CityLife - The man who has turned fixing and restoring pinball machines into a career

[Dave W.]

In case people didn't know it was out there, check out Robert Baraké's (RAB) segment on CityLife this week.
Rob comes on at around the 23:00 mark. It's a very nice piece!

http://matv.ca/montreal/mes-emissions/citylife

This week's episode should be up for a few more days.

[WARLOCK]

Great interview Robert.
Well done.

[Woody]

Bravo Robert, Très bon!

[OTTOgd]

Yeah, great interview, Row-bear.

[Chnillapoil]

Comme toujours, intéressant et vrai. Content de te connaître Robert.

[Mindstorm88]

Superbe, Bro, you're the man!

[Chris Silver]

That was great. I wish I saved it for my Sunday morning coffee.

[uncleboo]

Awesome job my friend

Dwight

[Fifty]

Nice Robert. I could listen to you all day. The interviewer on the other hand I could maybe stand for about 5 minutes...

Oh, and Hydro-Quebec should bury their power lines under the ground. Expensive? Yes, but their track record for keeping hydro flowing above ground sucks.

[geester]

Well done Rob!
Makes me envious of your career choice, seems way more rewarding than fixing cattle wagons...

Hugs, Guy.

[Toeckeder]

Bravo, excellent!

[tombiosis]

"Doctors and drug addicts" LOL
Nice interview...Long live the Silverball.

[HPR Pinball]

Robert tu es surement le meilleur ambassadeur des machines a boules qui soit
Je te trouve très courageux de passer des interviews comme ça devant des cameras !!

J'ai aussi su des mes permiers contact avec les arcades que je ferais ca toutes ma vie, j'aurais voulu en faire une carrière.
Mais les arcades ont toujours eu super mauvaises réputations (avec mes parents qui en plus étaient ceux qui les détestaient le plus) alors j'ai toujours eu l'impression de me tenir avec le diable et de grandir en marge des autres en continuant sans cesse de franchir la porte des enfer jour après jour a chaque fois que j'allais a l'arcade

J'ai vendu mon âme au diable en échange des perpétuels moments de plaisir que les arcades m'ont toujours procurer !!

[redketchup]

Good job Robert!
Tjrs aussi intéressant de t'entendre parlé... Ça me fait réaliser que les rencontres de la rue Pitt me manque...

[R.A.B.]

@ Dave W - Thank you for posting the link. I know you work at Videotron, and that gives you a certain license that I do not have, so I guess that it was fair game for you to do this.

@ WARLOCK - As usual, a thumbs up from you means a lot, especially since I know about the mediactic circles you move in daily. Thanks Scott, in the end, a man has to matter no matter what he chooses to do. I think we both understand this and makes up a major part of our friendship.

@ Woody - Merci Stephane pour ton enthousiame et ton attitude positive à chaque fois que nous communiquons. You are a clear, concise and attentive man, and that is so important these days.

@ OTTOgd - Dude, you do speak French, I know you do. Thanks Kevin for your support and contributions to MAACA.

@ Chnillapoil - Je suis très content de t'avoir vu a la shop du North Star hier matin. Moi aussi je suis chanceux de te connaitre Alain, je pense qu'on se comprend par la force des choses, notre âge et les temps qui cours. C'est vrai ce que mon arrière grand-mère a dit - à chaqu'un sa generation, et ceux qui en font partie peuvent se comprendre mieux à travers leur propre groupe d'âge.

@ Mindstorm88 – Peut-être que tu le sais pas Bro, mais tu es une inspiration philolosphique pour moi, et c'est possible que tu me crois pas si je te le disait, mais t'es un vrai sage avec un jeune coeur souriant. T'es comme un ostie de buddahaha, et merci de me prendre au sérieux même quand je dis des bêtises. Ca me fait repenser mes idées.

@ Chris Silver - You are something else. Definitely in a category of your own, and for this I can only say that you are not a normal pinball collector. You kill me dude.

@ uncleboo – thanks. You are a smart friend in providing a positive outlook on what we are living as aging male brutes behaving like monkeys on the back nine and likely going the way of the mammoth for now. You are exceptional Dwight, and this tells me that it may just be the time for us to be mentors for those who can listen and can muster the attention needed (beyond that of a squirrel) in order to undertand the crux of what is expressed. Ah fuck it dude, let's go play golf.

@ Fifty – thanks. I am glad you enjoyed it. I had told the interviewer that this would be an easy one for him and to just let me talk since given the chance I can talk for lengths at a time. I think I hit the majority of the markers I had set for myself, except the part about how Montreal had banned pinball in the 50's. But that is OK, it is finally back now.

@ geester – You are an extraordinary and discreet man. Mon arrière grand mère aurait probablement pensé que nous somme des frères. Men from the same generation can usually understand eachother with few words, at some point I think we will use words mostly for colour and to confirm what we already know exists.

@ Toeckeder – Qu'est c'est qu'on peut dire en fin de compte? Keep on truckin'.

@ tombiosis – I can tell you believe that things should be up front, and by virtue of this, you picked up on that quote. It is true, pinball appeals to so many different people and I did not think the question of reducing the experience to one common thing about the machines would help me to continue believing that it is the diverse bunch of morons and intellectuals that keeps me working in pinball, and not the game itself, certainly not what it can be reduced to in appealing to players only.

@ HPR Pinball – Mes parents pensaient aussi que l'amusement et les arcades étaient louches. Et ils avait absolument raison, mais c'était aussi autre chose comme tu sais. Ma mère en particulier, qui a un instict innoui pour le “business”, contrairement a mon père qui était plus intello, avait beaucoup d'objections a ceux que je faisait. Les arcades, la route, les putes, la drogue, la boisson et le gambling était partout dans les années avant que Laniel me ramasse a la petite cuillère pour me rendre plus ou moins respectable. Ca doit être la faute à mon père en fin de compte, qui m'a dit quand j'était jeune qu'il était mieux que je trouve du travail dans un domaine qui m'intéressait, (ca a joué dans mon âme longtemps ces paroles la) et ce qui a suivi sont surement des consequences de mes choix. Des fois je pense que je suis en crontrole de mon destin, d'autre fois (moins ces jours si) je pense que tous se déroule comme prevu.

@ redketchup – Merci red, la rue Pitt me manque des fois aussi, tous ceux qui y ont passé du temps et m'en parle jusqu'a ce jour, disent qu'ils ont étaient chanceux de l'avoir vécuent. Moi aussi je me consière chanceux dans un sens et aussi responsable d'avoir essayé de creer un espace qui nous a accomodés pour un période de nos vies. Ca va faire 3 ans ce printemps que nous avons fermé la porte sur Pitt. Voici ce qui reste présentent au 2250 Pitt studio # 303 à pars de nos souvenirs.

[shane]

Thanks for posting.
Great interview. I have to get to North Star!!

[Chnillapoil]

Merci Robert pour ta réplique, tu le sais c'est réciproque......et merci de poster les photos que de souvenirs.

[R.A.B.]

@ shane – haven't seen you post in a while so I am glad you dug the interview. I always thought you were one of the cooler, smarter and more diverse collectors on this forum sporting a sharp wit, and that speaks volumes to me. Would love to meet and talk even though it is possible that we have already crossed paths at a show or something.

Regardless, I want to personally extend an invitation to you to come to the North Star and I will walk you up and down a line up of pinball machines like no other in Canada. Shoot me a PM when you are thinking of coming to Montreal and I will make the time.

For now, I am usually at the North Star on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. This spring I may even start bar tending there on Sundays for shits and giggles along with the intention of mentoring our patrons as to the more subtle side of what these machines are about beyond the obvious "playing the game" dimension, but that is still in the works for now.

Rob

[Sparky]

It was a riveting interview, and proof that there is passion behind the hobby... not just dollars and values. A nice realignment in perspective of what the hobby is truly about. Refreshing!

Nice nod to the forum as well!

Ahhh... Pitt street pow wows.... I keep a wooden pin leg (aka talking stick) on my gameroom fireplace mantle and I smile everytime I see it.

That place will always hold a special meaning. My journey of recovery from a very dark place started in unit 303 many moons ago.

Pinball... buck burgers... whelks (which are still a staple in my fridge today), Oven Head smoked salmon and amazing conversations over a few games of pinball.

Priceless moments.

[R.A.B.]

@ Sparky – I have uploaded on my youtube channel two short clips from a large bank of memories I keep safely in a little box of USB keys to help us remember the build up to what we are living now.

I chose the following two segments especially for you based on your post. They are from back in October 2013 at one of the Inter-Provincial Pow-Wows, I think they are well suited for what you mentioned above.

Enjoy.






MAACA is also an excellent source of cool "historical" craziness, below is the link to the thread that details all the logistics in the making of the above Inter-Provincial Pow-Wow and its players for those who care to read lots of the details. May possibly become required reading for the latest maaca noobies.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13640&hilit=inter+provincial

Rab

[nostalgiaqc]

Hi , is there anywhere this interview is still online ?
Just saw this post .
Thx

[WARLOCK]

MVI 2262 - Sparky and Menace and myself took a long roadtrip on that particular journey across ON and QC and look where we ended up of course - Pitt Street with RAB and the gang. Menace and Mindstorm meet on camera. WOW.
MVI 2264 - Splitskull and Sparky... and Steamwhistle beer... and many more friends. Those pow-wow's and gathering's set the tone Robert. Thank you.

[Sparky]

MVI 2262 - Sparky and Menace and myself took a long roadtrip on that particular journey across ON and QC and look where we ended up of course - Pitt Street with RAB and the gang. Menace and Mindstorm meet on camera. WOW.
MVI 2264 - Splitskull and Sparky... and Steamwhistle beer... and many more friends. Those pow-wow's and gathering's set the tone Robert. Thank you.

And I systematically refuse to let that dream die. Hence my contribution to the Bluffs, the Borderland, and maybe some day, a place here. I still look at commercial spaces on a regular basis. But spaces here are rented at a premium, oddly enough.

One day...

[R.A.B.]

Hi , is there anywhere this interview is still online ?
Just saw this post .
Thx

Shameless bump thanks to nostalgiaqc aka Yannick.

I am trying to get this interview on my Montreal Pinball website, but it is embedded and tough to extract, although my 14 year-old somehow put it on a USB key for me so I can at least add it to this little box of data gadgets which sits in my 1930's desk drawer along with other computer related gadgets like power supplies, dvds and floppy disks (no not the 5.25" ones) filled with media footage and pow wow/MPL/CBC radio interviews from the 90's on cassette and VHS tv segments from the 90's as well and other stuff I will want to look at again when I am past the age of reason, should be around 75 I figure, or is it the other way around. (See signature below for explanation of building memories as an RRSP when you will need them in order to remind you of a life you can no longer stand to live.)

Fresh Link :

http://matv.ca/montreal/mes-emissions/c ... 0684819001

Time index 23:00 for the segment called "From the Look Out" (meaning the Mont-Royale look out I am told)

I am going to take a nap now, so I can go to the North Star tonight and watch people play and jump and wrestle with Sinbad, what a challenging game this all is, sigh.

[Blackghost4]

Very Nice Interview Robert. Great Job.