By 2004 the Vancouver parkour scene was going strong, but parkour was still very much an unknown entity to the general public. A few savvy media people had heard of a new extreme sport developing in the far off lands of France. Through the power of the almighty Google, many of these media types would contact me looking to write a local story. Two of the more memorable interviews were with CBC radio.
Download: Ard on CBC Radio 3 (6.8 MB)
The first, appearing on CBC radio 3, Dec 18th 2004, was a nicely produced piece by Alexis Mazurin and Valerie French. SteveZ makes an appearance as well. I love SteveZ. More so, I love his quaint Frenchisms, "Arvin is running casually and trying to explode." You can hear the excitement in our voices, parkour was very much fresh and exciting to all of us. Taken in the moment, at one point Alexis put down his gear and joined us in a cat leap session.
Download: Ard on CBC Radio 1 (6.4 MB)
The second interview was broadcast live across Canada on the mighty CBC Radio 1, Dec 19 2005. Being my first live interview, I was quite nervous. No editing the uhmm, ahhhs, and stupid shit I tend to say. I generally don't have a problem with public speaking, but, as I discovered, when I'm really, really nervous I tend to clear my throat a lot. And forget to breathe.
*At no point were these interviews on magnetic tape, nor were they lost. I just like the sound of "the lost tapes". It makes me feel like a bona-fide recording artist -- one who has loyal fans who care about crappy bootleg recordings of songs I played with my previous band before I became famous with my current band. They're the same songs, but lack the flourish of studio musicians and the production quality of a major label release. But seriously, these files haven't been online for over 4 years, hence the reference. Oh, and yes I added in Nardwuar saying "Ard Arvin". Radio, newspapers (the legit ones), and television all insist people use their real names. This being the realm of police, government, and future employer data mining operations, I'd rather not.
