Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Alan Zweig Kicks Out the Vinyl Jams: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1887

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

In this 1887th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with filmmaker Alan Zweig about his Vinyl documentary as Alan plays and discusses 10 of his all-time favourite songs from his personal vinyl collection. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Consider the case of Alan's Weig, who in his ignorance of TMLX etiquette, crossed the line one day and became a scourge of the Toronto Mike universe. And yet, he keeps returning, like the proverbial bad penny. Will he ever earn their respect again? Only time will tell. unfortunately at his age he doesn't have much time one second

shout out Ridley Funeral Home this guy gets it you're back because you get it Mr. Swagg welcome to episode 1,887

1887 of Toronto-Miked An award-winning podcast Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery Order online at Great Lakes Beer.com for free Local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees

from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Fusion Corpsohn, Nick Ienis. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Mike and Nick two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.C.A. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

And Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mike to kick out his vinyl jams. It's Alan Zwar. Welcome back, Alan. Can I tell you, Mike, every time I hear that, I think nobody's saying ought to anymore. Only you.

Why don't you tell them they have to listen to it? What to tell them, anyway. I should be more assertive. It just does seem in the middle of that whole pitch. You go, hey, you ought to listen to that. Maybe you could go a little harder for that fellow. No, I'm taking notes over here. I think that's like my homage to Alanis Morissette, who says that you ought to know.

So we got to put that in there. Let's... Oh, one more thing. Anything. Yesterday. So I was listening to Warren Concella and he was talking about the first Ramon's record.

But he failed to mention, I think, that either that day that you had him or was the 50th anniversary of the record coming out. It definitely is this week. And since we're talking about vinyl.

Yeah. Well, we're going to do a lot of vinyl talk. I will, with the guilt, admit, I did not buy the first. Ramon's record, I don't think I bought the second Ramon's record. The first Ramon's record that I bought was the one that Phil Spector did at the rock and roll high school. I did see the Ramones at the Elma Combo and they were as close to you to me as you are to me now. And that was crazy.

But also, you know, I have to admit, I wasn't like I was there with my friend, Kevin, who I went to high school with. No, that I went to film school with. And Kevin was losing his shit. And he whispered in my ear, this is what every night in St. Catherine's was like.

And I realized at that moment, okay, well, that's a, you know, the other thing about punk rock just, that's interesting to me is Joey Ramon was my age. Joe Strummer was my age. some of the

but generally speaking punk was like four years younger than me so when I went to the last pogo I was 25 and I felt fucking old

I always remember that like at 25 I didn't know that you could feel so old but anyway that's all I'll say about that and I will one of the jams we will kick out today

will be a band that I consider a punk rock band but not perhaps in the same vein as some of the like a CBGB's band they were the first CBGB's band in fact that's the story is that they were walking down the street

the members of television Richard Hell was still in the band and they just saw this bar with a thing and they went in and asked them can they play and because it was up until then, you know, country bluegrass. And also, apparently,

they never got more than like 10 people in the bar until television started. Anyway, we don't have to get into that. Well, that's the whole idea here is I hope you bury me. And like, I happen to know mostly that fun fact. But I have so much to learn, as you know, and I'm always trying to learn. And I appreciate that you listen.

And you did learn about Warren Concellus punk roots. You weren't familiar with the fact he had a, he was one of the first punkers in the Western punkers. part of Canada? I have a weird connection to punk in Western Canada in that in 1990 when I was in Regina, a young man named Mark Wehack, who's a professor in Regina, made a film called The Ballad of Don Quinn, which was about Regina's first punk band getting back together. It was a fictional film. And I'm in that film playing their bass player of this fictional band. But Regina, I knew a guy who was in a Regina punk band once anyway.

Well, again, when we talked about, you know, Western Canada punk, of course, you have to talk about Art Bergman. And Jason Schneider, Jason Schneider, easy for me to say, he sent over a cool music. I was going to call my young musician, but he's like 46 years old, okay? Odd Marshall. I listened to that. But Jason also sent in a question for you. Actually, it wasn't a question.

It was more like an order for me. He says, try to get an update on the Art Bergman doc. Okay, I can give you a, well, I could give you a more thorough one or a less. Well, I like thorough. I'm a fan of a thorough. Okay, well, you know, what's going on? I actually know nothing. The thing is, because of the nature, the way we shot it, we didn't get much time with him.

And, you know, like the bravado part of me would go. that's okay i don't need the time i can still make a great film but that's not true like so we have cut a thing and and it's okay but then i showed it to a friend of mine a filmmaker and he ripped to shreds and it was actually interesting because he said something which reminds me of something you were saying about printing the legend yeah so he he said to me, I like to mythologize before I demythologize. And that was like such an oddly brilliant thing to say because my film is pure demythologizing.

Yeah. Not pure, but because once, you know, and again, I'm really getting in the weeds here. But once upon a time I made a film about Steve Fonio. Yeah. And my goal with the Stefano film was, I will meet Stefano as he is, and we will figure out everything that went before without me asking everybody who ever fucking knew him.

I didn't want to make that film. I wanted to make the film with Steve. So I wanted to do the same thing with art. I just wanted to meet him where he was in Alberta, living in a farmhouse with Sherry. And then we would sort of feather in the past. but then his wife Sherry tragically died and so that changed it and so ever since then I've been kind of scrambling that's where so where is it at I think that it will come out someday because the three

days we did in Alberta with with Sherry and Art were really good like and also I love Sherry and I want her to be in the I want people to meet her but I don't know. I would say, Jason, you're in the film still, and you might be in it more in the version that I decide that I have to make now, the mythologizing one. You know, it's interesting because I don't know

what Jason would feel about this, but not that his book was mythologizing, but, you know, Art said, art said to me kind of like, this guy wrote the book, if anybody wants to know about me, read the book, don't want that for the film. And that was right up my alley. But then, again, I showed it to another,

well, he's not a guy that you would like to be an FOTM. And he told me, Art Bergman was the Paul Westerberg of Canada. And how come you're not saying that in this film? And I was like, oh, fuck, you can't please everybody, can you? And then there's the whole thing also that everybody on Facebook know is that I regularly trash music docs because most of them are boring because they're haggie and you watch them all because I read these reviews yeah you know um just basically if I don't think of them as films I enjoy them but if I think of them as filmmaking it's challenging anyway we still who is this person who I would like to be an FOTM I'm not gonna I'm not going to call anybody out but

I'll even hint more. That person made a documentary, a music documentary, with one of your FOTMs helping him, but again. Okay. That's a good clue, though. Later on the... I'll tell you when it's over, but I don't like to criticize anybody...

You know, I... You know why I did that called open? Because of my... This is odd, but my girlfriend told me that somebody told her that I was rude to them. And then I realized... And this is the one. This is the killer thing for me.

Whenever I go like, really, I'm not rude or really, I'm not negative, they all say the same thing. Well, you made a film called Ikermoges. Well, yeah, you own it. And it's like, well, Icrimodian was meant to be ironic. It was meant to be I curmudgeon. Like, it's a funny title. It was not meant to be, hey, everybody, the world.

I am a cromagion. I'll always be a grimajun. No matter what I do, you can always remind me that I'm a cremogian. But that's what has happened. And that became my brand. But it sounds like you have some regret with regards to how you're perceived. But I just figured you were sort of cranky and proud of it. I think I'm sweetly cranky.

I don't think I'm angrily cranky or rudely cranky. I certainly don't think I'm bullyingly cranky. Also, all those negative things that I just said, maybe bitterly cranky was true until I made the film that we're going to talk about today which changed my life and between making that film and having my daughter, I believe I became, you know, a sweet crank

and not a bully crank. The whole process of collecting records was a pain in the ass because I loved the music, but I was obsessive, you know, and that was compulsive and that was why I was doing it. Right. You know, I mean, it had nothing to do with enjoying the stuff. Three years ago, I had no CV player and no CDs. And I decided that it was time to stop holding out.

I don't know I'm keeping my eye closed, if you can see it. I guess I think I look better with my eye closed. I bought more records and of course of making this film than any period before I'm my life. I used to only go to used record stores and now I've been going to Goodwill stores. I've been buying at people's houses. I've been in a position to buy a bunch of records from the back of a guy's car. It's not that I have too many records to listen to them. It's that I'm buying too many records to listen to them. It's all the time I have to just take the stuff home and check out what it is. I'm not

bonding with any of them. I just, do I keep this one? Do I throw it out? Do I sell it? Do I put it on the wall? Do I make a tape from it? Do I put it in that box or that box? That's all I'm doing. I miss the way it used to be when I wasn't buying so many. Okay, say I threw out, I dumped 2,000 records in a dumpster. I dumped 2,000 records in a dumpster. that nobody but me could ever have. So that was Jeff Pavir and me in the middle and the late great Harvey Pekar at the beginning.

Who I'm proud, I'm not proud. I'm happy to say that from that first meeting when we interviewed Harvey, he became my friend. I stayed at his house. I got to know him. I got to know Joyce,

who just passed his wife. You talk about cranky. Oh, my God. You know, in the movie, Hope Davis tried to be as cranky as she could be to portray Joyce. American Splendler. Like she could not, like Hope Davis, maybe, like, Ria Perlman could have done a better job of playing Joyce,

but Hope Davis was kind of a gentle. Too sweet. Joyce Brabner. So I'm going to get to the jams and then we're going to talk between the jams, but there's an important takeaway for the listenership I want to nail right now, which is that that film is called Vinyl. It came out in 2000. It came out like it's Hot Docs in 2000.

So again, I don't think it was this date, but it was close to 26 years ago, played at the Royal at Hot Docs, my first documentary. And we have an exciting announcement, so we're talking on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, and at the Review Cinema on Tuesday, April 28th, at 6.30 p.m., I'm going to read what I read online. Enter the eccentric world of record collectors in Alan Swig's cult documentary Vinyl, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, co-presented with Canadian international pictures, and plus in-person, oh, okay,

and an in-person question and answer, a Q&A with director Alan Swig and members of the crew. So tickets for this at the Review Cinema on Tuesday, April 28th are still available. Go check it out. So I just want to get that, like, messaging out right now. I hope, yeah.

It's like you're telling me, well, Alan, if you thought it was sold out. Well, I don't know. I just saw it on the website that says you can buy tickets. Yeah. Yeah. So it hasn't, it hasn't screened in Toronto in probably 15 years. And the Blu-ray is just such a lovely thing that happened.

And it's kind of like something I kind of dreamed of it happening for a long time. But I could never get it together to get it out on even DVD, let alone Blu-ray. So there, the Canadian international pictures are an amazing. amazing duo of young men who are putting out, okay, I'm just, just ignore that I'm saying this, classic old Canadian films somehow and like ones that I would consider classical, like the rubber gun show and skip tracer and things like that. And somehow vinyl fits in that category for them. I'm not saying for anyone else.

You don't need to be so humble. No, no. Well, I am because those films, anyway, whatever. Well, vinyl's a great film. So it definitely is a cult film. And then the other thing is, so they sort of put it out there to have screenings. And last week it screened in Los Angeles at the American Cinematech.

And their description, I wish I remembered, but it was some kind of like endearingly low-fi a remnant of another culture. And it's true because I shot it on hi-eight. which is a consumer video 8mm medium. It's a home movie and now it's on Blu-ray. I haven't looked at it, but there's no way it looks that good. It doesn't look like some 4K Blu-ray.

But it has an amazing array of extras. There's a ton of extras and interviews and commentary. and there's also the alternative version of the film that I made a few years later because people used to complain it wasn't about record collecting. And I was like, okay, I'll make one that's kind of about record collecting. So we're going to kick out the jams. And, you know, between jams, I've got more questions. We're going to talk more about vinyl.

And I hope people go out to see this screen. Get a Q&A with Alan's Wygg after watching this film. So we're going to talk about a bunch of stuff. stuff, but I want to ask you... Intro the first song or not? Well, I was going to ask you to first explain to me, because not only are you kicking out 10 songs, but these are 10 songs you owned on vinyl, right? Except for one.

Except for one, which I owned on CD, which I thought we should cover that period of personal history. But otherwise, not only did I own, but probably I still own, I think I own everything, that including one very little oddity, which I brought to show you in my bag. Okay. Well, we'll close with that little nugget there. But I guess my question is, at your peak collection of vinyl, like how many pieces of vinyl did you own at your peak and how many do you think you own now?

So that's, you know, some people would say if I give you the number, well, you talk so much about records. So it's not unusual. I've met many, many, many, many people who have 5,000. I've met people who have 20,000. At my peak, I would say I had 3,000 and I try to keep it to about 13,000. I try to keep it to a, well, let's say, you know, I have a four by four calyx. I have a, then I have a few other calaxes around the house. So I try to keep it manageable. I tried, you know, it is, in order to have 3,000 or 6,000,

you have to have the basement of your house, and it has to be yours. And I've never been in that situation. So I try to keep it. The thing I say to Harvey in the film, which I always remember, is that I like, that I'm bulimic about records because I love buying.

them, eating them. But I also need to get rid of them on a constant basis. So, and that's because my record collecting is really more about finding them than about owning them. Well, you explained it in that trailer quite nicely, which is sort of like you missed the time. I guess there was a period in your life, of course, when you would collect the vinyl in order to enjoy the music. Right.

At that particular, I'm sort of there. I sort of got back there, but at that time, what happened was, just as I was about to start making vinyl, two things happened. One, there was a, somebody told me that they bought records at the Goodwill, which was like, oh, that's weird. Why did I never thought of that? And there was a goodwill on College Street between Euclid and,

Manning, kind of where the Midtown is, right around there. So I went there and there were records and they were like 50 cents. Now, the records that were there, for the most part, were records of my parents' generation, things that I had grown up hating. Nonetheless, at the same time, there was this thing going on called the lounge revival. And people were putting out these CDs. collecting groovy cuts from all these things. And then I realized, actually, you know,

sometimes the thing that you hate as a kid, someday you hear and you go, actually, this is pretty fucking cool. So that's when I started buying tons and tons of that kind of cheap records. There was a store in Hamilton called the Amity. The records there were 50 cents. But every once in a while, pretty regularly, the guy would come on the floor and say, now they're $5 a bag.

And when he said a bag, he meant a plastic bag. And he didn't mean you could hold it. He just meant whatever you can wrap around. And so you could get 50 records in a bag for a dollar. So many at the time, I bought 100. And this is something, just this is really getting in the weeds, but only your collector will remember that. You're going through hundreds of records and you're going, no, no, no, no, no.

Then a guy says they're no longer 50 cents. They're now 10 cents and suddenly you're going, oh, wait, where was that? Right. Where was that Lawrence Welk record that I turned down for 50 cents? So we can do this one of two ways. You are the boss, Alan. So you can say something and then I'll play it and then we'll talk more. Or I can play it and then you can say something.

No, well, we can go both ways. All right. So the first, I find this. I was thinking about this today. So I don't know. Yes, even probably in your age with DVDs or CDs it did occur. But when I was a kid and I was living at home and I was young and afraid at that time still to go downtown to Sam's or NAAs, there was a thing called the Columbia Record Club.

And they would send records to your house. And the weird way that it, today I was thinking, okay, but how did you pay them? like I guess we sent money orders. So this is the way it worked on the Columbia Record Club. You would get as an introduction four records for a penny. And then every month they would send you the record they chose as the record of the month. Unless you told them I don't want that one, I want another one. So you'd have to be on the ball.

And then they'd send you one for $4.99. The first four records I got were Best of the Animals Best of the Stones, which is called High Tide and Green Grass, Best of the Birds, and Best of Bob Dylan. So this is from... The Birds remained one of my favorite bands ever, and this is from the Bird's first record.

I am sane I have to let you go I'm sorry I can tell you Alan, then I also was a member of the Columbia Music Club, but it was CDs It wasn't vinyl when I was a member Yeah Yeah, and how did you pay?

Could you... I think check, I feel like you cut a check. You know, the thing that I remember about the Columbia Record Club is that their flyer or whatever would come in magazines or whatever you bought and it would be a big page with album covers.

And many, many time I would pour over that thing like, I'd like this one and this one and this one and this one. It's kind of like record collecting in your head. Well, when you talked about one of those first four albums you bought, you said the Bob Dylan's greatest hits, and that was one of the CDs I bought from the Columbia. And I still remember that picture. is like Bob Dylan's silhouette of his head, I feel,

and I can still visualize it. You know, I mean, I think in music snob circles, and I can sort of get it, they don't even consider best of's, like, legitimate records. But the thing is sometimes, you know, best, like, the best of the birds is a fucking great record. And I'm not saying it's their best record, you know, somebody will tell me it's younger than yesterday

or notorious bird brothers or something. I'm just saying, yes, I, I, you know, yeah, when I became a sophisticated adult, I generally stayed away from best-ups. But then later, when I started making mixed CDs and mixed whatever, I would make my own version of the best-ups. So there's nothing wrong with the best. No, and it's a gateway, right? Like, I could tell you my first ever Neil Young album was called Decade,

and it was the greatest hits package. And he mentioned Rolling Stones. What was the name of your Rolling Stones' greatest hits? It's called High Tide and Greengrass. It's a gatefold. There are, it's that kind of thing where there are leaves, like pages in it that you can turn over. My favorite band was the animals, though. I mean, I would have chosen an animal song for you, except I have a reason for choosing the bird song.

And I'll intro that reason, which is, best of the birds has four people on the cover because the fifth member had been cut out, had quit. in fact, yeah, Gene Clark, he quit because apparently he didn't like flying and he couldn't. But, I mean, he wrote that song, you know, the greatest, the song most people know from that record is written by Bob Dylan. Of course. But Gene Clark was a great writer. I didn't know any of this when I bought the record. I think one of the things that I, you know, I enjoy talking about is that I know a lot of people who buy records. who know a lot about the records, and they know it in a kind of what you might call book-learning

way. They've read about it. They know it's out there. I don't know generally anything unless I see the record, and then I see the record. I go, oh, they made this record. Oh, that's cool. And then everything I kind of know is extrapolated from the record. And then very many time people would be, I'd be like, well, I love their first record. And they'd go, that's their fourth record. And it's like, oh, I didn't know that because that's the first one I found and I never heard about the others. So the, anyway, that's, we'll get to that later. But yes, I'm people, I don't, the thing is, I've just friend, his name is Paul.

I won't say his last name. I know just enough to make Paul talk at length. about it and at that point it's like I said a French word and the guy's talking French to me and I don't have a clue what he's saying there are people with deep knowledge right I don't have deep knowledge and now this leads me to something which I'm going to interrupt here's one thing that happened when I made vinyl right away somebody asked me how I buy records and then they said well you're not really a collector, are you? And I was like, oh, okay, tell me why. What do you mean? And he said, well, a collector is somebody who is trying to get a complete set. In any other field,

stamps, they're not just buying stamps willy-nilly. So there's a beetle collector. He wants everything. There's a guy in vinyl who's a Elvis collector. He knows what Elvis made. He knows what's available when he goes to his store, he can go, do you have Elvis from Memphis to whatever the Japanese pressing? And if the guy says no, he leaves. And I'm like, well, fuck, no, I'm not that kind of collector. Definitely not. And I said to him, well, what word would you use? And he said, well, you're more of an accumulator. And I thought, okay. And so for 26 years, I have tried to to shift the language over to the word accumulator, but I've absolutely failed.

Nobody wants that word. They say record collector, but a lot of us are not really record collectors. We're diggers. I like the word digger better. I'm writing a script called digger, you know, anyway, that's all. I find your methodology far more interesting

because the other way, which is I have my list, my grocery list of these, These are the, what I'm searching for and I'm hunting for these. But to me, that's like buying like a Lego kit. And now you're assembling the Lego kit. There's no creativity. There's no, you know, but you're given the instructions and the ingredients and do this. To me, your way is more interesting.

Well, it might be more interesting. I mean, I think most collectors would at this point say, well, I accumulate too. So I'm a, you know, but, you know, I saw a young man, he's not young anymore. at the record show the other day. His name is Ivan, lovely gentleman. And I didn't, you know, on some level, I did him a disservice in the film because I said to him,

what do you collect? And he said, I collect Bowie and Bolan. And I just, but he was, he meant it. That's what he does. He had Bowie and Boland, everything, T-Rex, all the, you know, so, you know, may, but then I saw Ivan's records. I bought some the other day.

Obviously, he did buy other records, but he collect, collecting is different. So I realize now, Alan, you're easy to talk to and I enjoy talking to you, and we are half an hour into this episode, and we're about to start song number two. So I'm going to play less.

I'm going to start fading down a little earlier because I don't think you want to spend three hours here. Maybe you do, because I do. But so please, oh, and before I get too distant from the rolling Stone's greatest hits. I only asked you the name again because my Rolling Stone's greatest hits was called Hot Rocks. Hot Rocks is double CD collection. Right. I think that came out later and included like satisfaction. Yeah, I remember it was 64 to 71.

Having, I'll just say though, though the birds were close to my favorite band, if I was going to say a song that I heard on the radio that just changed my life, it was satisfaction. Definitely. Teaser here is that Rob Pruse, who you might recognize from Toronto Mike, he's on once a month for toast. He is going to be on stage with me at the Elma combo on May 21, and I have a one-man show I'm going to talk for him.

Okay. So I've been crafting it, and Rob and I had a call last night, because Rob's going to be my Robb, my Rob Schaefer, my Paul Schaefer, right. His analogy. But one of the songs that will be performed is the Devo version of satisfaction.

Okay. Okay. So just a little teaser for everybody. Okay. After this song, I'm going to talk. I'm going to tell you something about one man shows. Okay. Do you have anything you want to say before I kick it or just? Well, just to say that probably for the first, like I lived at home, right?

You know, when I was a teacher, I lived at home, when I left my home, I probably had 50 records, which was a lot because your friends had none or three. But there was a point where I started buying things occasionally that I didn't know what they were, just on a lark. And the next song is By the Velvet Underground from their third record. I had heard the name Velvet Underground. I didn't know anything about them. But I would say this record, I don't say change my life,

but certainly deeply inspired my taste in music. Velvet Underground, in my limited, knowledgeable opinion here, I think is way ahead of its time. The sound you hear from this band coming out of whatever, the late 60s, they were ahead of their time. Well, I mean, they're ahead of their time only because so many bands were influenced by them that in retrospect, they seemed like, wow, they were the first one. Well, of course, they did what they, like, they, Velvet Underground were, so here's, so here's, one thing about that record. So another thing. The third record, John Cale

was no longer in the band. But when I bought this, I didn't know anything about John Cale. You know, the first two records, the Velvet Underground and Nico, and the second one, which the black cover, what's name I forget, those are considered the classic Velvet Underground records with John Cale, but

I didn't know about it. So it's sort of like there's another one coming up where It's going to be the same thing. This is like I eventually bought those records, but much later, the Velvet Underground were this odd, you know, Lou Reed was trying to write songs for the Brill Building. He was trying to write pop songs.

He had records come out with, you know, John Kale, on the other hand, was a student of like John Cage and things like that, came to America from Wales to study odd. So, you know, that's, that's, sort of how this, you know, that's part of the reason. On this song, there's this droning organ, which you would say that would be what John Kale played, but it's not.

It's the new guy, Doug Ewell. But anyway, so now, one of the reason I chose these two songs is because I wish I could Google this, but if I could Google record reviews that said, the following, they're a cross between the birds and the Velvet Underground. I can't tell you how many bands I came to love afterwards. Like, I'm just trying

to think, the Phillies, Luna, you know, et cetera, et cetera. That, they're across between the birds and velvet underground became you know the dream syndicates,

green on red, All these bands I loved in the 70s and 80s were kind of, yeah, across between Velvet Underground and the Birds. Kind of had a jangly thing, but also had a kind of, you know, a Lou Reed plain spoken thing. Anyway, I still love bands that are across between Velvet Underground and the birds. And maybe the next one we're playing is... Oh, yeah, maybe I'll roll right into it.

Let's see where I'm at here. Okay, let's do this. That's not one of mine. That's where'd that come from? Okay, Ty, well, this is all live on the floor. Okay, Johnny Angel, okay, I'd like to hear, Johnny Angel. You know, Johnny Angel, did you play Johnny Angel when Jason Schneider was here? It's a, I think it's a murder ballot, but anyway.

You know what? Yeah, because it was the Hey Joe episode, which was great. So, okay, that's obviously my mistake. But give me a second. Well, I'm going to dig it up on YouTube because. I obviously didn't pull the right. It's funny because that's mislabeled. Oh, Venus.

Oh, Venus. Venus. Okay, well, at least we know how it gets you down. All right, give me a moment here. I don't know why, but I'm going to pull this up on YouTube so we can hear this song here. Stand by. Let's hear what we got here. What?

I'm laughing on the inside that I pulled the wrong Venus for some reason, but tell me about televisions. Well, television's first record, Marky Moon is, you know, whatever, one of the greatest records ever made. And actually, here's a little aside. So I have appeared annually on a music podcast called That Record Got Me High. Once a year I bring a record, I brought Curtis Mayfield, Neil Young's Tonight's Tonight, Records that were huge for me.

nobody in whatever years has done Marky Moon and often people say how come nobody's done Markey Moon and I also thought like yeah because it's such a fucking amazing record I don't even know what to say however when I decided to pick a television song for you

and listen to the record I was like yeah I don't I'm not going to be scared and I told the guy on my next time, I'm taking on the big one, Markey Moon. So television, first of all, definitely Velvet Underground related. Here's the other thing I want to say about television. So you have been doing things about punk

and acknowledging these punk discussions that Ki-Ray and his Liz, his wife, are doing, all that. And so, as I told you, I was 25 in Toronto when punk rock, and I had a particular relation to it. So anyway, the other day on that record got me high, they had a guest on who was a friend of like Patty Smith and those people. And he was there when Patty Smith and television played CBGBs.

And he was saying, at that time, punk was Patty Smith and television and bands like that. Then came Sid Vicious. And then punk became, you know, whatever, safety pins and spitting at the skinheads. And, et cetera. So I had a lot of punk records, but the punk records I had were in the tradition. of television and Patty Smith, and I ignored the sex pistols when they came out. I had, I mean, I had Buzzcock records,

I had Clash records, et cetera. I don't feel at all, you know, like I am an expert on punk. I was talking to Don Pyle the other day. Yeah, he's coming on maybe next week or the week after. So he was younger than me, he was there, Maybe he can talk authoritatively. I was just somebody in the audience. And at 25, I was like an ex-hippie liking this music.

Also, you know, I'm pretty sure at the last Bogo the mods played. Yeah. I was aware of the mods because of David Steinberg, who I know is an FOTM. David Steinberg was in my brother's high school band. It was Michael, David Steinberg, and Joe Rockman. That was the power trio. So anyway, I'm just saying, like, I was already a hippie. I already did like, you know, Tieford of Tillerman and Sweet Baby James.

But I was also sick of the overproduction of rock and roll myself. And so when punk came, I was also, you know, thank God for rock and roll is back. But anyway, yeah, the rock and roll, the punk I liked was a little, you know, The thing that's interesting about television and which probably turned off a lot of punks is they had guitar solos. Guitar solos. But the guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd in television,

the dueling guitars, kind of like blue oyster cults, are like, are so beautiful. It's anybody listening to it doesn't have. Never heard Marquis Moon by television by it. I dove in when we lost Tom Verlaine. I dove in to Marquis I dove in to Marquis. Moon played it quite a bit on Toronto Mike.

That song, I know it's an album, but the song blew me away. The song, Marky Moon, the 10-minute song, yeah. We tried to play it once on a thousand songs as the outgoing song, but anyway. So, now, it's 1977 when that came out, so it was a year after the Ramones. Right.

It's, I was in, I was finishing film school. Anyway, but at that time, I was still buying records from mostly new record stores. I didn't, I had not discovered, you know, it's like echelons. Then I discovered used record stores and boom. And then I discovered thrift stores. Like, so what's the next one I have up? Blue Monday.

Blue Monday people, my apologies. Blue Monday is a whole different song. I think I pulled the right one. Yeah, I think there's only one. So I chose this because now it's the 80s. I don't know if this record came out in the 80s. The record that this is on is, it's a Curtis Mayfield. It's called There's No Place Like America Today.

That record, I talk about that record in the film, about selling that record and how much I missed it. But the next two songs I picked are songs that were off the beaten power. for me and that I only discovered when I started digging in used record stores. This one play a bit more because it's amazing. Some people feel so empty, dry. So happy, sweet baby. Love is by my side. Waking up, now we're worried.

But you and me, baby, we'll mindy people. You know, to silence. Sometimes truth is not the whole question. It's the answer. But it's trying to mislead us. They know this money don't feed us. Depression ain't. I'm sorry.

You kept playing that because you realized, Toronto, nobody has ever jammed a song that fucking great. I'm not. I'm not saying it. But it is, it is, you know, that song. I don't know what it's about, but, you know, Curtis Mayfield is pretty soulful. And, you know, he's a kind of like gospel singer. And I'm, that, that brings up a whole other thing, which is like all these artists I love, like Blind Willie Johnson.

And then I think, he's singing about Jesus. Like, I don't think. I spent my whole life trying to get away from people talking about Jesus. And here I am. There's a song in this record called Jesus. Anyway. I, you know what, Mike, sometimes I think I'm talking too much. No, no, no, this is your show.

You should talk a lot, but I'm here to tell you this is from, there's no place like America today, but it came out in 1975. Right, so I didn't buy it when it came out. No. I don't know, in your thing, when did Superfly come out? I will, when I dig, I will dig that up right now. Okay, so maybe I, by the time I bought this record, I had probably heard of Curtis Mayfield because he did the,

soundtrack to Superfly. I didn't know about the impressions. He was in a great... Seventy-two. He was in a... See, yeah, I didn't buy that. I didn't buy anything by Curtis Mayfield. I didn't go back to buy Impressions records,

although I have them now. Yeah, but that's the world of digging. It's just like... The cover of... There is no place like America today is a takeoff on a very famous poster from the depression with people lining up for food. So probably I saw that and I was like,

oh, is that the guy from Shaft, not Shaft, Superfly. And so, and then it became like, oh my God. Like, and then I started buying the other records. And then I found out that this was not exactly typical. This is his most stripped down record, but it's easily one of my favorite records that I was ever come out. And, yeah, that was, you know, I don't think there was a lot of, I don't think they played Kurt Mayfield on the radio if I was still listening to the radio. I don't think. Move on up, maybe?

Well, move on up is, right, yeah, maybe. And I think that was originally an impression song. Yeah, anyway, I mean, when you hear the old impression songs, you'll be like, oh, yeah, I've heard that. but I'm just saying like you know a guy I was talking to a guy yeah this guy the other day and he talked about going up to the second floor at Sam's right and that is like a short story right there because they did have a second floor and the second floor was like a secret place and the guys up there were not so nice to you and they were kind of like what are you doing up here kid and that's where like the blues records were

and the jazz records. But when you went up to the second floor, you were making a choice that you didn't know how it would have repercussions on the rest of your life, but it would. So, you know, when you start going to use record stores, which are a whole culture onto themselves, and then you start looking in the new arrivals

and you just see stuff, anyway, that why, Why did it change me? Why did I become obsessed with it? Why do thousands of my sisters and brothers? Also, that's another question. But when, you know, when you dig and you find a record that great, it might change your DNA a little.

You're chasing the dragon, man. And when you listen to that great jam, we just played Curtis Mayfield, you can say, oh, well, that's where, Prince is influenced, right? Oh, yeah. You know, that's 75, so you could hear. Yeah, definitely Prince. The thing that's interesting about that comparison is that Curtis Mayfield is well known as a great guitar player.

But it's really hard. You really have to listen to what he's doing, like he's known as one of the great guitar players ever. But he's more like, I don't know, this is, again, I'm out of my element here. but he's kind of like, you know, when they do, it bugs me a little bit that when people like, oh, they're the great guitar player of all time, they're all shredders. Shreading, there are 14-year-olds who can fucking shred. Does that make them great guitar players? Not necessarily.

My brother, Michael, can shred. But his, the reason he's appreciated as a musician is because he's got, he's a great rhythm. player. You know, is also a great rhythm player and doesn't shred at all? Art Bergman. Art Bergman, when he never shreds, but he's a good guitar player. So, yeah, Curtis Mayfield, all, you know the thing I like best about that? No, not best. I always like a song where I can really hear the bass, where I can hear what the bass is doing and what it's doing to my body. And on that record, when, when, when, when, when, when the comes in and the base comes in, it's sweet. Now, let's stop for a second.

Okay. I'm not surprised you're doing a one-man show. I'll tell you. I am. Go ahead. Because I tried to do a one-man show. I tried to do a one-man show, and I think it came from the same route as you, which is. I went to high school with Mark Breslin. when Yuck Yuck started, being a performer or on the stage could not have been further from my mind.

But then I started making films. Then I'd introduce them. Then I'd do the Q&A. Then I'd realize, oh, I haven't done a Q&A in like two years. I really like being on stage. I have become a bit of a performer. How can I extend this? So I wrote a one-man show and I applied two years to the fringe, both times lost the lottery.

In the meantime, workshopped it with my girlfriend as a brilliant theater director. And I kind of let it go. I did it in my living room for some friends. But anyway, I can see that you, I mean, we talk about TMLX. that is a performance. I can see how you think that you're a performer and why shouldn't you take it to the next level? And good luck.

I mean, I will be in Japan when you're doing it, but I assume that the next time I hear about it will be at Crow's Theater or Pass Marai or something. Wow. Well, let me tell the listenership. There are tickets available in at the top menu at Toronto Mike.com. I put, it says Elmo gig. You can click that and buy tickets and see me and Rob Pruce at the Elma combo on May 21.

So that's less than a month away. Right. One time only. That won't not be one time only. Give me a break. Well, as we speak, it is in my heart and head. It is one time only. But any words before this next time?

Yeah. The next song is, the next song is another thing. I, I, uh, I've heard of Captain Beaver. because Trout Mask Replicah was on everybody's best list. I didn't buy Trout Masker replica. I didn't listen to it. I heard a little bit. I didn't like it.

But then I saw one in the used bin, and I will tell you something interesting about this record after you play this Captain B. Fart song. All right. I see a little white space here. Should I talk it up? No, it's going to come in any second now. Upon the My, oh my.

Okay, so this goes with the, the continuing story of my ignorance and my only knowing what I bought. So that's from a record called Unconditionally Guaranteed. Unbeknownst to me, his fans hate this record, and he says it's horrible. So there was a period where he made some slightly more commercial records, including one I know a lot of people have heard called ClearSpot, and there was another one. And those were the first records I had of his.

And I didn't think that they were like, it's not air supply. Like, to me, it's beautiful music. And later, I did listen to the more somewhat experimental records. And I liked those two. But it's just weird to fall in love with a record, kind of like, fall in love with the Velvet Underground. Well, that's not really the Velvet Underground without John Kale, fall in love with this Captain Beefheart

and be told, well, you like the worst one. But I love Captain Beefheart. I was actually, I knocked my head on the mic when I was listening to that because I was getting into it so much. And am I right? When I watched the 50th anniversary of SNL, I saw a documentary about the music.

But Captain Beehart, he played SNL, right? I feel like he was food, maybe? I think you're right. I think you're right. I don't know if he was booed. Why do I think he's booed? I mean, he was definitely like one of those guys who would have done what they wanted

and not cared what the audience thought. But it's not like he had a big hit that he didn't play because he never had a big hit. No, I just, I think that the audience did not like Captain Beefheart. But I'm just, maybe I'm misremembering the dog. I don't know because he retired pretty early and did he possibly, like, SNL-15. Okay, the SNL 50th means 75.

75, okay, no, he was still making records. And I could see how little Lauren Lipowitz from Forest Hill Toronto would have booked them. Absolutely. Hey, I want to give you a couple of gifts here before we get to the sixth jam. I have in my freezer, and I don't want you to get any like PTSD from being at Palmer's Kitchen. I heard you in the cold open there, and I hope you know you are, I think you're beloved by the okay now so i'm going to tell you why i said that sure i mean and again you and me mike were good but yeah so i went to the one another tmlx recently the reason i went was actually because

the first one i didn't i had lost my driver's license so for this one i was like well i have my license i have my car what the hell just cruise on over there so and then whatever you called me up And, you know, you said a bit of a trap. I think you said this last time. No, but here's the thing. Yeah. Later on one of your, what do you do? Every Friday, you do a look back for the whole week.

Oh, that's every quarter. Every quarter. Every quarter. Okay. So I heard, FOTM cast. I heard one of those people go, oh, he was that angry fellow was surprisingly sweet that day. I don't know what got into him. And then I was like, really?

I don't want to... Oh, I think we were jokingly pointing out the fact that you were sweet and we thought maybe there would be some more... You're talking about Brad Bradford. I put Bradford on the mic with you. No, anyway, whatever. The point is, I heard something... It's more like a follow-up.

Okay, I just heard... I knew you and I were good, but I wasn't sure your fans who I don't hear them, are they all writing in and say, fuck him. Fuck that guy. No, no, no. The majority of listeners enjoy your appearance, and your last appearance might have been your best one yet, although this one's going to give it some good competition.

I think... But wait a second, now, just to take aside, did I see correctly? Are you helping do a fundraising for Brad Bradford? Well, you're not allowed to call it that because it's illegal to fundraise before May 1st. But you're fundraising, meaning you support his candidacy. No.

So to clarify Mr. Zweig, always the documentarian, I was hired by Nick Aienes because I produced Nick's podcast, which is called Building Toronto Skyline. I urge everybody to check it out. In fact, he's here Friday morning for a new episode. So he did a live conversation. He was doing a live podcast with Brad Bradford in front of like 100 supporters of Brad Bradford.

And there were no funds raised by Brad Bradford at this event. was hired by Nick to produce the live event. So I made sure people could hear it in the audience. I recorded the video. I recorded the audio. I did my thing. So I know, I'm not even... I'm off the hook.

So absolutely, that's not an endorsement. That is simply being hired by Nick to... I hope Brad Bradford has a beautiful, happy life in whatever career he goes into after he loses. But he might win. But did you hear the revelation in yesterday? episode of Warren Kinsella. Did you hear Warren tell us he's actively right now

working with Brad Bradford on his campaign? No, I didn't hear. Yeah, well, you didn't listen through, brother. You got to get back to that. You know, I got here, I put it on when I left house. So, yeah, I didn't know because I was going to, I was asking him. He had worked with John Trey.

A lifelong liberal is voting is, okay. Yeah, lifelong liberal who was instrumental in the Jean Crechian and the Dalton McGinty campaigns. He is now working with Brad, Well, you know. And you know what? You just said he could win because I think I'm on with Ed Keene in every quarter. I was very clear.

I think I didn't think he could win until I was at this live event I recorded. And I realized if you don't want Olivia Chow, like if you want change, Brad might be the only. Okay, let's not get into this. Because that's, it definitely, he will win by being not Olivia Chow. Right. Yes. But people put her down, I think unfairly, and I'm sorry, but in the distaste for Olivia Chow is 32% misogyny. So.

Misogyny mixed in with racism. Maybe racism. Anyway, when you wake up the morning Brad Bradford wins, you in Toronto, your life will not be one, ten, ten. of 1% better. And I've heard people, they blame Olivia Chow for the snow removal. Well, fucking blame Doug Ford who,

who, you know, tendered it out to some other company. Like, anyway, it's not like I love Olivia Chow. I just think Livia Chow's a force for good. But I'm surprised you thought I was endorsing,

Brad. I know, well, I wonder who else thinks that. Maybe I should be more clear. You know why I think that? Because you give them a platform. Yeah,

But if Olivia's people or Olivia reached out and said, Can Olivia come over tomorrow? But Olivia is not. Olivia wouldn't do it. Right. But my point is Brad, who listens, and he's probably listening around it.

He's a big listener of the program. He comes out to the live events. He comes out to promote himself to get elected. That's it. He doesn't come out to shoot the shit with you about Palmer Pasta. But I get texts and basically when I drop a new episode, I get texts from him with thoughts. And maybe he heard something he was asking about.

My point is he actually does listen. So all I'll say is this. I, within reason, if an active politician asks to come on, I will typically say yes, I did for Anna Bialown. I did it for, I've done it many times. Okay, I'm not accusing you of anything. But I'm wondering because you're a podcaster too. And I know you're doing more of a celebrity podcast.

I'm not doing anything. I'm not doing anything anymore, but go ahead. But you had Andy Richter on. Yeah. That's a big, big time celebrity. And I blew it. I did a really bad job, but go ahead. Well, that's the gateway to Conan, you understand.

No, I don't, I think that show is, uh, is expiring. But anyway, okay, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not blaming you for, I'm, I'm just saying, okay, but here's my question. This is way, so should I, when Brad, sorry. When Brad says, can I, well, it's worth visiting because I have a rule and the rule is

simply if you're an active politician and you ask to come on, and I think you're a big enough name, I will typically say yes, but I do not pursue active politicians, which means I did not pursue Brad Bradford and I am not pursuing Olivia Chow. Okay, this is my, here's my little, I'm going to split a little hair here. If Brad Bradford came to TMLX and he talked about Toronto Maple Leafs or he talked about his children, he would get as many votes as he's going to get if he comes on and talks about his

policies. Right. So I don't mind him coming on and shooting this shit. But when you ask him a question about bike lanes and he gives a speech, now you are promoting a politician. That's a little different to me. That's all. But, but I don't, but I have nothing. I am platforming Brad Bradford, but I would love to platform Olivia Chow. I guess that's what I'm saying. But Olivia doesn't seem to be interested in visiting. I wouldn't be so sure. But, okay. Well, her people just have to reach out and we'd make it happen. Okay. Anyway, I'm sorry I brought it up because I don't want anyone to think I've endorsed Brad Bradford.

Yeah, which is not a fun. I guess it was fundraiser for Nick Aini's if I want to get technical on that. No money was raised by Brad because it was illegal against the Elections Act until May 1st, you can't raise money. So it was just a conversation that I recorded between Nick and Brad. And it all went off without a technical hitch because I did a great job producing it. and I sent an invoice, and at some point Nick might actually pay that invoice. I'll keep you posted here.

Well, you know, when I said, are you, you know, did you do a fundraiser for him? You could have just said, no. And then we wouldn't have had. But I know what you went. I know what you meant. You know, now Brad Bradford is on the phone. He's going to be here tomorrow.

Anyway, let's move on. Let's move on. Okay, any words before this next champ? Sure. So now we're in the 90s. Wait, I never, you know what? I started. I said Palma's kitchen.

So let me just make sure you know, and the listenership knows that we love. that we love our Palma Pasta, go to palmapasta.com. I hope you come to the next TMLX at Palma's Kitchen. Like, I hope you had a good, like I won't. What is that? What did you say? I did you set you up.

I can't remember how you worded it. Yeah, you're sure. Every time you call me up, it's a trap. I won't bring it up next time. It's a trap. It's only been twice. But admit it. Admit it that both times it was a trap.

You invited me there to be with Katie. That's not true. I know you think that. That's honestly not true. Okay. So I didn't rush the stage. Let's not get into that. I didn't know.

Well, I've told you the story. I was four hours into that thing. And Brad Bradford was making a speech about bike lanes. We'll move on because nobody wants to hear Brad Bradford talk about bike lanes. But I don't see a scenario where I don't bring it up only because I was actually upset with the guy because I'm very pro bike lane. That's all. Very pro bike lane.

Okay. But any words before I could go out of this? Oh, yeah. So, Palma pasta, I have a lasagna. That's the third shot at this. And we're going to get off the Bradford train here. I have a lasagna in my freezer for you. Alan Swig.

Okay. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home, who will be here at 5 o'clock, stick around. We got Brad Jones here, a different Brad. But I have a measuring tape

for you from Ridley Funeral Home, and their podcast is called Life's Undertaking. And one more gift, and then we're going to move on. I have fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. I'm not going to open one because I don't drink beer, but it's always our guest. Oh, yeah,

we're going to bring them, I'm going to bring them to somebody's house on Saturday. It's delicious. I'm sorry. Hey, where are you going Saturday? I'm just going to people's houses to visit them. I wonder if your brother, Michael, will be at Blair Packham's party. So you just told me Blair Packham didn't invite me to his party.

Thank you. But that's not the first time Blair didn't invite. I used to get invited to the party. He's going to hear this too, so I don't want to get in trouble. That's fine. No, I'm not going to Blair's party. Although, weirdly, I'm going to be right around the corner at my friend. Alan and Inga's house.

Oh, we're just going to combine these parties, maybe. You know. Oh, and shout out to your friend Jim Shedden, because he sent over Deirdre Kelly, who is a part of this Paul McCartney photography exhibit at the art gallery. And she was delightful, and it turns out she lives down the street from Blair Packham. Okay.

They're all EastEnders. All east enders. Anyway, Blair, it's okay. I don't mind. You forgot. You got your beer. You lost my number. It's okay.

Well, maybe your brother will be. there. Maybe. I hope so. Plays in the jitters. I know. I know. You know.

I'm telling the listeners. So, now I'm going to thrift stores, and I'm hearing music that I assiduously avoided and hated the music of my parents' generation. And one of the people you see a lot of records by it is Henry Mancini, who, when you hear enough of the record, you realize was a fucking genius. And here's a song. And just here's a beautiful, I think, cut by Henry Mancini called Lou John. Mancini.

It almost plays like a film score. Well, so there was a, I believe, a TV show called Mr. Lucky, which was probably in the vein. I'm assuming I've never checked it out, but, you know, Peter Gunn was a, was an explosion, not just the TV show, but the music from Peter Gunn was, became

kind of like Anil Morriconi for a few dollars more. The music of Peter Gunn begat thousands of sort of crime jazz soundtracks and private eye shows.

You know, there was a show called Johnny Staccato. It starred my hero, John Cassavetes, as a jazz piano player at night and a private eye during the day. And so Mr. Lucky was probably some kind of private eye. This record is from Mr. Lucky goes Latin. He redid the tunes.

But interesting to say that, this very tune comes up in, The Limey by Stephen Soderberg. And it's a beautiful moment in this, you see this beautiful apartment, probably in Malibu with the waves behind. And here comes this perfect bit of music, Lujan by Henry Mancini.

So it's stuff like this that when you could buy these records for 50 cents. So let me just tell you, was something that's interesting. I interviewed a fellow for vinyl, a 78 collector, his name was John McLaughlin, not the John McLaughlin, a different one. And he collected 78s, and he said something that never, that I never forgot. He said, when you go in a thrift store and you see these records and you see them again and again and again, why is that? Because everybody had them. So that's why they're there because they were so popular.

You know, if you ask a record collector, like, what records do you see at every single thrift store? They will give you a list, and it's not just Herb Alpert, there's also like, you know, Captain and Tenil records, et cetera, but you have to hand it to them. That's this stuff, which is now landfill, was very, very popular. Henry Mancini sold a lot of records. Now, the next cut, it's by, actually,

I can't remember who did this soundtrack. It might have been Frank DeVall who did my three sons, but I'm not sure. Anyway, when I was a kid in the 60s, the popular culture, the Frank Sinatra, they were in charge of the culture way past when the Beatles came out. They were actively trying to fight the advent of rock and roll,

which they, making fun of it, doing stupid skits, stupid jokes about miniskirts and long hair. And it was disgusting and I hated them for it. Then at a certain point, they thought, well, let's, you know, to be popular, let's let a little bit of this in. So every movie would have a scene like with a rock band or something. You know, rock bands came. Somehow a rock band ended up on Gilligan's Island.

There was, you know, Chad and Jeremy visited or Peter and Gordon visited, you know, Dick Van Dyke. They kept fine, you know, there's amazing scenes with like, you know, whatever, it's a normal movie. Let's go to the whiskey and see the seeds. So this, you know, that, again, as a kid, I hated it. It's like, why don't you just play some rock and roll? Why are you doing this fake rock and roll? But later, I came to realize, well, there's something interesting about this fake rock and roll that they made. And I started collecting records specifically to find these fake rock and roll cuts.

So this is a cut from the movie. Guess who's coming to dinner with Sydney Poitje and Spencer Tracy. And there's a scene where they call for delivery. And the delivery boy is like a fucking hippie. And he's bopping around like no hippie would. It's like some fake hippie. And they have this music. And the cut is called Groovy Delivery Boy.

Is it our? Groovy, baby. Yeah. Groovy delivery boy Do you think Mike Myers had heard that song before he did Austin Powers? Maybe not, but he got it. I know that he was thinking of shit like this when he made that film. Yeah, that's pretty groovy.

It is groovy, and I mean, the word thing about it, as a kid, I would have hated that. And I said, why don't you get the Beatles to do it? But, you know, Henry Men's, like, whoever wrote this, he had the best musicians in Hollywood to play this stuff. You know, who played this satire? Probably like Herb Ellis or something. They found some, you know,

Herb Ellis, who he was a guitar player, played with Oscar Peterson, but he was in the band at the Merv Griffin Show. Like, Herb, you can get something out of this sitar. And it sounds like, that didn't sound like an electric satar like they have on the box tops. Anyway, yeah, so I became, when you're, and so when you're like looking for the one cut on a sound, you've got to buy all these soundtracks to find these, you know, one groovy cut.

And that was enough for me. I would make mixtapes with them. I would, you know, and that's why my record collection went crazy. Well, you're chasing the dragon. I said it earlier. Like once you get that one diamond in the rough or whatnot, you're eternally seeking the next. I didn't, you know, I don't. I can talk forever mic, but boy, this is going on.

This is a long one. You're producing my show again. You're producing my show again. You know that. You know, here's the thing. I really hope Rob Proust is listening. I hope he's listening. He's listening.

He's a music. Besides being a musician, I know he's a music fan. I hope he's enjoying this. I'm still processing. So are you telling me there won't be a third season of the worst podcast? Is that what I don't know that? But you also didn't think there be a second season.

That's right. so I could be wrong. You could be wrong. Shout out to FOTM, Katie, Laura, who's hoping. Yeah. By the way, I don't know if you ever listen to Tubby,

but the episode where I, I know, I listened to her. Where I interviewed Katie. I listen to it. Is one of the best. Chris me on it. I want to prove it to you.

I listened to it and I actually wrote a very, I think it was a lovely note to Katie after listening. Yeah. I was very proud of that show, and it also is hitting. It, it, you know,

you'll know about this mic, and maybe this number is, wrong. But one time somebody, Alan Black told me that we were in the 0.04 top percentage of downloads in the world. And I was like, wow. And then I started telling people, hey, it turns out you can do better than 99.96% of people, podcast in the world and still make no fucking money. But you know, there's a lot of podcasts, and most of them don't get to episode two, probably. Right. So, yeah. No, I know. Anyway, I'm very proud of both those shows, but both of them are challenged. Well, I'm, so you are kind of prolific there for a bit, right? Because tubby and then I knew that the worst podcast was coming back because I'm friends with Michael Monchiardi, so I had a little heads up.

And I just think you put out a lot recently, and I'm sure one or both of these series will return if you want them to. Um, yeah, um, it's not under, like, it's not under my control. I hope, I hope they do. I enjoy their hard. They're hard. They're harder than making my films, much harder for me. And I could, I think you could understand why. Because this, you know, because whatever, the shooting ratio of my films is high.

I can interview somebody for two hours. And that man guard was here. I know. I heard it. me. And she said, so that was her interviewing me, which means I tried to be the guest. And she was like doing everything. I heard that episode.

And she said, yeah, it's she would, she said what you just said right there. Which is how different it is because you capture a lot. You use two minutes or whatever. And then you might get the money shop, but you, you just say, would you say that differently? Like, no. So that's interesting. That's between me and Annette. But when she described her interviewing style, I was, I don't do that.

You're more authentic than that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but when you get the... I just don't do that. I just... Let them talk. I may, I may make a film about interviewing. And I'll have a net in it. And we can talk about that, but that's not what I do.

But she's right in that, you know, if I interview somebody on the words for an hour, maybe we'll use a half an hour, maybe it was 35 minutes. If I interview somebody at home for an hour, maybe I'll use two fucking great minutes. And if you're on Toronto mic for an hour, I'll use all 60 minutes. Well, I'm not worried about that. No way.

I mean, your show, you have your fans. Obviously it works. I was very, I thought the most telling moment of your entire Toronto Mike career was when you set, not career. If I wanted to explain something, Toronto Mike to somebody, I said, well, Toronto Mike just said to his guest, hey, if I want to have my kid on for 15 minutes for a show, I do it.

Right. That's your show. And I did it, but it was 10 minutes. Whatever. That's your show. You do whatever you want. And your audience stays with you. Although I don't think they're still listening now.

But anyway, let's move on. You know who's listening now? Shout out to Jim Moore in England who's listening. He's with Rusty. But any words before this next? Okay. Well, in the 90s, they stopped making vinyl. And I resisted and resisted and resisted.

And finally, I bought CDs. This tune is from a band, probably the last band who really, really blew my mind. This guy Will Aldem, who records under a number of different names when I heard the first Pallas Brothers record, which this isn't from, I was like, oh, my God, restored my faith in music. I saw him recently at the concert hall. I think he's like one of the greatest musician ever. I chose this song because it's a pretty catchy song

compared to some of this stuff. So it's a palace. I am a cinematographer. I am a cinematographer. Oh, I am a cinematographer. Oh, I am a cinematographer, and I walked away from New York City, and I walked away from everything that's good, and I walked away from everything that's made of,

And I was a big old, big old bear. Big old, big old cow. And I walked away from everything that shone. And I walked away from everything I live for. Everything had grown. Everything had grown. A cinematographer. Oh, I'm a cinematographer.

A cinematographer. Oh, I am a cinematographer. If you were a walk away from me. I played the whole thing, Alan, because I found it so interesting. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, I mean, I did one of his records on that other show that I've been on. I just, there was, anyway, in the 90s and whatever,

there was a bunch of music that, I don't know, somebody later called emo, I didn't think of it as emo, but Palace Brothers, Lamb Chop, Smog, Red House painters, I saw them, almost all of them at Lee's Palace. Seeing Lambchop, at Lee's Palace was like one of great experiences. And I bought that stuff on CD, and I listened to CDs, and I didn't buy records much except all that crappy lounge, but I stopped at a certain point I put a bunch of it.

I just, when CD recording happened, I recorded them. Like I was doing nothing. I was finishing vinyl. I had nothing to do a lot of time in my hands, and I probably spent a year recording the best cuts from all these records. You know, like, there would be like, oh, somebody would tell you, on the Lawrence Welk record, they do the theme from SWAT, and it's fucking great. And then it would be true, and probably Lawrence Welk wasn't even there when they recorded it,

but it was on the Lawrence Welk record. And you would buy the record, you saw it, you would buy the Lawrence Welk record for the theme from SWAT, or you'd buy the Hawaii 50 record because it had this cut called Blues Trip that was just fucking groovy. And so, but eventually it was like now you have like 2,000 records that you have for one cut. So I recorded them all and then I started selling them. And then eventually the next thing was that I put the CDRs on hard drive and I didn't need them anymore. And so I had a garage sale on Dovercourt south of college and I put a pie. and I'm saying a pile of CDRs there

and sold them for a dime each or maybe 20 cents. Nonetheless, even for a dime, people would like examine them to make sure there weren't any. And I have a friend, Stephen Keeping, he's a musician. I know that he's still listening. That's over 20 years ago. I know somebody else, she's working on my friend, you should have my friend Matt on.

when his film comes out and his editor, people are still playing my CDRs. Wow. And then, and then they stopped making CDs. And I started buying records again. And also, when I got divorced,

it went way up. Absolutely. Earlier you made a comment, Alan, that nobody's listening and it kind of sparked something in my mind, which is I've been having many battles lately. You're a fellow podcaster,

you might relate, but many battles lately, It was Spotify, who have become extremely difficult with the usage of unlicensed music on the podcast. You might know a thing or two about this. But I'm here to say, I doubt this episode will live very long. This is kind of a test, you know, trial and error using myself as a subject. What do you think will spark? I think we'll have multiple offenders in this episode because I actually haven't done it,

kick out the jams in quite some time, and partly because I'm just tired of the Spotify battles. Well, I could have made a Spotify proof. I mean, they're not going to go over Lou John. It's not going to be... Well, you know, I'll let you know. I'll get the email and it'll tell you which labels, because it's an algorithm, right? It's not like some guy listens in some head office or whatever.

So the algorithm is going to pick up, and I'll tell you exactly what gets this episode booted. I have a golf podcast I produce for Humble Howard Glassman. It's called Swing Thoughts, and he opens every episode of Sultan of Swing by Dyer Straits. And he's been doing this for years. And out of nowhere two weeks ago, Spotify, suddenly the algorithm objected to the fact that Sultan of Swing was the, because we didn't pay for the license, you understand. Anyway, now slowly but surely episodes are being removed from Spotify.

So I've just come to accept the fact that... Now that you're on their radar, so I'm going to suffer for Sultan of Swing. Well, you know, that's a humble. I told Humble my best advice as his producer is to, sadly, to replace Sultan of Swing of some Royal. guilty-free music. Yeah. Isn't there a Canadian swing band? Oh, well, we can get

the, what's the James B band? Look people. No, I'm more thinking of like Henry Questa. Okay, geez. Or Guido Basso. I can bring you a Guido Basso record. You know what? I would say, I love it, because whenever Ed Conroy comes over, we play some Guido

Basso, but I bet you that'd be a good detective too. Well, anyway, stay tuned on my battles. with Spotify, but just know that if you are a Spotify listener, that means maybe sometimes you don't get an episode of Toronto Mike. Get a different podcast app. We, yeah, you don't, I don't listen. I mean, I have Spotify, but I don't even

have Spotify. I don't listen. But I recommend listeners of Toronto Mike find a different podcast app. Okay, I'm going to play, well, you're going to set it up and I'm going to play this one, and then I have a question from a listener. Okay. What would you like to say before this one? What's the next one? Gordon Alexander.

Okay, so now I'm back to vinyl and I'm I specialize. I have a particular interest as a digger in records that I think are amazing, but the guy only made one record, and then you can kind of hear the record like it's commercially challenging

because the guy is really experimenting. This Gordon-Alexander record, I'm particularly too, because I found it in Copenhagen when I was there with my film, and I just kept looking at, at it. His picture on the cover is out of focus.

I don't know what it was. Just the record spoke to me, but it's like, you know, sometimes when I'm out of town, I think my job in the world is to go to Mexico, buy records and sell them in Toronto, because when I hear them, I don't want them. So I don't want to, I'm not a record importer.

Anyway, this Gordon-Alexander record, recently I heard an amazing Tiny Tim song that was written by Gordon-Algell. So he made one record. Maybe when you hear it, you'll go, yeah, I can see why he only made one. But this record has this amazing, what would you call it? Like, splice. It's like there's two things going on here.

And the thing that you'll hear right away is I find so beautiful this other thing that comes in. I also found I stole Bell What is it all about Do you suppose One real spins Rejecting on the God

That is I I also found that acoustically Interesting Yeah I mean Anyway You know I read I read a quote

once. It was from, it may have been Van Dyke Parks. And he was talking about the fact that everybody's making these psychedelic records and things like that. And he and Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman, who were all friends, are making these kind of, you know, pop songs with strings and orchestras and all that. So that whole period of like 60s fractured pop is of interest to me and also these records you know this was a period of music when people kind of like it was kind of like they didn't know what would you know nobody expected sergeant whatever these experimental records to sell so people were letting themselves experiment that was record company this is a big record company

and they gave him a top producer and they gave him all the session guys and he did what he wanted and obviously they didn't like it and never sold but to me that record is a it's a beautiful record that I'm glad I have yeah at first I know it's from the 60s

but at first I'm like is this Richard Cheese remember this lounge parody guy like he would sing to like Richard Harris parodies he would do more like he would take modern rock songs and sing them in the guise of a like 60s lounge singer. Well, that's not necessary.

There's enough people doing that seriously. You don't have to satirize. That's right. Hey, quick tie-in to vinyl, and I'm going to remind everybody, before we get to the last jam, and then there is a surprise bonus at the very end. But the review cinema on April 28th,

that's a Tuesday evening, 6.30 p.m. start. You can catch vinyl on the big screen, and Alan will be there for a question and answer, and members of the crew. Well, some, I'm trying to get people to come. I will also tell you people want to know, am I going to do the same thing I do at every screening, which is because of the scene in the film where I put records on the street,

I bring records and I put them out of the front of the auditorium for people to take, just like they would take them off the street in my film. So a tie-in to vinyl from 2000. The tie-in is that I was at the Paradise a few weeks ago, for a newsroom event by the West End Phoenix. And Ken Finkelman was there. And I've been trying to get Ken Finkelman for years, no success. And suddenly he was unearthed and he was there on the panel.

So I was fascinated to be there. But the fun fact that ties into vinyl is that sitting beside me, Don McKellar. Okay. Okay. And he's in vinyl. And I asked Don, I asked Don to do the Q&A for Love Herald when it played at the Boar. And he's in vinyl. That's true.

he he's in vinyl in a way that is completely weird and stupid that I put him in the film but I he's in the film nonetheless do you have any relationship at all with Ken Finkelman none never worked with him never I know we have mutual friends and I think his brother actually Danny was a record collector I think he did a show on CBC that was kind of a record collecting show And I know people worked on there. And I also think I know Ken's wife. But no, I don't know Ken. Because he's got a similar rep, not you're a...

To me. Well, just that... He's a cranky pants. Okay. You know what? I think he... I thought the newsroom was amazing. Yeah.

And also, he told one of the greatest stories that I've ever heard about show business. But, and I like him, but with all due respect, I think he's more... genuinely cranky than I am. And exhibit A, he won't come here. Well, I don't get a no or a yes. I get nothing from him. But Toronto Boris heard on the blue sky. He heard you were coming on and he said,

and I don't know how long you want to spend on this, but I'm going to ask what Toronto Boris wrote. I'd love to know his process for choosing his documentary subjects. I've enjoyed a few of them. Hurt and there's a house here. Come to the front of my mind. So, yeah, I guess that's it, because the next line is about why you made vinyl, but I don't think that's even him.

I think that's just another note. But let's stick to what I know is Toronto Boris here. Like, how do you choose your subjects? Not very intelligently. You know, it just somebody says something. It sticks in my mind. And I got in trouble for this. but so I a woman named Lucy Idlow who was once a Canadian rock star she opened for the white stripes in a Cala

Calawick she just contacted me on Facebook and maybe she'd seen Iker Mudge and whatever she just liked me now she doesn't use the name Lucy anymore one and now she was back in Akalwit and she's I kind of asked like a dumb question like what's it like up there and she said it's the third world motherfucker well that i couldn't let that that that just earwormed and i and i was like in spite of the fact that even in 2017 you know the the taboo against a white man making a film with because i was making it with her as my guide And I was like a fish out of water, and she was introducing me to people. I thought we would get away with it. And I don't, you know, some people like the film.

Some people can't forgive that aspect. I don't want to get into it. But I'm very happy I made the film. And also going up to Nunavut three times was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And the film ends with a seal hunt and being on the seal hunt. I'm deeply grateful that I had that experience, but it just came right from that thing. So same thing,

like coppers was a friend of mine introduced me to his friend who was an ex-cop, and the guy told me a story, and he almost cried, and I was like, oh, kind of like, because I drove cab, I came to, let's just say, hate cops. let's just put it. Maybe I could nuance that, but cops, when you're driving in the middle of the night and there's nobody else around, cops get bored. They stop cabs and they ask you for all kinds of shit that you didn't do.

And suddenly you have five tickets and they, you know, open your trunk. They think you're a bootlegger. They think you're this. You know, they bugged me. And also, I was not brought up to take that shit. So, you know, and then I met a cop. like, oh, you know, it's like I had made films before where I made an ex-con film where I learned about trauma. But then when you hear the trauma from a cop, it's a whole other experience. And I

always repeat the same thing, which is one guy told me, he said, it's 11 o'clock. We get a call to an apartment. It's a murder suicide. At 12, we're on to the next. next call. That's just Tuesday at 11, Alan. If you saw that once in your life, you would never forget it. For us, that was just Tuesday at 11. So, you know, vinyl was, it was like I was doing this thing. I never heard anybody talk about it. When I talked to people about it, they would be like, yeah, what do you mean? There's nothing to it. It's just like, and I'd be, how can there be nothing to it? Like, you have 25,000 records. in your house they've never listened to, there has to be something to it. So, you know, I often wonder how other people choose their subjects,

but people look for good subjects. They read about things. I've never done that. I've just been, you know, my friend killed himself. And six months later, I was like, oh, maybe it could be a film. And you can now stream that film. Yeah. Please go to the NFB site.

You know, it's funny because I'm just going to say I read a lot of the comments online, and people are like, it's not exactly enjoyable, and they put enjoyable. It's not exactly fun. It's not exactly. And it's like, well, we try to make it as enjoyable as we could without, you know, whitewashing it. I don't, please don't be scared to watch my film. That's a beautiful film, I highly recommend it. and the NFB.ca.

Now, the last cut that we're playing before, maybe we'll do one more, is this goes back to my ignorance. I had the best of the birds. I love the song. I feel a lot better. It never occurred to me to check out Gene Clark. Now it's like 2007 or eight,

and I'm starting to buy, and I, uh, records again, and I find an old Gene Clark record. And then somehow I find out that Gene Clark is a beloved figure who made four the greatest records ever. How did I not know? I don't know because I don't read about it and I didn't talk to anybody about it. So this he made, in my opinion, he made four truly great records.

One, the fantastic expedition of Dillard and Clark won this record with the Gosden brothers. And then two solo records, one called White Light and one called No Other. No Other is considered one of the greatest records ever made in my ignorance. I spent most of my life ignorant of it, but not anymore. And so coming full circle with the first song, we played. Here is a song by Gene Clark from No Other. Said she had a mind that slept inside tomorrow in time it's car. She was by wrong.

Said she sold a sort of soul. Sleeping. You mentioned a couple of times you did this other podcast once a year, right? Songs that get you high? That record got me high. That record got me high. You should come here once a year loaded with 10 more songs from your vinyl collection. Okay, well, if we, we should have ended with this.

I'm loath to end with the bonus, but I'm just, let me just tell you about it. Yeah, sure. Let me bring this down and you set up the bonus song. So one thing I want to, you know, I want to, you know, share about record digging is that it is a weird, it is a way to learn something about the world that you don't know. because, you know, records are not just beetle records that teenagers buy. Lots of people make records for lots of reasons. And there's lots of people that collect these weird records. There's records Chevrolet puts out a thing for this.

I have this one. Chevrolet sings of safe driving and you. And it's like a little talk. And then driving a car can be a tremendous thing. Anyway, you know, so there's industrial records. There's all these. So there's Christian records. Right.

So this is a record by an artist named Little Marcy. Now, that's Little Marcy, the doll. Okay. That's Marcy. So the story is Marcy Tigner was playing trombone in Christian bands, and she wanted to sing. So she went to singing lessons, and they all told her she couldn't sing. She sounded like a child.

So she decided in her brilliance to make a little doll called Little Marcy, and she would pretend Little Marcy was doing the singing. And as far as I know, I've seen it, she's not a ventralquist. She has a ventral... She sings. She fully sings, but she wants you to look at Little Marcy. and Little Marcy is on many of the covers. And I listened to so much Little Marcy that friends of mine coined,

I didn't coin this term, I wish I had, but somebody coined the term, irritainment. So you can listen to something that's so stupid, so much that you do reach the point of being entertained by it, even though you're irritated by it too. The song I've chosen maybe for you is not, is, there's a lot of Little Marcy records.

In fact, there's somebody look on YouTube now, somebody in response to Little Marcy called himself Little Markey, and he has a very famous cut called Letter from an unborn child in which a child, you meet a child, and then he starts to get aborted and he starts complaining about what's happening to him. But anyway, that's Little Marcy begat Little Markey.

Right. The thing about this cut, which is on this record, is there's not that much singing, but the playing is fucking hot. And it's like thinking Little Marcy made these stupid Christian records, after another, but she had some hot, like, Nashville session guys. Wow.

Like, so anyway, if you want to end the episode, although, are we going to come back and just wrap it up? Okay, so this is, let's listen to some Marcy here. Little Marcy. I can just see Little Alan's Wig listening to Little Marcy. You know, I'm Jewish, and then I heard Little Marcy. I converted. And today I will become a Christian Brad Bradford supporter.

I'll go all the way 180 degrees from where I was before I showed up here. I love this, Alan. I'm serious about that every year invitation. Once a year you just waltz over here with 10 songs from your vinyl collection, and we just play them and talk about it. Okay. You do it for that other show. I do.

Whatever, you know, invite me. I'm especially now. I'm doing, I have time. And I have a car and I can drive. It's all coming together here. I'm even available for parties Saturday. I'm just sorry you're in. Oh, yeah, I'll listen.

He's listening. I hope he's listening. He loves these kick-out-the-jams episodes. I'm sorry you'll be in Japan for my Elma combo debut. I know that you'll be doing another one. And the next one will be at a theater. I sure don't know that, but, um, I'm constantly.

I hope that it's not an empty room that I'm performing in front of. But I got to say, I love this episode of Toronto Mike. I love it when you visit. And when we take that picture by Toronto Tree, can you hold up the Marcy Elmo? Definitely. Okay, good. And that brings us to the end of our 1,800-87th show, 1887. Go to tronelomite.com for all your Toronto Mike needs and click that Elmo gig link at the top

and buy a ticket or two and see Rob Pruss and I and maybe a very special guest but I don't want to lean on that. Just come to see Rob Pruss and I on May 21st at the Elma Comba. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery.

Alan's got beer for his guests. Palma pasta. I got a frozen lasagna in my freezer for you. Nick Aienis, he's here Friday morning for another episode of Building Toronto Skyline. Recyclemyelectronics.com. We didn't talk about it, but you know this, Alan, from listening.

to Toronto Mike. If you have old cables, old electronics, you know where to go. Recycle myelectronics.ca.ca. Stick in your postal code and find out where to drop it all off to be properly recycled. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home, my next recording is in one hour's time with Brad Jones, and we had to change his music because there was a little John Williams in the opening theme, a little of the Imperial Death March by Darth Vader there. And Spotify told me no more. So I have a new opening theme, thanks to Rob Pruss. It all comes together.

It's a small world after all. Yeah, I think Little Marci would go good with Riddleyne Funeral Home. Maybe it's too late. See you all tomorrow when Gair Joyce drops by. Gear Joyce back on Toronto Mike tomorrow. And here's some Mark Daly for us on our way out.