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Olympic Red Mittens: Why Oprah, Stephen Colbert & Joe Biden Love 'em - Where To Get Your Own Winter Games Red Mittens - Hobbies - Crafts - Co

"WHERE CAN I GET MY OWN RED MITTENS?"

When Oprah gave her audience the Canadian Olympic Red Mittens, one of her producers reported, "It was incredible. I've never seen an audience EVER as excited as getting these Red Mittens!"

In a sign that what started as an experiment has now entered the global popular culture, Canada's Olympic red mittens were noticed in the crowd during a TV taping by Oprah Winfrey that week.

She reportedly commented on how much she liked them, and the historic Hudson's Bay Company of Canada duly sent her 300 pairs, which she gave to her TV audience while interviewing American snowboard gold medallist Shaun 'The Animal' White.

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If they were hand-wringingly hard to get before, now that Oprah Winfrey got her paws on them, they're next to impossible to find. As the Canadian Press reported, "America's hottest TV show host sported Canada's coolest Olympic swag on her program - a pair of official Olympic retailer HBC's red mittens with a white maple leaf on the palm."

The accessory was pronounced the "hottest item" at the Olympics by the daytime TV queen.

When the lights came up as her show began, it was hard not to notice the scarlet adorning her hands, prompting some pouting from the guest being beamed in over satellite from Vancouver, NBC journalist Matt Lauer.

"Nobody can get a hold of these red Canadian mittens and we have scoured the entire country to find one pair for you," Lauer, co-host of the Today Show, said on air while holding up a pair of the gloves and shaking them in fake exasperation. "And you open the show wearing the darn things."

In true fashion, Winfrey then proceeded to give the $10 'it' item of the Vancouver Games away to her entire audience.

They cheered and clapped as though she'd given them a car, and then gave mitten-clad high-fives to Winfrey's next guest, American gold medal snowboarder Shaun White.

Winfrey told her viewers that she noticed some of her audience members sporting the mitts since last week, and decided she wanted some.

A spokeswoman for HBC said the company sent a batch of more than 300 pairs to Winfrey at her request.

The retailer stocked store shelves across the country with three million pairs of mittens, and two million of them sold even before the Winter Games began.

Comments online were mostly warm and fuzzy over the mitten's guest appearance.

"I don't think anyone in Oprah's audience should get red maple-leaf Olympic mittens unless they're more available to the rest of us," one Twitter user posted.

But it's still another touchstone moment in the sudden rise of Canadian patriotism, said marketing professor Lindsay Meredith at Simon Fraser University.

"Finally, it looks like Canadian nationalism has come out of the closet," he said.

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They were the hottest commodity at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games - those elusive red mittens.

The woven hand warmers had been flying off the shelves at HBC stores and Olympic retail shops since the games began, but now that they've been stamped with the official celebrity seal of approval, finding a pair even now is a challenging task. That is, unless you're Oprah - or comedian Stephen Colbert, hockey icon Wayne Gretzky or U.S. VP Joe Biden, who all sported their pairs on TV.

E-bay is still doing big business on what has become THE collectible item of the 2010 Olympics.

Even home crafter MomInStitches couldn't keep her home knitted Red Mitten/white maple leaf fridge magnets on her eBay (goodday008) and Etsy (MomInStitches) pages, reporting that they were even outselling her popular "I need a hug!" sweater fridge magnets.

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When the Canadian Olympic Store first announced the mittens, no one knew they would gain such popularity: "This winter, keep warm and show your support of Canadian athletes in their quest for gold at the 2010 Winter Games by wearing a pair of Vancouver 2010 Red Mittens.

"Wear your mittens at the rink, schoolyard or along the Olympic Torch Relay route when it comes to your community. At only $10, the Red Mittens are one of the must-have mementos of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"Net proceeds from every pair sold go toward supporting Canadian athletes in gaining access to top equipment and training..."

If they only had known...

About the Author

Kathleen Falken has participated in psychic research, dreamstudy, marriage counseling and the practice of psychology for over 30 years. See more of her articles at WUVING.com www.wuving.com

Phish Tickets

Phish is a popular music band which is famous for its gigs and harmonious music. The band has been their in the music scene for quite a while now. The band consists of Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Jon Fishman and Page McConnell. They are considered to be the legends of music as they have contributed a lot in this field through their work.

The band was started in 1983 at the University of Vermont when four students Trey, Fish, Mike and Jeff started doing gigs at university campus and other areas.

They did not have enough resources but have the passion and love of music that became their guiding force. Their music sittings used to be totally rough and informal.

Indeed, their first official gig as Phish happened at their own university in a basement Hall where they used a hockey stick as a mic stand. Their first bar gig was upstairs at Nectar's in the same year.

Phish's first studio project was "The White Phish Tape that was recorded during their studies. In 1995, Page joined the band in some of the gigs and soon became a permanent Phish member. They also started doing gigs with other local bands.

Some of the places where Phish were found playing in those days include a frat bar Doolins, Springfest and in the streets of Europe. They were never interested in launching a proper musical debut as they were loved playing life.

However, they made a considerable improvement in the response to their live jigs; and not to forget their studies which were going side by side.

The Phish members graduated in 1987 and started giving full time to their music.The played at a lot of parties and performed for multiple-night stands at Nectars and some Goddard and UVM performances.

They also started recording demo at the end of that year in Euphoria Studios, Massachusetts. The year 1999 saw the Phish finishing recording of their demo named 'Junta'. The album used to be sold at shows.

Phish rose to little fame during the end of the decade when they started performing on a wider level. They did shows in New York, Maine, Boston and participated in the Rock and Roll Rumble at the Front.

One of the most interesting shows of those times was at Paradise, Boston where the Phish has to rent the value all by themselves.

The show was attended by 650 people including their friends who come all the way from Burlington by bus in order to give their support to Phish. They also held musical gigs at places like Providence, Syracuse, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, they worked for more music and made some new tunes calling the album Lawn Boy that was released by an independent label Absolute A-Go-Go in September 1990.

Phish had one of the most rocking years of their musical career in 1990 with successful tours in many cites and nearly 150 live concerts. They covered every possible area including the west coast, the mid west, northeast and southeast. The album work continued side by side with Crimes of the Mind and A Picture of Nectar by Elektra.

Phish had its first Europe tour in 1992. They got tremendous response in all the concerts they played there that also proved their worth outside United States.They re-released two of their albums, The Lawn Boy and Junta and also worked with on their new album Rift produced by Barry Beckett.

The success galore for Phish continued throughout the nineties.They performed many sold out shows at various cities and countries and released super hit albums that include Hoist in 1994, "A Live One" in 1995, Billy Breathes is released in 1996, Slip Stitch and Pass in 1997 and The Story of the Ghost in 1998 .

Phish released their thirteenth album by the name of Farmhouse. They were also featured in the IMAX film "All Access Front Row" released in 2001. It featured Trey, B.B. King and The Roots performing "Rock Me Baby".

The Phish won several award for their live acts including Jammy Awards for best studio album of the year ("Farmhouse") and best show of the year (7/11/00 Deer Creek). Another treat for Phish's fans came in the form of "Live Phish."

This was a series of CD's containing the best of the best live acts of Phish. The first CD of this series was released in 2001.With that started the tradition of releasing the band's unedited live concert releases.

Their other albums include "The Deep End Vol. 1", "Round Room" and Trey's solo "Plasma." Although, after that, Phish members did not remained active as they pursued their separate careers, yet the band has never saw decline in popularity.

From a trivial college based band to the iconic live performance gurus, the Phish have come a long way.They have till now performed in all the known cites, venues and prestigious festivals. Be it was New Year's Eve or Halloween, everyone loved to attend Phish's concerts as their music used to made everyone spell-bound.

Phish emerged as one of those rare bands that stayed active for a long period of time. In times when music band come and go in no time, Phish managed to survive for over 20 years. And it is not just about survival as the Phish has gained unprecedented success and respect for their music.

Now with thirteen studio-recorded albums, countless live shows, seven traditional live albums, a series of 27 complete concerts, 6 videos containing live concert footage, documentary material and several TV and radio appearances besides a strong fan base on the web, Phish is the legendary band of this era.They have not just provided good music to their fans but have also contributed a lot in the promotion of Live music.

Now when the band is reuniting for a tour in 2009, the music lovers in general and Phish fans in particular should get ready for a memorable journey of live music with the musical masters we know as Phish.
For more information about Phish Tickets visit:
http://www.ticketluck.com/concert-tickets/Phish/index.php

About the Author

Macie is a staff writer for Ticket Nest ( www.ticketnest.com ) and enjoys writing about her travel, theater and concert experiences. She can be reached at macie@ticketnest.com

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