Welcome to the Vancouver Lexicon. Its purpose is to pin down the patois of the City of Vancouver by recording its toponyms, nicknames, slang terms, personalities, places, and other Van-centric things. Full A-Z here.
Nite Dreems | television | Years before other music video shows like MTV, Much Music, and Friday Night Videos, for Metro Vancouver teens there was Nite Dreems. (Above is episode 12 from March, 1980.) Once described as “radio with pictures”, Nite Dreems was a local cablevision (Cable 10) early “rock” video show with a large cult following from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. It was produced by Don Fraser and hosted by local DJs John Tanner and JB Shayne (aka Raoul Casablanca) with Deborah Jarvi and Susanne Tabata. The live show combined music, interviews, music news, film reviews, “bizarrerie”, and (what was then the leading edge of entertainment technology) videos. It became the program to watch to discover the new, local and international music of that era, featuring bands like The Specials, Boomtown Rats, Gary Numan, the Payola$, The Clash, Patty Smith, and Young Canadians (to name but a few). Like all cable access television, Nite Dreems was produced with volunteer labour; Cable 10 provided the equipment and studio but no budget and record companies provided the videos, records, giveaways, and the interview subjects. It aired live at 11pm every Sunday on Vancouver Cablevision with each episode re-airing at 2:30pm every Saturday on Cable 10, and at 10pm the following Sunday on Northshore Cablevision. It was Cable 10’s most-watched program.
Usage: “When Nite Dreems didn’t have the video for a song, they improvised one by showing a tight-shot of John Tanner’s hands “dancing” to the music.”
Was this around the same time that Soundproof aired? It was also produced from the Northshore and I think it aired on Friday nights w/DJ Buzz E Miller (?) and another host airing a lot of new wave, punk, etc.
Soundproof came after Nite Dreems, it ran from about 1983-86?.
The second best cable show of the time was Amazing Powers a spoof of talk shows hosted by Oral Dave – guess had to go through an aura reader before sitting. One episode was a 15 minute interview with a dead person. It was canceled when someone noticed the opening credits included clips from porn videos. I was a “studio rat” at the time and worked on many shows between 1979 and 1984.
“Caffeine and nicotine…are good for your lifestream”
“… as they flow through your bloodstream.”
Actually, the offer was from several greater Vancouver cable 10 outlets at the time, including North Vancouver and Richmond.
I approached Cable 10 Richmond and they produced my spoof of Nite Dreams which I called Wet Dreams. Oh, and I did a version of their feature “The moon tonight” by mooning the camera.
It aired and I heard that Mr. Shayne didn’t like being spoofed. Ha ha.
That show was dope. I watched that on small black and white TV on Sunday night, then skipped morning high school classes next day.
Soundproof was produced in 1980 and was hosted by Tom Harrison the provinces rock critic Tom Harrison and later hosted by buzz Miller and Dave something or other