Mayoral candidate's tuba talent on show this week

Now we're about to enter into showbiz. Gregor Robertson, the NDP MLA running in the three-way race for Vision Vancouver, will be making a special appearance this Friday at the newest hipster hangout in town. Will he be singing? Playing the saxophone, a la Bill Clinton on Arsenio Hall lo these many years? Strumming a guitar? No, that would all be too predictable for this steer-by-the-compass-of-your-soul guy. He'll be playing the tuba. Yes, you heard it right. This isn't some new fad, by the way. I know from a chat we had a while back that Robertson chose not to go to his area school in North Van when he was a teenager. He dropped the snootier Handsworth for lower-down-the-hill Carson Graham, so he could play more sports and be in the band, where he played ... the tuba.

(This follows, of course, on the aborted Peter Ladner-Heather Deal singing competition last month. And we all know that Mayor Sam Sullivan used to play in a band -- I understand there's a wicked video of his performance with a young woman named "Mary" that should be hitting YouTube any day now. I await the news on what Mr. Louie and Mr. DeGenova will be doing for the Musical Talent segment of this competition.)