A Life That's Good

I've interviewed many celebrities in my time so I was surprised when I found myself feeling a little nervous to talk with Loreena McKennitt. , platinum and multi platinum sales ... awards in 15 countries on 4 different continents ... Juno Awards, Grammy nominations, 14 million records sold or this induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Whatever it was, she had me feeling at ease...

Milli and I love to buy and prepare food together, particularly when we can find time to hit up a Farmer's Market and grab the produce fresh! A basket of snap peas in Milli's hands will not make it home. This week we chat with two friends, Chris Spaleta and Katrina McQuail about their respective lives in farming and about an organization they helped start called Eat Local Huron, which in m...

And of course, that greater cause in this case is our community! How cool is it when a group of people come together to do good things? It's that much better when it becomes a world class event and such is the case with the Lucknow Kinsmen and Music in the Fields. This week, marketing director for MitF's Cheryl Johnston joins us to talk about how it started and how it just seems to get big...

We've enjoyed their wood fired pizza at different festivals over the years but when Milli and I showed up at Grass Roots Farm recently, we were genuinely surprised at everything we discovered. It's a beautiful spot, a lot more than pizza ... and in this episode we want you to discover it too. We're going to dig into all that you'll find at Grass Roots Farm (especially the pizza) wi...

Growing up in a small town ... A few reflections this week with our very good friend Alecia Anderson. Ally A and Boomer are both Huron County kids ... Milli is Bruce County raised ...different or the same? We'll also talk about school friends ... church ... knowing all the police officers in town by their names ... dying to get out of town ... dying to come back ... and the time Boomer got cau...

I'm not sure there's much I can say that I haven't said before. This is one of my favourite events of ...ever. The people, the music, the location all makes it feel like home. This week we're honoured to have the artistic director of Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, and our friend Cheryl Prashker in the studio. We are excited to get to know a little bit more about her ... When did y...

This week we (Boomer and Milli) kick off the show with a few memories of our recent honeymoon in Scotland. A lifelong dream for both of us :) And then ... an Irish guy walks into a radio studio in Canada to talk about a Scottish Festival :) Find out how that goes!! We're excited to welcome Tony Doherty to our studio to chat about the Kincardine Scottish Festival and Highland games which will h...

Fresh, locally grown food. It's the thing we do best around here. Thank you Farmers. I have a picture I love of my three kids picking strawberries at Morrisons Berries when they were little. It's not that it's a great photograph but it reminds me of the joy they were feeling as they picked: one for the basket, and one for them ... one for the basket and another one for them ... you kno...

This show is called "A Life That's Good" ... and focuses on things that have made life and my career in radio so incredible for close to 40 years. There's no way I could do that without talking to my guest today. He has been such an important part of almost my entire career in radio. On this episode, my friend Paul Dekker and I will talk about our 30+ year history of doing radio...

June is PRIDE Month. Many people and communities across Canada recognize Pride Month. It is a time when we celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities, while acknowledging their history, the hardships they have endured and the progress that has been made. Pride is all about being seen and celebrating who you are. Today on the program ... Two fantastic humans, Tim Damon of Huron County Pride and...

SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE ... sorry for yelling. My first guest is an actor I've been following for longer than I remember. Yes, I'm a fan of his work ... but also fan of the human ... he's a good guy ... a real good guy. Lee Siegel has performed locally for Drayton Entertainment and Stratford Festival. He's been on Broadway and everywhere in between. This year, he stars in the Str...

Some claim that Queen Elizabeth II once commented that Goderich was "the prettiest town in Canada" although to my knowledge ... no reigning monarch has ever visited the town on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron. And whether you choose to think of it as the prettiest town in Canada, the town with incredible sunsets ... the town with an octagon in the middle that we call a square but you...

Believe it or not, I used to be young. Whenever we studied Shakespeare in high school, I would wonder how language could have possibly changed so much in just a few hundred years. Now that I'm a little older, I have to smile everytime I hear a word or phrase I've never heard before. Language is constantly changing and every generation seems to take it another few steps into the future ......

May is a time to plant! Thanks to our friend Ally Anderson for suggesting we check in with Claire and Andy Roest from Birch Creek Greenhouse & Florals just North of Goderich to get to know them a little and talk about flowers and planting. It's such an exciting time of year as our lawns and gardens all come back to life and of course a big time of year for flowers, especially with Mother&#...

A few years ago I got a message wondering how I was coping after a huge fundraising effort I'd been a part of. I, along with an incredible team of support staff and friends had run 120k spread over 5 consecutive days, to raise awareness for 5 mental health organizations in Midwestern Ontario. The training and planning had consumed my life for a couple of months prior. I told her I was fine. Sh...

I've been loving this place for a few years now so it's exciting to finally have owners Ben & Bri Gingerich in our studio to chat about Coastal Coffee. We will get to know them both a little better as we discuss Coastal's incredibly unique location, dreams past and present and of course, coffee!

In this one, Boomer & Milli talk about food and just a few of their favourite places to eat. There are many others but those will be for another podcast. Also: A chat with Bill Wallace about "Souper Saturday" ... a huge fundraiser for the Seaforth and District Food Bank that's making a long awaited comeback!

Podcats? ... A Freudian slip, maybe ... ;) In this episode, Milli joins us for the first time. We will explore some of the dynamic between Boomers and Millennials ... some things we might question about each other ... and one thing we totally agree on (albeit at different levels ;)) and that is a love of our cats and animals in general. We welcome special guest Kathi Newell-Nicholson from Adopt-a-...

It's a fascinating place at the corner of 4 & 25 in the middle of nowhere ... and I love it! Check my Photoblog at Cool945.ca to see pics of some of what were discussing this week and to get a better feel for beautiful Cowbell Brewing Company in Blyth.

Sometimes I think that if all the world really is a stage ... then whoever does the casting needs to be fired. Since I was a very young man, theatre has been something that helped to pull me to a place of safety and belonging when the world was more than I could handle. This week, three amazing men to chat with. Gil Garratt, Artistic Director of the Blyth Festival Theatre, my old drama teacher War...

A quick intro to the podcast and then a wonderful conversation with Karen Middleton-Meadham and Gerrit Sepers of Brod Bread & Pastry in Blyth and Chris Neamtu from Culbert's Bakery in Goderich. As we set off on this 65 week adventure to celebrate good things in Midwestern Ontario, we acknowledge that life is short ... eat dessert first.

It's been an incredible blessing to have lived and worked most of my life in Midwestern Ontario (Huron/Perth/Grey/Bruce and N. Wellington Counties). As I approach an age where some consider retirement, the thought of it fills me with wonder, some angst and a little disbelief ... but mostly, it fills me with gratitude. With that in mind, I've given myself a "65 Before 65 Challenge." In the coming 6...