Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Al Grego: Toronto Mike'd #1158

Episode Date: November 25, 2022

In this 1158th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with host of Yes, We Are Open, a Moneris podcast. After Al Grego finishes bragging about his recent podcasting awards, he kicks out the jams! Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1158 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals. Alma Pasta Fresh, homemade Italian, and decals. Alma Pasta. Fresh.

Homemade Italian pasta and entrees. The Yes, We Are Open podcast. A Moneris podcast production. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home

Pillars of the community since 1921. Canna Cabana The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. And Sammy Cone Real Estate. Ask Sammy any real estate questions at Sammy.Cone at at properlyhomes.ca. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mic'd,

is the award-winning host of the Yes, We Are Open podcast from Moneris, Al Grego! How are you now? Award-winning podcaster. I'm actually nervous to be recording in the presence of an award-winning podcaster. I know you're lying. All right. Can we do that off the top just so I don't think about it the whole conversation?

Give me the full list of awards you've been nominated for, and then tell me what you've won. Sure. So earlier around, I think in August or September, we were nominated for the Outstanding Business Series Award and the Outstanding Branded Series Award by the Canadian Podcasting Awards Organization. So that's two nominations. Correct. And this outfit, what are they called again?

The Canadian Podcast Awards. Okay. And this isn't something you invented. No. This isn't. No. I think this is their fifth annual. And actually, there's some TMLX, or sorry, some TML content there.

TMDS. Okay. Al, come on. You haven't figured out the alphabet soup yet. You know what? I need a beer. Okay. Wait.

On the mic. I will. Okay. What did you crack open? on the mic. I will. Okay. What did you crack open? I cracked open a Canuck Pale Ale, one of my favorites. And I'm going to crack open a, what am I cracking open? I call it a bounce. It's actually a burst.

It's an IPA from Great Lakes. Cheers to you. Congrats on your award. Thank you very much. Is the award like a lamp that's a leg? They have a really cool looking trophy, but they haven't manufactured it yet. So I haven't received an actual trophy.

It's just an image. Like you get a JPEG. It's just an image. But they promised me that once they figure out the manufacturing of their trophy, that I will receive one. It's a really cool looking one too. Look, the question on everybody's mind,

will I ever receive one? Well, it depends on, I mean, it depends on your listeners, I think. You need to be nominated first. So your listeners have to like you. Yeah, well, of course. You need to have people who nominate you on your behalf. And then, yeah, and then they, the really cool thing about this award that I really

enjoyed is it's not very transparent how they pick the winners, but it's not a vote. It's not a popularity contest so it's not like the people's choice awards no like you submit there's a committee you submit yeah i have to find out who's there and then i have to kiss their butt i mean larry fedorka was one of awards and um uh paul romanuk i mean his podcast is amazing he he won this year a couple of uh awards this year one of his awards was for artwork. Yeah. And I believe it's Jane Gowan.

Do you know the name Jane Gowan? Rings a bell. Like local musician. I think it's her artwork. Yeah. So I don't think Paul gets that one. He has to give that to Jane. No, but I mean, it's still pretty cool.

And so, yeah, the reason I like it, it's not a popularity contest. So we submitted some episodes for their consideration, and they picked us. So it's amazing. I like how you're so proper because you're saying us, we. Let's face it, Al Grego won these awards, okay? Al Grego is a singular individual. No, no, no, no. I had a great team working with me of graphic designers.

You're a good leader because that's what good leaders would say. I would just say, I won this award, me, myself, and I. And some great, I mean, we're going to talk about the merchants that I interviewed in this past season later on when we kick out the jams, but it's been a lot of fun. It has been fun

talking about the Yes, We Are Open podcast, but let me break some bad news to everybody. So for the last couple of months or so, i've been giving wireless speakers box and these are all you're the singer not me okay box and these are wireless speakers everybody gets one i literally earlier today gave a wireless speaker to larry mckinnis a longtime chum 10 50 chum and uh chum fm uh creative director no relation to al mckinnon wow what a shot he had you remember that remember ally afraidy shot i don't know i remember and i'm

saying this because uh shout out to redley funeral home very sad that we got news just before we uh started recording that boria salming passed away was that expected i know i mean i know he had als but he was just in Toronto. He was here like 13 days ago, less than two weeks ago. On national television. And now, so it's kind of shocking. I mean, it is because we all knew

we would get this terrible news eventually. We didn't know we'd get it in two weeks. And so a lot of us have heavy hearts at this hour. But these speaker news, so that's heavy hearts about Borea. That's Borge, as I like to call him, okay? Borea. It's not a soup.

Soup is not a meal, Jerry. But I'm down to four speakers, okay? So can we do a little real talk here before we kick out these great jams and talk about your award-winning podcast? And I have a surprise clip for you off the top that should warm the cockles of your heart this festive season.

I mean, yes, I have had a lot of in-person guests. I gave one to Terry Hart, one to Tara Sloan. They were ecstatic. Everybody's ecstatic to get these and they can't wait to go home and listen to the Yes We Are Open podcast. I was so disappointed. My former

band, the Royal Pains, played a hometown hockey gig up in Orillia two or three years ago now and I wanted to meet Tara Sloan and she wasn't there. It's Tara, by the way. I don't know how to say brewery, but I know how to say Tara. Say brewery for me.

Brewery. That's why you're winning the awards. How do you do that? The rural juror went to the brewery. I don't know. The tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips. juror went to the brewery. I don't know. I don't know. The tongue, the teeth, the lips. I got to do the vocal exercises. Are you, quick aside before I play this clip,

but are you going to make an appearance at TMLX11, which is December 3rd? I have to. I'm defending my title. Not title, like, you know, I'm one of three remaining. You're an Ironman. Yeah. So let's, again, I'm defending my title. Not title. I'm one of three remaining. You're an Ironman. Yeah. Ironman title. So let's, again, I'm upset.

I guess we didn't really finish the speaker talk. But is this the last four and we're done? I don't know. Speaking of my great team, I've got people looking in the Moneris attic. Looking for, see if we can find any more speakers. I don't have a team, but I could DM the VP of sales and say, hey, any speakers anywhere? What do you see there? Worst comes to worst, we can always give out some. I don't have a team, but I could DM the VP of sales and say, hey, any speakers anywhere? What do you see there?

Worst comes to worst, we can always give out some Monero socks or something. So let me say this. I have a pair of these Monero socks and I love them. They're flashy. I feel like Justin Trudeau

when I wear these things, right? Like these are cool socks. But there's worse people to feel like. He's a handsome guy. He's got nice socks. I'm not sure he'd be caught dead wearing socks, you know, from another corporation or something. Well, there's worse people to feel like. He's a handsome guy. He's got nice socks. Yeah. I'm not sure he'd be caught dead wearing socks, you know, from another corporation or something.

That might, you know, that might not look good. Oh, yeah. He's very afraid of these conflicts and these optics and such. Okay. So shout out to our prime minister. So, all right. Oh, the places will go. TMLX3, which is December 3rd, noon to 3 p.m.

at Palma's Kitchen. I just did a site visit. We have a new room on the second floor. This is the first time I've said that on the recording. Last time we were there was 2019, pre-pandemic,

and we all were on the main floor, but now we have a room in the second floor, so just follow the signage and get to the second floor. You'll find us. But there's three individuals who have a perfect attendance record. Outside of myself, I've never missed a TMLX event.

Who are the, can you name the three people who have never missed a TMLX event? Oh, there's Rush Mike and there's Mike Lang, correct? Yeah. So they're all Mikes but you. So are you going to change your name? Is your middle name Michael? No, unfortunately not. What is your middle name? Do I get the name? I'm not mentioning my middle name. No, that's you going to change your name? Is your middle name Michael? No, unfortunately not. What is your middle name?

Do I get the name? I'm not mentioning my middle name, no. That's not going to be mentioned. Wow. Okay, that's tough. My brother's name is Mish, so it's almost Michael. Okay, yeah. Shout out to Mishy Me, F-O-T-M-I-S-H-Y-M-E.

Okay, do you want this wonderful clip now? Sure. This is someone else who will be at TMLX11. By the way, you will get pasta from Palma Pasta at TMLX 11. But just because you're here now to kick out these jams with me, you're leaving here with a large meat lasagna. Al Grego, what do you say about that? I say if I didn't come home with a lasagna tonight,

my family would kick me out of the house. By the way, I got a note from your daughter at a TMLX event. Was it TMLX 5 maybe? Do you know? It was the last Palma Pasta. 5. Okay, that's 5. And I loved it so much I still think about it.

And I know now she's like 32 years old or something. Yeah, almost. She's 9. Yeah. Going on 32. Well, 9's going on 32. But do you think she has any memories of me? I think so.

I think she'd still remember, yeah. Oh, okay. Well, I hope she comes to TMLX 11 just for the Palma Pasta. Okay, so Al Grego, this is your life. Hi, Mike. Hi, Al. It's Stephanie Wilkinson. As a proud

Moneris merchant and the subject of season one, episode one, The Athlete Matrix, and episode eight, The Ontario Blue Jays, of the now award winning Mon, The Athlete Matrix, and episode eight, The Ontario Blue Jays, of the now award-winning Moneris podcast, Yes, We Are Open, I can tell you I remain loyal because of the Moneris team and their desire for customer retention.

This past summer, a decision from a software product we use for our billing threatened to end this relationship because they said they would no longer support the Moneris gateway, effectively forcing us into a new processor and competitor, complete with, you guessed it, a whole new set of higher fees. And I get it, credit card fees are crazy, but we feel it. But the trade-off for us is the ease of payment for our families, our customers, as well as next day funding, meaning we get our money tomorrow. But we thought we were going to lose this.

But I talked with Al, and very quickly he put me in touch with a colleague who listened to our problem, and we're now testing a whole new product for us that will cut down on steps and also integrate easily into our current accounting system while still providing us with all the care we're used to in Moneris payment processing. Yes, we are open, highlighted some of the challenges throughout the pandemic period, and like any small business in Canada, the struggles didn't disappear with the reopening process. But small wins often turn into big changes, and that's what I'm here to say today. Thank you, Al, for being a great ambassador of the brand, and for three seasons now,

bringing us the stories of the small niche businesses in Canada that I would never have known about. Amazing. Al, I got one question. Did you script that for Stephanie? No, I had no idea this was happening. No, I know. No joke, everybody. Al did not know that was coming.

Wow. Isn't that amazing? Yeah, that's great. Stephanie's amazing. And she, what a great FOTM she is too. And I had a lot of fun visiting her place of business. And telling your story. The Ontario Blue Jays.

The Ontario Blue Jays. Which is by the way down the street from Palmer's Kitchen. It is, yeah. It's in that neck of the woods. And I highly recommend, it's a great episode. The Ontario Blue Jay, which I believe is the season finale of season one. Listen to it. Because they went through a lot. episode uh the ontario blue jay which i believe is the the season finale of season one uh listen to it because they went through a lot because i mean their business was uh their minor league

baseball organization and you know their annual trip down to florida with their kids to go play and stuff and to showcase their talents for the schools so that they can get signed to colleges and universities i mean, scholarships and stuff. They went through a lot to make that happen during the pandemic. And yeah, it was a great story. Stephanie Wilkinson was an FOTM before there was a podcast, Toronto Mike. So she used to love the blog.

So she goes so far back. Yeah. She knew I loved those old, were similar vintage UNI. So these old retro Blue Jays songs. Right. I loved them. Like, I don't know about you.

What did you, remember these, they were Variety Village and they'd have these compilations. I remember a few of them. Yeah. Yeah. They were fun. You know, like Blue Jays Be Good by Aaron Davis. And a lot of them, it's cheesy though. Blue Jays Bop by the Chum FM cheerleaders.

Okay. And she, like Stephanie sent me these CDs. I've had them ever since. They're in this drawer. I don't even have anything that plays CDs. But I have these Blue Jays, like the Blue Jays album, New and Improved. I have the original Class of 92. You need to digitize those.

Help Me Mookie is on this. Sunny Jays, which was actually Freddie P from Humble and Fred, who's now a client, believe it or not. I should run down the artists and make them all clients. Okay, so shout out to Stephanie Wilkinson and that! That's it, this is the Stephanie Wilkinson Show. I want to hear about the podcast, but I feel like we're going to talk about Yes, We Are

Open as we kick out Jam. So maybe we actually just jump right into it. You're doing well? You look healthy? Yeah, as well as I can be. You can be better. It's been busy i mean i just finished uh season three so it was really busy leading up to the end of this season uh and just kind of decompressing finally uh so it's but you have a good team behind you yes great team even though the awards only go to you no it goes i'm just kidding i'm just trying to cause trouble

yes come on come on now all right let's now again, I hope you're going to shout out this episode, which I listened to, so I know it's coming because the jams relate to an episode. And I loved this episode, but we'll talk about that after the jam. But I get my cannabis elsewhere. We'll talk about that later.

Here we go. Here we go. Roll me up and smoke me when I die And if anyone don't like it Just look them in the eye I didn't come here and I ain't leaving So don't sit around and cry Just roll me up and smoke me when I die Now you won't see no sad and teary eyes

When I get my wings and it's my time to fly Call my friends and tell them There's a party come on by Now just roll me up and smoke me when I die That's Snoop Doggy Dog! That's crazy. come on by. Now just roll me up and smoke me when I die. That's Snoop Dogg and Dogg. That's crazy. Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg.

Yeah, and Chris Christopherson. Yes. Really? He's in there too. Yeah. Amazing. I love Chris Christopherson. So let me give you first my Cam Gordon

facts about this song. Willie Nelson from his 2012 album Heroes, featuring vocals by Snoop Dogg, Chris Christopherson, and Jamie Johnson. And it was released on 420 in 2012. Shocking. 420. What a coincidence. I just love this one. I mean, I'm not a huge country fan, but just the fact that Snoop Dogg is singing a verse on a country song is hilarious.

You know, Snoop Dogg loves the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah. Because he likes a leaf on the jersey. Didn't he live in London, Ontario or something? I never knew that. It's kind of like tied to London, Ontario. I don't know what it is. Wow.

Man. Holy smokes. Okay. All right. So we're doing a jam for each episode from season three of Yes, We Are Open. So the first episode of season three. See, that's why you're an award-winning podcaster. I forgot to set the table there.

Yeah. Absolutely. A song for each episode of season three of Yes, We Are Open. All right. So this first one here, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When i die by willie nelson uh is reminds me of our episode one of season three where i visited the green bouquet cannabis incorporated now i understand mike that you already have a cannabis sponsor here so we'll talk about them in a bit but first green bouquet yes green bouquet where are they again they're in port sydney ontario right uh. Heather Huff Bogart, which is the perfect name for the owner.

Slow down, slow down. Is that hyphenated? Huff Bogart is hyphenated, yes. And is that like her birth name? So I guess she was born Heather Huff. She married a Bogart. And married a Bogart, or Heather Bogart married a Huff.

I don't know how the hyphenation thing goes. But does Snoop Dogg know? Does Willie Nelson know? Because I'm not shouting out Ridley Funeral Home for that man. He's going to live forever. Do they know there's somebody who sells weed and is named Huff Bogart? I don't know. Maybe we should put them in

contact with... That's amazing. Right? Like, how did you get past that? Like, I'd be stuck on that. How did you have a conversation with this woman when her name is Huff Bogart? I mean, I trying to stay professional that's that's how you become an award winner there mike that's why i don't even get nominated because i you know why when i like when kyle bukaskis came over and i spent 20 minutes on his hair i would spend 30 minutes on the name huff bogart but wow yeah anyway it was a great visit with heather and dave, her manager in the store, small store up in Muskoka.

And my first time, I mean, I've been in a cannabis store before, but they took me in the back, they showed me the vault, they showed me how everything worked. It was a very interesting visit and how they have to order through the same system as everyone else and stuff.

And, you know, yeah, it was interesting. Well, I see what I like about Yes, We Are Open is that, yeah, there's inspiring stories from like Canadian everyone else and stuff and you know yeah it was interesting well i see what i like about yes we are open is that yeah there's inspiring stories from like canadian small businesses and i'm an entrepreneur with the smallest of small businesses here like i always get inspired but like even just if you want to hear a good human interest story like you do a good job packaging it together and you're just telling interesting stories yeah so even if you work for the man right you're not an entrepreneur you know that expression needs to change you work for the man, you're not an entrepreneur.

That expression needs to change. You work for the person. You work for the person. That doesn't sound as... For the system. You work for the system. Even if you're just a cog in the wheel of commerce, you can still enjoy these

and still get inspired, to be quite frank, with you. Yeah. I mean, they talked about... It was interesting to hear them talk about how they were received in the community. I mean, they talked about, you know, it was interesting to hear them talk about how they were received in the community. I mean, being a cannabis store and just they had like, for example, in the plaza where they were, right beside them is a thrift store that's

run by a local church. And so Heather talks about some of the interesting things that happen, you know, from the church goers who would go next door to the thrift store and then walk by. Anyway, it's a lot of interesting stuff. Very interesting. Yeah. And it's always best to go get your cannabis before church.

Right. We agree on that? It helps the mass. So if you're in the Muskoka area, I love like, you know, even like I'm not, I'm not, I realize that we have a sponsor who's a cannabis and they're not a mom, pa shop. So there's 140 locations across the country. Canada Cabana won't be undersold in cannabis or cannabis accessories, but I love mom,

pa shops. Like I love independent. We're going to talk, you know, the brewery is independent. Palma pasta is the Petrucci family, like independent. A lot of these sponsors,

you know, Ridley funeral home. It's Brad Jones and his family that own Ridley funeral home. So shout out to Ridley funeral home. So I root for these mom, pa shops. So yeah, you know, Ridley Funeral Home, it's Brad Jones and his family that own Ridley Funeral Home. So shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. So I root for these mom-pa shops. So yeah, I support your subject matter for episode one of season three. I love it. And I love the name Huff Bogart.

Yes, it's great. That's unbelievable. I need to get Huff Bogart on this program. Okay. I'm sure she'd come on. Oh, I would do. So the day after the Kanaka Band experience ends, Huff Bogart is my first call. Perfect, I would do it. So the day after the Kanaka Band experience ends, Huff Bogart is my first call. Perfect. Heather will love it.

Let Heather know. She's going to have to make a long, long drive south, though. But we'll talk about that later. All right. You ready for your second jam, Al Grego? Let's go. But it feels like an elephant shaking his big gray trunk for the hell of it You know what you're dreaming about being what I am Too bad you're just a little thing Maybe I should guess what we're talking about.

This is going to be a zoo. No. You're going to be way off a circus no so this is elephant by tame impala uh and tame impala they're an australian psychedelic rock band uh this was released in 2012 as well july 26th uh in their second album and the funny thing about this song is it only peaked at number 77 on the australia's uh charts aria charts but the wiggles covered this song in 2022 and their cover of this song the wiggles the children's band oh i know the wing wiggles l i know the wiggles reached number 10 with their cover which all which is a mash-up

of this song and fruit salad so. Okay, that's funny. That's funny. That makes me want to go to Huff Bogart and get some supplies there for that one. Did you – oh, something Parker. Do you have it there? Kevin Parker, I want to say. It's like this is like the – yeah, you mentioned it's an Aussie band, but it's like the brainchild of this creative genius named Kevin Parker.

Okay. I hope I have the right name. Yeah, that I don't know. I didn't look that part up. Anyway, it was a song that I thought was familiar. And I believe in doing the research here, the reason I know this song isn't the original is because of that Wiggles cover.

That's funny. That's funny. Quickly, I know we're going to find out more about this episode, but I just heard the ongoing history of new music on In Excess Michael Hutch so we're this is like i think 25 years since he passed away oh wow and it's i mean i always liked in excess to be honest with you big band but how how like basically in excess was to australia i would say as tragically

hip as to canada like when the front man goes down, they close the country. There's a death in the family. There's a great two-part movie on Amazon Prime about NXS. Amazing. Really well done. The actor they got to play, Michael Hutchins, was bang on. They used a lot of real concert footage in it. It's really cool. What was the first NXS song

you remember? Probably New Sensation. I mean, I play the shit out of Kick. Kick was a playthrough. I had a hits album. It was a compilation. I had it, which had Original Sin on it. Dream on, black boy, black boy

and wake up to a brand new day. Do I sound as good as Michael Hutchins? No words coming my way. Okay, you're the singer. We will share that story later that this gentleman to my left, lead singer. What's your new band called? The Weekends. The Weekends, yes.

But when you were in the Royal Pains, you played not one, not two, but three different TMLX events. That's right. That's a record. Okay. Why are we kicking out Elephant by Tame Impala? All right. Episode two of Yes, We Were Open. I went to Kitchener, Ontario and visited a company called Matriarch.

Ankush, Raina and Rishabh Damija, they moved to Canada from India in 2018 and started an online athletic wear business called Matriarch, named in memory of Ankush's late grandmother, who was the matriarch of the family. Matriarch is also what you call the head of an elephant family, which is the older, more experienced lady elephant of the family. Matriarch is also what you call the head of an elephant family, which is the older, more experienced lady elephant of the herd. And if you look at Matriarch's logo, it's an elephant. You're playing chess. I'm playing chess.

I'm over here playing checkers. I had a fun fact about Willie Nelson I was going to share, but we blew by it. Okay. So before Willie Nelson became the singer-songwriter we all know and love, he would sell things door-to-door, like even Bibles. Apparently he would sell Bibles or encyclopedias or sewing machines. He was a door-to-door salesperson.

Willie Nelson. And still with us, which is basically all the evidence I need that smoking weed is not bad for your health. Or maybe selling Bibles earned you some grace. Anyway. That's right. Yeah, he will not be undersold on the New Testament or the Old Testament. All right, so that's episode two of season three.

Okay, you ready for your third jam? This song stinks. I got to play it, right? Because this is your jam. Hold your nose. Hold your nose. Here we go. I might have some interesting mind blows about it though.

Well, the party was nice. The party was pumping. And everybody having a ball. Until the fellas startin' in callin' And the girls respond to the call I have a poor white shirt on Who let the dogs out? Alright, I'll bring her down.

Alright, and I feel like this might have been covered in a previous host or Pandemic Friday, but Who Let the Dogs Out by the Baja Men is a cover. Yes, yes. You knew this. I did know this. Friday, but Who Let the Dogs Out by the Baja Men is a cover. Yes. Yes. You knew this. I did know this. It's a cover of a song

called Doggy by Trinidadian Calypso Soka Junker. Go ahead. Aslam Douglas. Very good. Okay, so you didn't know this one. 1998 was when that one came out, but then this came out in 2000 and became their Baja Men's first and only hit. Hitting number one.

One hit wonders. Yeah, number one in Australia. That's one more hit than the Royal Pains ever had. Yes, I mean, I'm not going to begrudge anybody a hit. Number 14 in Canada and number 40 in the U.S., so at least we were a little more discerning. Anyway, the reason for this jam. Episode three, Lakeside Dog Biscuits.

Yes, I listened to that one too. I went to Kingston, Ontario, and I met Lori Hanna. And she's a former social worker and retired now. But 20 years ago, she had a dog who was getting sick from eating commercial dog food. And so she started making her own homemade dog biscuits. And now she sells them across the country and goes to dog shows and everything. And yeah, she's doing great. Love it.

Now the jam makes complete sense to me. I love that you're... What would you have picked instead? What dog jam would you have picked instead? I would probably kick out, knowing me, Temple of the Dog. Yeah, but that's the name of the band. Come on, that's cheating.

I know. No one said I wouldn't cheat, but okay. I love, though, that story, compelling story, episode three, but that you are telling the stories of these Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. Wow, you can read that very well. What I really loved about her story is she had an offer from a major dog, a brand dog food company.

I don't know. She didn't say. She didn't say. There's only two. But they wanted her to white label her dog treats and sell a ton of them through the, like they were going to have them for free as part of their packages or whatever. And she turned them down.

Good for her. Yeah, because she wanted her name on it, and they didn't want her name on it. Oh, I hear you. I hear you. See, I was thinking she could pitch this to the Dragon's Den. They would probably do a great job. By the way, I love Dragon's Den, and I love that it's brought to me by Moneris.

Yes, we sponsored it last year. That's a fun fact for you. Okay, I just think of Moneris when I think of Dragon's Den. So your sponsorship worked. Yes, I think it did. Well done, well done, well done. We're cooking with gas here. I love that you brought the fun facts. Were you at all inspired by Pandemic Fridays and Toast when it comes to these facts?

That's why I say I'm giving my canned cordon facts. But no Esri Geography Corner yet? Well, I mean, I mentioned where I go. Like this season was all centered around Ontario, by the way. So all of these places I visit were Ontario. But you got to go further in season two. Yeah, I've been to Saskatchewan. I've been to BC.

I'm hoping next year to go east. And yeah, so I'm not sure exactly where we're going next season. The Cabot Trail. Stay tuned. I'd love that. Yeah. And make sure you drive it. It's beautiful.

Okay. Let's kick out. Oh, I love this song. Let's kick out another jam. I had a lot of options for this song. I think I chose wisely. Picture of a passion killer You're too much You're the only one I wanna touch I see your face every time I dream

On the red print of the magazine So I'm a piece of art for me You know I want my fantasy You can hear the cowbell in the mix. There's a cowbell back there somewhere. This guy needs more cowbell. But okay, hit me with some fun facts, Al Gregg. Photographed by a little-known outfit named Death Leopard. You may have heard of them.

Let's see. Single off their... It was a lead single from their third studio album in 1983. Spent six weeks number one on the Billboard charts. They performed this thing with Taylor Swift back in 2008. To bring it to the millennials. Yeah, for the CMT crossroads. The millennials needed to be introduced to Def Leppard.

Oh, man. It sounded great. But did you name the album? Oh, Pyromania. 1983. I remember they had Pyromania, then they had Hysteria, and they were both monster albums. Like, if you ever listened to Q107 at the time, it was just dominating the top 10 of 10.

Shout out to FOTM, Shirley McQueen. So, yeah, and I picked this one because episode four of Yes, We Are Open is Style Photos from Concord, Ontario, although I believe now one because episode four of Yes, We Are Open is style photos from Concord, Ontario, although I believe now they've moved into Mississauga, Hassan and Kassan Arapah. And basically they used to run their family run online style like a store where they sold fashion stores. So they sold like imported purses and shoes and watches and all that kind of stuff. So they sold like imported purses and shoes and watches and all that kind of stuff. But they needed to take pictures of these things, good photos to have like online for their stores.

And all the places, all the agencies that they went through were way too expensive and took way too long. So they took matters uh their their uh their merchandise to these guys and these guys photograph them beautifully and then send it back or yeah and like when i visited that's a good idea in concord they you should have seen their studio it was packed with all sorts of merchandise from all sorts of major companies. And I'm like, do you get to keep all that stuff? What's the answer? Well, some of it they send back.

Some of it they keep. But a lot of it gets donated. So kudos to them. But yeah, it was amazing. Donated to the Grego family? Donated to shelters or whoever. I know. I'm being funny.

Apparently, they moved into a larger facility in Mississauga now so that they can ramp up production. They're international now. They're doing stuff. They've got some big hitting clients. What a good, simple idea. You know what Frank Zappa taught me, right? Motherhood is the motherhood.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I butch is the mother uh mother necessity is the mother of invention I butchered it necessity is the mother of invention that's what Frank Zappa taught me but good jam uh did you name check the great mutt lang did he get a name uh he did not but yeah he he was the producer on this right yeah and I mean I looked at my options for a song called photograph and I had others. Um, I'm, well, you got the one obvious one. I think I chose a nickelback. Yes. I think I chose wisely on that one. Look at this photograph.

What did I, he's in the news lately. I think they have a new, a new elf, a new release or something. Uh, nickelback here, but,

uh, shout out to Starbucks. I think that's how they got their name. Here's your nickelback. Oh yes. I think that's how that happened. Okay. I love it.

Loving the fun facts, loving the jams. And I love to kind of guess where you're going with these jams. And we're cooking with gas here. So let's kick out another one. Traveling in a fire-dark combi On a hippie trailhead full of zombies I met a strange lady, she made me nervous She took me in and gave me breakfast And she said, do you come from a land down under?

Where women go and men thunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover. I think you have a thing for Australian bands. I think I might, yeah. You know, there's only 20 million people in that country. They're punching way above their weight here. I agree, I agree.

They've had some mega bands come out of that country. All right, this one here, obviously, Down Under by Men at Work. This was originally released in 1980 as a B-side to their first single called Key Punch Operator. By the way, look it up. I've never heard the song before. I can't believe it was their first single. We should kick out the B-sides that became much bigger than the A-sides. Yeah.

The thing is, the original to this sounds very different. Much different groove. It's slower. It's no flute. Yeah, search it out. It's a very different song. Then a year later, they released on Columbia, and this is the one that we know from their Business As Usual album in 1981.

And that's a good title of an album for the Yes, We Are Open podcast. Oh, look at that. I wasn't even thinking about that, but yes. And of course, this song hit number one on all major charts all over the world u.s canada everywhere you picked a monster jam here absolutely do you think photograph is deaf leopard's biggest song no i doubt it i'd say it's gotta just think it aloud don't don't beat me up over here i'm thinking if you go to see i've seen deaf leopard in concert have haven't. Okay, so they close with Photograph. Really?

That's the closer. Yeah. See, to me, but it's a ballad, right? So every dance, like after Stairway to Heaven, it was pour some sugar on me for the longest time, right? I think they've got bigger hits than that. Okay, maybe we'll need to check in with the authority, Mark Wiseblood from 1236. I'm not saying pour some sugar is their biggest hit,

but I feel like it's bigger than Photograph. And I think, I can't even think of what else might be bigger. But you know, when it comes to billboard hits, like American hits, they like the balance.

You always have a bigger hit with that balance than you do if you're a rocker. Yeah, we'll find that in a little bit too. But yeah. So anyway, this one here,

episode five, this one here is a little bit more on the nose. The company i interviewed is called down under travel they're uh based out of toronto calgary and vancouver jason webb's the owner he started it back in 2004 uh and i mean he's gone he survived like airline strikes he survived 9-11 but and he survived obviously the pandemic, but it was his toughest challenge because basically they're a travel agent that specializes in sending people down under.

And one of the countries with the most restrictive COVID rules, pandemic rules, was Australia. So for a year and a bit, they weren't able to send many people down to Australia. So their main source of revenue basically dried up. And it's a harrowing story. Like how did they make it? I think they must have been ready for a rainy day. Well, they had to get creative and it got dusty. It's one of the few interviews

where it got a little dusty in the room because you could tell how hard he took. I can't imagine. Because at least the least, you know, the restaurants, you know, Palma Pasta had to close, but people would order and they would come and pick up. Yeah. So they were able to keep some revenue coming in. But when you can't send anyone down under. Yeah.

Coincidentally, Ridley Funeral Home sends people down under too, just six feet though. That's all. Okay. I didn't mind you, Mike. But like, I mean, on a serious tip, that's, you're paralyzed. Like your whole revenue stream is like cut off. Well, the first part of that, the pandemic,

they were just getting people home from their trips. That was, they focused on that. And then after that, there was a time where they were able to get like, of a plane of you know plane load of people that's maybe only half full they might be able to get four to six seats on a plane going in and they got really good at it and better than other agencies so that's how they survived and you know what they say whatever whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger

so if you can make it through that yeah they're ready to make it through anything. It was a great visit with them. And yeah. And where did you visit them again? Well, they were on King Street here in Toronto, but he's located out of Calgary. He actually flew into Toronto just for his interview. It was amazing.

That is amazing. But to meet the great Al Grego, I would also jump on a plane. By the way, if you caught last week's Toast, we do that once a month. So Stu Stone and Cam Gordon came over. Was it last week or this week? It was last week. Yeah, we just started this week.

Wasn't it Monday? It was Monday. It was Monday. Do you know, is this Thursday? This has been quite the week. What a week. Okay. So on Monday, we referenced Colin Hay on toast. Like Colin Hay came up. And

well, Colin Hay is the lead singer of Men at Work. That's right. Yeah. So this is a big coinkydink. Have you, Al Grego, ever had a Vegemite sandwich? No, I've never tried Vegemite. Not on my list of things that I need to try. But Australia is on my list of places I'd like to go visit. But, okay, when in Rome. So, by the way, we kicked out when in Rome too. The promise. That's right. That's unbelievable.

Okay. Whoa. Okay. So if you go to Australia and you're in Australia and someone in Australia offers you a Vegemite sandwich, you will eat it. I guess I'll have to try it. Because you're in Australia. Yes. Shout out to Melbourne Jack.

He'll be my host. If I go to Australia he'll undoubtedly be my host. And how do you know Melbourne Jack? He's one of the produce stand listeners. What is this produce stand you're referring to?

That's my Letterkenny podcast. My universe podcast. Because it's not just Letterkenny anymore. It's also Shorzy. Wow. I saw you took a trip to Sudbury.

Yes. And it sounds like they took. Wow. I saw you took a trip to Sudbury. Yes. And it sounds like they took care of you. Like this is a, you're such an important figure in the, what's the universe called? You-niverse. The you-niverse that they're like, hit the you.

We need to take care of Mr. Grego because he is the greatest promotional vehicle we have for our television properties. We had a great time and we were blessed because we got to record an episode of our podcast from the Letterkenny kitchen, from their farmhouse kitchen set, which was really cool. We got to see how the sausage is made. And we also got to visit the farmhouse and walk around the grounds. It was really cool. No, I saw the photos. And there are some FOTMs that are also universe lovers. What do you call people who love the universe?

Well, I mean, our followers, we've come to call them D-gens, I guess. Oh, D-gens. Okay. So I'll shout out a couple real quick. But Lieve Fumke is a D-gen, right? That's right. And YYZGord is a D-Gen, right? That's right. And YYZ Gord is a D-Gen, right? He is, yeah.

Two people I expect to see at TMLX11 on December 3rd. So in the Venn diagram of FOTMs and D-Gens, we've got a juicy middle. There's more than that, of course. I mean, Ian Service, he provides us our live stream platform. Really? Yes. Where did you get that idea?

I don't know. It's almost like I'm stealing them from you. So remind us, you have two kids? Yes. Okay. And your kids are not Australian? No. Okay.

But kids in Australia often hear, there's a nursery rhyme that would be shared in Australia called Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. Okay. I don't know if you picked this up. Mary, the Mary king of the bushes. He,

yes. When you listen to the, uh, Aussie kids song kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. It sounds a lot like down under by men at work. Are you aware of this? Oh, okay.

Controversy. You know what? I think I might've read it when I was doing my, my research and just kind of skimmed through it. But yes, I saw the word. You know what? That's why I have read it when I was doing my research and just kind of skimmed through it. But yes, I saw the word kookaburra. You know what? That's why I should be winning the awards because that to me, you're burying the lead.

Like this is a mind blow for us Canadians who don't know kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. Whoa! Like if you found out like there was some big number one hit that stole its melody from a Raffi song, you wouldn't shut up about it.

Was that a Rafi song? No. No, but I'm saying, in this new, this hypothetically, like, you know, if there was a Rafi, it's a Canadian thing or whatever, you'd be all like, whoa, like we wouldn't stop talking about it, right? You're right.

What I did read on the Wikipedia page for this song is that it was the second most Australian song ever. And the first one, I didn't even recognize what it was. Cause it references Vegemite sandwiches. I guess. That'll do it. Okay.

And by the way, so, you know, we mentioned Colin Hay on toast and we've been talking about different things that came up toast. We kicked out this band on toast. So I'm starting to think you picked your jams after you listened to toast. No,

it's just a coincidence. Just a coincidence. Yeah. All right. Let's kick out your next jam it's a challenge to find one for this episode It may be a while before we hear any lyrics. Okay, talk it up then. Tell us. This is Soul Kitchen by The Doors from their self-titled album The Doors.

The clock says it's time to close now I guess I better go now I really like to stay here all night the cars

crawl past all stuffed with ice streetlights share their hollow glow Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise Still one place to go Still one place to go Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen What am I, the old gentle stone?

Turn me out in a wonder, baby Stolen in the neon Throw away your fingers We quicken our dreams Soul Kitchen. Yes. From their album The Doors, 1967. Written as a tribute to the soul food restaurant Olivia's in Venice Beach, California.

Have you ever been there? No. Never been to California. I've always wanted to go there. Going to California. This is a Led Zeppelin song. Let's sing it together. Actually, I sang that song to Tara Sloan in like two episodes ago.

Okay. She didn't run off? She's a good singer. Of course she is. This is where you'll come in here, Al, because you're a great singer yourself. I've seen you live at the Dakota Tavern. Is that where I saw you? Yes, it was at the Dakota Bar and Grill.

Right, close enough. Hepsey went to the Dakota Tavern. Okay, so you've got a great voice. You're a great singer. Tara Sloan has a great voice. She's the lead Tavern. Okay. So you got a great voice. You're a great singer. Tara Sloan has a great voice. She's the lead singer of Joy Drop. I think Tara,

I think she's going to sing at TMLX 13 at Great Lakes Brewery in like August or September. I think she's into it. She had such a good time yesterday, or no, two days ago.

Every time, because she's moving to California. I was going to say, will she be home from work? We're going to figure it all out. Because when she does visit Toronto, she said every time she visits Toronto, she wants to come here for an hour episode. This is the experience she had. Anyways, we're going to work all that out.

But why Soul Kitchen by Jim Morrison and the Doors? So episode six of Yes, We Were Open was Impact Kitchen. Their flagship restaurant was opened in Corktown in Toronto. They've got five locations across the Toronto area. Opened by personal trainer

Josh Bruhn and his partner, Frank Toscan, who's the co-founder of mac cosmetics uh so despite neither of them having any restaurant experience we had a personal trainer and a cosmetics guy uh they wanted to open something focused on simple meals with real wholesome ingredients to provide energy to take on the day with purpose and optimism. So it's a health food kind of place, a really cool vibe in there. And the cool thing during the pandemic, obviously, things shut down, gyms shut down. They became an official provider of meals during the NHL bubble.

Of course, yes. So they were able to stay in business by doing that, and they centralized their kitchen to their Corktown location. And yeah, they pivoted hard during the pandemic and were able to keep things open. So yeah, it's a pretty cool story there. Love that story. And you're right. I think Soul Kitchen is a good jam for that.

Like I'm thinking the first song that popped in my head is a very bad jam for that. What's that? UB40 had a great song back in the day about the kitchen, but it wouldn't be flattering to this wonderful establishment. So I will shout out on the live stream. So Al is live right now. He's holding court at live.torontomic.com. Moose Grumpy is there.

She says, hi. Hi, Moose. YYZGord is there, says he's going to be at TMLX11 so YYZ Gord of course is a D-Gen and then Moose chimes in to say that Lieve Femke is a upper level D-Gen. Oh she's one of the originals when I first said

I'm opening, I'm starting this DM group she was one of the first to join You're lucky to have her, you're lucky I will lend her to you on occasion here. There's a lot of leave if I'm good to share and enjoy. The only issue is she doesn't stay up late enough to watch our episodes live. I think she's got a 7 p.m. bedtime.

Yes, it's very early, yes. That's right. All right, you ready for this jam? Let's do it. Don't be scared. i've done this before show me your teeth show me your teeth show me your teeth don't want no money That shit's ugly

Just want your sex Take a bite of my bad girl meat Take a bite of me Show me your teeth Let me see your mane Got no direction I need direction Just got my vamp

Take a bite of my bad girl Take a bite of me, boy The truth is sexy Tell me something that'll save me I need a man when it's my all right Just tell me when it's all right Tell me something that'll save me I need a man it's my alright tell me something

that'll change me I'm gonna love you with my hands that show me your teeth show me your teeth open your mouth boy

show me your teeth wow okay firstly I will tell you very honestly Mr. Grego that I do not know

this song neither do I should I no but here's the thing I don't expect anyone to know this song ifgo, that I do not know this song. Neither do I. Should I? No, but here's the thing. I don't expect anyone to know this song. If you knew the album, you'd know this song. Yeah, maybe. So it was hard to find for this next episode,

find something that related to this. So when I found this, let's kind of gloss over the sexual connotation. The S&M connotation. And just talk about just, you know. Hey, consenting adults, Al. It's all good. And talk about the repeated refrain from this song, Show Me Your Teeth.

Anyway, this is from her 2009 album, The Fame Monster. It's getting hot in here. Yeah. The album's producer, Teddy Riley, sued Lady Gaga because he never got his promised 25% royalty for writing credit on the song. And then he also tried to sue his own daughter taja riley wow also had a writing credit on the song but according to him she had no part in writing it so this i mean and it's also like many critics think this is one of the weaker songs on that album uh but i picked it because of the title obviously uh show me your teeth because

this is related to episode seven. Yes, we are open. Kids World Pediatric Dentistry. Yeah. Okay. Now I want to think, like, what would be a... You're right. There's not a lot of... There's not a lot of...

Teeth gems. No, no. But I can think of anyway. Maybe we could have done that brush your teeth round and round. You know, that kids... Listen, okay. I'm a GTA born Gen Xer. That's right.

Of course I know. Sometimes I'll have a guest who they, do you remember, and I'm expecting something really obscure and I'm ready to go deep or whatever, and they'll say something, do you remember that show Mr. Dress Up or something? And I'm like, I want to slap them. Get out of my basement.

Two days ago, somebody tweeted about the Log Riders waltz. Does anyone remember this? The worst? See, that actually, I know this. It's a pet peeve when people very prominent and they're like oh man you know this is really obscure and it's something that was like literally like in this uh smaller universe before the internet and stuff it was everywhere yeah like what yeah yes i'm familiar with this world famous uh n vlog driver's waltz. Alright, Aurora, Ontario.

Kids World Dentistry. Dr. Priya Kothari. She opened it 12 years ago. She came from... She practiced dentistry in the States or learned her chops in the States, so to speak, and came up here and opened something in Aurora. She cut her teeth. How do you miss it, Al? They gave you an award? You should take the award. Take it from me. Honestly, they cut... You should cut her teeth. She cut her teeth. How do you, how do you miss it? They gave you an award. You should take the award. Take it. Honestly, they cut, she cut her teeth. You're right. You're

right. You're right. Wow. I almost want to mute your microphone. I know. Anyway, uh, one, uh, I love visiting, uh, Priya because actually we're, we're clients of hers. We've taken, you've got the two kids, my daughter, Veronica to her. And, uh, and she was very, it was a great, uh, experience for our daughter who needed a bunch of fillings and stuff so uh yeah and she has a great story too and uh most of her struggle came from the fact that being the only dentist there she had no associates so like uh you know if she got sick and in Aurora yeah in Aurora it's a short drive to Newmarket, right? Yeah. Yes, of course it is. But I mean, in terms of like in her practice,

it was hard to get people to fill in. Because you need fillings. Fillings, very good. Okay, here we go. It's hard because it's not just... Dr. Teeth was the guy from the Muppets, right? That's right, yeah. Dr. Teeth.

With a gold tooth. And it was hard to find filling dentists with the specialty of pediatrics. So that's the challenge, right? So happily, she's got an associate that's just started with her and hopefully things can get better. And she's a happy Moneris client.

Absolutely. Otherwise she would be ineligible for the Yes We Are Open podcast. And you can go to yesweareopenpodcast.com and subscribe now. Because as you've heard for the last hour, Al's got a great voice. Like imagine hearing more of that voice.

That's why I listen. I like to hear out. I was going to ask you about this because I mentioned Mark Weisblot's name earlier, but every time I mention your name, he talks about how cuddly you are. Does that concern you at all? Are you excited about that? What are your thoughts on the cuddly moniker that Weisblot's giving you? Well, it's ironic because when I listen

to Mark Weisblot, he's kind of the opposite of cuddly. Is he prickly? Not prickly, just screechy or something. I don't know, but I love his episodes. I love his episodes. I listen to all three hours of his episodes. I had an anonymous FOTM was listening to an interview of Quentin Tarantino.

You ever heard of this guy? See how annoying that is? Someone goes, oh, there's a director I like. Have you ever heard of Quentin Tarantino? I'm like, get out of my base. There's a Pulp Fiction poster around the corner. Okay, so Quentin Tarantino

is doing this interview and he says that Quentin Tarantino has similar cadence and delivery style to our very own Mark Weisblatt. Okay, I could hear it. Sure. Like, well, Mark's a bit more excitable,

but it's the same. Yes, much more excitable. Similar. Like, if you're looking for you know because the obvious is as my brother told me the first time Mark Weisblatt came over and he didn't know Mark from Adam he said Gilbert Gottfried

it's like well you know there's a bit of Gilbert in there but there's also if you took Gilbert Gottfried and Quentin Tarantino had a baby you'd have Mark Weisblatt that baby. By the way, the Fame Monster, which is the album that has teeth on it, which I didn't know because I never bought, I never had Fame Monster.

But big jams off of Fame Monster. Bad Romance. Yep. Alejandro. Telephone with Beyonce. Like there's some monster jams, pun intended, monster jams on the fame monster. Teeth in that crowd would be a lesser than, but appropriate for your episode.

What are we on? Episode five? What are we on? We're on the last one coming up here. Really? Talk about monster jams. I've got two jams left. Yes.

Well, I added an epilogue. All right. So here, and I think there's, you can talk it up for like 30 seconds here. Anything to say as we let this warm up? From their 1990 album Empire, composed by lead guitarist Christian DeGarmo. You actually have another minute. Keep talking.

Oh, come on. I'm looking at the waveform. It gets louder later. I screwed up. You can keep your word. One of the biggest hits from the 1990s. Early 90s. Depends what station you were listening to, to be honest.

Really? Yeah. This one's like a Midtown Gourd Jam. Not a YYZ Gourd Jam. This is a Midtown Gourd Jam. I'm living the game of my life. So here it is, another chance. Wide awake, erase the day.

Your dream is over. Or has it just begun? All right, Silent Lucidity by Queensryche. By far the band's biggest hit. Beaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100s. What year? 1990 is when the album came out. I have to plead complete Queensryche ignorance.

Complete. I don't think I even know this song. What? You've never heard this song? I don't remember this song at all. Oh, my God, Mike. Was this a longs? Because on Much Music, I would see extreme more than words.

This got a lot of spin on Much Music. Maybe it's one of those jams where I disliked it so much I bounced really quick or something. Talk to me, man. Educate me. How did I miss this? No, I mean, I'm not going to be a snob about it because truth be told, no, this is my own. This is the only Queensryche song I know. Queensryche was kind of a hair metal or

prog rock. Sure. Like Wasp? More like Cinderella? Yes. Yeah, like that. I can name some Cinderella jams. But this song here was a major, major hit. Okay, let me hear it. What am I missing? Sounds like Pink Floyd.

Yeah. We'll be watching over you. I'm gonna help you see through. Wait, wait, wait. We'll protect you in the night. I'm smiling next to you in silent lucidity. And then the guitar solo that comes up is epic. Okay, I'll come back to it.

But I am always interested when I have a blind spot on something. Okay, so. I bet you Stu Stone loves the shit out of this song. I wouldn't take that bet, but I can tell you, I'm not lying to you when I say I don't have any, like, this doesn't resonate

with me at all. Like, I miss this. Yeah. But remember, Stu's interesting too because I'll play Teenage Dirtbag, the weedus,

and he'll be like, I've never heard that song in my life. So, like,, for whatever reason, people have blind spots to songs you think are just pervasive and ever-present. I would probably compare this band, actually, to earlier Extreme.

Like, Get the Funk Out? Porno Graffiti stuff? Yeah, stuff like that. Well, that's more than words is on porno graffiti, I think. Wholehearted? But I mean, you know, this, and then here comes a great key change, too. But you are a musician. After the epic guitar solo.

It's just an epic song. Anyway, let's get back to it. No, I think this is on me. Like, I don't know how I missed it, and I feel great shame. And you know, they were nominated for a Grammy in 1992 for Best Rock Song. They didn't win. Who won? Soul Cages by Sting.

And Best Rock Vocal Performance by Duo or Group. They didn't win that one either. That was won by Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton with the song Good Man, Good Woman. I don't even know that song. Never heard of it. But yeah, I mean, it was a big fucking deal that year. Oh, I'm sure. I'm embarrassed. I'm literally going to delete this episode and not publish it because I need

to protect my reputation. Anyway, the reason I picked this song. Season finale of Yes, We Are Open. Lincoln, Ontario. Trevor McKay and Andrea Max, they are the owners and proprietors of Bear Cave Silent Booths and Mike, you would love these things

unfortunately it wouldn't fit in this space, so say the whole name again because you kind of stumbled on it, Bear Cave Silent Booths Bear Cave Silent Booths so he builds isolation booths for podcasters, for voiceover artists, for, yeah, and they're standalone.

You can put them in a space as long as it's got the ceiling height for it, which you don't, but they're really cool. I think I got five foot five or five foot six. That's not going to cut it. Although you could probably get like maybe a custom job from Trevor and, and, and Andrea. But anyway,

visited them and got to sit. Shout out to custom and shout out to Ridley funeral home. Yeah. Who, by the way, custom directed Michael Hutchins in a movie called limp just before Michael Hutchins died. Oh yeah.

And limp got some litigation from the family. It actually never got released, but I did interview, like it was actually via email that wasn't recorded before I had a podcast. I interviewed Custom about his time with Michael Hutchence in that last year of his life, filming Limp. Cool. Yeah, I remember

hearing that episode, and it was interesting. Miss Custom, yeah, that's a big loss. Yeah, that's a big loss. Yeah, and this is pre-podcast. It's not even an episode. It's a blog entry with like 10 questions of Custom or something like that. But I digress.

Okay, so sound booths. And I love that these companies, like when we say small companies, some people go, oh, small company. There's only 150 employees or whatever. But these are actually like true small companies, some people go, oh, small company. There's only 150 employees or whatever. But these are actually true small companies. Well, yeah. So the way these guys started. So Trevor, his mother works for the Parry Sound Friendship Center, which is an indigenous community center up in Parry Sound.

And when I was there, because they uh subjects of uh my season finale last year so when i visited um dolores mckay she showed me the sound booth that they had in this community center i said oh that's really cool i'd love to have one of these in my house said oh my son built these and i'm like really and so she told me all about trevor and what he did so that was the first one he built for Parry Sound Friendship Center. And then he got paid for that and took that money and invested in building another one, sold that on Kijiji, took that money, built another one, sold that on. So basically he's, and now he's manufacturing these for all over Canada and the US and never took a bank loan.

It was basically just building, getting the money, building, getting the money, building, getting the money and growing it that way. It's a really cool story. Yeah, investing back in the business. Smart, smart, smart, smart.

I think a big mistake a lot of, and again, I'm the smallest sole proprietor here. Okay, so, but to me, a big thing was like keeping your overhead in check. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I mean, bank loans are a keeping your overhead in check. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, bank loans are a reality for most businesses.

Of course. The fact that he was able to do this without it is impressive as far as I'm concerned. Because now he's a big-time manufacturing outfit. Big-time operator. Yeah. Shout out to Keith Hampshire. Yeah. So he's done really well.

He and his partner and girlfriend, Andrea, have done really well. I love it. Do you ever, a quick aside, because I've had an experience lately, which I'm not even ready to talk about, but when partnerships are couples, there's always an inherent risk in that endeavor. I always wonder, because just what happens should the personal relationship maybe change? Yeah, there's a risk there for sure. I don't know. I mean, they seem very suited

for each other and very supportive of each other's endeavors. She's a musician herself and has a book out of her because she basically, you know, left her life behind here, went down to California.

Went to California. Was a busker for a while and stuff. And like she's, you know left her life behind here went down to california played in california was a busker for a while and stuff and like she's you know so there's a very interesting story between the two of them it's actually a really cool story uh of of just a relationship but also them coming together to make this business well good on you for telling that story like if there's a good story out there i had i had the guy today came up with any Palladini is a pal of mine. Oh wow, I remember that. So I got the whole story, like every detail of this story of like how did he get in

and it's an amazing story, especially the way this gentleman Larry McInnes tells the story. But we grew up with Al Palladini. That's right, Pine Tree, Lincoln. Do you know who did the voiceovers on those ads that we remember? No, I don't remember.

Rick Moranis. Was it? No. Any Palladini is a pal of mine. That was Rick? Go. You've got to listen to the most recent episode of Toronto. Well, I haven't yet. I know you haven't.

It only dropped a few minutes ago. But when you do get a chance, you're going to hear this story. And I mean, yeah, I brought it back to myself because I'm a narcissist here. But really, you sharing these stories, good on you and good on the Yes We Are Open podcast. And I know we have an epilogue here. We're going to hear one more jam. But congratulations on your well-deserved awards.

Thank you. And I hope they send you something more than a JPEG. I hope you get at least a medal or something. Like when my six-year-old, her soccer, they didn't make the finals or whatever, but they all got these medals and it's like they won the Stanley Cup. Like that medal is like we won the Stanley Cup.

And I'm like, well, you know, you finished fourth in a league of four or whatever, but that's everything. So I hope you get a medal. Okay. Do you want me to just kick this? Sure, why not? It's going to be a lot of fun facts here, right?

Yeah, I think so. I feel like you guys did this one on a pandemic Friday. Or a toast. You know who it was? Matt Dusk. Oh, yeah. He does this too. It's his closer.

Is he the Frank Sinatra impersonator? I don't know if he likes that word. Oh, you know what I mean. He's a crooner. Okay, crooner, yeah. And he lives in Etobicoke. And I got a little bit of a mind blow for you regarding this singer we're listening to right now.

Mr. Sinatra? The chairman of the board. Mr. Blue, all blue eyes. Not to be confused with the red-headed stranger, who we heard earlier in this jam kicking. So, I mean, I don't know. It's like a retirement song. Are you stepping down?

Are you going to have a new host of Yes, We Were Open? No, I mean... Am I going to host season four? The general theme of this season of Yes, We Were Open, a lot of the merchants that I interviewed this season, I feel like more than others, were people who started businesses that had... They had no business starting those businesses.

Pun intended. Like the owner of Impact Kitchen had no restaurant experience. Trevor and Andrea had no experience manufacturing. He was a miner up in Timmins. Lori Hanna, the Dog Biscuits owner, she was a social worker. And they started these businesses in industries that had nothing to do. But they did it, and they basically disregarded all rules and did it their own way. So I feel like that's the theme for Season 3 of Yes, We're Open.

How do you top Season 3? Just shut her down. How are you going to top this? No, I've got to keep going because there are other places in Canada I want to visit. I want to hit every province and territory if possible. I'd love to do that. Let me know if you need an audio guy to come along for the journey. I want to go back to Cape Breton.

Yeah. I can't wait. We were in Newfoundland for a family vacation this summer. First family vacation in two years. Loved it. Can't wait to go back. I want to go there too. That's on my short list of family vacations. First, we're all going tomorrow. So after Hebsey on sports. Loved it. Can't wait to go back. I want to go there too. That's on my short list of family vacation spots.

First, we're all going tomorrow, so after Hebsey on sports. That's right. And I'm actually dropping this tomorrow morning, so when I say tomorrow, I mean today. Ha, ha, ha.

But we're all there. We're going to hop on a freight train. We're going to hop on a Via Rail and go to Montreal and visit Michelle, who's been living there

since August. Sounds like fun, yeah. No, I'm super psyched, super psyched. Now, this song, the song, the melody, like the tune of this song is a French song. Comme d'habitude. Nice. Yes. Jacques Riveau.

That's right, yeah. And sort of famously, the English lyrics that we're listening to are by... The great Canadian Paul Anka. The great Canadian Paul Anka. So that's our tie to this jam. And I'll just steal your thunder here and just say that I recently was chatting with a gentleman named Avram. And Avram introduced me to the son of Ruth Lowe. Ruth Lowe wrote a song.

I want to get the name right. This is too important for me to butcher. Okay. The name of the song is I'll Never Smile the name right. This is too important for me to butcher. Okay, the name of the song is I'll Never Smile Again. Okay. It's the first Sinatra hit. Ruth Lowe is a Toronto woman

who wrote this song about, you know, post-World War II song called I'll Never Smile Again that Frank recorded and had a hit with. Okay. We're going to let Frank take us home here, though. Yes, it was my way way That must be the Kleenex, Al. I'm getting all emotional because you were like the student and now you are the teacher.

I don't know about that, but okay. Thank you, Master Michael. Sensei, please. Sensei Mike. Al,

you've done good. This podcast is great and you have your own personal fun side hustle produce stand, which is also great. So you're just great everywhere, corporately and goofily

and all over the place. You're a wonderful talent and we're lucky to have you with the FOTM universe. Thank you very much, Mike. Thanks for having me. This has been fun. I love coming back

and looking forward to Best Of. Your next Best Of will be coming up soon. Yeah, what did I record today? This is 11.58 So I have to get to 12.50 Don't come back too soon Or anything

You'll have to make that Lasagna last a little bit Well I'm going to be Coming to Palma's Kitchen In a week and a half December 3rd everybody Noon to 3pm Ruth Lowe

As I mentioned a minute ago Her son will join Me and Steve Paikin As we dive very deep into the life of ruth lowe and her song i'll never smile again that's gonna be special your special thanks for being here i'm glad i'm wearing this t-shirt for the photo and that brings us to the end of our 1158th show you can follow me on twitter

I'm at Toronto Mike Manaris is at Manaris but Al how can we follow you directly I'm at PFTW poised for the worm or at protestanpod. Follow both. Why not?

Follow all three. Follow Moneris too. They're good people. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Don't leave here without your lasagna. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Raymond James Canada are at

Raymond James CDN. Subscribe to the Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN. Subscribe to the Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. And this little band called The Watchmen has a great drummer named Sammy Cohen, but he's even a better real estate agent. And this little band called The Watchmen has a great drummer named Sammy Cohn, but he's even a better real estate agent. And you can follow Sammy Cohn Real Estate at Sammy Cohn, K-O-H-N.

See you next week when my special guest is Dave Hodge. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am. But who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. And it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray.

Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain. And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold

But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now Everything is rosy Yeah, everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray.