Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Talia Schlanger: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1588

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

In this 1588th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Talia Schlanger about her pivot from radio star to indie musician. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1588 of Toronto Mike, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter. Season 7 of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Monaris, hosted by FOTM Al Gregor.

RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut is Talia Schlanger. Hi. Welcome Talia. You said my last name so epically that I didn't know if I could jump in. I didn't know if there was gonna be an extended trail.

That's true. There is the awkward moment when I do that. And then the guest is gonna say, but then I usually chime in with like Welcome talia or something like that just to just so it's obvious who's to speak. Oh, yeah Thank you for making the trek and visiting me today. I got yeah, I'm excited to be here episode 1588 I wanted to wait for that that lucky eight is a number number eight is a number that is lucky It is I believe and you got a couple of eights in there. That's right. I saved it for you. Thank you.

Good timing. I, so firstly, Talia named after Talia Shire. No, but I did get asked that a lot when I lived in Philadelphia. It was a very easy point because of Rocky. Rocky. Yeah. Everyone was like, oh, Talia Sh'Sheaer. And I was like, ah, Schlanger Close. Just make it a little bit, put some more consonants in the last name and there you got it. All right. Because not only Rocky, but Godfather. I feel like, like how many actors can say they were in the Godfather and Rocky? Like that's like the seventies Holy Grail. That's unbelievable.

I think just one. Just one. Yeah, that's it, one. I don't know why. Maybe there's a, I don't know, a bit actor or whatever, playing some small role or whatever, but okay. You're not named after Talia Shire. There goes my first question. Now yesterday's episode featured a guy named Rob Nash.

Rob Nash. So Rob has two B's in it. He's a musician from Winnipeg, but he's been like, literally he tours the country to reach Children kids who are thinking about taking their own life So it was a really heavy intense amazing conversation But it didn't feel right like to stop down and go okay Rob and then to talk about my event on Saturday So do you mind if we do this off the top and then we'll get into the life in times. This is your show

I'll just I'll go and listen to Rob's episode and then come back. That sounds beautiful. You know, it's a, it's a really good episode. It's a really good episode. I'm really excited about this episode, but I, because I didn't mention it due to the fact, like I, it's weird, like you're, you're having this heavy chat and he's literally tattooing the names of kids on his arm because these kids gave them, uh, their suicide note because they didn't need it anymore. Like it was, it's unbelievable. And I'm like, oh Mike, you can't stop down now

and shut out the funeral home. You can't give them some beer. You can't talk about pasta. Like you can't do that. So I didn't do any ad breaks during the episode. It didn't feel appropriate. There's a time and a place for that for sure. And that's not it.

And I need to collect myself now because I have tears in my eyes. So you go ahead and do whatever you have to do. I'll get my beans together. And I don't know what your because I have tears in my eyes. So you go ahead and okay So I'll get my my beans together Okay, and I don't know what your plans are on Saturday, Talia, but we are all gathering by we I mean the the FOTM Is the Friends of Toronto Mike would you are now one we're all gonna gather at Palma's kitchen in Mississauga this coming Saturday. That's November 30th, 2024 from noon to 3 p.m. There'll be a live recording Everybody will eat delicious pasta from Palma pasta for free

I'll bring fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery and we're gonna have like the most amazing three-hour recording We're all gonna people will jump on the open mics a lot of cool FOTMs are confirmed to be in attendance What are you doing at noon on Saturday, Talia? I'm actually gonna be in Pennsylvania because I'm playing a show in Irwin on that day and then in Philly the next day. But otherwise, if I were not- What an excuse that is.

I know. That's amazing. Okay, so everyone listening, TMLX 17 is this Saturday. Be there or be square. And because we're gonna get into this, I think if you're a radio star, but now you're a musician, like I have so many questions for you,

but I'm gonna give you a couple more gifts before we rock and or roll on this episode. Okay. Okay. That's a wireless speaker. What? From Monaris. And what are you gonna do with that wireless speaker?

In addition to listening to great music, like grace for the going, your new album, which we'll talk about in a moment, you can listen to season seven of Yes We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Minaris, and Al Grego, who hosts that show, he's actually going to be at TMLX17 on Saturday, so you can tug on his cuddly beard.

And here's a fun little twist here Okay, so his season 7 finale just dropped and it features Tyler and Jordy Schwartz from retro festive a unique pop culture and Christmas store in Oakville, Ontario And I'm excited to announce that Tyler who I know better as tie the Christmas guy He's gonna be at TMMLX17 and I understand he's bringing gifts for the FOTM's in attendance. So you'll see Ty on Saturday along with Al, but you can listen to their episode now with that wireless speaker. I'm looking at it. It's lovely. I'm gonna take this with me.

It's quality because Ed Keenan from the Toronto Star had that play in the beats at his 50th birthday party because I crashed the party and saw that he was using his Meneris speaker for that. It's so cute, thank you. Okay there you go and also measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. I love measuring, I love a measuring tape, comes in handy, comes in handy, thank you, thank you. And I'm not even done yet, you have a USB key and that's from recycle my electronics dot ca because you can go to recycle my electronics dot ca and find out a Place near you or you can drop off your old electronics your old cables to be properly recycled

So those chemicals do not end up in our landfill This is really important Talia and now you know where to go if you have an old laptop you got to get rid of I'm obsessed with recycling. So this speaks to me. Okay. I I'm really I like recycling too like it's I take great pride in my sorting and recycling duties in this home. For sure and clothes I like recycling clothes almost everything I have is secondhanders come from come from a friend or come from a secondhand shop so recycling clothes also but as well as electronics. Did you see this documentary on Netflix called by now no okay it's all so my wife made me watch it because she's passionate about fast fashion and all the waste that's created and she's really like she's kind of a seamstress like as a side passion and she's really

passionate about up cycling and keeping clothes out of the landfill so forget the electronics out of the landfill but this doc parts of it I didn't like the production parts of it but the the meat of this documentary, I really recommend it. It really lets you know, but all this waste, like where's it going? All of my merch, my t-shirt merch is all on upcycled shirts. So whenever I'm in these like random American towns, I go to the salvation army and I buy good looking blank cotton shirts in all different sizes and then a friend here in Toronto silkscreens my merch shirts because there's also like an environment.

I love to hear this. Yeah. Love to hear this. Okay. Love recycling. No, love it all so much. Okay. So I mentioned Radio Star, but before we get to that, Basement Dweller, this is going to

let people know what a quality person I have in the TMDS studio right now. So you're a quality person. Thank you. That's generous. I don't feel. So you're a quality person. Thank you. That's generous. I don't feel that way all the time, but I thank you. Well, Basement Dweller, who astute listeners know, he's come out to a few TMLX events. He says, I knew her when she was a teenager and she was a regular volunteer at a downtown meal program that I ran for a couple of years during my brief respectable era.

LOL, some happy faces. So that let's process that before I read this nice note about your new music. That's so nice. That's Osgoode Hall. And I, that was the best man. I volunteer there for years and I loved it. And the guests were so great. And I mean, the fact that that people can't always afford a place to live

and to feed themselves and to feed their families or maybe don't have a place to live at all is hard is it just I can't understand it like I can't understand it in a rich country like this. So it was a joy to get to be part of hopefully helping a little bit. But it also was such an amazing way to get to know your neighbors. Like I knew the people that lived around me on the streets and it just getting to know people, getting to know their stories. And I used to do it sometimes it was always on Wednesdays. And sometimes when I was doing long theater contracts, like for the Mervis shows, I would go in between shows.

I would do our Wednesday matinee, zip out of the theatre at 445, run over to Osgoode Hall because it's quite close to where all the theatre stuff happens. And then, you know, if we get to serve some folks dinner, have some great conversations, then go back and do the show at night. That's a really nice note. Thank you. Kudos to you. To have that sense of community as a teenager. That's not typical

Well, sometimes it comes to people later But as a teenager to have that sense of community to volunteer at a downtown meal program, I think that's exceptional well, thank you that is a really kind thing to bring up and brings back a lot of Wonderful memories of living the city and as luck would have it I see on the live stream So we're live at live dot Toronto Mike calm wonderful memories of living in the city. And as luck would have it, I see on the live stream, so we're live at live.torontomike.com, but the vast majority of people will hear this as a podcast, of course,

but Basement Dwellers on the live stream, so. Wait, who is, is it, hi. So Basement Dweller, I won't, I don't know if I'm allowed to dox him because he's close by his code name. But his first name starts with A. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hi, hi, hi. Say hello to Basement Dweller, okay, great.

And he also says, and again, I mentioned grace for the going which is available now and we're gonna get into this But he says he he loves it. He says there's beautiful songs performances and production. He loves your debut album Thank you very much basement. Dweller. I appreciate that and that's a teaser because we're gonna get into that I appreciate that. And that's a teaser because we're going to get into that. So Andrew R did write in as well and said, I sure miss hearing her all the time on CBC radio too, but I love it when she fills in on queue. Also her new music is fantastic. Good for her.

And then a heart. Geez. You came to the right place, Dahlia. This is a real daymaker right here. Thank you. It was Adrian. Thanks. Andrew R. Andrew R. Thank you, Andrew R. right here. Thank you. It was Adrian. Andrew R. Andrew R. Thank you, Andrew R. Heart right back at you. I appreciate it so much.

So you mentioned Mervish, okay. So before we get to, you know, we're going to talk radio because I love talking radio. And then of course, we're going to talk music and I've got some loaded up and I'm really excited about all this. But you are an actress, right? Like I heard from people that I think Rob Proust just missed you. He worked on Mamma Mia, but I think he left for New York just before you got there. But like, give us a like the vibe of what, what do you mean actor? Like what were you doing? I was a Kooky musical theater kid and then ended up doing it for a living for a little while, mostly in like the pop rock jukebox musical capacity. So. So like, we will rock you.

Yep, the Queen musical. American Idiot. Yes, Green Day. I've seen that one. And of course, Mel Bormia. Did you see Green Day when it was here? I saw it when it was at the North York, what's the theater?

Yeah, I saw that. I would have been there, yeah. Okay, so that's amazing. Yeah, it was really fun. That was a fun period of life. It was so different. Eight shows a week for long, long, long stretches of time. It was just the most fun.

Like talk about music. You got to sing Queen songs every single day and dance and Green Day songs every day. But I've heard from people who were in We Will Rock You and they had to audition in front of, you know, members of Queen. Yes. So did you have to do that?

I'm Brian May and Roger Taylor. Yeah. I mean, it was nuts. So you had to do a bunch of auditions before you got to that stage. I think I ended up having seven or eight callbacks or they sort of whittle things down over time and they work with you and get you ready with the material and see if you might be a fit because you know you not only have to be able to sing this stuff but you have to be able to kind of work with people and and execute a vision and the

whole thing and the final callbacks Brian May and Roger Taylor we're going to be there in the room and I don't like when I say it now I know that it happened there are other people to whom this also happened but I can't really process the fact that I had the audacity to walk into a room where they were and then sing the audition song for the role that I was up for was somebody to love so you just walk into the room they're like like, here's Brian, here's Roger, here's 10 other people and go. But they were so kind, so kind, so welcoming and so nice. And Brian May in particular is just like,

he's unbelievable. He would not fit in this basement. He's unbelievably tall. So the guy yesterday, Rob Nash, the guy whose episode you'll listen to later, he's six five. Oh geez. You know guy whose episode you'll listen to later, he's six, five. Oh, geez. You know how I warned you about this low part of us and I don't even think to warn people about the actual regular ceiling. He can't stand up straight over there. Well, he's probably used to looking out a lot more than us.

I'm five. You know, who told me that Leo Roudens came by and he sat there and Leo Roudens, I think he's six, nine, but you know, former NBA player. And I said to him, like I told him, watch your head and he goes, Mike, when you're 6'9", you're always watching your head. So you're absolutely right. Like the 6'9 guy is less likely to hit his head than the 5'9 guy who never watches his head. And I'm talking to myself right now. For sure. It's like average height privilege, you know, right? You don't have to walk around looking, looking in the world was made

for us, right? Unless you're like in the Hobbitville or whatever in New Zealand. Oh my goodness. I don't know. Do you know the name Bob Wagner? Yeah, of course. Oh my gosh. Bob's one of the best guitarists ever. He's amazing. So I think it's, that's where I think I got the story, but he had to audition for, uh, you mentioned Taylor and May there. And Bob Wagner, who has also attended TMLX events in the past, but he moved to Montreal. He ran a FOTM chat and he was shouting you out when I said you were finally making your Toronto Mike debut.

So here's a shout out from Bob Wagner. That's so nice. I love Bob. And you know what? If I was scared as a singer to do a Queen song in front of Roger Like in front of Brian May imagine for Bob like playing one of his guitar solos in front of him No, like he's Only Bob and Tristan Evakian was the other guitarist also on that show. They they they were phenomenal and yeah Love all the Bob talk here now before we can I'm aching to get you to radio

But I saw something on your credits I need to ask you about because there's a young lady named andy Who will be at here i'm shouting it out a lot because it's saturday like it's like we only have a few days to go Here by the way free event and you get free food and a beer like all you have to do is listen to a toronto mic Episode being recorded. That's your punishment. But andy is the biggest de grassi fan I know like just die hard Degrassi fan. And you do have a credit for the next generation. Who did you play on Degrassi the next generation? The very memorable, in fact, one could say unforgettable university representative number

two. They didn't even give you a name. No, I had no name. This is the this credit haunts me. Okay, it haunts me. Linda Schuyler created Degrassi and she wrote this amazing book and I interviewed her for Q about it. And we had a chat and I was like, I was so happy with how the chat when she's just an incredible woman. She was so great at telling her story. And at the end of it, she was like, do you remember being on Degrassi? And I was like, Linda, every this I get asked about this and I was nothing. I was nothing. Paige, who was one of the main characters, got got really baked and went to a university fair and I was trying to sell her on coming to whatever school I was representing. And my head turned into 25 different heads and they were all sort of swirling around

her and trippy. And that was my pivotal role in Degrassi. And I bet you because it's Next Generation, I'm an OG Degrassi guy. So, and I, you know, I watch schools out every couple of weeks. I got to watch it again, like, you know, because, you know, Tessa and Joey get it on, but on CBC at about 8pm, we heard Caitlin say say, fucking yeah, I can say it on this show because we're not on the radio, but you can, yeah. 100.

This is true. I know. Listen, I'm, let me educate you here. This happened prime time. It's called schools out. It was a finale for the OG Degrassi. It was a finale. It was a TV movie I did literally.

There's a 2.5 hour episode of Toronto mic Mike just about schools out. So after you hear Rob Nash Yeah, I got some listening to do something like, you know, we drive to Pennsylvania the late great Neil Hope. Okay, so he's no longer with us But he played wheels. Yeah, and wheels, of course drinks and drives in this thing and that's how Lucy goes blind It's a heavy duty. There's death. So he gets pulled into jail. Okay, but the F word is said a couple of times, I think, but Caitlin Ryan says, you are fucking Tessa Campanelli. Yeah, this happens, 8 p.m. CBC television. So. And what happened then?

Did we have nation up in arms? I hope not. Like, I feel like we, this is many years ago, right? Like maybe we can handle that word. Maybe, I'm not saying you I feel like we should this is many years ago, right? Like maybe We can handle that word. Maybe I'm not saying you're gonna drop it on cue or anything, but I don't know There's a lot that we can't handle. I don't know if we're ready for well, we were ready then and I guess we regressed here oh and So I want to shout out a guy named Joel Greenberg So Joel Greenberg has a podcast called life and, and Joel Greenberg has been in the theater world,

not so many musicals, but he's been directing theater stuff in this country, in the city for many decades, and he just retired. And I just wanted to shout him out, he's got a great podcast, and I learned a lot about the theater world from Joel Greenberg. Hi Joel.

So shout out to Joel. Okay, radio. So obviously you can sing. You're in all these big musical theater roles. Like you must have, so you, what, you just always knew you could sing. You loved to sing and you had a good voice. So hey, you're going to do these roles. I was a very, uh, singy kid and then learned to channel it hopefully into something slightly

more productive. And I took a bunch of singing, singing lessons and really took a lot of classical based singing lessons like to learn how to stretch my voice and from your diaphragm. I'm pretending like I know what I'm talking about. I just I saw that in a movie once 100% from your diaphragm all from the diaphragm. No, I had a great a great voice teacher named Gretchen Helbig, who was a huge part of my learning and she helped me. And then, yeah, I just kind of had a big voice and I loved singing and took a lot.

I never went to theater school specifically, but I took lots of private classes and lessons and I would work at my talent agency answering phones and sending faxes to earn money so that I could take the classes I wanted to take. And I was very earnest about it. And yeah, so then I sang and then I sang in shows and people let me do that for a while. Amazing. So when do you pivot to radio? Like what made you kind of stop acting and become

a radio star? I don't, I think a star is really, I don't identify. To me you're a star. Okay. We'll get into the details, but to me you're a star. Thank you, Mike. I don't personally identify in that way,. Okay. We'll get into the details, but to me, you're a star. Thank you, Mike. I don't personally identify in that way, but I appreciate that. Um, I, well, I love writing also, and I love storytelling and talking to people and doing theater was so fun, but also there was like a part of my creative soul that was not totally

fulfilled by that. And uh, it was my mom who was like, you know, you could be like Oprah. Oprah was very big at that time. Forever, yeah. Yeah, she's still, I mean, it's Oprah. She's one of the true originals. And I was like, yeah, maybe. And so I ended up going to Toronto Metropolitan University

for a program that was then called Radio and Television Arts. It's now called like TikTok or something. New media, something. I don't know. New media, whatever. I sound old. Yeah. New media, some, I forget what it's called. If you sound old, I'm older because when I was going to university, I went to U of T, but it was formerly the name. It was known by Ryerson. It was a polytechnic institution. My father was a professor there when it was a polytechnic institute. And we have a sweatshirt that says Ryerson Polytechnic Institute. Well, we used to call it Ry High because we were jerks.

Well, it's but it is an amazing place because it kept that at least when I was there, I don't know what it's like now, but it kept that spirit of a polytechnic Institute where your teachers were industry people that were just like had a lot to offer. And so the program was amazing because you're, you know, for example, I'm Jill Dempsey, who does the news, who's an FOTM and has been in this basement within the last 12 months. Really? Yeah.

Jill's the best. And she was my teacher for radio broadcast journalism. Right? And then I turn on the radio and hear her reading the news on Metro Morning every single day. It's like, these are the people who know what they're talking about. And that's very much, that's not in the spirit

of like an academic institution university. It's the spirit of like, all right, you want to learn how to do something? Here's a bunch of people who do it. They're gonna teach you. So anyway, I decided like, all right, you want to learn how to do something? Here's a bunch of people who do it. They're going to teach you. So anyway, I decided to, it was, um, I can't, I, when did I start school? Maybe it was 2007 that I started at TMU. And then after one semester I got the wheel, Rocky, the queen musical, I got cast in that.

So I left school for a while to go do that. Kept like leaving, going back and forth to, to do school. And then I kind of worked on my radio passions at the same time as I was working as an actor. Concurrently here. So how do you end up- That's the word. That's a big word for me, actually.

How do you end up as a weekend host of Radio 2 Morning on CBC Radio 2? Well, I am trying to frame it in a more more cute way because I used to say I just like weaseled my weight in but really I was a bit scrappy about it like I started I had to do an internship to finish my degree and I was interning at day six which is a Saturday morning. You know who's here earlier this week? No. Brent Bamberg. No Brent was here and Ralph Ben-Marie was there Monday. It was just Wednesday.

Yeah. Two days ago. You're having I got a lot of heavyweights. Give me the Brent Bamber is okay. Give me the Jill Dempsey's. I'm a big CBC listener. Okay. Brent though is unbelievable and he's so nice, right?

Like he's very nice man. Extremely sweet. I was going to later, but you know, he's talking about at some point just becoming a full time dad, like leaving day six. I think you're the heir apparent if you want that gig. I feel like that should be your gig. Seriously? Can you write somebody about that? I can make some calls. Okay. Okay. But I'm being serious on Monday. He draw, this is not talking out of school, so to speak, because he put it on the Toronto Mike airwaves here,

but he at some point, because he's been doing it a decade now, day six, he wants to just be a full-time dad. Well, I have more power to him because I bet he's an incredible dad. But I would miss listening to him on that show, that's for sure. And you're probably too young for Brave New Waves, right?

This is, you get a certain generation who went on, because I had him on earlier and they're like, oh my God, that's Brent Bambery from Brave New Waves. This is how is you get a certain generation who went on because I had him on earlier and they're like, oh my God, that's Brent Bambury from Brave New Waves. Like this is how I was in Nova Scotia and this is how I heard cool new alternative music. I was made aware of Brave New Waves for sure. I didn't experience it first firsthand in my no because you're 29 years old. How the hell could you remember Brave New Waves? That's right. 29. Okay. So you weaseled your way into CBC radio. Is

that what I'm hearing? Okay, yeah. So I was inter interning and then I like ended up I cold called Kai Black, who was the executive director of the music department at that time, right towards the end of my internship. And I was like, Oh, I really like it here. And I love music. Do you think you might have any opportunities? And he gave me my first shot and I was a digital producer for a while doing this special project. And I did a bunch of sort of producing jobs within the music department. And then I ended up guest hosting a little bit on Radio 3. And then that weekend morning job came up on Radio 2 and I was sort of scared, but

I put myself in the running for it. And then somebody thought that that was okay. And then they let me do it. And things kind of just rolled from there. And my whole, basically my whole career at CBC for that first chunk that I was there for those first few years was me asking somebody if they would let me try doing something and promising that it would work really hard. And then having just a great mentorship and great, like truly, truly great support and help and coaching. Especially there's this person named Anna Keegan who like, who would do weekly air checks with us and help me learn everything I know, really.

So it was like, it was also like being in school a bit. No, I like hearing about the mentors over there. So shout them out early and often. I agree because that's a really, you know, Tom on cue, Anne was also his mentor and she was, you know, with him since the very start for him on radio too. And he's grown into this amazing interviewer and on air person. And you know, she, I think he would say it too like and is just a huge part of why we're able to do what we do.

Amazing but you you know you dropped earlier when I called you Talia Shire no I didn't call you that but when I compared you to asked if she was the inspiration for the name. You mentioned Philadelphia okay so maybe give us a story of how and why you end up as host of World Cafe. Why is I don't know, but how I will tell you is that was very confusingly put. I don't know why, but the how is this. I was guest hosting on Q at CBC in 2015 and I it was my first week ever doing live on air interviews. It was totally crazy.

And no safety net. You're live. There's no post to fix anything. No, at that time it was pretty much all live and the show was crazy. And there was like, you know, three or four interviews per show and it was an hour and a half and it was so alive. And that was another situation where I was like, okay, they're going through a bunch of different guest hosts.

I'm going to see if somebody will let me try doing this and and and and they did for whatever reason So I got to talk to st. Vincent during that week who I love and well, hold on. Let's pause it I know it's so rude Mike. I'm just in the middle of this thing, but let's listen to a bit of it Okay, I wanted very much to be Eddie Vedder Nice choice. Yeah Kurt Cobain Eddie Eddie Vedder. That was my pantheon. They're your pantheon. And I've read that you said that you always felt weird. I'm wondering if it goes back to that time, back to when you were a kid.

Do you remember having a sense of how unique you were or how different you were at that age? Well, this is crazy. I mean, first of all, I should say that I I think every human being is creative I think every human being is unique. So I don't want to you know start Patting myself on the back by any means but I did I always felt like an outsider even though I was able to Pass kind of as a normal person and I had a you know, I had friends and whatnot I wasn't I wasn't shoved into lockers, but

You know, I had friends and whatnot. I wasn't shoved into lockers. But yeah, I definitely remember being a kid and doing like, doing the old like sleepover with the soccer team kind of thing. And everybody else was listening to C&C Music Factory. And I was like, you guys, there's this great band, they're called Jethro Tull. You gotta check it out. You know, and I put on Aqua Lung for everybody. And they hated it. And then the

revulsion to 70s prog rock that included a flute kind of grew to include me and I could feel that. And then there's the part in Aqualung where it starts again. There's the pause and it starts again and everybody got so mad they thought I had somehow like started the song over again to torture them more. Oh gosh. Yeah. A childhood sleepover revolution. Yeah. I wasn't invited back to a lot of sleepovers to be honest with you.

How does it feel listening to that, listening back to that interview? I can't believe you busted that out. That is so, that's so fun. I mean honestly all I can think about is just like how cool is Andy Clark St. Vincent. Like she's amazing. But that's so sweet of you. Yeah, that I remember very, very distinctly sitting in that chair and saying to myself like, don't let your hands shake my feet under the table or just like And my voice sounds so raspy and young and not fully sure of what I'm saying, but trying and young and not fully sure of what I'm saying, but trying. It's a good, no, I listened to the whole thing and it's a very, it's very well done. You know, I've done this 1500 whatever times,

but what I like about your interview there is that you extract like authentic, interesting elements of your superstar guests. Like that's not easy. You didn't get some KNPR phrasing or whatever, some talking points or whatever. You had a real authentic conversation there. Well, thank you very much. That was a turning

point for sure in my life and in my career and in everything. So thanks for pulling that out of the vault. That's fun. So the right person heard this. Get us back to the story on your way to NPR. I got an email and the subject said Bruce from Philly. And I was kind of having a busy month and I thought it was like, I didn't know what it was. I just put it in my folder of like, I'll get to it once, you know, the immediate fires of my professional life are out.

And then I guess I didn't get to it quickly enough because I got a note, I can't remember if it was a text or a DM on Twitter maybe from Max from Arkels. And has he been here before? You know what? I've asked, I've tried to get him here and I've not been successful. You might have to broker that one.

Wow. If there's anything I can do, I don't know. I have attempted. He's great. He, I think he would love it here. So Max sent me a note and he was like, hey, Bruce from Philadelphia is one of the most important people in like American Public Radio

and he's trying to get in touch with you and if you could just write him back, that would be great. And I was like, oh dear. And so sort of with my tail between my legs, I opened the email and it was really nice compliment about that St. Vincent interview and he asked if we could have a phone conversation

and he just opened the conversation and said that they might have some hosting needs in the coming years on this, you know, really foundational show. Well, I feel like, cause we're speaking mainly to Canadians here in the GTA, it's called Toronto Mike. We may, we maybe give a little context to what was, it's still going, but what was world Cafe and basically a little 101 and what the heck the show was?

For sure. I want to do the math right to get the year that it was founded. When I joined in 2016, it had surpassed 30 years. So it was- And it only had one host, right? One host. David Dye. Yeah.

So David Dye started this small radio show where he would interview artists one-on-one and he was really ahead of his time on doing really like deep dive album interviews with people on the radio, made it at the station in Philadelphia. He grew it, he and the team there grew it into this thing that was distributed across over 200 stations by NPR, so all across the states in all sorts of places.

And he really built up, show is is really big, especially in Philly, but also quite well known because NPR is different than CBC where an NPR you can have a show that gets a local show. It's a Philadelphia thing, but it's on the network. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So sort of opposite model shows. I mean, they have their like main shows that they make in D.C. at their headquarters, like all things considered and whatever. But in large part, as you described it. Yeah. So so the show is, you know, made at a station called

WXPN, which is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, but then distributed by NPR across the states. And it's kind of a big deal. And David Dye, the only host. I mean, was there a lot of people like you're not David Dye? Like, like, that's tough when you have a show you listen to for decades

of one host and now there's a new host in there. You, some people, not me, but some people want to hate you. Oh, for sure. I mean, for almost three, I was leaving, like I had already announced that I was leaving after almost three years of their being there and I would still meet people and they'd be like, well, you got some really big shoes to fill stepping in for David. I was like, no, these shoes, I stepped into the shoes.

I'm actually taking off the shoes now, like, but I also get it because when you listen to somebody every day, you have a real closeness with them and a real relationship and our styles are very different. So I don't- There are still people who miss Matt Galloway on Metro Morning. Totally, I mean, you get it.

Every world, everybody's different. I don't begrudge anybody for missing him. But I do think that it was good that we were so different because I think I was able to sort of say, okay, that was that, I respect it so much, I love music just like you, and here's how I'm gonna approach this, but still sort of the same deep music loving heart

that informed all of the decisions about what to program and what questions to ask people. Here, let's listen to a little of you on, in here, just a little bit. Oh yeah, yeah. Hey, I'm Talia Schlinger, contributing host at The World Cafe and super excited to be a judge on NPR's Tiny Desk contest. I'm based in Philly, the city of brotherly love and frankly, really good music.

The best part of my job is discovering new artists before they hit it big. And that, my friends, is where you come in. All you have to do is shoot a video of you or your band performing your original song behind a desk like this one. Okay, this is not a desk. These are stacks at an awesome local record shop called Brewery Town Beats, but you know what a desk looks like, so just do that. Film that video, submit it to npr.org slash tiny desk contest and you could win the chance to perform in the prestigious tiny desk concert series and tour the US with MPR music and let you meet us. Can't wait to hear what you got. Good luck.

So that might be before you were the host, right? When you were just contributing. Is that when you were earlier than that? I was brought there first as a contributing host to sort of see test the waters and see how things went. I think it was like my three month long or four month long audition for the gig. And that was from that time period. Am I saying the word prestigious wrong? Like you say prestigious, prestigious. Am I doing it wrong? I think you can say it both ways. Is it one of those tomato, tomato thing? I think so. How do you say association? Association. Okay. There you go. Yeah. Is that wrong? No, but I've been known for saying words wrong. So have I, I don't know. My dad says association, association.

And at the CBC, you have to say schedule, right? Like this is in the book or something, right? Like they won't let you say, you know, oh, you're on a certain schedule. Schedule? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Am I out to lunch on that one too? I've never heard that explicitly, but I'll listen out for it. Okay. Listen to it. They do have to say rather than, rather than saying news, I think they do have to say news. CBC.

See, that's why I never got the job offer from CBC. I can't handle, I can't say brewery. Can you say brewery? That's a very difficult. Thank you. It's like a rural juror. Yeah. Rural juror breweries. That'd be a good idea. Oh, by the way, I wasn't explicit earlier. I don't know if you enjoy beer, but if you don't, do you? It's OK if you don't.

I do. I wouldn't say it's my number one go-to, but it's something I enjoy now and again. Because this fresh craft beer from Great Lakes is going home with you today. Wow, thank you. And do you enjoy Italian food? Yes.

OK, I have in my freezer upstairs. So this is an empty, beautiful, empty red box. home with you today. Wow, thank you. And do you enjoy Italian food? Yes. Okay. I have in my freezer upstairs. So this is an empty, beautiful, empty red box, but it's going to be full with a frozen lasagna from Palma pasta. If you would like to take that home, I would love to take that home. Thank you so much. I've heard so much about Palm.

I don't shut up about what's happening Saturday. No, I'm excited to try it though. Thank you. And what's up with the FOTM Reyna who's been in this basement? She replaces you everywhere, right? So she replaced you on CBC, right? And then she replaces you at the World Cafe. Like she's literally looking for you to leave a job and then she's pouncing. No, they're like, who could we get to do better than to do?

No, I feel it's like, OK, well, now that the great one is leaving, we'll take the next best one. No, no way. No way. I was rain is doing such a killer job. And in all honesty, I really wanted her to get that job. When I left, I felt like she was the perfect person for it. I was very, she's very good. She's very good. And she's such a great Philly person. Like I just I didn't know her that well before she took over but I just had a feeling I strongly encouraged her to apply before I felt that she would not only be great at the show but also just enjoy living in Philly and the vibe of what that show

is and I just I think it's such a good fit. She's the only person that can say she was at CFNY, Indy 88, CBC and NPR. This is like Talia Shire being in The Godfather and Rocky. Like we're bringing a full circle, you know. Imagine if Talia had a cameo in Jaws. Yeah, she would have the 70s trifecta. The Reina Duras, I don't know. And Reina, okay, so Reina Duras, like I feel like when I had her on it was before obviously before NPR stuff happened in her life But I would refer to her as Raina like she had one name sort of like Oprah. Okay. We didn't say Oprah Winfrey You said Oprah we knew who you were talking about Oprah Oprah Oprah Oprah Uma Uma Oprah that's a Letterman bit. Okay, but Raina. I feel like you're there now too. Like Talia

Doesn't you don't need a last name like're Talia. I do need a last name. Because of Shire. Well, no, because I do, I do. When I was putting out music, people were like, oh, why don't you just use your first name? And I don't know, I'm a Schlanger, man. No, you're a Schlanger for sure. And it's fun to say Schlanger.

Isn't it? Yeah. It's fun to be a Schlanger too. It's fun to say Schlanger. Like I would like to just call you Schlanger, but I feel like you could just be Tali if for branding purposes. Wow.

Well, I don't know. I think. Well, just think about it. You know, I know it's maybe it's too late, but just think about it. I think the ship's sailed. Yeah. So you arrive at World Cafe.

It sounds so like global World Cafe. Oh my goodness. You arrived there in 2016 as a contributing producer and then you're named the new host when David Dye retires from World Cafe. That's right. And David Dye did not die. I wanna make sure the Canadians know that.

Not at all. Still with us. No, so with us and still hosting his own little show. Yeah. So no shout out to Ridley Funeral Home required here. Okay. But you leave in June. But you leave in June. Did you leave in June, 2019?

Cause you wanted to go to the Toronto Raptors victory parade. Like that's the big thing that happened in June, 2019. So maybe before- I left at the end of September, 2019. Okay, so that's when you announced your, right? June 9, 2019 you announced it, you're right. But you don't leave till September. And then Raina is like just in your shadow.

Raina just jumps out and says, I'm going to take over. And that's how it works around here. But Andrew Ward is a good question. He says, going from CBC to NPR is huge. He put huge in all caps. Can you ask Talia what her experience and transition was like? So can you just give a taste? And then you're at Philadelphia, so maybe it's different, but what's it like, CBC, Talia,

now you're NPR World Cafe host, Talia. Very different, absolutely a huge, huge, huge difference. And I will say, like, we made the show at a small station in Philly, and I got the chance to, like, you heard that tiny desk advertisement thing, you know, we worked with the team at NPR Music in DC at the headquarters sometimes. But I don't have a deep sense of NPR at large.

I only just have a sense of my specific experience at that station, but the stakes felt really, really high, super high for me in terms of what I wanted to do is a huge opportunity. I found that I also had a lot more leeway in terms of what I wanted to do is a huge opportunity. I found that that I also had a lot more leeway in terms of what I wanted to talk about and how I wanted to talk about it. Access to a whole roster of artists to interview that I would never have had access to at CBC for sure. Not that they they had big stars come

through but they were largely on cue or other shows. And so all of a sudden I just had access to these unbelievable artists and people and expectations as well. And living in America was pretty wild. Like we think, I don't know, maybe we don't think this anymore. I don't know. But I used to think that Canada and the States were pretty, pretty similar. Like, you know, we'd be like, yeah, we're not there. You know, we're not that different.

But I felt a dramatic difference when I, when I lived there in terms of the volume, just the, it felt like the volume on everything was just turned way, way, way up. And so and to get some context. So you're there during Trump's first term and you're gone before the pandemic. That's right. Yeah. I moved a month before the election. So that was crazy because it was that felt like a really earth shattering moment. And I didn't really know anybody there except for my one Canadian friend Fiona,

who I had just met two weeks before because friends from Canada were like, Oh, you both moved to Philly at the same time. You should be friends. And we were and she's amazing. But we sat in like eight, a cold plate of fries while we watched the election. it was very sad but that was a depressing night that was a hard night um and yeah then i left before before covid just uh like a few so why like why because now you're at you're doing this great gig you're on npr david died at it a long time and you you go what a few a few years you go do three years there, but but why did you leave world cafe? Yeah, I left because I

Want the truth Talia the truth I know well at the time the statement that we put out was like leaving to pursue other creative opportunities and so many people were like yeah, but why are you really leaving and The honest truth was I was leaving to pursue other... The big question is, did you decide to leave or did they tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, Rain is here? Here's a banker box. She needs that seat.

Right. No, I did decide to leave. They very kindly offered to extend my contract for quite a lengthy period of time. And I did not at that moment in my life wanna keep doing that. I was so grateful for it and for everything that I learned. When I look back on it now, like how crazy to give up such a wonderful job

that allowed me to have a great lifestyle and talk to all these amazing people. But I really had to do a lot of soul searching and I really felt like I had something to say creatively that if I didn't pay attention to I would go cuckoo. And I gave myself the chance to just do that. And is that grace for the going? It ended up being I didn't know exactly what it was going to be. To be honest, when I left, there were a couple of screenplay ideas that I was

kicking around. There were some music ideas that were starting to bubble up, but I really just had this extremely strong gut feeling that I needed to make a huge change and give myself a blank slate to try. It sounds insane. Here's my dumb question is cause cause I feel like if I'm hosting a radio show like in a world cafe, let's say, and I will replace Reina in 40 years, I'll take over. But okay. So if I'm hosting World Cafe and I have this itch, I know what it's like to have an itch that needs to be scratched and it's like, I got to scratch that itch. I get that. You can do these, I'll use the big word again, concurrently. Like you could

actually write music and write screenplays and work on this creative outlet and host World Cafe. Tell me if I might mind your own business. I made a call here and I'll back off. But I'm just trying to understand like you needed a clean slate. It sounds like that's totally fair to say I could not. Like I couldn't because for a number of reasons. First of all, I had never written music before and I hadn't spent a lot of serious time with guitar before. Like I'd kind of casually-ish maybe written a song here or there, but I hadn't dedicated time to it.

So it wasn't like this is a skill that I used to have, something that I used to do, and now I can find a way to integrate it into my life and do it on the evenings and weekends. It was more like a, I feel called to this. I understand from talking to all these artists, what it actually requires to do something like this. I want to go full like jump in with two feet and do it. And then the other thing was that that job was so demanding on your time and intellectual and creative energy. Like it's not a normal full time job where you go in at nine and

you're done at five. And then from eight until midnight, you can write music. Well, this is a good point. See, I would have no idea. But so this is, it was so encompassing. You simply didn't have this space and time to be alone with your creative fluids there. No capacity for that. No, none. Cause you're seeing like, especially in the first couple of years there, I was seeing

like three or four concerts a week. And on the weekends for sure too. And then on the weekends writing, writing interviews for the week ahead or writing special pieces for MPR, which I did a whole bunch of. And I was part of this like turning the tables initiative about reframing the canon of music and looking at all the women who are overlooked by music history. And that took me to New York on the weekends to do panel stuff. And like there was just, it was wonderful.

Not a nine to five job. No, it was wonderful, but it was a lifestyle more than a job. And there wasn't, I did try. There wasn't the opportunity to pull back or even pull back for a little period of time to let myself explore some other creative things and then come back. It was, they really want the, you can tell by the fact that the show was hosted by the same person for like 30 years, that, that their audience and that station really likes consistency and really likes the person there to be the person there. And I felt like my

good, I felt like I'd done as much good as I could do. And I was ready to, to move on. But I, I get it. I get it. Does any, does there any part of you that just felt like you wanted to come home to Canada? Like, was there any sense of like being in the United States playing a role and that you'd like to come home? I don't know, actually, because I didn't really know where I was going to set and end up. I missed Toronto, but I don't think I don't think that that was as much a part of it. I was trying, I had started the process for a green card when I was still there and I went traveling a bunch

when I left and I was in Europe and then I was kind of test driving, living in Montreal before COVID. So I'm not sure if that was as much of it, but now that I am back home, I will say I love it here and I remember how much I love it here. And I have like retroactive missing of Toronto because I love the city. You can do that the city. You know the reason I bring that up is only because you're back on the radio.

Like I know you're filling in, it's not the same all-encompassing requirements here, but you know you're Q. I mean if Tom Power has a day off or isn't working, it's your voice that we'll probably hear is filling in for Tom Power and here and now. And you know you're still on, now you're on CBC radio again. So it's like, oh, you have found a way to do both. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just less demanding than being the host of World Cafe, which was like all consuming 24 7. That's right.

And I also felt like I had to really establish myself as a musician, like had to make a stand and say, like, I've done this, I've taken this really seriously. I gave up stability. I lived in a tiny studio apartment where my, you know, my couch was a pullout bed and it pulled out to the hot plate in the kitchen and I ate lentils and discount vegetables for a few years. Like I did it, I did it. And I'm doing it in a way that is like full hearted. And now obviously in order to make a living because music isn't as lucrative as some people might think

it is, I do the other things that I do. I don't think it's lucrative at all for what it's worth. But I've talked to many Canadian musician, but yeah. So we'll get into that part. Here's what we're gonna do. Now we're gonna pivot to music. So you left World Cafe, you came back to Canada, and now you're going to create... It sounds like at first you had different ideas for your creative output, but it ended

up being your debut album, Grace for the going which was relay released earlier this year and I'm gonna play a song from it and Then I'm gonna ask you about it and I'm hoping you'll share with us the inspiration for this one. You ready? I'm ready I can't wait to see which one you I know you are tired and scared to close your eyes I'll keep watch you in the still of sleep Breathing like it's simple, dreaming like it's free And if waters rise Great I know I will hold you high and I will see you home. Long before the thought of you never occurred to me a new day came from darkness, sea released the lamb broke

and we were born a promise to the palm of mercy's hand So if waters rise To great unknown I will hold you high And I will see you I will see you, I will see you home. So I have goosebumps because I know what this song is about and I'm hoping you'll share with the listenership what See You Home is about. Yeah, thanks for asking.

So this song is inspired by my bubba, my grandmother on my father's side. I was talking about her recently and I forget to tell this part of the story but she was, she really wanted to be an actress. She was born in Latvia and had this sort of passion for the stage, was very charismatic and she was very excited when I became an actor and she always really wanted me to stop biting my nails so I could have long long fingernails and glamorous hands like an actor should and she didn't get to become an actor because the war broke out and then she had to run on foot with her sisters from Latvia into Russia and went through all sorts of unspeakable things during the Holocaust and then met my grandfather towards the end of it.

And they got married and they were living, after the war was over, they were living as refugees in what had been the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. They weren't there when it was a concentration camp, but they were there afterwards when it was a DP camp. And they had my aunt. And then it took almost three years to get permission to come to Canada. And they were about to get on the boat and my bubba, who you know, she's in her 20s. She's never even seen a photograph of Canada is about to cross the ocean and go to a place where she doesn't know the language and she doesn't know the people, she doesn't know anything

and she's just survived just the unimaginable. And she was terrified of getting on the boat, like just scared of making the journey across the ocean. And so, and she had this toddler with her, my aunt. And so the story that we were told was that she made her a promise that if the waters rose and threatened to overtake the boat, that she would just hold my aunt really high over her head with her last breath and she would be saved. And so that's what the song is. If waters rise to great unknown, I'll hold you

high and I'll see you home. Yeah, I highly recommend that you go back and listen to that song now knowing what it's about. It's uh, it's chilling. Wow. And it's a wonderful song. See you home. Thanks. Thanks for asking about it. Well, I wanted to ask you a little more about your faith and what it means to you. what it means to you. So what does it mean to me? I'm Jewish. I was raised with like a lot of the traditional and cultural and family values of Judaism and went to Hebrew school when I was a kid.

So like half of our day was in Hebrew. And I almost took for granted how formative it was for me until really recently. Like I think, you know, we had Shabbat dinners growing up every week with my family. And I learned about all sorts of like, you know, the volunteer thing that you mentioned at the beginning of going to a place for unhoused people and serving them dinner. Like that's part of my Jewish upbringing. That's just something you should do things like this. This is how we contribute.

This is how we ought to be citizens of the world. So I think it comes from that and from those values. And I think it wasn't as big of a part of my conscious identity for a lot of my late teens and my 20s and my time in theater and even my time in Philly. And it's really honestly in the last year that it's become something that I talk about a lot more. And it's very weird because I accidentally put a bunch of Jewish references on my album, you know, that that song is about our historic my family's history.

But there's also a couple of other songs like Narrow Bridge is inspired by this old Hebrew folk song about how the whole world is a narrow bridge and the point is to not be afraid. And it was so formative for me. I enjoy thinking about sort of the, how do I want to say this? I think a lot of the things that I feel most proud about for myself as a person and how I try to be to others in the world come from that. So that's how I think about my faith. And I've also had a real closeness with a higher power.

And my access point for that hasn't always been Judaism. And I still am not sure if it is, but I also have just a great faith and appreciation for sort of the great beyond and for being held by something bigger than me and also having something bigger than me help me create things and write songs. So you mentioned it was only about a year ago that you, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I'm wondering if that correlates with October 7th. Yeah, of course.

Of course. Yeah, yeah, it does. It that changed, changed life for a lot of people in a lot of extreme ways. And one of the ways that it changed mine was just being a lot more trying to be a lot more aware of where I come from and why it matters. And I really like to me, one of the most heartbreaking things about the whole situation is that so many people are talking about it as if we're all different and as if we all have different and competing interests.

And I think we don't, like, I think that some, you know, within families, siblings fight the hardest or cousins fight the hardest, you know, within families, siblings fight the hardest or cousins fight the hardest, you know, and especially in the Middle East, like, we're all relatives, you know, and just for forgetting our humanity and our shared interest and just having a peaceful way to enjoy a remarkable part of the world. I just don't know why we can't do that. And so I think being a gentle ambassador of my own faith and my own upbringing has been

my goal lately. Like I'm not a shout it from the rafters kind of kind of person. I'm more of a like I wear my Jewish star everywhere I go. And I hope that when I have a great interaction with somebody out in the world of like kindness and shared humanity or like something funny happens at a library that if they see this, that they'll know that they met a Jewish person with whom they share humanity. And so yeah, I think that's that's become a lot more important to me. I produce a podcast for Dana Levinson, who was on CTV news for, I think, 19 years she spent there.

Dana's amazing. And I can tell you, as producer of her program, I can tell you her focus since October 7th is shouting down any sense of antisemitism that she observes or hears about or witnesses. And she's been chatting with survivors of October 7th on her podcast to make sure that we don't forget and that many, many hostage has yet to return home. And this is like a calling.

It's a calling, a spiritual calling for Dana to similar sentiments to what you're saying. I think she's maybe she's a bit more aggressive with it, but it's cut from the same cloth. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think I've cried about that at least once a day since it's happened. Like it's funny because I, there are so many people that I know that have less of a personal stake in connection to what's happening that are so loud about it on social media. And I think when they go to bed at night, is that something that you post and then you turn off your phone and you can sort of put aside and forget about? I don't know. For me it feels like my insides, my entire DNA is changed by this. And yeah, I don't know it's very tricky and complicated to talk about even within people's

families but it's definitely strengthened my resolve and my desire to be a Jewish presence in the world that is hopefully for good and for peacefulness and also standing up against anti-Semitism and also, as I always have, discrimination against any people for any part of their identity. Like a huge part of Jewish social life is social justice and standing up for others. So I take that seriously, as seriously for other people as I do for myself. Do you find that, and I'll use the phrasing, maybe it's inappropriate, but casual antisemitism is tolerated where hate for a different group would be stomped down immediately.

Like, do you find that it's almost acceptable, casual antisemitism? I think a lot of times people don't even realize that they're doing it. I think it's very ingrained in culture. And I think sometimes you have to say like, hold on, let's unpack that. And exactly as you said, like if you replaced any other racial group,

I think, I can't remember who had said it, but they were like, if you're trying to figure out if something is racist, just replace the name of the group with any other other group or ethnic identity or whatever and see if you would tolerate it And if you wouldn't then it's probably racist thing to say I do think there's a I mean I feel even uncomfortable saying it because I don't I I don't know what the lived experience is like of being somebody in another Minority group that faces discrimination and what sorts of things I'm not even aware of affect them.

But I can say in my own experience, yeah, there's a lot of, you know, I've been on dates where I left a date once because somebody made the guy that I was on a date with made this anti-Semitic joke. And he made it so casually. And I was like what and he was like oh yeah but I mean every everybody says that or every joke's about that and I was like exactly exactly exactly and I just left and it is pervasive and and

and it's gotta stop like it's. Like it's just not good. It's just terrible. Well, because I produced the Humble and Fred show. Yeah. And Humble, Howard Glassman, we've had many conversations where he says the anti-Semitism that's, like you just said that exercise where you replaced it with a different group, as I don't say, instead of talking about Jewish people, you're talking about black people, let's say, for example, right? He says, this would be so unacceptable and people would be, you know, leaders, political leaders, everybody would

rise up and denounce this immediately. As they should. As they should, no, as they should. But in his experience, he doesn't see the same denouncing. I mean, we have footage coming in from Montreal and my daughter goes to McGill. We talk about But in his experience, he doesn't see the same denouncing. I mean, we have footage coming in from Montreal and my daughter goes to McGill. We talk about this all the time. She's there right now.

And some of these, what is it? She talks about like, you know, she's got friends going to these protests and it's like under the guise of free Palestine, would be like, but really what it devolves into is Antisemitism and we've had many many many long conversations about what's going on there But that was in the news that somebody gave a some Nazi salute somebody who? Today, I think I think it's second cup or whatever who?

Took action immediately thankfully, but I mean this is the kind of news that we're inundated with and I can only imagine I hate it yeah well I'm glad you talked your daughter about it and I'm glad you hate it and I know put me put me in the I hate it column he hates it guys yeah no I know I yeah I hate it too and I hate that, you know, it's very, very personal. I don't want to share too much about my, my own fam families experience, but like for my, my father's parents survived the Holocaust. My father survived his own, you know, discrimination that he was up against in many ways. And now what he's seeing play out in the world and some of the positions that I've been put in

that we talk about, I just, it breaks my heart. It's so old, it's so ingrained anti-Semitism and it's so pointless. Like, I don't anti-Semitism. Like, also Judaism is not a missionary religion. Like we're not, we're not out there trying to take over anything, you know, like, no, it's like just just live and live and let live kind of kind of thing. And like, I just, I don't yeah, that's a, it's been hard. Do you want to hear another song from your excellent new debut album here? Here we go.

Okay. Whisper how you love the shape your name takes in my mouth Soft and low, breathe me in my tension, attention is oxygen You say, oh, oh, oh How rare it is to find Someone who doesn't mind A little changing type A little less than die. All right, if at the end you come back inside, give your head a shake, it's fine.

Make no mistake about it, I was never your friend. I like the chuckle in there. I had something you knew. Thank you. I like that. All right, please tell me who are your influences? I need to know. Like, do you have any musical influences that helped guide the sound of this fine debut album?

I mean, I have so many. So many. Okay, give me the top 100. The top 100. Here we go. Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Beverly Glenn Copeland, Nina Simone, Missy Elliott, and Macy Gray, St. Vincent. This song, I have a lot of love for Andrew Bird and his very percussive violinning.

And we have an unbelievable violinist here in Toronto called Jaron Freeman Fox, who is playing on this record. And he's just one of the best. You can... Yeah. He's a fox. He's a fox. He's unbelievable.

And his creativity is incredible. I mean, I could go on forever. This is also where I forget that I've ever heard music by anybody ever before when I'm asked to say all of my influences. That's a handful of them. It sounds like a, it's, I'm trying to think, would Nora Jones be a influence at all?

People have told me that my stuff reminds them of her a bit. And I don't know if I would say that she's an influence in terms of like, I've spent a ton of time with her music, but I think I've absorbed it through the through the popular culture, ether and her style and I admire her greatly. What about like a Leslie Feist? Yeah, for sure. I mean, Feist is she's amazing. Her deep cuts on her album are just absolutely amazing. and I'm a huge fan. So that's for sure an influence Yeah, okay. So I've been thoroughly enjoying this. I almost don't want to wrap it up. But maybe we spent a little time talking about

the music industry beyond Writing and performing music. Okay, so I am NOT a musician, but I would think the writing and performing of the music That sounds like the fun part. Yeah, but that would think the writing and performing of the music, that sounds like the fun part. Yeah. But that's not the only part, right? Yeah. That's not even the primary part I'm learning. What is the primary part?

Like I want to hear about all the things that I wouldn't consider, like the grants, the grant writing, the marketing. Give me the ugly side of the, or the less glamorous side of the music industry. Oh my gosh, you're going to lose all your listeners. Like skip. I'm not doing this for them. Haven't you learned you're gonna lose all your listeners. Mike, like skip. I'm not doing this for them. Haven't you learned, I'm doing this for me. Should I be recording this?

Yeah, no, it's a... I mean, wow, I've had an education in what it is to try to share your music with people. The writing, performing is definitely the best part. I mean, I made my record with the help of a Canada Council grant. It was my second or maybe third time applying for the grant when I finally got it. I've also just

know it's very cool that exists. Yeah. Like so what I would say my buddy made a movie in Winnipeg and he was telling me that oh, there's these tax credits where I think for every dollar you spend this is this is making a movie but every dollar he spends in Winnipeg with the different credits that Winnipeg has and stuff or I think Selkirk, Manitoba Which is near Winnipeg He said he's only actually paying for like 33 cents out of every dollar when all this stuff is added up And that's why he goes to Winnipeg to make his films and so this is like I oh I see there's these things So you're saying that you get? I see there's these things. So you're saying that you get a part of the money that was spent making grace for the going which is now available. People should pick it up is paid by some kind of grant that you qualified for.

Yeah. Yeah. So the Canada Council grant I think it's kind of a rigorous process and they they make assessments based on a number of factors including artistic merit and your ability to execute your plan. So they covered, I'd say, like two thirds of the cost of making the record. That's aside from my time and effort. And I covered the rest myself through savings. So thank goodness something like this existed so that I could make the record. And we made it on a shoestring budget to begin with,

but it at least allowed me to pay the musicians that you hear and to pay the amazing producer and engineer and mastering engineer that I worked with David Traversmith, who is the best. So it really made it possible for me to do a lot of stuff. And then you also, you get taxed on grants. So it counts as your income. So you have to count your expenses.

That sucks. It's super sucks. I mean, it's crazy. You get this big gift and it's like, oh, okay. So the grant is that that's a federal Canadian says that a federal thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, this one is and then factor as well. So I was working with a small record label called latent and factor was helping me cover some costs through latent, but I had to match them 5050. So it's like like great, cause you can have access to money, but you also have to come up with the other half of it yourself. So you can only take advantage of as much as you're,

not take advantage of, but you can only use as much as you're willing to put in. It's a complicated system. I don't fully understand it. There's lots of different types of grants and styles and whatever, and I'm sure a whole bunch that I didn't apply for that I that I can't speak to but you know, on the one hand, it break even. Well, that's where I'm going here. Because you earlier you said, you know, you don't get rich off this or whatever. So is the goal to like not go under? Like literally, like, can I stay afloat and still scratch this creative itch I have and perform this?

You mentioned you're going to Philly next weekend. I'm going to Philly next weekend. I'm playing a show in Toronto next Thursday. Oh, shout that out right now. Yeah, please come to see my show at the Baby G on Thursday, December 5th. Mike, are you free? Do you want to be on the guest list? Do you want to come? Okay, give me a second here.

I'm going to go. No bullshit here. I'm going into my December 5th because I just want to make sure that's not the day. I'm going to be at the Rivoli to see Lois to the Lobe, but that might be on the 4th. Hold on. Let's find out. This is important. Right. This is important. Right. This is important.

This is important to me. Okay. So yeah, after I pick up my youngest at 6 PM, I'm actually, uh, free. Hey. Okay. So that's the fifth. Okay. It's the fourth.

Apparently I'm at the Rivoli to see a lowest low. So the fourth I'm seeing lowest of the low at the Rivoli. And then on the fifth, I'm seeing, uh the lower there of a Lee and then on the fifth I'm seeing Talia Schlanger at the what venue exactly is that it's called the baby G and it's at Dundas and Brock. It was made so convenient. I know that easily you're like you're it's in your backyard and and and the people who made the garrison made it so the sound in there is really really good. It's an awesome venue and I'm playing with my whole live band and the show gets so weird like the record is very um uh we really took a lot of care putting the songs together and

then live everything just gets a little wacky and nuts and and the musicians I play with are so amazing so I hope that people can come and you can come so that's that's really great. Okay I'm gonna let you be in the background here for a moment. And you can be like a conductor and tell me to bring it up if you want. I just want to hear, have another track going while I almost feel like it's rude to talk over you. Hold on. No, that's fine. Yeah. I'm looking at the waveform. So this song starts slow and then it feels it's kind of like a crescendo there. Okay, so

You're doing this because you love performing the music that you write and you're expressing yourself through your music And again people can can get the new album right now grace for the going you're not in this to get rich But can you even like I'm just trying to make sure you can stay afloat here Like do we need to start a go fund me or whatever? Like are you gonna be okay? I mean, I'm gonna be okay. You're not stay afloat here. Like, do we need to start a GoFundMe or whatever? Like, are you gonna be okay? I mean, I'm gonna be okay. I am. Because you're not full time with the CBC, right? You're sort of a pay as you go.

That's right. Pay as you go subscriber. You know, pay as you go with CBC. When they get the bat phone rings, they're like, oh, Tom Power needs some time off. And you're like, I'm in. But that's not gonna be particularly lucrative. That's exactly, in fact, how it works. And I have a bunch of other things like that that I do to stay afloat.

But the truth is, I don't support myself through music at all. I don't even break even on it at this point because, you know, going places and playing shows is expensive. Yeah, like you're going to Philadelphia. So there's probably paperwork. I don't know. Do you need to do paperwork to do that? I have to do a lot of paperwork. And it's probably that all comes with fees and stuff?

That's right. Crazy, crazy, crazy fees for Canadian artists to go to the States and play on what's called a P2 visa. And you have to line up a bunch of dates over the course of a year at regular intervals in order to make the most of this giant sum that they charge you to cross-chamber. That sounds horrible. It's really not that pleasant. But they don't have to do that when they come here, right? No, they don't. They just wander over the border and serenade us and we say thank you so much and see you later. See you next time. Bring your merch bring your flyers. I don't know. Maybe we don't say that there's taxes and

trade and whatnot. So I shouldn't make that up. But it's they're very intense over there. They make it really hard. And I had to do a ton of paperwork. My visa is up at the end of the year. So I'm really trying to make the most of the time that I'm able to spend going there and playing shows. I'm walking across with my guitar without anybody asking me questions. Is this all you? Is this you and you?

Yeah, it's me and me. Yeah, yeah. That was the most fun thing to do. It comes up again and we can bring it back up. Okay, your job is to tell me when to lift it up, okay. Okay, so we kind of tell me when to lift it up. Okay. Okay. So, uh, we kind of thought we were finished this song and then we really wanted to have backing vocals in there to add texture and I was gonna hire a choir and I was gonna

hire other people and whatever and then I was like, you know what? I love stacking harmonies myself and all of my theater background. I used to cover a lot of different parts in shows and so you learn different harmony parts and how they fit together and so I sat in my apartment with the you know An edit of this song and just recorded stacked vocals of all these different notes until I got that like proper stinky Crunch I like it that produces tension and you're gonna hear it come back up again in a couple of seconds. Yes! Okay. The endling is meant to be listened to with headphones on, right? It's better with headphones on. Yeah, for sure. Amazing. That's a regular violin or is that electric violin?

No, it's regular violin. It's like treated, but so, yeah. And then this is the part to listen out for where the vowel changes. Here we go. Yeah. And then this is the part to listen out for where the vowel changes. Here we go. Look at you. Listen, do you know what? Who cares about the money?

This is what it's all about right here. I know. I actually could not care less as long as I can survive. Eat. As long as you go to bed with some food in your tummy. See, I called it tummy food in your tummy. Yeah. See, I called the tummy. Don't care.

Yeah, that like, that, uh, to, um, this is my favorite things ever. Okay, well, this is one of my favorite interviews ever. Oh. This is my St. Vincent. Do you think somebody at NPR will hear this? That email needed a better subject line. I don't think that's a good, for that email That email needed a better subject line. I don't think that's a good... For that email, that's a bad subject line.

Don't you think that subject line needed a little more? It needed to be like, opportunity NPR. Hey, it's Bruce from NPR. Wanna talk or something? Like something that would make you cherry pick it as a... I'll read this one right away. Yeah, but you know what? Bruce from Philly. I wouldn't open that right away either. That's kind of how he is like he's unassuming. He's like

This is what I'm doing. Take it early. This is what happens is you don't get back to him That's what happens when you're so unassuming like that. Okay, everybody gets back to him Bruce Warren's a legend a star How was this? I loved this chat There's so many interesting facets to your life and that you're this radio star and you sort of shut it down to become a struggling musician. Like it's quite a story. I dig it. Thank you. Thanks for being so thoughtful and, and, and wide ranging

in what you asked about. I appreciate it. You're so fun to talk to. Well, now I want to tell you what, how we're closing. So forever. So what is this episode 1588 or something like that forever this show ended with a cut from lowest of the lows Shakespeare my butt the song is called Rosie and Grey and it's got a long instrumental build up before the lyrics it was kind of perfect and it's very Toronto and I would but now I'm getting like copyright violation notices for that song even though this the singer songwriter Ron Hawkins has told me I have permission to use it like it doesn't matter because Spotify YouTube their algorithms that catch it don't

really care that the guy who wrote it says you can use it or whatever right so I went to keyboardist prodigy aforementioned Rob Pruse. He was the keyboardist with the spoons during their heyday. He has a co-writing credit on romantic traffic. Okay. This is a big deal. Although I feel like that song is bigger because of the video. Like that was a, it's a great song, but the video is kind of like a Toronto iconic video because it's the old TTC with the red subways. Okay. So I said, Rob, this is literally what happened. And Rob, by the way, will be, he lives in New York cause he worked on Broadway cause he was in musical theater here after the spoons and honeymoon suite, but he, uh,

is going to be at TM Alex 17 on Saturday. So he's making the long drive to Mississauga cause he's a sweetheart. But I said, I said, Rob, I need, I want to have a rosy and gray theme that doesn't get caught by the algorithm. I said, can you're a keyboardist prodigy, keyboard prodigy. Can you please put something together that is rosy and gray? And then maybe because you're doing this at the end, you can put in some Easter eggs for FOTMs so they can be kind of rewarded for sticking it out. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to, I'm going to get this started right now. Okay.

So the new closing theme, and I'm going to discuss this with Rob at TML at 17, but it's Rob Pruss covering Rosie and Grey by Lois of the Low. And I will do the extra one a moment here and I will let it run because the last section of this song, I said I need a lot of room because sometimes stories come out during the extra and I need some ramp here, some ramp.

This is great. Yeah. He's good, right? So at the end though, there's Easter eggs. So maybe I'll do my extra. Then I'll mute us. Okay. Or not. Or maybe we'll see if you recognize then I'll mute us. Okay. Or not.

Or maybe we'll see if you recognize any of these rigs. Okay. That'd be fun. Yeah. It's okay if you don't, cause you're only 29 years old. I mean, good luck. You might miss somebody. Okay.

So thank you for being here. Thank you. You're amazing. Thanks for having me. It was very fun. Don't leave about your lasagna. Trust me. I mean, we've already established that, that, that I'm struggling. So I need that lasagna.

I need to feed you. I'm already feeding Peter Gross. Now I'm feeding you. That's what I do around here. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 1,588th show. You can follow me everywhere at torontomike.com. Tally, if you're going to send somebody to pick up the new album and find out when you're playing live, where would you send them? You can pick up the album on Bandcamp for sure. And my website, talioschlanger.com has all my live dates.

Schlanger's fun to say. It's fun to say, it's fun to type. But also, honestly, the best place to pick up an album is at a show in person. It's so fun. So Thursday, December the 5th, the BG. Amazing. Amazing. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. Love my Great Lakes. Palma Pasta, we're going to be there. Thank you for hosting. We're

going to be there on Saturday at noon. Everybody's invited. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Cliff Hacking from RecycleMyElectronics.ca will be there on Saturday. Raymond James Canada, Monaris, Al Greggo is going to be there, very exciting, and Ridley Funeral Home. I hope Brad Jones can make it. He says he might be there. See you all then. I'm not going to mute Talia. We're going to listen. Okay. I'm not going to mute Talia. We're going to listen. Okay. Let's see how much more. Okay. So we got a little more rosy and gray here. Until we get to Easter egg territory.

Right. Okay. And then you're going to, if you recognize the Easter egg, you're going to just scream it out. Okay. And if you don't, I'll judge you quietly. I'm scared. Yeah. This is, I'm nervous. It's really a, well I think you'll get a few of them.

Okay. Let's see. Let's see. Great job Rob, you did amazing. Yeah, sounds great. Okay, it's coming I think. Do you recognize this one? You're way too young, but do you get it? Oh.

No, you're too young. That's the friendly giant. I was going to say it's the friendly giant. Can I say that? Oh yeah. Pizza. Pizza Nova. 439. Right.

Now how about this one? No. Romantic traffic. By the spoon. Sure. We got one more left, I think. Kids in the Hall theme. That's shadowy men on a shadowy planet having an average weekend.

Thanks everybody for listening!