Victor Yancovitch
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Class 11F MRHS 1959
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If the real "Gustav Vasa" had had a cradle like this,
it wouldn't have tipped over!
(See the stern below.)
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I was born into a dysfunctional family...or...I
was dysfunctional, born into a family.
Around 3 or 4, I was free in heart,
and music poured through me with joy,
as I improvised on the piano.
Then the axe came down and my stomach moved
from its normal position,
and lodged itself in my throat,
where it was to remain for many years to come.
...the musical emotional freedom dammed up,
to allow but a trickle to pass through.
As such, I entered high school,
which was a total torture for me,
aside from music and band, with dear ole doc. Jones,
and Florence Schreiber sneezing in class.
During and after high school,
I tried to squeeze the musical trickle
playing with Joe Padula's band,
spending a year or two in music at McGill
and playing on a TV show, the New Generation,
where I fell in love with a soprano and,
with a broken heart, left Montreal for Vancouver,
where I joined a band.
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Playing at the Pan Pacific ... nose still in great shape
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Then I met my spiritual Master,
Kirpal Singh—a God Man, and my soul was freed.
I became vegetarian,
and He set me on the path to God consciousness.
This was around 1969 or 70.
I quit playing over the next few years,
and with a partner opened a little vegetarian restaurant
at 4th and Burrard,
the same time as my friends opened the Naam restaurant
which is now becoming quite famous.
I passed it over to a friend Arran Stephens
who started Lifestream Natural Foods
and now owns Nature's Path cereals.
I then moved to Penticton
where a couple of friends and I opened
a vegetarian Restaurant and health food store
called Frederic's Natural Foods ...
the restaurant section called
Uncle Vic's Chapita Palace,
where we served rollups from around the world.
Got married at this time,
and started playing again with a Gypsy violinist,
but after a few years, the restaurant closed,
as we were tricked out of the lease.
I moved back to Vancouver
where I eventually got a job playing on weekends
for the opera buffet at the Pan Pacific hotel,
where I accompanied a tenor and soprano for 18 years.
At the same time I was managing three apt. buildings
and building model ships,
which I think I enjoyed doing the most.
I now can play the Fantasy Impromtu well
and it took my whole life to do so,
but at 66, I've quit music
and am trying to concentrate on just my managing job,
and model building,
along with finding my way to God within ...
bless you all, ... even you, Norman Spencer
Cheers
Victor
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This is what the Vasa's stern looked
like—before it tipped over.
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In the cockpit of my favourite airplane –
the DC-3
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For those of you not familiar with the story of the Vasa,
the king of Sweden, Gustav II Adolf,
wanted a bigger warship than anyone else.
So he had one built with an extra gun deck.
Unfortunately, she was so top-heavy
that she sank on her maiden voyage,
only a few minutes after leaving the quay.
You can see (the salvaged remains of)
the real Vasa here.
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Update
I am now working on a model of the Royal William
from the 1700's, which will be eight feet long
and radio controlled.
I'll never grow up — always a child ...
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Not to be sung when sober!
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