during the Beatle member's Bed-in for Peace campaign.

Musician Ronnie Hawkins (L) shakes hands with Governor General David Johnston after being awarded the rank of Honourary Officer in the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Wattie (CANADA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)

[charlene]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Video+R...797/story.html