I reconnected today with one of the most important personalities in Canadian Country music that you've never heard of.  His name is Ron Sparling and he owns and operates a booking agency in Ottawa, Laurie Ann Entertainment.  Ron's been a cog in the Canadian country music wheel since the early 1970's, booking most major fairs and festivals in his prime.  Most of those headlining events have been reduced to beer gardens so Ron isn't as busy these days as he once was.

Whiskey Jack first met Ron, an enigmatic figure when you first speak with him, in the early 1980's.  At that time, he was the drummer and booking agent for Family Brown, an Ottawa band that hosted their own weekly show on regional TV.  
I spoke with Ron yesterday about bringing our Stories & Songs of Stompin' Tom show to his area.  We had a great conversation, reminiscing about the "good old days" when our industry was in it's infancy.  He had a lot of respect for Tom, described him as "an honourable and fair man".    Here's why.

Ron booked Tom into a number of shows in the 1970's.  Often in this industry, once the initial introduction is made between club owner and entertainer, the two parties will then in the future begin negotiating dates on their own, excluding the booking agent.  With Tom, when this happened, he'd still forward the appropriate commission to Ron, even though he had nothing to do with the contract.

As I told Ron, "not many acts would do that".    That's what I call "honourable".