Every year we buy a real Christmas tree to decorate our house for the month of December.
That tree, officially kicks off the holiday season for us.
Continue reading “Episode 3: In search of the perfect Christmas tree”
Something rotten simmers beneath the surface of Italy’s most prestigious food festival.
Prepare to venture into the shadowy corners of the culinary world, where the line between gourmet and gore fades… and no one leaves the table unscathed.
Il Sagra Dei Cuochi or The Festival of the Cooks is a “giallo-inspired” audio mystery theatre podcast I worked on with my son Oliver. He created the story, wrote the script, and assembled a talented group of actors.
My role was to edit the piece and craft the sounds. A majority were original, except for one thud from a free sound effects site. The professional foley editors who shared their tips on YouTube were also a big help in showing how to create the creepy sounds I was looking for.
‘Giallo,’ which is the Italian term for “yellow,” is also defined as a film genre encompassing mystery, thriller, and horror films. It is notably led by Italian director Dario Argento, known as “The Master of Horror.”
If you enjoy the episodes, please consider giving us a like.
Listen to the trailer: The Festival of the Cooks
The Food Bank of Waterloo Region initially opened in 1984 “with the intention of being a response to a temporary crisis.”
Carolyn Fast, who was the Executive Director of The Food Bank of Waterloo Region from 1987 to 1990 explained in a 1989 interview that the crisis was becoming long term.
“Originally they thought that [the response] would go down after the recession,” said Fast.
“But that has not in fact happened. It has to some degree, but they found that certain categories of needy people have maintained and even increased after that time, for a number of reasons.”
Fast explained in the 1989 TV documentary “Food for Thought’ the need was caused by a chain reaction of events. They included low wages, inflation, and higher housing costs. Additionally, Fast said people were using the majority of their income to pay for housing.
That left them reaching out to the food bank and its agencies for help.
Continue reading “Food Bank Evolution: Insights from 1989”
Loreena McKennit will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony on May 15, 2025.
McKennitt is one of five Canadian artists being honoured for “achieving commercial success while having an artistic impact on the Canadian music scene at home and around the world.”
In her over 20 year career she has won multiple awards, sold over 14 million albums around the world, manages herself, producers her own work on her own record label and organizes her own tours.
“In this era of unregulated technology, building a career like mine all over again would be almost impossible today,” said McKennit in a statement posted to her website.”
McKennitt was asked about the “independent root of her success” during a backstage media conference after her break through album “The Visit” won a Canadian music award, a JUNO in 1992. The reporter asked what lesson up and coming musicians could learn from her early journey.
“One’s greatest resource is themself. And I think one should really seize their destiny in the broadest sense of the term,” said McKennitt at the 1992 JUNOS.
“When I produced my first recording, the method that I repaid that modest loan back was to go busk on the street.”
I was first introduced to Loreena McKennitt in 1992 when she won her award in the category for “Best Roots and Traditional Album.”
The results of the voted ended in a tie. I recorded the audio of that backstage Q and A and have posted it to this blog.
Continue reading “Audio:Loreena McKennitt 1992”
Paul Arnold’s interest in farming started in his 20s as an experiment in his father’s backyard.
“In 1986 when I decided to farm, I farmed in [my dad’s] backyard to see if I really liked it,” said Paul in a 2013 farm tour.
“I worked for another farmer for one summer. And then started looking for land and found the land that we’re going to walk to. And that was in 1988. We bought it. It was just a cornfield and some hayland.”
Paul and his wife Sandy have been running Pleasant Valley Farm since the early 1990s. It is located near the village of Argyle, New York, about a one-hour drive north of the state capital, Albany.
Since then, the Arnolds have mentored a number of others interested in farming and continue to farm themselves growing “a range of over 40 types of vegetables and fruits year-round,” according to their website.
In Episode 29 of the podcast Station to Station with Joe Pavia, Exploring Pleasant Valley Farm & Echo Creek Farm in New York State, the Arnolds and one of the people they mentored, Michael Palulis will share their agricultural journey.
Continue reading “Episode 29: Exploring Pleasant Valley Farm & Echo Creek Farm in New York State”
Hello Everyone,
I would like to invite you to the online premiere of the short film ‘World Ongoing.’
In the film I play the role of the father who answers his young son’s question “What is the world?” David Alonso voices the role of the young son Kai.
‘World Ongoing’ premiered on Thursday, July 4, 2024, on the website of director, Tomi Kufel.
Watch it here:
It was a pleasure to be a part of Tomi’s film! This was Tomi’s final year thesis film at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
Thank you and take care!
Joe
Here is the announcement from Tomi Kufel as it appeared on his Instagram page:
Continue reading “‘World Ongoing’ Movie Premier”The audiobook Italian Car Tales written by Patrick Henz tells the story of the pioneers in the Italian race car and automobile industry.
Patrick’s book explores the fascinating history of automobiles and introduces us to the remarkable individuals who shaped the industry. They include Enzo Ferrari, Nicola Romeo, and Enrico Bernardi, to name a few.
The audiobook, which clocks in at just over two hours, focuses on their contributions, including the iconic brands they founded, the engines they created, and the tracks they raced on.
Continue reading “Audiobook: ‘Italian Car Tales’”
What began as just a quick trip to the Kitchener Public Library turned into a five year, independent research project about the former owners of the house my family and I lived in.
When my wife and I purchased our 1930s home, we discovered that 16 different families had lived in the house between 1932 and 1997.
The first question we had: what’s wrong with the place?
Well, nothing!
The families that lived here moved in an out for different reasons and in differing circumstances. Through my research I uncovered many great stories and some amazing photos of five of the 16 former owners.
This blog focuses on John and Florence Allan. They moved to Kitchener in the early 1920s after Jack, as he was referred to, accepted the job of managing the new Capitol Theatre. In 1932 he added the Lyric Theatre to his duties.
Continue reading “Assignment: The Allans”
Without even realizing it former radio news anchor Jeff Howatt helped me through a major on-air news presentation crisis I was going through.
Howatt was the afternoon news anchor at 104.5 CHUM-FM in Toronto, while I was the afternoon news anchor at DC 103.5 in Orangeville, Canada
In my opinion Howatt had the smoothest news presentation on a music radio station with a read that was flawless. He was a pleasure to listen to.
My afternoon newscasts were a disaster. Turning on the microphone turned me into an incredibly anxious person, and I couldn’t make it through a sentence in a news story without tripping over a word or five. Sensing my days were numbered I reached out for help.
Robert Munsch
The kitchen conversation, December 1986
The book
Author and storyteller Robert Munsch released what would become his multi-million selling children’s book Love You Forever in 1986.
It was the 11th book Munsch had published, and it was a drastic change from his silly stories that made kids and their parents laugh.
This book tells the story of the relationship between a young boy and his mother over the course of a number of years.
Munsch told me that adults who read it cried, while elements the story made the young kids laugh.
“Love You Forever, it just came out of some personal experiences … I had some baggage about things that had happened to me that I had carried into that story.”
Robert Munsch
And there was along a sing-along portion to the story that the publishers at the time weren’t crazy about.
He sang it for me and I recorded what I thought at the time was a scoop; in only my second interview ever!
Robert Munsch shared stories about his life, the storytelling process and his travels across Canada where he met a legion of young fans.
The interview was recorded on my portable JVC PC 11 stereo at the kitchen table of his home. His wife was preparing a meal and at least one of his children were in the living-room.
A portion of this interview appeared on a show that was on our college radio station, which at the time broadcast to the cafeteria and the student lounge.
Which portion aired, I can’t remember but I am certain it was not the entire interview.
LISTEN:
Click the play button to listen to my interview with Robert Munsch.
I was in the media room at the 1992 JUNOS on the night Alanis Morissette won the award for Most Promising Female Vocalist and recorded the backstage question and answer session with reporters.
Continue reading “Audio: Alanis Morissette at the 1992 JUNOS”Someone stole my 1990 David Cassidy radio interview and has taken credit for it as their own.
I received a copy of this fraudster’s interview from someone who heard the interview and realized it was mine and let me know.
The fraudster claimed the interview was done in 1990 at a radio station they worked at. While they may have interviewed David Cassidy that year the interview that’s making the rounds on a number of podcast sites is not their interview, but a re-recorded version of mine.
The fraudster edited my interview to make it appear that David Cassidy was a guest on their music show. They deleted my voice and substituted their own, so that David Cassidy appeared to be responding to questions posed by them. Most of the questions they used were mine and word for word, Cassidy’s responses were the one’s he gave to me. Continue reading “Blog: Someone stole my David Cassidy interview”
At the time I thought it was the most amazing TV audition I had produced, and that it would get me a job at a tv station presenting the weather.
My presentation had energy and showed confidence; my tone was conversational; I was engaging . . . and my hair looked fantastic!
At least that’s what I thought in 1987 at the ripe young age of 23.
Watching the video demo tape years later as a “grown up”, I cringe and wonder what I was thinking!
Journalist Cal McAffrey is assigned to cover the murder of an assistant to U.S Congressman Stephen Collins. McAffrey’s investigation about his old friend’s assistant leads to the discovery of a cover-up that involves many prominent Washington D.C. politicians. Continue reading “@themovies State of Play (2009)”
The flu and serious injuries from a car accident didn’t stop Abbie Hoffman from talking for two-and-a-half-hours to an audience at the University of Guelph in September of 1988.
The co-founder of the 1960s counter-culture group the Youth International Party, or Yippies as they were commonly known, had a lot to say.
No surprise, he talked politics. Americans would be electing a President that November in a race that pitted George Bush against Michael Dukakis.
As well he had co-authored, with Jonathan Silvers, An Election Held Hostage which was about to be published in the October edition of Playboy Magazine. The feature discussed the arms for hostage deal and its influence on the Reagan-Carter American presidential election of 1980.
His talk at War Memorial Hall was titled Watergate to Contragate: Criminals in the White House.
Continue reading “Episode 26: Abbie Hoffman, American political activist”
Reporting the news is serious business! Reporters need to cover stories that may provoke a range of emotions from the tragic to the light hearted.
One light hearted story I was assigned to was to cover a preview of a new innovative and interactive game called Virtual Reality that would be appearing at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto Canada in 1992. Continue reading “Assignment: Virtual Reality circa 1992”
Station to Station with Joe Pavia 
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