The Pigs Family had a special day a few weeks ago when we presented a donation to the Alberta Chapter of Children’s Wish, one of the charities we support. The Children’s Wish Foundation is a uniquely Canadian charity that helps Canadian children, families and communities by granting the favourite wish of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. They’ve been granting wishes since 1984. As of this writing they’ve granted 22,330 wishes to children living with a life-threatening illness. Children’s Wish is comprised of some wonderful people who manage every day to bring a little joy and respite to these children and their families.

My family got personally involved with Children’s Wish 8 years ago when my son was diagnosed with cancer. The nurses in the oncology ward helped to initiate contact and the folks at Children’s Wish took it from there. My son, a budding musician, wanted music equipment so his buddies could come over and jam with him. The people at Children’s Wish were amazing, working with me on the details of the wish and endlessly supportive, and Dave and I spent many evenings while he was in the hospital pouring over online music gear catalogs trying to put his ‘jam gear’ together. It provided a welcome distraction from the reality of his situation but more importantly it gave him hope that there would be something beyond this horrible illness that had taken over his life. That’s what Children’s Wish does every day for over 20,000 kids and counting. We came ‘full circle’ with Dave’s wish a couple of years ago when he played for the Children’s Wish annual fundraising gala, using the guitar and amp he had received as part of his wish.

On behalf of the Pigs Family I’d like to say thank-you to Cathy McDonald, Kyla, Laura, Sarah, Kim, Cindy, Elisha and all the folks at Children’s Wish, both for your hospitality during our visit and more importantly for all your work bringing a little light to children and families who need it. I can’t wait to see the pic of all of you in your Pigs shirts!

Take care,

Dave-When Pigs Fly

Sometimes when we start playing a song the crowd can figure out exactly what it is within mere milliseconds.  “867-5309 Jenny” is definitely one of those songs.  I love to see people clue in after about 3 notes, grab their friends, and run for the dance floor.  A completely iconic guitar riff/intro that is emblazoned in everyone’s mind, provided they were anywhere near a radio during the 80’s.

The song came out in 1981 and was so popular that the band received threats of legal action when hundreds of phone calls a day were received by those “lucky” enough to have that phone number. (yes, there’s probably one in every area code!)

A common misconception is that Tommy Tutone is the name of the lead singer; it is actually the name of the band.Tommy Heath is the lead singer. The name of the band developed from its original name, Tommy and the Tu-tones, to merely Tommy Tutone.

We love this tune and will probably always play it. No one it seems is ready to let this one go by the wayside any time soon.

Hope you enjoy the video.

~WPF Dewey