Sneak Peek: Larry King on The Hour

Make sure you tune into The Hour on Thursday, May 28th for George's interview with broadcast legend Larry King. I was in the studio when they pretaped this interview last Friday when King was in town to promote his new biography, and I have to say that I think this is one of George's best interviews.

A few stills from the interview:

Here's a quick tease from the interview:

Thanks to The Hour for providing the stills and the video.

Remember, The Hour airs on the Main CBC Network at 11pm local time. You'll also be able to catch this interview on Friday on CBC Newsworld at 8pm. And don't forget to check out cbc.ca/thehour!

After the interview, come back and let us know what you think. Cheers!

The Week of May 25-May 29

So are you easing into the summer groove? Finding the best patio in your city for a cold beverage after a long day of work? What's your summer plan? Well don't stray too far yet... the Strombo Show and The Hour are still rocking the house.

Sunday, May 24

Tune into the Strombo Show on the Corus Radio network from 5-8 EDT, to help ease your way back into the dreariness of the work week.

Monday, May 25th

A recent Toronto Star article labels environmentalist James Lovelock as "anti-people" because of his assertion that the exploding global population means certain doom for planet earth. His new book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning, Lovelock explores this concept and how mankind's wreckless abandon may be the final nail in the Earth's coffin.

What's your poker face like? Think you'd have what it takes to take on some of the best poker players in the world? Well, at 21 Daniel Negreanu thought he did when he packed up and moved from Toronto to Las Vegas to try his luck. The first trip down there wasn't exactly successful, but he didn't give up and now he's the proud titleholder of 2 World Poker Tour Championships and 4 World Series of Poker bracelets.

Tuesday, May 26th

There comes a point in everyone's life where they just have to take a stand and balk at the status quo. Until a couple months ago, Jeff Rubin was the very successful chief economist and chief strategist at CIBC World Markets with a solid twenty year career behind him. But that all changed when he decided to publish his book Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, a look into the socio-economic impact of rising energy costs, which forced him to leave CIBC and his old career behind.

Appearing in popular films like Wedding Crashers and popular television shows like Nip/Tuck, Bradley Cooper has carved himself a niche in Hollywood. His latest film is the comedy titled The Hangover, and there are rumours swirling around his taking a role in the remake of "The A-Team" and him taking the role of The Green Lantern.

Wednesday, May 27

Founder of the Canadian Film Centre, Norman Jewison is one of a handful of renowned Canadian film directors and producers that Canadians can actually name off the top of their heads. He was recently awarded The National Arts Clubs' Medal of Honour for Film in New York City.

Thursday, May 28

Broadcast legend Larry King was in Toronto last Friday for the only Canadian stop on his book tour promoting his biography My Remarkable Journey. Larry King sat down with George in The Hour studios on Friday. Even if you're not a Larry King fan, make sure you tune in to this interview, it's one of George's best.
Also on the show is musician Steve Earle. His latest CD, Townes, celebrates the songs of Earle's friend and inspiration Townes Van Zandt.

If you're in the Toronto area over the next three weeks, there is still time to pick up tickets to attend a taping of The Hour. Check out The Hour's ticket page for available dates.

It's Doors Open at the CBC in Toronto

This weekend marks the 10th Anniversary of Doors Open Toronto!

If you are not familiar with Doors Open, basically it an opportunity for visitors to explore architecturally, historically, or culturally significant buildings in and around Toronto. This event is part of the much larger Province-wide Doors Open Ontario.

Access to all buildings is free of charge!!

Once again, the CBC Broadcast Centre (250 Front Street West) will be open this Saturday (May 23rd) from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. The following studios will be available for tour:

The Hour

GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS and the show's Executive Producer

will be available from 12-1 to answer questions! As well, you can have a 'behind the scenes' look at The Hour's control room!

CBC Radio One's Q

CBC Sports Weekend

CBC Radio Two Drive

Also, many CBC personalities will be on hand (from 11-2) for a meet and greet. Among them, cast members of The Dragon's Den, The Border, Little Mosque on the Prairie, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and hosts from various CBC News, Sports and Current Affairs Programming.

In addition, there is also a photography exhibition taking place in the Broadcast Centre from May 20-31st. Be sure to check CONTACT: Beyond the Broadcast...a collection of behind-the-scenes shots taken by CBC employees in a nationwide photo competition from two perspectives - Beyond the Broadcast and From the Field.

Bags and boxes of books?

If you follow George Stroumboulopoulos on Twitter or are a facebook friend of his, you may have noticed his recent tweet/status.

George Stroumboulopoulos "Where's the best place to donate a bunch of books in Toronto? Wide variety. Never done this before. Thoughts? #freebooks #springcleaning"

This question elicited a flurry of responses. Library, Books for Charity, Hospitals, Shelters, Schools, Prisons, Churches, Freecycle, Goodwill and other charities.
Even Rick Mercer made a comment of George's status:

Rick Mercer at 9:57pm May 17

Why must you encourage reading. Do you want TV to fail?

It's open for discussion.

What do you do when you read your book, and want to pass it forward?

My thoughts... There is no shame in selling it to a second hand book store. It offers other readers a reduced price book, keeps the shopkeeper employed and you get a little lunch money. Win win! One other idea that is popular in my circles is to put your initials in the book once you read it and put it a bag and everyone brings a bag of books to the friends house when they gather and offer it up for everyone. Like a pot luck reading feast!

I think all these suggestions can work for communities across the country. People replied very quickly to George's initial inquiry with a lot of great ideas and this got me thinking. If we all know where to give our used books to, why are they still in boxes in our storage room? Or maybe that's just me...?
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Here is an inspirational story about going big with the idea of donating books.
One man donated 30,000 books
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Do you think George's main source for books might be from the Authors that he has researched and interviewed over the years? Probably many books from many authors he is never going to interview... what are you keeping George, and what are you giving away?
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On the topic of great authors on The Hour. The Hour's own forum has a lively discussion about them in the Offical Booklist here.

What's up for the week beginning May 17...

By now, most of our readers are likely enjoying the first long weekend of the 'summer ', compliments of a woman named Victoria. Be it beverages on a patio, steaks on the barbeque, taking in a fireworks spectacular or what promises to be a blockbuster, we hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Even with a holiday, the business of radio and television continues on! The week starts with another edition of The Stombo Show. Listen here from 5-8 pm EST.

Coming up on The Hour this week:

Monday, May 18th

New Zealand born, Australian raised and Nashville tweaked, award winning country artist Keith Urban. He has a new CD Defying Gravity. I was contemplating making a naughty comment about the CD's title...but I'll just say this, Keith is my favourite of Nicole Kidman's husbands that have appeared on The Hour...this is the other one.

Freelance journalist and the author of Fight Club, Choke and Pygmy, Chuck Palahniuk.

Tuesday, May 19th

"It was for self-preservation. I got sick of taking him to the park and sitting there for hours freezing to death." ~ Walter Gretzky, Canada's most famous hockey dad, on building an ice rink for his son.

Q: If Mr. Gretzky built an ice rink for his son Wayne, do you think Mr. Fraser ever gave his daughter Sheila an abacus?

Whether she had an abacus or not, Quebec native Sheila Fraser has done quite well as Canada's first female Auditor General since her installation in 2001. All joking aside, Ms. Fraser's job is a very important one. Put simply, she makes sure that public money is being spent appropriately, as intended. On May 12th, Fraser's office released the Spring Audit Report.

Wednesday, May 20th

Making a return visit to The Hour, The Amazing Kreskin. If you missed his last appearance, it can be viewed here.

Also, there is to be another guest on the show this day. However, as this post is being written, we have no confirmation as to just who that will be. Hmmmm...I wonder if Kreskin knows?!?!

Thursday, May 21st

New York Yankees outfielder #18, Johnny Damon.

The current Deputy Chair of the TD Financial Group, former New Brunswick Premier and Ambassador to the US, Frank McKenna.

Friday, May 22nd

To end the week, the 'best of' show':

Actor Adrien Brody.

Comedian John Pinette.

Author Christopher Hitchens.

In other news...

This season of The Hour is winding down. BUT, tickets are still available!

Should the Canadian government get involved?

For those of you interested in participating, The Hour's Forum has a fascinating discussion going on in regards to the Toronto Sri Lanka protest that took place on Monday.
'Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka, Toronto Protests'

Personally, I don't condone that they "distrupted" highway traffic or that they brought/used their children to bring about media attention, however, I do appreciate that they brought to light the war in Sri Lanka to the Canadian masses. I knew of, but very little about the situation as a whole & though I may not agree with how they went about it, I am glad to be more informed, which I do believe was their intent.

Here's a CBCnews.ca account of the story.
The National's broadcast from May 11 (Starts about a minute into it). In particular an interview with Melanie Brooks, a Canadian in the CARE camps for the displaced people in Northern Sri Lanka (4:35 into it).

Searching around the net, I found a couple of informative links from the Tamil's perspective:
*Tamilnation.org
*Stop Sri Lanka State Terrorism

**Please note that some of the images/statements shown through these links may be extremely disturbing to viewers.

The Season is going by so fast!

Sunday May 10th, 2009

(Happy Mothers Day!)

The Strombo Show
The Edge 102.1 (Toronto) The Fox 99.3 (Vancouver)
Power 97 (Winnipeg) Y108 (Hamilton) FM96 (London)

5-8 EST every Sunday
This week George Stroumboulopoulos has his friend Jeremy Taggart on the show to chat and play some tunes.
{Jeremy Ronald John Taggart, born April 7, 1975 (1975-0, is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace.}
You can tune in and listen with us for The Strombo Show experience, watch the live webcam (featuring Amanda ) and share some conversations in the chat room.

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If I count this right, there are only 20 more scheduled tapings at the CBC Studios in Toronto of The Hour this season!Want free tickets ? Tickets become available to book about two weeks in advance.
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On The Hour this week

Monday May 11, 2009 -
The Hour will be preempted for Hockey Night in Canada Round Two – Conference Semi Finals Game 6 – Vancouver @ Chicago

If they do show The Hour on Monday it will be
Dr. David Waltner-Towes Speaks about the Swine Flu epidemic
Also on the show
Cultural activist of 'The Yes Men' - Andy Bichlbaum (Repeat)

Tuesday May 12, 2009
This show was preempted last week because of hockey playoffs. It will air this Tuesday instead, so I will just borrow the words Tracy used last week to describe tonight guests
Christopher Hitchens Famed for his Atheist themed writings, he's always provocative and often polarizing... Christopher Hitchens returns to The Hour. A contributing writer to Vanity Fair and author of 'God is Not Great', love him or hate him, Hitchens is an interesting chat.

And the Prize winning author you have been looking forward to hearing from

Joseph Boyden

It doesn't get much more prestigious in Canadian literature that to be the recipient of the coveted Scotiabank Giller Prize but Boyden has done it. In 2008 his novel about the Aboriginal experience living in urban centres 'Through Black Spruce' achieved that honour.

Wednesday May 13, 2009 -
George talks to Author and investigative journalist Terry Gould -

understanding why journalists die for stories -

Also on the show

world famous illusionist and magic man- Ricky Jay
He is promoting his one man show May. 14/09 - May. 16/09 in Toronto.

Thursday May 14, 2009 -

“The Shack,” written by William P. Young , a former office manager and hotel night clerk in Gresham, Ore., and privately published by a pair of former pastors near Los Angeles, into a surprise best seller. The Author is on the Hour.

& the outrageous Razzie winning prankster

Tom Green
I know you are asking why Tom Green? I hear you!
George was on his show so why not reciprocate?

Friday May 15, 2009
The Best of ...
Actor - Corbin Bernsen, plus The very talented comedian Martin Short

Plus award winning Armenian Canadian filmmaker -
Atom Egoyan
*I note that all the guests this week are men. More than half of them are Canadian.
Is it the week the Women went?

We Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming.

Sunday brings so many things... a desire to sleep in, perhaps a brunch featuring strong coffee and good friends. In Radioland, Sunday brings The Strombo Show for 3 hours of good music, interesting chat and perhaps even a live performance for good measure. Tune in From 5-8pm on the Corus Radio network or Listen online HERE.

Meanwhile, back on the Tube....

You couldn't avoid in the many CBC Promos. Hockey season is thankfully winding down and so for your viewing pleasure, The Hour will return to it's normal time slot at 11pm with all new interviews.

As well, tune in to see a week long Serial or 'Everything You Wanted to Know' on the topic of Identity Theft and Computer Fraud featuring youthful Canadian hacker extrordinaire - Mafiaboy. My key question... if someone steals my identity, are they liable to pay the balance on my Mastercard? Pretty please? Monday May 4th

Dr. David Waltner-Towes

Remember the good old days when only Michael Jackson wore a surgical mask in public? Swine flu is top of mind these days. Is the situation truly an epidemic headed to a pandemic? What are the true origins? The good Doctor will likely have much to say about Canada's preparedness. As a Professor at the University of Guelph, expert in the field of food borne illness and the author of 'Food, Sex and Salmonella', I'm sure all hope for a frank yet ultimately reassuring discussion.

Tuesday May 5th

Bruce Greenwood

Some actors have it. The swagger. The presence. Bruce Greenwood has it in spades. Whether he's in a small indie picture or a big budget studio film, the man owns the screen. He's worked to great acclaim in collaboration with another of this week's guests - Atom Egoyan in Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter. I still love his turn as a man who gets what's coming to him in 'Double Jeopardy'. Oh yes.. he's also in some little 2009 release called Star Trek.

Nandan Nilekani

Software entrepreneur, Chairperson of Infosys Technologies and author of Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, Mr. Nilekani is a powerful force for change in the economy of India. In a world where there's still a lack of understanding of how India impacts our markets and global competitiveness, this promises to be a telling discussion.

Wednesday May 6th

Atom Egoyan

Brilliantly talented Canadian writer and Director Atom Egoyan's work is never mainstream, yet incredibly accessible should you give his movies a chance. From Exotica to The Sweet Hereafter and many more films, Egoyan paints stories in his own unique style.

His latest is Adoration which looks phenomenal. Most recently he wrapped shooting on Chloe starring Liam Neeson. Egoyan has publicly praised Neeson's professionalism and commitment to the movie in the wake of his return to complete his final scenes mere days after the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson.
Daniel Sekulich

As informed as folks try to be, I can't be alone at my initial surprise at the many recent incidences and desperate actions taken by these modern day pirates. It's 2009 after all! To put some perspective on this, author of 'Terror on the Seas: True Tales of Modern Day Pirates', Daniel Sekulich will take to the Red Chair.


Thursday May 7th

Christopher Hitchens

Famed for his Atheist themed writings, he's always provocative and often polarizing... Christopher Hitchens returns to The Hour. A contributing writer to Vanity Fair and author of 'God is Not Great', love him or hate him, Hitchens is an interesting chat.

Joseph Boyden

It doesn't get much more prestigious in Canadian literature that to be the recipient of the coveted Scotiabank Giller Prize but Boyden has done it. In 2008 his novel about the Aboriginal experience living in urban centres 'Through Black Spruce' achieved that honour.

Friday May 8th

Friday brings an encore performance of some highlights of some recent interviews you may have missed the first go-round.

Bruce Greenwood

A rerun of Tuesday's chat...

Diana Krall

Not just Mrs. Elvis Costello, songstress, proud mom and Chatelaine Cover Girl Diana Krall makes a return visit. Her new Album 'Quiet Nights' - much more mellow than previous efforts is another huge hit.

Lewis Black

The maniacally funny comedian who got his big break on 'The Daily Show', this interview is high energy as expected. A couple fun factsfor you? Black's elderly dad is a boob man and the photo below is his Driver's Licence photo. Okay, okay, only ONE of those statements is true.

Hope everyone has a great week and enjoys these new shows!

Going Globally Green -- Update YOUR OMAG Account!

You did it Canada! We've been leading the way on helping to Green our Environment, One Act at a Time and the momemtum continues on...

As of May 1st, together we've registered 1,498,940 Acts of Green saving 87,340,224 KG of Greenhouse gasses. Based on the overwhelming success of the One Million Acts of Green initiative, OMAOG is going global with the continued support of Cisco (no, not the Thong Song guy -- the company) and GreenNexxus.

This will necessitate a change for those of you who've already registered your acts and are continuing to help this cause. You need to do one little thing -- transfer your account to the Global site from the Canadian one because as of Canada Day (July 1st, 2009) the Canadian site will no longer be active.

I'm proposing an challenge to you, which I will be doing myself. It's easy as 1,2,3!

1) Transfer my account to the new site
2) Register more acts that I've added since I last logged on
3) Get one more friend to sign up and register THEIR own Acts of Green

If even a small number of participants do this - we'll be at 1.5 Million Acts by the weekend!

Here's the text you would have recieved in your inbox...


The CBC/One Million Acts of Green program is expiring on July 1, 2009.





This isn’t the end though. On the contrary, we see it as just the beginning. Due to the overwhelming success of the website mainly from users like yourself, Cisco and GreenNexxus are now bringing you the Global One Million Acts of Green Site.

You already participated and helped Canada achieve its goal of One Million Acts. Now you have the opportunity to have your acts count as part of a global initiative. Don’t let the momentum stall; let’s show the rest of the world that Canada was only the beginning.

With 1.5 million acts recorded and almost 400 million pounds of green house gases saved, we are well on our way to making a global difference. To avoid any interruption in your profile and have your Acts of Green count towards the new site, please transfer your account to the Global One Million Acts of Green site brought to you by Cisco powered by GreenNexxus.



The global site has great new content and a great new feel. The front page gives you the opportunity to instantly view videos from Al Gore and NBA star Steve Nash. Transferring your account also gives you access to our weekly newsletter, featuring articles and blogs from authors such as David Suzuki, Peter Corbyn and Adam Kreek.



This is a onetime transfer; you will not need to transfer your account again.



Cisco has extended its supported for One Million Acts of Green to reach into the United States then beyond. GreenNexxus is the eco-conscious site that will be powering this endeavour.



To transfer your account, simply click on the link and follow the instructions.




http://www.greennexxus.com/omaog/us/evergreen.aspx?7573657249443D3437363326%3d436F756E74727949443D30> > After you transfer your account, you will still be able to use your Canadian account on http://green.cbc.ca/ until July 1st, 2009.



Thank You,



The GreenNexxus One Million Acts of Green Team