Stories From The Sky - Part 1
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Welcome to the Jan Arden Show and podcast and variety hour. Okay, I'm just still working out the kinks. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back. It is the brink of summer. I know it's not until June 20th. That was Freudian. I know it's not until January 3rd.

No, June the 20th, I believe, is the first day of summer. But it doesn't matter, because we're coming in the end of May. Rose Cousins is back with us today by popular demand. I had so many beautiful messages from everybody. You and Julie, Zaya. People really like the wonderful guests that I have on here. And Adam Karsh is here as well. I couldn't do it without him. Adam, how are you? I'm doing great today. How are you? I'm excellent. Rose?

You know why I wanted to have you back here? Because there were so many things I wanted to ask you last time that we never got to. And you were one of the few people on this planet, Rose Cousins, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, singer-songwriter, television personality, host. I mean, maybe someday. Dog owner, new homeowner, film soundtrack writer. Yes, you are. Recently, yes.

Okay, first of all, we're going to talk about travel, but I want to give your friends just a little piece of the pie right now to talk about this project that you wrote four or five original songs for. And it's a film that's going to be free for people to watch, which is a miracle. And maybe you can tell them what it is and how they can watch it.

Yeah, it's called, it's a movie that was written and directed by a woman who's from here, Nova Scotia, named Shelley Thompson. And it's called Dawn, Her Dad, and the Tractor. And it's about, it's a story of a trans woman coming home for her mom's funeral. And her kind of like the unfolding relationship of her coming home as a trans woman. And the relationship with her dad through sex.

this tractor that her mom, like it was her mom's tractor and, and, uh, her mom used to drive it. So it's kind of like, um, a central piece to the story. Whereas, whereas the, you know, the, the transitioning is the story too. And, um, Shelly has a, um, a trans son and who's a, who's a friend of mine. And, and, uh, she's a wonderful like actor herself and, uh, her son is a musician and it's a beautiful story that, that, um,

You know, I was filmed out here and I think will resonate. It's being premiered at the Inside Out Festival in Toronto, which I think is Canada's premier LGBTQ plus festival. And it is premiering the 28th.

And the tickets are free to see it. I think it might be limited, geo-limited. I don't know that everybody can see it. I think there's some limitation to it. But it's the Inside Out Festival. If anyone wants to look it up, there's also lots of other great films. Do you think people in Canada would be able to see it? I don't know, actually. Might just be Nova Scotia? No, it's not Nova Scotia. Inside Out is in Toronto, but

I think what there are is a limited number of, I'm assuming digital tickets because nobody's going to go. I don't think, I thought it would just be streaming because I don't think people are going anywhere. Well, listen, if you want to get your digital ticket. Yeah, I think you go to the Inside Out Festival. Yeah, I would look up Inside Out Fest. That's really exciting. Tell me a little bit about writing music for that. It had to have been copyrighted.

kind of emotional? Like, where do you even start? Well, it was really fun. You know, I've always wanted to kind of help score a movie. I always thought about doing it instrumentally, but it was like, I often write things for film and TV, but I don't often see, get to see what it's going in. I'll write to a brief or write to an idea, but this was actually being able to actually see the film and the scenes and

and understand the story so that we can pull themes in that would be helpful to that exact scene. And I did the co-writing of the original tunes with a woman here whose name is Bria. Her name is Bria McKinnon. She goes by Bria Isabel. She's an incredible artist and producer, up-and-coming emerging producer.

So she and I did the co-writing together. And then the film also used a few of my existing tracks. I basically, Shelley was just so kind and wonderful. She wanted my voice to be the one, basically the voice of, of the songs on the way through. And then another composer out here, Scott McMillan did a good portion of the scoring parts. So it was really fun. It was, it was really, it was interesting too, because it came in kind of, I was doing it over Christmas, like in December and January, which was,

a kind of a chaotic time but also I was isolating in PEI so I could be home there for Christmas and so I had like a mini studio set up in this place I was isolating and it was an interesting thing to kind of pull me back into writing whereas I'd kind of just been doing this like moving my house and taking care of the dog and figuring out what the hell my life was which is still not figured out but. Now had they had the film sort of completed pre-COVID or were they filming during COVID?

No, they had filmed it the summer prior. I don't know whether it was filmed 2019 or 2020 in the summer, but the film was in various edit forms. So we would continue to get new edits. They'd drop the music in to see how it worked. We'd have to kind of make a few changes. So that process was really interesting. Creating something, not knowing whether it's going to be usable,

and then getting feedback to be like, can you change this? It was a really interesting, you know, versus like you and I just writing a song for our own selves to sing. And like, maybe there's some production things that someone we're working on the music with might be, but like, but the guts of it wouldn't change. But you know, putting things in film and TV is really like it's timing and emotion and, and like,

If a door opening needs a thing to happen there, I did have a couple of chances, although I don't know anything got used to write instrumental stuff, which is probably the very first thing I ever wanted to do and hope I get to do at some point is to write just instrumental music to music.

to what's happening versus stuff with lyrics. Oh, no. I think music soundtracks for me, there's been like some real memorable ones that drive you crazy. I remember as a kid, 2001, A Space Odyssey comes to mind. The Exorcist. I never saw The Exorcist, but that movie, music by Mike Oldfields.

kind of launched his career. And then Eyes Wide Shut, that ridiculous one single clanging gang, gang piano note. So music really does inform what the viewer is either anticipating seeing or how we're supposed to feel. So good for you. I think it's wonderful.

the beginning of many things that, uh, many doors that are opening. So, well, who knows? And plus you had the fricking time to do it, Rose. It was really well-timed. Yeah. And I was just so kind of honored to be asked to do this thing that I'd, you know, otherwise probably be a little bit nervous to do, but, but, uh, Shelly is so wonderful and generous and,

It was kind of her first film, and so it was my first scoring along with Bria, and it was an interesting thing to kind of see how everything changes shape along the way.

Don't you think you just have to throw yourself into things sometimes? I mean, how the hell else are you going to, you can think about preparing forever in a day, but you just have to do it. Yeah. Honestly, I use you as an example, like probably on a daily basis, including a conversation I had today before you and I got on here, which

which is like just your willingness and openness to exploit all of your, like use your talents in all the ways that it could possibly be used, even if you haven't done it yet. And I really just, I've always admired that about you and it keeps you working and it keeps what you're working on interesting and it keeps you interested. And it's just, it's very inspiring. And it was fun to be like, I don't know, I've never done it, but like, yes, let's do it. You know? Well, that jump off point, the thing of it is failing is not that bad.

No, you need it. It's just not that bad. And so I'm always surprised because I was the type of kid growing up. Oh, sure. I can make that leap from this little chunk of concrete over that, you know, a series of, uh,

rebar that's lying in the gully there and I can make it to the other side to that little green tuft of grass. I can do it. Nope. Can't do it. Didn't make it. Oh gosh. Rebar in the thigh. Yeah. That's not looking good. That's going to be, that's going to need to be stitched up. Like my poor mother. She just, she said, Jan, you would come home with sticks in your hair. You would be bruised. I was embarrassed to take you to the doctor because I thought that

They're going to think that I am beating you up. And trust me, I wanted to beat you up, but you were already beaten up. I think you have a natural gusto in that way. Like this, you know,

You're not afraid to say yes. You're just kind of just like, well, let's see. And most often something really great comes from it. It's really cool. I think more good things will come from the trying than bad things, if you could even call them bad things. It'd just be like, you know, on a spectrum of quote unquote success or joy, you know? Yeah, certainly. Yeah. Well, I think in the arts, it's measured so differently, Rose Cousins, because...

Failure is somehow more ultra personal and emotional. But when you think in the world of science, you know, early experimenters doing things with electricity, you know, tying the key to the kite, you know, flying it up to see if it can get struck by lightning and, you know,

But I'm sure Thomas Edison and Da Vinci and, you know, all the people that were creators, but scientific, I guess science really is still creative though too, because you're making up something that is in theory might work. Maybe the thing that ties it all together is just curiosity. I think, yeah.

you know, researchers, like scientists and researchers have to try and try again because they're still curious. And I think art, you know, is all about curiosity. I feel like you are very much about curiosity. You're just kind of like, yeah, like, well, let's see. Let's see. And I just think that's just a beautiful way to move through the world. And I think you set a good example for me and for lots of people for just kind of like

You know, you don't always say the perfect thing. And maybe sometimes it's like you ruffle a few feathers, but also like, you're, you're just like, what's the worst thing that can happen? And, and you're willing to make a mistake. And I just think that's such a beautiful, it's just, I just feel like you set a really great example and, and, and you're one for me for sure.

Thank you, Rose. Well, the wrath of Twitter only I find lasts about 40 hours. And then somebody else says something stupid and they move on. And you're listening. You're listening to the Jan Arden show podcast. I'm here with Rose Cousins. So grateful. Adam Karsh will be right back.

Welcome back to the Jan Arden Show. Rose Cousins is my guest. Every time we start recording a new segment now, we have a very ominous voice. I think that's what the goddess would sound like. A little bit unemotional.

Just very quite factual. Your meeting is being recorded. I'm doing it. No, just a little bit more essential. I would hope so. I don't know. Your meeting is being recorded. That's right. Welcome back to the meeting. Great to have you. Okay. Wow. What are you wearing? There's one, there's not many people in the world that I can talk to about this. And it is the giddy up go of a minstrels, a modern minstrels life, the life of travel. And I,

If you dropped in on Rose's life 16 months ago, you would have found her just... I mean, it was exhausting to think about Rose's schedule. She and I, we talk so much. Yeah. And we stay in communicato so much. So I kind of know your schedule. Yeah. Usually you and I will be like, what's on for this week? And it's the how many flights. So it...

There's just not many people that understand that the getting from A to B is most of our lives. Oh, God. Right. So, you know, if you're looking at a 90 minute show, there's 23 and a half hours that are in between that, that are mostly eaten up by travel and getting there. Yeah. What is tell me what how you keep your mind together, right?

you know, the packing, the unpacking, the check marking, the getting your guitars, organizing hotels, flight schedules, ground transportation. I mean, and you do this pretty much on your own Rose. I mean, a lot of, when you have the bigger tours, yes, you absolutely have a road manager, but when you're out doing your thing quite often it's, it's Rose. Yeah, true. I think it's interesting to talk about this today because,

after having not been on a plane for over a year, which is so foreign to both of us. Yeah. Considering like in a day, sometimes you'd go to Toronto and back, which is insane from Calgary. I've done that only a couple of times, but you know, also I was thinking like,

like, you know, the number, like the number of cities I remember posting and I'm reflecting on it in a different way, like being like, like breakfast in Halifax, lunch in Toronto or Chicago, and then like dinner in LA or something like that. It's so interesting to talk about it from this, you know, because like I would have, I'm definitely feel like in a different place in my soul so much so that the, what I'm feeling is that the travel world, which would seem and probably

be perceived as expansive and like, oh my God, all the things you're doing and the places you're seeing and the people you're meeting and all of this, isn't it so big? It's so big, big, big. When actually in reflection, traveling makes my world tiny. I agree. It makes it so tiny. It makes it, it makes it, the pathways are so clear. It's like to the airport, checking in,

filling your water, being at the gate, like pre peeing, being on the flight, whatever has to get done on the flight. Maybe it's for me, it's email. If there's actually like, you know, getting out, getting the rental car, what's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? And you know what the next thing is because it's been decided for you six to eight months before that.

Yeah. So and then it's like everything that you have, you bring into whatever hotel room you're in or whatever, maybe it's an Airbnb and you get to be there for a couple of days, but it's all contained within the pouches of the certain pouches that go into your suitcase and its systems and repeated routines that you have to kind of keep contained because the, and it just this feeling of the world being so small and it's the perception of it would be completely opposite.

So it's like the difference now is having spent, you know, finally getting through all the discomfort of the change that happened and getting to a point where like yesterday I purchased flowers to plant in a garden. And I thought about someday I'll have a garden. I don't know how to do it. I've got several people who are luckily both on text and a couple people here are going to help me.

The idea of the garden was only an idea and the presence versus the anticipation. Everything in our worlds before in my experience was just like,

Okay, so here it's whatever day it is, and I'm thinking I already know what I'm doing in December. It's May. I already know what I'm doing in December. That is a big piece of this puzzle. Yes. And I know most people have schedules, but these ironclad, these dates that are pre-organized, preordained. Preordained.

Sometimes 18 months in advance. Yeah, when so much of our lives is taken up with anticipation and it takes you out of... Your real life. Well, what is your real life? I don't know. Travel was our real lives. Suitcases was our real lives. Like, what are the things that we need? Like, you had your, like, whatever, special filtered water bottle thing that was like... Hey, hey! No, but it was a survival thing. It's like, I needed a certain number of things on an airplane so that I knew I would be...

Okay. Or a certain like pouch that has the certain chargers to get the stupid, whatever you're like, you're prepared for every possible rental car. And now I'm like, I wake up and I don't know what the day holds. I just know that a couple of days ago, I decided that yesterday I was going to go and get flowers, you know? And, and, and I don't know. It's just the room, the space, like the open meadow. I feel like that lives in my life now that used to be filled with flowers.

booking flights, booking hotels, booking rental cars, where are you going to stay? Who are you going to see? Which was great. And so little of it had to do with the show that would be played, which is what you started to say at the very beginning, like how much work and stuff has to happen. How many details are things to get us to that 90 minutes of work,

rare, beautiful connection with people. And maybe we're exhausted by the time we get there, but it is true. Like all of the hours that take and all of the space in our brains. And luckily our brains will remember how to do the music part, which is the tiniest, tiniest part of our lives. Then you get off the stage, you, you get back to your hotel room. It's hard to get to sleep. It doesn't matter. I mean, I've been doing this 40 years and it's still like, it's,

I'm very high from playing the music. It's such a visceral, physical, tactile experience, music. And especially when you're collaborating with other people. And, you know, when you have hundreds, thousands of people, you know, looking at you.

Having a shared experience, it's really a phenomenal thing and it never, ever diminishes. No matter how long you do it, it doesn't diminish. It doesn't get, it's not like taking Oxycontin that you have to keep increasing in order to, you know, get the same effect. Music is consistently increasing.

But anyway, then you're planning. Hey, lobby call. There's the old word, lobby call. 630. Yep. Got to be at the airport. Bring your stuff. You know, sometimes it's leave your suitcase outside the door. You know, we'll pick it up. Blah, blah, blah. Just take what you need. It is... When I think about it now, too, I'm with you on that, Rose, where...

I didn't think I'd ever find myself in a position where I wasn't going to be on a plane. That one is really weird. Isn't that so weird? Like thinking about how many flights we would have taken. I'm pretty sure that by you and I not flying for this last year, we've, I think, did we just save the environment?

Well, I think Greta Thunberg is going to visit us. I think we get some kind of... Get a certificate or something? No, I think we get a bag of organic carrots. Ooh, loves it. It's, yeah. But yeah, it's, what do you, just in the last like minute here before we go into break, what is one thing that you cannot travel without, Rose?

Oh God. I mean, I know there's dozens of them, but if there's one thing that you're just like, "Fuck it, I forgot my note!" I actually always travel with my own pillow. Oh! 'Cause I don't trust pillows. Never trust a pillow. Well, who would? Pillows are, you know... You can't trust a pillow. You can't trust a pillow, okay? You know what? You can't really trust a bed, but at least when you're in that weird-ass bed, you got your own pillow. That's right.

There was a brief period of time that I brought this sack of

That you slept inside in the, it was like the mid-90s. And I was like in all these, I was all over the states. I was just everywhere. And I was just, I had read some article about bed bugs. It was probably 1997. And I thought, I'm going to get myself, and Amazon didn't even exist yet. So imagine me ordering it like from, I don't even know how I ordered it. I probably bought it somewhere in Walmart. But you crawl into a sack and you kind of-

Do the drawstring and it supposedly, you know, kept the bed bites just to the top of your forehead and your ears. Yes. You just bitten from the neck up. Yes. Beautiful. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. I'm with Rose Cousins, Adam Karsh. We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Jan Arden Show. Rose Cousins, Adam Karsh. Adam has just blown my mind. You know, once again, in between the breaks...

Something earth shattering happens and the man tells me that he looks forward to airline food. Adam, you know, I'm sorry airlines, and I'm not going to single out any airline because I've flown every single one of them. I've been on every airline, I think, in the world, except for maybe somewhere in Russia. No. No.

I don't, I don't eat it. I haven't eaten airline food for so long. I will eat the peanuts if they allow that in case there isn't, you know, some kid on the plane that doesn't eat nuts. And I get that, you know, they'll usually, I've been on many flights where they've come. Sorry, we can't serve nuts today. Story of my life. And, uh,

you know, cause we have a severe peanut allergy and I always feel for the parents and I'm like, cool, that's fine. I'll eat something else. Yeah. I appreciate that because I'm allergic to peanuts and I've actually asked people sitting next to me if they could not choose the peanuts. There's very, actually very few airlines that,

that um serve peanuts anymore and i won't name them but there are two that that i that i flew on that i was shocked that that was an option um but yeah it's it's pretty terrifying to be locked in a tube of people eating peanuts it's like covid it's like if we could because you could breathe in someone's moist peanut exhalation yeah yes yes

Anyway, Adam's going on about that. I will say you can order vegan food

you know, pre-order vegan stuff. You can do whatever. I mean, there's a lot of meal options. There's a lot of meal options when you go on airlines on their websites that is pre-done. Like I've seen lots of people going, are you in seat nine a as this, this is your pre-ordered meal and it could be vegetarian. It could be a gluten-free like airlines do go out of their way to try and make it work for you. But I,

Even with that, I just don't eat it. I'll always have a Diet Coke or I'll have a Perrier water or something like that. But I bring my own snacks. I've always got like apples in my bag, like stuff. You have to always think about what can I bring through security too? Because you don't want to spend $9 on a fricking sort of okay looking apple. No, no. And you don't want to be crossing. If you're going into the U.S., you don't want to even tell them you got an apple, even though the apple probably came from the U.S.,

Yeah. So it's, it's come up to us and now we're bringing it back, but we're not allowed to. Where is the justice? What part of airline food do you like, Adam? What, what? I don't think it's fine dining. It's not like it's the greatest food I ever had. It's just, I enjoy airplane food. You think it's free except you've paid $800 for it. It's novel. I think it's just novel and cute. I think maybe cause I've never traveled for business. I've only, and I'm not

as frequent flyer as you guys, but I've only ever traveled for like a vacation. So maybe I'm in the mindset of like, I'm in vacation mode. I'm on a plane. I'm getting a chicken salad. And you're getting your money's worth. You're getting your money's worth. And they do now have those little menus sometimes where you can get a pizza. I sat beside a guy once and I want to talk to you about this Rose about memorable flying buddies. I'm just going to quickly tell this story.

Sitting in business class, sitting beside a guy. He was drinking Caesars. He was clearly half in the bag when I got on to the flight. And I'm telling you, he had nine, eight, nine drinks. He started ordering. He didn't want the meal. But then he started ordering a cup of noodles.

And he had multiple cups of noodles. Oh yeah. It was like one after the other, after the other. And they, they would wander back to the back of the plane and they'd get the cup of noodles. There was like five or six and sitting there watching him eat these noodles was something loaded out of his mind. I literally was, it was all I could do not to kind of have this gaggy,

And I just, I was just hugged to the window looking out. Anyway, I have sat beside some really interesting people. Rose, go. Oh, well, I remember I was flying to, I think I was flying to Iceland from London. It was a stopover in Iceland for 18 hours. It was like the cheapest flight I could get. I think I was landing in Boston, maybe. London, Iceland, Boston. Yeah.

And, uh, of course I was sitting in the middle. And the reason I was sitting in the middle was not because of, I chose it because I knew who wants to sit in the middle. Nobody. I gave up my seat for a woman who was like, I really want to sit with my husband. And they were an older couple. And I was like,

Okay. I can't not do it, but I'm devastated. I, the, the middle is the worst. So buddy, so I'm sitting in the middle buddy to my left is on the aisle and he gets the peanuts and falls asleep, full dead asleep. His head tilts my way. And I'm not joking full

strand of drool coming down on my side and I'm so close and there's like there's only it was it was so poison peanut drool and it's just like I'm just like you have got to be kidding like where is the karma the good karma for me having given up my seat this way amazing seat tons of foot room

And you're not short. You're not a short person. I'm a large woman. Anyway, that's definitely one. That's probably one of the more memorable. The other memorable one was I was coming back, I think also international,

I can't remember where it's coming from, but maybe it was from London. And an older Italian woman who couldn't speak any English was sitting beside me. We were in a duo. We were smashed up right against the bathroom in the middle of the plane. And she had the most powerful perfume on that the whole time I had my scarf up over my thing. She was so sweet and so kind. And then she couldn't get out of her seat. So I had to like climb over and help release the outside perfume.

seat. There's like a trick to get the outside aisle seat up. And then she went up to like help get up to use the bathroom. And then she came back, but she had redoused herself in the perfume. It had just dissipated enough for me to be able to like stomach it. And then she came back. She was like, so sweet. Oh my gosh. I'm remembering so many, so many stories now. And a lot of them are beside, beside like sitting beside older women. There's another woman who was like talking about

She was talking to the woman. On the plane. On the plane. Everybody knows that you don't do that. I was going to, yeah, I was going somewhere to South Carolina. She was like a, she was a Southern lady and she was asking for vermouth from the woman in the cart. She's like, she wanted to get a special. She's like, do you have any vermouth? I'm like, no. They'd have like vodka and rum and,

Oh my God. I actually wrote down, I should actually look it up. I wrote down what she said. So many things. She was talking about like fuselage and she was talking about stories. Don't say fuselage on a plane. You know, anyway, she was, she was a real trip and I find myself, um,

I've often heard you could overhear conversations like overheard behind me like buddy talking to buddy about taking his son to race car track for his 16th birthday and blah, blah, blah. Anyways, I find myself like turning them into poems in my notes. Anyway, yeah, there's a lot of entertaining thing. Mostly I tried like I don't really engage people in conversation because I just like don't want to get trapped because you're so trapped. Well, you are on the plane. Yeah.

I am. It's true. You can have your headphones on like giant headphones like you have on right now. Yeah. Looking out the window and someone will do their very, very best to get your attention. Oh, my God. Talk to you. And I have said a couple of times and people can judge me if they want. Yeah. I have said and especially if someone's like bloated.

Yeah. And in business class, it happens a lot. Yes. And I have said probably two or three times, I just don't want to talk. I'm so sorry. I've done the same. And the hurt feelings, it doesn't look good.

I had a guy, like I really, sometimes what I'm just like, don't have it in me. Like I can kind of pretty cold people out. And this one guy was, you know, when people would get down, they're just like, how about the hot in this plane? And I'm just like, no, I don't want, please don't make me have small talk with you. And buddy was like, um, I like just kind of didn't respond. And I was just kind of like doing my own thing next to the window. And he kind of, he goes, did I do something? Yeah.

I'm like, we are not connected. Stop trying to talk to me. You're fine. Just be fine within yourself. Like we don't have to be friends. We're not connected. Have your own flight. You know, I was a bit of a biznatch that day. I am scared to ride beside Rose cousins on a plane. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. No, we'll be right back with more flight memories that will stir the soul. Fly me to the moon.

Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with Rose Cousins, Adam Karsh. We've been talking about a lot of things, but we've really focused on traveling as a musician. Rose has found...

a note on her iPhone, an iPhone, please feel free to sponsor us in any way you'd like to, that you see fit. But she had a woman that was saying stuff to her and Rose wrote it down. So, okay, go. I want to, okay. I'll just read, it's just like bullet points of the things. Give a little teeny bit of backstory for people who are just doing this. Okay. So December 8th, 2014, 4.34 PM.

I think we were flying to Charleston, South Carolina for mountain stage. Well, I was, I was by myself and it's an older woman sitting on the aisle. I'm on, I'm on the, in by the window. Is she the perfume woman? She's not the perfume woman. This is a different woman. Different woman. This is a Southern, Southern lady.

So she said here, I'm just going to read the list of things I wrote down that she said. She said, I am not, I'm not even really saying anything. She's just saying a bunch of things to me. Now, is this about the plane? She was talking about plane crashes and things like that, which you don't do.

Well, I don't know. Let me just, I'll just read it and see what I get. Should I take my jacket off? I'm all buckled in. Where are you going? Canada? I was skiing in Nova Scotia. They have that great hill in Mont-Tremblant. Of course, that's nowhere near Nova Scotia. You like Canada? Where are you going? Is that north? And I say, it's hard to hear what she's saying. She said, I hope I don't have a long walk when I land. Probably will. Takeoff and landing are the most dangerous part of flying. And then she goes, oh, the wheels are up.

She said something about Santiago. I think she told me a story about going to Santiago. Then she says to the woman in the cart, does a very, very young flight attendant. She's like, do you have gin and vermouth? Very young flight attendant doesn't know what that is and rhymes off every drink she has. The old lady, any, the old lady can't hear. And she says, do you have gin again? She says, yes, I'll have gin and a couple of ice cubes with a splash of water.

She says to the flight attendant, "You're pretty. How long have you been doing this?" The woman says, "A couple years." She says, "You're doing well." Then she has a full discussion with the flight attendant about where she's landing and whether to get a chair or not. And then she said to me as we were getting ready to land, "You've been snoozing. I was trying to look out the window. Is that the fuselage? Can you see where we are? Are we in the clouds?"

And then she said, what was the town we took off from? Are your ears bothering you? And then I remember when we were landing, her ears were hurting so bad. She was like, oh, oh, no. Oh, God. God love her. Anyways, that's I've just wrote all of that down. OK, now, can I ask why you were writing it down? And were you tapping as were you like on your phone as she's talking to you?

No, kind of like on the slide because it wasn't like a... It was like intermittent stuff that she was... And was it the two seats? The two, two, two, and two? Two seats. Yeah, two seats. It was a smaller plane, two and two. Yeah. I guess actually it looks like...

No, we, I definitely think we were, we were leaving Canada and we were going. I'm so glad that you've got that. Oh my God. I've got so many things. Is that the fuselage? I believe that's the wing. Oh my God. She was, she was killing me. The conversation with the flight attendant, I remember so well. She's just like the, she just didn't, she didn't have no idea what vermouth was. She just really wanted a martini. I, I, I,

get it. I would always just stick to the little bottles of wine when I was back in the day when I was drinking. It was terrible, terrible wine, but you would just drink it. And, you know, I would try and keep it to a three drink flight. So, you know, if it was like four hours. Yeah. But anyway, I am Adam and we were talking once again on the break just about, you know, the different types of people you sit beside. And and I know that

I sat between these two nuns. I don't know how. They didn't want to sit together. And I even said when I had my bag, it was like a last-minute thing. I took any seat that I could take. I think it was a standby situation. And I was coming from, I feel like, Winnipeg back to Calgary. So it was like a two-and-a-half-hour flight.

So I get on this flight. Chris is somewhere else in the plane. I don't know where he is. My road manager is he, we can't sit together obviously because we're both on standby. So I, I'm going down and I see my seat and I sit between these two nuns and I said to them, Oh, you know, I'm sorry. I said, do you two want to sit together? And the lady on the aisle, she goes, no, I want the aisle and the other, her, her companion, I want the window. And I'm like, okay.

I'll sit between the nuns. They were not happy to have me. It wasn't an unchristian thing to do. They looked at me like I had the devil in my pants. So I sat down and it took me about, oh, 20 seconds to realize that there was like a serious, serious body odor issue. Like to the point where I just thought, I don't know if I can do it. And I don't want to sound rude. And for anyone listening, you know, I, I,

Some people just don't use deodorant and they go au naturel and stuff like that, but this was beyond that. I was getting it in stereo. Obviously, they're not aware of it, and that's another thing that happened. People don't know. That's their static state of being.

But I just, I think the irony of the nuns that wanted nothing to do with me, didn't talk to me. I even tried to like, hi, how are you? And, oh, it looks nice out there today. Nothing. I think I sat beside a Rose Cousins nun. I just was shut down and I kind of felt bad because anyway, we took off. I, um,

I had my eye on a seat that was open. Like there was one seat on the plane. I thought maybe it was a flight attendant seat. When she came by me, I said, can I move to that seat? And she looked at me with such compassion because she could kind of smell my situation. She says, go ahead. It's a jump seat for the flight attendant. She says, we're not going to use it. And so I grabbed my stuff. They were so mad. You know, I just got situated because I had to have her lift her tray up. And, oh, crap.

Anyway, don't sit between two nuns. Well, it's just a lot to ask. It's just a lot to endure being close to people you don't know and

really what's an interesting social experiment of like, like observing how people do or do not know how they take up space. You know how like people just don't have a sense of where they are in space or even like maybe sometimes even what they're saying, but like, you know, the serious man sprawl,

I'm just kind of like, I'm like not scared to draw the line and be like, you're in my zone. Let's your package. Isn't that big? Let's close them up. Or like, you know, the fight between like you're in your, I take a window always. So I've got like, at least one side is not touching another person, but like the person who uses the armrest next to you and your, their elbow is in your freaking ribs. And I'm just kind of like, no, I'm like, I sound like such a horrible person to fly. It's just that,

you know, don't push into my zone. You know, we have to figure out how to do this together. What about the pushing? What about the back of your seat? Oh, that is being pushed. That is tough. Like a kid kicking the seat behind you. And parents do nothing. Well, some of them do. Some of them can't. I don't know. But it's just like, I have a few times turned around and go, that needs to stop.

That needs to stop. Cause it, no, and I'll let it go for like an hour and I will turn around and I'll kind of like look and smile. Like, you know, and they're just oblivious. And then I have to like literally unbuckle my seatbelt, look over the top, still kind of smiling, passive aggressively and going, you need to, that can't keep going on. Cause we're, it's, it's not good. I'm trying to work. Honest to God. And they're mad. People get mad because they feel like,

It's just like, there's just a lot to ask. It's like you really have to manage all of your own shit and the people who aren't managing their own shit so their stuff gets on other people, then that's the tough part. But like, parents who are taking kids are just, they're also, like as annoying as it might be sometimes, they're just heroes. Like to even just, my parents flew us to Ontario when there was like three of us managing that. I can't even imagine parenting in general, but then like,

being so amazing and taking them on trips. Like it's sometimes you just have to endure it. But the kicking of the back of the seat by a kid is tough. The trick is to traveling with children, goldfish and an iPad. Okay. That's Adam's got two young girls. I'm good with, if I have goldfish and an iPad, all I need are goldfish and an iPad, you know?

I think, you know, when travel really started getting easier for me was the advent of the smartphone. I think when I went to like getting an Apple phone, being able to watch movies, listen to my music,

like you said, writing down poetry, writing down notes, thinking planes are so great for thinking and great headphones, great noise canceling headphones made all the difference. So that's been in the last 10, 12 years where headphones have gotten smaller, that all the things that I used to carry, like I had CDs when I first started traveling, like I'd have a book of, you know, I, Ooh, I got 50 CDs I'm traveling with. I,

I had a drummer that actually used to, anyways, we're getting the wrap up now. Rose, I'm not even going to tell you the story about the drummer who brought weights with him in his suitcase. We wondered why, you know, we were constantly being dinged for overweight suitcases. Well, no, look, I put one in each bag, though. It doesn't matter. No, buddy. Just go to the hotel gym. Thank you, Rose Cousins, for being here. I love being here. We have so many travel stories. Guess what? We're going to have to do it again. Right, Adam? Absolutely.

Okay. Well, I think maybe you should come back next week. You got it. You heard it here first. We're going to continue on next week with Rose Cousins. We're going to talk about traveling because there's just too many funny things. We have to this. I've never done a two part podcast, but here it is, folks. The very first one. Love you. Thank you. As always, look after yourselves, everybody. The best is yet to come.

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