Opting-In with George Stroumboulopoulos
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Hello, everyone. This is Jan Arden. This is the Jan Arden Podcast. I am here with Sarah Burke. Adam Karsh is in engineering today, as always, there in Toronto. I'm in Springbank, Alberta. It's a special show today, but it's special every week. Listen to you. Well, we have a really great guest today. We're going to get to him, but it's George Strombolopoulos.

And that's how you say his name. I need to know your first impression of George Strombolopoulos because you have been on the other side of his interviews many times before. Oh, he is fierce. He's confident. He's sensitive. He loves animals. He's so well-traveled. And I think well-traveled people make for very smart, very interesting, very empathic people. They see the way the rest of the world works differently.

And they get home to Canada or the United States. I'm pretty sure George lives in LA. And they're like, we have it very good here. And he's really like come a long way too, right? Like he was very focused on music, but now you see so much of his activism and you see him like really trying to

help underprivileged people from all areas of the world that are going through tough times. It's really special to watch what he's done with his career. Absolutely. World Food Program. I just was recently in Syria helping people that they do have some food over there, but there's insecurity with food over most of the world, let's face it. George, just to remind people, Strombo, the show Strombo, is heard in over 160 countries. And he is...

Also, the curator of Strombo's Lit for Apple Books. He's got an Apple Music radio show and that's called Strombo. So don't miss that. You can just tune in and find him talking about some great things and all his travels. He's a tastemaker. Explain that. What is a tastemaker?

Well, these days, Jan, I think that we've talked about this so many times on the show before. Commercial radio, there's these boundaries that you have to stay in if you're programming commercial radio. And people trust Strombo to go outside of those lines and introduce...

us to artists that we may have never heard before, that a song that even if it's been around for years and years, that maybe we didn't pay attention to in a certain way, he's great at opening your mind. Yeah, I agree. No, he's very fascinating. And don't go away. Make sure that you

tune in for that conversation that's coming up. Are you guys ready for the holidays, be it Hanukkah or eating food with friends? Have you been to any festive holiday parties? Have you been anywhere? Well, we have one today, actually. Believe it or not, recording this, if you can tell my background is different, I'm in the radio station today. First time, yeah. And I'm wearing jeans. I'm dressed up.

He's dressed up. We have a team lunch today. So I'm actually really excited to be in person with the whole team down here. Sarah, you're coming in too, right? I'm going to meet Adam in real life for the first time. Isn't that so weird? Have you not met before, you two? No. Not in real life. We'll send you a selfie. I like how people say IRL. Do you know that it took me frickin' six months to...

I'm like, IRL. And my friend, my very young friend, who's 40, it's in real life, you lunatic. I'm like, well, I didn't effing know. IRL. Yeah, we should get together and have a coffee IRL. What? I thought it was something to do with the Irish Republican League or something. I didn't know.

Yeah. So, I mean, for my first holiday soiree, like you think I make a splash and really make a first impression on the Orbit Media team that produces this podcast? Yeah. I want you to get in there and I want you to fight for us. I want, you know, let's knock Joe Rogan off his perch. Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it. You know, maybe Strombo will be the guy that just puts us over the top. I'll get him talking about

I don't know. Maybe we can get him talking about Joe Rogan. Can I ask you guys a holiday question? Stop it. Stop asking us stuff. Gift cards. How do you guys feel about gift cards? I love gift cards. Okay, here's the context. I think gift cards got a bad rap because it was like, oh, you didn't put any effort in. You just got us a gift card. I think that's why they got a bad rap. But now so many people are struggling with budgets and things. Like I've had to have a conversation with like my family, my boyfriend, and it's like –

What do you actually need that I can help with this year? Because I'm not buying you trinkets that you're going to throw out. I want stuff that you need so I can help you. Right. What's your take on that? My office donates to the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition. So they give like...

A few hundred bucks to that. And I love that. They used to send me these really lovely, but quite pointless, big chocolate with wrapped in cellophane in the basket that looked like a sled. And there was chocolate covered espresso beans and pasta and bread.

bruschetta wafer. I don't know. And now I don't need that. I live alone. So you're like, take the hundred bucks and donate it. Yeah. So I think that has been something really special for me. I've had people send me cards that said, I sponsored a wild tiger in India.

Through the World Wildlife Foundation. So I think things like that are cool. But I give my nephews gift cards. You know, they're in their 20s now, but I give them like 100 bucks. And they can get something with that. I don't know what to get them. I wouldn't even know. I know there's cool shoelaces out there that kids are doing. You know what? I'd buy them and they'd be the wrong ones. No, those aren't the ones, Auntie Jan. But do you get like a Visa gift card? Yeah, I'll get a Visa or I'll get...

Something from Amazon. I know that's terrible, but they can buy anything they want. But I do think there's a personal element if you give someone a gift card like to Indigo or the LCBO or to Starbucks. Or to LCBO. Or to LCBO. Just LCBO. But if then, if you know the person and you know their interests, then it does have a personal touch, right? Yeah, that's fair. Yeah.

I used to get so excited. I'm thinking back to like my Bubi and Zadie, Jewish grandparents growing up. I used to get – every grandkid used to get $25. Perfect. That's a lot of money. Yeah. You're a kid. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I was like, I'm going to buy the world. But I always remember my Bubi's handwriting and –

Yeah, it's something I've been thinking about today. I was like, I miss seeing the handwriting in the card from her. Yeah. Yeah, mom, I've got a card that's been up in my closet, my walk-in closet where my washer and dryer is, and it's been there for...

I don't know, five years, one of the last Christmases that mom signed a card. She'd always cut old Christmas cards. She'd cut the half off that was written on and she would use, you know, the pretty glittery half to tie onto Christmas gifts. That was the little tag and she'd poke a hole in it and put a string through. And, you know, she always recycled the old cards, but I pinned it up because it said to Jan and Middy, my other little dog,

love dad and mom. And it was so funny because her whole life she said love mom and dad, but the Alzheimer's flipped it around and her handwriting was a little bit different than it normally was, but I will treasure that. It's just stuck up on my wall. So it's funny to me now that that card and the cursive on that card will mean more to me than anything mom could have ever given me that was a thing.

Do you have tattoos, Jen? I do. I have a tattoo of Middy on my right, my left shoulder, a big tattoo. And then I have mom and dad's names and trees on my right arm. They're full names. That's what I was thinking about, like the writing. You could always turn it into a, hey, maybe I got to think about that for Bobi. Yeah, I think it would be very cool to lift handwriting. And a lot of people are doing that. But I wish younger people would understand that that

Those things would be more important. And George says a very interesting thing in our interview. I don't want to give it away, but it's a commentary on youth and aging. And anyway, listen to that conversation. George Strombolopoulos is our guest today. He's a wonderful guy, fascinating, has done so much stuff.

He's 50 years old and he feels like he's just getting started and I can't wait to see where he goes. We are going to continue this next few weeks with holiday specials. Caitlin Green is going to be joining us before the holidays. She's going to come back and give us an update on her son, Will, and what her and her husband, Kyle, have been doing and holiday traditions. So anyway, we will take a quick break. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with

Sarah Burke, Adam Karsh, don't go away. George Strombo, the one named Strombo, 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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while putting a gut-friendly, guilt-free drink in your body. Cove Soda is available in 12 delicious flavors all over North America. So for our American friends, you can find it. They've got this fruity lineup that's fantastic. I drink those all the time. They've got the classic lineup if you like

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. Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. As promised, this unbelievably interesting

Talented, philanthropic, empathic, kind, inspiring man is with us today. I'm going to read you a bio. I normally don't do bios on this show, as you guys all know. George Strombolopoulos is an award-winning broadcaster, producer, filmmaker, and humanitarian indeed. His Apple Music radio show, Strombo, is heard in over 160 countries. He is also the curator of Strombo's Lit for Apple Books podcast.

His 30 years in television and radio broadcasting include roles as host and executive producer of the programs George Strombolopoulos, Tonight, The Hour on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which is the CBC, as well as talk show Strombolopoulos on CNN and host of Hockey Night in Canada, which was so cool. He was the host and producer of Canada's premier culture show, The New Music, which I think I was on.

Strombolopoulos has long been an advocate for many social issues in addition to being Canada's first goodwill ambassador for the UN agency, the World Food Program for over 10 years. He also started the George Strombolopoulos Music Therapy Scholarship. He also works closely with the organizations Artists for Peace and Justice, Innocence Canada,

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He has an honorary doctorate of laws at the University of Calgary. George, this is probably a fraction of the things you do and have done and are planning to do. How does that make you feel listening to that list?

Hi, Jan. It's really lovely to see you, see everybody here. How does it make you feel? It feels like you're talking about somebody else with you. I'm not the kind of fella that sits back and takes stock of the things I've been lucky enough to be a part of, but I suppose I've had a long, strange trip. You know, I'm from the last era of media development in Canada where you could do all kinds of things. Come on. And you know what I mean? Like, you could do all kinds. And so I feel really...

I feel really lucky that I've had the opportunity and the platform. And I know it sounds weird and that when I was 20 and I would listen to 50 year olds say this, I wouldn't really believe them. But now that I am in that position, I, I get it now, which is, I feel like I I'm just getting started in a big way. And I feel like it's just starting now sincerely. So it's funny when I hear all that stuff, I'm like, okay, cool. What can I see from all that experience and how can I,

Bring that all together, have it coalesce, and then go do the next version of the thing. I'm not a particularly ambitious guy. I just do what feels right to me. And I guess a lot of things feel right to me. Before we talk about the World Food Program in Syria, which is exceptionally important and so inspiring, I want to go back to young George and kind of where this all started. Maybe your parents, a little bit about your family, your

How did your mom and dad kind of navigate young George and all your aspirations? You know, I come from a family where, and this is an amazing thing about my family, is that we didn't really talk about having careers. That's not, we're a family that had jobs. I think I'm the first person in the crew born in Canada. It's a family of immigrants. My mom and my dad split up when I was seven. So I was raised by my mother and in a Ukrainian family,

like an Eastern European sort of culture. So you saw your grandmother on the weekend and your uncle and aunt on the weekend, every weekend. And so we were a very small, but very tight neighborhood family. And I'm from the West side of Toronto where, and I wouldn't be the person I am without my mom, obviously, but I wouldn't be the person I am without my neighborhoods. Toronto was very neighborhood-y and very immigrant based. And, and

And so I came up with a bunch of Italians and Maltese and Jamaicans and Trinnies. And so we just kind of, we just were raised by our neighborhoods. So my mom, I think at the time when my father split, my mom was a cocktail waitress and she ended up,

getting it she used to do uh work at like punk bars and come back and tell me about how the fans would just destroy because my mom's a really sweet fan of jim reeves and elvis and jan and so she would um she would she would come back and be like they just destroyed the bar and i remember thinking that sounds cool how old were you then george around that time i was like seven years old so i remember i remember i have really clear memories of of

her telling me that Elvis Presley died because he died on my fifth birthday. I have very clear memories of my mother waking up in the morning to put, she had, she had three jobs cause she was, you know, we were broke the way we grew up. So she had three jobs. Her first job was delivering newspapers in the morning cause that extra five bucks a week was enough for food. So she would, I would get up early and help her assemble the newspapers.

We couldn't always afford a babysitter when she'd work. So my mom would take me in Rexdale to a public library and she would leave me in the library and ask the librarians not to let me leave. So I would just wander a library and read and watch adult movies like Night of the Living Dead because they'd be screening them in the afternoon. She'd then pick me up in the afternoon and take me down the street to a senior citizen's home. And she would tell me, go inside and be company for somebody. Your job as a human being is to be there for others. Now, she had to go back to work.

So her thing was go wander these halls and find somebody who needs you and be there for them. So my mom was this like scared little, you know, she was, I think a teenager when she got knocked up with me too. Right. She was only 24, 25 when my father split. So they're just, and my dad was only a kid too. So everybody was just a baby. Right. So I just think we, and I think a lot of kids who grew up in single parent homes know that

know that experience, which is just like the cavalry ain't coming. The system's not on your side. It doesn't matter that it should be on your side. It doesn't matter that it should be. It's just not. Like I grew up not believing

Even though my mom's religious, but I grew up in a Catholic school system, so I knew how weird that was. So I grew up not believing the government, not believing the church, not believing the police, not believing in the military. I grew up believing that the entire infrastructure of Canada was not on my side because that's what when you, you know, in my neighborhood, they were letting sex offenders loose there and wouldn't even tell you. So it was like every day was a minefield.

And I just thought that's Toronto life. So I look back now and I think I am so resilient and I'm so joyous in my heart. And I'm pretty sure it's all because that in those early days, every single moment was exciting. You grew up in a time where parents weren't necessarily removing obstacles like they are now. I think we see that constantly, right?

you know, looking at parents buying their way into universities, as we saw with some Hollywood celebrities in the last couple of years. But how you obviously were seeing the world sort of through young journalists eyes, even at seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, which has led you down such an extraordinary path. Did your father still somehow play a part in

in that even though he was gone. So you didn't really have much of a connection there? No, he split and went to Florida. And I think I've only seen him four times in almost 43 years. Like I don't, I don't, weirdly I had to reach out to him the other day because I need a copy of his birth certificate because I'm working on something. So, which is a very weird Facebook message to say, I don't even have my dad's number. Like I don't have my dad's number. I don't think he has my number. We don't, we don't know each other. We've met. He saw me, he,

I saw him in Florida where he lived maybe six or seven years ago, which is I think the last time I saw him. But I walked right by him and he didn't know it was me, right? Because they don't know, he doesn't know what I look like. So he wasn't around. But I think it's really important to say this. I have no ill will whatsoever. Again, like I said, I grew up not thinking that the world owed me anything, including parents. And my mom was really clear about this. She even said when I was young, and many times I remember her saying this,

You're not going to grow up with daddy issues because like people love you and have different ways of showing it. And sometimes the ones who do love you can't show it or don't love you. And that's okay. Your job is to move on. So my mom raised me really early not to blame anybody for my scenario. Now I grew up figuring out that it was actually systemically problematic. So I could blame the government and the church and I can do it later as a journalist and as a punk rock fan. But I have, my dad was a kid when they split up.

You know, he was working at the assembly at the Ford assembly line like his grandfather, his dad, my grandfather was. So I I have no like I harbor nothing in my heart that's negative towards anybody in that scenario because my father didn't owe me anything. You know, he did what he could with what he had. These guys, these men and women back then had absolutely no tools whatsoever.

and no language to help them understand the trauma they went through. My father lived in five different countries, I think, before he came to Canada. And suddenly he's got two kids and he's working on the same assembly line as his dad. That probably collapsed on him psychologically. So I'm not mad at that. So I kind of grew up really early seeing the world

for what I thought it was and not begrudging it for what it is. I endeavor to make change. I endeavor to clear a path so that people who come after me, come like follow me, don't have to have the same struggles that maybe we did growing up. So I don't expect everybody to live as hard as I did, but I also lived to grow up in a home with an enormous amount of love and enormous amount of music. So my, my uncle Paul introduced me to music,

like the music of Tom Waits and John Prine when I was five, how does that not change your life and make you better? Right. So I grew up lacking nothing culturally or emotionally because I had this amazing family, you know? So I, yeah, I just, I'm, I'm, to be honest with you, I'm kind of grateful it all played out the way it did. And music, music has been an extraordinary part of your journey. It has certainly been a door. I mean, going back to new music, the new music, which was a groundbreaking show, uh,

really showcasing

new music in this country. I mean, you and I both were around in a time where the Canadian music industry, which was a lot smaller than it is now, there was a handful of bands kind of pushing themselves through the trees. And you were a big part of that. So, and I've watched you for so many years, George, showcasing music, doing the concerts from your home, having extraordinary artists. I mean, the relationships that you forged over the years with some really big name people who you've really brought

into our homes as real people. I think you were the first guy that showed me that these bands that I just revered and I was just like, you know, bowing down to, and you made me see them as people. And I, I want to know how you go about tapping into that with artists because you're magical at it. You were as an interviewer and you are as a music fan, um, to show people's humanity. You're very, you're very kind to say that. Thank you. Um,

I feel like my job as a person who does interviews or plays music or introduces people to film or politics or ideas, I feel like it's not about me and it's not about the artist I'm talking to. It's about the person who just got home after a long ride on the bus, who had an awful day, who doesn't have the kind of hope and opportunity that maybe, you know, we do. And, and they're,

This, the, you know, the class wars on them and people are broken. There's just all this stuff going on in people's lives. And my job was to be good company for them.

And I would expect the artist who is sitting across one of the things that was so special about you, Jan, is that you knew like you knew the game that you understood the assignment, which is everybody expects you to be funny and expects you to be interesting. But you're also a real human and you showcase that. And there are people at home when we would do those interviews together who I know that I always knew that when you are sitting across me in those red chairs, that by the time we know we shook hands and we're done our little segment, I knew that the person watching at home was

For that 10 or 12 minutes, felt a little better about where the game was at, the world was at. And that was our job. Now, sometimes, you know, when you're interviewing a politician or the CEO of a publicly traded company, you have a different response. But my job is to go get it, go get it at the heart of the matter on something. But for an artist, my job was to help. I kind of look at what I do kind of like emotional archaeology. My job is to either with blunt questions like a backhoe or. Did you just say emotional archaeology? Yeah.

I'm conscious of that. So I dig up all these bones with you. We lay them out.

in the conversation. And then I, the person watching at home, it's their job to imagine what that thing was and how it ran free and how that could apply to them. I was very, very conscientious in that show and all my things about the idea of emotional archeology. And I just made up that phrase one day because I just said, that's what I feel like. It feels like emotional archeology to me and that's good or bad. So that was my game. And plus I love,

I know you do.

New Wave started. Essentially, punk started. Also, the beginning of what was that, you know, we had the New Wave of British heavy metal. The Priest Maiden came in. We had Metallica, Slayer, Venom. So all of this stuff, the Beastie Boys. The grunge scene, the whole grunge scene on the West Coast. I was 19 when the grunge scene hit. I'm like, my entire life, I never had a shit genre. Everything was amazing, right? Everything was amazing.

And so how could you not like look at my mom is hyper religious and I am obviously not that at all. But I feel like culturally speaking with the independent films that were being made from the 70s into the 80s and the early 90s, the music scene, I felt like I was living in the Garden of Eden culturally. Let me ask you this because I really do want your opinion on this.

I was just talking to my longtime collaborator, Russell Broom, co-written with him so many times over the years. Yesterday, we were talking about what we felt to be, and this could be really unfair, but

We felt like this was not the most interesting decade for music. Well, not decade, but the last few years, just this onslaught of female singers, songwriters or female singers that are produced by 10 guys on one track. And the tracks are so curated for radio. I find it really kind of sterile. Yes, there's the Adele's that you'd poke through and, you know, great bands. And I mean, I'm still listening to Bjork.

I'm still listening to Sinead O'Connor. I'm still listening to all this stuff, but I put the radio on and I don't last long, but I just want your take on, is it just trend driven or I just find it kind of benign where we're at right now. I'm terrible. No, listen, you're a legendary artist. You're a legendary artist. So your opinion carries weight to me because you have had a hell of a career and still do. I feel like,

I mean, look, I'm trying. How do I say this? I'll take the heat. I opened this can. It might be safer for me to take the heat for both of you. So you guys just say what you want and it's on me. Sarah Burke brought it up. Well, fair enough. I feel like...

This is I'll tell you what's very different about this era from the era I grew up in and anybody listening can decide if that's better or worse. What is very different is that when I grew up, all the music that I listened to and all the films that I watched were about opting out. They did not want to be in the thing. They wanted to make money and they wanted to find an audience, but it was going to be on their terms.

what's different now is that everybody's opting in. And for lots of reasons, everybody is selling products. Everybody's an influencer. So everybody's trying to be like, when I, when I listen to musicians complain that they didn't get a Grammy nomination and then turn it into a thing, even though they have also, they've already won Grammys in the past. I think to myself, when I was growing up, I never thought the Grammys were worth anything. So to me, the idea of opting in was never something I valued. This is an era where everybody is,

wants to be validated. And by the way, this is not bad. This is just where we are as an era. And it's not a generational thing. It's people who are 60 and 20 in this era. So this era talks an awful lot about being, having their thing be reflected back in likes or engagement or whatever.

where when I was growing up, like I was, I just did a punk documentary series for Apple music. And one of the things we talked to, I asked all these bands about was named the four bands who totally changed your life that no one has ever heard of because they only played in your neighborhood. So we grew up super underground, you know, super, super underground. So I think what's different is that everybody's chasing, not everybody. I think that a lot of people are chasing the middle now. And back then,

pop stars chase the middle, but a lot of people now chase the middle. Whereas I grew up only valuing things that ignored the middle. Now I learned over time that they were chasing the middle, but they were kind of being aloof about it and it's, you know, punk rock and all that they were inventing a genre. But so I think there's an element of, there's an element of the, you know, when the, when the camera got the front camera on it, where now everybody every day sees their face every single day.

We didn't have a camera growing up. I never saw my face. I don't know what I look like. When I would leave the house after I get ready for school in the morning, brush my teeth in the bathroom, I wouldn't see my face again until I got home. So now it's an era where everybody sees their face all the time. That can't not influence your brain chemistry. And they're manipulating their face.

this whole AI thing that has taken over social media this past week of an AI rendition of you. How does, how does Tik TOK Instagram, how do those formats play into how people are, like you said, trying to get to the middle, uh,

And fame often is the goal, George. I mean, I think before when I grew up, you just wanted to play music and God forbid, you know, you wanted to be attractive to people and you wanted people to want to have sex with you. I think a lot of my male musician friends said that. And some of my female friends are like, yeah, I want the guys to love me and I want, I want the girls to want to sleep with me.

And so the motivation might still be there for that. But I find, you know, the record companies, and correct me if I'm wrong, are scrambling to figure out how to monetize the 15, 20, 40 second hits on TikTok where they're using music. How do they pay the musicians? I believe that an enormous part of the record business is making a lot of money again. Okay. So they are doing it. I talked to Dan today.

I talked to Dan Mangan about this on the show yesterday, and we were talking about how hard it is to write songs for the trend on TikTok. Now, I will say this. I don't think it's necessarily bad. And here's why I'll say this as a kind of to wrap up the idea of what we're talking about eras and generations. There has always been great music that doesn't care.

about anything other than making great music thank god and the only difference now is that people don't think they're hearing it but they didn't hear it back then anyway people basically only listen to the so tick tock is pop radio now i remember when i worked at a radio station and they were playing a song 29 times a week and i remember challenging them saying if you play it more than 29 times a week what you're going to get is you're going to have yes people will like it so 40 times a week

But at a certain point, it's going to lose any of its power and it'll burn out quicker. So now they're playing songs 200 times, 300 times a week. And so I think it's always been like that, Jan, always. I think the difference is that I've never really cared about...

I mean, I worked in radio and I played songs, but I worked in rock radio in the nineties when we were playing alternative bands. So we were still, there was still an element of indie to what we were doing. And that's why I'm from the punk post-punk and then post post-punk era. So you'd play the pistols, but you would also play the replacements. And then you would play Billy talent, broken social scene, the

The Smiths. Yeah, I love the Smiths. You know, The Cure. But you would also play the newer acts like Metric and you were playing OB-GYNs, which I'm playing now. And so I'm from a different era of radio. But for the most part, radio has always been the same six songs all the time. And TikTok is just the new radio. It is. And I think it's hilarious. I remember saying to somebody a long time ago that this is maybe 15 years ago. More. I don't know whenever I left MuchMusic.

I said, you know, this is the end of the era if you guys endorse these two artists. If you endorse these two artists, it's the end of an era. And they're the cool kids, the sort of cool kids, right? I was like, if you are okay with this artist, you watch how it's all going to go. It wasn't me. Because it's just one step too far. No, it was a couple pop stars. Now, I'm glad, by the way, all these singer-songwriters out there, because I'll say this.

Listen, I think what a 20-year-old girl, a 19-year-old girl writes in a song, Driver's License, is clearly not for me. But that Olivia Rodrigo song is a beautiful song. I get it. I absolutely get it. And I didn't want to make these generalizations of this herd of women. But there is. Everyone's trying to do something that hits. And it's very single-driven. But didn't they always? Yeah, I think they did too. I mean, I was just saying to Russ as well, you know,

45 years ago, when you were five years old at the library or at the old age home being babysat by, you know, 45s. You'd go into record stores and it was single driven. So it was an album. People didn't, you know, you had those listening booths, but they didn't want to hear the whole freaking, you know, Jethro Tull album. They wanted the 45. And that's all the money they had too.

So here's my 50 cents. They left with their 45, the little round thing. Make sure you have the little goddamn round thing. A little spindle. I'm going to switch gears with you because I'd be remiss to not speak to, by the way, we're talking to Strombo. This is the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with Sarah Burke and Adam Karsh and the amazing George Strombolopoulos. Am I saying that last name correctly? And I know you got this a million times over the years. Perfect.

Perfectly. Thank you. Thank you so much. The World Food Program in Syria, we've all seen, or most of us have seen clips of you in Syria, which has been in civil war for seven and a half years. I'm just going to let you take it and just tell me about the World Food Program, what your role is in it, and some of your observations this past several months.

And how difficult it's been or how jubilant it's been to meet these people. I'm a huge believer that in any country in the world, Canada, as well as the United States, anywhere in the world, the number one issue facing everybody, climate change, of course, is it, but it's connected, is poverty and hunger.

poverty and hunger. And you can build a foundation to fix a lot of the challenges in the world if you address hunger and poverty, gender, sexuality, political, environmental. It's all connected to this. I believe this thing. So when the World Food Program first approached me to be a part of their journey, which is, I think, maybe 12 years ago, I'd actually said no, or I didn't even call them back because I didn't

I was a little hesitant to be involved in any way with the United Nations. I had a certain chip on my shoulder about it. But it was the great Stephen Lewis who convinced me. And he said, no, listen, if you're going to work with the UN, that's the place, the WFP are the place. I've been on the ground in Zambia early in my career. TV. I was doing a story on the window of hope, which is this 12 to 13 year olds in sub-Saharan Africa who could turn the tide of the AIDS pandemic.

um the hiv aids pandemic so i was there and i saw the wfp doing some work there then a few years later uh maybe three years later i was in darfur when the genocide was happening and i hitched a ride on a wfp plane to get into darfur near the chad border to do some work there that was not connected to the wfp but i saw their work there so i started to think oh this is really interesting everywhere i go i see the wfp so i finally agreed to join them

And all they asked me to do was raise awareness and raise money. I don't think they knew what they were going to get by bringing me on board because I am hyper, hyper passionate about the full journey. So whenever we – and Julie Marshall, who is the one who – the WFP person in Canada brought me on board. I love working with Julie. And she had said to me, like, where do you want to go? What do you want to do? And I think she realized very quickly that I don't have a lot of fear. So I'll always say, let's just go to the place where we can be –

Where can we go that I can be of most help? Where is the area of most need? And where are people not going, right? Where are they not going? Because that's the kind of thing that I want to do. So I don't have an adrenaline. There's nothing like that. It's just where can I be of most need? So I went to Pakistan with them. I've been to Haiti a bunch with them. And I love Haiti. And this time around, I hadn't been on the road with the WFP for a long time. And so we picked a couple of places. I think Afghanistan,

was one Yemen was another. I would be so frightened Syria in particular. I mean, there's still a lot of unrest there. It's not like it's a, it's not like it's a giant truce. There are still an ongoing war. Well, it's, you know, luckily like a lot, the bombing has stopped. Right. Right. So right now we're in a place where it's different. Like now you have lots of factions and people involved for sure. But I, now here's what I'll say. I was not prepared.

I don't operate by feeling, right? My feelings aren't that interesting to me. I don't put a lot of weight into my feelings. I try really hard to make this life and whatever it is I'm doing, I try to make this life not about my experience. I try to make it about the experience.

And the more I lean into my feelings about things, I think the easier it is to be distracted from what's really in front of you because you make it about you. And I don't want to do that, especially because I've like like you. I have we've lived a life with cameras in our face for a long time and mics in front of us. So you can very quickly that can just become your reality. And I'm hyper conscientious about that. So I don't really care about how I feel about almost anything. What I care about is what can I do?

do. The act is what's interesting. But what I was not prepared for, Jan, was when I got to the old city of Damascus, I was not prepared for how connected to what I was going to feel. My father and my grandparents are from Egypt. They're all born in Egypt. So that part of the world and the Greeks across the Mediterranean. So that part of the world is my heritage. And I had not been to Syria. I had not been to that part of the world. And I was not prepared to feel so at home.

And Damascus felt like home to me. Is it pretty much in ruins? The old city of Damascus is not so bad. Aleppo, half of Aleppo is flattened. Like half of Aleppo is... And the old city of Aleppo has a market that's thousands, goes back to the Middle Ages, thousands of years old, absolutely flattened. So it is heartbreaking. It is devastated. It is... I don't know how you bounce back from this. And then you have to remind yourself that there...

Aleppo and Syria in general has been built and destroyed and rebuilt for millennia in a way. So like there are countless battles there. You're talking about the cradle of civilization. This is the oldest continuous inhabited place in the world. And so you just believe that it'll be okay. But,

It's it's devastating like it is devastating and the Syrian people are a whole other class of people I've been all over the world I have and everybody was would tell you no matter you from sure you felt this no matter where you go Everybody says oh you're gonna love the people the people are the best and that's true generally But everybody kept saying no, it's different in Syria. And when I got to Syria, I thought Wow They're right. This is a whole other level. I

Like the relationship, the way that people are. Yeah, I had an enormous, I want to shoot a movie there now. I want to go back, not just with the WFP, but I didn't feel unsafe. Look, there were a couple of times where I was in territories that I probably, I remember I was in a place where if you go to the embassy, which I didn't go because there wasn't one there, but I know that there is this huge section of the map that is

circled in red and blocked out and says, do not go. And I went right, right in the heart of it, like right in the heart of it. And not to be glib, but, but my, yes, but my joke to my friends and I'm only joking. So it's, I'm not, I don't want to be glib, but when they say, did you feel unsafe? And I'm like, I live in Hollywood. It's really unsafe here. Like seriously, like I'm, I felt less safe. I feel less safe here at one in the morning outside than I did in Syria.

Now, it's a different world. And of course, I'm a white presenting ethnic journalist. I'm not a target. So I got to experience Syria in a way that many Syrians don't get to. There are things I couldn't do, but I was safe there because they're not going to let anything happen to me. So I get that. Is there a lot of food insecurity in Syria still? I mean, obviously, much of their agriculture has been annihilated, their workforce, the young men have been annihilated. There's been

Millions and millions of people that have left Syria to find, and rightly so, that have been refugees are placed all over the world. So what is the job of the WFP? And how did you, is it like literally bringing food in? Or what was your role within that?

So there are millions and millions and millions of people there who don't have enough to eat every day. Millions and millions. And you're right. I think it's something at one point up to 6 million people fled the country. So there's an enormous amount of food insecurity. There's a lot of factors, right? So you, there, there is food, like almost food insecure places. That's not a famine. There are, there's food, but no one can afford it. Then you have the inflation rate, like the inflation rate in Lebanon when I was there was somewhere near 250%. Think of that, right? It was,

So you have – so people can't afford to – It's hard to fathom. Yeah, the war – the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So that affects the commodity prices. So there are a bunch of factors that are contributing to food insecurity in Syria. And then you have – it's not – you have the remnants of conflict. You also have an enormous amount of emotional trauma. There are a lot of people missing. A lot of people died. I can't – the kids –

that are parentless, grandparentless, have no siblings that have, it really is hard to imagine the width, the depth of, like you said, emotional trauma. It's not even having an arm blown off when that's the least of your problems. Think about that. What you have to do is,

I think anyway, and I think everybody has their own way of getting through it. My role was to try to raise awareness and money and tell stories. And so I would go there, film some stuff, talk to a bunch of people. And then some of it is public. Like I would post it on my social media. I would go do interviews about it. Some of it would be stuff that the World Food Program would use. And some of it would be, I would just send it behind the scenes to politicians and people who make decisions to say, hey,

this really matters. This really matters. And there's an enormous population of Syrians in Canada, big population in Montreal. I, and I, and honestly, I don't have to feel personally connected to an issue or cause a place to want to be a part of it. Cause I kind of think our borders are arbitrary and we're all generally the same. We're just people with different, you know, and so I, I,

I'm like I said, I, earlier in the conversation, I grew up in a neighborhood where I'd never felt Canadian. I only felt like a West side Toronto boy. Like we're just, we just felt like we were different. And I know that the rest of it, when I went to work, my first legal radio job in Corona BC, they reminded me of that, you know? And so, so I feel like I will do whatever I can to help out. Sometimes it's,

talking to somebody and being there for them. Sometimes it's just finding places where the money can go. I feel like, you know, in everything that you do, whether it's music related or bringing attention to issues like we're talking about right now, the job at hand in both places is how do you make people care? How do you make people care about an artist they've never heard of? How do you make people care about a song that they didn't know existed? How do you make people care about things happening far away that they don't think influences them?

So how do you bring all that together? Yeah, you're right. But I will say this. Maybe and maybe this is the the I don't care guy. That's still I wish I wasn't so I wish I wasn't so thorny, but I am. It's more it's to me, I think I want people to care.

But I understand that most people have so much on their own plate and this world is so challenging for them anyway, that what I'm really trying to do is get governments and get corporations to

to step up and do the work because they really have influence. Yeah. Cause they've mostly benefited off our back and to other people, to like people, just citizens. My whole thing is you can care if you want, you can be engaged in this if you want, but you're not going to blame me for not telling you.

you. Because I have people, I was at some event and somebody was just like, oh, I didn't know about this thing. And I said, how could you not know about it? Oh, it's true. No, it's true. It really is about awareness, trying to convince people that they can care about more than one thing at one time. Right. And so a lot of my people, I agreed. And a lot of people will reach out to me and they'll say, how come journalists aren't covering this story or how come journalism... And I just...

Write them back with varying degrees of friendliness, which is journalists are covering this stuff, but why don't we total the amount of money you spend a month on Netflix or other things? Like what are you spending a month on your entertainment and how much are you spending a month on newspaper subscriptions or news services? So the journalists are covering this stuff that we are in an era of incredible investigative journalism. And, and,

But journalism costs money. So when people often will come to me and say, we didn't know. I'm like, I knew, bro. I met somebody who had invented this really big thing. And somebody stood up and said, how come I didn't know? And I just looked at her. She was on the cover of Newsweek. What do you mean? How come you didn't know? She was on the cover of Newsweek. Like, you have every reason to know. So my thing is, like, I don't think you can make people care. But I think what you can do is create a space and tell them what is happening. And then they will decide if they can check in or not.

But honestly, most people are fighting so hard just to keep their own families afloat that I don't worry so much about that. And I spend more time thinking, how can I get somebody else? Because governments spend lots of money and subsidize all the wrong things. Often they subsidize the wrong thing. Dairy, the oil industry, forestry.

pig farming how do your fans like when you oh i'm i'm the most hated person in alberta um tell me about what well i know i'm a vegan so i feel you congratulations on the sovereignty act by the way yeah no i i i can't i'm not going to even open that door i just it's it's an embarrassment it's

It's just an embarrassment, but there's, it's a very divisive time right now where I am. George Strombo, what brings you joy? We're going into the holidays, whether that's, I mean, I'm not, I don't celebrate anything religious myself, but I love eating food with friends. What brings you joy? I love Christmas so much. What were your traditions? Christmas Eve with my family is probably the most important part of my life. Like to see my mom on Christmas is like, and all the things that,

i've been lucky enough to be a part of the one thing that will never ever ever ever change is i will never not spend christmas eve with my mother like that is christmas day in our family is whatever like but christmas eve my grandmother's gone and sitting at my grandmother's house with my family on christmas eve

I have never felt, I've never felt better than when I get to do that. So the only year I didn't see my mom for Christmas was that first COVID year. And I spent it by myself in this house in LA. And I cannot wait to see that. What brings me joy is making my mother laugh because we don't have a lot in common politically, spiritually or any of that stuff. My mom is, we do not have anything in common in that respect. But making my mother laugh

makes me really happy. It's magical. Laughter is pretty, it's pretty damn magical and it, it transcends everything much like music does. You can have absolutely no political affiliations, but you can love the same song and you can both love oranges and you can, you can, you can both love, you know, a television show. And that's, that's pretty cool at the holidays. Now, will you come home to, is your mom in the States or is she in Canada?

My mom's in Toronto. My mom has never visited me here in LA, but I'll be back in Toronto. My mom's a gangster, right? Right, Jen? Like my mom doesn't mess with, like my mom,

I can't get a hold of my mom. First of all, she doesn't have a cell phone. She doesn't have a computer. She doesn't have email. My mom does not want to be tracked, has no interest in being found. My mom is so hard. I have to call my mom twice, let the phone ring a certain amount of times as a code, then hang up, then call back a minute later so she knows it's me calling. My mom is a super thug. She's badass.

Oh, dude, my mom's job is what she, she, she was a nurse's assistant at some point. She quit that job because she, I remember this is late eighties. She came home to me one day. I was in, I was still in high school. And she said, doctors here are over prescribing medication to the patients. And I, I know we need this job, but on principle, I can't be a part of this. They're killing people. This is my mom's view at the time. So, so my mom left that job. What she became is,

Ultimately, I think for the last maybe 25 years, if a refugee comes to Toronto, they get my mom's number somehow, they leave her message, she'll call them back, and then she finds them. So I'll come home and my bed is missing.

because she'll take it and she'll give it to a family who needs it. So, and now families give my mom furniture and things, but she then is a broker. She gives it to people who have nothing. And my mom's full-time job is to be a guerrilla missionary for people who come to Toronto the very first time. So my mom is the scene. So yeah, so I can barely see her. A lot of times I'll get back to Toronto and she's like, I'm too busy. Which Toronto West end neighborhood, by the way.

So we grew up in Jane and Finch, Jane and Wilson, Rexdale, and then Malton by the airport. Now my mom lives in Vaughan. And I think the older she gets, the more she wants to move to, my mom wants to buy a church and move where there's no, my mom feels like I think the technological advancements in the world have left her behind. So she doesn't feel like she's of this. And I think a lot of people can relate to that. So my mom is, my mom just turned 70. She's still young and fiery, but,

I cannot believe what she pulled off in her life. You know what I mean? I cannot believe the life she carved out for herself and for us. The life she's still going to carve out. 70 is the new 30. George, we could talk to you all day. George, when you have the one name that everyone knows, you're like Cher, Strombo.

You're like Brittany. You're like Celine. It's Strombo. It's Brittany, bitch. It's Strombo, bitch. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for spending time with us today. I love seeing your Instagram. Your photography is inspiring and really cool. Love seeing the people you're hanging out with. I love your love of music. I love your love of people, your ability to...

to want to help people and make the world better. And I can't wait to see what you do. I love horses. I love horses and dogs more. Well, you and me both. We've seen each other at Fresh a few times, you know, eating a vegan meal. And you have always been inspiring to me in those terms, your animal advocacy and your kindness. So listen, keep doing what you're doing. And please give the best to your mom from us here at the Jan Arden Podcast.

And just congratulations on everything you've done. Yeah, keep sharing. Keep inspiring people, George. You're fun to watch fly, man. Any pictures of you on your motorcycle, I'm in. I mean, you could actually turn me straight. You know what I mean? Pick her up next time, please. George could turn me straight.

You know, those motorcycle pictures, I picture myself sitting behind you with my arms wrapped around your chest and driving into Sedona to... I don't think you and I drink anymore. No, I don't know. Yeah, I haven't drank in a long time. But fuck it, let's go to Sedona and change our lives. Let's go. I'm going to go straight and go drink wine in Sedona with George with my arms wrapped around his thighs. Thank you for being here today. And from all of us...

We love you and I hope to talk again and keep doing what you're doing. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. Totally do. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.