Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Bill King: Toronto Mike'd #361

Episode Date: July 31, 2018

Mike chats with jazz musician Bill King about his career in music, working on the radio, running The Beaches International Jazz Festival and what the heck went wrong at JAZZ.FM91.

Welcome to episode 361 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Bill, that 99.99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? I know now. GLB. Brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com.

Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Census Design and Build, providing architectural design, interior design

and turnkey construction services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is pianist... That's a tough word. You don't want to mess that up, right? You're doing good on that one.

Pianist, composer, publisher, oh, many things. You're going to love this episode. Bill King. Nice to be here, Mike. What a pleasure, and thank you for biking here. Of course, man. Well, not of course. This is episode 361. You're the second person to bike here. Oh, man, I feel good about that i love biking i know you do too and yeah and uh i was actually reading an article that i'm going to mention later that you did for fyi music uh in which you talk about you know back in the day when you would

bike 4 000 kilometers a year like you referenced that number and i and i'm like i measure all my rides i'm like i love to know what other cyclists are doing. And that's amazing. Yeah, you know what it was? For two years, I had an odometer on the bike, right? Yeah, yeah. And I would hit it when I left the house. Yeah. I wanted to know what I was biking, what the distance was each year. It was like 2,500 miles or 4,000, 4,300 kilometers.

And I went, oh, man, that's pretty good. I used to have that, too, one of those little computer things on my bike. And I used to like to know how fast I was going. And it had the, I guess there was a magnet in the spokes. You put this magnet thing. And it knew the size of your tire. And it would give you like, oh, you're cruising at like 25 kilometers an hour or whatever. But you know something?

I was one of the first to buy a mountain bike and put it on the street. When they first came out from California. And I was in Bloor Cycle. Yeah, that's where I bought my bike back then. And it was, I can't remember, a Leader, L-E-A-D-E-R, mountain bike. And I bought this thing with the big tires,

the fat tires, and I'm biking down the street and I get stopped every three blocks from people going, what is that? Yeah, right. So when abouts are we talking here? Oh, early 80s. Okay. Well, you know, I think the Marans came out. You know, it was starting to become like around San Francisco, right?

Because that's where it sort of started, the mountain biking craze started in that area, right? And so, you know, it was just, this was a knockoff bike. It was basic. But, boy, people would stop and go, that's exactly, I can go off-road, I can go on-road. Yeah, yeah. And nowadays, I see on the streets,

I see those super fat tires. Have you seen these guys? Yeah. Where do they come from? I don't know, but they're kind of amazing, too. But, you know, I prefer... In the snow, maybe. I prefer the hybrid, right?

I have a hybrid, too. Yeah, the hybrid just gets you through the city. You know, you mentioned Bloor Cycle. They're all gone now, but there was a time where if you were going to buy a bike, you went to Dufferin and Bloor, because there were three, I think, at least three. There were three of them there, yeah. And that was like, yeah, I just was thinking of the Hank Scorpio episode of The Simpsons,

and he goes to the hammock district to buy his hammocks. I was like, that was like the bike district. That was the spot, wasn't it? And that's where I got my first Peugeot in 1972. Nice. And I bought two of them, one for my wife and one for me. And then we really got into the biking craze.

And this is in Toronto? You were biking in the 70s? Can you just tell me, because I did bike in the 70s, but only the late 70s and only a tiny, tiny, tiny bit, probably on a, yeah, I'm trying to think,

probably on a tricycle. I don't know. But I got to know if the bike lane infrastructure, is it vastly improved today versus back then? Oh my God, yes. And the temperament of drivers too, because they just wanted to assassinate you then. But I got to know if the bike lane infrastructure, is it vastly improved today versus back then? Yes. And the temperament of drivers, too.

Because they just wanted to assassinate you. They just yell at you, get off the road. Bikes aren't made for the road. So we did a lot of biking in High Park and along the trails. But Main Street, you know, you got a lot of grief. When? Because I remember in the mid-80s biking on the Martin Goodman Trail. And I remember thinking it was new at the time.

Like, is that a, that's an 80s thing, the Martin Goodman Trail? It probably is. Yeah. It was wonderful, you know, just to go across town on that, you know. I was on it earlier today. I love it. Here, I got a jam for you because I want to start by talking about the Beaches International Jazz Festival. Okay.

Here you go. Lift me, won't you lift me Above the old routine Make it nice, lay it clean Jazzman Bill, you're my jazz man. Is that okay? You got it, baby.

You know, I hate to say this. I always think of Lisa Simpson singing this song. I just mentioned the Simpsons twice now. Here we are, five minutes in. Okay, let's start with this. The Beaches International Jazz Festival just finished last week, right? Finished on Sunday. So tell me, what's your role in this production? Well, I've been there since day one. So when I started, I started off as booking a few bands.

And then also MC. And then by the third year, I became the artistic director. And I have been since then. So I book probably 75% of the bands. That's huge. And then Lito puts what bands he thinks he wants in there too, that I work with who actually runs the festival.

And then I work with the media side with DDB and Martine Levy. And she's been there since about year four. And she's one of the vice presidents in media and stuff there and marketing. You've got it backwards, eh? You're supposed to year four, and she's one of the vice presidents in media and stuff there and marketing. Well, you know what?

You've got it backwards, eh? Like, you're supposed to come on this show before so we could tell Toronto to make sure you're going to... Let me tell you something. I have not seen a social media crush like this. This was outstanding because everybody has a smartphone, and they have to take short video clips and send them to Instagram or Twitter or wherever. I would say by the time we get done like this, you can have a billion impressions from this festival over a month.

It's just outstanding. And this is the biggest event in Toronto, a music event, right? Well, we were just Biz Bash, which is the North American events sort of resource that just picked us as the number one music event in Canada. In Canada? And the reason for that is because the number of people come out, the ties to the community, what it brings to the community, and how close it is to the community.

Because it's not a one-off thing where you have superstars on the main stage and you pay. It's a free event. Right. And it takes over Queen Street, right? It takes you pay. It's a free event. Right. So it's like... And it takes over Queen Street, right? It takes over Queen. It's Coxwell.

And we're also at Leslieville now, too. When are you going to bring an event to the West End here? Well, we did early on when we were working with Mix 99. Right. And we were down by the lakeshore there. Like Harborfront? No, no. Close to Palais Royal. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So they did the mix Beach Fest for about, I guess, five or six years back in the day. And that was great because Avril Lavigne and all these young artists that were coming up would play there. Nice. Okay, cool. So congrats that you're heavily involved in the number one music event in the country, which is like... Well, that's what they say, but that's from their business side.

But if I were you, I'd get a T-shirt that says that. Like, I'm heavily involved in the number one business... I don't think I'll do that. ...music event in the country. I was underselling you, trying to give you number one in Toronto. I thought that's pretty good, but you went bigger there.

But you know, Toronto has... The Granddaddy's Festival is in Toronto, or thought that's pretty good, but you went bigger there. But, you know, Toronto has the granddaddies of festivals in Toronto, or a Caribbean festival. It's just outstanding. Pride, and now Taste of the Danforth, I think they're in their 30th year. So those four have been the longstanding festivals, right, of food, of Caribbean flavor, of rights, social rights, and then this other cultural event of the beaches, which is music.

And also it's about the young kids coming up and playing on stages and stuff. So these things sort of are the core, and then there's all these satellite festivals that have branched out from that. Now it's worth noting, I know it's called the Beaches International Jazz Festival, but it's more than jazz, right? There's a lot of bands here I wouldn't say are

jazz. Oh, yeah, no. We took a turn probably a good 15 years ago. Well, there was a lot of jazz at the beginning, but it was always mixed. Well, my boy just went to a blues festival in Ottawa and saw Foo Fighters, so I think it's all the same. Well, the Ottawa one. If they have a blues act, they'd be fortunate

because it's all like Sheryl Crow and stuff like that. What we did over time, we looked at the changes in our community. As folks would immigrate here, the kids would come here. The music would come from other lands and they would get together and play with kids

here and then something else would evolve. And so we thought, well, let's play to the cultural changes. Let's play to this road map the city is traveling through now. And so we book a corny. We had Celtic. We had some country. We had some blues. We had jazz.

We had Latin. We had Caribbean, reggae. We had New Orleans. I mean, we just have this mix of music. And we really try to stay away from the rock, except for when we do the street scene on the street. It's just one big party. So people come to hear those Chicago tunes, right?

Sure, sure. Yeah, for sure. So let me ask you, though. So this just wrapped up. Yeah. When do you get at it again? Do you give yourself a week off before you start playing next year? No, it doesn't.

The only thing that happens is I got harassed every day with bands. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean. I'm thinking of starting. I got a house band. I just want to give them a shout out because they just played the first ever Toronto Mike listener experience at Great Lakes Brewery. Good one.

But they're called the Royal Pains. Okay. And they were fantastic. So, now I'm going to be harassing you, man.. They're called the Royal Pains. Okay. And they were fantastic. So now I'm going to be harassing you. Man, you got to book the Royal Pains. You know, I don't mind that at all. Like I say, by tomorrow morning, I will still start getting applications.

It will be like that every day. I got over 1,000 this year. Wow. And that's just... And how many bands would you book in total? Oh, God. Well, let's say there's around 800 musicians in all. Okay.

I think I read, in the press release, I think I read 40 bands a night. 45 were on the street for three nights, right? Wow. And then there's all the main stages, right? There's probably 10 a day on main stages, then Leslieville stages. And then also the ROM has been with us. The Royal Ontario Museum has been with us the last, this is our third year together.

And that series, Friday Night Series, goes to the end of September. So it's a co-partnership between the Beaches Jazz and the ROM. Well, now that I've got everybody excited about this event, they should know they missed it. They have to come next year. But you can still go to the ROM on Friday night. $12, you go in and hear a great band,

enjoy yourself, and go to the ROM. Okay, good. So that's good, something to get excited about. So congrats on that. Yes. I can't wait. We're going to play a bunch of music and talk about a whole whack of stuff. I mean, not only do you have this, you know, you're a great musician, but there's a radio element. I want to talk about, at some point, I want to talk about Jazz FM. It sort of prompted your visit, actually actually but we'll get to that later uh there's a whole i want to talk about weed something i read you wrote that i want to talk about uh cannabis i want to talk about lots of stuff here but let's start with

some uh pink floyd here because i want to say right off the top pay tm the good people at pay tm canada sponsor this podcast they're sponsoring this fiercely independent podcast. So already give them points for that. But Paytm Canada's app is also amazing. I've been using it for a long time now. It's the only app in Canada that gives you rewards for your bill payments. And you get to choose how you pay your bills with your credit card, your bank account, or with cash.

And you watch your points grow. Like they've gamified bill payments. And I'm totally, totally digging it. And they'll give you 10 bucks just because you listen to this podcast. So just because you're going to hear an amazing conversation with Bill King, you get $10 and here's how you get it. You install the Paytm Canada app. It's free on your Android device or your Apple, your iPhone. And then when you sign up, when you make your first bill payment, you use the code, the promo code Toronto Mike, all one word. And then they're going to give you $10 that you can use towards a future bill payment. So I did that because I'm not saying no to $10.

I don't have that kind of cash bill. I'm not saying no to $10. You want $10? That's how you do it. Thank you, Paytm, for your sponsorship. I urge everybody to install the app and use that promo code so they know you learned about it on Toronto Mike.

$10 and it helps me out. That's a win-win, I would say. Is that the tip jar there, Mike? By the way, you mentioned the tip jar. I do have one, a virtual one, of course. Okay. Patreon.com slash Toronto Mike if anybody wants to help crowdfund this endeavor. Bill, I want to start, actually.

Actually, here I've got a lot of fun stuff planned, but let's start with this. Oh, my God. And I'm sorry about the quality of the recording you know it's not going to get any better scratchy old 45 that's right Now, this is by the Chateaus. Yeah. Of course, it's Monin, which most people know as what Bobby Timmons wrote it,

and then it was recorded by Art Blakely's Jazz Messengers. That's right. And Ray Charles. Yeah, actually, there's a lot of versions of this song I hear popping up. Even on the Fargo show, I heard a version of this pop up, and it's perfect. It is. So tell me, what's your relationship like with the Chateaus? That was actually the first rock band I was in, right?

And they had gigs and they were playing around and they were growing popular, but they were called the Chateaus at first. And then since Cliff Richards had the Chateaus, they were forced to change the name. So when I got in the band, I started utilizing the horns, right? Because it was like 12 pieces or whatever. I think it was four singers, four horns, and then four rhythm. Something like that. So what I did was start messing with the horns and trying to find things that I could do this crossover thing between jazz and rock.

Right. And I wanted to experiment. Right. And so this, I played this tune, and so I did this arrangement of it. And it just worked out great. It became top 50 on Billboard. I think it first came out on Monarch Records. It went through a couple of transitions where it kept getting more popular,

and it would change labels, but go up the cycle through this Nashville label. Interesting. And Monument Records, sorry, Monument Records. And it just became like a hit in our area, a regional hit. But here you have Rockabilly Guitar. Yeah. And his style is based on Lonnie Mack, who was 100 miles up the road. That style of music was there.

The same way with the drumming and the feel of that was like how Lonnie Mack's band. It was kind of the sound of our area. You know what, I need to step back. I need to tell people, of course, you're not a Toronto guy. You're not even a Canadian. Get out of here. No, I'm Canadian.

Get out of here. Now you're Canadian. But you were born in the United States. And you studied... Now, this is very interesting. So we're going to come back to that hit, actually. I should have started here. Where do you want to start, Mike?

Bill, you studied music at Indiana University. And this is a tip i got from my buddy andrew ward who told me this i did not know this he says a lot of people in canada may not be aware of this but indiana is one of the finest music schools in the world he says it's on par with juilliard in new york and ann arbor in michigan for classical music and uh berkeley and boston for jazz music so he's so right off the, I don't think we know this. I don't think it's common knowledge that what kind of a music school Indiana

is. Indiana was a very tough music program to get in because it was high on the classical list. But this is where the Brecker brothers went. Michael Brecker and a lot of great musicians went through there. I went through the extension of it,

and then I was in the University of Louisville Conservatory for piano, and then I was in Bellarmine College, a Catholic college. So I went to three there, but I also took privately from Jamie Abersold, who became this guy who created all these play-along books. And then I was also at the Academy of Music in Louisville, studying classical music. So I had this great grounding by all of these entities, in classical music and jazz,

and then took that when I got into this band and started learning the rock and the punk world. I had all this before I went into that direction. Wait, how is Oscar Peterson involved? Is that the advanced school of contemporary music? That was a, because we got Downbeat Magazine was our Bible, you know, for us kids. We just love, you know, had to read that.

And Downbeat was a coupon to get a scholarship or 50% off going to this school. So I filled that out and I sent in a tape and I got, you know, half scholarship. And so I could pay for the half tuition. And then I got accepted there. And so the parents got together with, through the church, our church, with a Christian family in Toronto.

And I stayed with them, paid them rent for the six weeks. And then I went to school here and studied with Oscar and Ray Brown. That's amazing oscar peterson yeah it was it was fun well that was it was overwhelming it was just like who's gonna who at 15 or 16 years old is going to get next to their hero or 17 16 17 years old it's funny you're the second guest in a row who got next to their hero oscar peterson because nina keo was in here the uh the last guest and she she was telling me her

she got you know she's a puppeteer but they had Oscar Peterson would do these guest appearances on these like

TVO and CBC things and she'd get to like perform with them and that's and I told her there's actually like a monument to Oscar down the street

because he's like we adopted him as like one of the Lakeshore residents that's Mississauga. Yeah, but I don't know how we decided to take him here. You just pulled him over. We took Dave Boland from Mimico.

You made him bike down Islington. That's right. Oh, no, down Lakeshore. Yeah, yeah. But that's amazing to be studying with. And it was enough to get you inspired and going. You know what I mean? If you're with somebody like that when you're that young

and there's such a role model for you. You know, I went home and I practiced eight hours a day. I turned into this different. Because I was practicing eight hours a day here, so I took the same habits home, you know? Awesome. Amazing. And then in 66, you have a hit record. We have this hit record with this. Yeah, Moanin'. Yes. And then the 66, you have a hit record. We have this hit record with this.

Yeah, Moanin'. Yes. And then the follow-up, this is very funny because at the time, then I became infatuated with the Byrds and Bob Dylan. So I had bought the Byrds' first album, right? And Mr. Tamarine Man, I bought the album. And I played it for that guitar player, right? Frank Bugbee, who's on there playing all that. He's a great guitar player.

And we went to his family's house who had just bought a stereo. It's the first time anybody owned a stereo. And the birds were, you know, the Rickenbackers, the 12-string Rickenbackers coming from two speakers. And we're laying on the floor listening to this and blowing our mind. This was stereo, right? And the next thing I know, they fire all. I do this arrangement of a tune that's provided from Nashville.

But they didn't want no horns or keyboards. They just want rickenbackers, right? And it became a hit for the band. But they fired all of us. Because they wanted to go out as a five-piece now, or a couple of guitars. But that was all cool. I was really curious with all the sounds that were coming, because we're in the 60s now.

And the guitars are twangy. They're different. They're not rockabilly. The Beatles have a sound. The Stones have a sound. I just got into these sounds and these productions, right? How unique they were. Is this the period when you're opening for the Beach Boys?

Three times. Wow. We opened for the Beach Boys with that group three consecutive times. And the first time was with Brian Wilson on bass. The second time was with Glenn Campbell on bass. And then the third time, Bruce Johnson. Wow, yeah. And it was pretty amazing.

That is amazing. And this work of the Chateau's led to an opportunity with the Dick Clark Productions. What's that experience like? Well, what we did was some of the Dick Clark shows, right? They had these caravans, and they would come into Louisville, and they'd just pick up a local band, you know know who could

play anything right and then they have like ronnie dove uh um oh who was this named carter uh i can't remember his first name but you'd have like dick and didi uh i like bread and butter you know these they had these one-off hits right singles and so the band would get with all these artists in the afternoon oh like freddie cannon f in the afternoon and rehearse these things and then go out and do the big show. And that's what we did. And just because I could read and I could write the charts and I

could teach the bands and I could transcribe off the record and teach everybody the parts, right? So we got to do some unique things because of that. Very cool. Now later in this episode when I bring up that article I just read, which I quite liked about cannabis, did you know they're legalizing this stuff?

It's happening in October. I don't know if you caught wind of that yet. But before we find out whether you'll be partaking or maybe you haven't waited until it was legal, we'll find out soon. But do you enjoy a beer now and then? Will you partake in that? I've never drank a beer.

Not even one? No. Or a cup of coffee either. That's amazing. No, never. Wow. No, I didn't have a glass of wine until I was in my 40s, somewhere in mid-40s.

I didn't drink anything. I just sort of steered clear of everything, basically, except for I had that period where I liked my weed and I liked cigarettes. Okay, so you're not completely straight-edged. No, no, no. I just sort of did that, and then I gave it all up. But I just never...

I had this thing, epiphany, I guess, that I just wanted to go through the world cleared-headed. Okay, okay. That was just me. Well, the coffee would have kept you clear-headed. But I hear you. Why have a vice, right, if you don't need a vice? But you know the thing is, I'm so wired that if I had a coffee, I would tremble.

And also, I grew up with a mother who was jacked up on coffee. Oh, yeah, I hear you. Oh, man. That'll turn you off, man. You've got to see this. In the 50s, the percolator's just cooking all day, right? And the women are coming by with the hair rollers, right? And they're sitting in there and they're just gossiping, right?

And the coffee's gone. And I go in there and all their teeth would be chattering. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Teeth would be just rattling. That's a lot of caffeine. That's a lot of caffeine. So, okay, this is interesting. So, obviously, because a lot of times as a teenager,

your buddies will say, hey, try a beer. And usually, you know, you might try it, say, I don't really dig this, and then decide not to acquire the taste. But usually you have one or two in that phase of your life. It never happened. Very straight edge. No, I'll give you the reason why. Our family were evangelicals. Okay.

Very, very strict family. So there was nothing in the house. The family were evangelicals. Okay. Very, very strict family. So there was nothing in the house. The evils of alcohol. Evils in everything. And he just walked out the front door. Were you allowed to dance at least? No. If somebody danced on TV, they turned the TV off.

Fascinating. Couldn't go to public swimming pools. Oh, wow. Could you play catch, like baseball? You could do that. Fascinating. Couldn't go to public swimming pools. Oh, wow. No, because you couldn't take your shirt off. Could you play catch, like baseball? You could do that. Okay, okay. No, that's what we did.

Me and my brother, we played nothing but sports every day. We spent all our time. They would allow us to do nothing but play basketball and baseball. But you realize a lot of people who grow up this way end up drinking like a fish. You know what I mean? It just didn't happen. It was just... You know, I just kind of...

You know, when you live in a home that's that strict, and then they're just on you constantly for your academics, right, and the pressure all the time on you. It seems to have worked out for you, man. What a successful career. Okay. But this is an awkward moment here. You know why? Here's why it's awkward.

I know where you're going with this. I'm about to give you a gift for biking all this way. I see it right here, and I really appreciate it. All right, so you have two options here. Right. You can give it to a neighbor, a friend. That's easy for me to do. Yeah.

So you'll be a popular guy to pass this on. And it's very kind of you. No pressure to drink it. Very kind of you. No, it is your guy to pass this on. No pressure to drink it. It is your gift to share with somebody. I really appreciate it, Mike. So that is courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. 30 Queen Street, Queen Elizabeth Boulevard.

Yeah, I would tell you to go over for a $5 patio pint before you head east, but don't do that because you have a good streak going. Enjoy. Enjoy. before you head east, but don't do that because you have a good streak going. We want you to blow a streak. Enjoy. Now, this is also the time where I would tell you that there's another gift for you because you're going to need to pour that tasty, cold Great Lakes beer

into a pint glass. Is this what this is? Yes, but you can also pour Coke Zero in there or you can put whatever you like, water. Now, this says the six on it. Property in the six dot com. I can get with this really easy. Okay, good.

So what's going in there? Like orange juice, milk? What's going in there? You know what I do? I make up my multi-fruit blend in the morning. Smoothie. I make my smoothie. Yeah.

And it's probably about 10 fruits in there, about three or four fruit juices. And that's what I hit. That glass is perfect, man. This is the exact size. Would you invite me over one morning for a smoothie? Yeah, if they're good. I'd bike over there. It's funny because where you came from today, and you biked a long way, actually, and I'm really impressed because

I made a delivery. I sold something and I delivered it to somebody at a Starbucks just north of St. Clair on Spadina. So I'm like, I was in the hood and I'm like, oh. Did you bike the whole distance? Oh, yeah. You're out of your mind. But you're doing the same thing almost. Yeah, but I mean. But you're out of your mind too. Yeah, okay.

So I'm there and I'm biking back now and I go, oh, wow. I'm at Casa Loma. My brain didn't realize. That's right. I said, I'm going to this address. And then I took a photo and I tweeted a photo of Property in the Six. I said, here's a Property in the Six.

That's the name of Brian Gerstein's website, propertyinthesix.com. So Brian Gerstein is a real estate sales representative of PSR Brokerage. If you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months, you need to contact Brian. And if you have any questions

about the Toronto Raptors trade that went down after Rosen, he's a massive Raptors fan as well. Oh, man, anytime you want to talk about that. Give him a call. His phone number's probably on that card you got in that drink. You know I'm going to like the trade, so. Well, okay, I like the trade because we upgraded. I like it when the team upgrades.

And I can't wait for next season. But there is a good strong part of me that feels like this is a one year window with Kawhi because he's going to go to LA. Well, that's probably true, but they were going to blow the team up next year anyway. And that does take the

Rosen contract is off the books. So you're right. So I'm all in now. But it was that moment at the beginning you're kind of like oh, DeRozan's been so loyal and we like him. It did not surprise me. Because I think there's, you know, it's like looking at the Blue Jays right now, how they're breaking up the team. And I think they understand there's some issues with some players. And, you know, I think there's greater issues than just loyalty and stuff like that. I think when it came to the playoffs,

I think DeRozan shut down for some reason. I don't know. He does tend to disappear. Totally ineffectual. So I think, boy, you only get a chance to get a once-in-a-lifetime player and they went for it.

I think this guy's going to enjoy his time here. The young players are fantastic. That's a great program. We kept those Pascal and OG and these guys. We didn't have to give up any of those parts. And Fred Van Vliet. You go down the list. They're just...

DeLon Wright. Just great players. Great bench. The bench mob was fantastic, and they're still intact. And even that guy we got, my son, who's a massive Raptors fan. Just great players. No, great bench. The bench mob was fantastic and they're still intact. And even that guy we got, my son, he's a massive Raptors fan, he's 16, would tell me,

you know, dad, even, I can't remember his name now, Danny something, the guy who came with Kawhi in the trade. We got another guy.

Danny Green. Right. And he's like, you know, he hits the three and he plays defense. He says he can close out these games.

Like, he's all like excited about that. And I was, I'm like, and I got excited about that. I was like, let's start the season tomorrow. Still, there's the big men on

the bench that they've been raising for years, and he has a big upside to him. You mean Pascal? The other guy, Noraga? Oh, yeah. BB. I call him BB. There's an upside to this guy, too. He came in in the Cleveland series.

He came in for two minutes, and it was the worst two minutes of basketball I ever saw, but he's still young. He's still young. And his buddy's gone now. His Brazilian buddy, they got rid of the two years away from being two years away Bruno experiment. He's gone.

But, all right, so good. Some bonus Raptors talk, but I have a question for you that's not Raptors related. Although if I had known you were a big Raptors guy, I'm sure Brian would have asked you a Raptors question. But here's a question for you, Bill, from Brian Gerstein from Property in the Six. Okay. Propertyinthesix.com Hi, Bill.

Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mike. The market seemed to have settled down with price increases ahead, though still very much neighborhood dependent. Call or text me to break it down for you at 416-873-0292. Bill, you worked with one of the great musicians of all time, who tragically died way before her time. I am referring to the one and only Janice Joplin, who herself was greatly influenced by blues music even before envisioning a career. Is there anybody, either dead or alive, in the music industry who even resembles Janice's raspy voice? You worked with Janice Joplin. Yeah, no, there isn't.

You have to take it in the context of all that voice, right? I mean, there's been Coco Taylor and blues artists that sing with the big raspy sound, but when you make this crossover to where she went with the blues, she's one of a kind, you know, and that's what you want. I, you know, I teach at Harris Institute last night. The class was about singers, the voices, right? And I always try to tell them, you know, you're going down in management, you're going to production. You look for these people who have a one of a kind voice,

you know, or those that connect, you know, there's something about them. You can't explain a Willie Nelson. You can't explain a Dylan. You can't explain a Neil Young or Tom Waits. Yeah, those are great examples. You know, they're all people that something comes from the heart and the soul out through the throat and is uniquely them. And it's the same with her.

Well, let's listen for just a moment here. Fish are jumping on Hey, the cotton Lord Cotton's high Lord's high Your daughter is rich And your mom's so good looking, babe So fucking good.

Yeah. I'm telling you, man. Janis Joplin. Great phrasing, you know. Hush, baby, baby, baby This is an old standard. It's just like... No, no, no, no, don't you cry This is an old standard. It's just like... Tell us how you ended up working for her.

In what capacity did you work with the legendary Janis Joplin? This happened because I lived in Greenwich Village. And you would hear about things with bands, right? Because I saw every band. I mean, whether it was Stevie Winwood or Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone. I saw all these bands all the time. And somebody said, just in passing, that Janice is looking for a keyboard player. So I went down to my neighborhood record store, pulled out the LP Cheap Thrills,

and I looked on the back, and I found out who the management was and I called the management and said you know I'm a keyboard player and I'd like to have a shot at this and they says have you got any evidence of your plan well I had a 45 that I recorded in LA with piano it's like a Ramsey Lewis style thing and I went up there and I took it to them and then a day or so later I got a call to come up and meet them. So I went up and met Elliot Roberts, who was the manager of Neil Young all these years, and a guy named Vinnie Fusco.

And then I said at the same time, I said, well, I have a trio I play with too, other musicians, a bass player and a drummer. And they said, can we hear them? So then I had been doing stuff with herb aberson who was the founder of atlantic records him and his wife muriel were the two of the founders of atlantic and he had when he sold atlantic he got a studio the old atlantic studio was part of the deal so i talked to her but it says I got to do this showcase thing with the trio

and they're coming down from Albert Grossman's office. So Albert came down, the two gentlemen came down and I had worked up a rendition of Peace of My Heart with the trio right? But I went back to the original version by Irma Franklin

and I did it basically like that and then another tune. So they came down, they listened to it, and Herb recorded it, two songs for them, gave it to them, and they went away and they go, we like you and the bass player, but we already have a bass player from Toronto, Brad Campbell, but we'd like to give you the music director job, too. And I said, I'll take it. Wow. And so the bass player with us, Stu Woods, went on to play from the Pozo Sequel Singers to Janis Ian to Don McLean's American Pie, Tony Orlando on Dawn.

He played on Taya Yellow Ribbon bass. So he made out like a gangster. So I got this gig, and then they sent me to San Francisco. Me and Brad together to meet her and to get to know her and hang out for a few days. And that's what we did. We went and met

her and it was just wild. You're a kid from Jefferson? Straight as can be. And this is the period of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That's right. You're right there, man. What's that like? I'm still straight as a hammer.

Yeah, amazing. Not even a glass of beer. Nothing. Not even a joint or anything. Nothing. I wouldn't even swear, you know? And she was so cute. It was so funny because on our first meeting,

me and Brad had walked up Noe Street, which almost killed us because it was one of those San Francisco streets on the slant, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We had never walked on a street like this. And we get to her door, and her girlfriend opens the door, and she comes to the door,

and she's just all effervescent. She welcomes us in, and me and Brad go in. We sit down in their living room, and she goes in, and she gets us a, I guess it's Southern Comfort, a couple glasses of shots of Southern Comfort and a joint. Oh, and you were like,

do you have any water? I said, you got water? Do you have milk? She looked at me, she goes, what did I do? Hard Jesus Christ? And I said, no, no, that's just me, right? She goes, well, that's all right.

I need somebody in the band to get us all home safe. No, that's right. You're the music director. It's good. Keep a clear head. No, smart, man. They can all get blotto and you can steer the ship. We can do whatever. No, I love it. And, you know, so the relationship was like that. And she would call us up. She'd come and get Brad and me.

Yeah. And she'd go, you guys want to go play pool? And we'd go, yeah, let's go shoot pool. So we'd go to Country Billiards and shoot pool and me and Brad had been playing so much pool that she could never beat us. She didn't want us to let her. She would never give in. She just wanted to beat us so bad

and I could never beat Brad because Brad had spent his time in these snooker halls here in Toronto. I was eight ball, Brad was snooker. So the pockets were small. But anyway, we would go out at night and we'd play, and then she would go to these places,

these haunts, where the strangest people were. It was her night people friends, right? That knew her as just Janice before all of this. And she would go back to the bars in the neighborhoods where she was just Janice. And she could get away from all the people chasing her down.

And it was really sweet. She's like, I mean, she's a comet, right? Like, just burns so bright, but such a short period of time. She's gone at 27. And it should have never happened. It was fascinating because I went to her with her. I went to her to Winterland to see Johnny Winter's first gig. And we went together.

And she had bribed Seagram 7 or whatever, Southern Comfort, to give her a big fur coat. So she gets the fur coat. And she takes it and throws it on the dirty floor. And she sits on this coat. And I'm sitting there going, that she takes it and throws it on the dirty floor, and she sits on this, on the coat. And I'm sitting there going, that coat's got to be like $4,000 or $5,000. Are you crazy? So the Johnny Winters thing. Then we went together back there to see the small faces with Rod Stewart.

And this is so funny because she kept saying, you know, these guys look like girls. She kept saying, look at them. They look like girls. They all want to dress like girls. She goes, let's go backstage and meet them. And I said, okay, I got to meet these guys. So we go backstage and it's Rod Stewart and it's Ron Wood and the small faces.

And I thought they were terrific. Went back there and she walks in and she goes, hey, you something to them. And they just looked at her and turned away. And she goes, it's Janice Joplin. It's Janice Joplin here to see you. something to them. They just looked at her and turned away. She goes, it's Janis Joplin. It's Janis Joplin here to see you. They just looked at her and wouldn't even speak to her. Then she started abusing them, right?

I said, maybe we should just leave. Then she walked out and said, you know, they're all dressed up like mannequins and stuff. So pretty. Rod was very, very pretty. I thought they were called Faces. Small Faces? That's what they were first called.

Okay, okay. And then they just, I think they dropped the small one. Yeah, maybe they dropped the small one. Okay, yeah, fascinating. Oh, man. So where were you when you got news that Janice had passed? Like, what was that? Well, you know, I was with her on Taiwan and went to the Army.

And then we were in Canada. And I was with a band called Homestead. And we were doing Festival Express, which was the big fiasco. And we were playing on the same day as her. And I hadn't seen her for a year. So we got together, me and my wife got together with her backstage, and it was just the sweetest thing. She just jumped on me, man, you know?

And he goes, where the hell did you go? And she knew. She knew I was in the military, but it just surprised her that I was gone. I was going to say, where the hell did you go? I went in the military, but I couldn't get around that. Anyway, this was this reunion. Then she starts telling Christine and I that she had a boyfriend now, and she was off the heroin, and she was not drinking any more hard liquor she was on wine we went well this is great and she's all happy and everything and life is good and then a few months later she's dead yeah and then there were all sorts of rumor that she was killed off

and stuff like that and then i talked to the john court who was sort of the role manager. He called me after that and just said that, you know, it's just one of those things. Because, like, when we played in Dallas, we were, you know, when we played in Memphis, we did the gig in Memphis, and it was like an all-star stacks thing. All the stars of the great records that come out were there on that thing. And after the show these young kids came up from dallas and gave her a package of syrenzes syrenzes right right and and

i like this he gave me a chill even the thought and then she got with one of the horn players and she shot up right and i went man i don't know if i could take this anymore because that was not my world right right? Right. So you sit up here and you're dodging all this stuff. And then you see in reality what's going on. And you go, oh, man, this kind of turns my stomach, you know? Man. Yeah, there was three in a row, right?

Because you mentioned earlier seeing Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix. Yeah, Jimi Hendrix. Jim Morrison. I think he took a needle in the neck or something. He did something really weird. Well, Neil Young, man. a needle in the neck or something. He would do something really weird. Well, Neil Young, man, needle in the damage done, right? Just took way too many of your fellow musicians.

Yeah, I don't get it. Jimi Hendrix had everything going for himself. I mean, when I was in Greenwich Village, I was there when Are You Experienced came out, prior to it came out. And it was electric in the village. Everybody was Jimmy's friend and knew that this was coming that was going to set him apart from everything else.

So he had everything going. And I just don't get it. No, I hear you. We're in the late 60s now. Oh, by the way, I should point out, you mentioned you were a pianist. That's a word I practiced just to make sure I didn't mess that up. Pianist and music director for Janice.

But prior to that, you did the same stuff for Linda Ronstadt, right? That was very short. Okay. Yeah, I got to gig with her. When I'm in Greenwich Village, I'm playing piano at a place called Louis Jordan's. And it just so happened that Herb Cohn,

who was the manager of Frank Zappa, and also Linda Ronstadt, was sitting there listening to me play piano. And he just came over to me and he goes, you read? He says, you seem to play everything. And I said, yeah, I can, basically. And he goes, you want a gig? I said, yeah, what's the gig? He goes, with Linda Ronstadt. And I said, you've got to be kidding? He goes, with Linda Ronstadt. I said, you got to be kidding.

He goes, I'm her manager. And then I say, so what am I getting paid? He goes, well, $50 for rehearsals and $150 for the gig. And I went, sure, that sounds great. That sounds good today. So me and the guitar player, Lee Under underwood and his girlfriend got in the car and we drove across the states and to california and met up with the rest of the band that had been put in place and got together and rehearsed with her and it was just i i got along great with it

but you know what it was too at the same the same time? Here's this evangelical kid that he's sitting on a piano bench next to the coolest, most beautiful girl on planet. So you're back in high school again. You got the fear. She's the most gorgeous, and she's the dream girl. And she's sitting right there, and she starts singing. And then you go, oh, I can't talk. And she looks at me. Did you ever say anything i said i don't know what to say but she was just so sweet and then it's the same thing she goes well let's go hang out yeah so i go with her and ran around to studios she knew the um uh the brothers the chambers

brothers oh yeah and people like that and so i went out a few times and hang around with her, went to recording studios, RCA, went down to the beach with her and did a few things and got the music together and then she just screwed off. It's funny, you mentioned Chamber Brothers. So John Donabee was just here. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, and he was talking about all the recording. He has these reel-to-reel recordings, like boxes of them. Like he had the Chamber Brothers did a bunch of live stuff for him and a whole bunch of stuff. And he says, you've got to bake this stuff before you can... That's right.

There's a whole thing. You have to bake it and you get one play. You can help out Donabee, okay? We've got to rescue this. I know where to get it done because we just did that. Yeah. It sounds like a pain in the ass, but we've got to do it, man. We've got to save this.

But you know what's great about that was I went to a show. I actually played on the show with Chuck Berry. I played with him at the L.A. Coliseum, and on that show was Fleetwood Mac, the first rendition of Fleetwood Mac with Mick Taylor and Peter Green. And then also on that show was the Chambers Brothers. So, I mean, it was just a knockout show. But the star of the show was Chuck Berry.

There was 10,000 young people. And you were there, man. That's crazy. I was on stage. You were on stage. That's no, man. We're just tip of the iceberg stuff here. Let me play this jam from 1970, and let's talk about this.

Oh, here we go. As I start each day with my gun in hand, and I dream of that last showdown. And I weave my thoughts with a cautious touch, as I wait in suspense for the end. Goodbye Superdime. Yeah. Did I get the right year, 1970? Or am I early enough? 1972, probably. Oh, yeah. I wasn't sure, you know. I was not born yet, 1970? 1972 probably I wasn't sure I was not born yet so it's hard to remember

So tell me about this jam and what you were doing in the early 70s when all this stuff came out Well this was about Watergate This tune was about G. Gordon Liddy who was one of the Watergate co-conspirators.

Right. And it was about how they were serving justice. You know? And that when I said goodbye, super dad, I meant goodbye to the Trumps, goodbye to Nixon, goodbye to all these people. And they were like outlaws. They were like political outlaws.

And this was the whole idea about this, but I wanted to put into a southern roots slide guitar, blues sort of way of saying it. Well, when I hear it, I get a Warren Zevon vibe. He was kind of the times, too.

And I had a voice that was no richer than Warren Seawald's. So you just work with what you got, you know. Enjoy every sandwich. Absolutely. That's your advice, man. That's it. I'm telling you, man.

I liked you the minute I saw you rolling on your bike. I said, this is my guy. You knew that was it, huh? Yeah, I said, that's it. Love it for a sight right there. Now, even though you won't enjoy the Great Lakes beer I gave you, that's okay, man. Hey, man, no. Somebody will.

Somebody will. And you're going to be their hero, so it's going to get you points. And there's some pretty cans here. That's right. They do a good job on the animation. So, okay, now you're in Canada at this point, right? Yes. Because you signed a contract of Capitol Records.

Well, prior to that, I was signed to Jack Richardson with a band called Homestead That was 1970 We did an album in 1970 That sort of started me Moving ahead in my music career This was a hit right? This was a radio hit right?

This was a radio hit and so was the one prior to that Called Anthem We The People Which was on Nimbus 9 It sort of helped me get You know I was with them For a couple years And so was the one prior to that called Anthem, We the People, which was on Nimbus 9. And it sort of helped me get, you know, I was with them for a couple years. And then with Homestead, then I branched out on my own. And this was Paul, Paul Hoffert and H.P. and Bell had a three record, three artist deal with Capitol. So they signed Flying Circus with Terry Wilkins. They signed Bob McBride and they signed me.

Paul White did from Capitol at the time. Very cool. Now, I mentioned Donabee. Donabee recently invited me to this radio event. We were there. So I feel something. So, okay, here's my little story for you. So I was there for part of this.

And I was like, I was invited by Don, but I didn't crash the party or whatever. But I was the only, I noticed very quickly, I was the only like non-radio guy that was kind of in the room. Also the youngest guy in the room, but that's okay. Oh, as Ted Wallach insists, it was old people babysitting grandparents.

I know, I was like, I recognize some faces right away, though, because they'd been on the show. Like one of the faces I recognized right away was Evelyn Macko yeah there you go and then Macko she sees me uh because she had she's been here like you've been here now and uh and I said to her I said you know I confess I said uh my problem is I know the names I might know the voices but I don't know the faces like so so I don't I can't, because I've never worked in this industry. So she spent a little time like, this is this person, this is this person, this is this person. And then she said, this is Bill King.

You need to have Bill King on, is what she said. Okay. So I had this note, right? And then shortly thereafter, she points to Keith Hampshire. Yes. Keith is there, okay? Yes. Keith Hampshire.

Yes. Keith is there, okay. Yes. The day before, I recorded an episode of this podcast, Toronto Mic'd, with my buddy Mark Hebbshire, Hebbsy from Sportsline,

and we did the top 10 sports jams, okay? Okay. I put number one on my list. I put OK Blue Jays as my number one, so OK. That was lasting.

That stuck. Yeah. But you're going to get hit from the hockey people for that. Speaking of Warren Zevon, he has that great Hit Somebody, which David Letterman guests on. That's a great jam, too. I had just played OK Blue Jay and sort of lauded it or whatever, because

I still love my Blue Jays, but man, that was... That was Tony Koznik wrote that. Is that right? I think it was... So Keith sings it, though. Yeah. Okay, Blue Jays.

Let's play ball. That's Tony Koznik wrote that. Their Jingle House wrote that. And they did very well by that. Now, Hampshire and I, now we just chatted. He's coming in August 15th. So he's coming in. And we're going to break down that OK Blue Jays.

I want to know everything about that jam. But I have a clip here. This is going back to 1974. And this is, it's you performing on, I don't know what this show is called. Oh, I know, Music Friends. OK, Music Machine. Music Machine, Keith Hampshire's show. This is CBC's Keith Hampshire's Music Machine in 1974.

So let's just hear a little bit and we'll talk about this. Keith Hampshire's Music Machine with Eric Robinson and Local 149. Liberation. Our special guest tonight, Bill King. And now, here's Keith. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, and welcome once again to this little musical get-together

that we celebrate each and every week. Nice to have you here. You're going to hear some of the great music from Eric Robertson, Local 149, and Liberation a little later on in the show. But right now, let's listen to the music of our multi-talented special guest, Bill King. Thank you. Honey,

don't you need me tonight? Dearest loved one, don't you want to sit down? You can come to me if you need that help again. You can rest your head in my loving arms and lie there all night long. I believe this is your very first national performance. Could be. You might be right. My research staff

came back with that. You know, I did the one that Mo Kaufman was something, what was it called? Mo Kaufman was doing a show. You know, Mo Kaufman inspired the theme song

Toronto Mike to the beginning because his Curried Soul, which is the As It Happens theme song, is what I was looking for when I started this podcast. There you go. Well, he had a show and I was on there too doing a tune, but I can't even, I don't know if there's even footage of that. And then there's also, there's a City TV one with me and Rick James.

Rick James was in my band at the time. Right, because he was at the Mine of Birds or something? This is after the Mine of Birds and he had White Cane. And he was in my band, Bill Escher, some of the same other players on Superdad. Wow. And we did an hour-long

show on City. And then I went back to try to get the tapes and they had erased them all. Because then they just couldn't afford anything, so they go over the videotapes. I love to have that. I want to break into the Dave Chappelle. I'm Rick

James, bitch! Oh man, that's my favorite episode. Oh yeah. I watch that. It's on Crave TV and I watch those old skits. Charlie Murphy. Charlie Murphy. Oh my god. He just passed away. watch those old skits. Charlie Murphy. Charlie Murphy. Oh, my God. Charlie Murphy wrote that skit. Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah, and I like the Prince one, too.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, they're on. Play ball with Prince. Oh, my God. He makes the pancakes. There's a great Questlove one. Questlove tells the one about going ice skating with Prince. Oh, yeah.

Which is just the best. Amazing. Now, what jam am I hearing here? What's this song? This is called Sweet Dreams, and this is from the second album, Dixie Peach. Dixie Peach. But this is live, so this was on that album.

I have to confess, I did not know there was a, that CBC had a Keeps Hampshire music machine until I was doing the whole thing. Yeah, it was. They had a great guest. I need to know this because I'm going to have to do homework

for his appearance on August 15th. I'll play this for him, I think. Yeah. But good. That's amazing. That's amazing here.

What else we got here? We could spend the whole episode listening to this old episode of Keith Hampshire's music machine. See why more Canadians

buy Chevrolet. There you go. Coming up on Gallery, a visit to Paris in the era of Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, as seen by writer Janet Flanner, who has lived there for 50 years. It's a charming city. It's a famous city.

It has beautiful galleries, beautiful pictures, beautiful women, often handsome men. Oh, there's every reason on earth why Paris should be popular. I agree. Paris is beautiful. I love Paris. It's great. Jim Morrison is very dear.

Thank you very much. Now, once again, here's our special guest, Bill Keat. Yeah, I went to that graveyard. Yeah, I did too. I did too. You know who else is in there? There's a few famous people. Authors. Oscar Wilde is in there. I do too. I had to do that. You know who else is in there? There's a few famous people, but... Authors.

Oscar Wilde is in there. Oscar Wilde. And who's the famous French singer? La Vie en Rose. Oh, Edith, yeah. Edith Yeth is in there too. You know, and you get a map and you still can't find the people. Yeah, I know.

You're absolutely right. I just walked all over and go, where are these people? And some famous composers. I'm trying to remember. Chopin or something. Chopin. Chopin I found. Okay, yeah, yeah.

That one I found. Well, I found them all. I did, but you're right. You needed to do a little homework and then... And you know, and when we changed, we changed accommodations, right?

Because we stayed in this absolutely wonderful small boutique hotel in Montmartre, next district, or whatever it's called. And then we got this other one because we wanted to stay a couple days longer.

So we got these other accommodations and it was right on the edge of the graveyard. And you don't think that freaked me out? Because we had the window. Because we should point out, it's not like our graveyards, right? No! These are monuments. I don't know what you call monuments. Hey, man, those people were running around there at night. That's what it makes you think, right? And I get the window open

and I'm looking at the window going, oh, man, are they looking up at me? You know, it was spooky. It's saying there's somebody from the 1700s hurling rocks at my window. And there's lots of these big grave cemeteries in Paris, because I visited a few, but that's that one that we're talking about now. It's a lot of people come there to see,

you know, Jim Morrison, for example. There's a lot of people who come to see that. Okay, so we're in the 70s now. We just had Keith Hampshire. I got to promote a future episode, so I got to kill two birds with one stone.

And you returned to L.A. in the 76. You're a music director for Martha Reeves. Is that right? Yeah, I did that for, I guess, seven or eight months. Yeah.

And then this band. Hold on here. I got another jam. I know what you're doing. Well, you don't know where I'm going. I know what you're doing. Bill, I got to keep you on your toes. You don't know. I know this song. Hold on here. I got another jam. I know what you're doing. Well, you don't know where I'm going. I know what you're doing. Bill, I got to keep you on your toes.

You don't know. I know this song. Play it. I tried to get songs of the era you were there. You know, I'm not going to go. Slow hand. Right. I'm riding in your car. You turn on the radio.

You're pulling me close. I just say no. I say I don't like it. But you know I'm a liar. Cause when we kiss Ooh, fire Wow, what a champ. Bill, you were a Pointer sister. I was music director.

And you toured with him. I've got to give credit to Basement Dweller. He wants to know what it was like touring with the Pointer sisters back in the day. Because you went to Japan and the States, right? Yeah. You know, it was first class. And it was a blast.

There's so many funny episodes that... When I met them and when I went in... Here's a couple of good ones that were just dynamic. When I met them and and when I went in, here's a couple of good ones that were just dynamic. When I met them and I went to the, the first thing I did with them was to go to CBS Studios to do a TV show. All right? And it's not only that. They're doing a TV special. And they're doing, starting to rehearse for their Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe show with Carol Burnett.

So they have a 20-minute segment in the Carol Burnett show. This is my start with them, right? And I go right off the bat, I go to the top. So I go to CBS Studios, and my wife is away, so my son Jesse is like two, three years old or something. I have to take him with me. So I take him to the front of the CBS studios, TV studios, and I'm downstairs, and then the girl in the front desk goes,

well, the keyboard piano player is here, but he's got his baby with him. And then they said, she goes, what can we do? Well, Carol Burnett's husband was Joe Hamilton, and he comes down to the front, and he goes, what do you mean, what are you going to do? It's his baby. Bring the kid up. I like you, man.

Yeah, I'm serious. What did they want you to do? I go upstairs with my son and I'm carrying him down the hallway. Yeah. I look in one rehearsal and there's Carol O'Connor. There's Meathead. There's Gloria rehearsing all in the family. Wow.

Standing with scripts. Wow. They got their scripts. there's Gloria rehearsing all in the family standing with scripts I go to the next studio and there's Fred Sanford and they're rehearsing for their show Sanford and Son, right? I went, this is amazing then I get to the main studio and then I look in there

and there's Harvey Gorman there's Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence Tim Conway all sitting around a room and there's Harvey Gorman there's Carol Bennett Vicki Lawrence Tim Conway all sitting around a room and there's a couch right and I walk into this room and there's a piano and I walk in and the girls aren't there anyway this is just out of this world I walked in and Carol Bennett jumps up and goes give me that baby boy so he takes my son away from me. She does all her work, comedy work, while holding him. Wow.

It was mind-blowing. It was mind-blowing. And so the girls come in, and I'm introduced to them for the first time. Right. And they said, so you were with Martha Reeves, right? And I said, yeah. And then they break out in four-part harmony doing Heat Wave. Da-da, da-da.

And they're singing Heat Wave. Then they start doing Dancing in the Street. And I went, this is just out of this freaking world, right? Because they were like that. The four sisters were like that. They could harmonize any song. And you know they must have grown up singing all these tunes.

And so it was just an amazing day to start with anyway. I can't believe those, like, all in the family. To this day, that might be the most important or biggest sitcom in the history of television. It's a Smithsonian institution now, just in comedy, right? But just to be behind the scenes and look through a portal and see these folks that you you watched every night just going through their script for the week before the filming.

It was just awesome. Crazy. Incredible. And Japan? Was that your first time in Japan? Yeah, it was my first time and it was amazing because of just the people of Japan and the reception that we got there.

I love playing, you know, I've played basketball all my life. And so I was so into basketball that I wanted to play basketball all over Japan. So we do a show and I go to the Y and play ball. I go down to the docks and there's this great scene when I'm in Kobe, one of the port cities,

and I just got to shoot some hoops and I go along to where some hoops, and I go along to where all the ships are coming in, and it's just half, it's overcast and raining, and I see this hoop, man, and it's nothing but chicken shit on the ground. Then there's this netting,

this massive netting over here, and I'm just standing looking at this hoop, and this guy runs out of a shed and brings me a basketball. I went, this is unbelievable. So I start shooting at this hoop, right? And then a whole team of baseball players run out of this clubhouse, and they start having batting practice.

And there's no place to hit the ball, so you hit in the nets. There you go. So they're practicing field and everything, and it was just one of those times when you go, man, how did this happen? No, it's cool, man. It's funny to hear you talk about basketball. I mean, I was thinking like, once a Hoosier, always a Hoosier, right?

This is in your blood. Day and night. Like Larry Bird, he's from that. He's from VV Indiana. And my first gig that I ever played was in his hometown, home area. Oh, wow. I loved that movie as a kid. Hoosiers.

Hoosiers, yeah. It was a great, great flick. And it's so on to what, you know, like you all have, you had hockey. It's so important. It's so in your bones, right? Right. Basketball with every kid was in our bones. we played we played we played and then we had we had our idols you know the bob koozies and then of course magic johnson and and all those great players and to the lebrons now

and all those stars and anybody's born in indiana understands that the game in Indiana is different than the game anywhere else because it's about team play. So when you're playing three-on-three or wherever you're at, you play team play. Right. And much, you know,

when I played in L.A. and everything, it was individual stuff. You show yourself off, right? Well, like in the movie there, it's fundamentals, right? It's fundamentals, yeah. Pass the ball, dribble. Well, they went a long time before they introduced the ball, as I recall.

I'm trying to remember the movie now, but it was great. Let me tell you, those coaches in Indiana were just brutal. Well, the only one we all know, of course, is Bob Knight because he's infamous, if you will. And Bob Knight wasn't any different than a lot of high school coaches because they were that. The high school i had was uh that we had that was the coach just prior to getting high school was guy named cliff barker and he was part of the fabulous five from kentucky with cliff hagan and um under adolph rupp and he won the national championship and he carried he carried a paddle around with you with him and he would hit you man he would just come up behind you

and just whack the hell out of you. If you weren't moving in gym class, you'd never get away with that now. No, no, not anymore. But I mean, I'm old enough that I remember when I was in, my first three years, I went to a school called St. Cecilia's.

And I can't remember, sister, anyway, the principal, who was a nun, gave the strap. And you got the strap when you got in trouble. That's so long gone now. No one can even believe that happened. You survived that. Yeah.

I don't think I actually got the strap. But yeah, the legends of the kids who got it, though, you saw the marks. They got it. It was real. But let me talk. I'm dying to talk about China. So we just talked about Japan, but now I need to talk about China. The band.

The band, not the country. So, okay. So you come back to Toronto in the 70s, late 70s, and you form China. Let's hear a bit of, okay, I got a few jams from China, but let's hear some China here. I'm gonna take my love Prove you got the power That moves me You're like some kind Of natural boy lover You know the words

Are soothing When the words are stupid When the feelings are dead Well then everything is clear Come and take my love Ooh We're in a danger zone

You're like some kind of natural disaster You may soon explode When the pressure gets tough Come on, baby, start to stir Someone's gonna take my love Someone's gonna take it Someone's gonna take my love

I don't wanna break it Someone's gonna take my love Someone's gonna take my love Oh, baby Come to take my love. Someone's going to take my love. Someone's going to take my love. Man, I could hear that today on a yacht rock playlist. There you go, buddy. The yacht rock.

Late 70s. That's great stuff, man. So tell me about how this group came to be and what kind of success you had with China. So tell me about how this group came to be and what kind of success you had with China. This was with my pal Danny McBride, who played on the Goodbye Superdad, played all that wonderful guitar. We were great as friends. And we wanted to get a gig at the El Macombo because I had played there so much. We were the house band with the reggae and all that in the 70s.

And so when I came back after living in Atlanta in California, me and Danny hooked up and we decided somehow, I knew Chris Kearney too because I had played with him earlier. The three of us got together and formed Kearney, King, and McBride. We played at the Elmo. We're like a house band all the time. We were

into the Eagles. We were into Doobie Brothers. Yeah, there's Doobie Brothers Chicago. We we were totally into that sound steely dan or whatever like yeah that whole thing was our thing and so we we just did had a great time there and the good brothers were there all the time everybody coming down to see the band and the band just rocked out. It had great players in it. And then this guy from Buffalo came up, and he was tied to the folks in Nashville that had a management company. And they came up, and then they came up with CBS Records and Bob Johnston, who produced Bob Dylan and Simon Garfunkel and all these people.

So this big producer came up, and we just hit it off. We laughed so hard and smoked a lot of weed, too. So now we've entered the Bill King marijuana period. Oh, absolutely. We're having so much fun. And it just came together that they got a deal with Greg Geller at Epic Records in New York, heard it, and he really liked the direction because it's a time of those kind of bands, right?

Singing groups. And they sent us off to Nashville. And we went to Nashville for about a week, but we couldn't find players at that time that could play this style of music. It was still strictly country. So then the deal was set that we would do it in L.A. and Hollywood and do the album and stuff.

And it just got, we got with Albert Lee, Abraham Laborio, Lee Rittenour, all these great players in L.A. we had on the album could do this. And this is kind of how that came together. And it was one of those situations that it was the time of, did you ever read the book The Hitmen? No.

It's the one about the corruption in the industry. This is the time of just the ultimate corruption, you know, pay to play kind of thing, right? And we were caught up in that kind of mobster stuff, right? That the record comes out, and it's on hundreds of stations in America. Then I get the call from the guy that got us the thing, and he says,

I got to get my $30,000, and I'm going to pull this record. And I went, what? $30,000. He says, go talk to Charlie Daniels' people and tell them I want my $30,000, and I'm going to pull this record. And I went, what? $30,000. He says, go talk to Charlie Daniels' people and tell them, I want my $30,000. Or, I'm going to pull the record. So these are guys like rack jobbers and all these kind of things.

These radio promoters. I go back to Charlie Daniels and say, I don't know this. And they said, screw him. We're not giving him $30,000. Record got pulled. That's how it ended, that quick. In one week. And you said, screw him. We're not giving him $30,000. Record got pulled. Wow. That's how it ended, that quick. Wow. In one week. And, you know, then the money was going out to DJs, right?

Yeah. And so my sister, she calls in the local area. She goes, do you have the China record? Yeah, it's a great record. Should you go play it? And he says, I'm waiting. Oh, yeah. And I go, oh, man.

That's called payola, right? Yeah, it was payola. I knew exactly what was going down and then they came in and I could see where this was going and then we had meetings in New York with the people and it was just too much of this

coke stuff, they coked up and everything and they're trying to take all the publishing away and all this stuff you gotta give up this, you gotta give up party writers they got this lawyer that's just eating us alive and I'm sitting there all the publishing away. And all this stuff, you've got to give up this, you've got to give up party writers. They've got this lawyer that's just eating us alive. And I'm sitting there and I looked at the guys and I said, we walk out of here, let's keep a portion of our publishing,

give them a portion, let's see what they do. But we're not giving them everything. I said, we walk out here and give them everything, they'll make the money, we'll never make a dime. So it kind of ended like that. They didn't get everything they wanted. And so they just moved on. Man, that's tough to hear a story like that.

Because you're such a genuine, you know, you're a fantastic musician. And, you know, you seem like a genuinely good guy, solid citizen. You're just trying to make good music that people want to consume. The other guys were good guys, too. Yeah, sure. It's just that now you're walking into... You're playing in a dirty... You're walking into... You're playing in the dirt. You're working into the real world of how this is done. Especially when there was that kind of control. They don't have

that control anymore. A guy like Drake can do whatever he wants to do. These artists now know how to go around all this. They can go straight to the consumer now. They can go straight to the consumer and get rid of these folks that are in between. It's like this podcast, man. I don't need a terrestrial radio station to broadcast this.

I go straight to the people with this right now. We're going to hear from Bill unfettered by big media conglomerates and cable companies. But Bill, that first jam I played was the Come and Take My Love. Yeah. Now this song, and I'm telling you, like I say yacht ride, like, you know, that's sort of like what they've decided to classify this stuff as. And it's great. But this song here, what am I, Fast Livin'.

Yeah. Like radio hit though, right? It got played, yeah. It got played. I think the one that was everything, there was a ballad sort of thing between Chris and Danny that got a lot of airplay. Because you don't hear anything about China anymore. Like, this is not a band you hear about. Here's the issue.

Here's the issue. When we came out with China, China wasn't like on... China was still, as a country, a no-no. So when it came up in Billboard and Cashbox at the time, it was like, why not call it Russia?

You know, this is the evil countries, right? I hear you. The red state, yeah. You guys are crazy calling your band China. It is an interesting name. Like, who decided to call it China? You know something? We were sitting down,

and we were looking at the yin and the yang, the artwork. Right. And I think we saw the movie China blue or something some things like this there was something about the way the word it just sound it sounded kind of brave to do it sure and i have no idea why we did that i remember there's a bank called asia yeah that's banko europe and it was kind of like it was kind of like the time of that right right right you name it after a huge country the country that was coming. But I was happy with

Carnegie King McBride, and they said, oh, it's just too long. Then you sound like country guys. And I went, well, okay, whatever. What's in a name? Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Yeah, but you could see the write-ups, and some people, especially in some of the

southern states and stuff, got offended by it. You're talking about China now. They're our enemy. This is the last waltz. I've got a story here, but let's hear a little bit of this. Okay. Big time, Bill. Big time, big time. I walk 47 miles above wide Use a cold mistake for a necktie

Got a brand new house on the roadside Made from rattlesnake hide Got a brand new chimney made on top Made from a human skull Come on Robbie, let's take a little walk, can't we? Who do you love? Who do you love? Who do you love?

Who do you love? Here, you're going to hear his name again, but John Donabee was here, and he talked about he had a great relationship with Levon Helm. Yeah. And he saw the band play The Last Waltz in San Francisco. Yeah, yeah. So we talked a lot about. And he was at the, he saw the band play The Last Waltz in San Francisco.

Yeah, yeah. So we talked a lot about it when he was here recently. But of course, you were one of his Hawks. You were one of Ronnie Hawkins' Hawks. Yeah, for a year.

1980, 83. So, you know, you see in the film, you know, Robbie Robertson kind of shares

the party side of the hawk. But, like, others said that Hawkins was a tough disciplinarian. Like, I want to know, what was Ron Hawkins like with you? Like, what kind of guy was Ronnie Hawkins with you? We were on equal footing. That I wasn't allowed to be any other way. And it was just... I wouldn't allow it to be any other way.

And it was just... And the ground rule was set right from the start because I've known him over the years, and we had talked, and we got along really good. And when I got the call for the gig, we were heading to... He was heading to Nashville to play at Cajun Wharf for two weeks. And then on further south to Fayetteville and Little Rock to play. And so the agent or his manager called

and said, you want to play Ron? And I said, yeah, but I know all the background. And he says, we'll give you a couple hundred dollars a week. And I said, no, I ain't working for a couple hundred dollars. I said, I want 600 American a week. Ron will never pay that. And I said, okay, I ain't working for a couple hundred dollars. I said, I want 600 American a week. Ron will never pay that. And I said, okay, great, thanks.

Then a few days go by. It's, you know, Ron would still like to have you to play and everything, but he's just not going to pay that. And I said, okay, 600 a week American. And no rehearsals. And he goes, oh, it's not going to happen. Not going to happen. Just a couple days before they're ready to leave, he goes, oh, it's not going to happen. Not going to happen. Just a couple days before they're ready to leave,

he goes, okay, he's agreed to it. And so we kind of established the ground rules leaving. Good for you, man. And so I wasn't going to get abused. And we got along. We got along really, really well. I laughed so much. You said early 80s, right?

18th, 1983. I'm trying to think. That's before the... Oh, when does Ron Hawkins start doing the New Year's Eve at Nathan Phillips Square for City TV? Probably after that. A little later, right? Yeah, I'm trying to remember.

Speaking of fur jackets. This is when Robin just joins the band, his son. And it's Bill Dillon. Great Bill Dillon, Steve Hogg and Dave Lewis Great great band And Hogg would say all the time This is the second best band I ever had Next to the Robbie and LaVon band

Because everybody could sing in the band Everybody could sing, everybody could play And you know If he got all messed up and walked off the stage, we could carry the weight. The weight, no pun intended. And we did the weight. We did the band tune. Speaking of Levine and Robbie there.

Actually, there's a wonderful clip of that that's out there from a TV show that was done in Hamilton by Ian Anderson that has us singing in a wait. I'll take that up for sure. Yeah, it's really, really good. Well, that's one of the greatest songs, I'd say. Oh, big time. It's one of those songs that it's overplayed,

but you're not mad about it. It's okay, because every time you hear it, it's still good. No, it was good for us. It was great because it just fit right into the tone of what he did. Besides his ruby and all these other tunes that he did. It gave us that real Americana sound. Now, I mentioned off the top that you were also on radio. Here we are in the mid-80s.

We haven't got you on radio yet. So here, let me tell you what I know, and you're going to fill in the cracks here. But it was Q107 when you started your broadcasting? So okay, so you're at the Mighty Q in 1985, and tell me how you got the gig on the Mighty Q in 1985 as a jazz broadcaster. Let me tell you, I had no idea I was going to ever be on radio. It was nothing I'd ever pursued or thought about.

But Bob Mackiewicz called me. And I was great friends with Bobby because of China and other bands in the past, the reggae and all that. And Bob said, look, we got Q Jazz on Saturday morning, but the person there doesn't really know anything about jazz. Which is a problem. Would you come in and do a radio check and see how this works out? And I went in and did it, and they go, okay, we could fix you up.

You know, you've got some intonation things that we could work with. But I think that's authenticity. Like, you sound like the real deal. That was it. So we did that, and then they said, okay, put together a show. So I put together a show, and then they run it by Gary Slate, and he approved it. And so I started going there every week.

And then I was in with the Q gang. So it's me, John Derringer, Andy Frost, Jake. Brother Jake Edwards. Brother Jake. All of this great cast, and Shirley McQueen. Was Gallagher there? John Gallagher at the time? Gallagher, too.

There was just a great cast of people. Yeah. And it became like this amazing social affair where we had the Cube Softball League. We played softball together. We hung out together. And I stayed for a year and a half. And during the year and a half,

me and Gary sort of butted heads over music because I was playing jazz, and he'd go, find something else. And I'd go, oh, come I go come on man let me just let me just play this so you know I started stretching I found sort of shadow facts and use them and I started playing this crossover stuff and then I I think I played what was it uh I had this series that came from Nashville called the master series it was Jerry Douglas and Albert Lee and it it was just amazing.

But it wasn't really suitable for a jazz show. But I played it anyway. And he loved it. And he said, play more of that stuff. And I had nothing else to play then. So I couldn't play any jazz. And I said, maybe I should take a pass because I've got to live in this community.

They're already throwing rocks at me. No, man, that's great. But it was a great start. And it was the start of a long friendship with the Slate family and Andy and John. All right, because this all ties in with FYI Music. Yes, we've been friends and did so many things through the years together.

Yeah, he's doing a lot of nice, good things for up-and-coming Canadian musicians right now. And I go back to 1992 or 3, and I was working with Liberty Silver. We were doing this jazz thing, and Alan used to invite me and Liberty to come play his private parties. And the private party he had, you know,

it was Peter Worthington, it's Alan Fotheringham, And, you know, it was Peter Worthington. It's Alan Fotheringham. It's the great Arthur, Handmaid's Tale. It would be a room. He would invite these remarkable people for this party. Every year he'd throw this thing. And I would be the piano player.

And so I'd play piano. And then Liberty would come and do a song. And it just got treated like gold. And Alan was a big fan of Oscar Peterson and jazz, and he told me that he actually started off as a jazz DJ in radio in Saskatchewan, I think that's what it was. And so there was this great connection. So with Liberty, we got doing the thing with Liberty, he says one day, he goes, you got to do an album of her, and me and Gary would pay for it. with Liberty, he says one day, he goes, you got to do an album of her. And me and Gary would pay for it. And I thought, wow, nobody's ever said that.

So we sat down, talked to Alan, we did the album. And then as the years went by, you got to go do this project with your fish fries. We'll look after it, me and Gary. Nice. I said, you guys are great. And then they would come out to the gigs with the Rocket 88 or the Fish Fry. Or if I'd be playing somewhere with the Trio Jazz Trio, Alan would come out.

And it was just remarkable. And then when it came down to where they sold the stations and they decided to start the foundation, then they really put this whole thing together of developing young talent and putting money out there to help this develop. And it's fantastic. And then you look at all the charities, you look at the buildings, you look at the hospitals, you look at all the charities, you look at the buildings, you look at the hospitals,

you look at the Junos, you look at the Walk of Fame, you look at Soul Pepper, you look at all these organizations that have got funding. And this year, too, for us with the beaches, they came in and threw some funding behind us, too. Amazing. Now we need two more

like this in Canada. And the art scene will really survive. Oh, you're right. I was thinking too much of that. Pass on Gary's information. There might be a sponsorship opportunity on Toronto Mike, the podcast. There you go. All right.

So the QJazz, that's on QN7, obviously. But then you create the Jazz Report Radio Network, right? This is what you do from 86 to 91, right? Well, what I did from 86 for another year and a half, I helped bring CIUT on the air from a community just on campus to her all the way to Rochester. So when we first get our license,

I do that for a year and a half, and I create the Jazz Report show, but I also create a magazine at the same time that ran for 19 years called the Jazz Report. Right. And then... The Jazz Report magazine, right. An eight-page newsletter, right?

And then it became like a four-color magazine. International magazine. Worldwide, yeah. And so Bruce Davidson, the guy who was working in the industry, looking after Bruce Coburn, you know, he was kind of looking after concerts from coast to coast.

Yeah. He approaches me with this idea of having Carlin O'Keefe or one of those breweries sponsor a syndicated show. So he was able to put together 26 cities across Canada and have them as the beer sponsor. And they were terrific, you know, and so we were able to do that. But, you know, it was a time of you have to go in the studio, record everything, then send it up by satellite. And it was a really costly thing to do. You know, the expense of sending through satellite signals and download on, you know, on two inch tape or a quarterinch tape on the other end was a big chore. But what it did, it gave me three hours on Saturday night,

three hours on a Sunday night across Canada to play all the music I love to play of all the new Canadian artists and international stuff. So it kind of opened the door for a lot of new jazz, new crossover, fusion jazz, all this stuff. An opportunity to program the way I wanted to program without the interference of somebody telling you

what the playlist should look like, right? Speaking of interference, comment as you wish, because I have a good source on this, but I don't know how much you want to say. But of course, you mentioned CIUT, and you were part of the launch. And I'm there too now. And you're back there now, right?

Right, right, right. I won't mention Donabee anymore, because he just left his show there. Yeah, his wife told me it's time to travel. Something like that. Now, but when you were there for the launch of CIUT,

you were overthrown. IUT, you were overthrown. I was told you were overthrown off the air because of a behind-the-scenes plot. Can you share any of this? Yeah, because what it was, even in a faction, it was actually hilarious because as I'm playing and doing what I'm doing, the Thursday afternoon show was really popular. And when I left that show, Jeff Healy took my spot. And his was really popular too.

Because I played such a broad range of music. Then you got the guys that played the narrow range of music and they're sending you cassettes and they're demanding that you play their music. And I had a standard for my show, right? And the kind of music I play you know you have your show stay out of my stuff right don't bother me i'm playing what i want to play i don't tell you what to play and it wasn't good enough they wanted me to play their thing so they just plotted to drive me out

of there and they want yeah that's yeah you know you know what are you going to fight for a free gig i'm going to go back you know i'm going to fight let's free gig? I'm going to go back. Let's go to court, man, because I haven't paid anything. I'm a volunteer. Okay. And now I want to talk about, since we've talked about the Slate family and fyimusic.ca, that is where you're contributing your columnist there. So you're still writing for fyimusic.ca. Every Friday.

Now, the one i read recently like it's great but i like the should i light up or not where you talked about basically it was because it was a great long form story from you essentially about sort of like your relationship with uh with weed essentially yeah so maybe just to wrap it up really succinctly here um okay so you you started we we know you were straight edge, and then you start partaking, you start smoking marijuana in the 70s?

When did it start? Yeah. 80s, 70s? Yeah, basically in the 70s because it might have been, you know what it was? It was hash, I think, because hash was so prevalent

in Toronto. Right. And the building that we're living in, or the house we're living in, there was a guy downstairs that sold hash. And so he would roll up tobacco, and I didn't smoke, but I would smoke a tobacco thing.

And then you get addicted to tobacco. But it was such a great buzz. And everybody smoked, and we just sort of enjoyed it. And then through the years, smoked. And you know what it was? It got to the point that financially I looked at it because when I started the magazine, I was working with one of the great, all-time great photographers. And I took an interest in photography. And it's still a passion now. And it's become a career, too.

Nice. And I had this wild passion i wanted to learn but the cost of film was so prohibitive that it was either going to be the weed or the film and so all the stuff after 20 years of smoking and everything of that i just one day i were in puerto rico and and I just smoked a joint or smoked a cigarette and stuff. And I just, it was just like a terrible feeling and it was hard to get rid of that feeling. And I just, that moment I put it down and I said, look, here's what I'm going to do.

For every time I go out and get a quarter of an ounce of pot, I'm going to sit aside and go buy rolls of film and I put that in my mind that you know that's not pot I'm buying that's a roll of film right so I get the rolls of film then I would go out and shoot and then I would take what I shot back to Paul and have him critique the photos because I wanted to learn right and. And so then I was spending, every time I was spending on a pot, I would spend it at West Canberra learning darkroom techniques from all the professionals and then the equipment and all that stuff.

So then it was all gone. And I never smoked again. And that was 23 years ago. So 23 years. Now you're really clean and sober now for 23 years. And then, of course, when is that? October 17th or 18th or 19th? No, I can't remember.

No, but you're not going to start up again. You're happy with your decision and you're cool. You know, but somebody's been talking, because I got arthritis in my joint and the thumb really bad. And people have been talking to me about a herbal oil that you can rub on it that is a hemp oil. It's supposed to be very effective. I will try that or something.

Yeah, there's two parts, as I understand. There's a THC or whatever. This gets you high. And then there's this cannabinoid. And I don't know the right term. Yeah, I've had to look into that. There's a medicinal agent there that won't get you high, and it will help with things like that. It's very effective for something like that. There's an agent, a medicinal agent there that won't get you high and it will help

with things like that. It's very effective for something like that. No, I really, I'm a real, I'm a real guy who really likes clarity

in every day. Sure. I just, I love getting up and just doing things. And you want to be able to bike a straight line. You don't want to be wobbly

on that thing. You've got a long ride ahead of you. A lot of stoned out biking. In this article, I think we mentioned it earlier, but in this article, Should I Light Up or Not, you talked about how

you were biking the 4,000 kilometers and most of that was cruising for weed. I'm going to see the guy and buy weed. And I said, I can't do this no more. That's great. I'll give you a great high story. Yeah, sure.

Okay. The great comic Robert Klein, early in the 70s, came up to Toronto for the first time, and he has a hit record. And he's playing O'Keefe Center, which is Sony Center now, I guess. So he's playing there,

and I get hired to be his pianist for this. And I'm used to getting high, so I rolled up a big fat one with some Bombay Black. It was some really powerful hash in a tobacco joint. So we went through the afternoon. We went through his thing, right? And then we met at O'Keeffe, and it's just sold out, right? And so the only thing on the stage is the piano and him.

And I've got hair down to my ass, and I've got these flight glasses, and I'm wearing a tank top. I really look like something out of a Furry Freak Brothers comic, right? And we get together beforehand, and he goes, okay, I'm going to give you my watch. And he goes, 30 minutes in, you come out.

Then we'll do the piano thing, the FM music. And then we'll do the blues, the campfire blues thing, okay? I said, great. So I said, but I got this joint. And he goes, oh, man, what is that? And I said, it's some freaking hashish and tobacco. And he's there with his wife, who's an opera singer, right? And they're going, oh, let's smoke it.

So me, my wife, and the four of us in the dressing room, we smoke this thing, right? By the time he goes out on stage, it freaking hits. And he's drawing blanks. And I'm watching this. You need your clarity, Bill. Come on, that's great. I'm watching this from the wings.

And I'm watching his head drop. He goes like this. And the head would drop. And there would be nothing. And then the audience would just start laughing. And then he'd come back. He'd come back and everything was there. So while that's going on, I'd look at the clock.

And I'd go, it's 30 minutes. And I'd just walk out on stage. I don't know where he's at in the show. And I sit down at the piano. I start playing. And he just walks over and he grabs the music. And he just goes, no. and he grabs the music and he just goes, no.

So I throw the music on the floor and everybody starts laughing and he picks the music up and he just waits. Well, I'm sitting there waiting and I look out in the audience and I go, there's like 3 or 4 thousand or how many thousands of people, they're looking at me

and I'm getting paranoid. And I'm starting to feel like him, right? And so I'm sitting there's like 3,000 or 4,000 or how many thousands of people, they're looking at me. I'm getting paranoid. I'm starting to feel like him. I'm sitting there. Eventually, we get to the thing. I'm shivering. I'm going through all the changes. I don't want to mess up and everything. We get off the thing.

He goes, don't ever fuck me up again. Don't ever do that to me. I said, oh, I'm so sorry. I felt so bad about that. Then a year later, he calls me up and he goes, hey, coming back to me. And I said, oh, I'm so sorry. I felt so bad about that. Then a year later, he calls me up and he goes, hey, coming back to Toronto. I'm at the El Macabre. Can you get me some more of that stuff? I knew that was coming. He goes, that was wild. That's a great story. Now, here's a little background for the listeners so i have a blog at torontomic.com and i write about lots of stuff i've been doing that since 2002 so that's

a long time i'm doing the math in my head that's got to be like 16 years over 16 for you yeah man and i just i've been writing there and that's sort of what led to this podcast we're listening to now what are we episode 361 here unbelievable lots, man. Archiving great stories like yours. So I write about radio quite a bit. No one else is writing about radio, so I better write about radio. I've been mildly fascinated by what's been going down

at Jazz FM. Now this all started because I do a lot of Spirit Radio CFNY stuff on this show. Great. I know Marston was at that party, too. He's a fantastic guy. Yeah, he was a fantastic guest.

He was Dave Mickey, you know, of course. Yeah, yeah. Of course, you know. Who am I talking to? And I've been working on getting Danny Elwell. And we've been talking about that. Is she dodging you right now or what? Well, that's it.

She was coming in, right? And she was uh what was her title at jazz fm music director i think or something i think she was in there yeah anyway you know and uh uh suddenly she was no longer on the air and she was no longer affiliate of jazz fm and then suddenly she was uh we gotta wait like i can't come on your show right now we have to it later. And she's been kind of dodging me ever since. And then, so that's a one-off. But then you start, what happened? Then some news leaks out about Porter. This was in the papers.

I think the Globe had it, I think, first. And then, you know, Garvia Bailey. Yeah. She's let go and suddenly, oh, she's not talking. And then, I mean, well, here. Then I write about this. At some point, I get a comment. I get a comment on this entry,

a fascinating comment. Starts like this, and I won't read the whole thing because we're going to talk about it right now. I don't want to steal your thunder, but it starts with, this was a long time coming. That's how it begins. And I read this. It's a very thoughtful, very knowledgeable comment, and it's Bill King. And I'm like, Bill, that's

the Bill King. That's the broadcast. You were on Jazz FM, right? I was there before he was there, and when he was there. So I was there four and a half years. And it was part of the thing, part of the changeover to Jazz FM. From CJRT to Jazz FM.

And when, oh God, who was the running the station at the time? I can't remember his name right now, but Chuck Camero. Camero? Chuck Camero was the head of the station at the time. So why don't we do this? So even since we booked your, there's another article in The Star, I think. I saw that.

And they were suggesting that because there's a lot of, what do I call this? Me Too movement, we'll call it sexual harassment claims. And then there was this suggestion that maybe some of the talent were trying to oust him. And there was a lot of interesting, basically, it sounds like... Can I use this term? Like a clusterfuck. Can I say that? I think there are people with legitimate grievances. Okay, tell me what's going on at Jazz FM in your opinion. Well, I...

You know, this is... When I was there... Here's the beauty of when it was making that transition. When I was there, I had the respect of Chuck Camarou and the team. So I had the ability. We went from the Science Center to the Old Mill doing concerts. So I booked the concerts, and I came up with the idea of themes and stuff for these concerts, right?

So a tribute to Miles Davis or whatever. So we kept the musicians. I got the musicians better paid. I created Joe Seeley's Duets, which became a very popular show. I produced that, engineered it for Joe and worked that out. That stayed there. Then I would do these one-off series where I'd have five great blues piano players come in. We'd do a live show. Or five great singers come in. We'd do a live show. Or five great singers come in. We do a live show. When Porter arrived, that was swept under the rug. It went into one person branding.

So the station became one person instead of the personalities of everybody there. It went to one voice. You heard one voice all day for all the intros and extras. We weren't allowed to interview people. You heard one voice all day for all the intros and extras. We weren't allowed to interview people. Porter did the interviews. And, you know, you got confined. You got, everything that you did was being taken away as far as the leverage to do some things. You know, I'm in Newstalk, and I've been there. I'm in my eighth year with Ted there, and I'm treated just great.

And you're the music director for the Ted. Yeah, but I'm treated great. I'm in four years now in my fourth year at 89.5. I'm treated great, respectfully, you know? There, I didn't feel good, is all I can say. It didn't feel good. And I think there's been some great things that have been done to upgrade the station and to take it international. There's some wonderful things that have been done,

but it's all done with this sort of museum sort of thing about it that that you know it's it's taken on an early pop radio thing where you play the hits so you were here take five every other freaking day or you hear killer joe or you'd hear this old lewis armstrong at the expense of playing creative music something to step out of the box a bit. And for me, I looked at the station. If I was programmed to station, there would be some funk at night. Let's get some young people listening, right? I would have on the weekend, Sunday morning, I would play the most current, best gospel music, the most contemporary.

I would have made the station jump more. And it got boxed in. And it was boxed in because it was appealing to an age group that had some money, and they depend on donors. And you're playing to donors rather than playing to a broader public. So then you look at the ratings, and they never moved. The numbers have always been low, and they never moved the bar. But yet on the other side, you know, with James B. and Heather and people like that, they're fundraising dynamos.

You know, so they, you know, you have the energy of a James who will go out there every night and do those safaris and get around the city and go out and showcase. And you got Heather doing the same and a couple others. They were really the station to me because they were the personalities and go out and showcase, and you've got Heather doing the same, and a couple others. They were really the station to me because they were the personalities that got out beyond. So they're ousting, you know, because they've all been ousted, James B. And right after fundraising, you just raised $250,000.

A couple days later, you're fireball. And I mean, we should point out, for those who don don't know that this is a unique station and that it's a public station and it is uh dependent on uh fundraising uh so they have donors and and it's unique right i mean you know you take cbcsi which is the public broadcaster that's a whole different kettle of fish there's no other station quite like this licensing. This was, I think they got a great chunk of money for all the years. It was CJRT until Mike Harris got in. And then that funding was taken away. So then it put, then you had to fundraise.

And you had to make a good chunk of money on fundraising. So you had to bring in, when Porter came, you had to bring in, I guess part of the thing with him was you know in the board you had to figure out a formula to fundraise to keep it on the air and stuff but you know what can i say yeah no very interesting uh because i don't know i don't really i don't have a firm grasp there's a there's a board but yeah like who's the boss you know what i mean like i don't quite understand like i really i don't know now. Yeah. It used to be Bernie Weber was sort of the CEO kind of above Porter.

Right. But I have no idea. You know what it is? I don't listen to the station because, you know, I just, like I said, I'm working at CIUT and get to do radio shows that I enjoy. And I hear other music there. I hear this broad range of music on a community station that I think is just wonderful and a wonderful range of ideas. When I go over there, I feel like I'm

back in the museum again. There's a lot of people who really enjoy it. I'm a musician and I'm a guy that loves a broad range of things, so I can't be the judge of how people view Jazz FM because a lot of people just like it that sedate and that stiff as far as programming.

So that's their choice. And there's a lot of people who really, really enjoy it. Well, my hopes for the station is that it becomes an entity that A, you want to listen to, but B, that you should have a role in that station in some regard. There should be some Bill King in the Jazz FM. You know, I love the station. I love the idea of the station. But, you know, you can't work in an environment.

You know, you can't work in an environment. You can't work in an environment where you feel like you're being bullied. You can't do that. And I will say this on behalf of those who wrote the letter and everything. That was not a coup. They're not trying to take over. None of them have management skills.

They're not doing that. What they're doing, they're expressing what they have felt. Sometimes you're in a place, you walk in a situation where you feel you're being chilled. Every day you walk in, you feel sick to your stomach. And there's something there in that atmosphere that makes you feel ill. And I understand what they're feeling and why they band together and wrote this letter and did that. And the only way you can improve that is to remove.

And I mean, and that's as much as I can say, because like I'm not there. Right. And I have spoken to people and I have spoken to people, and I have an understanding. But like I said, they're all good people, and they weren't getting paid enough to go in there and take over because they're down the food chain. Now, is there any specific reason why they seem, I want to say the talent that has been disposed of in this regard seems almost muzzled.

They don't want to be sued. So this is litigious. Yeah, it's litigious. You don't want to be sued. And I can understand that. So that's why Garvey politely declines the invitation to come on and talk about it. Well, some of them probably have legal things going on with the station. So I would imagine that's what it is bill yes my fan this is a different ron hawkins by the way i know you

worked with ronnie hawkins i know this ron hawkins this is a different ron hawkins but this is uh a great ron hawkins regardless uh i love i love lowest of Low. I close every episode of Lowest of the Low. Good Toronto band. Great. But Bill, what a pleasure this was. Yeah, Mike. And I'm so,

I mean, you've got a great ride ahead of you. It's a great day. I hope your friends enjoy the beer. I hope you enjoy the pint glass, those smoothies.

Let me know when you want me to... Hey, man, I'm going to take this home now and fill it up because Toronto real estate done right. Remember, though, I...

The Six. Propertyinthesix.com. But remember remember you're going to make a smoothie for me one day. Is that a deal? I will do that. You have to bike to my front door though. I'd be happy to. Are you kidding me? I'm easy to find. A Toronto bike. Are you kidding me? You did 4,000. I said, oh Bill did 4,000. That's amazing. And then I realized last year

I measure everything. I did 10,500 kilometers in this city. See, that's serious. I'm serious serious but you're a great freaking musician this was a great chat and i hope one day i get you back in here that was amazing thanks man and that brings us to the end of our 361st show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike bill is at bill king piano our at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee.

And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. See you all next week. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you but i'm a much better man for having known you well you know that's true because everything is coming