Yes, we’re back yet again with an episode to help get you through the tail end of a week. I often try to consider what I can possibly say at this point that is equal parts sarcastic as it is motivational, and I can only say that the one thing getting me through this week is randomly passing out after work. Not in a narcoleptic sense but more of a “I give up” sense.
Anyway, we’ve some solid entries in today’s show so let’s just get right to it, shall we?
My guest today is CHSR and Next Folding Theatre Company alumnus and very funny, energetic guy, Jake Martin. He joins me to talk about his journey through comedy and theatre, and the collection of different funny moments that became his new one(-ish) man show, SNAKES ARE COOL!
With most of us hoping we’re on the off-ramp of this pandemic, hosts Rachel Laforge and Pierina Riva Robbiano take an audit: What did we end up losing, and what did we gain?
The music
Opening Theme: Wake me up when September Ends by Green Day.
Used in pieces:
Motionless in White by Cyberhex
To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra
Make Art Not Friends by Sturgill Simpson
Fishermen’s Blues by The Waterboys
One by Three Dog Night
End theme: And the Healing Has Begun by Van Morrison
Local playwright Ryan Griffith is well known for combing familiar, local culture and people with stories that are often bizarre, occult or just downright unsettling. My guests today are Matt Carter (co-producer) and Jason McIntyre (the voice of “Lowell”) from the audio drama production of Griffith’s massive play, Fortune of Wolves.
We talk about how this all came to be, how it’s still unfolding, and how Griffith has yet again brought both the familiar and the peculiar to life, this time with a cast of over 60.
Fortune of Wolves is produced by Big Noise Audio Collective, and is being released as a podcast weekly on Fridays. As of this post, there are 8 episodes released, with a half-dozen to remain. Find it on your podcast directly of choice, or find it on the Theatre NB website.
It feels like it was four hundred thousand years ago that time jumped ahead, but that might just be due to the fact that the only thing keeping me going is too much caffeine and the need to pay rent. It’s a weird thing.
Anyway, we’re going to shake this progress tree at it’s roots by giving you tunes that speed you up, slow you down and make you think, then stop all that nonsense to speed things back up again. That’s just the kind of person I am. You’re welcome.
Director of the UNB Arts Centre Marie Maltais joins me to talk about the second year anniversary of the H20: An Ocean of Science phone app, noting some of the approximately 40 new pins full of information to be added.
Sometimes, we are forced into making choices and growing up — we realize that life is Tough!. I spoke with Emily Darling and Chris Rogers, two of the students involved in the upcoming Drama UNB production of Tough!. This production is a 4th-year thesis production for Emily, who worked alongside fellow student Joshua Burke to produce, direct and generally just make this play happen. Chris is one of three actors in this project.
Tough! runs from March 17 through March 19 at 7:30pm each night at Memorial Hall on campus.
Here we are again, a brief wander through March has led us to yet another Friday where we pretend that there’s no such thing as taxes or Second Spring or Weird Winter or being able to buy gas or pay rent or – okay, I’ve gone too far.
What I’m trying to say is at least the sound track for the week has culminated to this point. We have new stuff, “old”er stuff, and it’s all just solid auditory stuff, in which it is solid by means of good and not solid as in … a brick or something.
I don’t know what I’m talking about. Never ask me anything.
There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world today, and while there’s so much stuff I could comment on I know people who are in a much better position to make that comment. So what I’ll do is continue doing what I can – play music to kick ass to.
I’m keeping it short and sweet this week, folks. If you want to send anything off to the show, remember – RunForYourLifeCHSR[at]gmail.com ! Do it.
ALSO. It’s BANDCAMP FRIDAY. BUY MUSIC TODAY DO IT.
Since the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jennifer Russell has become a celebrity and a fixture within the lives of New Brunswick residents. In this interview with Dr. Russell, we delved into her background, the introduction of a new type of celebrity – the medical expert, and spoke about the effects of the current pandemic on the New Brunswick healthcare system and what we have learned about preventative measures for the future.
Dr. Jennifer Russell was born and raised in Bathurst, New Brunswick. She pursued studies in Music at Dalhousie University, followed by Science at UNB and Medicine at Memorial University. She finished with her Family Medicine Residency at Dalhousie University.
Dr. Russell spent 10-years serving as a Medical Officer in the Canadian Forces and did a short tour overseas to support the mission in Afghanistan at Camp Mirage in Dubai. After her last posting in Gagetown, New Brunswick, she worked in Addictions and Mental Health, did locums for Family Physicians and worked part-time as a Hospitalist.
Her Public Health career began in 2014. Dr. Russell has been able to use all her previous clinical experience to help inform and shape policy recommendations and decisions. Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Chief Medical Officer of Health, she has demonstrated great leadership and communication abilities and continues to work with her large team of colleagues and staff on the evolving COVID-19 response, always keeping in mind the social determinants of health.
She has a passion for upstream prevention and has provided input on approaches to substance use in youth, resulting in a new pilot project based on research in Iceland. She has worked on the opioid task force and the cannabis legalization working group. She has presented on the Public Health implications of Climate Change. Dr. Russell has taught classes at the medical school in Saint John and has been the keynote speaker at several events over the last two years, describing lessons learned in the pandemic and speaking about resiliency.
She is also the mother of two active teenagers and when time permits she writes music and sings, and plays the saxophone with two local bands. She loves to read and participates in two book clubs. She has received several awards of recognition, including the Paul Harris Fellow, and the Order of NB as well as honorary doctorates from Mount Allison University and Universite de Moncton.
Alex Compton and Keaghan Keddy explore how young athletic prospects have been penalized with lost development, and how that frustration sometimes manifests itself with racism on the ice.
To say “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore” would suggest I knew what I was doing to begin with. Not that anyone asked, but if someone had told me 12~ years ago that my adventures of being a co-host meant I’d undertake the entire project and run with it, well.. I guess I’d be surprised that I dedicated myself that much to literally anything?
Anyway, someone’s out there enjoying the playlist, and as long as even one of you are digging what’s going on here, I’ll keep throwing it out there. Play it loud, enjoy it for what it is, and don’t notice that I’m naming my episodes off of a Word Of The Day calendar.
It’s all starting to seem similar, isn’t it? We’ve already hit the point where it felt like my renaming scheme to help track my episodes better was done just a few episodes ago, and apparently that is not the case! Instead it was something like four years ago?
Anyway, nobody wants me to reminisce. They want me to play music, and that’s why we’re all here.
No prophecies and nothing insightful here. Though, one thing I was told that helped me keep my head up in some dark times is that the point of life is to enjoy it. Maybe that’ll do something for you.
Today, I spoke with the Len Falkenstein, Seth Giberson and Amrin Panjwani about Theatre UNB upcoming production of The Ends of the Earth, an Governor General’s Award-winning comedy by Morris Panych. Falkenstein is the Director of Drama at UNB and the director of the play, which is performed by the Drama 3170 class, including actors Seth and Amrin. Featuring original live music by Devin Rockwell.
So yes, while it doesn’t hurt to have a little bit of noise in your life, sometimes it all has to stop. Other times, it’s all you can do to drown it out.. so here we are: Music of all sorts to be played as loud as possible to counter some other source of noise that might drive you crazy this weekend. Who knows what that could be!
