Dance Naked, Thrift Often & Call Your Friends: Live @ Departurefest in Toronto

Good evening, good afternoon, good day. Wherever you are in the world, I'm here with Caitlin green and Sarah Burke. As always, we are actually all together, physically in the same room in Toronto, Ontario, in

the same time zone.

We, none of us have pants on. And

my pants actually split today.

Your pants, that's true. Yeah, my pants split earlier today. I pulled something out of the storage closet. We're good, see, we're fine. No, that's good. Yeah, pants do split? I mean, I've talked about my pants splitting on this show many times. Anyway, let's just start off by seeing what you guys have been up to. We are very happy to be in the same place. The last time we were in the same place, I believe, was on our last live event, because we're usually all over the place. You're now in summer cottages, off with Dan doing stuff. You're true and we're

very international. Yeah,

we are very international. So what have you been

up to? I have been in Mexico. I was in Prince Edward County over the weekend, which a little more local. I don't know if anyone came in from Prince Edward County area, but I went here for the weekend. Anyone picked in? Okay, okay, no, no, a doll all means no. But so we, yeah, we went there for a weekend. And I was telling Jann backstage that when we went there, I noticed that there were, like, predominantly women. It was like birthday parties, bachelorette parties, like I went shopping and a very nice woman tapped on the window of the car I was in with my friend, and was like, show me what you got, dear. And proceeded to ask me to do a fashion show, of all the stuff. And so it came to me and my friend, after a few drinks at a bar that we were like, This is a women's town, and I think we all need to retire there on the Jann Arden podcast.

Hey,

well,

that's our plan. So you've bought a home with some your friend, Cynthia, before we're next, yeah,

someone tapping on my window would have scared the shit

out of me,

like, I'm serious. If there was like, tippity, tap, tap, tap, I'd be like, Mother of God, but yeah, they just wanted to what she saw your shopping bag. She saw my

shopping bag because I was crossing the street, and she clocked it with her friend. They had walking sticks, and they were walking along Main Street in Bloomfield, and you could tell she's like, I want to know what those youngsters are buying. And I said, Okay, let's do a show and tell. And she loved it. I did it through the car of my, like, window of my friend's car.

Did you also give the prices? Because women tend to do that. If someone says anything to me, like, Oh, I really like your jacket, $17 winners, you just you have to include, like, where you got it and what you didn't pay really, that's how cheap things were. I think that's just the way it goes. You

have to specify if it was on sale and if it has pockets. And so I did both of those things. And then to prove to her that I wasn't selfish, I showed her that I bought my Mother's Day card as well. So I said I wasn't just shopping for me. And she said, Well, you could have gotten something for mom dear, like a gift. And she wasn't wrong. This

is

your reminder. If you haven't thought about Mother's Day yet this weekend, guys,

this

weekend, Mother's Day. FYI, why

don't you bring that up? Because my mother's dead.

You know, we're gonna

have a lot. Sarah, once again,

we're gonna have a moment for It's Joan, right? Yes, Joan. Joan comes up on the show a lot. Give us the you always do the voice. Well,

when you cut your hair like that, your face just looks like a pie. I

miss Joan.

I miss Joan. My mom was amazing. She wasn't, she wasn't. Mother's Day wasn't a huge thing. She goes, it doesn't matter. I always end up doing the dishes anyway, because you. Kids don't do it, right? So I learned that from her. Like, no one can clean my kitchen, but me, like you can. I have friends that come for dinner. They want to be helpful. It's like, Oh my Jesus, you are so not helpful. I can't even tell you how. That's not how you pack the dish. No, you do not put a that's not where that fork goes in that dishwasher. So everyone just sits really quietly at my dinner table now, and doesn't move. And it's kind of hard when new people do come to my house, because they're like, Oh, don't, don't touch anything. Don't go in her kitchen, because the stove is never done, right? But my mom did that to me. She was like, wipey white person,

yeah,

I'm going for it. Jann has a drawer of Nespresso pods.

Yes, that's where they should be. Yeah,

espresso sponsor us.

No, they don't. They should. Is that what you're saying? Yes, espresso, would it kill you?

I've been to your house. I've seen the Nespresso drawer, I've seen the tea drawer, and I'm very aware of putting things away when I was staying with you, and I'm tidy anyways, but I was like, no, no, you're a Jan's house. I know

you didn't

really, really well. I thought you did really well, but no, yeah,

thank you everyone.

I appreciate you. An excellent house guest. You guys are both guests, but whenever Cynthia loys to from the social I'm just gonna name drop when she comes to my home, first place, where does she go? Nespresso drawer every time, and she just goes through, and she's like, I like feeling them. I just like running my hands through and just feeling them. Oh,

we've

unlocked a kink.

Yeah, okay. But anyway, I just want to talk about so you're, you also had a trip to Cabo,

yes, I did

with your husband and your son. Yeah. Now, is this a work trip? Because I want you to talk about that. It

was sort of a it was like a combination of work pleasure. So it was for an article about Cabo. So the Cabo Tourism Board brought us down there, and we're doing a whole, like, four page article in some magazines that will be coming up, probably in the fall, to, like, be the lead up to travel season. But we were talking a lot about how much they're seeing an uptick in the interest for Canadian travelers, because Canadian travelers are avoiding a certain other country to the south of us right now, and so they Africa. That's the one. So, yeah, so we went down there, and it was fantastic. And now I'm like, I we're like, looking not seriously, but I don't know if anyone else does this when you go on vacation, if you're having a really good time, do you tell yourself I could live here? And so we still, yeah, okay, good. So it so I also do this. So we immediately started looking at condos. We were like, maybe we should snow bird here. Maybe we should have an investment property here. Like, that's how much I love Cabo.

So

that's the west side, yes.

And Cabo, Prince

Edward County, and Cabo

is the west side.

Yeah, it's

down that Peninsula. Yeah,

it's the very, very tip. It's like the little very end of the Baja Peninsula, and it's like, right on the Pacific, and it is desert, and it is humpback whales launching themselves out of the ocean, and it's margaritas and mezcal and friendly people and sunshine. And I'm there in my mind right now.

That's sad. I mean, you could be describing red deer.

Joanie, yeah. Yes, Joan, it's just like red beer.

And what do you do with your son? Is three and a half,

yeah.

So what, what do you guys do, like, if you wanted to do a night out, so

if you wanted, they had babysitters at the first place that we were at. So the first resort we were at is called Grand Velas, and they really pride themselves on being like, a very family friendly, but still luxury, all inclusive. And so they had babysitters. They have nannies on site. And I mean, as a parent, you like, don't immediately trust that. But then will started making little best friends on the trip, and he would see them, and they would play together and be in the pool. And their families had nannies. And then will started using their nannies, because he would like, go off and join their family. And so we would be like, Oh, do you want to, like, share the nanny? And so that's what happened. So you can do that. But other than that, like, you know, he'll go to bed and have his nap. And if your room is big enough and you have a good enough setup, you can just, like, have some wine on your patio. You can, like, I mean, you could conceivably use, like, now that they have the super sonic like, baby monitors, you could go to, like, the hotel lobby bar, lock the room, but it just depends on, like, how comfortable you are with that. So we mostly just enjoyed our patio.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's an, I don't know. That's a fair

assessment. I don't know about super baby monitor, but I do get that. I mean, you're on, you're in an all inclusive resort,

yeah, you see people do it in, like, no judgment. It's just like, to your own comfort level. And, like, age of your child, margaritas you have? Did you

get really, really drunk on the trip?

No, I can't really, because I can't think about being hungover with my living alarm clock waking me up the next day, and he was, like, sleeping next to us a lot of the times, like, I'm waking up to a full open hand slap, like I can't do that after margaritas.

No, I get

that. No, no.

What do you been doing? What was your last couple of weeks? Like,

I've been spending a lot of time in the metropolis of wireton, which is where my guy lives, yeah, so we actually, like, got it moved into a new place. Love that last weekend. So as you know, the woman around, it's like, do you have some toilet paper? And. Towel. Great. Okay, awesome. So that went really well. And, yeah, I'm really looking forward to summer. It's gorgeous up there, like, you know, on any Marina, if anyone gets to live near a body of water, which is also the reason I love going to the cottage, dad. Are we opening up the cottage next weekend? Mom and Dad are sitting right there. Hi,

Mom and Dad.

Wave was acknowledged from your a timid wave was acknowledged. We have a whole yeah, we're

just wondering, when you're opening up the cottage,

that's really what we're

here. Are we invited? We're just wondering, I have personally never been there, but I hear that you do have a couple of spare, spare bedrooms, and that's amazing that you guys have that we my my parents did not have a cottage or anything like, it's

a new thing. I mean, it's only been the last five years. So we definitely, like my dad, grew up with a cottage, and that's a wonderful thing for any family to have. It's

amazing.

Yeah,

that's a

very Ontario thing.

Yeah,

y'all got that's a very Ontario is the cottage country and and, you know, getting out of town in the summertime for those three day weekends and stuff. Some of the weirdest gigs I have ever played have been in Muskoka,

really.

That's nothing to be proud of, nothing to be proud of. I mean, we I have just done gigs where I literally, I never have need security like I really don't. There's no security. Are you security? You could be if you wanted to be. Thank you. If you've listened to the podcast, thank you, Maddie.

You maybe have heard of the security hedge recap that for us,

and it was just a corporate job at a vineyard, and they had, like, ticket specials that were probably a couple 100 bucks, but you got lunch, you got wine. It started at four o'clock in the afternoon, and then we would play a set at nine. And so by the time we got there, people were so drunk that when we started playing like a bowling pin, formation of women came down a hill with stilettos on their shoes, just planted in the side of the fucking Hill. And then they came out of their shoes and just rolled down in front of the stage. And they were, you know, dancing, dancing. Someone

threw their panties,

and someone threw a very large pair of underwear that looked like a sail. It just looked like, oh, there's a Viking sailing somewhere, and they've thrown the sail at me. But anyway, they were trying to get, like, a selfie. So, you know, I'd be standing here singing, and there was a large, for some reason, a hedge, like a huge hedge, that was beautiful. It was just lush, and it was all grown in and, and it was kind of like a sick, you know, it was a little bit of a barrier between the people and, but anyways, this woman, of course, she's got her phone, and she's trying to get me in the picture, so I'm doing my best to find her screen and to get myself in there. And I see myself, and I'm like, you know, go ahead. And all of a sudden, she just went into the hedge, and we didn't see her for the rest of the show

now, you know.

And then I got a note, like a DM on Instagram, and they said, I know the lady that felt went into that hedge, and it was a woman I went to school with. Her name was Shirley or something. So she just went in there. I don't know how she got

out.

Came through the podcast. We talked about this. We

did, we did.

She sent a note to the podcast being like, I know who that was. It's the most Canadian thing of all time to be like, Oh, it was Shirley from school in the hedge.

It's a small country. But anyway, very odd jobs like a Muskoka. And I think it's people are in such a great mood, they're so excited just to for our three weeks of summer that we have in Canada. That's

true.

And I don't know I you guys have flies here? Yes, like huge goddamn flies. We don't have that. No, we don't really have that. We just have kamikaze mosquitoes. Actually, the Canadian Armed Forces are now giving them little outfits, and they're going to send them with the snowbirds. It's cheaper than people, yeah, but it's, yeah, it's, I'm glad we're ready to go to your cottage anytime that you want to invite do you live there, or do you go back and forth to Toronto,

back and forth? You go

back and forth. It

really depends on mom's mood. So

I'm

sorry she brought that up in

public. Happy Mother's Day.

We, we should, we should just tell you that we do have a couple special guests coming. I do. And I think the first one is it's someone that comes up a lot, especially considering, you know, this little podcast started, yeah, you two can speak to it, because I wasn't there at the beginning.

Please. The lore of the Jann Arden podcast is that it started as the business of life. Podcast. That's how I was connected. Oh no, gee. Listener, okay, great, yeah, so that's how I got connected with Jan. Was that there, you know, I was working and at the same at the same company, and they were like, Oh, do you want to maybe produce this show with Jann and Arlene? And I said, Sure. And then when that wrapped up, I stuck around and then glued myself to Jan, and haven't let go since. Yeah.

Anyway, I have known this woman for many, many years, one of the most innovative, generous, philanthropic, smart,

an

amazing writer, and I'm going to talk to her about this a little bit when she comes out. But Arlene Dickinson is with us tonight, and I'm just gonna, and you know her as one of the sharpest business people in this country. She's someone who really brings insight into not only how to be in business and be entrepreneurial, but like life advice I've been I went on her show April the 22nd as it turns out of last year, and just talking about being single, Arlene is

alone. Has anyone listened to

Arlene is alone? And then, like, four or five days later, I met my partner, which is really funny, but anyway, without any further ado, I hopefully she's ready to come out there. But please, please, please, make welcome. Arlene Dickinson,

yeah, come on.

I

There

are flies in Alberta. Who are you kidding?

I know, but there are

deer flies. They're the size of the house,

dear. I do not have them where I am. So deer flies, are you talking northern Alberta? Arlene, No,

I'm talking everywhere in Alberta.

That's all the time we have

your particular guest,

your family immigrated to Calgary. Is that correct? Edmonton? Edmonton? Okay, like Calgary, only little bit

north.

They're way more north. No, Edmonton, no, it's okay. Get your eyes if we have flies, they don't like me and they've never visited me. Anyway, you are one of the most inspirational people that I know. And so, yeah, I was, I was laughing about being on the Arlene is alone, which is a huge success, and just talking to so many different people. But I was on there April the 22nd and then a

year ago, yeah,

a year ago. And then, you know, imminently I met. I was person sure

you were lying to me because you said, No, I I'm single.

I was really single, militantly single,

and then four days later you're in love,

probably three.

That's okay. I'm glad that you're in love. He looked beautifully happy.

Thank you very much. Oh my gosh. It makes me blush.

Um, can I? Can I just say something before we Yes, much further.

Yes,

I don't think I've ever done a show wearing compression socks, but okay, I sprained my ankle, and I have compression socks on, and

you'd never know. Look at it. It

looks great. My legs are like, should they be tingling?

Should they be tingling? I would imagine tingling would be a good thing. And if you couldn't feel your foot at all, is there a

doctor in the audience? How

did

you sprain your ankle?

I was walking down the street in Paris on the phone. But cobblestone, yeah, because

then you have an excuse. Yes.

And I wasn't paying attention.

My friend two weeks ago, literally broke his ankle stepping off of a curb. He said it was fine. He stepped on a small rock. It was enough just to turn his foot, and it broke his ankle. Like, what are we doing? Do we need to be chewing on calcium right now?

Yes,

well, I'm sorry to hear that. And if you start feeling anything more than tingling

off stage, if you need, okay,

yeah, people know you as obviously a really successful business leader, but you're also somebody who's exceptionally creative, like people don't always put those two things together. As far as you're just a creative person. You're an amazing dresser. I love seeing what you're wearing. You've put, you know, just put that whole thing together the last few years. I just feel like, oh my god, I go to your page every day to see what you are wearing, which I think is amazing. I don't know. I just think you're an amazing dresser. You're also a phenomenal writer. I don't know if you're reading Arlene sub stack, but or the Facebook posts, the things that you've been writing about this country are absolutely dead on.

Thank

you, unbelievable.

Thank you. I tend to write at two in the morning like I honestly do. I. Tend to, you know, start something in the day, when I get an idea, and then I'll be up, because I wake up at two in the morning, like most of us do. Well, you probably feel creative.

No,

I and you have the hot flashes, what's happening. But I wake up and then I usually just work on it, and it always makes me feel good, because then when I wake up, I think, Okay, I got that out of my head. So maybe it's when my creative juices are flowing as early in the morning.

But it's also very emotionally intelligent, and it's and I think you're very fair with both sides of the fence. We were living in a really divisive time, and sometimes we think Canada is so exempt from that, but we're not. We were a very divisive country. We have been, you know, really probably the last decade, and it's only been ramping up because of, you know, the political climate south of us, but you so succinctly and fairly, and I've seen comments from the right, from the left centralists, that really think, thank you for speaking for Canadians. Well,

thank you Jim and but I love that it's hard to do Arlene. It is. It is because I always that's what I edit a lot. I edit down when I look at and say, Okay, if I was reading this, would I feel like I was taking sides? And I tried not to be personal. I try not to attack people personally. I try to attack issues. Once in a while, I might say something about the opposition leader. I'm not gonna lie, but, you know, but

Jen's never done that. No, I know,

like, but, but, but it's not meant as a personal attack. It's meant as a statement on skill set and qualifications. And so I think it's, it's never meant as something to make people feel bad. It's made it's meant to make us think.

And it does. It absolutely does. Another book in the making. I'm hoping. I don't know where you have the time, but I would love to see you write to that and talk about what you've done for the elbows up movement per se. Like when that first started, Arlene was leading the charge. Yeah, it was really important. But you've always stepped into that, regardless of the pushback that you might get from certain people. You have always stepped into the political part of I mean, I'm told not to be political all the time, like, shut up and sing that kind of a thing, but you always step in it, so you're so cavalier about it. And I admire that, because I'm thinking I should be doing more of that.

I think we can all do more of it. I think it's it's scary though, because we are putting our opinion out there. And if you have a thin skin, or if you feel at all uncertain about what you're saying, people, people are mean, you know, they will say horrible things on your social media, and most of them aren't even people. Most of them are bots or trolls or, you know, bought farms. And I've just learned to not let that stop me from having an opinion my opinion is as as valid as their opinion is. And I try to answer respectfully when people are shitty, but you know it, I just think we all can be a little bit more vocal right now. We need to be more vocal because we can't allow their voice to outweigh ours.

I know it's apathy is not a strategy just to sit on your hands. What's a decision you have made in your life that felt really, really risky in the moment, but ended up changing a lot of things for you? Can you? Can you think of pivotal moments like that?

My two marriages? They were risky. They were pivotal. It's

always risky. Getting involved with somebody, yeah? Like, I just okay, what's what's become more important to you as you've gotten older? Like, is there something that comes to mind?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think when you as you age, you start thinking a lot about legacy, and you start thinking about, you know, what am I leaving behind that's going to make this country better. Because, you know, once, once I'm gone, I recognize, like anyone, you know, people die and they that's part of life, is that we are going to die, and you only can get remembered by the people that love you. You know, generally, really, and that's who remembers you. But after that, the generations after that, what have you done to make an impact in the world? And so I'm really, really focused on that now thinking I sense time is running out. I mean, I might have another 30 years in me, but I still sense that time is so short. And so right now, I'm very much about thinking about legacy. What am I doing to help make this country stronger? What am I doing to help make, you know, Canadians have the opportunity to have a sovereign nation that's going to be good for us, as opposed to something that we are going to give up to the states. Because I just have no interest

in that. You.

Caitlin,

I'm always curious, because you know, when you speak to people who are so successful in like in business and media and life, what is sort of your like? Perfect? Arlene Dickinson, day like, start to finish, when you get up in the morning, if you had to pick your dream day, what would that look like?

That is like, okay, my dream day, my dream day would be, it would it would involve something to do with the I would definitely be out in nature. I would be walking somewhere, because I love to walk. It would involve having some sort of A intersection with my family, whether that's a phone call or text or a meeting or lunch or whatever or shopping, it would involve me thinking about working out, but not. I feel you. I want to, but no, there might be a french fry in there. Yeah, I think it would just, I'm very, I'm really a very plain, ordinary, normal kind of basic person, like, I don't, I don't live a fancy life. I in terms of, like, I don't, I'll say yes to an event, and then generally, I'm going to cancel because I don't, I don't really want to go, right? We're

very happy you're here. I

know, no, it's true. I did show up to this event, but, but, you know, like I the thought of getting dressed up, but it's not because I don't want to go. I think I want to go when I say yes, but then I don't want to, you know,

I know that about you, that you are a homebody

I'm a homebody fan,

and I know that family is everything to you. I've loved over the last several years, watching your travels, and you do something that I could never do, and that is traveling by yourself. And I just want you to speak to that a little bit, because you go out there and you don't just fucking go to Muskoka. You go really foreign places. Yeah,

this last six months I've gone to, I've been to Tokyo, Osaka, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore, Paris,

by yourself.

Yeah, and it's, and I got to tell you all, like, get on the plane, get on the train, go and do it on your own. It's, the most amazing thing, because you can do whatever

you

want to do in your day, like that's it's I don't need to meet somebody. Or where are we going to meet for lunch? I don't care. I'm going to go and have lunch or I want and you meet people. You meet people on planes, you meet people in the places you go. I've had so many fascinating conversations. I've learned so much about other cultures I love. I It's open. One of the things I promised myself as I got older, a good friend of mine told me this was that when you can when you get older, you your world can become smaller, and it becomes smaller because you tend to repeat the same things. You get in the habit of seeing the same people, having the same parties, doing the same things every weekend. And she said, You know, I want my world to be bigger. And as soon as she said that, it just hit me like a ton of bricks, that if you want your world to be bigger as you age, that means you have to take risk and put yourself out there and do things that you normally would never do. And so travel became one of those things for me where I thought this is going to make my world bigger, and it has. It's made me feel like, wow, there's a whole world out there.

You are a person that deals with probably a very high level of fame, certainly in this country, you're one of the most recognizable faces. You are. I had this, I really, I I had this conversation with strombo, and he's recognizable well, but you are one of those people. I mean, am I wrong here? Like, if you and I've been around you enough times, like when I'm with you, it is a constant, steady stream of people coming up to you. And my friend wanted me to ask you, this my my very good pal wanted me to ask you, if you ever get exhausted of people standing in front of you pitching shit to you, like, I have this thing that it's gonna change the world, like, can you give me money? Like, and I know that's real because I've seen it. I've seen it happen.

I'd say two things to that. First of all, Canadians are so kind to me and nice to meet. And even when they're asking for something, they do it in such a Canadian way I can't possibly get i. Irritated by it or mad about it. Means sometimes, when you're in the bathroom and people are trying to pitch you as

a little underneath the stall,

or, yeah, or if you're on the airplane and the pilot comes back, you're going, Who the hell is flying this thing like that? That's often been weird, but, but, no, I don't mind it whatsoever. I feel so lucky to have that connection with Canadians. I don't, I don't know. I'm grateful for it. I'm glad that you said that, because that really is very, very Canadian of you.

No, it's true. Because a lot of people shut stuff down right away, and they just have this look on their face that you would think about for years, I would imagine afterwards, like, I would never do that to my to anyone. I just wouldn't do that to them. Even if I had a mouthful of food, I'd be like, Hold please. I will. We can take a picture in this

crowd. Knows that's true.

Yeah, you were, you're the you're very gracious. Jen, like, I, I think there's probably been times that I haven't been as nice as I could have been because I've been in a hurry or, you know, like not taking the time I probably could have, and then that guilt sits, sits with

does

it? Sits with me? I get it, yeah,

Caitlin's gonna there's something that we always ask our guests on the show, but I have one more little question for you before we bring out our next guest, and this is advice to people that do have an idea, that do have a dream, that might be 50 years old, or 61 years old, or 28 years old. I don't think age has anything to do with having a great idea. But what is your advice if you are entrepreneurial and you're trying to and you're not going to be on, you know, Dragon's Den, but you're just out there fighting the fight. Is there anything that you can leave people thinking about?

Yeah, I would say that your age does not matter. You can have a good idea at any age and stage of your life. I would say to the biggest hurdle is going to be yourself, not anything else that you have to believe in yourself and that you have to believe that you you know that your idea is worth chasing. It doesn't mean you should be stupid and chase it when it's not doing well. Like, I hate that advice when people say, Oh, just keep going. No, if it isn't working, know when to stop. Yeah. Or the advice that says, you know, fake it till you make it. No, don't fake it till you make it. Because that's imposter syndrome just kind of elevated, right? It just basically saying, Oh, I'm faking it till I make it. And that just basically means that you're lying about who you are, instead of just saying, admitting who you are and continuing on. So I think if you want to be an entrepreneur, there's nothing stopping you from trying. It's it's a life choice. It's a just be ready for the sacrifices.

Would you go into this line of work? Had you the opportunity to start all over again? Absolutely not. Okay. I wasn't ready

for that. And on that note, just wondering, because we ask every guest this, what's one thing you do to take care of you.

I listen to my body carefully. So I'm very good at if I, if I, if I'm really tired, I'm really good at saying, Okay, I need to take a day off. You know, like, I'm very good at that. And I can, I can. My daughter says, I can't sit still, like if we're in a room and I have nothing to do, I'm getting up and fixing something or doing something. I don't know how to just do nothing. But to me, doing nothing is not thinking about business, because i Everything is a business idea to me. So I think it's, it's trying to just make my mind go somewhere different. And honestly, the biggest thing I'm trying to do now is getting off of this. This is killing me. This is really killing my mind and my brain, and I've got to get off of it like it's way too much, and you get involved in social media and that's constantly it's too much. So I need to take care of myself more that way. I think that's really good advice we can all

use. Yeah, I we Yeah. I hope you will, like, stick around for the show. We got some fun things coming up, and we're hoping to have you out here, come back out with our other two pals. But just on a personal note, I just admire you so much. You have been so supportive of me. I would not be doing this podcast had it not been for a dinner that Arlene and I had many years ago. And she sat down and she said, this is something we should do and something you can do, and let's have some fun. And we walked into, like, covid, and I think back to when we recorded, and we had to, like, figure out where to go to record. It wasn't like Riverside and all this stuff now, but I just thank you for that, because I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't for this woman sitting right here,

Caitlin played a big Caitlin played a big role in it as well. And yeah,

I

mean, yeah, yeah. But just going and finding and here we are. You know, all these years later. Do you remember

your sign off? Together that you used

to do. No,

you used to sign off every episode of the business of life by saying, talk to your friends. Oh, that's right, yeah, we said, talk to your friends. And look at this.

I did too. Why don't we do that again? God, why don't we do that? Should talk to your friends. Talk to your friends.

Arlene Dickinson, do not pitch Arlene anything if you see her anywhere.

Okay,

I can't believe you remember that. And it's so true. It

was so cute. You guys just thought of it organically. I feel like we were in the studio together, and you just sort of like riffing, and you came up with it, and it really worked. We might have to rework our sign off. You could, you could add that in. I like our

so it's, it's me. We can't, we can't, we can't change,

by

the way we gave that cue. We're not ending the show yet. We're just talking about the sign off. We're

not doing anything. We've got seven hours of this to go.

I'm just seeing a couple people walk in that I think are our next guest crew. So maybe we just give it a minute or two here, unless we have a wave that we're all good to go. We might have to stall for a minute.

Look at us.

We are totally professionals. I have, I have one question on the on the back of the Arlene, please

do

so do you? Do you find that, like once you start a podcast with a friend, yeah, right, all of the sudden you're there's blurred lines between what you're sharing and you share so much of your personal life, right? And I mean, Arlene has shared so much with us here today, but when you're home just talking on the phone with a friend, you might be having a different conversation. And I would love to know the funniest thing Arlene has ever said

to

you. Oh my God, we've had so many laughs just about people that we've met and places that we've been. She's one of the most interesting dinner companions that I've ever gone out with, and we've had dinner many times over the years. She invited me to a dinner at her home that was filled with, like, 25 of the most interesting people I'd ever seen in my life, like these, just from different walks of life, like just, she's, she does. She just has an interesting life and but she mixes so many things, like, like, I was talking about philanthropy, you know, her generosity, Arlene has got on a goddamn military plane and flown to, I believe it was either. And forgive me, Arlene, when you come back out Iraq or Afghanistan and cheered on the troops and met people and done things that you would never hear about in the news. You don't hear about who she gives what to she doesn't, you know, have her name on the wing of a hospital or things like that. Philanthropy isn't always about directing at yourself of what you give. It's about giving of your time, and that's what I admire so much about Arlene. You know, I just is is doing things for other people, and she recognizes her success. We're talking about her like she's not in the building, but she's

like, off to the

side,

yeah,

but yeah, we have some incredible women with us here tonight, and I have so long admired this next guest, one of the greatest R and B, pop, Soul voices you're going to ever hear anywhere, at any time. We are so lucky to have her with us. She's really one of the most powerful and recognizable voices in this country, 25 years, in an industry that is extremely difficult, she's named one of Canada's greatest singers. Period. I ain't never been named that. Hey, the hell's going on?

We'll talk to them.

Our friends at CBC are just one of one of Canada's greatest singers and beyond music she's known for her cultural impact, her advocacy, her mentorship and her leadership. She's just talked about so many important things for several years, like heart wrenching, important things about self. So please, without any further ado, welcome Jully  black.

Gonna make a Jully  sandwich. Awful. Of the digital thing.

Yeah, we've all been on screens, and now you're here in real life, and you look beautiful,

Jully , Jully , Jully , you know, I feel like I spent so much more time with you than I actually have, because we have long been so supportive of each other. On. Social media like, I'll get a DM. I'll know what you're up to. You always cheered me on with my mom. You would drop me notes about girl. I'm thinking about you, and just saw this or that. And so social media is funny, that way of how it connects us,

right? Yeah.

So I feel like we've had coffee about 59,000 times,

I know, but we still have some nice white teeth, so we haven't been drinking coffee. No,

no, you didn't hear us

talking about, which is a full Nespresso drawer of pods that we do. Very excited. Okay,

I have, we've got so many questions for you, and I get to start out by just asking you, you've had a really, really long career. And I want to ask you, what is something that you have brought with you that's you through these 25 years? Because we see a lot of people morph and change the career changes them, not only like physically or style wise, but what's something that Jully  Black has brought with her every step of the way on this quarter of a century of singing, and

there's tax and tariffs on that. It's actually 30 years. So you better add 30 years. You better add some tax and tariffs on that well.

And before that, there's probably another 10 years before that of just being and singing and performing and getting to where you're going. Never mind the procession professional aspect of it,

I say like first thought, right? Thought is my faith and faith beyond religion, right? So, you know, being able to have that, that sense of, it's, there's, you know, my mom would say, as long as you have life, you have time. So just having faith in my measure of breath, you know, I was given this in you. I'm sure you relate to this. We've been given these, this gift of song for free. Like, I don't know if you did anything for your voice, but I didn't do anything for mine, right? And so it's being able to rely on it, even on those days where it might be a little crunchy, you know that it's got to heal somebody out there. There's this faith in that,

yeah.

Caitlin, I'm curious about sort of the, like, this big, sort of recent Touchstone moment when you sang the national anthem at the 2023 NBA All Star game. Did you know when you changed that lyric? What a big piece of, like, world news. But can Yeah, like, did you have any idea how this was going to be received? Obviously, like, maybe some, I mean, I'm sure you saw your socials, like, I'm sure it was mixed reviews. But I think a lot of people, global, yeah, people found this to be really, like, galvanizing and really powerful for Canadians.

I had, I had no idea. I mean, I had stopped singing the anthem three years prior. You know, 2020 there's a lot going on with indigenous folks. There was a lot going on with us learning about truth and reconciliation, as you know, so much happening. I was like, Okay, say they taught us this anthem and when we were little kids, and but I never really dissected the lyrics. And so what other things songs are we have we learned just as children that we made up, that we didn't choose to sing, right? And so now I had the power of choice, and I had an opportunity to to to not just represent, but represent. And this, this song to the world. And but I had to, really, have to get permission. There's appropriation and appreciation, right? And so, you know, it's, it's, it's amazing what will happen when you do something that you really not looking for credit for. And so it, we are on indigenous land, and that's what I stick by

for such a like public event. It was a very personal discovery. It also just fit and worked so seamlessly. Like, obviously, I was like, well, you're obviously a songwriter, you're obviously a musician, because it just rolled right out. I was like, Can we change the anthem tomorrow? It sounded perfect. I

have to say this, though, that it's really about the space that was given. And I think so many of us who have microphones don't take my mom. You some I was talking about my mom. Please talk about

your I want to talk to

you

about your mom. You know, she would always say, like, you know, prayer is outward or always asking, but meditation, you need to close your mouth and listen. Right take a minute to just listen. And so similarly, when I was when I decided to sing that I took pause. I didn't just drill right through it. And so I think that's a that's, that's a little bit of wisdom there for everyone that it's not, you know, it's not always what we say. But can we just, can we actually wait and give space smart? Yeah,

yeah.

Thank you. It's a great podcasting skill. We try, we try our best, right?

Your mother looms large. I've watched you over the years, go through a lot, and I think you inspired a lot of people on your journey with your mom, what are some of the biggest lessons that you continue to learn from her spirit and her presence and her power?

Yeah,

well, I was there when, when mom transitioned and so and I cared for her all throughout i. Her sickness, but when she took her last breath, that became my first full breath, I realized I was moving through life almost wheezing. When you sit by the bedside of an 81 year old Jamaican woman who came to Canada in 1968 worked for $1.65 an hour, and really took pride in her measure of breath and what conversation she was choosing to have and who she was choosing to give time to actually listen. It was it really taught me, my mom to this day, like choosing to be here right to share. Like, could you imagine, if you know, we came to this earth and we were told, Hey, Jen, you're going to get 68,000 breaths. Decide how you're going to spend

that.

And so it's in mom, in her in her living, not her life, in her living. Sometimes we're looking at people's life, but it's in our living that we really gain that wisdom, that knowledge. Mom would say, Everybody ages, not everybody grows up. There's some old ass people immature. Talk about your 86 like you're 17.

I feel like my mom is more present in my life now that she's physically not here, as opposed to when she was here. And I'm almost conflicted even saying that

I

get, I understand, I

but I the way I live my life because of my mom, is much bigger than when she was physically here, the way she affects my decision making. And I don't regret, you know, anything? I obviously, I wish we would have had some more time, but she didn't want more time. She was very done. And so sometimes we want them to keep going because out of selfishness, or Please don't leave me here and but she was ready. But I do you hear your mom's voice in your head a lot?

Oh yeah. I mean, well, first of all, Jamaicans have a saying, Don't let your angels get fat, put them to work. Yeah, they could get everywhere. They got no tax, no tariffs, no flight, no bus ticket, no train. They don't they just everywhere all the time, right? So I asked mom, the

government will figure that out.

No, a true story, I asked mom, and then I've, I've proven this to myself that she still was with me. And I'll ask mom, like, you know what, Mom, I just need you to walk down Heaven's hallway. If you just walk down Heaven's hallway, just take this petition. Just put this on God's desk for me, because I just need to bypass the line for this thing. And I have these conversations. She's always in my dreams. I'm a serious dreamer, but there was a time where I was walking and I just her fragrance, just went past my just,

oh, I have chills

like her fragrance. And I was like,

you get that,

right? Yeah, we're all shivering up here,

yeah.

And, you know, it's kind of one of those, if you know, you know, you know, and it's incredible to have that access to her. But I will say this, that for me being the youngest of nine, but my family thought that it would have been hardest for me when mom passed, but I spent the most time so I have so I have no regrets. So if you have an opportunity to spend that time, spend that time ask the question, mom had dementia as well, and so but and I have a friend of mine, his grandma's going to dementia right now, and Alzheimer's, I said, let her tell the story a million times, but capture it this time. Record it. My mom was the voice of my tour last year I toured, and when I went to go change, it was her voice notes, it was our phone conversations, it was

that you had report between Yeah, that's fantastic,

but not when she was even sick. I was recording her like back in the day, answer machine.

You know, that's against the law.

I mean?

Do you ever ask

for laws in heaven? Do

you ever ask for signs from her?

Yeah, my specific side, my number eight, is a sign for me.

Okay,

I'm the eighth born child, and so I'm like, just show me an eight. Show me an eight. I'll see a four and a four. I'll see the eight like and it sounds kind of but I'm telling you, for anyone who's lost a loved one, you want to try this on for size. I mean, she still hasn't her for some reason, she had these numbers. She was playing these louder numbers, and I still have her a lot of numbers, and for some reason, it's just not working out for me. I'm like, Come on, Mom, you're reading nine. 90 next week, she would have been 90 next Wednesday.

Oh, yeah.

How did your grandmother play into that? Your mom's mom was? Was she someone that was kind of in the background for your musical career? Because your career has been triumphant. You've overcome a lot of things you overcame. You know, the one your label, you know, decided on your debut record to shut the doors, and you were delayed by was it three years almost, which is a crucial time for a young artist. You've been working, working, working on recording music, making it, readying yourself to get out in front of people, and the label has a change of heart, so it's devastating for a lot of reasons. So I'm just wondering how the matriarchal structure in your family cheered you on through that and kept kept you believing in yourself.

Yeah, it really starts with my mom to be open my mom, when my mom left Jamaica, my grandparents had already passed away. I don't even have a picture of them,

so you

didn't spend a lot of time with

them. No, on my dad's side, I spent time with my grandma. She lived in Mississauga until she was 98 Miss Louise, so but on my mom's side, really, she came to this country on her own. All her siblings went to Chicago, and she came here as a domestic through the domestic scheme when Pierre Trudeau opened up the flood gates for Jamaicans, for Caribbean people, to come and be able to work, right? And so it was really seeing my mom take that opportunity to create life, a life that she wanted for herself, but, yeah, but for her kids. And my mom was also a foster parent. So my mom adopted kids like she worked for General Motors. She went to a job every single day, nine to five, right? You know, an overnight shift. But for some reason, she knew the call on her life was to Mother those and to really nurture. And so even though I don't have biological children of my own, before my mom passed, she asked me, Do I want to be a mother, or do I want to have a baby? And I said, I want to be a mother without thinking, right? And she said, good. And you have your entire life. Not everybody who has a baby is a mother. And so she she empowered me to be able to be the voice of the voiceless and be mothering to whomever needs it.

She was wise. Oh,

yeah, next level. Next Level.

Caitlin, well,

I like how we've created, sort of like an impromptu Mother's Day episode, really trying. It's coming up on Saturday. We didn't even plan this content wise. I have a question that we sort of ask every guest that comes on the show, and it's sort of a thing we do, and we want to know, what's one thing that you do for you to take care of you. Like, what do you do to take care of Jully  black,

well, I twerk. She's a mad stepper. I'm a mad stepper. I do step aerobics. I love to eat a lot. Yeah, I love, I love to laugh. And then my two best friends are here, like Jen and Astra. Wave your hand please.

Yeah, welcome, right?

And my husband is here. I'm newly married. If you got to put on shades, it's his fault. Okay? Newly

married when

last June, congratulations. Year yet. But I think that it's important to protect that child in you, to be childlike and to have to play. So we play already, like, play, play, play. We need to play more. Things are just way too serious in this world, you know, so, but I do like to, I do like to do step aerobics. Like, that's my thing. I teach it. I do it

every

day. Can do that with you?

Yeah? The power of step, yeah, the power of step.com. Because when covid happened, stages closed. There's no member. There's no member. There was nowhere for us to perform, nothing, nothing, drought, right? But that piece of plastic, that 41 by whatever, 35 year old step aerobics turned 35 last year, actually, yeah, that's crazy, and it's the thing. I won an award, even from can fit pro lashing me. I won an award, yeah, yeah, the Sharon man award for fitness. Yes, yes. For fitness, okay, but it's so we've

got a step on right? It's

so fun. It's so fun. So that's what I do. I love it so much.

Yeah,

I went to a conference in Ohio last year. Last week. I step three hours on Friday, three hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday. Yes, yeah, look at you, looking at

me like all I want to say is that exercise is the silent killer.

So

we have. We

heard it here.

We have a little game at the end of the show. We're hoping that you'll stick around. We're gonna give away some Jully  black merch, among other things, so you'll come back out for that a little bit, if that's cool.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Don't go away. Jully  black, you.

Yeah,

so tall, she towers over all of us. Secret step icon, I didn't know about that. Oh yes.

Like, how freaking gorgeous

I know, just sitting in her presence and telling you, this is all part of the show where we talk about everyone like they aren't here.

Yeah,

yeah? Anyone been to a Jully  black? Jully 

black show? Yeah, yeah.

Pitch, perfect energy. Unbelievable. Voice, it's, you just leave mad.

Like, why didn't I get one skill?

You just walk out the door like, fuck you. Jully  black,

you know, I was embarrassed singing happy birthday to my boyfriend this weekend as the kids were singing with him, and I was like, I'm just gonna

see

don't

but

it's it is an energy and a realness that she brings to the stage and to her life, like I said she was, you know, when someone just pops up, I'm thinking about you, I can see what's going on with your mom. And, yeah, it's pretty amazing. We have one final woman that we're going to bring out. She's truly one of the most gifted designers in this country, not only is a designer, she's a creator. She's someone that is she has a living philosophy that is so addictive, and the joy that she brings in her whole ideology about life and living and how to approach color and to bring color into your life, and, and, and I mean, when you walk down the street and you look at how we're all dressed, I put this shirt on for Tiffany Pratt, so please

shame us. Please

welcome to the stage a dear friend of mine. Tiffany Pratt, you

out.

Are you guys so excited?

Hello,

I'm really pumped to be here. Hi, everybody. Get comfy.

We've

also,

we've nicknamed her the what was it? Something, confetti, glitter. Oh, I say, well, it's like, with having Tiffany around is like, someone has opened a bottle of champagne in the room. Like, it's just like, that's very that energy. I'll take it. When we were backstage, we were just about to come out, and I just looked at Tiffany was like, I just like having you around all the time.

No, I like

being around, yeah,

well, you're, you're the first time we met, and I'll go back and Tiffany and her colleague were on a press junket promoting a television show that Tiffany had been the main designer on. And we were lucky enough to get a little slot in the press junket because they line people up. You get 10 minutes here, five minutes here, whatever. We don't

even remember the

other guy's name. We don't. Was it Steve

Hodge, so let's be

nice. No, Steve. Steve Hodge, who did a great job, but I didn't care about him. And Tiffany came on, and it was just, we hit it off like gangbusters. My dog's name is Poppy. Her dog's

name is Poppy.

But anyway, just just speaking to you that little bit that we did, we exchanged numbers because it was a very professional when's the show on this, you know, the network is listening in. They want you to hit all the markers. And then we were just, we exchanged numbers. And we have never, we just been here ever since and talk to me a little bit about like, I don't wear color very, very rarely, and I don't know why, because I always feel good when I do wear it.

Don't look at

it.

And I know Tiffany does a million things. She's a beautiful painter, creator, artist. I cannot tell you the multi layered, complex body of work that Tiffany has done. She just finished fucking designing the Home Show in Toronto, which was, yeah, mammoth undertaking. You know, 10s of 1000s of people funneled through. But anyways, talk to me. I just want we'll start. We have to dive in somewhere. Color.

Color never intended to be a publicity stunt. I just love it. And I think that if I have a message for the world, it's that you have to do and be what you love. And that's the punch line. It doesn't matter what it is, do and be what you love. And so color for me has always been something I love. I love it. It was when I started in TV, I noticed that my work was far more colorful than my colleagues. So then in media, they started coining me Canada's queen of color, and it was never intended to be that way, but it is true. I love it because it is happy making it is instant joy. It's the one free thing that we have in this world that truly changes how we feel. You cannot walk past something that is colorful and not

feel.

Feel something. And I think that that's what the world needs, is to feel something. And when we take color away, we take away the feeling. And so not sort of on purpose, but I kind of looked at myself, my vessel, the way I dress the hair color as like a walking embodiment of color therapy for the masses, like I can't, I can't.

How young were you when you first dyed your hair color?

I was, I was 18. I certainly

that's older than I thought.

Okay, thank you. Actually, I think that's pretty good, right? Yeah, I had electric orange streaks. It started orange, it was rainbow, and it just, it's never stopped being colorful. And it's not because I was doing it for other people. I'm always doing things because it makes me happy, and I think that that's one thing that we always talk about, is when we make ourselves happy and we're comfortable in our own skin, then we feel like we give ourselves we give other people permission to do the same. And that is a very important message, because when you are doing the thing that lights you up and brings you joy, other people will find that one thing, and they'll look for that in their life.

Is that a good intro? No, God, yeah. I mean, you, it's amazing. I have never walked into anyone's I've walked into many homes in my life. I've never walked into anything

that

remotely even comes close to what Tiffany has created in her home, and it is so magical. You go in there and you feel there's a visceral, profoundly physical effect that it has. I mean, you have a beautifully curated home for one thing, but you've been there for a lot of years. But it is true, I walk in there, whatever was happening is left outside, and I walk in and I feel really good,

hey, well, that right there is the feeling. And so I didn't get involved in interior design because I was trained. I never went to school for it. It was never something that I thought I was going to do. I stumbled into doing interiors. It was because I was given opportunities with this house that my then fiance bought. It was a center hall colonial, 5000 square foot home, and he was like, good luck. And so with this, I sort of started stumbling through building this home, but you weren't a designer, never a designer. No shingle hung, no school, no knowledge, no nothing, just pure interest in color, texture and layout. And I think what I what you're saying about my house, is how I feel each person I work with, or each person that will like to talk about what I do. It's not about trends. It's not about what's happening in magazines. It's about what you feel, what you want your home to make you feel like, and how you want to basically go home and recharge by looking, seeing and being around, and that will look like no one else's home. So when you come to my house, it's, it's there's no sign of black anywhere. There's no dark colors. My husband and I, when we got married, had to get a second apartment that's attached to my current apartment. This is a true story. Zach, I love you so much. He's in this audience. Zach, Zach, but I had to put him in the other apartment because I'm like, he's gonna want dark colors, and I gotta keep this thing that I got going on here strong. So I really am committed to what I know I need. I'm committed to what lights me up, and I teach anyone that I talk to that that is the most important thing of all, is that our homes and the things that we surround ourselves with are an expression of our own joy.

Like I've walked into homes too that have absolutely no personality. They're perfectly sort of linear, and there's a few vase that's strategically placed, but it doesn't look like anybody lives there. And I'm like, is that the goal? Like, I literally feel like something exploded in my house, like maybe a carpenter, hey, this is where I wanted to go, and just blew up. And I don't I have no theme, no. I mean, I'm really tired, no,

but you do actually have a theme. It's

true.

You don't think you do, but you have a theme, and it's strong. It's curated through time, through collection, through history, through family, through gift. You do love red? Do I you love red? Jan, we have to tell you, that was a fluke. Okay, it's not a fluke. You love red. So we have the Audience

Good

night.

Tiff has been tasked with redesigning and kind of renovating, well, my dad's wood shop, right? So if you listen to the podcast, you maybe know about this, if you're new here. Well, this is Tiffany. Is right into the the Jully home. For that reason, she needed to feel out all the vibes in order to figure out the work. And on top of that, you're you're doing a little something with the wedding. So both of those things at the same time, Caitlin and I are dying to know, how are all those things. Thank you

for context, by the way, boy, I don't believe that was in the cute cards. I.

Haha. There's a lot of nothing

in here. I don't know what's in these cards, but okay, so Jan, do you want to take the floor? Do you want me to know I'm not it's your floor. Okay. When we met the first time I came to your house, you said, Tiff, this is my dad's wood shop. At some point I would like to turn this into a guest house. So that was like four years ago in passing conversation. So then the summer, you said, I'm really serious, you emptied it out, you put in a floor. And then this fall, I got down there, and it was, here's a two story wood shop. I want to turn this into a guest bunkie. What do we do? So here's the cool thing about Jan, Jan, you could shop in her yard.

It's true. You can show. I don't even

know what that means. Came

home, no Caitlin, came home

with an entire shopping

Do you remember this when I went to when I went to stay with you for the Calgary podcast, like the live podcast show that we did, Jan's cleaning everything out, and I'm pulling stuff off to the side to keep it. Was like, old T shirts. I found old merch. And you were like, yeah, maybe I should keep that. Like you gave 1t shirt to thortis. So in Jan's dad's workshop, which Tiffany you're now working on, there was, like, enough stuff in there to really do something with. You

should have a thrift shop. It was empty when I got there, but the yard,

okay. Wait, hold on, it was empty. You got the good job. Do you know the job I got? I had to empty it. I am there on the podcast weekend. Jan's like, we're gonna go to Banff today. I'm like, ooh, Banff with Jan. Then she's like, dang it, I have all my friends coming over to clean out the old work shed. That's what we're gonna do. So I cleaned it. I

gave you a sandwich.

You did. It was Katie.

I'm grateful,

but that was me, so I

get the like,

tetanus risk, and you do. Thank you so much because it was a beautiful tabula rasa, blank canvas. Floor was down, but we had no furniture. So what do I say? I say, Jan. And she said, Tiff, we got to do this on a budget. I said, Don't worry, I know exactly where to go. And off to the Calgary restore. We go, and I want you.

Is such a fun day. I've never hustled so much in my life.

Any thrifters in the audience knew it, knew it.

So that's what we did. We had a budget. We walked into restore and literally furnished the whole place. At restore,

$1,500 everything. Tied chairs. She found a couch. In restore, she goes, Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Jan, oh my god, oh my god. Go sit on that couch. Go sit on that couch. Stay on the couch. Don't move from the fucking couch. Just stay there. I gotta go find somebody. And I'm just like, Jesus fucking Christ, what's so I sat on this orange couch, and it was like a beautiful it was just a brocade design. I

knew by looking at it. This is a quality piece. And I know you all the thrifters in the room know that when you put your your smudge on something, and other people can smell that you're

circling that couch.

No, no. It's like Shark. It's literally shark action. They see you. They smell blood,

like she's looking at it. She's interested get over there. And so she had me literally, like, spread myself over. I pretended to have diarrhea. I can't get up. Can't Get up right now. Sorry,

we're not gonna re tell

right here. This is no good to you anymore.

Comes up at every live show. Any design people in the house, any people know? Okay, either way, it's a baker sofa. This was a very expensive sofa. I flipped up the cushion, and I was like, holy. So we got a beautiful, quality sofa. We got furniture for the whole place. We got a bed, we got tiles, we got the

couch. Was like $80 it was, it might have been $60 it was, it was insane. I didn't anyway,

the message of this is that you can have high design, and you can have something that's special, and you don't have to spend a lot of money. So when we're finished, which should be July, it will be a work of art from your yard. It'll be a work of art from shopping in her basement. It'll be a work of art from shopping local Value Village restore. The idea is, let's use what we have. We don't need more. We need to re love what we have. We need to worry about our own style and that other people's style. And yes, there's color. There's a bright red sink in there, bright red stained staircase like this is, this is no joke,

red and orange. And then there's these turquoise tiles that go around a little fireplace. We went into a wallpaper store. I had no idea what she was doing. She was she had endeared herself to one of the clerks. And there's, you know, they give you like, wallpaper samples, right? You'll, they'll rip out a little piece, like, take this home, put it up against your wall, see if it works in your living room, Jesus age Christ. If we didn't leave with like, 14,000 pieces of wallpaper, she's going to use them all the wallpaper is going to go up the walls and up ceiling. It's gonna it's all gonna be ripped pieces of all the different wallpapers. Yes, we did. We didn't pay for it. We just walked out with samples. I'm like, what happened?

They're like, these are really indecisive women. They're trying to decide between all these little squares,

the 3p is a little bit odd. Can we get more of that, please? And then

we walk, I can't tell. Can we get six feet of that, because I'm gonna need to, and they actually let her do it. And anyway, it's it's a joy, but I feel confident that we're gonna get it done for

the wedding.

Yes, talk about the wedding. Talk about the

wedding. Come on, married I am.

It's very special. I just get a little bit blushy, and it's it, it's hits a tender spot in my body. This

is your Bachelor's by the way. Sorry. The van is out back. Yeah, we're going to,

we're, I'm not gonna say where. It's hard. It's gonna be at home.

Yes,

you know, we're gonna do it home. So be some Icelandic people, but Tiffany just said, I am going to help you put this together. It's not huge. It's like 60 or 70 people. It's hard to even make a list. It's hard to make a list with people, but I don't all, most of my people are incarcerated or passed on. So it's good,

and it's the truth. You've managed to invite a few people.

It's the truth. Like, I just, I'm like, who's left?

So what's No,

she died too. Okay, take her off, take her off the list.

Like, what are you working on? What's stressing you out. What's not stressing you?

Nothing stressing me out. What am I working on is synthesizing what thordus wants

and what jam which.

And that's not too different. But the idea is, I don't necessarily need them to give me pictures. I said to you, just give me some buzz words. That was, that was our conversation. Just give me some buzz words.

It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in my life. So I want, I want the day to be like, really a beautiful party, and I want Thor to have everything she wants, like everything I don't I don't even need to make a decision. I just want her to have what she wants. Well, when the first time she got married to a fella, he decided it would be a great idea to go to a pop up wedding with 200 other couples, and so that really kind of takes the specialness out of it. I think,

was that Vegas,

no, it was in Iceland, and they had all different denominations of of religions and stuff like that. I forget what she chose. I think they had maybe a pagan vegan, something,

you know the pagan vegans,

I don't know. I totally made that up. I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but, yeah, but

I only have one request for your wedding. You remember what I said? You guys will all see it. All I care about is you may now kiss the bride. I want things to be thrown. Okay, I said I want nothing for this. But I want rose petals. I want Bollywood. I want things thrown? I want snap, snap, snap. Kiss, kiss, kiss, rose petals. Rose petals. Rose petals. Are you also the officiant? No, that's a good idea.

My friend Lisa is gonna do it. She's taking the online course. Lisa's gonna do it. She's taking an online course, and she's, you know, she just told me. She says, Actually, I'm allowed to do two so she's got to find other people to marry as well. But, yeah, you know, look at me when my mom, when my mom had dementia, like she wasn't really bad yet. But I made the mistake of saying to her, we were, like, five, six years into it, it was bad. But I said to her, what do you want for your birthday? Mom, your birthday is coming up. Well, I wouldn't mind a gazebo, so I got her a gazebo, and it's still sitting there. And then she's gonna get we're gonna get married in the gazebo, which is by my dad's shop. And then the shop suddenly got prioritized, because I thought, If I don't, if Tiffany doesn't help me. I'm never gonna get this done because thortis parents are gonna stay in there, and I want them to be comfortable in there.

We should tell them about your dad's car. I think that's a great place to wrap.

Yes, well, my dad has an old it's called a rampage. So it looks like a little El Camino. It's a mini it looks like half car, half truck, and it's just been sitting out in this lean to I mean, I do have a lot of shit in the yard, but it wasn't me. It's just parked. It wasn't me, my parents. My parents had so much stuff. Like, I still find stuff. There's hundreds of gnomes everywhere. Like, I don't know what happened, I don't know what happened, but anyway, he's got this car, and every time I look in there, I'm shocked that this old thing is still sitting there, and Tiffany's like, go. I'm back to you.

Well, this lean to was basically like a vintage shop. I found pillows in the lean to I found art, we found furniture, and then your dad's car. And I looked at it, and I was like, this is a piece. Art. We're parking it out front, and we're turning it into a planter. Yeah, so, yeah, pulling it out of the lean to We're parking in front of the bunkie, and we are because, like, it's flat tires, like, this thing is not there's no sense in trying to save it. So we're gonna turn it into a beautiful planter. Plants

that's perfect.

My mom loved geraniums, so we're gonna fill it with geraniums, red geraniums. Yeah,

everything has a purpose. Everything will have a symbolic meaning. And things that were once just creating space or taking up space, or maybe didn't have a home, will have a home and will have purpose. And your memories and your stories will be celebrated in such a beautiful way. And people who come to your home are going to not only feel like when they're in your house, that they feel you, but they're still going to feel you in the bunkie. And I think that's a big, important

part,

no, but the bunkie needs to not feel like this brand new thing. You can't go into Jan's house in this beautiful, curated thing that's assembled over time, and then go into this brand new Spanky Bunky. You still need to feel the essence. That's a good point, you know? And that happens a lot. When people do renovations, you can see where something's very new and something's very old. So that's a feeling conversation. Anyways, my

childhood friend's husband is doing all the work. He's retired, and she somehow has coerced my friends to be doing all this. They're sending me pictures. They're like, Tiffany has us painting the stairs. I'm like, what's happening? Like, all my high school friends are working in this thing. You wake up in their own, your yard. I was there, but it's amazing. I want to ask you something, and I'm gonna hand over to Caitlin. But how does AI vector into design. What's happening with renovations? We all go online and we see these amazing, you know, graphics of, you know, the couch drops down, and then the cupboards come up. And, you know, that seems to be a really big part of design shows now, is showing people these AI designs. How does that configure in with the

heart and soul of what a designer is, and does I love this question so much because I believe that technology has a place. I don't believe that, and you have to know that I am the grassroots. Touch it, paint it. I still do hand renderings of my spaces. If I do anything digitally, I have a graphic designer that helps me assemble but I very much believe there is a place for technology. The most important thing that we have to understand is that our rendering is not the truth, and that just because the squares line up and just because the measurements on this piece of paper seem to make sense, it doesn't always make sense. So we have to remember that technology is still something that's not a feeling. It's something there to help us as a guide. It's something there to inspire us and get us moving. But the most important thing is that you touch something. You experience it. You go sit on something, you walk into the room, you lay it out, you feel it. Because feeling a room or feeling how something is put together is the most important thing, because the path to hell was paved with with good intentions, and that's what AI is for me. Sometimes you could look at something on a piece of paper, and it seems like a great idea, but that's a theory. It's not real. So we have to remember that where we live is the real world. So really get that fabric sample. Really touch that wallpaper. Really

6000 wallpaper swaths.

That's right, go to the shop and get all the samples. Yeah. Caitlin,

what is one thing Tiffany that you do for yourself to feel good? What's a Tiffany thing you do for Tiffany?

Tiffany, does anyone know The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, it's a book in the 90s, anybody? So I got a hold of that book when I was in my 20s, and when I was 28 going through a very hard time, I started doing Julia Cameron's morning pages, which is three long hand written out just brain dumps every day. And I'm a better person when I do that. So when I

go getting up and writing, getting

up and writing three long hand pages on a really good day, I do Transcendental Meditation 20 minutes. I love walking on the beach with my dog popping and my husband Zach and you know, the most important thing is to choose your thoughts. We all have an opportunity to lend our days and what we're doing with our own thoughts. Our minds are very powerful. So to choose to win that day, to choose to make a difference, to choose to perform a mitzvah, to choose joy, to choose something that's going to make my my purpose on this earth, that day worth something. So if it goes up the street and I can make someone smile or do something nice that matters to me, and that's something I do for myself. Because when you do something for others, you do something for you, in my opinion, exactly.

Tiffany, Pratt, everybody.

Pratt,

thank you. Love you. Caitlin, you're taking us into we're gonna we get novel ladies out here on the stage. What's happening all of our guests? Jully . Back up here. We

want Arlene.

Arlene

Dickinson and Jully . There they Okay, here they come.

So this whole thing with the cards? Okay, there are six cards in the audience, six little I don't know what's happening, that have a number on it, and it says the word game. I don't

know what's

whatever your card says if you have a number

trade for numbers should be one to six,

yeah, we want numbers 123, in this corner with Matt,

yeah,

come on down

and we want numbers.

You're

the more

fantastic over here in this corner

with

my other Junior producer, Dan,

there are prizes involved. So if you're feeling a little shy, you'll get something. And

do we have hands up? Do we have all people? Because if we need to assign a few extras,

we can get volunteers too. Okay,

one time on this side, and 456, on this side. Okay,

okay.

121, okay, 345, yep, yep. You're gonna come on, yeah, come on. We're here

for now.

Whoops. Okay,

amazing. Do we have six, or are we short too?

Okay. Are you coming down? People

are

scared. They're scared.

So I'm gonna pick someone. I'm picking a random person.

Oh, hands up. If you want to do Sarah will

pick There you go. All right, and I'm just gonna say these prizes are fierce. They're so good. We are. We are doing a guy. The girls

like over to you, welcome.

Thank you for doing this.

Yeah, okay, who

do we have over here? We're gonna do intros here.

Yeah,

come on. So I'm gonna start on this end here. Hello. I'm Sarah. What's your name? Sarah? I'm Brenda, and I'm only Jen, Brenda and only Jan. And are you from Toronto? I'm from Muskoka. Thanks. Oh,

I didn't mean anything by Muskoka,

okay, sir. Sean from Mississauga,

okay, and are you an only Jen?

I am not

time to think about that. Okay.

Daphne from Oakville. Bronte, great to meet you guys and only Jen,

another? Only Jen.

Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay,

on

that side,

I'm gonna let Caitlin do some intros. Oh my gosh.

We have quite the threesome here. Okay, so we have a birthday in the house. Yes, happy birthday. Happy 60th birthday too, Deirdre. Oh my gosh, Deirdre, happy birthday. Happy birthday. Lovely. Okay, and now we have no birthday but a gorgeous outfit from Blanca. And you okay? This is a funny, small world media thing. You are none other than Miss. Jodi Decker, hi, Jodi Decker. Is here. Hi, Jodi. Okay. Number two, we did not rig this, by the way. Yeah, we didn't. We didn't. Okay, so we have our players. This is a very simple game. It's called only Jans. No. Only

Jans, no,

yeah. And so if you don't know that's what we call our Patreon subscribers, is the only Jans, which is a kind of deviated play on only fans.

Quick. Think actually, if you scan the back of your card, any of those cards in the audience, it'll take you to tell you more about becoming an only Jann we have a book club. We're about to give away a lot of books also. But Jann cartoon, participates. She's like the first one on the Zoom every month. She's all excited to discuss the book. So that's one tier. Sometimes

I hate the book, sometimes I love the books. Yeah, we each take turns picking a book every month. It's been a really amazing experience. And you

get an extra episode a week, etc. So

so with the admin aside, so we now, so there's going to be six questions, and it's just a trivia question, either about one of us on the show or about one of our lovely guests, and you just yell it out, and we'll try to figure out who the first person to get. So

you guys got to help us. Yeah, whatever out first.

Yeah. And I know that, like you know you guys are just spending time together, but for your own questions about you, we're probably going to throw to you guys to see what the answer is.

So that's

like, pay attention. Pay attention. Kids. Clock in, and then once you've won your prize, then you can return to your seat. And then thank you for joining us. Okay, so we will start. This is our do

we have all the bags? We've got all the bags right here.

Okay,

there we go. Lovely. You can bring them all. You can just put them on.

Arlene is saying to me, why the hell am I here? Just

wait. She

would like to go to bed now, please.

She's like, I can feel my word I said

was I'm so confused.

When you hear the questions about you, you'll be like, Yeah, okay, it's trivia. Okay. So this is our, fittingly, the first question will be our Arlene question so she can go home immediately. The question is, on what show did Arlene Dickinson become a household name?

Oh, Jeopardy.

Okay, that

you're the winner. You're

the first bag. Over there. Okay, over

there. You were late on your answer. Arlene late on your answer.

Okay.

Your goal.

I hope so.

Congratulations. Okay, thank you so much for There you

go. Enjoy that, and don't let me see that on Facebook marketplace in two hours.

Okay,

cuz I'll know I'm on there every night looking for pizza.

Caitlin,

you want everyone just yelling the answer? Right?

Yeah. Everyone just yelled the answer. First one to yell at, loudest and clearest is who we'll go to. Okay, so the next is our Jully  question. Jully  black famously performed the Canadian national anthem at which sports all star event. Oh yeah, you got that birthday girl gets the Jully  gift. Okay, here you go. Happy birthday. Okay, great.

She got in the bag.

Now our Tiffany question,

okay,

wrong girl.

What is Tiffany Pratt, known as the Queen of

color? Oh,

yeah, you got that? Okay, all right, congratulations to Jody. Here's the Tiffany so shy.

Okay, congratulations. No pressure

for our last three here. But don't worry, everyone wins a prize. I was

gonna say, as you may have said, so everyone truly is

like being picked last for volleyball. Did

anyone hear the news about the Toronto spring Bank Community High School? Sorry. Okay, this is our Jann question. What phrase does Jann often use to kick off our show?

Kick off. Kick

off. The show. Off the show.

What does she say to kick off our podcast? Oh, someone just said it in the audience. You got clues. You can hear what she said. Say

it again. Say it again. Gracious. Good day.

We got what she said. She did.

She forced

her

to say it. So wait, which one's Maddie? Which one's the Jan

one?

No, that you're right. It's very good in the game, Arlene, she's in the audience.

So now, as it gets harder, feel free in the audience to yell it out, but one of you guys have to listen and then yell it out. Okay? So what

I would give you a prize.

What is the name of Caitlin's me current event and pop culture segment on the show called

scrolling,

close, close. I feel like we got it over here first. This game has gone

awry. It's okay, scrolling.

Okay.

Listen, these things never turn out the way you think they're gonna turn out.

The last

bag looks biggest anyway.

I

wanted to pin a nylon with an orange in it between my legs and just knock shit over we've

already

but they said, Oh no, that game is not age appropriate. It

was like a bachelor game. We did Blanca for being such a good sport. We're just gonna give you the Yeah.

Well, we got one thing left to give away.

There you go.

The departure fest went crazy on the flowers. Well, I appreciate you so much. Enjoy that. Don't let me see that on Etsy in two hours,

if I have to pay for that, Jan, I'm voicing it back to you. Listen.

I think that's what just happened.

So Liz, we have a couple minutes left, and we have all of our guests on stage. Any final things you want to ask?

Arlene,

what has kept you here so long,

it's okay to be confused. It really is. You guys. Do you guys want to do this as a regular show, like maybe once a month? We can, I

think once a month, if we're on a beach, we get someone that we do some sort of tourism, something somewhere, we get to bring plus threes.

I like Jully  black. What is something that

has a moment to you want to talk to you about right now?

What is something that people don't know about Jully  black, just something that you love to do? We know about the steppen Because you and I are the same. We have such a drive for physical fitness, you and I. But what is, what is the one thing that people may not know about you? Do you have, like, a crazy interest that you love doing? Are you a cook? Do you love the movies? Are you a big reader?

Oh, that's Yeah, I think that I that I like to dance naked, me too, sister. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I like, I don't like to wear clothes. Was a lot I'm saying, yeah, if I could beat him,

No, I think that's fantastic. And really fantastic for that gentleman right there.

Like I am, I am confused again. I have you never. You never died, snake. I have never done well. You got homework? No, I know,

but there's still time. No, Tiffany, have you ever danced naked?

Come on Arlene,

raise your hands if you don't want to see me dancing,

nobody raised their Hands.

Tonight's the night Arlene. Tonight's the night

I am not taking off my shirt.

Okay, it's

called liberation.

I'm just gonna keep this on the rails. I

have never been more disappointed.

We have less than five minutes left. Thank

God

I want, I want to know one thing we might not know because we just asked Jully  from Arlene and Tiffany as well, and then we're gonna wrap her up. Okay, Tiffany, we're

cross pollinating. You go,

what is something? What is something no one would know about you? Something we might not know.

I'm

never down naked. What's something nobody would know about me?

Yeah, do

you have any like interests that are secretly, private, that you want to like at this point in your life? Let us all know. Like, do you collect things?

Do you like death metal? We're gonna give you a minute to think.

And I feel like you've had some time to think about

this, nobody would know that I actually have a really good sense of humor.

You do have a good sense of humor. You're so funny. People are asking me about like, what's the biggest laugh you've had? We have laughed our asses off, oh my god, at the expense of others, which is always

okay TIFF, I would say that what people probably wouldn't know about me or think about I'm very I like to be alone. I like to be quiet. I'm shy, introverted. In the end. I know it sounds kind of nuts, but I do. I like to be Jan. You know this? I

do know this.

I do when it's all said and done, I've done my thing in the world. I like to just get in my little glitter, sweet. You know, the sweetest

glitter,

the glittery, the bra is off, the jammers are on. Lips closed, quiet, bird singing, chill. And on

that note, it is almost time for jammers. Oh yeah. So I think, I think this is where we're gonna do our show, goodbye,

yeah, and

there's a very specific

What if I don't want to say goodbye, what if I don't want to go?

Does anyone are they gonna do about it? Does anyone have the cane from I know I'm joking, but this is it comes from your mother. This, this saying, the way that you end the show. My

mother always said it. I have no idea why. I don't know if it's a family thing people. I don't even know if it's a real word, but first of all, I do want to thank our guests, Tiffany Pratt, Jully  black, Arlene Dickinson, and as always, my huge thanks to Caitlin green, Sarah Burke, it's been just lovely Working with these women over the past few years, and just, I'm very proud of them. And if I had kids and I could be their mother,

don't make me cry,

I'd be, I'd be very proud to have you guys as my people, and we're your, ya know, I mean that, and, oh, I want you to say that one thing, because you and Kyle were having a conversation, and it kind of is fitting with our Mother's Day theme that we've suddenly hit upon.

It is. And I was like, I don't know if it's my recently reduced Zoloft dosage, but it made me it squished my heart to steal like a phrase that you use all the time. Kyle said that he came across something online, and it was someone saying that, you know, when they really sat down and thought about it, the world was entirely filled with mothers and their children. And it just about blew my head off, because it's the it's a simple statement, but it is so true, and it made me look at everything and everyone very differently, especially like having a toddler myself. So yeah, for in to all the moms, to all the moms out there, and to all the children,

absolutely. But once again, huge thanks to our guests, and, of course, to you guys and our only Jans, you can stream the podcast on your favorite streamers, whether it's Amazon or Spotify or iTunes or wherever this

is going out on the worldwide.

You can watch it naked. I.

It.

Okay, everybody up. Everybody

up. Thanks for listening. That's all for now. Toodle do.

And if you know how we end the show, if you know how we end the show, Jen on the count of three, how do we end this thing?

Toodly do, okay, no. Count

of three. Totally do. Oh.

Arlene did not think this was being recorded for a podcast.

Surprise

start, have your lawyer call Sarah.

Thanks for coming.

Thanks for departure fast. We'll see you next time

you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai