The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Jens Lindemann: The Devastation of the Los Angeles Wildfires

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

The fires in Los Angeles have captured the empathy and attention of people all over the world. Canada has sent water bombers to help extinguish the fires. And, of course, many Canadians live in southern California. Jens Lindemann is a world-renowned trumpet player. He was a member of the Canadian Brass, has an honorary degree from Hamilton's McMaster University, is an honorary fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, has the Order of Canada, and tonight finds himself homeless. His house in Pacific Palisades is gone. Jens Lindemann joins Steve Paikin to share his story about the devastation wrought by the inferno.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Matt Nethersole. And I'm Tiff Lam. From TVO Podcasts, this is Queries. This season, we're asking, when it comes to defending your beliefs, how far is too far? We follow one story from the boardroom to the courtroom. And seek to understand what happens when beliefs collide. Where does freedom of religion end and freedom from discrimination begin? That's this season on Queries in Good Faith,

a TVO original podcast. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. The fires in Los Angeles have captured the empathy and attention of people all over the world. Canada has sent water bombers to help extinguish the fires. And of course, many Canadians live in Southern California. Jens Lindemann is a world renowned trumpet player. He was a member of the Canadian Brass, has an honorary degree from Hamilton's McMaster

University, is an honorary fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, has the Order of Canada, and tonight finds himself homeless. His house in Pacific Palisades is gone. Jens Lindemann joins us now from a friend's home in Palm Springs, California. Jens, it is so good to see you again. I'm sorry under these circumstances, but let's get into this, shall we? Some of the background here. When did you move to California in the first place? Jennifer and I, my wife and I moved to California in 2001, right after I left the Canadian Brass, and we moved to this particular area of LA,

the Pacific Palisades, that has been so horribly devastated this week. What did you love about the Palisades that made you want to move there? It was quiet. It's near the ocean, it's not near the studios. We lived up in a place called the Palisade Highlands. And when you came down into the village of Pacific Palisades, it felt like a community.

One of the things that's very difficult about Los Angeles is making the city feel like it's a community, because I describe LA as a country and not a city. But the Palisades was one of these beautiful little enclaves where you were around people that lived there all the time and it was our home. These were our neighbors. I mentioned to somebody a couple of days ago that Gene Levy, who we were also very familiar with and happens to be a friend of mine, he was the honorary mayor, still is the honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades, he lost everything. People like Gene Levy are not stars and celebrities in our eyes. We're just people that live there.

And everybody is devastated for everybody else. It's a very hard thing to describe, Steve. Well, you were good enough to send me some pictures of not only your former house, but the community as well. So I'm going to ask our director Sheldon Osmond just to take us through some of those pictures to start with. And there we go. That was your house with that beautiful adobe roof.

And fair to say this was your dream home, Jens? It was. That's where I, it's hard to see it right now. I mean, it's hard for me to look at it. Yeah, that's the garage I came into and then overlooked a beautiful canyon, which was idyllic and quiet and silent. And it was, yeah, that was what we looked at. And that's how we escaped from the daily realities

of very busy lives, Steve. It looks absolutely idyllic. When did you have to abandon your dream home? We had to leave the same day. There were some photographs I took the minute that the wildfires started. It was a puff of smoke. And interestingly, Steve, and perhaps it's

been reported already, this is not an uncommon occurrence in Southern California, but these things are dealt with very, very quickly. So I routinely just took my camera and snapped a couple of pictures. And then five minutes later, I took another picture from the house across the road where I am. And it was a roaring inferno, completely different. And within five or 10 minutes after that, helicopters had shown up,

and we knew we had to get ready to leave. And the problem was, as has also been, I'm sure, reported, there were about 200 cars that jammed up at the bottom of the mountain hill. There were flames on either side, and cars were abandoned as people literally ran for their lives to get off the hill. We were stuck up at the top of the mountain for another four to five hours before the fire department bulldozed those vehicles to the side and then we were escorted out one by one by emergency personnel.

So initially you couldn't get out, is that right? No, we couldn't leave and it was quite terrifying because you're out with all of your neighbors and you're wondering what's going on. And again, it seems surreal because you see the fire and the winds are going in a certain direction away from you. It doesn't make any sense. And then it started to get very real when everybody's telephone lines, their cell service and televisions went down and we realised we couldn't communicate the way we would normally

communicate with anybody else. That's when it got serious. And where we live, Steve, there's a lot of elderly folks. There are shut-ins there that you're knocking on neighbors' doors to make sure that they have some form of getting out. There were people who were at work, who were at home, who had pets, who were left behind. And we were all trying to break into others' homes to get these animals out and just get off the mountain.

There was an urgency that was surreal. That's the only way I can describe it. to get these animals out and just get off the mountain. There was an urgency that was surreal. It's the only way I can describe it. How much time, and we are gonna show some pictures that you took of the blaze once it takes place, but I need some more background first. How much time did you have to essentially gather whatever you could gather in that amount of time

before leaving? Well, again, the idea is normally that you should be prepared at all times to leave and have a kit to prepare to leave a mountain in case of anything like this. But you're not really thinking that way. The actual window of time, once we realized we couldn't leave the mountain and were getting quite nervous for a few hours, when we did get an emergency signal saying that they were going to escort people out of the mountain, off the mountain rather, five minutes, five to seven minutes you ran through your house and grabbed the last things you really thought.

Now this was urgent, it wasn't just your passport and your papers. I mean anything that was important to you or thought was important within five minutes you had to make that decision. Okay, as promised let's take a look at some of the video and still pictures that you sent from after the fires took place. Sheldon, if you would, let's roll it. This, I don't know. Jens, can you see this and can you talk us through it? I can see it. This is literally across the street from where I live and right behind that house is the canyon, which was shooting up with flames. And you can see the helicopters dousing water on it, but it was too little and too late.

So that's all gone now? That ridge is all gone, yes. All right, we're going to continue to look at some of the still pictures as well. That looks horrifying. What's going on here? Steve, that picture was taken five minutes after I walked up the road to take a first picture. And it was just a small cloud of smoke.

And then it became that roaring inferno within five minutes. I really don't know how to describe it. I know it's an overused description to say it seemed like a scene out of a movie, except that you were living it. And that was the, and that picture was the first one. It was fairly quiet. I know it looks almost ominous, but this is not

an irregular occurrence. But the breakout of flames, that was something nobody has ever experienced up there. And the last one we have here. That one's difficult to look at, Steve. That is, that was my home, and that was our our view and that's where we built so many memories. It's so much more than just stuff. I know people have said that there are things that you can rebuild, but there's something

that is taken from you that I haven't been able to quantify yet in my heart and soul. Jens, when you know that you have basically five minutes to gather 25 years worth of whatever you can get your hands on, how do you know what to pick first? I have a collection of about 35 trumpets. I managed to grab eight of them. The very first one I grabbed was this one. It was given to me by one of my heroes and mentors, Doc Severinsen. And interestingly, the second trumpet I grabbed was my Canadian brass trumpet, the one that I played when I worked with the group for six years. You just grab the things that they mean something to you in a way that you can't really

describe. And you don't even know why you're grabbing them. It seems surreal because there's still a side of you that thinks, well, I'll just be back up here later to pick up the rest of my stuff and this is just an exercise. And then when you realize there's nothing left, you start dealing with the emotional and literal reality of what that means moving forward and it's all still too fresh. It's just been a couple of days and we're not ready to quite address that yet. I guess we should say for the younger people watching us right now, Doc Severinsen, who I think is probably almost a hundred years old right now.

Ninety seven years young and still at it. And he was a mainstay of the Tonight Show Band, a trumpeter extraordinaire with incredible flamboyance. We played with him while I was with the Canadian Brass. And he's a hero to all of us and was since I was a kid. And that's why that particular trumpet was the first thing I grabbed. Now, I can't help but notice you've got your snowflake on. As we mentioned in the introduction,

you've got the Order of Canada. Did you have it on when you left, or did you have to grab it, or what? I didn't have it on. Interesting that you should ask that, because I grabbed this coat. The Order of Canada is easily the most humbling moment of my life to have received such a distinction.

And I'm very proud to wear it wherever I go. And people will often ask me about the little snowflake on the lapel. Stephen, it gives me a chance to talk about Canada. Canada has given me everything. My education, my upbringing, my friends, my everything about Canada is what I now represent moving forward and it's interesting. Yeah, the trumpet, this blazer and that's it. this blazer and that's it. Beyond that, a couple of papers and passports. Jens, do you have a storage locker where you have other stuff collected? No, Steve. It's all gone. All the things that we have, it's just rubble. In fact,

I still have a trumpet student who graduated from UCLA, who is now fighting the front lines of the fire. And incidentally, those are the real heroes right now. Steve, we've lost everything and that's a very sad thing. And yet there are people doing 18 to 20 hour shifts fighting those lines, including my former student. He was the one who ultimately called and said, you can make any decision you would like, but if it were me, I would leave that mountain now. And the teacher became the student and the student became the teacher. We are so grateful for those people who are imperiling themselves every minute. And this is not over yet. The winds are still whipping up and this fire is

not finished. So, you know, we're just trying to figure out what to do next. I am, I'm going to take a second here to do a little background on why you are where you are right now, because you're at a friend's home in Palm Springs, and I will set this next question up by saying that I know you've played in some pretty impressive places over the years, Carnegie Hall, whatever. To me, your most impressive performances were as the guy who played the trumpet to rev up the crowd in the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton when the Eulers were a massive dynasty back in the day.

And by putting that background on the record, maybe now you can tell us where you're at. Back in the day, and maybe rising from the proverbial ashes, if I can say it that way. Yes, I grew up in the 80s, watching the Oilers when they were dominant. And Glenn Sather, of course, was the coach. When I posted this on social media, Steve,

I knew we would get, as all people would get, an outpouring of affection and concern. And Glenn called and his wife, Anne, called me immediately and said, come stay with us in Palm Springs, stay as long as you want to get things together. So their graciousness is allowing us to have a home, at least a roof over our heads for a few days while we figure things out. But we're, yes, it's quite a thing to realize that these are also, as I said earlier,

not just stars and celebrities, they're friends and they care and that means more to us than anything really at this point. I have known you for a very long time because of course the Canadian brass got its start in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada a long, long time ago. And you are always unfailingly upbeat, tons of energy, hopeful, optimistic.

I mean, that's the way you always are whenever I have been with you in the past. And I just wonder, Jens, I don't mean to be melodramatic with this question, but I just wonder how much of your guts have been ripped out by all this. Thank you, Steve. You're right on all counts. We have known each other since my Canadian brass days. And I do like to think that's who I am. I'm a happy person.

I think all artists that ultimately live to serve the public do that because they are trying to embrace the audience. We're not taking, we're giving. And we are givers fundamentally. And it's very hard because I don't feel that at the moment. I know it's there, and that will return. And my outlet for getting back to being a giving human being

and a giving artist is to actually throw myself into my work. I have a very important concerto that I have to play in five weeks. It was written by the great Wynton Marcellus, and it's the first time I've had a chance to play it. I have never felt a greater urgency to play a concert, to pour myself into my practice sessions,

and to share that pain and that joy with an audience in five weeks in South Carolina. This is part of the healing process, and I know I'll bounce back to the person that you know. It's just as tricky to be that guy right now. I understand. You've got myriad decisions, you and Jennifer have myriad decisions that you've got to make in the short run.

I mean, starting with simple stuff like where am I going to get clothes to wear tomorrow? Am I going to rebuild my house where it was or are we going to move to another city or am I going to move to a hotel in the next? I just can't imagine what's on your plate right now. How are you figuring all that out? Well, we are just now coming to the realization that we will be homeless for at least, I'm guessing, Steve, 12 to 14 months.

There is no power in the palisades. The village itself has been absolutely decimated. From my understanding and from the photographs, I've seen 70 to 75 percent of the town is gone. We were unfortunately a tiny little sliver up in the palisade highlands that got hit. All the homes around us were saved and ours happened to be the unlucky one. So we have no illusions of going back quickly and you start wrapping your head around the fact that you're essentially homeless. There has been no shortage of folks that have reached out to say anything you would like, any place you need to stay. And

we, and so many others that are in our situation in Los Angeles, are grateful beyond words. Nevertheless, you do have to come to some reality that you have to base yourself somewhere. And Steve, I don't know where that's going to be. I just don't know right now. Do you, I mean, it really looks like a bomb hit the Palisades. Can you imagine rebuilding and restarting life there? The answer is yes, you can.

And there's another side of it that says no, because the village that we know, the place that we knew is gone. We have had a lot of wonderful life-altering memories there. And to go back right now, my immediate answer to that is it's simply too painful. There's going to be a pre pre and a post-fire life. And those of us that live the pre-fire life will always have the post-fire to deal with.

And I don't know if we're able to take that on emotionally. It's just too early. I could be wrong. I could change my mind, but right now I just don't know. Well, I want to be respectful of your time because you have to practice and you've got a lot of other stuff to do. So let me ask you one last question. And that is, what is the big, what's the big lesson?

What's the big takeaway that you are emerging from this catastrophe with? Steve, you know better than most people what turbulent times we are in when it comes to humanity, when it comes to politics, the divisiveness that we're in. Not that this is about politics, but this is about, this kind of a situation is a lot like how artists like to present the arts. We are trying to bring people together. And if anything good can come out of this, and right now it's too early for any of that, it's that people should learn to draw together and be empathetic toward their fellow citizens. There's a softness that I truly hope is going to occur in the hearts of all people that

have lost everything and people that know people that have lost everything and people that don't know anybody that has lost anything, but perhaps will develop a degree of empathy. I think that's what I'm hopeful for. That is a wonderful aspiration. I can't thank you enough for taking some time to be with us and to talk to, I'm sure, lots of people who are watching this that know you and are in your corner cheering for you as you rebuild your life.

Jens, thanks so much. Steve, I know I speak for everybody that has been devastated by this particular loss, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to tell our particular story, and thank you for remembering all of us that have been affected by this. God bless and take care. Thank you, Steve.