PETER GZOWSKI

 

Peter and I spent many all-nighters in my bar playing 'Captain Fantastic for $20 a game.

I met Peter when he was doing his TV Show. I guess it put him under a lot of pressure. He would come to my bar a couple of times a week to unwind. We spent many a night just the 2 of us in my backroom playing pinball for 20 bucks a game. We talked about a lot of things. One morning, for some reason, we were both chasing the same lady, and neither one of us would give in. We ended up back at his place, with the lady making breakfast or At eight o'clock in the morning, we were sitting at his kitchen table on Yorkville Ave. with a bottle of wine on the go. We were very, very drunk.

Out of the blue, he stops and says. "Want to know what is the most important thing I ever did in my life?" Of course, I said "Sure." he proceeded to tell me about a hockey game he had played. Something about beating a really tough team from another town. I don't remember how old he was when he played this game or anything. I just thought of all the things he had accomplished, and that is what he thought of. It was not long after this that Peter wrote "The Game Of Our Lives."

Peter sometimes brought some of the guests to my place. Through his show, I met Jack Webster, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Waits to name a few.

A lot of Peter's staff were regulars at the bar. And many a day I had to send a taxi to CBC with the master script of the next night's show that somebody had left behind. I did many favours for Peter, like lending him a room for card games with Michael Maclear, Bobby Miller, etc.

After the TV show ended, I didn't see him for some years.

Then I ran into him on the Esplanade one day.

"Peter," I said Where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry, man he said but you just remind me of a very bad time in my life.