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| Page 15 | Feature Stories |
September 2005 |
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Jurgen Gothe interviewed in Vancouver
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By Alidė Kohlhaas "I thought there were two of you," a familiar voice boomed from behind me in the same jocular tone that many Canadians have become accustomed to in their daily afternoon routine over the past 20 years. I happened to be sitting in the bar of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, looking in the opposite direction from the sound of the voice, waiting for both my husband and the speaker. I looked up and asked, somewhat perplexed, "Didn't you have a beard?"
This story actually begins on September 30, 1985. While driving from Hamilton's McMaster University to St. Catharines I turned on my favorite CBC station and a brand-new program, DiscDrive, greeted me. Its host happened to be the then to me unknown Jurgen Gothe, who entertained me with his somewhat off-centered wit during the drive. The remarkable thing about Gothe's program was his selection of music, something unlike anything else heard before. He juxtaposed classical selections with Jazz, folk music with Bach, Blues with Mozart, and in-between he regaled his listeners with a most unusual, offbeat sense of humor that even 20 years later has not been matched by anyone else on the airwaves. Over the years Gothe and I occasionally exchanged notes. He has a habit of asking listeners questions, which one isn't really sure whether he means them or whether he is pulling his listeners' collective legs. This is one of the things that endears him to his loyal public. He has been at my side between the hours of 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. almost ever weekday since that first day I heard him. He is my background companion as I sit here writing whatever my assignments happen to be at the time. In our exchanges, whether they were about the origins of a word, or the pronunciation of one, a restaurant in London's Knightsbridge area, or the playing of the French national anthem, there was always the idea that someday we would get together to talk about wines and good food. Why? Because Gothe shares with me a love for both. He expresses it not just on DiscDrive, but through his travels around the world where he tastes wines and good food and then writes about them; he has also written two cookbooks, the latest to celebrate his 20th anniversary on the air, which is called DiscCookery. Now we finally met in the bar of the Fairmont Vancouver. Gothe's lack of a beard truly startled me. It has been a prominent signature in all of the photos in airline travel magazines that carry his articles that I have read over the years. It is no exaggeration to state that his articles have appeared in over 100 publications. "That has gone," he said in his usual nonchalant manner, "with the chemotherapy, and it will never come back." I immediately realized that he meant the chemo happened as a result of prostrate cancer, but I hesitated to intrude in his personal life. I suddenly felt a little guilty for having been somewhat annoyed during the past year or so at his more than usual absence from DiscDrive and the more than usual repeats of programs. So, I switched the subject to his tenure in the famous 'Subterranean Studio 20' at CBC Vancouver. That is how he jestingly refers to the broadcast space from which emanates DiscDrive five days a week. After all, when we made the date for this interview the purpose of our meeting had been to talk about the 20th anniversary of his program. His anniversary plans, as it turns out, are in limbo at this point of writing because of the lock-out strike of technical workers at the CBC. Among other things Gothe had planned a concert with violinist James Ehnes, who was to play Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy [1880], it was to feature a new variation of the DiscDrive theme by Vancouver composer and violinist Cam Wilson, and as far as he could recall off the cuff, the program was also to include William Walton's Façade Symphony (Second Suite for Orchestra, [1938]). At hand was the question: How did the boy from Medicine Hat achieve his unusual sense of humour and thus become mine and many other listeners' favorite on-air host on this long-lasting program? As far as I know only Saturday Afternoon at the Opera has run longer on CBC than DiscDrive; DiscDrive is the only one that has survived two decades without a change of a host. The program has garnered him two gold medals for DiscDrive at the prestigious New York International Radio Festival. He is the only CBC host to win such honors twice. Well, as it turns out, the boy from Medicine Hat actually arrived in the Alberta town from Berlin at age 10. Which led to the next question: How did he become interested in radio? "I started in radio in Berlin when I was eight. There was a children's program in the American Sector." He became a sporadic (his word) member of that program in 1952. "My family came here in 1954." He eventually started working for a local radio station in Medicine Hat and then moved to Vancouver in 1962. How about his writing? "I have always been a writer as well. I have written a lot of newspaper and magazine columns." But what he really wanted to write even as far back as the 1960s was a series of mystery books. "I believe you should write about what you know. They would all revolve around the world of wine." And writing about wine and food has kept him busy, including his job as the food and wine editor for NUVO magazine, and being the wine columnist for Vancouver's The Georgia Straight. He admitted that he knew from a very early age that he wanted to write. "Our daughter, who is now 22, she still doesn't know what she wants to do." That, he admitted, bothers him. He is, by the way, married to a photographer. As we talked, there was something nagging in the background of my mind that wanted to hear more about Gothe's prostrate cancer. Just days before I had read an article in The Globe and Mail about three well-known Toronto personalities, who all had recovered from prostrate cancer, and whose problem had been discovered through a PSA (prostrate specific antigen) blood test. This test measures a certain enzyme level in the prostrate. If that level is above 4, the possibility exists that the man has prostrate cancer. The Globe's Comment Editor Patrick Martin, theatre critic Richard Ousounian, and Maclean's Senior Editor James Deacon, three relatively young men, had openly talked about their illness in the article. So, after Gothe had briefly run back to his office, located in the hotel, I found the courage to ask him on his return to our table to talk about his experience with prostrate cancer, a problem which men far too often ignore with dire consequences. "I had no symptoms," Gothe said. He had a PSA test about 10 years ago and thought that his doctor had routinely included it with his yearly checkup blood tests. Of course, he always had the usual manual tests as well that seemed to indicate all was normal. When his old doctor retired a couple of years ago and a new one took over Gothe's care, the new physician told him it was time for a PSA, much to the patient's surprise. It turned out that Gothe's test showed a level exceeding 20, a staggering number when considering Martin, Ouzounian and Deacon's level had been in the area of 6. A biopsy confirmed the PSA's findings and Gothe immediately underwent the necessary treatments, which included the chemotherapy that deprived him permanently of his facial hair, although he as regained some of the hair on his head. "I'm a strong campaigner for prostrate examination for men and the PSA test," he said. It isn't easy, though, to convince men to take the step, he has found. One of the problems is that some doctors feel that it isn't worthwhile because sometimes the test can give a false positive. Yet, since even ultrasound does not always discover the cancer, it is better to have biopsies that proved unnecessary than to have none and then suddenly find out that it is already too late for any form of treatment. The other is a natural male reluctance to have the examination. Not wanting to dwell too long on his medical problems, I returned my questions to Gothe's future plans, and to the beginnings of his CBC career. "I have two more years left on my current contract (with the CBC) and then I'll see what happens after that." Now 61, the radio host would like to retire to his home on Mayne Island, one of the Gulf islands off Vancouver so he can concentrate on writing. "The idea for the program was Tom Deacon's, who was my first executive producer. He is the guy who pressured me to do it," he said. "I didn't want to do it if it was just another three hours of stuff. So we decided to invent the program right from the start," he explained. "It was my idea for the mix. At the time it was doing an outrageous thing of playing just one movement of a concerto. I wanted to make it entertaining because I don't think people want to be lectured at." What about his writing of those mysteries? He chuckled a little. "I'd like to dangle my toes in the water off the dock and in-between write those mysteries, 26 in all." Why 26? He laughs as he explains that he had the idea to write one book for each letter of the alphabet, "I know that has been done before, but mine will be different. . . . I'll start with Z for Zinfandel and go backward, each letter will deal with a different wine or other spirits." It wouldn't be unlike Gothe to do just that, especially if he can infuse his writing with his quirky, inimitable sense of humor. We turned to talking about wine, specifically Canadian wines. "When I came here there were four BC wineries. Not counting the ones that are due to open this summer there are 117 now," the wine expert explained. When asked to recommend some so we could compare them to the equally high quality and number of Ontario wineries, he said, "That is hard to do" and then bemoaned, "It is so sad that we still have inter-provincial barriers." He mentioned a couple of wineries, all of which produce only small quantities so they will never reach Ontario even without provincial barriers, very much like the Ontario boutique wineries that cater only to the local needs. "But what is so exciting for me is how essentially this industry started from nothing. They (the vintners) are doing it because they want to do it. They are making a living at it. Certainly not a lavish lifestyle, but they are happy." I had two more questions on my mind: How did he acquire his love for music and seemingly endless knowledge of it, and how did he develop his love for food. "In fact none of this is in my background. There's no music in my family, and I taught myself how to cook. My mother was a lousy cook," he said with a big, unselfconscious smile. As for DiscDrive and its anniversary, he has produced a double CD available from CBC Records, and the afore mentioned DiscCookery: DiscDrive 20th Anniversary Cookbook, published by Firefly. "Seventy-five percent of the recipes are mine and 25 percent from listeners," he revealed. Now we can only hope the program returns soon to the airwaves for Gothe's witticism and impromptu comments are sadly missed, as are his good-humored snipes at his producer, Grant Rawledge, and all the other people and things in his life, although the daily commentary about Herbie the cat will no longer be there as he has died at the ripe age of 21. But, mostly, during these days of the strike we miss his eclectic taste in music. While it is nice to have uninterrupted music on CBC Radio Two, the unending stream of classical and Baroque music does become a bit of a drag after several hours, which makes it all the more of an imperative that Gothe returns soon to the airwaves and to our daily routine of listening. |
