Thursday, April 2, 2009

Interview with George Stroumboulopoulos




Friday March 27th was one of the best days of my life. Dramatic, I know, but when you have the opportunity to meet with your career icon in your medium, in the perfect setting... well it doesn't get much better.

I had been trying to set up the interview for a few days... with no clear answer I was on the edge of my seat with my questions prepped when I received a txt from Strombo, "hey SW, it's G S how's it goin?" My colleague Alexis will verify that I jumped 5 feet in the air.

My DOP, Patrick Henry, and I picked Strombo up in Pat's truck, headed to the seawall and got down to business. The interview went relatively smoothly. In terms of our dialogue it was natural, fun, energetic. We came across a few fans of Strombo (big shocker) and halted the interview so he could say whad up. We also passed by a large commercial shoot. Now THAT was funny. Here we are, with our shot-gun mic, wire dangling below the frame and Pat walking backwards ever so carefully for 35 minutes plus... this other shoot had at least 20 people involved, a mountain of cables to power up all of their gear, I think they even had a Krafty truck. I laughed feeling mildly embarrassed for my short comings, but I though "they may have the gear, but we've got the guy".


Interviewing the interviewer is great in some ways, tricky in others. Once or twice he turned the questions on me, which was cool, but in one instance he was speaking so quickly that I hadn't understood the question. Oops! In addition, his responses were lengthy (I think I asked a question once every 2-5 minutes) which is great for me, challenging for Pat when he tried to cut it together. We have so much content that we will cut and post a second instalment of the interview. This will focus more on music, the Junos and the guests they feature on his show The Hour. Which, everyone should watch. Every night if you can!


After the interview Pat, Strombo and I went belt buckle shopping for him on Granville. He was looking for a Black Flag belt buckle and also picked up a sparkly Eazy E buckle. We then grabbed Alex Liu, producer and director, and Erik Hughes of Moneen and all piled into Pat's truck. This was perhaps the best part of the day. Picture Erik in the covered cab of the truck, strombo and I in the fold up seats tucked behind Alex and Pat who were the only ones sitting in proper seats up front. It was like an industry clown car as we piled out in front of Tojo Sushi (the inventor of the California Roll). Of course, when you're with Strombo you get great service anywhere, but we were treated exceptionally well at Tojos. After an amazing meal and a few hours of great conversation we were all given gifts from the restaurant. Each of us received a different colour promotional toenail clipper. Probably THE most random promotional item for a restaurant but I appreciate the Strombo souvenire. Mine is pink:)
George Stroumboulopoulos is one of the most legit, funny, intelligent and down to earth people I have met. He spoke to everyone who stopped him that day (at least 30 people) with the same courtesy and attention whether it was a former exec at Sony BMG or person struggling with rehab. I already respected him more than any other as a media personality, now I have the utmost respect for him as a human being. Watch The Hour on CBC and listen to the Strombo Show on the radio (http://www.strombo.com/app for your local station)!

1 comment:

Dustin said...

Sarah, this is it, the only way I know how to contact you.
Great interview w/ Strombo. He's a very down to earth guy and I like what he had to say about "an unrelenting work ethic". It's inspiring.

I think you've got my e-mail now. Give me a shout.