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The Midas touch Gord Buttinger says he started to figure out the power of TV. when complete strangers started stopping him in the street. "I‘ll be st-andmg there and they‘ll come up to me and look at me funny, and go, ‘Hey you‘re the Midas guy," he said with a laugh. "People have seen you naked." â€" Local brothers star in national television commercial The line is a kicker for a national Midas Muffler and Brake Shops T.V. spot that features real life friends and customers of local Midas owners Gord and Paul Buttinger. The commercial is in heavy rotation on the CBC during hockey games, and has popped up on other national broadcasts like Blue Jay games and the nightly news." "We find people are really impressed with it," said Paul. "It‘s just so professional." One of the funniest moments in the spot is the verbal jousting going on between the brothers. A scripted introduction turned into a slice of real life as Paul admonishes Gord for doing all the talking. "When 1 was getting makeup on 1 was going, "You know if my brother does all the talking and 1 just stand here, there‘s no way," said Paul. "So I just said, Why do you do all the talking.‘ It was an inside joke done more for their benefit." The comment was the commercial‘s "Midas" touch, turning the spot into something the audience would talk about. Another unique aspect of the commercial is that it featured so many familiar landmarks, including the bingo hall on King Street in Waterloo. All the onâ€"air testimonials were also provided by realâ€" life people, not actors "The guy who said, T play sports with them, I‘ve seen them naked‘, that‘s Mike Murdoch, a crown attorney in town," laughed Gord. "Needless to say, there‘s nothing funny going on there "Service: We Believe In It‘ PACK 3 747â€"2040 Bob Vrbanac Chronicle Staff Chris Beke Trish Brown Dan Butkhart Kevin Catton John Decarchik Dwight Duncan Phyllis Fox Wende Gregory â€"Frei Now is the best time to take advantage of the great interest rates. Give the professionals of Scharf Real Estate GET THE SIGN THAT GETS RESULTS "Anytime 1 run into anyone 1 haven‘t seen in a while, their first comment is, ‘I haven‘t seen you naked Gord, and I‘ve known you for a long time." Owner operators of nine Midas shops in the area, including the first one opened in Waterloo by their parents Fred and Vale in 1968, the brothers were selected because of their close ties to the community. "Our family‘s been involved with Oktoberfest for almost the length of Oktoberfest," said Gord. "We have a lot of community involvement. My brother‘s actually on the executive of Oktoberâ€" {est, and we participate with things like the Cancer Society. After they were approved by a casting agent from head office, they were put up against stores in Orillia and Toronto. A focus group gave them the most favorable response. _ "They started adding it up and said the Buttingers would work out okay." _ "Our tape seemed to fit the best," said Gord. "They got some interesting comments from people." _ Next came a crew of 50 people, including a makeup artist, an authentic "Hollywood" director of photography and a commercial director from New York. "What‘s interesting is that these guys have been in Hollywood way too long," joked Gord. "They go into places and think they own it. They‘d go in the firehall and the next thing they‘d ask, Hey can we slide down the fire poll, can we get up on the truck.‘" The brothers will see themselves in heavy rotation until August. The spot will also help kick off a national Midas promotion startâ€" ing this week. o Even with the high visibility, the brothers joked that they weren‘t expecting a long acting career. They‘d need five more comâ€" mercials for a union card. "We‘re not giving up our day jobs," laughed Gord. "It was just a fun experience." THINKING OF SELLING OR BUYING A HOME? Tom Halliwell Rob Halter Jeff Holland Jim Hooton Mana Jozwakowski Peter Kalbfleisch Gary Kipfer Bettyâ€"Gail Lorentz Brothers Paul (right) and Gord Buttinger, owners of nine Midas Muffler shops in the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo area, are local celebriâ€" ties. They star in a nationally run television commercial, shot in their Waterloo store, now in heavy rotation on CBC. The commercial features testimonials from seyvâ€" eral of the store‘s realâ€" life customers. Bob Mathis John Maziarz Cindy Melloul Mike Melloul Mane Minns Mike Moher Walter Muclier Judy Reck Bob Yrbanac photo * Represents Sales Representative Mary Ellen Tierney (left) got her child‘s car seat checked Saturday by Lorrie Tomas of the local Infant and Toddler Safety Association and volunteer Kay Parker at the Waterâ€" loo Operations Centre. The free car seat checkâ€"up was also sponsored by Waterloo regional police and the Waterloo Regional health department Deborah Crendall phois VICTORIA STAR MOTORS Chronicle Staff A committee set up to recommend an official millenâ€" nium project for the City of Waterloo may end up calling for more than one project. 1450 Victoria St. N., Kitchener 579â€"4460 Waterloo‘s director of recreation and leisure services, Bob McFarland, said last week the 10â€"member millennium advisory committee might consider recommending develâ€" opment of more than one project to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000 because a number of good ideas may be sugâ€" gested by the public and because possible funding sources may allow for development of multiple projects. City seeks suggestions for millennium projeci The committee is launching a campaign this week to have the public submit millennium project ideas to it, care of the city‘s recreation and leisure services department. The deadline for submissions is June 30. "We‘re not limiting it to one (project) initially, we‘re just saying, ‘Hey, let‘s take a look at the list of ideas, let‘s take a look at potential funding sources, let‘s examine the whole issue before we make any final decisions," McFarland said. "(But) ultimately of course, the final decisions will really be made by council." McFarland also said the committee decided it wanted to receive suggestions for both ‘eventâ€"oriented projects‘ or ‘permanent legacy projects‘ to help the city celebrate the arrival of the millennium. "(But) it depends obviously on how many ideas we get as well as the scope and size of the ideas as to how many events and how many projects actually do get handled," he said. The city actually held a public millennium project brainâ€" storming meeting this past April 16 to see if there was popâ€" ular interest in adopting some kind ot civic millennium project. At that meeting, approximately 25 members of the public came up with close to 60 different ideas. _ When asked last week if the committee had any idea yet how much money it had to play with in terms of financing {Continued on page 10) 1998 Câ€"CLASS Lance Roberts Jeff Rowley Janet Schnarr Karen Shartun Nestor Shartun Janet Stockie James Stockie Jack Sheppard members aol.com/MicStarMB Now AvaiLaBLe! Starting at +37,750 Checking it out Tim Gardner and ** Represents Associate Broker Scott Smider * Carol Tuckwood * Birgitta Weberâ€"Adrian ** Terry Yates * a call.