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Melanie Doane: Singer, Songwriter

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Melanie Doane, Interview, Podcast, Keith Tomasek An accomplished singer, songwriter, musician, and performer Melanie Doane has appeared on Broadway and stages across North America.

Melanie Doane has released seven albums & written and performed many chart topping singles (“Adam’s Rib”, “Goliath”, “Still Desire You”, etc.).

Her music has been featured on hit television shows such as Brothers and Sisters, Being Erica, Flashpoint, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As well as performing, Melanie uses the ukulele to introduce young children to musicianship. She’s following in the footsteps of her father, J.Chalmers Doane, a celebrated music education legend.

Doane’s relationship to music is intertwined with her sense of community. Her parents love of, and respect for, music and it’s place in the family home, has infused Melanie with a truly collaborative spirit.

Links from the Podcast
Melanie Doane.com
J. Chalmers Doane
Burton Cummings
The National Theatre of Great Britain’s “War Horse.”

Melanie’s music video “The Stupider I Am.”

Ukulele in the classrom

Melanie on the TV show I produced “Open Mike with Mike Bullard.”

Chris Patterson: The Arrogant Worms’ Comedian, Musician

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Chris Patterson plays bass with Canada’s most popular musical comedy trio The Arrogant Worms, who have sold over 150,000 CDs and toured extensively in Canada and the U.S., with appearances in the U.K. and Australia.

I’m a big fan of The Arrogant Worms and am proud to say I gave them their national radio debut on CBC’s “The Radio Show with Jack Farr,” and produced their national TV appearances on John Oakley’s Life Network TV show & Mike Bullard’s TV show on The Comedy Network. I hope to have interviews with the other members of the band, Mike McCormick and Trevor Strong, when, and if, they let me.

We talk about how the band managed to survive 20 years together, longer than most marriages in America, and the band’s collaboration with four-time World figure skating Champion Kurt Browning.

After 20 years on the road The ‘Worms aren’t touring as much as they once did, and we discuss how Chris is using his musical and performance skills in his job as a high school English teacher.

Finally we also talk about our failed attempt at creating a game show we pitched to the Comedy Network with the line “What if Michael Moore had a game show?”

Links from the show

Chris Patterson’s website

The Arrogant Worms website

Queen’s University Drama Department

John Wing: Comedian

John Wing is a very funny person.

His ease with a comedic turn of phrase belies the hard work behind his success.

In this episode John talks about his writing regime. He shares the story of the two years he spent writing jokes in an effort to appear on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and how diligent he was about making the Tonight Show talent coordinator, Jim McCauley, laugh. His diligence paid off: he’s appeared on the Tonight Show six times!

His new podcast, The Bad Piano Player, is a delightful exploration of popular music of the 20s, 30s and 40s – a rare treat.

John was a semi-finalist on America’s Got Talent.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes clip from his appearance on America’s Got Talent

John comes from a competitive family and he admits that’s one of the reasons he works so hard to achieve his goals.

As well as writing comedy, John is a highly regarded poet and was a writer in residence at the University of Windsor’s creative writing program.

John Wing’s Books at Good Reads

John’s podcast: The Bad Piano Player

SOCIAL MEDIA:
John Wing on: Instagram
John Wing on: Facebook
John Wing on: Twitter

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