Q Live at the Junos

Looking for soccer analysis more knowing than a Carlo Ancelotti eyebrow raise with the

World Cup around the corner, join me, Max Rushton and the Guardians expert soccer journalist

on football weekly for all the latest soccer action and news throughout the week.

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football weekly.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on YouTube.

Hey, I'm Tom Power. Welcome to Q. Today you're going to hear something really special

because last night in Hamilton, Ontario, had you walked into theater Aquarius, you would

have been confronted with 700 people all eyes on the stage watching some Juno nominees

perform and do interviews, do some stand-up comedy as it was Q live at the Junos in Hamilton

today. If you couldn't be there, you are going to get to hear some of the highlights

of last night's show. We hope you enjoy it. It's our big annual Junos spectacular. Here's

Q live at the Junos.

All right, all right, all right. Do you ever feel nostalgic for the music of your youth

and when you hear those songs now, you wonder why they still aren't pumping out a car

windows decades later? This next artist found himself in that position. He's a critically

acclaimed hip-hop and R&B artist from Brampton, Ontario, and when he was working on his latest

album, he made an intentional choice to give flowers to the artists who shaped him as

an immigrant kid new to Canada by way of Nigeria. So you were about to see for the first

time ever a live performance of his Juno nominated single Who's Driving You. Because on the recording

that you'll hear on the radio, all over the radio, he was only able to sample the two

voices from the original recording. But right now, for the first time, those voices will

join him on stage in real life, featuring two true legends of Canadian hip-hop and R&B

Julie Black and Socrates. Please welcome Toby.

Yeah. Whoo! How are we feeling tonight? Hey, we having a good time. Whoa, whoa.

My baby. Who's driving you? My baby.

Who's driving you? My baby.

Who's driving you? My baby. Who's driving?

Then you, my baby. Let's give them a try.

Then you, my baby.

Baby.

Driving you, my baby.

Don't you try to hit you, my baby, baby

It's beautiful love, you real point your rules to your cuticles love

The double untitled monster is the one you're in

If they don't get it, got it, Google it love

Middle finger erected to what they expect

The proper crown on me got me hell in my jersey

A cup round the globe because I'm covered in blessings

Staying one with the S-C

You should've sellin' the scene

Ain't not a UF or me

I'll tell you if you're stappin' the rain

Damn it man, you better come see

Anytime you pay respect

You should never chant the receipt

You know that I'm pressing the pedal

I know that hell of freeze

I'm the dick except the defeat

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Come on, who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

Who's driving you, my baby?

And you, my baby?

Drive me, you my baby, baby!

Drive him, drive him, baby!

And you, my baby!

Drive him, drive him, my baby!

I'm a double untitled monster

Blowing greed till my eyesquiera

Small dark rose needles ON

I need having a real one by my side, we side means I got you through it all up

I pray we never fall off, fall off So people hanging a look cool

Some of them hanging for their life, oh Lord, I bet my food and my feelings to make you screaming

I heard you're here and I've had this expression, I gotta bring it out

I need to keep a secret, I'm gonna speak my mind

Who the realists want, breathing underneath the sky, need a piece of the pie, keep it peace, get rid of this

When my hands go up, gotta keep them high, yeah

I need you my baby, yeah I need you my baby, baby

I need you my baby, yeah I need you my baby, baby

I need you my baby, take a dip inside my station, hit the app, hit the app, go crazy

Let's stick to a new location, who's driving you my baby, take a dip inside my station

Hit the app, hit the app, go crazy, let's dip to a new location

I need you my baby, take a dip inside my station, hit the app, hit the app, go crazy

Let's dip to a new location, who's driving you my baby, take a dip inside my station, hit the app, go crazy

I'm driving you my baby, take a dip inside my station, hit the app, hit the app, go crazy

Let's dip to a new location, who's driving you my baby, take a dip inside my station, hit the app, go crazy

Let's dip to a new location

Come on one more time, soccer teams, go, be, go, fly

Come round with one

We're going to pull out the stops now, come on one more time, see we're going to bring some cheer

That was amazing. That's amazing. Have a seat. Have a seat. Have a seat. Have a seat.

Boys, that was incredible. Give it up. Come on. That was amazing.

So, Toby, like, when would you have heard that song? Like, when did you first start here in

Julian Soxon on the radio or like start hearing them in general?

Man, when I was 10 years old, you know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to do that to you.

No, no, no. They say black don't crack. Julie, black don't crack either.

Yeah, yeah. Good place. But it's love, though. You know, I was, honestly, you know, I was,

I was literally 10 years old, listening on the radio and my mom's car hearing their voices

playing through the speakers. So this is like, it's surreal. It's unreal.

It's beautiful thing. Julie, can you tell us the origins of the original, the origins of the original song?

You really, you want to hear the true story? Yeah, we heard the true story.

So I was dating this guy in Buffalo, right? First mistake.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. And I found out he was cheating on me.

Right? Yeah, true story. So I drove the bus. Yeah, that's right. Come on.

So I drove the bus. But then he wanted to come back.

He wanted to come back for that good, good.

You know what I'm saying?

So I'm Jamaican and there's a song called, you know, Raleigh Bach.

Like right, it's like a, it's a tennis term. Like you Raleigh.

But I was like, you know what I'm talking about? Super, super, super.

So I said, you're not going to Raleigh Bach. You're not getting none of this good, good.

So then I brought it to socks and then chase at the time. And here we are.

30 years later. Come on. Just, just the dude.

Yeah, yeah. Just the dude in Buffalo know that this incredible kick.

I'm terrified. I remember we're terrified of my life.

Does the dude in Buffalo know the songs about him? Yes, yes.

He does. I didn't know that.

What did it be cool? What did it be cool if I was like, here he is.

We changed the name. We changed the name from Johnny.

He has another name. We took Johnny. We gave him a generic name because he gives generic love.

Socks, what does it mean to you? Like what does it mean to you when you, when you find out that, like,

Toby's coming for this song. He wants you back in the song.

Like the sample of the song is, is taking off now in 2026.

So what, what's your reaction to that?

Well, the coolest story about it.

First of all, my reaction was, thank you. And please applause to that.

Thank you. Thank you.

My first reaction to that to Toby was, thank you.

But my second reaction was the story.

Now, Don Mills and Ill-Mine, shout out Don Mills and Ill-Mine, right?

Don Mills from Toronto, living in Miami, Ill-Mine from LA, right?

G-Unit, producer, exp producer.

Talented guys. They played them to beat that they made.

He loved it.

He wrote to it the same day. He recorded it.

They said they loved it.

And then they told him that the original was Socrates and Julie Black.

And the universe don't work any better than that.

He didn't even know.

That's, that's my favorite part of this song.

He didn't even know. He just chose it because he liked it.

So Tom, like that, that's it. That's gorgeous.

It's hard to get any better than that. I mean, it's such an affirmation,

it's such a validation of the great music that you made.

You got it.

All those years ago, and not that many years ago.

And then, so Toby, what's it like to have Julie and Socrates,

like, along for the ride on this, I mean, this Juno nomination now?

I mean, it's beautiful to me because, you know,

they are the epitome of, I think, longevity, you know what I'm saying?

And the way I look at music is, you know, it's a,

it's a cultural conversation between generations, you know.

We sample music to introduce the current generation

to what gave birth to what we're doing.

And the goal is to advance that, you know.

So, yeah.

Julie, I noticed you nodded as soon as Toby said the word,

like, these people mean something to me in terms of longevity.

Why was that meaningful to you?

Because we came up in a time where there wasn't social media.

There wasn't about likes, views, and follows, and streams, etc.

And so, there's a lot of times opportunities now that are set for the emerging.

And I say, but what about the legacy?

What about those who've already emerged?

And just need the opportunity.

So, you're built, you're extending the bridge.

And I really appreciate that.

And it's more so to celebrate.

And black music is still very young in this country.

I say straight up black, we make black music out of these black faces.

And we need to make sure that we celebrate that.

You know what we've been doing.

We noticed she didn't use the word urban.

But we want to dwell on that.

She didn't use the word urban.

She told the truth.

But the cool thing about black people is we invite y'all.

That's why we call it urban because everybody's allowed to join us with this song.

That's right.

That's absolutely right.

But I think what's worth touching on there is that like, yeah,

we're here to celebrate the Junos and all that.

But like, the Junos recognition and love for black music has completely changed since you guys first started.

I mean, agreed.

Sox, tell me about that.

For the better.

Like, pioneer of Canadian hip-hop.

How do you see the differences between the way hip-hop was treated then

and the way hip-hop is treated now in Canada and by the Canadian music industry?

Well, what I like about it is the level of independence,

which means we don't have to depend on y'all no more.

Yeah.

That's right.

I want to fix something else.

Right.

Secondly is back in the day because Julie and I are crew the circle,

which includes Cardinal Opechel,

Shocklayer who's right up there.

Shocklayer's in the out.

Where is he?

Stand up, Shocklayer.

Stand up, Shocklayer.

Where is he?

Come on.

Can you give him a round of applause?

Oh, he's going up.

Round of applause.

Oh, there he is.

There he is.

There he is.

There he is.

Turn it on.

Light it up.

You're...

Next thing that again.

Turn it on.

Light it up.

We're going to set this on fire.

Shots.

Now, what's cool, Chuck?

I listened to Rubin three days ago,

but Rubin's out here.

Right?

Now, here's the cool thing.

Back in the day, because we put the work in,

I'll make it short.

Even though we're independent, we got major deals.

We're able to put records out.

And Shocklayer is a four-time Juno winner in the house.

Because of the work that we all put in,

Julie, how much you get to three?

We're not bragging,

as we put the work in, right?

Yeah, but I'm going to say this.

I'm not going to make this into a...

You know, I'm not going to disclaim.

It's great to have the trophy.

Like, I can hang my panty on them to dry.

Ultimately.

Ultimately.

We still need funding.

We need funding.

We need support.

We need investors.

We need seed money.

We need to be able to have the careers like...

Like Blue Rodeo.

And Tom Cochran.

And Celine Dion and Shania Twain and all the rest of them.

So this is what I'm saying.

We can have all these awards.

It's great.

But what is the biggest reward?

It's to be able to have a sustainable income.

A life that we end up living and be able to pass the baton.

Like this.

The way Toby.

Toby actually went like this and passed it back.

Pass it back.

So many people don't do that.

So I beg you up, Toby.

Because there's a level of ego where they're like,

who are they?

Who cares?

Let's go.

Tom, Tom.

Real quick, though.

It's Toby.

We had this conversation.

The conversation was you asked, traveling, you know,

and business and how does it feel like what you've had to do.

And one thing we have had to do was leave.

And that's the point Julie's making.

We hadn't had enough support.

So we all had to leave in the 90s.

Get signed in America and sell it back to you all,

like the Canadian invasion.

It was crazy.

The American invasion.

And Toby asked me that question.

He has to travel to maintain his life, not lifestyle,

to be stable in a music business.

He cannot stay in Canada.

And that's tough.

You won't change that, right?

Yes, tough.

Yes, yes.

You won't change that.

So Toby, what goes to your head here and everything

that they've just said about how far they've come?

Yeah, I mean, I think back to my earlier point

about cultural conversation and dialogue,

if we don't have these conversations,

how is my generation and the subsequent ones

supposed to know even what to do?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

So even here, sitting here, I'm re-contextralizing

all these things that they're saying in my own life.

And I'm saying, OK, so these are some things

that I should keep in mind for myself and for my peers as well.

You know what I mean?

Because my peers are doing the whole brain drain thing sometimes.

Yeah.

And it's not, I don't like it.

I can tell you this, not only did you make,

like I think what's very important,

like this is a very CBC thing to say,

like a very important cross-cultural song.

Yeah.

But you also just made a jam.

Look, the great tunes, great songs.

And thank you so much for performing it.

That was amazing.

Yeah.

We call it the phone.

The phone.

Yeah.

If you in-care phone, give it one more time

for Big Sock Sock for Dees for Joey Black.

For Joey Black.

For Joey Black.

We got more KM coming up.

Let's love Hamilton.

Big ups.

All right, you all read the poster.

You have some idea who you're going to see on stage tonight,

but we thought we might give you a surprise or two as well.

This next guest, you're going to see not a musician,

but was named professional women's hockey league defender

of the year in 2005,

and a finalist for the Billie Jean King MVP Award.

Not a singer, but who here watched the Winter Olympics?

Well, not a singer, but as assistant captain for Team Canada,

won an Olympic silver medal last month

to go with her gold and silver.

She's got at home that home being Burlington, Ontario,

just down the road.

She's presenting a Juno Award this Sunday night,

which is here right now.

Canada, put your hands together for one of our greatest

Olympians.

We're not a fast.

Yeah, I'm a fast.

Hi.

How are you?

Nice to see you.

Oh, I'm fantastic.

Thanks for having me.

Don't you have a game?

Yeah, I have a game tomorrow.

You have a game tomorrow when you're here right now?

I know, right?

It's or some sort of pregame ritual.

We're interrupting right now.

No, I like to keep it low key. So this is perfect actually most before most of your games you

Talk to newfoundland public radio host totally totally

Future green bars backstage. This is how you prep. Yeah, that's it. I'm available and very affordable if you need me to do it

Is that the metal? It is

No really can't see it

Oh, I'm gonna drop this

I

Have never held an Olympic medal. It's pretty heavy isn't it? It is a lot heavier than I then I thought it was gonna be I know the first one

I got it went around around my neck and I was like oh

I hope someday I can say the first one I got

Like it's very good. They've changed over the years. They've degraded to be honest

It's absolutely beautiful. Thank you for that unless it's for me to keep

How are you I mean you guys have been on my mind?

Can I just ask how was how was the experience just broadly how how was the experience of being in Milan?

It was exceptional. Honestly everything was amazing. I mean, we're in Milan at the end of the day

Like it was just beautiful stunning the food was great

And like my last Olympics in Beijing we won gold which was incredible, but our families weren't there

But your families weren't weren't in Beijing. No, so Milan was so exciting for us because all of our families could be there

And what's better than being in a European city where they can just go enjoy themselves all day and then come to the game and just have fun

Right, so our families had so much fun while we competed it was so special to share with them

How was it? How was it for you? How was it for the team? How was it? It was good. Yeah, there was there was a lot of pressure to be honest

Did you read it was there? Yeah, there was a lot of negativity towards our team heading into these games

Just because we had an older an older group. Yeah a veteran group and team USA or our number one rivals

Had a very young group and in the lead-up during our exhibition games didn't go as planned for us

But we had so much belief in our locker room

But there was a ton of outside noise from media

And that's not something I dealt with my first two Olympic games. So this was really unique

How do you turn? How do you tune that out? Yeah, it's tough

But we have such a good group in the locker room and we honestly leaned on each other and

We would talk about it like we would we would just be open and honest about some of the stuff we are reading in the media or some of the questions

We'd get asked but at the end of the day like we just knew what we had in the locker room and and we knew we were going to make the

The gold medal game really close and we did and we just fell a little bit short. It was so close

I hope you yeah absolutely

On the other side

Like this is going to seem like a line, but

You feel the pressure and you and you feel the sort of negative noise around you

Do you also sort of feel the pride like I feel like the entire country was was so behind your team

More than ever everyone, you know waking up everyone working so everyone really rooting for you everyone taking a very very seriously

Do you feel like can you tangibly feel that over there at all? Oh, yeah, you totally can

Sometimes when you're like actively competing you try and just being your own little bubble to

minimize distractions

But I the coolest part about it like we were very disappointed in a silver medal

And I know it's hard to say, you know you win an Olympic medal

You should always be proud and you are and and I'll I'll appreciate this more and more the longer

You know we get away from the games, but the coolest part about it was coming off of a silver medal where we were so disappointed and

To just hear the support from back home and how proud they were of the way we represented our country

And you even felt it when we were in Milan

There was so many Canadian fans in Milan and we were getting stopped everywhere

The next couple days just saying how proud they were despite the results

So you really feel it

Which makes a disappointing outcome feel a little bit better when you know you inspired a nation

I mean absolutely

It's I mean, it's also so interesting to see

How much change there's been to women's hockey since Beijing, you know like the league that you playing in right now

Didn't even exist when you were when when you were in Beijing. What's that been like to see?

It's hard to even imagine right like oh

It's been amazing like I never thought I'd be able to play in a league like I'm playing in right now and to play for Toronto

So close to home is so special, but yeah

like when we we came out of the 2022 Olympics

We didn't have a league to play in and we were just playing exhibition games around North America kind of trying to patch together

A little bit of competition

It definitely hurt our development as players, but I'm so proud of that time we took

Away from having a league and waiting for the right investors and ownership group to come in and to create the PWHL because

What we've you know built in three years as a league is exceptional just yeah

What's the I don't know I don't want to put you on the spot

You do a lot of fan events. I think you had a over a thousand fans just show up to

The the meet and greet you did with your sectors teammate Emma Malta. This is this has been so meaningful to so many people across the country

Can you name for me the most meaningful thing someone said to you at one of these meet and greets or or one of these meetings

For me there's so many little moments that stand out

But the one that just like stands out to me so strong just from the event we did last week in Burlington

Emma Malta and I both from Burlington and the city held a little

Olympic celebration for us. We had no idea what to expect

We got there the lobby of the arena was full. They had to open up another pad. It was

It was amazing the turnout, but what I thought was so cool was

Coming through the line to sign autographs. There were so many little boys that came through

And they were so excited

That was meaningful to you and it was meaningful to me because

Um, it it was just kind of a realization to me that they are growing up in a world where the PWHL is on the TV every night for them to watch

The Olympics are on TV every four years and they don't it's no different for them

So they watch you know the NHL players their idols

And to know that they're going to grow up in a world where it's no different for them to see PWHL or NHL

It's it's a huge step and that's just something little there's so many

Moments where you feel that from from um people, but just those little boys really stood out to me last week

Um, I know you said

You felt you felt a certain amount of almost there a little bit

On the flight on the way home, but you also knew you you felt the the pride from the country

I hope you feel it from the folks here in this theater

Definitely will pride

We feel in you and your team and all the incredible work you're doing

Thank you so much for coming on and congratulations again. Thank you so much

You

That is the first part of our Q live at the Junos in Hamilton, Ontario

There is more to come right after this including this is very exciting a conversation with the director

And then the writer of a new musical based on the music of the tragically hip. I'm compower more Q live at the Junos after this

Looking for soccer analysis more knowing than a Carlo Ancelotti eyebrow raise with the World Cup around the corner join me

Max Rochden and the Guardians expert soccer journalist on football weekly for all the latest soccer action and news throughout the week

We'll cover more ground than Drew Bellingham and a Champions League final with conversations sharper than an Arsenal set piece for five margins

Fun debates and full blooded tackles football weekly listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on YouTube

You

Welcome to Small Talk with Sheila. This is a podcast for anyone chasing joy craving creativity and learning to love their messy magical life

Each episode is a bite-sized blend of stories and misadventures

Rom calming your life even when things feel awkward new episodes drop every week

So hit subscribe and never miss a juicy story. I promise it'll feel like an unhinged voice note from your most honest and hilarious friend

Listen to Small Talk with Sheila on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

I'm Tom Power you're listening to Q

last night in Hamilton, Ontario at theater Aquarius

We did a show to a sold out 700 seat room

featuring some great Juno nominees performers and singers and songwriters and stand-up comedians

So today you're hearing some of the highlights of last night's show

So what you're about to hear is more from that night without further ado

Here's the rest of our Q live at the juniors

You know those parts of yourself the major field different growing up. I think everyone has them

For this next artist she's made a career of taking those things and really embracing them

It's become like a superpower

She lends into the bright colors and the weird and whimsical parts of her life and she's built a rapturous fan base across Canada for it

So much so that she's been described as a mix between

Chapel Rowan and Jim Henson

She's currently

We didn't make that up. She's currently nominated for an adult alternative album of the year at the junos for her latest album fantasy life

I will tell you for this next artist

I have only met

Fans of hers and those who haven't heard her yet

Would you please welcome from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Pagonia

Thank you

We're done just kidding

Hmm

The pounding in my head

The making of my bed

Some things I'm quick to tend to others overwhelm me

I'll often therapist

Then intellectualize

Why there's some thing inside that makes me want to hate myself my need for the

Edition led to a self-exphyxiation which made me up my medication

Oh

Every

Dissidation fueled my by sexual frustration

So I bought six at service stations

Till the novel

T-Wars and

La

I'm coming up for it

Change the color of my hair

Brought a bag of what I used to wear into the salient

Cuz moving on for me

Felt just like gratitude

I pulled the arrow back in a swore I had a bull's eye

Yeah, I fear of everyone

Let to a lack of having fun

And then it got me feeling

I

Had such

desire for control and it made me scared of getting old

But now I finally let that go

So

But never made I get people paid

Play the deal games

Then take you to the hamster living in my brain

All around me

Clown for

Harder than the sun

No ceiling to the woman that I will become

My bed's never made but but I get people paid

I play video games yeah

Now I'm having fun call me the clown for everyone

I'm hotter than the sun

I'm every one

Oh

Oh

Oh

No

No

No

No

I'm not done, I'm not done

I'm not done, I'm not done

Give it up for Bagonia

Give it up for Bagonia

Give it up for Bagonia

Give it up for Bagonia

Give it up for Bagonia

What happened there?

My nail fell off

What are your nails fell off?

My little toppers

You know

The little butterflies fell

I was on the fake nail lifestyle train for so long

I could barely do it my pants anymore

I have to just like

So I have these little toppers now

I just put them on top but then they fling all over the place

I really can't win here with these nails

I'm just glad you and I talked before the show

Because I was going to wear the exact same thing

Oh my gosh

How embarrassing

It would have been so embarrassing

Everyone says we look alike

Yeah, everyone

That was beautiful

Oh thank you

How are you doing? Are you doing alright?

I'm doing alright

Tell me a little bit about that song

What about that song? Where did that song come from?

In the community

Imposter syndrome

But then also like just being a woman in the industry

And just

And just like getting older and not being so afraid of it

It's kind of like

There's this pervasive thought that as you age

As a woman in the industry that you're kind of like depreciating

And I've definitely sometimes internalized that in the past

But then on this album I was like

Screw you everybody

But like not everyone

But like

No, no thank you so much

Really, really

Was there a precipitating event that led to you writing that song?

Was just do something that like do something go down that made you want to write about?

I just general living

Do you remember when you wrote it? Do you remember?

Okay, so I wrote the majority of this album

With two of my main collaborators, Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg

They are my guys

And they're actually here this weekend which is so special

Because we don't all live in the same city anymore

Anyways, they make me feel so comfortable to be vulnerable

We were like let's write a upbeat pop song

We always try to give ourselves that brief of like let's write something really fun

Because generally I'll come to the table and be like

Everybody dies

Or something

By the way, my favorite Leonard Cohen song

Yeah, Leonard really is

She died

No, I thought it was from my Leonard Cohen song

You're wearing a black shirt actually

So in some ways it is Leonard Cohen shirt

So hold on and help me understand what you said before you said

Up until now you have internalized a lot of the things in the Canadian music industry

That would make you feel very insecure

In general industry I guess at large

And growing up being so television obsessed, so pop culture obsessed

It's like that's something that's kind of thrown at you

From the time you can

Taddle into a

Magazine store

Yeah, you can feel pretty crummy about yourself

Yeah, absolutely

And then you said something happened on this album where you went

Yeah, just kind of

I went to the No More scenario

And just having written, this was the third album that I've written

Those collaborators, the Matt's as we call them dead men, is their production name

And I just felt so comfortable to just share exactly how I was feeling

Whereas maybe before I would have felt like

I don't want to sing about that, nobody wants to hear about that

But what happened to you that the No More started that you stopped internalizing?

What happened that you started saying No More?

I turned 35

And I didn't care anymore

Is that true?

Kind of, I had a friend that was always like when you turned 35

So I'm getting comfortable now

Take a snooze

You don't care anymore and I was 27 when she told me and I'm like

PUSHER

And then I turned 35 and I was like there's part of that that's true

I definitely obviously care about many things

Getting anxious about things, whatever

But there's certain things that have just slid right off my back now

And if people want to say you're too old

I'm not going to stop

So that's kind of their problem, not mine

So just kind of with age, just kind of with age

You just sort of

It was just like a, I guess a majority thing

And I would consider myself maybe a late bloomer a bit in my career

I was in bands forever

And then starting the solo project I only started at 27

My old band had ended

And I thought what's next for me

I'm already like close to 30

That is the age out of life

I didn't know when to talk about age of this whole time

But let's just talk about it

And then

I'm 27 now

Oh yeah, no obviously

Literally the same two who cares

I don't care if you don't care

And then I was 27

And I remember thinking to myself

If you stop yourself now

Because you think you're too old

You're going to be 37 looking back and being like your child

Because I've always felt that

Like when I was 15

I started playing acoustic guitar

And then I met Joey Landrath an amazing guitar player

And he's like I'm playing so strong

And I was like I'm too old

You feel behind

And I think that's the thing

It's not necessarily an age thing

But just like yeah like I was kind of trying to catch up

But now I kind of feel like I haven't doing this for long enough

So

Must be working or something

I mean not only is it working but like I feel like in this new record

I can really feel you being exactly who you are

And having that kind of confidence

And sort of being on a apologetic yet sort of vulnerable at the same time

Yeah, I definitely feel that

And I just feel so excited for the future

Not as like

For the future of my career

I know for me regardless of what happens

I'm going to make art forever

So that doesn't matter then

I think it made an incredible record

Congratulations on your Juno nomination

Thank you

I can take no more

Don't go away

Don't mind me

I just bet those kids

I can show and see

I can show and see

That's a little bit of Calgary's

Tate McCray who is tired

For most nominations of this year's Juno Awards

With a song called Sports Car

I'm Tom Power, you're listening to Q

I hope you're enjoying some of the highlights from our Q

Live at the Juno's show

Which we recorded last night

5 audience at Hamilton Ontario's

Theatre Aquarius, big sold out show

It was fun

What you're about to hear right now is pretty cool

I don't know if you knew about this

But there's a musical coming to stage

Actually at Theatre Aquarius soon

It's a good life if you don't weaken

And if you're a Canadian music fan

You may know or guess

It's based on the music of the tragically hip

So we have the director and the writer behind that production

Join us on stage

To talk all about it

Well, we are coming down to our final couple of guests tonight

Here in Hamilton for the Junos

Before we get going I just want to say thank you to Theatre Aquarius for having us tonight

This isn't just a venue for theatre

It's also home to the National Centre for new musicals

Meaning this is where the next big hit Canadian musicals get developed

A boy or boy do they ever have a big one coming up

It's a good life if you don't weaken

It's a brand new show

Which tells a very Canadian story

But a new kind of Canadian story

Using the beloved songs of the tragically hip

It opens this April here

But for the first time ever

You're going to get a sneak peek tonight

But first to tell us about it

Please put your hands together for the show's director

And the show's co-writer Mary Frances Moore

And Jesse Lavercom

Thank you

Well, first off, congratulations

I can't wait to see this show

Can I say you picked a nice low stakes project

Last week my brother said I feel so sorry for the director of that show

Because all eyes are going to be on it

And I said you know I'm the director right

Which he didn't

What was it about this project that got you interested in?

And what hooked you about this story?

Well, it's the tragically hip

It's the soundtrack to many generations

It feels like it's the soundtrack to this country in many ways

And when Michael Rubenoff had this idea for the show

He's the producer

He's the enhancement producer of the show

We were down a good speed musicals working together

And he said I have this idea

And the more he talked about it, I said you know if you workshop it at theatre Aquarius

We could give you the space

And if it's a good idea it'll go

And the wheels were already spinning

And here we are two years later

And we're thrilled to be here

Jesse, this is an interesting story

So you and your longtime collaborator, Ahmed Monika, came up with the storyline for this production

Help me out here

So it's a rocky journalist in exile

Finds a new home in Kingston, Ontario

Finds a community through a girl he meets at the record store

Is that pretty much it?

Yeah, it's really really good

I'm very employable, I can do it

Low rates? Yeah, I mean...

Is that a story? That is a story

It's about someone finding home

And I think what's exciting about having this story support this music is that this music

There's a few other artists I think who have

Celebrated so boldly, so authentically

And the place that they're from

And the place that we all call home

And Ahmed and I are both from other places

I'm American, he's an Iraqi

And so we bring this like we really...

We've come to the tragically hip music

And gotten to see this response

We've been here a long, long time

And so it's really exciting to be able to share it through this vehicle

When did you first hear the music of the hip when you came to Canada?

Pretty soon after I got here

What did they do right at the border?

Absolutely, completely

They gave you...

When I became a citizen, I did like check off lyrics and stuff

Checkerboard floors

Yeah, exactly

So you heard it pretty quickly when you became...

Yeah, I did, I heard it through friends, I heard on the radio

And even in the past months as we've been working on it, I mean as I'm like in bars

And I hear it, I'm like, is this song in there?

Should this song be in there? Like a lot of people come up to you and you know say like...

Like quiz you on it, so we've really been put through the paces a little bit and it's been amazing

But it feels like a very authentic or maybe like appropriate way to tell this story

Because I know from like getting to talk to Gord Downey, the Lake Gord Downey, that like...

I think he would be disappointed if this was a very ra ra ra

You know Canadian only patriotism, like only from the Canadian perspective story

Like what was interesting to you about telling it from the perspective of someone coming to Canada?

I think that's it exactly, the band were very clear about that you know we could have the rights to the songs

But they didn't want it to be a biopic, they didn't want it to be a celebration of them and their legacy

And also with the work Gord was doing with Truth and Reconciliation

Not to make it to ra ra Canada, the show starts in 2002

And we explore what it is, what it is to come to this country from the outside and what are the things you discover

And what it is to be a newcomer and have a foot in each country and to have people you love in one place as you fall in love with people in a place of a new one

So to me it's really about, it's a celebration of humanity, it's a celebration of what we are when we are at our best

And Ahmed's story of coming to Canada is so inspiring

So it's been a great team and we've only been in rehearsal three days

We started on Tuesday and we're going to perform for you tonight after three days

And we can't wait

Jesse, scale a 1 to 10

Musical in Canada, using the music of the tragically hip, how nervous are you 1 to 10?

Honestly

I'm pretty nervous

Yeah, it feels high stakes and it should

And at the same time, we have an amazing team and it's one step at a time

And we have an amazing cast, an amazing director

So like an 8 and a half

That's pretty good

That's pretty good

Mary Francis, we're going to see the opening number of the musical in a moment

It's courage, the tragically hip song courage, why is this the song to open the show?

Why is this the song you wanted to share with us tonight?

When you come and see the show and you see how we stage it

There's a moment and we have the first chord of the song

And we know that it's probably one of the most recognizable chords in the Canadian music canon

We want to shoot, we want to start with energy, we want to start with the favorites

And we want the audience to know that they're in for a ride and we are saying to our choreographer today

When you see the choreographer, blow your mind

And I'm saying to our choreographer Mark Kimmelman

I want the audience to go like this, the second the show starts

And what better song than courage

So what you're going to see is a truncated version without the scenes and without the dialogue inside

But it's an honor to share this music

And it's such a thrill as artistic director of this theater to share it with Hamilton audiences

Before we take it to Kingston with Thousand Isles Playhouse

Well, let's do it then, we're going to hear a song from the show

Please give it up one more time for Mary Frances Moore and Jeffrey LaGuerreca

The dancers quickly follow the unknown

With something more familiar

Quickly something familiar

Courage my word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter

Sleep walk so fast asleep

In Motel, it has a lay on home

And piss on all your background

And piss on all your surroundings

Courage my word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter

Courage your word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter

And that is it, some of the highlights from our cue live at the Juno show

From last night at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario

We hope you loved hearing it as much as we loved having the experience of being in that room

You're going to be hearing more from that show as the week go on here on cue

But I want to say thank you to everybody who came out

I want to say thank you to everybody at Theatre Aquarius

I want to say thank you to all of the performers and everybody at CBC Hamilton

I also want to thank the incredible team of producers

The best team in radio and podcasting who work on this show every single week

Simee Bassy, Ben Edwards, ZN Eros, Vanessa Nygrow, Corned Jowen, Knees & Nando, Liv Pascarelli,

Aja Souter, Adriel Smiley, Catherine Stockhausen, and Caitlin Swann

Our digital team is Julie Grossman-Grey, Vivian Rashott, and March Mercante

Julie Grossman-Grey, this is her last show with us as she's starting a brand new adventure

If you've found out about us through TikTok or through Instagram or through YouTube

Shorts like if you have come across our digital presence at all and it has sucked you in

That is all thanks to Julie Grossman-Grey, who is one of a kind and I have no idea what we'll do without her

But we're so incredibly proud of her, Julie if you're listening to this and I know you are

We're all in your corner, we're so excited for you

Thank you for everything

Our production assistant is Zoe Morris, Simee Hashamy is our engineer

Our director is Gloria Amatayo, our senior producer is Matt or Matthew Murphy

Baza Safa is our executive producer and a special thanks to our producer listening from Home Mitch Pollock

We'll see you soon, later on

For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts