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Rockin' Rhonda: Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to The PULSE Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully. Summer is rolling in fast here on mid-Vancouver Island. The parks and beaches are busier every day. The patios are packed, and folks are filling up their social calendars.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. I've been filling up bookings for the spare room at my place. That's the burden those of us who live in paradise must carry as friends and family from afar want to come visit this little chunk of beautiful British Columbia. But that's beside the point. I've been thinking about cars lately. Not from a mechanical sense so much - I wouldn't know a carburetor from a colander. But in the sense that a great car is a piece of rolling sculpture, moving art, history with a steering wheel. Well, Dave, that's a very poetic take on a vehicle. Well, Peter, I had some time to think about it while stuck behind a Buick LeSabre that was doing 40 in a 60. Lovely car. Lovely, slow car. Lots of chrome and expanses of sheet metal added not for practical purposes but merely for design - and that's where the moment turned, and I found my inner peace. Well, it was either that or road rage, and I chose growth, and that leads us nicely into one of the summer's milestone events, the Parksville Car and Bike Show.

Peter McCully: The show is back - revived, rebranded, and rolling into Parksville Community Park on July 5th. Classics, customs, motorcycles, imports, and everything in between. Ron Thorogood, one of the key organizers of the show, is with us today on the podcast to tell us all about this community event.

Ron Thorogood: It has nothing to do with a car. When I drag race, sure, the cars are there. The people and the family in that community are awesome. That doesn't change when you come to Parksville and look at the car community. Sure, the cars are there, but really what's behind the car is the people. The whole community of people is what drives me. The cars are great too, but that's secondary.

Dave Graham: And The PULSE Community Podcast is going to be there. We're going to be at the show asking another round of questions of passersby. We will, in essence, be taking the community's pulse - and we'll be available for pictures and autographs.

Peter McCully: Don't get your hopes up there, Dave. Later in the show, Ethan Askey, singer, songwriter, and harmonica player, will be joining us. Ethan leads Ethan Askey and The Elevators, whose new album Outside the Lines is now out. He'll be playing gigs across the island, including the Parksville Museum Concert Series.

Ethan Askey: I was in a meeting a few years ago with a guy who looked at me twice, then a third time, and said, "Hang on a second here. Did you used to be a river guide?" And I said, "I did." "And you played harmonica." I said I did. "'Cause I still remember you playing a crazy-ass gypsy version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony around a campfire on the bank of the Alsek River - right near there where I got that fish for Junior Wells." He still remembered that 30 years later. It's a thing. Everywhere I go, I've got a harmonica in my pocket.

Dave Graham: Travelling with a harmonica always in his pocket. There's a certain romance to that. In fact, I think that could be the start of a song. A song about a lone musician travelling from town to town, bringing joy to others through music and song. Hey, Peter, what rhymes with harmonica?

Peter McCully: Good luck with that, Dave. Also coming up on the podcast, watch for the new addition to the PULSE community. It's a show about movies. Too Old or Movie Gold, hosted by Olin Vanderleen from the Comox Valley, takes a panel of Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z voices and asks the big question: how has that movie stood the test of time? Does it still hold up? The first episode features Ron Howard's action classic Backdraft, and joining the panel are volunteer firefighters Caitlin and Trevor Holm of the Nanoose Bay Fire Department. They come from a three-generation firefighting family, just like the brothers in the film.

Dave Graham: That's a nice touch, reflecting the film that way. And to have commentary from experts - Too Old or Movie Gold is a welcome new addition to the PULSE family. Of all the movies made about fire and firefighting, Backdraft has to be among the finest, due in part to the fabulously sinister character brought to life by the late, great Canadian actor Donald Sutherland. But as for technical accuracy - if you listen in, you'll hear the experts have some issues.

Peter McCully: On an upcoming podcast, we'll be chatting with Port Alberni's Laura Palmer on the Island Crime Podcast as Season 9 has been released.

Dave Graham: And we'll learn about what to expect at one of the island's favourite summer events as Cheryl Dill joins us to tell us all about the Parksville Beach Festival. It kicks off with the sand sculpting competition that opens to the public on Friday, July 10th. I'll be the guy over in the corner playing music.

Peter McCully: Also coming to the podcast, we'll chat with Doug Picard about the value of exercise in battling Parkinson's - an important and positive conversation.

Thrifty Foods Parksville: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, and schools. Our Thrifty Foods Smile Card bulk program allows organizations to immediately save up to six percent on the purchase of Smile Cards in bulk, allowing you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Ian Lindsay & Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network, since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca

Dave Graham: Stay tuned to the podcast and our website and social pages for our upcoming giveaways. We have a summer of them planned. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to enter our April Wine prize package giveaway. Here's your chance to see Canadian rock royalty in action.

Peter McCully: The April Wine prize package includes tickets for two, two folding camp chairs, and a $100 Thrifty Foods Smile Card. We'll make the draw June 11th, and be watching for contests for Beachfest Rocks and Blue Rodeo. Head to thepulsecommunity.ca or our Facebook or Instagram pages for details.

Dave Graham: We have world-class entertainment coming to the world-class outdoor theatre. How fortunate are we? Who else has these kinds of events in this kind of facility by the ocean? Nobody. And who else has Blue Rodeo tickets? We have a pair for their sold-out show, so stay tuned.

Peter McCully: It is going to be a memorable summer. Let's get our first guest up to the microphone. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Ron Thorogood is one of the organizers of the Parksville Car and Bike Show, the revived, rebranded Van Isle Show and Shine. The show will open the doors to classics, customs, motorcycles, imports, and everything in between. Scheduled for July 5th at Parksville Community Park.

Dave Graham: Ron, it is a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the podcast.

Ron Thorogood: Thank you very much for having me. That's greatly appreciated.

Dave Graham: What was once known as the Van Isle Show and Shine is now known as the Parksville Car and Bike Show. How would you care to talk about the evolution of this event?

Ron Thorogood: There is so much history of the car show in Parksville, and the venue is amazing. The community park - there is no other place on Vancouver Island that you see a car show and a beach like that together. The car show started back in 1990. By 2004 they were offering window tags to the first 850 cars, and there was a thousand cars on the beach. It went to about 2006, and then it got so big the Ocean Idlers got burnt out. It was paused for a few years, and then the Shriners took it over - that's where the Van Isle Show started, always on the August long weekend. COVID happened and the Shriners decided they just couldn't do it anymore. In 2024, I got a little group of folks together. If we didn't put a group together, the show would have never come back. On July 7th, 2024, we had our first go at it, and it was amazing. Then in 2025, the Beach Fest moved the sandcastle competition over to the green area where we have the car show, and it was all under construction, so we couldn't hold the car show. This summer we went back again, and Mayor O'Brien - he's a car guy, has a Corvette - was very supportive. We've now developed a template for an annual car show, so it's going to happen all the years afterwards.

Dave Graham: The show is capped to 200 vehicles. Is that a benefit or otherwise?

Ron Thorogood: Because of the sandcastle competition area, we can't really park cars in the sand, so that took out a chunk of real estate. At our last show we had over 400 cars. What we didn't want was to have somebody pay for the show and then not be able to find a parking spot. So we set a pre-registration limit of 200. We think there'll be 300 cars there, because on the day of the show we'll have a separate line for people who haven't pre-registered and fit them in as we have room. We only have 30 registrations left as of this morning - there are already 170 cars signed up.

Dave Graham: And bikes and motorcycles?

Ron Thorogood: It's open to anybody. We have the Porsche Club coming. You'll see a variety of different vehicles.

Dave Graham: You've teamed up and made several partnerships to make this event go, one being the McMillan Art Centre. How does that work?

Ron Thorogood: We have a couple of awesome partners. One is the Downtown Business Association with Teresa Cooper. Teresa introduced me to Jennifer Bate at the McMillan Art Centre - we'd all worked together on the Amazing Art Race. What McMillan has brought to us is remarkable: they're helping with all the registrations. It costs $25 to register your show car. They're doing all the registration, keeping track of all the funds coming in, handling the accounting and doing the invoicing for all of our sponsors. The Downtown Business Association is also doing a meet-and-greet event on the Saturday evening.

Dave Graham: I also want to touch on another partnership - Evergreen Hospitality Group, offering hotels with discounts to attendees.

Ron Thorogood: Storm Jespersen put together a discount package on his four hotels here: the Sea Edge Beachfront Hotel, the Tides Inn, and the Coast in Parksville. The only thing is that's the busiest weekend of the entire year, so even getting a room is a good thing. We're happy to have them on board.

Dave Graham: Let's talk about how the weekend will proceed.

Ron Thorogood: It's going to be a full weekend. Vancouver Island Ferrals - they have a south chapter and a northern chapter - are planning a cruise starting at Canadian Tire. Then on Saturday, we're doing our meet-and-greet, so all registered show cars can come down. We'll have food trucks, and a fellow who'll make T-shirts with a picture of your own car on them - you can get a Parksville Car and Bike Show T-shirt made on the spot. Music, food, great atmosphere. The public is welcome, and anybody not connected with the car show can come down and join us. Then of course on the Sunday is the big show. We have eight people in our organizing group, and about 30 people show up at 5 AM. The actual car show starts at 9 AM and goes to 2:30.

Dave Graham: There's no charge for people to see this. Why is that an important feature?

Ron Thorogood: This is a community event. We want to keep it that way. This is our mission statement: "Powered by volunteers and community spirit, the Parksville Car and Bike Show celebrates Vancouver Island's car culture with a fun, safe, well-organized annual event that brings energy to the Parksville summer and builds lasting relationships with everyone who helps bring it to life." All of these volunteers have the same thought. We want to bring an event to a fabulous venue for the public to enjoy. We want to make sure they can get there and bring their families and have a nice, relaxing time.

Dave Graham: A lot of car shows end up with trophies and awards. Yours will not. How come?

Ron Thorogood: When you do a competition at a car show, it brings a different vibe - a little more tension. Everybody is looking for the judges and worrying about their car. What we wanted was a show where people can bring their cars, sit down with their friends, and not worry about any of that. In our first show we did that, and we sent out a survey afterwards - the absence of judging was one of the things people responded to most positively.

Dave Graham: We have good representation for cars and shows in our area with the famous Father's Day Show N' Shine, the show out in Coombs, and this one. What does that say about people's interest in vehicles?

Ron Thorogood: There is a car culture here. There's a photographer named Dan Teterin who goes around and photographs every car show on Vancouver Island. A group of car enthusiasts bought Dan's dream car, restored it, and presented it to him at the KMS Wednesday night show in Nanaimo. People came from Campbell River to Victoria - I'll bet there were 1,000 people there. The parking lot was overwhelmed in the first five minutes. What a fantastic car culture. I've never seen anything like it. Look at this show's registration - people are coming from Prince George, the Lower Mainland, about 30 cars from Victoria, Campbell River, Port Alberni. That's what gets us excited.

Dave Graham: You wouldn't be involved were you not a car guy. Do you have a car in the show?

Ron Thorogood: I'm not putting my car in the show because I'm going to be there at 4:30 AM with all of our other volunteers setting up and working that day. I owned a 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 that I drag raced. I owned the car for 50 years - bought it in '72 when I was coming out of school, sold it in '22 when we moved out here. I bought a streetcar instead: a 1967 Firebird convertible, red with a white top. You won't see it at the show, but you'll see it driving around Parksville all the time. If you do, give me a wave.

Dave Graham: Let's go back to your beginnings with the automobile. What was the spark?

Ron Thorogood: I was raised on a farm just east of Edmonton. When I turned 16, my dad bought me a 1959 Pontiac four-door - the biggest thing you could ever get. Of course, it didn't run, so we had to pull the motor. We did that six times because we didn't know there were numbers on the pistons. But we got it running. In 1972 I bought my dream car - the '70 Duster. We turned it into a race car and I started drag racing. I did that until my first child came along in 1990 - I couldn't afford both. The car sat around five or six years, then we brought it back onto the track with a good friend of mine. The car won back-to-back pro titles in Calgary in 2000 and 2001. Then I got my kids into Junior Dragsters - my daughter at 10, my son at eight. We did Junior Dragsters for 12 years: every single weekend, those kids would drag me out to a racetrack. Joanne and I moved to Vancouver Island about nine years ago, and I got into the car scene here through a fellow named Jerry Swan. I'm a member of the Ocean Idlers - just a great group of folks. The talent some of these people have for building cars is like nothing I've seen before. I think it's a work of art.

Dave Graham: What is it about you and the lifelong fascination for the automobile?

Ron Thorogood: It has nothing to do with a car. When I drag race, sure, the cars are there. But really what's behind the car is the people. The whole community of people is what drives me. The cars are great too, but that's secondary.

Peter McCully: Thanks to Ron Thorogood and all those responsible for reviving The Show by the Bay. The Parksville Summer Dreamin' Car and Bike Show happens Sunday, July 5th, at the community park, and we're looking forward to taking The PULSE Podcast on the road to see you there.

Dave Graham: We welcome your input. Please reach out. Leave us a voice or text message by using the contact link on our website, thepulsecommunity.ca.

Peter McCully: That same website has links for all of our podcasts, plus contests, events, and Vancouver Island webcam links.

Dave Graham: Being on an island can present occasional challenges when it comes to transportation route options, and these webcams let you see what conditions are like before you head out. You can also find The PULSE Community Podcast on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. Plus, we're on Facebook and Instagram.

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Peter McCully: Dave, something our first guest Ron Thorogood said is resonating with me - that for him it's not really about the cars. It's about the people and the community behind them that mean the most.

Dave Graham: I'll admit, I thought his answer would have been about the cars and his lifelong love of the automobile. But Ron put his finger on why anything matters. It's the people and their stories and experiences. They add that extra dimension to all things, including vehicles, which may be works of art or amazing technology on wheels, but are otherwise just things. I saw Ron just the other day - he said the show is now full. Come July 5th, we will gather to celebrate and appreciate these items and each other's company, and from that, recreate stories and memories - therein lies the magic.

Peter McCully: Our next guest has gathered his share of stories from his life as a musician and a guy who's carried a harmonica in his pocket for the better part of 30 years. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Ethan Askey is a singer, songwriter, and harmonica player based in Cranbrook, BC. Known in music circles as Shorty, he spent decades as a sideman and session player before stepping out front with his 2022 debut album Walk When You Wanna Run, which spent over 160 weeks on the Canada Roots and Blues Top 50. He leads Ethan Askey and the Elevators, who have a new album, Outside the Lines.

Peter McCully: Welcome to the podcast today, Ethan. I just finished listening to a number of your tunes, and I have to say, I really enjoy the style of music that you play. I've always been a fan of the blues harmonica - musicians like Delbert McClinton have always been in my collection. Did the blues find you, or did you find the blues?

Ethan Askey: I would have to say that I found the blues. I was a teenager who grew up in an era where it was mostly about head banging - AC/DC, Scorpions, Black Sabbath. But I would secretly spend my Sundays at home alone. My older brother had already moved away, and I had a killer record collection of his and my dad's. There I found The Band and The Last Waltz. I heard Paul Butterfield. I heard Muddy Waters. I grew up listening to my dad's more folky and rock music too - Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn. But The Band had a whole lot of depth. Then I started digging backwards and found Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and I just kept digging. I uncovered the blues that was kind of buried away.

Peter McCully: Your dad was a bit of a songwriter. How much of what you do now traces back to what he was doing?

Ethan Askey: I'm a storyteller, and I've had some pretty rich life experiences. The story of Stoners - the song on the first album - is that we were watching the news one night when Justin Trudeau announced he was about to legalize marijuana. I looked at my dad and said, "How do you feel about that? Did you ever smoke dope?" One of those frank moments as an adult son. He said, "No, not my thing." I said, "Really? You had pretty psychedelic tastes - you turned me on to Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd and The Band." He said, "Yeah, not my thing at all." I said, "So what do you think's gonna happen when it's legalized?" And he said, "I think stoners will still be stoned." I asked if I could use that line in a song I was working up, and he did me one better - he gave me three verses, which I incorporated pretty much lock, stock, and barrel into the song Stoners. A non-smoker wrote it tongue in cheek, and I made it a little hipper and added a chorus. I gave him songwriting credit. That was the only song he ever wrote - in his final months of his life.

Peter McCully: That's a great story. You spent years as a session player before you stepped out front of the band. What did that time teach you that you couldn't have learned any other way?

Ethan Askey: It gave me ears, Peter. Because I listened to records, then I listened to bands, then I listened to how I could fit in and serve the song, support the band. I consider myself a rhythm harmonica player - I love playing organ parts and horn parts, accenting what's going on in the band, having one of several different roles within a band. Not out there just blowing my horn. After years of being on the side of a stage, I learned how to serve the song. Only more recently have I stepped forward into the centre of the stage to sing and play more solos. I feel pretty humble about it, because I learned from wonderful players and paid my dues.

Peter McCully: You've done session work in genres referred to as progressive metal and Celtic punk funk. What does the harmonica bring to those genres?

Ethan Askey: It has every bit of business being there - it's a full-fledged instrument. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, it makes all sorts of sounds. I can play fully chromatically in all styles of music. In Cuba, I jam with salsa players. In the Czech Republic, I jam with jazzers. A band said to me, "We're doing this piece about going to the crossroads - but instead of the usual trope of a guitar player at the crossroads like Robert Johnson, we want a devil singing through a harmonica." I said, "Say no more. I can scream through a harmonica like the devil." Celtic punk music is almost ska punk. The Honeymens, friends of mine in Kimberley, have reformed - I'm actually sitting in their studio right now - and they're the rhythm section for our band. There's a fine line between blues and funk and country and punk. It's all rock and roll, baby. Maybe there's no lines. Our new album's called Outside the Lines. People call us a contemporary blues band, or a rock and roll band, or a roots band. I say: exactly. We colour outside the lines.

Peter McCully: A friend of mine is a harmonica player and one day he showed me his collection - I thought he was bringing out a wind instrument. He opened the case and there were 14 or 16 different harmonicas. Do you have quite a collection?

Ethan Askey: I've got more than I can count - over 100 harmonicas, and a lot of them are in the boneyard. They're out of tune. You can do open heart surgery on them, file them down, clean them up, do corrective work, but eventually the brass reeds inside fatigue and have to be replaced. I've got a bunch waiting for a skilled technician. When I play on stage, I wear a belt of 14 harmonicas, and that gives me most of what I need for most shows. When I go to a jam, I might put a couple more in my pockets. I also play the chromatic harmonica - bigger, with more notes and a little slide button. Stevie Wonder played chromatic. Toots Thielemans. It gives you a lot more colour and scales.

Peter McCully: The album Walk When You Wanna Run has been on the Top 50 Canada Roots and Blues chart for three or four years. And that album was built around a visit you made to Junior Wells' home on the South Side of Chicago. There sounds like a story there.

Ethan Askey: The album title track tells the story - every word's true. But in a nutshell: I went to the King Eddy in Calgary and caught Junior Wells' show. Between his sets, I was tapping my toes and showing my friends what I could do on the harmonica. He came over, gave me some tips, gave me his phone number and his address and said, "You ever come to Chicago, you call me." Years later I did. He put me on the guest list. We formed a relationship. I brought him a little cedar box hand-painted with a Kwakiutl design, with smoked salmon, and he took it home to his mom. She spent the day picking it apart, drinking a pot of coffee, loving this fish. The next year, I was down there on business - I was an expedition river guide working in the Arctic, Alaska, and Yukon - and I brought a big spring salmon to the Adventure Travel Trade Show in Chicago. I had to walk that fish through the Deep South Side to his house to deliver it to his mother because he was off on tour. She said to me, "You're a white man. You're bringing me a fish. You take a taxi here - I can see a train goes right there." I didn't take her advice. I took the train, being a cheap young fella and more bush smart than street smart, and I had to walk those four blocks with a fish under my arm. A real lesson, and a great song. Listen to it - every word's true. Three chords and the truth.

Peter McCully: And then halfway through that story, I got a picture of Ethan Askey whipping out a harmonica around a campfire.

Ethan Askey: I was in a meeting a few years ago with a guy who looked at me twice, then a third time, and said, "Hang on a second. Did you used to be a river guide?" I said I did. "And you played harmonica." I said I did. "'Cause I still remember you playing a crazy-ass gypsy version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony around a campfire on the bank of the Alsek River." He still remembered that 30 years later. It's a thing. Everywhere I go, I've got a harmonica in my pocket.

Peter McCully: That's the kind of impression you want to leave with somebody. Now, you've got a new album - Outside the Lines - featuring Susie Vinnick, Jimmy Bowskill, Steve Marriner. How did those collaborations come together?

Ethan Askey: Jim Bowskill and Steve Marriner were all over the first album - that started as a COVID Great Pause project. We did a remote recording and they laid down tracks at Ganaraska Recording Company in Cobourg, Ontario. When restrictions eased in 2021, we built out the album in a Calgary studio. This new album is all my band, The Elevators - Keith and Ben and Mike - but we added some guest vocalists. Susie Vinnick. We recorded mostly in Kimberley at Ray's Music, then Keith and I went out to Ganaraska Recording with Steve Marriner, and Steve added some keyboards and baritone guitar. My friend Jared Saulen, who I toured Europe with, is on the album too. Mostly The Elevators with a couple of special guests.

Peter McCully: You've headlined the Baltic Blues Festival in Germany and toured Europe. What does a Canadian blues band find when it plays for a European audience?

Ethan Askey: We did two tours in 2023 and 2024. We opened for Robert Cray at the Bodan Blues Fest in Switzerland and were the headliners at the Baltic Blues Festival in the Baltic Sea region. It's pretty special being on a stage in front of a few thousand people in an ancient village in Northern Germany or in Switzerland. They really appreciate the blues there - that dates back to 1964 and the folk blues tours that Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin' Wolf did. The Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton - they all soaked that up. Europe has been a stronghold for blues and roots music ever since. Right now, with all the politics going on, a Canadian band playing blues music might be even more popular than an American band.

Peter McCully: You're going to be on the island in July, and you're a repeat instructor at the Hornby Island Blues Workshops. What do you try to give players who are earlier in the journey musically?

Ethan Askey: At Hornby Island Blues Camp - this is the 27th year, and I've been there twice - they have 12 instructors typically, mostly Juno Award winners, teaching drums, keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals, songwriting, and harmonica. What I offer beginners is to demystify the instrument. A lot of folks have heard Bob Dylan and Neil Young play fairly basic stuff and want to expand their vocabulary. I try to give them tools to realize that inside that little instrument, there's almost infinite possibilities. I also coach them on playing rhythm harmonica, playing tastefully behind things, not over top of everything. There's a lot of etiquette involved in playing music when you're a lead instrument. You've really got to shut up sometimes. It's all about the notes you don't play.

Swing Like That

Peter McCully: Ethan Askey and The Elevators, "Swing Like That." Ethan, before you go, we've got a speed round of questions if you're up for it.

Ethan Askey: Let's do it.

Peter McCully: Harmonica, harp, or tin sandwich - which word do you use?

Ethan Askey: Blues harp. It's a blues harp, for sure.

Peter McCully: The song that made you want to play blues in the first place.

Ethan Askey: It's a toss-up. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - that whole album galvanized it for me. But I also remember hearing Blackfoot, the Southern rock band, play Train Train. DeFord Bailey - active from the '20s to the '70s, one of the earliest harp players - played a really cool intro to that, and then they'd rock it up. That crossover from deep old blues to rock and roll. Check it out.

Peter McCully: Best city in Canada to play a blues show.

Ethan Askey: I'm biased because I'm a product of the Calgary blues community. Toronto probably has the most opportunity. I've had some great shows in Halifax. But Calgary's my go-to.

Peter McCully: The one artist you'd drop everything to open for.

Ethan Askey: Buddy Guy. He figures so much in my own mythology. I've had the great blessing to open for John Mayall and Robert Cray, but Buddy Guy said he's doing one more tour. I'd love to do that because Junior Wells was his partner.

Peter McCully: Your go-to road food order.

Ethan Askey: A&W coffee and breakfast sandwich. You can't go too far wrong. Maybe even the Teen Burger for breakfast.

Peter McCully: Best thing about living in the Kootenays.

Ethan Askey: The outdoor opportunity. I'm an active individual - out in the woods all the time.

Peter McCully: The song on Walk When You Wanna Run that you're most proud of.

Ethan Askey: Stoners, the opening track. My dad and I co-wrote that together, and it turned out great with Jimmy Bowskill on guitar.

Peter McCully: The most underrated Canadian blues musician right now.

Ethan Askey: In a global context, maybe Steve Marriner. He's won all sorts of Juno Awards. He's recognized in Canada, but there's almost nobody better or more versatile than Steve Marriner anywhere in the world. Something people always get wrong about the harmonica: they think that because you can just open it up and blow on it, it's a toy, not a hard instrument. But there's a world, a lifetime of learning inside that thing. It is a bona fide instrument.

Peter McCully: The one place you haven't played yet that you absolutely need to.

Ethan Askey: Maybe the Calgary Folk Fest. I have a real folky roots side to me, and I love the way they put on that festival.

Peter McCully: The last song that stopped you cold when you heard it.

Ethan Askey: An artist in Bragg Creek named Leanne Lightfoot. She's got a new album out. The song that opens it is Unsettled - it just locks. She's got a guitarist and a bassist, and her voice - it all just really works. It floored me. On speed dial. I listen to it over and over again.

Peter McCully: Ethan, after three-plus decades of playing - session work, sideman, bandleader, instructor - what does the music still do for you that nothing else does?

Ethan Askey: It moves me on a body and mind level. Like a really good stone. I like to leave the booze and the drugs in the past as I get more mature. Those things are impermanent, transitory, incomplete. Music is real, made by real people. Songs that move me - the lyrics stir my mind. The harmony vocals and instrumentation give you the physical and chemical feel. It is a complete package. It is the drug of all drugs for me.

Dave Graham: Our thanks to Ethan Askey for joining the podcast and sharing stories and inspiring me to put a harmonica in my pocket - well, metaphorically speaking. I already have a wallet in my pocket and it's really lumpy. But I love the thought of having an instrument always at hand. Hey, getting pulled over by the police? Get out your harmonica. The world would be a better place if we all had harmonicas.

Peter McCully: We encourage you to reach out if you have something to share - some feedback or a tip on a story. Go to our website and click on the contact link. You'll also find our PULSE Community Podcast archives and updates on contests and events.

Dave Graham: You'll also find our Skookum Kids stories with Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo dog, and the Mellow Submarine with Captain Dave and his first mate and best pal, Larry the Lobster. Our kids' stories now have colouring pages to go along with each new episode.

Peter McCully: This week, Captain Dave and Larry the Lobster help clean up plastics in French Creek.

Dave Graham: I appreciate the message in this episode that reminds us that despite the challenges we face in this modern world, we each can make a difference.

Peter McCully: And we invite you to check out our Radio Archaeology classic radio series with original episodes of Dragnet, featuring Sergeant Joe Friday, and Gunsmoke, featuring Marshal Matt Dillon.

Dave Graham: We're also pleased to feature the podcast A Resilience Project, hosted by Cindy Thompson of Parksville. The latest episode has the powerful story of a person diagnosed with high-functioning autism. Santiago Dominguez spent years navigating school and friendships while experiencing a desperate need to feel understood.

Peter McCully: You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter for all the latest on guests and contests.

Dave Graham: Things are shaping up nicely for the summer season. April Wine, Beachfest Rocks, Blue Rodeo, all coming to Parksville. Plus the Car and Bike Show July 5th. And now I'm heading out to shop for some overalls.

Peter McCully: Why overalls, Dave?

Dave Graham: Overalls have a pocket up front and centre, perfect for a harmonica. Problem solved. No sitting on harmonicas for me.

Peter McCully: That's really great, Dave. But do you even know how to play the harmonica?

Dave Graham: Peter, I'm an artist, a free spirit. I can't have my creative edge dulled by details.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics, all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.