House Of Crouse

This week on the Richard Crouse Show podcast we meet Ansley Simpson, a Toronto-based Anishinaabe singer-songwriter. Nominated for two Indigenous Music Awards and winner of “Best New Artist," on November 6 and November 12, she appears as part of the 13-episode AMPLIFY series on APTN. The show has a fascinating premise… invite an Indigenous songwriter to find a piece of Indigenous inspiration (whether it be a book, art piece, belief, etc.) and write a song about it. Then from his home in London , England via Zoom, New York Times–bestselling author Simon Beecroft joins us to talk about his latest, "The Peanuts Book: A Visual History of the Iconic Comic Strip." In this celebration of Schulz and his beloved work, explore rarely seen sketches, influential comic strips, and collectors’ artifacts. Pore over evolving artworks of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the gang. Chart the rich history of Peanuts as it grew to become the world’s favorite comic, and travel from 1950 to the present day, from California to Japan. Eve

This week on The Richard Crouse Show Podcast we are joined by Sam Roberts who joins us via Zoom from his home in Montreal. His band, the aptly named Sam Roberts Band has been nominated for fourteen Juno Awards, they’ve won six, including Artist of the Year twice. They’ve been very busy since the world pressed pause back in March.  The band’s song ‘We’re All in this Together’ became an anthem of sorts for various promos featuring frontline workers and Canadians alike. They put the finishing touches on their new album and played a part in each and every charitable opportunity they could to help artists and Canadians across the board. Sam Roberts Band have a new album called ‘All of Us’, the first in 4 years Then, Ethan Lou is a journalist whose work has appeared in in the Globe and Mail, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, the Walrus and the Washington Post. He has broken stories about the Canadian spy agency’s secret briefing to parliament, the snubbing of Sri Lanka by the country’s prime minister and the possi

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle who stops by to talk about his new book "All Together Now" and tell us why St. John's has one of the best pub cultures in North America. Then Jake Clemons, saxophone player for the E Street Band discusses his Uncle Clarence and working with Bruce Springsteen.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: Chart topping songs like "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and "Coming Around" and albums like album, "The Man Who," which spent nine weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart, made Scottish rock legends Travis one of the most interesting bands of the last few decades. They are back with an emotionally charged & deeply heartfelt ninth studio album simply called "10 Songs." it’s a record about life’s challenges and how love can help weather those trials and tribulations. Joining me today is Travis lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Fran Healy on Skype. He’s been called one of the UK’s finest songwriting exports.  Then "Aladdin" star Mena Mossaud stops by to chat up hius new book "Evolving Vegan." Finally, Halifax-based Rich Aucoin’s fourth studio album, “United States,” is available now wherever you legally buy or download music on sites like bandcamp. He has been long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize twice and has built a reputation for putting on some of best

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: This year is the 20th anniversary of Reelworld, a festival founded by my guest Tonya Williams, to showcase films, animation, shorts, music videos, industry panels and awards from racially diverse and indigenous filmmakers and media artists.  Missing this year are the parties and galas as ReelWorld has adapted to the pandemic and moved on line. The entire festival will be online - with live webinars from Oct. 14 to 19. They are also promoting www.accessreelworld.ca - which is now the largest national database for Canadian Black, Indigenous, People of Colour in the Creative Industries. Tonya Williams joins me from her home in Los Angeles. Then, "Aladdin" star Mena Massoud joins me to talk about his new project, a book called "Evolving Vegan."

On the October 4, 2020 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet former Rough Trade keyboardist and “High School Confidential” co-writer Kevan Staples on the occasion of the song being inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, Then, Ace Frehley, former guitarist for KISS swings by to talk KISS Koffins and the release of his new solo album "Origins Vol. 2." Finally, we talk to Steve Earle, a Grammy award winning singer-songwriter, a record producer, author and actor whose song Copperhead Road is still a jukebox favorite thirty-three years after it made him a superstar. Earle Zooms in from his home in Tennessee to talk about how his new album “Ghosts of West Virginia” might bridge the political gap.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we talk about one of the most enduring Canadian rock and roll hit of all time. John Picard of The Kings said, “We never made a million dollars, but we had a song that people love and has stood the test of time.” 40 years ago The KIngs released their Bob Ezrin produced debut album, “The Kings Are Here” on the US major label Elektra Records. That same month, their smash hit single “This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ to Glide” first entered the Billboard Hot 100. And on August 23rd, 1980, The Kings closed the now-legendary Heatwave Festival, a giant outdoor concert some called "Punk Woodstock" that drew 100,000 people to Mosport Park, just north of Bowmanville, Ontario. The Kings played alongside Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, Nick Lowe and Rockpile, Teenage Head, the B-52’s, and more. The Kings and Teenage Head were the only bands that gave permission to be filmed. As Teenage Head’s audio has disappeared, the only surviving footage of that iconic night is of

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Gloria Kim, writer/director of a new family drama called "Queen of the Morning Calm." In this interview we about the eleven years she spent working to get this story to the screen, How her background in journalism (former Maclean’s reporter) informed the writing of this story, how she guided her eleven year old co-star Eponine Lee through the film’s difficult material and much more. Then, former CTV Toronto crime reporter Tamara Cherry joins the show to talk about her new book, "All the Bumpy Pebbles," a novel based on her reporting of human trafficking cases. Finally, Kevan Staples, former keyboardist for Rough Trade and co-writer of the classic hit "High School Confidential," stops by to talk about the history of the controversial tune.

On the September 12, 2020 edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Jeff Gibbs and Ozzie Zehner, director and producer of the climate change movie “Battle for the Planet of the Humans.” The controversial documentary is a harsh look at how the environmental movement has lost the battle through well-meaning but disastrous choices. Then we spend time with singer-songwriter Hannah Georgas. Her new album, “All That Emotion,” is a lush and lovely record, produced by Aaron Dessner, hot off his work on Taylor Swift’s recent smash, folklore. Here’s some info on The Richard Crouse Show!: Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies an

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Iain Reid the Canadian author of the bestselling novel "I’m Thinking of Ending Things." "I’m Thinking of Ending Things" has been described as a psychological thriller and horror fiction, and is about a young man who takes his girlfriend to see his parents on a remote farm and the disturbing aftermath that follows. It sounds simple, but this is anything but. It’s a story of predetermination and free will that bears up to reading and rereading. It’s now also a Netflix film, directed by Charlie Kaufman, starring stars Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons and Toni Collette. Then, Richard welcomes four very special guests, “Midsommar” director Ari Aster and star Jack Reynor.

Today I spent a chunk of my day going through closets, finding discs of unlabelled photographs and other bits and pieces that have piled up in the nooks and crannies of my house. I came across a set of interviews I did at a rather loud party at the Tavern on the Green in New York City in 2009 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the release of The Wizard of Oz. That day I mixed and mingled with some of the original Munchkins like Karl Slover, who was just two feet tall when he played the first trumpeter, Villager Munchkin Ruth Duccini, member of the Lollipop Guild Jerry Maren and Judy Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft, while enjoying Wizard of Oz themed drinks like the Gin Tornado. But mostly I soaked up the stories from some of the folks who were there when Judy Garland was swept away to a technicolour OZ. Today I banged the interviews together in a podcast, the first project from the newly dubbed Isolation Studios. I enjoyed doing it and somehow the movie makes perfect sense for right now. “Someplace where th

This week on the Richard Crouse Podcast: Today, broadcasting directly from Isolation Studios (a.k.a. my home office) we meet Andrea Dorfman, a filmmaker, animator and artist who joins us via Zoom from her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her films have played at film festivals around the world, won awards and she is back with a new one, now on VOD. “Spinster” stars actor and comedian Chelsea Peretti from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” as a wedding caterer gets dumped on her 39th birthday. Over the next year she builds a new life based on self-empowerment and independence. “Spinster” is being called “the anti-rom-com of the summer,” so I began by asking Andrea Dorfman about subverting the rom com genre… Then country artist Sacha stops by to talk about her EP "The Best Thing." Then, we meet Sam Maggs, an author who joins us via Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. Sam is a bestselling author of books, comics, and video games. She’s been a senior games writer, the author of many YA and middle-grade books, a comics write

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet Kiesza, a singer, songwriter and pop star with a fascinating story of resilience. From the reserves of the Royal Canadian Navy to writing songs for people like Rihanna to her single "Hideaway" debuting at number one on the UK Singles Chart to collaborating with everyone from Duran Duran to Pitbull and Diplo she is a bona fide pop princess. Then, in 2017 she suffered life altering injuries when a taxi t-boned the car she was riding in. Her recovery from a traumatic brain injury was slow and involved staying in a darkened room for six months but she is back with a new album, a new self-run record label and a new outlook. Then... In a career that spans five decades Chaka Khan has sold an estimated 70 million records, collaborated with everyone from Ry Cooder and Robert Palmer to Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, from Chicago to De la Soul and Mary J. Blige. She’s a musician, singer and songwriter with a shelfful of Grammys. I first saw her, with the band R

On the Richard Crouse Podcast this week we meet Jay Baruchel. He's been acting since the age of twelve and has appeared in everything from "Knocked Up" and "Tropic Thunder" to "The Trotsky" and "She's Out of My League" to the action-fantasy "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "This Is the End." He’s probably best known as the voice of Hiccup in the wildly successful "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise but he says, despite all the success in front of the camera, what he really wants to do is direct. Two years ago he wrote and directed the sports comedy "Goon: Last of the Enforcers." Now he appears both in front of and behind the camera in "Random Acts of Violence," a genre film that asks serious questions about how we relate to violence in art. Based on a 2008 Image Comic, “Random Acts of Violence” begins with comic book writer Todd (Jesse Williams) suffering a case of writer’s block. His series, a grisly and successful adaptation of a real-life serial killer dubbed Slasherman, is coming to an end and he doesn’

NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards and Richard Crouse discuss the recent allegations surrounding the "Ellen" show. Will this be the end of the show or is there life after a scandal for the afternoon talk show?

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: We meet Dawn Tyler Watson. via Zoom from her home in Montreal. To call Dawn Tyler Watson a blues singer isn’t quite accurate. Sure, she’s called the Queen of the Blues in Montreal and latest record “Mad Love,” just won the 2020 JUNO award for Blues Album of the Year, but her music also infuses elements of Jazz, Soul, Rock, and Gospel to pushes the boundaries of traditional Blues. We caught up, talking about what she learned while busking in the subway, taking home the coveted first-place prize at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2017, why she used to have imposter’s syndrome, but doesn’t anymore and how her perspective on everything changed after triple bypass surgery. I started the interview by asking how she and her dog Molly are doing these days. Then, Chris Hadfield stops by to discuss when science and pop culture collide.

On this week’s The Richard Crouse Show we meet: Joe Pantoliano, a working actor for over forty years. From doing plays in empty basement theatres in New York City to Broadway to guest roles on the biggest television shows of several decades like “M*A*S*H” and “The Sopranos” and juicy supporting parts in films like “Risky Business,” “The Goonies,” “The Fugitive,” “Memento,” “Bad Boys” and “The Matrix” he says “There aren’t any small parts, only small paychecks.” He jokes that he has a twenty-minute face, perfect for character work but his new film, “From the Vine” offers him the chance to show off his ninety-minute face. His first starring role in recent memory sees him playing a man who gives up a high-flying career as an executive to return to Italy, where he was born, to search for find his centre and regain his moral compass. In this interview we talk about the parallels between his life and that of his “From the Vine” character, Jimmy Stewart’s wig and how “On the Waterfront” made him want to be an acto

On this week's The Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet: James Purefoy, direct from the south west of England, via Zoom. If you were a fan of HBO’s “Rome,” you know him as joyfully decadent Roman general and politician Mark Antony. Perhaps you were a fan of “The Following,” which saw him play a college professor-turned-serial-killer and cult leader for three seasons opposite Kevin Bacon. The versatile actor has a list of credits as long as my arm including the film he joins me to talk about today, “Fisherman’s Friends.” No, it’s not about the cough drops… it is a is a good-natured crowd pleaser about a real life singing group from Cornwall in England who went from singing at the local pub, when they weren’t on the water making a living, to producing the biggest selling traditional folk album of all time. Purefoy plays Jim, the leader of the group, who was initially skeptical about their chances for success outside their tiny village. When we did this interview he was sitting in his garden, and proudly showed

On the Richard Crouse Show Podcast this week we meet Liberty DeVitto. He joins me via Zoom but you’ve been listening to him for decades. As Billy Joel’s drummer from 1976 to 2003, he’s credited as drummer on records with sales of over 150 million copies. Do you love “Just the Way You Are”? That Liberty DeVitto. How about "She's Always a Woman,” “Only the Good Die Young" “You May be Right” or “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”? All Liberty DeVitto. He’s what they call a New York City style drummer, solid and powerful. He also an author with a new memoir, “Liberty: Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness,” available now wherever you buy fine books. It details not only the good times with Joel, but also the bad… leading up to their split in 2006. Later in the show I ask Liberty about how his relations with the singer disintegrated… and how they buried the hatchet after fifteen years. We started though, by talking about something we’re all missing these days: live music.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: My guest today joins me via Zoom from his home in Massachusetts. Dan Lyons has spent much of his recent career, following jobs as a senior editor at Forbes magazine and a writer at Newsweek, examining something that is on people’s minds these days… work. Drawing on his experience at his first job outside of a newsroom, at the HubSpot start-up he has looked at how and why we work from all angles. He has been called “the Mark Twain of Silicon Valley,” and “Jonathan Swift for our own digital age.” No less an expert than money man Dave Ramsay, of daveramsey.com,” says Lyons is “the expert on the culture of work, and how it’s changing business and lives.” Today we take the conversation he started in his last book, Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for The Rest Of Us, and recontextualize for the pandemic to talk about what work will look like in the coming months and years.