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The AIH Transcript for September 18, 2017

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

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HELEN MANN: Hello, I'm Helen Mann, sitting in for Carol off.

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

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JD: Tonight:

HM: A port between storms. Irma left the British Virgin Islands of Tortola in ruins — and four storm weary residents can recover, Maria is set to arrive on the island tomorrow.

JD: They won't meet him less than halfway. Because an Ontario man has only been sober two-and-a-half months instead of six, he is not eligible for a liver transplant — so he's going to court to fight for an injunction.

HM: They sent him out to find places to shoot. Instead, when a location scout for the Netflix series “Narcos” went to Mexico, he was shot to death — raising questions the show's producers haven’t answered.

JD: A second opinion. Not all doctors are opposed to the Liberal government's tax reform plan: ER physician Dr. Hassan Sheikh explains why he thinks he and his colleagues have a responsibility to pay up.

HM: Out with the old in with the canoe. A dugout canoe was buried at the bottom of a Florida lagoon, possibly for centuries — until Hurricane Irma's scooped it up and left it on dry land for a local beachcomber to find.

JD: And… when life hands you lemonade. The guitarist from Ottawa punk band Zex goes on the record about being on someone else's record, after a pressing mishap puts their songs on the A-side of Beyonce's magnum opus. As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that admits in this case, our coverage is pretty one-sided.

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Part 1: Hurricane Maria: Tortola resident, Narcos death, old canoe

Hurricane Maria: Tortola

Guest: Sarah Penny

JD: To face one hurricane is devastating. But now, residents along Irma's path are bracing themselves for even more devastation. Today, Hurricane Maria grew into a category 4 storm, and forecasters say it is rapidly intensifying as it makes its way through the eastern Caribbean. One island along Maria's path is Tortola. It is the largest of the British Virgin Islands, and it was left in ruins by Irma earlier this month. Sarah Penny lives in Tortola. That's where we reached her.

HM: Ms. Penny, first you went through Irma and now you have Maria on its way. How are you feeling right now?

SARAH PENNY: We're a little daunted. I think that everyone's trying to do the best they can to prepare. But I don't want to say that we're resigned, but really there's so little left to lose that I think part of people just feels like there's really nothing to protect them other than life. And others are feeling quite overwhelmed at the thought of losing any more than they already have.

HM: How much time do you have to do to make these preparations? Do you have any sense of when Maria is going to hit?

SP: Not much at all, probably tomorrow evening. The challenge and sort of uncertainty that we have right now is really how close she is going to pass to us. One thing that at least we sort of know now is that the spread of the hurricane force winds out from the center is much narrower than it was with Irma. But there's so much debris here and there's so few roofs and there's so few safe spaces. I mean many of our shelters were even destroyed by Irma — what people thought to be safe places to be in Irma proved to not be the case. Irma knocked down concrete, you know? I mean it wasn't as if it was just wooden houses or wooden roofs that went, it was everything. So I think there's a lot of trepidation then we really don't know where we're safe?

HM: Where will you seek shelter then?

SP: Right now, people are combining the efforts. So people are living together even right now just to shelter from the elements. Overall, there's a lot of uncertainty. I think that Irma sort of proved that we are definitely not in control. And I think everyone that I see around is still trying. People aren't sitting around and letting Maria happen to us. They are actively trying to salvage pieces of plywood and find nails and screws. I know that that's the case for me. My home, we had to leave after Irma in the night to try to get to the hospital because all of our windows imploded — all the doors were sucked off the buildings. It's a slab of concrete roof so the concrete roof didn't come off, but there was no habitable space because it was just all glass and everything was torn apart.

HM: I understand that you were almost swept away by your washing machine, what happened?

SP: The winds at that point in time had peeled the plywood of the windows that we had put up. And then the wind had died down enough that it had set the washing down — standing double washer dryer that is just about seven feet tall — and just as happens with hurricanes in a quick moment the wind picked back up, lifted the washing machine off the floor and brought it toward me. It hit into my side and my friend he redirected the washing machine by pushing just as hard as he could and the wind picked it up and took it and threw it off the balcony.

HM: Wow!

SP: Everybody has these stories.

HM: And now, you're describing all this debris everywhere. What kind of risk does that pose now that this other storm is threatening?

SP: It's massive. I mean but I will say that what we've learned about Hurricane Maria is that she's carrying a lot of water and rain, so that's now actually the greater risk. So people, in evaluating where they should seek shelter, are having to prioritize places that aren't going to be flooded. Or where the hillside isn't going to collapse around them or on top of them because that's what we're now most vulnerable to with Maria. The winds are going to be substantial — like 75 mile an hour winds — so it's not anything to laugh about.

HM: Given what you've been through and not just you, your family and people around you — how emotionally prepared you to face this thing again?

SP: A lot of us really don't have a choice. We're an island, and most of the travel routes have been closed. I mean airport's been closed this afternoon, so even if you thought you could get out that way you can’t. The airport in Antigua, which is a big hub that people go through, was closed. The Puerto Rico airport is likely to be closed because they're expecting a direct hit and likely it will be a Category 4 hurricane by the time it gets to them. It's terrible because they've sent us so much. They've sent over everything they can possibly send to us to try to recover. And now, they're likely to get hit, which is just awful. You know you wouldn't wish this on anyone what's happening here. I'm sorry.

HM: No, no, is your family physically OK? Did everybody come through the last storm unscathed?

SP: Yeah, we all came through and I mean any and every person you talk to here is grateful for life, you know? It's all we have to be grateful for. Everyone really is sincerely just grateful to have survived. For now you know like two weeks on I think a little bit of the despair or the grief of loss and of uncertainty about jobs and how to have some livelihood? Because you know so many of the jobs here are in the tourism industry and so we have to rebuild as quickly so that people have a way to buy groceries, you know? I mean there's a lot of aid that's trying to come here that will hopefully help people sustain themselves as we rebuild. But it's the uncertainty that really gets to you.

HM: Ms. Penny, I just wish you the very best. I hope you stay safe during Maria and the people around you are able to help each other.

SP: Thank you for all your good wishes at this point in time, the thing that people can do most for us is prayer. Just manifesting all the positive energy you can bet that Maria passes over the ocean more than land.

HM: The very best to you Ms. Penny, I appreciate your time.

SP: Thank you so much.

HM: OK.Good bye.

SP: Bye bye.

JD: Sarah Penny is a resident of Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. That is where we reached her. To follow the latest news on Hurricane Maria, go to www.cbc.ca/news.

[Music: Electronica]

Narcos death

Guest: Diana Washington Valdez

JD: “Narcos”, the hit drug cartels show on Netflix has become altogether too real. Last week, the body of a location scout for the series was found in his car in Mexico. He had been shot to death. Carlos Munoz Portal was working on the upcoming fourth season of “Narcos”, which will focus on Mexico's Juarez cartel. Mr. Munoz was a seasoned location scout, he had worked on productions including the latest James Bond film “Spectre”, and “Fast & Furious”. Police still have no leads on who is responsible for his death. Diana Washington Valdez is a journalist and author based in El Paso, Texas, on the Mexican border. She worked with film crews in the past as they navigate the sometimes dangerous realities of working in Mexico. We reached Ms. Washington Valdez in El Paso.

HM: Ms Washington Valdez, what can you tell us about what happened to Mr. Munoz while he was working for Netflix in Mexico?

DIANA WASHINGTON VALDEZ: Well, he was murdered and was shot multiple times while scouting for a location for the series “Narcos”. His body was found later — he was murdered on September 11th. And it seems, according to the Mexican authorities, that he was probably being pursued because his vehicle — SUV — was discovered encrusted in some dense cactus foliage.

HM: So he was found in the vehicle?

DWV: Yes.

HM: Do you think that the cartel was responsible? Because no one has at this point been charged for his killing?

DWV: No, and probably no one will be charged. The police have already said that they're having a hard time finding bullet casings and that it is a very remote area. They can't find any forensic evidence. This drug cartel was founded in Juarez, Mexico, right here where I live in this border location. But their use of violence is very well known. They have committed many brazen murders and kidnappings in the past to send messages to law enforcement or to outsiders. The other possibility is that simply since he was scouting for locations for the series, they might have seen him as a trespasser. And for that reason killed him.

HM: You know Mr. Munoz was just looking for film locations for this television series. How common is it for someone in the film industry to be the target of violence in that area?

DMV: Well, it's very unusual. You know this is the first time I know of someone who operates, among other things, six or four film productions from foreign countries — from the United States and other places. Someone who has especially been involved in so many projects — high profile films — it does matter you know like “Sicario” and in this one because usually those people know the terrain and they usually know how to go ahead and pave the way security wise. I don't know if Mr. Munoz simply had not had the time to do that where he was going, but it would seem very risky to go into that kind of terrain controlled by drug cartels and not have some security measures in place ahead of time. For example, we don't even know that that he was alone.

HM: Right. Now you mentioned the film “Sacario”, and you worked to some degree with the film crews involved in that. That’s a Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve, what did you do in order to help secure the crew's safety in that instance?

DMV: Well, I was not involved in their safety measures, but I do know that they had a lot of security and even when they did filming in Mexico they had Mexican law enforcement armed with machine guns escorting the crews. And the “Sacario” staff also did a lot of filming in New Mexico and in California and in Mexico City in order to reduce their time in Juarez, Mexico.

HM: This was 10 episodes that Netflix had been planning on filming in that area — a considerable amount of time really. And you mentioned that the other productions like “Sacario” have also used other locations like California or New Mexico. Is it sensible do you think for Netflix to be focused on spending so much time in this area at this particular time?

DMV: Well, I'm sure they weren't expecting something like this to happen. Netflix today has not responded as to whether the production has decided whether to move, to continue, or to end the series.

HM: Do you think that Netflix should now consider perhaps moving the filming of the series to the United States for example?

DMV: They certainly have that capability. And if “Scario” could do important film shots in New Mexico, I don't see why not. I mean the Juarez drug cartel after all did begin here in this border community. When I did the interviews for “Sacario”, I mentioned to them about how Juarez is still dangerous. There is this sense of dread every time you go there you have to be on the alert. But you could do filming and take shots of you know the border without incurring the kind of insecurity that you would in Mexico.

HM: Do you think when you're talking about a company the size of Netflix that they have a responsibility to protect a freelancer like Mr. Munoz in a situation like this?

DMV: Of course, absolutely they do. They're going to benefit and profit from this production, and they should be assured that all their staff is safe. And even the extras, they have to consider these are people who live in those communities, you know? Why should they be targeted by organized crime simply for assisting with a film?

HM: Knowing what you do about the Juarez cartel, what do you think they make of all this attention?

DMV: Well, they don't like people coming into their territory. That's for sure. They don't like people nosing around. And a death like this if it was a deliberate murder on the part of the drug cartel, it would be a message to everyone else. You know don't come here, don’t mess with us, even if you're the government don't let these people be coming here at all and asking questions about us.

HM: Yeah, if productions pull out of Mexico though that's a cost to people in the communities, obviously in terms of the dollars that we spent in hotels and hospitality. But I assume also to workers on those films?

DMV: Yes, but what's more important your life or money?

HM: Yeah, I’m just thinking that you know you're talking about the cartel driving work away from Mexicans.

DMV: Oh, the cartels don't care about that. They want to be left alone to do their own business and anything that interferes with them they'll take retaliatory measures. They've done it all along and it's gotten away with it all along.

HM: Ms. Washington Valdez, thank you very much for talking with us.

DMV: You're very welcome.

HM: OK. Bye bye.

DMV: Bye.

JD: Diana Washington Valdez is a journalist and author who consults with film crews working in Mexico. We reached her in El Paso. You can find more on this story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Hip-hop]

Old canoe

Guest: Randy Lathrop

JD: Irma, as we know, smashed homes and businesses and uprooted trees on its way through the Caribbean and Florida. But it did also unearth a piece of history. Last week, Randy Lathrop was on a bike ride near his Florida home when he saw a large wooden object washed up near a road. It was a very old dug canoe. We reached Randy Lathrop in Cocoa, Florida.

HM: Randy, what did you first think when you spotted this thing.

RADY LATHROP: Well, I was out for a bicycle ride. I was surveying damage right after the storm. I was anxious to get out of the house after being cooped up awhile. When I first saw it I actually knew what it was. I was astounded and astonished at what I was looking at. So I took a quick picture of it with my cell phone and I texted it to an underwater archaeologist friend of mine by the name of Jim Sinclair, and Jim confirmed my suspicions. And he replied he was like holy smokes. And I was like yeah, I don't believe it. So once I knew what it was and then he confirmed the sighting, I went to a friend's house just real close by and we got his truck to try to get it out of the road as soon as we could.

HM: Isn't it extraordinary though of all the people to see this thing it was someone like you, who immediately recognized this was a canoe?

RL: Well, you know and I had the kids some of my treasure hunting friends my historical shipwreck salvage friends I said See, I'm so good I don't even have to go looking for it, it comes looking for me.

HM: Can you describe it for us?

RL: Sure Helen is it's made out of cypress and cypress was a material that they like to use in the past because it holds so much sap. It doesn't allow water intrusion into the wood. So it's probably oh, I don't know if you put your arms in a big circle it’s maybe that big around a circumference. Maybe two-and-a-half feet in circumference or something like that. And it's 15 feet long. It was real pointed bow on it and you could see it's dug out, henceforth the name dugout canoe, and normally when they make this type of canoe what they do is they'll burn certain portions of it out and they'll use fire as a tool. They'll burn what they can and then they'll chip away at the rest. And when you were looking at it you can see the burn marks in it. But it was it was laying on its side and you can see the parts that were worked then it very much looks like it's just a log.

HM: So what kind of shape was it in in terms of you know damage or apparent age?

RL: You know it's phenomenal how good a shape it really is. Some areas maybe have been sanded down by the sand a little bit. But we suspect that it was probably covered up in the sub-bottom because there's virtually hardly any marine growth on it. In fact, there's actually in certain portions of it little remnants of what looks like paint — a little red paint possibly and a little white paint.

HM: You decided as you mentioned to remove this to keep it safe. If it's been in the bottom of the water for so long I mean how heavy is it?

RL: My friend and I we struggled to get it in back of the pickup truck. It had to weigh at least 700 pounds.

HM: And how much of that was because it absorbed mud and moisture?

RL: Well, that's a good question and we probably won't know until the conservation process is complete and see where we stand then. The Department of Historical Resources sent in an archaeologist who works for the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and he was in close proximity. So the following day, they sent him over and he looked at it and he took photographs and measurements. I queried him you know what do you think? What do you think? You know archaeologists are sort of like physicians, they don't want to offer a prognosis unless they're pretty sure what they're talking about.

HM: But you must have some guesses given you know you've looked at the craftsmanship, you mentioned this red paint. What are your thoughts of how old this thing is?

RL: Well, if I had to proper a guess I would think that this is from the 1800s sometime. It could be from the early 1800s or the middle 1800s. There’s square-cut nails in it, these nails were in production late 1700s — early 1800s up through the middle 1800’s. They could have used nails very much from shipwrecks. I know that they would use them on occasion for fish hooks.

HM: What would they've used it for maybe?

RL: Well, the Seminoles, who were present in Florida at that time, they are very well known for their canoes. Most of those canoes, of course, they were used the easiest way to get around Florida instead of trodden through the jungle is to get on the water — so all of the rivers, all the creeks, all the waterways were definitely highways at that time. On this side of the canoe it almost looks like the canoe had an outrigger on it possibly, or it could have been tandem with another canoe. And the body of water that this canoe was found on is a mile wide. It's not like a little stream or a river where you would pull. And most of these canoes are very skinny and they would stand up and they would pull them. They didn't paddle them so much as they pulled them. And you know I suspect this one may have been used for sailing, I'm not sure. Once again, I'm going to defer to the experts and hope that they come up something real soon so I can quit guessing.

HM: You're an avid beachcomber, how are you ever going to top this?

RL: It's going to be hard… real hard. You never know what these storms are going to uncover. You just you have no idea.

HM: Well, despite all that horrible damage I guess there's one little upside, right? You’re unveiling some history.

RL: It's romantic that you can go on a bike ride and find a piece of history like this. I just simply went on a bike ride, that's all I did.

HM: Well, Randy Lathrop, I appreciate you sharing your finds from that bike ride with us. Thank you so much.

RL: Well Helen, it's been a pleasure talking to you and I wish you the very best.

HM: All right, you too. Bye Bye.

RL: Thank you. Bye bye.

JD: We reached Randy Lathrop in Cocoa, Florida. And we'd like to see some pictures that dugout canoe, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Indie]

Dateline: Donkey lawsuit

JD: Dateline: Giessen, Germany.

[Music: Dateline theme]

JD: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard a lot of facts in this case. But you are hungry for more than facts. You are hungry for the truth. You are like my client, Fitus. Now before we get to the truth, let's look at the facts. Fact number one: on September 16th of 2016, Mr. Markus Zahn parked his very expensive orange McLarens 650-S Spider in a parking lot in the town of Giessen. Fact number two: that parking lot borders the property where Fitus lives and where Fitus eats. Fact number three: when Mr. Zahn got back to his car, Fitus was eating… or trying to eat the back bumper of that McLaren. Fact number four: Fitus is a donkey. Now, Mr. Zahn himself acknowledges that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. And he said — and I will quote him — quote, “The donkey probably thought the car was a carrot on wheels. I'm not mad at him.” Well we're in court today because Markus Zahn wants compensation for some of the repairs. He wants Fitus's owner’s insurance to cough up because he is the victim. But the insurance company says Mr. Zahn should not have parked there. But you know who the real victim is ladies and gentlemen? Fitus, an innocent, ravenous donkey. Like you, he was hungry for the truth and he believed the truth was that someone had delivered him the biggest, shiniest carrot of his career. When he tried to take a bite of the truth you know what he got? A cold, extremely hard fact: that carrot was actually a high-performance sports car. And so I ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, not to find my client, Fitus the donkey, liable. He may be a beast of burden, but some burdens are too great even for him. Instead of a giant carrot, he got a giant stick. And instead of a bumper crop, he got a bumper… just a bumper. The defense rests.

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Part 2: Liver transplant, Lemonade punk band

Liver transplant

Guest: Joanne Gallant

The prognosis is not good for Cary Gallant. Mr. Gallant is from Sault-Saint.-Marie, he has advanced liver disease, but he is not allowed on the liver transplant list because he is not yet six months sober. In Ontario, patients with advanced alcohol-related liver disease are not permitted on the list until they have abstained for six months. Well now, Mr. Gallant is finding this rule, and he's hoping to get an injunction that will force the province to put him on the list. Joanne Gallant is Cary Gallant’s mother. She has been caring for him since he fell ill. We reached Joanne Gallant in Sault-Saint-Marie.

HM: Ms. Gallant, how is your son doing right now?

JOANNE GALLANT: Right at the moment today he doesn't feel too bad. He has gone through some pretty rough times though since he's been out of the hospital.

HM: So what is it that led doctors to determine that Kerry needed a liver transplant?

JG: Well, he went to the hospital, his stomach was distended. They had to do what they call a tap and take fluid out of his stomach. He was in the hospital for probably over a month.

HM: And what did they determine?

JG: That he has cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis caused by alcohol.

HM: I know it has to be difficult to talk about, but I'm wondering if you can tell us about his prognosis?

JG: Well, I didn't know how serious it was until… we had to get his forms filled out for disability. And then when we got the papers back, the discharge summaries were there and it said that he had a 75 per cent chance of passing away within six months. So that's when I realized how serious it was.

HM: Was the issue of a liver transplant brought up to you?

JG: Cary told me that the doctors had told him that he probably would need a liver transplant. And then we went to the first visit with his doctor. The doctor said well, he said if you survive in the six months, he said then we will talk about a liver transplant.

HM: And what does that mean in the six months?

JG: Well I mean six months from the time he stopped drinking.

HM: And when was the last time he had a drink?

JG: I would say the first week of July.

HM: Were you shocked? What was your immediate thought when you heard about this six month limitation?

JG: Yes, I certainly was shocked. I didn't understand if somebody needs something you know why not get on a list now, rather than waiting to see what's going to happen in six months?

HM: So how was it explained to you?

JG: The only thing it was explained to me is like I said when we went to the first visit the doctor said you know if you survive then we will talk about the transplant.

HM: As you know donated organs are scarce, and I understand this rule was put in place because there are concerns that that people who get a liver who are alcoholics might start drinking again. What if he were to do that? What do you think?

JG: Well, naturally, I'd be very disappointed. And right now, at this point, I don't even have that concern. It's not going to be part of his life again as far as he is concerned. He has told me that and I'm not even worried about that. He told me I don't even crave it anymore, Mom.

HM: There's now this legal effort to get your son on that liver transplant list and to get these rules changed as well. On what grounds do you think that the rules should be changed?

JG: That he should have a level playing field. He should be on the list just like anybody else depending on his need. It's not like we want to get in front of anybody else or anything like that. It's just that we feel that he should be able to be on the list just like anyone else that might need a heart transplant or any other thing, especially because they say that alcoholism is a disease. So if it's a disease they should treat it like a disease.

HM: There's a woman named Debbie Selkirk, in 2010, her husband died. He was also prevented from going on a liver transplant list. It's my understanding that you've had some conversations with her. I'm just wondering what did she tell you about the challenges that you were going to face as you try to get the rule changed?

JG: Well, I was just looking in the Liver Foundation and trying to get some understanding about you know what I could do to make him better. And I’d come up with her name and then we started talking back and forth. And then that's how it all started. And then she got me in touch with Michael, who was willing to help. And that's how it started.

HM: And Michael is the lawyer who's taking the case?

JG: He is, yes.

HM: Can you describe what all of this has been like for you?

JG: I've had a son that I lost four years ago due to bronchial pneumonia, and I also have a daughter that has MS and she's got the worst kind. So you know what? I go day-by-day. I go day-by-day. It just seems my life has been one thing after another. And I don't know if I'm just getting stronger and being able to fight more, but I just I just go day-by-day.

HM: What does Cary say to you?

JG: Cary is a very private person and so he does have a little reservation about his name being in the paper. But he understands that I'm doing everything I can and he's doing everything he can also. He's been a perfect patient. He’s resting and sleeping and taking his medication and eating good food and, of course, not drinking or even thinking about it.

HM: If you were to get that injunction, what would it mean to your family that he was getting on list right away?

JG: Well, we'd all be very, very happy. Cary’s a beautiful human being. He's you know not just a person that drank. We all love him and he's you know very generous, plays the guitar beautifully. When we have a family gathering he's always there and making the kids laugh. And you know he's just not a person that drinks. He's a son, he's a brother, he's an uncle.

HM: Do you think he will ever drink again?

JG: At this point, I don't think so. I really don't think so. I think everybody's bottom is different. This, unfortunately, had to be his.

HM: Well, I wish you strength and I wish him the best of health as he fights all of this. Thank you very much.

JG: You're welcome.

HM: All right. Bye bye

JG: Bye bye.

JD: We reached Joanne Gallant in Sault-Saint-Marie. Her son, Cary Gallant, has advanced liver disease. He is attempting to get an injunction to put him on the liver transplant list in Ontario, despite a policy that requires those with alcohol-linked liver disease to be six months sober before being placed on the list. The provincial agency that oversees that list is Trillium Gift of Life. It provided a statement which reads in part, quote, “Our research on liver listing criteria points to a six month abstinence from alcohol for alcoholic liver disease patients as the most commonly used protocol across Canada, the U.S. and other international jurisdictions. As part of our review of the listing criteria, TGLN is developing a three year pilot program to determine if there is evidence basis to change the criteria.” Unquote. We have posted more on this story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Folk]

Lemonade punk band

Guest: Jo Capitalicide

JD: When some Beyonce fans drop the needle on their new lemonade vinyl they should have heard something like this.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Beyonce’s “Hold Up” plays]

JD: So you can imagine their puzzlement when, instead, they heard punk rock… Canadian punk rock by a band called Zex. It turns out that the first side of Beyonce's 2016 album was mispressed, instead of those first five songs from “Lemonade”, those fans got the first five songs of Zex’s 2017 album “Uphill Battle”. Jo Capitalicide is the guitarist for Zex. We reached him in Ottawa.

HM: Mr. Capitalicide, are you a big Beyonce fan.

JO CAPITALICIDE: I've only heard Beyonce for the first time a few days ago.

HM: Oh, that puts you really far apart from most of the rest of the world.

JC: Well, I try.

HM: So do you think this was a mistake, or Beyonce's way of telling you that she's a fan of Zex?

JC: Somebody didn't do their job at the pressing plant. You know there was a discrepancy somewhere. And now, there's a whole funny ordeal happening.

HM: How does something like that happen though? Do you have any idea?

JC: Well, basically, the way pressing machines work, there's a stamper for the side A and a stamper for side B, they are put in the machine and they stamp this hockey-puck-looking-vinyl-thing and they make a record, right? So somewhere along the lines the wrong stamper was put in the machine and there wasn't much of a quality control and they ended up in the distributors, distributors to the stores, stores to the consumers hands I guess.

HM: So how did you find out that five of your songs from your album “Uphill Battle” had ended up on Beyonce's “Lemonade” vinyl?

JC: First guy was somebody Rough Trade East, a record store in London, who let me know that some customer had returned it and you know they used a phone app to find out who the artist was. And then he let me know and then within hours it was endless Beyonce fans writing to us you know saying like hey, I found out that this is your band and they were really confused. Yeah, all kinds of reactions tell you the truth.

HM: Tell me tell me some. I mean were there good reactions among them?

JC: Mainly good. Most people probably feel ripped off, even if it's a mistake. But a lot of them said oh, I was really curious and I looked into it and then I found out it's a band name Zex and now you know next thing you know, they're buying the records.

HM: You actually have people going out buying your record because of this?

JC: Yes.

HM: That's pretty cool.

JC: It's pretty far-fetched, but it's the truth.

HM: I don't doubt it. The other side of that though, any disappointed Beyonce fans?

JC: Oh, I'm sure there is. I'm sure the ones that have written to us trying to sell us the record at an inflated price are probably disappointed.

HM: Did they think this is all of a sudden going to be some great big money-maker for them down the road because it's a mistake?

JC: Yeah, I think so. I think there's some people that have the prowess to think that, you know to see into the future and then there's some that just won't get rid of it now and you know go buy themselves a more legit copy.

HM: Have you got your hands on a copy?

JC: I've got one on the way.

HM: One on the way. Was it expensive?

JC: No, not at all. It was practically given to me.

HM: How does “Lemonade” compare in terms of sound to “Uphill Battle”?

JC: Well, you know we don't have millions of dollars to back us up on the studio and people who write songs for us. So I mean at the risk of sounding critical, perhaps our stuff is coming more from the heart. And you know I really can't tell what place even an artist like Beyonce is coming from.

HM: Have you heard any of “Lemonade”?

JC: I heard one song. I don't know… a hit song… I forget what it's called.

HM: And?

JC: And oh, it's just not my thing. I mean I listened to the best of my ability. But nah, it's not my thing.

HM: So you won't be channeling Beyonce in your next album?

JC: No, I doubt that.

HM: I guess this is one of those moments where you should maybe capitalize on the fame you're getting. Are you getting a lot of interest?

JC: I suppose. I just noticed now it's in every music blog you know from NME, to the New Yorker, to Pitchfork, to Exclaim!, to everything and here I am on Radio One.

HM: Yeah. Maybe you should be thanking that guy who pressed you on the wrong side of that album?

JC: Yeah. Well, you know hopefully he doesn't get fired.

HM: Hopefully not. Listen, thanks very much. It's good to talk to you.

JC: Hey, no problem. Thanks a lot.

HM: OK. Bye.

JD: Jo Capitalicide is the guitarist for the punk band Zex. We reached him in Ottawa. And you can find more on this story by visiting our website: www.cbc.ca/aih

[Music: Synth pop]

From Our Archives: Harry Dean Stanton obit

JD: “It's just so frustrating when you're in a supporting role because you only get to express a part of yourself.” That was Harry Dean Stanton to the Los Angeles Times back in 1986. By that point, Mr. Stanton had shaped an impressive career of supporting character roles in film and on television — as long and as distinguished as his unforgettable face. And TV shows like “Bonanza” and films like “Cool Hand Luke”, “Escape from New York” and “Alien”. But he'd also had a taste of what it was like to carry a film as its star. Two years earlier — the same year that he starred opposite Emilio Estevez in “Repo Man” — Mr. Stanton starred in Wim Wenders’ acclaimed road picture “Paris, Texas”. Harry Dean Stanton died on Friday. He was 91-years-old. After “Paris, Texas” first wowed audiences at Cannes and the Toronto International Film Festival, Mr. Stanton spoke with the CBC's Vicky Gabereau, then the host of “Variety Tonight”. Among other stories, he shared how he and the film's co-author, Sam Shepard, who died earlier this summer became acquainted. And he revealed his shadow passion and his plan B, had acting not worked out for him as it did. Here now some of that conversation from January of 1985, from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

VICKY GABEREAU: Hiya Harry.

HARRY DEAN STANTON: Hi

VG: Do they call you Harry Dean, or just Harry?

HDS: A lot of people call me Harry Dean. It's a long story too. That’s my full name though, Harry Dean Stanton.

VG: You're from Kentucky, I guess it’s a Southern trait to have double-barreled names.

HDS: That's part of it, but I'd hate to be categorized like that, you know in a way. And I just don't like labels period.

VG: I've heard this of you.

HDS: Yeah.

VG: You're in a bad business for that.

HDS: Yeah I know, well I don't know everybody gets labeled it seems on one level or another, which I think is another small prison, you know?

VG: Let's talk about your new picture, “Paris, Texas”, which has yet to be released in Canada. When did you first come upon this script? You and Sam Shepard were fairly friendly I take it?

HDS: Well, Sam Shepherd and I knew each other over several months before we ever had a good talk. I met him at a film festival in Santa Fe in 1983. It was just about over a little over a year ago, and we sat down and drank tequila and got a little drunk — not drunk, but high anyway — and talked a lot. And then I came back to Los Angeles and he called me two or three weeks later and asked me did I want to do the lead in his film, “Paris, Texas”? Of course, I jumped at that chance immediately. I asked him why he wasn't doing it and he said he was too indulgent, he didn't have the time and other reasons, you know he was working on another film too.

VG: A remarkable writer.

HDS: Yes.

VG: It must have been interesting looking at a script where for certainly the first part of this picture you are almost catatonic.

HDS: Well, yeah in a sense. As a matter of fact, that's the way I played it.

VG: What kind of thing during the non-speaking parts are indicated on a script? I mean surely you can't dictate movement of an actor or bits to do. You'd have to work very hard on that?

HDS: You know it's a challenge and you have to be very specific. But I don't know I seem to have such a strong identification with the part. It didn’t take a great deal of preparation or technique for me as an actor, although I've been you know well-schooled in you know as an actor. But progressively, over the years, I've tried to get to the point where I can be just as vulnerable and innocent as possible and play myself as much as I possibly can and let the material and the wardrobe indicate what the character is.

VG: You might have been a singer, huh?

HDS: Yeah, I would have been a singer I think if I wasn't an actor because I've always sung. And it was a happy accident to that Ry Cooder, who scored the film, used Mexican music, which I've been singing for a long time. And, as a matter of fact, I recorded the song. Maybe we can play it about here, or start it anyway?

VG: That's a good idea.

HDS: And it's a song called “Cancion Mixteca”, which means “Mixtec Song” literally. And it’s the Mixtexc Indians in Mexico. And it's a lament about a man far, far, away from his home and wanting to come back and says he’s far, far away from the land where he was born, intense nostalgia invades his mind, he feels sad lonely like a leaf on the wind, I want to cry, I want to die with so much feeling for my home. Land of the sun, I’m sighing to see you. I live without light, without love and then it repeats what I just said far away and like a leaf on the wind. And our vocal could come in maybe about here.

VG: Perfect.

[Sound: Cancion Mixteca/ Cultural]

JD: From the soundtrack to 1984’s “Paris, Texas”. That was the film’s star, Harry Dean Stanton, singing “Cancion Mixteca” Harry Dean Stanton died Friday. He was 91-years-old.

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Part 3: Tax plan doctor, hot meteor

Wab Kinew

JD: As you likely heard this weekend, the NDP has chosen Wab Kinew as its new leader in Manitoba. It has an historic win, but a lot of people do have questions about the controversies, including domestic assault allegations that came up during Mr Kinew's campaign. Earlier today, Mr. Kinew spoke with the CBC's “Information Radio” in Winnipeg. Here's a clip from that interview, beginning with a question from host Marcy Markusa.

SOUNDCLIP

MARCY MARKUSA: You are coming in having to deal with it with allegations, with controversies, with websites launched by the PCs as well looking at all of the various issues. But I want to talk about a Winnipeg Free Press article over the weekend. Your former partner, Tara Hart, her mother, her sister have now spoken out against you publicly. This dates back to reports of domestic assault charges in 2003. They were stayed by the crown. I understand you deny those charges, but what do you say now to the latest information that's coming out from this family?

WAB KINEW: I think, first of all, I'd like to say you know before responding to that that one of the things that I've really come to appreciate the last 48 hours-72 hours is that this issue is very emotional for a lot of people. It's very charged, it's very triggering and so I do want to acknowledge for victims of domestic violence or other related gender-based forms of discrimination like sexual assault that this issue is very triggering. And so I'm sorry that this causes many people some emotional harm and people are hurt by it. With respect to what you're saying, you know I feel a lot of compassion for this family. I knew them well at one time in my life and it's clear that I hurt them. And I accept responsibility for the fact that you know I was not a good person for a time in my early 20s, and that this has left issues that are unresolved with them. You know I have been clear about how I view the end of our relationship. I've been clear with respect to the allegations that were made. But there's no denying that this family is hurt and for that I accept responsibility.

MM: You still deny the specifics of what the family alleges?

WK: Yes.

MM: How do you move forward and get attention focused on the future of the party instead of your past?

WK: Well, I think that the person who ran to become leader of the NDP that was chosen on the weekend, the person that will be running to be premier in 2020, is the person that I am today and that is a person who is not running away from my past, but rather is running because of the journey that I've been on. I think that the turmoil of my youth helped me forge a very strong and irrevocable moral compass.

JD: Wab Kinew, in conversation with CBC's Marcy Markusa earlier today. This weekend, Wab Kinew was voted leader of the NDP in Manitoba.

[Music: Synth pop]

Tax plan doctor

Guest: Hasan Sheikh

JD: Prime minister Justin Trudeau is doubling down on his promise to reform tax loopholes that benefit small business owners, including doctors. Earlier today, the prime minister spoke in the House of Commons.

SOUNDCLIP

JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Mister Speaker, there is no suggestion that any Canadians aren't following the rules. We have. The problem is the rules we have currently favor the wealthy over the middle class. We have the system right now that allows wealthy Canadians to use private corporations to pay lower tax rates than middle class Canadians. That's not right!

JD: That's the prime minister speaking in the House of Commons earlier today. And earlier this month, we spoke with Dr. Nadia Alam, president-elect of the Ontario Medical Association, who said the proposed tax reforms are unfair to physicians. She is among many doctors in the country who are upset with the Liberal government for tax change proposals that will leave them without some benefits, such as income sprinkling. But today, more than 300 doctors have signed an open letter in support of the proposed changes. Dr. Hasan Sheikh is one of those. He's an emergency room physician in Toronto.

HM: Dr. Sheikh, why did you sign this letter?

HASAN SHEIKH: I signed this letter for a number of reasons. Primarily, I felt like the conversation that was being had between our provincial and territorial medical associations and the government was not really reflecting the views that I held on this issue. I felt like it was very much pushing the maintenance of the status quo of these corporate tax structures, which I think are not necessarily the best system and I think I wanted to sign on to something that I felt took a reasoned approach and was pushing for a more equitable tax system for all Canadians.

HM: So what do you make of the opposition that you're hearing from these associations and from many of your colleagues across the country because it appears to be pretty intense?

HS: Well, I think that you know change is always scary and I think that I understand why a lot of physicians are quite upset about this. I mean it's hardly fair to award these corporate tax structures exchange or in lieu of fee increases like what happened in Ontario. And then to then change the system and take away those benefits. So I understand the reason why physicians are upset, but I think, ultimately, at the end of the day, the real discussion is not about should we have the corporate tax structure or not? But one of you know how much are physicians paid and the lack of extended health benefits, dental care, pharmacare, difficulties in child care and parental leave and these pensions. These are issues that all of our patients face and I actually worry a lot more about my patients ability to retire and live a reasonable quality of life in their time than I worry about my own.

HM: Let's clarify though what this might mean for your bottom line because you're an emergency room physician as opposed to someone with an individual medical office — the kind of people who tend to benefit because of this tax structure. So what's the impact on you?

HS: So I am an incorporated physician, as you pointed out, I do work in the emergency room, but I also do work in a clinic part-time and pay overhead to my corporation for those expenses. And so that does affect me in a number of ways. You know it will ultimately affect a certain amount of my salary. No it depends… the extent to which is not fully clear.

HM: So the letter says that adequate tax revenues are necessary to pay for social programs or things like pharmacare and even affordable housing. I'm just wondering how much you think then that doctors should foot responsibility for those kinds of expenditures when they're already contributing through their medical care?

HS: So I think that you know doctors are paid well for the work they do, and I'm very honored and privileged to have a job which I look forward to going into every day, and a job where I get to help people on a daily basis. But I think that's a very separate issue from the fact that you know the amount that I make should be taxed equitably. And I think especially as a physician who sees the first-hand impact of poverty every day when I go to work, I really think it's important that we advocate for progressive tax reform to address issues like income inequality.

HM: Those that are opposed to the changes, particularly the medical association in Ontario, the Canadian Medical Association. They say that you know higher taxes mean less money for practical things like equipment and that they also have higher rates of burnout that have to be taken into consideration. What do you make of those arguments?

HS: Well, I think that again the corporate tax structures that are quite complicated are not really the solution to physician burnout. In fact, for me at least, I find it contributes to my stress because it's complicated and difficult and I have to spend money on accounting fees and all sorts of things. And certainly I think that there are things that need to be in place and mechanisms that need to be talked about in order to make these reforms happen and to make sure that we're doing it in a way that doesn't affect patient care. But I think the changes themselves are not something that's negatively affecting patient care. I think it's more that we need to build on these changes in order to talk about those other things that we were classically using incorporation for like medical benefits and pensions.

HM: You've suggested that there are broader issues that need to be addressed in another way — different mechanisms than what the tax structure is doing. I mean there are doctors who say that they rely on these benefits because you know you folks don't have retirement plans, you don't have you know vacation packages and that sort of thing. Isn't there some validity to that?

HS: And that's exactly why I think in the absence of having a broader conversation physicians are quite upset about these changes. And I can understand why. I think that is not a reason to maintain the status quo of the situation. I think it's fine to reform the tax structures as tax experts see fit. But I think it's important that we recognize that that's the role these corporation tax structures were playing and we need to address that. So I think we need to have a discussion about physician pensions and all Canadians’ ability to retire and save for that period of their lives. And we need to talk about the lack of extended health benefits and the lack of parental leave.

HM: Right. So it's not like you don't think that those kind of benefits should go to doctors, you just think they should be structured in a different way.

HS: Exactly, I actually that are critical for doctors and I think it's very surprising to people that your doctor that's seeing you and prescribing you medications for certain illnesses doesn't have access to those medications thorough any sort of public insurance plan.

HM: There's a social media post circulating today that actually singles out some doctors by name for signing this letter that you have also signed. Is this becoming a nasty fight among doctors?

HS: So I think I can only speak for my own situation and in my personal discussions with my colleagues, I've found that the way people feel about these issues is actually a lot more nuanced than any of the media coverage suggests. And there are people who feel very strongly on either side, but there are people who have certain concerns and certainly want views about this. And I have a lot of faith in our possession and my colleagues that we can have productive and constructive conversations about this and try and figure out how we can best move the profession along and best advocate for our patients.

HM: Dr. Sheikh, thanks for talking to us.

HS: Thank you so much.

HM: OK. Bye bye.

HS: Bye.

JD: Dr. Hasan Sheikh is an emergency room doctor in Toronto. If you'd like to hear more about the tax debate, tune into “The Current” tomorrow morning.

[Music: Cultural]

Trump UN

JD: Donald Trump has no great love for international organizations. He has promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. He has called NATO obsolete. And he has said that the United Nations creates more problems than it solves. So when he made his first appearance before the U.N. this morning, some were understandably concerned about what the president might say. Mr. Trump was introduced by the American U.N. envoy Nikki Haley, who said the president has, quote, “a businessman's eye for seeing potential”, and that he sees great potential in the U.N.. And here is how President Donald Trump opened his speech.

SOUNDCLIP

DONALD TRUMP: Well thank you very much. Thank you. I actually saw great potential right across the street, to be honest with you. And it was only for the reason that the United Nations was here that that turned out to be such a successful project.

JD: The U.N. is directly across the street from Trump World Tower, one of the president's properties in New York. And when I said that some people were concerned about what the president might say, or might not say in front of the U.N. They were probably less concerned about Mr. Trump plugging his real estate developments than about criticizing the United Nations. And there was some of that, but considering Mr. Trump's track record of blunt criticism, the rest of his remarks were relatively understated, even bordering on diplomatic. Here is some more of what he said.

SOUNDCLIP

DT: The United Nations was founded on truly noble goals. These include affirming the dignity and worth of the human person and striving for International Peace. The United Nations has helped advance toward these goals in so many ways: feeding the hungry, providing disaster relief and empowering women and girls in many societies all across the world. Yet in recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. While the United Nations on a regular budget has increased by 140 per cent and its staff has more than doubled since 2000. We are not seeing the results in line with this investment, but I know that under the Secretary-General that's changing and it's changing fast and we've seen it. That's why we commend the secretary general and his call for the United Nations to focus more on people and less on bureaucracy. We seek a United Nations that regains the trust of the people around the world. In order to achieve this the United Nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistleblowers and focus on results rather than on process. To honor the people of our nations, we must ensure that no one and no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden and that's militarily or financially. Further, we encourage all member states to look at ways to take bold stands at the United Nations with an eye toward changing business as usual and not being behold to ways of the past, which were not working.

JD: President Donald Trump speaking earlier today at the U.N. in New York. The annual U.N. General Assembly continues there for the next week.

[Music: Electronica]

Listener Response: Bodega

JD: Last week, As It Happens covered a fancy new vending machine. It's called “Bodega” and its creators — two ex-Google Silicon Valley guys — hope to change the way we shop. Their business model is simple: vending machines, stocked with the necessities that you might find at your local corner store. This week, “Bodega” has received a lot of flak about everything from taking away jobs to selling a product that is, well, basically, another vending machine. After our interview last week, we heard from you. On Facebook, Linda Evasiuk wrote, quote, “Depends how you look at it. They use this concept in Europe. Small mom-and-pop farmers are selling fresh goods this way and it's keeping them going. Allison McKay commented, quote, “Given the diversity of stock even a lousy convenience store seems to have. I can't see a glorified vending machine competing very heavily with them. I mean at the average corner store I can buy 20 flavors of chips, 14 dairy products, cold pop, hot coffee, four types of phone charger cable, condoms, tampons, canned chili, crackers, baby food, cat food, deodorant chocolate bars, gum, greeting cards for all common occasions and a number of surprisingly specific genres of pornographic magazines. And that's just the highlights!” Unquote. Ms. McKay… she has a point. Try cramming all of that into a fancy little “Bodega”. So thank you to Allison McKay and to Linda Evasiuk and to everyone who took the time to write in, we do always love to hear from you. Our email is aih@cbc.ca, on Twitter and Facebook we are @cbcasithappens and call us. We love that most: 416.205.5687.

[Music: Cultural]

Hot Meteor

Guest: Michael Zanetti

JD: If you were to go there now, you would see a lake — Mistastin Lake in Labrador to be precise. But all that water makes it impossible to see what is underneath: a crater made tens of millions of years ago, when an asteroid crashed into the earth. Well recently, researchers looked back in time. Now, they have published a study about the surface the asteroid hit and the record breaking rock temperatures that it created Michael Zanetti is a co-author of that study, and the person who first discovered hot rock. He is with the Department of Earth Sciences at Western University in London, Ontario. And that indeed is where we reached him.

HM: Mr. Zanetti, how hot did these rocks get millions of years ago?

MICHAEL ZANETTI: At least 23,070 degrees Celsius.

HM: It's hard to even fathom what that means. Can you compare that to something?

MZ: Actually, no I don't have anything off the top of my head that's that hot. It is about half the temperature of the surface of the sun if that's helpful?

HM: That's helpful. That sounds pretty hot.

MZ: Yeah, yeah, I guess it is.

HM: And so you define this as record-breaking how? There's just nothing that compares?

MZ: well for temperatures that have been reached at the surface of the earth by let's say natural processes. What we've been able to show here is that impact craters produce very, very hot temperatures that get recorded within the rocks.

HM: Can you take us back more than 30 million years to just before the asteroid hit. And explain what the conditions would have been like in the area?

MZ: It would have been I guess quite similar to today, perhaps a bit warmer and it would have been possibly a peaceful day. At some point 36 million years ago, an asteroid four to five kilometers in diameter hit the ground at something like 10 to 15 kilometers per second and that released a tremendous amount of energy — something equivalent to about a billion hydrogen bombs. That created a hole in northern Labrador that's something like 20 kilometers in diameter and currently contains 16 or so kilometer diameter lake.

HM: Bring us forward then to the present day and tell us why you decided to study this crater?

MZ: The reason that I went up to this crater was as part of a large expedition funded by the Canadian Space Agency to better understand how to explore other planets. So this is part of something we call planetary analog exploration. And instead of going to the moon or Mars, we test out exploration strategies and field equipment and things we would want to take with us here on Earth. And why Mistastin Lake is so kind of interesting for us to study is that it's remarkably well-preserved despite being 36 million years old in a heavily glaciated region. It still has lots of impact melt and well-preserved features and it's also formed in a rock type that is quite similar to the far side of the moon — something called an orthosite.

HM: Right. So you assume that the terrain pretty much mimics what you would see in those places.

MZ: Yeah, it provides us with a better analog than just you know walking around campus.

HM: You were in the area then and you made a discovery that ultimately led to this study. What is it that you found?

MZ: We were up on a outcrop called Discovery Hill. This is a well-known outcrop at this crater that sort of looks like volcanic rocks. While I was walking around up there, I spotted this kind of odd fist-sized piece of glass and that's quite rare — glass is quite easily eroded. And so when I saw this I knew it was unique and also quite interesting. At the time, I was at Washington University in St. Louis and we cut it open, made some thin sections to look under the microscope and discovered this quite interesting zircon grain.

HM: What was it about this grain that made it so interesting?

MZ: Well, normal zircons they're quite hardy minerals. They're used all the time for age dating of impacts. In fact, the oldest rocks in the world have been dated using zircons. So they are tough and this grain in particular looked quite normal with the exception of a ring or a halo of well what turned out to be decomposed zircon. So zircon is a unique mineral that doesn't quite melt, it first changes into other minerals and then those minerals can melt. And so what we saw was this well-preserved core, a ring of decomposition and then that's what told us that something was special about this grain.

HM: How did that tell you that you're talking about the temperatures you're telling me about?

MZ: Well, inside the halo when zircon gets very, very, very hot it will change its crystal structure. When we look at this halo and the crystal structures within that halo, we find that the orientations of the little crystals that are in there now could only have been reverted from a very high temperature mineral cubic zirconia. And so while there's no cubic zirconia currently within the grain, we know based on this kind of forensic geology that it had to have been this high temperature mineral.

HM: So what's the significance of the finding?

MZ: From a scientific perspective, It helps us kind of close the gap between a natural system and what we expect from our computer models. So we can model how much energy it takes to create a gigantic hole in the ground and the temperatures and pressures that are expected from that. But there are few times do we get to see exactly I guess for the preservation of that you know high temperature stuff. So to say it another way, computer models will tell us that these gigantic impacts can create incredible temperatures hot enough to even vaporize rock and turn rock from a solid directly to a gas. In this case, it didn't get that hot, but it still got incredibly, incredibly hot.

HM: And this is all because you stumbled across what looked like a piece of glass.

MZ: Essentially, yeah. So when you're walking around out there and you find something that just looks a little bit out of place it can be quite interesting.

HM: Yeah, well look, thank you very much for telling us about it.

MZ: OK. Wonderful.

HM: All right. Nice to talk to you. Goodbye.

MZ: Thank you very much. Bye bye.

JD: Michael Zanetti has a post-doctoral fellow at Western University. The study he co-authored is published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. We reached Mr. Zanetti in London, Ontario.

[Music: Electronic]

Adam Cohen

JD: The instructions left to Adam Cohen by his father — the late Leonard Cohen — were, quote, “Put me in a pine box next to my mother and father. Have a small memorial for close friends and family in Los Angeles and if you want a public event, do it in Montreal.” Unquote The time has come to honor that final wish. Today, Adam Cohen announced that on November 6^th — the first anniversary of his father's death — there will be a tribute concert at the Bell Centre in Montreal. It will be called “Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen.” The lineup includes Elvis Costello, Sting, Lana Del Ray, Feist, Philip Glass, k.d. lang, Damien Rice and Adam Cohen himself. And Mr. Cohen spoke to CBC Montreal’s Nantali Indongo about the upcoming event.

SOUNDCLIP

ADAM COHEN: I'm nervous; I’m nervous and excited. You know it's a big, beautiful testimony of people's love and admiration for not only an artist that I, of course, think of as beloved but also it's my dad. So it's got a stirring quality to it.

NANTALI INDONGO: What are you nervous about?

AC: Well, someone who I greeted just a while back said seen November 6^th. And it occurred to me wait a minute, this is actually happening. You know it's been a dream. I've been the motor of the engine. It's been a passion quest. But the fact that it's now gone public and artists have signed on and that I myself am supposed to perform I might be overwhelmed. You know I'm intimidated frankly. I would just probably prefer being in the audience and maybe that's where I am starting to realize that maybe I should just be in the audience and watch the show. It's beautiful the span of my father's reach you know from young to old in different genres and that's the ultimate testimony of someone's influence, you know? It's beautiful.

JD: Adam Cohen, son of Leonard Cohen, of course, speaking with CBC Montreal's Nantali Indongo. “Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen” is going to take place November 6th at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

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September 18, 2017 episode transcript

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