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The AIH Transcript for January 14, 2021

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello. I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: Empty promises. Drought, the coronavirus and other catastrophes have left Madagascar struggling with a devastating food shortage, the likes of which the tiny island nation hasn't seen in years.

CH: No campaign, no gain. Bobi Wine has risked a lot in his bid to become the next president of Uganda, but his lawyer tells us that despite his popularity, those risks may not mean reward on Election Day.

CO: None of your businesses. Donald Trump is becoming toxic to the banks he relies on for hundreds of millions in loans to prop up his companies, which could make for an uncomfortable post-presidential period.

CH: Larger than life. A fellow magician remembers Siegfried Fischbacher, half of the Las Vegas duo Siegfried and Roy as an entertainer who revolutionised the world of magic with his big cats, an even bigger personality.

CO: He can dish it out, but he can't fake it. A Montreal restaurant owner goes viral for the extremely candid, sometimes critical descriptions of his own menu items, some of which he thinks are not so hot even when they're steaming.

CH: And trouble spots. Fans are excited that teenage German phenom Tim Stutzle has joined the Ottawa Senators, but a bit confused that his jersey will include the umlaut in his hard to pronounce name. As It Happens. The Thursday Edition. Radio that knows some people like dia-critical thinking skills.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: 'We are simply not the best,' Montreal restaurateur says of his very honest menu

Madagascar hunger

Guest: Jean-Luc Siblot

CH: People in Madagascar are living on a knife's edge. A prolonged drought, vicious sandstorms and of course, COVID-19 have converged to create a devastating shortage of food. There's so little to eat, it's left people desperate, some foraging for leaves. NGOs have put out a mass appeal for help, including the World Food Program. Jean-Luc Siblot is with the WFP. We reached him in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

CO: Jean-Luc, can you give us a sense of the crisis in southern Madagascar right now, the scope of what you're up against.

JEAN-LUC SIBLOT: There has been a prolonged drought till today, basically, which we can consider that this is the worst drought over probably the last 10 years. And the first consequence is that the harvest of last year, which has taken place in April or May, has been extremely poor.

CO: I know you have dozens of staff on the ground in this zone. What are they telling you? What are they actually seeing on the ground of how people are responding to this?

JEAN-LUC SIBLOT: They have seen a lot of people hungry, totally hungry. They have seen a lot of children who are completely completely emaciated. They have seen people eating wild grass. They have seen people eating tamarind fruits, which are extremely bad for the stomach. They have seen people catching water after the first rain in December from the potholes on the road. They have seen people drinking water from the sea because they don't have any drinkable water anymore. They have seen people eating clay -- they mix with some leaves and some leaves from trees which give them some minerals which are not extremely good for their health either. They are seeing every day people migrating from isolated villages coming to the urban centres because these people have exhausted all their food stocks and not only their food stock, but they have exhausted all the coping mechanism -- and why they have exhausted their coping mechanism because they have very little. And in addition, the COVID has taken in Madagascar 1.3-1.4-million to extreme poverty. And the point is that these people in the south and especially the men, take part of the year to go to urban centres to look for seasonal job. And in 2020, this didn't happen because COVID, of course, cut off jobs. And so these people didn't have the cash they could have the previous year during this period of time to take them through the rain season.

CO: And it's just problems on top of problem. You're describing the worst drought in 10 years. Because of COVID people can't get work, there's no way to get cash, they can supplement it. BBC interviewed a woman who was describing feeding her children this, as you described, clay mixed with tamarind in order just to give a feeling that there is something in their bellies -- that even though this was no nutrition. How much longer can they survive like this without better assistance?

JEAN-LUC SIBLOT: This is a very good question. So hopefully there are certain number of organisations like the WFP who is making everything we can to bring some food and even some cash to a certain percentage of this population. But what I would like to emphasise is that normally the people are getting the harvest in April-May, as I said, and this is a kind of release. Normally this is years and years the WFP and other organisation are feeding these people during the rain season from November-December till April. The problem this year is that they are already in a status which is really alarming. But on top of that and in addition, we can expect that the harvest -- what we have seen right now, which has been planted after just one rain in December -- will be even poor than last year. So the problem and the status of the people today will probably and most likely not really be better in April-May. And then I don't know how long this will go, but I think that's why WFP is putting an alarm on the situation today, because if nothing is done today, then we may face a human tragedy or famine-like situation in a few months from now.

CO: The people on the BBC program, they were just exhausted. As you said, it's not just that they don't have any food, they don't have any energy, they don't have anything to work with at this point. And so what can you do just to support them during this period of time, just to give them any hope?

JEAN-LUC SIBLOT: The only hope we are giving to these people is that we are distributing some food, we are making a general food distribution. So at least we have the feeling to really do something extremely positive, because when these people are getting the food, so of course, it will take them for another weeks when there's bad months and hopefully we will be able to continue that. But there are also some people -- you know when some people are totally devastated because there is a big problem of water as well, of drinkable water, so when some people are so weak or some children who are totally emaciated, totally malnourished, sometime you don't see the hope in their eyes anymore. And this is something when you have seen that and when you see that and when our people see that every day in the eyes and in the face of these people, it's really hard and it's really a tough tough time.

CO: Jean-Luc the situation sounds just awful. And I'm glad you're there and I hope you're able to get support for these people soon. And I appreciate that you had time to speak with us. Thank you.

JEAN-LUC SIBLOT: Bye bye.

CH: Jean-Luc Siblot is with the World Food Program. We reached him in Madagascar's capital city, Antananarivo.

[Music: String Music]

Trump company problems

Guest: David Enrich

CH: Ex U.S. presidents usually have no problem making money, but it could be very different for Donald J. Trump. Since he encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol last week, the self-described dealmaker has become radioactive to major tech firms, wealthy donors, and banks. Perhaps the biggest blow came from Deutsche Bank, which has lent Mr. Trump billions over the years. The bank says it will stop doing business with Mr. Trump and his company. But the bank, of course, still wants its money back. Donald Trump owes the lender more than 320-million dollars. David Enrich is the author of Dark Towers, which looks at Mr. Trump's relationship with Deutsche Bank. He's also the business investigations editor for The New York Times. We reached him in New York.

CO: David, just how worried should Mr. Trump and his family be that these major corporations and banks seem to be deserting him?

DAVID ENRICH: I think they should be quite worried. And Donald Trump's business empire has been built on attracting customers and on borrowed money. And right now, customers, especially big corporate clients and things like that -- that would often pay large amounts of money for space at hotels or on the golf course are deserting him left and right. And the big banks that have allowed him to keep borrowing money to buy and build and expand over the past couple of decades are scrambling away from him as fast as possible. So I think this really poses almost an existential threat to Trump's business.

CO: We have seen, we witnessed four years of Mr. Trump of racism, misogyny, support for White supremacists, outrageous remarks about Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks, all kinds of outrageous behaviour. What is it about last week that was the last straw for these corporations that continued to support him before that?

DE: Look, I mean, corporations in the past have at least paid lip service to the idea that some of the things Trump has said are very much counter to their own ideals. I think two things have changed in the past week, though. One is that, you know, there is a big difference between making positive noises about White supremacists and actively inciting a crowd that goes on to invade the United States Capitol. And that sounds a lot like an attempted coup, which is a fairly big step beyond anything we've previously seen.

CO: Which are the ones that will affect him the most? Because we're seeing that the PGA has decided they won't have the golf tournament in his golf course in New Jersey, some hotels are saying the same thing, banks. What will affect him the most?

DE: You know, I think there are a lot of options to choose from there. I think the two you just mentioned, though, are amongst the most important, one being the PGA and the other being Deutsche Bank. And the PGA was going to host an event in 2022 at his golf resort or golf course in New Jersey, they've pulled out of that. And I think more important than that event alone is the signal that sends to many other businesses and other institutions that it is okay to walk away from Trump. As far as the banking is concerned, that is a huge problem for Trump. He has in the next few years well over 300-million dollars of debt coming due. And he's going to need to find a way to repay those loans. And traditionally, for someone like Trump, the way you would repay those loans is by borrowing more. And it's becoming increasingly clear that that is just not going to be an option for him, at least from mainstream banks.

CO: Okay, what are the sums that will come due for him and what does he owe?

DE: Well, the biggest amount that he owes is to Deutsche Bank, he owes about 330-million dollars to them in 2023 and 2024. He owes another large amount, and I believe it's almost 200 million to another bank called Ladder Financial. But the Deutsche Bank loans are particularly problematic for him, I think, because in order to get those loans from the bank, Trump agreed to provide what's known as a personal guarantee, which means that if he were to default on the loans, Deutsche Bank has the legal right to seek his personal assets as recourse. And so that means, in theory, that Deutsche Bank could try to seize his buildings or Mar-a-Lago or cash in his bank accounts. And that's a pretty powerful deterrent to Trump defaulting. And Trump defaulting is not kind of a weird hypothetical, that has been pretty par for the course with him over his business career. So he is going to need to find money to repay that loan. And I frankly don't know where he's going to get it.

CO: But as you have written, that he has the ability to dodge these problems, to find money or to declare bankruptcy. His son, Eric Trump, who's been running the business, says that, well, we're still in good shape, we've got lots of real estate, we might just do something else. So do you think that he will once again just reinvent himself?

DE: I don't think so. And the important caveat to that statement is that I am often wrong about that kind of stuff. And I've been wrong about Trump, as many others have. I've been wrong repeatedly about what's going to happen with them over the past five years or so. But with that caveat, I think at this point he is far enough out of power and sufficiently radioactive that it's going to be very hard for him to rebuild or rebrand or move past, as he does obviously have a very sizeable and very kind of militant following amongst millions or maybe even tens of millions of Americans. But I think the ability to try to translate that into a successful business is much harder for me to see.

CO: But in the end, I mean, business is business, right? And so if there are corporations who say that there is value in using Mr. Trump, that he is leveraging his grievances, he has raised about 200-million dollars to maybe become a public speaker, to build a media empire -- I mean, will there not be people attracted to him, maybe from other countries, and help him rebuild?

DE: You know, I definitely wouldn't write off that possibility. I think it's a little easier said than done, to be honest with you, especially in the U.S. I think that, yes, there are lots of people that remain intensely loyal to him. But are they going to be willing to fork over enough money to continue financing his current lifestyle and his current business empire? I don't know the answer to that. But I do think internationally that's a very important point. And I think it's entirely possible that one way out of this financial mess that he's in is that he finds some very wealthy individuals or institutions overseas that are willing to infuse cash into him for one reason or another.

CO: All right, David, we will be watching. Thank you very much.

DE: Thanks for having me.

CH: David Enrich is the author of Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction. He's also an editor at The New York Times. We reached him in New York.

[Music: Flute Music]

Honest restaurant menu

Guest: Feigang Fei

CH: The thing about restaurants is almost all of them are the best or they all say they're the best. It qualifies as modesty when they just say they have the best poutine or hot dog or hot dog poutine. But a Chinese restaurant in Montreal called Aunt Dai offers something most other restaurants don't, something more appetising: piping hot honesty and searing self reflection. The restaurant's menu has gone viral for its extremely frank and truthful descriptions -- like this one for orange beef "Compared to our General Tso's chicken, this one is not that good." Feigang Fei is the owner of Aunt Dai and wrote the descriptions we reached him in Montreal.

CO: Feigang Fei, why did you choose the path of honesty in your menu descriptions?

FEIGANG FEI: I guess it's myself, I want to be honest, I don't want to overdo things and just being honest, it's the best way for me to do anything. [Chuckles]

CO: [Chuckles] But that's the way that most people when they're publicising their restaurants, they exaggerate everything and make it sound better and bigger. But you've chosen to do the opposite.

FF: Because I don't want to get people disappointed, like a lot of people want to say "we're the best" -- we are simply not the best. That's a fact that we just try to be better every day. And that's how I see it.

CO: That's so refreshing. And so you realise that your menu has gone viral, that, in fact, you are very very popular online. Are you aware of that?

FF: Yes, I got an email from a German journalist -- so at the beginning, I thought this was somebody playing a joke or something. It's kind of really surprising. The comments have been there for two or four or five years even, so it was out of nowhere.

CO: So is it the German journalist who was the first to notice that you had these comments online?

FF: Yeah, that's surprising. The newspaper, I guess, translated would be Southern German. I Googled and they are the largest newspaper in Germany.

CO: [Chuckles] Okay so the descriptions, just so people know what you've written about your food, you write about your satay sauce beef "According to a lot of customers, this one is very popular. I haven't had a chance to taste it yet. Looks like I should spend more time eating in my own restaurant." And you've said about your sweet and spicy pork "Since I have such high expectations for this dish, I am not a huge fan of our version, to be honest."

FF: Yes, both of them are very true. [Laughter] It's very true. When the restaurant started, I had a full-time I.T. job, so that's a reality. I did not spend enough time in the restaurant. So some dishes, I even did not have a chance to try it myself. And the second one, the sweet spicy pork strips, it's super super popular. Like when I was in college, I kind of just loved it. It's amazing. And when I met my wife in the college, I had a lot of them and it's amazing. So I always like that version and could not find it anywhere. And unfortunately, our chefs do not cook it that way. So I cannot offer too much, to be honest. [Chuckles]

CO: So are there any of your dishes that you like?

FF: The braised pork belly with sweet potato noodle -- that one is really nice. And as Chinese we eat a lot of rice, I used to eat three bowls of rice with that one dish.

CO: You're making everyone hungry talking about all this food. But I have to say, I mean, you also have very traditional, authentic Chinese dishes along with what they call North American Chinese food. Do you encourage people to try some of the dishes that they don't normally order in this country?

FF: Yes, I would recommend them to try the braised pork belly and also the twice-cooked pork -- like those are very very traditional. But at the same time, we have that General Tso's chicken, North American. So at the end of the day, you have to survive in the business. So it's working very well for us and the quality we have for that General Tso's chicken. And the first time I tried it in our restaurant, I was really amazed. To be honest, even today, nobody in China heard of that dish at all, General Tso's chicken -- nobody in China, have ever tried or they never heard of it. But after I try it, it's really good. You always trust your customers taste.

CO: You wrote in one of your descriptions, you said "orange beef is not that good when you compare it to our General Tso's chicken" -- that the other one is not that good. General Tso's chicken is better. [Chuckles] So do people take your recommendations or do they say no, I want to order the orange beef?

FF: Some people still insist, but when I had a chance to serve customers, to answer their questions on the menu, these two dishes, they're very close in flavour. If people they want this kind of dish choices, I always recommend the General Tso's chicken. But some, as you said, some customers just say, today I just try the orange beef and maybe it's the beef guy, not a chicken guy.

CO: Also you're dealing with not being able to serve people in your restaurant. How are you surviving? How is Aunt Dai restaurant dealing with the restrictions and the pandemic?

FF: It's very strange. Before the pandemic, the business went down a lot, so I was really worried. And at the beginning of the March, around the time of 12th March, they announced the pandemic in Quebec and somehow, like the business went up little by little by delivery companies, and also we have a lot of loyal customers -- some of them, like Jacques, who is a guy with his wife and the two beautiful daughters. They come here a lot of times -- every time I spend five to ten minutes to chat with them, I'm very happy to see them every time. We even have a new table named after Jacques. So this take-out business just kept us afloat. At the end of the February, I thought we had to close the business for a while, but somehow we managed. We are super lucky to be alive.

CO: Well, I think your customers know that you're not just lucky. Despite what you say about your food, it sounds really good, and that's why they keep coming back. And Feigang it's great to talk to you. Thanks.

FF: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CH: Feigang Fei is the owner of Aunt Dai. We reached him in Montreal and you can find more on that story on our webpage: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Calm Music]

Tim Stützle

CH: Last October, the Ottawa Senators enlisted a graduate of the University of Ottawa to announce their pick in the NHL draught.

ALEX TREBEK: [SOUNDCLIP: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Jeopardy! Our category today is the NHL. And here is the clue for you. With the third pick in the 2020 NHL draft, the Ottawa Senators chose this player. The correct response, "Who is Tim Stützle?" [The theme for Jeopardy plays]]

CH: The late Alex Trebek, of course, revealing that the Senators' first draught pick was an 18 year old German wunderkind. Mr. Trebek called him Tim Stützle (PRONOUNCES: STUT-SAL) which is an easy mistake to make, but his name is actually pronounced.

VOICE: [Man talking in German and pronounces Stutzle (STUT-SLA)]

CH: Stützle. See Tim Stützle’s name has an umlaut over the U -- as in S-T- “ü” (with an umlaut)-T-Z-L-E. Now, NHL jerseys don't usually have umlauts, so it made sense in October when the Senators tweeted portentously 'He has decided this is the number, this is the spelling. You know what to do.' The number was 18. The spelling was S-T-E-U-T-Z-L-E, an anglicised version of Mr. Stützle’s name. And what to do was go to the Senators store and buy a 300 dollar jersey with that spelling on it -- people did. And those people were upset this week when the Senators tweeted, 'Tim Stützle has decided to use the German spelling of his last name on his jersey and other team related items.' That makes him, it seems like the first player in NHL history to have an umlaut on his jersey, which created some angst for ardent fans who'd already bought the original jersey. But the Senators will replace them for free. And really getting it right is important. It wasn't that complicated. They just had to connect the dots.

[Music: Funk Music]

Part 2: Uganda election

Uganda election

Guest: Betty Amongi

CH: For Bobi Wine, reaching the polling station today was something of an accomplishment on its own.

BOBI WINE: Everybody was scared. They thought I would not cast my vote. Here I am coming from the polling station. It felt humbling. I felt a huge responsibility on my shoulder.

CH: Bobi Wine, Uganda's main challenger for president, casting his ballot with his family in Magere, just outside of Kampala. For months, the 38 year old musician has faced criminal charges, multiple arrests, and harassment as he campaigns to unseat Yoweri Museveni -- the man who's ruled Uganda for 35 years. This week, President Museveni's government shut down social media networks, and today there's been a complete Internet shutdown. Government Minister Betty Amongi explained the decision to the BBC this morning.

BETTY AMONGI: There's been a lot of misuse of social media to spread unfounded information that has been discrediting government official, discrediting government. Really, if we are to practise democracy, we need people to present facts, as they are. There's also been a lot of propaganda coming from the diaspora, people who are being funded by groups that probably would want to see change in Uganda.

CH: Benjamin Katana is one of Bobi Wine's lawyers. We reached him in Kampala.

CO: Mr. Katana, first of all, what have you seen of the voting today? Are people getting to the polls?

BENJAMIN KATANA: Yeah basically when the polls opened in the morning, the voter turnout was quite good, especially in the central part of Uganda. Some of our agents were arrested, especially in the western part of the country.

CO: We'll just tell our listeners that it's difficult to hear you because the Ugandan government has shut down the Internet so we're not able to get you under proper line that's clear. And the government is saying that they have shut down the Internet in Uganda because they don't want propaganda being spread on Election Day. What is your response to that?

BK: [Chuckles] That's laughable because in any case, the government in Uganda has been leading in terms of propaganda. But what you need to understand is the context -- that first of all, there is a strict censorship of the media. The media houses are not allowed to broadcast the results. And so the alternative would be the social media, which makes the establishment uncomfortable. We are not able to speak to the world and show the world what is happening in Uganda.

CO: I just want to give people -- I'll fill in the blanks, what they may have missed, that the media houses are facing strict censorship. You're not able to get the story of what's going on in Uganda during this election -- it is not getting out to the world. But we also know from earlier that Facebook had concerns about propaganda, but it had concerns about the government's propaganda.

BK: And that's why I said that the government has been leading in terms of propaganda. The intention of the social media and Internet blackouts is to restrict the flow of information, it is to stop from the world knowing what is happening in other parts of the country. Probably they are worried that their performance is going to be very poor.

CO: There are great concerns amongst the opposition, amongst your client, Bobi Wine, who is running against Mr. Museveni, President Museveni, because there has been so much violence already against the opposition. There are dozens of people who have been killed, who have been beaten and arrested. How will you be able to document what is happening if you have no access to Internet?

BK: We are largely relying on our agents on the ground at the different polling stations, those that have not been arrested, but also the citizens who have been calling in and giving us the information. But I must add that that information is not official, but it can help us to cross-check the figures that the electoral commission will eventually report.

CO: Are there international observers? Are there people from the outside who can document what they are seeing at the polling stations?

BK: The international observers -- there have been a lot of restrictions and fraudulent activities associated with the polling allegedly taking place in the rural areas where there are no observers, the media is controlled on what they report.

CO: Okay, so just to repeat, what you're really concerned with this in the rural areas where there are no observers, that it's difficult to get information, you don't know what's happening there. So what concerns do you have about the ability to have a free and fair election at this point? Do you think it's even possible?

BK: It's not possible to have a fair and free elections. We have had our candidates not being allowed to campaign in more than 30 districts. We have had him arrested several times. We have had more than half of the campaign team arrested. So basically there's no way you can talk about a fair and free election. However, our hope is that we can be able, with all these irregularities, we can be able to overwhelm them with a very big percentage. But even when there has been rigging, we can [inaudible].

CO: So you're hoping for a big enough percentage, even with the rigging of the election, that you suspect that you can still pull off a win against a president who has been there for more than three decades. When we spoke with Bobi Wine, this very very popular opposition leader, he told us about the violence that he and his followers and his supporters are getting. And just now, this week, another attempt to his security guard, staff of his house were beaten, a friend was killed. Do you fear for Bobi Wine's safety in the coming days?

BK: Very much so. In fact, we suspect that he's going to be arrested as soon as the results are about to be announced and taken to some unknown destination to make sure that if illegal activities are done by the establishment through the electoral commission, he's not able to stand up and say no. So we anticipate violence meted out against him and all of us. The situation is a bit volatile, not on a count of citizens, count will be enforcement agencies.

CO: So I'll say that again. So you anticipate violence against all of you and the opposition, including yourself. And you expect that Bobi Wine will be arrested after this election and taken to an unknown destination.

BK: Yes. Because they have been setting a stage for that.

CO: All right. The phone lines are even getting worse -- your lack of Internet is going to be a big issue. Mr. Katana I appreciate you speaking with us tonight. Thank you.

BK: My pleasure. Thank you very much.

CH: Benjamin Katana is a lawyer for Bobi Wine, Uganda's most prominent opposition candidate for president. We reached Mr. Katana in Kampala earlier today. Last month, we spoke with Bobi Wine after he temporarily suspended his election campaign because of the threats and violence.

BOBI WINE: We know that General Museveni is ready and in fact willing to do anything to maintain his power. But equally, the people of Uganda that have been oppressed for 35 years, many of them all of their lives, are willing to also stand firm, to be beaten, to be tear gassed, to go to prison or even to die in order to stop their enslavement in their own country.

CO: And how far are you willing to go to oppose him?

BW: I don't know if there's any further than saying we shall live and if need be, die for our freedom. You know, for us, we have only one thought. We believe that the law should be followed. And according to our law, all power belongs to the people. According to our law, all of us are equal before under the law. According to our law, we have freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association. And according to our law, we are supposed to go to an election and choose our leader.

CH: That was Bobi Wine speaking with Carol last month.

[Music: Hip-hop Music]

Bob Cummings

CH: This week, Air Canada announced it's eliminating 1700 jobs and cutting regional routes. That leave some smaller communities with no air service, which sounds like an opportunity for smaller carriers like Central Mountain Air in B.C.. Bob Cummings is the CEO of Central Mountain Air. But in these dark days of limited travel, he says, it's not a simple thing for small carriers to fill the void left by the big airlines.

BOB CUMMINGS: Right now, doing the maths with the demand, there's very few flights that would cover variable costs being drawn into debt essentially every time that you lift off. But for a smaller carrier with smaller, I'll say, planes and equipment and cost structure and so forth, it is more fit for purpose for regional flying so that when things do improve and I'll say maybe just to put a timeframe on it 60 days out, we certainly would be looking to pick up some of this flying, some of these void. It would present an opportunity for carriers like C.M.A to enter into some of these markets. But over the next little bit, it's just a tough tough environment, I'll say overall, not just for Air Canada and WestJet.

CHRIS WALKER: I think the lay people like me probably assume that when big carriers pull out of a market, you automatically pick up the slack. Is it that simple?

BOB CUMMINGS: Not in this case. The prospects for demand for the foreseeable future, with all of I'll say the trends, generally doesn't make sense for the carrier to come in, set up some incremental infrastructure and start service. Most carriers have drawn on cash reserves are going into debt. So it's pretty hard for carriers, you know, at this point to go in and strategically expand their footprint with the thought that it will roll into viable service down the road. We're constantly evaluating what that looks like at this particular time, you called it dark days, that's kind of the middle of the night here in terms of looking at starting up a scheduled service at this point.

CH: Bob Cummings, CEO of Central Mountain Air in British Columbia, speaking with the CBC's Chris Walker, host of Daybreak South.

[Music: Calm Music]

Siegfried obit

Guest: David Goldrake

CH: When you think of Las Vegas, it's hard not to think of Siegfried and Roy. The Las Vegas couple dazzled audiences with their over-the-top shows that combined big white cats, extravagant costumes, and magic. For decades, their shows brought in millions of dollars and revolutionised entertainment on the glitzy Vegas Strip. In 1997, Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn were guests on The Tonight Show. And always the entertainers, they brought white tiger cubs with them. Here's Mr. Fischbacher speaking with Jay Leno as the cubs crawled all over him.

JAY LENO: You guys have been together, what?

SIEGFRIED FISCHBACHER: Over 30 years.

JAY LENO: Really? Over 30 years? When did you guys...

SIEGFRIED FISCHBACHER: 25 years in Las Vegas you know. And the first time that reminds me very well, our first arrival in Las Vegas was 25 years ago. And the owner of the hotel said, "What are you doing? Don't tell me you're a magician because magic doesn't work in this town." [Audience laughs] But the opening night, we opened with a cheetah and I transformed Roy into a cheetah. [Audience keeps laughing].

ROY HORN: And at the first time, we worked with an orchestra pit, with an orchestra pit, and we had a conductor in front of it and he had a toupee. and he had. And the cheetah was so enhanced by him, he jumped to him, took his wig off, took his toupee off, and landed on the piano. That was our opening night.

CH: That was Roy Horn and before him, Siegfried Fischbacher on The Tonight Show in 1997. Mr. Fischbacher died yesterday of cancer. He was 81. David Goldrake is a Las Vegas magician and a friend of Siegfried Fischbacher. We reached him in Las Vegas.

CO: David, first of all, I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend.

DAVID GOLDRAKE: Thank you so much.

CO: We just heard that Siegfried describing a Siegfried and Roy show. What was it like to see them on stage?

DG: It was surreal. I saw the show for the first time in 1996, and then I saw it again a couple of times later. And it transcended what a magic show was considerate. They had so much production value. There was a story, the costumes, all the illusions. You could see influence from so many different shows and not magic shows but other shows from Broadway, from the West and from literatures. Siegfried loved reading, even though he never really spoke about that -- when he was off, he would read. And everything was a source of inspiration for him. And you could see that in the show.

CO: And as you point out, I mean, it just went so far beyond magic and illusion, didn't it? And the animals were key to that -- the panthers, horses, elephants and of course, the white tigers. What was it like to see all of that on stage?

DG: It was overwhelming -- the whole experience. From the moment you came into the theatre, the showroom, the show had already begun. You had the Venetian monks that would approach people and put stickers on our cheeks or on their shoulder. There was this floating, I would say a hologram that was a laser image that would float invisibly, like through the stage and on the stage, this animated piece, and then all of a sudden the lights would dim and the show had already begun before you even knew it. The animals made it obviously even larger than it was. And then there was a big dragon. And you could see how Siegfried and Roy interacted with each other, with the audience. The show had so many layers that it was very overwhelming.

CO: How did you first meet Siegfried?

DG: [Laughs] I was in my very very early 20s and I had booked a flight to Las Vegas -- it's actually going to be exactly 25 years this December. And I found out their manager's phone number, Bernie Yuman. And I called him starting March almost every week, once, twice a week, literally harassing him for a meet and greet with Siegfried and Roy. And Bernie, who I'm still surprised to this day, took my phone calls all the time, would talk to me and tell me we don't know yet, we don't know yet, literally every day for months, for weeks until December. And then at some point I just gave up and flew to Vegas. I was sitting in my little booth waiting for the show to start when this lady approached me and asked me to wait by the door and I knew my wish was about to be granted. And I was waiting for Siegfried and Roy. And I'm waiting and waiting. And all of a sudden after 15 minutes, I heard this voice behind me in Germany, you know, it was Siegfried "Hello Luxembourg." [Laughter].

CO: Because you're from Luxembourg, right?

DG: I'm from Luxembourg, yes. And I turned around and I see him. And inside I'm petrified. I'm star struck. I'm 22 years old or 21 years old. And my first reaction, instead of, you know, doing what is supposedly the right thing to do, I go, "Where's Roy?" And Siegfried looks at me [Speaks in Germany and then translate in English] "Am I not enough?" And then he starts laughing and that was the beginning. That's how we first met.

CO: And you kept that relationship going, did you?

DG: Yes, yes. We became friends over the years and the friendship became even closer once I got my show here on the Las Vegas Strip,. He came to the show. He brought Roy to the show. We used to go out very regularly, whether it was for dinner, for lunch or just hang out together. It became a very precious friendship.

CO: You got to know Roy Horn as well. And the people might remember that in 2003 the pair stopped their shows after Roy was mauled by a 400 pound white tiger, dragged off the stage. He always maintained that the tiger was trying to protect Roy, who had a stroke after this experience. How important were those animals to them?

DG: They were extremely important. Roy cared more about the animals than he cared about anything else. He would be with them all the time. He would be the first person actually that they would see when they were born. He was their family. They were his family. And everything was always about the tigers. So whenever he spoke about the tigers -- and again, I haven't met him that many times, I was very much closer to Siegfried than I was ever with Roy -- the animals were everything to Roy.

CO: But Roy Horn, he never really recovered from that. And then last May, he died of COVID-19. Is that right?

DG: Correct. Correct, yes.

CO: What was their relationship like off stage?

DG: Off stage, very caring. Very loving. They were partners, they were friends, they were everything to each other, especially Siegfried had a very very strong, very deep sense of responsibility towards Roy, even after the accident or especially after the accident. I remember when the three of us had dinner one night, Roy and I were talking and Siegfriend was just holding Roy's hand every time something was about to happen or Roy needed something, it was ultra awareness on both sides.

CO: What kind of legacy do you think Siegfried and Roy will leave on Las Vegas?

DG: I think Las Vegas wouldn't be Las Vegas today without Siegfried and Roy having been here. They were not just instrumental in the world of show business as magicians or showmen in general, but they've done so much for the city in so many different ways. They've been involved in so many philanthropic ventures. They've given back so much to the city. I honestly don't believe that Las Vegas would be Las Vegas that it is today without Siegfried and Roy's involvement.

CO: David, thank you so much for telling us about your friend.

DG: Thank you.

CH: David Goldrake is a magician in Las Vegas. He was a friend of Siegfried Fischbacher of Siegfried and Roy, who died yesterday at the age of 81.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Talkback: Pickleball

CH: Earlier this week, we told you about tensions in Ridgewood, New Jersey, caused by the sport of pickleball, which is experiencing a boom or more literally, an endless series of annoying pops. The constant popping of the ball bouncing off pickleball rackets in Ridgewood hass people who live near pickleball courts are feeling pretty sour. That story had one of our listeners calling Talkback with a potential solution.

MARK RENNISON: Hi there As It Happens. My name is Mark Rennison, and I am calling because I am a professional pickleball coach. That's right. There is someone who travels all across North America delivering pickleball lessons. I can promise you that this is not an isolated problem. Many times it's a non-issue because it's in a park, it's a wide open place where there is other recreation happening and people expect the pop, pop, pop of pickleball. But where it becomes a little bit more of a problem, at least as far as I can see, is when residential areas exist and then after the fact, people go in and they put in pickleball courts, or sometimes they put pickleball lines on tennis courts and pickleball is definitely noisier than tennis. So the best solution I have seen is that you build the pickleball courts first then put the housing around it. And that way, anyone who is building a house or buying a house -- they know exactly what they're going to get. It is a little bit noisy. But you know what? The noise is a lot less annoying if you're out there playing pickleball. And pickleball is super easy to start playing. It's really fun. It's really social. I encourage all about As It Happens listeners to go out and try pickleball. You won't regret it and the noise won't bug you nearly as much.

CH: Thanks Mark for calling in with your insight on pickleball noise. I like how you said it 'It's less annoying, but not not annoying anyway.' If you have any pickleball advice, call Talkback anytime: 416-205-5687. Or send an email to: aih@cbc.ca.

[Music: Blues Guitar]

Mount Cashel

CH: Canada's courts have heard enough from the Catholic Church on Mount Cashel. This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada denied the church's request to appeal a ruling that holds it responsible for the sexual abuse of boys at the St. John's Orphanage during the 1950s. Today's decision opens the door to similar claims from the decades that followed. The orphanage wasn't closed until 1989. Then a public enquiry exposed its nightmares. In October of that year, As It Happens aired testimony from Alice Crew -- the social worker went to police after finding a young boy who needed hospital care.

ALICE CREW: One of the CID officers that came to my office, he went with his hand like that. [Smacking hand sound] He says, 'My God, I know what's been going on and for a long time.' And he says, 'I haven't been able to nail them down, but this time I'll get them.' And he said also that Mount Cashel was Murphy's holy cow and nobody could touch it. He said that. And in April, I think I heard that the brothers had been spirited away somewhere else. And I said to myself, he didn't get them again. But that's all my involvement.

CH: From our archives, testimony from the 1989 enquiry into abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage. The courts have agreed to protect the identities of the litigants from today's decision. John Doe Number 26 is now in his 80s. Today, he spoke with the CBC about his response to the decision.

JOHN DOE: I came in and sat down on the couch over there and I began to think. And I went right back to the orphanage days. And I asked myself questions -- how life would have been different had I not had to take that role? Well, you know, how many scars, bumps, and bruises would I not have experienced if I did not have to go in that role? And I look now from the vantage point of my life just about over -- I'm in my 80s. And I look with, I can't say regret, but longing for the days that could have been. I thought about my brothers -- they had a lot of obstacles along the road and did not fare as well as I would have hoped that they would. I thought about what kind of lives would they have had, had the obstacles of this not been in the way, you know, what framed them should not have been the things that framed them.

RYAN COOKE: What does it mean to you to know that finally they are responsible, the church is responsible?

JOHN DOE: I wouldn't think so much that to me that they are responsible, because I always knew that they were. But what does it mean to them? Are they looking at it from a monistic point of view, monetarily, or as they tell their parishioners: are they soul searching? And seeing that, yes, culpability is all around them and they take responsibility for that and say it, mean it, say it and mean and do something about it because it's still happening.

RYAN COOKE: What do you think should happen with the legacy of Mount Cashel? When at all these cases are settled and it is long gone, what do you hope people will continue to talk about?

JOHN DOE: Maybe a plaque or something over there, 'This is where the notorious, the infamous, Mount Cashel stood. Where hundreds of boys were sexually and physically abused by the Christian brothers.' Put it up there -- maybe that would be okay.

CH: The man known as John Doe Number 26 speaking to the CBC's Ryan Cooke. This morning, the Supreme Court refused the Catholic Church's bid to appeal a decision that holds it responsible for the abuse of John Doe Number 26 and others at the Mount Cashel Orphanage.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Part 3: Basketball helped her find her 'true self.' Now she's sharing it with other Muslim women

Ethiopian refugee athlete

Guest: Fitriya Mohamed

CH: Fitriya Mohamed first hit the basketball court when she was 10, shortly after arriving in Canada as a refugee. She loved the game so much she never worried about fitting in. It was only later she realised that as a Black Ethiopian Muslim girl, people saw her differently. And then she worried that feeling of being different might keep others like her from the game. Fast forward 13 years to 2020, when Ms. Mohamed started a basketball league of their own for Muslim women. Because of the pandemic, it wasn't a complete slam dunk. But teams are ready to play, and Fitriya Mohamed hopes to get the league rolling this summer. We reached her in Toronto.

CO: Fitriya, it must be hard to get enough players together for a game these days.

FITRIYA MOHAMED: [Chuckles] Yes, sadly -- COVID, what's going on?

CO: Honestly. Can you tell us a bit about what it is that you love so much about playing basketball?

FM: Basketball is where I discovered my true self, in terms of my leadership abilities, my confidence. There's just so much that basketball has taught me as an individual. When I first arrived in Canada, it was a way for me to adapt to the Canadian culture.

CO: At what point did you notice that young women -- it was hard to get into the game. What do you think was keeping a lot of young women like yourself from getting into basketball?

FM: I think when I was playing it myself throughout my high school and elementary, I didn't realise like there was a reason why Muslim women were missing from the basketball world. But through my journey, I kind of knew that I wanted to start up something specifically for Muslim women because I didn't see others that looked like me. So after graduating from my sport management degree in 2019, I felt confident to start up something around basketball to show, you know, the Muslim girls that 'Hey, you could also take part in sport because there isn't anything in the Islamic literature that says that you cannot participate in sport whatsoever.' So that's how the league came into what it is today. But hopefully COVID kind of chills down, so we can get it started up and running.

CO: What kind of a reaction, what response did you get from young Muslim women and girls about your appeal to have a Muslim women's team?

FM: The response has been absolutely great. There are so many individuals around the globe that like if only we could have something similar in this part of the world. And there are so many that pursued basketball at the college level. Obviously, the barrier they experienced, they were able to heavily support the league because they wanted something like that for themselves. So it's impacting individuals that, you know, went into playing basketball at the highest level, but still felt like they didn't belong in the community because there wasn't a community that was actually supporting them in terms of like their Islamic identity.

CO: I know you came from Ethiopia. I think before you turned 11, you arrived in Canada.

FM: Right.

CO: What was it like when you came? Because you came with -- well, your family got kind of broken up a bit, didn't they?

FM: Yes. Yes. But when I came from Ethiopia, the weather, everything was completely different. And me trying to learn the language was absolutely hard. I think me just trying to make myself as normal as possible within the Canadian culture by just trying to take part in different activities that the school offered was a way for me to, I guess, adapt to the culture. But it was definitely a new experience I never had before. So, yeah, that's all I could say about the Canadian culture at the beginning.

CO: And I think you were separated from your mom for a while before you can actually come to Canada, weren't you?

FM: Right. Yes. So it was actually my first time in, I don't remember how many years, but I finally got reunited with my mother. So there is just so much more here that know made it home from the beginning already.

CO: As a refugee coming from Ethiopia, I'm sure you didn't have a lot of sports in your youth. But did you have any school? Were you able to go to school before you came here?

FM: I didn't actually go to school back in Ethiopia. In terms of sport, I think what kind of encouraged me to assure I create something for Muslim women here in Toronto is the fact that I was seeing my cousins, all my cousins, playing soccer because soccer is so much bigger down there than basketball. And it was just like I never saw the girls taking part in the sport -- they would just be like watching it from the side. So when I came here, I wanted to definitely use my voice and to try to change that narrative. So I'm here, interestingly, doing something like that here in terms of basketball for Muslim women.

CO: I have to tell you that I knew about you long before you were featured in the Toronto Star because my former co-host, Jeff Douglas, was amongst the people who helped your family come to Canada. And Jeff said from the first time he saw you, he saw this spark, that there was something that he knew you were going to do interesting things. But I don't think he expected basketball was one of those things. [Laughs] Who inspired you? How were you directed into basketball? Who got you there?

FM: So in elementary school, when I was transitioning from school, from grade to grade, my teacher in physical education, she didn't like the girls sitting on the bench. So she's like, 'Always go play. If you're in gym class, you have to play.' So she forced us to like, get off the bench, although we were uncomfortable. She's like, what are you guys afraid of? You guys are all girls here. She was a joker. And then when I entered high school, my high school coach, he really wanted to coach a girls team. And when there aren't enough girls to take part in the girls sports so the sports don't happen. So we were also forced, the girls, to take part in literally every sport so that the teams could happen. And I would definitely say in terms of like my sports journey, he encouraged me to take part in sports. And from there, I fell in love with basketball specifically. But big shout out to Mr. Broman because every sports teams he coached, like I literally tried out just because I felt like he believed in me and he didn't look at me differently, but he just encourage all the girls to "Hey play sports."

CO: And what did your mom think when you got involved, so enthusiastically, with basketball?

FM: [Chuckles] I think in terms of like parental support, it's an interesting story. My mother wasn't truly supportive of it because it wasn't the norm seeing a woman or a girl to take part in a sport due to the lack of knowledge. And she wasn't supportive at the beginning. Like every day I would say, I have basketball practise, I have this practise. "What is this going to do for you?" You know, she never understood. All she wanted me to do was concentrate on my education. And I wanted to also make her happy with pursuing education. But I told her "Hey, don't worry, I'm going to go to university, but I'm also going to do something I love." I think when I was trying to explain it to her that I'm going to study sport management, I had to cry to convince her. [Chuckles] It was hilarious.And then I think in 2019 when I got my bachelor's degree, she was like, oh wow she actually graduated with a degree. [Laughter] Then she finally accepted what I'm doing and the fact that I'm not on a bad track, rather I'm doing important things in the community. I feel like she definitely accepted and supported more so than at the beginning of my journey.

CO: You know that many sports agencies have made it difficult for women, Muslim women, to play in sports wearing a hijab. You wear one. Do you think that attitude is changing?

FM: I want to say that the conversation has begun, but we're not fully there yet. So with sports organisations and individuals such as Shireen Ahmed and Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, we're literally pushing for organisation to change our policies that's restricting individuals from, you know, practising different faith from taking part. We're not there yet. But the conversation has begun. We just have to keep pushing.

CO: I can certainly see what Jeff saw in you all those years ago when you first arrived in Canada. And I think you're going to do amazing things. Thanks so much for speaking to us.

FM: No, I appreciate the call. Thank you so much.

CH: Fitriya Mohamed started the Muslim Women's Summer Basketball League. We reached her in Toronto. As Carol mentioned, my predecessor in this chair, former As It Happens, co-host Jeff Douglas, was indeed part of the group that sponsored Fitriya and her family to come to Canada. And you can find more on her story on our webpage: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Funk Music]

Sheldon Adelson

CH: Germany's culture minister says the last of Cornelius Gurlitt's collection of Nazi lootings has been returned to its rightful heirs. Mr. Gurlitt was the son of one of the Nazi's favourite art dealers. When his father died, he inherited a collection of Picasso, Renoir, and Matisses that had been removed from their owners through extortion, theft or murder. In 2014, Mr. Gurlitt was approaching the end of his own life. That's when German authorities discovered his hoard of more than 1500 artworks. At the time, we put in a call to Cornelius Gurlitt's lawyer. Carol asked Stephan Holzinger if his client hadn't felt some responsibility to find out who owned all that stolen stuff.

STEPHAN HOLZINGER: And when the war ended he was 13. And when his father died in a car crash, he was 24. And his father asked him to take care of the collection. And that's what Cornelius Gurlitt did his whole life. He has now employed several scientists to, you know, check the whole collection regarding pieces that were apparently not acquired legitimately.

CO: But did he not have any obligations to find out what he inherited to make sure -- did he not feel at some point maybe I should find out if since we were the Nazi dealer of choice, we had some obligations?

STEPHAN HOLZINGER: Well, you could say that and it's a matter of fact that in dozens of senior and prominent German museums, you still have that kind of artwork today. There are even media reports that the German parliament build ing has several of the disputed Nazi artwork. But what we see here is the German legislation has not done its homework for more than seven decades. Mr. Gurlitt is certainly not the only one who is under suspicion in that matter. We even have German museums, which, despite the Washington Convention from 1998, are not giving back any of the artworks, but he does. So you could say it is his moral obligation despite a pretty clear legal situation that's correct.

CO: Just to close, are there any more collections that we're going to find out about?

STEPHAN HOLZINGER: If there were I wouldn't tell you on the phone or on your show. But as a matter of fact, we don't know yet. And you have to understand that Mr. Gurlitt is in a very bad health condition, which allows his custodian and us only to see him once in a while and only for a short limited of time. If you look at his father's way of dealing with that artwork, I understand, at least from historical reports, that he has operated with six different depots. But at this time, we simply don't know.

CH: From our archives, that was Stephan Holzinger, the lawyer for Cornelius Gurlitt, speaking to Carol in 2014. Mr. Gurlitt died later that year. Today, Germany's culture minister announced that the last of Mr. Gurlitt's collection of Nazi lootings has been returned to its rightful owner. It was a drawing of a piano player that had belonged to Henry Henrikson, a Jewish music publisher who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.

[Music: Calm Music]

UK bison hiring

CH: Earlier this week, we told you about British restaurant owner Niraj Gadher's efforts to send a samosa into space. The whole endeavour may have lacked gravitas, but it had an undeniable attraction. Part of the appeal was the way Mr. Gadher told the story, making the prospect of sending a savoury snack skyward to the stratosphere seem almost as simple as three to one.

NG: So I made a little spaceship out of polystyrene box and then I got the tracker, then we got a GoPro. And then I realised they're not going to last that long, got extra batteries, got a parachute as well, because you want the spaceship to land slowly, right? And then, yeah, it landed in France.

CO: But now, some things did go wrong. Do you want to tell us about that?

NG: Yes. I let go of the first balloons and they just kind of flew off. In the second launch, yeah, I made another blunder and then people around me heard how I messed it up. And one guy said to me, oh, obviously like, what do you know? Like, why would you be able to do that? But that made me even more determined. I think the moral of the story to everyone is don't listen to anyone -- live your dreams, don't give up.

CH: British restaurateur Niraj Gadher reminding us all to live our dreams after he lived his dream of sending a samosa into space --or if not quite space, "pretty high up." Well, former As It Happens guest Bryan Chan's dreams weren't as edible as Mr. Gadher's. But they did have loftiness in common, literally. Back in 2013, Mr. Chan and his friends launched their own balloon into space, outfitted with a cell phone and a GoPro camera. They wanted to see what kind of footage they could capture. Trouble was, they couldn't capture the balloon. They lost track of it. And two years later, the camera turned up along with some phenomenal footage. Bryan Chan spoke with Carol about its recovery in September 2015.

CO: Bryan, it's been two years -- did you ever think that you would actually see this phone in camera again?

BRYAN CHAN: [Chuckles] Honestly, I really didn't. I really didn't. I mean, I think I had a little hope maybe the first month or so, but I think it was easier for me to kind of disconnect from it and sort of forget about it instead of having this sort of low lying, you know, agonising pain constantly over me. [Laughs] So the desert's a really big place -- it could had even kind of fell into the Grand Canyon, at which point I don't really think it would have been found for a really long time.

CO: Well, it was kind of a crazy idea, wasn't it? And this is in the summer of 2013, you and your pals decided to launch this weather balloon. Can you describe how you did it? What was the idea?

BC: Yeah. So the idea was one of my friend's, Dave, he was going for his Phd. And one of his experiments was the fluid lensing idea. And the idea behind with the water balloon was we would send some cameras up and take a picture of Earth using the atmosphere as some sort of lense. We knew -- myself and a couple others -- we had sort of done this weather balloon stuff before, you know, we had dabbled in it. And he kind of recruited us to be the balloon expert to help figure out how to, you know, put his cameras in a spot, launch it and then somehow retrieve it.

CO: Okay so you had to get a big balloon, get a lot of helium which apparently was quite expensive. You had to get this camera into a box. And then you launched it, hoping it would go quite high, 98,000 feet from the Earth's surface you were hoping to get it

BC: Right. So when we launched the balloon with the phone emitting its G.P.S. and sending a signal down and everything, we could actually track the phone and I guess the balloon all the way up to about 90,000 feet, actually. But basically right around that 90,000 mark, all communications were lost. And so we really had no idea what happened to it, how far it went, where it landed of course. All we really had were our models that kind of predicted where it was supposed to land. And so what we did was -- after going to a location where it was supposed to land and looking at our watches, we were very anxiously waiting for it to come back. You know, a couple hours later, nothing happened. So we ended up just circling around the desert all day and all night, you know, looking for this bright object on the ground. But, of course, we never found it.

CO: How long did you look for it?

BC: Oh, man. So I think it was supposed to land around 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon and we were out until around midnight in this desolate desert wasteland,. All of our phone batteries were kind of dying. We had no food, water was certainly an issue, it was very hot. So, I mean, we were making trade-offs here, like, how long should we look for this versus we probably should get water at some point.

CO: All right. Now somebody found it. Tell us the story of who found it and how it was returned to you.

BC: So I actually was on travel. I was in New Zealand at the time. I'm off camping somewhere. And so right when I get back into town in New Zealand, I check my email, you know, looking, sorting through the normal things. And all of a sudden I see this like in caps, "SPACE BALLOON = FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!" -- and there's like 20 exclamation points behind it. [Laughter] And so I read it all. And basically the woman that found it, her name is Pearl. She worked at AT&T and she was on a hike. And, you know, she sees this very strange looking box with a parachute and picks it up and I guess looks at it and take the phone out and then goes to the nearest AT&T store and gives them the phone with a SIM card in it so they can identify whose phone it is.

CO: So not only did you recover it, but you recovered tremendous pictures. When you all sat down and could take a look at what you had, how did you react when you saw the beauty of those shots from 98,000 feet?

BC: Yeah, I mean, we were blown away. I think in elementary school, middle school, we've always done those time machine capsules where you sort of write a note to yourself -- you do it at the beginning of school and you put it in the ground and you kind of wait till the end of the year. You pull it out and then kind of read what you wrote one year ago. Well, it's kind of like that. And it's kind of a note -- this was amazing HD footage of this flight, right. I was just absolutely floored by the stuff that we got. Right around 90,000 feet the GoPro just kind of did this beautiful swing around Earth. And you can see the Grand Canyon and the west and crevice kind of coming out, almost looking like like a spider leg or something. I mean, it was just absolutely beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

CO: All right. Well, we're going to give people the links they need to go and look at the footage and also that magic photo that you've posted online. And it's good to talk to you Bryan. Thank you.

BC: All right. Thanks.

CH: Bryan Chan is an aerospace systems engineer in San Francisco. He spoke with Carol on As It Happens in 2015. And to see those images and revisit this week's coverage of a samosa's voyage into the great unknown, go to our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Drum & Bass Music]

Howard Johnson

CH: It's the first day of school and you just stepped into band class. The teacher is asking everyone to choose an instrument. Well, trumpet is undeniably cool. No brainer, that's your first choice. If that's taken, you'll settle for the trombone, maybe even the French horn -- you get to stick your hand in it. But God forbid the teacher tries to saddle you with the tuba. Of all the brass instruments, the tuba has to be the most maligned. It's comically oversized. You can hardly hold the thing, let alone see the music from behind its tangled mass of lacquered tubes and in most people's minds, it's relegated to a supporting "um-pa-pa" role in the band. But Howard Johnson turned that stereotype on its head. The tuba virtuoso died on Monday. He was 79. When Mr. Johnson arrived in New York in the 60s, no one could question his chops. He held his own on the bandstand, playing with jazz giants like Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie. He brought the tuba to the forefront and proved the low end could be lyrical, which led to gigs far beyond the jazz scene. As he told Liner Note Legends in 2015, I could find myself in almost anybody's record collection. Mr. Johnson went on to play with artists like the band Muddy Waters and John Lennon. During the 70s, he conducted the Saturday Night Live band, and in the 80s he even made a cameo on Sesame Street. In addition to his catalogue of credits, Howard Johnson led his own tuba bands.

January 14, 2021 Episode Transcript

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