by Matt Williams
The impeccably tailored, and always undeniably charming Jian Ghomeshi opened his live taping of Q in Winnipeg on Thursday with a joke that seems simple at first, but more telling upon a little bit of thought:
“It’s awesome to be back in Calgary,” the Persian prince exclaimed.
An obvious, and pretty funny one, but as the saying goes, there’s some truth to every joke. The host of one of Canada’s coolest radio shows went on to refer to the venue of his last live taping here as “the garage” (in fact, The Gas Station Theatre), despite referring to our fair city as his “second home.” But I’m not here to rip on Jian, who does a fantastic job week in, week out (just try to tell me you can do that amount of work and stay standing). And venue name slip-ups are to be forgiven. This isn’t his town, and we shouldn’t be offended he flubbed. But there is a bigger problem that comes to light here, and that is the fact that the decision-making part of this country has no idea what goes on in our region of it, and in some cases may or may not even acknowledge its existence.
The show was highly entertaining. Tegan and Sara were quotable and energetic, but ultimately “just another band interview.” They are not a band that takes the sort of risks that would alienate the people who buy their records, despite maybe thinking they are. Their songs are catchy and, I’d say, pretty damn good (based on the show), but this is also a sterile environment for live music – it is timed, there is no room for improvisation, and the songs will be performed as they sound on record.
Randy Bachman was a humble, fantastic storyteller, unknowingly illustrating, with tales of constant ‘60s creation, the differences between Winnipeg then and now: what was once a city where a band simply existed as a vessel for art and drew their worth from that, is now one with a heavy bent on making a small business self-sustainable, a profitable venture. This is not the point of art, then or now. And it never will be. Whether that trajectory is a generational evolution or not is a different story, and a bigger argument.
Katherena Vermette was articulate, gentle, and perceptive, and shared a reading of her poem, the tragic “Indians,” from North End Love Songs, a collection that won her the 2013 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Team Jones, fresh off of their historic gold medal Olympics win, did mostly a catch-up interview, light but welcome. Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida talked about their humanitarian efforts, sort of. Both came off as little more than neo-hippies, spouting self-satisfying and empty rhetoric in the name of love and connection and blah blah blah… It seemed very much like gibberish, and pointless, though I no doubt understand they do good for people somewhere, and for that, well … thanks?
But the most interesting part of the night, and the one that drew the most out of the crowd, was, more or less, a talk about the weather.
Charles Adler (CJOB), Mary Agnes Welch (Winnipeg Free Press), and Todd Scarth (University of Manitoba) talked with Ghomeshi about our brutal winter, full to the brim with frozen and burst pipes, potholes, and mayoral regret. Can it possibly get more Canadian than four people talking about the weather in front of 1,500 or so people who paid to watch them do it? Probably not, but the issues they touched on are massively important ones to Winnipeggers – why do some of our homes not have running water? What is the city doing to fix the lake that just appeared down the street? How is this happening to a major city in Canada? Even reaching so far as whether our climate change focus should be on the sources of it or how to deal with what’s happening right now.
Welch said she didn’t want to call it a “failed state,” but that we’re almost at that point. Adler called the city’s inability to deal with the weather a “national disaster.” And on the rest of the city’s mind lies the question: is living here starting to not make any sense?
There was a moment of levity for the audience as Scarth reminded Adler that he endorsed Sam Katz for mayor, despite now badmouthing his actions. But Adler was swift with a rebuttal.
“You’re asking me if I’ve ever endorsed Sam Katz for mayor? You bet your ass I have. But he’s been an embarrassment to me.”
Despite this debate likely being the most important segment of the broadcast, it takes a back seat to entertainment and celebrity. And that’s a difficult thing to argue with. Those things are what bring listeners in and makes them leave the dial alone. It’s the bread and butter of a live radio event like this one – if people were satisfied to simply go watch three people argue about potholes, then we could sell tickets to town hall meetings for $50 apiece. But it’s a lot easier to get them to do it when they can also see a couple ‘80s-revival pop songs live.
And you know what? Props to Ghomeshi and the Q team for it. They still need to sell tickets to be successful, and the most important local panel of the night didn’t need to be there for that to happen. But the points made during it will hopefully perk some ears across the country when it’s broadcasted nationally today, because, in the host’s own words at the end of the night, “the rest of the country really doesn’t know what’s happening here in Winnipeg.”
And they should.