Douglas Miller
Douglas Miller - PM drive
CKOK Penticton; CFUN Vancouver; CJOR Vancouver; CFMI Vancouver;
weatherman CKVU-TV Vancouver; weatherman BCTV CHAN-TV Vancouver; real estate
sales 1991-current; Mayor of Lions Bay 2002-05
***
By Rick Forchuk
(edited)
Anyone over "a certain
age" who grew up pretty much anywhere in the general vicinity of the Lower
Mainland fondly recalls band names, some of which are relegated to the past and
at least one which has been resurrected to perform again because it seems that
everything keeps coming back to the Night Train Revue. Jason Hoover and the
Epics, Soul Unlimited, the Shantelles, the Shockers, the
Stags and of course, the Night Train Revue haunted venues that were the home of
live music every weekend, such places as The Grooveyard
on Carnarvon Street in New Westminster.
"The person at the core of
the Grooveyard story was Les Vogt," explains Douglas
Miller, former mayor of Lions Bay and a successful realtor, but who, in a
previous life, managed the Grooveyard and helped
establish a parade of artists that performed there live that included the home
town bands as well as such acts as Ike and Tina Turner, Paul Revere and the
Raiders, Bo Diddley, the Sonics, and the Kingsmen.
"When I look back," he
says, "I think I just took it all for granted at the time, working with
some of the most talented people in the business - and of course, there was
Chuck Cliff - we met during the Grooveyard days and
my friendship with him has endured. Chuck is the Godfather of Vancouver rhythm
and blues."
Chuck Cliff is all that and more.
He fronted the Night Train Review throughout the '60s sitting at the
Legendary disc jockey, successful
manager, promoter, TV personality, and Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductee Red
Robinson says of those days, "It was a real gamble to play rhythm and
blues - we didn’t have the big black populations like they did in
The end of an era came when the
Night Train Revue was set to tour in 1968. Just before they left, legendary
blues guitarist Ike Turner said to Chuck Cliff, "Don't go. It's a
terrible, terrible life. You'll be living in crappy hotels, eating crappy road food
- it's not the way to go. I do it because it's all I know."
So Chuck Cliff stayed behind. He
and his wife Miss Suzanne, featured vocalist with the Night Train, had two
daughters and a son and Chuck Cliff has run a successful property tax
consulting company during the ensuing years.
"You have to have a job like
that," he explains, "so you can be a musician."
But he now has the best of both
worlds. In 1986 Chuck Cliff got the old band together and began playing the old
music, mostly for fundraisers and similar events. Douglas Miller who went from
The Grooveyard to a successful career as a disc
jockey, and then weatherman and news anchor at the then CKVU still shows up on
occasion to introduce the band. The Cliff's two daughters now sing with the
group as the Soul Inspirations, and the R & B never sounded better.
The NIGHT TRAIN REVUE is comprised
of 10 musicians and seven vocalists and is
***
Dec 8/87 Denny Boyd
Weatherman Douglas Miller has left
CKNW to join a new morning package put together by CISL. The Richmond station,
after failing to recruit Rick Honey or Fred Latremouille
as morning-man, is pursuing a star from the East, which is always a popular
sport in December. To replace Miller, CKNW has brought back Norm Grohmann, who brings back Andre LePucque .
***
Aug 26/90 Lyn Cockburn, Province
"I do the weather every afternoon between
1 and 2 out on the stoop," he says, his St. Boniface upbringing dangling
from his voice. "At least once a week, some trucker says to himself,
'There's ol' Douglas, maybe I give him a blast to say
hello.' Clears your sinuses right up," he concludes.