House Of Crouse

This week on the Richard Crouse Show, a real-life story that has all the hallmarks of tabloid fiction. New Yorker magazine staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe received international acclaim for his 2019 investigation of the Troubles in Ireland, and now, in “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty,” he turns his sights to three generations of the Sackler family, the dynasty behind Purdue Pharma — they manufacture Oxycontin — and the modern opioid crisis. Then, The Social host Cynthia Loyst stops by to talk aboput her book Find Your Pleasure: The Art of Living a More Joyful Life. We’ll talk about how to take the guilt out of pleasure and get to the heart of what you need and want in all aspects of life. And finally, we celebrate Asian Heritage Month in Canada with Allan Cho And JF Garrard, the editors of “Belief,” a new collection of Asian writing from the online magazine “Ricepaper.”

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet author Jeff Vandermeer. He’s been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today.” His novel, “Annihilation,” won many awards and was adapted into a Hollywood film starring Natalie Portman. Several other adaptations of his novels will soon be coming your way from Netflix soon… but today we’re here to talk about his latest novel “Hummingbird Salamander,” a speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things. Also stopping by today is Jonathan Meiburg… you may know him as the singer of the Austin, Texas based indie rock band Shearwater, but he’s not here today to talk about music. Today we’ll talk about his other passion, a rare bird known as the striated caracaras and his book, “A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey.” Then Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on the classic kid’s show “Sesame Street,” for 44 years stops b

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Oscar nominated musician, bandleader, and television personality Jon Batiste. We’ll talk sbout his new album “We Are,” which was just one of the many projects he’s had going during our last locked down year. From bandleader on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” to scoring the Pixar animated movie “Soul” to writing and recording this album he’s been a busy guy. We start the interview by talking about his earliest musical memories. Then, Golden Arm is a buddy comedy that follows a tough female trucker who trains her timid best friend to compete in the National Ladies Arm Wrestling Championship. My guest in this segment Dot-Marie Jones plays Big Sexy, the rough-and-tumble mentor who puts her trainees through a rigorous schooling in order to create a winner. You know Dot-Marie from her work on the television shows like Glee, which earned her three Emmy nominations, and Lizzie McGuire and movies like Material Girls… but did you know she is also a 15-time w

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor. His new solo album Share the Love is available now and has a fascinating backstory from studio to stores. We’ll also meet June Millington, guitar player for the best 1970s band you’ve never heard of. Formed in 1969, Fanny were the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label and no less an authority than David Bowie called Fanny one of the finest bands of their time. “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever,” he said. “It just wasn’t their time.” We talk about the band and the new documentary "Fanny: The Right to Rock." Then we meet Craig Pryce, director of "The Marijuana Chronicles." It is the fascinating true story of a 98-day marijuana-based medical experiment to assess the scientific, social and physical effects of marijuana use on a group of 20 women that took place in Canada in 1972.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Craig Taylor, author of "New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time." Taylor is a chronicler of some of the world’s greatest cities. His book "Londoners" was called the "best book about London in at least a decade" and the new one on New York City, which is made up of profiles of bodega cashiers, hospital nurses, elevator repairmen, emergency dispatchers; the people who wire the lights at the top of the Empire State Building, clean the windows of Rockefeller Center, and keep the subway running. It’s a book about the New York you don’t often read about and it is already getting rave reviews. The Independent called it, “Jaw-dropping…enthralling…Start spreading the news: Taylor’s book is a stunning work of modern social history." Then Anthony Q. Farrell joins us. He’s a former stand up comedian who has written for "The Office," was executive story editor for "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and is known for his work as a writer on the Nickelodeon sitcom "Th

When I edit the audio from interviews I clean them up, cutting out "Ums" and "ahs." For your enjoyment I offer up a moment of zen, a compendium of the sounds you don't usually hear on the radio.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Florian Zeller, the Oscar nominated director of "The Father." He discusses his personal connection to the material and what it was like working with Anthony Hopkins. Then, Dylan Playfair, co-star of the Disney+ show "Mighty Ducks: Game Changers" stops by to talk about how playing hockey prepared him for a career as an actor. Then, "Falcon and the White Soldier" co-star (and MMA legend) Georges St-Pierre talks about why he never enjoyed fighting. Finally, we ask our panel, stand up comedian Debra DiGiovanni, Second City alum Darryl Hinds and Just for Laughs co-founder Andy Nulman, to discuss influences in comedy.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: If you love records like Joshua Tree, Wrecking Ball, and Time out of Mind you know my guest’s work. Daniel Lanois has an incredible resume. His work as a producer for U2, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers, Robbie Robertson and Neil Young among many others led Rolling Stone Magazine to say, “His unmistakable fingerprints are all over an entire wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” Lanois has moved back to Canada and launched the brand new Maker Series imprint out of his Toronto-based recording studio. First up in the Maker Series is a solo record called Heavy Sun. A soulful, joyous album recorded in Los Angeles and Toronto that fuses classic gospel and modern electronics. He says the intent of the music is to “lift people’s spirits.” Then, we meet Jessica Bruder, author of the 2017 book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” and Bob Wells, a real-life nomad and one of the stars of the Oscar nominated film “Nom

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Vivek Shraya. Described as "cultural rocket fuel" by Vanity Fair, Shraya is a Canadian multi-media artist whose art, music, novels, poetry and children's books touch on themes of cultural as well as personal transformation. Her successful one woman show “How to Fail as a Popstar” details a failed career in music from singing in religious gatherings where you sang as a kid, to talent shows in Edmonton malls, to a grab at pop stardom… It’s now a raw and honest book about fame for, as the press release says, “any kid whoever sang into a hairbrush and imagined their name in lights.” Then Eden Robinson, author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize nominated “Trickster” books stops by to talk about her life, quitting a five pack a day cigarette habit and the release of the final book in the troilogy, “The Return of the Trickster.”

On this week's Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet singer, songwriter Thad Cockrell who was about to throw in the towel on his music career when Jimmy Fallon chanced upon one of his songs and changed his life. He’s now a number one selling artists with a great story. Then, Kim Echlin, the award author of the new Bosnian war themed novel "Speak, Silence," stops by to discuss the book and offer tiups for writers. We wrap with a panel, journalist Kevin Donovan author of “Billionaire Murders,” Kristi Lee, host of CDN true crime podcast “Canadian True Crime” and Michael Arntfield, a former detective/ writer, producer, and consultant for the true crime series “To Catch a Killer,” who aim to answer the question of why we enjoy true crime stories.

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet singer, songwriter and now author Kat Goldman. Her book "Off the Charts: What I Learned From My Almost-Fabulous Life in Music" is a funny and heartfelt look at what it's like to meet your first fan, date a rock star (never again!), perform in a grocery store, and rebuild your career after getting hit by a car in a bagel shop.  Then, did you know "It's Raining Men," the 1982 disco hit by the Weather Girls, is part Canadian? The upbeat song, which was just inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, was written by Donna Summer’s songwriter Paul Jabara and the Toronto-born musician and former band leader of Late Show with David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, who joins me from Los Angeles. Finally, blogger, columnist, and media personality Perez Hilton, Francesca Bacardi senior Reporter at PageSix.com and reality television personality Roxy Earle, discuss the public’s appetite for gossip.

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Canadian acting icon Jayne Eastwood who talks about working with Cloris Leachman on family drama "Jump, Darling." Then Canadian animator Andrew Lawson talks about working on the big Disney animated film "Raya and the Last Dragon" during the pandemic. The comic book legend Josh Blaylock talks about his new project, a comic book company called PopCultivator, whose fans are its main investor and creators. And finally, Disney Vice President of Marketing Greg Mason talks about the launch of Star.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet rock legend and “Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir” author Peter Frampton, who talks about everything from his early days–his friendship with “Dave” Bowie–and meeting Jimi Hendrix to superstardom and fighting a degenerative disease. Then, the panel, solo artist and STYX keyboardist and vocalist Lawrence Gowan and Grammy and Academy Award-nominated composer, producer, pianist, arranger, conductor and recording artist Stephan Moccio, discuss staying creative in the pandemic and what good we can take away from this difficult time.

On this week's Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet David Fishof who managed some of the biggest names in sports before turning his eye to music. While he was working with Ringo Starr he hatched the idea for the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, a retreat for amateur musicians to play with and learn from professionals like Roger Daltry from The Who and Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones. He is now the subject of a fun new documentary called Rock Camp that details the wild and woolly beginning of the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp and the role it plays in making people’s lives better. Then, the panel, Denise Donlan, the former president of Sony Music Canada, among many other titles including author and public speaker, Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman and documentary filmmaker Paul Saltzman, whose latest film is about his experiences studying at the same ashram as The Beatles in 1968, talk about what it means to be a legend.

Richard and NewsTalk 1010 host Jerry Agar discuss legendary film director Martin Scorsese's comments about cinema being devalued by on algorithms-based suggestions in streaming.

Today I’ll introduce you to Nicholas Snyder, a Brussell’s based filmmaker and astrologist. Nicholas says his aim is to use film as a language to convey the inexplicable. To that end, today we’re talking about his new documentary “The Astrology Of Pandemics,” a timely film that shows how valuable and useful astrology can be in the prediction of future pandemics and how we could use it as a tool to understand the current pandemic. Nicholas Snyder joined me via Zoom from Brussels.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Rob Baker (The Tragically Hip) and Craig Northey (Odds) of Stripper's Union, the Canadian supergroup whose new album "The Undertaking" is available now wherever you buy fine music.  Then Cree composer/artist Nigel Irwin joins us to talk about his new gig as Nagamo’s Co-Creative Director. Nagamo Publishing is the world’s first Indigenous-created production music library for media. Nagamo’s goal is to provide Indigenous composers much-needed opportunities to showcase their talents in the industry, while allowing clients to access this groundbreaking music that spans all genres and nations. And finally, Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo talks about creating musis during the pandemic.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Katherine Gray and Alexander Rosenberg, glass blowers and judges on the Netflix show "Blown Away." It’s a competition show, like "Survivor" of "Hell’s Kitchen," but here the contestants make beautiful hand blown glass pieces with the winner earning a career boosting residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. Then Rebecca Reid, author of "Rude: Stop Being Nice and Start Being Bold."

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Karma Brown, the bestselling author of five novels including the #1 bestseller "Recipe for a Perfect Wife." Today we talk about her first non-fiction book "The 4% Fix: How one hour can change your life." It's all about how to find guilt-free time for what you really want to do, and why it matters. Then, Jake Brennan, host of "Disgraceland," the number downloaded music podcast in the world, stops by to talk about where music and crime intersect.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Bill King, a three-time Juno Award nominee who has served as music director for Janis Joplin, Linda Ronstadt, the Pointer Sisters, Martha Reeves and Craig Russell. He’s a renowned musician, a radio host and now the author of “Coming Through the ’60s: An American Rock ’n’ Road Story,” his second book release in the past year, following the spring debut of “Talk! Conversations in All Keys,” a collection of interviews that King did with everyone from Oscar Peterson and Jeff Healey to Bruce Cockburn and Buffy Sainte-Marie.