The Story Of...Bill Welychka
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Hello and welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. I am so happy to be here today. It's our first podcast of August. Sarah Burke is in her respective home.

And our first guest of August is sitting before me now, Bill Woleczka. We have stories of 299 Queen that would make your eyebrows fly off your face. I have stories or you have stories? You have stories. Yeah, and you have, I'm sure, have a lot of stories.

Just in case anyone doesn't know what 299 Queen is, let's... I'm just going into it. Sarah's on it. She's just... A bit of a bossy boots, actually. Guys. This is a professional podcast. I feel like you're going to know exactly who Bill Wolecka is. And I'm going to tell you right now, he's one of this country's most recognizable television personalities.

And the longest running VJ from Much Music, which we're definitely going to talk about today. There's a documentary coming out next month and he is featured prominently speaking to 299 Queen, which is the Much Music building. And any of us of a certain age can remember the excitement.

of anything happening at that building and i remember my first time being in that building but we're going to talk about that he's also an author debut memoir is out this month so please please welcome bill walechka we're going to talk about your book we're going to talk about this documentary and a whole bunch of other things we're no strangers we've worked together before hi bill how are you welcome uh thank you so much for the invite it means a lot to be hanging out with you and sharing some uh airspace here and uh

I'm giving you a kiss here. I'm kissing the camera for such a beautiful, beautiful introduction. Thank you. No, but seriously, Bill, like there's something to be said for seeing the music industry, all the videos on Much Music, of course, MTV, the affiliation in the United States and all over the world. But really, what was it like to be in the heart of the music business industry?

In the 90s, which I feel is such a blessing that I experienced that because it's not the same anymore. I feel exactly the same. I was very fortunate to be at a certain place at a certain time in Canadian pop culture, talking to legends like Jan Arden, every artist that I've ever met.

wore a patch on my jean jacket or had posters of in my locker or on my bedroom walls, I got a chance to interview and spend lots of time with them. In some cases, multiple. That's fantastic. Multiple interviews. And I refer to them as perfect circles. You know, being really influenced and being a huge fan of an artist and then years later getting a chance to hang out with them and work with them. It's a perfect circle. And the book has

has a lot of perfect circles actually but it's not until you take yourself out of that situation years later like we're doing right now and looking back and realizing it can never be recreated

No amount of money can be sunk into trying to bring back what it was. There was a spirit, there was an energy, there was a creativity that just doesn't exist anymore. And I feel sorry for young people. You know, YouTube is the closest they have to watching music videos. And, you know, we predated YouTube. We predated cell phones. We predated a

lot of things. We have a historical artifact on the show today. Is it Bill or is it me? We're all historical artifacts. Listen, how does one become a DJ, Bill? Everyone's always asked, oh, I would have loved to have done that. I mean, my conversations with Erica M years ago talking about how do you audition to become a VJ, which was the most sought after position in the country.

Which is exactly you said, meeting the stars, meeting the musicians, people that you admired. Traveling. Traveling. Yeah, lots of traveling. You know, if you ask 10 different VJs, you're going to get 10 different answers. Everyone sort of has their own story. Rick Campanelli won a contest and he stuck with it. That's right. I was already in the building. I was an editor behind the scenes, never really wanted to be on air. I just sort of fell into it. I helped create the country show Outlaws and Heroes.

And was a big country fan and ended up working on that show behind the scenes as an editor and helping do some producing and programming. And then Denise Donlan was eventually the host. She went away on mat leave. She asked me to fill in for her. So the editor taking care of the show while she's gone. Did that for, I think, eight months and had a great time. Viewers responded. I love doing it.

And when she came back, we co-hosted and I was still behind the scenes and co-hosting this weekly country show. And then when she'd stepped up to become director of music programming, I took over hosting that. And then when CMT started here in Canada, they dropped a country show and Denise moved me over to regular flow DJing as they call it. And did that all the way to 2000 when I moved to much more music.

Much more music, yes. That's where I fit into things. I was in much more music. One of the first specials that became a signature series on Much More, The Story Of, was the story of Jan Arden. I remember doing an interview with you. I think it was called Montana's Around the Building from 299. Is this how you two met? I knew of Jan many, many years before that, but that was the first time I think we actually hung out.

But the last time... He's pulling out the book just for a visual. I'm going to tell you right here now, Jan. Page 104. I'm scared! Page 104, chapter 13. It ends with the sentence, Jan Narden is easily the funniest person in all of the Canadian music industry. There's a story that happens before I say that, though. What is your book called, Bill? What is this book called? It's called A Happy Has-Been.

By Bill Wolitschka. Exciting times and lessons learned by one of Canada's foremost entertainment journalists. Why did you call it that? Um...

Now, here's what I love best about the book. You look very handsome. This is a video, but for those just listening, in the bottom right frame underneath the picture, it looks like a little backstage pass. Yeah. And it says, featuring a forward by the tragically hip Paul Langlois. So that is the cover. Oh, that's great. But the story that I do tell is doing an interview with you in a hotel room. Want to say the Four Seasons in Toronto, maybe? No.

Mm, fancy. And you were doing press, I think, all day in that hotel room. And I said, I don't want to sit on the couch like every other TV outlet has been doing this day. Let's sit on the bed. Let's hang out on the bed doing the interview. Do you remember this, Jan? Yes, it's coming back to me now. I think we got in the bed. The cameraman's light stand.

He had put on a new color gel and it started to smoke during the interview. The smoke set off the fire alarm. Two guys come to the door, knock on the door, two maintenance guys. - They think you're smoking dope. - No, no. - They think we're shooting a porn. - They come in, fire alarm going off. They look over at the bed, CJ and Arden and I, they look at a cameraman at the foot of the bed with a camera

Chance hits. This is what I love about this story. Sorry, guys. Yes, you might know me. I am. I am the wonderfully talented pop star Jan Arden. And you might recognize television's Bill Welichka. We are shooting a pornographic film right now. Listen, a girl's got to make a buck. So that's just one of many stories in the book.

God, Bill, I wonder if there's footage of that somewhere. Like, obviously, I wonder if the cameraman was shooting or if he was still rolling the cameras or what the hell. I've never, I remember cutting the interview for something. I don't know where that tape ended up. We're talking tapes. We're not talking video files here. We're talking tapes. So much must have so much of an archive. Hey, Bill, they must have so much content. Yeah, they used to. Sadly, I heard when The Interests of Chum,

We're talking city TV, much music.

All the specialty channels were split up between Rogers and Bell Media. Someone went into that music library years ago when that purchase happened and turfed a lot of old videos thinking, what are we going to do with an interview with Iggy Pop from 1979? Turfed, you mean like threw away? Sadly. That is so, I hope that's not completely true. Like you have talked to so many people, like you were saying, part of the catalyst of this book is, as you mentioned, looking back, Bill.

And looking back at all these experiences that I'm sure seem surreal. You were in Madonna's house or one of her many houses at one point. I mean, Mick Jagger, Oasis, ACDC, Johnny Cash, members of the Beatles, Janet Jackson, Zeppelin, Garth Brooks, Prince. I mean, holy moly. Dan Arden. You know, we looked at you guys like you were living the life. Did you know it at the time? I had a great time. I was very grateful. It's important for me to thank people.

people for things and acknowledge gratitude. Not a day goes by where I don't appreciate where I've come from, where I am now. And I've realized all those years, 17 years in that building, in my case, paved the way for where I am now. And I am the happiest that I've ever been, which is why the title of the book is A Happy Aspen. But it's not until years later where you realize,

I was one of the luckiest people on earth. And I think you feel that sometimes too, when you're on stage. Always. And you can feel the love. It's tangible. Yeah. Always. And you talk about, you know, the archives. I saved some things over the years on VHS tape. Some of the specials that I've worked on and some of the interviews and

slowly sort of digitize them, put them on my YouTube channel years ago. So some of the stuff is still out there, but I'm amazed at what people bring to my attention that other people have put up on YouTube. Interviews I had totally forgotten about. So, you know, that's one of the good things about YouTube, I guess, is you can

easily access this old stuff in some cases. Maybe you could talk about a few of the things that end up in the documentary. Sean Menard is the director of the documentary 299 Queen Street West. He called me about a year and a half ago telling me about this project. He had access to the library and did find some

And basically wanted to tell the story of this fledgling national TV service that would eventually change the Canadian music industry by giving a lot of artists a leg up, by giving international artists that were releasing albums in Canada jobs.

a leg up with video airplay and a chance to interview some of these artists. And I don't see that anymore, Jan. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. When you watch an entertainment show, you'll see a 10 second soundbite of someone on a red carpet. Who are you wearing? It's all red carpet clothing now. It's much more, like you said, very soundbiting. But those in-depth

performances and interviews, a series in particular that comes to mind. I mean, I love the story of, but also the live and interactive, which, you know, launched so many things. MTV was doing things unplugged, the unplugged series that really changed how people perceived. I mean, I remember Brian Adams doing an unplugged and it really changed the way I thought about his music because it wasn't totally my bag. I mean, I liked it. It was very part of

growing up and he was such a famous Canadian. But when I heard the unplugged stuff, I was like the songwriting all of a sudden just exploded in my mind.

of what that was about. And you guys got to sit and listen, but also talk to them and talk about the whole process of their creativity. Yeah, we got to sit down and let the interview breathe, let the artists talk. And I miss those days about entertainment television now. And one of the things, the cool things that we did with the Intimate Interactive is invite people in. And if you couldn't make it into the studio, you could be at home and fax a question and eventually email or call in a question

and ask a question of these artists. We still have a fax line for the podcast. Really? That's awesome. I'm joking. I'm joking. We don't. Oh, okay. And yeah, it was about that interactivity, which is part of the title, and just giving people a chance to get close to their heroes.

And it wasn't just about us. It was about the audience. Did you get to write, I mean, as a journalist and as a writer yourself, it must have been interesting curating what you were going to ask them and how far you could push it. Do you ever recall an interview where you just simply got shut down or you asked that one question too far?

Jan, I've been doing press for this book for about a month. You're the only one that has asked me that so far. And I do talk about that in the book. Dave Grohl. Nirvana. Just put out his debut record. In the truest sense of the word, his debut record. He did everything. Bass, drums, guitar, he sang, he wrote all the songs. So he hired a band to tour that record. And eventually the band became part of Foo Fighters contributing to the future albums.

But it was the first interview he did, certainly in Canada. And it was live on Much. And he was there for a half hour. And you know the kids are there saying, just mention the word Kurt. Mention the word Nirvana. I love Dave and I love Nirvana. And I became a bigger Foo Fighters fan than a Nirvana fan. And you don't want to piss the guy off. You don't want to be sensationalistic.

You want him to walk away knowing that it was a great experience. You want the record company to be happy. You're satisfying the audience. I'm curious too. So I never walked in with questions. Points that I'd like to hit, yes. But with Dave Grohl, it had just come out that week, I think with Rolling Stone, that he had said,

To him, Smells Like Teen Spirit was just a song. It didn't mean anything. And I brought that up and I said, you know, people are calling that the anthem of the 90s. And it was only 1995 at that point. And he said, yeah, to me, it was just this mimicking playing drums. And I said, why are you saying that? That song has changed people's lives. Look at all these kids here. Does it hurt to talk about it? And he basically called me out and he said, of course it would. Why would you even ask?

And then there was this pause and I thought, okay, I went there. He's going there with me. He's calling me out. Proceed with caution. And I said, I think enough time has passed. You know, you're out here with this record and obviously whatever you did in the past, you couldn't have gotten to this point without that. And he went on to answer the question in depth for a lengthy period of time, explaining why he didn't want to answer the question.

But in my mind, he answered the question perfectly. And I think everyone was satisfied. I mean, his talent is undeniable. And he's certainly gone on to become a force. But yeah, I've often wondered that. Sarah is pointing at her Foo Fighters poster in her office. Oh, awesome. The Foo Fighters. That is awesome. Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters.

What concert poster is that? That's from the one that didn't happen in Toronto over COVID, but I have the poster. Oh, that's special. Yeah. How much are you going to get that on eBay? That's got to be worth something. It's not being sold, Bill. Okay. And then I interviewed Dave years later at his studio in San Bernardino and, uh,

We had an amazing time, like an hour interview. And he was very, I didn't even bring it up, but he brought up Nirvana and Kurt. And I think it took him a certain point in his career to look back with reverence on what he did and recognize there could not be a Foo Fighters without Nirvana. And he embraced that years later. But I'm wondering how you did it, Jan, for all those years when you're on a press tour talking about yourself every day. Hence humor, right? Yeah.

You know, you can always, you try and be kind of funny and self-deprecating. And I don't think I ever avoided questions that I was asked. I mean, I appreciated a journalist's job. You guys are in a very tricky position. You know, we need the press and we need to get the word out about our new projects and our records and stuff. So I always found it particularly odd that

And a bit hypocritical when you would get up, kind of get stonewalled with people that were monosyllabic. You know, you'd ask them a question. Yeah. Okay. Moving on to the next question. It's happened to me before with Blur. And I've interviewed Damon from Blur a few times and always a great interview. And then live on Much, they came to play and talk. Well, they played. They didn't really do want to do a whole lot of talking. There's not much you can do. You just...

you know, throw to. And the next song. Viewer or fan questions. And it was a lot of mumbled in. I always chalked it up to, it was a bad day. Maybe they got in late. They didn't get enough sleep. Good for you. There's always a reason why, but for the most part, I've always had,

amazing interactions with people but uh yeah and you you are a pro and uh i'm not saying this just because you're here cover your ears for this part jan always a treat to interview jan arden you know you're going to get a great interview you know it was going to be a great time as well well i was always really really grateful and you were super good at what you did

And what you continue to do. I think sometimes when you're with someone that, I mean, it is kind of embarrassing for me. I don't know about you, Bill, but you've been in situations, certainly on this press junket, when people don't really know you. They don't really know your stuff. I remember peddling insensitive in the States and we were going to all these radio stations. So it would have been 94, mid-90s once again, which we're talking about. First long, wow. And we go into a station, so...

Jane Arden, Jane. And he's looking at this thing. It's morning radio. Tell me about Insatiable. What did you write it about? And I'm with my friend Russ Broom, who's out playing these gigs with me. And I just felt like I just didn't give a shit that I was there. But you have to be graceful. You're on live radio. I remember you coming back from Europe at one point and saying how one interview says, Jane Arden.

I'm like, is he talking to me? There was a lot of European countries that couldn't say J, Jan. Like Holland, Sweden, Jan. Jan Arden. Yeah, Jan Arden. And that I had a boy's name and all that kinds of stuff. I remember a Dutch guy, he did the interview in the back of a car that was driving around Amsterdam.

And he said he had Living Under June in his hand and he was looking at me and I was so naive then, Bill. I just think back. And he said, you look like the type of girl that would enjoy having sex in the back of a car.

And that was one of the questions he led off with. I'm like, what the? Well, the first single was called Insatiable. So maybe he was onto something there, according to the American guy. Insatiable. Oh, my God. I thought, I'm not even going to correct him. I am not even going to correct him. But then there were some interviewers like, you just thought, Brian Linehan. Oh, City Lights on City TV in Toronto. Yep. The man...

See, people loved his interviews because they waited for that reaction from the artist going, how the hell did you know that?

How did you know that? It was entertaining. He was impeccable. So it's everything in between. And I'm sure you had artists that you're like, holy shit, I've asked one question and they're not going to shut up. Like I have 10 here and they're just off to the races. Who was like that? Was there somebody that was, you probably didn't even need to be in the room to interview them. They were just started talking and off they went? To me, I love that. I was terrified of interviewing Mick Jagger. I just heard so many nasty stories as an interview subject.

Man, he was laughing and having a great time. So at the end of the interview, when it's just you and the cameraman and you're helping pack up the lights and the gear, you know, the cameraman will go more often than not.

I was very happy. They would, that was a good interview. It's like, thank you. But it can be a slog. So you have to approach it as a, this is very fleeting. Anything that happens to you in music or any, the arts or in film, and you're going through all these interviews and you're in a white van and you're flying around and you, this doesn't work and that doesn't work and nobody knows who you are. It's fleeting. I look back to those moments and I'm glad that I knew in that second, as did you, because I remember you from then.

the joy that we had in our jobs and that we knew this wasn't going to last forever. There's a lot to be learned from interviewing and Bill has certainly done a lot of that. We're going to talk about that when we come back.

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Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. We are here with the wonderful Bill Woletschka. You talk about depression, if I can step into that realm of how you navigate depression

The excitement, the high, high, high, the lows, jobs changing and moving into a place where you're trying to identify where you sit in this world. And I've done that many times in my career in the last 30 years. And you've been through so much and have come out the other side actually being able to say, I feel happy. That's big.

It's huge. And I'm grateful for it. I do deal with depression in the book. It's important for me to realize, I know that everyone has a story. Everyone. Sarah has a story. Obviously, we all know Jan's story. The cab driver who I might hop into his cab tomorrow to go grocery shopping or something. He has a story. Everyone has a story.

And I was skeptical about even trying to attempt this book. It stemmed from some columns I did here in Kingston for the Whig Standard when I first moved here. They wanted me to talk about myself in a monthly column. It sort of stemmed from that and during COVID doing a lot of podcasts and telling stories. I just thought, I'm just going to write one day. Halfway through 2021, 2022, I just realized, I think I'm onto something here. I think I have a book.

But again, who the hell wants to read this? Oh my God, a lot of people. And it wasn't until doing press where I realized, okay, maybe there are a few people out there that do want to hear or want to read what I say. And talking to a lot of journalists the past month,

hearing heaps of praise about what much music meant to them and what some of my interviews meant to them. And again, totally grateful that I've had this chance to do this. And I don't feel bad about writing a book now. I'm not, I don't want to have that come across, but gosh, not at all. I am grateful that I have a chance to tell my story and that some people might be interested and the happy has been, yeah, it's self-deprecating. I'm aware of that, but there are some people who only know me from that certain period, Jan and Sarah, um,

from much and much more. And to them, I fell off the face of the earth, out of sight, out of mind. And as an entertainer, you know that. You don't go on a tour for two or three years. You worry that people are going to forget about you. Well, if you're not appearing, you're disappearing, right? Well said. It was a move that I made. I just wanted to get away from music journalism. I went to Edmonton for a year to host a morning show for City TV, and then I went in Ottawa for a CTV affiliate.

to be a weather anchor, which is another sort of reinvention that I did. And I loved it. And then I've been in Kingston now for 12 years hosting a morning show. I love Kingston. It's a beautiful city. There's so many great coffee shops. Kingston is so filled with artists.

and music. And we love playing Kingston. We actually satellite out of there a lot. Do you have friends here? Well, you have me. I do now. I have you there and I'm going to hit you up for a coffee when I see you. When you think about your time in the music business, what did you learn? I think just about being a person. I mean, you're meeting all these artists and all these creators. I talk about this in the book. And that is one of my takeaways that I learned years ago is I

Man, we are all the same. We put people on pedestals and we put celebrities on pedestals sometimes. And we like to knock them off those pedestals, too. Sadly. Yeah. But I realize that, you know, sometimes mistakenly, the people that we do put on pedestals, I think we should be putting researchers up on pedestals and first responders, spiritual leaders in some cases.

Anyone who's going to try and elevate anyone around them, to me, are people that we should be looking up to. But sometimes art does that. Sometimes art does that. My God, Jan, music has saved my life being a fan of some bands. Yeah, absolutely. So I can see why people do elevate musicians. But at the same time, I think also art in that truest context of it not just being entertainment or being frivolous can be a lifesaver. It can be a friend.

I've experienced that with artists that I love, long drives. So yeah, I don't deny people that opportunity to put people in a pedestal that way.

I'm talking about the idea that I'd like to try and convey to people is that we should all be taking care of each other. I know that sounds trite, but man, it's true. We kind of felt that way in COVID. It kind of started to happen. We saw community come together and people leaving food at doorsteps. And we were cheering on the first responders there the first six months. Yeah. You know, banging on pots and pans and really understanding that these people were sacrificing their own wellness to look after themselves.

People that were on respirators and dying by the thousands and thousands. Yeah. And then we sort of go back to our selfish style of thinking in a lot of ways for a lot of people. But what I was trying to say is I think we should elevate everyone around us. Yeah, we should. Friends, family, anyone who looks like they could use a hug at work. And that's just one of the little lessons that I pass on to people in the book if you care to read it.

Yes. Oh, absolutely. And we're going to make sure that the podcast notes, we have all your information on where they can pre-order, where they can get the book, where they can look at the documentary. I can't help but ask you if you had any interaction with Sinead O'Connor in your career. Sadly, no. Well, I remember Mandika when that first came out and everyone, you know, sort of her beginning. But I do know.

And Inca

He said it took seeing Sinead's Nothing Compares to You and that performance of lip syncing to realize, I guess I can do this. And I can't, if Sinead pulls off that amazing performance, I'm going to die.

be in my videos. The first video after that, where he really considered REM should be in their videos, was losing my religion and that weird dancing that he's doing in that video. He says that was a nod to Sinead O'Connor's dancing in Emperor New Clothes. And it was a little bit of a nod to her because in that video, she does a lot of this strange dancing and her arms are moving. And he goes, I wanted to replicate that for

losing my religion. And he says, and that album sold, you know, made me millions. And he looked at the camera. He said, thank you, Sinead. But that's the other thing that I talk about in the book is interviewing people. And it gets to a point where we lost Tony Bennett recently. And I interviewed him a number of times. And it just seems every few months we hear of a passing of someone. And I think back

I had some great times with that person. Wow. And so death becomes a little bit more prominent as we get older because it's around us more. Friends, family. That's where we're headed. I mean, the thing that I think bothers me sometimes, especially in Sinead's case, and you would know more about this than me, but I wish people would celebrate, especially the artistic community, celebrate death.

the art of the people that are still with us. I mean, she made a plea several years ago when we were talking about depression and mental illness and all that stuff. She was begging people for help. People were very hard on her over the ripping up the picture of the Pope and stuff like that. So I'm glad that I had that take from you because I think, I hope she realized at some point how much she had influenced some really big artists in the world.

This little girl from Ireland that wrote so much about her mother. But I'm sure you've met so many people like that along the way where you see their vulnerabilities because I think you're an empath, which is part of you taking on other people's stuff. But yeah, sitting on the side of the chair that you're on to take on all people's emotions, I don't know if I could do your job, Bill. I really don't. I think you do without knowing it.

I think to know what an empath is and to recognize it in someone, I think means you have those empathetic qualities and being an empath as well. I think a lot of artists do. You know, you have that ability to dig down deep into your soul and analyze things and express things. And you do it through music. Other people do it through painting. Other people do it through poetry. And as I get older, realizing the importance of art and its place in our lives,

I remember the first time it happened with someone dying. Conway Twitty. I'm a big country fan. Oh, gosh. Country fan since college. It was alternative music to me. None of my friends listened to it. It ain't no more. It's so mainstream now. I'm stuck in a certain period of appreciating country, and I really haven't listened to anything since. A lot of people are. A lot of my favorites are the legends who are no longer with us. Well, I've had a chance to bond with, but I had the last...

interview with Conway Twitty before he passed away. And his family told me this. And they actually have a copy. I don't know how they got it of the interview. But that was very surreal. And looking up on the air, I was working that day. They pulled a little bit of my interview. That's a beautiful thing about Much. It wasn't just pop. We could play R&B. We can play hip-hop. We can play country. We're all over the place. I loved it. And just thinking, he's no longer with us. That is so sad, knowing that

The millions of people around the world, he recorded it in Russian even, how many lives he's touched and how fortunate I was to have been touched by Conway and had a chance to bond with him. And then it's happened throughout the years, every now and then. John Prine, I had a great interview with John Prine in Virginia. Dolores O'Riordan, there's another cherished Irish person. Oh, my God. I was devastated when she passed away. And she had a long, hard go of it too, alcoholism. You know, just...

Had a really difficult time. And it wouldn't matter if you're a musician, folks. It doesn't matter if you're in the arts. Alcoholism, you know, it doesn't matter what your job is. You've crossed paths many times with Blue Rodeo. Yes, many times. I write about this in the book. Palace of Gold was the album. I got asked to join them on tour in Regina and hang out with them at the gig before the gig. You know, knockoff interviews throughout the evening before the show, after the show.

post-show meet and greet, get on the bus with them, go to Winnipeg, shoot stuff on the bus, shoot Winnipeg. How great. No biggie. And I love the boys, Jim and Greg. What I realize, and they're smart, they figured this out years ago. I remember Bon Jovi telling me one time after a gig, you know, you give your heart and soul, the adrenaline is through the roof, the show's over, bang, go.

Go home, go to your hotel room, sleep, do it again tomorrow. No, you can't. The adrenaline is through the roof. You stumble around a hotel bar probably till two or three in the morning. You finally get some sleep. You get on the bus, you get on the plane and you do it all over again the next day. Blue Rodeo figured this out years ago. After a gig, after the post-show meet and greet, they find a community center nearby and they have ball hockey games with the opening band until two in the morning, three in the morning. So they wear themselves out and then get on the bus and

And use that energy. Oh, listen, I mean, I was drunk for years. Yeah, it's great to do that, but we would get on the bus and have four or five drinks. And it seemed like the most normal thing in the world to do that. I mean, we were much younger, mind you, but you'd always wake up kind of hungover and not feeling great. And that ship has long since sailed for me, but

I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't do it again because I've been asked that question. Would you do it all over again? I'm like, no way in hell. I just wouldn't. I would do something else. And I think people are often surprised by that answer. Would you do this all over again? I think everyone would do things differently. Do you have any regrets? I don't think so. I don't have any regrets. I do have regrets. I wish I could say that. I think that's really great that you don't. I

I am riddled with regrets that, you know, whack me in the back of the head on a Sunday afternoon when I think of a conversation that I had loaded or, you know, driving or an interaction with somebody. And I hope that sort of lifts as I get older. I take it back, Jan. It's true. I take that back. I do. There are times when in my 20s when, you know, you can be at a bar and

people gather around and they want to talk to you and ask questions. And I do discuss this a little bit in the book. There are times where I have, I have met a girl who I had slept with, who I totally forgot about. And I don't remember sleeping with her. And,

There are times, you know, or I've forgotten names or I wouldn't remember a name after being a bit trampy. Of course. Well, just so you know, on the other side of the coin, from the female perspective, I was at a signing thing in the 90s, signing probably records at this point. There was a guy in the lineup.

that I had had sex with about two months before. Like it was not a fun night. It kind of went sideways, way too much drinking on the road. And he's in this lineup to get me to sign a record. So I am just like panicking, sitting there,

He's getting closer and closer and closer in this line. And you recognize him at least a little. He didn't recognize me. So he didn't know who he was sleeping with at the... He had no idea. But it wasn't a gig. It was just like out in the bar partying and everything. You didn't tell him? We didn't exchange names, obviously. Wow. I'll never forget that moment. And something really shifted in me. That was a day... I still hadn't quit drinking. I still drank for many years to come, but...

It shifted something in me that I had to. So just from a female point of view, he had no idea who I was. Could you sign it for Beth? I'm like, holy shit balls. Who's Beth, the wife? Oh my God. Exactly. Oh. For both of you, I just have to ask, even though, I mean, you both are touching on some regret here. Don't you feel like you learned such important things from those experiences? So how can you regret?

Oh God, yeah. Regret is big. Regret is not necessarily a terrible thing. You don't want to hurt people and unintentionally sometimes we hurt people. We don't set out to do it. Sometimes there's expectations that you can't

meat from someone. But yeah, in terms of regret, I regret hurting people and I never intended to. I have apologized to myself. So hopefully if I've hurt anyone, I apologize to you and you can forgive me because I've forgiven myself. I can hear it in your voice. I can just hear compassion for yourself. So there's a big lesson here to be kind. How

How did you know when this book was done, Bill? How did you know when you were sitting there, you put that period on that last sentence and you went, this is it. I can walk away from this for now. The publisher needed it.

I thought I finished it and then I went back to look at it one day. I know I'm going to add to that. I'm going to add to that. So I could, you know what? I've already started making notes for. The second time around. For edition number two. There's already some notes here that I'm already jotting down. Oh, I love it. The book works on a couple of levels for me. I mentioned it, the has been element. There are some people who don't know what I've done since much and much more. And if you care to know, it's all in here.

There are people who only know me from what I do here in Eastern Ontario. They don't know about a music journalism past, which I find amazing. And there are people that have followed me throughout the career that I still hear from, from, you know,

viewer mail from the early 90s on much that people... But Bill, in that, when I die, insensitive singer Jan Arden, I know exactly what you mean. People that have cared to follow me along, that know the other things that I've done, that's okay. It doesn't matter to me. But I do understand it, that...

that is kind of there going, there's a little more to me than that, but okay, if that's what you want to do. Maybe that is part of this book, the white flag that goes up saying, listen, this is what else has been going on with me. Isn't it a wonderful feeling to know that there are people out there who you've touched and who appreciate it and have thanked you, I'm sure, at an autograph session or

where they say, you know, your music means so much to me. I got married to that song. That song was played at my father's funeral. I'm sure you have many, many stories for all your songs, but what a fortunate position to be in to know that your role in life is to touch people in a beautiful way. Well, ditto. Like, I'm so glad that you put yourself out on a limb that a, especially for men,

I think it's much more difficult for you guys socially to be vulnerable, to talk about mental health issues. I was raised by a single mom. There's a part in here too about ending men's violence against women and how we need guys to step forward to talk to guys about ending men's violence against women. And you're donating a portion of this book. Yeah, there's a...

a chapter in there about the White Ribbon Campaign, which is men coming together to end men's violence against women. It started in Toronto after Le Coup Polytechnique in Montreal. Jack Layton was one of the people who got together with these other guys

formed this white ribbon campaign and men getting together to talk to men, ending men's violence against women. It grew across Canada, made its way to the U.S., is now recognized in something like over 70 countries around the world. Some of these countries don't have a lot of women's rights too, but guys are stepping forward and they go into schools and they talk to little Johnny who might see daddy slap mommy and growing up thinking that's normal.

Yeah. Talking to young boys and the idea of guys at a bar, you know, oh, look, date rape drug. Check this out. No, no. It takes one guy to say, no, what the fuck are you doing? Dude.

Dude. But that one guy can make a huge difference. And that's what the White Ribbon Campaign is all about. So, yeah, some of the proceeds will, I want to direct towards them. Women's shelters, of course, underfunded, overflowing. Underfunded, overflowing. That's exactly it. Leaving in an abusive situation with a kid in tow with a bag that they quickly packed. And often these women's shelters are finding hotel rooms for women.

And so they're in desperate need of money. I know there's a women's shelter collective umbrella that I'm going to make a large donation to them at some point, and hopefully they will distribute it to women's shelters across Canada. Well, I love everything that you're doing, Bill. I could talk to you for 17 hours. We are going to get together and have coffee in Kingston. Your book, A Happy Has-Been, excites.

Exciting times and lessons learned by one of Canada's foremost entertainment journalists and a whole bunch of other stuff that's going on. 299 Queen documentary that is in the works. And just one final thing. I have heard through the Little Birdie Grapevine that there's actually a film called

based on your life and your career that is being worked on right now. So truth, rumor, what is it? What's happening there? A Kingston filmmaker, Jay Maidah, did a film called Live in Kingston about 10 years ago. And it was a fictitious take on Kingston music using real interviews with real Kingston musicians. And he found out about my book and realized he loved the story of this once national artist

music journalists. You were omnipresent. That's all we watched. He loved the story of me moving to a smaller market, still doing television, and he created this sort of

parallel universe. So I'll play myself in this parallel universe of me trying to get back to a major market. So by the end of the movie, I realized, no, this is home and I love Kingston. And so throughout the movie, I'm interviewing real Kingston musicians. I love it. There's performances. And I did the table read with the other actors a couple months ago, and it is freaking fun.

funny. Oh, yay. I take the piss out of myself in a lot of ways, but that's okay. That's the best. That is the absolute best. Well, thank you for taking time with us today. And you are an absolute icon. And thank you for all the stuff at Much and Much More. It was a life changer for me. And I was so inspired.

in my 20s and 30s looking at other artists going, oh, that'd be so cool to do that. And it takes a village. We all work together to create a really great thing. So Bill, until the next time, thanks for being on the Jan Arden podcast and show. Sarah, thanks for all your great questions and for your great research that you did. She had me very prepped. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing an insatiable today here with you. So look after yourself and thanks for being on the show.

I love you, Jen. Thank you so much, Sarah. Thank you. Well, thank you for listening once again. You can subscribe to us. You can give us a review, which always helps people find our podcast. You can listen to us at iHeartRadio or anywhere that you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. We love you. Totally do. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.