Q: The Podcast From Cbc Radio

Twenty years after the release of his debut album, “When This Is Over,” Shad has firmly cemented himself as one of the great Canadian voices of our time. Now, the beloved Canadian rapper is marking the milestone with a new record, “Start Anew,” which is all about embracing change, facing loss, and moving into uncertainty with hope. He sits down with Tom Power to talk about his journey from being a curious teenager in London, Ontario, to an award-winning broadcaster and one of the best hip-hop artists in the country.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

For the past few years, Harris Dickinson (Babygirl, The Iron Claw, Triangle of Sadness) has built his reputation as one of the buzziest new actors. Now, he’s turned his sights on directing with his film “Urchin.” It follows a man struggling with addiction and mental health issues while living on the streets of London. Harris joins Tom Power to discuss the film and its exploration of cyclical, self-destructive behavior. Plus, he talks about playing John Lennon in the upcoming Beatles biopic, directed by Sam Mendes. Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Nashville singer-songwriter Maren Morris is back with a new album, “Dreamsicle.” It’s her first release after her divorce last year. But it’s not just a breakup record, it’s an examination of the physical, mental and emotional changes that happen after a traumatic personal event. Maren joins Tom Power to discuss “Dreamsicle,” her 20 years of making music, and the importance of the collaborators on the record.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Or Schraiber and Bobbi Jene Smith are two of the most important names in contemporary dance. They’re also a married couple. Or and Bobbi join Tom Power to tell us how their creative and personal partnership began while they were dancers at the Batsheva Dance Company, how the Gaga dance style influences their work, and their Canadian debut at the National Ballet of Canada, “Procession.”Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

In his new movie, “Ballad of a Small Player,” Colin Farrell (The Penguin, The Banshees of Inisherin, In Bruges) plays a gambling addict who’s not adverse to going all in. The role comes on the heels of his award-winning part in “The Penguin” on HBO, and his Golden Globe-winning performance in the 2023 film “The Banshees of Inisherin.” In this interview with Tom Power, Colin talks about continuing his winning streak by ironically playing a guy who keeps losing.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Horror master Eli Roth has called the new Canadian-made found footage film “Dream Eater” one of the scariest he’s ever seen. Directed by Toronto’s Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm and Alex Lee, the story follows a filmmaker who decides to document her boyfriend's violent parasomnia during their remote cabin holiday. “Dream Eater” has now hit theatres across Canada. Jay, Mallory and Alex sit down with Tom Power to talk about the incredible journey of their film.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Writer, producer and director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People) is truly a comedy legend. He’s behind some of the most successful TV and film comedies of the last couple decades, and he helped discover the likes of Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Lena Dunham. Not only that, he changed comedy forever by proving that awkwardness and insecurity could gross $100 million. But at the end of the day, Judd is really just a big nerd. Specifically, a big “Comedy Nerd,” which is the title of his new memoir. Judd sits down with Tom Power to talk about his lifelong obsession with comedy, the stand-up set he saw that changed his life, how he had to watch his former roommate Adam Sandler become famous before he did, the importance of a great mentor (in his case, the comedian Garry Shandling), and what he means when he says his early projects were “cool enough to fail.”Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

It’s often said that laughter is the best medicine, but there’s an ever growing case that it might in fact be music. Over the last decade, Renée Fleming, the multi-Grammy-winning soprano, has been involved in spreading awareness about the health benefits of music. Last year, she edited a book titled “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness.” Renée joins Tom Power to talk about the effect of music on our wellbeing, and how her own stage fright and somatic pain led to her interest in the issue.  Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

She’s ready to do the time warp again! Fifty years ago, Patricia Quinn played the maid Magenta in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” She joins Tom Power to reflect on five decades of the cult classic movie, its humble beginnings as a small stage musical, and the moment she realized it had become a cultural phenomenon.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Christian McBride is a nine-time Grammy-winning bassist and composer who’s known for his prolific career across jazz and other genres. His new big band album, “Without Further Ado, Vol 1.,” nearly reunited the beloved U.K. rock band The Police. Christian joins Tom Power to share that story and more, including his time going to high school with The Roots and playing with Miles Davis as a teenager. Plus, ahead of an appearance at the Oscar Peterson centenary celebration in Toronto, Christian talks a little bit about why the Canadian pianist was so important to him.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

As a teenager, Canadian singer Skye Sweetnam was on track to be a major pop star. She opened for Britney Spears before she'd even put out a record. But when people stopped buying music and started downloading MP3s her dream fell apart. Skye joins Tom Power to tell us how she picked up the pieces and built something better as the frontwoman of the hard rock band Sumo Cyco, which has just released a new album, “Neon Void.”Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

You might know Steve Martin as a comedy legend, but he’s also a serious musician. If you know his early comedy albums, like “A Wild and Crazy Guy,” you might even be familiar with his banjo playing. In recent years, he’s gotten a lot more serious about the banjo, joining bluegrass bands and releasing music. Now, he’s teamed up with Alison Brown — one of the best banjo players alive — on a new album, “Safe, Sensible And Sane.” Steve and Alison join Tom Power to talk about the record, how they both found their way back to the banjo and what makes their musical collaboration so special.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

Greg Wells is a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and mix engineer who was recently made a Member of the Order of Canada. He sits down with Tom Power to talk about his early days playing in k.d. lang’s band, producing and writing hits for artists like Adele, John Legend, Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, and Taylor Swift, and why he’s spent the last few years converting an old church in rural Newfoundland into a community music hub.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

This year, Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for his extraordinary new film, “It Was Just an Accident,” which he shot secretly in Tehran under great risk of serious harm. Jafar has been in prison twice on charges of “anti-government propaganda” as well as for protesting the imprisonment of other filmmakers. At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, he joined Tom Power to tell us how “It Was Just an Accident” was shaped by his two experiences in Tehran’s Evin Prison.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

Tanveer Alam is a Toronto-based dancer and choreographer who specializes in Kathak, a style of Indian classical dance that traces back to the 18th century. Tanveer is one of the creative forces behind the “Kathak & Ballet” programme, which will be on stage as part of the Fall for Dance North Festival in Toronto this week. He sits down with Tom Power to talk about the history and hallmarks of Kathak dance, what Kathak has in common with ballet, and what’s needed to ensure that South Asian dance continues to thrive in Canada.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

You don’t become one of the most successful pianists of our time without a lot of practice. That’s something Lang Lang knows all about. Six years after the release of his celebrated “Piano Book” record, the virtuoso Chinese pianist is back with a new album, “Piano Book 2.” It’s designed to inspire people of all ages, levels and backgrounds. Lang Lang sits down with Tom Power at the Glenn Gould piano in our studio to discuss the album and his life in music. He tells us about the teacher who didn’t believe in him, how he got past that early rejection, and how he found the right people to support him.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

What happens when you start to feel anxiety and self-doubt in the middle of chasing your dreams? The Canadian folk trio The Pairs don’t necessarily have the answer, but they are working through these feelings on their new album, “Together on a Rock.” While their songs don’t come with perfect endings, the stories they tell are incredibly honest and vulnerable. Renée Coughlin and Hillary Watson of The Pairs join Tom Power to set up their devastating new track, “Past My Prime.”Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Vancouver's own Ryan Reynolds (Dead Pool, Free Guy) is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. But these days, he's using his voice to talk about another great Canadian movie star: the late John Candy. Ryan is one of the producers behind the new documentary “John Candy: I Like Me,” which examines the life, work and legacy of the beloved actor and comedian. In a special interview backstage at Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Ryan sits down with Tom Power to talk about the film, and the parallels between John’s career and his own.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Back in 2023, Debby Friday won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for her debut album, “Good Luck.” When she sat down to write her next record, it would’ve been easy to stick with what worked the first time, but instead, Debby made a conscious decision to do things differently. The result is her most ambitious album yet, “The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life,” which features everything from dance floor bangers to intimate ballads. This past summer, Debby joined Tom Power to take us inside the emotional and artistic journey behind her new record.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Jeff Wall is one of the most influential photographers of our time. His photos have sold for millions at auctions, he’s an Officer of the Order of Canada, and his work has advanced photography as an art form through the use of staged scenes and large lightboxes. But before ever picking up a camera, Jeff was just a kid living in Vancouver trying to find his way, experimenting with different artistic mediums like painting and filmmaking. Now, he’s getting ready for his first major Canadian exhibit in 25 years. In a rare interview, Jeff tells Tom Power about the first time he got a camera, how his parents supported him by building him a shed in their backyard, and why he kind of likes it when you don’t know the titles of his photographs.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!