Battle of the Bands Report

First Prize Winner of a 10 Hour Recording Session at Private Ear Recording is:

Black Jacket Armada. They hail from Sturgeon Heights Collegiate. 

Black Jacket Armada                                   

Matthew Hodgins

Dom Gibson

Ray Peters

Justin LeBlanc

Lucas Wichenko

Second Prize Winner of a $500.00 Gift Certificate from Long & McQuade is:

SOMA. They are from College Jeanne Sauve.

SOMA

Justin Delorme

Julien Riel

Mario Lagasse

Jordan Waters

Stephen Kurz

Third Prize Winner of a $500.00 Gift Certificate from Long & McQuade is:

Coalition. They are from JH Bruns Collegiate.

Coalition

Weston Walker

Colin Walker

Zane Zinkiewicz

Sylvanna Luong

Liam Naughten

Here are the other 4 GREAT BANDS!

Blame The Television

Jared Kist

Jordan Waters

Zak Pion

Tyler Kotowski

Sacred Iron Crypt (S.I.C)                                   

Dan Waycik                                                           

Myles Mayo Tarvis

DJ Willison                                                           

Brendan Murphy                                               

Tom Blicq                                                           

Dylan Copeland

Random Heroes

Clinton Wazny

Jason Marks

Logan Helbig

Garrett Fache

Sean Donnelly

Victor Johnson

Adam Larson

Spencer Briercliffe

Spencer Pries

After the 7 bands were done, we had two Special Performances by InHumane Rampage and Maximum  SIXTY. 

OUR MC was Dave Wheeler from Power 97 and our celebrity list of judges were Ace Burpee and Bubba B from HOT 103, Chad Wiebe, my son and TJ's Bro, and Steve Crooks from Dreadnaut. They formed a great team and really had fun and made it fun for the rest of us.

The Battle of the bands was a 150% success. I cant think of anything to improve upon. The kids were amazing. The major accomplishment was the fact that the 35 kids from the 7 bands were so pumped, stoked, (that means excited for you old guys...lol) of being there. We were told by many that this was the best organized Battle they had ever been involved in. Blake Houston and Braydon Cullins from InHumane Rampage were so great at helping us organize this concert. They had fantastic ideas and we really enjoyed working with them. Thanks guys!

About 300 people showed up, and we even had our own Mosh PIT, thanks to Sacred Iron Crypt starting the night with some awesome chest pounding rock!

The Winnipeg Media was amazing!

Winnipeg Sun's Lawrie Mustard did a plug in his paper before the show with a picture of my son Chad Wiebe wearing a Battle of the Bands T Shirt. He also did an great interview with me that is online at Sun Speaks! Thanks to Laurie and Publisher Kevin Klein who also attends our gala.

CTV showed up before the show and did an intro news piece with Karen on the 5:30 news and came back again when the concert was on and did another news piece with Floyd on the 11:30 news. They interviewed Justin Delorme from SOMA but unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor. Susan Tymofichuk, CTV news anchor interviewed me a lot during our trials, and I know she helped make this happen. Thank you Susan and  CTV! 

Winnipeg Free Press reporter Jennifer Pawluk also did a great article, and sent a photog to publish a great picture of Sacred Iron Crypt, the first performing band. Thanks to Margo Goodhand, the Free Press Editor, who comes to our gala for sending out a reporter.

This was funny, upon seeing the Garrick's Marquee, Look at what Stacey Wiebe's boyfriend Lynndon Novak and one of the band members from Blame The Television said:

Tyler Kotowski

awesome! now we can all say we were on a marquee with stereos and gwar haha

Yesterday at 3:36pm · Delete

Floyd Wiebe

Yup u can!

Yesterday at 3:37pm · Delete

Lynndon Novak

The same marquee as Gwar!
Now thats a life time accomplishment if I've ever seen one

GWAR is  a Grammy Award-nominated thrash metal band & STEREOS is an Edmonton band that got its big break on Much Music’s reality show “DisBAND”.

So this event certainly spread the word as to who we are and what we do. It will be even bigger next year! 

Selkirk Journal covers my speaking engagement on front page.

‘Don’t ever forget this story’

Posted By Hayley Brigg

Posted 1 day ago

It was a difficult story to tell, but Floyd Wiebe got through it, and his message was more than received.

The Winnipeg man visited the Comp on Tuesday as a guest speaker during the school's annual Addictions Awareness Week program to talk to students, and share with them his own personal tragedy of losing his son to the world of drugs.
"Most speakers want to be here, they want to come to schools and talk with you guys, but I don't want to be here," Wiebe told a packed theater of Grade 10 and 11 students. "I know that's kind of rude but I'd rather not be here, because something very sad happened for me to be here."
In 2003 at the age of 20, Wiebe's eldest son TJ was brutally murdered by two men, Anthony Pulsifer and Chad Handsor, at the request of another man who was a minor at the time of the murder, simply because he didn't like the fact that TJ was close with his girlfriend.
Students listened intently as Wiebe described the events leading up to his son's death and how Pulsifer and Handsor, two people TJ possibly considered friends or acquaintances, lured him to Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway under the pretense of purchasing a car stereo.
After severely beating TJ and strangling him with a shoelace, the pair slashed TJ's throat and stabbed him twice in the neck before leaving him to die along a deserted farm road between St. Adolphe and St. Agathe.
During the attack, the men also attempted to kill TJ by injecting him with syringes filled with drain cleaner and lighter fluid.
"It was an idea (the minor who issued the murder) got from a Val Kilmer movie," Wiebe told students.
During his presentation, Wiebe chronicled TJ's early life and how once he became a teenager, he began experimenting with drugs and eventually became addicted to and began dealing methamphetamine with the minor who ordered his murder, a decision that ultimately cost him his life.
"I don't want anyone to forget this story, and I don't want anyone to leave here thinking that something like this will never happen to them, because that's what TJ thought," said Wiebe. "People will do anything to anyone when they're involved with drugs."
Wiebe spoke twice on Tuesday, once in the morning and again in the afternoon for Grade 12 students, and ended his presentation with a short video that depicted TJ's sadly short life in photos.

"I hope you guys make good decisions in life, because that will mean everything to TJ, and it will mean everything to me," Wiebe concluded.

Stacey Herda was one of many Comp students who had the opportunity to hear Wiebe speak, and says she was impacted by his story.
"I really enjoyed his presentation, it was really down to earth and it was a real story, not just someone standing there and saying 'don't do drugs'," said the Grade 12 student.
Herda says she believes Wiebe's message that drugs are a problem that can happen to anyone, regardless of their social situation or home life, hit students the hardest.
"I've had the chance to talk to a lot of people about the presentation, and many of them had a good reaction," said Herda.
"I think it's a good story for the students to hear because we all know these things do go on, and I'm sure we all know some people who are in that same situation."
She adds that she thinks targeting highschool kids to deliver the message that drugs are dangerous is a smart choice, saying the pressures teens face can lead to poor decision making.
"Just thinking about the move from junior high to high school, it's a really drastic change," said Herda. "Everyone starts falling into different places and making different friends, and I think the stress of that along with schoolwork can act as a trigger (for substance abuse problems)."
Herda is also one of a group of students who have been helping to organize and put on the Addictions Awareness Week. She introduced Wiebe to students before his presentation, and encouraged them afterwards to take his message to heart and share it with others.
A member of student council, Herda says when she was approached to help out with the awareness week, she was initially hesitant, thinking the message wasn't going to be effective.
"I didn't really want to be involved at first, because I thought it was going to be the same 'just don't do drugs' message that we hear all the time," said Herda.
"But I got a chance to go and see what some other schools were doing and hear Floyd (Wiebe) speak, and it was really interesting, it really opened my eyes."
Though she is graduating this year, Herda says she plans to continue participating in addictions awareness events, and has even inquired about helping out with the foundation the Wiebe family has set up in TJ's memory – TJ's Gift.
Jan Harris, the Comp's resident Addictions Foundation of Manitoba Youth Counsellor, says although there is no magic formula to ensure kids don't go down the same road as TJ Wiebe, she encourages parents to be open with their kids, and maintain a channel of communication.
"The most important thing you can do to try and get your kids to stay away from substance abuse and addiction is to talk to them," said Harris.
"Let them know what you expect from them, and that you expect them not to get involved with drugs. Let them know you are there, and that you can be a resource for them if they need someone, or are in a difficult situation."
She also suggests parents go through hypothetical situations with their kids, to help them know how to make the right decisions if they're faced with a problem.
"Talk about different scenarios and ask them what they would do, and how would they handle that," Harris said.
"Then you can discuss those situations together and hopefully, if they ever come across that problem, they'll make the right choice."
For more information about addictions resources or TJ's story and his foundation, visit www.afm.mb.ca or www.tjsgift.com.

Winnipeg Sun "Sun Speaks" Interview with Floyd Wiebe about our Battle of the Bands.

Just click here to listen.

Floyd Speaks to Marion School

Today, I was invited back to speak to the Grade 7 & 8 students at Marion School. Even though I had spoken to this same group of kids a year ago, the teachers invited me back to speak once again, telling TJ's Story. It was great, many of them hugging me as I entered and left the room. These kids really wanted to hear the story again. Its so great that this happens as it constantly reminds them to make good choices.

Selkirk Journal's Pre-Story of Floyd's visit to Selkirk Comp School

 

Powerful message coming to Comp

Powerful message coming to Comp

Posted By John Towns

TJ Wiebe was, by all accounts, a bright and caring 20-year-old man who unfortunately was also involved in using and dealing drugs – a pursuit which ultimately cost him his life.

On Jan. 5, 2003, TJ was told that he was driving with two men, Anthony Pulsifer and Chad Handsor, to look at a car stereo that one of their uncles had for sale. After driving south past Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway, Pulsifer began stabbing TJ with syringes filled with drain cleaner and lighter fluid.
When this did not kill TJ immediately, Pulsifer removed a shoelace from one of his shoes and began strangling TJ with it, dragging him from the front to the back seat of the car. TJ lay in the back seat, occasionally gasping for breath as Handsor and Pulsifer drove to a secluded area between St. Adolphe and St. Agathe, where they dragged the still alive TJ from the car and proceeded to stab him twice in the neck before jumping on his chest and leaving him to die by the side of the road.
According to testimony given by Pulsifer and Handsor after their arrest later in 2003, they murdered TJ at the behest of another man, a minor at the time of the murder, who did not like the fact that TJ was close friends with his girlfriend.
"A lot of people, before they hear TJ's story, would just assume that he was just a drug dealer who did something bad to another drug dealer," said TJ's father, Floyd Wiebe. "But really, he was murdered because of essentially a love triangle, and it had more to do with the people he associated with as a result of being involved in drugs."
This Tuesday, Wiebe will be speaking to students at the Comp about his son TJ and the dangers of being involved in drugs as part of Manitoba Addictions Awareness Week, which runs from Nov. 15 - 21.
Wiebe and his wife Karen regularly speak to schools across the province on behalf of a foundation they set up in memory of TJ called TJ's Gift. The foundation, which was formed by the Wiebe family in the aftermath of TJ's death, financially supports peer-led drug and gang counselling across the province, and also runs workshops designed to teach young people about the dangers of getting involved in drugs and drug culture.
"I guess you could say the foundation was almost formed right at the funeral," said Wiebe. "We just collected donations in lieu of flowers, and by the end of that first little while, we were sitting with $4,000 that we weren't sure what to do with."
The family decided to put the money toward warning young people about the dangers of getting involved in drugs in an attempt to spare other families from having to endure the devastation of losing a loved one to violent crime. To continue to raise funds, they hold annual gala fundraisers, the latest of which raised over $50,000 last May.
Wiebe says he hopes when he makes his presentation on the 17th that students are able to take some valuable insight away and maybe make decisions that they would not have otherwise made.
"What I hope for, every time, is that TJ's story is able to connect with the kids. Because it's a true story, and it shows the consequences of not just doing drugs, but even just getting involved with the wrong types of people. It's a lot more effective than just saying 'don't do drugs,'" he said.

Battle of the Bands

Tonight at Dakota Collegiate's Theatre we have a semi final Battle. SOMA from College Jeanne Sauve, along with Ryan Lindsay from JH Bruns High School along with The Butterscotch Boys, also from JH Bruns High School will be battling it out to see who moves on to the GRAND BATTLE on Nov. 29th at the Garrick Centre. Tickets for tonight are only $2.00. Starts at 6:30. Be There!

Speaking Engagement at Rene Deleurme Centre

Today I spoke to a great group of kids in the Transitions For Success program. They are very attentive, and had some great conversations with some of the kids afterward. This is my 5th time speaking to kids in this program.

Murderer Anthony Pulsifer transferred to Grande Cache Institution. Here are the updates as to where Chad Handsor and Dominic Urichen are.

On November 9th, 2009, Anthony Pulsifer was transferred to Grande Cache Institution in AB. It is a medium-security facility located in Grande Cache AB.

Chad Handsor is in the Mountain Institution in Agassiz, BC. It is a medium-security facility located in Agassiz, British Columbia.

Dominic Urichen is in the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, Regional Psychiatric Centre. It is a medium security facility located in Prince Albert, SK

Battle of the Bands

Well the TJ's Gift Foundation's Battle of the Bands is underway. Click this link to see all the great videos I took of the preliminary rounds.

FINAL BATTLE - November 29th

Garrick Centre

Tickets available at the door for $10.00

Our MC for the evening is Dave Wheeler from Power 97.

Ace Burpee & Bubba B from HOT 103

are among our celebrity judges!

PRIZES

1st place - 10-hour recording opportunity with the recording studio, Private Ear Recording.

2nd place - $500.00 gift certificate

supplied by Long & McQuade Music Store

3rd place - $100.00 gift certificate

supplied by Long & McQuade Music Store.

Winnipeg Sun covers Soaring Eagles Conference

CONFERENCE INSPIRES YOUTH

Soaring Eagles Conference "review," courtesy of Karen Wiebe:

"Eighty-four high school students from Northern Manitoba gathered at the Canad Inns Fort Garry last week to learn more about the dangers of drugs and gangs; and positive peer pressure through leadership and peer monitoring.

"The conference, sponsored by the TJ's Gift Foundation, brought students in to Winnipeg for the two-day event, where they attended presentations by keynote speakers including Michael Champagne and Corey Cook, the RCMP, the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, local drama coaches and artists, Teen Talk, Manitoba Hydro, and Resource Assistance for Youth, all to promote their own abilities as well as to support their friends in saying 'No!' to involvement in drugs and gangs.

"Students have returned home where they'll contact each other via a private networking site to share information about situational challenges, find resources for problems, and helpful links.

"TJ's Gift Foundation funds student-led drug education programs with youth across Manitoba. Each year, the foundation hosts a fundraising dinner and dance at Canad Inns Polo Park where approximately $150,000 has been raised to date. The next gala happens May 13. Tickets are available by calling 228-2540, or visiting the TJ's Gift website at tjsgift.com."

It's never too early to invest in our youth, folks. Book it.