Jian Ghomeshi is back and he’s brought his show
by Vanda Schmockel
Q Live
Conexus Arts Centre
Thursday 18
CBC’s Q is coming to Regina! Hot on the heels of his packed-house book reading of 1982 in February, host Jian Ghomeshi is coming back for more. This Thursday night, Ghomeshi will host Q live at the Conexus Arts Centre, with performances by KD Lang, Tom Cochrane, Bahamas, Corb Lund, and Dragonette.
In advance of Q’s first (but hopefully not last) show in the Queen City, Prairie Dog gave Jian a quick call to talk about the weather, what we can look forward to on Thursday night, and why he just can’t get enough of us.
So, you can’t stay away, huh?
“It does seem that way, doesn’t it? (laughs) I’m addicted.”
So what’s taken so long to bring Q to Regina? We’re huge fans.
“You know, we’re working our way through doing the show in as many different places as we can. Obviously, it’s true, we’ve done it in the bigger markets, but we really want to take it everywhere. But it’s certainly not by design to not come to Regina. So I’m glad that we’re fixing that.”
So are we!
“And on the subject — we do about six of these a year, and we’re including the States now too. We just did our last one in New York. So [there are] a very few, what we call ‘remotes’ and a lot of places to go to. So, I’m happy that Regina is happening.”
Well, I hope we’re not keeping you from doing a show in New York.
“No! We did the show in New York — and we’ve got a killer lineup in Regina. It’s amazing. I don’t even know how we’re going to get through it all. We couldn’t say no to all these guests who were eager to come on the show — and we were eager to have them. So we’ve got a really packed show.
It’s kind of a perfect storm — you’ve got all these acts there for the JUNOs, so it really works out well.
“A couple of them are coming in early because the JUNOs, traditionally, on the Thursday there aren’t as many folks around. So I’m very grateful to all the artists that are coming to make sure they’re there for our show. I’m coming in on Wednesday. I’ll be there for 5 days. It’s going to be a serious Regina experience. And I’m hosting the Saturday night of the JUNO awards. That’s sort of the night where most of the awards are handed out —the less glamorous night — not on TV. It’s the story of my life – Bublé gets the glam night.”
Oh, I don’t know. I think you’re doing pretty well. Is that a fun gig?
“Definitely! It’s swearing, it’s like a little out of control, absolutely. It’s the Golden Globes to the JUNO’s Oscars.”
I wish we could greet you with nicer weather. It’s pretty ugly here right now. I don’t think the snow is ever going to leave.
“Yeah, I checked it out. It’s going to be cold — but the weekend gets better. It’s going to start warming up after people leave Regina.”
So, any non-JUNOs plans while you’re out here? Are you going to the Moose Jaw spa?
“I would love to go to the Moose Jaw spa. Is it worth me going to Moose Jaw for?
I couldn’t tell you from personal experience. I only know a lot of people have gone to have themselves boiled and scrubbed. It seems to be a pretty popular thing to do to unwind, so if you need to decompress…
“Maybe I should do that. I can go on the Friday — and go to Nits.”