Extra Extra - Episode 5

Today, we take a bird's eye view of our beloved City. What an incredible view! Wow. Just… Wow. For the benefit of listeners at home, Michael, our host, guide, and favourite anxiety-reducing weighted blanket, is sitting next to Mayor Joanne at a beautiful hand-carved wooden cocktail bar in front of a floor-to-ceiling panoramic window overlooking the city. It's an inspiring perspective for our inspired civic leader. “Joanne, your perch up here is the envy of city leaders everywhere. But you must be so busy with politics that you rarely get a chance to just sit, relax and drink in the view…” A little known fact: Billy Joel, aka The Piano Man, designed the city. Beautiful, no? His songs are the deepest expressions of a planning visionary. Take 'Uptown Girl.' It's about the devastating impact that an inadequate cross-town public transportation system has on the lives of young people. Or 'Miami 2017.' The line in the song that goes “they turned our power down and drove us underground” sparked a serious debate about the advantages of underground electrical cabling, and the part about how “the boats were waiting at the battery” is clearly Joel's sketch for an eco-friendly electrical ferryboat system to help alleviate commuter traffic during rush hour. The show is written and performed by Dan Fox and Michael Portnoy in close collaboration with Loes Verstappen who selected the music, and Monte Masi. Voice acting by Thomas Dudkiewicz, Dan Fox, Michael Portnoy, Monte Masi, Monique Moses and Loveday Smith. Drawings by Fiona Lutjenhuis.