The Guest List
Thursday August 22nd, 2024 with Joe Reilly
Interviews with tic (Mike Houston) and KJ Thomas of The Big Train Wreck about Barnstorm 24 this weekend and Penelope Elena Scheidler who is part of the new Cirque du Soleil production "Echo"

NOTE: Each of the interviews was edited for the FM broadcast, and you get 5 additional minutes of conversation with the On Demand version of the Guest List today. We open the show today in conversation with Mike Houston. He's better known around CKCU at tic and he hosts the Wednesday morning Special Blend. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/82/info.html tic is talking to us today about his one-day music festival, Barnstorm, that he has hosted on his farm in Finch every year for the past 24 years. Barnstorm '24 takes place on Saturday, August 24th and features Red Fox, The Bushpilots, C.A. and Sonny, Ash Raven and The Big Train Wreck. It's all on a farm with walking trails, fire pits, camp sites and all this great music in a big, beautiful barn. Mike tells us why he started this event and how it has grown and how much he enjoys improving the production every year. For more information about Barnstorm '24, go to the official website: https://barnstorm.info/ Check out this video for a sense of how amazing this event is: https://barnstorm.info/about-us/barnstorm-music-festival-drone/ Next we talk to KJ Thomas who is a member of Ottawa's The Big Train Wreck - one of the groups appearing as part of Barnstorm '24. KJ tells us about how she wrote the song Firetruck while on a long drive and how she writes and catches song ideas any time of the day. We also talk about how the group blends old time country sounds with contemporary folk-rock vibes and how they like to cover a wide range of songs and make them their own. For more information about Big Train Wreck and the group's music, visit these sites: https://thebigtrainwreck.bandcamp.com/album/derailed https://www.facebook.com/thebigtrainwreck/ We wrap up the program today with something different, as we talk to Penelope Elena Scheidler who is a member of the cast of the latest Cirque du Soleil production, Echo. Echo is being presented in Ottawa-Gatineau until September 22nd under the big top at Place des Festivals Zibi, just across the Portage or the Chaudière Bridges in Gatineau. Penelope performs duo hair suspension (with Charlotte O'Sullivan) and is a contortionist. We talk about how she got started in this kind of performance and how she always dreamed of being part of Cirque du Soleil. She tells us how her Mother (who was a professional dancer) was always supportive of her desire to follow this path and what it's like to be part of a massive life-affirming production like Echo. For more information about CIrque du Soleil's production of Echo and it's run here in Ottawa-Gatineau, use the link below: https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/canada/gatineau/echo/buy-tickets And here's a link to Penelope's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/penelope.scheidler/ Get out and see some live music or a live artistic presentation this week. Take care out there and thanks for listening.