Q: The Podcast From Cbc Radio

You probably didn’t expect the bestselling author of “The Notebook” and the acclaimed director of “The Sixth Sense” to start working together, but you’ll be glad that they did. Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan have collaborated on a supernatural love story that’s being released as a novel first, followed by a movie next year. It’s called “Remain” and it follows a grieving architect who moves to Cape Cod and meets a mysterious woman. Nicholas joins Tom Power to talk about the book, his deep love for horror, and how he almost collaborated with Night on the movie adaptation of “The Notebook.”

Leith Ross is a Juno-nominated singer-songwriter whose music blew up on TikTok during the pandemic. Now, they’ve released their sophomore album, “I Can See The Future,” which sees them embracing radical optimism to envision a better world. Leith sits down with Tom Power to talk about building community even when it’s hard, and why they opted for a quieter life in Winnipeg after getting their big break.

On the 30th anniversary of Blue Rodeo’s best selling album “Five Days in July,” bandmates Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor join Tom to recall how they found refuge in Greg’s Ontario farmhouse to create a Canadian masterpiece.

Natalie MacMaster is a virtuoso Canadian fiddle player from Cape Breton who’s brought traditional East Coast music to the rest of the world. She was nine when she got her first fiddle, but she felt like she already had nine years of experience at that point because she had been surrounded by fiddle music from the time she was born. Now, Natalie has released a new memoir, “I Have a Love Story,” which traces her incredible life in music. She sits down with Tom Power to talk about that first fiddle she got at nine, the advice Santana gave her when she broke a string on stage, and how to get your kids to practice the fiddle (she has seven children herself).

For nearly three decades, Boston’s Dropkick Murphys have been the loud, proud voice of working class punk. They’re the kind of band that’s stood for something since day one. But these days, even their crowds aren’t immune to the polarizing divides running through America. Knowing full well it might turn some fans away, frontman Ken Casey has been speaking out from the stage. Following the release of the band’s 13th studio album, “For the People,” Ken joins Tom Power to talk about the history of Dropkick Murphys, their longevity and why he refuses to stay quiet.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

What do you do after you’ve released three albums that have all been nominated for or won the biggest music prize in your home country? Well, for the English rock band Wolf Alice, they decided to wander down a path leading to Laurel Canyon. On their beautiful and expansive new album, “The Clearing,” Wolf Alice drop (some of) the guitars and venture into a multi-harmonic landscape alongside Greg Kurstin, one of the biggest pop producers in the world. Lead singer Ellie Rowsell and bassist Theo Ellis sit down with Tom Power to reflect on their career and what it was like opening for Harry Styles.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

What does it mean to be a descendant and a future ancestor at the same time? In her latest book of poetry, “procession,” katherena vermette aims to answer that question for herself — and she just might inspire you to think about it, too. katherena is an award-winning, critically acclaimed Michif (Red River Métis) writer from Winnipeg, whose work spans poetry and fiction, but almost always takes on themes of family, intergenerational relationships, and the ties that bind us together. She joins Tom Power to talk about her new collection, and how parts of it were inspired by looking at old family photos.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Two years ago, Rush frontman and bassist Geddy Lee joined Tom Power to talk about his memoir, “My Effin’ Life.” He discussed his experience as the son of Holocaust survivors, dropping out of high school, and what he remembers about the late Neil Peart’s audition to be the band’s drummer.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted, American Dad!) is a man of many voices. For more than 25 years, he’s voiced Peter and Stewie Griffin, Brian the dog, and their neighbour Quagmire on “Family Guy,” the adult animated sitcom he created back in 1999. But when Seth’s not recording a character for TV and film, he’s recording music. Now, the five-time Grammy-nominated vocalist is back with his ninth album, "Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements.” Seth joins Tom Power to talk about finding a treasure trove of unrecorded Sinatra songs, learning how to sing like Sinatra, and how he feels about the situation between Jimmy Kimmel and the FCC.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Canadian film mogul Robert Lantos has spent his career bringing Canadian movies and TV shows to the screen. In fact, some say he kick-started the whole industry. Producing films for the likes of Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley, Robert has truly shaped Canadian cinema over the last 50 years. He sits down with Tom Power to talk about his latest project, “Rise of the Raven,” which is a historical drama about the Hungarian army battling the Ottomans. Robert also tells us how his first film nearly caused a riot when the censors ordered a sex scene to be cut, and what his mother said when he made a movie about her family’s past.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

What if the bad guy in your nightmare didn’t chase you, but tried to tickle you to death? That’s just one of the Inuit legends reimagined by the throat singing duo PIQSIQ on their haunting new album, “Legends.” Back in the summer, sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay of PIQSIQ joined Tom Power to talk about the record and why they’re embracing Inuit traditions in non-traditional ways. Plus, they set up their new song, “Mahaha: Tickling Demon.”Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Comedian Alex Edelman has had an exciting past couple of years. He won a Tony and an Emmy for his acclaimed Broadway show “Just For Us,” which then became an HBO comedy special. It recounts his experience as a Jewish man covertly attending a meeting of white nationalists in New York, and it earned him a spot on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2024. Now, Alex stars and writes on the new series “The Paper,” which is a loose spin-off of the hit sitcom “The Office.” He joins Tom Power to talk about his work and why joking about something doesn't mean you don't take it seriously. Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Maggie Andrew is one of the most exciting artists coming out of the East Coast right now. She drops by our studio to set up the title track off her new EP, “How To Sing For Money.” Plus, she talks about the tension between art and commerce, and how to keep the magic of making music alive. Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input! 

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer, Peaky Blinders) doesn’t like to do a lot of interviews — that’s what people say. The Oscar-winning Irish actor now stars in the new Netflix movie, “Steve,” which follows a head teacher at a last-chance reform school. It’s set in the mid-1990s, over the course of one critical day in the life of a student named Shy. During this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Cillian sat down with Tom Power to talk about the film, doing right by overworked teachers and why he’s reluctant to talk about his work.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

Alyson Stoner is one of the most recognizable former child actors of the mid-2000s. They got their big break starring as “the little white girl” in the music video for Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” before eventually appearing in successful film franchises like “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Camp Rock.” But in their new memoir, "Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything," Alyson exposes the dark realities of child stardom, from working 80 hours a week at age eight, to learning how to distinguish fan mail from kidnapping plots, to eating disorders. They join Tom Power to talk about rebuilding their life.Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!

Celebrated filmmaker and actor Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Oppenheimer) did something outside his comfort zone when he made his latest film, “The Smashing Machine” — he directed it without his brother, Josh. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt, the film tells the true story of former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. During this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Benny sat down with Tom Power to talk about his first foray into directing on his own two feet, what it was like working with The Rock, and why mixed martial arts is more than just pure aggression.

Back in 1967, Igor Stravinsky, the legendary classical composer, ignored his doctors’ advice and conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in what would turn out to be his final public performance ever. Now, the TSO is honouring that concert and Stravinsky’s legacy with a new recording of his 1920 ballet, “Pulcinella.” Gustavo Gimeno, the orchestra’s music director, joins Tom Power to tell us about the record and why it was such a big deal for Stravinsky to do this performance.

For more than five decades, Canadian acting legend Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Killers of the Flower Moon) has worked tirelessly to bring nuanced Indigenous stories to the stage and screen — and she says there’s no turning back now. Back in June, Tantoo joined Tom Power to reflect on her remarkable career, and why she’ll never stop advocating for authenticity and accuracy when it comes to Indigenous representation.

As a kid growing up in Nipissing, Ont., Christian Allaire dreamed of being part of the glamorous world that he saw in his mother’s Vogue magazines. Now, he’s the senior fashion and style writer at Vogue in New York. Christian writes about that incredible journey in his new memoir, “From the Rez to the Runway.” Earlier this year, he sat down with Tom Power to talk about the book and how he learned to embrace his Ojibwe identity as his cool factor.

Sebastian Gaskin is a musician from Tataskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba who fuses his culture with R&B, rock and pop music. Earlier this year, he joined Tom Power to talk about his debut album, “Lovechild,” how he came around to embrace his Indigenous identity in his art, and why writing joyful and hopeful songs is just as important to him as writing political songs.