Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - 12:36: Toronto Mike'd #879

Episode Date: July 6, 2021

Mike chats with Marc Weisblott of 12:36 about the current state of media in Canada and what you oughta know.

Welcome to episode 879 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. McKay CEO Forums, the highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1200 CEOs, executives and business owners around the world. StickerU.com, create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene.

Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me this week is 1236's Mark Weisblot. Here in possibly the worst mood that I have ever been, but I couldn't let you down, Toronto Mike. You're a big number in this town. And going through the spectacle of having to be masked on public transit, even though I have my double vaccinations over two weeks ago, I'm in the clear.

But the combination of humidity and... It's hot. Here in early July, Ontario still in some form of lockdown. I think it's put everyone on edge, including me. It was contagious on the way down here, but I couldn't let you down. We had to catch up because I have not been in your backyard now for about two months. We skipped a recap, I think in part because I was waiting for things to get better, and you might dispute the assessment at the time. I don't think we had enough content.

Even the number of... Impossible. Even the number of deaths to recap in the Ridley Funeral Home obituary segment was a little bit low. They don't have to be three-hour episodes. If we had to do a 90-minute, I'm A-OK. It doesn't have to be

three hours plus. If I'm going to come all the way down here to the lakeshore, I've got to make it worthwhile. In turn, I hope what's ahead is another valuable 1236 episode.

And I'll get back here a few more times during the summer, but here's the thing. We're both double vaxxed. Yep. And I'll get back here a few more times during the summer. But here's the thing. We're both double vaxxed. Yep. Can I be the first guest who comes back into the basement? Only if it's pouring rain. Like if it's a thunderstorm or just really hard rain.

Of course. Yes. Yes. So my rule is if you're fully vaxxed, you can join me in the basement. But if it's a day like this, I know you're going to think it's hot and sticky, but I actually think this is a, because I felt that breeze off the lake right there. I think this is a kind of day where I would much rather do it out here. It's more fun.

Along the way, we also had the issue of you telling your little kids to stay away from me. But from everybody. I took that a little bit personal. Okay, so now that I've got my double vaccination, I can show you proof, my certificate on the phone. Why would you take that personally? But you as a dad, would you be willing now to have your kids be near a grown-up who got the two shots?

Probably, but it's just, remember, these kids aren't quite as intelligent as you and I, so you have to keep rules kind of simple. So the rule is, during this pandemic, is to try to stay six feet away from everybody. It's not a wise blot rule. Like, the neighbor, the mailman, like, you just stay six feet away unless you are a member of your immediate family here. Also, since I was last here, you recorded, what,

20 or 30 more hours of Pandemic Friday, an exercise that was supposed to have an expiry date when all three people on the show were vaccinated? You were done over and out? We moved those goalposts a while ago. Why? What is the logic there? I felt too soon. You yourself you'll admit like there's still

a lot of lockdown and there's still a lot of Torontonians trying to get their second vaccination shot. So it just felt like because us three got it done, that doesn't mean the pandemic is over. So we put the date on it which of course, thank you. I want to remind everybody I was actually at Great Lakes Beer

earlier today, Great Lakes Brewery, to wish Troy a happy birthday and pick up some beer for TMLX7, etc. And I just want to let everybody know that if everything goes according to plan, we're going to have a public Pandemic Friday finale, which will also be TMLX8,

and it's going to take place August 27, 2021. By the time this is over, you might get an affirmative answer to the question, have you ever heard of Stu Stone? I don't like that one as much, though, as I like his James B.

famous. But hey, you mentioned I was a big number in this town, so this is only five seconds. I'm just going to play it again. But Mike, you're a big number in Toronto. You really are. And who's that? That was one guests in the in the last few weeks paul burford paul burford the the creator co-creator executive producer creator something or another of a game show we've talked about a lot here with me because it was my final television appearance. Forty years ago this fall, I was on the Canadian game show Just Like Mom.

And you listened to that episode, I assume? Oh, yeah. And I took issue with something that Paul said about the prizing on the show. There he was, boasting of the fact that he concocted product placements, that he went out of his way with Fergie Oliver to make sure that they had giveaways on the show that were a higher caliber than Definition. Shot at that same CTV studio. I think he mentioned like a grand prize on Definition would be a pen and pencil set. And eventually they developed a gimmick on Just Like Mom. I think initially they gave away a refrigerator that was stocked with food.

And a family friend had won on the show. Yeah, I have some notes that I'm going to add to this. But then later they did the spinning of the wheel. And here you've got Paul Burford bragging about how they managed to have all these big ticket giveaways on the show. But I don't think that was true. Because the value of the prize depended on where the wheel landed after you gave it a spin. Even though they made a big deal about giving away these trips to Disney World, the odds were that they were only going to end up giving so many of those away. And I don't know if the wheel was rigged.

I don't know if there was something behind it that made sure that they only gave away a certain number of the valuable prizes. Now, when I was on Just Like Mom as a runner-up, not figuring out how to game the bake-off, even though we heard a little behind-the-scenes secret, the bake-off, even though we heard a little behind-the-scenes secret. Right. Fergie's wife Kathy would

coax the kids into not using too much of a particular ingredient, so they couldn't... Well, that came from Kay Wheeler. Couldn't trick their moms into knowing that it was them. The consolation prize, for me being just like

mom, I think I mentioned here, it was a sheet of coupons for 12 cases of pop from the pop shop, which I think had a retail value of $1.99. Because the thing with the pop shop was it was only, I don't know, like, 12 cents a bottle, and even though he's bragging here 40 years later, the value of the prizes that they gave out, okay, you were just the runner-up. It was a consolation prize. You didn't win anything.

Right, not the grand prize. But I'm telling you a message here to the guy behind Just Like Mom. Paul Burford. That the cash value, if it had one at all, of the prize that I got for being on the show was like 24 bucks. Okay, so you were runner up. I got a note.

So I got some inside info after the Paul Burford episode. Somebody who wants to be identified as Joe Louis. Okay. So Joe Louis is how we'll identify this individual. He won the grand prize when he was a kid. They won the grand prize, their family, on Just Like Mom. So I have a lot of info here, but he says he pieced together, he interviewed his mom and he, and his brother, and they put their memories together, and they basically sent me what they believe their grand prize was for winning Just Like Mom. So first thing he says was an Inglis fridge slash freezer,

top mount freezer for added class. So there you go. That's like an appliance from Inglis. Shout out to Inglis. I remember they were at the C&E there. Food products from the main sponsor, the Robin Hood Group brands, including Robin Hood Flour,

Bix Pickles, Stouffer's Products, and Gusto Pizza. His brother does remember them receiving wheat germ, but they didn't know what it was supposed to be used for, so I think that went to waste. Maybe it's still there in their cupboard. Joe Louie's mom describes the amount of frozen pizza as being about a year's

supply, which she gave away or threw away because frozen peach pizza was sacrilegious in their Italian household. But there's more. This grand prize also included a seven pound Hershey bar, seven pounds of chocolate, which sounds amazing to me, but deadly also. Yeah, yeah, Hershey bar. Now, one of my brothers was also on Just Like Mom in the first season with a different host.

Yes, which I'm going to drop a bomb in here in a minute. And in that case, we got that consolation prize, a seven-pound Hershey bar. What do you think that cost? What would the retail price of that have been 40 years ago? $25. I have no idea. Nine, 10 bucks? Also, a massive bag of Twizzlers.

And then last but not least, a knockoff Lego that went by the name Lockblocks. So imitation Lego. So that was the grand prize. But at least you got the Inglis freezer, fridge freezer. At least there's an appliance in there, but everything else is like, you know, whatever. Okay, so are you sitting down?

On Toronto Mic'd, we've talked extensively about Uncle Bobby. Uncle Bobby, especially with Retro Ontario, this is our go-to. Oh, Ed Conroy, absolutely obsessed. And one of my favorite stories was the fact that Uncle Bobby had some relatives back in England who wanted to access the archives.

We're looking into putting together a DVD box set of Uncle Bobby around, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 years ago. CFTO, Channel 9, they abided. They figured they, I think, they might have felt guilty about the fact that Uncle Bobby died penniless. He was left driving a school bus for the rest of his life. After the show ended, they packed up all the old tapes they had, and they sent them across the pond to Uncle Bobby's family members.

They got in touch a little while later. Am I remembering this story right? Yeah, I think so. And they asked, you know, where's this DVD box set you promised you were going to do? And they said, oh, well, we lost interest. We realized there was no point in the exercise, and we just threw away all the tapes. And that's what happened to the entire Channel 9 archive of Uncle Bobby.

As I've said, many great Uncle Bobby stories spilled on Toronto Mike, but another one is, of course, legendary, that Uncle Bobby would invite moms of the kids, not the kids. I've got to be clear. The moms of the kids were often invited to Uncle Bobby would invite moms of the kids, not the kids, I've got to be clear. The moms of the kids were often invited to Uncle Bobby's trailer. He was the original Austin Powers. Yes.

Now, here's the bomb, the big reveal. Again, Joe Louis sends me this information. Again, Joe Louis interviewed his mom and his brother about their appearance on Just Like Mom back in the day or in the 80s. Joe Louis says, this was, I should point out, and his brother about their appearance on Just Like Mom back in the day or in the 80s. Joe Louis says, this was, I should point out, season one, the host was not Fergie Oliver.

The host was Stephen Young, which we talked about with Paul Berger. Stephen Young, kind of a failed soap opera actor who tried his luck in Hollywood and I think came back with his tail between his legs and here was his opportunity to try and have a comeback on a Canadian game show. And it sounded like, it sounded from Paul Berfer that he was kind of a bit of a high-maintenance character,

and he didn't last long. But here's the big reveal. So according to Joe Louis' mother, she was invited by Steve Young to visit him privately in his again allegedly according to joe louis i have the receipts here to visit uh him steven young in his dressing room after the recording so and it seems to me like it sounds to me like this truth bomb is that Stephen Young was playing the cards left in the aging court dressing room from Uncle Bobby in pursuing the mothers of the contestants. What do you think? That's what you got for a just like mom truth bomb?

That's not bad, right? I mean, that's what I'm reading. That's what I'm reading from Julie. And just to wrap up the just like mom stuff, I loved that episode, and I am a big number in this town. But I just want to say he throws in that the second prize, if you came in second, he said, you got a Kodak Instamatic camera. And if you finish third, you got a watch from Caravelle. That is all.

Some good detail, though. What can I say? Toronto might. You're a big number in this town. Wow. I think putting together all of the histories that otherwise time would have forgot. Hey, let me play a little music as we kind of get into things, although we're off to a big bang here. That was quite the just-like-mom chat off the top here,

but I do have a jam to kind of get us ready in the groove here how could you ever leave me without a chance to try how can i be sorry if I don't know the crime? I should be mad cause you never told me why Still, I can't seem to say goodbye What are we listening to, Mr. Wisebutt? Oh, uh, Tate, Tate McRae. A teenage singer from Calgary. Kind of like the Canadian Billie Eilish who came through during the pandemic.

One of those acts that broke on TikTok. You Broke Me First, angsty teenage power ballad. And this new cycle here of trying to leverage TikTok to have a hit. I think it means that you have to churn out song after song after song

until something catches on. Right. And there have been a whole bunch of singles from Tate McRae, signed to RCA Records, just like Elvis Presley. She might be the next Elvis. Forget about Billie Eilish.

And this song called You. Duet with Troye Sivan. Okay. Which I've heard a lot on American Top 40 radio, like Kiss 108 out of Boston. I think since I was last here, in the last couple of months, I got back in the groove of listening to a lot of American hit radio,

just because I'm trying to catch the optimism that's in the air, right? The masks are off. They've returned to more normalcy at an accelerated pace. And I feel like I'm addicted to listening to the hits. I want to be imbued by this energy, and that means listening to songs by Tate McRae over and over and over again, like Justin Bieber three, four times an hour on these American Hit Radio stations. I figure to mark the times, we would start off with this song. What were you going to say?

I was going to say, maybe I'll bring it down, and let's recap. So we already recapped the Paul Burford episode where we dove deep into the Just Like Mom. Yeah, we're going to recap last 10 or 11 Pandemic Fridays. I mean, Jeff Woods. Yes. You had him on for an encore, and I enjoyed that immensely.

Jeff Woods, former personality on Q107 and what's the show called? Records. Records and Rockstars. Records and Rockstars. Records and rock stars. And you had a return visit from Jeff Woods to talk about his explorations in the realm of libidinous experimentation. Yeah, Jeff Woods.

That episode was, of course, we were kicking out the jams from the 2SLGBTQ+. Where exactly does Jeff stand on that spectrum? He's B. And that's because he's so horny that he needs double the number of people to potentially choose from. I mean, this is a guy who's got an OnlyFans account on which he's reading erotic stories as well. When you have a voice like that, Mark, you have to understand. We wouldn't know what it's like to sound like that.

Offering different demure poses. I don't think we know what it's like to be Jeff Woods and be that attractive of a man to so many people in the world. But he's attractive even if you can't see him. Like, if you can only... He's attractive on the phone. Like, we'll never know what that's like. But yeah, he's...

But I love the way he's like a classic rock radio guy. But he comes on Toronto Mic'd to talk about his intimate experiences. His bisexuality, and he identifies as a member of the community. And I think it's good that, as he pointed out,

the B in LGBTQ is often kind of dismissed. Some people think it's like, oh no, you're not bisexual, you're gay. Or it's like, oh, you're just experimenting or whatever. The B lacks the respect it deserves, and Jeff Woods is out there applying his case for the bee getting more respect. I'm not sure where doo-doo the clown fits into that acronym,

but he wouldn't want to be associated with anything like that. Doo-doo the clown came to you courtesy of Stu Stone. Am I right? They're related? They're cousins. And DJ Farbzy, who's referenced a lot of Pandemic Friday, a friend of Stu. I only figured it out later that the real name of Doodoo the Clown is Shane Farberman, and Farbzy must come from Farberman.

It all makes sense to me now. We learned a lot about the inner workings of Doodoo the Clown. I mean, this guy's got a whole industry happening here. He took over the family business, working carnivals. He's got his son involved, the next

generation doing a magic show and just the whole idea of as Doodoo the Clown is walking around the Calgary Stampede. Right. Making balloon animals. At the same time, he's making bank on all those cotton candy machines. Oh, man.

Of course, he won't let you forget that he is the star of Billy Madison, which was a successful Adam Sandler comedy. But, yeah, I had a good time with Doo-Doo. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Enjoy the Doo-Doo. Art Bergman. Yes. I remember listening to that. What was the deal? Okay, you said you had somebody complain.

Yep. I won't name this individual. Comments made by Art Bergman, an old punk rocker. Part of the West Coast original punk rock scene. Hawaii. Absolutely. Now, Art was not shy about his feelings about Israel in Gaza, Israel with regards to Palestine.

Israel as an apartheid state? That's what he said, yeah. The state of Israel might as well be Nazis? I mean, these comments are so trite and predictable to me. Like, I'm not surprised that he would have made them. It strikes me as odd that... But do you hear that question of you? ...that something would be outraged?

What, speaking as a representative of the Canadian Jewish News? If you don't mind, if you don't mind. So, in the headphones, I'm listening in real time, obviously, and I will be honest with you, if I catch any sniff of anti-Semitism, or not just anti-Semitism, but racism, or misogyny, or homophobia, or Islamophobia, you go on the list. If I catch a hint of hate in that regard, I'll stop down and call out the guest. I felt like he had this opinion on this geopolitical issue.

I never felt it was anti-Semitic, Art Bergman. Did you? Because that was the complaint made by this unnamed person. It was all right. I mean, again, I didn't... It sounded like he was speaking from the, the playbook of what you expect an old punk rocker to say. So other than that controversial beginning, and I only received the one complaint I'll

point out, who felt like I shouldn't have, you know, let somebody express anti-Semitic views on my podcast, which I didn't think I did. But it is unusual. Like you said, you're usually on guard. Yeah, sure I am. It's uncommon for you to get a complaint like that at all. Right, right. Because people don't typically,

people don't come on Toronto Mike to express such hate because I will not stand for it. But I never felt art cross that line. I never felt. So I thought it was a pretty good conversation. In fact, just yesterday, Mike Boguski from Blue Rodeo was sitting where you are and he had his keyboard and he was playing it was freaking amazing diamond mine it was amazing and sitting there I'm pointing to the bench over there uh Jason Jason Schneider who represents for PR purposes represents Mike Bogusky

but he's the guy Jason who who told Art Bergman to do this Toronto Guys podcast. So Jason helped put that together, and I loved my conversation with Art Bergman because he was so unpredictable, like an old punker. He was like an old punker, and I wouldn't want an old punker to be any other way. So I enjoyed it. And he did

get an Order of Canada. Right. He did, yeah. He did. A bunch of other episodes. Yeah, yeah, hit me. I love this. Who else did you have here? You had Mellie Fresh. Yes, what did you think of Mellie Fresh?

What's her real name? Melanie Melody. Right. That was her name, yes. Work with me here. I speculated after the fact. Right. Did she have the highest net worth of any guest in the history of Toronto?

Okay, explain this. Remind us. I happen to know because we discussed it, but where did her money come from? Remind us. Her husband is Clive Smith, and he was involved with Nelvana. He was a co-founder of that Canadian animation studio. I think it was a bunch of hippies who originally came up with Nelvana going back 50 years ago to 1971. And that they bootstrapped this company,

that they made a whole bunch of animated series, a movie called Rock and Rule. Which I enjoyed as a kid, absolutely. They did the animation on the Star Wars Holiday Special, which has come up on these episodes from time to time. Best part of that special.

Where they hit the big time was when cartoons started to be about product placement and having tie-ins to toy companies. Like Care Bears. Strawberry Shortcake. Right.

And later on, Star Wars. That was another one as well. And eventually Nelvana sold to Chorus Entertainment for $540 million. And Melody Fresh would have been a longtime spouse of Clive Smith. I'm just wondering, how much money do these people have? And this eccentric character that was on Toronto Mike talking about what? I can't remember. Deadmau5?

Deadmau5. She was involved in Discovery. She originally bankrolled his career. Right. Yeah, she is under the impression she deserves far more credit for the Deadmau5. And when you asked her, is James B. famous?

Right. The only answer you were going to get was yes, because I think this couple has spent a lot of money trying to make James B. famous, bankrolling a lot of his career along the way. Now, I'm just guessing. Yeah. Look, people usually don't walk around advertising how much money they've got in the bank. But this association with Nelvana might have made Mellie Fresh the wealthiest guest in the history of this show.

Wow. Wow. Just putting it out there. You can continue to do your interviews and see if anyone takes that crown. Also, in the backyard, I know you had a great guest, Rob Cowan. Yes. Who was Rob Cowan. Yes. Who was Rob Cowan?

He was a longtime radio guy in and around Toronto, and you had him come over just a couple days after his cousin died. Right. Canadian legend named Paul Souls had you booked that ahead of time? you had Rob coming over? just a coincidence this came together because he heard himself on the Ken Daniels episode

Ken Daniels had clips from early CJCL 1430 and there was a he does a Foster Hewitt impression Rob Cowan I have these clips from Ken Daniels that I'm playing Rob gets wind like oh my god and he does a Foster Hewitt impression, Rob Cowan. So I have these clips from Ken Daniels that I'm playing. Rob gets wind like, oh my God.

And he wrote me a note to say, he just wrote me a note. I had met Rob Cowan. First of all, his brother's been on Toronto Mike, Elliot Cowan. But Rob Cowan, I met him at Hebsey's book launch. They know each other from back in the CJCL days. And I said, come hang in the backyard and let's talk about Foster, what, C-H-F, C-H-F-H? C-K-F-H. Is it C-K-F-H?

C-K-F-H. Right. Foster Hewitt's radio station. So he's the last guy. Rob Cowan's the last guy to say those words. I can't even say them. But C-K-F-H on the radio. And he's also the first guy who says CJCL on Toronto Radio. So anyway, great chat.

And yeah, Paul Soles had coincidentally just passed away like a day or two earlier. So we'll talk more about Paul. And Rob Cowan brought you, I think, one step closer to having on the podcast someday Rick Moranis. Right. That's right. Because the two of them worked together, was it? Moranis. Right. That's right. Because the two of them worked together.

They originally got into radio working in tandem with each other. They were some kind of comedy team and I guess they figured out they could somehow find employment on the airwaves and

that's how Rick Moranis became a legendary Toronto radio DJ. Yes. Before he joined the cast of SCTV. The Rick Moranis did not have that stage background with the Second City, that he came from broadcasting in Toronto. Broadcasting in Toronto. And Rick Moranis, who was creeping back to action and filming a sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,

which is supposed to come out at some point in the next little while. What's that? Through Disney. Disney Plus. Disney Plus. He was in a Mint commercial with Ryan Reynolds. He did that Martin Scorsese documentary that we're all staying by. Where is it at?

He showed up at some kind of Comic-Con. Was it in Austin, Texas? Do you think Rick Moranis would be a good guest? Or would he not be as forthcoming with the real talk? You know, I have my ways of extracting it. Like, I have a pretty good record. Sometimes I have guests who aren't there, and I know how to kind of massage them and then pull it out.

So I would like an opportunity to try it. There was always this perception that Rick Moranis went into hiding, that he was retired. Now, he did stop. His wife passed away. Yeah, his wife passed away so so he decided after a little while a few more years he made this disastrous movie the flintstones he just felt the the whole thing was a waste of time he just fluked into it in the first place he was happy being a chum radio dj All this other stuff fell in his lap.

He figured he made enough money. But it wasn't like he was hiding out. He wasn't a total recluse. He was still working on stuff. He put out a couple of comedy albums. He was writing humor pieces that made it in the New York Times. You could find him wandering around the Upper West Side of New York City. Of course, that led to a violent confrontation last year,

got Rick Moranis in the news again. But I think in general, maybe we'll find out someday that, like, with Rick Moranis, he went off the grid, that you can no longer get him in that self-promotion mode, that you would find a lot of these veteran entertainers still eager to do. And if we see Rick Moranis in the spotlight in the future, if we start hearing him turn up on podcasts to promote the remake of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, I think we'll find out what Rick Moranis is willing to talk about here.

See, I would love to do it because I would obviously focus on Rick's Toronto years and the kind of pre-fame stuff, whereas I feel like these other podcasts are going to focus on the big stuff. Hey, there's a few more Toronto Mic'd episodes you want to comment on before I play a clip from an old episode with Ron Davis and Steve Paikin. Well, I listened to the episode with Brian Bradley. Yes. Guy who works at the Toronto Star. Yes.

And I had previously read his book. Okay. About Craig Russell. Yeah. The Toronto drag queen from the movie Outrageous. Yes. Around, what, 1976, 77.

I was impressed with the amount of research that Brian Bradley did for this book about Craig Russell and his wife and what it was like to become a certain kind of celebrity in Toronto in the 1970s for doing these drag shows and having a movie made to highlight his talents.

But it's also a story of everything gone sideways and things not quite working out for these people in the end. I was really impressed. Brian Bradley, I don't think he was even born when the stories were going on. And an impressive amount of research in that book. I was glad to hear him on Toronto Mic'd. And he was one of the guests who had a dream to appear on your podcast. Yeah, I know.

Like validation. Right, right. And you're always amazed when anyone comes over here and says, this was their goal. This is the platform that they imagined promoting their book on. Find that one book.

I can't remember what it's called. Outrageous Misfits? That sounds right. Outrageous Misfits by Brian Bradley. But also listen to Don't Sleep on the

Brian Bradley episode. It's early June, I suppose. It was, we actually delayed it so we could get it in during Pride Month. But yeah, early June, he was in the backyard. Fantastic episode. He'll be back. We didn't get our backyard visit from Tyler Stewart.

Tyler, where are you? Coming soon because there's a new single by Barenaked Ladies we're listening to now. The antagonist will drown. There's no rescue. No way off this riot. If all the world's a stage, we're burning down the theater with everyone inside. It's in the presentation. It's prestidigitation. It's kick the can, slide of hand. Fear and outrage on demand. Here comes a new disaster.

Here comes the end of days. Next up, the sweet heel rafters will tell you all about it after this commercial break. Stay tuned for scary monsters. Watch out for rising tides. So hopefully Tyler makes a return. I'm also trying. You better do that after you've given this airtime to new BNL single, I think, in the evolution of Barenaked Ladies records. It sounded like a cross between One Week and the Big Bang Theory theme, something they can play when they're back out on the road.

This one's all right. So speaking of Barenaked Ladies, though, and I will tell the listenership that I'm trying my best. I'm actively pursuing Ed Robertson, getting Ed on Toronto Mike. He's a missing link, and there's other missing links out there. He's one of them. I've got to get him on. But did you listen to Kevin Hearn on Toronto Mike? Kevin Hearn, who did not know Toronto Mike is a big number in this town.

He was not familiar with your work. Now, Tyler might have come on here and pretended like he'd never listened to the podcast in his life. He's an FOTM, Tyler, before he appeared. Or proceeded to reference dozens of episodes. Dozens of references to me. And Banjo-Dunk already gave stewart as a uh fan of the podcast here so hello you're working way through with uh kevin hurt keyboardist uh for for bare naked ladies and a cousin of the comedian uh harland williams and and a guy who uh could answer with

some authority uh the question, is James be famous? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's why, mainly that's why I wanted him on. He was impressed I had a copy of a Look People album on my studio. I'm like, James gave this to me! Because he's famous. So shout out

to Kevin Hearn. Part 2 is scheduled to be recording tomorrow because we did all of part one and we covered a lot of ground i think we covered a lot of ground but there's uh some ground we saved for part two and i think that's gonna happen tomorrow all the fotm should know when you see a toronto miked two-parter that is not one episode split well half. Well, I don't do that. I don't do that. So that you can sell more advertising. Do I ever do that?

That is a serial conversation that has taken place over subsequent days. Can I tell you? Okay, so I listen to, well, I cherry pick actually which episodes I listen to, but I listen to the Gilbert Gottfried podcast because I like the deep dive he does.

He's doing what I'm doing, except I'm doing it like Toronto focus, and he's kind of doing like old Hollywood or whatever. He's doing it about Hollywood celebrities who are near death. So he did have a last interview with each and every one of them. He had Michelle Phillips on, and I was very keen to hear. And he pulled that stunt, and it pissed me off. Oh, this conversation took three hours, so we we're gonna make it a two-parter and you know i'm sorry what's the point of that except you gotta you know to sell more ads like there's no

there's no point it's inconvenient to the listener to take a to a long conversation and say this is a two-parter very inconvenient when i do a two-parter it means these are two separate conversations. I love Rod Black. Gotta get paid, man. Now, I sent you on a mission to pull a clip from an old podcast episode that you did because it relates to someone who recently passed away. And even though we'll do, as usual, the obituaries at the end, I thought off the top here it was worth drawing attention to a loss in the last few days. And the reason this passing resonated even more with me is because we heard about this person last year on an episode of Toronto Mic'd.

So this is an episode featuring my lawyer, Ron Davis, who's also a great jazz musician, and FOTM Steve Pa Pakin. Here we go. So my mother used to go to Florida when she was alive every year. She was a snowbird. And when I came back to music, I'd get phone calls from my mother every day. And often she would say, Ronnie, I was playing cards with Manya, and Manya's son's a musician. This is doing my mother's Jewish mother accent. I figured that.

Manya's son's a musician, and she bought him a house. Why can't you buy me a house? So I said, well, who's her son? Like, I don't know. I don't know who her son is. She's a musician. He's a musician. So I got these calls for years and she was never able to identify

who the musician who bought a house for her mother is. So these go on and then finally I get a phone call. Ronnie, I was playing cards with Mania. I go through the whole thing and I said, well, Mom, what's the name of the musician? Gabby. And I said, Gabby what?

What's his name? Gabby. So that went on for years that Gabby bought his I said, Gabby what? What's his name? Gabby. And so that went on for years that Gabby bought his mother a house. So honestly, 10 years into this routine, where she was disappointed that on my jazz musician salary, I wasn't buying her a house. She says, Ronnie, I was playing cards with Manya. And she used to play cards with Manya almost every night. And her son's

a musician in the bottom of my house and his name is gabby and i say gabby what mom gabby lee i said gabby you mean getty lee getty oh getty gabby it's the same thing so my mother used to play cards with it's hilarious getty lee's uh and course, he's Geddy because his name is Gary, and his mother's actually named Geddy. I'll bring it down there, but wow. Yeah, that's something else, and that story stuck with me when I saw, passing away, Friday, July 2nd, was Mary Weinrib,

almost 96 years old, the mother of Gabby, better known as Geddy Lee of camps, they ended up emigrating to Canada. And it was Morris Weinrib who started a variety store in Newmarket, Ontario. Times Square Discount. Now, he died at a young age in 1965, and it was Manya Mary who took over the store. And in this obit, they added the detail

that she was so enthusiastic about Rush that she papered the walls of the variety store with Rush posters. She would give albums away to teenagers in the neighborhood who couldn't afford them. Real picture there of the enthusiasm that Geddy Lee's mom had for everything he did, which continued right up until the end of her life. Because, and we've mentioned it here on a prior episode, Dave Grohl did a documentary series.

It was on the Paramount Plus streaming service from cradle to stage. And from what I could tell, the star of this reality show is Geddy Lee's mom. Wow. That she was right there with him, by his side, like an exemplary, one-of-a-kind, rock star mom. Again, when we get to the memorial section, proudly brought to you by Ridley Funeral Home. Pay tribute without paying a fortune. Go to RidleyFuneralHome.com to learn more. Speaking of sponsors,

it's about time I get into the... Okay, what are you cracking open? The lager? Okay, awesome. I just picked that up today. The premium lagers. So Mark has cracked open his first GLB. Did you miss getting your GLB supply for June?

Because we missed that month here. Hey, can I get one? I'll have to drink twice the amount. You want an octopus wants to fight? I'm supposed to throw it over here? Good catch. I was a good short stub, a good slow pitch short stub for many, many years.

It's almost snow. I don't know what's coming off the tree, but it's like it's snowing. There's something coming off the tree here. Let me crack this open. The song from Rush, which went down in history as the first video ever

played on much music back in 1984, The Enemy Within. Do you even know this song? Is it in your catalog of memories of Geddy Lee? No, I only know that because when I had on Christopher Ward, I brought up the fact and we talked about it, but this is not a Rush song I'm particularly familiar with,

but there are several Rush songs. Because this is right around the time when it seemed like This is not a Rush song I'm particularly familiar with, but there are several Rush songs. Because this is right around the time when it seemed like most Canadian bands were trying to imitate the police. Like, I think every Canadian rock group has in its catalog a song where they were trying to do this rock and reggae thing. So influential was synchronicity around that time.

And this one, Rush, pivoted to being even more of a synthesizer band. I don't think it left as many memorable songs behind, but this is what made them big in America and allowed them to tour all the arenas for 30 more years.

Who am I to talk then? After they decided to stop trying to write pop hit singles. But much music on our minds here as we recap what went down in June. That includes the return of the nation's music station. As we speak here, this launch is set for tomorrow. Okay, so wait, let me set the stage this way. So FOTM Ed the Sock was raising funds from his fan base to start some kind of like a much music type show,

like a digital. Yeah, yeah, which already started. Okay, it already started. What's it called? Do you know the name of it? It's on YouTube. Okay. New Music Nation.

But this is a Bell Media official much music reboot, but it's happening on TikTok, is that correct? Primarily on TikTok. They're saying specific shows will be on TikTok, but I think also they're going for whatever platform their fans happy watching on. Just like go and blanket all of social media. Find the youth of today.

I'm not producing material for TikTok. Do you lurk? Every once in a while, I think. Stuff from TikTok ends up showing up in the news. We'll talk, hopefully later in this episode, a local TikTok phenomenon involving Barry Manilow. We can't go this month without mentioning that. But first comes much music.

And yeah, I guess it's good for Ed the Sox confrontational style that he claims that Steve Kersner was approaching Bell Media. I'd like to revive the Much Music brand for Gen Xers who miss loafing in front of television, watching videos, and then he developed it. It's entirely playing off the idea, like if you missed much music, I'm going to be the resurrection. No, I dig that vibe. I mean, you'd think he could be a little bit more original,

but he's working with what he's got. If people recognize him as a... Did I mention Rick the Temp is in the calendar? Just throwing it out there. He's coming by for an episode. In the backyard. How many sponsors will be accompanying Rick the Temp? Just the six I bring to the table.

On his trip to be an episode. He's definitely mastered the Instagram influencing thing. Would it be rude of me to say I barely care about... Much music on TikTok. Okay, we'll see how it goes. Okay, well, do you care about...

Do you care about Kersner's invention, which is if people missed much music that they will want to watch a rotation of videos that people submitted to me, independent Canadian artists, who are forfeiting all their rights to appear on my YouTube channel. Right, they're saying here you can do what you want with my video. You're providing it for exposure. Let's face it, this is the lowest budget television

you could ever possibly create they figured this out 40 years ago with mtv if the clips are prepared in advance for promotional purposes right putting a vj on in between the videos to do so you're a little talking in between this is very economical television. Do you want to watch? Do you buy into the proposition here that this style of programming is something that was missing on the airwaves?

Because the owner of MTV, Viacom, in the United States, which owns every kind of channel, every kind of platform, MTV, still exists. They're still an MTV network. They mostly just show reruns of this one show, Ridiculousness. A bunch of music the same here.

If this was a viable type of television, would not one of these tightwad companies have figured, we'll just throw on a bunch of music videos and put somebody on in between? Like, isn't there something to be said for the fact that none of them see any value in continuing to offer this programming? Okay. So let the, let the sock give it a go.

Like if you're asking me if I personally am interested in consuming this content, well, of course not. I think everyone says, let the sock and give it a go because they, they want to, they don't want to wind up in his wrath. Like say the wrong thing about the, the sock and give it a go because they don't want to wind up in his wrath.

Like, say the wrong thing about the sock and he'll never stop tweeting about you. He's a good effort. Try to ruin your day. Here's why I'm trying to move past. He was trying to argue. He came up with the idea

to bring back much music. There was no plan to revive much music until he started making a bunch of calls over at Bell Media. And while they refused to respond to him, and then they had some major mass layoff there, and he claims that the person that was going to give it the green light got fired. I don't know. But does it matter? He was bugging them to revive Much Music and then they turn around and they bring Much Music back.

And now it's on TikTok. And now it's aimed at Gen Y. Rather than the Gen Xers with the Much Music brand. They've got a whole cast of VJs, young, vibrant, diverse cast of characters. One of them is named Sade, like the singer. And you would think that might have been a joke at Much Music, like 35 years ago, right?

One day people will... You mean Sade. People will... Sade. Yeah, but the singer's Sade, people will... You mean Sade. People will... Sade. Yeah, but the singer Sade. No, Sade. It's pronounced Sade. Okay, S-A-D-E. S-A-D-E.

I didn't know it was Sade. I have lots to learn here. Well, that's a pronunciation that they put on the record. All right. It might have been a joke around Much Music, right? One day, people will name their...

Sade. Name their daughters Sade. And it turns out one of them is MuchMusicTikTokVJ. The idea seems as good as any out there. Well, these are all ideas. You've got a corporate entity that envisions taking over TikTok. TikTok in Canada, Toronto. Moving into the Liberty Village office vacated by Vice.

I think there's something symbolic there with the old and with the new. Right? Vice was going to be the new media empire with backing from Rogers. Now they're down, I don't know, three or four employees in Canada. But who cares? They don't need all that Liberty Village space anymore. Because I'm itching, and again, I know it's your show, so we'll go at your pace, I know it's your show, so we'll go at

your pace. Mike, it's your show. I'm itching to talk about Stafford and Vendetta. This is where I'm at, okay? I know. So Mike Stafford. You don't want to deconstruct much music on TikTok anymore. Who cares? Both projects will inevitably fail, right? I'm not so sure about that.

Okay, so tell me, who's interested in the TikTok? I know you're saying Generation Y. I think if you pay people to be on TikTok and be those content creators and they've got, like, the inside track to hang out with celebrities and do little quick videos that won't make appearances from Tate McRae hanging out in the new Much environment. No, I think there's something there. I think there's still something to be squeezed out of that corporate clout.

And Bell Media is in a position to get it. Whatever. As we speak here, they barely even debuted anything. We'll hope it's more successful than Quibi. Much on TikTok starts July 7th. Okay, that's tomorrow. Overhead's a lot lower. And Ed the Sock with New Music Nation.

I wish both Bell Media and Steve Kersner, Ed the Sock, I wish them the best of luck. And let me know what happens. Maybe we'll get an update in a couple of months as to how things are going. But here, this will be very, very relevant to FOTMs, right? The listenership. Is that two-time guest, Mike Stafford, who famously or infamously called me a turd in his basement.

And we had a falling out. I mean, I guess it was a one-sided falling out. He just sort of like, I don't know, got mad at me and then we weren't friends anymore. But he was fired from his gig as morning show host at Global News Radio 640. And it's because of a racist Microsoft Teams comment he made internally in the Chorus network there. A couple years ago on his first strike.

It was a couple years ago, right? The hospital tweets? Yeah. I think we had, at least on my end, an incoherent debate where I think I was trying to defend him. Not on the grounds of what he wrote, but that it was a Twitter joke

gone awry. But it wasn't funny. It wasn't funny, but it wasn't one of these cases. It's not like this guy was showing some hate in his heart. He was trying to be... It was racially insensitive. Well, they didn't get rid of him.

I mean, they kept him on the job. But he did delete his Twitter account. But you're right. He survived that. The question is, was it something that would have disqualified him from being on the radio? An attempt to be comical.

And this is the Uncle Apu? Do you remember? Yeah, something like that. By exaggerating ethnic, racial, religious stereotypes. And keep in mind, though, keep in mind, his co-host at the time is Supriya Dwivedi. Like, I feel like, and she's gone on, hold on, let me turn off my phone.

I'm getting there. Standby, apologies. So what was I going to say there? She's gone on the record as saying like nobody even talked to her when Mike Stafford came back. I just feel like the whole thing was mishandled and that Mike Stafford was possibly on borrowed time as it was and then that he kind of gave him the.

She wanted to discuss it with him on the air. And her boss as a global news radio wouldn't let them. Like, let's not turn this into an on-air discourse. So pretend it never happened. Why what Stafford tweeted might have been hurtful. He was put on notice. Sure. And it was a situation where he could not get away

with anything that resembled it again. Right. Whether it was on Twitter or internal radio station communication. Twitter or internal radio station communication. It was clear, I think, to him, he's a smart guy. He worked in radio in Toronto pretty continuously for about 40 years, usually in drive time, from doing the news on the Pete and Geet show on CFNY and a lot of years with standard broadcasting,

CKFM, Mix 99.9, CFRB. And don't forget Mojo, because I have a deep dive into Mojo Radio next week with Ripken. Mojo and AM640, and the station went from over-the-top irreverence to exaggerated seriousness. And then a lot of people would say Mike Stafford was the best talk radio host in Toronto. Right.

By the time they offered him this morning show after like 35 years in the industry. What ended his career with Chorus was using a slur in this Microsoft Teams chat where he was trying to satirize an ethnic stereotype through the mind of Doug Ford. You'd think he would have learned his lesson from the Wendy Mesley. I know this is, well, actually we can even talk about it now.

It was once again his attempt to bring the kind of humor that might have been appropriate a certain period of time. But not now. Like ironic racism where you're using terms

to relate what other people might say. See, back in the day you could do that. It's about the Indian, what they were calling at the time, the Indian variant. Now it's a Delta variant. Right. Of the coronavirus.

What would have crossed Doug Ford's mind? Sure. And look, it's a disparaging term. Like it's a sort of thing that we would have eliminated from our vocabulary at this point in time that you should not be able to get away with and i think mike stafford realized at that point in time they stepped in something that he could not get out of and that was the end of that and that was the end of mike stafford with 20 years on AM640. Fascinating guy. I mean, in the sense that he got the dream gig after so many years of service,

and he gets the dream gig, and then he self-sabotaged almost. It seems to me, I don't want to be armchair psychiatrist for Michael Stafford here, but on some level, he sabotages the whole thing. Like he's got no one to blame but himself. He completely fucked up this opportunity. And I don't know what's next for Michael Stafford. Like I don't know where, what is next for Mike Stafford? Do you have any thoughts on what's next?

I don't know. Coming back on Toronto Mic'd to explain what it felt like to go through this process. I mean, look, we've talked here over the months, a couple years at this point. Global News Radio has not been the friendliest place to work. Right. They've had a lot of issues with free speech over the airwaves. They told Comrade Black, you can't speak on the air anymore. You can't do these appearances.

He was doing with John Oakley because he got into a rant about how systemic racism doesn't exist in Canada. Right. Oakley told him, sorry, your services are no longer required. I'm not allowed to have you on the air anymore. Right. More time for these political consultants

and PR people to show up as pundits instead. Mark Stein, another right winger with a whole blend of exotic accents, lives in New Hampshire. Mark Stein, no longer welcome on this airwave. Sue Ann Levy said that she was censured. Don't forget FOTM, loose skis. No longer allowed on the airwave. Yeah, loose skis. No longer allowed on the area. Loose skis. And then some other hosts.

Ryan Jesperson. The guy who stole the real talk from me. Alberta-based host. More of a left-winger. And someone weaponized his reference to chimpanzees and said he was being a racist, even though it was anything but. Danielle Smith, another host from Alberta, said this place isn't welcoming to me anymore,

and so we're back to the issue of, are these Canadian corporations that are more worried about their status on the stock market? Are these places that should be hosting live candid talk radio and i think mike stafford excluded himself a self-cancellation uh that he would be seen as a liability for this company to keep him around at the same time they're tightening all these standards and practices. Now, this came up on an episode of Canada Land, which is, okay, after you're done purging all the perceived racists,

what are you replacing it with? In this case, I think it's a lot more milk toast radio. Greg Brady. Stuff that makes no impression whatsoever. Are you going to throw Greg Brady under the bus? I mean, he might stand to benefit. No, I'm saying Greg Brady. From Mike Stafford being out of a job. I believe Greg Brady

replaces Mike Stafford on the morning show on 6.4. Greg Brady, another FOTM. Do you think he was standing by waiting for Stafford to screw up again? Yes, sure. But again, Stafford screwed up. This is on this is on stafford

he'd be for by the way if mike stafford is listening i haven't heard from this man in many years uh since the turd in the basement comment uh shout out to loose skis but i would you know reach out because uh yeah come in the backyard and tell us what the fuck is going on here. Like, it's almost fascinating that, you know, this is so dumb for a smart guy. I almost think it was intentional. Do you know that? It's just for a guy that sharp and that intelligent to do what he did using the P slur on the corporate channel there

and, you know, those tweets. I feel it just doesn't quite make sense to me. How can you be that stupid if you're that smart? What can we make of the psychology of Joey Vendetta who made it into the 1236 newsletter

I think for the very first time. Thanks to the suspicion surrounding why his national Rogers Sportsnet radio show didn't appear over the Canada Day weekend. Wait, wait, wait. So rewind a bit here is that Joey did send that tweet on Canada Day in which he said something to the effect of like, if you don't love Canada,

get out of here because there's a bunch of people who will take your place. If it's so bad, move elsewhere. Many others ready to take your spot. Now, Toronto Mike, I think you were down with the cancel Canada Day movement. I don't like the term. Finding, well, discovering all these unmarked graves in the former residential school sites. I was in no mood to celebrate Canada Day this year. And that's true. And I didn't.

I mean, you won't find any, like, happy Canada Day tweets from me. I took the Canada Day celebration off this year. Wasn't feeling it. Would you object to the idea of someone like Joey Vendetta? Everybody remembers Joey, if you're old enough. He was a legend of Q107. I think he was an awesome communicator, like the most articulate guy on the rock and roll heaven scene.

He'd bring you the Power Factory radio show on Q107. Late night on the weekend, spinning Leia's heavy metal at, I don't know, 25 years of age. They made him a program director of Q107. He was so tuned into the needs of the people on the street. the needs of the people on the street. Joey, after a while, they purged him from Q107. I don't think you've made it in radio until you've been fired.

Ended up resetting in Hollywood, working for Hollywood Records, a label that was owned by Disney, which initially hit the jackpot because they had the rights to the back catalog of Queen. I'm not sure what else Hollywood Records did that was worth remembering, but Joey Vendetta worked there and then landed a job with Live Nation, the big concert promoter. At one point, they hired Charlie Sheen to do a tour of North America. And Joey found himself in the unenviable position

of having to control what was happening with the Charlie Sheen circus. Remember? Of course. The Tiger Blood or whatever the hell was going on there. Winning! Winning, yeah, that's right. I remember this.

It was a bit zany for a while there, absolutely. And Joey rescued the Charlie Sheen show by going on stage and doing an interview with him rather than letting Charlie do unhinged rants. So a lot of people, they might not have heard of Joey Vendetta in a long time. But in the last little while, he's done this show on Sportsnet at Rogers. I think he's a pretty connected character, thanks to all his work with the concert promoter. And if you want to do a sports radio show on Rogers on the weekend, I mean,

he's better than Dart Guy. They're willing to give this air time over to him. Remind me, I actually am ignorant to the weekend programming on the Fan 590, but Joey Vendetta had a three hour program every weekend. Is that the deal? Yeah, national. I had no idea.

Saturday afternoon show. Three less hours of Roger Lajoie. But much like Roger Lajoie. That's right. But much like Roger Lejoie, much like him, Joey Vendetta would have been a pay-as-you-go resource for Roger's Sportsnet. Like, I would guess he probably got like 500 bucks for his three-hour show.

I guess so. Look, I mean, there was a backlash. Like, Bruce Arthur jumps in there. Well, it's a very, can I say this? I will say this. That tweet from Joey Vendetta is so incredibly tone deaf. Again, like how, what a stupid tweet. Like it was just so tone deaf.

Bruce Arthur, who's never at a loss for words about anything. Although he seems to be sticking to sports a little more again off the coronavirus beat this is exactly the kind of simple childish selfish thinking that any country worth a damn should never celebrate it was a dumb tweet i i was uh i was, I thought it was an awful tweet, especially this year. Like, any year, really, but especially this year. Okay, but then Joey tried to qualify it. He said, okay, look, the Roman Catholic

Church, these are my people, and I am disappointed in everything that they've ever done. I get the idea that they have this shameful past with these residential schools. I'm still sticking to my perspective

that if you don't like the way things have gone in Canada, follow my example. Like I mentioned, he spent a long time in Hollywood, maybe still has a home there. Get the hell out of town. Well, a couple days later, July 3rd, Saturday morning, we get an apology tweet. Joey Vendetta, I would like to deeply apologize for my tweet on Canada Day. I'm very sorry for offending those of you I hurt in any way.

For offending those of you I hurt in any way, it was tone deaf and not meant with any malice, especially on a day many were mourning and questioning many things about Canada. Please accept my apology. Does this strike you, maybe, as a guy who was trying to salvage his career, that maybe this tweet was co-authored uh with with someone at rogers media uh but again i'm giving credit to joey here he's got a

30 year background in the media public relations he stepped in there there for Charlie Sheen in the past. He would know how to do damage control when he was in the line of fire and at risk of being canceled. Joey Vendetta, after that apology tweet, his fan Sportsnet radio show did not show up that afternoon. Suspicion in the air, right? Yeah, for sure. Is there something going on?

He deleted his Twitter account, didn't he? Yeah, at least he deactivated it. The Twitter account isn't active anymore. But Joey Vendetta's web page, as of this moment, Tuesday, July 6th, 3.53 p.m., refreshing it once more to confirm that Joey is still on the Sportsnet website, that Joey still has a role there with Rodgers. So right now, look, it's just a few weeks ago on Toronto Mic'd, we discussed the curious case of Edward S. Rod and his wife at Mar-a-Lago, photographed with Donald Trump, Right. Smiling with the recent past president of the United States.

And just getting this furious reaction, total backlash and blowback from the entire fashion community about what a hypocrite she was, that here she's actually showing in this picture of the family posing with Donald Trump in Florida, showing off her true colors with the special way to end the night. You would think if any company would want to stick up for their employees against the cancel culture, it would be the company owned by the husband of Suzanne Rogers. You act like the rules applied to Joey Vendetta, pay-as-you-go, Sportsnet Resource,

and the Rogers family are the same. That's insane. No. No. At this point, can I ask you- I'm just saying it would be interesting if they were willing to stick up for the guy. What's in it for them to stick?

There's no incentive. They told Don Cherry to take a hike. Yes. When he went on Hockey Night in Canada and he did his rant about you people. Yes. Who don't want to wear poppies. Right. That was the end of the line.

We also had Ron McClain stepping in it this spring. Remember that one? Yes. Yes. I do Remember that one? Yes. Yes, I do remember that vaguely here. But let me just ask you this to wrap up the vendetta. But Ron hung in there. Yeah. He apologized for what was perceived as a homophobic comment.

Yeah, a lot of room for speculation on the McLean comment. I will say that. That one was very inconclusive. But if I may, Vendetta, is there any official word from Rogers Sportsnet as to the status of the Joey Vendetta program on their airwaves? As far as I can tell, nothing at all. But from where we stand right now, I expect to hear Joey Vendetta back on the fan.

Okay, so you want to have a little friendly bet here? I know we once bet about... Talking hockey with his pal David Boreanaz. Oh, I know, from Angel or whatever. If I may. So we've had, in the past, we talked about, will the Barenaked Ladies and Stephen Page do something together again? And I said, no, it was a one-off.

And you said, yeah. So, like, let's do one of those. I say Joey Vendetta is done on 590. And I say Joey Vendetta will be back. But this is not an endorsement of anything that Joey Vendetta had to say. No, no, no. Honestly, who cares?

If you don't like the way things have gone in the history of Canada, you should move away. I know. But here's why it's so easy for Rodgers. Is that such a controversial opinion? I guess so. But here's the thing.

Tone deaf, we agree that's a tone deaf tweet, right? It was a tone deaf tweet, especially on that day at that time. So I agree with you, except that because of the nature of his business relationship with Sportsnet, it's super easy for Rogers to walk away from Vendetta. Like he's not a permanent full-time employee. You don't have to sever the guy and there's no, there's no messiness there. It's completely clean.

It's a pay as you go resource. It would be like Rogers saying goodbye to Roger Lajoie. They just don't give him any more shifts. So, so I would, like I said, I'm speculating that Vendetta might have been getting something like $500 to do a three-hour show every weekend for Sportsnet. It's effortless for

Sportsnet to cut the ties there. And I'm speculating he might have got nothing at all or even paying for that airtime himself. I know. So these are all we actually don't know. So that's why we're both speculating. I speculate they gave him like I said, like $ bucks or something to do it. But who knows? Okay, so Vendetta will find out who's right because

eventually we'll know whether Vendetta is returning to 590. So we talked about Stafford. We talked about Vendetta really quickly here. We did reference Wendy Mesley, but she's been retired by CBC. She's gone.

A year ago, they seemed to be reveling in the idea that she said a word that should never be used during an editorial meeting. She said, context is important, even though that won't end up mattering in the case of Wendy Mesley. But she used the N-word, but she didn't say N-word like I would have done in such a meeting.

She said the N-word. So she was quoting, or I think she was quoting someone. It was an internal meeting at CBC. This is obviously not on the air. And the context of her usage of the N-word would be sort of like if you were reading Huckleberry Finn or something. Like, Huckleberry Finn's littered with N-words. Her context was she was doing it for a production meeting

for the show, The Weekly, that was on CBC, which was, I would say, a show, try to catch the wave of social justice discussion. That she did these confrontational interviews that were based on the idea that we have to root out all the racists and all these nasty people online. And that she saw herself as like a force of good.

That she was fighting the enemies here. I mean, again, it depends on what stories you read or whatever, but it's possible. She's been warned in the past. Like, like,

so the usage of this, there was, there was a first warning and then she used it again. And there was an employee who rightfully took issue with her. Like something was wrong. They warned her once before and she did it again. Just like Mike Stafford. Right. So, I mean,

I'll address all the white people listening that there's these words that cannot be used in any context in any regard. So, the P word that was a slur for Pakistani people that Mike Stafford was using, or this N word, I can't believe she, so the N word, it doesn't matter if it's N-word, it doesn't matter if it's an internal meeting,

it doesn't matter if it's an internal Microsoft Teams chat, just don't use these words. It's effortless to say the N-word. Like, I just used it a few times, and everyone knows what I'm talking about. So I don't, you know, no one needs to hear White Mike, who's a character on The Wire season two, by the way, White Mike doesn't need to actually say the N-word.

He can say the N-word. At the same time, there were definitely people at CBC who liked the idea that they were going to crucify one of the legendary stars of the channel. Well, but when she retired, I think they tried to spin it. They did it right after a long weekend. Wendy Mesley has retired from the CBC after 38 years. An announcement was made.

There was in the CBC's own reporting, I don't think, much context to explain where she's been for the past 12 months. That she had this show, The Weekly. It never came back. Right. After word got out about this incident, she never returned to the show. They got rid of it. They replaced her with Rosemary Barton live on Sunday morning. And that was the end of Wendy Mesley.

Based on her Twitter account, she's open to new opportunities. Or quite the career, actually. Maybe she will come on Toronto Mic'd. Where does she live? If you're willing to have these people on here to talk about their careers and what they've been through. I mean, you can have a long line waiting to get into this backyard for people to talk about their experiences. There's not many places you can go. Spending a long career in the media and what it's like.

Right. When you say the wrong thing, when your colleagues argue that you are no longer suitable for employment in a place that you've worked for decades, because you've shown yourself to be ill-suited, maybe out of touch with what you can and cannot say. And Wendy Mesley joined that club and this week, beginning of July, she's officially retired. As this song brews in the background, and then we'll

discuss why am I playing this jam, but I just want to also mention that Randy Bachman is done with CBC as well. And if Bachman wants me to produce his podcast, he should reach out to Mike at TorontoMike.com. Yeah, and another article in the Globe and Mail that talked about generational shift in CBC wanting to get more diverse with their music programming, and that means no more oldies rock and roll show

on Saturday night anymore. You know what's very good when I hear him on CBC is Danny Graves from The Watchmen. I think he's an up-and-coming talent there on the CBC radio airwaves. Shout-out to FOTM Danny Graves. Randy Bachman says he'll be back, and you'd imagine between all these classic rock radio stations,

they'd be happy to pick him up if he got the right sort of sponsorship. He even paid for the airtime himself. Hey, so Randy Bachman. This is like whatever. One taken care of business TV commercial, and he's paid off airtime for the rest of his life. I was a fan of Bachman's, I almost said his,

Bachman's Overdrive, Bachman's Vinyl Tap. Like, I was a big fan. And I got Vinyl Tap. Vinyl Cafe was Stewart, right? McLean, right? So Vinyl Cafe and Vinyl Tap. Don't get those confused.

Okay, I'm okay now. But I was a fan of the program. What did you think of Bachman's CBC show? I never listened. No? I like it. I just like hearing the stories and I know some people complain that they played the same kind of classic rock you can hear anywhere, but I dug it, buddy!

Okay, so shout out to Randy Bachman ending his CBC career there. Another one for the guest list that you'll have many times on Toronto Mike. You ain't seen nothing yet. Okay, tell me why I'm playing this jam. What am I hearing here? Magic Jordan?

How do I say the first name? Magic? Magic? Midget? Is he referencing Biz Markie there? You're no good for me. You got what I need. I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. Is he referencing Biz Marquis there? I hear a little reference there to Girl, You Got What I Need. How's he doing? I know he's not in the memorial section of our program today.

Biz Marquis, he's still living. I'm not sure. Any more details, you'll know if you hear about him. We'll find out if you hear about him in upcoming months. I hope know if you hear about him. We'll find out if you hear about him in upcoming months. I hope we don't hear about him. Magic Jordan. I think that's how Jimmy Fallon pronounced it. Waves of Blue, I think this might be

a pick to click the first hit record from someone signed to Ovo Sound, this duo that worked with Drake. They were on eight years ago, Hold On, Hold On, We're Going Home. I love that song. Yeah, sure. It's on, we're going home. But like a lot of these vanity record labels,

I think Drake has had a hard time launching other people's careers. Party Next Door, he had a modest hit because Drake himself was on the tune. Loyal and another one with Rihanna did all right. But we talked to her about Division. That's one of those guys that co-wrote Hotline Bling. So he definitely was able to afford the bling as a result of being involved in that song. But Division themselves, it was a Kings of Leon cover version.

Remember we had that one month on Toronto Month? How could I forget? But Waves of Blue by Majid Jordan, this duo that's worked with Drake. This shows signs of being a hit, even if it's just a CanCon one. But these songs... Potential song of the summer.

Now, here, okay, so Chum FM would play a song like Waves of Blue, right? All the more so, because it can fill their Canadian content quota. Now, Chum FM is like the only Bell Media station of that format that's not Bounce now, right? Because Bounce, we don't know this in Toronto because it's still Chum, maybe because there's so much weight and integrity in that brand of Chum.

because there's so much weight and integrity in that brand of chum. But all the other Bell Media stations that play that format have converted to Bounce stations, right? It was a whole bunch of Bell stations in different formats, including the stations that were Bob FM. Right. I remember Bob. That was a response to Jack FM. They retired that name in favor of B FM. Right. I remember Bob. That was a response to Jack FM. They retired that name in favor of Bounce. Okay.

So Bounce is sort of like Boom. Like 80s, 90s, early 2000s. Okay, so not quite. And they changed the format of a bunch of stations, including K-Lite in Hamilton, doing that throwback format. And I don't think they're doing it very well. Something very bleak about their approach

that's different from the boom radio style with the Stingray in Toronto. Well, they're missing FOTM, Stu Jeffries, and May Potts, I think, and also KJ. Let's not forget KJ. Just something drab about it. Even when they're playing a song called Psycho Killer, Chum FM then finds itself now in between the bounce radio stations,

because they added more retro tunes to Chum, but also the radio stations that are branded as move radio stations, which includes a former Easy Rock in St. Catharines. I love Easy Rock in St. Catharines. I love Easy Rock. Which, if you're keeping score here, we've got a situation where Bell has been moving forward over the past six months in turning more of their radio stations into national brands.

It makes any outlet that's sticking to its old call letters more of an outlier. And that includes Chum in Toronto. So do you think it's only a matter of time before Chum in Toronto is rebranded as a bounce? We're going to find out what that Chum sign is worth. Right. And if there's enough to be reaped

from having those call letters. You know what'll happen? A more unique style of radio station. What'll happen is, yes, chum will become bounce, and then the only people upset about it will be commenters on the soundy board. Like, this'll be it.

It'll be like, who cares? And they'll be upset. The chum name is sacred. Also, you've got... People who understand the way to... Chum Chum retrospective with me and left me a whole bunch of Chum stickers and 1050 Chum cards and stuff. It was amazing. Like, I totally respect the legacy of 1050 Chum. Okay, but nobody who,

nobody listens to Chum, 104.5 Chum, who gives a shit about the legacy of 1050 Chum. Like, there's no, in the Venn diagram, these are two circles. You know what I mean? Show them in Montreal. Show them. Also, legendary call letters, still intact.

Okay. But their longtime morning man, Terry DeMont, he was there on and off for 36 years, synonymous with the radio station. His contractor was up, and Bell told him, we're done, it's over. And Montreal, this was kind of a big deal. Because when

it came to Anglo radio stations, Terry was the last legend of the Montreal Anglo airways. Montreal, that kind of deal? If you had to put it to a Toronto compare? John Derringer.

Yeah, he's still, yeah, okay. And when is his 10 years up, John Derringer? Everyone's pal. I think we learned that John Derringer signed another contract. John Derringer, who showed up on a two-and-a-half-hour-long Beatles podcast, which was a sign that he'd be willing to come on Toronto Mike. Why won't John Derringer come on Toronto Mike? Like, I've asked him several.

I'm not asking him anymore because you hit that point where you just seem like some kind of obsessed stalker or something. So he's not getting another invitation to come on. He knows how to reach me if he's interested in coming on. He knows I'm interested in having on. He's one of those missing links I referred to, like Ed Robertson. Why won't John Derringer come on Toronto Mic'd? I think

he wants to keep his job. And you think he coming on Toronto Mic'd will cost him his Q107 job? There's always a risk. Oh, there's a risk? Okay. Your best bet with these people is call them after they're retired or they end up losing their job.

Well, okay, let me ask you. Because they said the wrong thing in some internal corporate communication. Let me ask you about former John Derringer co-host Maureen Holloway. She's on CHFI. She got the Aaron Davis spot. Shout out to Aaron Davis. There's a lot of stuff going on at CHFI. I mean, they're humming along in the ratings and stuff,

but their longtime producer, Ian the General, who I know because Aaron Davis speaks so highly of him and so often. Ian MacArthur. That's how he became the general. Right, right. Now it all makes sense. I would guess Don Daynard gave him that name, which is an indication of how long he has been around. Right, right. Now it all makes sense. It's all coming together now. I would guess Don Daynard gave him that name,

which is an indication of how long he has been around. Right. Going back to Don Daynard and Aaron Davis. He's been, after so many decades of service, and it seems like

they got good results, and he seemed to be well-liked by his colleagues. He's no longer at CHFI. He was the producer of the biggest commercial radio show in Toronto history. Is that just that? I'm not sure what's happening there, but the problem is the co-host of the show,

Darren B. Lamb, has not been at work for something like five or six months. Something like five or six months. Is this, I mean, I don't even want to speculate, but do we have an inkling of why Darren B. Lamb is not on the air at CHFI? Not too sure. It might be a situation that you can't fire somebody for. Okay. That it's a personal issue,

and they're trying to work it out behind the scenes because it's still the Darren and Mo morning show. He's still listed as the co-star, but it's been Mike Cooper. Right, speaking of Aaron Davis. Who probably can do this show from his kitchen table, like so much other broadcasting in the pandemic and you have a situation where Mike Cooper who retired not

too long ago was called into action. He's still on CHFI doing these voice tracked oldies shows. He left CHFI at a time when his wife was sick I believe and my understanding was Mike Cooper, who politely turned down my invitation to come on Toronto Mike,

wanted to spend more time with his ill wife, I believe. Another Toronto Mike mystery. Will Darren and Mo continue as a team into the fall of 2021? If it's something, again, a little speculation, but if it's something you cannot be fired for, then I think the man deserves

the benefit of the doubt and a little privacy here. So all I'll say, I've never met Darren B. Lamb. There was a moment where he was going to come on and then it didn't happen. But I just hope everything works out

for everybody involved. Scott Turner! One of my favorite FOTM. Yes. Oh! I got to get him in the backyard this summer. He's amazing. Yeah, I agree.

And even though it was terrific that we had Scott Turner tweeting his memories all day. I love it! That he was willing to do the work required for epic episodes of this podcast. Where he showed up with what? Those are some of the best. Rode in on his bike with like a whole file cabinet. He actually never rode in on his bike.

I wish he had, but he always drove in. Although he could do that ride. But yeah, he was always well-researched, well-prepared. Always had, but he always drove in. But, although he could do that ride. But yeah, he was always well-researched, well-prepared. I always had a lot of great soundbites. And these were very, he did one on like,

the 80s was on CFNY, and the 90s was on Energy 108, and then the 2000s was on Flow. Am I remembering all these episodes right, or are some of these still to come? It's all a blur to me now. But shout out to Scott Turner.

He got a gig? Brantford! Where's Brantford? Home of Wayne Gretzky. I can see it on a map. I kind of know whereabouts it is. I've driven through it on my way home from visiting my son in Waterloo. I ended up going through Brantford on my way back.

Reunited with the Evanov group. Okay, right. And he's now the program director of Light 92 in Brantford, Ontario. So he's a program director. Is he on the air or just a program director? He's not on the air. No. You want to go to Brantford and find out?

Country 93.9, that's another station. And I think an AM Christian radio station, Arise 1380, is where you'll find Scott Turner now. I would have imagined a different destiny for such a legend of CFNY, Energy 108, and Toronto Radio. At the same time, I think we're seeing a bit of a trend where people who have been through the grind of getting hired and fired by multiple radio stations are showing up in smaller towns,

picking up whatever gig they can get and angling for the idea that as terrestrial radio faces a challenge to figure out how hanging on to listeners is something that they've all got to figure out here into the 2020s, that if you show up at one of these media corporations in a smaller market, you'll get back into the big leagues again. We saw that with Billie Holiday. FOTM, Billie Holiday. FOTM. You know she's on a country radio station in Kitchener.

Okay, sure. We had the former CFNY morning host. Oh, the siblings. With their brother, Ruby Carr. And going from the morning show on the Edge to afternoon drive. Also Kitchener on Virgin Radio. And another, one of the great FOTMs, Bingo Bob Willett. Bingo Bob, yeah.

Now working for Chorus, but not in Toronto. Not yet. He's in Kingston. Do I got that right? Yep, he's a program director at a Chorus cluster in Kingston. Do I got that right? Yep. He's a program director at a chorus cluster in Kingston, which is almost as fun to say as Kyla's cookie emporium there. Okay. Yeah, bigger, bigger things to wait for Bingo Bob.

Shout out to Bingo Bob. Kyla, Ky-Ky Cookies. That's what you were referring to. And then she got rid of it. Doug Ford's daughter, KKK. Yeah, maybe you want to change that. Helpfully pointed out in the cookies, went back to cookies with a C. C is for cookie.

Yeah, you can't do the alliteration when you're... Good enough for Doug Ford's daughter. But the Toronto Sun ended up apologizing to the Premier of Ontario for a headline that referred to Kyla and her KKK cookies, which maybe reveals a bit more about the relationship between the Premier's office and the Toronto tabloid that will most happily print any of its press releases. Don't joke about KKK cookies when it comes to Kyla Ford, Instagram fitness model turned baked goods entrepreneur somewhere in Etobicoke. model-turned-baked-goods entrepreneur somewhere in Etobicoke. I don't know. I don't imagine she'll be a sponsor of Toronto Mic'd

any time soon. Here's a fun game, FOTM's. Name the artist of this new song. I wonder what FOTM Jeremy Taggart thinks of this song. I would love to get his real talk on this particular jam. What's the artist behind this song I'm playing? Our Lady Peace. Wow. But this is what you gotta do now,

right, to get radio airplay. Like, you can't just do your rock and roll. I know, I filed this away if we were going to do Fromage 2021 as a sequel. I thought Our Lady Peace featuring Pussy Riot would have made that

list. Speaking of Etobicoke, someone from out here in the West End, Rain Maida. Not his real name. Used to play street hockey with the Ford brothers. Probably, yeah. He said, I'm tired of rock music. Well, I'm not sure if people weren't tired of OLP still trying to resurrect the glories of the run, the 1990s,

even though the classic can rock circuit will always have a place for them. For sure. Stop, stop making stupid people famous. That's a little social commentary there on right. Giving too much attention to, to these Instagram influencers and other people out there who are looking for attention.

FOTM, Gene Volaitis is fond of using that line. Whenever I would have a tweet about Chair Girl, he would chime in there saying, Stop making stupid people famous. Gene and I often disagree, but I'm agreeing with him on that one. I'm glad I no longer have to play that damn Beach Boys song.

I don't mind that OLP going electro. Even though I think in his mind's eye, Rain is imagining a critical claim that isn't going to come. And before long, he'll be back on stage singing Superman's dead. Which is what we all want anyway.

Okay, so I wanted to highlight before we move into the death segment. What do you want to highlight? Let's move into the death segment. What do you want to highlight? My favorite story of the past month, which involves a kid on TikTok named William White. I don't have anything loaded. When did this get added to the spreadsheet? Is this a late ad?

I did it all yesterday evening while watching the hockey game, and I had no such, I didn't have it here. This was a kid who got famous for lip syncing to Barry Manilow's Mandy. Right, right. Okay, and what happened? This kid lip syncs to Mandy, and Barry Manilow enjoys it. You objected so much, you removed her from the list. I actually, yeah, I don't have it. Like, I don't have it.

Maybe... Well, you can always fire it up. Okay, what is it exactly? What? Barry Manilow, the song. Oh, you just want Mandy? Oh my goodness. It's a Toronto Mike staple. I think Stu Stone kicked it out recently. Let me play a bit of it from YouTube. And then we're going to thank

some sponsors, and then we're going to move on to the memorial section. And this will become the longest episode of Toronto Mic'd ever. Stand by. My laptop is like 50 degrees over here.

I hope it survives the pummeling heat we have here. But let me play a little bit of Mindy. Look at the work we do to bring that real talk. Oh, Mindy, you came and you gave me a turkey On my vacation away from worky I think VP of Sales is in love with this song. I remember all my life

Raining down as cold as ice Shadows of a man A face through a window Crying in the night The night goes into morning Just another day It's a cover, right? And he changed the woman's name, as I recall. I think that fun fact was dropped in a pandemic Friday. Okay, so there's a Torontonian.

Is it a Torontonian who covered this song? A 21-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Close enough. Okay. Oh, you want some? Okay. Well, my enthusiasm for talking about him was dampened here. I thought you were all in on the story of William White.

Don't you read the 1236 newsletter? Yeah, yeah. I'm 100% aware of it. I was not all in on it. But I'm happy if you're happy, and this is a song, if it brings you joy, I'm glad to play it for you I'm happy if you're happy, and this is a song, if it brings you joy,

I'm glad to play it for you. I'm glad you're here, man. It's been two months since you've been in my backyard. Here's a 21-year-old kid who looks like he could be a model, and now he's got a contract to go along with the fact

that he's become a contract to go along with the fact that he's become popular on TikTok doing these 70's pop music lip syncs capturing the cougars who are in love

with Whitey18 he's known for his eye rolls, giving a little wink. And it seemed like pretty much every day he was giving a little 15-second taste of mouthing the words of Barry Manilow on Mandy. Barry Manilow himself, whoever runs his social media,

is well aware of Young William. Featured him on Barry Manilow's social media. This kid is bringing the Manilow magic to the next generation. And he seems like he's ready to be famous for whatever. I don't know.

He looks good. He's working as a landscaper. It seems like if the modeling won't work out, he could still be in high demand with housewives just work his way around the neighborhood. Here's Mandy from TikTokok it's kind of this look many many adult films have been based on the story line yeah i think he's a delivery guy of the landscaper right

yeah the pool boy who will who will absolutely who will uh work for you uh in between shifts of lip syncing to Mandy. I thought it was appropriate that Ben Mulrooney interviewed him on CTV's Your Morning. Is he a guy? I should have Ben on the show. I'm trying to think of the missing links. Is Ben Mulrooney a missing link? I don't know if he is or not, but I should pursue Ben. Maybe I will. Now, I want to tell you though, this is an exciting moment. I get to tell you about a brand new sponsor. So this is a,

it's always fun when you get to introduce a brand new sponsor. It doesn't happen that often because sponsors tend to stick around. So the CEO Edge podcast. So off the top, I talked about McKay CEO forums. So CEO forums, they have a podcast. So essentially this sponsorship is so I can tell you about these fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. So I urge you to subscribe to the CEO Edge podcast from McKay CEO Forums. Give it a twirl. Hope you like what you hear. They're very good people. They're from Western Canada, so hopefully they're dealing with the heat okay.

And just happy to have them on board, and I want them to be successful. That's 1,200 CEOs. 1,200 CEOs who now might have heard of Stu Stone. The more the merrier. It's better late than never here. Now, I also want to thank Mike Majeski. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene.

His motto is in the know in Mimico, and he certainly is. And you can go to realestatelove.ca to learn more and contact Mike. And when you reach out to Mike Majewski, let him know Toronto Mike sent you. And of course, StickerU, go to stickeru.com. That's where i get all my decals and stickers my toronto mike stickers i watched mike baguski put the toronto mike sticker from sticker you on his keyboard like to me that's like that's better than putting it on the back of your car like he slapped it on there so amazing i think that's amazing and he's the keyboardist of Blue Rodeo. Yes. Blue Rodeo will be taking the stage with a sticker you sticker. Right.

From Toronto Mike. Exactly. So shout out to my new friend and the new FOTM, Mike Boguski. I knew his brother, but I never knew him. So shout out to Mike Boguski. And last but not least, as we enter the memorial segment of the Mark Weisblot episodes of Toronto Mic'd, a big thanks

to Ridley Funeral Home. I'm hoping, in fact, I'm sure Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home will be at TMLX7. That's taking place on Friday, July 16th at Marie Curtis Park. If you email me, I'm mike at torontomike.com,

I will send you a map as to where we will be at 7. I'll tell you the exact time. I think it's 7 p.m., but 7 p.m. on Friday evening, July 16th, we're collecting safely in a park. I will bring beverages, cold beverages. We're going to check in. Nothing will be recorded. What happens at TMLX7 stays at TMLX7. We're going to check in.

It's going to be a lot of fun. We did this for TMLX6. And then later this summer, August 27th, we'll do something bigger for TMLX8. That will also be the finale of Pandemic Fridays. So much love. Oh, I can't wait. Not for the TMLX, but for the end of Pandemic Fridays.

Do you hate listening to Pandemic Fridays? Be honest with me. I think we're at that point. Less of a need now for Ridley Funeral Home hand sanitizer. It seems like you can do a big liquidation as we're double vaxxed here. Good, because I'm running out, because every backyard guest gets a Ridley Funeral Home Hand Sanitizer. And I'm running low, so that's good news. You still need it when you're handling the dead bodies.

Well, they do it with the greatest of integrity and class, and you're in good hands with the people at Ridley Funeral Home. Yeah, yeah, you would hope so. Yeah, they take it very seriously. Brad Jones is very serious about his business, and that's what you want. So are you ready here for the Ridley Funeral Home segment here? I'm just seeing what I got.

Okay, yes, we've already alluded to him in this program, but let's start with a big one here. I'm just missing what I got. Okay. Yes. We've already alluded to him in this program, but let's start with the, with a big one here. Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size. Catches seeds, just like flies. Look out, here comes the Spider-Man. Is he strong? Listen bud, he's got radioactive blood. Can he swing from a thread? Take a look overhead. Hey there, there goes a Spider-Man In the chill of night, at the scene of a crime Like a stream of light, he arrives just in time

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Wealth and fame, he's ignored, action is his reward to him Life is a great big hang-up, wherever there's a hang-up Paul Soules died on May 26th. So keep in mind we're catching up a bit here, having missed the recap of people who died in May. I think our list here will cover May and June, maybe even into July. Paul Soles, the voice of Peter Parker,

better known as Spider-Man, on the animated series that was produced out of Toronto in the, what? Late 1960s? 1967? I think it was 60s, yeah. 67? All those Marvel comics. 67 to 70. And remember, he was cousins with Bernard Cowan,

and Bernard Cowan being the father of Rob Cowan and Elliot Cowan, two FOTMs. And I guess that's how Paul Soles got engaged with all these opportunities. So Bernard Cowan was a narrator of the cartoon Spider-Man. That's right. And also in there you had someone who is still alive, Carl Banis. Right. Toronto.

So he's the last, is he the last man standing from the... Radio announcer, DJ voice. From Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, where Paul Soles also did voices. Hermes. Hermes. Yes, the wannabe dentist.

Great role. Was that because he was Jewish? That Hermie... Is Hermie the Jew? He's an elf. Character among the elves? Do elves have religions? I don't even know.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? I don't know. Okay, because Hermie would be like a Jewish name. Okay, I didn't know that. Paul Soles, he first got into television at CFPL in London, Ontario,

where he could be a guy who was on camera doing a whole bunch of everything. And he got in the league of these animated cartoon voices, which led to Spider-Man, Rocket Robin Hood. Mm-hmm. All kinds of voice working.

Like Iron Man, all these Marvel comics. The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel. Oh. I'm glad you said that. Which would run with these CanCon cartoons early on on weekend mornings, Professor Kitzel. Here's the theme. Did you ever watch Professor Kitzel? I don't remember watching Professor Kitzel. This would be a cartoon that would alternate with The Wizard of Oz.

I watched that. Pinocchio? Yeah, I meant Wizard of Oz for sure. Cartoon Showcase. Professor Kitzel was a show that would have these historical vignettes. And it was, I think Ed Conroy would agree, it was a show that you sat through waiting for the fun cartoons to come back on. But symbolically, Paul Soles, I think, in his advancing years,

managed to take on the look of this aging professor that he played in the cartoons. I mean, along the way, he was one of the original late-night talk show hosts that they tried on CBC before Ralph Van Mergy, before George Strombolopoulos. Somewhere along the way, after Peter Zowski failed on 90 Minutes Live, they gave Paul Soles a show called Canada After Dark. Wow. And there was another, I guess you would describe it as a CBC game show called This Is The Law,

which would highlight rules that were on the books across Canada, unusual laws that were out there, and Paul Soles would do these comedy vignettes where a panel, kind of like a front-page challenge type of show where the panelists would guess what was the law that Paul Souls was enacting on the air. A show called My 90-Year-Old Roommate was the last role that Paul Souls had. So keeping in mind, he went all the way back to the 60s on the CBC, the show

Take 30. He had a really long run working for Canada's Public Broadcaster. That's a long run. We're talking about multiple decades. I don't know how many people

have tuned in to my 90-year-old roommate on CBC Jam, but I'm one of them. I'm on that esteem list. My wife and I streamed them all because they're charming AF, and I actually had no idea it was Paul Soles. And that was the end of 55 years of being associated with the CBC. Now, did it come up here that

my 90-year-old roommate kind of got dumped on this CBC gem? Sure. Not a lot of publicity. Can I tell you, you're right, no publicity. For the fact they produced this. We stumbled upon it.

Online sitcom. There's a lot, I hate to say, I was going to say there's a lot of gems there, but it's true. There's actually a lot of good shit on CBC Gem, but you'd have to like, I don't know, you'd have to discover it or hunt for it. Like, they don't make it easy. But I've been watching this like

cartoon thing on CBC Gem that I'm just absolutely loving. Like, if you, you know, a lot of the content there is awesome and it's all like free. You know, I don't pay for CBC Gem of the content there is awesome, and it's all, like, free. You know, I don't pay for CBC Gem. I think there's, like, an ad-free version, but I've never been bothered by the ads.

But, yeah, 90-year-old roommate was excellent. Really good. Okay, Paul Soles, who worked in television from 1953 till 2021, dead at 90 on May 26. Oh, if you were home By the blue light on the TV window I used to cruise the twilight zone Wondering if we'd ever be together again Sometimes it's hard to tell You're better off to let it in Some nights you go through You're about to be alone again

Putting this song in here is like a real test for which FOTMs are aficionados of Canadian content of the 1980s. I feel like Midtown Gord knows this song. It's called Truth Hurts by a band called The Front, which I think we're trying to be like a Canadian answer to Toto. You can hear that in the sound, right? Is this Yacht Rock? I need to know. This is after Africa and Rosanna.

They were trying to emulate that sound. I hear it. I hear it. I might have heard this song on the radio at the time, but I also remember seeing some sort of documentary, maybe CBC on the National or the Journal about the

making of what they were trying to turn into a hit record. And these guys, the front, Joel Feeney and Tim Thorney, who died at age 66 on June 15th. They were mostly in the business of making radio commercials. And often disparaged was the fact that Toronto recording studios were better at advertising than they were at producing commercial music, that you really had to go to New York and L.A. to be taken seriously. Well, Tim Thorny was part of this idea that with the front,

these guys, the Einstein brothers, could take what they learned from doing radio commercials and write radio hits. I don't know if they were very successful, but previously, it was Tim Thorny who worked with Lisa Del Bello,

who was a teenage girl singer, and he produced some of her stuff, trying to develop more of a grown-up sound. Okay, this is Lisa Dalbello, also produced by Tim Thorny. Baby, am I what you're contemplating?

Are you gonna tell me or keep me waiting? Tell me or keep me waiting Well, I gotta know What you're intending to do You'll never get to heaven Walking out on me I know that things Ain't what they used to be Can you tell, Mike,

by listening to this, you can carbon date like what era it's from. And here we are, Mike, by listening to this, you can carbon date, like, what era it's from. And here we are, what, Never Get to Heaven by Alicia Del Bella. Never Get to Heaven. I just got to shout out really quickly here that I did an episode since your last appearance. I did an episode with Captain Phil Evans and Brother Bill. And we were kind of going over the history

of the CFNY Canada Day festivals that evolved into the Edge Vests. And I shared some audio that was recorded at like a Canada Day festival from CFNY in the late 80s. And Lisa Del Bello, sister-in-law of FOTM Danny Elwell, as we discussed, Lisa Del Bello sings Let's Tango, and you hear it live, and it fucking kills.

Like, it's actually awesome to hear Elisa Del Bello playing live Let's Tango. Anyway, great voice. Elisa Del Bello, underappreciated. Tim Thorny also co-wrote songs with Erica M, and that was mentioned in Globe and Mail obituary. Now, what happened was Erica M. at one point was a MuchMusic VJ, and she quit her job.

I think it was over a pay dispute, or she didn't like how she was being treated. And there was somewhere in the long run that Erica M. had on MuchMusic where she was not working there anymore. She got in touch with her friend Tim Thorny. She didn't know what she was going to do next, and he invited her to write songs. And the two of them collaborated on a bunch of Canadian country music. Right. She's very proud of these.

And that's where Erica M became something of a songwriter, but then went back to much music. Like, I don't know that anybody knew at the time that Erica M. had quit her job. The hiatus was relatively brief. And then Tim Thorny ended up being a mentor to Alanis Morissette. And this was after the Jagged Little Pill album. Trying to figure out how to follow it up. Do you remember this era of Alanis? A hundred percent.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. She's kind of like the Thank You India part of her career. And afterward. I think it was kind of Alanis. Alanis Morissette trying to discover her inner Alanis, the teenage version. But I remember this song. This was a hit.

In the early 1990s. Big jam for Alanis. Let's listen. Tim Thorny was in on these records, also worked with her. Okay, there you go. Tim Thorny, a commercial jingle guy who ended up producing his share of commercial music. Dead at 66 on June 15th. Come down off your throne Leave your body alone Somebody's got to change it

You are the reason I have been waiting for so long Somebody holds the key, it ain't me Well, I'm a million and I I just ain't got the time

What's more I'm wasted and I can't find my way home. Ellen McElwain, a name you might have never heard in your entire life. Guitarist, singer, songwriter who died at 75 on June 23rd. June 23rd. She lived in Calgary, moved to Canada,

even though she was born in Nashville. And as she was making her way up as a female guitar player at a time when there weren't a lot of those around in some place like Greenwich Village in New York. She was the opening act every night at the Cafe A Go-Go. The main attraction was a guy named Jimi Hendrix. Oh! From the Miner Birds. No, that's what's his name, right?

Miner Birds is the, you can't touch this, who's the, what's, you can't touch this, Super Freak. Rick James. Rick James! Rick James is from the Miner Birds. Who's the, what's, you can't touch this. Super Freak. Rick James. Rick James. Rick James is from the Minor. Stay on the ball, Mike. I got to keep up with my connections here. Jimi Hendrix. You might have heard of him.

I did, yeah. Left-handed guitar virtuoso, I believe. This Elaine, though, this Elaine sounds really good. Ellen McElwain. Ellen, I'm sorry. I didn't hear her name. She got to do it with Polydor Records. But again, like I think an outlier in the early to mid-70s.

Like America wasn't ready. This was before Bonnie Raitt came along. And there she was, a pioneer as this kind of female guitarist. Later on in her career, bringing her to Canada. She ended up driving a school bus. It was mentioned later years of her life.

Ellen McElwain, dead at 75 on June 23rd. Thank you. I know it's a podcast, so you can't see what I see, but this is some great footage. This is from North of Superior. Did you see North of Superior at the Ontario Place Cinesphere or played on a loop? When would this have been?

Was I in school at the time? Original Ontario Place. I don't know. 70s? 80s? Maybe into the 90s? I sure saw a bunch of films of this nature. It's very possible I did. But I can't say definitively. North of Superior was directed by

Graham Ferguson. Died at age 91 on May 8th. And not only did he make this IMAX film that was a fixture of the

water park in Toronto, this great provincial initiative, Ontario Place? You'd go in the Cinesphere. You'd see these images of the Ontario North. Well, not only was he behind the movie, he co-invented the technology, which made the movie possible, and that was IMAX. Wow. Wow.

which made the movie possible, and that was IMAX. Wow. Wow. And IMAX movies definitely became big business with Graham Ferguson as the president of the company that he was behind IMAX. And if you were at Ontario Place and you were watching North of Superior, there you were seeing really the pioneering film of this super big-screen style of moviemaking.

He died not long after his second wife, a woman named Phyllis Wilson, they ended up meeting on the set of North of Superior. She was assisting him on the film. He ended up separating, divorcing his first wife, who ended up suing him for a piece of IMAX. But it sounded like they had a happy marriage and in fact died both

in the spring of 2021 and both of them were buried in Norway Point Ontario. They lived in Norway Point, Ontario, but it was mentioned that both of them were buried together

north of Superior. The Tarleks came from the west, they grooved. From the west they grooved White belts shining In the pounding sun It came from Cincinnati Oh, fanning out across the central plains A car with leather windows Okay, I moved Frank Bonner, who died at age 79 on June 16th, like more into the Canadian

section of the obituaries because of this song. Something called the Tarlex, which was a 2004 song by the Rheostatics. And the Tarlex

in honor of Herb Tarlick. If they were going to make a music video, it meant getting Frank Bonner to come to town. Bring his old plaid jacket along for the trip. And, of course, he made the trip to peer in those CHFI ads with Aaron Davis and Don Daynard back in the day as well. It's unclear how many radio stations they were doing these commercials for. They were great, though. This was at a time when you wouldn't find evidence that other cities had their radio hosts

doing bits with the former stars of WKRP. When you found out that Ernest from Ernest Goes to Camp was like appearing in every market to like hawk whatever goods and services. That was his,

you know what I mean, Vern? That was his, Jim Varney was the man's name, but he would appear in every market promoting something different in each market, and you just had no idea, because back then, how the hell would you know? How the hell would you know?

And Frank Bonner was in a commercial with Don Daynard, Aaron Davis, promoting commercial-free hours on CHFI. He was the radio salesman who was flustered by the fact that he couldn't sell any airtime because there was so much soft rock to play on Toronto's perfect music mix. 98-1 CHFI. I love WKRP in Cincinnati and Herb Tarlick was a great character with a great ensemble cast there I really enjoyed it

peace out Frank Bonner and he got into directing TV sitcoms and I think it was partly because I don't know that the guy that played Herb Tarlick could have convincingly been in a situation comedy again.

Right? You would see that. Like, what's Herb Tarlick doing here? Agreed. Even though he had a bunch of parts, I think, like, showed up in most American sitcoms. Remember in the early 90s, they brought back WKRP. I do. I do. With a few of the cast members.

But how come some can do it? Like, you know, how come Dr. Johnny Fever could go do Head of the Class? Right? Like, that was a pretty good run. As I recall, it was a pretty good run

for Head of the Class. Like, why was he able to do it and Herb Tarlet can't? Like, who makes his own? That was the thing. Like, Frank Bonner had to settle for a role in the Saved by the Bell show.

That wasn't even the original Saved by the Bell. It was the new class of Saved by the Bell. And, of course, not long ago we lost Dustin Diamond. Screech. But rest in peace, Frank. Frank Bonner. Absolute legend. Died on June 16th at age 79.

It's a beautiful sound. It's a brilliant sound Welcome to the sound of pouring rain In one whisper and'd think of you And all the tears you cried It called my name But when you needed me I came through

And when you needed me I came through Remember yesterday Walking hand in hand I had no idea this existed. Skid Row. The singer of Skid Row for 16 years. 1999 to 2015. It's not Sebastian Bach. Johnny Sollinger.

Right. He died at age 55. Too young. Absolute tragedy because part of the reason that he died was the fact that he did not have health insurance. Suffering from liver failure and had the GoFundMe going on. But shortly thereafter, he passed june 26 at age 55 now how was there a singer of skid row who was not sebastian bach well it's a long story news to me let's hear it bastion would be happy to tell it to you it was it's fact that Sebastian joined this New Jersey rock band. It was formed in mid-1980s,

and they found their superstar vocalist from Toronto. Straight out of the gas works came Sebastian, and 1989 was the debut album by Skid Row, followed by Slave to the Grind 30 years ago this summer. Number one debuting album. I enjoyed both albums. Number one debuting album. I enjoyed both albums.

You know, if you look past some of the offensive stuff that Sebastian said, maybe wearing on his T-shirt, Skid Row could do no wrong. And then the grunge era came along and killed them dead. And some disputes in the ranks, And Sebastian ended up parting company with Skid Row. And Johnny Sollinger stepped in after they tried changing the name of Skid Row for a while. Another group called Ozone Monday. But this guy was singer Skid Row for a long time, filling Sebastian's shoes.

The two of them never met. And remarking upon that on Twitter led to some controversy about who exactly was the original replacement for Sebastian Bach

and Skid Row that was another singer, Sean McCabe. They've got a different guy now. Really, Sebastian just wants to reunite with his old band. Leaving money on the table. So, goodbye Johnny Sollinger

of Skid Row. She's not at work, she's not at school She's not in bed, I think I finally broke her I've been home, I've got everything I want And nothing left to eat I thought she'd be there holding daisies I'm now realizing how much this song, Hum, by Stars, sounds like Cher of Rock. It's got that pumpkins, that early pumpkins sound. Backwards, it was Stars by Hum.

Right. And look, I mean, one of these one-hit wonder groups. I don't remember the song, though, even though I did listen to this when I heard about the death. So I read about the death. Brian St. Pair died at 52. He was a drummer of hum and look i mean even though eventually we're all gonna die uh and i don't know if you gotta break out the song every time a different member of uh the group is no longer with us but but i think what year is this

this is uh was it hit 1995 okay like people got 102. Okay. So would 102.1 have played it? Like 102.1 have played it? Yeah, for sure. But I feel like I was... Okay, go ahead, sir. Here was one of the great grunge opportunists that came along after Kurt Cobain got... Here's what I don't understand.

Filling a void. So, okay. 1995, I was listening to hours of 102.1 every single day. So why does this song not resonate with me? Like, how do you miss a song? I heard this song all the time. I know. It was partly because I think in retrospect,

you realize that when Howard Stern made a big deal about loving a song that was kind of a setup from the record company. And that he made it out like he discovered Stars by Hum. Loved it so much, he had to expose it to his audience. But it's probably some wheel greasing behind the scenes from the record company. And this band Hum I think owed a lot to Howard Stern for giving them that exposure

and him at least pretending to talk about how much he loved this tune Stars by Hum co-written co-produced by a drummer who died in

what, June? July? Early July, 2020. And the drummer's name, again, was Brian St. Pair. You know, I think on a lot of Pandemic Friday episodes,

even like the School's Out, Deep Dive with Cam Gordon. What'd you think of that? The way you guys talk about what happened to rock music in the 1990s, you would think there was some kind of rapture where all of a sudden all these hair metal bands like Skid Row disappeared and weren't popular anymore.

There was definitely a transition period where this stuff coexisted. It wasn't like the Nevermind album came out and absolutely everyone stopped listening to the hair metal band. Smells like Teen Spirit dropped and all that other stuff was deleted from like record catalogs, etc. That's how it felt. But I'm glad you're here to give us... Yeah, there were enough true believers out there. Joey Vendetta always imagined

the music would be coming back. Still waiting. We're doing our best. Is it your heart that's breaking all the pieces? Making you cry, making you feel blue Is there anything that I can do? Why don't you tell me where it hurts, my baby? And I'll do my best to make it better Yes, I'll do my best to make the tears all go away Is it possible, Mike, that you could name the artist of this song

if you didn't know why it's come up here in the obituaries? Because you did mention this singer died I think on Pandemic Friday. Because that Slate podcast who does the Slate podcast again who covers the chart history? Hit Parade. Chris Malamfy. That's right. I'm a big fan. He was prescient enough

to have a Milli Vanilli episode. But I learned so much. Of Hit Parade. So yeah. I was fresh off that episode. So I felt great knowledge in my cranium thanks to that episode. But I learned so much. Of Hit Parade. So yeah, so I was fresh off that episode. So I felt great knowledge in my cranium thanks to that episode. But I mean, I know that this is the real Milli Vanilli.

Like this is not Rob and Fab, the models who were lip-syncing. This is the voices that were, you know, this is one of the two guys who really sang those Milli Vanilli hits. This is a song from the album that they had ready to go as the follow-up album for the Rob and Fab, two guys from Milli Vanilli,

until someone blew the whistle on the fact they were lip-syncing all the songs. But if you close your eyes and you pretend Rob and Fab are singing this song and you didn't know anything about the scandal, I still think it's a I don't think it's a worthy successor. I just don't think this is

the same hit as Girl You Know It's True or Blame It On The Rain. Mediocre follow-up even though it was written by Diane Warren who wrote Blame It On The Rain. Well, Diane Warren, no disrespect to the hit maker there.

Shout out to Aerosmith. John Davis, an American who ended up Blame it on the rain. Well, Diane Warren, no disrespect to the hit maker there. Other hit songs. Right. Shout out to Aerosmith. Okay. John Davis, an American who ended up stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army and worked his way as a nightclub singer, met a producer named Frank Farian and who was commissioned to sing on some tracks and ended up being in 1988, 1989, like the biggest hits in the world. who was commissioned to sing on some tracks and ended up being in 1988, 89,

like the biggest hits in the world. But instead of, of John Davis being at the forefront, he found a couple of guys who look like Terrence Trent Darby, right? Shaking their dreads around and pretending that, that these vocals came out of the mouths of Milli Vanilli. And it was John Davis who ended up teaming up like several decades later, 2015. Milli Vanilli went on German television.

It was two guys. Two guys. It was Fab Morvan, one of the two members of Milli Vanilli, doing a duet with John Davis, the singer whose voice he was pretending to be. Right. So Rob Pilatus was the Milli Vanilli member who died of an accidental overdose in 1998. 1998. And Fab lived on and he got to perform with John Davis. Tell Me

Where It Hurts by the real Millie Vanillie. John Davis dead at 66 on May 24th. For a brand new love song Somebody done Somebody wrong song Hey, won't you play Another somebody done

Somebody wrong song And make me feel at home While I miss my baby While I miss my baby So play, play for me A sad B.J. Thomas. 78 years old when he done a May 29th, hooked on a feeling, raindrops keep falling on my head,

and from 1975, hey, won't you play another somebody done, somebody wrong song? Somebody Wrong Song. BJ was a Christian music singer who crossed over into the pop world and then crossed back over again to the Christian scene. In fact, it was becoming a born-again Christian that helped him get over drugs and alcohol.

And like an increasing number of people, we find out online that he was dying a few weeks before he actually did. Because he said on Facebook he had stage four lung cancer back in March. And B.J. Thomas dead on May 29th at age 78. And you knew raindrops keep falling on my head, right? From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Not only from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Not only from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but of course Homer, when he stops drinking

and he's going on the bike ride with Marge, is singing that song. And it's a great scene. And of course, I know, and of course, Hooked on a Feeling is on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack, which I spun a million times. So absolutely know my B.J. But do you know what the last popular song that B.J. Thomas' voice appeared on was?

It was the theme from Growing Pains. Wow. As long as we got each other. Was Dusty Springfield the woman in that duet? Look that up. I believe so, because Dusty Springfield's come up. First it was Jennifer Warnes, but then it was re-recorded with Dusty Springfield,

and then they brought the Jennifer Warnes version back. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Shout out to FOTM Carol Pope. I did kick out some in the aforementioned 2SLGBTQ plus episode of Pandemic Friday. I kicked out the Pet Shop Boys of Dusty Springfield as a twofer. So yeah, BJ Thomas was on Groin Pain Soundtrack. And much love to the man I met once. One of the most famous people I've ever met, Alan Thicke. Love this!

You're playing this for me. I love it. Woo! I pulled into Nazareth, feeling about half-assed dead I just need to find a place where I can lay my head Mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed? He just ran and shook my hand, no was all he said Take a load off Fanny, take a load for free Take a load off Fanny, and you put the load right on me

And you put the load right on me I picked up my bags And went looking for a place to hide When I saw old Carmen and the devil Walking side by side And I said, hey, Carmen Come on, let's go downtown. She said, I gotta go, but my friend can stick around. Take a loan off Fannie, take a loan for free. Take a loan off Fanny And you put the load right on me Purvis Staples is who died on May 6th at age 85. Purvis, along with his siblings

and his father Pops. Yes. They're with the band. One of the FOTM favorites. I love this version. Couldn't leave that one out. I love it. I love it.

The staple singers with the band doing this for the last waltz is like that's the best. Love it. One more member of the Staples Singers is still with us. The most famous member of all. Mavis Staples and

Long May She Run. Bad boys, what you want? Bad Boys Wow. Wow. You go to school and learn the golden rule. Wow. John Langley was the co-creator, the executive producer of a little show called Cops. Wow. Died during, I mean, this is the way to go.

He was on an off-road car race in Mexico. Had a heart attack during the race. Died at age 78 in late June 2021. What do you think of cops? I mean, were you a viewer? No, no, no. Like, I would flip channels and catch it, and I might hang in there for 30 seconds. But I always felt sad for everybody,

and I never dug that kind of stuff. You know, like, they put Cops, they took it off American television after the murder of George Floyd. Kind of make a point, like we don't want to dignify C cops too much anymore. But I'd imagine the show will come back. Just like live PD.

They're still producing cops. Definitely changed television. Great theme song though. And there's a podcast about the history of the show Cops. Which was one of the good multi-part podcasts out there.

You know, most of these are like eight-episode series that you could have done in 20 minutes. But this one was great. Headlong, Running From Cops. Hear about the legacy of John Langley. Send me, I know you Langley. Paul Mooney from the soundtrack of the 1978 film The Buddy Holly Story, in which actors not only perform the characters on screen, but sang the songs themselves. And this was an unusual move for a guy who

was known as Richard Pryor's right-hand man through the 1970s, involved behind the scenes in scripting a lot of his routines. He also worked with Red Fox and was the opening act for Eddie Murphy. Later on, he was

on Chappelle's show with Dave Chappelle and was one of the main writers on In Living Color in the early 1990s with the Wayans brothers. Paul Mooney, you've got someone who was there through the whole history, a black comedy in the United States. His health wasn't too great at a time when he was still doing live stand-up shows, and it raised a lot of concern about whatever state that he was in

and so his legacy, I think, left behind some articles wondering if Paul Mooney was okay. Paul Mooney, dead at 79 on May 19th, 2021. Thank you. The Heartbreak Kid is the movie whose theme song we're listening to. The lead role of the Heartbreak Kid himself played by Charles Grodin.

lead role of the Heartbreak Kid himself, played by Charles Grodin. Hmm. Charles Grodin, who died at age 86 on May 18th. What did you know? What did you know Charles Grodin from? Midnight Run. Midnight Run, Great Muppet, Caper. Sure.

Yeah. Midnight Run. And then I knew, not that I really watched them, but the Beethoven movies, I know. But basically, Midnight Run was like the first time I'm like, who the hell is this guy? Like, he's awesome. And then I'd see him on a bunch of, I used to watch a lot of late night TV back in the day. And he was always kind of a good guest. I don't know if it was Letterman or what I'd be watching back then. He had at one point a talk show of his own that ran on CNBC in the 90s.

Put him also in the same category, another recent death, George Segal seems also a part of that same world. And I just recently read a biography of Mike Nichols, the director who really came from nothing to end up being one of the most influential figures, first with Nichols and May. I mean, both of them also worked with Charles Grodin. The Heartbreak Kid was Elaine May's movie.

And Heaven Can Wait. Buck Henry, who also died in the last couple of years, we talked about here. Also part of that whole universe. But yeah, Charles Grodin, another great dead at 86. We once got to dueling banjos. One of the obituary segments figured we could skip that in remembering Ned Beatty, who died at 83 on June 13th in favor of one from the Superman movie soundtrack, 1978 Superman movie. This was Luther's Luau.

Ned Beatty was in the movie like the bumbling sidekick of Lex Luthor Otis and I think this might have been the first that I knew who Ned Beatty was but Ned Beatty he's from

Deliverance right? Deliverance yeah that's where the Dueling Banjos and Network right yes Deliverance, right? Deliverance, yeah. That's where the dueling banjo is. The squeal pig. Oh, right, yes. Sorry, I'm catching up. And Network. Right, yes. We talked about Network with Tom Gibney.

Look, we're chronicling so many deaths here. We're connecting the dots. Crossing over. I mean, I remember this movie, The Toy, with Richard Pryor, that Ned Beatty was in. that Ned Beatty was in. Relating that back to Paul Mooney. And the toy was directed by Richard Donner, a movie director who also died on July 5th at age 91. When you lose your love

And it makes your life turn cold When it tears you apart Your heart and soul just can't go on. When love's alive, it sets you free. When it's gone, it's plain to see. How even love can become a lethal weapon When you lose control I feel this song never got its due.

Lethal Weapon. You're digging this jam. Honeymoon Suite. Wow. I did not know, I did not know till this very, well, till I loaded up these jams for you this week that Lethal Weapon, the theme song for Lethal Weapon was from Honeymoon Suite.

I did not know. Now considering the Lethal Weapon series had theme songs with Elton John, Sting, George Harrison, Eric Clapton on the soundtrack to all four Lethal Weapon movies. You've got to think, Honeymoon Suite from Niagara Falls, Ontario was robbed of the glory that would have come along with this song.

It had it caught on. Wow. caught on. Wow. I think this had to be one of the great missed shots in the history of Canadian rock. Because, I don't know, this tune had it all.

Does it, though? As far as, you know, I'm hearing, it's not like power ballots were concerned. What, tied to the Lethal Weapon movie? With Mel Gibson? Sure, I watched all the Lethal Weapon movie? With Mel Gibson? Sure, I watched all the Lethal Weapons. Annie Glover? Now, you're playing this because, of course, that's a Richard

Donner film, right? So you got Superman and Lethal Weapon, which alone is kind of a neat little synopsis of the 80s or whatever, but quite the filmmaker, Richard Donner. Yeah, the Omen, the Goonies.

Goonies, of course. Love the Goonies. Wow. Wow. Scrooged and maverick. Right. So Richard Schwartzberg, who went by the professional name Richard Donner,

did it at 91 on July 5th. Love Exciting and new Come aboard We're expecting you And love Life's sweetest reward Let it flow, it floats back to you The love boat, soon we'll be making another run.

The love boat promises something for everyone. Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new road. Gavin McLeod died at age 90 on May 29th. A chance here to remember Captain Stubing. Meryl Stubing, the captain of the Love Boat. And by the time that show came along, Gavin McCloud, whose real name was Alan C. Oh. S-E-E.

Oh. Gavin McCloud, his professional name on the sitcom McHale's Navy and through most of the 1970s before the Pacific Princess came calling Murray Slaughter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. After Gavin McLeod died, it was Ed Asner, whose name was on a tweet, noting the fact that of all the cast of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, it was just him and Betty White. Right.

Who have lived to see summer 2021. And last I checked, Betty White is still alive. Ed Asner too. Ed Asner is still working. I don't know. He seems to be working. But again, may it be many, many years before we recognize Ed Asner and Betty White on the 1236 episodes of Toronto Mic'd. It always felt reassuring that Gavin McLeod was still around.

I feel like very recently I was at the Harborfront recently, and there was some artist singing there, and it wasn't a very big crowd, and they were promoting that Gavin McLeod was making an appearance later that evening. This is within the last three years, I feel. So he was around. No, no, no. That was a different Gavin McLeod. There can't be two.

No, there is a young Canadian singer. Real? That's a different Gavin McLeod? Who's using the name Gavin McLeod. That's too confusing. Is that sacrilegious? I saw the sign that said Gavin McLeod 7 p.m. or something, and I just assumed it was Captain Stubing there.

That's, I don't know what to say about that, but you can't do that, can you? Yeah, yeah, he's from Milton, Ontario. My mind is blowing right now. Another Gavin McLeod. Wow. Somebody talk to that young man. This is unacceptable.

How many grandmothers were at his performance and disappointed? Holy moly. Dude, thanks for coming back. I can hear it now. Eric Alper will be on the line asking you if you want to interview Gavin McCloud. Thanks for doing this, buddy. It's been too long. Let's not take another month off because I don't know.

I know it's funny because while we recorded, I've been keeping an eye and I've been trying not to give any updates because it's you know, we're doing a memorial section and recognizing grades who have passed away. But Italy and Spain are going to penalty kicks so I gotta wrap

this up and then check that out but dude thanks for doing this you kicked ass as always it's always fun having you in the backyard here was it hot enough for you? ever since I became the champ I apologize for the occasional

inability to form sentences no you were good. Due to the fact that it's what? It's a lot. I'm melting here. 118 degrees Fahrenheit out here. Thanks, Toronto Mike. I just wanted to say, you're a real big number in this town.

And that brings us to the end of our 879th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mark Weisblot is at 1236. Go to 1236.ca and sign up for his fantastic weekday news burrito email. I subscribe and you should as well. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Happy birthday, Troy. McKay CEO Forums. They're on Twitter, at McKay CEO Forums.

Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, he's on Instagram, at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week.

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