Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Brad Barker: Toronto Mike'd #483

Episode Date: July 4, 2019

Mike chats with Brad Barker from The Pursuit of Happiness and JAZZ.FM91.

Welcome to episode 483 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, StickerU.com, and Capadia LLP CPAs. you.com and Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from Toronto Mike.com and joining me this week is a member of the pursuit of happiness and jazz FM, Brad Barker. Well, I have one of those. Hold on. There it is. Give me something. Yes. Absolutely. It's more me something? Yes. Absolutely. It's more than a smattering.

Welcome. Great to be here. All that gold we wasted before I pressed record about the word rad. If you had been here in the first five minutes, everyone, you would have been delighted already. Right. It's great to be with you. Thanks for asking me to be part of this, Mike. It's great to be with you. Thanks for asking me to be part of this, Mike. It's great to be here. When I originally asked you,

that's a hard word to say, asked you, you were like, you suggested like you were not interesting. I didn't suggest it. I factually stated it. Okay, but I've done this a while now. Like if you're in a band I love and you've been on radio for decades,

talking to fascinating people, like if you're not interesting, like I might as well shut this whole thing down right now, right? And you've been on radio for decades, talking to fascinating people. Like, if you're not interesting, like, I might as well shut this whole thing down right now, right? Like, you're just being a typical Canadian, right? Very humble. Well, you know what? I don't know if there could be some of that in there. But I think something like this comes with expectation, that you're going to be engaging, that you're going to tell great stories. And you're not engaging.

Well, I guess it remains to be seen. I'm managing expectations. This is what I'm trying to do. Oh, yeah, under-promise. No, under-promise, over-deliver. Don't get that backwards. Because you can't spell Brad without Rad. But you can spell Rad without Brad. You can. That's why you need

Brad first. But that joke only makes sense to those smart people who watch the Periscope feed. Well, Mike, you were saying how you grew up with the phrase rad being one of your main go-tos. I love the word. I love rad. Yeah.

In the mid 80s. And now we don't get to use rad because it represents sort of radical negative connotation. That's the gold we wasted before I pressed record. It's like, it's true. So in the mid 80s, like, oh, that's radical. Radical rad for short was like a great word. Like, I loved it. I'd skateboard.

Oh, man, that was so rad. And then it got changed. Now it's like extremism. Like, oh, he's been radicalized or she's been radicalized. Like the connotation on radical completely changed since the mid-80s. How late were you using rad into your existence, though? 2019. Is it only lately that it's been ruined for you?

No, they've been, yeah, since at least the mid-90s, I'd say. But yeah, in the 80s, the innocent 80s, RAD was a good word. Do you mind if I ask how old you are? I just turned 45 on Thursday. I am your senior by a few years. Good. I don't want to always be the oldest guy in the room. In this case, you are certainly not. But obviously, you've been a desired guest for a while for multiple reasons.

So thank you for making the trek. It's a beautiful day. Beautiful day to come and... It is. It's a nice day out there. Explore what's going on. So some behind the scenes. This is some, I don't know, housekeeping

or whatever, but this mic configuration, so if anybody is watching on Periscope, you can watch it on demand later. So Mark Hebbshire's in here every Monday and Friday. I see those pictures sometimes. Yeah, he's here to do his podcast and it goes live. And he's a TV guy and he was, I used to have,

okay, so I used to have a swing boom arm thing, is that what they're so i used to have a swing boom arm thing is that what they're called yes okay swing boom arm thing right there like yeah right and then that would be what you'd be using and this guy was because sometimes i have multiple guests right but but hebsey didn't like how it was blocking right so i've taken that down right and i only bring it out now when there's two guests or three guests on the program or whatever. Well, personally, I would like to be blocked from our personal episode.

If we can move it back, that would be... No way, Brad. Sorry, Mark. Come on. You know, the video, we're pivoting to video. I'm a bit... I see. Well, you can tell me.

You're at the cutting edge of these things, Mike. I call it the bleeding edge. I break the eggs so you can enjoy the omelet, Brad. You can bring the omelet. I'm breaking these eggs, and you can share the omelet with the Jazz FM people. Like, bring it to them. They're hungry, too. Right.

They're starving, right. Okay, so new mic config. So is it working out for you? It's great. It's extremely comfortable. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let's find out. We'll find out together.

Okay. So here's a small world story. And I'll talk about Thursday. So my birthday was Thursday, and that was also TMLX3. So thank you to everybody listening who came out. There was over 100 of us on the patio, and we'll play a little stuff later because it all ties in perfectly because a couple of bands kicked ass, the patio and we'll play a little stuff later because it all ties in perfectly because the band

that kicked a couple of bands kicked ass but one of the bands who kicked ass kicked ass with you guys in pursuit of happiness recently in hamilton right that's right and i saw like on twitter i was jealous i wasn't there like it sounded amazing and uh what i want to say is i'm at great lakes like before the event to just like make sure things are going well. And a guy recognizes me and he goes, Hi, Toronto Mike. And he comes up to me. And his name is Brian Snelson.

Never heard of him. Really? Yeah. And he says, he was just there with you, I think. Did you guys play Great Lakes? Tell me the story. No, it wasn't me. But Brian and his, he's got, I'm surprised they let him in, quite frankly.

He has a couple of little, a jazz band now and a little cover band, and they've been doing a little bit of playing. And we had some of our listeners and donors come through on a beer safari. They were going to a bunch of different places, Great Lakes being one of them. Like craft breweries. Exactly. And Brian happened to be playing there and welcoming some of the donors. But he did play at Great Lakes that evening, okay?

Yes. So yeah. And then, so it gets even smaller story here. So I guess I might have brought your name up and I just, FYI, oh, by the way, Brad Barker's in next week. And he's like, oh, that's awful. I won't be listening to that. No, he didn't say that.

He said, that's great or whatever. And he was thanking me for some things I did on torontomic.com. And then he just mentioned some of the people that were there. And he drops this name, Sarah Stewart. He just, he drops his name, who I know from like a completely different channel. And then I'm like, so Sarah, I've got to know because I've been helping her with some like podcast consulting stuff. I've got to know because I've been helping her with some podcast consulting stuff.

And I know her because her former work husband, I'm doing some work with him, Mimico Joe. So that's what I call him because I like to do that. So anyway, hello to Sarah. Sarah's listening. And hello to Brian. Thanks for saying hi. A couple of folks from Jazz FM 91.

Brian, who is our market consultant, he's also on our board of directors. He's been with the station longer than I've been there but in a volunteer capacity and Sarah is just one of our new folk there who is, she's just a little rock star she's just very

dedicated to the cause, incredibly hard worker smart as a whip so I'm really happy that Sarah's with us yeah good hire I think she's great and it's just funny to see these worlds colliding everywhere, and that'll be a common theme here. But, so, yeah, hi to Brian, who I met at Great Lakes.

Speaking of Great Lakes, I worked Ribfest. Okay, so, yeah, on Monday. Go on. Brad, have you ever been to a Ribfest? I have not been to a Ribfest. Not that I wouldn't want to be at a Ribfest. No, that's not true, Brad, because in the Venn diagram of jazz listeners and rib fest attendees,

it's two separate circles. Am I right? I don't want to subscribe to conventional notions of what jazz listeners are or what rib eaters are. But I would love to go to a rib fest, but our paths haven't crossed for some reason. So what was happening there with you? I spent eight hours on a very hot Canada Day pouring beer. I poured beer for eight hours.

They needed an extra body, and I have my SmartServe certification. So it's like I pulled a shift. I know. My wife says Canada Day, right? I'm supposed to spend time with all my children or whatever. My mom's favorite soap opera Was All My Children Did you ever watch a soap opera? Absolutely, Another World was mine growing up Cass Winthrop Yes, Cass, of course

Mack and Rachel And Wallenford The little person Santa Barbara came along after that Cruz Castillo You know what, my mom also liked Another World. So it's like that theme, take me away to another world.

Yeah, absolutely. And the joke was my mom had a crush on Cass Winthrop. So for her birthday, I would print out like a picture of like, the actor's name is like Steve Schetzner or something. I can't remember. Something like that. And it would be like a picture of him

and it would be like, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, Mary. Like I'd give her cards from Cass Winthrop. Whatever. Something like that. And it would be like a picture of him and it would be like, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, Mary. Like I'd give her cards from Cass Winter. I know exactly what that guy looks like. He did a lot of other things after that too. I think I saw him on Law and Order or something. Is she still with us? Yes, she's still with us.

And does she ever bring up her... She called me with an internet issue today. Will she be listening to this going, stop talking about my love of Cass. Do you know she never listens to my podcast? I know. Ouch. And I say to her,

and this is the truth, and we'll get back to Ribfest, but the truth. Like if I had a child with a podcast, like I would listen. Like I would honestly listen. I would be fascinated to hear what my child is broadcasting.

So would I. Yeah. I'm not joking. I know. Why is she freezing? This could be an insight into who you are as a person. But my wife doesn't listen either and if she had a podcast

I'd listen. You know what, the people that are close in my life too, they don't really care about what I do either. They don't turn that dial to Jazz FM just to hear your voice. It's accidental if they do. That's serious. They grazed by and they happened to hear something that day but no i i the experience is you uh maybe it's just we're so common that in their lives that

maybe it makes our work seem very uninteresting too yeah maybe maybe you're absolutely right but i still because i drop tidbits like i'll tell stories i don't actually share with everybody all the time like it's like about rib fest for example Like I don't think I'll ever have a personal conversation about working Ribfest, but I'll share it here. So just for that reason, I'd want to hear my son or daughter's podcast. You couldn't keep me away. Like I would subscribe and then when it dropped,

like the next opportunity I have, I'd listen. Well, you've got children, I understand. So let's put this to the test. Maybe they're going to have a podcast that you'll be proven wrong down the road.'re like no I don't want to listen to that it'll be kid number three because I can't convince kids number one and two to even come on my podcast like they just they don't want to broadcast so we'll see but kid number three look he uh who's five seems game so rib fest I worked at the CNE for three years like uh at a game booth

and the crowd at rib fest is that same midway crowd i remember the same crowd so no judgments just wonderful happy crowd but i've never worked so hard like uh 14 bucks an hour because they pay me which is nice that's nice and i got free ribs a few beers too maybe yeah all you can drink but you know i can only drink so much before i i'm not good at my job. But I worked very hard. I just can't believe that crowd. It was a constant long lineup of people wanting beer.

Anyway, so if you were at Ribfest Centennial Park, so was I. I'm happy to do that once a year, but I'm also happy I only do it once a year. Like, it's real work, you know what I mean? It sounds like hard work. Out in the sun, too. You make some tips on that one? Apparently, there were tips collected, and they split it amongst everybody equally.

So I expect to see maybe $18 out of that or something. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see, but I don't do it for the money. I do it for the experience. The love of it. We'll see. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. But I don't do it for the money. I do it for the experience. The love of it. Right, right. So TMLX3, I have some shout outs to do here.

We have a lot to talk about because we have the Pursuit Happiness part and the Jazz FM part. So two pillars here. I'm going to get you to go Jazz FM 91. I'm going to get you to get that. Oh, okay. Just, just. No, I'm happy to. Is that the part of the style guide? Well, there is a to go Jazz FM 91. I'm going to get you to add the 91. No, I'm happy to.

Is that part of the style guide? Well, there is a conflicting other Jazz FM out there, but we just want to distinguish ourselves with the 91 on there. Okay, I will take a note here. Jazz FM 91. Beautiful. I don't want anyone confusing the Jazz FM. Okay, so get back to the things you need to do.

Oh, yeah, yeah. So, firstly, again, TMLX3 was great. I'm wearing a shirt today. It says, can you read that? What does it say? I read the liner notes. Right. And this shirt is not custom made.

Like it's off the rack, as they say. But listener Andy Pandy, who was at TMLX3, she saw this shirt, which it's, of course, I read the liner notes, but you can interpret it as I read the liner notes as well. Now, this is actually a very clever inside reference for listeners of Tronomite. This is a reference to something Molly Johnson said to me on this program. Molly Johnson, jazz, great.

You're friendly with Molly. The best. I hear she's the best. She is the best. She's the best. Someone we love playing, someone who's the best. She is the best. She's the best. Someone we love playing, someone who's so unique. Right.

Beyond just the musical aspects of Molly, she's an Order of Canada recipient. The work she did with AIDS and Kumbaya, of course. And all that aside, just a very unique musical talent too. And she puts together the Kensington Jazz Fest. Kensington Market Jazz Fest that will be coming around

this fall again in September. Yeah, I know. I had, so, I think, I'm with you. Like, I think she's remarkable.

Like, a great talent. But I also think I caught her on a bad day. Like, when she came over. So, I, yeah. So, my experience was a little off. You have to hear the episode

to know what I'm talking about. But at some point, I referenced my DVD set here of The Wire, which is right behind me, because her brother was in The Wire. Clark. Clark, right.

And he was the Baltimore Sun newsroom. He was working there in season five, the final season. He also directed the pilot. Did he know that? I thought he had something to do with it. Some directing. He also directed the pilot. Did he know that? I think, I thought he had something to do with the, beyond just being an actor.

Some directing, like he directed a couple of, four episodes I think in total. So anyway, I just brought this up as a fun little like anecdote and she told me that her brother created The Wire

and she told me to read the liner notes. So now this has become like a catchphrase in the Toronto Mike universe, read the liner notes. So now this has become like a catchphrase in the Toronto Mike universe, read the liner notes. So this shirt, all this is to say I love this shirt, and if and when Molly returns to promote the Kensington Jazz,

Kensington Market Jazz Festival, hopefully she comes back in August, I will wear this shirt for Molly. And thank you, Andy Pandy. That's amazing. So in some way, you're being slapped by the T-shirt you are wearing.

But I deserve it because I didn't do my homework. I didn't read the liner notes. But now I read the liner notes. And as you said before we started recording, so much of the music is digital now. There is no liner notes. I want liner notes.

I think they should add a digital component where all the stuff that we used to love reading about, who's on all the tunes, where it was recorded, the studios, all that stuff. That's stuff I love. It could be like a PDF or something. A PDF.

That comes with the digital files, whatever. Except now even with streaming, there's not even that anymore. So maybe a button that you hit somewhere that has all the information. I'm not a big fan of streaming. Can I tell you why? I don't like the whole rental of the song idea.

I still like, and it's not that I have a physical medium anymore. I'm actually an MP3 guy. But I like to have a digital copy in my collection. I feel like I can still touch it and make my playlist and stuff. And it feels different to me than the streaming, which feels very like in the moment. Like what are your thoughts on streaming? I'm with you,

but I think my relationship is, is changing with music too. I think I have less of a, I think with all things, I have less feeling about ownership. Now I'm, I can be a less guy now, less stuff in my life,

less hoarding, less put, here's all my physical medium. What about bits and bytes? But I think even that's an extension my life, less hoarding, less... But you mean physical medium. What about bits and bytes? But I think even that's an extension of it, that I don't want to curate a... It seemed like my iTunes turned into a big nightmare after a while. Right.

It was almost a work project as opposed to something I enjoyed listening to. Right. So, you know, I think that I've had to get past the notion that my record collection cd collection used to be a definer it used to be something look at this this represents who i am right so look at all this music and then you can now make a determination about me now everyone has every record in the world right so that that kind of that that thing we used to hang on to as being something that told something about ourselves is gone. And I think I am in some ways moving with that and saying maybe that wasn't the best way to define yourself.

And maybe there's other ways to do it. And my record collection as a 13-year-old, maybe it's time to move past some of those things. What is your streaming service of choice? I am a paying subscriber to both Apple and to Spotify. And I still listen to every format. I still have vinyl at home. I still have CDs at home. So it's a real melange of music.

Now, let me ask you this. Assuming this goes well, why wouldn't it? Of course, it's going to go well. Would you return at a later date to kick out the jams? Because do you know what that is even kick out the jams i can educate you do you know what this is play some music yeah you tell me ahead of time your 10 favorite songs of all time and one by one we play them and you tell us tell us why do you love that song like what does it mean to you okay it's amazing let's's see how this goes. Let's see how it goes. Because I only thought of that

because everyone who kicks out the jams, we have a gentleman named Tyler Campbell who actually meticulously puts together Apple and Spotify playlists of everybody's jams. And a little teaser for listeners is that Barry Davis will be here two weeks yesterday to kick out the jams. So, yeah.

Fun. At a later date, it would be fun to have you back to kick out the jams. So yeah, at a later date, it would be fun to have you back to kick out the jams. Sounds like fun. I would wait till the end, though, for you to extend that invite just in case. Oh, let's see. Now I have incentive to make this smooth.

Now you have incentive. All right. So thank you, Andy Pandy. Also, there's a gentleman who I know on Twitter as Mal Furious, and he's been interacting on Twitter for a long time. He listens to Toronto Mike. Today's his birthday, and at TMLX3,

he actually won a watch from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair because they had a trivia question. He won this watch. Nice going. Yeah, amazing. Like, it's a really expensive watch. And then I asked him what his name was because, you know, I don't know these people I see on Twitter. I don't know what they look like and stuff and he goes my name

is peter so all night i didn't know peter it's i never met peter before good peter won the watch it was nice to have him at tmlx3 and at the very end as he's leaving he just just mentions that on twitter he's out at mal furious and i was thinking like why didn't you just say that in the first place like we know you as mal furious like you should say oh didn't you just say that in the first place? Like, we know you as Mal Furious. Like, you should say, oh, I'm Mal Furious. Like, that's the name I know you as. That's his name, in essence. That's what he should have shook your hand and said. Right.

But happy birthday, Mal Furious, whose real name apparently is Peter. Brad, did you read Mad Magazine? I, you know, I saw this today, the last publication coming in August. And not to overstate it, but I would say Mad Magazine in some ways was as important as anything else in my life. I had a subscription as a young person. It was the first time that it showed me that being a grown-up, you can be goofy, you can be stupid, you can just play. And that sensibility to me as a 9, 10, 11-year-old was extremely powerful.

The irony of it, the poking fun at all the TV shows and movies that meant so much to me at the time, too. So the whole sensibility of the magazine, it was a precursor to getting into SCTV or Saturday Night Live or all the comedy that I would devour later on. This was ground zero for me. So I'm sad to hear the news today. I agree with everything you said.

Like I loved Spy Magazine was a magazine. I liked that one. Of course, my Sports Illustrated and I had Rolling Stone and Mad Magazine. Yeah, so key and like at that age when you're kind of developing your sense of humor and they teach you a lot like through this satire,

et cetera. Like I loved it. Absolutely. They were poking the right people, the right sources of power they were always on top of. But I didn't have multiples.

I had more like mad, cracked, sick. There was quite an array of mad and- Oh, the rip-offs. And the rip-offs. And I went down that road

for a while before I got into Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone. You know something? I liked my odd cracked magazine I'd pick up at the convenience store or whatever, but I always kind of felt like a little, no pun intended, not mad at it,

but like that it was clearly ripping off Mad Magazine and it sort of pissed me off. It wasn't the same, but I'd still buy it even though I knew it was less than. Well, I'm sorry to hear, even though I haven't was less than. Well, I'm sorry to hear, even though I haven't actually bought a Mad Magazine. That's the other point, too, when you talk about the things that,

as time moves on and the things we get sad about, we're not actually engaging with them enough to keep them around either. So we're all part of the problem. We all get to now say, Mad Magazine was great, but I'm with you. But I don't know if, I'm a 53-year-old, I don't know if I'm grabbing mad all the time at this point true point and yeah and in fact i was

mildly surprised it was still printing but that's too bad like end of an era that went a long time so i think it started in the 60s or something like that so spy versus spy yeah spy versus spy absolutely and the folding thing if you know that. I felt like I was splitting the atom every time I put it together. That's right. Oh man, I just watched, have you ever seen, did you get HBO? I do. Have you seen Chernobyl? You know, I'm almost afraid to watch it based on the things I've read

about it, how petrifying it is. But no, I would like to, definitely it's in the queue, but I haven't seen it yet. It took me about 10 minutes to come to grips with the fact that they're not doing Russian accents, or they're doing their British accents. So minutes to come to grips with the fact that they're not doing Russian accents or they're doing their British accents. So once you kind of adapt to the fact that okay, they're Russians with a

British accent, and that's pretty quick. You adjust to that. It's on... That's good to know though. Yeah. Because at the beginning it's a tiny bit jarring because the guy from Mad Men is there and he's doing his British accent and you're like wait a minute, did they hire Brits to like,

that's strange. Now when I watch it, I won't be as confused as you were because you softened it for me. It took me a few minutes. Like, no, like why would the USSR ever have a Brit running their, yes,

and then you realize, oh, they're all talking in British and then the giveaway, Gorbachev's there with his birthmark, right, and he's likemark right he's like and he's got a british accent and you're like wait a minute anyone right i'm like i'm pretty sure gorbachev wasn't british okay but yeah other than that unbelievable i don't know

unbelievable i haven't in fact this is coming full circle i haven't liked the show that much this is true i have not enjoyed a series that much since The Wire. Wow. It's unbelievable. I can't wait to watch it then. Watch it and then come back and just talk to me about it. I want to talk to you about it. Love it.

And let me know if you spot any graphite on the property. I just need to know that. Okay. So let me give you some gifts here. Really? Yeah. I know we mentioned them already a few times. They were wonderful hosts at TMLX3.

By the way, if anyone didn't attend TMLX3, the last episode of Toronto Mic'd is 282, no, 482. And it is essentially, I took some royal pains. I took my entire wonderful speech and the entire set by, and this is going to come full circle

again, Lowest of the Low, which in a minute, remind me to play the version of Rosie and Grey they played at the end. But Great Lakes, so you can listen to most of it anyway. Episode 482. This Great Lakes beer is yours. Whoa!

Look, I wouldn't have put up such a stink about coming by had I known there was a six-pack in it. And there's some cash in there, because I know I said I'd pay you for your visit. Thank you so much. Thanks, Great Lakes Brewery. Enjoy local craft brewery i will and uh they're fiercely independent so they're not owned by like inbev or coors mill whatever the role called now like this is an independent family run craft brewery and tasty glb baby do it up thank you so much and i asked you on twitter i said a meat or veggie lasagna

and very uncool of you not to answer. Like you were like, whatever, but I just needed an answer. I couldn't get an answer from you. What's the indifference? I was confused. I thought we had just set up the time for today and then you said meat or veggie lasagna.

So I'm like, I guess when you go there, you get lasagna. Oh, but didn't I put frozen in there? Only after I responded and I said, I'll probably be fed, but I'm good with you doing one. Oh no, I bet you anything, if you get lasagna. Oh, but didn't I put frozen in there? Only after I responded and I said, I'll probably be fed, but I'm good with you doing one. Oh, no, I bet you anything, if you did open your phone now, you'd see even the original tweet.

I'm not going to fight about this, Mike. Frozen. So that's just a... Oh, it's not going well. Is that a random question that you ask everyone? No, everybody gets that question because I need to coordinate with Palma Pasta, fantastic sponsor of the show.

Oh, my goodness. I didn't know this. I know, I guess I don't know how much backstory to give you. See, okay. Then I hope that's meat in there. I have in the freezer. So that was actually, that's an empty box. Oh, okay.

Just because I didn't know which one to get out, right? So in my freezer right now, I have one meat and one veggie and you may have whichever one you desire. I'll take the meat one. Okay, meat lasagna. That's exciting. It used to be everybody had meat lasagna, but not anymore. There's a number of vegetarians out there and stuff.

Of course. So I always ask the question, but now you make me realize I need to give a little more context. That's my bad, though. So I should have done my... I'll share some blame. I'm a Canadian.

I'm going to share some of this blame. I didn't read the liner notes. That's why. I read the liner notes. So Palma Pasta, it was great to see Anthony from Palma at TMLX3. Thanks for coming, Anthony. And we gave away a gift card at TMLX3.

I'm trying to remember who won it. I think it was Michael Lane. No, James Edgar, if I remember correctly. James Edgar. So congrats, James. Palmapasta.com to cater your events, and you can find out where they are. They're in Mississauga and Oakville.

Tastiest Italian food you could have in the GTA. And they're also on Skip the Dishes. So check out Palma and thank them for sponsoring

Toronto Mike. Italian tradition, simply delicious. I'm going to cut that out and use it. Do I have to pay you if I use this? No, it's a freebie.

Okay, I'll pay you for the meat lasagna in the freezer. Stickers. That top one, by the way you for the meat lasagna in the freezer. Stickers. That top one, by the way, they made special for TMLX3. The lowest of the low. The new album from lowest of the low is called Gadget Pop. That is very nice.

And there's a Toronto Mike sticker, so when you put that on your car, take a picture and tweet it at me. You will, right? Sure. Temporary tattoo for Jazz FM 91 people. Great. I added 91.

Thank you very much. Courtesy of StickerU.com. Look at that. So go to StickerU.com. You can upload your image and you can, anything that sticks. It's not just stickers. It's like decals, temporary tattoos, buttons. What else can you stick?

Like anything you can stick that you can get. And you can order one or as many as you like. StickerU.com, fantastic partners, and it was great to see Laura there from StickerU.com at TMLX3. So stickers, lasagna, beer. They do a keep on trucking, the sticker people? Totally keep on trucking.

Great, okay. That's a 60s thing though, right? Did it slip into the 70s maybe? To me, it's timeless. It's timeless. Keep on trucking. That's a 60s thing though, right? Did it slip into the 70s maybe? To me, it's timeless. It's timeless. Keep on trucking. Marge, I think, Marge put it into her quilt. Remember the Simpsons family quilt?

That's where I learned. Matt, think that way. If you want to talk about what shapes a person's humor and sensibilities and stuff, it starts with Mad Magazine, but then in 1989, The Simpsons showed up and I was hooked. Like I still drop several Simpsons references a day.

Yeah, it's powerful. I'm a little bit older than you, so it was a little bit, I was already more fully formed when The Simpsons came on, but I loved it when it started. What are you doing over there? I'm looking at what,

if I can play Brian Gerstein. He has got a great question for you about music here and I want to hear started what are you doing over there i'm looking at what uh if i can play brian gerstein he has got a great question for you about music here and i want to hear the answers so the next voice you hear is brian gerstein from property in the six dot com property in the six dot com hi brad brian gerstein here sales of PSR Brokers and proud sponsor of Toronto Mike, coming off a wildly successful TMLX free. Lately, I've been doing lots of leases, got my client a brand new one at E Condos at Yonge and Eglinton, working with a client now for a townhouse, meeting today with a new client for another downtown condo by U of T T and listing of another brand new condo

at Minto Westside in a week at Front and Bathurst. You can contact me for any rental needs you have, as well as buying and selling at 416-873-0292. Brad, what other genres of music do you listen to? And if jazz did not exist, I know that's a horrible thing to say, but if it didn't, what would be your first choice out of any other types of music you listen to? Well, first off, Brian seems very busy. He's extremely busy today.

Some leases there. Yes. Well, I think because, you know, I come to jazz almost out of other things that if jazz didn't exist. So I came to it. I'm a rocker dude from growing up in Coal Harbor, Nova Scotia. It was all Rush and Max Webster. Home of Sidney Crosby and Nate McKinnon, right? That's correct. Unbelievable.

I used to be the most famous guy from there until these two clowns came along. They blew you out of the water. Yeah, they blew me out of the water. So, you know, I love, it's hard to say another genre music music i just love music you know music's been a just a it's been most of my life for for all of it so um without jazz just bring in what out whatever else it is some some you know

some great funk music some great soul music some great rock music uh some country music you know especially the the more traditional kinds of country music that are out there. Like bluegrass? Yeah, I love bluegrass because it can really cook and swing too, that stuff too. So, you know, just anything that's executed with artistry and played well, then I'm there for it. But you got a degree in jazz studies, right? Yes, I did. So speak to me properly.

That's why you didn't go to Ribton. That's day one at the jazz. So right out of high school, it was too frightening to think of going into being a musician without something that seemed more tangible in my belt, you know, even though I was playing a lot at that time. So St. of X University, which is just about two hours away from Halifax, had a really great jazz program. And I was listening to a lot of jazz as a young person too. So I was listening to Van Halen, The Police, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck. It was all happening for me at the same time. I wasn't snobby about it.

It all made sense to me. When you listen to Rush, then you end up listening to Yes. You sort of end up, if you care, you can start exploring other musics out of that because it's so music-based. So I remember an article that Geddy Lee did in Guitar Player, where he started talking about Jeff Berlin, this bass player that was in Bruford, and Jaco Pastorius from Weather Report. So that gateway, if Geddy said it, it must be good.

And I had some really good friends who had really good musical taste. I had a guitar-playing friend, Kevin, who was listening to a lot of jazz at the time and heavily influencing me too. So the extension of leaving high school and going to a jazz school was kind of made a bit of sense. But I didn't necessarily ever think I would be a jazz musician. It was more of a solid foundation as a musician. So went there, did that, and then went on to play after that.

It's funny you mentioned Jaco Pistorius because Basement Dweller sent in a couple of questions for you and one of them is what's your favorite album slash tracks by Pat Matheny and Jacob sorry, Jaco Pistorius. Alright, well there's

a couple and I'll put them together because Pat and Jaco made a seminal album called Bright Size Life together when they were both very young musicians so I will put the title tune Bright Size Life that features both Pat and Jocko made a seminal album called Bright Size Life together when they were both very, very young musicians. So I will put the title tune, Bright Size Life, that features both Pat and Jocko in there. But for anyone that wants to see what an explosion of artistry is, the first Jocko album, it's the black and white album

with just his face on it. You can listen to all the Weather Report albums, but really listen to that one first. Listen to a song like Three Views of a Secret or Continuum. That is actually on the next record too. Or just dig out Teen Town by Weather Report and get blown away

by the incredible bass playing of Jocko. Teen Town is a great place to start. I'm now excited about you returning to kick out the jams. Now I really need to make sure this is smooth sailing and i will say that pat mcdeaney is is is someone that as early as i was a kid at 12 or 13 i was introduced to pat's music he's been a thread that's been with me never in my wildest dreams that i think i would be at a radio station a million years later that

that played jazz 24 7 and having a chance to sit down with Pat Metheny a couple of times and one-on-one with him for a half hour, 40 minutes, those were the high watermarks of the thing that I get to do at the radio station. Okay, I mentioned to get you to The Pursuit of Happiness, but first a song that's very unlike The Pursuit of Happiness. So here's what we're doing right now. We're going to jump in the time machine and we're going to go back 30 years ago this week so let me think when's that 1989 you know it's kind of wild to think 89 is 30 years ago right is that kind of crazy it's beyond wild i know it's petrifying i'm like that's like 11 years ago right no that's 30 years ago okay so 89 it's 89 y'all not beethoven's fifth or sixth okayth. Okay, so back in 1989, this week,

this was number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Let's see what Brad thinks of this jam. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you think you know who it is, just yell it out here. Got to get to the chorus. Right. It's a guy with a lot of hits, but this is actually not one of his memorable hits, I'm saying.

actually not one of his memorable hits I'm saying the production doesn't sound at all 80s any guess I almost he had earlier hits I won't give up until I'm satisfied Golly Any guess? I almost He had earlier hits that were far more What I would say like

Pervasive Like In the That you would absorb through osmosis Give me one of the earlier hits I won't sing it but Right here waiting for you I'm usually very good at this,

but for some reason... You know why? Because you're not a Billboard Hot 100 guy. No, no, I am a Billboard Hot 100 guy, so this is very disappointing for me. It only had... And you know what it is also? It's because you're being recorded.

I feel like you get... This happens to me. If I'm having a chat at a bar or whatever, right away I know all the answers. Snap, snap, snap, snap. I seem so smart, but once I turn on the recording, I'll be like, oh, I can see his face,. But once I turn on the recording I'll be like, oh I can see his face.

I can see his long hair. And I'll be like, I can't come up with his name. It's like I have a little, I don't know, deer in the headlight thing. Marks? Yeah. Richard Marks? Correct. Oh my goodness. You got it. Woo! Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I tuned out on everything you were saying there and went into a little place where I was trying to figure it out. I said nothing important.

So don't worry. I'm just glad you got it. I knew it was back there somewhere. Richard Marks is very good on Twitter, by the way. Oh, I didn't know that. He's very funny. He understands his place in the pop landscape. Several hits, though. As you know, getting that number one, even getting a Billboard hit in the States,

is sort of a license to kind of, yeah, make it a career and keep going forever. In 1989, a number one hit, you were going to do just fine. Richard Marks already had, I think he's got several, I don't know, he's got multiple hits, I think. He's fine. I think he's married to Daisy Fuentes, too.

Get out of here. Just correct me, Brad, he's not one of the Marks brothers, right? Let's see. Speaking of Get out of here. And he's not, just correct me, Brad, he's not one of the Marx Brothers, right? He is. Let's see. Is he, speaking of USSR, is he any relation to Karl Marx at all? I need to know which Marx we're talking about here.

Richard Marx. Okay, so why am I playing a song from 30 years ago? Remember the time is brought to you by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for almost 40 years. Milan, it was great to see you at TMLX3. And Malfurious, of course, won the watch. Good for him. Let's just tell everybody that if you want 15% off any regular priced watch battery installation,

just mention at any Fast Time that you heard about them on Toronto Mic, and they'll give you the 15% off. Go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com for a location near you. And since I'm talking about Milan, it was also fantastic to see Rupesh Kapadia at TMLX3. Thank you, Rupesh. We're going to

record some new fun facts, but Richard's got 24 seconds, so I'll try to hit the post here. But yeah, but Rupesh is a rock star accountant who sees beyond the numbers. So Brad, if you have any business ventures or tax things or ideas, and you just want to like run them by a CPA who sees beyond the numbers and can give you his best advice for best practices, etc. He's willing to offer you and listeners a 15-minute, a free complimentary 15-minute consultation.

So I can put anyone listening and you, Brad, in touch with Rupesh. He'd be happy to talk to you. Here is a fun fact from Rupesh Kapadia. Hey, hey, hey, this is Rupesh here. And Toronto Mike listeners, this is a real fun fact for you. Did you know that you can claim almost up to $30,000 HST rebates on newly built condos or substantially renovated house? If you would like to know more, do call us at Kapadia LLP. You can talk directly to me or any one of my associates

and we'll be happy to help. Thank you. Thank you, Rupesh. Okay, now, by the way, any update on Kawhi? Did Kawhi Leonard tip you off as to what he's doing? The city seems to have gone bananas. No, but I spent the morning watching a lot of people talking about what's going to happen

even though no one knows what's going to happen. I've actually had to just stop. I can't do the speculation anymore. I've actually had to just stop. I can't do the speculation anymore. There were helicopters in the air yesterday. Like OJ, right? OJ, yes. I say get away from Kawhi.

Let him be. Don't get in his, let him think. Let's pretend, Brad, instead of Jazz FM 91, let's say you're a decision maker at CP24. Would you make the same call? You'd probably do the same thing right look well it was funny because i saw one of the people that was covering and saying he's an intensely personal man as the helicopters are whizzing over and they're trying to get a mic into his face so you know what these are these are when you have to make bottom line you have to win ratings those i guess those are all decisions

but i mean yeah me as a guy i i would not accept a gig at CB24 because I wouldn't want to. Did you hear that? Bell Media, Brad says no. You wouldn't do it? And then the company would be out of business in a week because of my poor decision making. I actually thought when Steve Anthony announced he was leaving the breakfast on CB24,

Steve, by the way, fantastic guy. I don't know if you know Steve. We are friends. Mo and Steve, Mo Berg are very good friends. Oh, good to know. I like them both. But I've seen Steve at many events and always friendly,

love to see him. Well, I pegged you as the replacement. I was wrong. Remember the glory days when Steve, you just like, it was so,

you know, when it was all, when the building on Queen West was. About 299 Queen West. You know, it was just, it just seemed like

that was the heartbeat of the Moses era. Yeah, it was incredible. Incredible. You're preaching to the choir here, right? We're from the same issue. Come on.

Actually, Michael Williams says he's coming on in September, so that'll be great. But we just had Master T on. I love the... Ziggy was on recently.

All the night. I hope there's no turf war between the Zoomer people and the Jazz FM 91, because that would be like you guys get your canes out and start hitting each other. Just kidding, Brad. Don't get upset.

No, he's never coming back to kick out his canes. 53, not 83. Not you. I meant your listeners. No, I'm just kidding. I love it. You guys do great stuff. We'll talk about that when we get there.

So let's get you to the pursuit of happiness. So when do you come to Ontario? I come to Ontario in 1989, actually. Because on your drive, you're listening to Richard Martin. So I spent a few years after university doing what we called the cover band grind in the Maritimes. And at that time, you could go seven days a week, four weeks a month,

literally playing from 10 until 3 every night at another bar, whether you were in Cape Breton or then you went to New Brunswick. Love Cape Breton. Then you'd play in Halifax at places like the Palace and the Misty Moon and Crazy Horse, and they were big show clubs. So I did that, and it was a really great training ground. There's so many of me and my friends who did that scene in the Maritimes that then came to Toronto and ended up getting good gigs because they were just they

were they were road tested they were you know they were really good musicians because it's rare to be able to play that much and a lot of people now sort of rehearse for a month to do their one gig and then they're they're done but we were doing so came in 89 and uh started uh started playing around worked at the bamboo as aboy. That was my first gig. So I got integrated into sort of Toronto hip culture very quickly. Sure. And then started playing with someone, played in a rockabilly band that got me out in the city,

playing a lot, making some money. And then through serendipity, had a chance to actually met someone. Her name was Sherry Sinclair. I hope she wouldn't mind me talking about it. And we ended up becoming a couple. And Sherry's brother was John Sinclair, and he was the bass player in the Pursuit of Happiness.

So as this relationship developed, I was so excited that I was getting to meet socially these guys and women that I... Were you already a fan? I remember being in my house in Halifax, you know, vacuuming, listening to Love Junk on vinyl. Can I play a little Love Junk just to set us up, set the table here? Okay. So this pre, obviously this is from Love Junk.

So that's like 88 or what is that? Right around there. And I had that cassette too and I played it like crazy. I mean. All the time. Unbelievable. Couldn't believe it. And here's the first, I mean, speaking of 299 Queen, okay, Mo's been on the show.

So, hey, how about I start by telling everybody that if they want to pause this and go back and hear Mo Berg on Toronto Wikes, he's episode 384. Are you 480? No, you're 480. Oh, that would be amazing if you were so close to being 100. Should I go? 101. Would you mind if I recorded someone else

and then you, yeah, if you don't mind. So, episode 384, Mike chats with Moe Berg about the pursuit of happiness, love junk, and being a Canadian rock star. So is that the only episode

of Toronto Mike you've listened to? No. I wouldn't be heard if that was true. Not at all. So I obviously was interested in some of the ones

of my former and current employees at the radio station. Oh yeah, we'll chat about some of them too because some of them are back. Yeah, some, we'll chat about some of them, too, because some of them are back. Yeah, some are back, so I love listening to those.

And then that made me just go down the rabbit hole and listen to a whole bunch of them. Oh, amazing. Yeah, for sure. I'm honored. That's great. Although I did know about the lasagna, sorry. Yeah, which has only been going on since November, Brad, so, you know, come on.

The walls here were painted by a guy named Chris Brown. There's a lot of Chris Browns. This is one of the good Chris Browns. And because of that, I remember Moe Berg came over during the time that he was actually painting down here. So I actually set the studio up on my kitchen table upstairs. So Moe actually never made it down to the Toronto Mike studio. Sucker. He's got to come back and kick out the jams.

But Moe's a sweetheart we'll we'll talk about that let me start by playing the song that much music played the shit out of Well, I don't hate my parents I don't get drunk just to spite them I got my own reasons to drink now I think I'll call my dad up and invite him I can sleep until noon anytime I want though there's not many days that I do gotta get up and you on that track

because this predates you and the band. Billy Squire. Billy Squire. That's the stroke. So I remember seeing Not this from Love Junk But when it was the independent video And that was even

Even before I was even That's when it first sort of Hit me who these guys were And then Love Junk came out So no that is not me That is John Sinclair who I mentioned earlier on Getting it done there Obviously

You were not allowed to play With Pursuit of Happiness Sinclair who I mentioned earlier on right getting it done there but you would obviously I'm gonna state the obvious but you you were not allowed to play with pursuit happiness about playing this jam like this is mandatory uh playing for the crowd the audience would demand it that is correct that is correct and it what's the crowd reaction like uh when I'm I'm guessing uh this is like uh that potent drug nostalgia when this song comes in. I think the great thing about it is that it's always a home run. We know it's the one in our back pocket that's going to always work. But I love the fact that lyrically it's not nonsense.

It still really makes sense. And it only makes more sense the older you get. So that's the part I think I'm most proud of is that the band can dip into these tunes from 30 years ago. A, they sound like that, which still sounds to me quite great. It doesn't sound like cheesy. Todd Rundgren? That's Todd Rundgren.

Which is amazing, right? Think about that. It's incredible. Think about that. So he made a choice to make some sounds that make the band, it doesn't sound weirdly dated in a lot of ways, the way the drums could have been recorded. Like the Richard Marks song. Exactly.

Which sounds like 1989. So it's with pride that we can still go out there and not be sort of embarrassed by our hits or something like that. Or that they're so dated and that they're irrelevant at this point. And it's just a walk down memory lane. It's still a great song. Mo told me the story of how Todd Rundgren, how he gets Todd.

I think he just asked, they said, who do you want? And he said, Todd Rundgren. That was it. A wish list from the label said,

give us your wish list. And he was a super fan. And I can't imagine the feeling it must be for an artist to have that validation that someone you, imagine if you put

Paul McCartney down and he says, yeah, I'd love to do it because I love your music. And I think at that point that was, it might as well have been Paul McCartney to Mo. So to yeah, I'd love to do it because I love your music. And I think at that point that was, it might as well have been

Paul McCartney to Mo. So to say that he would like to do it because I heard the material and I love it from arguably one of the greatest songwriters of all time, I think it's,

it must have been incredibly, it must really make you feel like you're on the right road. That's how I felt when you told me you enjoyed listening to Toronto Mikes. It's the same damn thing.

It's validation from the highest level. Remember, you can't spell Brad Mines. It's the same damn thing. It's validation from the highest level. Remember, you can't spell Brad without Rad. That's it. I'd get that on a sticker. I should. StickerU could do that. We can put that in the graph. StickerU.com, by the way.

I've got to cut that out, too. Oh, no, say it without the music behind it. Amazing. Okay, so 1980, right. So there's two albums two uh major label releases under the pursuit of happiness is built when you join the band am i right so so they do the second record after love junk called one-sided story they have a lot of momentum tons of things going on and as soon as the album is completed uh they do all the album artwork. They do everything with John, who I mentioned earlier,

and Leslie Stanwyck, who was the vocalist in the band. And those two had decided they wanted to move on and make their own music. So the second album basically comes out with them all on it, but yet they had left before it was actually out. So that's when Mo and the band had to find replacements for those two to go on the road for that second album after One Sided Story. And then that's when I had a chance to audition with a lot of other people at the time.

Any notables? You know any notables? You know, it's funny. I still meet people all the time that come up to me and say, I auditioned for the bass player gig and you got it. It even happened the other night when we did this thing at the Horseshoe

with the Watchmen. So there are some notables, but I don't think it would be, it's not for me to say who it was. Of course it is Brad. That's the real talk. I think the reason, I'm certainly not, it wasn't about being the greatest bass player in the world. I'll guarantee you it wasn't about that. But I had a leg up in some ways because I had access,

because I was going out with Sherry John's brother they had already put the second record in the can it was about to come out so I had had all that music to learn where none of the other

bass players had access to that so they all came in and said let's play I'm an adult now and I think one of the restrictions most said

to the audition process was don't come in and say let's play I'm an adult now anything else and a lot of people still came in and said I want to play I'm an adult now so they're immediately out but I came in and said we can play anything from Love Junk and if you want to play anything from One-Sided Story I

know all that material too and they had already been on the road for about a year and a half playing Love Junk and they were like oh god great we don't have to play that stuff let's play some One-Sided Story so I certainly had a little bit of insider in there and we had already known each other socially a little bit because of my connection through sherry so they knew i wasn't a jerk can't hurt in fact that's like the you would easily pass even from this how long i've been talking now uh almost an hour even from this i can tell you you would pass the chemistry test with flying colors you're kind you're not an asshole? Or are you? Well, no, I try not to be. Well, you're from the Maritimes.

I feel like most, except for maybe Brad Marchand or something, they're all pretty good guys. Right? Well, hopefully. You know, we all have our, we're not always at our best. But, you know, it was,

there was, it was about 30 people auditioned. There was two rounds of auditions. So it went on and on and on. And at that point, it meant so much to me as a goofball who'd moved from Coal Harbour, Nova Scotia, to Toronto, to even get in this world, to even get into this arena, to be auditioning, to get to the second round.

And knowing that if you got the gig, that immediately you were on a bus and touring the world. It was pretty intense at that time. Amazing. So when I got the call and Mo said, hey, do you want to go to Los Angeles and make a video? That's how I picked up the phone as I'm waiting for the word on whether I got it or not. You could have told me, hey, you just won a million dollars

or you just got the gig with Pursuit of Happiness. And I would have said, I'll take this. It's a big thing. Big time rock band. Are you kidding me? I was there too. But amazing. Real quick before the song runs out, you mentioned my kids having a podcast.

I'd listen. So when my daughter, my oldest daughter was eight years old, she had a podcast. And the podcast was called She's So Young. That was the name of the podcast. An homage? A tip of the hat? Yeah, absolutely. 100% from this jam here.

From Love Junk, of course. She sounds like a brilliant young lady. I think I made the call, but she did not fight me on it. What video did you go off to make? You said you were Los Angeles. It was Two Girls in One. Right was the first video from the second album. Right, right, right.

Yeah, that's a good jam too. You guys were really, much music played the hell out of you guys. You know, a lot of airplay. I always think of like Lowest of the Low didn't really play that game. Like they weren't video people or whatever. And you guys were i mean the watchman too actually so you were at the horseshoe of the watchman coincidentally danny graves was on the show like two weeks ago was on this show like two weeks ago and danny's now on the radio uh

yes this is what i heard i was talking to jake gold who who told me some of that stuff jake gold is a friend of the show i think think primarily because the aforementioned Hebsey, they knew each other when they were like two years old. Really? Yeah. They're buds. Really? I did not know that.

Yeah. Yeah. So Jake Gold's been on this show too. And I know Jake Gold, is Jake Gold, correct me, is Jake Gold currently managing the, is he back in it?

He's our manager for whatever there is to manage at this point. Oh, yeah, because you're like a once-in-a-while thing. Yeah, once-in-a-while thing. But he does a great job. We really have had a great year and a half, and Jake's helped that along very much so. And Warren Stewart, too, at EMI, who put out Love Junk the 30th.

But no, Jake's, you know, he's very dedicated. We were out in Hamilton on the weekend, and Jake comes out to the gig. You know, he's very dedicated. We were out in Hamilton on the weekend, and Jake comes out to the gig. You know, he's slugging shirts and helping us. Good. Yeah. Get that guy to work. If I can pour beers,

Jake Gold can carry the T-shirts to the gig. Exactly. And Jake also, of course, back in, not now, but back in the day, was the Watchman. Absolutely. The hip and the Watchman at the same time for Jake. Amazing. So Horseshoe of the Watchmen,

and then we're going to get back to, we're going to kind of go there and come back here. But the Hamilton show that I should have been at, but I can't remember. I guess it's Hamilton. It was Canada Day. Oh, it was Sunday. So maybe.

I could have made a Sunday gig. But I mean, I follow people on Twitter that live in the Hammer that were at the show, and some of them are listening right now hello Hammer it sounded like I was thinking Low and Pursuit of Happiness

sounded amazing the Low sounded fantastic by the way they were just terrific you know why they were only three days removed from playing TMLX3 they were all warmed up from playing your thing

before we get back to Pursuit of Happiness can i play the at least start the first line here's what they did so i close every episode of this podcast with rosie and gray from lowest of the low at tmlx3 and again this is on episode 482 if someone wants to go back and listen but uh they they closed the event with rosie Gray, but they made a couple of interesting lyrical changes to Rosie and Gray, which just completely blew me away. So if you haven't heard it yet,

this was Rosie and Gray on June 27th at TMLX3 at Great Lakes Brewery. © transcript Emily Beynon I want to take a streetcar downtown Listen to Trotterback and Wonderland It would dream some girl next door girl for the dream Smile you eyes shake, I have to scream I don't know where you've been Because everything is kind of rosy gray So there you go.

You made it. Instead of reading Henry Miller, yeah, he was listening to Trona Mike. Pretty nice. Instead of drinking Guinness from a tin, he had some great legs in there. Really cool. What are they good to you, these guys?

To me, they're sweethearts, so I just want to make sure they are. They had a really nice time. You know, our paths haven't crossed in a long time, but they came as soon as we were in the dressing room. There was lots of back and forth and hanging out and a lot of good vibes happening. So it was great to see those guys.

I'm trying to create a little CanCon war between The Watchmen and The List of the Low because Sammy Cohn, who's been on this show recently, I went on another podcast in which I was, like you have to bring an album and like defend it or talk it up or something. And I brought Shakespeare,

my butt. I should have brought, I could have brought love junk, but I brought Shakespeare, my butt. And Sammy has, he's from Winnipeg. And he had some controversial things to say about this being a strictly

Toronto phenomenon. Not that that's untrue, but that he, it, he felt like the station that pumped their tires, edge 102 or 102.1 The Edge, whatever they were called. CFNY. CFNY. He felt there was some ulterior motive to pump their tires as opposed to the fact they were a great local band.

How curious. I know. And I played those clips and we kind of went back and forth. So, yeah. Yeah curious. I know. And I played those clips and we kind of went back and forth. So yeah, so that happened. But there, we're not going to bring the present happiness into this ugliness. How did you respond to that? That's nonsense.

Well, my only perspective is Toronto perspective. So I just told, I did, I basically said like, did you listen to Shakespeare, my butt? Like, do you not think those singles are worthy of radio play? Like when you listen to Shakespeare My Butt? Like did you, like do you not think those singles are worthy of radio play? Like when you listen to Bleed a Little Wild Tonight, for example,

do you not hear a great song? Like what do you think of Shakespeare My Butt? See that's, so and how was he defending this? Was he, was he? Yeah, and you kind of,

I can't do it justice about playing the clips, but he just felt like they couldn't, well he correctly stated that they could, you know, they can sell out the Danforth Music Hall, for example, in Toronto. But he said they couldn't get arrested in the,

what's it called? The Commodore Ballroom, whatever, is that Vancouver? Vancouver, yeah. Right, right. So, and Ron Hawkins, who sat in that seat last week, basically said, yeah, that's true. But, you know, that wasn't my point. My point was that the Airplane 102.1 was because,

and I was at that show on May 31st. I was at the Danforth musical. Because they're kick-ass great songs. It's great music. It seems odd to defend or to talk about music where it's popular and where it's not. Was the album good or not? It seems to be what you were arguing about.

They don't have any following in Sydney, Australia. What about you guys? For example, we just played here, this song right here. All right, so I'll talk over it. I heard this on 102.1 all the time.

This had a video, right? Much music all the time. I loved it. I loved this whole album. Give had a video, right? Much music all the time. Yeah. I loved it. I loved this whole album. Give it a little bit. She shook her cool When I scored And then I'll send me on It's hard to laugh When you know That she's been cheating Had her hands around

And she's been giving it a beating Well, it's hard to laugh When you know That she's been lying But you've got to laugh To prevent yourself from crying But you tell me, where did that peak

on the Billboard Hot 100? Not very high. I mean, Love Junk made a little noise in America. Like the college shows? It's when college writers happened. And a little play on MTV. They had 120 Minutes, which was their alt show at that time. And you're in Beavis and Butthead.

And we're on Beavis and Butthead, that's right. Cigarette Dangles, right? Cigarette Dangles on Beavis and Butthead. Which is amazing. Butthead. And we're on Beavis and Butthead, that's right. Cigarette Dangles, right? Cigarette Dangles on Beavis and Butthead. Which is amazing. I'll take it as some part of the pop culture lineage.

But the band did, Australia was a market for the band for a while too. We went there three times and there was quite a lot of, especially the first two times, there was quite a bit of excitement around that and stuff. But again, if you're gauging it on how high it went up the billboard chart,

not high. See, I personally don't really care about how you do there. It's more of what my ears like and what I enjoy, right? But this kind of irked a little bit our friend Jake Gold too because when he came on, I did mention, you know, the Tragically Hip trying to break the U.S. market. Like, why didn't it happen, et cetera? Because, you know, they play Saturday Night live and there's no noticeable bump whatever whatever

but so it really depends how you define success and there's many things that play but how when you join because you're on the third album what's the third album called so it's called the downward road right so you're on that yes and in a sense that's sort of you tell me if i'm wrong but that's sort of, you tell me if I'm wrong, but that's like your last crack at U.S. market. In a lot of ways, it was. But, you know, what's beautiful now with Hindsight is I look back on the entire experience of making that record, going to Los Angeles for a bunch of months, and the money cannon was pretty loaded, too.

There was, you know, there's a lot of money flowing around. We had a big-time producer in Ed Stasium, big-time videos, all that stuff. now at the time of course you you you all you're concerned about is success and how it's doing and you know that things may not be going as they're supposed to but now as someone who's removed from it all i just look back and go what a great thing it was so much fun we had a blast sure you, so the memories are not tainted by what the final outcome of it all was. So that's the benefit of age and being away from. The great thing about doing shows, you know, playing that show in Hamilton, we've done a run of shows, is that there is no music business stuff around it.

We're just playing shows and having fun. And you don't have to worry about where you are in the hierarchy of all this. And understanding your place is where it is right now, but that doesn't diminish going out on stage with your friends and having a blast and seeing people enjoying the band. So it's a much more pure kind of experience now

than coming off stage after that and going, how many, did we sell any records? Did much add to the video? All the things that go along with that stuff. Now, I, luckily I have this,

this thing, this Toronto Mic'd thing where I can get people like Moe Berg to come over and, you know, Chris Murphy

and I get, I get the people I love, listen, Danny Graves, right? And one thing, and there's no shame in this, although I don't think

this is true for Ron Hawkins actually, but it's true for Moe's, like Lawrence Nichols who came over from Lois and Lo. Like, like one thing is and there's no shame in this at all but it's one of those things that seems a little bit different from the Canadian structure versus the American structure is that like I'm now completely used to my the rock stars I idolize having like other jobs right like you know what I mean like and and so you mentioned now Watchmen

played the odd gig here and there you just played played Horseshoe and you played in Hamilton. And that's fantastic. But of course, at some point, you went out and got a job. I mean, another job. Well, I think absolutely. For me, there was a crossroads when the band was winding down to say, am I going to continue being a musician? And I saw that life

to be moving forward. And was I, was I still in a place where I could pivot? Was I young enough and hungry enough to change careers? Because I, for me, it wasn't just about being a musician for me that when the band broke down, it was really like a family breaking down. It was everything to me. It was everything I think to all of us so everyone just scatters and everyone's just trying to survive and figure their lives out and it was it's it's a it really feels like you don't have your feet under you for a while because it's everything you've been it's everything how you've defined yourself i felt you know when i got the gig that it finally had an answer when someone said oh you're a musician what do you do and i say the pursuit of happiness

they'd be like oh that's pretty cool yeah we know that band we know that band so it was like oh great finally the i don't have to follow up with well we were doing this and we're hoping this is going to happen it was right so that was a very unique place to be as a musician that you had that calling card so so i i looked at it being i don't think i can play stones tunes in a fern bar you know when i'm 70 you know uh all due respect to that just it just it felt like i the the experience of being in the pursuit of happiness has been so precious that i almost didn't want to to ruin it by just being a bass player somewhere um so uh i decided to uh to go back to go back to school i went to humber and took podcasts. Is this like late 90s? When is this? This is late 90s, yeah.

97, 98. And they had the accelerated, they had the one year program if you've been to university or before because I had my degree from St. of Acts. Yeah, I went to U of T. Yeah. So it was an interesting experience because I wasn't going to

talk about the fact that I was in the pursuit of happiness. I wanted to be... Yet you always wore the pursuit of happiness shirts to class. Which was stupid of me. I don't going to talk about the fact that I was in the pursuit of happiness. You know, I just wanted to be... Yet you always wore the pursuit of happiness shirts to class. Which was stupid of me. I don't know why I couldn't figure it out. Which is very uncool because you know the rule. You never wear your own band's shirt. CDs with me trying to pass them out.

But I remember the first day I got there that Robert Holiday, I think was the instructor, and he said, I want everyone, individually, I'd like everyone to stand up and tell us about yourself, where you've come from, what you've done. And I was like, oh, for God's sakes, the first day I'm going to get outed. And when I just, not that I thought anyone would care,

but I just wanted it to be. No, but if this is the 90s, they would all know Pursuit of Happiness. You're not far enough removed from your heyday. For me, my thing is always some will, maybe most won't, but it just seemed like a quagmire of something that I didn't want to, I just wanted to be, anyway. So it was fine. And we moved past that after a while but to your

point about you know people that have you've seen on the tv or or playing in music and then they're in different situations that certainly for me was one where you know as a 30 plus year old going back to school to to try to figure it out was a pretty intense time. Okay, this was actually one of the better moments of the Molly Johnson episode, which I would call the heavy dose of real talk when she kind of, she was very clear about, you know, she was very clear that she took public transit here,

she doesn't own a car, and it wasn't an environmental thing, it was more of a financial thing, and she was very like upfront and very, it was really refreshing actually that she was kind of saying that this is how difficult it is for a artist that you know like we talked about richard marx like richard marx probably didn't have to go get a job but because he had u.s hits and then uh what changed everything i had uh tyler stewart in here from the bare naked ladies and i mean one week was a like that was a complete career changer because they had the u.s number one right went to number one absolutely and this is you know before the the whole big bang theory

thing which i think bottom you know it's a nice new cottage or something and more but um you kind of this this whole notion that you can be on our TVs, like Moe's a great producer, right? Like Moe doesn't live off of being Moe Berg from Pursuit of Happiness. You're right. He's a working guy who's still using his talents and his musicality to make a living.

Which you are, because it's all related. Actually, in fact, now that I realize that, because we're about to get you to radio, I have a question, though. I don't want to leave Pursuit of Happiness yet. Because the question, Basement Dweller had a second question, which I save for now, which is, he wants to know, Brad, which Pursuit of Happiness song do you most enjoy playing live?

He means bass-wise. Well, bass-wise, eh? Bass-wise, that's a key clarifier there. You know, boy, we started playing Ten Fingers again, and if you're a bass player and know about music, you know boy we we started playing 10 fingers again in this and if you're a bass player know about music you know there's only three chords in it so it's not but there's for me the the real joys of playing the music are uh are playing with our drummer dave and and there's just there's there's something very physical about a bass guitar and a bass drum and a drummer locking up and really driving home the song. So

that is, that's, excuse me, that's the joy of this. So I would say Pressing Lips, which is one that just breaks my heart every night that we play, that's from the third album. And also the fact that we've started playing Ten Fingers again are a couple of ones that I look forward to on the set list every night. Now this question is for me, but, and it's difficult for you because you joined the band midstream or whatever. So it's difficult for you because you joined the band midstream or whatever so it's a bit tougher for you but i always wonder like does the band do you guys feel you get your uh the proper like credit or justice or well not justice or it's but you get proper uh what where am i looking searching for here? But do you think you get your proper credit

for being the big time rock stars that the pursuit of happiness was in this country? Because I mean, I'm only thinking because I'm a big Tragically Hip fan and they've been so lauded in this country. Like we don't care that they have no US hits. Like they're just absolutely, you know, they could have sold out the Air Canada Center

like night after night after night after night, right? And across the country too, definitely. Sorry, Sammy, but they weren't a Toronto phenomenon there. But the pursuit of happiness, do you have your rightful place in the echelon of CanRock? I will say, number one, Mike, that I never think like that. But at the same time, i'm always pleasantly surprised that pursuit of happiness and mo do find their way into the conversation in a lot of ways when

there's a top 10 something about this or or i think his unique writing voice and whatever success they had the band the band had um I think I've been more surprised by how they have been recognized for what they've done all these years later. And to see so many people come out and see the band. So I think, I don't think like that, but I'm happy that we,

I'm more than happy that we do get recognized sometimes. And especially Mo for a very unique voice as far as a songwriter you got fans now bringing out their uh teenagers or adult kids you know it's interesting because the the audience really looks more like i don't i i feel like me like there's there seems like there's they're they're they're 35 they're not the you know so uh i see some kids out there there's not many though mike i won't be honest honest. They might bring their kids out or something, but their kids are probably getting dragged along

and aren't that interested if they're there. Right, right. I mean, if you have your heyday in, let's say, 88, and I'm just doing that because I was 14 years old. So yeah, there's not a lot younger than me probably. But amazing, amazing contributions to Can Rock anyways. And you're right. Every time I think,

I just had Ben Rayner on and I know whenever you have like a top Toronto songs, like I'm an Adult Now is guaranteed to be highly ranked. And a lot of lists, if it's deep enough, like the top 50 tunes in Canada

or top 100 tunes, I'm an Adult Now finds its way in there because it still tells a very true tale. Right. And that parking lot's gone now. in there because it's, it's, it still tells a very true tale. Right. And the bit, the, uh, that parking lot's gone now.

Yeah. Just saw that the other day. Yeah. Is that where the mech is? Is that where the, yeah, people don't like the aesthetic of the new mech location. You see the black bull over there.

Then you see the road that I used to live on Soho. And then that used to be the, and then the bamboo used to live behind the bamboo and then go work at the bamboo. And now that's all there. Yeah. It's very disconcerting, but times they are changing.

They certainly are. When Honest Ed's got blown up, that's the one that I, when I drove to that corner, I was like, where am I right now? Right. What planet am I on?

Bathurst and Bloor. I know. Crazy times. Okay. So radio. So you go to Humber. Yeah. What's that degree called or whatever you got at Humber?

What did you get there? Broadcasting? Yeah, I think it's broadcasting. Okay, so what's your first gig in radio? Well, I will say the Pursuit of Happiness thing actually came home to help. I wish I could remember. But I got an internship at Talk 640.

Right. So, and the gentleman there, and I apologize because he really helped me so much to give me that, but he was a happiness fan. And when I applied, he said, sure, come on.

So I started interning at Talk 640. And at that time, Marsha Lederman, who was on the radio there, she was hosting the afternoon drive show. She was looking for a producer and he said, you should throw your hat in the ring for that. And I said,erman, who was on the radio there, she was hosting the afternoon drive show. She was looking for a producer, and he said, you should throw your hat in the ring for that. And I said, well, I'm completely unqualified.

And he said, just throw your hat in the ring. So I ended up getting that job, even though I was completely unqualified for it, 100%. See, doors are opening because people are like, I love that band. I think Marsha, not so much. I don't know if she had such a sensibility to it, but I had integrated myself into that environment enough

where she was like, I don't know if she had such a sensibility to, but I had sort of, I'd integrated myself into that environment enough where she was like, I don't hate that guy. So she was very, again, I credit her very much for giving me a job I wasn't qualified for. So I worked as her producer on the afternoon drive there on Talk 644.

It was about a year and a half until she split and now she writes for the Globe and Mail out in Vancouver. And in the whole 640 world, this is post-Hog. Just post-Hog, yeah. Post-Hog, but world, this is post-Hogg. Just post-Hogg, yeah. Post-Hogg, but obviously pre-Mojo, obviously. Yeah, it was Leafs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill Waters had a show there. And it was like that, it's not Laura Ingram, but it was like, you know, it was kind of that explosive talk American stuff that was on in the afternoons. Then it was Spaceman at night kind of doing stuff.

Rest in peace, Gary Bell. Yeah, Gary Bell. So it was a melange of AM radio at the time. Yeah. Yeah. We did a call-in thing where it was like, all right, you're on the 401. What's going on?

Tell us about your grievances. Sounds like AM talk radio. Exactly. Marsha elevated it a little bit because she had a different sensibility. I remember not knowing so much that she was doing something that at the time

Ian Grant, who was running things, thought it was dynamite. She pivoted to something that was more boring. He came running into the room and said, Brad, why the hell did you let her stop doing that? I just was like, am I in charge? That's how, out of the producer role, I knew what my role was.

So I was confused by it. Are you also like, is it a board that you're operating? I really know nothing about radio, just enough to be dangerous. I was the phone guy. And then we had an operator, Jim. Oh, he had another guy doing board. Jim Koshon, who was a magical board operator. So there was the three of us were the team there.

Nowadays, they'd have one guy do both jobs, right three that's right yes that's right well stew jeffries who's got like one of the top morning shows in toronto right stew from good rocking tonight yes i think he does all of it i think it's a one person job everywhere unless you work at the corporation i think they're still right right that's a whole different story that's why Danny Graves is trying to get in there. Okay. So what's after 640? Well, so I start... Someone else I went to school with at Humber,

he ended up working at Jazz FM, CJRT at the time, before it transitioned. You called it Jazz FM. I want you to call it Jazz FM 91. Thank you for that. Okay, Brad, come on. Don't want to confuse the listeners. Very wise of you. Sage advice. So he started working there, and he said,

hey, the CEO at CJRT at the time, Chuck Camreau, my friend who I had gone to school with, he said, oh, I went to school with a guy who's got a jazz degree. He knows all about jazz, right? The degree's coming in handy here. It came in handy. So Chuck, the CEO, said, well, let me take a meeting with this guy. So we took a meeting with him. He knows all about jazz, right? The degree's coming in handy here. It came in handy. So Chuck, the CEO, said, well, let me take a meeting with this guy.

So we took a meeting with him. I'd already been in there, too, volunteering. I was trying to integrate myself into that world. And I sat down with Chuck, and I don't know how many lies I told Mike, but I danced and I juggled and I said, I can do, well, this will be great. You need to do this. And he was like, I like the cut of your jib, son. I bet you said that, too. Something will be great. You need to do this. And he was like, I like the cut of your jib, son. I bet you said that too. Something like that.

Like Monty Byrne. And then he offered me a job there that was undetermined at the time because they were in transition. They were going from being this very much an NPR kind of model station with classical and folk and a little bit of jazz and Prairie Home Companion and all those things. It is a unique station in this market in that it's unlike the Mother Corps, unlike the CBC, which is a public broadcaster.

This is a different type. It's a public broadcaster, but it's not tax money doesn't come your way, right? It's all. Right. It's a really unique license. The license allows us, there's no government support, so the license allows us four minutes an hour. So you can run four minutes four minutes an hour. So you can run

four minutes of ads an hour. Correct. So whatever we can do with that, plus we make up the rest through donor support. So it's almost a 50-50 depending on the year, sometimes 60-40, but that's how the sausage gets made. Now the four minute rule,

like there's no loopholes, like you can't be like, oh I'm just enjoying my Great Lakes. Octopus wants to fight while we play some Miles Davis. Like can that guy, can that, because do they get a stopwatch on that? I don't think they do,

but I think we're very aware of it because we're not in a position to fight. Right. If we don't, if the rules get bent or break, broken and so on. Oh, they can take your license away. Someone can take your license

or you'll have to, or I would think big companies feel, well, we'll fight it. We have lots of lawyers. We'll beat it back. But any of that money would be donor money. You want to be conscious of doing that. So we play by the rules, and that's what makes it exciting and unique, but also very difficult at times financially

for the radio station. Just trying to help you out with some loopholes here. Let's do it off mic then, Mike. So, okay. Now, there's a lot that this Jazz FM 91. So, you start there in 2001? That's correct, 2001. And what are you doing there at the beginning?

So, it's just as they, so they went to being all jazz format in January of 2001. And then I was hired in February of 2000. So close to being a founding day one or whatever you call it. Very close to being a day one. And we were on the campus of Ryerson at the time. We had office, we had basically a football field of offices there. So everyone had an office.

Interns had offices. So I was in a, Chuck just said, here's your office. There was a phone on it. There wasn't a computer in there. And he said, just wait for further direction. And I remember there was maybe two or three days of me just sort of, and everyone else that worked there was like, who is this long-haired goodnik from the pursuit of happiness

that's infiltrating our ring? Right, because you're a rock star. Well, I don't know if they would have coined that phrase. A rock person. They knew the kind of music I played, and that might not have been... And they're like, this doesn't sound like Dave Brubeck. How does this guy know anything's going on?

So it was an interesting environment to walk into originally. And I was so hungry, though. I was so looking for a pathway forward after the band that I don't even know how I would deal with it now. Cause it was, it was, it wasn't great, but, but, but we got there, Chuck, the gentleman who hired me was always very, he was always a strong ally of mine. And, and we just started building. The first thing we did was started building our digital library because no one else wanted to do that. They were still on all the hosts, bring in their CDs in a box and play them. And, and, and while they should

have been at that time, but he knew that it was moving to a different way. So we said, there's the library. Start grabbing CDs that you think should be on the air and go rip them and go add the content we need and all those things. So that was the first maybe six months, year of the job, was just building that, not being on air or anything. When do you become a music director?

When does that happen? I think that was some kind of error. I think someone made a mistake. A clerical error. Someone checked a box and all of a sudden it was... Well, I mean, we'll dive into this a bit. We'll see how much you give here. But you are a survivor of sorts.

For sure, you're the only one there from 2001. Glenn Woodcock, who hosts our big band show, he's been there for 30... Oh, see, my research staff messed up. So he has been there for a very long time. But yeah, there's been a lot of coming and going, and I have somehow managed to stick around through that process.

And there's been. I mean, it hasn't been all bread and... It hasn't been all rosy at Jazz FM 91 through your 10, because let me see, 2001, how many years is this now? You can tell me. So 18 years. 18 years? In January, it'll be 18 years.

Wow. So that's longer than I played music or did anything else. So if you would have, I never would have believed that, like you said before, that 1989 is 30 years ago. How did that happen? Right. Same kind of deal here. No, like you said before, that 1989 is 30 years ago. How did that happen? Same kind of deal here. No, it hasn't been. The interesting thing is, as long as I've been there, it's always a struggle.

The radio station, I'm sure lots of radio stations are struggles. Ours is a particular struggle. You are a jazz radio station. You have limited resources. You're fighting against everyone else in this market. And things are changing as quickly as they have over this time. So it's always been that kind of, it's never felt like, put your feet up because everything's fine here.

We're just going to coast now. But then, yeah, things did take a more, they got more difficult and they didn't have to do necessarily with our format or our business model. Right, right. And that's why it's always, it's a nice surprise that you actually have had 18 years at the station considering so many popular on-air people, many are back now, but were turfed? I don't know what, you know. Yeah, there was a lot of people, some chose to move on because of the environment

and some were asked to move on. Oh, that's a good point. Let's talk with... Let me just drop some of my friends there. We can talk a little bit. But somebody who chose to leave and is now back and is a great friend of the show is Heather Bambrick. The great Heather Bambrick.

And she's a not a... I learned this so I can now proudly say she's not a Maritimer because Newfoundlanders are not Maritimers. That's right. So stop saying that. Atlantic Canada, I think is the... That's right. So stop saying that. Atlantic Canada, I think. That's right. But you know what?

Call her what you want. She gave me a bottle of Screech. Which I like it so much I won't drink it. I like to have it here. I wouldn't drink it either. It looks too cool. So she's sort of in some ways one of the beating hearts of the radio station. So when she wasn't part of what we were doing,

it was more than concerning. But she's obviously a very fun broadcaster. I worked there just a little bit before she did too. She's a very talented artist, singer. And she's able to bring those two very kind of unique skills to being on the radio. And she does it better than anyone. She's very funny.

She's very funny. She's very welcoming. People just gravitate towards her because of her energy, which is very, it's great to have that. And right now, what's her slot? Mid-mornings? What's that called?

Yeah, sort of. She's from nine until one. What exactly is the morning show right now? Right now, it's unhosted until Heather gets there. So it was kind of striking a balance between, and the other part is too, we've fought with our morning show for such a long time. We've wrestled with the morning show

and put a lot of, sometimes most of the resources of the radio station went in there because that's what radio stations do. They try to have a morning show that's got traction and everyone listens to it and all that stuff. Um, and I think as, as the new board of directors came in and they sort of looked at things, they were like, what is, where do we want to put our energy? Where, where do we want to put resources, especially early on here where they're limited after what's, what's gone on. And I think there

was just a thought that we're never going to win. We're never gonna, we're never going to really compete in the morning, whether it's not, just historically, our morning show has been that way. You know, there was big news when Ralph Ben-Murgy came to take over our morning show. Right, another friend of the show. Yeah, and Ralph did a great job,

but again, it wasn't necessarily performing. I don't know if it's the way people perceive jazz to be in night music or in the morning. They can't, they just, it's something that is like, oh, jazz in the morning they can't they just it's something that that is like oh jazz in the morning and i'm thinking again i'd like my venn diagrams but maybe you're being uh cannibalized by metro morning like i feel like that's a pretty big juggernaut over there with matt galloway and when you look at the the shared listening you know it's very much over there too so so the thought was let's let's let's put people in where they

can succeed and and heather who had already done our morning show before to get her in at nine and actually when we start to build audience in the day to get her in there so that was that was the the logic and so far so good so hence the the the six till nine block is is just music flow right now but believe me the people who run our run our station would love to rectify that as soon as possible. And this is a good opportunity to tell people when they can hear Brad Barker. Like, when the heck are you on Jazz FM 91? I am on two till six, Monday to Friday, afternoon drive, Mike. That's an important shift. I think that's a big, whenever you get one of the drive shifts, that's a big deal, right? Yeah. It's been a home for a long time. I love doing it. And

yeah, so tune in is that what i'm supposed to say yeah sure i mean if you want to yeah this this delightful fellow is somebody you want to hear on terrestrial radio and of course you can did you know you could live stream terrestrial radio on your internet connected device like it's like wow like holy smokes so yeah so awesome but here's some more names so heather bambrick is back yes great to have her how much can you how much are you willing to say about the great i mean i feel like there's an elephant in the room like there was a massive uh well publicized uh controversy at your station that we probably should address well there certainly was and that was the part that made it you know i think a lot of things happen in businesses all the time

the fact that our our stuff was showing up in in papers all the time made it yeah that's simon i always say his last name wrong can you say it for me uh hoof hope sounds good we apologize i'm because we know he'll be listening we apologize so so i i think that lots of businesses have things that are going on ours was was very public and it made, you know, for me, it was, it made me kind of turtle a little bit. Cause anytime I went out somewhere,

people wanted to talk about what was happening at the radio station. You know, it was, it, it, it was a very difficult time. And a lot of, a lot of people were,

were, were hurt in that time. But at the end of the day, it was, it was business. It was, it was two competing factions looking to to to who had different visions about how the station should be run um and and i think the

worst is obviously behind us we're moving in a different direction and i'm really happy about the direction that we're we're moving in and the people that are are now working with us and are part of what we do are really passionate about the radio station and the people that are, are now working with us and are part of what we do are really passionate about the radio station and the, and the signals that they gave about bringing someone like Heather Bamberg back was, were, were,

was like a lifeline to, to a lot of us that work there. Like, Oh, okay, we're going to try to, we're going to try to write this. Things are definitely on the rebound as they say.

Now, cool. But I have to ask you the big hot seat question is, were you a member of the collective? Because listeners of the show keep hearing about the collective, and there's more names on the job. Yeah, but tell us. So there was an official group of people

who were trying to affect change at the radio station called the collective. I was not part of the official collective, even though many of those people were my friends and people I still consider to be friends. Did you ever like have any guilt about that? Or like, I just, I always want to, Heather Bambrick decided to quit, but kind of late in the game. And we'll talk, I mean, like Garvia, for example, there's a lot of people that kind of been hurt by that whole experience. And I always wondered, like, like, did you ever even have that as a thought? Like, I need to step

down in solidarity or anything like that? You know what, I will say, Mike, you asking me if I have guilt is like asking me if I'm hungry. Were you raised Catholic? Guilt is kind of a low-level emotion that's with me all the time. So certainly in a case like this, it would come to be. But at the end of the day, I wanted to be there. I wanted to, from the inside, be part of a solution. I still thought the music deserved it.

I thought the musicians deserved it. And it may have been a moment of glory to say, I am out of here. Right. But I knew that that moment would be short-lived, and then there would be someone else in there making decisions that I think I should have made, quite frankly, for the music and for the musicians. So sure, absolutely, to answer your question, guilt, but am I happy with the decisions I made?

Absolutely. And again, we're in brighter times now at Jazz FM 91. Which at the time when I was making this, I didn't necessarily think that they would come come they came hard fought by a lot of people who put a lot of time and work into things so and there is still i mean we should okay so i'll bring up another name who was doing the morning show uh garvia bailey who's a friend of the show she's been on the show and in fact she is one of the four people who started JazzCast, which you're probably familiar with JazzCast,

which kind of was born out of the ashes of that unfortunate period at Jazz FM 91. So Gervie has, I don't know what the terminology is, before the courts, there's an actual, it's been well publicized in our mainstream media, that she had, there's a lawsuit. She's suing Jazz FM 91. So obviously she hasn't come back to the station like Heather, but any thoughts on that? Or is that of your pay grade or what are we at here?

I will say this, the times that I had a chance to work with Garvia were wonderful times. And I loved that time of our radio station. And again, everything that's happened since then have been things that have broken my heart. And hopefully everything will resolve in a way that is advantageous for the people who have been hurt.

Tell me about James B. He, sort of like Heather, he was like a, what do you call it? Fundraising dynamo of sorts. He's, you know, he's a, he's, he is a, sometimes that he is a fundraising dynamo because his energy is so, you know, kind of in your face and he's, he's, he's a, he's, he, if he believes in something, he will make you believe in it. You know, that's the kind of way he approaches things so again another notion that james coming back to the radio station was another great sign for for all of us that were there that that oh for sure because he he's more than that he's a real music fan he's if he if if he sees you in a performing somewhere and he likes you

then he will spend the next year telling everyone how great you are. So he's your greatest supporter. Like an ambassador. That big personality, it works for others as well as James. I find him to be like a fascinating character in this city, like part of the fabric of the city, James B. Like just very interesting. Absolutely. He's one of these guys, he's like P. Absolutely. He is, he's, you know, he's one of these guys,

like he's like P.T. Barnum. Like, you know, that his, he lives his life. Everything you see is what you think it is. You know, he is a,

he's a complete interesting character that will go down like with the Mendelssohn Joes. Right, yeah. Great example. In the Toronto history of things, of those kind of people that you don't know what

or who they are, but they're, they make the city great. Absolutely. So I'm glad he's back too that's another sign great thursday nights nine till midnight what about my buddy bill king bill king nice to have bill on on on and he's he's got a show of his son right yeah it's called soul nation him and jesse his son they so they're doing sort of a soul like roots uh r&b kind of show on Tuesday nights between nine and midnight too. So great. And he's a big, he's a massive Hoops fan.

He's a big Raptors guy. Yeah, I think him and Leo Routens are pretty good friends. I get the sense from their Twitter feeds. Yeah, well, I follow them both. Leo has been on the show actually. And yeah, I had a question from Bill King. Yeah, Bill King, he's American, but I guess he was around the Keele Street.

Like he was playing hoops when Leo was coming up. Oh, I did not know that. So he's got ties to like early Leo, the legend of Leo, which is like a 70s, late 70s thing. But yeah, Bill King's cool. And his son, I think, won a Juno. Yes. For a reggae album.

Yeah, he's very involved in DJing and reggae music and stuff. So they've got a really interesting combination of musical stuff going on on the show Soul Nation. What was it like working with former guest Mark Wigmore? Mark is one of my favorite people. Of all the things that went down during that time, that's one of the ones. Because rarely do you get to go to work and laugh a lot, joke around a lot, have that camaraderie with someone that you have a really,

you have a sensibility with. I like to laugh more than I like to try to make people laugh. I don't really care about trying to be funny. I just want to juice things so people say funny things that I laugh about. And Mark was always great at doing that. We're still maintaining a really good friendship.

I know he's at Classical 96 now. But we got together on the weekend. We get to see each other a bit. Oh, good. He's the best. He's a great guy. Very talented, too. Did you tell him you were going to come on Toronto Mic?

I did. Did that come up? Did he say, don't do that? That's a mistake. No. I think he had a good time. He liked my thing. And then last night he said, I'll be listening.

And I said, okay. So he seems to be endorsing. Hello, Mark. He's endorsing this. Yeah. night he said, I'll be listening. And I said, okay. So he seems to be endorsing. Hello, Mark. He's endorsing this. Yeah, so now he's at a rival station. Yeah. Some healthy, you know, you're all in the same gang. Yeah, I'm sure his numbers are way bigger than mine.

We're both in the same slot. Come on, size is not all that matters. That's right. What about Walter Vinafro, who I've never met, actually. Good man, saw him yesterday. So he's back doing our afternoons, and he was part of that collective, and he's been at the radio station for

a long, long time, too. So it was, again, one of those people that, when he went away, it was not great. And again, the sign when our new board of directors and our new management team brought Walter back, it was a big sigh of relief for all of us to have him back. And Walter is actually part of that JazzCast team. That's right.

In fact, let me get the final person out. Dani Elwell, who's not back at Jazz FM. She's not. So Dani, to me, when Dani was at the radio station, it was a really glorious time. Incredible fondness for her.

We had so much fun together. She was very inspiring to me as someone who worked there at the radio station. And she did so many great things for Jazz FM 91. And now she's doing interesting things on her own with JazzCast. So I always wish her the best. In a perfect world,

I hope that we end up working together again in some capacity somewhere. Okay, here's the perfect world. I already expressed this to, we end up working together again in some capacity somewhere. Okay, here's the perfect world. I already expressed this to, was it to Mark Wigmore? I can't remember, but a recent former Jazz FM 91 person was on the show

and I can't remember who it was I said this to, but maybe it was Heather Bambrick maybe, but you know, so JazzCast, have you listened to JazzCast? I have. And is it good?

It's very good. They do a great job. They do a great job. So no, it's a very interesting model, cool stuff. Right. And do a great job. So no, it's a very interesting model. Cool stuff. Right. And it's great.

And I mean, they made that. That didn't exist until they made it, which I think that's the best thing ever. Sort of like, you know, Toronto Mike did not exist until I made it. And now it's a thing that exists in this universe. I would think that you would feel a lot of... Yeah, no, for reals.

In fact, since they're listening, I can say, they all promised to invite me to see the studio and they never reached out to do that. So I'm just going to throw that out there that I've been waiting by the phone for one of them to call and say, come on over. They got this cool little studio. I don't think there's a toilet,

so I have to make sure I don't drink a lot of coffee before I visit. Good idea. I don't think they have a toilet, but I do want to check it out. When I've been there, you have to go around the corner to the coffee shop. Right.

Okay, good to know. It's good to know. I'll wear a diaper when I go visit, so don't worry. But I wanted to know if you, I thought, okay, yeah, Mike, don't lose your train of thought here. This is important stuff.

So terrible, in their opinion, I was not working at Jazz FM 91, but a lot of people that I've talked to had a very negative experience and were either booted or left because of it, especially the collective. And then they decided, we don't want to be there. We can't be there, so we're

going to do something else. And they create this jazzcast.ca streaming jazz music. And then things start to get better because, well, I guess there was a vote of uh people who donate enough money get to vote it's how our ours is our is this run we have a board of directors and they're and if you donate at a certain level you are a voting member of of the organization

cjrt fm and there's a meeting there where people vote. We vote for this issue or that issue. And there was a vote about, there was a motion put forward to change the board of directors to a new slate. And they were put forward here, all the people that would take over. And then it went to the members and the members voted. And by not a very thin margin, the old board of directors was voted out and a new board of directors was voted in.

And that's, according to these people I talked to, that is a big reason why things are, like I said, on the rebound. Things are much better over there now. 100% of the reason why it is that way. I'm only keeping my words, I'm careful because I don't want any more like lawyer letters.

I'm just, you know, somebody on that old board, a guy was very litigious. I don't know if you like lawyer letters. I'm just, you know, somebody on that old board, a guy was very litigious. I don't know if you heard that or not. I don't know what you're speaking of. He's very smart. I like, you're very smart. All right.

I lawyered up, so I feel empowered here. I have a lawyer. So if you're listening, I have a lawyer. No, the change of board directors was the reason that people like Heather Bamberg and Walter and James B. Right. Are part of what we do now. And Garvia can't come back till this lawsuit gets rectified.

I'm guessing. That's my speculation. Like you have some, that has to at some point be resolved in some fashion. That would, again. I would think. I would think too, but really out of my. Okay. So Mike, get your point, which is that they build, JazzCast exists out of the okay so mike it's your point which is that they build jazz cast exists out

of the ashes of that what was great about jazz fm91 and then went to shit and then these people these four people create jazz cast but then the board is replaced at jazz fm91 so people like heather and walter can can come back they're both with jazz cast i don't understand why you can't just take jazz i mean you, JazzCast can now, they can all be back at Jazz FM 91. Like it was only born out of, because that went, they didn't, because we can't support Jazz FM 91,

but we still love the music and want to share it with people. But now that that's fixed, bring them back. Sure. And I can't speak for the people that are running things right now, but I will say, Mike, the least of the people that are running things worries right now

are how to incorporate another brand or another entity into what we're doing. It is all hands on deck right now to try to keep the institution moving forward in a direction. So if timing is an issue or something, this wouldn't be a time where they're sitting back going, what can we blend here? What can we bring? Like it's really stuck a real focus right now on repairing damage, moving forward, making, you know, repairing relationships and all those things. So it, it, it does make perfect sense, but if you're there every day and you know, kind of what's going on, it, it's, it's, it's, it's a lower, it's a low priority right now to add something else

onto what we're doing. Maybe when things are, but again, I can't speak for people that run our business either. Right, you're in repair mode and healing. Exactly.

I totally get it. Yes. I totally get it. Now this new board includes Pat Holiday? Pat Holiday, yes. So we've been working together. Pat's come in and brought his expertise when it comes yes. So we've been working together. Pat's come in and brought his expertise

when it comes to radio, and we've been working really right from the day after the vote, right up until now. So he's obviously got, he knows his stuff, and all the science-y stuff about radio that he knows. I've worked in radio for a long time, but it's been at Jazz FM 91. So you can take that to a lot of people say, well, I've been to I used to work at WKLL. And

then I went to CLV. And I'm like, I don't know anything you're talking about. I just I just have been in this very unique, weird radio station for a very long time, except for being a Toxics 40. So Pat bringing that sort of that broader expertise to our music flow and to how to sort of lock things down in a more scientific kind of way. It's been a great resource for us. Yeah, and I just would like to see things resolve nicely for my friend Garvia. And then maybe there's some wonderful future where Garvia is the morning show host and maybe Danny's back doing a late night thing. Like she's amazing that she was the alternative bedtime hour. Big fans. where Garvia is the morning show host and maybe Danny's back doing a late night thing. Like she's amazing at.

She was the alternative bedtime hour. Big fans. So very interesting. Now, would you be willing to comment at all on what it was like working for and with Ross Porter? You're in charge of the words you say. You know, I would say for many many many years we had a great working relationship and then for a while it wasn't anymore as I get older I've seen this isn't the only

this isn't a unique instance in my life people sometimes are of their time or the reason we connected was of its time. And then as things moved on, we didn't, uh, as much anymore. So I always, I'm always, there's always a little melancholy for relationships that break down for me, but there's also a reality of why they did and why someone has to move. Well, sometimes it's not your fault. Yeah, absolutely. I, I, and I don't necessarily, it's more situationally, but there were some wonderful times, but just like my motto is life sucks,

and sometimes it doesn't continue to be what you would hope it to be. That's a heartwarming motto. That's the feel-good motto of the summer. Don't you find though, most things, like whatever they are, end up kind of, like I always think about the band,

I was in kind of that wound down, like everything, everything ends, everything ends in some way. And it's, it's, it's, it is a timeline and it's how does it end,

you know, good or bad, but everything ultimately ends. I don't know if that's, no, totally. As someone of my age starts to, you just start to realize that there,

there is no forever in any of these things. And, and I, this was just another lesson in reinforcing that kind of thing, that things don't go on forever, but we all live and survive and move on. Yeah, I think the full motto is, what's it?

Life sucks and then you die. Yes. I think that's the full motto. I'm going to get that tattoo. This will be my first tattoo. Not I read the liner notes. I read the liner notes. Molly, if you're listening Not I read the liner notes? I read the liner notes. Molly, if you're listening,

I read the liner notes. You've interviewed some interesting people. Do you want to name drop some of your... Were there any personal great thrills or any interviews? I alluded to it earlier. The times I got to speak with Pat Metheny were some of the great moments of my life. Another guitar player,

Mike Stern, is someone I listen to. It's always the people that there's that time when you're a kid when you listen to music that it never matters more than that. I would say between like 11 and 16. Those memories are hardwired into me. You didn't get that 16 up to 18. Maybe a little bit. I'm with you flexy a bit yeah but so so for me anyone that sort of entered my musical ears at that age that i've had to chance to cross paths with now well just like me man it those are the ones that everyone else

is it's great to meet them and it's it's but it's never that same feeling of of how much you meant to me when you know so uh but you know, I've had a chance to speak with, you know, this is jazz land. So it's, you know, but like Al Jarreau and Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall, you know. Do we know how Elvis Costello is doing? Like, do we know any health updates on Elvis? I think he's okay.

Isn't that amazing? Because I, that was some pretty bad news. It sounded very bad at the time, but very recently I looked and he's back out on the road and it seems like everything's moving in the right direction. That's amazing.

I really like Elvis Costello. Me too. You mentioned Diana. Yes, they got twins. Okay, please, more name dropping. I love it. You know what? Sugar Shack.

Who else? John Schofield I've had a chance to talk to. Sugar Shack, I had a Golden Oldies is what it was called. It was like a compilation cassette this is when I was just getting into music I was really young like eight years old or seven years old or something and I loved it it had uh Chantilly Lace was on this thing but Sugar Shack was on this thing at the Sugar Shack it's funny like I these were my like the first songs I loved were like

50s music Sugar Shack is something that I, I try to avoid the swearing a lot, so I've incorporated other. Because you can't do it on jazz. You can't do it on the air, you can't do, I also find it doesn't, I always don't love the way it sounds sometimes, unless a really good F dropped at the right time is perfect.

It packs a good punch. It packs a very strong punch, but to sort of arbitrarily throw them out, I find it a little bit. Sugar Shack. Sugar Shack, yeah. You still get some kind of good feeling from it. You know, Sugar Shack,

it still feels like a swear word a bit. Yeah, because it's almost shit, but it's Sugar Shack. But it couldn't be more friendly. Right. It's very sweet. It's just... All right, more name dropping.

Oh, man. But these are good names. Just, I guess, because... You know what? I just had a chance to talk to Paul Schaefer. Oh, yeah. Thunder Bay. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life.

He was coming in for the Jazz Fest. He did something with... He was in Godspell back with all those SCTV guys. The stories always come back to the Godspell show here in Toronto. But, yeah, so that would be one that, as a Letterman nut, growing up in Halifax, the Late Show was on at 1 30 not even 12 30 right 1 30 so i said to my parents if i raise a hundred bucks will we get a vc will you buy a vcr uh and that was our very first vcr when i got and then every morning would watch the late late night with dave and paul

over breakfast dude um see i called you dude that's how much i like you now so like we talked about mad magazine right and you threw in this sctv in there and what was the other um Dude, see, I called you dude. That's how much I like you now. So like we talked about Mad Magazine, right? And you threw in this SCTV in there. And what was the other? Like SNL? SNL for sure. Letterman. Yeah, Simpsons, right?

But even before that, yeah, Letterman. Yeah, Letterman. So Letterman was, that was a big deal. Like that was huge. That was another reshape of attitude about how you could feel about things, what was funny, what wasn't, all those things. And Paul was, he made the show as weird as it was

by how he was being. And he was another weird guy that wasn't anything like the way Dave was. And then he was a monster musician. So it was quite lethal at that time to watch that band, Hiram Bullock and Will Lee and Steve Jordan, those guys were all threads

throughout the next 20 years of my life too. Because he's Canadian, I bet you he was very giving, right, in this Converse discussion. No, the publicist didn't say how long we had, but we went 25 minutes and I had to wrap it up. And that's a lot for big stars like that, right? Because you're talking to a guy who just took from you almost two hours. Paul even said, you know, he said, I could go on all day.

And I was like, so could I. But I don't know if we should be live on the air for another half hour because it's not a podcast. Right, it's live on the air. Better get to some spots. Thank God you only have the four commercials. Yeah, four minutes an hour. Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing.

Yeah, so that was a good one. How often will Pursuit of Happiness play live? We will play, if people ask us to play, it's logistics now a little bit because one of the members, Chris Abbott, she lives in Kingston. Another one of our members, Renee, she lives in Edmonton.

Okay, that's where Mo's from. Yeah, it is. And me and Mo and Dave, the drummer, and Mo and myself are here in Toronto. So it's a bit of a military mission to do a gig now, right? It is logistics. So that's a bit of a military mission to do a gig now, right? It is logistics. So that's a lot of why Jake's been very helpful during these times in his office.

So we're going to play again in Edmonton coming up in August. There's a big outdoor thing. We're looking forward to going out there because that's where Mo and Renee are from. And we're playing this Kingston thing. It's playing at the Penitentiary in Kingston. Oh, wow.

The very first gig they've ever done there. And it's going to be with the Headstones. Of course, Kingston band. Yeah, Tom Cochran. There's sort of a Kingston connection. One of the gentlemen from the hip has sort of a fun band now. And he's going to perform there too. So it's going to be fun.

What do you think of, were you following what happened with Roxodus? I hope I'm saying that right. Roxodus? So funny. I think Pursuit of Happiness wasn't on that bill. Because I'm saying that right. Roxodus. So funny. Pursuit of Happiness wasn't on that bill. I only got up to speed a couple, Mark Wigmore said, have you heard about Roxodus?

Right. And I said, no. And he showed me the lineup. I'm like, this is insane. Yeah, I only learned about from Mark Weisblot. This is incredible. And then only on Monday or whatever, I hear that it's,

for some reason they're calling it a rain thing a month out or three weeks out. No, it smells a bit like the fire festival. It's got to be ticket sales. It can't be about rain or conditions. I'll be interested to know if everybody gets their money back. It just seems, it smells a little bit. I don't know what's going on there.

But you guys, like, okay, so Hair and the Fair. Are you familiar with Hair and the Fair? I am. That's another one that I think is in some trouble. Right. And I'm curious because you guys did that I think is in some trouble. Right. And I'm curious because you guys did The Sound of Music in Burlington, right? Yeah, that's right. Last year.

Right. So I'm naturally curious on what you think of those festivals. In what way? As a performer or as someone who goes to them to see the music? As a performer, I guess. Like, is this where Jake gets involved? Like, is there a risk that these things don't happen and you don't get paid? Like, I'm always, like, from, like, these bands.

Like, okay, Aerosmith was billed at Roxodus. Roxodus. Keep saying Roxodus. Roxodus. Kid Rock, okay? So these are big, big acts, right? Aerosmith's a big, and this is where you have to drop an F-bomb,

big fucking rock band, Aerosmith, right? Like they must have needed some money up front. Had to have a deposit for them to lock it in. So maybe that's all they're going to get from it and they walk away from it. But you know what? We haven't, our festivals are usually,

they're usually like city festivals, like the Burlington BIA or the Hamilton so-and-so. So it's usually pretty locked in. We don't usually worry about getting paid or anything. Right. But having said that. Well, you're not Aerosmith. You can't command the big deposit.

But you know what? If something happens, something happens. We wouldn't blame Jake if the promoter didn't pay us. Brother, this was amazing. Fun. Dude, brother, amazing. Okay, now that we're at the end, would you commit to coming back eventually

to kick out the jams with me? Do I get another lasagna? If they're a sponsor, absolutely. Look, why wouldn't they? Okay, well... Well, they just renewed, actually. They renewed for three more months. I look at every opportunity as an opportunity to fail.

So for me to come here today, it seems like it went okay. It's been fun to talk to you. It's been, I'm a fan. And to be able to be here in the basement and chat, it's been a delight. So thank you. Anytime, I'll come back. The pleasure was all mine. Seriously amazing.

And yeah, so everybody take a note here. Brad Barker will come back and I need a little space here so we got to give it some time, but you will come back to kick out when we're hungry for more Brad.

Create an appetite. See you in 2026. Oh, no, we'll do it sooner than that. Maybe at least, maybe 2020 with Brad Barker kicking out the jams.

I'm loving it. Thanks so much, man. Thanks, Mike. And that brings us to the end of our 483rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto man. Thanks, Mike. And that brings us to the end of our 483rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Brad, are you at Brad J Barker? I am at Brad J Barker on Twitter. Don't forget the J. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR.

Sticker U is at Sticker U and Capadia LLP is at Capadia LLP. See you all next week. Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the snow wants me today

And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well you've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do Eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you.

Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold with the smell of snow.