Let’s Get Christmas Going with Bryan Adams
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You know, I wanted to start off this podcast by singing a Christmas carol. And then I realized that, you know, even if I sang one line here on the Jan Arden podcast, we would have to get it licensed and we would have to stop recording and start again. So just picture me singing the most epic version of Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart, just belting it.

Just imagine it because we don't have to pay for that if you're just imagining it. Welcome to the Jan Arden podcast. I'm here with Sarah Burke. What's up? And Adam Karsh. And I'm happy to be here. And this is, we are running, we are now running into Christmas. It is December and we are counting down 24 days until Santa comes and stands on your roof.

And brings you things, even for the Jewish people. I don't think he's going to come to our roof. I don't know if he's going to come on this roof. Why not? Okay, so let me ask you this question. Let me preface everything I just said. We have the most fantastic guest ever today. Brian Adams is going to be with us. Don't go away for that. Brian hardly ever freaking even does press. And he's doing this for me.

Because I'm one of his favorite people on the planet. No, I'm not. But he's doing it for me. Anyway, let me ask you this, Adam Karsh. So your kids celebrate Christmas. They like Christmas. They actually love Christmas. They make me drive them around the neighborhood so we can look at the houses, all the ones with the lights. Yeah. They get it. I mean, you can't avoid it. They love the idea of Christmas, but we don't technically celebrate it. But who does celebrate Christmas? Christmas.

Who out there is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ? Like I, and I'm just putting, I'm just putting that out there because most of my friends, all my friends that were even raised Catholic or Protestant or went to a Baptist church or were Pentecostal, like my friends are, they run the gamut of whatever religion they're

I was born in a Mormon family and my dad said, you know, when we were 12, you don't have to go to church. I don't expect you to, you don't have, I resented it my whole life and I don't expect you kids to have to do that. So, um, yeah, I don't think, I don't, I think Christmas in the last, let's say even a hundred years has drifted a long way away from the

The holiday or the celebration that it was. Am I being cynical? No. No, the religious connotations have changed for sure. I think it's become more of a traditional get-together-with-people time of year and like a Hallmark holiday. That's what it's become. Yeah. I do remember going to midnight mass with my friend Teresa. Shout out to my friend Teresa.

And I think we were pretty tipsy. I feel like I remember that too, with like an ex-boyfriend's whole family coming back from church and they were all like out to lunch. And I was like, what, church? Yeah. And we did get, we got kicked out. I'm still kind of embarrassed about it. I still have twinges of embarrassment, but I believe the, I guess the priest stopped whatever he was doing and pointed up into the, you know, the balconies and told us that we needed to leave.

God bless you and God be with you. It's no different than you getting the, you talk too much at school. This all makes so much sense. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, it is the Christmas season. There's not a parking spot to be had anywhere. And it is minus 17 here today in Springbank, Alberta. I'm going probably going to run a few errands today, get a few little things. And I like going, but there's a few little stocking, fun stocking stuff or stuff that I want to get for pals.

But last year, it was like playing parking lot bingo to try and get a parking spot. And people are very aggressive, very aggressive this time of year on how do you indicate that's your effing spot? So you see someone backing out.

Never mind that you follow people that are walking out of the store very slowly with your car, following them through the parking lot till they get to their vehicle. And then you have another car at the other end pointing at you going, I saw it first. I'm going to be pulling in there. And you're like, no, I'm going to be pulling in there. I followed him from the exit of the mall. So I have dibs on this guy.

I don't know. It's a very strange time of year. So are you going to the Chinook Center? I don't know. I have no idea yet. Okay. I might go to Chinook. I might go to Sunridge Mall. I might go downtown. I might go to Bankers Hall downtown because there's lots of underground parking. I'm not really keen on parking outside when it's 17 below. Anyway, parking anywhere is just so challenging and so...

kind of non-Christmassy. Don't you love when the person, like the person's partner, is standing in the spot, like waving their arms, like, it's mine! I've seen that. It's a great time of year, but it's a really stressful time of year. And I wanted to talk to you about that, Sarah, about just how...

And it's the holidays. You have your own family to deal with. You've got your boyfriend to deal with. You've got friends to deal with. You've got lots of parties that you're probably being invited to. How do you feel about going into, with COVID obviously still looming, some people don't care about it, some people are ignoring it, they're not wearing, it doesn't matter. How do you deal with going into this part of the holidays and what are your plans?

I will say with my group of friends, they all have kids, you know, all parents and everyone's been sick for honestly like two months, whether it was COVID or something else. Right. So there's actually discussion about outdoor activities. Like maybe we're going to hit a market or a skating trail as like a group of us, which instead of like packing everyone inside, I kind of like that idea. What is a skating trail?

Like, you know, up north of Toronto, there's like, it's a figure eight shape, but you can skate with the kids. You know, you can skate with your partners. So I just kind of like that as an option. We haven't really decided yet, but it was thrown out in the group chat. As for my parents, Hanukkah is actually over Christmas this year. Adam, if you notice, like it starts, I think, December 18th. So the eight days will fall over Christmas this year, which it doesn't always happen.

And, yeah, like, I mean, on Christmas specifically, I'm like, oh, does anyone need me to work time and a half? But for the most part, you know, we're just going to be laying low some Chinese food. Latkes is the Jewish tradition, which I'm very excited about. My mom already made, like, a whole freezer full that she's ready to go. I make a mean potato latke. We know you do.

What was it like growing up in the holidays around your place? Like, did you, was it an exciting time? I mean, obviously your friends were, were all doing Christmas. Like, did you lose sleep over it? I know for me, I couldn't, I couldn't function like the three weeks leading up to Christmas. It was a palpable excitement. I can't even explain it to you. Just everything's, everybody seemed to be getting along in the house. There was so much excitement with food prep and,

Um, you know, my mom was always trying new recipes, but then there was all those traditional things that were always so exciting. And the baking, I just, I just couldn't get my head around how much baking there was. And then they would, mom would do swaps with the neighbors. So she would do, oh, like 500 ginger, ginger snaps. And then she would trade, you know, a few dozen for, we had Danish neighbors, the Mortensen's and they made these

crackly, chocolatey, covered with powdered sugar, chewy balls of, I don't even know what they were, chewy balls of heaven. I never thought I would say chewy balls of heaven on this show, but I am. But I remember the spread going into like the 22nd, 23rd company coming over. Everyone's making nuts and bolts. Did you know that there was an actual shortage on Bugles right now? Oh no. Are we going to be okay? Yeah. Everyone's buying Bugles.

And there's no bugles to be had anywhere. And bugles are, some people would say they're not an essential part of nuts and bolts, but I'm, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm, I beg to differ. They're a very essential part of, you know, the nuts and bolts mixture. But all I'm saying is that it was so exciting that I couldn't, I couldn't sleep. It was such a big deal, but I don't ever remember having,

any kind of religion, any kind of religion being part of our Christmas from its inception? I sort of think like Jewish parents would get through the Christmas holiday stuff pretty easy because the traditions are the same, right? It's like gather to eat a bunch of food and presents, right? Those are the two mainstays of the holidays, whether it's

you know, for a Jewish family or someone celebrating Christmas. That being said, I do remember an awkward time where my sister and I were staring at the window on Christmas Eve, like looking for, you know, Santa and the reindeer and asking all sorts of questions of mom and dad about what happens with our house. Yeah.

And I don't remember how mom and dad answered it at the time, but I know me and my sister, like we revisit that day a lot when, when it's holiday time. It's like, what, what did we think about like being Jewish then? I got a Polly pocket and it was all good. You know, did you, so during Hanukkah and excuse my ignorance, I apologize. Um,

Is there gifts that are exchanged during that time? Oh, there's eight. There's eight. Eight crazy nights. So walk us through the nights. I feel like, I don't know, Adam, about your family, but like for us, it was like usually like some smaller stuff and then there were a few bigger gifts. So you would like spread it out over the eight nights. You might get like

you know, some socks and some clothing like over, you know, the course of it. And then there was one thing on like day seven that you were leading up to that was like a big toy. How about you, Adam? No, I didn't get, there was no eight crazy nights around here. It was like, here's your gift. I mean, and you get the chocolate coins, which is called gelt, which is money. So I got chocolate coins and like I got gifts from my parents and I got a gift from my grandma. So like maybe there was two gifts and there was like one

quote big one like I got a remote control car one year that was huge but I didn't get eight crazy nights of presents I yeah I got a Game Boy actually I got money that I bought myself a Game Boy in 1989 and I still have it to this day they let you spend chocolate money on a Game Boy wow

I think that's pretty great. I mean, it is exciting when you're a kid getting stuff. I remember calling, you know, my pals. I had two or three really close friends and we were 10 or 11, 12 years old. And, you know, as soon as you tore everything open, you'd phone up the road. Mom would say, you're going to phone up the road? It was so funny. Like the neighbors were two miles away, but you phoned up the road. Well, phone up the road and see what they're doing.

And I think of things like that and it kind of breaks my heart. It makes my heart feel bigger all at the same time. But I'd say, what did you get? And my friend Patty or Teresa, they'd tell me everything. I got this and that and the other thing. And getting five or 10 bucks from a grandparent was a big, big deal. My Mormon grandmother, my dad's mom, she had a lot of grandchildren, as you can imagine.

And as she got older, it was probably very difficult to go out and buy things and wrap them for 40 grandkids. And so she started giving us five bucks in an envelope with our names on it, her beautiful cursive. My grandmother, as you guys might remember, was a teacher all her life. So one year, I just remember opening the stuff, and then grandmother handed us each a card, my brothers and I, and opened it up.

And I had three brand new $5 bills. And they were so brand new, they were kind of stuck together. And I was fanning them all. Like, I couldn't believe it. I was probably 13 years old and looking like I had just been given a box of kittens and $10,000 cash. And...

I fanned them open and my grandma stood up from this velvet red wingback chair and she waddled over to me and she took two of them back. You're only supposed to get one five dog. They were stuck together. And I felt like, I felt embarrassed. I felt ashamed for some reason.

And my mom was just rolling her eyeballs. I don't think, I think my dad was probably basting the turkey. The turkey was always his job. The turkey was always dad's job, the stuffing and the turkey. And he actually did a very good job of it. And my mom did all the side dishes, but can you imagine? I don't know. I'm, and I'm, I'm sure that has happened many times in different situations. Um,

Over the years, I remember my brother's opening stuff when we were little. And my little brother would open something that clearly wasn't for him, that was clearly marked for a boy eight years older. And my mom would have to say, no, that's, sorry, I screwed that up. That's for him. Well, how did I do that? You know, she was, but I just remember my little brother just being mortified that he wasn't going to get

some kind of an air rifle or a, you know, something that was obviously for someone older or a, a model car that was for much more agile little fingers than, than his. Anyway, it's such a, it's such a precarious time. There's so many wonderful memories. Do you have memories of things going wrong during the holidays? Did you, can you remember like a family fight or, I mean, this is, these, these are tense times. There's shit's hitting the fan, I think. Yeah.

I don't really have. Really? Yeah, I don't really have any. There's no, like, battle of the brawl, Hanukkah. You burnt the Lekas. I don't know. It's none of that. Even drunk relatives? Or go, Sarah.

I got something. I got something. So my mom's dad had remarried when we were young because my grandmother died when I was like four years old. And this woman was like very like prim and proper and had fancy jewelry and had like very like a certain taste. So at the first Hanukkah party where we met her other grandchildren from her previous marriage,

Basically, we were all in one house. So I'm looking at these kids my age who are living a very different lifestyle. And then they're doing, to make it fair for Hanukkah gifts, I feel like it was like you pick a name out of a hat and that's what you're buying the Hanukkah gift for. I think that's a good idea. That's a good idea. Yeah.

Yeah. But I remember when they would leave, my mom and dad being like, oh my God, I can't believe about... Because they were comparing kids like my age, but from a very different side of the family, I guess. And that was like the most stressful it got. Like just my mom being like, who's my dad dating now? You know? But...

It was just different. That had to have been really, really weird territory. Yeah, there was like a weird jealousy. Yeah, I can't, I'm trying to imagine my mom or my dad with a different partner as a kid, like as a teenager, even my 20s.

I don't know how I would have coped. And then the holidays do get complicated because let's face it, 50% of marriages end in divorce. That is a statistic that has been on the books probably for the last 30 years, 50%. So anyway, I'm trying to think of how I would have navigated

My, I don't, I don't know. Things get really, really complicated and really, I think they can get really fun though. Most of my friends' parents, no, I'm honest to God, it was about half, half of them, their mom and dad were together, but you'd always, I loved being with the parent that got remarried. I mean, all you could, you could get away with everything.

You could just be like, oh my God, so-and-so's mom's got a new partner. He wants to impress everybody and he's handing out $20 bills on New Year's Day. We would be like right there. I'm so ready for this. You know what? I do remember she gave me a lipstick when I was really young as a gift. And my mom was like, she doesn't need lipstick. You hussy. My daughter's not a hussy. Yeah.

Oh, I was that kid. If I got a big makeup set from the drugstore from mom and dad, or it would say from Santa, I was so happy. But then I would get a hockey stick and a crazy carpet. So it was like this mishmash of, you know, those cheap makeup kits that have 67 eyeshadows, 43 lip glosses, a mascara. My daughter has one. They have tar in them. Yes. Does she just love it?

Yes, she paints her face every day and she watches. Tutorials. Yep, she watches YouTube and TikTok makeup tutorials and she does her own makeup well. I love it. Oh, wow. But you can be, hey, you can be all things. I would have makeup on to go to hockey practice. Like I was such a. You played hockey? For years. It was the Springbank Sweethearts. Yeah, and I remember our goalie always being hung over.

And, you know, this is a 16, 17-year-old. She just would be in the net just sweating away, like didn't care if the puck hit her in the temple. It was just, but we were terrible. We had so much fun. But it was, I mean, there was 42 kids in my high school grade. So any kind of extra, you know, curricular activities, I was in. I played badminton and volleyball. Wait, what position did you play in hockey? I need to know. I was right wing.

Oh, wow. Jen. Yeah, I was right wing. I think I, I think my biggest season was three goals, four goals. I was like, uh, yeah, I think I was a hustler, you know, I could skate backwards like nobody's business and I just loved it. We had matching shirts that I think a local businessman had bought for us. We were so thrilled cause we all just sort of bought blue jerseys from sport check and

And taped our numbers on there. And then one year, we had like official jerseys. And I was number nine. Number nine. I remember my number. That's my number. Was it? I played baseball. Get out of here. No, I never played. Nope. I never played hockey. I was a baseball guy. And number nine is my number. Always. Okay, why number nine for both of you? I don't know. It's the number they gave me. I was number five in basketball. The shortest basketball player of all time. I don't think I ever scored a basket. Okay.

It's my favorite number. I love number nine. It's my favorite number. It's my number. Lucky number nine. I do not have a favorite number. Like, am I supposed to have a favorite number? I don't either. I don't know. Are we supposed to have a favorite dinosaur? Like, this feels a little juvenile. What's your favorite number? What's your favorite color?

I do have a favorite. Green is my favorite color in case anybody wants it. And mine's red. And I'm blue. Christmas. If anyone's thinking of buying me anything, I do love a nice pen. Okay. Like a Mont Blanc? Yeah. I actually, the first time in my life, and I'm 60 years old, I treated myself eight weeks ago to a Mont Blanc pen. I went into a jewelry store and the woman talked me out of a fountain pen because I write with fountain pens.

And I got a Mont Blanc. Listen, you're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. We will be right back. Don't go away. Brian Adams is up next. We are so excited to welcome another new sponsor, our friends at Cove Soda. Have I pestered Cove enough to come and join us here at the Jan Arden Podcast? I love them so much. They are Canadian, first of all. They are a natural, certified organic, zero sugar soda, which includes, get this, one big

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A cola or a cream soda, root beer, yes indeedy. And they've got their limited edition summer flavor, which will take you right back to the second grade. You gotta try the ice pop one. Head to janardenpod.com to find out where the closest place to you is where you can go and buy Cove. Go right now. If I was to...

give you the actual proper introduction for this artist, I would be here. The whole entire show would be used up talking about the stuff that Brian Adams has accomplished in his life. He's one of the top selling artists of musical history. I myself have not, I think I've sold 2 million records in my life.

He's been touring for 40 plus. You know what, Jan? He's stopping me. Brian's stopping me. Anyway, one of the greatest songwriters ever. He's got more awards. He has no walls for his awards. There's no walls. There's not enough walls in the world. The man needs like a museum. Okay, Jan. Okay, now we're stopping. Brian, welcome to the show. Brian Adams, everybody. Hi. Where the hell are you now at this moment? I'm in Austria. Austria.

You're in Austria waiting to go on stage, I bet. We're backstage in Innsbruck, Austria, and there's nine shows left to go this year before Christmas, and it's great. This tour has been quite funny because it started and then it stopped because of the COVID, and so a lot of dates got shuffled around, and so this sort of last half of the year has been sort of picking up things that have been rescheduled.

Well, at least you have the gumption to go out there and make it up to these people. Gosh, dang it. A lot of people don't. They're like, we'll see you in 2025. Bye-bye. So how is touring different? Obviously, COVID puts a wrench in everything, but how is it different from when you were started? Like in the 80s, touring has to be

such a different story for you now. I mean, one of the biggest artists in the world and you're still doing arenas, still packing. Stop it. Stop. You're making me embarrassed. I don't mean to be, listen, I've been to so many of your shows and to be in the audience and listen to hits for two and a half hours is pretty fricking weird.

Like you leave there going, oh my God, I forgot about that one. Holy crap, then there's that one. And I know you're being humble right now, but to have the catalog that you have and to be able to tour in every corner of the world. I've always wanted to ask you about language barriers. Does that even mean anything anymore? Does everybody speak English? Some songs are definitely over people's head. Then there's other ones that the melody can get the emotions across. You know, I've never asked everybody.

So, but, but I mean, you don't talk a lot during your shows, but I think it's such a, a tribute and that one wank flag that, that you wave over. People did not come to hear me blabbing away. They came to hear some songs and have a good time.

How's your energy level, you know, comparatively now at 63 than it was at 23? I mean, you travel constantly. I find it grueling. Like I have to lay down after going to the mall for two hours. Here's the key, Jan. Don't go to the mall. Seriously.

That's my health tip today. You heard it here first, folks. I have to tell this story because Brian very graciously said that he would fly in on half a day off, do the Jan Christmas special and fly out to his next gig, which was in Toronto. He's doing a brand new Christmas song called Let's Get Christmas Going that is still stuck in my head. It's just one of those songs. No, but when you, yeah, you should be sorry, mister. But when he came into the studio, he was like,

I'm like, well, really excited about you doing the song, Brian. You had your guitar and everything. And you're like, I don't know it. So I just wrote it, just recorded it. So we need to

write this down. And everyone was scrambling to write on the back of pieces of cardboard so that you could sing the song. Well, you know what? You put the pressure on when there's cameras there. You want to make sure you deliver. So I just needed a little bit of help. If I could have just put it on the back of my hand or something, I would have. But there's just too many damn words. It is a very wordy song. So when did you write this song? You literally said to me, I just wrote it. About three days before. Holy crap.

Crap. What sparked the song? Because, you know, a lot of people cover the classics, but it's, you know, it's an original. Well, it was funny because I have a nine-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old daughter. Both of them love Christmas, but my nine-year-old really loves Christmas. And the year before, she said to me, it was around September, she'd say, you know, let's just get Christmas going. Two months early. And I'd say, well, it's September.

You just got to hang in there. But I just want Christmas. Let's just get Christmas going. And I thought it was such a funny thing to say. I just remembered it and decided to make a song out of that. Well, it really is infectious. It's one of those things I keep telling people after the special airs, you guys are either going to hate me or love me because you're going to have this song stuck in your head forever. By the way, I really want to see the video we did together.

I'm sure it's going to be great. Brian, it is so funny. When we get off of this podcast, I'm going to send you the Jan Alone for the Holiday special. It is such a funny bit. I don't want to give too much away to everybody because this podcast, we'll be listening to this on Saturday. Welcome to Saturday, everybody. And the show airs a couple of times, December the 9th, and then it's going to air again Christmas Eve on December the 24th. But it's...

Brian is trying to like sing his song and I'm just being a jackass behind him. But when you see the footage, I hope it makes you smile as much as it made me smile because it was, everyone was so excited to have you there. It was crazy. I'm dying to see it. I can't wait. Can I ask a few like, like dumb Christmas questions if I may? So favorite Christmas movie, Brian, and your favorite Christmas classic song. Ooh,

Favorite Christmas movie would have to be Elf. Yep. Nice, nice. Favorite Christmas song. I like that Paul McCartney one a lot. Really? That one, I just, I want to drive off the road whenever it comes on. Why? It's like, oh, maybe it's... Don't do it, Brian.

I'm telling you right now. Wonderful Christmas time, by the way. Simply having. See, I can't even sing any more than that because we'll have to get a license for it. Okay, I'll choose a different one then. No, no. Favorite Christmas song. No.

I don't want to mention anything from our colleague at the roster because he'll hate me if I do that. Michael Bublé does not mind. Listen, the man has amassed a fortune. Let's think of something else. Favorite Christmas song. It's probably one of my Christmas songs. I'll tell you my favorite all-time Christmas song. Run, Rudolph, Run by Chuck Berry. Oh, yeah. That's a good one.

They've been playing Christmas music here in Calgary since November the 1st. Do you like Christmas music, Brian? And why are you the only artist on the planet that's never dedicated 10 tracks to a Christmas album? I'm kind of working on it. I've got quite a few now. I released one last year called Joe and Mary, which is quite fun. Oh, that sounds like right up my alley. Sounds like blasphemous. You like it, Jan. Over the years, I've recorded a few funny songs. I recorded one called Christmas Time.

and I recorded one called Reggae Christmas. I used to do songs for my fans at Christmastime, and they were never released officially. We printed some 45s and sent them out to people. 45s. And somehow or another, the songs had a life, which is pretty cool. Can I ask you a question? This is from Tara, and it is a Facebook question.

Tara is just a Facebook fan of mine, and she wants to know, Dear Brian, you have been a vegan for many, many years and inspired me to become vegan. I am wondering what are some of your favorites during the holidays? I think she means favorite meals. That's super easy. I love roast potatoes, and who doesn't? Everyone loves roast potatoes with rosemary and olive oil. I love that, and I love potatoes.

Stuffing that doesn't have anything to do with birds and crispy, you know, crispy sort of sagey sort of savory oven baked stuffing with lots of gravy and Brussels sprouts and carrots. And just I can make an absolute pig of myself eating that.

I have to say the only time I've ever been treated to like a vegan chef was when I came to see you in Calgary many years ago and you invited me backstage, which was awesome. And when you guys finished the shows, you usually have a really beautiful vegan meal prepared by a chef that's worked with you for many years. Is he still with you?

Yep. I mean, when I first wanted to hire someone to come on, I said, Bruce, look, I don't have any perks. I don't go out to the bars. I don't. This is the one thing I think everyone could benefit. I'm not doing bags of cocaine, Bruce, for Christ's sakes. I'm not doing. Yeah, there's no bags of cocaine. This is splurge on having someone nice cooking us a dinner after the show every night. It was so good. Just get a fucking pizza. That's Bruce. Yeah, right.

It was such an amazing meal. And I just remember sitting there with your guys and talking to you. And I'm thinking, this is like the best food I've ever eaten in my life. And that was before I was vegan. And by the way, Jan, I want to say I'm really happy to see all your activism for the animals. It's really cool. Thank you, Brian. I love you for it.

Well, coming from you, that means a lot to me because you were definitely one of the people that inspired me. You were vegan. It's got to be 40 years now, hey, Brian? You're dating me now, Jan. No, well, I wish. 20 years. 20 years. It's fine. No, he's been vegan longer than that. I'm the same age as you, for God's sakes. I started before the word vegan even existed. Yeah. I was 28 and decided- That's it. That was it. I'm not doing this anymore. Okay.

I read a really great book. It was called Fit for Life by this guy called Harvey Diamond. Actually, his wife was in it, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. And I just thought, wow, this is such a cool thing. I'm going to try it. And let's never look back. If your listeners are considering what this might mean. Fit for Life. Yeah, I mean, it's not designed to be vegan. It's designed for health. I was after looking for health.

after being on the road for 10 years straight. And I just wanted to make sure that I was taking care of myself the best way I possibly could. Instead of the advice which I was getting from my management was, eat a steak. Eat a pizza. You do a good Bruce Allen, I got to tell you. No, you know who does a great Bruce Allen? It's Mike Bublé. Does he? I don't know if I've ever heard his Bruce Allen. Oh, it's sensational. Yeah.

It's like you can't even tell the difference. Love that. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about your photography. You have you you are an amazing photographer. Now, don't be pulling anything, Jan, this, Jan, that I've shot pictures with you a couple of times. And I want you to just talk about this a little bit. And what was the catalyst? Was this?

for you to go down this entirely different part of your career. Like you are a world renowned photographer. You're in galleries all over the fricking planet and have shot the most extraordinary people. Like you. Here's a story for your listeners. Okay. When I was doing photographs with, with Jan, I said, Jan, you know, maybe we should try something a little different. And we ended up doing a very nice picture of you naked. I don't know how you talk me into it.

You didn't talk me into it. It was like I was just turning 50 years old. No, it was like you were, I think even you said, should we do it naked? I did not. I did not. And I said, yes, we should. Anyway, it was, it ended up on the cover of Zoom magazine. And this was 10 years ago. But I think the thing for me as a woman, I was probably 35 pounds heavier than I am now.

And it was a lot for me to just be, well, this is it. I'm just going to do it. And it was very liberating. So I thank you for giving me that opportunity. And you did it very quickly. You look gorgeous, Jan. You look gorgeous. Well, you're very kind. And I think for a lot of people that bought that magazine, whether you're of a certain age is what they say to women now.

I think to be yourself and to not wait for that moment when, oh, when I'm this weight or when my hair is just right or when I have the right job or the right boyfriend or, you know, when the situation is absolutely perfect, I think you have to embrace moments. But I think your photography does that. I've got a couple of things that you shot of me hanging in my house and they're some of my most favorite pictures that I've ever had done. I've got a big nude of you somewhere in a warehouse somewhere.

Oh, I thought you were going to say in your kitchen. It's a giant blow up of it. So if you want that, Jan, I'll have it sent over tomorrow. Gosh, I can put it in the ceiling. You'd have to find a big room for it, though. Yeah. It's the size of a sofa. Okay. Well, hey, we love you photographing, Jan. But what's the most like eye opening shoot that you've ever done or like a subject of a person who is absolutely mind blowing?

Well, there's been kind of a few. I did something last year, which was really fun. It's a thing called the Pirelli calendar. Oh, I love that. And I've actually got it right in front of me. It was amazing, Brian. This is what it looks like. So you can see. Oh, goody. Oh, cool. And it's a big deal for anyone that doesn't know about the Pirelli calendar. It is a big deal. And then that's the cover of it. Cool.

But it was really fun. Look, the back, I got Iggy Pop. Oh, my God. It was really fun to do that. But it was in the middle of COVID. So nobody wanted to work. It was hard to get everyone to come out. But it was really fun to do. Do you ever get nervous shooting people? Or is it just like, eh? Yeah, you definitely do. Especially when you've got an idea for something and you haven't really fully thought it out. You're just going for it. And somebody shows up with...

their PR person and their manager and their best friend and, you know, three or four of the people from the record company. And then it's just you and it says you and you go, well, I was thinking maybe, and then you just look at everyone's eyes go, Oh, wow. What? So there's a, there's that, there's that moment. But to be honest, I've really never had any trouble. There's been, it's been really,

actually, to use a pun, it's been pretty eye-opening. Well, it's been such an interesting part of your career and the evolution. I think creative people create, and I think that's just what they do. You're flexing a different muscle, but it's really coming from the same place. It's also a way for me to get out my sort of social frustrations on things through art. So if I'm annoyed with the way the governments are handling wars, I did a book on

on wounded soldiers. If I look at the streets of Vancouver or if I'm traveling the world in London and I see all these homeless people, I did a book on homelessness because these are just this sort of social frustration. I can talk about it, but I find it much more cathartic to be able to actually make art that has meaning that people can reflect on and either

like it or not like it, but it's there and it's real. And I don't try and doctor it or anything. I just photograph what I see and put it together in the most interesting way I can. So aside from doing celebrity stuff, I also like using it as a social platform to vent frustrations.

Well, it's really effective because we all look at things in such a different way and we interpret things so differently. It's like how we all listen to music. Before I let you go, and thank you very much for spending time with us from Austria backstage.

As the crowd waits outside for Brian to get out there, he's talking to us. Your mom is an extraordinary person, and she's been a huge influence on you. And I remember a time, and this is going back a few years, but your mom was following the tour buses. She was driving her own car. I just wanted you to speak to how your mom has supported you, what that has meant to you over the years, and how she's doing. Well, first of all, she's 94 now.

And she's always been really supportive, even back in the time when I was 15 and I told her I was leaving school. And her reaction to me was just, well, if you're going to do it, make sure you do a good job. And I told her I was leaving school to join a band. And that's when she said, yeah, if you're going to do it, do a good job. All the way through, she's always been really up for it, even though we didn't know anything.

what was going to happen. You don't have any idea where your life is going to go. You don't know if it's going to work or it's not. You just follow, you follow your gut and you have the best intentions and you do the best work you can and try and surround yourself with the best people. But it starts, it starts by having support somewhere because as you probably will agree, Jan, no one can do this on their own. They have to have a team.

And so in the beginning, my mother was my team. And so when I finally could start paying my rent for making music, we would just look at each other and smile because back in the 70s, there was nothing in the fridge. So I had to go to work. Wow.

We went from having a lot to having nothing. And my mother was working two jobs. We were living in Ottawa at the time. It was interesting. And we talk about it now. What would life be if I hadn't taken the path? I know. There's so many unknowns. What would life have been if you hadn't said yes? And she told me a story recently, which I didn't know, which was that she went to the principal of my high school and said, listen, I'm letting my son...

go and follow his stream to make music, and I'm taking him out of school. He said to her, you know what? You're a bad mother, and you're going to regret this. I said, no, you should have gone back and given him a copy of the record. She said, yeah, I know. But imagine having that lack of support with just

listening to her son in her ear and just letting him go. It's beautiful. There's something so magical about encouragement. And it brings up so many memories for me, Brian, when you talk about your mom, because I had that kind of a mom too that was just cut from a different world. She's just like, why not you? Why not? Well, all you can do is try. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? But my mom was my true north. But anyway, your mom has...

She's just been such a force in your life, and I'm glad that she's still here and still able to revel in your successes because they've been so numerous. But I just want to thank you for doing the Jan show alone for the holidays. It airs December the 9th. Jan, I thought you were going to tell me some good jokes, too. I'm waiting for some laughs. You know, well...

The jokes I always tell get me into trouble. They really do. I told a joke on Twitter last week, and I'm like, did you hear about the very frisky Amish girl? She had three men a night. And people lost. They called me racist. And I'm like, well, that's a pun. I'm not meaning. I said, I bet you a man a night made that joke up. Anyway, that's my joke for you, Brian Adams. Yeah.

Just bring it back to the forefront, Jen. I'll get in trouble again. But December the 9th, Brian joins us. Brand new song, Let's Get Christmas Going, inspired by his daughter, which is thanks for telling us that story, Brian. Thanks for taking time. Jen, I love you. I love you guys. Thanks for having me on the show. I wish you all a really happy Christmas. And to everyone listening out there, Jen's just having a laugh. Sarah, where can they find all the information that Brian has just talked about?

We're going to put some notes in the episode notes. So wherever you listen to this podcast, there's usually a spot where you can see more. Just hit that. We'll link you up to where you can find Brian's new Christmas song and all of those things. What did you think of that? What a guy. What a guy. He was so lovely. He doesn't do this kind of stuff very often, but it's just mind-boggling how much he tours. He does not like you saying anything.

kind or nice about him or like I, I could have done an intro that went on for like 20 minutes of the stuff he's done, the awards that he has, the Grammys, the Junos, the, the, I mean, he's been, he's had, anyway, that was just mind boggling. And he did, he had so much fun doing the Jan show and,

And he was so funny. And he just was such, like I said, he was a great sport. I don't know what else to say. And Jan is like so excited about this that she's maybe forgetting about her own show right now. Also in the episode notes, we've got a link with the info for how you can watch Jan alone for the holidays. Yeah. And I'm so not alone for the holidays, but yet it's called Jan alone for the holidays. My family's not with me, but who needs your family when you've got Brian Adams, right?

and Michael Buble. Sarah Burke, Adam Karsh, thanks for coming along. We are gearing up for Christmas. We're going to have lots of Christmas and Hanukkah. And I think we should talk about some other traditions around the globe that aren't necessarily Christmas-oriented. Maybe that's next week. Thanks for being here, guys. Okay, we'll talk to you soon. Yeah, you've been listening to the Jan Argyr Podcast. Totally do it.

This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.