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The AIH Transcript for February 13, 2017

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

HM: Hello, I'm Helen Mann.

JD: Good evening, I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight:

HM: The twain meet. Everything seemed mighty neighbourly today as Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump met for the first time in Washington -- but a shared stage doesn't mean shared policy.

JD: They won't cross that bridge when they come to it. Given its proximity to the U.S., Windsor, Ontario students usually take lots of field trips Stateside -- but for now, because of the travel ban, all American visits are off.

HM: The missing bullet proof. Just over a year ago, Brenda Hill was hit with a stray bullet while in bed -- and now, after fruitless months of seeking lead-related leads, Edmonton Police are suspending their investigation.

JD: It's all gone quiet -- but he hopes someone will turn up the volumes. A rare-book dealer is stunned when some of his wares are stolen, in a heist that involved thieves rappelling into a warehouse to avoid alarms.

HM: Second chances. Baseball fans are concerned when the big leagues start experimenting with a rule that would shorten games that go into extra innings -- by putting a runner at second base.

JD: And...the lack of hair of the dog. For the first time, the Westminster Dog Show will allow a breed of hairless canine to compete -- and we'll speak the owner of one of this year's bold, bald pioneers. As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that salutes our furless leader.

Back To Top »

Part 1: Trudeau/Trump meeting, cross-border student trips cancelled, hairless terrier

Trudeau/Trump meeting

Guest: Roland Paris

JD: There were some anxious moments this afternoon as Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump approached the microphones. The Canadian Prime Minister and the new U.S. president were coming out of their very first meeting and there was a lot on the line. Mr. Trump has promised to rewrite NAFTA, the agreement that governs close to two billion dollars-worth of trade each and every day. But Mr. Trump's comments about NAFTA have mostly focused on Mexico.
And he has had relatively little to say about Canada until reporters asked him today.

SOUNDCLIP

DONALD TRUMP: We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. We'll be tweaking it. We'll be doing certain things that are going to benefit both of our countries. It's a much less severe situation than what's taken place on the southern border. On the southern border and for many many years, the the transaction was not fair to the United States. So our relationship with Canada is outstanding and we're going to work together and make it even better. And as far as the southern border is concerned we're going to get that worked out. We're going to make it fair. But we are going to make it so that everybody is happy. It's very important to me.

JD: So that was U.S. president Donald Trump speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this afternoon in Washington. Roland Paris is the PM's former Foreign Policy adviser. We reached Mr. Paris in Ottawa.

HM: Roland Paris, What do you read into what President Trump had to say about the U.S. relationship with Canada?

ROLAND PARIS: Well overall, I think it was a very, very positive message for Canada coming from the president today. What he was effectively saying was that he is that he sees the Canada U.S. economic relationship is one that is in America's interest, and that's not the way that he's been describing his America trade relations with other countries. Now there have been indications of this before, of this positive view, but it's quite different to hear it so clearly from the President himself.

HM: But you have to think that everyone in that government in Ottawa is thinking what does the tweak mean?

RP: Yeah, I think it is a question mark. And if the tweak refers to some of the initiatives that were described in the joint statement that they also released today, then that’s fine. There were some positive tweaks that Canada would like to see. More pre-clearance of cargo for example, so their cargo can be cleared across the border before it actually gets to the border. If it refers to something else, it would be good to know. But I really do think that the overall outcome of today is that Donald Trump sees Canada as being inside the tent, and that’s very good news if the United States proceeds with any broad protectionist strategies in the world.

HM: You have described Mr. Trump's allies as being one tweet away from a crisis. How high were the stakes going into this meeting?

RP: The stakes were extremely high for Canada. It's just one meeting, and the government and the Prime Minister will have to remain vigilant and ready to vigorously defend Canada's interests. But it was an important meeting, first meeting between the face to face meeting between the two men. Of course the stakes are enormous for Canada because of the economic relationship we have with the United States. And politically, they were very significant for Mr. Trudeau too, and balancing the articulation and defense of Canadian values with the building of a businesslike and constructive relationship with our principal trading partner and our closest ally, that's not easy and I think that's what we thought today was very encouraging.

HM: You've been in meetings between the Prime Minister and foreign heads of state before. Give us a sense of the strategy that the Prime Minister was trying to effect here and how he achieved it. I mean you've alluded to it already, but it's a really fine line when you're dealing with this administration.

RP: I think it is, and it will require adjustments in the calibration going forward. You know the strategy is visible for everyone to see. Shortly after Donald Trump was elected, senior officials close to Justin Trudeau made communication links with people, senior officials to Donald Trump. During the transition period, they sent a high level friend of Donald Trump from the administration to the cabinet retreat in Calgary. Canadian cabinet ministers began meeting with their cabinet secretary counterparts. Canada began activating allies at all levels of the U.S. political system to communicate one message and that is that the United States has an interest itself in this bilateral economic partnership with Canada because it supports millions of jobs on U.S. side of the border and I think the ultimate sign of success today was that that language was actually in Donald Trump's remarks and in the statement that both leaders put out. So a lot of preparation for today's meeting. And I think so far so good.

HM: When the issue of refugees and migration came up, the Prime Minister said that it wasn't his place to go to the United States and lecture the government on how to behave. There are going to be people who think that that Justin Trudeau did not go far enough there, that that was, if not a cowardly way, then at least a less focused way than they might have hoped.

RP: I think that it was fascinating to see the two men in that part of the press conference essentially laying out two very different narratives about immigration and refugees. And during a press conference, the media invited both of them to criticize each other and they declined to do so. But they both did vigorously reaffirm their points of view and what the Prime Minister said was that Canadians expect them to govern in a way that reflects Canadian values and that can provide a positive model to the world. And I think that this is going to be a balancing act for Justin Trudeau, for his government, it is for many countries and I think that he performed very well today. His position was perfectly clear. He was suggesting he intends to continue with his policies as they are, and the implicit rebuke is that you know he was articulating a vision of openness standing next to Donald Trump in the White House.

HM: Much has being made of the fact of what's missing. I gather, rather than what is contained in that to communiqué that they released. No mention of NAFTA, before they were asked about it by reporter, references to NATO and cooperation, talking about Latvia but not mentioning Ukraine. What do you take from what we don't see in that document?

RP: I would have to study the document more closely. These documents are negotiated in the period before the meeting. The actual exchange between leaders is something that some scripted and they come in with the point they want to make, anticipating what the other might say, and the conversation goes in whatever direction it goes. When I took a quick glance at the communiqué, what I saw was a pretty traditional articulation of Canada U.S. commitments and the emphasis on jobs for the middle class, infrastructure, investment. What I saw was an attempt to identify areas of mutual interests and really highlight them and I think that the broader point here is that this is just one meeting. But both men seem determined to make this a meeting that's communicated cooperation. I think they succeeded in that.

HM: Roland Paris, thank you very much for talking to us.

RP: Thank you. Bye-bye.

HM: Bye.

JD: Roland Paris teaches International Security and Governance at the University of Ottawa. He's also a former foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister. We reached Roland Paris in Ottawa.

[Music]

Student Trips Cancelled

Guest: Jessica Sartori

JD: They are just a bridge apart. Just a brief cross-border jaunt. But for the rest of the month, schools in Windsor, Ontario have cancelled all field trips to the U.S. And that policy could be extended.
The Greater Essex County District School board has decided to suspend class visits across the border, and that is thanks to the so-called travel ban. Jessica Sartori is a school trustee for the district. We reached her in Windsor.

HM: Ms. Sartori, why did your board decide it's necessary to suspend all school trips across the border?

JESSICA SARTORI: Yes so we're a very diverse community in Windsor, Essex County and you know it really based on our values of inclusivity and equity. We were concerned that there could be issues with some students being able to cross the border. You know, based on where they're from and their cultural background and so with that at risk, the decision was made to cancel February field trips.

HM: So is this a just a generic decision or were trips booked that have now been specifically cancelled?

JS: Yep. Yet there were those five trips booked. Relatively I'll say, you know, small trips, in a sense that they were, you know, just over the border into well into Detroit, into Michigan. Those have all been canceled.

HM: Did you have practical reasons to suspect that that some of the kids might face extra challenge, extra vetting, I suppose, when they got to the border?

JS: Yeah. Well as I said we're a very diverse community. And you know about 20 percent of our population in Windsor, Essex is born outside of Canada. And you know since November 2015 we've welcomed over a thousand refugees, and there are hundreds of children from you know those countries that are attending the school board. And given the travel ban that had happened a couple of weeks ago and there's still some uncertainty around what that's actually going to come down to in the end, but this you know, was an operational decision based on based on our values.

HM: So was it something that was directed by the board or does it also involve input from teachers and parents.

JS: You know certainly there was concern in the community about people who live in Windsor and are working in the States. People were worried you know, for themselves and their family members of being able to get to work. And so obviously knowing that, and like I said with the uncertainty, that's really how the decision was made.

HM: The ban isn't actually in effect right now, with the courts having struck it down at least for the time being. So I guess, are you anticipating problems before they may even arise?

JS: So we decided to cancel trips for February and obviously things could change day to day. But we have canceled trips for February and then we will review again at the end of the month what steps we're going to take going forward.

HM: Has anyone raised concerns that this isn't just about practicality but perhaps that you're taking a position, potentially a political position, in boycotting crossing the border.

JS: Interesting. Not that I've seen personally. You know what… what I have seen is that people are glad that we're standing up for you know the board's values of equity and inclusivity. I know I keep using the same words, but that's really what this is about. And I think it's important that the board live its values and that we are role modeling that for students as well.

HM: Most kids, as we know, really look forward to any kind of field trip, especially the ones that go a little further from home. How is this going over with the students? How are how are you explaining it to them?

JS: So it primarily affects students in high school so they are at a level where this is something that they can understand. My own daughter actually has a trip to the Andy Warhol Museum which is in Pittsburgh which is scheduled for April. So for their trips past, February have not been canceled yet. But you know we've been talking about it at home that this might happen and she completely understands why.

HM: Do you think this is actually an opportunity to have a broader conversation for families and for teachers with some of these students?

JS: Hundred percent. Absolutely. And that's my point about you know the board role modeling for students, that you know the values that we ask you to have and in class, like a whole organization can model that, right? You think it's really a learning opportunity.

HM: Is there potentially a risk here though that some students might be frightened by what's happening and then maybe this is exacerbating fears for people who live so close to the U.S.?

JS: Like I said the decision was based on ensuring that all students have an opportunity really to have the same opportunities. Right? And if we can't guarantee that, then it's important to you know to think about our friends. You know, this is how I would explain it to children that if our friends can’t all come with us, then you know we really have to think about whether this is something that we actually want to want to be able to do.

HM: We're already halfway through February, not a lot of time to rebook anything. What are you going to do for those days that the kids were supposed to go on these trips?

JS: Yes. So we're definitely looking at other opportunities in Canada. And you know, where crossing the border is and isn't necessary. And like I said, well so this is until the end of February, and then you know we'll see where we are going forward and maybe in the end they can happen anyway. But yeah well we'll have to take it day by day I think.

HM: All right, well Ms. Sartori, I appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

JS: Thank you. Thank you so much.

HM: OK. Bye-bye.

JS: OK. Take care, Helen.

JD: Jessica Sartori is a trustee with the greater Essex County District School Board. We reached her in Windsor, Ontario.

[Music]

Hairless terrier

Guest: Janet Parker

JD: Dogs at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for the most part have beautiful, ornate, ridiculous hairstyles. This year however the prestigious show is letting a new breed of dog in that will not have an elaborate do, because they can't. They have no hair. Janet Parker owns Walker, an American hairless terrier who will compete tomorrow. We reached her, Janet Parker, that is in New York City.

HM: Janet Parker, what does your American hairless terrier Walker look like?

JANET PARKER: He is completely hairless. A little girl in a daycare once described him as feeling like a warm piece of baloney. And that's actually a pretty accurate feeling, except not so slimy. It almost feels like a baby’s butt.

HM: So he really does have no fur, no hair.

JP: No he does. Just like if you reach up and feel your face, if you feel really lightly, you can feel like a soft and downy spot on your face.

HM: OK. If you say so.

JP: That is what he has on him. He has like almost just like peach fuzz.

HM: So he's very smooth. Tell me about his personality. What's he like?

JP: He's a true terrier. You know he was very active when he wants to be but he also has an off switch. He likes to kind of chill on the couch and be you know be a homebody and cuddle bug. They do like to snuggle up at night with you because you know they're looking for heat.

HM: Does he have to wear sweaters all the time?

JP: Right now he's wearing double fleece pajamas that cover all four of his legs with a hoodie and he has a tail cover on too because it’s New York and I don't want him to wind blisters.

HM: He gets wind blisters?

JP: Well, it’s just like, you know on your face when it gets cold, when it’s real windy?

HM: Does he have a full wardrobe?

JP: He does. He actually has two dressers of clothes at home.

HM: Is that some of the appeal of him? Be honest with us.

JP: No actually I would rather, yeah I like it in the summertime when I don't have to dress him at all.

HM: And the other advantage, which I'm very jealous of, is you obviously have no shedding.

JP: No shedding, no fleas, no dander. You never have to worry about dog hair in your house or on your black clothing because he doesn't have any hair.

HM: What does that mean to you when you found out the American hairless terrier was going to be accepted into the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show?

JP: Well I thought it was awesome because first of all, I've been showing dogs since I was a kid. I started in 4-H was is a local fair program in the United States for kids to get involved with animals. So I started off, you kno,w I was 12 years old and I started showing dogs and I've been showing dogs… I mean it's been my whole life. So it's awesome to be involved in a new breed. And here I have a dog, you know the top hairless terrier in the country, going to Westminster to compete and hopefully win the green tomorrow.

HM: I know a lot of lobbying usually goes into getting these breeds accepted. Why did they decide to lead in this one?

JP: Well you know I'm not really sure. The American Terrier Association, you know they had a strong pedigree program going to you know document breeding on all the dogs. So that works really well in our favor. A lot of the long term breeders, they pushed very hard to get the breed recognized as soon as they did. And for 40 years you know only being a little you know a little over 40 years ago 1972 was the first hairless terrier born into a rat terrier litter. It's kind of off awesome that they accomplished that much that quickly.

HM: So that was born where? What's the origins?

JP: So 1972 in Georgia, a single hairless terrier was born into a litter of rat terriers. And the dog was named Josephine, so every single hairless terrier can trace their lineage back to Josephine.

HM: So it really is an American breed.

JP: Really is an American breed. It is the only hairless breed that was developed in America.

HM: How many of them are there?

JP: You know, I couldn't even guess. They're very popular because they're less allergenic than other breeds.

HM: Does it smell less than other dogs?

JP: Yes because you don't have the wet dog smell odor. And honestly, when Walker gets dirty I can take a wet wash cloth and wipe him down and we're done.

HM: So Walker's competing tomorrow. What's his competition?

JP: His competition… there are 14 total hairless terriers entered, and out of those 14, all but one are champions. So he really does need to defeat 13 other dogs to get the Best of Breed tomorrow.After Best of Breed, he would in the terrier group, and if he won the terrier group then he would go in for Best in Show.

HM: Which is obviously everybody's big hope.

JP: It is. I mean that's everybody's bucket list dream if you’re in dog shows.

HM: People with you know hairy dogs, people with any kind of dog usually… these shows. They have to do a lot of preparation. There's a lot of fluffing and blow drying all that sort of stuff. What do you do to prepare Walkyr?

JP: Trim his nails a couple of days before. Make sure he's happy. Give him some nice treats and then into the ring we go.

HM: That sounds like… everybody must be jealous of you.

JP: They kind of are. You know, when you have a standard poodle that takes five to six hours to prep for the show ring and you have a hairless terrier that literally you can have him ready for the show ring in 10 seconds. Sure. There’s a little bit of envy on that. But on the flip side of that, he also has no fur to hide any flaws. What you see is what you get.

HM: You know we always say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We understand that the keeper of the title World's Ugliest Dog is also hairless. What do you think of that?

JP: I think it takes a person of fine class to appreciate such a magnificent animal. They have some, you know, unique features about them that some people just can't see past.

HM: Is Walkyr excited to compete?

JP: He loves to show. He absolutely… if he did not love the show, we would not still be showing him in the show ring. You cannot make a dog do this. He loves the applause. He loves the attention. This dog loves to be in the show and–

HM: He's a diva.

JP: He is. He loves being out in public. He's my rock star.

HM: Well all the best to both of you.

JP: All right well thank you so much.

HM: OK have fun. Bye.

JP: Bye-bye.

JD: We reached Janet Parker in New York City, and to see photographs of her American hairless terrier Walkyr – and he's pretty good looking – go to our Web site cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Major League Baseball 2^nd Base

JD: By the tenth round of a boxing match, both fighters are tired. So how about this, before the bell goes for the eleventh, you hand each of them a two-by-four. That'll wrap things up in a hurry!
Or take chess, right? Two eggheads sitting there silently for hours at a time, hardly moving. But what about if, after two hours, you give each player a BB gun. If they can shoot the other player's king, it's game over.
And then there's baseball, right? It's so long. And when it goes into extra innings, it takes forever. So how about if you give hitters a head start? You put a runner on second base, in scoring position, at the start of every extra inning? Now the first two suggestions I just made were silly and fake. The third one is widely considered silly, but it is real.
Starting this season, Major League Baseball is going to institute that rule, first in minor-league games. Just to tighten things up. Joe Torre of MLB told Yahoo Sports, "As much as it's nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time."
Mr. Torre is currently Major League Baseball's "chief baseball officer," so we can take it that he knows baseball. He further explained, "It's baseball. I'm just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn't mean you're going to score. You're just trying to play baseball."
Well, that clears everything up. The reason for just magically putting someone on second base in the tenth inning is that it's baseball, and people watch baseball, and they're just trying to play baseball. But is that baseball? I guess we'll see. It certainly seems goofy at first. Now we'll find out if it's also goofy at second.

Back To Top »

Part 2: Drive-by shooting recovery, rare books heist

Drive-by shooting recovery

Guest: Brenda Hill

JEFF DOUGLAS: Brenda Hill's life changed violently in the middle of the night in late December of 2015. Ms. Hill was asleep at home in Edmonton at the time. She was awoken by the sound of a loud crack and incredible pain. The source of that pain was a stray bullet which narrowly missed Ms. Hill's heart and she spent the following weeks and months on the mend and recently decided she was well enough to return to a retail job. Around the same time, she learned the Edmonton police service would be halting its investigation into the shooting. They have never made an arrest. We reached Brenda Hill in Edmonton.

HELEN MANN: Ms. Hill have you come any closer to understanding why you were shot that night.

BRENDA HILL: No. No. I ask myself why I was shot, who shot me? But I don't think I'll ever know now.

HM: How did you react when Edmonton police announced that they would be closing the investigation.

BH: At first I was saddened by it because then, once they close it, it seems like that's it, they're done. They're not looking anymore. So I might never know who did this, but then I can understand where they come from too. They did their investigation. They put it on Crime Stoppers. Not one phone call came in. And usually when they do it on Crime Stoppers, they say they get over 200 phone calls, but they were very shocked that not one call came in.

HM: Do you think there's anything more they could have done?

BH: No I don't. I think they did everything they could have possibly done. Like when I was in the hospital the constable would come in, maybe every couple of weeks and let me know what was going on. And every time when they’d come in, I’d ask them “Well any news? Any news?” No. No news.

HM: Can you take us back to that night and explain how that happened.

BH: Well I came home from work. I was really tired because it had been boxing day and it's very busy in retail. I finally told my mom I said Mom, I'm so tired I'll have to go to bed. As soon as I laid down, I fell asleep, and then I awoke to my back. It felt like my back broke. My hips, my whole lower body, pulled down into my memory foam, into the mattress. And I was like something's wrong with me because I couldn't move. I could move my arms but I couldn't move the rest of my body. And then I knew something was terribly wrong.

HM: What did you do then. I rolled over to my boyfriend and I said, “Richard, are you awake?”

BH: And he says, “Yeah I'm awake.” I go, “Why are you awake?” He goes. “Because I heard a crack.” I go “That was my back. Please go get my mom.“ So he ran downstairs to get mom, she came up and at that point I was finding it harder and harder to breathe. And I said “Mom I think I'm going to die. And she's like “What?” She goes “What's wrong with you? You have pneumonia?” I said “No. it’s getting harder for me to breathe. There's something wrong.” I said “Richard called 911 and they're coming.”
So then 911 got here. And he was looking around and he was asking me all these questions like how old are you? Did you take any drugs? Did you drink? And I'm like “No I said I'm a healthy 49 year old woman with a thyroid problem.” And then I could see his head. He was looking around my room and then he looked at me and he goes “Do you normally have a hole in your wall?” And I'm like “A hole in my wall? No.”
And then for some reason he looked at me and he rolled me to the side and all and I remember him saying was “Gunshot wound trauma. Call for backup.” And I looked at my mom and her eyes were so big and I looked at Richard, his eyes looked like they're going to pop over their head and we're all looking like… gunshot wound? And that's the first thing I thought. Who would shoot me? And then away I went to the university hospital.

HM: And what did they find when they got you to the hospital?

BH: Right away Dr. Broad, he said, “You have a gunshot wound.” He said, “Can you feel your legs?” I said “I don't know. I said I can't move them.” And then they put a chest tube through my rib cage into my lungs to drain the blood. That’s why I was having trouble breathing. The bullet had gone through my lung and then hit my spine, which in result that's why I couldn't move my legs. My rib cage was just, it was so bad I couldn't have anybody touch my body because every time they touched me it just was like somebody was burning me. I couldn't explain it.

HM: How close did that bullet come to killing you?

BH: Two inches. If it would have went through my spine, it would have hit my heart and I would have been dead.

HM: How have you been since that time? How's the recovery going?

BH: I think it's OK, like it's a bit slow. Like I always told my mom “Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be where I was before.” But I just to this day it's been 14 months, and I don't think I'll ever be the same.

HM: You mentioned living with your mother. Your adult son lives with disabilities. How have your injuries affected your abilities to care for him?

BH: A lot. I used to be able to do everything for David. He always wanted the biggest room in the house So of course that was downstairs. I could physically carry him up and down the stairs every day right? Take him to bed. Bring him back up. I could bathe him. Now we had to take the smallest room in the house and make that his bedroom. We had a lift put in 10 years ago, but I never use it because I thought it was a lot of hassle, but now I'm so thankful that that lift was there and I have to use that to bathe him. I had to get a raised toilet seat put on so I could put him on and off the toilet. So it's been a challenge for me to properly take care of him.

HM: How do you explain this to him?

BH: I told him I said, “What happens happened.” I said, “I could be a lot worse.” I said “I could be in a wheelchair as well and we'd both have somebody taking care of us.” I said… but I just kept a positive mind that whole time in the hospital and I always teach him to be positive. And he realizes now there are certain things… you know, we have to use the lift. We have to use the raised toilet seat. So he understands but he doesn't understand why this happened to his mom.

HM: You went back to work last week. How's that going?

BH: So-so. The first shift I had was really hard on my back and my legs. It was in a mall so I had to walk back to find my car. By the time I got to the car, so thankful to sit down because I'm supposed to be taking 15 minute breaks every hour. But you know, I try to push myself push myself. You know I have a lot of limitations. My body is not where my mind is.

HM: You know a lot of people in a situation like this talk about post-traumatic stress disorder. Do you feel mentally like you can move on from this, especially living in the same house?

BH: That's the hard part. Like I told my mom, like when I came home I couldn't even come in my room. I stayed on the couch for like two months. But you know, I have to live with it because I don't have a choice because everything here is for David, and I can't just go somewhere else so I have to get over it. I can't let it eat at me every day.

HM: Yeah you have to keep wondering though. Do you think you might ever find out how this happened? Who was responsible?

BH: I doubt it. The only way it would be possible is if that same person committed another crime using that same gun.

HM: Do you have theories, do the police have theories about what happened?

BH: They think it was just a mistaken identity home. They think it was meant for somebody else. I keep hearing vehicles drive by my window and I listen for that pause because I think if there’s a vehicle that you know, is outside my window that's idling, then it's like that’s it. Get up and get out. So it's been a struggle.

HM: Well I'm sorry you've had to go through all of this. I really appreciate you talking to us about it. Thank you very much and all the best to you.

BH: You’re welcome.

HM: Bye-bye.

BH: Bye-bye.

JD: Brenda Hill was shot by a stray bullet in December 2015 in Edmonton. That city's police department has made no arrests in the case and has announced that it is closing its investigation. We reached Brenda Hill in Edmonton.

[Music]

Fadwa Alaoui meeting

JD: "I felt humiliated, treated as if I was less than nothing, as if I wasn't even Canadian." That's what Fadwa Alaoui told us last week. She was turned away at a Vermont border, after officials questioned her about President Trump and found Muslim prayers on her phone. Ms. Alaoui had planned to do some shopping and buy a toy for her five-year-old son, Youssef. He had just finished chemotherapy and she wanted to lift his spirits. Instead, she told us she struggled to tell him what had happened, and why. After that, As It Happens heard from a lot of listeners -- including a Montpelier clerk who offered to buy Ms. Alaoui and her family lunch if they were able to visit him.
And then Andy Solomon went a step further. Here he is telling CBC Montreal why he decided to drive to Brossard, Quebec to meet Ms. Alaoui and her family, after hearing about her ordeal.

SOUNDCLIP

ANDY SOLOMON: I guess it felt like somebody had treated my neighbor badly. I think of the people in Quebec sort of as our neighbors. We come up here. People from Quebec frequently are in Burlington in this area. I think Vermont has the sense that we look after our neighbors and I don't know, that that was my initial feeling about it. And then you know, I had read the article and you know I have imaginedpoor Youssef waiting for hours while they're interrogating his mom, and we have small children the same age and I just was imagining what that was like. And I saw that she was trying to come to Burlington maybe to go shopping for her sons. I just had this idea that I would email the CBC and see if I could bring something up if there was something there were they were coming to look for. Maybe bring a gift and make a small gesture that maybe could help a little bit in terms of a much bigger problem.
Rebecca and I, our family and our friends have been very upset about the rhetoric and policies coming out of the Republican administration and we've protested. I went to inauguration to protest and we protested in Vermont and held up signs and we've called politicians. But this felt like something that happened close to home and maybe doing something small would also feel good in that way because Washington feels so far away.

JD: That was Andy Solomon speaking with CBC Simon Nakonechny. After hearing that Canadian Fadwa Alaoui was denied entry into Vermont, Mr. Solomon and his family drove to Quebec to meet with Ms. Alaoui and her family on the weekend. You can read more Ms. Alaoui's story, and the response, on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Rare books heist

Guest: Alessandro Meda Riquier

JD: The heist seemed like something that you would see in a movie like Ocean's Eleven, or Mission Impossible. But the thieves who scaled ropes to rob a London warehouse late last month weren't after jewels or cash: they stole some 3.2 million dollars worth of rare books.The books were being transported to a California book fair when they were intercepted.
Alessandro Meda Riquier is an antiquarian book dealer whose rare books were stolen in the theft. We reached him in San Francisco.

HM: Alessandro Meda Riquier, what exactly did you lose in this heist?

ALESSANDRO MEDA RIQUIER: I lost 51 rare books that were stolen from a warehouse in London. They were packed and ready to be shipped to California Antiquarian Book Fair.

HM: I know when it comes to antiquarian books there is a lot to them beyond their financial value, but could you tell us how much they were worth.

AMR: My books’e value will be around 1 million pounds.

HM: Which was the one you that had the most value?

AMR: The most value was the Copernicus. The second edition of the De Revolutionibus of Copernicus. So the book that for the first time explain that the center of the universe was not the earth but was the sun.

HM: And what is the date on that publication?

AMR: The date was 1566.

HM: What are some of the other examples? What are the other books that you've lost?

AMR: I have lost another very very rare book which is the Pacioli, Summa de Arithmetica, published in 1523. And I lost a very rare edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, lost the first edition of Andrea Palladio book about architecture. I lost many important books unfortunately.

HM: Beyond then their financial value, what did the books mean to you?

AMR: Yes, you know this is the main problem. Because clearly this book were insured but having the money back does not mean that I will be able to find them again and to purchase them again. This is the main problem. Behind this book, there's a research, there's a study, and maybe in ten years I will be able to do to rebuild such a collection of books. But this is not for sure. I'm not sure.

HM: How did you react when you heard the news of the theft?

AMR: It was very very strange because I didn't believe that this could happen. Because, as you probably know, it's quite possible to sell these books again because we have a full description of the book, of each book. We had many many scans of each book, and this information we have provided. We have provided all this information to the police.

HM: So where do you think the books are going to end up?

AMR: I don't think they will be show up soon. Maybe it will be it will happen in 10 years. In 15 years. On the other side, we can think of a collector, a strange kind of collector who is able to purchase stolen books because of the very very good price. But this is very very strange.

HM: Would a collector of that caliber not be known within your community though?

AMR: No. We know all we have is very respectable collectors that pay their invoices and could not be behind this theft.

HM: So how did the thieves actually managed to pull this off? I mean, was the warehouse considered secure?

AMR: The warehouse was considered secure. They had a CCTV video. They had alarm. But I have to think that the thieves had a very very good knowledge of the warehouse, because they jumped in through the roof, and they took away the books again through the roof because they knew that all the doors were alarmed.

HM: And they abseiled onto the roof and then lowered themselves on a rope. Is that right? Because that sounds like something out of a movie.

AMR: Yeah, unfortunately it reminds a movie. Yes. But this is probably what happened. And they didn't take the trunks what the books were, where away. They left the trunks because the trunks were too big for the hole they made in the roof.

HM: Are you at all hopeful that you will see any of these books again?

AMR: This is a good question. And I hope this is not only a hope but something that can be true. But I don't really have great expectations.

HM: So what's next for you as you try to build up a new collection?

AMR: In the same way, trying to select the most interesting, the most beautiful books that I have the chance to purchase. This is the only way of working that I know. This is the way I’ve been working since my beginnings.

HM: Well Mr. Meda Riquier, I wish you great luck. Perhaps you will see them again. And I appreciate you telling us the story.

AMR: Thank you. Thank you very much.

HM: Okay bye-bye.

AMR: Bye-bye.

JD: Alessandro Meda Riquier is an antiquarian book dealer who just had 51 books worth a 1.5 million dollars stolen in a heist in London. We reached him in San Francisco.
And to read more on this story go to our website. It’s all there: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Northern Cree at the Grammys

JD: When it comes to Grammy nominations it wasn't their first rodeo. Not by a long shot. Northern Cree the Canadian indigenous singing and drumming group has in fact been nominated seven times. But this year it was the first time the band was nominated in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category for their latest release, It's a Cree Thing. It is also the first time the group, whose members hail from across central Alberta and Saskatchewan, it's the first time it performed at the gala.

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Part 3: Syrian radio, WWII plane restoration, cycling polluted cities

Syrian radio

Guest: Raed Fares

JEFF DOUGLAS: If you were listening to the radio in the rebel-held province of Idlib, in the northwestern part of Syria, you might hear this.

SOUNDCLIP

Sound: Church Bells, birds chirping, clock ticking, cricket chirping

JD: That mash-up of sounds is the solution that Raed Fares came up with when militants from the extremist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham told him to stop playing music on the radio. That group has been linked to Al-Qaeda.
Mr. Fares is the station manager of Radio Fresh FM in Syria. For years, he has been using his wit to stand up against the Syrian regime and the so-called Islamic State. We reached him in the town of Kafranbel, in Idlib province.

HELEN MANN: Mr. Rares, why did the militants ask you to stop playing music on Radio Fresh FM?

RAED FARES: They started to say it’s forbidden because it’s haram, in Islam Sharia law. In their opinion, it's haram.

HM: So “haram” means forbidden?

RF: Forbidden. Yes. It was like two years, they asking me to stop playing music but I refused. Finally because a third radio station more than 3 times, and burned everything here and kidnapped like three times, then I stopped playing the music but I chose to play something instead of it.

HM: OK let me stop you there. You said you were kidnapped three times? They burned the radio station? All to try and stop you from playing music.

RF: Yes. That’s it.

HM: So what have you decided to play instead?

RF: I decided to play sarcastic thing like animal sounds in the background of the songs. We can play songs without music so I being like three guys, they have good voices and they sing all the songs in the Arabic world with the music, and I put the background animal voices like sheep, like birds, frogs, dogs, chicken, everything.

HM: What's the point of that? Why are you doing that.

RF: I don't know people who listen to us to think it’s an Islamic radio station. So I have to put something different. When people hear a voice in the background they will all ask what's going on with Radio Fresh? And the answer will be the Islamic armed groups banned the music from the Radio Fresh because it's haram. And somehow that people will never believe that music is haram. I want them to just to think, to use their minds. Is it good? Is it right? Is it false? Is it really haram? And then the idea will move.

HM: You're trying to make them think by using this alternative music. These are the sounds that you say are sarcastic?

RF: Yes that's it.

HM: So how are your listeners responding? Are they doing what you think they will do and what you hope they will do?

RF: Most of them came to the radio station. “Please stop this noise in the background. We can't understand the voices of the woman which changed to the male.” And then when I see the people come and go, that means they are listening to us. And I got the purpose I expected from the beginning.

HM: Let's talk about female voices on the radio. The militants asked you to stop allowing female news readers. We have a clip of what those female newsreaders, announcers sound like. Let's listen to that for just a moment.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Female reporter speaking in Arabic, digitally lowered in pitch]

HM: What are we listening to there?

RF: She is a woman, beautiful girl, 23 years old, and we changed the voice of her to male voices using software.

HM: And your listeners are aware that's what you're doing?

RF: Yes the same discussion about the music. Is it really haram to hear women’s voices? You can move the minds. You can move the ideas.

HM: So Islamic state used to operate in the area where you are working. They're not there now, but three years ago, fighters from that group were waiting at your home with guns because of your activism. What happened?

RF: It was 29 of 2014, January. Isis attacked the radio station and kidnapped six activists from the radio station and steal everything from the radio station. When I came back, I was in [unintelligible] at that time, and I came back from there and I bring radio station tools and restart broadcasting after 20 years of they attacked the station.
Then when I was coming back from the registration office to the house, I was trying to put the car, and after I came out of the car I was trying to lock the car. Two guys came three meters away from far away from me, and they start finding me.

HM: You were shot.

RF: Yes they shot 60 bullets against me. Three of them came inside my body. I was on the ground and after I think two minutes or three minutes, my cousins and relatives came and got me out to another car, ambulance car to the to the hospital, and it took me like four months to recover.

HM: Why do you think you were shot. Why did they go after you?

RF: Because I'm not one of them and I'm trying to fight them in civil ways, in the same way that I'm finding the region. From the beginning, our revolution was against the regime because it's dictatorship regime. And then they came from the back and somehow they tried to be a part of the revolution. But you know, they are not. They shoot us from the back and then we have to fight to the other side of the terrorism from the other side, and the ISIS side. So I was fighting… not in weapons. I don't use weapons from the beginning of the revolution, but in civil ways.

HM: Through protest and through your radio.

RF: Yes. Protest radio station and the woman centres and the children centres and the teenager centres, and all the [unintelligible] that I am managing here in the Idlib countryside.

HM: Are you afraid that you continuing to operate this radio station and your activism might put you in danger again?

RF: Not at all. I am in danger since six years ago. I should be careful. But I am not scared.

HM: You continue to use sarcasm in your broadcast. Do you ever worry about losing your sense of humor?

RF: If you want to survive, you have to use humour. To love. If you want to survive you have to love.

HM: Mr. Fares, thank you very much for telling us about your work. I'm really grateful you were able to speak with us today.

RF: Thank you so much.

HM: Okay bye-bye.

RF: Bye.

JD: Raed Fares is the station manager of Radio Fresh FM in Kafranbal, a town in rebel-held Idlib province in Syria. When jihadist militants told him to stop playing music or broadcasting the voices of female news readers on the radio, he responded by playing basically everything else, essentially. From farm animals to clocks ticking. And he’s altered the women's voices to sound like men.
He has been a voice for us since the early days of the Syrian uprising which is nearly 6 years ago, when he and other activists risked their lives to protest.

[Music]

Nova Scotia storm

JD: Because of the massive winter storm hitting the East Coast throughout the Maritimes, roads are piled with snow. Public transit is down. In Halifax, homeless shelters are packed. And for the people who work at those shelters, getting stuck there was all but certain. That is where the Pirate Off Road Nation comes in. They are a group of Off-Road enthusiasts who own jeeps and other 4x4s. Last year the nation partnered with a single shelter for women and children called Adsum House. This year they are volunteering to drive workers to and from every shelter in Halifax.
The Pirate Off Road Nation's spokesperson, Len Spencer, was out and about today. And the CBC's Shaina Luck caught up with him.

SOUNDCLIP

LEN SPENCER: As you know, they provide a very important service, and one of the basic tenants of Pirate Off Road Nation is to help. And when the opportunity came up to make the connection with Adsum House, we were more than happy to help. So now we had the opportunity to come out. And we've had about 40 people like us that are working today to try and get it all squared away and we're getting them… we're getting them in slowly but surely. They’re a little bit surprised to see us sometimes, but we get them there and so far so good.

SHAINA LUCK: And how many drives do you think you've done today?

LS: Oh I would say 20, 30 maybe? By the time it's all done, because today and according to the weather I’m seeing, this you know it would probably be a bit of tomorrow too. We started before the sun was up this morning and we'll be going. I would think probably a fair bit after dark.

SL: And when you show up in your big jeeps, what do people say?

LS: We have people that will say you know, you're absolutely, you’re never going to make it up my road, my you know my brother’s uncle’s cousins whatever couldn't get there, and you try to just four wheel drive truck. And we'll say well no actually, we're sitting in front of your house. And they’ll look and you’ll see and they’ll peep out the window and say “Oh, well very good.” And they’re just surprised. And basically what it is, is as a rule you don't go in these conditions. And for us this is beautiful.

JD: Len Spencer, spokesperson for a Pirate Off Road Nation speaking earlier today with CBC Shaina Luck in Halifax. The members of his nation will continue their work through the night until the worst of the storm is over.

[Music]

WWII plane restoration

Guest: Doug Roy

JD: It went from hunting enemy submarines to fighting forest fires. And when a Canadian-made Canso airplane went down in an icy northern lake more than 15 years ago, it seemed likely that it had flown its last.
But in 2008, a few Alberta farmers decided to turn their airplane enthusiasts group into an airplane rescue and restoration group. And today, they have the Canso almost ready to fly again.
Doug Roy is one of them. He is a farmer from Fairview, Alberta. But we reached him, lucky him, today in Maui, Hawaii.

HM: Doug Roy what kind of shape was this airplane in when you and your team first decided to take on this project?

DOUG ROY: Well, there were a lot of things missing and there was substantial damage, but overall I think you'd say the aircraft is in good shape.

HM: How did it end up on the side of this northern lake?

DR: Well in the last stages of its active life, it was, had been converted to a water bomber. And after spending almost two decades in Newfoundland fighting wildfires there, it have been sold and moved to western Canada to do the same duties. So in this fateful day, it was out fighting a fire near a new rig in the Northwest Territories when it ran into trouble and started to take on water, and eventually sank to the bottom of the lake. The pilot, co-pilot got out fine. The company that owned it, floated it to the surface, hauled it over to the edge of the lake and pulled it up on the shores where they took off the engines and some of the instruments and a few things that they can salvage and use on other aircrafts and virtually abandoned the airframe on the side of the lake.

HM: And how long they've had been sitting there when you guys came for it?

DR: Oh it had been there for seven years by the time we got there. And remarkably it hadn't been damaged, it hadn’t been vandalized or shot full of bullet holes or anything.

HM: Where it went down isn't really very close to where you are in Fairview. I gather it was not no small effort to drag it there. How did you get it there?

DR: Well it's about fifteen hundred miles from Fairview up to Inuvik. We drove up the Alaska Highway, got to Inuvik. And then across the tundra with a snow machine and a snowmobile mounted it up on skis and hooked onto it with machine and dragged it across the tundra and took the skis off it and put it back on its wheels and hauled it down the highway in the last 20km back to Inuvik.

HM: How long did that take?

DR: Well that was about three weeks. We were lucky enough to get help from a lot of people in Inuvik.One of the gentlemen the race for the barging company Northern Transportation to haul it for us from Inuvik down to Hay River on the Mackenzie River. So that's another 1500 miles up to Hay River which is just north of Alberta. A lot more accessible for us.

HM: And then you had to get it to Fairview.

DR: We did. So once it was unloaded in Hay River. We had a crew go up and we took off the wing and it’s a one piece wing, it’s 104 feet wide. It’s a very big aircraft. Took that wing off and put it on one truck and took the airframe and put it on another truck and down the highway we came on kind of [unintelligible].

HM: At any point did you and your fellow farmers say “This is just way too much work. We're going to abandon this.”

DR: Well I think we might have thought it briefly a few times but no. Basically we were in it to finish it. We did realize though,very early on that this was a big project and it was much more than six farmers from Fairview, which we were called, could handle. So we formed a society, the Fairview Aircraft Restoration Society. So now we have a lot of people that are with us as members are just in support.

HM: Why was it so important to you to restore this plane?

DR: Well first I think a little bit of a challenge for them I think it quickly became a matter of we realized the historical significance of it and that to preserve something, it was kind of a last of a kind. This was built during the war for use during the war. And at that time worldwide there was nearly 3300 of them built. But we're down to only 12 of them. There’s 12 air-worthy ones worldwide.

HM: And what have you learned about what this specific plane did during the Second World War?

DR: Well yeah, we've had contact from a number of that that had been involved. While it was in Iceland, it was stationed in Iceland for quite a period of time, and it would fly out over the North Atlantic and patrol the seaway where the convoys were going back and forth between North America and Europe. They were armed, they had depth charges, and anti-aircraft guns onboard and they could attack a submarine if they saw it, or they could do a search and rescue duty too very easily because it’s amphibious. It could land in the open ocean. But the thing that's been really a blessing to us has been getting to meet some of these people that actually worked on or flew this aircraft. And when we have our first flight which is coming up June 18^th, on that day we're going to have two of our pilots who actually flew this aircraft. They're sitting watching it take off.

HM: That makes it really special, huh?

DR: Oh it's just amazing. One gentleman that's coming from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia aged 99 years old. He’s coming with his son. This is Father's Day that we're having our first flight. So it has special meaning there. Then we have Hal Burns, the other pilot who's 94, now lives in Victoria, and he'll be coming with his daughter to attend our special day.

HM: What's it going to be like for you and the rest of your team having spent nine years on this project to finally see that plane in the sky?

DR: Oh it's amazing. You know it's a culmination of a lot a lot of hard work and well, it's a labor of love it's really what it's become. And we just started, we keep getting more excited about it all the time as these things unfold. And we don't lose sight of the fact that our end goal is to have this as a flying museum. That’s always been our goal, is to be able to take it to the air shows and share it with other people. The general public, and aviation enthusiasts and probably most of important, is that we plan to land in small communities and share it with groups of schoolchildren, here in June when everybody's out on field trips and things and hope hopefully we can continue to share with everybody.

HM: So that the effort isn't really over yet.

DR: Oh not at all, no. A lot of our members keep talking about the different phases and things and sense of we’re into phase three now, and we're just about there. So that will be a different set of skills that we're using and maybe a few different people involved. But will be just as big I think. Something we're hoping that we get more people young people involved and carry this on for years and years to come. There's no reason I can't find another 70 years.

HM: Well congratulations for your efforts and your success in getting this thing done.

DR: Thank you.

HM:It's a pleasure to talk with you Mr. Roy. Have a good day.

DR: Thank you very much, Helen. Bye for now.

HM: Bye bye.

JD: Doug Roy is one of a group of six farmers from Fairview, Alberta who have very nearly fully restored an old Canadian made submarine hunting Second World War Canso aircraft. We reached Doug Roy in Maui.

[Music]

Cycling polluted cities

Guest: Audrey de Nazelle

JD: Getting out on your bicycle for a vigorous 30 minute ride is good for you right? Well it turns out that kind of depends on where you live. Scientists at Imperial College London say that in some of the world's most polluted cities, a bike ride can actually be more damaging to your health than just staying inside.
Audrey de Nazelle is a lecturer in air pollution management and the study's lead author. We reached her in London.

HM: Ms. De Nazelle, how bad does pollution have to get to make it unhealthy to go for a bike ride?

AUDREY DE NAZELLE: Well the good news is, is actually you can ride a bicycle in most parts of the world quite safely before it gets to be bad. In fact in most areas of the world you can ride six hours a day, seven hours a day, and you're doing yourself a favor by being having a very healthy active lifestyle. It's only in the most polluted regions of the world where you can start reaching the point where, because of the increased inhalation of air pollution, as you are physically active, you start having levels of cycling where the harm, the increased inhalation of evolution, outweighs the benefits of activity.
But that point is only reached in places in the world. For example in Delhi, after one hour of cycling. And the most polluted place, according to the WHO database, in Iran's Zabol, you reached that unhealthy level of physical activity after 30 minutes.

HM: We see an awful lot of stories coming out of China about the high levels of pollution there. Is it safe to ride a bike there?

AND: So in China again, it will be safe, in large parts of China. In the worst areas of China, it will be safe to ride a bicycle for an hour a day every day. But beyond that, in the most polluted places in China, then the harm of increased inhalation of air pollution is going to start outweighing the benefits you get from physical activity.

HM: So what kind of health risks are we looking at here?

AND: So here in this case what we modeled is the long term health impacts in terms of mortality. So we didn't, we didn't look specific diseases, we just looked at all-cause mortality, so all just mortality from long-term exposures to air pollution, and benefits from long term healthy lifestyles.

HM: How did you figure this out? What kind of modeling did you use to come to this determination especially with regard to specific cities?

AND: What we did is we modeled across a range of levels of air pollution, so incremental changes of air pollution and different ranges of amounts of cycling. And we looked at the literature, which is very robust on the benefits of physical activity and then we looked at all the literature on the dis-benefits or harm of air pollution. And again there's a very robust literature on the harms of air pollution too.

HM: Is biking more dangerous than walking in these places?

AND: So when you bike, you tend to inhale more air pollution because you are more physically active. So on the one hand, you have more benefits from cycling, from physical activity, because it's more physical activity. So you have more benefits from the fact that you have more healthy physical activity. But on the other hand, cycling you inhale more because you're more physically active. So you can increase your intake of air pollution, and also cycling tends to be done in places where the concentration of air pollution is slightly higher than when you're walking.

HM: It sounds like your numbers could be a useful tool for runners as well.

AND: Yes of course. It would be a useful tool. We wouldn't be able to use exactly the same numbers as what we used, in the sense that we looked at concentrations of air pollution that would typically be encountered in traffic environments. So if you're running, you're more likely to have the ability to run somewhere else. Right?
So you're you can go run in a park, you can run in streets that are away from traffic. Whereas when you're walking or cycling places, it's harder sometimes to avoid the heavy traffic.
And it doesn't take much to reduce air pollution, concentrations quite drastically in an urban environment. It if you're in a quiet street, in the park, your levels of exposure to bad air pollution dropped quite significantly.

HM: In in really polluted centers, we see a lot of images of people wearing masks. Do they help?

AND: Well there's not much data out there and how much masks will help, but they're likely to help a little bit to get rid of the bigger particles. It's called the coarse particles. But if it's just a piece of cloth, it probably won't make a difference. And no matter what no matter what the mask is, it won't get rid of gases and it won't get rid of the very tiny ultra-fine particles. So it will get rid of some of the problem but probably not the most harmful part of the problems.

HM: You live in London. Do you cycle around the city?

AND: Yes absolutely. Everyday, to go to work. Absolutely.

HM: And it has a share of pollution. Do you take any special precautions?

AND: I always choose my route according to having lower levels of air pollution, and I do that simply by looking at the streets that have less traffic. So I am quite conscientious about choosing routes that are that are less polluted that have less traffic. But at levels of air pollution that we find in London, in fact, the physical activity benefit that you get will always outweigh any kind of risk. So I'm not really so much concerned about the air pollution given, knowing that I'm going to be getting more benefits than any kind of harm. But it's still it’s better, if you have a choice, much better to be able to ride your bike in less traffic areas.
In addition, I actually ride my bike with my children and my children don't get the physical activity benefits, they only get the harm. I'm quite careful to choose routes that have less, fewer cars.

HM: All right Ms. De Nazelle, thank you for sharing your research with us.

AND: OK thank you very much.

HM: OK good bye.

AND: Bye.

HM: Audrey De Nazelle is a lecturer in air pollution management at Imperial College London.

[Music]

Al Jarreau obit

JD: A few years ago, jazz vocalist Al Jarreau was asked about what drew him to other genres of music. And the question offended him. He responded, "Don't cut me off at the pass and say I can't listen to Muddy Waters or Garth Brooks because I'm a jazzer. Get out of here."
Al Jarreau, an experimenter until the end, died this weekend. He was 76 years old.
Mr. Jarreau broke rules his whole life. He didn’t record his first album until he was 35 years old, after he had had a career as a vocational therapist. He won multiple Grammys in the jazz, pop and R&B categories. And he used his voice like a musical instrument. Like several instruments in fact.
And he didn't just inject a few trills here and there. Mr. Jarreau became known as the "acrobat of scat" for his ability to use his voice. In 1977, Mr. Jarreau did a live performance of "Take Five," by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. At the time, a reviewer said that Mr. Jarreau's scat-style in that song was "like a flock of demented starlings whizzing round a cage."

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Feb 13, 2017 episode transcript

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