Burton Cummings can't wait to start rehearsals for The Guess Who's Pan Am closing ceremonies reunion -- despite the fact he doesn't know what to expect.
"I don't know what it'll be like," admits Cummings, who was in town taking advantage of a hole in his summer concert schedule to help out old pal Gary MacLean on-air at All Oldies KY58.
"Obviously we know how to play the songs," he says of the Aug. 8 Guess Who gambit. "There's a bit of personal baggage to sweep out of the way, but that's OK. We're all adults here. I think it'll be a very emotional, very interesting experience.
"There are people coming from Montreal and Calgary and Texas and all over the place just to see us together one more time."
Apart from the physical reality of reuniting with original bandmates Randy Bachman, Jim Kale and Gary Peterson, Cummings says he's looking forward to a CBC-produced documentary film that will be made around the reunion, which will officially begin with rehearsals on Aug. 5.
"They're filming the entire thing, from the initial confrontation through the rehearsals to the grand finale, for a 90-minute special which'll be very nice -- a documentary a la Don't Look Back, about Bob Dylan."
Once the differences between the foursome are swept aside -- something Cummings says should only take a few minutes -- he's looking forward to revisiting the camaraderie he once shared with his old mates.
"That'll be fun -- all the old nicknames resurfacing and the shenanigans and the guffawing at rehearsal. That's the kind of thing that'll be great.
" By the time we hit that stage it'll be all polished and it'll be only four songs anyway, but to capture everything leading up to that in a documentary, that's the payoff for me."
The group will pay the four songs -- Undun, No Time, These Eyes and American Woman -- for a fee rumoured to be $200,000 (most of which will go to production costs, ceremonies organizers say). But Cummings thinks the brief show will be fun nonetheless.
"That's kind of neat for me cause I get to be four different guys," he says. "I can strap on the guitar for No Time, play flute in Undun, play keyboard in These Eyes and then just go out front for American Woman."
In fact, 1999 has turned out to be a "pretty cool" year for Cummings and the Guess Who.
Lenny Kravitz's version of American Woman -- which is on the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack as well as a re-released version of Kravitz's 5 album -- has shot into the Top 10 on rock charts all over the world, bring new interest to the song -- and new royalties to the Guess Who.
"I really like the version, just like I liked Maestro's take on These Eyes," Cummings says. "It's always weird to hear someone else do your stuff, but I really like Lenny's vocal treatment. Almost everything he does, right down to the improvised ending, is exactly like I did, which I think is a real tribute to us."
Cummings hasn't spoken to Kravitz about the song yet, but says he will try to hook up with the younger singer/songwriter when Kravitz launches an arena tour later this summer.
"It's going to be 30-35 shows -- and American Woman is going to be his closing number, I hear. So I can't wait to see that and see a whole new generation turned on to the song."
Just as there is renewed interest in the Guess Who catalogue, Cummings' solo work is also garnering attention. The 51-year-old singer/songwriter's first four solo albums -- Burton Cummings, My Own Way To Rock, Dream Of A Child and Woman Love -- will be re-released on CD in North America by Sony Music at the end of the summer.
"That's just a wonderful thing for me," Cummings smiles. "I love it."
He also loves his oldies music, a passion borne out by his unofficial role as fly-in consultant to KY58. Just last week he spent five afternoons with MacLean, playing a stack of tunes he brought to the station and waxing wise on the men and women who made them.
"I have no vested interest here, I don't get paid for this, I just do this because I like it ... It's more of an obsession than anything else," Cummings says of his musical knowledge.
"I've had all this stuff stored in my head for years, so it finally, in this context, is not just useless information anymore.
"I have every chart from 1959 to 1964 that the old CKY put out," he continues. "I know what made Top 10 and Top 20 and where they debuted and how they did, so the people that have lived here and stayed here that are as old as I am, they're hearing stuff that they would never otherwise hear.
"This is like a magic wand to wave at the people of Winnipeg," he says of KY58, which has almost tripled its ratings since MacLean came on-air at Christmas.
"They've got an outlet here that, for guys like me, could be the greatest radio station in the world," he grins, spreading his arms.
