Fresh Air
with Mary Ito

0730 May is Asian-Canadian Heritage month in Canada. And there's plenty of literature from Asian-Canadian authors to enjoy. Adrian Ma from CBC Books joined guest host Karen Gordon to talk about some of the more prominent examples.
Listen. (runs 9:07)
Here are the books that Adrian recommended:
Tales from Gold Mountain by Paul Yee
Disappearing Moon Café by Sky Lee,
The End of East by Jen Sookfong Lee
Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
The Electrical Fields by Kerri Sakamoto
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam
Beauty Plus Pity by Kevin Chong
Everything was Goodbye by Gurjinder Basran.

0800 He's the toast of Oakville. Native son and Indycar racer James Hinchcliffe is in second position on the starting grid for today's Indianapolis 500. He owes his love of racing to his dad, Jeremy. And Karen talked with the senior Mr. Hinchcliffe---who's in Indianapolis for his son's attempt to take the chequered flag in today's race---as Jeremy made his way to the racetrack.
Get the goods on James by visiting his Hinchtown website

0830 It was 45 years ago this June 1st that The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Now, Toronto's Art of Time Ensemble is "re-imagining" the landmark album. A of T artistic director Andrew Burashko and one of the Sgt. Pepper project arrangers, musician Kevin Fox, joined Karen to elaborate.
Listen (runs 14:29)
The Art of Time Ensemble's three concert salute to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band takes place May 31-June 2 at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre in Toronto.
All the details are on the Art Of Time website.
And if you'd like to know more about what Mr. Fox is up to musically, check out
Kevin's website.

Here are Danielle's What's On selections:

Sunday Bikedays/Ottawa
Walk, Run and Pole/Parry Sound
Polar Tour/Museum London
Tom Thomson film/Owen Sound

Would you like us to feature YOUR event? Let us know about it!
Just click on What's On to send us the information.

The audio for some/all of these items will be available immediately after the show in a re-posted version of the programme entry for this day and date

0730 May is Asian-Canadian Heritage month in Canada. And there's plenty of literature from Asian-Canadian authors to enjoy. Adrian Ma from CBC Books joined guest host Karen Gordon to talk about some of the more prominent examples.
Listen. (runs 9:07)
Here are the books that Adrian recommended:
Tales from Gold Mountain by Paul Yee
Disappearing Moon Café by Sky Lee,
The End of East by Jen Sookfong Lee
Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
The Electrical Fields by Kerri Sakamoto
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam
Beauty Plus Pity by Kevin Chong
Everything was Goodbye by Gurjinder Basran.

0800 He's the toast of Oakville. Indycar racer James Hinchcliffe is in in second position on the starting grid for today's Indianapolis 500. He owes much of his skill and his love of racing to his dad, Jeremy. And Karen talked with Jeremy---who's in Indianapolis for his son's attempt to take the chequered flag---as he made his way to the racetrack.
Get the goods on James by visiting his Hinchtown website
The audio for this item will be posted on the following Monday.

0830 It was 45 years ago this June 1st that The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Now, Toronto's Art of Time Ensemble is "re-imagining" the landmark album. A of T artistic director Andrew Burashko and one of the Sgt. Pepper project arrangers, musician Kevin Fox, joined Karen to elaborate.
The Art of Time Ensemble's three concert salute to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band takes place May 31-June 2 at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre in Toronto.
All the details are on the Art Of Time website.
And if you'd like to know more about what Mr. Fox is up to musically, check out
Kevin's website.

0730 It's Doors Open time again all over Ontario. It's your chance to get to know heritage and architecturally-interesting buildings up-close-and-personal. Guest host Karen Gordon talked with Toronto Star urban columnist Chris Hume and restoration technician Paul Sentesy about the importance of retaining, restoring and appreciating these structures.
If you'd like to check out Doors Open in your community, you can visit the
Doors Open Ontario website.
The audio for this item will be posted on the following Monday.

0800 Weekends in the summer mean time spent on the backyard deck. But building and maintaining a deck can be tricky business. Cue expert contractor Jorge Rodrigues of J-B Rodrigues and Associates---building contractors and consultants in Toronto. Jorge joined Karen to talk about the construction and care of these exterior "living rooms".
The audio for this item will be posted on the following Monday.

0830 Barbra Lica's releasing her debut album on May 30th...but she was Karen's guest this weekend. They talked about Barbra's "unusual" musical childhood and played some tracks from That's What I Do.
Listen (runs 12:36)
Catch Barbra live at The Homesmith Bar in Toronto on June 14th. You'll find details at
Barbra's website.
NOTE: Music clearance restrictions prohibit inclusion of music originally contained in this item.

Here are Danielle's What's On selections:

Pancake Breakfast at Farmers Market/North Bay
Antique Show at Christie Conservation Area/Dundas
Iranian Heritage Day at ROM/Toronto
Scottish Festival/Kingston

Would you like us to feature YOUR event? Let us know about it!
Just click on What's On to send us the information.

The audio for some/all of these items will be available immediately after the show in a re-posted version of the programme entry for this day and date

0730 It's Doors Open time again all over Ontario. It's your chance to get to know heritage and architecturally-interesting buildings up-close-and-personal. Guest host Karen Gordon talked with Toronto Star urban columnist Chris Hume and restoration technician Paul Sentesy about the importance of retaining, restoring and appreciating these structures.
If you'd like to check out Doors Open in your community, you can visit the
Doors Open Ontario website.
The audio for this item will be posted on the following Monday.

0800 Weekends in the summer mean time spent on the backyard deck. But building and maintaining a deck can be tricky business. Cue expert contractor Jorge Rodrigues of J-B Rodrigues and Associates---building contractors and consultants in Toronto. Jorge joined Karen to talk about the construction and care of these exterior "living rooms".
The audio for this item will be posted on the following Monday.

0830 Barbra Lica's releasing her debut album on May 30th...but she was Karen's guest this weekend. They talked about Barbra's "unusual" musical childhood and played some tracks from That's What I Do.
Catch Barbra live at The Homesmith Bar in Toronto on June 14th. You'll find details at
Barbra's website.

0730 Michel Berube moved to Toronto from his native Quebec at the beginning of the 21st century because he wanted to learn English AND further his career as a singer. Now that he's fluently bilingual, Michel has released a new album that's entirely IN French. And he joined guest host Karen Gordon to talk about his influences and some of his musical adventures to date.
Listen (runs 12:27)
NOTE: Music clearance restrictions prohibit inclusion of music originally contained in this item.
Michel will launch his new album, Hymnes A L'Amour at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto on May 24th.
There's more information on Michel's website.

0800 Wondering what wine to order with your meal in a fine restaurant? Citizen Talin---AKA Talin Vartanian---can help you make your selection.
You can hear Talin's conversation with Karen at Citizen Talin's column.

0830 Longtime journalist Zuhair Kashmeri joined Karen to talk about his father, Aghajani, who became a Bollywood film legend in his homeland of India. Zuhair has told that story in a new film about Aghajani, called The Golden Pen.
Listen (runs 14:35)
The Golden Pen will air tonight (May 20) on OMNI 2.
For more information about the film and Aghajani Kashmeri, please visit the The Golden Pen

Here are Danielle's What's On selections:

Ottawa River Festival/Ottawa
Bluewater Astronomical Society/Southampton
Garrison Weekend Re-enactment/Prescott

Would you like us to feature YOUR event? Let us know about it!
Just click on What's On to send us the information.

0730 Outdoors author Kevin Callan joined guest host Karen Gordon to talk about wilderness etiquette. That's the fine line that separates nature enthusiasts from the party-hearty crowd in Ontario's parks. And it's a line that can turn ugly at times....
Listen (runs 10:13)
Kevin's latest book is a revised version of The Happy Camper---An Essential Guide To Life Outdoors. It's published by Firefly.
If getting away from it all is your goal, check out Kevin's Happy Camper website.

0800 The Victoria Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of gardening season. Fresh Air's favourite gardener, Marjorie Harris, joined Karen to offer an assessment of spring gardening conditions and also some green thumb advice.
Listen (runs 12:26)
You can visit Marjorie's website for more gardening wisdom.

0830 Chef and author Rob Rainford has a new book. It's called Born To Grill. And Rob gave Karen his views on the do's and don't of barbecuing when he joined her.
Listen (runs 14:43)
Born To Grill is published by Random House.
There's more on the book and the author at Rob's website.