And Sometimes ... Why? with Rob Szabo

Charlena Russell is founder of Russell Music School, vocalist, multi instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and artist. She shares her experience of teaching and learning life lessons from her students. We talk about her travels and how she infuses parts of her cultural backgrounds into her art including her sound activated light suit. She also shares her perspective on Black Lives Matter and her realization that she’s got more work and unlearning to do around systemic racism even as a self described mixed race person.

“There’s an artist Janice Lee who’s a dear friend of mine. A shout-out to her and a thank you to her. She did a lot of work in KW to raise awareness that racism needs to be addressed. And there were Black Lives Matter protests happening 5 years ago that she was part of and I remember not understanding it fully and not feeling comfortable enough to go because I myself, as a mixed person, had more work to do to unlearn what I’ve been taught, and what I’ve been raised to, y’know, think I’m weird and hate myself and I’m ugly and my hair is ugly and all those things. I mean it’s the truth of what we’ve all grown up in. And I’m so thankful for artists like her who have taken the time to like speak. And if anything, the reason why I was posting so much on Facebook has a lot to do with the fact that she helped give me my voice.”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 CHARLENA RUSSELL
 TEACHING: https://russell-music-school.com
 WEB: https://charlena-russell.com 
 IG: https://www.instagram.com/charlenarussell
 SOUND ACTIVATED LIGHT SUIT: https://bit.ly/3ihvTBn
 MUSIC - SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: https://spoti.fi/2YQfgoZ

---

 ROB SZABO guests on the Todd Donald Show: https://apple.co/3eNO0wV

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Howard Druckman is a music writer, editor of the SOCAN Words + Music magazine and one half of the dustbowl duo Hotcha! We talk about his history writing about music, his experience as Polaris Prize juror, how championing music he cares about energizes him and the time Madonna called him out onstage because of a piece he’d written about her.

“I’ve been very, very lucky that I get to earn a living by listening to music and by talking to people who make it because that keeps me invested and excited. The difference I think, for me anyway, is that when I was younger, I would listen to music and it would be about my life. When I listened to The Who’s Quadrophenia it was so close to the bone of my own fairly dysfunctional family, that it was like “oh my god”. I couldn’t believe it. Or when I first heard Dylan and just went completely nuts, that spoke right to my heart. Now, there’s stuff that still speaks to me but it’s still a matter of the heart and it’s still emotional but it’s more like huge respect and admiration for what people are doing and how people are passionate and intense and strong about what they’re doing. I mean, I’m not experiencing what Snotty Nose Rez Kids are experiencing. I’m not experiencing what Haviah Mighty is experiencing. But the art they’re making is just so strong that I care about it and it moves me. It doesn’t move me the same way ‘cause it’s not about my life, but it still moves me.”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 HOWARD DRUCKMAN
 FB: https://www.facebook.com/druckmanh
 WEB: http://www.hotcha.ca
 MUSIC - SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: https://spoti.fi/319npq9

---

 THIS EPISODE SPONSORED BY: Eddie Orso's Album “Foreign Flowers”
 Get 20% off with discount code: szabo
 HERE: https://bit.ly/eddieorso

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Kerri Ough is a musician, writer, photographer, artist & self proclaimed archivist. She is 1/3 of the Juno-winning band The Good Lovelies. We talk about her life in music, how she’s been writing morning pages every day for over 20 years (to “get the goo out”) and how she’s been connecting with people through her group colouring project over the lockdown. We bond over mutual love of Derek Sivers’ ideas & discuss how journaling helps her discover meaningful change she wants in her life.

“I like that exercise of writing down why I’m doing it, what’s hard about it, what’s hard about the other path I’m not taking. I also don’t think it has to be either or. I think The Good Lovelies right now, I think we could make a really good decision to do a certain amount of touring and then still; Caroline can put out a solo project, Sue, she wants to do a podcast too and I think we can do it and make room. We’ve made room for kids, we’ve made room for when I moved to Newfoundland for 6 years. We make room for the things that  each of us want. So, my dream was to be a rockstar and/or a folk musician (in Canada and beyond…) and I also like to draw and I like to write and there’s more. I don’t think it has to be that I’m going to be a touring musician or I’m going to be something else. I think I can be a touring musician and I can also be a great aunt. Just checking in that it still is in line with my values. I don’t need us to be super famous. I like the people we reached on the weekend. I like the people we reach when we go to Australia and Alaska and Germany and everywhere in Canada and the US … and that’s enough. That’s enough for me.“ 

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 KERRI OUGH
 WEB: http://www.kerriough.com
 WEB: https://goodlovelies.com
 IG: https://www.instagram.com/kerriough
 MUSIC - SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:  https://spoti.fi/3dahQtR

---

 THIS EPISODE SPONSORED BY: Eddie Orso's Album “Foreign Flowers”
 Get 20% off with discount code: szabo
 HERE: https://bit.ly/eddieorso

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

This week And Sometimes … Why? is observing the Podcast Blackout in support of The Black Lives Matter Movement. We’d like to direct you to the Scene On Radio Podcast Series “Seeing White” that explores what it means to be white.

LINK: https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white

Glodeane Brown writes the Culture Fancier blog and is programming & operations coordinator at CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area). We chat about her life being “arts adjacent” as she calls it, she extols the virtues of seeing art solo and shares insights about the power of art to change the way people see the world.

“One of my favourite stories: I was at a panel and the director of the Aga Khan museum was there and she told a story about a firefighter that was there on a public tour and he approached her after the tour and he said that he had held a grudge against muslims since 9/11. But after going through the tour of the Aga Khan and listening to her speak about the art, it kind of changed his mind. That’s really powerful. Someone can hold a belief for that long and then having someone speak about art can help change their mind or shift a view that maybe wasn’t correct or just they weren’t informed enough. So I think art can show us the world in a different way that maybe we didn’t consider before. Also, seeing other people’s experiences, I mean a lot of us live in our bubbles or echo chambers: you like what you like, you see what’s around you. But when you venture out into different spaces and you see different things, it opens your mind to different possibilities and how other people are experiencing things in the world.”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 GLODEANE BROWN
 WEB: http://www.culturefancier.com
 INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/culturefancier

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Lobelia Lawson is a singer-songwriter, advocate of sustainable touring, curator of the positive songs project & head of programme implementation at the Better Points app. We talk about her life in music, grassroots touring as a new mother, how her husband helped her make & promote their breakup(which never happened) album, and how the lockdown has helped her write positive songs.

“That’s the thing of art. We’re reaching for something. I have a compulsion to create. I never understand why do we do this to ourselves. Really, I’m not a natural performer, I really struggle but I love it in some kind of weird way and I do always think ‘Why the hell am I putting myself through this?’ I’ll get really nervous and anxious before a gig and I think ‘I don’t understand the compulsion within me to make myself do these things’. Y’know, why am I doing it?”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 LOBELIA LAWSON
 WEB: https://www.lobelia.net
 POSITIVE SONGS PROJECT: https://www.positivesongsproject.org
 FB: https://www.facebook.com/lobeliamusic

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Rebecca Black is founder and chief communicator at Black Current Marketing and co-founder of Women In Renewable Energy(WIRE). We talk about gender, feminism and sustainability. She explains how her values have evolved since her punk-rock roots and how the silver linings she sees in the COVID-19 experience make her feel hopeful.

“I’m trying to use this time to reflect on what might be next. From a climate change perspective, there are silver linings in this really terrible scenario and one of them is that we’re looking at alternative ways of being that may offer new insights into what the values are. Every night at 7:30 on the street that I live on in the west end of Toronto, people come outside their homes and bang on pots to show their appreciation for front line workers. So that in itself is lovely, but what is also really fortifying to me is that people are looking at their neighbours and banging their pots and smiling at each other and falling into rhythm and someone’s playing a tambourine and somebody’s got a trumpet. This is a neighbourhood that’s actually engaging in a way, every day, that it didn’t before. What are the possible implications of that? And so that gives me hope because I think a lot of the systems that we work within and we sort of mindlessly go about because that’s the way things are, are being reconsidered, and that makes me really hopeful because I think being busy all the time - it’s kind of a badge of honour, but slowing down and reflecting … these are little glimmers of opportunity that I see. And then there is the whole people aren’t driving as much. In some cities the air is cleaner than it’s been in generations.” 

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
REBECCA BLACK
 WEB: https://www.blackcurrentmarketing.com
 TWEET: https://twitter.com/reblackatweet

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Peter Katz is an internationally renowned singer-songwriter and an in-demand public speaker. We talk about our shared history touring & making records, his compulsive focus and heroic work ethic. We also relive key moments in his last few years - including falling 100 feet off the edge of a cliff after which he was told he might never be able to walk again - and other adversity which he has funneled into inspiration. He also shares some great insights on public speaking, mindfulness and holding oneself accountable.

"I realized that my mind was silent. It was so silent it was deafening. And it was the first time in my adult life that my mind was silent. And I realized that it was silent because I wasn't thinking about myself. I was thinking about these kids. And that caused this moment for me of actually feeling at peace."

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
PETER KATZ
 WEB: https://www.peterkatz.com
 WEB: https://www.facebook.com/peterkatzmusic
 MUSIC - SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:  https://spoti.fi/2yRmw9O

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Greg Oliver is a sports writer and pro wrestling aficionado. We talk about his evolution from distributing a homemade wrestling newsletter in high school to co-founding & producing the influential SLAM! Wrestling website to writing over a dozen books on wrestling & hockey. He also shares some great tips on interviewing & insights on being a stay at home Dad.

“If I’m interviewing somebody, my goal is to have it done in 20 minutes. If I can’t get what I need out of somebody in 20 minutes, then I’m not doing my job right, I’m wasting my time in a way. Let’s get to the point.”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 GREG OLIVER
 WEB: http://www.oliverbooks.ca
 WEB: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/home.html
 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/gregmep

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod

Kyle Bassett works on the bleeding edge as a partner in tech firm Arctiq. We talk about how he was an early adopter of the information superhighway as a teen in the mid 90s, Arctiq’s partnering with Google on Anthos, his PEI roots and how getting over our initial fear of talking to new people is such a big step.

“When I learned how to walk up to people and go, ‘Hey, I’m Kyle! What’s your name? What are you doing here?’ It’s like a superpower, right? Because the person you’re talking to just wants someone to do that, or they wish they would do that.”

---

 SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://bit.ly/aswKO-FI

---
 KYLE BASSETT
 WEB: https://www.arctiq.ca
 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kylebassett

---

 AND SOMETIMES ... WHY?:
 WEB https://www.andsometimeswhy.com
 EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/andsometimeswhypod
 FB https://www.facebook.com/andsometimeswhypod
 TWEET https://twitter.com/sometimeswhypod