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Ogopogo Buddy Reynolds Permission to use this music has been granted by the copyright owner for educational and archival use only. Canadian Copyright Law must be respected by users of this site. Use of this material is restricted to those activities permitted by law. Users may not make multiple copies, distribute or sell this material without permission from the copyright holder. |
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Ivan A. (Buddy) Reynolds was born in North Vancouver in 1927. When he was only nine years old he participated in a "man on the street" radio broadcast and sang one of his own compositions before an astonished crowd. At age 12 he combined home-work with songwriting and didn't perform pubicly again until he was 17. In 1947, he performed a title-less song about the Okanagan Valley on CJIB Radio. Blue Okanagan as it was later called became an instant hit. He was then working as a plumber's helper and with nothing much more than his guitar moved to Vancouver. Blue Okanagan was recorded but he still couldn't consider his music as a full-time job. Oddly enough, Blue Okanagan became more popular in Eastern Canada than in the West. In 1951 he began a cross-country tour which took him to Ontario, New York and Chicago. In Chicago he appeared on a network barndance and was billed The Cariboo Ranger. At the crest for the crave of novelty music, he recorded the nonsensical ditty Spruce Bug. The song became a sensation and was the highest selling record in 1951 for Aragon Records. Soon after this release, a song about Lake Okanagan's mythical sea monster was recorded. It was hoped that Frankie Laine would record Ogopogo, assuring continent-wide circulation. Many other recordings followed including Rocky Mountain Rhythm and several editions of his music were published by Empire Music in New Westminster. Buddy Reynolds worked hard to (in his own words) "prove that a Canadian entertainer can be commercially successful in Canada. I'm going to prove it if I have to starve doing it." New York has its Lake Champlain monster and Scotland has its Nessie" (Loch Ness monster). Lake Okanagan has its own monster called Ogopopo. The name Ogopogo is not an Indian name for the monster, but a palindrone and song that was popular in the 1920s. Natives have seen the friendly inland sea monster for many years, even before recorded sightings, the first being in 1872 by Mrs. John Allison. Natives refer to Ogopogo as N'HA-A-ITK which means "Lake Demon". They believe that the creature was actually a demon-possessed man who murdered a local man known as Old Kan-He-K (hence the name Okanagan) There are varying reports as to what Ogopogo looks like. The most common description puts the monster at between 15 and 50 feet. Its head is said to resemble that of a horse or a goat with a beard. It is dark green in color with an undulating serpent body.In 2001, the Rotary Club of Penticton, Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Okanagan University College co-organized a valley-wide promotion which involved the creature. They offered $2 million to anyone who finds Ogopogo alive and definitely verifies the creature's existence.
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