03.24.2020 05:50 PM

Mike Bezzeg, RIP

He was a legend in Calgary’s music scene and beyond. Gave the Hot Nasties one of our first big breaks, and featured us on his hit TV show, FM Moving Pictures.

He was killed in a car crash in Calgary this week, delivering food to a family who were in quarantine. That was the kind of guy he was. Kind and selfless and decent. You probably saw his comments on my Facebook page over the years, always encouraging me. We were supposed to get together this month so he could interview me for his new show, but the pandemic interfered.

My deepest condolences to his wife and his children, who he clearly loved very much. We will miss him always.

6 Comments

  1. Nasty Bob says:

    Such sad news. Back in the day Cowtown might have been squaresville to most but we had MTV and Much Music before anywhere else – only better and without the hype- with FM Moving Pictures.

  2. Lee Hill says:

    Very sad news. It was on Mike’s pre-FM Moving Pictures show, Music in Review, that I first heard of Brian Eno and Roxy Music. Calgary in the 80s, along with CJSW, One Yellow Rabbit and other small bands of misfits, would have been a lonelier place without the likes of Bezzeg to act as a rallying point for the misfits, dreamers and aspiring scenesters of the day.

    • Lee Hill says:

      As a footnote to the above, it was my high school pal, Allen Baekeland, who actually lent me Roxy Music’s catalogue and many other records from Pet Sounds and Charlie Parker to ATV and Pavlov’s Dog Pampered Menial. Without Allen and Mike Bezzeg, I would have suffered under the mistaken belief that Roxy Music was helmed by Nick Gilder. Roxy Roller indeed.

  3. The Doctor says:

    FM Moving Pictures was such a great idea for a TV show. I followed it religiously back in the day. Mike and James Muritech had great taste in music, both relatively mainstream and way out there.

    It was especially valuable in the pre-internet early 80s, when it was much more difficult to get information on what particular music was big in the UK. Watching FM Moving Pictures, you began to appreciate the often huge gap between the UK and North America, how some bands could be huge in the UK and more or less unknown over here.

    I’m kind of surprised that there haven’t, to my knowledge, been a lot of other TV shows out there with their format.

  4. Leeanimal says:

    FM Moving Pictures was the absolute highlight of my Sunday nights from 1980 until I left Calgary a couple of years later. It was local, it was underwhelming in the sense of production values (therefore charming and REAL and inclusive) and the show felt like it belonged to every local kid who was into the early punk scene in Calgary. THANKS to Mike Bezzeg. He gave a genuine shit about music and people and was truly a pioneer and trailblazer. I only met him a few times but yes – a decent, caring and lovely man. RIP Mike

Leave a Reply to The Doctor Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.