Tom Bedell: The Journey of a Radio Icon

In this episode of A Chat with Heart, Christina sits down with longtime pal Tom Bedell — radio legend, musician, and one of the kindest souls out there. They talk about his journey in broadcasting, early influences, some of the most memorable interviews he’s done, and how creativity and community keep him going.

Tom opens up about his experience with prostate cancer and how having the right people in your corner can make all the difference. Of course, there are plenty of laughs — everything from wild hypotheticals and ridiculous stories to public run-ins, music memories, and a few nods to East Coast icons (yes, including Anne Murray).

It’s a fun, heartfelt chat about music, storytelling, and the idea that it’s never too late to do what you love.

• Listen to Tom's Music
• Listen to Tom on Q104

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to A Chat with Heart
• 7:00 Welcoming Tom Bedell: A Radio Icon
• 17:42 Memorable Interviews and Experiences in Broadcasting
• 30:06 Personal Reflections on Life and Creativity
• 37:56 Facing Health Challenges: Tom's Cancer Journey
• 43:50 Outrageous Hypotheticals
• 56:36 The Machine Behind Popularity
• 1:00:39 Anne Murray's Impact on Life
• 1:07:36 The Journey of Podcasting and Friendship

Transcript

Christina (00:00.206)
Hey, you're listening to A Chat with Heart. I'm your host, Christina Martin. I'm a singer-songwriter, curious human. I live on a dirt road in rural Nova Scotia with my partner in crime, Dale, and our Calico cat, Olivia. This podcast is basically just me chatting with people I admire. I like to ask questions that feed my curiosity and my guests have all taught me something. They either crack me up or they punch me right in the

If you've got questions, comments, or a burning desire to join the conversation, please call my heartbeat hotline, day or night. It's 1902-669-4769. You can also email me at christinamartinmusicatgmail.com. And if you want to throw a little love my way and help keep this thing going, visit my Patreon page. That's how artists like me get paid. Thanks for showing up. Warning, heartfelt content ahead.

Just talk about

could shine, we could break a dark day If we just talk about it

Christina (01:21.346)
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Whatever time of day it is for you. I am currently enjoying my morning. I've been doing these iced mochas, mocha frappes perhaps. Shout out to my bestie Krista. We both have our own version of a frappe. Mine's basically an iced mocha. I'll tell you how I do it though. I wonder if I've already told you on my podcast. I'll tell you again.

for those of you who missed it. It's so easy. You take a shot of espresso, coffee, decaf, whatever your poison is, and you add a splash of maple syrup or brown sugar, whatever your poison is. And then you add some ice, maybe five ice cubes into a shakeable container. Shake that up, dance around the room to add extra magic to the experience.

And then when that's done, in about two minutes, you just splash your splash of, favorite splash of milk, oat milk. Favorite splash of your favorite milk. my gosh. Clearly I need some more caffeine so that I can speak properly. We had a wonderful weekend. We had a show that was sold out through a platform called Side Door. And this was a beautiful house concert with hosts.

Rebecca Graham and Diana Higgs in Black Point, Nova Scotia. And it was in this beautiful setting. Like they have this structure outside their house, a kind of like a guest house for entertaining. And right by right on the ocean, beautiful. There was a near full moon that night. People brought food to share at the break. It was an early show.

And we played for two sets and then our hosts got up to join us with another guest, Holly Rodden, joined us for two songs. And I just love that kind of show. It's, you know, house concerts. I've been doing them since I started in Texas with my first house concert was at a, for a woman, Amy, who I used to babysit for every weekend. She was a flight attendant.

Christina (03:44.61)
And one day she was like, why don't we do a concert in the backyard and we'll make food and you'll just pass the hat and you keep all the money. And I was like, what, are you serious? And it was, it was great. It was really fun. I've been doing house concerts ever since, so it's been over 20 years. And when they're done well, they never cease to amaze me. And they're easy to do. mean, they're easy in one sense that you just need a space and a bunch of friends.

But it is a lot more work, I feel, for the hosts because we do rely on the hosts to call all their friends and rally their friends to fill the room. so that can be tricky now, getting people away from their devices. But when they do, when they come together in a room to enjoy music together and the company of others, there's nothing that beats that.

That's why we keep playing live. Really. mean, because otherwise we'd just stay home and make music and it'd be such a solitary thing. But it is one of the funnest things is when you do a good show with a great audience and everybody's happy they came out. That feels great. So we have a couple shows coming up I wanted to mention. One is in Lundenberg at the Opera House. I'm so pumped for that.

What I hear is a beautiful venue. I've never performed there. So the Lundenberg Opera House is October 25th, the Saturday. And then we're in New Brunswick, Albert County at Harvey Hall. I love that venue. It's my first time playing there. So we need everyone to come out of the woodwork because it's in the middle of nowhere. An incredible spot, great venue. The Harvey Hall, October 26th. And then I don't have anything on the books after that for a bit, but we're working on some stuff.

Um, and we're also working mostly on new music. I've been writing a lot and you know what, if you're not following me on my Patreon, check it out. You can join as a free member and I update people on tour dates and, and these podcasts episodes. Um, and then if you're a paying member, I've been, uh, I share all the new music and new videos, uh, with my paying members and I've been digging into the archives. Some old demos I just posted.

Christina (06:12.59)
One, some songs that I'd written with Jimmy Rankin, Ron Hines, and a number of other folks, Warren Roberts and Dwight D on Jimmy Rankin. Did I mention Jimmy? Anyway, not to name drop, but I just did. And those demos are precious. And one of those songs, actually, Jimmy ended up recording it with Serena Ryder. But you hear the demos on my Patreon, if you're paying members. Check out my Patreon.

for all the updates. And we're recording this weekend with our friend Jordy Comstock on drums. We're going to try to workshop nine new songs. So I have no idea how they'll come out, where, when, who knows, but we're just playing right now. We're just playing in the studio. Yeah. So, hey, let's talk about today's guest. It's someone I've known and adored.

for years. He's been a real friend. We text, we've shared drinks. I even went to Oktoberfest in Tadamogush with he and his wife, Jennifer Bedell. And I do not go to fests with just anyone. Tom has had me on Route 104 more times than I can count. And Dale and I have even played house concert at his and Jennifer's house.

And we're both aging gracefully, of course. As we age gracefully, Tom and I are getting to know each other more deeply, I think. This conversation was my selfish excuse to corner him for an hour because here's the thing, Tom rarely talks about himself. He's full of great stories. has an incredible history, life, and career focused on, you know, asking other people questions. So unless you really corner Tom and ask him,

He's the kind of person that he wants to know more about you. But, right now he has proven to be the best guest. He's funny. He's kind. He's positive. I've tried with this episode to get Scandalous Stories out of Tom. I know he has them. The most scandalous story was one that involved me, I think, in this episode, which came unexpectedly. So you'll have to keep listening.

Christina (08:34.381)
For those of who don't know Tom Bedell is because you're listening from overseas perhaps Tom Bedell, we've been listening to him for more than 25 years. He's been the unmistakable voice of Q104 Halifax's afternoon drive and the host of Route 104 or Route 104 however you like to say it. When he's not behind the mic he's a singer-songwriter performing around Nova Scotia. We've also unearthed some of his other talents and hobbies in this episode. I am so happy

I can feel the caffeine kicking in now. I am so happy to finally turn the mic on to him for this episode of A Chat with Heart.

Christina (09:18.966)
Welcome to a chat with her podcast. Thank you. I also want to welcome my sidekick for today, who may or may not say much. We don't know. We don't know what to expect. Jennifer Biddell, you're here as well. But you are, you're our live audience. We're here at our home in Port Howe, Nova Scotia. And I have with me, an icon of, of rock radio. Usually you're the one asking me questions.

I'm just here, yeah.

Christina (09:45.506)
and driving the conversation and now I have to do that? Like that's a lot of pressure.

I know nobody ever asked me anything. this is going to be this is going to be cool. And if I'm not crying within 15 minutes, this whole thing's been a failure.

Why did your father leave you when you were four?

Well...

No, but you know what my first question was though? Tell us about your humble beginnings because people don't get to hear all this stuff. I think that's important. A lot of my listeners want to know, hey, where's your person from? Where's your guest from?

Tom (10:12.716)
About you.

Tom (10:19.15)
Well, was St. John New Brunswick and born at a very young age as a Steve Martin joke. But no, I think I could trace it all back to my voice changed before anybody else's in my class. Really? Yeah, it hasn't changed one bit since I was 10, I think. And we had a debate team. grade six, we had a debate team. I stood up in front of people and talked and my voice had changed. And I looked.

people are looking up at me and I could, know, thought, geez, this is a cool feeling. I don't have any great memories of going to church, but they asked me to read one day right around the same age. And I've noticed people like guys dozing off and then sitting up and listening to me. And I just think I realized from an early age that I could talk in front of people. Whoa. Yeah. And I, and the ensuing years when

nothing else was really going for me. I kind of thought, know, hey, you know, this broadcasting thing might actually work. I like reading things. I was a sports fan, so I knew how to pronounce, you know, like shenectady, like all these weird place names and stuff that really ended up helping me later on. And I just thought, you know, I might as well go with this. There's never been a plan B. Never? No, not really.

Ever had stage fright? Did you ever experience like...

I remember once when I was in grade six, I don't know if I've told you about this or not, but there was a, we had like a talent show thing at school and we, there were four of us, like four guys and we were gonna do a number from, we were gonna lip sync a song from Grease, the movie Grease, which was big at the time, back in the late 1900s.

Tom (12:09.382)
And so we all dressed up, we all slicked our hair back and we all, you know, on sunglasses and layer jackets and everything, we all came in. And the person who was supposed to bring the cassette for Grease brought in Saturday Night Fever instead. And so at the last second, what are we doing here? No, this is not, and we ended up lip syncing to a Saturday Night Fever song instead. And I think I was with three of the more popular guys in school. I was not one of those popular guys.

And if I was with different guys, if it would have gone differently, it may have gone absolutely terribly, but it went well. And that was my first time really doing anything stupid in front of people, but I survived it. And I thought, okay, that's not bad. And I've never really had a problem with being in front of people. I've never really had a problem with stage fright or anything like that. I don't know why. I'll focus on what I'm gonna wear, where I'm gonna park.

Anything else. don't know if that's just a coping mechanism or what, but I will worry about that stuff. I'll never worry about what I'm going to say, who's going to be there, how they're going to react. doesn't, that's never bothered me.

you're gonna

Christina (13:19.703)
So let's go, let's hone in on what kind of things do bother you again. said parking.

Yeah, where are you gonna park? Is there free parking? Do I have to go a street? How early do I have to get there? Do these pants look okay? Oh, Okay, no, this belt, this doesn't work. That's the stuff I worry about. And just as a result, I never worry about the job at hand.

And you love your job. you, you've been, you've been in Halifax now for how many years at this particular?

35, well I started the first time I ever went on Q104 would have been 1991. I was working across the hall at CFDR at the time, which was a pop station. And the all night guy, it was about 11 o'clock and they hadn't heard from him. But he was also a low level hash dealer in Halifax and somebody went over to his place.

about an hour or so before he's supposed to go on the air, found the place cleared out and he was gone. I think he had infringed on somebody's territory or something like that. We never heard from him again. And they needed somebody to go on the air like in an hour and said, you're off tonight. Do you want to go on? I've never talked on this radio station before. I've never, yeah, sure. it just, yeah, that's generally every big moment in my life. That's how it's happened. Yeah, I'll do it. Wow. And I went in on the air and I said, oh, wow. Is that the first time I ever heard?

Tom (14:47.502)
I had been an AM guy up until that point. And this is the first time I heard my voice on FM and listened back to it. Yeah, this is it. I can talk like a human being. I can talk, it's more me, I think, than it is, trying to sound enthusiastic about Whitney Houston or whatever it was in 1990, 91, that sort of thing.

So was there something like at your house growing up or your or either your parents? Do they have this kind of a gift as well? I think it's a gift.

Mom always had a love of music. She still loves music and I play music for her every chance I get. So she really loved music. My dad had a really good voice. Dad had this really deep voice. And I think he always kind of harbored some sort of ambition to go on the radio. I think he would have been really good at it. So I think he kind of envied me a little in that way to hear me go on the radio.

talk like that. yeah, I think that's that's that's and he had a beautiful sense of humor as well. So it was all I think I kind of got a little of each of their their personalities. dad could tell a story. Dad could spin a yarn. Dad could and and you know, it's funny looking at like on YouTube, you'll see old clips of Johnny Carson come up and they're talking with you know, old

Were they storytellers as well?

Tom (16:18.144)
and like Walter Mathauer, Jack Lemmon will tell a joke. And I remember dad telling me that exact same joke, like word for word. And he would save up jokes, like he would save up and some really elaborate jokes a lot of times. he really practiced that, he really crafted them. So I think that's...

Yeah, a really great work ethic as far as that went. yeah, he was a storyteller. He could really, and his father too, my grandfather was just, he was a character like growing up during the war and all these stories that these horrible jokes that you would get. yeah, so I mean, how could that not be passed along to myself and my brother?

My dad used to save up jokes that Johnny Carson would, or just little bits and things. I remember there was one, and I'm gonna butcher this, it had to do with Dolly Parton was on his show and maybe it wasn't Dolly, was a female, it was an actress and she had a, maybe it was Sophia Loren, who knows? She had a cat on her lap and she turned to Johnny and said, would you like to pet my pussy? And Johnny said, sure, if you'll just move the cat.

And my dad, he'd mess up to all that like when he was drinking and I like probably 20 times to me and I thought that is really funny. yeah, for sure. Well, I wanted to try to pick your, your experiences, in like most memorable kind of interviews. and I was going to ask you about the most terrifying interview, but it doesn't sound like you had any fear about that kind of thing or were you.

It was a simpler time. Yeah. Yeah.

Christina (18:05.12)
ever intimidated or nervous or scared, you know, at, because you were a huge fan of somebody or just scared of somebody.

Well, it's funny that I think about that. I've been doing Route 104 where, I think you may have been my most frequent guest over the years. Really? Yeah, I think so.

you're going to say the most terrified. Jennifer, you can speak up my co-host today.

Well, there's a kitty on your table.

Olivia, that's our cat, muted calico. Now if she gets into the booze.

Jennifer (18:38.796)
Stay away from my dream.

The cheese is gone. think that's a big no end to here comes day. Pop is coming. Producer. Cat chaser.

Bill's coming. Papa's not happy. We're gonna keep this Olivia. Now you go play with your twisted...

So does she make an appearance on every podcast?

No, that was just because most of the podcasts we don't do in person that were they're done remotely and she might make an appearance, but no, this is unique. This is very special. Yeah. Well, how do you feel comfortable so far? We're all sitting cross legged as if we're the best, most flexible yogi yoga, yoga practitioners, practicers. you guys do? good. Tom.

Tom (19:12.302)
This is

Jennifer (19:23.682)
Yogis. yoga? I do yoga.

I'm not as bendy as I would like to think I am, but the few times I have done it, I love the stretching. I really enjoyed that.

When you went into this position, Ray, I was impressed.

I'm gonna do this every day now. I'm gonna get them to put a nice couch in there. And I think I'm gonna just I just I love this position. This is great. I usually stand I usually stand when I'm doing we have the board that's kind of high so I can stand up and it's kind of fun to look out at the Windsor Street exchange. It really is and it's kind of nice to just to stand up and you get more wind that way I think.

Nice view.

Christina (20:00.96)
It's more ergonomical, isn't that how, isn't that the same? It's just better for you to stand, sitting is the killer, the new killer. It's not the new killer, it's probably an old killer, but okay, so back to, I'm not your most terrifying interview, but I may be, are you serious? Maybe the most frequent? I think so. Am I the filler?

So yeah

Tom (20:15.637)
No

Tom (20:20.59)
I'm happy. You're baby. You're my favorite. That's fun. I think the reason I'm saying that is because I've done... I'm to put together the number of interviews that I've done and I've been doing Route 104 for 25 years now. Like it started in 2000. So that's 50 shows a year, 50 interviews a year I would do with that. That's 1,250 interviews like right there.

And the filler.

That's really kind of you to

You're in my house and you're

Tom (20:48.814)
That's just for Route 104. That's just East Coast musicians Sunday at nine o'clock. But then the number of other interviews I've done, big acts that would come to Halifax, to the Maritimes, that's probably looking around 2000 interviews.

Sunday.

Christina (21:08.0)
And did any of those people make you nervous?

I've got some that I'd like to have back. got some that I'd like to have back. think the only one that I've been, I remember years and years ago when CBC, as it happens, I think when Michael Enright was leaving and they asked him what his worst interview was and he said, Mickey Rooney, actor Mickey Rooney. And then I think it was about 20 years ago, guess who was coming to Halifax? Mickey Rooney is coming to Halifax and he's an actor. I mean, why in the name of

God, is he gonna, and somebody calls and my boss, J.C. Douglas, he says, Mickey Rooney wants to come in for an interview. And I immediately thought back to the Michael Renright thing and why for one thing, because he was about 200 years old at the time and he was always an old crank. And so obviously I said, yeah, sure, bring him in.

Yeah, and he was funny. I still remember him coming in and I remember looking down. there's the cars coming in. There is a little hat and his wife coming in there. His wife knew all the details of the show and he's playing in at the casino at Casino Nova Scotia came in and we talked for about and I hey, how you doing and within five minutes he's talking about these movies from the 40s and I've got to go on live soon and I have no idea. I have no idea what he's talking about. I'm just letting him go and everything everything went fine.

It wasn't terrifying necessarily, but it was just like, what the hell am I doing here? Kind of interview. And he was fine. He passed away a few years later, I think. But he was doing another interview that day at station across the hall. And apparently that didn't go so well. Apparently that So I think I got him at the right time. So I think that it was okay. And we moved along from there. But I don't know if that was terrifying, but it was just like.

Christina (23:00.926)
It isn't go. It wasn't fun.

wasn't really a lot of fun, but I've got a few that I'd like to have back where I think...

Yeah, let's talk about them. Most fun interviews was, or, or, most fun. Yeah. Let's go with most fun for now.

Yeah, well for one thing, even as far as an interview, I don't really consider it an interview. I'm just having conversations with somebody. You've got a show coming up, we'll work that in, we'll talk about the new album. You've got a cool story about so and so, we can do that. So it's always just a conversation and every time, I remember years and years ago, when I'm still relatively new, Hugh Dillon of the Headstones and of... I like him. Yeah, he was in...

Jennifer Bedell

Tom (23:42.112)
Hugh Dillon from Flash. Thank you. That's not good to have that. But he said, you know, I really like that. Like we're just talking. We're not question number one. We're not doing that. We're just talking. We'll get all the points in. We'll get all that stuff. It's like you do here. It's just a conversation. That's all you're doing. It's not 60 minutes. You're not.

Flashpoint.

Nice. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer.

Christina (24:09.834)
except I did print out because I wanted to ask you just a bunch of random weird questions. can't remember anything. So I did actually print out question number three. Have you ever left an interview angry?

Ha!

Christina (24:28.942)
emotional. I'll throw in some other words that...

Yeah, I don't I mean I'm doing music interviews. mean, I mean how weird is it gonna get, you know?

Well, you know, somebody may have just shared something really personal or sad in their life when depressed you or no, none of that. Keep it up. Keep it up.

I tried to and well I talked to Jimmy Vaughn years ago. Jimmy Vaughn, a great guitar player. Stevie Ray Vaughn's brother. For some reason at the end of it, it was just a phone interview and I asked him, did you ever feel overshadowed by your brother, Stevie Ray Vaughn? You know, who had passed away like...

maybe a couple of years earlier. he kind of pauses for a minute. And I said immediately, thought, God, he's been asked this question 5,000 times before. He said, well, do you have a brother? And said, yeah, well, you know, it's kind of a weird kind of, and he was really nice. But I thought, I'd like to have that back. I'd like to have, yeah, it was a little awkward. And there are a few of those, but there's never really been any.

Tom (25:36.462)
You're not going to get a huge bombshell. mean, Alice Cooper's got a new album out. Where do you expect him to hear? And he's lovely, by the way. Alice Cooper is one of the nicest. Remembers everything. Little Stephen Van Zandt, Springsteen's guitar player is another one. Just about everybody that I've talked to has been. I find that the longer people have been doing it. You talked to Aerosmith and Neil Young and Iron Maiden.

you know, lot of the longer people have been doing it, the better they are.

The nicer they probably have learned a lot.

Yeah, you see a lot of like anytime you get sort of attitude from people is when you're there does the upcoming bands and they don't really quite know how to play the game yet. But at the same time, the people, the pros, like the real pros, they're they're they're they're on it.

I remember talking in university with my friends about just about, you know, being an asshole. We were not, but I mean, just saying like, you know, but people you meet sometimes and we all, remember the conversation was basically like in the merit times, you just, you won't keep any friends if you're an asshole. Like you, will learn quite quickly. It's, this isn't going to work for you in, in life and university or whatever it, it's just so.

Christina (26:58.156)
You lose that if you want to stick around and have friends.

yeah, it's a very small community. Like it's a very small and if people don't want to work with that, I find that people, know, at least with radio people, their legacy, the legacy is not, know, he was the best announcer ever. He was the best, she was the best announcer ever. She was great at this. If you're an asshole, you know, they're not going to say that. They're going to say, geez, they were great to work with. It was so much fun working with them. It so much.

It was great having them around. That's what people are gonna remember much more than really your abilities as an announcer or whatever it is, but are you gonna be a good hang? That's what people are gonna remember. Yeah, that's true. That's the legacy you're gonna learn.

That's true. Well, we really like to lean in on the positive experiences on a chat with our podcast. And I wanted to ask you if you've ever received death threats or hate mail at work.

I've been pretty lucky. I've I've had people, you know, with radio, it's pretty immediate. Like if you say something that pisses somebody off, like the phone is right there, you know? Really? Yeah. That's what we want to e-board. of those. I've had, the keyboard, now it's different now. It's different, yeah.

Christina (28:15.906)
Yeah, come on, give us some examples. You don't have to name names.

Yeah, no, I just, think just in the interest of trying to be edgy, I would say something, you know, even if you turn off the microphone, God, I shouldn't have said that. Yeah. You know, and yeah, and it's live like you're, doing it live. You're, doing the, stuff and it's a little bit different now that you have, no, I mean, used to be, if he, he had said something regrettable,

You just set it and it just kind of goes off into the air. Like unless it was something really, really bad, it generally disappears. I find mostly now if you're going to do anything regrettable, it's posting something online, you know, like posting something in the name of the radio station, whatever. And that's when stuff really catches fire. I've had a couple of those over the years.

Can you like do you remember any?

Do you wanna talk about it though?

Christina (29:08.822)
Yeah, do you want to talk about it? Am I not picking up on the...

yeah, I don't really.

Jen, do you have any?

I'm not,

Oh no, I don't want to bring it. don't want to do it anymore.

Christina (29:19.054)
We to stay positive here.

and learned. But yeah, think, you know, you just try to be edgy sometimes and sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, I've got kind of an offbeat, dry sense of humor sometimes, which doesn't necessarily come across. It doesn't necessarily hit the target. I think I've gotten a little bit better at realizing the things you stay away from. that's, and that's part of that's it. Stuff changes all the time. The stuff that people find funny.

That's all.

It was just one minute.

Christina (29:44.834)
Yeah, I understand.

Tom (29:51.862)
is constantly changing. The stuff that people find humorous or, know, it may be different than what you, you you're going to try to keep up on things. yeah.

I suppose also if you're you know, known as a comedian, even though you have a sense of humor, think sometimes comedians like that's part of their job is to like, you know, point things out that are happening in real life and do it in such a way that really gets your attention and gets people talking. But if you're not a comedian and you're saying those things, even if you are joking and trying to make a point or you're, you know, being super sarcastic, that's when you could really get into trouble. So.

Yeah, no, especially if you're doing it live. Yeah, like there's there's no net like there's really no safety net. So yeah, you got to be cognizant.

Totally, totally, not total, totally. Do you have guilty food pleasure?

Yeah, no, I've no guilt. I've no guilt whatsoever. No, I love it. I love it all.

Christina (30:51.534)
There's nothing you're embarrassed that you like. Like I just, new, my latest treat and my cat shares this love with me as well, I think is sardines and dates at the same time. I'm not really ashamed of it either, but it's really yummy. The salt and the sweet.

wow!

Tom (31:12.846)
contrast. Yeah.

I love sardines. I don't love dates, but together it works.

Yeah, like the canned sardines, like the really salty, oily... of course, yeah.

Yeah, they're so good for you too. Yeah, so is there any, maybe not guilty, but like something that most people deem disgusting that you're like,

Well, I always found that whenever we'd order a pizza, would make sure I got green olives on it just because I I was going to get the majority of the pizza. Really? nobody else would go anywhere near a green olive. I'm pro green olive. You've sort of come, we've gone to Europe a little bit more. olives, because the olives over there are totally, they're not as salty. They're not the little, the black olives, they're not the little tires that you get over here for most of it.

Tom (32:01.71)
They're more fruity and stuff. So I'm more, I'm an olive guy. You're coming around in the.

Yeah, the European olives are good. They don't taste like chalk. Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. So you're, you're a supporter of this habit of this. Yeah. Obviously you're a music fan, but you also love performing yourself and it's really good at it. And you are really good at it. And we've, we've done some duets and, and we're gonna, we're gonna write a song together.

I will tolerate.

Jennifer (32:29.368)
It's really good.

Tom (32:36.206)
Yeah

Yeah, you've been sending me some of your songs, which I deemed, don't like, I just don't need to touch them really. You're a really great songwriter. Is there anywhere that, I don't even know the answer to this. Can people listen to the songs that you write on anywhere on

I throw a sound cloud thing. I've got it. I'll send you a link for that. I've got a few of those there. I've producing downstairs. You know, I don't have the elaborate setup that you have here. it's great.

It's not that elaborate. Is that something that you would like to do more of? particularly like, what if, mean, God forbid you would have to go off the air someday. I hope that never happens. But is that the kind of thing you'd like to see yourself doing just more? yeah.

Yeah, I think so. started doing this, I think it's about 15 years ago I started doing this. don't know, I always had these kind of milestone things. When I turned 30, I started playing hockey. When I turned 40, I started playing music. When I turned 50, I started painting. So, and with the painting thing, I love the painting and it's the same side of the brain you use for songwriting. So I find that when I start painting something, I'll start coming up with song ideas. And when I start coming, when I writing a song,

Tom (33:50.382)
I will, geez, I look good, and I start painting. So I think it's the same creative outlet. It all comes from the same sort of play.

my gosh. Well, just, have an idea for you. I think you should apply for a Canada council grant to do, to develop a series of songs and your paintings. So simultaneously. So I will a hundred percent help you get that all together so you can submit to that. You should do that. Yeah, we need to find you an arts grant so that you can tap into that. my God.

Let's this podcast more often.

Christina (34:26.442)
I didn't know you were- I didn't know you painted!

I don't, it's just, don't, you know, it's fun. This is before, just before Christmas 2019, the girls got me like this beginner painter kit kind of thing. So I'm never gonna use that. And then three months later, the world turns off and well, I can't leave the house anymore. So I'm gonna start painting. Basically that's what it was. Yeah.

Yeah. You heard it. Like he's very humble about it, right? Doesn't want to break. So can we back up a little bit to the songwriting? Yes. Talk about how one of his songs made the charts in Sackville, Nova Scotia.

Yeah, let's talk about that. And even if it's just you, Jennifer, telling us about it, cause I don't, now you're getting nervous.

shrinking into

Christina (35:07.83)
Yeah, you never get nervous, do you? Come on.

Well this is all, no, no, this is all. Well tell us about that. I love doing it. I just clam right

Is it CIOE, the charts?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I on CIO week. Shout I wish it was Casey Kays and a drunkard from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. wish it was that. St. John River. That was the name of it. know, and earlier on today I was playing songs for some seniors at a place in town and

Love.

Christina (35:31.544)
What's the song title?

Tom (35:44.75)
Play a Ron Hines song from Newfoundland. I'll play a rank and song from Cape Breton. There's no new Brunswick songs till now Yeah, that's because I thought we needed one. So yeah, I played that everybody enjoyed it

You're next.

Christina (35:57.792)
And do you have a painting to go with that one? seems like it. not yet. The obvious. That's the thing. What like, is there a style of painting that you do?

Next page.

Tom (36:07.242)
Impressionist, think? Is it impressionist? mean, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't even know what impressionist... Who is an impressionist?

I don't know. I just I don't even know if that's a word. I don't know if that's

We need a fact checker.

He does Tom Bedell

Tom (36:22.062)
That's it. I'm the best Tom Bedell

It's hard to label yourself though. for years people ask me, what's, know, what's the value? And I just ended up saying, well, you know, it's singer songwriter. pick your album. It's going to be a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but it's really, it is kind of hard to pinpoint sometimes.

Column A, a little from Column B. Little Column C every once in a while there too.

But if it's just a painting where it's just like white, you guys should be a minimalist. anyway.

Ghost in a Snowstorm.

Tom (36:53.816)
Don't even take the rafter, the wrapper off the canvas. Yeah, just it right in there.

I love that every so often you're like, I'm going to learn this new thing. just think so often people are like, I'm getting older. Oh, it's too late. Oh, I don't have to. I'm like, no, it's never too late. And I pulled this out at my show the other day. I had a list of names like, oh geez, forget it. Is it Diane Nyage who swam from Cuba to Miami at 64 and Charles Bukowski, I think he published his first novel.

I wanna say 39 or 49, but still, and then Morgan Freeman first breakthrough acting role at age 50. there was, know, KFC, I think he was like 63 or something when he started that company and the McDonald's guy, 52. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is listeners, little heartbeat listeners, that's what I call them. It's never too late, get off your ass and just go do something. Something that you might find fun.

Life is short, Life is really short. Life is too short to not do the things you wanna do. it doesn't have to be the best. I'm trying to be the world's okayest singer songwriter. That's really it. mean, I'm not, know, painting, I just do this. I like this. I like doing this. That's really, that's all there is to it. Do what you wanna do. Nobody's stopping you.

Life's short, right, Tom? Hell yeah. Segway into, da da, the big C. Last year. that's right. You forgot, I'm here to remind you. No, but last year you had like a, it was last year you were diagnosed with.

Tom (38:25.634)
Yeah, yeah.

Tom (38:32.792)
Yeah, I had the prostate cancer and I got off early. got off easy. I really did. They got it early enough and a lot of people aren't so lucky. yeah, I just kind of noticed I was peeing a little bit more than normal and mentioned it to the doctor, which is totally unlike me. I would just forget about it.

early.

Tom (38:59.622)
I mentioned it to him. said, no, okay, we'll get, we'll check your PSA. It's just a matter of checking something off on your, blood work. Just get, you know, go for the regular blood work. And, yeah, it came back a little high and then just, well, you you got, got the prostate cancer. Yeah. Well, then you go for a couple more, you go for a biopsy and then you go for the, the scans and everything like that. And then, yeah, well, you know, you could have radiation. You could have it out in the surgery and have it out, or you could even just leave it if you want.

just from the blood work?

Christina (39:29.944)
What did you opt for?

surgery. Just because I couldn't leave it. I mean, obviously I couldn't... and it's gone.

See ya. Does one, listen, I don't know. Does one, I asked my doctor once if I had a prostate. I don't even know what it does. Like, does one need one? Is it like an appendix?

Yeah.

Certainly not. It's like an appendix, I think.

Tom (39:48.704)
It's kind of like that. It's one of these things. Why do you even have this? it's, yeah, it does a few things, but it's, you're also pretty susceptible to the, yeah, just the tiny little thing, but they took it out and yeah, the recovery was going fine, but then I got an infection. So I was in the for a week and that wasn't great. But it's gone. Really? It's gone. Yeah.

Was that worse than the all the other things about it? 100 times worse. complications from it.

Yeah, was terrible. mean, like it was just an overnight thing for the surgery. Like you're in, you're out. You come home and that's fine. But then watching TV when I just, oh no, what's that? You just feel this awful pain and it was like sepsis. something like that. into the ER in the middle of the night.

Did you have a cancer card? They actually have a yellow cancer card. Yeah, you got to get one. could make you one, but it might not hold up. Bring it to the ER and they, it's a bump the line kind of thing.

I should get one of those.

Jennifer (40:47.372)
You gotta go ask.

Jennifer (40:51.49)
Do have to hand it in though after you?

Tom (40:57.102)
Do you get discounts and stuff? Yeah, like Wendy's or something.

I don't know. Maybe certain Wendy's. Maybe certain Wendy's. yeah, so you didn't get one of those? You not have it.

I think I'm one of those. I feel shit. Well, I didn't have to get it again. No, just no, maybe not. But no.

Let's not.

Okay, no, we don't want it. But were you ever scared? Did that scare you?

Tom (41:23.318)
I really had good people around me. really had good, know, and plus, you know, it doesn't, that type of cancer doesn't spread quickly. So, you know, but you still had to get it and we got it early enough. but even the recovery, was just my girls were just the best. were just angels and they just lifted me right back up. And it was, yeah, having good people around you really is.

That can't be... You can never underestimate that. It's just the greatest thing to have good people around you. And I certainly do. And I'm so lucky. So lucky.

the reason you have good people around you is because you're good people.

Well, thank you. like to, I'm doing my best. Yeah. Doing my best.

So just one more question about that. So I don't have a prostate though, right? Do I?

Tom (42:18.371)
We cross.

Okay. Nobody in this room has a prostate.

No, no. Dale, you still have... You too! What about Olivia? Does she have a prostate? Olivia?

He has mine, he got my old one.

Tom (42:32.135)
She has some cheese, but I know if that's...

She might grow one now. I'm really glad that that went well because I really like you being healthy and being around. Thank you. Yeah. yes. Yeah. Right. how it's, yeah. Do people like, do people like it's sounds, I don't know how this sounds, but you survived cancer.

I don't even

No, we like to this. No. Dude, you survived. You're a cancer survivor now. are.

I am, yeah. yeah, yeah. pretty cool, No, it's a pretty good, I'd rather 2025 than 1975. I think the way everything has come, I mean, was just robots. Robots did the surgery. They got the robots that go in and take the thing out and. they were humans. They were kind of showing the robot where to go. No Yeah, like the little, yeah.

Christina (43:22.574)
Really? There were no humans involved?

Christina (43:29.774)
The Roomba? just let your-

He hoovers the prostate right out of there.

They're like, do you have one of these at home? We need you to bring it in when you come in.

And you gotta empty it up. gotta, you know, you gotta recharge. Make sure you recharge the thing too, because you don't want that breaking down halfway through. What happened?

We need to recharge this back at the house. it in here. Yeah. my god. okay.

Tom (43:53.886)
Yeah, the cancer Roomba.

Tom (43:59.576)
Well, that's the, yeah, yeah. Yeah. this is going exactly how I thought it was.

You

Christina (44:05.722)
Good. I think it's going great. mean, the fact that we're all here is a gift. Well, if you thought that was fun. I do have another list of outrageous hypotheticals to throw at you. there's something else important that you wanted to know.

Yes, it

Tom (44:23.459)
no, no, I'm sure it'll come to me, but outrageous hypotheticals, that's what I'm all about.

Okay. And this is another reason why I had to print out my questions. Uh, there's no way I could remember these. Okay. If you could replace your radio mic with any household object, Roomba aside, what would it be and why? I'm assuming that what I mean by this is you're at work. You're at work hypothetically and you have to replace, you're at gunpoint. You have to replace your microphone with a household object. What would that object?

I suppose like the mixing spoon, that would be the obvious, yeah, yeah. looks like a, yeah, yeah, doesn't carry as well as the microphone, I don't think. Yeah.

replacement just because it looks like a

Christina (45:07.97)
Well, safe answer.

The TV remote.

TV remote. Yeah, keep our dog from eating it.

You can also say, let's move on.

Yeah, let's move on. Let's move on. It'll come to me later though. On the way home, I will come up. Yeah, yeah, halfway down the dirt road here I'll be, you know.

Christina (45:25.472)
Yeah, you're gonna like five

Damn it. No problem. You can always just send me a voice note and we'll edit that in. If aliens tune into Q104, what song would you play first to represent humanity?

Well, Raid Our Love by Golden Earring, Dale, yes sir. Dale knows what's up.

I'm hearing the background.

If you had to interview a ghost, which one would you book?

Tom (45:56.382)
Casper

You'd be able to conjure one up here. yeah, yeah, that's coming.

Okay. Wait, oh yeah. So basically, doesn't have to be a famous ghost. I guess just somebody who's dead.

just somebody who's dead? Okay, okay.

Have you ever gotten to talk to Prince or Bowie?

Tom (46:21.514)
No, do have a... I keep all my old day timers and I've got one from the 90s and I had an interview scheduled with Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon, the lead singer of Blind Melon. And I think he died the day before we were set to do the interview. So, yeah. I don't know if he'd be top of the list, but that would be somebody that... Keith Moon would have been fun. Keith Moon would have been...

Well, in this scenario, you can book him. We can get him.

Oh, I can get them. We can get them. We can them temporarily unavailable. I've been dead since 1978. no, we it out.

problem

Christina (47:04.43)
If you weren't on the radio, what's the most ridiculous job you probably would be doing? already know the music you want to, pretend music's out of the question.

Forget it. I that's ridiculous enough.

Tom (47:17.646)
The most ridiculous thing would be something involving numbers, like something involving any sort of math, like any sort of... I remember my dad teaching me how to do income tax, like my income tax back in the 80s. you know, he worked in finance, like he worked at a few credit... and just the simplest tasks. You put that in there? Okay, good.

could you like math or-

Thank you.

Tom (47:44.566)
No, that's not, and it was a whole afternoon. I've never felt, no, just, can, who, nobody does that. Yeah, we're in big trouble.

So who does your taxes?

Jennifer is raising her hand here on the couch.

I think Baron von Quick Tax takes care of the whole thing. Something involving numbers.

Okay, okay, so I won't be asking you to help with my bookkeeping.

Tom (48:10.178)
I don't think, yeah, yeah, you'd be deported. You know, where I've no idea,

Probably the States, because that's where I was born. It all comes out in a chat with heart.

yeah, that's right too.

born in New Brunswick?

Sorry. I'm sorry to mislead you. No, I grew up there though. did grow. I spent, was probably eight months when we moved back there. But,

Jennifer (48:32.504)
could you legally live in the US now? Yeah. Because you were born there.

Yeah, I did. Lived in Austin and worked there, yeah. But I moved back here for a reason when I lived in Texas for a bit, because it's, Atlantic Canada is kind of hard to stay away from, and the people. Austin is great. We did go back recently and we did some dog sitting and some songwriting and some hanging out with friends. And it was amazing. You know, when people say like,

So's Austin, I love Austin.

Christina (49:02.67)
don't know if they say this about Halifax. it's changed. And people say that about Austin, but I, I guess it has changed for lots of obvious reasons and the places evolve buildings, new buildings go up and you know, precedents change and blah, blah. But, there's the gems are still there and there's still the same vibe and energy I felt when I first moved there.

Keep Austin weird. Is it still weird? There's gotta be some weirdness there.

Yeah, for sure. Good. Yeah, there's still weirdos there. Yeah. Hey, listen, if you had your own walk-on music every time you entered a room, what would it be?

Probably the music from Benny Hill. Like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

Is that copyrighted? we need to pass that?

Tom (49:57.848)
No, don't even, yeah, yeah, Benny Hill Estate is gonna want their...

I love that. If you could only speak in radio jingles or you could only communicate through air guitar, which would you choose?

wow. See, we should have had this question earlier. Like this is the

Yeah, what's now?

I do remember being a, in grade 12, Simon's High School in St. John had a Air Band Championship. So yeah. What? Air Band. And there were like four or five bands. We won, my, there were five of us and we were an Iron Maiden Air Band. Like we built a whole set and everything, an Iron Maiden in the eighties.

Christina (50:40.439)
Okay.

They had these elaborate stage sets, so we did the whole thing. And I was the lead guitar player in the Iron Maiden Air Band.

How did you, how did this work? It's all like just, are you, you.

Yeah, lip syncing and yeah, I was the Adrian Smith of... Nothing plugged in. No, no, had instruments and we had a drum kit and everything like that. Nothing was plugged in. Nobody had any musical talent whatsoever. But this is like the first couple of years of much music. So you saw the videos and you exactly what was the moves to make and everything. I had like a...

We have guitarism sets.

Tom (51:25.912)
Gibson Explorer kind of thing. And it looked really cool. We won the competition. We didn't win the city wide comp. It ended up being a whole city wide thing where they had like 2000 people show up at the trading convention center, all the winners from different schools. And I the winner came, it was a new edition. Remember new edition? Yeah, they ended up winning those bastards. But, I've never quite forgotten this, but

Remember.

Tom (51:55.918)
Yeah, so air guitar, very, very important part of my life right there. the same- there- No, I really hope no, that's been burned, I think.

Video of this.

Jennifer (52:06.978)
There is a video live band though. Yeah. In high school.

Shame.

There's video of me actually, I was on Reach for the Top in high school. remember Reach for the Top.

I think so. were on there.

I was, yeah, and my school, was the first game we had won in like a decade. And I went on a, I went on a run. I answered like five ABBA questions in a row and five questions about Poland. we won. Yeah. don't know. Poland was hot back.

Christina (52:39.49)
Is this your back? this your heritage? you Polish? Do you have an ancestry?

Irish. Weirdo.

Tom (52:47.938)
No, it's all pretty boring. It's all pretty North Atlantic, Scottish, British. You know, I was hoping for something cool, but no. We went through the whole DNA thing and there was nothing.

I did that too. It wasn't, it was more because my dad kept telling us like, you're this, you're that, you're really, we're related to Louis Real. And then it turns out none of it was true. And we're all just French, we're French Acadian with a hint of Welsh. But dad would say, yeah, we're indigenous. when then one year he'd say we're German. And they just wanted to set the record straight.

I'm related to Pierre Burton. Uh, and I'm really, think Bliss Carmen, who's another like really, really prominent New Brunswick author. Yeah. Is it? Oh, no, no, no. Okay. No, anyway. I mean, that's a couple of luminaries on my bloodline there. But yeah, not nothing as far as any, I was hoping for something, you know, something under something.

Are you? Yeah.

Christina (53:34.03)
Cool. Are these people still alive?

Christina (53:45.051)
No, that's really cool.

Tom (53:54.39)
way back, no, it's all pretty, it's all pretty white bread. But here we are, you know.

Here we are and now you're on a chat with heart podcast.

You put the sheets down there. Are we done? You've turned over, you've folded?

I've turned over, I skipped some. I could go back to them. I skipped some cause I thought, you know what? Not appropriate. Read the room, Christina.

We really so what?

Jennifer (54:16.942)
want to know what's not appropriate.

Okay, now you're asking. What's the strangest thing someone has yelled at you in public for?

I'm sorry about that.

Marlott

I was presenting an award. I was presenting an ECMA a few years ago. You were there for that. Jennifer? Yeah, I

Christina (54:43.374)
Stop yelling at her.

And I, you know, video, I forget what it was, what the award was for, but I get up and I, Tom Biddell from Q104, and this woman yells, marry me!

That was you remember me I always yell that

It might have been you. It was probably you! You were there! All the time!

It was definitely me, I yelled at all- I yelled at a Joe Plaskets show the other day while I sitting next to my husband, I yelled at three times.

Jennifer (55:15.214)
would yell that to him. Yes. Sorry.

I'm sure it was me. This was it? Okay. See, we're getting somewhere now. Now we're getting somewhere. What's next?

Good.

Christina (55:24.436)
This is good. What's a song you secretly hate but have to pretend to like?

This is a whole other podcast. We're gonna do a part two. We're do Yeah

New birth two.

He has a list.

Can you even, would you even say, would you admit?

Tom (55:41.346)
No, I wouldn't because I'm probably going to play it four times on Monday. Yeah. No, it's, mean, it's, you know, it's, it's all subjective, but I have years that I'm not really crazy about.

Yeah.

Christina (55:50.186)
I know.

Christina (55:55.168)
Yeah, but are you at least, cause I can like, I don't like that song. can appreciate that person's like, or those, those musicians are good at what they do, but I just don't like the song. don't like that. That happens a lot for me. I'm just, I'm like, I'm.

You know what? I was never a Bob Seeger fan. Okay. And I grew up in East St. John. Everybody loved Bob Seeger. Played Bob Seeger on the radio all the time now. Too many beards. Everybody had a beard. I just couldn't... I've kind of softened my stance on this a little bit, but everybody had beards and I thought this... Jethro Tull was the same thing. Somebody shaved for God's sake.

You know, but I guess.

Don't get him started on ZZ Top.

yeah, that's a commitment there.

Tom (56:46.36)
But yeah, as far as songs, that's harder. I could give you a list, but I...

I Like, I won't read it. You could share that list on tech. We can tag.

Yeah, we will have to do that. We'll have to but I mean, I appreciate it. Somebody everybody likes it. I mean, yeah These are all very popular songs and they're popular for a reason people love them. I'm not gonna you know

Hey, is it true though that songs are popular always because people like them or is it also true that some songs are just popular because they are pushed by a machine of money? Is that true? Or is it always because the song's amazing?

There's songs that are pushed through, they don't necessarily stand the test of time. There are a lot of them, they're pushed through and it's like, yeah, nobody remembers that. Nobody remembers. There are also songs that, I mean, the best songs are a lot of times, but people you've never heard of. I love hearing songs like that, these songs that kind of slip through the cracks.

Jennifer (57:51.086)
Christina Martin. Have you heard of her?

If I had a penny.

No, the machine, who knows? But the machine, the machine's not always right. The machine is not, you know, yeah, it's not always right.

There's no Benny's anymore.

Christina (58:09.678)
I'm glad to hear you say that.

That's all I wanted from this chat. Yeah. It is the validation. Yeah. So we're going to play some games tonight, including drawing without dignity. The green reflectors have a game, a board game on their new album Bonsha 500 and they've got little pieces here for it's a four player game. That's there's four of us. And look at that. It's like, what does that remind you of?

ladders. Life are the ladders.

Yeah, and there's some racing rules and then use the record, the actual record as a spinner.

What could possibly go wrong? I'm going to choke on the record or one of the spinners or.

Christina (58:51.254)
I don't know, I don't know but...

Yeah, yeah, what's actually I don't know if it has like a limited an age like a maximum age after 50 you can't play this it's too dangerous above eight under 50

After 50 after four drinks. Kyle and Erin, the green green reflectors.

We love them. They're also on the podcast. I can't remember what episode, super entertaining. brought, they were sitting at this table here to my right with us and they brought a bunch of, they brought some puppets. Hand puppets? No, they were, know, like marionettes, sorry. Marionettes. And some, the marionettes had like drums. There was also, you know what, just go listen to the episode and then.

You'll know where I'm talking. Yeah. Why didn't you guys bring, what did you bring? You did. You brought some homebrew. You should definitely offer some of that homebrew to James Mullinger next time you hang out with him.

Tom (59:43.468)
Why didn't we bring Mary? Who's the god? Yeah, good point. One?

Yeah, from Padilla State.

Fidelis did.

Jennifer (01:00:01.582)
I'd love to hang out with you. I like you.

You like the James Bond-

Oh, we love him. We're huge fans here. He's playing at the Rebecca Cohen in April. And I'm so bummed because we're going to be in Europe on tour, but you have to go. you guys should definitely go. Yeah. He's amazing. Yeah. Okay. But he's in Halifax. Yeah. No. Yeah. Were you going to say something else, Jennifer?

go. Let's go.

Tom (01:00:19.766)
St. John. Yep.

Yeah, but yeah, yeah, well, not he's not from Sage.

Jennifer (01:00:30.498)
Well, I mean, this is the Tom Vidal. no, Mullinger. The first time I'd ever heard of him was a bit he did about the shopping mall where I spent my youth. Yeah. So that was pretty cool.

No, don't worry

Christina (01:00:42.922)
No way. That is cool. Wait, there was another story that I'd like, I want you to share. and don't worry, we'll get back to you, Tom. know you're already the anger that you're projecting towards Jennifer right now is just, I mean,

She's firm.

I wouldn't take the spotlight this time.

No, no, but this is good. This is a chat with her. This is how things can go. Yeah. Yeah. When people bring their partners to the chat. Anne-Marie has had a big impact on your life. And you know, Dale's auntie is Anne and she's got a new record out. And she's, yep, she was here not long ago singing in that other room with her daughter, Langstroth. Okay. So tell us about Anne.

I'm nervous. The fact that I'm in the same house where Anne Murray was like, anyway. Yeah, she was huge, huge part of my childhood. When I was about six years old, my father came home with this new album. Let's keep it that way. parents loved the song. I started listening to it first, really the first music I'd been exposed to. And I just, loved it. I bought...

Jennifer (01:01:59.796)
every album after that. And when my parents separated, my father left and I went to grab my familiar music. wasn't there. My father had taken the Anne Murray album. So I asked him to bring it back and he did. And that was my, that was that one common stability that I had in my life at that time. Like my parents are divorcing, but I still have Anne Murray.

I mean, I could go further, right? the hottest night of the year album, I remember sitting like in my bathroom because there's a little vanity table, like a desk and like writing out the words to every song. Like, yeah. Like I was, I was this huge, my friends are going to see, you know, whoever was on the radio. Like I didn't know who this Michael Jackson guy was, but I went to see Anne-Marian concert at the Aiken center in Fredericton. So it was pretty kind of cool to kind of.

Awesome. Yeah.

Jennifer (01:02:54.828)
Have that connection now.

Is this like a full circle moment-ish?

Well, it kind of is, you know, like, do you remember this show? There's a show like once in a lifetime, I think it was called or something like that. Like it was like.

100 Huntley Street? Well...

It was around that era though. There was, there was a show where people like thrill of lifetime. was called. Okay. And people would like, they'd have a dream like, Oh, I want to meet so-and-so I want to end. And I remember being a kid going, I'd love to eat meat and Marie someday, you know, and it's like, now I'm an adult and like, next time you invite us, can you invite Auntie Ann?

Christina (01:03:32.876)
That desire,

Yes, I can. We can line it up, I'm sure. We'll just get another recording session booked with her and I'll tell you guys exactly when.

And we can, well, I'm not gonna stalk her, because that was a whole thing too, and I wouldn't.

Okay, that was a whole thing. Wait, is there something you want to admit to us?

I don't I wasn't that no no I just remember there being again my parents told me what was on the news and there was some apparently she did yeah back in like the 70s is that true see it wasn't me I was only six

Christina (01:04:02.626)
Though she had a stalker.

Christina (01:04:07.136)
Dill, is that true? Yes. Yeah, it was.

Good. Yeah. Well, I can relate. think Brian Adams was like how that's how I was with Brian. I handwrite his lyrics. wrote. Thank you for bringing this back to make it about me. Yes. I was on stage.

You were on stage with Brian.

Tom (01:04:28.002)
that concert. You were? Yes we were. That's the weekend we found out that you were pregnant with Julia. Brian Adams, it a big weekend.

That's an interesting.

Christina (01:04:37.07)
You were probably Julia, I was saying that Brian Adams. Do you guys remember the comment I made about the national anthem? Do you remember that part of the show? So, so he had forgot the words to the national anthem at a hockey game like earlier that month and it, and it made headlines. So when he put his arm around me on stage at that concert in Halifax in 1997, 98, okay. Thank you. Um,

Zero of 98.

He said, well, what do want to sing? And I said, well, Brian, why don't we sing the national anthem? And the audience was like, then I don't know where I got the nerve to do that.

very uncrisp.

That's so though.

Christina (01:05:20.59)
listening to the news and it must've been just something, cause I was, I loved Brian Adams so much. still am a huge fan, but I, for some reason that bit of the news made its way to my brain. Cause I just didn't, I didn't watch TV or the news and I don't know how that came up, but it did and it worked. And, and then we did summer 69, guess. But yeah, so you guys were there. This is a full circle moment. And he's sung with Ann Marie and she covers one of his songs on her new album.

And Dale played on it. is ridiculous. you, Tom, what have you done?

You

And I've listened.

Tom (01:05:58.05)
We met Brian that night actually. We met Brian before that show. He's lovely. He's lovely. No, I didn't mention the anthem. I don't know if he was flirting with me or you to be honest. But he was lovely. I've met him once since then. Yeah, he's great. And yeah, I met him a couple of years ago. He came into the radio station for something. And I met you in 1998 just before I said, yes, I remember.

Yes. Yeah, do you insult them? you say?

was flirting with you though.

Christina (01:06:27.751)
Wow.

Nothing, but it's like... But he was, it was so graceful and it so nice and he was just, he was just lovely. Really nice guy. really, really cool.

I think that he would be an example of like, not that he hasn't had any, you know, as a human would like times in his career where he was maybe grumpy or like under a lot of pressure or stress, but I think to stick around that long and have the success he has and the energy he has, like he just puts out good vibes and good quality stuff and he looks healthy. he just, like, to me, that's a really big inspiration. you know, when I was like, when we were younger, we didn't really have so many of

like older musicians really doing it and looking healthy and like it was it was like because so many musicians were burning out and then some of them were dying it you know in their 20s or 30s and so it's pretty great to see artists like

I always come back to this. remember back in the early 80s when the Rolling Stones were going back on tour and the Tattoo U tour and the headlines were, oh, they're 40. The Rolling Stones are 40. These guys are old. Like, this is ridiculous. How is this going to... 40 years later here in this note, they're going to keep... They're in their 80s. I love Bruce Springsteen. He's an old guy. Like, he's 76, but he's going to keep going, you know? People are living longer and there's no...

Tom (01:07:52.234)
end to this. So you gotta keep going, man.

That's right. Just be careful.

Stairs, yeah, careful, those are enemy. Keep your stick on the ice.

Eat your veggies.

That's right. Last question. We're at this wonderful chat with Heart Up. This is fun. This is like, I've been waiting to do this for a long time. Some of my favorite chats with Heart were people that I asked like even before we even went started like, I think it was 2020 that we maybe started doing the podcast. And I had this list of

Christina (01:08:29.688)
people I just really wanted to have on there and you've always been on it. And you said from the beginning, I'd like to be on it. does this happen? This wasn't one of my questions, but it is now. Does this happen where like, remember when someone like, I really want to be on and they want to be on and I'm like, I remember that. And I feel bad every month that goes by that I don't have them on. Do you ever get that with your show?

Yeah, I've had that a few times. Yeah. I gotta get them on. But yeah, then you just get somebody else has something that you knew album comes out and you just kind of gets it's always there in the back of your mind. I always knew you'd be great at this. I mean, the first time I think the first time we met, I was on TV at the time I was on global and I think I was coming out and I met you and I don't even know what year this was. 2008 maybe.

Yeah.

Tom (01:09:20.814)
Yeah. And, uh, yeah, come on over. Yeah, you can do well. I'm sure. Come on over. You're the thing. And we just hit it off immediately. But I also thought that you would be great at this. You'd be a great radio host. You'd be a great, um, conversationalist. And now you've got your own platform for this. And I think it's just so cool that you're doing this.

That's really kind of you. It's been hard. mean, like, I mean, like I actually have to work at these things at being myself and being natural. It's really hard, you guys. It's the hardest thing.

The thing is when you can fake that.

That's pretty deep though.

I mean it. Your chats, I learned a lot from you because I remember for the first time even feeling, because here's the thing, you go into some interviews and you're chatting with someone and they're so nice, then you get on air and it's like a different, almost like it's like a different personality or they're in work mode. then that would make me feel, I don't want to blame it on them, but I would feel uncomfortable with that. Cause then I was like, well, do I need to, should I switch?

Christina (01:10:22.702)
my personality into something different. And I remember going on with you and it was just so easy and you were so good at it. And I really felt like I could be myself. And so that was like the ultimate goal. I always, anyone who I, who has been similar to that, I, they stand out to me as like, this is someone I want to talk to and chat with. And, and it really does. It feels like you're chatting with an old friend and knowing that you are an old friend. don't, mean like that we've been friends for a while. You are not old. Um,

Although you are older than me, but let's not get down to the- let's So yeah, I really thank you for that because I think it was quite scary for a while. You're doing all these interviews and you're like, I'm really bombing at this. Like, and I don't enjoy this at all. And they're like, this is terrifying. And then you'd come to, I'd come to chat with you and it would just be so nice. And also you had, you have a massive audience. So that felt good too, knowing that-

does not do math.

Christina (01:11:19.18)
you were chatting with someone and it felt good and natural and fun. And you knew people were going to hear it too. Like it wasn't just like somebody, you didn't just go through this extreme discomfort to have two people listening to you. was like it counted. And I want to thank you because you have had me on so many times on your show and played my music and being a big, supporter of mine and my partner, Dale, and probably Anne Marie as well. I might as well speak for her.

and I, just, it's incredible. I'm so happy that you're still here. And I'm so happy that the prostate that we don't need the prostate and that that's gone. And you have, and we played at your house yet. Like you're, you're like, you've really helped us over the years and supported us. And I consider you dear friend, you know, we don't get to hang out that much, but here you are sleeping over and we're going to play maybe Ouija board.

Last stage, last stage.

Jennifer (01:12:16.174)
We'll see.

Well, this went well. Wait, You mean after post. Yeah.

When do we start recording, by the way? yeah.

Are we recording?

Did he hit the record button?

Jennifer (01:12:35.916)
Jen! Wait, turn the power off!

Christina (01:12:44.962)
Say goodbye to

Christina (01:12:51.712)
I don't wanna say goodbye to you

Christina (01:13:00.398)
Welcome to the Heartbeat Hotline, 1902-669-4769. I'm the host of a Chat with Heart podcast, Christina Martin, and I'm so excited you called. Leave me your question, a suggestion for the podcast, or a comment about this episode. Please be aware your message may be used on the podcast and social media. Tell me your name, where you're calling from, and it's also fine if you want to remain anonymous. Thanks for listening.

Have a great fucking day. Hey, thanks for listening to a chat with heart produced by me Christina Martin Co-produced and engineered by my partner in life and sound Dale Murray. Dale's not just a wizard with knobs He's also a killer singer songwriter session musician and music producer go snoop around his world at Dale Murray dot CA the podcast theme song talk about it And I don't want to say goodbye to you were written by me and recorded by Dale want to support what we do

You can snag CDs, vinyl, digital music, and some weirdly delightful merch like custom puzzles and temporary tattoo packs over on my bandcamp. If you're into keeping indie art alive or just want good karma, become a monthly or yearly member on my Patreon. It's a platform that helps creators get paid to keep making stuff we love. I swear by it. Sign up free or paid at patreon.com backslash Christina Martin.

If this podcast made you laugh, cry, think, or rage text your best friend, do me a solid, share it, rate it, review it, and hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts. And to all my little heartbeat listeners, stay weird, stay tender, and I'll catch you next time.