Decades ago, I made a trip to Toronto to see a boy (and possibly also a band; I’m efficient like that). The boy had stuff to deal with one day of my visit and I found myself downtown alone with no responsibilities.
What I decided to do was go to the CBC Radio building, and once there I somehow talked flagship program As It Happens into letting me hang out for a bit. I was doing a lot of work in campus print and radio at the time, so I guess that’s some explanation for their generosity in agreeing I could just wander into their headquarters and pester them with questions.
It was an amazing and surreal experience. I talked to producers and saw the actual studio (!), in which was working one of the actual hosts (!!!). I learned about the daily process of putting the show together. The only question I couldn’t get answered: “How much is As It Happens’ phone bill?” (It looked like the person I asked hadn’t thought to wonder this, not like the answer was confidential.)
In that same era, I was going to a lot of shows and interviewing a lot of bands. One day I struck up a conversation with, if I remember correctly, the sound guy for a touring west coast band I really liked. I must have asked a technical question that led to us enthusiastically discussing soundboards because he asked if I wanted to go see some tech on the tour bus. I did! It was cool.
Some people have since said, “You got onto a bus alone with a strange man who was only in town for one day?” Yup! I am genuinely interested in how things work behind the scenes. I might follow a stranger into an empty factory at night if they said they had conveyor belts to show me. I have so far not been murdered or even mistreated by the vast majority of strangers.
Most of my stories are smaller. A repair person who was happy to show and tell. Other pedestrians wanting to share over something we both noticed. Little flickers of connection between genuinely interested people. They seem so important in an angry world.
Little flickers of connection
Decades ago, I made a trip to Toronto to see a boy (and possibly also a band; I’m efficient like that). The boy had stuff to deal with one day of my visit and I found myself downtown alone with no responsibilities.
What I decided to do was go to the CBC Radio building, and once there I somehow talked flagship program As It Happens into letting me hang out for a bit. I was doing a lot of work in campus print and radio at the time, so I guess that’s some explanation for their generosity in agreeing I could just wander into their headquarters and pester them with questions.
It was an amazing and surreal experience. I talked to producers and saw the actual studio (!), in which was working one of the actual hosts (!!!). I learned about the daily process of putting the show together. The only question I couldn’t get answered: “How much is As It Happens’ phone bill?” (It looked like the person I asked hadn’t thought to wonder this, not like the answer was confidential.)
In that same era, I was going to a lot of shows and interviewing a lot of bands. One day I struck up a conversation with, if I remember correctly, the sound guy for a touring west coast band I really liked. I must have asked a technical question that led to us enthusiastically discussing soundboards because he asked if I wanted to go see some tech on the tour bus. I did! It was cool.
Some people have since said, “You got onto a bus alone with a strange man who was only in town for one day?” Yup! I am genuinely interested in how things work behind the scenes. I might follow a stranger into an empty factory at night if they said they had conveyor belts to show me. I have so far not been murdered or even mistreated by the vast majority of strangers.
Most of my stories are smaller. A repair person who was happy to show and tell. Other pedestrians wanting to share over something we both noticed. Little flickers of connection between genuinely interested people. They seem so important in an angry world.