Frustrated Francophones, and a Closing Ceremony Prediction

Yesterday it was vandals posing as protesters who grabbed a few headlines from Olympic media in town.

The Olympic media bandwagon today jumped on word that some French Canadian officials politely griped that there was, in their view, not enough French in Friday's Opening Ceremonies.

C'est la vie.

One report on this topic brought up Celine Dion's absence from the Opening Ceremony as an example of "could've provided more French feeling" performer, but also mentioned that Dion's manager/spouse reported it was a problème discutable (moot issue) since the award-winning (and 1996 Atlanta Opening Ceremonies "Power of the Dream") singer is apparently in hôpital for assistance to conceive a child.

I'm going to go out on a limb, er, hors sur une branche (or "hors sur un membre") and state here that there's something fishy about Dion's alleged "unavailability" -- I think it is a ruse (much like VANOC's John Furlong stating Wayne Gretzky would not ignite the cauldron), and she will in fact appear in the Vancouver Olympic Closing Ceremony to sing the duet "Immortality" with one of several male Canadian stars (a la Bryan Adams' duet with Nelly Furtado in the Opening Ceremony).

You might recall, Dion recorded "Immortality" (infused with the theme/words "we don't say goodbye") with the Bee Gees a few years back (for an all-Canada extravaganza, perhaps Leonard Cohen or Michael Bublé would stand in for Gibb two weeks from tonight).

"Immortality" provides appropriate "farewell" lyrics to send-off the athletes of the world, much like "Amigos Para Siempre" at Barcelona's spectacular Ceremony in 1992 (Sarah Brightman's first Olympic appearance).

So, you read it here first: Closing Ceremony including Celine Dion and the lyrics "We Don't Say Goodbye" two weeks from tonight.

For this evening, au revoir!

Photo of Celine Dion performing in Atlanta's Opening Ceremony via this site.

Gaga for GRAMMY Awards (and Olympics)

Around the office we've been placing our bets on which Canadian icons -- with or without GRAMMY Awards (set to air tonight) -- might pop up as performers at the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies at B.C. Place.

Of course, Olympic vet Celine Dion, who performed "The Power of the Dream" (the official song of the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay) at Atlanta's Olympic Opening Ceremony, tops the list for Feb. 12 festivities. I'm betting on some other Grammy winners, like Avril Lavigne (who played at Torino's 2006 Olympic Closing Ceremony), or Alanis Morissette (whose music was EVERYWHERE leading up to the 1996 Games).

And then there's dark horse candidates like Canadian icon Leonard Cohen, or a return Olympic performance by k.d. lang, who Canada introduced to the world at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Lady Gaga does not yet have an Olympic connection, but she's hot these days (but not Canadian). Ke$ha is on the charts, too, but again is sans Canadian roots.

My personal hope is that U2 will perform, given their worldwide appeal. But even if Bono eats Canadian bacon, it would be a stretch (my personal hope for 1996 was the R.E.M. of Georgia would perform in Atlanta, and it still is shocking and disappointing they didn't).

Who else should be on the short list for Feb. 12 appearances, song-wise? Who is going to sing the Canadian national anthem? Please share your thoughts as I need to learn more Canada stars while in town.