Judy Ginn Walchuk has always lived life big. She sang at a private birthday party for Noel Coward at the behest of David Frost after he saw her perform at the Playboy Club in London. She recorded her first album for RCA in 1965 and she and her brother had their own variety program on CBC, the Judy and Jim Show. Shes had countless gigs at every club in Vancouver and five appearances on the Merv Griffin Show.
Walchuk and her brother, who will soon be getting a star on Granville Street, lived in the States for several years when their style of music wasnt as popular with Canadian audiences we werent guitar-playing folksingers. And when she didnt want to work as many nights, she opened a store in Venice Beach called Shady Business, custom making lampshades for customers such as Goldie Hawn, Bernadette Peters and Ashley Judd.
But there is a price to living big small bank accounts. The pay was good when you could get it but you never could bank on when youd get it. And even then, she had to pay for travelling, costumes, musicians and studio time.
In 1960, she got $150 for singing at Izzys nightclub for two nights. Four years ago, by the time she paid her musicians for a one-night show, her take-home pay was $80. Its absolutely horrible [how little the pay can be], she says. Thats why we are at PAL and are grateful for it.
When she moved into the Performing Arts Lodge in 2006, it was the first time in her life she knew her rent would be paid.
And now, at 68, with a government pension covering her rent-geared-to-income housing costs, she no longer has the stress of worrying about her future. The future is now and shes packing as much into it as she can.
Her apartment is a palace of whimsy, with every inch in wall space covered with things shes made or traded for with things shes made. Theres a rococo mirror made with silver tea sets next to a candelabra with dangling forks next to a glass-beaded lampshade next to a cut glass mosaic next to... (My brother comes in and gets the hives, she laughs.)
Shes working on her piece for the 2013 Fromson Art Show at PAL, Art Unbound & Found in the communal workshop, where she can also spray paint her mosaics. If she doesnt have the tool she needs, someone else does. Its share and share alike at PAL. On Monday nights, she gathers with 30 to 40 other residents for soup, a by-donation dinner of homemade soup, plus bread donated by Terra Breads.
Because I live in PAL, I do not live alone, she once said in a speech. Ive found friends, Ive found joy, Ive found purpose. Ive found community which is often more like family.
How different it is from what she had imagined. Before PAL, she rented a shared apartment above her lampshade store in Dunbar, Wallys Folly, where she was constantly hosting parties. Thinking that part of her life would be over, she gave away all of her punch bowls and serving trays in preparation for what she thought would be a move into something akin to an old folks home.
I moved in and went, Oh my god. I immediately put on a party and went to the Sally Ann to buy back some of my punch bowls, she says from her one-bedroom apartment with a view of Coal Harbour.
Its a thrill to write and perform, says Walchuk, who also released a CD of original songs, The Flying Walchuks... Without a Net, with the encouragement of her friends at PAL. I thought it was all over for me but they inspired me to say, Ya, I might still have something to say.
The Flying Walchuks will be performing Oct. 19 at 3pm as part of the Unbound & Found juried art exhibit at PAL. Free.
