Metal Anarchy

Brent Fitz (Triumph, Slash) is set to be honored with part of a Winnipeg, MB street. A piece of Bellavista Crescent will be renamed Brent Fitz Way during a ceremony later today (August 7).

Fitz told CBC News Manitoba the following:

“Look, as a humble St. James, Crestview kid, it’s humbling to hear you even mention the street Bellavista. It’s on the news. What? What’s going on there?

I will say I spent years on that street, and there’s so much magic, but I would’ve played a KISS record or a BAY CITY ROLLERS record or two on my little Mickey Mouse record player in my parents’ house down on Bellavista,” he continued. “There was nothing in the manual that said one day that would lead to — and, of course, there’s a big story in between of how this all comes about. But my love for music and becoming a professional musician and just the privilege of going around the world and ending up back where we are today.

I’ve said to myself for years and years, I didn’t know I was gonna be the Manitoba missionary. But as a Winnipegger, we’re kind of small-town proud, and I’ve always thought and found a way, like, ‘Well, isn’t that how we do it in Winnipeg?’ Self-deprecating, kind of without the fanfare, but quietly crushing all the time. So somehow this is a really special thing, and it’s really great for my parents. My dad’s gonna be there [at the street-naming ceremony], and my sister’s actually coming, and she’s a amazing musician. She just got home from Malaysia playing with THE COMMODORES. How about name-dropping right there? So there’s two of us, but I will gladly, instead of ‘me’, it’s the ‘we’ for the neighborhood, and it feels great to be able to put a little geotag on the neighborhood.”

He continued when asked what he thought when he received the news:

“Well, yeah, it doesn’t compute, but one of my dearest friends said, ‘Brent, just don’t even put your music successes into this spin.’ He goes, ‘You’ve just been such a great ambassador to the city.’ But again, I don’t take that as, like, ‘Oh, yeah, I am.’ I really just feel like this is what I do as a person that has that privilege to go around and play music around the world for the last 30, 40 years. And I find everything I learned from that street and that neighborhood and this city is all the tools I’ve been using forever. So I’m just this beacon of, of celebration. And, yeah, when I found out, I was, like, ‘Well, all right, I’ll accept for now.’ But it’s not like I’m looking forward to standing there, seeing my name, because, like I said, I’m just a proud little St. James kid. And it is a little surreal.”

[via Blabbermouth]