Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Blair Packham Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #1275

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

In this 1275th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Blair Packham while Blair plays and discusses his 10 favourite songs of all-time. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1275 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Season 4 of Yes, We Are Open. The award-winning podcast from Moneris. Hosted by FOTM El Grego. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The moment lab brand marketing and strategy PR advertising and production. You need the moment lab and Ridley funeral home pillars of this community since 1921.

Today, returning to Toronto Mic'd to kick out the jams is Blair Packham. Welcome back, Blair. Tis I. Thank you. Tis I, Blair Packham. That is correct.

Yes, that's right, Mike. I always talk like this. I don't want to say another word to you, Blair, because I want to get right to jam one, and we'll do a lot of catching up between these songs. I have but one question for you, Mr. Packham. Yes. Are you ready to kick out the jams?

Yes, with a couple of provisos, but we'll get to those. Provisos? I have to go Google that word. Conditions. It's so nice to meet an old friend and pass the time of day and talk about the hometown a million miles away Is the ice still in the river? Are the old folks still the same?

And by the way, did she mention my name? Did she mention my name just in passing? And when the morning came Do you remember if she dropped a name or two? Is the home team still on fire? Do they still win all the games? And by the way, did she mention my name? The late, great Gordon Lightfoot.

Yeah. Did she mention my name? Tell me why you chose this jam. Well, of course, it was on my mind because of Gordon's passing. I shouldn't call him Gordon because I never met him, actually. Gordon Lightfoot died, and of course, you tend to reflect on somebody's life. And his songs, I wasn't a fan, particularly. And when I began to reconsider his songs, I thought, holy moly, these are fantastic songs.

This one in particular I was a fan of when I was a kid, when I was like 12 or 13 or 14. In particular, I was a fan of when I was a kid, when I was like 12 or 13 or 14. And it's because of the shy self-effacement in it, really. It's understated. Did she mention my name? He's not saying, hey, can we get it on tonight? You know, the way the kids might today.

By the way, I'm working on that one. That's one I'm writing right now. But, you know, so many pop songs are about tonight and we're going to party and we're going to have sex tonight and stuff like that. This is, did she mention my name? You know, and it's all couched in this thing like, hey, how's the home team doing? Is the ice still in the river? How are the old folks doing? And by the way, did she mention my name? Just slip it in there. Right.

And really, it's all he wants to know. Right. It's the whole point of the whole song. It's like when Teen Wolf was buying the beer. Like, right? Yeah. Right?

He goes, yeah. Yeah. Well, yes. Or Woody Allen buying the condoms. Exactly. That's right.

That's, yeah. Yeah. I didn't know if it was, we were allowed to do Woody Allen buying the condoms. Exactly. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I didn't know if we were allowed to do Woody Allen references anymore, so I stuck with Michael J. Fox. Well, yeah, probably better choice. And these. I got to say, I'm shocked more kids didn't die surfing on top of vans.

Like, I watched Teen Wolf. I don't know what I was at that point. I guess I was about 10 years old or something, 11, 12. I don't know, but it looked like the coolest thing in the world to surf on top of a van. You know, David Quinton Steinberg tells that story about Steve Bader's. You know, about surfing on top of the car

and how terrifying it was for the rest of the band. You know, they'd be in the car and Steve would be on the fucking roof. You can swear. Yeah, that's true. He'd be in the car and stiv would be on the fucking sorry roof yeah that's true he'd be on the fucking roof and uh uh surfing on like on a fast-moving road you know and uh yeah so yeah because no one wants to watch somebody die no and yet stiv didn't die that way so you know but and neither did teen wolf but uh p Okay, so that's that Gordon Lightfoot. I want to get back to that.

So I'm surprised you never met Gordon Lightfoot because you seem to interact with so many singers, songwriters, particularly those that live in the T-Dot. Yeah, and also he was so out and about. You know, there's a tribute show that was done and no doubt will continue to be done uh continue to be done and i'm struggling to uh pronounce that sentence while i try and remember the name of the show and you used to be on the radio no it used to uh used to be at hughes room and uh i can't remember what it was

called but it was a great show jory nash was the guy who organized it okay and gordon would come out and he'd sometimes sing which is amazing amazing, like to his own tribute show. All right. So a couple of places I want to go here. One is, did you listen to my phone call with Dave Hodge

the day that we learned Gordon Lightfoot had passed away? I missed it. I'm sorry. Can you catch up? I know we're going to talk about where you've been. You've been out east

and we're going to talk about all that, but please. I've got a lot of homework to do. There's a lot of Toronto Mike that's happened. And there's a lot of big, epic things happening in the Toronto Mike universe,

but that is like a half an hour call with Dave Hodge. And I think you would love it now that you're rediscovering the great Gordon Lifeboat. I'll get right to it. But David Quinton Steinberg, also an FOTM, I think the last couple of times you were on Toronto Mike, he was by your side.

And why have I not yet got Geddy Lee on the podcast, considering my great friendship with David Quinton Steinberg? Well, I don't know. David's very protective. He's Geddy's lawyer as well as his friend. What does he think I'm going to do to Geddy? Hurt him? Yeah.

Yes, frankly. After we saw what you did to 1236. Well, we're going to talk about that. I'm saving that. We've got 10 jams here, and I've got some 1236 questions here. But yeah, great start. That's actually not a Gordon Lightfoot song I'm particularly familiar with. Like, it's just, you don't hear it a lot these days.

No, it's pretty old. I mean, it was already old when I heard it when I was, you know, whenever I was 12 or 13 years old. I had a crush on Ann Goodings in my grade 9 geography class. And for me, and i was and it was secret like you wouldn't let anybody know that you had a crush on them you know or at least i wouldn't so so you know it was a secret so for me did she mention my name and oh and and goodings liked that song so for me it was like this was a doorway to her so hearing that like i'm just curious hearing that song now in your headphones,

are you thinking of Anne? Actually, strangely not until I just mentioned her now. Is Anne, she's still with us or is she, I don't want to make assumptions. She's still with us. We're Facebook friends. We've talked now and again over the years, SART, the high school reunion.

It was, you know, it was a crush that lasted all that school year, grade nine, but that was a long, long, long time ago. Long time ago. All right. Great start to your jam-kicking, Blair. It's been too long since you've been here. We're going to do far more catching up as we kick these out, but I'm going to play your

second selection, and it sounds like you don't remember what you sent me, so you might, like, be surprised to hear what you picked, which is like an extra layer of, like, excitement. It's like having Alzheimer's. I'm sorry. Brain diseases aren't funny, Blair Packham. to hear what you picked, which is like an extra layer of excitement. It's like having Alzheimer's. Brain diseases aren't funny, Blair Packham. Okay, no, you're right. I apologize. I'm calling you out on all this stuff here.

Okay, let's kick out jam number two. I'm jealous of the rain That falls upon your skin It's closer than my hands have been I'm jealous of the rain I'm jealous of the wind That ripples through your clothes It's closer than your shadow Oh, I'm jealous of the wind Cause I wish you the best of all this world could give And I told you when you left me

There's nothing to forgive But I always thought you'd come back. Tell me all you found was heartbreak and misery. It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way you're happy without me. I'm jealous of the way you're happy without me. I'm jealous of the nights that I don't spend with you. I'm wondering who you lay next to. Oh, I'm jealous of the night.

Hauntingly beautiful, Blair. This is Labyrinth. Labyrinth. The bridge. You can skip ahead if you want, but the bridge. Well, just tell me when to bring it back up. Okay, I will. I'm going to keep it in the box.

It's a very... Skip ahead. Are you new to the Kick Out the Jam program? Good point. Good, I will. I'm going to keep it in the bottom. It's a very... Skip ahead. Are you new to the Kick Out the Jams program? Good point, good point. But I just thought, you know,

for those of you who are into the more upbeat kind of thing, which I am too, by the way, but some people would find this boring. It's not at all to me.

It's so moving. It's not boring. Not every song, like I know I call them all jams, but really this is, you know, jams are, you know, this is not a jam. See, that's why we should call them songs. I know.

They're just songs. It's about branding, okay? Right, right, right. 90s branding, that's right. Yeah, I want to evoke, it's a nostalgic thing for you, right? Well, do you want me to, no, to be honest, I started calling them jams exclusively when there's a character on, Chris Partlow on the wire,

who's a heavy, like a serial killer essentially. And he, he's listening to, he has a song on the radio in the car and he goes, that's my jam right there. Like for some reason it hit me at the right place at the right time. And tell me when you want me to turn this up.

Is it here? Yeah, this is it. Yeah. Just the way the arrangement explodes. And here it goes again. The best of all this world could give. And I told you. The strings.

When you left me. Oh, it's beautiful, Blair. Yeah. There's nothing to forgive. And then it resolves. So there's a big key change and everything. It's just beautiful. Oh, listen.

I always thought you'd come back. Tell me all you found was heartbreak and misery. It just swells. Yeah. It's hard for me to say I'm jealous of the way You're happy without me Wow. How did you discover this song? I don't think I know this song. Well, it was a hit,

but in our world today, something can be a hit and great swaths of people don't know. Like a TikTok hit? No, this is years ago. This is like six or seven years ago. I missed it.

I was listening to too much. I'm listening to my Beastie Boys, my Alice in Chains, and I missed this completely. Right, right. Exactly. Those were the days. No, this was introduced to me by Rob Wells, who is somebody you should have on your show. Trailer Park Boy. Not the actor.

Oh, it's a different Rob Wells. Yeah, Rob Wells. Okay because rob welles is a trailer park boy right this rob welles is a songwriter who writes with people like britney spears and like at a very high level you should have him on the show i'll i'll hook you up he's a he's a great guy he's actually doing a seminar for me uh next weekend called production lab and uh where he's going to produce some some student songs um songstudio.ca for all details you'll do it plug plug the shit out of all your stuff while we kick out these jams you know if you know any songwriters who who um you know who've never worked with a producer or want

to work with a high level producer rob is one of our guests karen kazowski is the other guest wow and uh it's going to be great it's a it's a one day online thing rob wells not a trailer park boy not at all because you know you do know that rob wells yes i believe was in uh bandits yes which was the latest uh stew stone movie that's right so it's like in the tmu here the toronto mic universe different different rob wells uh this rob wells he's written with all kinds of people. His brother, Greg Wells, is also very, very successful. Do you know the recording program Pro Tools?

Yes. Pro Tools, there are plug-ins made for Pro Tools that have the Greg Wells name on them, which is kind of amazing. And Rob Wells has his own app, his own songwriting app. He's a very accomplished guy, and he introduced me to this song and and and i just was blown away and and it speaks to me i had a breakup a couple of years ago and it just like it was it was all we break up with the great blair pack up well did you initiate this yeah that's no so we got back together in fact and uh

kind of like me and mark weisblatt right like we broke up then we got back together, in fact. Kind of like me and Mark Weisblatt, right? Yeah. We broke up, and then we got back together. Exactly, and that's what's going on here. We're going to get back to that. Any relation, these Wells, any relation to Boomer, former Blue Jay pitcher David Wells?

I doubt it. I doubt it. These guys, I think, are from Ajax or Whitby, but Greg Wells has lived, he played with Kim Mitchell for years on keyboards, and he then went to LA. He went to go for a soda. Yeah, in Los Angeles, and he's done very well.

Rob has stayed in the greater GTA. That's redundant, isn't it? Does he get mistaken often for the other Rob Wells? I'm going to ask him. Find out. That was my first thought, mainly because of the bandits connection maybe. But who knows.

Okay, great. Now, I was going to ask you something. Oh, yeah. You're friends with Simon Law. Is that correct? Yeah, how was that? Well, he called in sick. Oh, I didn't know.

Well, I showed you how. See, it's not too late. I did text you and you've been out east and we're going to talk about that shortly. But I texted you and said,

do you have any questions you want to seed for Simonon law because you connected me to simon and he got in the toronto mic uh calendar and then he called in sick but we did reschedule like i believe he visits next week oh okay well i'll have some questions for you i uh i didn't at the time because sometimes you know somebody so well you think well i don't know what i'd ask them because because i know you can't imagine like what somebody who doesn't know him as well as you might want to well i'm going to i will do that now i actually were on the radio yeah and i i have a and he's been he was on my radio show on cfrb so uh i should say news talk 10 10 still living in the past well that's okay the 10 10 not as mighty as it once was. Apparently not, especially in the next few days.

Well, this is the sad state of affairs as we speak. 1,300 total across the country are going to be let go from Bell Media. I think it's like 6% of Bell Media or something like that. But not all of the people being affected know yet. Like we're literally, it's kind of that sad period where a bunch of people were notified, particularly at CTV National News and a bunch of radio stations, AM stations across the country were shuttered. None in Toronto, but there were in Hamilton.

Oh, they're being sold, I think, the Hamilton stations. But bottom line is a lot of people are going to find out today, maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday are going to get that, you know, tap on the shoulder. And it's just sad news for a lot of uh good hard-working media people in this country it really is um yeah and on my connection with uh with radio i was i was writing about this the other day for my own enjoyment probably um do you have a blog blair i want to follow you no i don't have a blog but i have been writing and now i'm up to like 80 pages but but i was writing about so my dad was vice president of finance for standard broadcasting right right cfrb so so at that point cfrb sort of entered my

life i was also listening to the radio listening to chum fm and and before that chum am and i made this big mental switch to chum fm which at the time was very cutting edge for pete and geats no way before that way before that back when when, I think Brian Master was there. Okay. FOTM Brian Master. But also, oh God, I can't remember, Larry Green. A few other broadcasting legend guys. Anyway, radio.

Was Marsden there? Marsden was not yet there, but then he was. And he figures into my story too, because the very first song I wrote, I made a demo at CKFM. My father paid for it. I took it to David Marsden. Actually, I mailed it to him

or dropped it off at Shum FM and then waited breathlessly for him to call me. And he didn't call for about a month. And then he called and I was like, Blair? And I said, Sounds like him. And I said, David?

Because I was so thrilled and I was such a big fan he said David Marsden yeah you do a good Marsden and then he said listen I got your demo and I listened to it in the car or I put it on in the car but

you know how when traffic gets kind of crazy you have to turn off all distractions so I turned it off and i i never turned it back on so uh that's where we sit i have nothing useful to say to you about your song wow i hope that's okay and i thought i actually thought fuck you david but um i was crushed but uh yeah you know i took it nicely because i'm a polite guy and uh and realized later, it's not a shitty song, actually, but it was shitty.

And what was I expecting? I thought he was going to discover me and make me famous. I was 17. I love that story, and I love the impression. And now I realize we've kind of gone full circle, in a sense, because we started with me wondering why David Quinton Steinberg hasn't put Geddy Lee on Toronto Mic'd yet, where I would treat him very gently

with all the respect he deserves. And of course, Spirit of Radio, one of the great Rush songs, that's like the Marsden jam. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're inextricably tied. Wow. That's what we do here on

Kick Out the Jams. Okay, I have lots more questions, plenty more to discuss, but I want to get to jam number three. Here we go. We're going to dedicate this to FOTM Lauren Honigman. Here we go. Here we go. Early one morning the sun was shining I was laying in bed

Wondering if she'd changed at all If her hair was still red Her folks, they said our lives together Sure was gonna be rough They never did like mama's homemade dress Papa's bank book wasn't big enough And I was standing on the side of the road. Rain falling on my shoes.

Heading out for the East Coast. Lord knows I paid some dues. Getting through. Tangling up in blue. Bob Dylan! Yeah, man. Great song. Shockingly, I'm going to say that this Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan is a great song.

That's my hot take. That's my hot take there. I was going to say, that's a very controversial opinion that you're holding there. Yeah, I love this song. I love this story song when Bob Dylan tells a story because sometimes you feel like the story could go anywhere. And also you listen for the... And someday on the avenue right there.

So you look for the rhyme word. You can be like a conductor, by the way. You can literally do this and then I'll bring it up. You're the boss of your songs. So at the end of every verse, it's Bob Dylan's song form. And often, it's not unique to him, but often is, the second last line of each verse rhymes with the title line, which is the last line.

So this is tangled up in blue, which means the second last line always has to rhyme with blue. So then as I'm listening to this story, and he's talking about being in Delacroix, where I was lucky to be employed, like Delacroix, and unemployed, like, oh my God. But here comes the rhyming word. I seen a lot of women, but she never escaped my mind,

and I just grew, tangled up in blue. And I just grew, tangled up in blue, I just grew tangled up in blue Right, so you look for the rhyming line Anyway, just structurally, I really dig it But the story and his voice And this is like Dylan's comeback record And the album cover picture was taken by a Torontonian Paul Till took the picture

That's a fun fact, Blair, you're in the right place There you go Drop him liberally throughout He took the picture of That's a fun fact, Blair. You're in the right place. There you go. Drop them liberally throughout. He took a picture of Dylan at Maple Leaf Gardens, and that became the cover of Blood on the Tracks. I urge you and all FOTMs listening to seek out the episode I recorded with the aforementioned FOTM, Lorne Honigman,

on the 80th birthday of Bob Dylan. Because the tribute to Bob Dylan by Lorne was amazing. This is Lorne's favorite artist. Next to the jitters, he tells me, this is his favorite musician. I don't think that sentence has ever been uttered before. Now I'm just the last of the red hot fools. I played that last night, by the way.

Where were you last night? I was on the Danforth, but at a different place than I was before. Not the sauce? No, I played that last night, by the way. Where were you last night? I was on the Danforth, but at a different place than I was before. Not the sauce. No, I was last night at a place called Noonan's Pub. Okay. And had a good crowd, and people were singing and actually dancing to that song. And it was me, Chris Tate from Chalk Circle was the bass player. In my calendar.

There you go. Lovely guy. Really one of the greatest guys. And he was playing bass and Natalie Wong playing violin and David Quinton Steinberg playing snare drum. Dead to me. The dead boys are dead to me until I get some Geddy Lee on Toronto Mike. I'm holding out now.

Holding out for a hero. Wow. So many places I want to go. The one is like, I would have been there, you know that. In Noonan's Pub. But it was actually, I went out to celebrate my 10th anniversary last night. Yes, I noticed that. I thought I couldn't count on you guys to come and do that. And, you know, it takes a lot to get. I mean, I love the east end of the city.

I've come to love it. Absolutely. But I have to like dedicate a chunk of time to bike out there. So it's not, you know. You were biking on your anniversary date? Well, we literally went to the cellar door, which I could you know, it was like a two minute walk from here. Easy to get there.

You made the effort, didn't you? It's great food at the cellar door. I guess Monica really appreciated that. Did she cook too? Monica had a great time. Sure she did. She's upstairs. I'll bring her on the third mic right here. That's right.

We'll report back on her 10th anniversary meal. Tell me, so last night you were in the East End of the city performing. By the way, I will say when I told Monica that Blair Packham was coming back, she reminded me, I have video of you performing Last of the Red Hot Fools at Pete Fowler's house. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I have this foot that she's seen, and she absolutely loves the song and the performance.

She's a big fan of yours and Last of the Red Hot Fools. I had such a great time at Pete Fowler's house and didn't, and honestly, I noticed the T-shirt. Yeah, but I didn't know what to expect. So going out there, in fact, I undersold it to my band at the time. And they were like, yeah. They said, we're bailing. Yeah, they bailed.

And I will forever. Well, I won't hold it against them. But, you know, I'll resent them. But you don't need them. Well, no, I can do whatever I want. It was great. Your stories. Actually, no, that's because that's the first time I met you.

And I actually, I was listening to you perform and you were telling stories and i thought to myself what a great guest this guy would would be and then i book you and then i think you slept in or something uh i can't remember i just thought it was i thought it was 10 30 not 10 so so and i realized i made a huge mistake i remember at 5 to 10 i got a call from pete fowler no 5 after 10 and maybe i thought it was 11 or noon. Anyway, I hadn't left my house yet. Pete called, and Pete and I had never talked on the phone before. And suddenly he said, Pete Fowler.

And I was like, yes? Like, what's going on? And he said, you're supposed to be on the air right now. You're supposed to be on, you know. Fowler's a good guy. Yeah, he's a good guy. So I screamed out of here and got here not too late. Moose Grumpy is on the live stream, live.torontomic.com,

and reminding me that there's great footage of you performing Last of the Red Hot Fools at Palma's Kitchen, which was just TMLX 11, which was last December. Yeah, I really enjoyed that. That was really good. I've actually been back to Palma's store since then, Palma's Kitchen. Do tell.

Yeah, well, just because the food is so good. Well, it's delicious. And it's a long, long way from my house. Right. It's Mississauga and Oakville. So here, let me send you home today. I have a large meat lasagna for you in my freezer. Fantastic.

Yeah, it's delicious. And your boy's name is Owen, right? Owen, yeah. And you're going to the movies tonight. Yep, we're going to the Spider-Man movie. Okay, again, as I told you before I pressed record, my almost 19-year-old daughter picked up her 7-year-old and 9-year-old siblings at the YMCA earlier this week

and took them straight to the Queensway Cinema to watch that movie, and everybody had a good time. So, uh, hope it's good right now. My, my friend, although I haven't seen him in a long time,

Paul Mather, who was, um, who, uh, created corner gas, uh, with Brent,

but, uh, uh, FOTM Brent, but by the way, Oh, there you go. Yeah.

And he, uh, so Paul, um, Paul lives in Los Angeles now, but he said on facebook that he went to the movies went to see the spider-man movie he said too many spider-men oh that's what he said well i haven't seen it that's the one review i've read and it's the one that i said to you earlier i said i don't know i've heard some people saying but it wasn't some people it

was just one guy all right well you know he would know his stuff he created corner gas for goodness sakes holy Holy smokes. Okay. So let me know what you think. And remind me, you said you had an opportunity to be on the radio, that you can't do that because you're going to these movies. Yeah. Who wanted you on the radio tonight? My dear friend, Bob Reed.

We co-hosted our show together for 11 years on News Talk 1010. And he wants to talk about the A.I. Beatles song. Okay. Do you know about AI Beatles song. Okay. Do you know about that? Yeah. Yeah. So I haven't heard it. All I've heard is Paul McCartney talking about

how great it's going to be. And I'm thinking, I don't know, maybe. It'll be interesting for sure. I've got to say, my appetite for AI music is maybe less than zero. Like, I would rather hear that song Marsden shit all over when you were 17 years old. Because at least I know a human being named Blair Packham wrote that thing in high school.

No, I understand. I mean, here's a funny thing. With AI looming as an existential threat to humanity, it's really interesting the reaction that it's getting. My existential threat was Napster and LimeWire and so forth because it fundamentally changed the way the record industry worked and selling music and so forth. And it really proved to be not the death knell of music making

because people are going to make music anyway, but of music selling. And so the paradigm shifted in a huge way and it's really tough to make music anyway, but of music selling. And so the paradigm shifted in a huge way. And it's really tough to make a living as a musician now, or as a recording artist, let's put it that way. At the time, journalists, there were articles, countless articles. There was one in the New York Times that basically said, musicians have to get used to it. It's like they're buskers outside the subway begging for change and they're just going to have to get used to it and there was a a drawing that was the illustration for it of a of a guy busking was and it was like bob dylan or somebody outside

the subway and and i thought okay thanks for your support you know thanks for your help and then it happened to journalists and then they're all like oh oh, no, the sky is falling. Right. And I just sort of feel like, well, you know, this is what you said. My answer would be you're just going to have to get used to it. You know? That said, I think it's a shame, and I think that AI, while it promises some really interesting stuff, I think some of it's very, very scary.

I'm not alone in that, obviously. It's not my own opinion. The spinners, right? It's a shame. That's a great song. The way you mess around with my life. I don't see it on your list here. Maybe the next time you come back. It took me a long time to invite you to kick out the jams,

mainly because every time you drop by, I want to talk to you about so many other things. I didn't want to carve out an hour for jams, but I'm glad we're finally doing this. Yeah, me too. It's long overdue. I got to say, I kind of went with the sentimental favorites. So that said, there are all kinds of R&B and rock

and like hard rock. Alice Cooper, I heard an Alice Cooper track last night that I love. None of those things are on this particular list today. So if you do want to have her have me back, I can go with a completely different direction. I love a lot of music. There's an FOTM named Jesse

Camacho. He starred in a popular Canadian show that was called Less Than Kind. I point that out just because I'm going to kick out your next jam and it's all going to make sense shortly. Let's get to song

number four. Another day is nearly done A darker grey is breaking through a lighter one A thousand sharpened elbows in the underground That hollow hurried sound Of feet on polished floor And in the dollar store The clerk is closing up And counting loonies trying not to say I hate Winnipeg The driver checks the mirror seven minutes late I hate Winnipeg. The driver checks the mirror seven minutes late.

The crowded riders' restlessness enunciates. The guests who suck, the jets were lousy anyway. I love it. The guests who suck the jets were lousy anyway. The same route every day. And in the turning lane, someone stalled again. He's talking to himself. And here's the price of gas. Repeat his phrase I hate

Winnipeg The Weaker Thans I love this song, great choice Blair It's, oh my god, I love this song it actually brings tears to my eyes like I'm tearing up and it's not because of a personal thing and I really like Winnipeg actually

but the idea of being stuck somewhere including toronto being stuck somewhere that you know so well but that frustrates you and the picture that john samson paints is so vivid and it's such the little details the bus driver seven minutes late right you know sitting in the passing lane and there's a car stalled like oh fuck like yeah it's great band but yeah john k samson well like so fucking talented yeah and and but and then but the writing just capturing all those little details and and and uh the winter you know the the lighter grays you know peeking through a darker one like like you just so vivid and and then and winnipeg by the way doesn't rhyme with a lot of things and and not great in a song in a way and he places it in exactly the play the

perfect part you know he doesn't try and make it sing. And that was chosen as the theme song to Less Than Kind, the Marie Chaykin series. No kidding. I actually didn't know that, but I can understand it. It's such a beautiful song. And I love it. Like, the guests who suck, the Jets suck, or whatever.

And I'm looking over to my right, I got this great photo of Brian Linehan because I was told by the Watchmen that Brian Linehan would be proud of me and my efforts on Toronto Mike. And I'm thinking they're the Watchmen, another great Winnipeg band. But yeah, a lot of, I've never been to Winnipeg.

I'm missing out, right? I got to get myself to Winnipeg. Yeah. I, you know, I've been there mostly when i was gigging there like playing and and uh and loved it the first few times it was disorienting because we played out in the

suburbs somewhere it would be like playing in mississauga and people saying welcome to toronto you know it's different it's not the same as toronto you know and then then when we played in the center of town it it was like oh this place is cool. Portage and Main? Yeah, we weren't at, yeah. I only know it from the song. Portage and Main, 15 below. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm not crazy about that song. Oh, I like that song

because you get Neil Young and you get Randy Bachman in there. Well, that's true. But in terms of the way a song is written, I just, I like the... Because you think like a writer and I'm just some schlub who's listening in my headphones or whatever.

Yeah, you're a great songwriter. Like we've covered this. Again, this is not. Yeah, you're a great songwriter. Like, we've covered this. Again, this is not Blair. If you're listening to your first Blair Packham episode of Toronto Mike, what is wrong with you? You have some catching up to do. Yeah, really? Like, I'm actually going to really quickly in real time.

I have on torontomike.com, there's a button at the top that says guests. And if you click into that, I actually list. So I'm looking here. Okay, so you first visited in uh october 2021 that was a backyard episode that's the one pete fowler woke you up for you got by the way i see you have some palm of pasta from that uh that visit and you keep track of the palm of pasta no it's in the photo like okay well everyone gets one if you come in person yeah you get a palm of pasta lasagna in person, you get a Palma Pasta lasagna.

Everyone gets one. Except when you accompany David Steinberg because... I only had one? Yeah, I think you only had one. Okay, well I'm making up for it today. Stop busting my chops here, Packham. I got room in my freezer, baby. In this 926th episode, Mike chats with Blair Packham about his years

in the jitters. You were in the jitters? Apparently, yes. People seemed to like to talk about that. It was 10 years in the 1980s. Wow. His time on Q107. You were on Q107. I was for a whole year, more than a year,

year and a half every Sunday night for, like when I say Sunday night, Monday morning from midnight till six in the morning. Wow. Okay, Last of the Red Hot Fools. That's your song. Apparently, I wrote that night, Monday morning from midnight till six in the morning. Wow, okay. Last of the Red Hot Fools, that's your song. Apparently, I wrote that. Catchy diddy, it gets stuck in my head. Closer Every Day, an underrated jitters jam.

With the memorable chorus, and it gets bigger every single time I'm near you. That's right. Well, is that a penis reference? You're quite the songwriter. It is, in fact. We wrote that together. I'm quite sure that that was somebody That's right. Well, is that a penis reference? You're quite the songwriter. It is, in fact. We wrote that together. I'm quite sure that that was somebody else's idea.

Okay, sorry, you finished that thought. I was just going to say, I endorse it fully and completely. Okay, shout out to the Tragically Hip. Then you, this is where I thought maybe I was going to lose you as an FOTM, but I think it only made us closer because I compared you to Huey Lewis in the News and Doug in the slugs.

Well, it was the inference that, or the implication that I did it on purpose, which was absolutely not true. You weren't jumping on a bandwagon. Not at all. And I thought Doug in the slugs were terrific, but it never, I don't know that it occurred to me until you pointed it out. Well, you know, I hear

things differently than the average Joe. I guess so. You then, you played like Making It Work or something like that. And then you heard it out. Well, you know, I hear things differently than the average Joe. I guess so. You then, you played like Making It Work or something like that. And then you heard it and you went, oh yeah, I did bust their chops.

I did rip them off. Did you see the documentary on Doug and the Slut? I actually didn't. I hear it's great. Is it? It is pretty good because it's done,

I like how it's done from the neighbor, like the neighbor growing up next to the Bennetts or whatever, kind of grows up and makes this doc and asking like,

just talking. So I like the way they tackled it and there's some fotms like denise donlin in there yeah so uh i enjoyed it one of one of my good friends is simon kendall who was a co-writer with doug bennett on all those songs all right and simon played on some records of mine well we should make a like a a documentary in that style but on the jitters and then just make everything connect i can imagine the pitch meetings like like oh my god people would be like sorry who but why but yeah all right the rest of that description from this 90 minute backyard episode during the

pandemic and i'm glad i did the backyard episodes because i was so sick of remotes but it was uh october again october 2021 what did i write here writing for other people because you write for other people and your work on tv and films and more i mean uh you're all over the place man i just wrote a song uh for a dan akroyd uh chevy chase movie that's coming out called zombie town that's crazy yeah yeah that's amazing yeah i could chevy chase is still working okay that's crazy yeah yeah that's amazing yeah i could chevy chase is still working okay that's well yeah and and well his yeah well he was booted from the set of community as i recall like he had to zoom in or something his roles like they said no he's not

allowed on set or something i think he was a well my impression is uh that he was perhaps a toxic uh entity on that show that's what i Yeah, I've heard that as well. Okay, so they were like zooming him in. I watched that show avidly. I like that show. I tried to see if you could tell if there was any animosity between them. But he's back with Dan Aykroyd,

who once held the door for me at a restaurant on Avenue Road. He mentioned that to me. And most famous, forget everything he did, Dan Aykroyd, me and most famous forget everything he did dan agrid he's most famous for introducing the tragically hip on saturday night live that's right that's right although that reminds me of something else that has nothing to do with dan agrid what reminds me of uh that that uh clip that's going around of uh dave grohl talking about when foo fighters were on saturday night live and he uh and Christopher Walken is the host,

and he asks, you know, is it Foo Fighters? Dave Grohl's impression of Christopher Walken is so great. The Foo Fighters! I can't do it. It's so good. Yeah, I love good Walken impressions. Okay, and by the way, you returned in May 2022. It was a week where my tree was in full bloom.

That's only one week a year, and I can see those beautiful blooms behind you. And that was episode 1053, Mike chats with Blair Packham about the many ways he's connected to FOTMs because you had realized by listening to Toronto Mike that you were connected to so many FOTMs that had been on the show and you wanted to kind of like. I wanted to get my name in there, basically.

I love that episode. I kept, every time I'd hear somebody, I'd say, I'd say, I'd think to myself, what about me? What about my part in your life? And then you came on and just set the record straight. You are the most important person in my life. Exactly. I am the connector. And then you came back though with set the record straight. You are the most important person in my life. Exactly. I am the connector.

And then you came back, though, with David Quinton Steinberg. Yes. And that was in November 2022. And here you are kicking out the jams. So I know people listening are like, get to the Weisblot. Get to the Weisblot. It's like the Simpsons. It's get to the fireworks factory.

We're going to kick out this great Elvis jam. And then we're going to talk about the return of 1236 to Toronto Mic'd. Let's kick it! What goes on in that place in the dark? Well, I used to know a girl and I could have sworn That her name was Veronica Well, she used to have a carefree mind of her own And a delicate look in her eye These days I'm afraid she's not even sure If her name was Veronica

You're supposed to wait in hell But I, Veronica, come to hide All the time she laughs As long as you shout her name It's beautiful Veronica Veronica Veronica The Elvis. Yeah, man.

Elvis Costello. Veronica. I could fill this whole list with Elvis Costello songs. Then you'd be violating my only rule. Which is? Every artist gets one song. There you go. When you kick out the jams.

Yeah, fair enough. Another favorite of mine of Elvis's is I Want You, which is an incredible song about infidelity and the mixed feelings that you have about infidelity. You know, there's the terrible feeling of betrayal and so forth, but there's also an interest in, yeah, but what did you guys do together? Like, it's like having a sore tooth or something.

You want to probe that wound, you know? And it captures it so amazingly. Anyway, this one. Yeah, Veronica. Yeah, Veronica's about, as I understand it, it's about a woman with Alzheimer's or with dementia. And you don't hear pop songs about that very often. No.

I don't think I knew what Veronica was about. And now that you've told me, I'm going to revisit this song. She sits very quiet and still. They call her a name that they never get right. And if they don't, nobody else will. She's got nobody left. Again, the bridge. You know, bridges in songs.

Not every song has a bridge. But when they do do and it's written and it's written by somebody like Elvis Costello it's going to be a good one and this one is it's like a memory it's suddenly at this memory wash that she has of of being on the Empress of India and and you know this this trip that she took it's just like it's amazing if you you know people pay attention pay attention to the. Songwriters work hard on those words. It is awesome when a songwriter, especially an accomplished songwriter

like Blair Packham, kicks out the jams because you listen to music differently than we normies do. Of course, because you construct songs, so you would hear things like that where I'd be like, yeah, it's got a good beat, I can dance to it. Right, right. Well, and I understand that. And, you know, song like that where I'd be like, yeah, it's got a good beat. I can dance to it.

Right, right. Well, and I understand that. And songwriters, I think, try and get back to that because listening with that kind of innocence is important, I think, if you're trying to connect with the whole purpose of a song, to my thinking anyway. And I've had people argue with me about this, but I feel the whole purpose of a song is to move somebody, move a listener is to make them feel something or, or think something

or hopefully both. And a song is to me is successful regardless of whether it's, you know, sells any copies or gets on the radio or anything. It's successful if it manages to move people. And, uh, and so if, if the song is going to move people, if you're moved by words, lots of people aren't. The words just flow over them and so forth. But I want my words and my melodies to work together. Songs are an amazing thing. Words and melody and the instrumentation and the beat and all that stuff works together to create a feeling. And that's kind of amazing. And it's all these moving parts. That's why writing a great song isn't feeling. And that's kind of amazing. And it's all these moving parts. That's why writing a great song isn't easy.

And that's why having a hit song is even harder. Did you hear the Kurt Swinghammer episode of Toronto Mic'd? I heard most of it. Not all of it because it bored you and you had other things to do. No, I did have other things to do, but I heard most of it. Kurt is a dear friend and I admire him deeply. And he would have opinions about art and its purpose, its function

and its place in the world. Well, we talked about, we revisited the Burt Bacharach story. And just so you know, your Burt Bacharach story made the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode of Toronto Mic. I drop every month, I do that.

And yeah, you made the cut. I loved your Burt Bacharach story. It was, it was a real, it was a momentous occasion in my life and in Kurt's too, I know. So yeah, we were really happy to be included. That was all down to Paul Myers and his brother, Mike Myers. Yeah. Paul Myers is an FOTM. Yeah. I want to be in the Hall of Fame though. And, and, you know, you've listed off, I think, three episodes that I've done. This is maybe my fourth. I thought it was myM. Yeah. I want to be in the Hall of Fame though and you know you've listed off I think three episodes that I've done. This is maybe my fourth. I thought it was my fifth actually. I thought I came back with David Quinton

Steinberg. You might have and I might have to update that page. I might have missed that one. Which means I've only got 45 more appearances to go. That's a lot of lasagna. Alright so hold on because I did promise the listenership. Wise Blot Chat. Now firstly though I mentioned Ridley Fuderal Home Memorial episode I dropped one a the listenership uh wise blot chat now yeah firstly

though I mentioned Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode I dropped one a month if you pull out the what yeah you got it you know how to work things okay so you have a flashlight courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home Brad Jones here's one I feel good story yeah so Brad Jones is the funeral director and owner of Ridley Funeral Home and he was here yesterday at five o'clock to record an episode of Life's Undertaking. I co-host this podcast with Brad. It's the Ridley Funeral Home podcast and it's excellent. And we were chatting and I was sharing, you know, it was my 10th anniversary. So I was talking about that and he was talking about the day he got married in 1992 and it was the best day of his life. And we were, it was great chat. And then I mentioned that I have a six o'clock reservation at the cellar door and i just

mentioned it okay fine he leaves my home and then uh monica and i walk over we're we're enjoying our meal and then at the end of the meal we're told that uh our meal somebody had come in and paid for our meal brad jones from ridley funeral home without me having any clue, I know, had snuck in and just said, I'd like to pay for that couple's meal. And then, you know, popped out a credit card or whatever. And yeah, it was a mind blow that Brad Jones had paid for our meal unbeknownst to us. Isn't that lovely, right? I know.

Yeah, really nice. And good you picked a local restaurant in that case, because if you had picked one farther away, he may not have made that effort. Because he lives at 14th and Lakeshore, he lives uh right you know ridley funeral home is uh right beside it basically it's connected it's right yeah it's not like six feet under where you're on top it's like to the side or whatever but then after our meal we walked over to ridley funeral home and rang the doorbell and had a drink of bread and uh thanked him uh immensely for what a generous thought so So what a thoughtful thing.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home who bought Monica and I a meal yesterday. Yeah. Good guy. And you got the flashlight. I got the flashlight. You know what? I noticed at home I don't have any flashlights. Yeah.

You know what? Now I do. Now you have one. So keeping you safe so you're not going to be at Ridley Funeral Home's door anytime soon. Anytime soon. Yeah. Veronica, great Elvis Costello song, also the name of Al Grego's daughter. And

Al Grego is the award winning host of Yes, We Are Open. And I have for you another great gift. This is a wireless speaker Blair Packham, courtesy of Moneris, so that you can listen to season four of Yes, We Are Open and hear the inspiring stories that Al is

collecting and sharing with the masses. So Yes, We Are Open season four of Yes, We Are Open and hear the inspiring stories that Al is collecting and sharing with the masses. So Yes, We Are Open season four. It'll sound great on that wireless speaker. That's the name of the speaker. I'm surely not the first person to do that. No, in fact, it happened yesterday when Scott MacArthur did it, sitting in that same seat.

I did it better. That's debatable. You know, I will say this about Scott MacArthur, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with this name, Scott MacArthur. I don't think so. But he mysteriously, you know how you mysteriously disappeared from the 1010 airwaves one day? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So.

Mike Bendixson, thank you very much. Right, well, so this is now, we're post-Mike Bendixson, and the new program director is a guy named Jeff McDonald, who's also the program director on 1050 TSN radio. And Jeff McDonald worked with the program director on 1050 TSN radio. And Jeff McDonald worked with Scott MacArthur on 1050 before Scott MacArthur quit that job to be on 590 as the morning show host.

So all this is to say that Jeff made a call after, you know, because Scott got fired from the fan 590 morning show because in radio, you're hired to be fired. And he got a call from Jeff and said, I want you to co-host our afternoon drive show

on News Talk 1010. It's called The Rush. Your co-host is going to be a woman who's actually an FOTM named Reshmi Nair. And Scott MacArthur said, okay, Jeff, I will do that. But you got to hear this episode because Scott talks about basically this anxiety

he felt walking to work every day that was getting worse and worse. And then this moment where he went to see a doctor to talk about what he was feeling and was told basically, you need to step away from this show right now. And he did. And then he realized he needed to step away permanently, and he left the gig. Wow. And it's a whole story.

The detail in which Scott MacArthur shares his story. And then he basically has just sold his Toronto loft and he hasn't bought yet, but he's going to live his life in Nova Scotia. And this story, you got to hear it. Scott MacArthur, it's yesterday. It was amazing. And he also sang the Boxan song. I gave him the wire on his box and uh song well okay i want to address a

few points anything one is um i want to go back to mike ben dixon for just a moment just to say i i mentioned his name and it sounded snarky and i didn't mean to mike mike is a really good guy if you say so i got a snarky note from him after an episode of oh no kidding okay well and i will shout it out because i think it was a very important and i'm very glad i did it there was a woman in the uh 1010 newsroom back when they had one because they don't actually have a newsroom and her name was and still her name but she's no longer at 1010 amber giro i believe she's at cbc now amber giro is a black woman and she was telling me on toronto'd in great detail about racism she was experiencing in the 1010 newsroom. And I got a note from Ben Dixon

that I didn't challenge her enough. And I ask you, Blair Packham, as a fellow white man, when a black woman is telling you a story and sharing her experiences of racism, you listen, right? You listen and you believe them uh right i can't why would i not believe her i can't yeah i wasn't there yeah if if somebody if if a friend of yours

another another white man went to a mcdonald's and was treated badly at the counter and then told you oh man i couldn't believe it you know blah blah blah, blah, blah. Would you go, would you think, no, I don't think that happened to you. Right. You know, like, why would you, you know, so if somebody else tells you their experience. Right. Now, it may or may not have happened exactly the way they described because people perceive things differently. Sure. But, yeah, you believe them.

Yeah. And you listen. And that episode, I think, was an important episode because she was sharing her story on a big Toronto station and racism that she experienced. And she's sharing this story. So Amber Giro is several years old now, I believe. But it is still, I think, an important episode. But continue making amends with Mike Bendix.

Well, all I wanted to say was Mike was always good to me. But, you know, and he has his experience and his opinion and thought you should have challenged her. I don't know. I don't know. But, okay, so there's that thing. And then the other thing, the anxiety. I felt that when I did my show at Q107 every Sunday night.

Lots of anxiety because it was, you know, I wanted to be on the radio. Radio figured very heavily in my life. And I, but at the same time, I didn't really enjoy the actual act of being on the radio. Interesting. Yeah. And it was because I was solo in the middle of the night trying to be funny in between records. And it's hard to be funny for me when there's no audience there. So that was interesting and then uh the moving to nova scotia like wanting to step back that's that's where i am at emotionally right now so having visited um newfoundland uh for the last two weeks it's gonna ask you in fact let's let's hold on the wise blood till after the next jam okay tell me about this trip well to newfoundland

okay so interestingly enough uh the people so I put up a thing on Facebook. I'm very open and people sometimes call me on it and criticize me. Like family members will say, why are you sharing all this stuff? They think you're oversharing? Yeah, yeah. In fact, if I write a book, that will be the title of it, Oversharing. It's supposed to, yes, we are open. The Blair Packham story. Yeah. So I put on Facebook about a year and a half ago that I am interested in doing a house swap. I have a nice house in Toronto.

If you want to do a house swap, just let me know. So I got a call from somebody in Halliburton, somebody I didn't really know. We were Facebook friends, but you know how that can go. And she said she had an apartment in her cottage in Halliburton if i wanted to come up for a couple of nights you know i live separately and so forth and i brought my son up and we had a great time somebody else in vancouver sent me a note saying i'm coming to toronto i could use a house swap so i'll swap for 10 days wow then these guys that i barely know there's a guy guy who did a radio show on Ryerson Radio called Song Talk Radio for 10 years.

And his name is Phil Emery. He still does it as a podcast. Really good songwriter, really good analytical guy, you know, good radio host. He and his girlfriend, during this pandemic, they moved to Newfoundland, to St. John's. during this pandemic, they moved to Newfoundland, to St. John's. And they had been working remotely. Both of them met online like eight years ago and found out in the, you know, hey, what do you do for a living? Hey, well, you know, and, you know,

the kind of feeling each other out before your first meeting. Turned out they lived on the same street, about six doors away from each other. So then they meeting turned out they lived on the same street about six doors away from each other so so then they started dating and they started hanging out and they fell in love and and uh so for eight years they're living in toronto paying exorbitant rent phil's rent got to be i don't know like it started at 1200 bucks uh for a two-bedroom apartment so he really lucked out but then next thing you know the woman who owns the house dies and it doubles and you know etc etc so right um they move in together pandemic happens they realize they they could work remotely but heather gets headhunted for a job

you'll like this part gets headhunted for a job as executive director of alan doyle's charitable foundation wow now she can still do it remotely but they think why why would we stay here why so they they go and they check out st john's and she had gone to university there so she knew the town and of course there's her boss alan is there so and and by the way in st john's there are plaques uh up describing like alan doyle uh ate lunch here you know alan doyle uh once um you know yeah he's a great great big part of great big c very much and a great big part of of st john's and uh and so they go and they check it out and they think you know what i think i think we could live here they'd never owned property before in their lives because of the renting situation and circumstances

and the way Toronto went in terms of real estate. Yeah, went nuts. So they go to St. John's and they buy their first home. It's like a five-bedroom home. It's beautiful, beautiful for $350,000. And I don't think they'd mind me telling you that because it's such a victory. It's such a win.

And so they wanted to do a house swap because they were coming to Toronto to get married. But they didn't tell me that until the day before I arrived in St. John's. And I said, wow, great way to make sure I'm not at your wedding. They got you as far away as they could from the wedding. Well, we'll know Blair Packham's not going to be at the wedding

because he'll be in St. John's at our house. So, yeah, so we did a house swap. They took care of my two cats. I took care of their three cats. I was there for 12 days. Love that town. Who did you go with? Well, I went alone initially.

My girlfriend, Janet Van de Graaff, who you should have as a guest on the show. I will. She's fantastic. Look her up, folks. She's not the originator of the Van de Graaff generator by the way but

she joined me for five days and we had the greatest time and it's a great town and the weather was horrific but what do you mean horrific? rainy? what was it? when I played Noonan's Pub last night on the Danforth,

Jane Noonan, the owner, is from Newfoundland. She moved from St. John's to Toronto, and she bought the Dora Keogh Pub on Danforth. And I said to her, she said, I noticed you were in St. John's. And I said, yeah, for a couple of weeks. And I said, I'm thinking of moving there. And she said, yeah, well, if you don't mind the gray weather,

she said, 10 months of the year, it's gray. Yeah, that would get to you. She said her brother had called her. Her brother, who's lived there all his life, called her and said, if I don't see Sun soon, I'm going to have to kill myself. Oh, no. Yeah. So I'm thinking of it.

Janet and I are both thinking of it. Well, it might be one of those places that's better to just visit once a year. I mean, you know who's got this figured out? Stephen Brunt. And there's actually a really great episode of Toronto Mic from a couple of weeks ago with Stephen Brunt, who's another guy who kind of disappeared from radio, although he got to say goodbye, I believe. On the Fan 590, Rogers released him. And he spends summers in Newfoundland, but he spends the winters here in the GTA.

Hamilton, I think. But he's one of those, yeah, he loves Newfoundland. He runs that Woody's Point Songwriters Festival. It's actually shocking to me that he hasn't had you, Blair Packham, attend the Woody's Point Songwriters Festival. Or you have, maybe. I haven't, no, and I'd love to. So if you put in a good...

Well, I have to hook that up. Put in a good word for me, that'd be great. Okay, well... No, it's, it's a, it's a lovely town. I see your point, though, and I'm, and I'm thinking about it. But I, but I want to go somewhere. Like, my house in Toronto is my retirement, basically. That's the life of a musician.

I don't have a pension. I have CPP, but I don't have a company. But it's amazing you own a home in Toronto. You're rich. Well, I'm house rich, yeah. Not cash rich. Well, I know what that's like. I do want to shout out Sean McCann from Great Big Sea because his episode

of Toronto Mic'd, episode 941, was quite something. He just talked about his substance problem with alcohol. I heard that one. It was quite something, Sean McCann. Yeah, it was a really good one. I heard him on CBC Radio too while I was out there yeah because he wrote a book

and I think he started making the rounds that's how I got him but he was fantastic so shout out to FOTM Sean McCann okay let's get to this next jam and then we got to talk

Wise Blood imagine this is like that bit I do where I just tease the Wise Blood chat through all the jams and then we say oh we're out of time

Blair oh we'll have to come I'll have to come back and talk about Mark but let's play a song by an obscure little band out of the UK. Let's listen. Let's listen. She's done standing in the rain Move from doing it again

Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles What makes you think you're something special when you smile? Childlike, No one understands Jackknife In your sweaty hands Some kind of innocence is measured out in years You don't know what it's like to listen to your fears You can talk to me

You can talk to me. You can talk to me. You can talk to me. If you're lonely, you can talk to me. Hey, Bulldog. Yeah, baby. That's my nickname for you now, Bulldog. Okay, hey, Bulldog, this is the Beatles. I love it.

Yeah, yeah. Obscure little band from the UK. Well, you know, it's funny. A lot of people don't know this song. It is, as Beatles songs go, this is not a particularly well-known one. Yeah, Beatles songs are known to billions of people, and this one is included, and

yet, on the scale of things, it's lesser known than I Want to Hold Your Hand. Right, absolutely. But I just want to show, before I even hear you talk about the Beatles, and I can't wait to hear that, especially this song, which is one of the lesser known Beatles jams, but Basement Dweller left a couple of great comments on the live stream. Firstly, he loved your

prog rock reference to Vandegraaff Generator. Thank you. And he also says, stop teasing the wise blight. He says, we're pulling a Jimmy Kimmel. I guess Jimmy Kimmel does a bit where he says, Matt Damon's coming up next. And then they run out of time and they never have Matt Damon on,

but he wants you to know Blair Packham that this song, Hey Bulldog is one of his five favorite Beatles songs. He says, no joke. So there are at least two of you, but it is shocking that if you were only going to play one Beatles song that you would choose Hey Bulldog. Yeah, it's

I mean, I've got a few that are maybe lesser known, but I mean, I just, I love the Beatles so much. I didn't want to pick A Day in the Life, which I also love, you know. I didn't want to pick Side 2 of Abbey Road, which I also love. But this song, it's so tough

and it's so the riff is so great. It's so, like it's so... The riff is so great. The Beatles had this beautiful combination of bluesy and poppy. And this song exemplifies that. The story of this song is they went into Abbey Road Studio 3, the small one, to make a video, basically, a music video. They weren't called that then, but a film of Lady Madonna. And while they were there, Paul, the...

Paul who? Paul McCartney, but the guy in the band who was always like, hey, fellas, we should do such and such. And I'm sure the other guys, you can see it in Get Back. back you can see george getting it like you know they're they're just like oh shut up like you know because he's always got an idea he's always got something going on and he's trying to hold back and you can see he's trying to hold back because he's just overflowing with ideas so he says well we're here anyway in the studio we're set up Why don't we write something and record something? So they write it and record it in one day. Wow.

And it's, to me, it's a masterpiece. Wow. Like, I just love it. And it's, you know, when they, and so, by the way, if you look at the video, the music video on YouTube for Lady Madonna, it's the same footage. So then, in recent years, somebody put it together to make it actually match Hey Bulldog.

Wow. And so then it serves double duty. Wait, so what album is Hey Bulldog on? It was on the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine. Yellow Submarine, okay. That also explains why it's lesser known, I would think. Yeah, because it was a soundtrack album and people didn't think of it. It was never a single.

People don't think of it as sort you know sort of an official beatles release in a way you know because the rest of the songs most of the rest of the songs or many of the rest of the songs for yellow submarine were taken from other records and then the other ones were like blue jay way right um not a masterpiece um you know of uh uh anyway there were there were other songs there that were really also rants. And then there's Hey Bulldog. Is it fair to say that Paul McCartney was to the Beatles as Paul Myers was to the Gravel Berries?

I guess so. I just wanted to work him back into the conversation. I think both of them have the name Paul. And we know that they're, I feel like the myers parents are from liverpool maybe yeah no you you're you're feeling is correct and peter myers has become a good friend on twitter of all places so there's the three boys he's yeah he's an excellent guy peter peter myers like my tweets and things like i feel like i have a twitter

relationship with peter myers he's a yeah he's a he's a really good guy. Funny thing is, I went to a Kids in the Hall thing that Paul was doing. To launch his book a few years ago. And I was sort of a little overwhelmed by all the people that I was seeing, all the familiar faces. And this guy comes up to me and he goes, Blair, how are you? And I look at him

and he looks very distinctive. He looks like a Myers brother, but I didn't recognize... And he had to say, Peter. It's it's Peter Myers I'm like oh my god you know because I just hadn't seen him in in person in a number of years so after I get uh Geddy Lee thanks to FOTM David Quinton Steinberg I am going to get Mike Myers thanks to uh FOTM's uh Paul and Peter Myers how is that for a plan uh I'll tell you my advice for that is ask Peter before you ask Paul Paul his whole life has been people have said to him hey can you tell him he does that he does this great thing actually people say yeah you remind me of your

brother and he goes Peter and he knows perfectly well they mean Mike but right he you know he wants to confound them and I understand that it must be super, you know, he wants to confound them. And I understand that it must be super annoying, you know, and you start to feel like people only want you for your brother. And, and Paul, believe me, as you, as you know, he has, he's an, he's a genius. I mean, Paul is fantastic. No doubt, no doubt. And I do believe I did at the end of our chat. I think I did drop a hint about Mike Myers. And I believe I had the strong impression that Paul could not help me with that request and had no such ability

to put Mike Myers on Toronto Mike. The word I would use is bristle. He would bristle at that. Alright. Believe it or not, I'm not doing the bit because we are going to talk about Wise Blood, but I'm actually going to hold on to it until after this song. I know it sounds like I'm doing this on purpose, but listen going to talk about Wise Blood, but I'm actually going to hold on to it until after this song.

Oh my God. I know it sounds like I'm doing this on purpose, but listen, these jams are great. Your stories are great. Like it's all good. I will await you. At the end of this, I'll wait for you to launch into Mark Wise Blood, so to speak.

So to speak. Okay. Let's kick. Oh, I love this song too. Let's get talking about this after we listen to this song. Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath. Keep me in your heart for a while. Keep me in your heart for a while If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less

Keep me in your heart for a while When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun Keep me in your heart for a while There's a train leaving nightly Called when all is said and done Keep me in your heart for a while Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Keep me in your heart for a while

Keep me in your heart for a while Warren Zevon Yeah, yeah, beautiful, beautiful song. Warren Zevon Yeah Yeah, beautiful Beautiful song His elegy His self-penned elegy A line about running out of breath

You can hear it It's running out of breath Literally because of the cancer And Boy Well, recently on Toast We kicked out like Sad songs And this was one of mine because uh you you can hear it and and there's a there's a line in there in fact maybe this will be a good

segue to because he to the wise mod chatter because he says if i leave you it doesn't mean i love you any less and i could tear up just like hearing him at this point in his life at the very end he's the end is nigh saying those words it's gorgeous it's sad it's a great great selection Blair yeah oh yeah it's uh I had one brush with uh with Warren Zevon I'm such a fan and uh we were on a CBC radio show I was there accompanying my then wife, Arlene Bishop, and Warren was the other songwriter. She was the emerging songwriter, and he was Warren Zevon. And that was, by the way, the day that I met The Odds,

who became... We'll call that a teaser. Yeah. And, man, he was fun and funny and charming, and he pronounced one of Arlene's songs genius, which I would agree with. But yeah, I'm a big admirer of his. His ex-wife Crystal's collection,

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, it's a collection of Warren's diary entries and then her bridging the stories in between. And it's very, very moving. It's funny as hell. And it's really informative. If you don't know much about Warren Zevon, you'll learn a lot. And a lot of like how he fucked up and the women he slept with and the women he wanted to sleep with. It's like, and the women he slept with, and the women he wanted to sleep with. It's like, it's so lurid in a way,

but also so deep. It's a great book. Like a lot, like his music. And he was a great guest on the Larry Saunders show. No kidding. It was great. That's a great episode. Well, yeah, and they make fun of the fact that he was always asked to play...

Willem Linden. Yeah, and really, really didn't want to. I have a funny story about that that i may have shared with you um paul brennan from the odds at the time in the odds great drummer who played with arlene my my ex-wife um paul the odds backed up warren's yvonne on on a tour or two or three i'm not sure they they were rehearsing at this rehearsal hall. They finished the rehearsal. Paul, who was a little anxious, Paul Brennan, he went over,

Warren, I'm just, I'm curious. We covered a lot of songs, but we never got to, and Warren said, Paul, there is a song whose name we shall not say aloud. We will play it every night, but we will never utter its name, nor will we rehearse it.

Paul was like, oh, okay. And they did. They played it every night, but they never rehearsed it. I love it. I love that. I love the odds. We're going to talk about them shortly.

I just think it's wild because the way my brain works in real time, it just maps things. And I can see now we went from Teen Wolf to Werewolf London. That is good. Isn't that good? That's really good.

Wow. Okay. Let's take a moment and discuss Great Lakes Beer. See what I did there? Because you think I'm going to say Mark Weissblatt here. Great Lakes Beer, delicious, fresh craft beer. You know, it's a morning recording, so we didn't crack one here. But it was fun.

Like Richard Griffin was here yesterday, who used to work for the Blue Jays and the Toronto Star and the Expos. And he was here because he has a podcast, a new podcast with Scott MacArthur. Scott, me, Richard, drinking our Great Lakes, having a two-hour fascinating conversation. Like, it doesn't get any better than that. You can find your GLB across this fine province. If you move to Newfoundland, Blair,

you will not be able to buy Great Lakes beer. This is figuring in my calculations. And now I'm reminded that TMLXX, which is a fancy way of saying the 10th TMLX Toronto Mike listener experience, was at Great Lakes Brewery. We have another one coming up at the end of August, by the way. You've got to be

there. I know your driver, Sharon, can bring you there. Okay. That's key here. Shout out to FOTM Sharon Taylor. Okay. So I am just letting you know that there's footage of my baby Morgan, my youngest Morgan on my shoulders. Yes.

And we're singing along to Last of the Red Hot Fools because you were nice enough to perform for us and that was a great night at Great Lakes Brewery in South Etobicoke. I really enjoyed it. But I must say, apparently I need to write another song. Well, you'll never top that.

How many people in this universe have written a song that memorable, that catchy? How many? Maybe Paul McCartney and you. Maybe Paul Myers. Yes, and Paul Myers. That's why the three of us hang out so often. Maybe Craig Northey. I don't know. Okay. So that's coming up. But

you're a big fan of the 1236 episodes of Toronto Mic'd. Yes. Very much so. And you do a great impression of Mark Weisblatt. Maybe. I don't... I haven't heard him in so long, actually. So I'm not sure. So that's what I was going to ask.

He has made a triumphant return. But then he will talk over you like that. You'll just start speaking and he'll, anyway. I get, so a lot of people love to give me feedback on the 12th because people love it. Actually, those who love it, love it a lot. I believe I coined the phrase,

you recede into the background. And I give you credit for that every time he's on. And I can feel it happening. It doesn't happen in any other episode. But I can feel, I can feel the recession into the background he he doesn't always respond to things that you say he just he just plows on yeah you'll say something that's maybe counter to the narrative and he just carries on and it's it's hilarious it is funny and and his narrative is very interesting yes don't get me wrong oh yeah of course but but it is funny to hear the interaction between the two of you and then eventually the non-interaction so is it safe

to say you have you are behind you went to newfoundland but you haven't heard the return of mark no i haven't yet no no okay so we'll remedy that because uh it had been so he mark was on in late december 2022 and he was scheduled to be back on early January 2023. He was going to join me and Ed Keenan for a conversation about Alt-Rock, sorry, Alt-Rock, about Gen X alternative media.

Okay, this was all set up. But Mark requested that he take a break. So, of course, what am I... Get your ass in here, wise blood. You owe me three hours a fucking month and I want my three hours. Okay. So I'm like, yeah,

just let me know when you're ready to come back. So he came back. When did he come back? Early June, maybe. Or was it May? Okay. Regardless, he came back recently and you got to hear his return.

It was triumphant. I want to hear it. Yeah. And I will on my way home. I'll listen to it. His episodes were always very entertaining, so I'm looking forward to hearing it. Okay, so the review of his return, I have to wait for that,

so I'm going to have to invite you back again. I wanted to hear what you thought of Weisblatt's return. Weisblatt explains why he requested the break. Oh, yeah, it'd be very interesting. He talks about he detected some microaggressions, and I know you listen, and I'd love to hear your feedback on all this. It's just a fascinating talking point,

the return of Wiseblood. Wow, okay, now does that, now I feel guilty because I feel like I contributed. Does he name me as a microaggressor? I don't think so. I hope not. I got the feeling I might have been the microaggressor, to be honest. But I think I was reading some comments from people who felt,

maybe, I don't think, I don't know. I'll be careful here. But I think that some of these comments were to the effect of, you seem a little sad or something. Like he seemed a little sad after the St. Joseph Media. Is that what it's called? Yeah, St. Joseph Media. Right, the termination. Termination of the 1236 and it was a good

conversation but again uh you can totally hear me recede into the background at some point i was trying to have a conversation so i would do my like you said i would finally find a moment to chime in but he would carry on and i think i yelled at him something to the effect of um we need a dialogue here like right well Well, you know, it's possible. First of all, I want to say unequivocally, although I really don't know Mark, except hearing him on the show, and I've met him once. At TMLX?

Yeah, and it was lovely, and we were going to go for a beer, and it was nice. But I want to say I not uh micro or otherwise feeling aggressive towards him or in any way i do think that his uh manner of you know talking on like presenting his material on on the podcast is um uh is unique and interesting and amusing to me but amusing doesn't mean that I don't like it. And it doesn't, in fact,

it means I like it. And it also doesn't mean any disrespect. And I said that to him in person, by the way, I said, I hope you don't think that my impression. Yeah. We're not laughing at him.

Yeah. My impression of him is, is because he has an idiosyncratic way of speaking. And I think that I, and I found myself doing it at home while I was listening to the podcast. And I thought, Oh, that's funny. Yeah. My brother, Steve does it podcast. And I thought, oh, that's funny.

Yeah, my brother Steve does it too. Yeah, it's one of those voices that is fun to kind of mimic. But it's got character to it. And it's entertaining. And really, all I ask out of my podcast is to don't be boring. Like, entertain me. That's what I'm looking for. Yeah, well, this is what we ask of songs, by the way.

Right. Oh, good idea. Write that down right no but i mean like don't be don't be boring it's the only rule of songwriting they'll you'll you'll read uh you know songwriting workshops will advertise on facebook or whatever and they'll say the 12 rules of writing a hit song it's like the only rule is don't be boring i mean there are techniques and stuff but that's that's another conversation obviously but but yeah mark uh i i hope i getting getting fired or let go or terminated in any way i was playing this weekly thing at sauce on the danforth it's a great little

spot a drinking spot right and i was there every week and for a year and a half and um the owner and i were having a conversation about I was going to miss because I was going to go to Newfoundland. And then the conversation turned into, yeah, you know what? Maybe having you here every week is too much. And I thought, well, I'm very empathetic. So I thought as a bar owner, I could see that, right?

But it hurt. It actually hurt my feelings. And so anytime there's a change like that, it's going to hurt. And there's going to be some self-examination. And I bet Mark went through that. And I just want him to know that even though we're not close friends or anything like that, but I think his appearances on your podcast are fantastic. And I think he's very informed and informative and entertaining and all that good stuff. There's only one reason I offered up three hours

where I would recede into the background of my own podcast. It's because I find him interesting and I like what he says is fascinating. Right, I'm not bored by Mark Weisblatt, which is why he had the old, literally, I'm trying to remember now, it was like the first Thursday of every month. There was a three-hour block in my calendar for Mark Weisblatt to visit and spew his takes and his observations into the microphone.

Yeah. Yeah, and all I would say is, if I'm going to be aggressive towards you, it won't be micro, baby. You're the bulldog. Okay, let's get to another jam. In natural selection I've avoided all detection And the tender fits underneath All with window dressing and calculated guessing And a bark bigger than my teeth

It was the suit that got me the gig It was the tear that got me the girl I'm a sheep in this wolf clothing I'm a picture that I'm holding A son who is cool So like a thimble Swallowed up in symbols One and one

You teased odds. Is it the odds or odds? Odds. You teased odds. But everybody says the or odds? Odds. You teased odds. But everybody says the odds, including me, including them probably. But it's odds. Like spoons or the spoons. I wonder this every time Rob Cruise drops by.

Right, right. All right, talk to me. What a great song. Yeah, great song. This is just after I met them. Someone who's cool. I think the lyric is really clever. I love the melody. I love the bass playing. I think the lyric is really clever. I love the melody.

I love the bass playing. I love it. Like, they're just a great band. This was the album where Pat Stewart, the great Pat Stewart, joined the band. And he had been playing with, among others, Brian Adams. And he's a hell of a player. And he played on my first record. He played on my second record.

Played on my third record, but only one song. But he's like, oh, I love those guys. Craig Northey is a dear, dear friend, and we've co-written stuff together, and I think he's brilliant. And yeah, I'm just so happy that I met them, and it was through,

it was ultimately through Warren Zevon, even though, well, it was through, no, you know what, give fair credit, it was through... No, you know what? Give fair credit. It was through Paul Myers. That's better. It's more romantic to say it was Warren Zevon, but it was Paul Myers.

So, yeah, Paul had The Odds sing on his record. At that time, Bob Chemis was a tech for The Odds. He went on to tech for Jan Arden, and now he's with Elvis Costello. And Bob Kamis is a brilliant songwriter, by the way. Funny as hell. Very low-key. And he

was with Elvis in San Francisco doing the Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe show, and Paul Myers hung out with Bob the other day, and I was very envious. I was in St. John's, where the sun will never shine. The sun will never shine.

The sun will never shine. The Eat My Brain video has Tom Wilson in it, right? Oh, yeah, and I think Mo's in it, isn't he? Yes, I believe so. A lot of FOTMs, and the only member of ODS who's in FOTM currently is Craig Northey. But that was a great chat with Craig. I didn't hear that one.

I've got to look it up. Craig is a very low-key talker, but funny as hell. He does a lot of work with your old buddy, Stephen Page. Yes. I saw them when I last saw them play. It was at the, what do they call it now? The Scotiab arena uh opening for the who wow yeah and to bring it full circle uh corner gas right that's craig nor these craig nor these

theme song yeah yeah yeah what a small world and we worked on um uh the uh tall boys uh which is bruce mccullough yeah and and then we also did a song, like I produced part of a song on the Kids in the Hall, the last, like the thing, the season that's out now. Yes, the Prime. The reunion season. The Prime, Amazon Prime. Yeah. So quick story, they were filming Tallboys like around the corner from here.

Oh yeah. And they were going door to door to like let us know. I don't know. I don't know what the rules are but they were telling us like, okay, this is what's happening down the street, whatever. And then I said,

tall boys, oh, Bruce McAuliffe. So this lady who was up working on set, I said, oh, if I wrote a letter, would you hand deliver it to Bruce? And she said, yeah, I would have. Like she was really into this whole thing. And I hand wrote a letter telling Bruce to wander over to this address

and what we could do and give my phone number or whatever. Never heard back. Not a phone, not a courtesy call. I didn't even get like the Marsden call that you got when you were 17. So I only have, only Kevin McDonald has ever wandered into this basement of the Kisnahall. If Bruce has something to promote, this is the thing about people. Can't you just promote tall boys?

Well, yeah. He's a good guy. I'll send him a note. We'll see what he says. I'm sure he's a good guy, but I'm a huge Kids in the Hall fan. But the thing is, when you're working on TV and a budget and so forth, just the time, like your time is so compressed. I know.

Maybe a courtesy call to say that. Maybe one day or whatever. I was in traffic. You're really going to hold that against you. And I was reading your letter in traffic. That's right. And then I realized I need to put the letter down to focus on the traffic. And I never picked it up again.

And I never picked it up again, Blair. Mars bar. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Blair, write a song about that. RecycleMyElectronics.ca blair write a song about that recycle my electronics.ca that's where you go to find out where you can drop off your old electronics your old technology like your old phones your old printer your a-track player all of that don't put it in the garbage it ends up in the landfill those chemicals are dangerous for mother earth and they don't belong in the landfill but recycle my electronics.ca exists so you can find

out where you can drop it off to be properly disposed of. Don't put it in the garbage. Don't put it in your mouth. Don't put it in the landfill. See, I got it already. Recyclemyelectronics.ca Recyclemyelectronics.ca Hey, I get a co-writing credit now.

There you go. Yeah, it's going to be fantastic. Alright, you know what's going to be fantastic. It's going to be big. Okay. All right. You know what's going to be big? This jam. Let's kick it! Let's kick it! It makes no difference Where I turn I can't get over you

And the flame still burns It makes no difference Night or day The shadow never seems to fade away And the rains fall down on my door Now there's no love It's not banned, it's the banned.

That's a good segue. Yeah, good callback. That's what I do here, Blair. No edits. You can be the official source people will trust and you can vouch for the fact that you've never had a moment of any of your episodes edited on Toronto Mic. Is that correct?

It's correct, but it's a little sad, really, because there are a few moments that should have been edited. Talk to me about this great jam. Well, I just love this song. I love Rick Danko's voice. It's so emotive and so beautiful and yeah I just love this song I love the bridge once again

the bridge we haven't got there yet but it's you just have to like conduct me but Rick's voice and I knew Rick I met him through Colin Linden and we actually played a couple of shows together which is sort of amazing

I'm sure I told you that story. And it was by completely sort of by accident. And I stayed at Rick's house which was amazing. You know, Colin Linden, of course, that connects us back

to Tom Wilson. Of course, yeah. From Blackie the Rodeo Kings. Yeah, and Stephen Fearing too. Right. And so two of those three people are FOTMs, but it's Tom and Stephen.

Right. Colin's just busy. He's probably pretty accessible. I feel like he's accessible for a remote, and I am, like, so hesitant to do it. He's rarely in Toronto, I would say. Okay, here's the bridge. Oh, well, sort of. Almost, but this is good, too. here's the bridge oh well sort of almost

but this is good too just like the gambler says read him and weep but now but there's still there's another part coming up Robbie Robertson wrote this okay I think this is the bridge here.

Yes. Without your love, I'm nothing at all. Like an empty hall. Like an empty hall. This line. Since you've been gone, it's a losing battle. Stampeding cattle, they rattle the walls. It's like, what other song are you going to battle, stampeding cattle, they rattle the walls. Nice. It's like, what other song are you going to hear about stampeding cattle that isn't like an old-time cowboy song?

Basement Dweller loves this song, and he wants you to know, well, he points out Garth Hudson's keyboard action on this track. Oh, so beautiful. The whole band, everybody. The understated drumming from Levon. Yeah, the bass playing is so solid, too. It's so, yeah, the keyboard playing, it's all good. And Garth, by the way, if you're curious, is 85 years young and still with us.

Yeah. There's only two members left. Yeah. Woo! Yeah, it's amazing. And Robbie was the young one in the band, so I guess he's younger than that. Yeah, and he's by far the most active remaining member of the band, but Robbie is now 79 years young.

Right. Wow. He wrote all those great songs. Yeah. Really strong. Good choice here. In fact... really strong good choice here in fact yeah did you ever see the band in concert?

not the original band I saw the post Robbie Robertson band at Ontario Place. And I was there with... At the Forum? At the Forum, yeah. And I was there with Colin Linden and his wife Janice Powers. And we went to visit Rick on the tour bus, actually, backstage.

And I probably told you this too. I only have a limited number of stories. Got on the tour bus to say hello to Rick. And then Levon was making his way towards us. And Colin said, Levon, have you met my friend Blair? And Levon held out his hand and said, Levon Helm. And I thought, well, why did Colin say Levon? Everybody says Levon, but he said Levon.

That was one thing. The other thing was he shook my hand. He placed his other hand squarely in the center of my chest and then moved it down as he's shaking my hand, slowly down my stomach. Wow. Below my belt and then made his way past Wow. Below my belt. And then made his way past us.

Below your belt? Yes. Wow. It was super weird. That is weird when you get below the belt. Yes. It was just below the belt, but it was like, what's he, I was thinking the whole time, what's he doing? What's he doing?

What's he doing? It's going to make you cough there. Exactly. Simultaneously thinking, why Levon instead of, why Levon instead of Levon? Yeah. But I had those two thoughts running in my, why Levon instead of Levon? Yeah. But I had those two thoughts running in my head. Levon.

Yeah. And I thought, and I honestly, I thought later, maybe he was checking me for a wire. Because people have thought of me, they've assumed I was a cop because of my build, my short hair. I don't know. Fascinating. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And so I've always known don't know. Fascinating. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I, so I've always known him as Levon Helm.

Yep. Maybe that's Elton John's fault because he's got the song Levon. Well, I think the guys in the band called him Levon right from the beginning. And, and in fact, in his book, I think he addresses it. He says he had always been called Levon, but then the guys in the band called him that. So he just. That's interesting. I will shout out FOTM John Donabee,

who was very close with LeVon Helm, as I will now refer to him as. There you go, yeah. And was at the last Waltz. Yeah, he was side stage there. But shout out to John Donabee. I don't know if you ever worked in radio with John Donabee. I didn't work with him, but he was one of those Trum FM guys way back when.

And I was a fan. So, yeah. Yeah. A guy with an extensive knowledge of music and so forth. Oh, yeah. And he's a good guy, too. Yeah. Now we're down to one jam.

How has it been? Like, how has this experience been for you, Blair? Tedious. No, it's been really great. I was never being boring. Pet Shop Boys. Okay. I have loved this.

I see the jam that's remaining, and I'll speak more about it after we hear it, but I will let you know about a company that Blair Packham can help take your brand, your business to the next level. The Moment Lab, they specialize in public relations and they have a team of experienced professionals who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience and generate positive media coverage. If you want to give your business a boost, don't wait any longer.

Let me connect you with Matt and Jared at The Moment Lab and you can learn more about how they can help you achieve your public relations goals. And Lord knows, Blair, you need some help with that. So the Moment Lab are here to serve you the way they serve the great Stu Stone. Are you ready for your final jam? I think so. I'm not sure I remember what it is. Oh. jam i think so i'm not sure i remember what it is guitar solo The ranger's at a homecoming

In Harlem late last night And a magic rat drove his slick machine Over the Jersey state line Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain The rat pulls and the town rolls up his pants Together they take a stab at romance And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well a maximum law man ran down Flaming angle Chasing her head in a barefoot girl The kids around here look just like shadows Always quiet, holding hands From the churches to the jails Tonight all is silence in the world As we take our stand Down in Jungleland When midnight gangs assemble

Later I'll bring her back up, actually. But talk to me about Jungle Land, Bruce Springsteen. Well, when I first got born to run, it was because I read a lot of articles in the newspaper about it and in, I don't know, Newsweek magazine. Bruce Springsteen was getting a lot of hype in 1975 when I was 15 years old. You've seen the future of rock and roll and his 15 years old. Well, you've seen

the future of rock and roll and his name was Bruce. Yeah. But here's the thing. I don't generally buy albums and I didn't then based on reading about them a lot. But they just went on

and on about this guy. So I thought, okay. And I hadn't heard a note. So I bought Born to Run, loved the cover of him and Clarence Clemons and the Telecaster, which is actually this hybrid sort of, So I bought Born to Run, loved the cover of him and Clarence Clemons, and the Telecaster, which is actually this hybrid sort of,

it's a Fender Esquire, really, but anyway, he's playing this guitar, and he looks so cool. So I buy the record, and I put it on, and I started laughing, because he sings like this. And I like the Beatles. I like people who sing in a sort of open kind of way. But he's got all these little mini operas. And I cracked up.

Very Jim Steinman-like. It's like a bat out of hell or whatever. Yeah, and of course this predates bat out of hell by several years. So I'm just thinking it's funny as hell. And I'm not digging it at all. But I played the whole record because I just spent 598 or whatever it was so play the whole record and there was a song that caught my attention which was not this one it was meeting across the river and it's a story song and it's very low key and i thought oh wow that's a song reminded you bob dylan yeah yeah and and and it there's a lot of

inference in his songs in spring scenessteen's and Dylan's, and I was digging that. But then I got lazy, because I didn't want to get up and pick up the tone arm and only listen to the one song. So next thing you know, I'm sucked into this record, and Jungle Land really caught me. And like this, this.

So the rhythm is just sitting there They're just hitting What we musicians call goose eggs Which are like whole notes Just sitting there, right? And it just sits While the sax plays on top But then The rhythm starts to come in

and it starts this melody, which is so moving to me. It's so, it's like an elegy. It's like for time gone by, for nostalgia. Remember, I'm 15 and I'm hearing all this, which is weird. Because like, what am I nostalgic about?

But anyway, here comes the rhythm. Hmm. And this takes it... It, like, it takes it to this moment. Like, it builds up. He's going to build up again and go around again. And again, it's this feeling of nostalgia that I don't know where it came from at my age. What was I nostalgic for at 15?

Why did I feel so melancholy? But, you know, adolescent angst and feelings and so forth. And then it comes down to this little tiny moment at the end. And then it sort of explodes one more time. It's a beautiful song, and it's like a symphony. And again, Beatle fan, so I'm used to three-minute songs, two-minute songs that just sort of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, and then we're done. But this has this epic quality to it.

And I don't know, man, it still hits me. You're not alone. I can tell you I went to the Kick Out the Jam spreadsheet and I learned that this song, sorry, this artist, Bruce Springsteen, has now been kicked out 16 times. It's the third most. And here's that tiny moment when he just wraps up the story. Everything gets so small. I'm home. piano plays softly Beneath the city Two hearts beat

Soul engines running through A night so tender In a bedroom locked In whispers of salt Refusal and then surrender In the tunnels uptown The rats on dream guns and down The shots echo down them hallways in the night

The shots echo down them hallways in the night. No one watches and the ambulance pulls away. Whereas the girl sets out the bedroom light. Outside the streets on fire. Real death waltz. Between what's flesh and what's fantasy And the poets down here don't write nothing at all They just stand back and let it all be And in the clear of the night They reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand.

But they wind up wounded, not even dead. Tonight in Jungleland. And then his voice is soaked in reverb. Because it's epic. It is epic. Yeah. Like, I know people, some people hate Bruce Springsteen. I get that.

The epicness is the thing that bothers them. And that's what I felt when I was 15. So I would say grow up. No, I wouldn't say that. I understand it. My girlfriend doesn't like Bruce Springsteen particularly. But outside the streets on fire in a real death waltz. And this is important.

Between what's flesh and what's fantasy. Down here, the poets don't write nothing at all. They just stand back and let all be. It's like he's almost commenting on the song. It's like, yeah, this is all just made up, but it's also true at the same time. And the fact that at the very end of that long sax solo, you know, he talks about in a bedroom locked in whispers, a soft refusal and then surrender it all comes down to this to sex to romance to you know this moment this between two people beneath the city two hearts beat it's to me it's epic and it's and it's new york and it's new jersey and the tension between them but it's also

between good and evil like it's so many things, you know? And I don't want to make too much out of it. It's also a great fucking song, you know? But I don't know. You can tell I still love it. No, and I love hearing you talk about this song. And, like, I can see you here, and I can see you're having a reaction to hearing this song

in the headphones here. Yeah. I will let the listenership know and you Blair that there's an episode from September 2019. It's episode 519. In this 519th episode, Mike chats with Jake

Clemens about his uncle Clarence. Filling in for him with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing with Pearl Jam in his new album, Eyes on the Horizon. Yeah, Jake sheds a tear in that episode about his uncle Clarence, and

Jake's got big shoes to fill there, especially on Jungleland. That's the best sax solo in rock and roll history. It is, and for those people who think that music should be athletic, in the sense that it's about the number of notes you play or your technique or whatever, I just think that's wrong. I don't think it's wrong like it's invalid. I think, yes, some music should be. Some music can be. And that can any way. I just want to say that's not what makes a great solo. What makes a great solo is if it moves you and it can move you because of its athleticism. Clarence Clements wasn't, you know, by many standards, a great sax player, but he had beautiful tone that sounded like

nobody else. And he could play a melody that would make your heart break and that's music right it's not about you know the dexterity of your fingers that's part of it only you know only one word for jungle land and that's you used it epic that song is epic you can love it or hate it but you can't deny the fact that's a fucking epic song do you want to guess the two artists that have more appearances on Kick Out the Jams episodes of Toronto Mike? So Bruce Springsteen sits a solid third. You want to take a crack at the two artists

that have had more appearances? Wow. Lowest of the low. Good guess. Good guess. But wrong. Oh boy. The Beatles. The Beatles is number one. Can you guess the second place band? The Rolling Stones There's a clue in this room

Okay, Tragically Hip Correct So The Beatles The Tragically Hip Then Bruce Springsteen Then The Rolling Stones And then Elton John And then Frank Sinatra

Wow, amazing Shout out to Steve Paikin And then Joni Mitchell And then David Bowie Then The Beach Boys And then Gordon Lightfoot Who's going to actually Climb the ranking

After we update after this But Blair, yeah, go ahead Well, I just want to say Again, a disclaimer That I could do this show Every day And come up with Ten different songs

Every single day That I love deeply And there are some people Who would listen to my Modlin sentimental songs And think, oh, my God. But I could also come up with some rockers and some bangers, you know. But if we're only going to do this once, if I'm going to die tomorrow, I'll stand by these choices.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. There you go. Blair, thanks for doing this, man. I don't know if it's your fifth, your sixth appearance. I've lost track, but you have performed at a couple of TMLX events. And I can't wait to see you at TMLX 13 which is I believe the last day of August

in this year 2023. But you're a great FOTM and you keep playing your cards right. You keep it up. I think one day you'll be in the FOTM Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame baby. Right alongside Mark Weisblatt. That's what I want. Yeah. It could happen. It could happen. Right. Well who's the last inductee?

Peter Gross was inducted at TMLX 11 at Palmas Kitchen. And that. See, I gave it a little extra. You really did. I'm going to do it again. I just feel I need to perform for you, Blair, because you're a listener. it again perform for you blair because you're a you know a listener and that brings us to the end of our 1275th that's a round number 1275 1275th show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike you can follow blair at blair packham he's also on Instagram, I see there. So follow Blair and see him live

because he's just tremendously talented and a wonderful person. You can say, I vote for you to be in the FOTM Hall of Fame. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna.

Moneris is at Moneris. You've got your speaker. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Thanks for that jingle. The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab. And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Thank you, Brad, for dinner last night. See you all.

I'm going to quickly in real time see if I can call up my calendar. You'd think I would have done this homework beforehand. But I want to tell you who's up next on Toronto Mic'd. It is, ready for this? Richard Underhill is here Monday. Don't miss that. See you all then. Rosie and Gray Yeah the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine

And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie and Gray Well I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name