Front Burner - A few moments of joy during the pandemic

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

Things are not great. But people still are. And some good is happening. For example: competitive marble racing has gone viral because of the void left by professional sports. Artists are live streaming free concerts for fans. And in one of the countries hit hardest by COVID-19, people are taking to their balconies to sing songs in solidarity. So today, a mental break from our serious coronavirus coverage to hear stories that might bring some relief.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Jamie Poisson. Okay, so how are all of you guys feeling right now? I know, it's a lot.

We're in self-isolation, we're in quarantine, we're worried about our family and our friends. That's on top of us worrying about paying the bills as well. So today we want to do something a little bit different. We want to chill out a bit and take a mental break by sharing good stories from around the world. Because there are actually tons of them right now. Stories about human kindness, ingenuity, all the weird stuff that's going on that's getting us through this pandemic. Stuff like Arnold Schwarzenegger feeding tiny horses carrots in his kitchen. Oh, yes, it's yummy. Luna loves carrots. Whiskey loves carrots. Like Raptor superstar Serge Ibaka washing the dishes.

I decided to paint some plates here because I have to do it because if I don't do it, nobody will do it. So today's the perfect day to do it. washing the dishes. And in this enormous vacuum created by the suspension of the NBA, the NHL, other pro sports, the viral rise of, wait for it, competitive marble racing. Number two. Hazers up into fourth. Mellow yellow. Make an appearance up into fifth. You hold your breath just slightly as they come up the conveyor belt. Down they come on lap number three. So that's a guy named Greg Woods. He's a color commentator for Marbula One and Marble League. Those are actual things.

And he joins me now from Fort Dodge, Iowa, to explain why marble racing is the new must-watch sport. Oh, and don't worry, what we are not going to do today is force you to listen to that horrible celebrity imagine video that's going around. That thing is too much. Don't even get me started. This is Frontburner. Hi, Greg. Hello. Yes. Thank you so much for making the time to speak with me. Oh, absolutely. It's so nice to meet you.

Well, I'm glad to be talking here on CBC and on this podcast. And talking about marbles, which I never thought I would be talking to you about. Look, I have to be honest. I didn't even know marble racing was a thing until this week. Do you get that reaction often? All the time, in fact. And sometimes it's tough for me to wrap my mind around it as well, to be honest, because I think, well, in a sense, these are just, you know, things rolling due to gravity, but yet we put so much of ourselves into them. And I think it's only a natural reaction. So for people who haven't been lucky enough to see it yet, can you explain to me

what marble racing looks like? There are a lot of different forms of it now, which is even crazier. But the video that first started this kind of viral movement right now is actually from a couple of years ago. And it is a big sand hill over in the Netherlands that two brothers carved out a trench in, a winding serpentine track down this hill. And at the top of it, they release a bunch of marbles. And the camera follows along the track as the marbles jostle for positions and go back and forth and sometimes dive off the track or sometimes make a big shortcut or take an alternate way around. And it ends up being this fairly intense competition. Now, over time, that has evolved from not just the sand marble rally, as we call it, but also to the Marble League. It used to be called the Marblelympics.

A marble league. Yes, absolutely. We have done it for several years now. And the Marble League is set up just like an Olympic style competition where you've got teams and you've got all of these different events that they compete in. And I know this sounds even crazier than the Sand Hill, but there's a stadium that they're in and there are marbles watching from the stands as these marbles compete. The stands are packed and we are proud to welcome you to the 2019 qualifying rounds for the Marblelympics. Four events and 20 teams competing for 12 qualification spots in this year's event. The Oceanics, the Rangers, Midnight Wisps, and the Savage Speeders are already qualified based on their finishing positions for the last MarbleLympics.

And you get everything from, like, the high jump, or the balance beam, or collision event where they come down and careen into each other. There are sprint races. There are sprint races. There are relay races. All of these things put together, and then they award the medals, and then at the end, the champions are who have the most points. And then the most recent thing, to go off of this even further, is Marbula 1, which is a circuit-style F1-esque track racing

where there are these courses that the marbles roll down, and there is literally a conveyor belt that takes them back to the top of the course and then starts the next lap. No way. Give me an example. When you talk about relay races or high jump, like, what are you talking about? Yes. Max is out.

This is Mimo from Team Momo. Of course, the one who came in to replace Momo Momo. So it's his first individual performance. He'll definitely be looking to impress his teammates. He's doing okay here. Stumbles a little bit at 36. Can he get over it this time? Yes. Remember you get three attempts at any given height. Ooh, cleared 36 by easy as can be. And 37.

Yeah, so the high jump, that was particularly riveting, I might say. That was where there was a bar that was set up. So similar like what you would see in the pole vault or what you would see in the human high jump. And these marbles will be sent down a long ramp that then shoots them upward and they hope to time just correctly the peak of their jump to get over that bar. And then they keep raising the bar as the competition goes along and the marbles try not to knock it over and try to make it to the other side. Oh, my God, this is so great. And I know like any good sports story, you're very much into

storylines. So give me like a typical storyline in one of these competitions. Oh, my gosh. Well, that's one thing that I love the most about this is that we don't even sometimes create the storyline. Sometimes the fans are building this lore behind the scenes. They're in social media creating biographies of these team members and things. So then you actually have something that happens in the events that builds to that as well. So one kind of overarching theme is the Savage Speeders, which is one of the teams. They are always really good at speed events. Now, for whatever reason, I mean, they're just marbles.

But for whatever reason, marble fans, I didn't say that, by the way. For whatever reason, they tend to be really, really quick. So they are usually seen as some of the favorites. But then you get something like what happened in last year's Marble League, wherein there was a dirt race that they rolled down. And right at the end, this team that is usually a perennial kind of middle of the pack team shoots out of nowhere and beats them in what is more or less a speed event. People went wild for something like that. Or in that same Marble League, you also had the newcomers, the teams that have never competed in a marble league before. In this case, the Green Ducks were a fan favorite. They were actually a fan created team that came to Yella, who owns the marbles. So they did really well over the course of the season.

And honestly, we're in contention toward the end to win the whole thing. So it's stuff like that, that you just you never really know. And then sometimes there's random things that happen. There's a fight in the stands, or there's, you know, a streaker that runs down the course or one year that the Jungle Jumpers, which was one of the teams, won an event and then stayed out and celebrated too long that night and missed the next event, which in reality, that was because actually Yella forgot those marbles at home when he went to record the next event. But we were able to work it out that way. And you've mentioned Yella a few times. This is the gentleman who started all of this in the Netherlands, right? Correct, yeah.

It's Jelle and his brother Dion are over in the Netherlands, and they're the ones who brainstorm a lot of these ideas and put the tracks together and do the filming. But since that time, I mean, you see the video that went viral. That was just one camera following them down a hill. Limers come out to an early lead. Ooh, neck and neck, all four of them now. That was just one camera following them down a hill. Limers come out to an early lead. Neck and neck, all four of them now.

Crazy Cat's Eye briefly take a turn in the lead, and we've had a... Since then, if you look at what we've done in Marble League and Marbula One, it is now a big production. So we have people from all around the world who are helping us, whether it's with music or graphics or checking timing and scoring and things like that. It really is a team effort. And I understand that it's sort of exploded recently since we've seen the shutdown of all these major sports leagues, right? Yeah, it's filling this vacuum that exists. And people, I'm sure, have joked that this vacuum exists before, but we're actually seeing it play out that people do have this craving for a little bit of normalcy and a little bit of escapism as well.

I've used that term a couple times when I've talked to others, that this is something that kind of exists in its own world. I mean, the competitors are marbles. The fans are marbles. I am actually a marble sitting in the commentary box, if you look closely enough. It's this whole world that you can easily put yourself into, separate from all the things going on in the real world. And combining that with this lack of other sports, you see people that still want

a good underdog story. They still want to cheer something on. They want to let out this pent-up enthusiasm that they would have had for their favorite team or for their favorite sport. And this is a good outlet for that. This is so great. Greg, I really needed this conversation today. Thank you so much for joining us today. This was a real pleasure. Well, I hope so. If we can try to make the best out of a less than ideal situation that everybody's in right now, then think, are going to be excited about the news that we have to share this morning. Jan Arden, the latest inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. That's going to happen at the Junos on March 15th. Jan here, obviously very disappointed to hear the news about the Junos being cancelled, but it was absolutely the smartest. God only knows why we try and fail. Is this heaven on earth or the fires of hell?

I try to be honest. It's hard not to lie. Will you remember me? Hi, Jan Arden. Thanks so much for making the time to talk with us. Time is what I got. I guess we're all just sitting around, eh? It's kind of funny for me because I live in rural Alberta. And of course, my working life, I travel like 250 days

a year usually. But when I come home, I really am a homebody. I have 14 acres here, so I'm not around people, like, very often at all. I mean, I'll have friends out for dinner, so this is actually not that unusual for me. It really is the land that time forgot. Well, I was going to ask you how you're holding up, but it sounds like you're doing okay then. I really am good. I personally kind of built for this. Kay then. I really am good. I personally kind of built for this.

I think there's certainly a time to be reverent, and we're all very aware of people fighting battles of life and death, and you cannot look at different situations happening, these little hot spots in the globe, and not have your heart broken. Absolutely. But having said that, you know, we must be, you know, diligent. We have to look after each other's mental wealth and health and kind of keep the clouds of doubt at bay. And so that's what we're doing. We're trying to be of good cheer. I cannot live in that place of gloom and doom. It's not my nature.

I'm eternally optimistic. The fresh air that everyone has all the access in the world to no matter where you are is a lifesaver and you know in a lot of parts in this country right now the sun is shining and so maybe that's something that can help us get through this as well i should say though i know that you were meant to be inducted into the canadian hall of fame this week so first off congratulations thank you very much but But of course, it got canceled. So I know that you did something else in place of that you held this massive live stream free concert performed in your living room. We welcome welcome to the dog might bark during this. I showered.

That's the main thing. It's something like 700,000 people tuned in. You were trending on Twitter. Well, it was really just a last-minute thing. I just did it on Facebook and had my friend Russell come out. It was pretty hilarious because we were like eight feet apart from each other because we are being mindful. He's been self-isolating for two weeks with his wife, but he said, no, no, I'll come out.

Like, we really, we didn't hug each other. We didn't shake hands. We both started laughing because I'm like, this is so bizarre, you know, in the house. But we did. We were just mindful. We followed the rules. And we just did this concert, played like six or seven, eight songs. And we were just surprised that the numbers kind of,

you know, bubbling up and all the little hearts that made my heart, you know, so happy to see commenting. I haven't even begun to look at the comments because I think there's 18,000 comments or something. So yeah, they're fantastic. I should say I was home that day. And I like my husband's calling me from upstairs, like Jan Arden's playing a live concert in her living room right now. So thanks for that. It was like a really wonderful moment. hoarding hand sanitizer. What we wanted to focus on today were some of the good stories, right? Like people connecting to help others, like the University of Toronto nursing and medical students who are helping to organize food and childcare for healthcare workers. Dylan's alcohol distillery is now making hand sanitizer. Are you seeing anything out there that deserves a real shout out? Well, this is on a much smaller scale. Our part of the world has got the RCMP and peace officers,

and I don't think there's a lot of units, but they cover hundreds of kilometers every day. But my one guy, Nathan, who I've, he's been kind of in my area, I've known him for the last five or six or seven years. And he came down the road, and I saw him at the gate and just saw them sort of going around the cul-de-sac and so I kind of waved you know up the went out the door and and they came into the yard and they stood there and we were talking for a while we stood you know appropriately far apart and he goes this is the new Nathan he's going to be taking over I'm going to go start doing things in school anyway long story short I said the gate will just open when you drive up to it. So Middy and I, my little dog, are waiting to see them drive out because I'm thinking, wow,

it's a big, exciting event for her today to bark after the police car going out of her driveway. I thought, she's going to love that. And they didn't come. They didn't come. They didn't come. And I'm like, what the hell? And there are these two RCMP guys shoveling my walk um wow and I just thought that's friggin the best they were just shoveling my walk and so I'm like thank you and they're like no problem that's so nice to hear well there's a lot of snow where I am believe it or not I know you were talking about there being sunshine in different places but I I have a lot of snow here it's supposed to snow again here in the next couple of days. But, you know, good things come from bad things. And if the Earth is even a slight

indication of what happens when you hit the pause button, They are seeing unprecedented things all over the planet. This is something that has united us as a global community. But things like something simple, an old guy in Venice said, I have not seen the canals this clear with fish in it since I was a boy. The dolphins have returned. Escapa el pez. I was a boy. The dolphins have returned. It's things like that. It's the pictures everyone's seeing from NASA of pollution, the air pollution. Look at what the earth can do in a month. Look at what it can do in a month when we hit the pause button. I hope this is a call to action to rethink how we're living our lives.

We are running from one point to the next. We've actually been forced to stop and think about how we're making our way through life. It is wonderful to hear and to see all of these stories. And I, like you, also hope that some long-term change will come out of this. I think it will. I'm grateful. I think it's going to be a much different story 30 days from now. Like every day the numbers come in, I'm like, oh, I can't wait for this to start kicking in and working and to see our community effort in action.

Sorry, my dog wants to get in on the interview. It's okay. My dog's been trying to get in on interviews all week. Jan Arnon, thank you so much for making the time. Thank you. Andrea Bocelli. How awesome is that? Live streaming a concert for Italians on lockdown. A lot of Italians are actually taking to their balconies to sing. It's quite something to see the videos. And it's also something Megan Williams, a reporter based in Italy, has witnessed herself on her block in Rome.

Hi, Megan. How are you doing? Hey, Jamie. I'm doing okay. Thanks. And I should say, I hear it's your birthday today. Happy birthday. Thank you. It is. It's your birthday today. Happy birthday. Thank you. It is. It's a birthday I won't forget. I hear you're having a dance party tonight, even though you're on lockdown. Can you tell me about that? I am.

I love dancing and I go dancing in Rome fairly frequently with a group of friends here. And that's one of the things that I really miss is been dancing with other people. And that's one of the things that I really miss is been dancing with other people. So I sent out an invitation to friends and family to join me tonight at 10 o'clock Rome time, 5 o'clock Eastern time. And I put together a whole coronavirus playlist, you know, songs like Don't Stand So Close To Me and My Sharona. A bunch of other songs. and we're going to dance. So I'm going to blow out my candles at 10 o'clock after dinner, and then whoever wants to join me bust out a bit. That sounds wonderful. And you mentioned you're going to blow a candle,

so you'll have a cake, maybe some wine? Yeah, yeah. I'm going to make a cake with my daughter in a while. She's here under quarantine as well. And, yeah, we'll have a little bit tonight at this digital dance party. I know musical theater star Ben Platt did this too for fans. So it seems to be gaining in popularity. A lot of us have seen the videos of Italians singing and playing instruments from their balconies. Set the scene for me. What are you seeing from your house? Is this happening all over the country? Yeah, it's happening all over the country. And every night at six o'clock, I think it started on Friday, last Friday, and a message

just went viral on Twitter, email. And there were three songs listed for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The first one was the National Anthem. And so at six o'clock, a lot of neighbors, you know, stuck their heads out windows or if they had balconies, they stood on balconies and we all belted out the National Anthem or most of us did. I don't I don't really know the lyrics, but my daughter does. So I stood beside her while

she sang and then the next night was another song and another song and they're they're all like you know one of another one was called the jet lois più blu, which means the sky just keeps getting bluer. And they're all sort of songs, optimistic songs, by classic Italian singer-songwriters that convey a sense of longing, a sense of solidarity. And it's just this wonderful moment. I could never have imagined it before because, you know, you live in close quarters in Rome. because, you know, you live in close, close quarters in Rome, you know, the urban density,

I mean, it's not it's not huge, but because the apartment buildings aren't tall, but you're close, you know, like in the summertime, people keep their windows open, and you can hear people snoring in the next building over. I mean, that's kind of the distance. So but you don't get a sense of who your neighbors are, because that closeness kind of provokes a level of privacy where people keep their shutters closed and things like that so it's just been amazing to actually see my neighbors you know to stand across and look at the neighbor in the next balcony last night's song a couple who you know every night we waved to them and we sing together and they started dancing and so my husband and I started dancing as well. I mean, they were really good waltzers. We're not, but it's just so much fun.

And it really, I never would have guessed how important it would become as days go on. Like, it really is the time where you, where you go out and you come together and you wave and smile at each other and sing and dance. And it's really needed. It's incredible to think, hey, that these measures that have been put in place to essentially keep us apart are actually also bringing us together. Absolutely. are actually also bringing us together. Absolutely.

And, you know, especially in Italy, which is a country of piazzas, you know, a country where people kiss and hug and squeeze cheeks. And I mean, it's a very physically affectionate culture. So not to say that other cultures, you know, don't have that sense of solitude when something like this kicks in. But I think for Italians, especially, it's, you know, it's kind of like stripping back layers of thousands of years of culture and instincts. Right. Are there any other moments of solidarity that you've witnessed? Well, there's a lot of people checking in on older people. I mean, I have an 88 year old mother in law who lives in Florence. And she says the fishmonger, for instance,

brought over a bag of fresh fish for her the other day. Neighbors are constantly leaving things for her. They're calling her all the time. I know a young Filipino mother who's quite isolated, and people from her community are just going out and doing shopping and leaving groceries outside her door and, you know, phoning her and say, just open your door, I've left you some food. So that sort of thing is happening. Also, businesses, you know, restaurants are obviously closed and hurting, but a lot of restaurants are pulling together and providing food for doctors in the north, those doctors who are so overstressed. There's, you know, it's just that the level of exhaustion among healthcare workers in Mombardia,

which is the northern region that's so hard hit, is so high. So there's a lot of different ways that the community there is supporting healthcare workers. And even in prisons, you know, I mean, there were revolts last week among the male prisons, but the female prisoners have donated blood, for instance, in Sicily. Really? Yeah. So you see a lot of different expressions from different sectors of society. And, you know, talking about the health care workers, I also I think I read something in Italy that that when people come out on their balconies, they're also taking a moment to sort of applaud the work that the health care workers are doing on the front lines.

Yeah, that was one specific day at noon. We all got out on our balcony and just gave a big cheer that lasted for about a minute. Well, Megan, thank you so much for sharing these stories with us today. And a very happy birthday to you. And I hope that you have a wonderful dance party tonight. Yeah, me too. Thanks so much, Jamie. So I really hope that this episode made you feel a bit better.

I want to end today with a shout out to all the hardworking frontline workers out there, especially those putting their health at risk to care for others. But I think comedian John LaJoy's new song can say it better than I can, also in a way that would probably get me fired. I wanted to express my deepest gratitude for a specific group of people who we are all turning to in this time of fear and uncertainty. If you feel the same way, please join me in saying, thank God for the motherfucking nerds right now. Thank God for the motherfucking nerds. Thank God for the motherfucking nerds right now. Thank God for the motherfucking nerds. Thank God for the motherfucking nerds right now. Thank God for the motherfucking nerds.

I'm not a very smart person. I don't know much. Okay, so that is all for this week. To all the nerds out there, thank you, thank you, thank you. We actually got Marble Racing color commentator Greg Woods to read our credits today. So over to him. Front Burner comes to you from CBC News and CBC Podcast. The show produced this week by Mark Apollonio, Imogen Burchard, Elaine Chao, Shannon Higgins, Allie Jane, Ashley Mack, Nahayat Tizush. Derek Vanderwyk does our sound design with help this week from Mandy Sham, Mack Cameron, Austin Pomeroy, and Ebion Abdegir.

Our music is by Joseph Shabison of Boonbox Sound. The executive producer of Front Burner is Nick McCabe-Locos. And I'm Jamie Poisson. Thank you so much for listening and talk to you all on For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.