Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Art Bergmann: Toronto Mike'd #1161

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

In this 1161st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Canada's godfather of punk Art Bergmann about his life and the new authorized Art Bergmann biography by Jason Schneider "The Longest Suicide". 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.

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Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mic'd, is both the author of The Longest Suicide, the authorized biography of Art Bergman, Jason Schneider, and the subject himself, the myth, the man, the legend, Art Bergman. Welcome to you both. Hello. Hello. The myth, legend, still living. Well, hey, right off the top, Art, that's a great starting point because this title, and I got the book here, and I read it, and I loved it, and I think if everybody gets

this in their holiday stocking, it'll be a good December. But The Longest Suicide. Art, you're very much alive. In fact, dare I say, you haven't looked this good in a long time, my friend. You look fantastic. What does this title mean, The Longest Suicide? It's two words for life, my friend. But suicide ends in death.

So does life. Well, yeah. Well, I want to make clear that the title was Art's Suggestion. Yeah, it's all my fault. And that as soon as I heard it, I knew it was perfect and I didn't want to change it. And I didn't want to change it My personal feeling about it Is that it reflects

A lot of The dark humor At the heart of Art's music That's why I think it's so suitable But I don't know What's Yeah, what do you think Art? Yeah Got it What do you think, Art? Yeah.

Got it. I'm into love now, though, but love and kindness. Love and kindness. And, I mean, longest suicide. I hope it's a very long suicide. Yeah, two more decades, I think. Okay, good. I'm doing the math.

That's pretty good, I think. If we get two more decades of Art Bergman,, good. I'm doing the math. That's pretty good, I think. If we get two more decades of Art Bergman, we'll be doing okay as a nation. I'm turning 70 next year. Unbelievable. A lot of people lost

a lot of money with the over-under on Art's life. Over 70, man. I hope you get into the hundreds, man. Keep going. There's some real talk

in this book. We'll get into it, but my first big question before I get to Brad Wheeler's question is, Art, do you remember appearing on Toronto Mic'd in the past? Yes, it wasn't on last year. Okay, good. Okay. I'll just let the listeners know. Brad Wheeler there?

What's that? Is Brad Wheeler involved in this? Brad listens to this program religiously, and he's listening to us right now. And he... In fact, I'll ask his question first since I've already asked you if you remember being on Toronto Mic'd. He wants to know, have

you read this authorized biography on your life? Have you, Art Bergman, read The Longest Suicide? I read the first draft, made some corrections over some facts and figures, shall we say, and then my wife died,

so I didn't feel like reading it at that time. But it's a beautiful book. It is a beautiful book and let me say right now my absolute sincere condolences to you Art on the passing of your wife. I'm so sorry man. Thank you.

All the love that's been pouring in has kept me going and thank you. I really felt for you. When you were on my program last year, I remember how helpful Sherry was with even helping you with the Zoom and then different aspects of scheduling. For example, I would write her an email and here's the link

and here's the time and everything. And I know she was your rock and you lost her far too soon. So, of course, I'm sorry. We're all for you man but but some great art came out of that that sorrow are you comfortable with me playing a little bit of death of a siren could you play it at the end yeah I can play it at the end absolutely I'll save on that Yeah, she was my rock for 30 years in all my songs and was there. She was a warrior for me. Let me tell the listenership right now that if they want to hear your first appearance, Art, and I remember

your first appearance, you were shot out of a rocket because you were going off on Israel and accusing them of some act of terrorism. And I received at least one very detailed email from somebody who was uncomfortable by your comments. So always politically charged. But I'm going to tell people they should go back to episode 856. So that's your number, man. Now you're 1161 today, but to episode 856. So that's your number, man. Now you're 1161 today, but you're 856.

Mike chats with Canadian punk pioneer Art Bergman about the young Canadians going solo, getting paid, and getting the Order of Canada. Do you have that medal yet, Art? You got the medal. Where is it right now? It's in my bedroom drawer. My consort, Patricia, is getting it now.

Amazing. And it's two tiny maple leaves. I'll try to enlarge them for you. But I'm going there, or I'm supposed to keep it a secret, but I'm going there soon, a couple weeks to receive a lunch. You know, here's kind of sad news. A former guest of this very program,

Al Mayer, he's of course the co-founder of Attic Records. A man that most people in the music industry are well aware of, Al Mayer, but they actually gave him his medal on his hospital bed at Sunnybrook last week. So he got his medal and he passed away.

Yeah. That's the way, not the way with me. No, you got two more decades to go here. Here's the... Okay, hold on. I'm taking a quick screen cap here. I want to get a screen cap here. Stand by.

Word of Canada. Love it. Call me Arthur, CM. Canada member. It must have blown a lot of minds, though, when the guy from the Young Canadians ended up getting that prestigious honour. That must have blown some minds.

Um, blew mine. Yeah. Well, yeah. And we're, we're, we're,

we're still trying to figure out how it happened. Maybe, uh, I'm trying to think maybe, uh, Bruce Allen, who is it that nominated? Great lyrics,

great political charge, fucking rock and roll. All right. Now, so Jason, you wrote The Longest Suicide. So can I ask you, like,

why did you decide it was time to write the, the official autobiography, biography, sorry, of Art Bergman? Well, because it's, his life is the greatest rock and roll story that hasn't been told yet.

And it's something that I've wanted to do for a long time. Thankfully, we had, you know, some people part of Art's circle really kind of motivated me, kicked my ass to get going with it. And and it yeah, it's it's really been kind of an intense past couple of years writing it and and talking to people in Art's life and having long conversations with him. But yeah, I really feel this is the best thing I've done so far. So Art, do you get an email out of the blue from Jason that says, here's what I want to do?

Would you work with me on this? How did you guys get connected on this? I got a couple emails and then phone calls and then phone calls to talk about my life as it were. I was fine with it.

I mean, why not? By the way, nice nails. Say what? Let me see those nails again. Is that freshly done? That looks nice. For yesterday's interview, but they're lasting.

Whose episode did you do yesterday? Whose show did you do yesterday? Who did we do yesterday? Oh, CKVU Alberta. Okay. You're testing my memory today, aren't you? I told Mulligan I forget nothing.

Okay, there's a man who was there with Bruce Allen. Maybe we can start there. There's so many places I could go with you, but I know you have to record some new music very shortly, but Bruce Allen, I'm trying to think now, so can you tell me, what was your relationship like with Bruce Allen? Non-existent, really.

Jim Bescott, the young Canadians, thought it would be a good idea to approach him about management after we won the Battle of the Bands that Bruce was a judge at and he voted for us so we walked in there and he said he said can you dress better than my guy I got this guy in prison man he's sucking dead in pants

dead in his pants or something like that and I said yeah yeah yeah we're way better than that so but I don't know if you remember us talking to us That's the extent of it, you know Well, okay, so Terry Yeah, the first draft went on about how they were interested in us

But I don't think so Yeah, I had to Sam Feldman made that mistake Yeah, yeah, that was on me I had to kind of make that correction. But it was Bruce's partner, Sam Feldman. He managed Art for a few years. See, I think I got a really early draft, Art.

So I'm looking at an early draft here. So the reason I thought of Bruce, though, is because, of course, there's that documentary about making Tears Are Not Enough. And you got David Foster's there with bruce allen and sitting with those two guys terry david mulligan is there a problem there no no no but now i'm wondering if you had a better relationship with bruce if you would have got the tap and said hey art, Art, we need you to be on this recording of Tears Are Not Enough.

Like, where were you? You should have been right there with Leona Boyd and Geddy Lee. What year was that? 85. 85? Oh. I was, that was about my 15th year

of being underground, so I don't think they'd be interested. You need the big names to sell records, especially for charity. No, that's true. You wouldn't get like a full verse. Maybe they'd stick you in the chorus or whatever. Well, you could ask about, well, two other people who were involved in that were Bob Rock and Paul Hyde, and they have...

Oh, were they? Oh, well, they had a hit. Yeah. and Paul Hyde. They had a hit. Anyway, I was better looking than anybody there, so I don't know what the problem was. Well, don't tell Mark Holmes that. Oh, my God. He thinks he was pretty much...

The girls, the platinum girls. But I'm the girl now, guys. You know, Mark Holmes arrived in a stretch limousine for uh a charity single for famine relief in africa he's got long legs all right my friend so uh we learned you have gonna just piss around joking here what's the deal well this is it we're serious business life life All right. Well, let me take you way back then because a good friend of this program is Brother Bill. He's on the radio.

He was on the radio in Vancouver as Neil Morrison, but I know him as Brother Bill. And he's very interested in your South Surrey background. He lives in White Rock now. And he says, a few older guys around here have told me about its lore. This is the house that you used to hang out in in South Surrey. Can you let them know that not everybody hated his Duke Street debut? Crawl with me. The final cliche in the empty house are Canadian classics.

Who's Bill Morrison? Remind me. Okay, Brother Bill was his name when he was on the radio in Toronto, and then his real name is Neil Morrison, and that's his radio name when he was on the Fox or whatever in Vancouver. Neil or Bill?

I'm going with Bill. What did he want to know? Not everybody. He wanted you to know that Crawl With Me, The Final Cliché, and My Empty House are Canadian classics. Well, then you better play them on your shelf. Do you want to take us back, though, about this house?

He's heard the lore about this house in South Surrey. Can you just maybe... Actually, we lived in an apartment right on the beach. Just a kitty corner from the Hells Angels who were down the tracks by Semiamu Park. They were known at the time as, well, before that time as Gypsy Wheelers, but they were a colorful bunch, I'll put it mildly.

He also wants to know, by the way, Brother Bill, if you would still want to go to fucking Hawaii, given the fact that some volcano has erupted on the big island. Fantastic. I don't think I'll contribute to the colony of Hawaii's rip-off economy at the moment anyway. Great quote in this book about Hawaii. This is, of course, The Longest Suicide,

the authorized biography of Art Bergman. Jason Schneider wrote this foreword by Michael Turner. But there's a great quote from you about how it sounds like you didn't particularly like the fact that Hawaii became so damn popular because you feel you wrote a lot better songs than that. It's one of those songs that came in five minutes after I ripped off the title. But, yeah, I saw a note at a friend's house in a blackout that said, let's go to fucking Hawaii.

And I ran with it and wrote it in about 10 minutes. So, you know, the more, shall we say, nuanced songs, I get short shrift, you know. What can I say? People are stupid. That's a great story, by the way, Jason, in the book, about the title in the book and how, you know, this guy is like, hey, you stole that from me. I mean, you eventually got compensated, right?

Yeah. He gets 50 percent. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, well, I guess that kind of speaks to how how tight knit, you know, the Vancouver punk scene was, um, you know, at that time, you know, all those, all those guys were, you know, we're, we're together a lot and kind of, uh, you know, working towards the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Ross, Ross Carpenter. Yeah.

He was an active, active dog, beautiful name, named band. And, uh, Kudos to him for not having me killed. He gets 50% of all royalties from Hawaii now. That's just for inspiring the title, right? That's all

I remember seeing. He had the song. I added a lot to it, I hope. Enough to make it a underground hit yeah no no doubt man no doubt uh pretty awesome by the way quick note came in from dale cadeau he lives out west in bc as well and he says uh why is art going to the same show as me to see trailer hawk and robert con. Curious as to why he to what he likes about one or both of them.

Why am I going to that show? Are you going to see Trailer Hawk and Robert Connelly? This is a note I got. Is he out to lunch, this guy, Dale? I was a little bit off on if I'm going to that or not but I'm performing with Schrader Hawk

at Lena Lou's December 18th Dale might have got his wires crossed there absolutely so I'll move on to Hadley what can you tell us about appearing in you were in Highway 61 right oh yeah please bury me in What can you tell us about appearing in, you were in Highway 61, right?

Oh, yeah. Please, bury me in some stories here, if you can. Stories about shooting of? Yeah, yeah, appearing in Highway 61 of the great Tracy Wright. Oh, yeah. Well, I was playing at a festival on Vancouver Island, and somehow they found me at the hotel we were staying at, at Coombs, on Vancouver Island.

And on Sunday night, they found me in a hotel and put me on a plane Monday morning to go do Iggy Pop's part, because he couldn't do it in Highway 61. And we shot in Casa Loma, which was awesome fun. I got to shoot a.45 gun chasing chickens through the movie. It was fantastic. Chris McDonald and crew and Tracy were awesome.

Amazing, amazing. Good friends of this show, Lowest of the Low. Chris McDonald and crew and Tracy were awesome. Amazing. Amazing. Good, good friends of this show. Lowest of the low. I had them in the backyard this past summer. And of course I mentioned that I finally got to talk to the, the great Art Bergman on Toronto Mike. And then of course I got the story.

So I'm going to play a little bit of this. This is just a little bit of, it's Ron Hawkins birthday today. Happy. You're right. Happy birthday, Ron Hawkins. What a coincidence. I'm going to play a little bit about this, and then we're going to just get the story again, but bear

with me here. I will be playing more Art Bergman after you leave to go make more music, but here's a little Lois to the low. A generation that's fantastic Who knows about life Life imitates it in art I'll bring her down now so we can hear you, Art. But Life Imitates Art. That jam is all about Art Bergman. Fantastic.

I love Ron Hawker. I love Lois of the Lobe low i hear they're playing a game i'm gonna see them on uh december 3rd at lee's palace actually oh fantastic looking forward to it so this is coming are they coming west you know i i never do they go west i it's funny because i was going to bring this gentleman up later uh sammy cone, K-O-H-N, everybody. Drummer for The Watchmen. You played with him, right? Yeah, he played with me at a show I did in Toronto.

Opening for Great Lakes Swimmers on Tony Decker's birthday. That was Tony's birthday present, me opening. Yeah, and Sammy played on the last time you came out here, too, to do shows. I remember that, too. Yeah, yeah, at the Horseshoe. That was a great night. Well, Sammy, huge fan of yours, Art,

and it was kind of a dream come true to get to play with you. And I know he's already reading The Longest Suicide because I was checking in with Sammy. Sammy is a proud sponsor of the program. And, yeah, he just loves Art Bergman. But the reason I'm bringing up Sammy is because he came on this show. If he loves me so much, he should quit the real estate business. Well, this is your chance to get a message to Sammy. He's listening right now.

Or tell Sammy to quit. Let me hear it. My dad escaped the Russian Revolution, became a Christian socialist, but often he would mention that every third banker or real estate salesman should be shot to stop the rest of them. Oh, and Jess, my friends. Oh, and Jess. No one's going to join me in any revolution.

I haven't made enough money to pay anybody. Well, you and Ron would get along well, I'm sure, you and Ron Hawkins, because he told me his next vote's with a brick. He's ready to rebel. Please. Please, before you're as old as me. Well, he's getting there. Happy birthday, Ron.

Now, this is an important detail here. The story I've been told, you just tell me if it's true. It is in the book, so I'm pretty sure you're going to agree with all this. You got kicked off. This is like a Lollapalooza or something. What tour is this that you're going through the prairies and that

you had to hitchhike your way to the next spot because you got kicked off the Greyhound? What's the story here? The story is... Go ahead. The story is... What was that tour called Jason

It was the Big Bad and Groovy tour Headline Big Bad and Groovy featuring Bootsauce I've heard stories about Bootsauce Sons of Freedom Yeah and

Vancouver band called Pure Pure So you got booted Yeah Yeah, in a Vancouver band called Pure. Pure. I never came. So you got booted? The story is none of the bands would allow me on their buses. I don't know why. I can imagine some bad-mouthing was happening. Because you were a bad influence.

A bad influence. I mean, these people drink like fish. I'm just looking for a downer. So they had me on Greyhound bus. They gave me Greyhound bus tickets for all across Canada. And Regina, I think, I finally missed one

I heard you got kicked off because you had an open bottle of wine no what well that's what Sherry told me Sherry told me you got kicked off because you had an open bottle of wine but no okay

I got on the bus early because of the wine, so I went and dumped it. Anyway, I slept in one morning. I didn't make the cut, so I started hitchhiking. Or was it at night? Maybe at night. I was supposed to go overnight to Winnipeg, so I started hitchhiking. And lo and behold, lowest of the low, lo and behold, we're going by the other way.

I'm sure they were in a hurry to get to some fashionable restaurant, but they didn't turn around and pick me up. So I don't know how much solidarity there was at that time. But I gave up and took the next Greyhound to Winnipeg. I missed opening without a band for that awesome tour in Winnipeg for a show. So just to put a bow on that story, so lowest to the low, the guys are going the other way, I guess, on the highway. And they see that someone's hitchhiking.

And then I don't know if it was Ron or who. I think it was Ron. He said, hey, that's Art Bergman. And his quote is, the other guys didn't believe me. And it wasn't until about a week later that we found out what was going on with art on that tour. It really set me off thinking about how ridiculous it was that the guy who I considered the godfather of Canadian punk rock was hitchhiking at this point in his career here with someone who's given so much to the Canadian music industry. And this is how it treated him, kicking him down the highway. And then they wrote that song for the hallucinogenia,

the life imitates art. Yeah, that's part of my life. What can I say? Well, there's a lot you've said, and thanks to Jason's biography here. There's a lot here, man. And it really is dense. It's rich. There's a lot here, man. And it really is dense. It's rich. But you're a survivor, man.

You said you're turning 70, and you've promised me at least two more decades, which I'm going to hold you to. I didn't promise. I don't promise. I recorded it. Okay, you're aiming for it anyway. So here we are.

And I know you're off to record some new music, which is really awesome. And once you go I know you're off to record some new music, which is really awesome. And once you go, I'm actually going to play that beautiful, like that beautiful song you wrote for Sherry, who we lost, you lost far too soon. Again,

my condolences there, but at this point in your life, looking back now that Jason's written the book on you, do you feel now, like maybe now with the order of Canada and all these accolades, you're maybe now getting your deserved flowers? Like now people are recognizing what you mean to this music industry?

People need to buy my music and listen to it and act accordingly. That's all I can hope for. The rest of this stuff is beautiful, and all the love coming in after Sherry's death is keeping me going, I must say. Well, keep going.

Where specifically are you off to? Is there a studio you're off to to put down some tracks or whatever? What exactly are you working on? I'm going to see Robert. Russell Broom. You working with him again? Russell Broom. Yeah.

He goes by Robert sometimes. At his Broom closets. Yeah. Oh my God. And I just want to mention, yes, Trailer Hawk and Robert Connelly are going to see that concert. I think it's kind of funny that Dale thought you were just attending that concert,

but you're fucking playing it. Yeah, okay. I'll play. Details, details. Art, this is your second appearance. I hope it won't be your last, but again. Yeah, I'm sorry I had to bow out the last one. I was...

You know what leave them wanting more man leave them wanting more who? yes no we'll be back there will be new music next year so working on the new album

and be out early next year I mean spring done before we lose this zoom Jason And be out early next year. I mean, spring. Done. Before we lose this Zoom, Jason, any final good question here to leave us wanting more, which we can find in the longest suicide?

Okay, well, there's a famous... Okay, to bring it back to Hawaii, this is one question I don't think I asked, well, there's a famous, okay, to bring it back to Hawaii, this is one question I don't think I asked Art, but there's a famous photo that we used in the book by Bev Davies of Art lying on a beach. Oh, he's nude. Totally exposed. nude totally exposed i guess uh maybe a question might be uh you know what what was your your thinking behind that that original concept for that photo idea for that was in bondage tied up by the natives on the beach waiting for ransom money i thought it would be an awesome cover for Hawaii, but everybody chickened out on it.

Show it. As usual. Yeah, where is it, Jason? Where is this photo? I want to find this. Beautiful boy. A lot of great photos in this book, too. So you put in, good job, Jason.

Good content, good photos. It's on page 49. All right. So here, let me load that up here. Oh, yeah. So. Yeah. Looking good, aren't you?

Beautiful boy. Hey, so here, man, I know you've written a lot better songs than this one, but on your way out, I am going to play some Hawaii because. Fantastic. People can't play it because apparently I say fucking. Oh, that's my

favorite part. Even, I gotta say, I think I've caught the six-year-old saying it with the F-bomb once or twice because I sing this one a lot. It's catchy as all fuck. But... Art, thanks so much, buddy. Good luck with the new music and I can't wait to hear it next year. Thank you.

All love to you. Kindness. Mwah. All right. See you soon, Art. Bye. Bye. Bye. Making like a rich, getting full of fun It's gonna fucking chug eating

Lounge on the beach Those little girls are such a treat Swingin' to the Navy Runnin' from the rain Thousands on the run Making like a rich, getting full of fun Two way air, economy air 747, jam to the roof

Work all summer, save my money so I can be one. Let's go to fuckin' Miami, lounge along the beach. I got my little keyboard and BG, keep a little joy to beat. Running from the rain, thousands on the run. Make it like the rich, heading for the fun. Let's go to fuckin' Las Vegas, throw a one in the sun We're outside 24 hours a day, before our back foot never comes Running from the rain, thousands on the run Make it like the rich, heading for the fun

Chewy air, economy air, 747 Jam to the roo, with gold summer, save my money so I Love it. That's Art Bergman, everybody. Young Canadians. Jason's still with me here. So we knew we only had Art for 30 minutes and we were Art heavy. We got our dose of Art Bergman.

Never a dull moment. But I've got you for at least another half an hour, right, Jason? As long as you want me. Listen, I'm cracking open a Great Lakes right on this microphone here. Which one's cold? Oh, it's over here. I've moved it already. Okay, so I need a drink. right on this microphone here. Which one's cold? Oh, it's over here. I've moved it already.

Okay, so I need a drink. Love our Bergman conversations. I never know where they're going. Okay. Well, yeah. Well, I guess I can mention that, I mean, when you read the book, I made the, you know, people will notice right away that I decided to separate Art's quotes from the main text just because, you know, he speaks in a way unlike anyone I've ever met.

And, you know, I really wanted to kind of preserve his voice as much as possible. Yeah, like I've only had the two, the two conversations of Art. But sometimes I find it like a little bit tough like uh like like sometimes i'm expecting more maybe and i'll uh get like a two-word answer and i realize oh i think that's all there is but i think if i wait a little bit there might be more yeah i think that's the key the patience yeah which i i could do the patience man i'm good at the patience but it's tough via zoom because i you know it's it's like in person i can go like i'll wait you out man like i'll just look you look you down and wait you out

but via zoom it is so art's a guy i would love love to get art bergman in the basement one day well well we'll see what we can do um yeah and we'll get sammy cone here for that too because that would be great yeah yeah although sammy of course has met art bergman he played with him hey because i mentioned i was gonna do this earlier and we're gonna cover some more ground here man i gotta give you some props too jason because you're an unsung hero in this country and I'll save some of that for a minute here, but Sammy Cohen, real estate. Okay.

I know that art one Sammy to quit his job as a real estate agent, but he's really good. Like I've been looking at, he's in the top 1% of realtors in Toronto, which is a pretty damn good. So if you have any real estate questions at all, you can write Sammy, Sammy.

Dot. Cone K O H N at properly homes. Dot homes.ca and i wasn't bullshitting you jason when i said he's already got his copy of the longest suicide he's already diving in that's uh that's how big a fan of our bergman sammy is yeah no i've yeah we we had a great um pre-order for the book um um a couple months ago. And yeah, this is the first time I've worked with Anvil Press in Vancouver. They've, yeah, they've been great. Yeah, the book looks great.

They really, yeah, we were talking about photos a minute ago, and yeah, they really pushed me to get as many photos for the book as I could. And, um, yeah, I'm really glad they did it. I think it really paid off. I'm really happy with how it looks.

Well, shout out to Anvil press. They, uh, they publish this thing. It's a 168 awesome pages and it's not your, your first book, uh,

but it's your most recent book. Again, the longest suicide, the authorized's your most recent book. Again, The Longest Suicide, The Authorized Biography of Art Bergman. He's a fascinating character, and he's a worthy subject, and I'm glad you're doing this, but I want to just shout out a couple of other Jason Schneider books, because I think you're quietly documenting some of this amazing Canadian music stuff that doesn't necessarily get as much attention as it deserves. Like I'm trying to shine a light on all this, but a lot of times I'm only able to shine a

light on this stuff because you got there first, man. So I'm here to just give you a problem. I think you're an unsung hero in terms of documenting our Canadian music industry. Well, yeah. Well, thank you. That's high praise. Praise from Caesar. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, thank you. That's high praise for sure. Praise from Caesar. Yeah. You know, I don't know what that means. I heard it on The Simpsons once. Praise from Caesar. And I've been saying it ever since, and I don't quite know what it means. But let's shout out. Okay. It doesn't really matter, I guess. But yeah, if you could pull down the bottom part here. Okay, your production on the fly here. But let's talk about two of your other books, okay?

Because one of them, I have an agenda here. We talked about Brother Bill, and it's all going to come together. You wrote Whispering Pines, The Northern Roots of American Music. Right. I think that means you're the guy I'm looking for. I've tried a gentleman you put me in touch with and we were ready to go,

but then when I pitched specific dates and times, in a minute I'm going to explain what I'm talking about to everybody, but I pitched certain dates and times and never heard back. I don't know if it got lost in spam or whatever, but I'm thinking when Cam Gordon, brother Bill and I,

meet on Zoom one day soon to talk about the history of country music in Canada. I need a guy there. Like, I need the Hank Snow guy. You know what I mean? I feel like you're my guy. Well, yeah. I know you're hyper-focused on Art Bergman right now,

but at some point that calms down, right? Oh, sure. No, I, yeah. I love talking about um early canadian country music um yeah i mean there you know there there there are other people out there older older gentlemen who have been more uh more uh involved in this world than than i've been but um you get the show yeah like here i'm doing my sales pitch. We're looking for a guy who could...

I have somebody who's going to jump in and get us when Garth Brooks and Shania Twain are... I have somebody ready who is the program director at KISS 92.5 when it was CISS. I'm looking for somebody to get us there.

Be it Stomp and Tom or Hank Snow and everything in between. I'm just looking for somebody who knows their stuff. Yeah, sure. Is that a commitment? Now that we're live in this unedited podcast here. Okay, so everybody that's whispering pines the northern roots of American music. And let's, again, Michael Barclay's been over a few times. He's a great FOTM. He's come to at least one TMLX event. In a minute, I'll tell everybody

about an event we're having on Saturday. But this book, Have Not Been the Same, The Can Rock Renaissance, 1985 to 1995. You're a co-author of that book. That's correct. that's that's kind of where it all started for well both michael and i um that's i well i guess to to go back to the beginning we uh the two of us started out together at a little magazine based in guelph in the uh in the night early 90s called id id id magazine and we were um uh yeah it was based in guelph but we we were kind of like the the you know the alt weekly for uh you were the you were the now magazine of guelph is that what you're telling me well no but even further we were while we were you know the the kind of vision for the magazine was to be like the now for every, um,

kind of university town West of Toronto. So we, yeah. So we were in Hamilton, we were in London, we were in Windsor. Um, yeah.

And it was, it was amazing times. Like, um, well, Michael was, was the music editor. Um,

I was, uh, doing some local news and some music writing, but, um, But anyway, yeah At one point it was always kind of my dream To write a book about Canadian music And, you know, here we were Kind of the mid-90s

Just, you know, this prime time Of all these great Canadian bands doing stuff And we were writing about them constantly. And yeah, one day I just took Michael out to lunch and said, look, we're talking to all these bands. Why don't we try to put all this together in a book and craft a story around it? So yeah, he got on board right away.

And then he mentioned one of the other, one of the freelancers at that time, Ian, Ian Jack, he was, uh, he was a huge fan of everything that was going on in, in the East coast at that time, Sloan, um, you know, all the Halifax bands and rush hermit rush hermit yeah and he was also ian was also really interested in the the montreal scene too um and as yeah as well as kind of vancouver network records anyway so uh so yeah so you know we were all kind of in our early 20s and didn't know any better so we're like well if the three of us kind, you know, we were all kind of in our early 20s and didn't know any better. So we're like, well, if the three of us kind of, you know, put our heads together, we can make this thing happen.

And, yeah, over the course of about four years, we did. And the end result was that book. So what was your role in the sequel, Hearts on Fire? Well, that was all Michael. So, yeah, he kind of did that all you went solo himself yeah well i i i'd done whispering pines before that that was 2009 i think but yeah that was sort of my my intention to you know write you know write a book kind of like telling more of the backstories about the great Canadian songwriters,

dating back to the beginning with the earliest country music. So now, yeah, Michael, I never even thought about it while I was doing it, but now Michael sort of considers that sort of, considers Whispering Pines kind of the prequel to have not been the same. And then his book, Hearts on Fire. Although he skips five years.

It shouldn't bother me, right? Like I should, you know, but it seems to be triggering some kind of, I don't know, OCD or something. Because yeah, like Hearts on Fire is 2000 to 2005, I believe, but have not been the same. That's 85 to 95, so we're missing 96 to 2000.

Yeah, well, I don't know. I can't even think of what happened during those five years. That's all a blur to me. It's all the same. All right, so we mentioned, so those are the other books. I want to get back to Art Bergman, but here, this might be fun for FOTMs right after I give you a few gifts.

So it's a long drive for you. Art was great. We got our 30 minutes of art. Art's the kind of guy, I feel like a 30 minutes of art is like a, that's like a good dose of art. Like I thought that was fantastic.

You're not leaving here without a large lasagna from Palma pasta well that's one of the reasons why i wanted to come in person i have to admit but wait there's more so i'll get back to palma because i got to talk about tmlx uh 11 in a minute here but uh you've already cracked open at great lakes even though i like it on the mic you cracked open before i press record i've cracked one over but you're bringing home some fresh crafted beer from great lakes brewery record. I've cracked one open, but you're bringing home some fresh crafted beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Shout out to GLB.

Palm of Pasta. I'll get back to them in a minute. Thank you, StickerU, for your continued support. If anyone needs stickers, decals, temporary tattoos, so much great stuff you can order at StickerU, Y-O-U dot com. You just upload your image and

you get it delivered safely to your door. It's awesome. High quality and they're great people safely to your door. It's awesome, high quality, and they're great people. Love those guys. And there's a music connection there too because Andrew Witkin, the founder of StickerU, his dad, Barry Witkin, was a founder of the Purple Onion in Yorkville.

And that's where... Ready for this? Are you sitting down? Because it all comes back to tears are not enough and Terry David Mulligan. But Buffy St. Marie wrote the, the soldier, unknown soldier.

Yeah. The unknown soldier. Is that the universal? The universe. Yes. Unknown soldiers, a different song. Okay.

The universal soldier was written in the purple onion in Yorkville by Buffy St. Marie. And when Terry David Mulligan was on Toronto, Mike, I asked him, you know, yeah, we had no Art Bergman on that. We should have had Art, but we should have had Buffy St. Marie.

Where was Buffy? And I got the story of Bruce Allen getting the call and then putting down the phone and looking at Terry David Mulligan and saying, Buffy bailed. That's what he said. And I've been using that expression as well. Like when somebody, you know, can't make the concert tonight or whatever, Buffy bailed that's what he said and i've been using that expression as well like when somebody you

know doesn't can't make the concert tonight or whatever buffy bailed so it's all coming around full circle here uh there's a speaker there for you okay box and yeah that little brown box that's yours buddy so wow that is courtesy of manaris i actually recorded last week with Al Grego. Al Grego is an award-winning podcaster and he hosts his program for Moneris. I'm going to get the details here in a second. It's called, and I know this because

I've said it now 60 times, Yes! We Are Open. That is the podcast. Al's been telling the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. Everyone can subscribe at yesweareopenpodcast.com

so you can use, you can listen to that great program on your new wireless speaker, Jason. Yes, I absolutely will. Thank you. Yes, Jason is open. He's telling me. Earlier today, I actually recorded with Chris Cooksey

from Raymond James Canada. He's the host of the Advantaged Investor Podcast featuring insights from leading professionals. The Advantaged Investor provides valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. I'd love to hear what art bergman has to say about uh the advantaged investor podcast he wants real estate agents investment yeah i would

love to hear it but uh there's a couple of good podcasts for you and one more for the road here life's undertaking is a podcast from brad jones he's the funeral director at Ridley Funeral Home. And I get to co-host this show and it's always great fun. He's back here tomorrow, actually. So subscribe to Life's Undertaking if you need more Toronto Mike'd in your life or if you just want to hear from Brad,

who honestly, we talk about life. We talk about death. It's always spiritually fulfilling. I highly, highly recommend it. And last but not least, Jason, do you smoke weed? Well, I guess, yeah. Now I can say publicly, yes, I do. Oh, it's legal.

Yeah. You're so used to keeping that on the down low, right? Well, you know, Canada Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. And they have over 140 locations across the country. So buy your weed and your accessories at Canna Cabana, proud partners of this very program. Okay, back to art. Yeah.

Now art's not here. And let's face it, art's never going to listen to this podcast. We all love art,, this book is great. I was worried about Art because I knew how close Art was with Sherry. It's Decebrini, right? Decebrini? Yeah, it's like December, but Decebrini. She only passed away in March.

Yeah. I remember tweeting about it and really legitimately, like for a man I only spoke to for like an hour, I was legitimately worried about Art Bergman after losing his wife there. So you obviously started this project well before Sherry passed away. You

got some information from her and interviewed her. Can you give us a little insight? Because I'm going to play this wonderful song Art wrote about when he mourned his wife Sher Sherry DeCembrini. But how was Art in this period? Well, first of all, I've got to say that, yeah, I couldn't have written the book without Sherry's input.

She was just, you know, well, yeah, I think we did a couple interviews and they were really lengthy and she was extremely open and forthcoming about everything. So, yeah, I think a lot of, yeah, a lot of the facts in the book she was able to corroborate. But, yeah, so I think, yeah, by the. This photo here, I'm going to show show you yeah but like this photo man it's heartbreaking because she was very young like this wasn't you know she was young and i mean i'm not involved in their personal life but i understand this was a very sudden death this wasn't uh like al mayor receiving his uh you know his order of canada on on his deathbed. No, this was a very sudden death.

Yeah, well, they met in 1990, and they were married a year later and stayed together the whole time. So, yeah, 30 years. Like Art said, she was his rock. She kept him going through a lot of, you know, well, Art's health issues, which we didn't really go into. But, yeah, Art suffers from osteoarthritis and he's had spinal surgery and, you know, a lot of painful years of dealing with that.

We had deteriorating, deteriorating discs in his back. He was almost paralyzed by this. Yeah, that's right. So yeah, she was essential helping him cope with that. But yeah, so by the start of this year, I pretty much had the book finished and I'd sort of envisioned all along that you know it was gonna have kind of a relatively happy ending um you know with him him even though

it's called the longest suicide yeah well that was that that was part of kind of the dark humor sure with that title and i mean again uh we talked about the deteriorating discs in his back, but there's a lot of information and a lot of real talk in here about his heroin addiction. Yeah. Let's face it, the fact he's turning 70 is amazing, I think.

I don't think you would have predicted that decades ago. Well, yeah. I mean, it's hard to say yes to that, but yeah, considering what's hard to say yes to that. But yeah, you know, considering, you know, what's happened to a lot of his peers, you know, he's, yeah, it's incredible, excuse me, that he's made it this far, but, but yeah, so, so I had the, I had the ending of the book written, and then, yeah, I just, the one day in March, I got an email from Art just saying that Sherry died the night before, and it was obviously just a complete shock to everybody, and, you know, of course, shock, uh, to everybody. And, um, you know, of course, first priority was how, how he was going to deal with it and who was going to help him. But then, you know, after a few weeks, uh, it,

you know, I, I had to face the reality that I had to rewrite the ending of the book somehow, um, to, uh, to reflect this. So yeah, it was, um, was um yeah it was it was a pretty tense couple of months and yeah art and i went went back and forth uh quite a bit about the ending um i keep sending him drafts and and um he'd send me back notes and till finally you know we came up with something that he was comfortable with and uh i thought you know was um was something that that that uh you know gave gave sherry her her proper due and um yeah thankfully uh and that's that's the way the book is now like part of my legit sincere uh concern for art was beyond the fact that a loved one like somebody who's you know he was madly in love with had passed but he's in my brief experience of art he seemed awfully dependent on sherry for things

like it was her email address that the info went to. She was there to make sure his Zoom was working. Like I kind of met her that way because she's like, she was the technical support and art really leaned on her. And wow. And from this awful tragic happening to art, and this is often the case, and shout out to Leonard Cohen who talks about the cracks. That's how the light gets in.

That's obviously, that sentiment was an inspiration for this song here, but he kind of invokes Leonard Cohen's line there. But let's listen to this song, Death of a Siren, which Art Bergman wrote for his late wife, Sherry Decembrini. She walks these fields A hungry ghost Drinking sunlight

Overdose Kisses of the sea She cuts through the scars Glimpse of heaven, cold night stars People here can't see, weather gone weird They don't understand, they condemn and fear She smiles, they demand her name I'm the witch you burned in flames

There is no crack that's in the light There is no way to bridge this dark divide grief is

the prize you stay alive There is no crack that lets in the light. There is no light to bridge this dark divide. Wow. this dark divide. Wow. Okay, my friend here.

That was some heavy stuff. It's a beautiful song that came out of the sadness. Death of a Siren. It's good to hear some new art, though, and it sounds like there's some new art coming next year. Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know if this song's going to be included, but yeah, if you want to hear the full thing,

it's available on Art's Bandcamp page. Absolutely. And there's a great video on YouTube directed by Kenneth Locke as well. Yes, absolutely. It's got that black and white visuals there that goes along with the song. Yeah. Now, Jason, I already gave you your props for writing these

great books, and I really think you're kind of like, you're doing something that I truly respect. Like, you're documenting a lot of our, like, you know, everyone can, you know, I talked to a guy, speaking of Leonard Cohen, you know, and it's great. He writes the, I was just in Montreal, and they got the great mural now of Leonard Cohen, okay? So, there are

great books on Leonard Cohen. You can, you know, Joni Mitchell, Rush, Neil Young, a great mural now of Leonard Cohen. There are great books on Leonard Cohen. Joni Mitchell, Rush, Neil Young, but you're kind of covering some of the topics that might have less attention on them. I think what you're doing is very important, but you've also had an influence over episodes

of Toronto Mike. We're going to spend some time here. This is the ongoing history of Jason Schneider on Toronto Mike. You told right. This is the ongoing history of Jason Schneider on Toronto Mike. Cause you told me earlier, this is the first time you were a guest on the program, right? An official guest. I would say. Yeah. Like you got, you know, you're, you're my guest right now. Okay. How many times have you visited the TMDS studio either in the backyard or down here in the

basement? Well, definitely twice prior to today. Okay. So this is your third visit. Yeah. Remind everybody, who were the guests the first two times you visited here? Well, the first time was,

it was a beautiful summer's day. I came with Blue Rodeo keyboardist, Mike Boguski. Wow. And we hung out in the backyard. Mike had his poor little portable keyboard and did a little jamming back there. I think your neighbors like that.

I remember, I'll never forget that day. Mike, remember he went to my high school and then I knew his brother Mark, but Mike Boguski played Diamond Mine and it was amazing. And yeah, that was in the pandemic. You weren't seeing any live music. Like there were neighbors that were were hooting and hollering

and enjoying the show. So thanks for doing that. Great to have him on the program. Subsequently, I've been to the woodshed to interview Jim Cuddy. And I let him know that Mike Boguski is also an FOTM. That's thanks to you. Who else came on Toronto, Mike, that you accompanied?

Yeah, last time was with John Borah, the great Toronto singer-songwriter. I remember that. Yeah, that was right at the beginning. I know it was right after New Year's, I think last year, I guess. But he's another unsung

great in this place. Like John Borah, who was amazing. He played live. It was a great conversation. So thanks for setting that up. Yeah. He deserves more love. Well, yeah.

Well, speaking of that, he actually just released a new record called Cassettes in Common. And it's a fascinating concept, actually, because it's all's it's a really it's a fascinating concept actually because it's um it's all songs written by um kind of obscure toronto singer-songwriters from the uh the 80s and 90s who uh john knew or had had connections amazing um so yeah so it's it's it's all these these great songs that really i can't imagine too many people have ever heard. But yeah, John wanted to get them out there to people and do his own versions. He actually does cover one of Art's songs as well, a song called Sleep. But yeah, I think anyone who knows the name,

well, he does an early Ronon sexsmith song i think a song off of ron's it's fotm ron sexsmith yeah okay yeah fotm ron sexsmith yeah i think he does a song off ron's first uh indie cassette and then uh yeah if people know the names uh you know kip harness sam larkin johnny mcleod you know these people have just been you know part of the the Queen Street scene forever yeah

it's definitely an album you want to check out it's called Cassettes in Common I just realized you only put guests on this program

that have surnames that start with a B okay so you got Boguski you got Bora and you got Bergman well okay but before we yes okay before we go So you got Boguski, you got Bora, and you got Bergman. Well... Okay, before we go beyond those three,

I will take this opportunity to say John Bora played in Change of Heart, right? Correct. Ian Blurden dropped by last summer, and he was awesome. And you're not going to get credit for the Ian Blurden because I contacted him directly here. But Blurden was just fab to, and you did not, you're not going to get credit for the Ian Blurden because I contacted him directly here, but Blurden was just fab and he's another B,

so he could be somebody you work with because that's our fourth surname that starts with B, as mine does as well. So that's all we had left on the show. So beyond Bogusky, Bora, and Bergman, who else are you, is somebody that you, you know, tapped me on the shoulder and said you should probably talk to this guy

or this gal, sorry, because I know the most recent one is actually a gal. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's right. Lily. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Lily, your last guest was the great Lily Frost. She was on a couple weeks ago. Lily, I enjoyed my conversation with Lily. Yeah. Oh, and then just

prior to that was... Her ex-husband. Yeah, her ex-husband. Yeah. Oh, and then just prior to that was... Rex Husband. Yeah, Rex. Yeah. Yeah. Jose from By Divine... Well, okay. Well, if you want to count By Divine Right as another B, there you go.

That's right. And I will. Too bad Lily Frost is not a B. But that's... I mean, I've enjoyed all those episodes. Boguski, Bora, Bergman, By Divine Right, if you will, and Frost. I enjoyed them all. Well, that's great.

I'm glad you did. And do you work with these people? What capacity do you work with? So you write these books, and then you also work with artists in some kind of a PR capacity? Yeah, well, it's, yeah, it's, I guess that's just sort of the way the uh the music business has kind of evolved over the last 10 years um you know i i was

um you know doing a lot of writing i i worked at uh exclaim magazine for a long time i was assistant editor there um and but, eventually, you know, the way the business has kind of turned, you know, it's hard to make a living just being a music writer. While I know you've had a lot of my colleagues on the show too, you know, Ben Rayner and people like that.

Ben's overdue for another visit, actually. We did a series in a row. He was very honest about some struggles he had in his life and loved that guy. Yeah, me too, for sure. And so, yeah, I mean, making a living as a music journalist, it's, you know, there's very few people who are able to do that anymore these days.

So, yeah, so eventually, I guess it was about maybe seven years ago now, I just kind of transitioned into working directly with artists and trying to promote their music as best I could and using my connections in the media world to help do that. Because, yeah, I mean, there's there's more great music being made today than there ever has been but it's just harder to discover it right because yeah to cut through that noise absolutely yeah the the the number of uh of outlets out there is i mean you know there's there's tons of there's tons of music blogs but for really kind of serious discussion about music,

there's not a lot of it out there right now in Canada. So yeah, that's kind of what I transitioned into doing. This template, if you will, if you're anything like me, and I think we have a lot in common actually, but's no blueprint right you just sort of you're writing the blueprint right that you're sort of you're designing this template of what does jason schneider do right yeah so like i'm kind of doing the same thing which is very liberating and awesome but i feel this template that you've kind of created here is something and again i never talked to this gentleman about it and maybe he'll

get mad at me for even suggesting it but dear fotm in fact he's a fotm hall of famer cam gordon no longer at his nine to five okay there was some i won't go into details but it was a very public happening that you might have read about in the news okay so he's at one of those transition those points those crossroads that we all kind of about in the news. Okay. So he's at one of those transition, those points, those crossroads that we all kind of encounter in our professional lives. I actually think Cam Gordon would be amazing at what you do. Like, I'm not saying he could be ever better than you, but I feel he's cut from that cloth as well,

where he could be writing books that cover some of these spots in the Canadian music landscape. And he could be kind of um representing artists and helping them get exposure for their music and stuff i feel like this is something cam should explore i'm just spitballing here man i don't even need a reaction i'm just i'm just thinking out loud about cam gordon okay so shout out to cam gordon let's talk for a moment about brad wheeler all right because i know you you guys uh talked to brad recently right

yeah well well actually brad no he just reviewed the uh yeah he yeah he wrote a really okay great great review of the book that was that's funny i literally tweeted this is what i so i went to twitter and i there's the t word i went to twitter and i wrote uh any questions for art let me know or brigman's might coming up have any questions or whatever. And then literally the tweet after I tweeted was somebody retweeting a Globe and Mail article where Brad reviewed the book. I saw that right away. So I'm just going to take a moment to praise Brad

because Brad recently wrote a great obituary about the passing of Al Mayer, who I mentioned earlier was a founder of Attic Records and a big deal in the Canadian music landscape. And Al Mayer was on Toronto Mic'd in July and it was great. I just dropped that in the feed on Sunday, remembering Al Mayer. There's a quote from Al in our conversation and many journalists or many,

many, a person has sort of like got their info from a Toronto mic episode and put it in their piece. And that was it. Like, and I know where they got it from, but they don't, they don't cite it.

And I just want to let Brad know how much I appreciate the fact that he literally wrote in the piece, as Al Mayer said on the Toronto mic podcast, like he actually referenced this source and i think that's very cool yeah no i mean you're uh no i can i shout out to brad well it's you know since we're uh you know kind of patting each other on the back no i gotta say no you're you've you become a force and uh and in canadian music uh you know, you're, you know, you're, you're, you've, you've become a destination. I love that. I, I'm, I love it. I love that compliment too. I appreciate it very

much. All right. So everybody has their marching orders here as we wind down. So I got our, we got our half hour with Art. We did over a half an hour more with Jason Schneider. The book is called The Longest Suicide, the authorized biography of Art Bergman. And I've read it and it's dense and full of good information about art. Like again, I know he didn't really, I guess he did a little bit, but I know Brother Bill was trying to get him

to go back to the Surrey White Rock roots there. But the journey starts kind of there. Well, there's definitely, you know, you can get a full dose of it when you read the book for sure. Well, there's, there's, there's definitely, you know, you can get a full dose of it when you read the book for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a lot of talk, you know,

the KTELs and of course the young Canadians and then all the, the solo stuff. And, uh, it's just full of like very interesting information about art, his battles, the addiction, his,

uh, his, his addictions battles and the back issues, uh, that almost paralyzed him. And, of course, you get to rewrite the ending, sadly, about the death of his wife, his beloved wife. And just, whew, what a story. And I know Hawaii's got the F-bombs in it, left, right, and center,

but that doesn't stop me from singing along. I absolutely, and I don't care that there's that great quote in your book where he's bothered by the popularity of hawaii because he's written a lot better songs he hasn't written many more catchy than hawaii that song still rips yeah well yeah well i guess what i've been trying to sort of uh you know put out to people you know while we've been doing these interviews is that yeah i mean art arts writing has has truly evolved over the last 30 years i mean the stuff with the young canadians is incredible kid right like yeah yeah but it was um you know you can you can listen to that stuff on his own but then you know following his evolution through the 80s and 90s to those

great albums he made and then i i think you know the last two records he's made um the apostate and late stage empire dementia i think they're they're some of the best music he's he's made in his life both from a lyrical and and musical standpoint he's really been exploring new things and working with some great people. So yeah, no, this isn't just the story of a guy who had his moment 30 years ago. This is someone who continues to consistently make incredible music.

And he's got two more decades to go. So imagine all the great stuff we're going to get. Absolutely. Jason, you're a hell of an FOTM and I appreciate you, buddy. Right back at you, Mike. I love it. You know what?

This should be every episode where we just pat each other on the back. It feels good, right? It feels good here. It feels good here. That was awesome. And arranging for Art to join us was the icing on the cake, the cherry on the icing.

Always a pleasure to talk to Art. I never know what you're going to get. It's interesting to me. Sometimes you have a guest and it's all paint by numbers. You can almost predict exactly how it's going to go and it unfolds that way. And then you're like, okay, next or whatever. But with Art, you kind of get excited before he comes on.

Like, I don't know where this will go. I don't know what mood he's going to be in. And I can tell you right now, having spent that half an hour with him, he might have hated that thing. I have no clue. I have no clue. He's like, what are we going to do? What are we doing here?

I think with one line I got in the middle of that conversation, I'm like, I don't know. We're doing it. I don't know what we're doing, but we're doing it right now. Thanks for setting that up, buddy. My pleasure. And that that brings us to the

end of our 1,161st show. You can follow me on Twitter. This is the second lowest of the low song we played today. Lots of low on this program. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Jason, let's start with you. How can we follow what's happening in the world of Jason Schneider? My website is jasonschneidermedia.com. I am still on Twitter. I'm actually enjoying it more than ever because it's kind of exciting to watch it go up in flames. Yeah, it is. It's a very strange feeling being on there right now. But I'll be there as long as you are.

Yeah, I think I'm going to try to hold on until the bitter end. Let's go down with the ship. But I did just sign up to Mastodon. See, I actually almost did, and then I realized I just don't see it happening. I think if it doesn't work out on Twitter because it blows up and disappears, which is unlikely, but if it disappears, I'll just go back to my little cozy home at TorontoMike.com where I lived before Twitter.

That's my plan. So if Twitter goes down tonight, go to TorontoMike.com where I lived before Twitter. That's my plan. So if Twitter goes down tonight, go to torontomike.com for more information. Yeah. Well, I think, yeah. So what's your handle? John Schneider Media?

What is it? Jay Schneider TO. That's on Twitter and Mastodon. Okay. That's everywhere there. Okay. Yeah. Art's at Art Bergman.

And just remember, there's two N's. Yes. I did get a question from Gene Valaitis about the two N's, but I think he was being silly, so I skipped it.

But anyway. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. Brewery. Say that word for me, Jason. Oh, well, I was actually going to shout out to Gene Valaitis if he happens to be listening.

He might. I just, I was an avid listener of the 6 o'clock rock report for years and years. And yeah. Shout out to Macco Senior. Yes. And Macco Senior. Yeah. Some guy named Derringer was there too at some point there.

But yeah, I was a Q guy too for a long time. So shout out to the mighty Q. And the late great Scruff Connors. On that note, Ridley Funeral Homer at Ridley FH. Palma Pasta, I didn't get into this, but I'll just tell people right now, TMLX

11, I meant to get into this. December 3rd from noon to 3pm, we're going to be on the second floor of Palma's Kitchen it's kind of near Mavis and Burnhamthorpe in Mississauga, get your butts there at noon, come up to

the second floor, we're going to be recording live you can jump on the mic, it's going to be amazing, TMLX11 be there, Mineris is at Mineris, Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN. Recycle My Electronics are at

EPRA underscore Canada. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore and Sammy Cone Real Estate. They're at

he's at Sammy Cone K-O H-N. See you all tomorrow and my guest is

Julian Taylor. Ooh. See you all tomorrow when my guest is Julian Taylor. Ooh. See you then. See you then. gray