The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Bridge: Encore Presentation - Rethinking The Beatles

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

We're looking back at The Bridge in 2021.  Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on December 7th.  Peter in discussion with George Stroumboulopoulos about The Beatles.

You're tuned into a special Encore presentation of The Bridge. This episode, recorded December of 2021, focuses on The Beatles with guest George Strombolopoulos. Enjoy. So in your neighborhood, do you have an auction house? And when I say neighborhood, I mean in your kind of community or close to your community. They seem to be springing up all over the place now. And most of them are online, given the nature of our world these days. And because they're online, it doesn't really matter where they are. You can still bid, and if you're successful, you just have to figure out how to get it

from wherever the location of the auction is to your house. Well, I spend perhaps more time than I should looking at all the things that are available at different auction houses. And every once in a while, I say, hey, man, i'd like that and then i think well yeah but do i actually need that and the answer is almost always no but every once in a while i get tempted and i'll make a bid online and then i'll watch. Usually with these things, the online auctions, they go online about, I don't know,

five, six days before the actual final moment of the auction. So it starts off really slow when you figure, wow, I can get a real bargain. Look at that. I can buy a sofa for a buck. I don't need a sofa,

but it's only a dollar. Of course, by the time it gets to the crunch, it's gone up. It's a couple hundred dollars or $300 or whatever. So you, first of all, you got to get used to that. Don't get fooled by the opening bids on things. But there I was, I guess it was just last week or maybe two weeks ago. I was flipping through one of the local auction lists of the various things for sale.

And there's always, you know, like a couple of hundred things. So, it's a good way to spend an hour looking at dishes you don't need or silverware or what have you. Anyway, suddenly I come across this thing, 10 Beatles album,

a buck. And they have them, they're pictures. And there you have, sure enough, those are the actual albums from back in the 60s. You know, Revolver, my favorite, Revolver. My favorite. Meet the Beatles. That was, I think, the very first one.

That was the one with the, it was kind of a black cover and just their faces. The four of them. Three on top and one on the side. And we used to sit in Billy Sheffield's basement back in Glebe and listen to the Beatles, Martin McDonald, Billy Sheffield, all these friends of mine from high school. We'd listen.

I can remember in 19... It was probably around November of 1963, which was a big month. It was JFK assassination. But it was either November or early December of 63 that Billy Sheffield said, you got to listen to these guys.

They're huge in England and they're going to be huge here. And sure enough, we'd listen to that album. We'd listen to it over and over and over again. And then it was only a couple of months later that the Beatles arrived in North America

and they played on the Ed Sullivan Show two Sunday nights in a row. And it was huge. Everything was big. And they took off. And everything was about the Beatles for the next few years. And it was one big album after another,

and 10 of them were for sale on this auction bid. For a buck was the opening. So, of course, I went right in there. I thought, oh, I bid them all. I bid five bucks. That didn't last long. Anyway, I checked today to see what they actually ended up selling for, and it wasn't really that much, $90.

Now, I don't know what condition those albums are in. Maybe they're in terrible condition, but the covers looked okay, and you could probably make something out of that if you were so inclined. So that's the backdrop for what I want to talk about today. I don't know whether you were a Beatles fan. I don't know whether you were kind of my age, so you lived through the 60s,

whether it was such a dominant part of everything that happened in that decade, or whether you are much younger but still influenced by the Beatles. As many bands, even today, are influenced by what happened back then. Well, if you are any of those things, you've probably been tempted to watch if you have the streaming service i think it's disney plus if you have that streaming service to watch the new peter jackson directed documentary it's almost eight hours long. Three parts.

Of the Beatles in 1970, when they sat down to make an album. They had this studio for like two weeks before they were going to do a live show. And it was supposed to be all new music. So they had to create, you know, a dozen or so new songs and some of the most biggest hits they ever had were created during those dozen days and this film much of it's been kind of hidden away in the archive somewhere most of it having never been seen before

except by a few people. And it is a film that tells the story of how those songs were made. Basically, by just letting the film roll through all the hits and misses, through the different versions of songs that are so familiar to us today, like Get Back and Let It Be,

and a whole bunch of them. So, obviously, I found it fascinating, this film. There are parts, long stretches, where it seems there's nothing really happening here. They're just kind of sitting around. Ringo tapping on the cymbals. The high hat. Paul and John sort of being Paul and John.

George being not too happy about a number of things. Keep in mind, this was all taken literally months before they broke up. So, as I said, I don't know whether you've witnessed this. I don't know whether you've watched it. But obviously, I would highly recommend it. But I wanted to get a different sense. I wanted to get a different take.

I wanted to kind of get an understanding of what somebody who actually understands music is thinking about it all. So I thought, who should I talk to? And you know who I decided? Strombo. George Strombolopoulos. Good friend. He's inopoulos. Good friend. He's in LA now. He's back and forth.

He goes back and forth from Toronto to Los Angeles and Vancouver. He's doing all kinds of things. He does a special show with Apple Music. He's doing films. He's directing films. He's doing films. He's directing films. He's producing films. He's starring in films. But he's still a music guy at heart.

So I decided I'd track him down. And because George is a friend, and no matter how busy he is, I dropped him an email, and bingo, he said absolutely. So when we come back, my conversation with Strombo about the new Beatles documentary, right after this. so george what have you thought of this beatles documentary the from what you've seen so far i have loved it so much peter there's a couple of things about it one i'm not surprised i'm enjoying it what is a little surprising to me is how emotionally connected to this i feel it's before my time but and i've heard these songs like all of us a million times and we've heard the interviews we know the backstory or some of the mythology but to be in the room in this moment and you know as i do being

in the rooms leading up to interviews or big moments how a lot can be gleaned from the empty spaces and the pauses and the energy in the room being a part of all that is incredible and to be there with the greatest and of all time that's it's i i find myself getting a little emotional there's that part where you know when paul is just messing around it takes about a minute and 15 seconds before he gets to what will eventually be the course of get back for the first time and i'm just like how did he go from that to that in a minute and 15 seconds. Well, that is the thing that blows you away. Before I get to that, first of all,

I love that you're saying you liked it so much because I can remember once talking to you about something about the 60s and you went, oh, you guys in the 60s, get over it. That was ages ago. Leave it alone. This is the new wave. this is the new era forget about the 60s so it's great to hear you saying this i don't remember exactly as you're characterizing that but but i but i get your point well it was you and i were talking about

politics and how and how the way of doing it has definitely changed in time. But one thing that I think we know to be true, Peter, is as we listen to music evolve over time and especially in what is pop music, it is getting a little narrower. Production beats are the same. The vibe is the same. Often the lyrics are the same board from each other. I'm not, I'm not, you know, casting an aspersion on it, but it is getting narrower in pop music. This was a reminder of how pop music was actually widening and getting far more complex and far more interesting

you're not seeing that with pop bands today you're not seeing that with radio bands today not even close and that was a fairly fast transition for the Beatles because in the early 60s 63 64 65 there's their music was you know extremely popular but it was like two minutes long suddenly by the end of that decade it was much more involved much more you know much more music to it and much longer you know five six minutes hey Jude yeah um a very different kind of music than had been just a couple of years before so their transition was quick and unbelievably productive you know i mean there's dozens and dozens of songs in a very short period of time and it's crazy to think that it's only seven years from the first record to the last record, just seven years from the first to the last.

And yeah, you know, it's funny because all those early Beatles tunes, of course, I listened to them and I liked them, but I never really connected with them when I was a kid. But it was the Beatles from Hell on from 1965 to 1970, where I heard something in them. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that i don't think you can be in the white hot light of attention and temperature like they were without either being remolded or you know combusting and i think ultimately both happened i think the other part of it too peter i don't remember it i wasn't there but the mid-60s drugs entered the picture they started to get on a certain kind of drugs i think that helped and they went on those journeys and then going to india and i think i think they started to see

the world was much bigger than the one that they had just fit into these two and a half minute pop tunes but i think there was a lot of stuff the amazing thing about them to me is that they were equally of their time and way ahead of their time that's a really unique position to be in as a band what surprised you about what you've witnessed so far in this how much fun they had i think you know even paul mccartney had said that when he was watching this back he he had rewritten the narrative in his head that him and John were at odds the whole time. And I think the fact that they enjoyed each other, watching George Harrison and Ringo pay attention to Paul playing, to watch how all this came together, that

no matter how split they had become and ultimately would become, when the four of them got in there with the music, that closeness, that was really and i you know man i've interviewed so many musicians in my 30 years and they all talk about the music when we get together we get that i i hear it and i only believe them half the time because you know that it's just the spin but with the beatles they did the other thing they they forgot how close they were and they didn't spin the narrative of friends right at the end. So to see that closeness, I don't know why it warmed my heart so much, but it really did.

And also, I think the thing that you and I knew to be true was seeing how George Harrison could not continue in the Beatles. There's no way George Harrison could continue in that band because he was way too talented and was way too they appreciated him but i don't think they got it just what kind of songs he could write right yeah you sense that through here that he doesn't feel appreciated that it's kind of a lennon and mccartney band and he has ideas but they don't really want to listen to them yeah and i think that george martin the producer too at one point said that he he might have done a disservice overlooking george in those early days as a songwriter um but but who knows who maybe we don't get the songs that weirdly some of my favorite beatle songs are george harris songs

and his solo record that the um you know that all things must pass collection that came out that's my favorite solo beatles thing because it's the most ambitious i think in terms of its musicality and its scope but watching the dynamic between the four of them and also knowing on every level will never have that again there will never be anything like the story there will be big bands there will be massive stars there will be all that if that was a moment in time that world they come from doesn't exist that post-war world doesn't exist anymore the the fact that they did that with no social media just how big it cut like all of that it's just a real it's a time capsule yet weirdly the songs are still perfect today when when we're witnessing the them sitting there the

four of them sitting there and kind of coming up with stuff together um in their most you know constructive moments and their most innovative moments how untypical is that i mean you know uh successful bands you cover them you know all your musical uh reporting career um how typical was what we were witnessing to what usually goes on i mean creative stuff must happen in in different ways for different groups but these guys literally seem to be actually making it up on the fly as they were sitting at their instruments. Absolutely. As you say, there are lots of ways that the creative process works with bands. Quite often what will happen is, well, number one, you have a producer or a songwriter,

and these bands just take somebody else's music. The other way is that in the band, there is a dominant songwriter and these bands just take somebody else's music the other way is that in the band there is a dominant songwriter and they'll bring a lot of the songs and the band tries to figure their parts out to it and of course with the Beatles it was Lennon and McCartney so that that dynamic of we're gonna we're gonna jam until we figure it out uh it was a little bit more prevalent then because the Beatles could afford the studio time so and, and in the sixties and seventies bands definitely leaned into that kind of experimentation, but, and lots of bands do that.

We'll sit and they'll jam it out on the floor and try to figure it out. There's usually sketches, you know, that McCartney and London, you could hear they had sketches of songs there already. What's rare is for, I think it's rare for it to come as quickly as it did. And I think it's rare for,

you know, Ringo is, is often derided by people. Right. Uh, and I, whenever anybody rips Ringo, now I know this is an adult,

something I didn't know in my twenties, but whenever anybody rips ring, I think you don't know anything about music. You don't know anything about music. If you rip Ringo Starr, because for him to fit into that mix the way he did and there's little creative moments the way he plays the hi-hats the snare he does things that most drummers wouldn't do it's not technically proficient but as a friend of mine once said jeremy taggart who was the drummer for our lady piece it's who has the best ideas

and what was amazing is that the joke is always ringo wasn't even the best drummer in the band but he still had amazing ideas and everybody in that band brought an idea to the table that was world-class lots of bands have cool ideas and great moments not as many get to do it the way and maybe nobody ever did it like the Beatles that's the truth nobody ever reached that level where that little jam circle so quickly turned into songs that became iconic for decades. We're still talking about them after all these years. It's incredible. You know, I was always a Ringo guy right from back in 63, 64.

Ringo was the one that was kind of my favorite in the band. But you're right. There was always this sense that, oh, you know, he's just a cute guy, and he was funny, he had a great smile, but he really couldn't play the drums. When you watch this film, you go, because he's in it the whole time. He never leaves. The other three get up and down all the time. But Ringo's sitting there, or he's being at the drums, but he's very attentive and he picks up stuff like almost immediately as they,

as they're starting the whole get back sequence and even the let it be sequence, you know, he's on it like right away. Nobody's telling him to John's not saying, you know, do this Ringo or whatever he's on it and he's on it you know and it sounds great it sounds great and it becomes it becomes iconic

you know there's a there's a with electric guitarist there's always this debate about who is the greatest and i think what we tend to do is we look at the one who can shred the most who stands out the most but there's another school thought, which is which guitarist makes the song the best, not who has the most technical proficiency. A lot of these shredding guitarists look at the edge from U2, and they don't put him in the category of the Jimmy Pages, the Tom Morellos, and all that, which I understand why. But if you listen to what The Edge does when he constructs a song,

he is a part of that song. That song doesn't exist without him, but it's not about showing off. It's about ideas. And it's about, it's a totality. When I watched this get back series and, and the Ringgold thing is really important. It's, he does exactly. He elevates the song, but it's not about him there's weirdly there's nobody in that band showing off on the song when you actually hear the song it all works those four guys that all work really well together usually in these big bands people again ready for the big solo i'm ready for the this i'm ready for the that and i love all that too i'm a zeppelin guy first and foremost but when you hear somebody who can make the song sound better and it's already

incredible that's what i think about ringo phil selway the drummer for um for radiohead same thing he does exactly what he needs to do elevates the song but doesn't take over that's what great drummers do in my mind you have the other kind of drummers who it's about the show and i get that but you didn't need to be that in the beatles because it already had i mean the third best songwriter in the band was george harrison and he's one of the best songwriters ever and he was the third best songwriter in that band ringo didn't need to do more than what ringo did you know when you go back through the history of rock, in terms of rock bands,

there are very few that have managed to stay together the whole time. You know, I guess the Stones are the classic example of one that's been able to manage that kind of group dynamic. And even in this film, and it's only, you know, they've only been together for i guess less than 10 years by by that time um you can see that it's starting to fall apart and you can almost understand why it does it's not like they dislike each other but there there there's kind of a attention there in the way they're making music together the kind of group dynamic what what do

we learn about the group dynamic in general not just the beatles by watching this i think i think what it comes down to in a lot of respects is people grow in different ways and of course the environment will dictate how you grow i don't't think very many people ever had the environment that the Beatles had because they were inventing this, essentially. And I think they all and what we know now, what we have language for now is everybody talks about coping mechanisms and everybody talks about taking care of themselves. What we're seeing in that band and you see with lots of bands is the Beatles recognized they didn't need to do this. They all had enough confidence to know they would be fine on their own. And I think that's an important consideration. A lot of bands, when they start to fray at the edges,

it's hard because this is their thing. And as big as the Beatles were, John Lennon had felt like he had outgrown the Beatles. And I think Paul McCartney would have stayed in the Beatles, but he felt like while he's Paul McCartney, he can go do his thing too. George knew that he was ready and Ringo was going to do whatever Ringo was going to do. So I don't think they were afraid that they would lose their identity. Maybe they were, but I don't get that sense at all. So that's why I think the tension that you're feeling comes from a confidence of knowing that they have outgrown this and i think the tension

was what was causing that that the outgrowing is what's causing that tension a lot of other bands don't have that freedom in the future that the beatles were going to have for sure but i don't think there's i don't even think there's a comparable because, because of what they were doing. If you think about rockabilly, rockabilly music is the last pop music ever that wasn't inspired by the Beatles in some way, shape or form. All the music's different.

I talked to Keith Richards about this the other day because I had seen them, the stones play a show and I've seen the stones play a lot. They're usually fine once they were amazing this last show i saw was one of the best concerts i've ever seen in my life and and they're all in their 70s plus dude they're almost eight they're almost 80 they're almost 80 it was it was shocking how good the show was and i and i said to keith i said look i've seen you lots but there was something different about this and he said there was they

lost you know they lost charlie and it was hard for them to lose charlie and i think they realized what they had together so he said i look at my guy he was talking about mick out there dying for us and he was and it's my job to back him up and it's his job to back me up and he goes that's when we feel our closest as when we're on the stage now that band of course pulled apart in a lot of different ways but they know keith knows it's the rolling stones i think mick would have been fine going on his own but keith knows it's the rolling stones that keep them and i think the loss of charlie really affected the way they interact with each other the the beatles at that point were all still alive they were all still young that's the other part they were all still young and they're like in their 20s when we're

watching this stuff and you have to keep pinching yourself saying they're in their 20s they're in their 20s exactly i think you know a little while later they were going to get back together it was a lot of real talk about a reunion from the beetles in the 70s and oh my goodness how great would that have been because john probably would have been on the road and maybe he's still alive. And who knows what would have happened. But the group dynamic is so strange. Drugs plays a big part in drugs, ego, money, jealousy.

There's all these things that create the alchemy that can destroy a band. It's why you two are so special that it's the same guys after all these decades you know up until the passing of of dusty this easy top the same three guys for decades you know the stones have been able to do it because it's really the mick and keith show and and ron wood is ron wood now he's so great but i think that i don't know how the beatles even survived as long as they did they couldn couldn't even hear themselves at shows. They would go to shows and it would just be people screaming for the whole

thing. That's not, it's really hard to comprehend. You play videos to younger people. Oh, whatever the Beatles and you play them the madness and you go, yeah, like that went on for eight years.

And that's why they stopped doing concerts, right? That's one of the reasons they stopped doing concerts. They could, they couldn't even hear their own music uh by the way i i'd love to be able to say you know i was talking to keith the other day and that must be nice um but i will say i i will drop one name um i was talking to randy backman and i'm sure, has he ever told you the pizza guy story? I don't know if he has. They were recording in Seattle. They were recording taking care of business.

And they figured they did it over and over and over again. And this is a Backman Turner overdrive. And they figured, okay, we've got it. That's perfect. And there's a knock at the studio door and somebody opens the door and there's a guy holding like six pizzas and um he says is is this uh such and such a studio and they said no no that's down the hall and the guy says i just heard you playing that back you know if you just get a little piano riff in that opening it'll be much better and they yeah thanks pal

and they close the door and randy's standing there thinking wonder why why don't we just try that and if you listen if you listen to taking care of business that piano riff is in there now so i kept waiting for the pizza guy to turn up in this Peter Jackson documentary but nobody ever did who walked in to say hey why don't you try this and that was part of the beauty of the of this group right I mean there were all kinds of hangers on there and there were you know George Martin was there and and there were other people there but it it was it was their music that's a you know that's a really important thing dad because you know with with that great piano piece the keyboard piece in um bob dill you know

how does it feel that that that like a rolling stone song i think it was al cooper who was just messing around playing and the people in the room said oh no don't do that bob doesn't want to hear that then bob walked in and heard it and said what's that and they put and they put that in the room said no no don't do that bob doesn't want to hear that then bob walked in and heard it and said what's that and they put and they put that in the song um you know you remember that great documentary the wrecking crew everybody loved that documentary but the backing band the session bands that played on every record right that that that documentary to me peter was a bit of a funeral because it made me realize how much all of my favorite albums were great albums, but the bands didn't do them. The bands couldn't do them. And it was other people who played.

And this is why I love Led Zeppelin so much, because it's just them. And this is why I love The Beatles so much, because it's them. Yes, Bernard Purdy and a couple other drummers came in and laid some parts down, but it's the Purdy shuffle. You can't compete with that. But the fact that, as you pointed out, was them they wrote the songs they made those they made them up on the spot and now we get to see it all happen i i honestly i put it on the back i'll watch this whole thing a couple of times before it's done but i'll put it on in the background

and and just as i'm doing things around the house i'll just let it play as if i'm in the studio and i've read some of the the of this. Oh, it's boring. Oh, it's whatever. Oh, it's this. And I just think to myself, how cynical have these people become and how much do they miss the point? This isn't supposed to be a Marvel movie. Thanos isn't there at the end. This isn't about, you know, this isn't another Bond movie. I love the last Bond movie, by the way, but everybody's so expects this to be fast and

furious. But what this really is, is a window into four of the greatest to ever sit in the room together who invented all the stuff that we like now. And that's not good enough for some. It's like, I read one headline and one paragraph of something somebody sent me. I just, I deleted the text and I said, don't ever send me that again. Like I don't need to hear somebody who doesn't get it, that this is a window into something you'll never ever see again. Is what they created during that decade, is it still evident in in today's music

yeah 100 and you can even if um even if the artists don't know it the artists that they are inspired by have definitely come from the beatles we were i was doing a thing with forgive the name drop but it was for a show we were doing a thing on punk rock and we were trying to talk about the elements of punk rock, the beginnings of punk rock. And even for somebody today who wanted to get into punk rock. And I was talking to Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and Nirvana about it. And he said, you have to start with the Beatles.

He said, you have to start with the Beatles. If you want to make punk rock today, you don't have to sound like the Beatles, but you have to start with the Beatles. And everything comes from that or runs from it. But it is defined by that, even if they even hip hop, the Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique album, which influenced so many, even if the new generation doesn't know it, sampled the Beatles like crazy on that record. I mean, I don't even know how they cleared those samples so it's definitely evident and I think what you're hearing is a lot of the electro

pop music that's out there, simple melodies great hooks but what it doesn't have is you hit the word earlier, tension and dynamic, the actual group dynamic is the oxygen in the song anybody can write great songs anybody can

produce great songs and we they're the kids today are making incredible that weekend's music is incredible like he is making the best music in the world i think in many respects but when you look at a group dynamic the oxygen in the room is the tension and the dynamic with the four of them or the five of them whoever's in a group i don't think we have anything like the beatles and i think that you can hear great music today but it doesn't sound as intense even their pop songs sounded desperate their pop sounds songs sound like they had to get those words out. You have to listen to it right now or you're going to miss it. That thing,

I think that thing a lot of bands still chase. I interview a lot of bands every day now for my new show and they all talk about the Beatles. They all talk about the Beatles. They talk about the Stones and the Who and the Clash for sure and Zeppelin, of course. I probably can't even but the beatles

i mean if i interview a band who's like i don't care about the beatles i just think oh my god i don't care about you anymore you don't have to like them but if you don't care about them i don't think you understand how the building blocks of songs happen and i think the beatles invented a lot of that and you still hear it here you know, George, it's great to talk to you. It's always been great to talk to you. But I would be, I would disappoint a lot of people if I didn't get you to tell. You're in LA for this right now. I would disappoint a lot of people if I didn't allow you to tell us what you're up to generally.

I mean, you've got your hands in so many different things right now. Tell us what Stromombo is doing i've been doing um i helped apple launch a new radio station so they reached out to me a while back and said we want to start this new station that plays the best music from all genres around the world do you want do you want to come on board and i was it was interesting as i was i was about to do another show i had a new interview thing coming and i was it was interesting as i was i was about to do another show i had a new interview thing coming and i was excited about it and it was coming together and then apple reached out and said do you want to do this and i thought for a second in my entire career the only thing i wish i did a little bit longer was this radio show where i got to play music in toronto and i thought

well this opportunity doesn't come around too often. And they, they brought me on board to help them do this in 165 countries around the world. They do it five days a week. It's, it's really, it's, it's an awful lot like Keith was just on, but Bruce Springsteen was just on and it's just talking to great musicians and artists and playing songs. Um, so I'm doing that. But what I also started doing against the advice of everybody in my life i started making movies uh so while everybody's watching short videos on their phone i decided so i i

produced a couple of indie features and i made a couple and i just directed a short uh and i have a new one coming and it's been really fun and you know you know peter it's like i learned and i think people who are listening to you know this about me i learned an enormous amount from you and i don't think I'm certain I wouldn't be where I am today without you and your guidance. That is for sure. But one thing I always really loved about you was how you were unapologetic about the things you liked and your curiosities. And that's how I feel about when I make things. So I thought, I've done a lot in my career. I had a very blessed career.

I get that. I want to make a couple movies. Let's just do that. And people are like, that's stupid. Why would you do that now in your life? You're 49. Like, I know, but I'm going to do it. And I'm going to learn how to do it.

And that's what I've been doing. So I love being bad at things. I love learning all the time. I know how to interview people. I know how to play music on the radio I know how to do that but I love to learn and be terrible at things so making movies has been a really really

interesting experience that's what I've been doing a lot of and I've got a new show coming which would be a crazy documentary series which we're really close to putting that deal together so I've been producing stuff as well and it's been a lot of fun I've been busier putting that deal together. So I've been producing stuff as well. And it's been a lot of fun.

I've been busier than I've ever been, but I've probably never felt as much fun as when I would be walking always. And I would just sit in your office and we'd catch up from it. You know, it was back in one of those days where you started nicknaming me the bridge and that's how I got the name for this podcast. That's why I call it the bridge. That's right.

That's right. Yep. That's right. I remember, I remember it was around Christmas, Christmas time as as well when we were talking and i said you got into a podcast we need a peter man's british podcast it's fun as you know that you can you have a lot of fun in this medium listen george you take care and congratulations on all these new things you're doing it's uh it sounds great Look forward to watching them when I get the opportunity

and always to listen to you. Take care, buddy. For sure. Okay. You too, brother. Be well. Strombo at 49. George Strombolopoulos is 49.

Who can believe that? Mind you, you can't believe I'm 73. A couple of old guys talking about the Beatles. I love it, though, that. Mind you, you can't believe I'm 73. A couple old guys talking about the Beatles. I love it though, because George wasn't even alive when the Beatles started.

But he's great to talk to on this subject. And it was a treat having him on the program. Hope you enjoyed it as well. That's it for The Bridge on this day, this Tuesday. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening.

We'll be back in 24 hours with Smoke, Mirrors, and the Truth with Bruce Anderson. That's tomorrow. Thank you.