Way always but to feel this way even just once or twice in a life time is a form of bliss today's poem is Arrow's the contagion by any Kim It teaches me to see the potential for passionate attachment to things like the evening sky and ant frozen and a jar of honey or the sight of another person in thrall to a beautiful idea it makes me want to take better stock of the world around me it makes me want to send more love and more joy into the world for others to sense it fills me with a mischievous excitement to think that love is something we can contract from others something we can choose not to inoculate ourselves against arrows the contagion by any can soft as a clawed painting the yellow sky tonight trees in the parking lot still thick though the air yes has an edge the honey was solid in the jar when I opened it this morning found a single ant frozen in the dunes stunned by sweetness. Can you really die of sweetness hard to say yes though I want to looking up at these clouds that make my heart jump Oh joy and seeing though I can't touch like the girl repeating persimmon as the waitress in the diner tells her about it tree at the top of the hill she used to see how beautiful that vivid orange fruit was all at once can't touch them but I see them in her eyes as she remembers her Simmons maybe that was my mistake thinking every love was different a fruit inside its own clear mason jar my love her his all separate as the trees they fell from maybe love is more contagion bubbles in a bath tub slowly swelling all the little circles drifting gliding gently into each other until they burst until nothing's left but foam the sound of rushing water. The slow down as a production of American Public Media partnership with the Poetry Foundation. The slowdown is written by me Tracey case it is produced by Jennifer with Tracey Mumford on music by Alexis. Rodriguez production assistance by Brenda versa. You're listening to Q On c.b.c. Radio one Sirius x.m. 169 and from p.r.i. Public Radio International I'm Tom. Scotiabank Giller Prize might be Canada's most prestigious literary award when you win a Giller you become part of a circle that includes names like Atwood Monroe undock and Richler it also comes with $100000.00 and a guarantee that your book sales are going to explode is the kind of prize that changes people's entire lives last night there was a gala celebration here in Toronto and Ian Williams became the latest to win the Giller Prize for his novel reproduction and as a celebrated poet and writer of short fiction but how about this reproduction is his very 1st novel he was born in Trinidad moved to Brampton as a child He currently teaches at u.b.c. In Vancouver and he Williams sitting across from me right now in our studio How are you to do all is pretty accurate in introduction though right yeah very little sleep very little just congratulations by the way before we get to anything congratulate you thank you how little sleep a couple hours like 2 hours or sell it's all like as you were talking this morning I was like it's that weird sense of like I'm waiting for years say who you're talking about right although in theory I know it. Sounds vaguely familiar right now I want to play something can we take a listen to this this is the moment your name was announced last night and the winner of the coin I think Scotiabank on the prize this is. Where I am going to talk I think. The end I couldn't help but notice you smiled all over again when you listen to that well every time I hear it like it it hits me afresh right like maybe it will get absorbed at some point but still like every time I hear it's like for real I think just out I was with my publicist in the in the green room ATSIC Kempley 5 right so yeah yeah it takes a long time before that gets absorbed what was it what was in your head. Moment your name was announced when you were walking up the stairs you know like that brief detachment I think craze what happens and yeah yeah you just try to process right try to match like the moment to what you think is happening it's just it didn't feel real Yeah I was very like you know you look very pleased that you had an acceptance speech with you but you're going to read from at least you're a writer Oh yeah a lot almost didn't happen right you know people advise you to sort of prepare something and I wrote back to my agent this is like an exercise in cruelty to maybe I'll do that tomorrow all right but yeah it was actually a very wise thing to just be prepared you know there's a line in your acceptance speech is getting a lot of talk today these are the very 1st words you said after the cheering died down like you have no idea yeah. I have no idea like hell. How is special this is for me. Like you know it's you know people I need to think but maybe I'll just start like with my heart 1st and I. Margaret Atwood over there. The 1st book I bought with my own money at a bookstore in France and I. Got to thank Margaret Atwood directly to her face for what she meant to you as a reader as you were in the Giller Prize Why was that important to you to do right off the bat Yeah it's maybe not experience just unique to wood but I think a lot of readers feel this towards writers that they spend a lot of time with right that you know you spend your evenings in your summers and year after year and you track that author's career progress and you spend a lot more time with that author than that author ever spends with you so there's this kind of intimacy that develops and so I feel like there's a kind of long term like 25 year relationship between Atwood and me although she doesn't I mean you know she hasn't come over to my house or anything like there's no if that but I feel so deep inside of her world and so deep inside of her years when I read her when she was writing her twenty's and in her thirty's and in her forty's and the progress of that mind and that thinking right has been a great companion to me what book was it by the way the 1st book about with your own money 1st book was a pink. The circle gave right a collection of poetry from the late sixty's the one the g.g. I should say the reason I want to bring this up is actually that she's you know great often obviously meant the world to you but out in the audience watching you win this award is the very person you think Margaret Atwood I have to imagine you ran into each other at the at the after party did you get to say hello Well we've met before at like the Griffin awards and things like that but yeah no actually before like the event the taping started during dinner Yeah I squatted down to try to get a selfie with her and I did get a selfie with her right but it was like and that alone after that like my whole sort of anxiety kind of settled down for a bit and I was like I'm good I'm good she's a very piece she can be very peaceful she's a calming presence she is you. Here's something else we're here to by the way you're both right both poetry and fiction you were shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize for your approach your collection personals you compared being both a poet and a fiction writer to being bilingual I wanted you to tell me more about that are those those forms are different languages to you they feel like by that I mean I feel comfortable in both of them right like you know you can speak to mom in English and dad in French and then you know you still love both parents equally and what not so I it's like a preference for one or privileging if one of or over the other but sometimes the material comes to you sometimes you dream in a certain language and you speak in another language and the material comes in the form of poetry or is shaped into a form of poetry and sometimes it's bigger and it needs that messier it needs like fiction like space for it so that's what I mean by bilingual right didn't you switch tracks did indeed what did one language help you help another in the writing of this novel Yeah they're always related right you think but those kids who acquire languages early maybe were pushing this metaphor a bit too far but yeah sometimes he is sort of uses you know a Spanish word in this English context and you move back and forth and you assume that there's a kind of fluidity between those 2 that movement and so yeah I don't want to sort of force the line too hard but I do move back and forth and sometimes I stay simultaneously involved if you just tuning in my guest is in Williams who won the Giller award last night for the novel reproduction if you like I can't say it enough. Seeing as how my re your reaction to me saying it was who did this giggling like. You know at no point is there going to be a tractor or is this I'm going to say no no no it was more that I read somewhere he Williams won the Giller Prize and you were up against a remarkable group of authors I do want to acknowledge them all now the other authors shortlisted for the go or were David best most making to go Coles Michael crummy Alex on lamb and Stephen Price you toured the country together doing a series of events in recent months is there a moment that stands out for your time together yeah I mean 1st of all I don't think we were up against each other I think we were. With each other for the whole time and I think we still are and so it's an unfortunate kind of consequence that this is how these situations need to end but there is the list is the winner in this case and I feel that way about like recent priceless right the Gryphon priceless recently and stuff nobody emerges as like a singular speck tackler talent and all this is a good list of people in Canada for the next 25 years how do you think will die 25 years I think we're going to think 27 Ok if you're musician you know they're all right I got to use it you know because a few more than the poets. Will take it will say but we've got a good many years together with us there you know it was like many different moments they had personalities emerge at the weirdest points the New York magazine was like I've never been to New York. I've watched a lot of assets now in 30 Rock or a lake she's delightful Just go to the gym with with David and Alex is always wonderful truth yeah different different moments different parts price you know you could always just kind of you know touch a shoulder and he's a good man right it was a little crummy Yeah once you go down that track right it just it's floodgates it was the 1st acceptance speech of ever heard right he said something like Anyway we'll all see at a barbecue really. Good but he's got to make that happen right I hope so you know c.b.c. Both should make that happen you know Roger should be out there grilling in the backyard all over. You didn't write this book because you were expecting to win the Giller obviously you wrote it because you had something you wanted to say so can you take me back to the very beginning of this journey your poetry and short story collections very well received before this reproduction your killer award winning novel is your 1st novel you said this book took 6 years to write how did this idea for this book start to take shape in your mind 7 years. Yeah it's hard to find the exact or point right for this I actually think it surface or follow some preoccupations in my thirty's or so last book was a bit like relationships and finding love and dealing with sort of online and digital platforms right at the kind of contemporary reality of how we meet people and this book was sort of like beyond that. How are they how do families sort of get together how do they form how are they destroyed and how are they reformed and what. Like what's the agent or the mechanism or the catalyst like how was Love able to both take us through the formation and destruction every formation and we keep doing this right in this you know humans keep populating right this way so it was kind of like a mid thirty's crisis from. A man and I think we expect this kind of subject to be written about by women but men we feel this to write like we don't speak about like abject loneliness and stuff but the symptoms of like watching c.f.l. On a Sunday evening alone I mean that's there's a kind of profound loneliness behind that and so to acknowledge this is men that we do care about relationships and we do care about families and we're interested in all of that like all of that was behind it. Part of my life a point in my life. Being honest with the men around me too and the people around me and just kind of fighting through it have you heard from from men who've read the book you say they probably never had this I don't know if men would sort of. Said they have never had this experience or know sorry who've never had this you never have someone had right so I mean I think you're right about that I mean writing watching sports on a Sunday can be such a profoundly lonely thing to do that you know have you heard from men who've said you know you're right I've never really talked about that before now and I don't I don't suspect I will very much right unless it's the right contacts and whatnot but for someone to admit that they feel something does sort of make it more true or less true right like we know it to be true and we don't need confirmation of it it exists there and people don't have to sort of come back and and admit that yeah I don't I don't mean to be goshi And yeah $100000.00. I'm not going to ask I'm not going to ask what are you going to do with it you know. I am curious are you going to get a little treat for yourself is this something you're going to get from this brief time that you know me here where you suspect I'm going to do a Dairy Queen blizzard or something like that I don't know that's the 1st thing that popped into my head is that maybe you just get a I'm just thinking like I just don't think I'm going to treat like maybe. The new chair or. I had a pin or pad at hand. Now there are probably be some really Monday in kind of pleasure that I think that day created blizzard is not a bad idea I actually do have to think of Milkshakes. You know I think people want you to say like you're going to do something profound with it and you're going to like I know I'll solve the water crisis in California or whatever but. I think that's just going to sit in an investment for a little bit really Dolly until I figure out what's the best use for that money you know want to score a blizzard on me. Or a doctor worried. About what happened next I mean just when you go uprising part I'm sure you're working on another work already. Does we're going to go a prize impact that process like are you working on more fiction now because it is for you no no no yeah poetry collection is going to come out next year and then after that I'm working on a novel right. Deep in like 2 projects different genres and beyond that I can't see that far right they'll take me to 43 or so 44 closed off like this somewhere out there listening to someone struggling to become a writer someone struggling to do creative work someone trying to write the 1st novel maybe someone who just won Canada's biggest Literary Prize for his 1st novel What do you wish you'd known back then when you were starting out. In this sort of struggle struggle period just as someone who's listening to this right now where you were maybe 15 yeah years ago it's interesting that you frame it as a struggle all right but also to think about it like what you're doing now is probably. Among your top 2 or 3 greatest pleasures as well so I mean the story is 7 years of a very hard process and all of that but I also spent 7 years in private with some really wonderful characters that now like that they have access to the world but for a while they were just mine right like in a way that your family's just yours your dog is just yours but I mean that kind of pleasure is just. That that is worth it regular no killer like that's that's real pleasure congratulations thank you Tom I want to say it again and again ready for this. He Williams is the winner of this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. For his novel reproduction in congratulation thanks for coming in thank you. And. Feel. Good to be true. To your Lord. To. Be. The boy you. Can use you. To. Use the. Chariot fire. Because you. Are all. 'd Brand new music from Montreal is very and. The song is called She's Got a bunch of the Canadian shows coming up in the New Year all throughout February and March earlier this year she put out an album called Stay tuned to make sure you check that out and if you're interested in reading in or reading more about Ian Williams novel reproduction which is when the Scotiabank Giller Prize our friend c.b.c. Books have a really wonderful website where you can find out all the information you need to know about all the universe use all the reviews and where you can pick it up at c.b.c. Slash books coming up next you know when you watch a big Hollywood film and you're sobbing yet again let's be honest you were holding it together until the music came in well Alan Sylvester has composed the score to some huge movies most recently Avengers endgame and my conversation with Alan going through some of his music is coming up next on q. . And a listen to the key here on. Sco you know as historic protests continue in Chile the b.b.c. Cultural frontline explores the nation's social crisis through the eyes of its artists from the slums of to the Latin Grammys The superstar singer. Speaks about why her appearance of growing up as a child surrounded by poverty has inspired her join the protest and to help Chile's chorus citizens and also actor and singer. Reveals the secret behind one of the most typical dances and meet the woman standing up for Chile to comedy. Valley Benito talks about how she uses humor to challenge authority that speak out of. It's sexism and corruption That's tonight on the b.b.c. Cultural fright front line tonight at 11 o'clock right here on local public radio Ok and Debbie. You're listening to cue on c.b.c. Radio one Sirius x and 169 from Public Radio International also known as p.r.i. I'm Tom power. If you're preaching a dark empty street in the middle of a lightning storm a young Michael j. Fox and a silver Delorean in a red vest speeding towards you giant flames are shooting off his tires it all these things are coming to mind then Allan Sylvester has done his job and everyone in filmmaking wants to work with Allen Sylvester e. He made a big mark in the eighty's and ninety's writing the music for back to the future then Who Framed Roger Rabbit Forrest Gump right up to Avengers endgame which will almost definitely be the biggest movie of this year once all the box office numbers are counted and spent a lot of that time collaborating with the director Robert Zemeckis one of the films they worked on together was the Polar Express from 2004. Players. And tonight the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will be on stage sitting in front of a huge movie screen playing the entire scored of the film Live remember this one the animated Tom Hanks he plays a train conductor who runs on a magical adventure to the North Pole Hi Alan how are you I'm doing great how are you doing just fine you're going to be in the room tonight for this Polar Express experience I do want to ask you Do you find it hard to sit still when your music is being performed on such a Vasco. Well you know it's it's a very unique environment to hear the score very different than watching the film in a theater you know doing and in concert version of the film really brings alive aspect to it so it's somewhere between a film and a live stage and it's a it's a very exciting environment actually to to see the film and hear the school or I mean given that you're also a conductor do you feel the urge to run up on stage and grab the baton No not at all we're in very very capable hands I'm glad that you don't have to put any worry about anyone rushing the stage I'm happy to know. The score to 2004 is the Polar Express was your 11th collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis we're going to explore that partnership with you today and where it all started I want everyone listening just right now to picture Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner running through a jungle with a machete trying to get away from the bad guys have a listen to this. Like some. Alan can you tell us what we're hearing there well yes you are hearing the gorge cue from Romancing the Stone and I was asked early on before I or were actually when I met Robert Zemeckis on the phone to write something for this scene which he described over the phone and I think it's the reason I wound up being invited to do is film and as it sits in the film today it's very much like what I brought up and played for him so it's a it's a very special cue for the for the the life of Roberts and that this and Alan Sylvester together that was as you mention. The 1st time you guys worked together the film was a big hit which paved the way for Robert to write and direct his next film one that will certainly go down in cinema history as will your scar Take a listen. Now I don't need you to tell us what that one is that of course is the score to back to the future by my guest Alan Sylvester I'd love to know about your process here did you watch the film 1st did you hear music while you were watching. This was a this was a situation where. I had met with Robert Zemeckis now he was on the set filming. Actually what became the in Champ man under the sea dance so he was still in the shooting process and it was a very busy day for him with all of these actors on on set and we didn't have much time to converse but he at one point turned to me and he said here's here's what I'm thinking out this course got a really big. Help both of his hands over his head as he described this so I knew that somehow he was looking for a scope and I knew we needed a theme with heroism adventure. Something that could be played broadly and heroically but could also be played quietly intimately and it was very much like writing a song that has a very song form kind of an a a b. a Form and it was just one of those things that actually came rather quickly and it seems to have accomplished what was being asked of it you know I was thinking about this because back to the Future came out of course in the 1000. Eighty's and in the 1980 s. Everything was sort of synthesizer really sort of like borderline futuristically big new order e. Kind of synthesizers and what the score you over back to the future which is arguably the biggest film of the 980 s. Is in some ways I don't want to say old fashioned but in some ways like a traditional score like with an orchestra it was it was that intentional. Absolutely was intentional I mean we did have some music of the day in the film we had those fantastic Louis songs we had some classic rock and roll with Chuck Berry. We had a whole range of music but there's something about the orchestra and the orchestra playing the emotional side of the film that that brings a kind of timeless quality to to the picture. Pop music and very often. Synthesized music will in a way time stamp it so could you have imagined at that moment that you'd still be talking about your relationship with Robert even now that could you of imagine how interwoven your 2 careers would become. It's a complete miracle I actually had a great chat with him yesterday I think we are now working on our 23rd film together it's it's just an incredible experience. For me and I believe for him to have a relationship like that that has gone on that long gone to so many different places and you know what I would have to say very directly there's a level of love and trust that comes from a long term relationship that's just lovely to live in and live with I want to talk a little bit about your process or how you think about your scores and ever guards to another film you guys worked on together $900.00. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Alison vestry I just had a fanning myself by the way is that sort of going to let you know that piece down coming. Back. That piece is Jessica's theme from Who Framed Roger out of Roger Rabbit and this is one of the weirdest things I'm going to say on the air but you know people actually developed like feelings romantic and otherwise towards the animated Jessica Rabbit when the film came out and I like to think that the saxophone earth and the work in the music we're hearing had a big part in that So how much of what you do is about a supporting a scene but how much do you actually have the ability to lead an emotion through your score. Well you know these are great questions and they really have to always be in service of the film and the director's vision of the film one of the great benefits of working with a world class brilliant film director is they get their intention on the film and so as a composer when you see for instance Jessica Rabbit walking out into that theater into that club there's no doubt what Robert Zemeckis is is hoping we'll feel and how we will be moved by that and at that point all all one has to do is follow his lead I want to move on to another huge film in this already massive collective resume of yours with Robert I want to talk about Forrest Gump earned your 1st Academy Award nomination this is a piece of music that when I dasn't to it yesterday I didn't immediately recognize and then I thought Oh right right right right that once of you listening to this right now you might have the same experience Take a listen to this. If you're just tuning in you're listening to my conversation with Allen Sylvester a Award winning composer of some iconic phones like back to the future and for hearing some of Alan score for Forrest Gump right now this is interesting this seems to me like the dream opportunity to score for a film score or the entire Times piece of music is playing a feather is going from the sky to the ground right exactly it is it is the opening of the film and it. It is a a purely visual introduction to Forrest Gump and so there was no feather. And Bob stood in front of a good size monitor and he had his hand kind of floating back and forth across the screen standing right in front of me and describing the motion of this thing and it goes all the way until he puts his hand right on far ists foot at the end of the sequence and he said and it lands right there. He said All you have to do which which he very often says all you have to do is write something that essential wises the entire film. That usually evokes a pain in the pit of my stomach. And I sit in a piano the following morning and I start to think well forest is a pure soul. Forest is childlike he's not childish. And on and on and on in the idea of a nursery rhyme sensibility seemed to make some sense the idea of somehow incorporating something that evokes a sense of floating makes some sense you know we've been talking a lot about your relationship with Robert and I you've also worked with folks like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg and Nancy Meyers But in terms of your relationship with Robert I'm so interested in x. I'm so interested to see how it can change and how trust can grow and you know the conversations change over 35 years together I asked I bring all that up with with this film in mind take a listen. So what we're hearing right now is actually your score of the 2000 film cast away I think what most people remember about this family's idea is just how quiet it is Tom Hanks doesn't speak more than a couple of words for most of it so I've heard stories about this before but I'd love to hear from you what kind of conversations were you having with Robert about how to score a film it's so quiet Well you know this was a tremendous challenge on so many levels. And you know there's there's always this sense of you know can the music not intrude. On the Story. And yet still support and and and be part of the telling of the story there was a level of reality that I think. Robertson meccas and Tom Hanks aspired to in this film there were people who wanted to have score all through the island. Wanted to have score in the plane crash and it's a natural thing to want to explore. Bob never. Subjected me to any any of that he really did let me have my reaction to the film and I remember sitting there with him when we were talking or about to talk about the music and we're halfway through the film and I I still didn't feel we should have any music and he let me at least try this idea I told him I had had a mockup that I had just I had a theme for castaway and something I could show him I mean I played him the cue where Tom has just broken free of the way it's. And looks back at p.r.i. And the score makes its 1st appearance and I played the whole cue for him and he said that's beautiful Al and I drove him back to the airport and he allowed that film to be spotted in the way it was and I think it was very bold on his part and again I think time has shown that his instincts were right about that it was a very valid way to approach the score for castaway. You're in your 2nd Oscar nomination and also a Grammy Award for a song on this next film. Josh Groban you're hearing singing the song believe from the film The Polar Express I'm talking to the score of that film Allan sophistry. Did you write the lyrics as well I have to imagine that's a different part of your brain. You know it's very interesting all of the songs in Polar Express were written by Glen Ballard and by me Glen Ballard who co-wrote Jagged Little Pill with the Linus Moore said absolute while. I have not done a tremendous amount of songwriting but. The need was appearing from the very 1st moment we met we somehow didn't pigeonhole each other in terms of how we would approach the writing of a song we have always approached our songwriting as something where we both are always feeling free to enter into the process both lyrically and musically and it has continued to this very day it is now a long time relationship creator relationship for me and for Gwen and it's it's again one of those things where the level of trust and the joy of the freedom that we both can exercise in that relationship is breathtaking So we've been talking about your creative partnership with Robert Zemeckis he's just mentioned and some of the iconic moma. Unfilmed created together before we go though I'm curious as to what happens when you step out of the comfort zone a little bit and I have a feeling if you're listening to this and you're under 23 and they might know you best from this. That's the Avengers theme which you wrote for the original film and you brought back for infinity war and game so that's rooted composing music for a superhero franchise was that it was a different muscle for you. That really. You know was 1st of all quite amazing too to receive an invitation to join a completely different universe you know I saw Marty McFly and Doc as superheroes right I've seen many characters in films I've done as superheroes of course the imagery. Of the Avengers warrants a level of power and a level of scope in the music that needs to be there or or the music would would not be able to sustain it's part of the overall image but you know big stories big adventures kind of archetype all characters and events are really what what a superhero movie is about it's bigger than life and certainly Avengers is that kind of film and has to tell its story on that level original love that's beautiful Alan thank you so much for your time and good luck tonight well. Thank you so much we're really looking forward to this Alice Sylvester is the composer of so many films including The Polar Express score will be performed tonight by the Vancouver symphony orchestra coming up next on this program if you've ever been at the top of your game in life and then all of a sudden everything starts to unravel you're going to want to hear about this new movie Wades the lead actor Calvin Harrison Jr is here talking about the crushing weight of expectation and what happens when a chatters. Tuesday night on in deep Lynn Novick and Sarah bots creators of the new p.b.s. Documentary series college behind bars even as it celebrates the successes of students in prison it opens deep questions about what prison is for and who in America gets to have an education in deep with Angie Quero Tuesdays 9 pm. Recorded live at the Dragon theatre in Redwood City. In the form of the Commonwealth Club features diverse seekers focusing on current events technology and culture with the goal of educating entertaining and in $1000.00 audiences in the Bay area and beyond n.p.r. Silicon Valley correspondent Arky Shahana his heartfelt new book here we are American dreams American nightmares chronicles her immigrant family search for the American dream the justice system that took it away and her fight to get it back check it out on in for Tuesday night at 7 pm Here at 91.7 f.m. And. You're listening to q. On c.b.c. Radio one Sirius x.m. $169.00 and p.r.i. Or Public Radio International My name is Tom power. Of different thought you had it all and then you see it start to slip through your fingers that's what's happening to the young man in the new film waves waves as this intimate drama about a Florida family the son Tyler is this handsome popular high schooler for a musical good sports wrestler top of his game stays up late at night to have heart to hearts with his mom and then some things happened which I'm not going to spoil but the character's life starts to unravel and waives is an intense dive into family being a parent being a teenager into the expectations we place on one another but it's also kind of autobiographical the director of the film has said the story really came to life after conversations between him and his lead actor Calvin Harrison Jr talking about their own childhoods Calvin Harrison Jr plays Tyler in this new film waves. You might also remember him as the lead in the recent film Loose or from the 27 horror movie it comes at night and I'm excited to say Calvin joins me here live in the Q studio Hi. How are you to see if we talk about some of these conversations you had with the director Trey they went on for 6 months what were you guys talking about yeah so originally Trey came to me with this idea he was like well I don't have the script yet but the 2 parts the brother in the 1st have that's the rest of the boyfriend the 2nd half and he was like which part do you want to like I thought a lot of information but you know I want the more challenging part so you is like because you can chop wood in my 1st movie then you probably won't be the wrestler you couldn't chop wood in the 1st Mona No no no no I could I could barely lift an axe pounds and I was not athletic I barely walk straight so he says the way you know if you can chop wood in my 1st movie there's no way you're going to be a wrestler and you wrestled in this yeah a lot of training for. A lot but he said that I could have that part and so he would tell the role for me so for those 6 months or just having conversations about a romantic relationships at $1718.00 are listed with a father and mother and my sisters and just what that felt like and what the pressures of just trying to be great at at a young age meant to us and we just saw a lot of parallels between our 2 lives and it just it just made sense it just started to make sense that this spoiled what existed in both of us and we had to tell the story so I want to give people a clearer idea of what we're talking about here this is a some of the trailer for the film waves take a listen to this. This was not. The end. Because the field. In this together. Is not. From the trailer for the new. Film waves featuring my guest Calvin Harrison Jr He plays Tyler in the film we also heard at the beginning of the clip Tyler's dad Ronald played by Sterling k. Brown who you might know from the t.v. Series this is us tell us a little bit about this relationship between you guys because a lot of the film is about the relationship between Tyler and his father and what I've seen you describe in other interviews as the toxic masculinity present between the 2 can you tell us more about that Yes So Trey and I just talked a lot about you know how you know growing up I think there's so much pressure on also just being doing being great but also what it means to be a man and that sometimes is like well we don't need to be vulnerable you need to just kind of keep pushing for you need to represent the house and and provide for your family and you need to be prepared for all the offices that come up the head of us so I think sometimes it was it was you know Ronald's not creating a space for Tyler to to express his fears and I think Ronald you know parent out of fear a lot of the time so it projects that on to Tyler So he's fearful of disappointed his dad he's feel disappointed himself he's fearful disappointed his girlfriend and he's living this experience constant being reactive instead of actually like internalizing and opening up what's going on inside and to to share that with other people so it is this like street bravado and just just real wrestlers and what the what the father says in the film I don't think I'm spoiling anything that is interesting to me because what he what he says to your character is do you understand how hard I had to work for what you have right now and not just that but like to understand how much I would have loved to have the opportunities that you're have right now and that's episode a tremendous expectation on somebody and yeah and you know it was that conversation Rommel has to tell it was a conversation my dad had with me came into my room and he told me the exact same thing is that so yeah I mean even down to like my you know my dad talks about the story of ised my grandfather he was one of the 1st by people in a cab company in New Orleans but he never drove my dad around he made him to carry a saxophone from you know he says to Lou street to. The man need to get it out to the east bank and he was like I was just 12 and so you say you don't understand like what it's like I literally have done so much for you we've sacrificed so much for you to have the space and have the privileges that you have do you know what that means but at the same time for a kid it's like you did that so I can be a kid you not so that I can suddenly become you again yeah and I think it's just really common conflicting. Arguments to kind of put into a 17 year old's brain is like what do you expect from me am I supposed to be grateful because you've given me things to be grateful because you've you've provided a space for me to just exist and have an identity of my own I don't know what to do with that and so we really wanted to kind of explore all of that you get your dad was a jazz musician Yeah and yet still with us by the way yeah Has he seen the film I did see a film called weeks ago so your father who is this great jazz musician what's his name by Calvin Kelly Sr Ok so I think I said that you never know the grandfathers I was in that I thank you very much so explain this to me then how do you feel sitting in the movie theater your dad is there you know you know your dad's watching it and he's seeing a conversation that he had with you on the screen. And you just watch it with him but he called us afterwards and he was like that's not me. Even if I didn't like my grandfather's name is using it and like that is literally what we called my grandfather through on a movie like this definitely is going to be triggering for you and he was like that's just not me and I says Now what happened and I was like you literally said that so it's interesting but at the same time I think what the movie tells us is a lot we're all in process and growth happens in time and we have to be patient and allow ourselves to kind of get there when everyone's ready to get there and it's Ok to get there when you do get there so my dad and I having an open dialogue now about some of the you know traumas or whatever went on in our past the beauty of it all and just how do we move past that and nurture that connection relationship we have now so it's been it's been nice what a gift it must be to be able to act like that to have a film that affords you to have these kind of conversation with your dad I absolutely I mean it just never yes it's been it's been. Really beautiful I should point in addition to like the generational. Issues in the generational conversation that happen in this film there's also a generational look at what it means to be black in America and how as a black person you should behave Tyrus dad Ronald your character's dad Ronald even says at one point we meaning black folks are not afforded the luxury of being average How does that have that line resonate with you I mean like once again I was something else my dad told me I think you know he he works so hard I mean he studied with like you know I don't know if you know the Marsalis family but when you're selling you know Ellis taught him and school and. Father Yes Yeah and when all of those guys they grew up together and just the mindset and the work ethic that they have was always just like we have to be the best we have to be the best I mean my dad also grew up with Harry Connick Jr kind of Johnny was in my dad's band growing up you know but her country was a big star my dad works at a school you know it's just you know age is not the same thing in this like I think you can come up with the same amount of talent you come up with the same Gives you can have the same work ethic but the opportunities don't present themselves the same so he just kind of really put pushed in me as Ron is doing to him is that at the end of the day we're in a country in America where we were beaten down before we even celebrated and you have to understand that you know you didn't have the upper hand what do you do and that situation you have to grind grind grind the problem with that is this us all about balance and all of our understanding you know does that actually benefit the kid at the end of the day but this was just like this the only one conversations in black homes constantly trying to get us to not become a statistic right and again this is something that you get to explore and something you get to live there and something you get to sort of process while making this film you know as opposed to being in a movie about you know horses or something like that yeah this gets to be about something a little more close to close to you know about a horse you know what if you listen to this story and you got a horse film in development give us a call that's a call. I want to do but of course. I'm talking to Calvin Harrison Jr He stars in the new film waves he was also in the recent film loose in the $27.00 horror film comes at night getting a lot of buzz this year with with many roles a little bit off topic. What's the significance of mint tea you know like. I love mint tea I don't know I just I just think it's tasty I think when I started it comes at night it was the only thing that will calm me down enough to so I can do a scene so I would drink mint tea every morning and it would make me feel like relaxed and President awake and then I was I can act my best acting with Joel Edgerton if I drank mint tea if not then the seems dead because what I can't believe how much we're talking about beverages and even. What I had heard is you would find yourself very intimidated by these actors and you'd go in you but I don't my god that's so and so and that's so and so you know my God I'm going to do and somehow the mentee would be the thing that would chill yeah out that's so true Did I say that was wow that yeah I never heard that one brought back before but this is true as a mentee can can save a day I'm surprised to hear someone like you in the I guess the reason it's meaningful to me is not because I have my love of minty But is that someone in your position like yours could find themselves being a bit shy and being a bit intimidated by people around them I think I'm constant just shocked that I'm even in the room only and I grew up in New Orleans and so I used to see that the movie trailers outside of the city when I would go to school and I just feel like who's in there and like you know you just get lucky when I started acting I was like Ok I get it they play a role that's going to be sick but now I'm like in the movie like I'm in the movie I'm really in their legs just come falling away and just really grateful for the whole process I read another quote of yours you said I'm not acting just to act I want something to yeah but I mean by that I mean I'm constantly every time I'm looking for all I'm looking for something that challenges me and just kind of expands my understanding of what look life looks like and what the world looks like and if I'm not growing then I don't think anyone else is going to grow so you know I'm just looking to be challenged ultimately you know you're talking to your dad a little bit go on the expectation that he put on you as a as a musician and as he is a young black man in America I can only imagine he must be pretty proud of you at this point I think so I mean he still. Practice is like do you play I play piano and trumpet and so he he sent by trumpets out and he really wants me to to use them and I'm just like yeah no thanks Well I heard there's a scene in the film waves where you and start to place your father or lifting weights in the in the night time kind of like aggressively sort of against one another you know he's sort of encouraging you and I read I read something that like that's how it used to be with your dad to read you guys would practice together in the night time yeah exactly we would go and we had a pool room and he would go in there get a good cool sticks and he would practice a saxophone and I would bring on my trumpet and I would do long towns he would do long. You know we would do scales you know next time you come play piano next time . I play like those things the guitars there are those things yeah you have the thing with the keys and the black line you know I play the things with the strings and. So together we'll be able to do some stuff I will do something or other nice to meet you thanks for coming thanks for having me Calvin Harrison Jr face Tyler in the new film waves it's out this Friday and then across Canada on December 6th to morrow on the program our cue this music panel who normally drops in on a Friday will be here on a Wednesday to talk about the Grammy nominations and what it says about the state of music this year around the world that is a key today by the way also we're going to be hanging out with Mattel incredible player guitar player songwriter and drag queen. Reminder if you want to relive anything you heard on cue including a conversation with this year's winner you can find us on the brand new c.b.c. Listen. See tomorrow later on. Public Radio International Hello I'm Jeff Hayden host of your legal rights the end of the year is soon upon us. And with my guests tax attorney David Hellman and attorney c.p.a. Real estate broker Frank Adam we're taking a look at year end tax planning best of all we take your calls and that's your questions that's your legal rights Wednesday night at 7 o'clock right here on Calle w. 91.7 f.m. In San Francisco or online at k w dot org And. Independent listener supported local public radio and we hope that we are important part of your life help Kaleb used to be strong while continuing to grow renew your membership today at dot org or by calling our membership department 415-841-4121 extension 1 thank you so very much for your support I'm Debbie Kennedy with you until midnight tonight coming up next at 7 o'clock it's inform from the Commonwealth Club say to you San Francisco. Welcome to tonight's broadcast of the forum and innovation. In San Francisco and listen to our past programs. You can also engage with our community on Twitter Facebook and Instagram in Forum. Tonight's program features. N.p.r. Silicon Valley correspondent and author of the new memoir here we are American dreams American the book tells her family's immigration story and offers an intimate look into the uncertainty millions of immigrants face in the United States . Hi everyone. Hello and welcome to tonight's program with inform the Commonwealth Club I'm Jim called and I'm 2020 Janice Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University and I'm here with our 2 Shahani who's N.P.R.'s Silicon Valley correspondent and also author of the new memoir here we are American dreams American nightmares r.t. Thanks very much for being here thank you for being here of course and I thought we'd start by really getting a sense of your story and how you tell your story which I think is very important so so if you could read from both of our right there Ok from where you've marked it Yes Ok so I'll just do a little bit of setup about you know. Here we are.