Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Canadian Women: Toronto Mike'd #740

Episode Date: October 23, 2020

This 32nd Pandemic Friday, Mike kicks out great jams from Canadian women with Cam Gordon, Sammy Kohn and Stu Stone.

Welcome to episode 740 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Pumpkins After Dark, save 10% with the promo code MICED. Pumpkins After Dark. Save 10% with the promo code MIKED. M-I-K-E-D. CDN Technologies. Your outsourced IT department.

StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. And Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me for this 32nd Pandemic Friday is Cam Gordon and the Watchmen,

Sammy Cohn. Hello, Mike. You know, I didn't play the Hebsey thing off the top. I forgot. Well, I mean, you can't because our friend has turned his back and headed stateside. He's too Hollywood for us

right now. Cam, I'm glad you brought that up. We're referring to Stu Stone, who is not here today, but he has sent in some audio recordings that I'm going to play later. So he is kicking out a jam. But earlier, like before you jumped on this Zoom call, Sammy. Hello, Sammy. Hi, Mike. Nice to see you again, Cam. Always a pleasure.

This is my Hi, Mike. Nice to see you again, Cam. Always a pleasure. This is my fourth Toronto Mike, so I'm definitely an FOTM. Oh, my God. You were an FOTM after the first visit, my friend. Absolutely. But Sammy was asking me, what's Stu doing in the States? And I actually was unsure.

Definitively, what is he doing? Something with wrestling? Yeah. I don't know if you guys know, there's a new-ish wrestling league, AEW. Have you heard of this? I believe it's owned or at least funded by Tony Khan, who's the owner of an NFL team, I believe.

Either Jacksonville or... I think it's Jacksonville Jaguars. Yeah, Stu is somehow doing something with this league, probably like the most notable character. And it would be Chris Jericho who you might roll Winnipeg zone. Chris, there were, there you go.

Yeah. So I, I don't know what he's doing down there, but yeah, Susan Florida right now, if you can believe it of all places, I thought he was, we'd be, he'd be promoting that

new movie of his that i've been seeing well yeah mike have you ever thought like this was all just a grifle i mean you know i'm just saying this could be a total coincidence for weeks you gave that man free promotion for his film i'm not even gonna say the name because i think we've given an uplift service the second it officially drops i have to say the name because I think we've given it enough lip service. The second it officially drops, I have to leave the country. I swear to you, I've had this thought. It was kind of his idea. Oh, we need to do something. And we did it for 32 weeks

in a row. And it culminated with this movie. I guess I'll say it because I'm brainwashed now to promote it. Faking a Murderer. And Sammy, why haven't you seen it yet? Sammy? I plan to i really enjoyed stew's documentary about his baseball cards and his his his family and everything and i know his brother-in-law who's also in it i'm gonna see it for sure so but okay how do you know his brother-in-law uh his uh his short the same same street or something his wife is a

real estate agent i'm a real estate agent not sure if you know that cam i've heard yes i've got the facebook updates i've got the newsletter speaking of shameless promotion uh i'm uh but in any event his wife his stew's brother-in-law's wife is a realtor and we've sort of crossed paths before in business. So, and, and last time I saw his brother-in-law at, at going walking with his dog, we put two and two together. Your name came up. I, I said, of course I know Stu.

And it was, it wasn't that long ago that, that that that sort of managed to happen but and then shortly after I met his brother-in-law I saw all over Facebook his the information about faking a murder looks good follow the money we made all this noise

all the FOTMs basically signed up for Hollywood Suite you know to see this thing tweeted at Hollywood Suite. It was just a huge marketing push. And then he's gone. I know. He was on Humble and Fred. You know, he's all over the Internet.

All the FOTMs are tweeting about this. Then just like that, I'm going to go to Jacksonville. I'm going to go hang out with Chris Jericho. Eppingstone. Toronto Mike Eppingstone. Yeah. I'm going to go hang out with Chris Jericho. Stepping stone. Toronto Mike Stepping Stone. Yeah. I mean, this is so disgusting. I've known that man for, you know, a better part of my life.

And this is how he treats us. Like we've done 30 plus episodes of this Pandemic Fridays. And I don't know. It's a real. You got a good ring here. Your former colleague and podcast. Yes, we're resuscitating the completely ignored podcast. And we've had lots of famous guests on too, including Toronto Mike.

So this is actually a better combination. We brought in an actual bonafide Canadian music star because today we're going to celebrate Canadian Woman. And we're going to kick out the jams, our favorite songs by Canadian Woman. And I think having Sammy's perspective is pretty awesome. Like, I don't know if you know this, Cam, but he was a one-fourth of a pretty kick-ass Canadian rock band. Of course, the band, I've said this many times that I saw at Eden Music Fest, I saw at

Mel Lastman Square on New Year's Eve. Pretty sure I saw McMaster. Yes, I saw it in El Asman Square on New Year's Eve. Pretty sure I saw it at McMaster. Yes, I wasn't dugging the slugs. Sammy, I think last time you pinched it, we did it was like Western Canadian CanCon. I believe that was

the topic. I remember I kicked out a song by a Western Canadian woman named Chantel Kravjacek. You remember this, Cam? I kicked out a song by a Western Canadian woman named Chantelle Kravjasek. You remember this, Cam? I kicked out a song by Chantelle. And there was at least one tweet I saw. This is a little bit in the background.

I hope you can hear it, Cam, because if not, I haven't configured as right. But some Wayne. I always liked Wayne. This is a popular much music video, if you will. But people were wondering if Sammy would kick out any Chantal Kravjajak tonight. I guess we'll have to find out together if Sammy kicks him out.

There's only one way to find out. It's listen to the entire two and a half hours of Pandemic Fridays. Alright, a little housekeeping before we rock and roll and kick out these fantastic Canadian woman jams. Cam, did i read correctly on twitter that they were killing the rt has the rt been killed by twitter um yes you

did read incorrectly so there was a product update that we announced um well there's actually a suite of product updates it was part of our election safety initiative. One of which, for the time being, if you try to retweet something, whereas before if you wanted to do like a quote tweet, that would be like a separate interaction with the app or the desktop. Now that's really a default. So your default, if you try to retweet something, you're going to end up in that screen that would be like if you're quote tweeting.

So our hope here is that, you know, this encourages people not just to share stuff blindly, add a bit of commentary, add a bit of color, add whatever you want, but actually, you know, augment the stuff you're pushing out to your network. Now, if you do still want to straight up retweet it you can still do that you can just retweet it with like a blank quote and it'll just be a straight up retweet um yeah there seems to be a little uh confusion and shout out to uh jonah uh who's the guy like sports toronto sports media guy jonah what's this what's his handle again uh he's jon Siegel Jonah Siegel yeah so shout out to Jonah Siegel who helped uh um clarify this point but yeah no the retweet long live the retweeted still there it just looks a bit different um at this time all right thanks for clarifying I

was concerned there uh Sammy I have a strange question for you, but I'm asking all guests who are kind of in the musical field. Oh, before I forget, I'm wearing a t-shirt sent to me by New FOTM, Elephants and Stars. I want to thank Manfred Sittman for sending me this t-shirt. I don't know. Good luck.

An elephant and a star. So shout out to elephants and star sammy this is the straight up question just answer it best you can it's kind of philosophical do you think james b is famous uh you know i'm gonna just answer that in a minute, but I will say that I remember that there was an early Watchmen tour and we were out west somewhere. I think it was Saskatoon or Regina. And James B. was on the same bill as us.

I don't know if it was the Look people or maybe he was like an MC or something. I don't remember exactly what it was, Mike. Yeah, there you go. But where did you get that from? More on that in a second. Oh, I got this from James B. Go ahead. James, he probably won't remember this,

but I think he might have been friends with our bass player or something. Anyway, he came back to our hotel, or we were staying at the same hotel or something, and we sat up all night with James B. Listening to him tell us stories. And he had us in stitches. He was so engaging and so funny. And had just such incredible energy.

And I liked him immediately. And then he went on to do his, I think, with Jazz FM and everything. I probably haven't talked to him or seen him since then. But that's my James B. story. So he's famous to me. That's my, that's my answer. Okay. That's my answer as well, actually. But shout out to FOTM, Nina Keogh, who is the voice of Muffy. She's a famous Toronto puppeteer. She sent me, she made a James B puppet. This is all coincidental, like nothing to do with me asking this question lately about James B being

famous, which that question stems from a discussion I had with Ralph Ben-Murgy. But she sent me this photo of James B. with his new puppet that looks just like him, like a strange coincidence. But in my world, James B. is famous. But it's very interesting to hear people's answers to that question. Have we gotten James B.'s opinion on this? Has he waded into this debate at all i mean this has been raging um across the toronto mic podcast and twitter.com and other places for a few weeks now i see you worked it into the the ben rayner episode that was fantastic as always

uh what does james b have to say you know i out, actually. I don't know right now, but I can tell you we're going to discuss it further next week when Mark Weisblatt visits the backyard here. And now I'm looking at the time. Oh my goodness, because we have so many jams to get to. So we're going to start kicking out our jams, because not only did we each bring five jams to the table, but Stu Stone

from Florida has sent in a jam and we're going to be kicking that out as well. So let me very quickly thank the partners Palma Pasta none for you guys because you're on Zoom that's your loss. I'm sorry. Did you Cam you brought home a lasagna last week right?

Yeah we were going to have it Wednesday night but I think we'll have it next Wednesday. So we'll keep you posted on that. Well invite me over. Always a tasty delight for sure. We'll do you posted on that. Always a tasty delight. We'll do it in the backyard. Great Lakes Brewery. Lots of Great Lakes Brewery in the

movie Faking a Murderer, which you should see right now. You're welcome, Stu. Wonderful partners of the program. StickerU.com. I've still got Toronto Mike stickers. If anybody wants me to bike a Toronto Mike sticker to their home and I can put it safely in your mailbox

just DM me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike earlier today I interviewed Elvira that's right Barb Paluskowicz was in the guise of Elvira and it was amazing I tweeted some screen caps just earlier today it was quite impressive like she pulled it off

so shout out to Barb. The character? She had the makeup, the wig, the dress. The dress. What else? Mike, how does the dress look? Let's just say she pulled it off.

Okay. She pulled it off. It looked fantastic. Mike's voice just cracked. I'm a little excited. So I got to find out. We recorded the webinar. Find out if we can share that. But finally, we're in the final days, the final weeks of Pumpkins After Dark. You need to go to pumpkinsafterdark.com and book your time so that you can

drive through this fantastic park in Milton, Ontario. The promo code miked, M-I-K-E-D will save you 10%. And yeah, you can thank me later. I've got some great feedback from FOTMs who took their kids or their grandkids

and they had a great time. So save Halloween for the kids. Go get your tickets to Pumpkins After Dark. I was going to say now more than ever now that it's recommended where we don't all go trick-or-treating. I got a quick beef to say on that. I got a debate to watch. Let's hit the jams. Wow.

This means business, this guy. I'm this close to replacing Sammy with Ian Service. I know. Jeez. He's waiting in the wings. If we need him, he Sammy with Ian Service. I know, geez. He's waiting in the wings. If we need him, he's going to come in and take your place. He's lurking, lurking off camera. Because I'm afraid of Sammy, I'm going to kick out Sammy's first jam. I love you. talk to me, Sammy.

Tell us what you chose and why. Well, I, what can I say about Tegan and Sarah? They're obviously a duo from Western Canada. They just had a really interesting arc in terms of their career. They started as sort of, I think, an acoustic duo. And they incorporate a lot of stage banter with what they're doing. Very charming, sort of two little identical twins. But they've developed into this sort of synth pop band over the past few records

with remixes of their songs. And they're big advocates of the lgbt community as well which has been a big part of what they're doing so there's a message with what they're doing and i just like their their whole thing um i was thinking about this this afternoon and i was just kind of doing my own research in my head about the uniqueness of, of the, the, the jams I picked.

And I was going to ask Cam, he probably knows what other outfits exist, Cam, who are identical to twins. Well, I mean, there's one that was. The Proclaimers.

Oh yeah. I was going to say, one that was, I think notably absent from last week are nelson like are those guys twins nelson ricky nelson's sons yeah yeah so there's those um those i don't know what their names are those two guys who are in both the english beat and fine young cannibals you know the guys i'm talking about it's like theist and the drummer. They're not twins, though. I've got to call you on that.

They have the same haircut. Are they not brothers? I don't know. Not brothers. Yeah, they're not even brothers. You're talking about David Steele and something. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. I redact that comment. I know Tattoo. Tattoo. Are they twins? I think you would would know i actually i feel like they might just be sisters yeah this is a that this is a good one i'm stumped but the proclaimers are twins right the proclaimers yeah that's that's a good one i mean i guess the the point i'm trying to make is in this business where finding something unique is incredibly hard they've done that uh by virtue of

of them being obviously identical twins but there's also there's some nice depth to their music now too i think they put eight or nine albums out so i'm a i'm a fan i really like their stuff yeah this is a good choice now i i know we we talk a lot about Doug and the Slugs in reference to the fact that they are the Huey Lewis of the news of Canada. This isn't really a trivia question. This is more of an opinion question. But I've always thought the very first iteration of Tegan and Sarah, in my opinion, was Canada's attempt to have a version of a different artist of that time. was Canada's attempt to have a version of a different artist of that time. So think when they first showed up and again, like playing in coffee houses and their style,

who would they be the Canadian version of? And this is again, what 98, 99 when they first showed up, like they were just teenagers. Yeah. I see where you're going with this i'm trying to think um american is it american group yes yeah from uh not not here's a clue not too far that that's a that's a fine choice and you could probably argue that's almost a better choice than who i'm about to say but no i was gonna say annie defranco yeah i feel like no there's only one of her i mean i know but i'm just like well like i don't know if she had a twin sister they'd be sort of like really tegan and sarah you missed an important

piece of your question i'm just workshopping this i've been workshopping this concept for the last 20 years i did you know what i i hear what you're saying in terms of uh a message again the lgbt thing and q as well um q yes very, very good. I knew the Q. And they probably played festivals, book festivals back then. Yeah, but cut that acoustic with a bit of an edge. Yeah, I agree. But what I will say is,

not to put too fine a point on Tegan and Sarah, because they're good. They're not incredible. They're great. But they developed and grew as artists where Annie DeFranco I'm not sure she has to the same extent with their...

No, I mean, I'm not really familiar with her entire career arc, but from what I understand, I think it's pretty steady in terms of her style and genres that she... All right, let it go, guys.

Let it go. Yeah. Oh. Okay. Sammy's got a debate to get to. We got to rock and roll here. All right, Cam, tell us about this CanCon classic from Luba. Absolutely.

Well, speaking of twins and like duplicates, I know this was an artist that both Mike and I had selected. Sammy, you know who this is, right? Of course. It's none other than Luba. So Luba from her 1984 album, Secrets and Sins. That's a great album name.

Good, good, good job, Luba. So I've got all sorts of fun facts about Luba, who I'll just say, like when we started was, I know when I was first getting into music,

you know, 87, 88, Luba was a big effing deal. Am I wrong? No, I i agree all over like toronto rocks or uh much music like she was a big video star yeah and she did like an anti-smoking psa i remember like something about like depicting throwing cigarettes into the garbage um she wore kind of lace gloves do you remember this um? So, what's her mom, Cam?

Well, that's a good question. So, she's from Montreal originally. Okay. But interestingly, I'll just go into these fun facts here, because I feel like I was pretty well-schooled at Luba, but not really. So, Luba actually had quite a lengthy recording career prior to her pop career singing Ukrainian music.

She was in a band called Zoria. Did Sammy ever tour Zoria back in the day? This is actually well before The Watchmen. This was like in the 70s. And this was kind of traditional Ukrainian folk music. So Luba's full name, and I'm just going to look here, is Lubomiria Kowalczyk.

So similar to say the hockey player Steve Kowalczyk, but it's actually not. So yeah, she dabbled in the Ukrainian music scene for several years before she had her big pop music breakthrough. So thatled in the Ukrainian music scene for several years before she had her big pop music breakthrough. So that came in the 1980s.

And then here's a fun fact. This is similar. Stu Blew reminds, I don't know if it was last week or two weeks ago, when Sade was a band. Apparently Luba was a band to start with. And then she just took that name for herself because she liked it so much. But it's her name right like it happens to be her name yeah yeah so this is sort of like i feel like pj harvey

did this like when she first showed up pj harvey was technically the band um and then kind of she you know she just decided to use that as her own moniker i feel like marilyn manson was maybe the same way too because that was the band originally. Was it not? Alice Cooper too. Yeah, Alice Cooper, perfect example. You know, Alice Cooper, Luba, Marilyn Manson. I mean, real peas in a pod there.

I thought, Marilyn Manson, I thought everyone in the band assumed this name of like a pop star and serial killer. Like I thought, I didn't think that was a band's name. I, well well you're you're right because it was like uh dd ramirez or like something or like stuff like that yes i'm pretty sure like the first album with the first ep or something marilyn manson was a band i i could totally be wrong so don't don't quote me on any of this but anyway getting back to luba so yeah the first luba album came out in 1980, Chain Reaction,

and that was actually the band Luba. But no, this album, 1984, was her breakthrough. Again, Secret and Sins had some other big hits on it. Let It Go, I mean, this is a good video too because they're in a hot air balloon. Do you remember this? Listen, I remember it very well, because they played the hell out of that video in the mid-80s or whatever, right?

Yeah, totally. And I feel like I'd get Luba mixed up with the Parachute Club when I was... Yeah, I could see that. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert. Oh, sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Lorraine Fogato is on deck. Yeah, well, you know, she's a sister-in-law to an FOTM.

I'll let you try to guess who that is while we kick out some other gems. So I'm just going to burn through a bunch more fun facts about this. This album produced by Daniel Lanois. Very cool. He needs no introduction. That'd be a good get, Mike. I feel like you could actually maybe get him. You think so?

I think you'd have a better time. You spoke to Mark Howard, right? Yes, I did. Tell Daniel you spoke to Mark and that'll be your entry point there. It's just interesting that Daniel Lanois produced some Luba considering he produces Parachute Club.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was sort of in the mix with a lot of those big can cards. This is all pre-YouTube, Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson. I mean, he was talking about woodshedding, Cam. He was in Hamilton making records. Yeah, it was his gig he did like martha the muffins too i believe did he not or maybe the m&m album um three more i'm gonna do these like super super rapid fire here um pierre marchand do we know pierre uh one of sarah mclaughlin's

big collaborators wrote a lot of her biggest hits uh he's his keyboards are on this album with luba then he went on to write uh possession and i think building a mystery it was really like sarah mclaughlin's co-writer for a lot of her big hits um did you guys ever see the movie nine and a half weeks sexy sexy movie i was gonna say you know it it's no webinar with Barb dressed up as Elvira, but at the time it was a required viewing for young men and maybe some old men in the 80s starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke. This song was actually on the soundtrack. Really? Which is kind of fun.

Wow. Yeah, Lupa disappeared in the 90s. She had some family stuff she was dealing with for a lot of that decade. But probably her last notable appearance in the 90s, before she really took the rest of the decade off, was right there in Winnipeg playing the halftime show at the 1991 Grey Cup. While the Watchmen were cutting their teeth in the bars around Winnipeg at that time, I think, 91. Luba was doing kind of a halftime show at the Grey Cup. And do not ask me who played at that game.

I don't know if Sammy remembered. The Rough Riders played the Rough Riders, I think. That's probably a safe bet. So shout out to Luba, fine can-card artist and a worthy recipient to be on this list of un-American women. That's the subtitle of this episode. Good pick, Cam. Good pick. There we go. Rise up, rise up

Rise up, rise up Rise up, rise up Rise up sun rise up rise up get clear I'd still resign rise up rise up the various time has come

we won't love it alone laughter again I concur I do agree that the whole

Luba Parachute Club they kind of intersected and one of the pieces of evidence there is that this song Rise Up Parachute Club, they could be kind of intersected. And one of the, one of the pieces of evidence there is that this song Rise Up, which was everywhere,

just like that song, Let It Go. It was produced and engineered by Daniel Lanois. So this is his production written by the Parachute Club. I'm going to shout them out. Billy Bryans, Lori Conger, Lorraine Sagato,

and Steve Webster, and some additional lyrics by Lynn Fernie. But I mentioned Lorraine Segato was married to an FOTM. I think Cam knows the answer, so I'm going to just go to Cam. Who's married to Lorraine Segato's sister? Ooh. It's an FOTM I know we talked about this recently Stu Stone

no oh is it Jake Gold it's not Jake Gold who is not married at this time I don't believe who is it again remind me Gino Vanelli oh you're close it's not Gino it's Gene Valaitis.

Oh, Gene Valaitis. Okay, perfect. Okay, so why did Ian Service know that? Like, are we like on a time delay or something? Like Ian Service threw in the chat window, Gene, like several minutes ago. Ian listens to Toronto Mike, and I've mentioned this about a half dozen times by now.

Okay, yeah. No, I definitely remember talking about this but it slipped my mind that uh the fun it's the fun facts all right here's some more fun facts about rise up which by the way is from 1983 i find it interesting the competition for the juno award for single of the year that year so when they had the juno awards in 1984 here are the nominees you had this song, Rise Up. You had Brian Adams had two songs nominated, Cuts Like a Knife

and Straight from the Heart. You had Corey Hart with Sunglasses at Night. And you had Men Without Hats with The Safety Dance. Listen to that. That's a... I'm assuming it was Brian Adams Cuts Like a Knife. the safety dance. Listen to that. That's a... It's like a murderous row of faucets.

I'm assuming it was Brian Adams' Cuts Like a Knife. It was this song, Rise Up. That one that you know. I think I remember this. I have a vague memory of that. The truth is, Brian Adams,

his song has stood the test of time a little more, production-wise. I don't know. I was going to say, I think they made the right choice there. This song has a the test of time a little more, production-wise. I don't know, I was going to say, I think they made the right choice there. This song has a great meaning, like it's an inspiring song to many oppressed groups will use

this as an anthem of sorts. Absolutely. I mean, I feel like this has come up on a past Pandemic Friday, like this song specifically, because i won't have to go into the mccain rising crust pizza that's not loud was it rising crust or was it like the pizza pockets uh maybe it was a p there was some pizza crust some confectionery frozen

item rising in the oven soundtrack by a version of the Pursuit Happy or Pursuit, oh my god, Pursuit Club. And then of course the band was really pissed at that because I guess, I think it was EMI I can't remember now, but the record label somehow licensed it and they didn't have like they didn't have permission from the band and there was some huge controversy because of course that band doesn't want that song

being used to sell pizza. Well, especially like Frozen. They didn't have permission from the band. That means they didn't own the publishing, so they didn't have a case. Yeah. It was kind of like when Babe Blur Radio, you know, they had that radio commercial

with stereo in it, and the Watchmen got all pithy at them. I wish. Has any Watchmen song ever been licensed for commercial purposes? Yeah, a few here and there. We've had a few people come to us just in a charitable sort of scenario where their art is really cool and we'll give them a track.

I think the guys, by the time I'd left the group, there was something on CSI, I think. I don't know a lot of details about that. You know what I'm getting quite a bit these days? I don't mean to go on too much of a tangent but you guys are you familiar with cameo yeah yeah yeah yes okay just a brief description where you can get a celebrity at a different level to send you a text or a video message so pretty regularly I say once a month we get people saying can you send my husband who's

turning 40 a shout out and that sort of thing we don't charge for that but i'm thinking just the the the commerce side of my brain that kicks in from time to time if there is such a thing as cameo and people are making money off this thing maybe we should look at that i don't know because it's uh it does come up i just did it for a friend of mine i did somebody from the show mash he had his 50th birthday and he loves mash we had jamie far from mash give him a shout out oh wow yeah everyone's got their own price like mr wonderful is really expensive but you'll find like these c-level celebrities that'll do it for like 40 bucks like it's kind of interesting yeah it's kind of interesting let's let's leave paul orndorff out of this, but okay.

Here's a question for you, Mike. And I'll say James B. What FOTM would be able to charge the most on Cameo? I'll get back to you after this jam. I'll get back to you. You made a mistake, you lied to the race And I understand What's left for you and me

I ask that question rhetorically It can't buy into astrology And won't rely on the moon for anything nice song talk to us Sammy Sammy you know these guys always yeah sorry my screen froze so I'm just hopping back in but yes

I'm very familiar with this band big fan definitely one of my more favorite CanCon acts of sort of recent years yeah um well i i mean two things first of all i wanted to ensure that when you asked me to come on the podcast mike you you mentioned canadian women i wanted to get a little bit up to date instead of just my myback, which is the mid-90s sort of Davinette Doyle, Holly MacDarling world, which is wonderful. But I try to dig a little deeper in terms of what's current.

And these guys, I have a real affinity. Cam probably knows this for Dream Pop with guitars and synths and Beach House and Pains of the Pure Heart. And I just heard this song. I don't remember where I heard it. There's a few songs off this record. There's another song called Dreams Tonight. It's very good.

Singers, she's a girl named Molly Rankin. They're from out east. I don't know if she's any related to any Rankins. Yeah, she's like the niece of one of the Rankin family, I believe. Oh, is she? Yeah. Cam, you probably, you know the stats. They won a Juno, I think, for Alternative Album.

I'm sure there's been Polaris nominations. They're just a great little fuzzy dream pop band. And it's a sound that I absolutely love. And she's got a beautiful voice. And yeah, I love the song love the band it reminds me and this is going to morph into another one of my picks later i was thinking about what i love about dream pop and ambient electronica and i find that when i'm stuck in a bit of inertia trying to find something to listen to which often happens some of the streaming services they're

just so dense with stuff you don't even know where to start what do you want to listen to, which often happens. Some of the streaming services, they're just so dense with stuff. You don't even know where to start. What do you want to listen to? I could spend three hours deciding on what I want to listen to. My inevitable fallback is usually something ambient or dream pop or just kind of quiet and ignorable. And I find that always sort of fit that category. I remember when I was younger hearing, and this is going to be a bit of a geek out thing, and there might be a little pushback, but I remember hearing Enya for the first time. She is probably the epitome of uncool, but there was something, it was brand new to me hearing this atmospheric, layered vocal thing. It was just such a marvel. I'm like, what is this? And I don't know what like what is this and i don't know what it

did to me i don't know where it moved me and what it did but i just loved it and uh i will argue that enya is cool if anybody wants to fight me on that um and always kind of have a bit of that charm so that's why i picked the song two things one is that cam also wanted a song by always and i said uh sorry buddy sammy's got it he's our special guest. So you both had this band. And secondly, I personally, I've always loved this band. And the song Archie Marry Me is a song that I was like, I just played on a continuous loop for weeks and weeks. Like, I just adored that song. I still love it. I feel like that was also a very early Indie 88 staple that was all over that station. And I feel like this band has come up before, either on Pandemic Fridays or past appearances, but I was actually fortunate enough to see

a really wild double bill of Always plus the band Pup at, of all places the yorkdale new yorkville library you know that it's that tiny little library across from the reference library on like cumberland um this was when the toronto public library they'll do this periodically still they had a series uh live in the stacks do you remember this they would have like concerts like fucked up. It's great. Whatever it is.

Yeah. And then like always, and pop played in this tiny little library. This is probably 2016 or so. Uh, you guys are both friends with me on, on facebook.com. Um, there,

there are some photos from that show and yeah, like, uh, sorry, what's the singer's name? Rankin. Uh, Molly Rankin. Molly Rankin. Yeah. That the, one of the main things I remember about always who I don't show and yeah like uh sorry what's the singer's name rankin uh molly rankin molly rank yeah that

the one of the main things i remember about always who i don't think i don't even know if their album was out yet just how tiny she was because i mean everyone's just standing on like the library floor and like no one could see her because but she's got like the massive guitar and and they were just kind of bring it then uh pop came in and did all the pop, more like obviously kind of the pop punk thing. Yeah, it was a great night at the library. That's cool. That's very cool. Get out of my mind

We don't see eye to eye Or hear ear to ear Don't you wish That we could forget that kiss And see this for what it is That we're not in love Grace Peace. Oh, it's so pretty. Talk to me, Cam.

Yeah, so this is F.I.C.E., the song Let It Die, from her 2004 breakthrough album of the same name. I actually don't have a lot of fun facts about F.I.C.E. because I just feel like she's one of those artists, especially around that time and years since, lot of fun facts about feist because i just feel like she's one of those artists especially you know around that time in years since just you know it has just become so huge but still i don't know still feels kind of like very intimate and like obscure her music um obviously you know won some players prize and some grammys it was on sesame street and all sorts of amazing Apple commercial famously.

Yeah. A member of Broken Social Scene. I mean, I feel like she's been well covered. I'd be remiss to say, you know, prior to becoming Feist, she, I mean, Leslie Feist, she was just Leslie Feist at the time, was in two different bands with people that went to my high school, Noah's Ark wall with Noah Mintz and then later by divine right with Jose Contreras not the former Chicago White Sox pitcher but a guy yeah just a few like random things that I had never heard this song she actually did a duet right around this time with Jane Birkin who Sammy probably I feel like Sammy's probably listened to some Serge heard this song she actually did a duet right around this time with jane birkin um who sammy probably i feel like sammy's probably listened to some serge gainsburg uh back in the day obviously

become model singer she did she did a duet with jane birkin yeah like in in 2004 it's on uh she had like a b-sides kind of odds and sods collection i think it's called Open Season Feisted. It's on that. I don't know where it came out originally, but I'd never heard it before. I was just doing a bit of background. I was like, why did I not know this? It does not get any more hipster than Serge Gainsbourg and Jane

Birkin. Oh my god. But they're both great characters. Yeah. And anyway, again, this is from the album Let It Die which is just like a might be like my favorite album of that decade which is like fantastic listen and I

was actually lucky that she had I don't know if it's officially like an album release show but I was at the show at North by Northeast in 2004 I actually just dug it up because amazingly the Now Magazine reviewed the show at North by Northeast in 2004. I actually just dug it up because amazingly the now magazine review of the show at the reverb, um,

RAP right on the corner of Bathurst and Queen. And she played like all the songs off this. She was like, you know, fourth on a bill of six typical kind of North by Northeast stuff. And I started when this album came out and people started writing about it and also seeing that show, it was just, and this doesn't happen to me very often you just sort of knew this was gonna be massive like it just seemed so fully formed and it was it was kind of weird at the

time because to me she was still like i she was broken social scene was sort of out by then but we'll still kind of just like oh yeah she was in that By Divine Right video with all the donuts and stuff. If you remember for Come for a Ride. So, yeah, just like a fascinating career. Like, I don't want to say she came out of nowhere because she was sort of around because she did all the stuff with like Peaches, too. So she was sort of in the mix with a lot of bands. But just, yeah, like that album came out as just like a juggernaut. You're right.

Like she seemingly came out of nowhere, even though she had been kind of under our nose the whole time, because it's just the trajectory of that album. And a lot of it, I think, had to do with, we talked earlier about McCain's licensing rise up. Well, Feist was all in with Apple, and damn it, that jam with that iPod ad or whatever the hell it was, was just everywhere.

Yeah, like one, two. And I think that song, you mentioned whatever the hell it was, was just everywhere. Right. Yeah. Like one, two. And I think that's the song. If you mentioned one, two, three, four, I think that was also,

she, when she was on Sesame street, like singing with Oscar, the grouch or whoever. Elmo. Just like an amazing. That's big. Yeah.

That is. Yeah. You know, you've made it. Those are some hefty brands right there. You know, you know, the one thing I noticed about Feist,

I don't know her music that well i i know her by reputation about her voice uh and i i know singles and whatnot i was at the what's the area near the water that has concerts in the summer sugar beach sugar beach not the beach it's like uh like the olg stage uh no it's like it's like drawing a blank anyway i started yeah harborfront yeah okay yeah okay i take a step back sorry we were getting so specific ht h Park, and now it was Harborfront. Water. I'm originally a Winnipegger. Give me a break.

The shores of Lake Ontario. I saw my wife and I, this is before I had kids, so it was a long time ago. We saw Feist, and I remember it was just solo, I think, and she had the audience in the palm of her hand. I remember the coolest thing about what she was doing was her guitar playing was incredible.

It was just so like kind of angular and it wasn't just playing nice chords. It was, she was doing some sort of very percussive things with her right hand. And, and that's what I walked away from thinking she can really play to not, not only can she sing and write songs. So yeah, she's pretty talented girl. There's no question.

Yeah. Big, big fan. All right. You guys buckled up for my second jam. Cause it's a big one. Okay. It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on But it don't snow here It stays pretty green I'm gonna make a lot of money

Then I'm gonna quit this crazy scene I wish I had a river I could skate away on. I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly. Oh, I wish I had a river With all due respect to all the extremely talented Canadian women out there producing wonderful songs, we've heard a bunch tonight, but I should just drop this mic right now. Joni Mitchell, she's the queen.

Yeah. She's definitely the one that all the greats say is the best. Dylan, Leonard Cohen, they're always like, well, Joni's the best, Jon say is the best. Dylan, Leonard Cohen, they're always like, well, Joni's the best. Joni's the best. Like yourself, Sammy, she's from the western part of this great country, born in Alberta. I guess

at some point she settles down in Saskatoon. And the hardest part of this exercise was which Joni Mitchell song do you kick out? There's so many great jams. And I went with River. I always like this as a one-two punch with Hayden's Skates. Like, if you could do...

Oh, interesting. Okay. If you pair them together, there's some similar themes. Synergy. So, yeah. Anyway, I absolutely love this song. Some people now have sort of much like when you kicked out the Vince Giraldi trio and I said it was a Christmas song and you said it wasn't. Chris, you remember this?

I do remember. Yeah. Again, let's speak of raging debates. I still say that's definitely a Christmas song. And I think this song has become, even though it's not really about Christmas, but there's jingle bells in there and references to Christmas. So, you know, it's sort of become kind of a, at least it's a holiday song. It's a winter song. Anyways, it's fantastic. And a little bit more about Joni Mitchell.

As if, what can we say? We're lucky we still have her. I know she hasn't been well lately. Like Neil Young said, long may she run. She wrote, Joni wrote the definitive Woodstock song, I know she hasn't been well lately. Like Neil Young said, long may she run. Joni wrote the definitive Woodstock song, despite the fact that she never actually played Woodstock. She was dating Graham Nash at the time,

who was there, of course, of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Although Young didn't want his video taken for the documentary, you might remember. But she basically wanted to play Woodstock, I believe. But a manager said she'd be better served if she went on the Dick Cavett show. So she missed Woodstock to appear on the Dick Cavett show. But when she heard the stories of Woodstock from her boyfriend, Graham Nash,

it inspired the song Woodstock, which is a song I almost kicked out tonight. But I kicked out River instead, which I believe was inspired by another singer-songwriter. I believe it was like caroling with like James Taylor's family or something like that when she was dating James Taylor. Really? Like this song is inspired by caroling?

Really? Wow. That's the story I've heard anyways. But Joni Mitchell, man. Long may she run. Again, I story I've heard anyways. But Joni Mitchell, man, long may she run. Again, I love this woman's music. Yeah, I know. And James Taylor obviously made a surprise appearance

on our swearing episode a few weeks ago. I'm going to say two comments, and then I'm going to let Sammy take it, because I think he has probably more lucid thoughts about Joni Mitchell. I would say similar to Ben Rayner crying when he heard who was it like Cat Power and Julian Baker earlier this week. I feel like get me in the right mood and I'll weep when like both sides now comes on. Although I kind of like the Judy

Collins version better to be honest. And then yeah like Joni Mitchell in a weird way like she's she's i think the fact she's been out of the public eye for so long yet still with us and obviously you know a lot of health issues for a long time um almost adds to her mystique and the music i don't know because we're i think we're all a generation where we weren't there. Similar to Alan Cross when she was coming up. Who's from Winnipeg like our guest today.

Yes, he is, exactly. Yeah, just like a legit icon. I don't know what else to say about her. I'm speechless talking about someone like Joni Mitchell. Before we pass the baton to Sammy, I want to hear his thoughts. i think i'm gonna jam in like a bonus really quick here i'm just gonna throw in some sarah mclaughlin because sarah did a great cover of the river of river the river's a bruce springsteen song don't confuse them but i noticed when we all

put our list together that sarah was being hans, and I was not going to stand for it. So here's just a little taste of Sarah McLachlan singing River, and then we're going to hear from Sammy. I wish I had a river so long And teach my feet to fly I wish I had a river Sammy Cohen, what say you, brother? Well, sort of further to Cam's point,

I mean, her music and her influence has been pretty well documented, but we're just dealing with one of the most creative minds of the last 50 years. You know, she, she, she, I don't, and I'm full disclosure, I don't throw on Joni Mitchell records that often. I'm not that familiar with her work. I just, I know that she qualifies to me as somebody really special. And I've talked about this with both you guys before. She just has one of those careers where it's like, there's the folk album, there's the rock album, there's the synth album, there's the jazz album, there's her record with Jaco Pistorius and her road album and

her, you know, she's, she's covered, she diarizes her life and, and, uh, some of it's kind of pretty shaky and some of it's genius and everything in between and that's that's what i love about uh artists in general and she exemplifies that i don't know if you guys remember like she i feel like it was around the same time leonard cohen was doing similar stuff where she actually i believe she did like a much music intimate and interactive when what was the story with her daughter like her daughter she had a daughter she didn't know about or they're reunited i feel like it was all around that time uh she never got up for an adoption cam when she was okay she must have been i i shouldn't even say i generally speaking super young gave her daughter up. And then 25 years later, 30 years, they were reunited.

And it was all over, certainly Canadian national news. Yeah, I mean, you know, this is sort of a tried and true topic for a Toronto Mic podcast, especially Pandemic Fridays. But it's just kind of like amazing to think back, like much music would actually air that. Like this is someone of our parents' generation where now we're getting this like really sort of intimate glimpse at her and her story and she's coming back into the much environment and i don't know it's just something you would never see these days like i don't know what the equivalent for

like today's generation it's like if pj harvey did i don't know, like whoever. I know I'm speaking for you, Cam, as well, because of the conversations we had. I don't think we can overstate the influence that much music had on my life and your life too. I know, you know, back to City TV, the references you make, you know, young Cam Gordon watching videos. Mike Boone was watching more than I was, I think. I actually, sometimes I think Toronto Mike might exist

to remember the, you know, the much environment in the city TV days, 299 Queen. Like that might be the whole reason this exists possibly. I should know. You know, I do know that Mike, now that you mentioned it, I know you've had a lot of the old folks on there. I'm waiting for Erica M by the way. You know, I have a note from mark wiseblood about erica m so breaking news i just want to say this so erica famously or maybe infamously i invited erica m on toronto

mike years ago i don't know we're going back five years now and she said she was tired of talking about much music so she'd come on but she didn't want to talk about much music and basically we agreed that she wouldn't come on because how the f am I going to have Erica M on Toronto Mike to not talk about Much Music? Dude, two hours about the Yummy Mummy website. Meanwhile, here we are in 2020, and I'm getting notes from Mark Weisblot about the hardcore heavy duty promo. Erica M is doing about her years at much music for some new, uh, some new project she's got. That's kind of a nostalgia thing to go back to the days.

Like she did a thing of Strombo. She just did a thing of Strombo and she's doing something talking about Christopher Ward and all these things she's doing, which is all about much music. Like she had a complete one 80 on this. I'm tired of talking about music. Isn't there like a serious radio show? That's her and Steve Anthony and Christopher Ward and Michael Williams.

Am I imagining? No, that's that was promoted. I don't know if it ever came to be because no bell station would pick it up and no other station wanted to pick it up because bell owned, uh, much like, so nobody would pick it up.

But meanwhile, I just remembered, and this is a story i'm going to share very quickly here because i think fotms will kind of appreciate the inside look but it just came to my attention this week that steve anthony's longtime friend um uh oh my god who is uh who's the brother jake ed? What the fuck is his name? Yeah. Beloved. Brother Jake,

who, cause he came on through zoom. So it's not in the top of mind. Like when people come over, it's a whole different dynamic, but, uh, apparently brother Jake is upset with Steve Anthony because of things.

Steve Anthony said on Toronto Mike about the champ. This happened and it just came to light. Sorry, the champ, the champ being Steve Anthony. No, do you, do you know the champ. This happened and it just came to light. Sorry, the champ being Steve Anthony? No, do you know the champ? The champ is a character that Brother Jake has been doing for decades now. You've never heard the champ?

And Steve Anthony was saying lousy things about the champ? Yeah, pretty much. Brother Jake kind of ripped it off this comedy duo called McLean and McLean and he made a mint on it and it's the same punchline over it. So Steve Anthony kind of ripped it off, this comedy duo called McLean and McLean, and he made a mint on it, and it's the same punchline over it. So Steve Anthony kind of went off on the champ

on Toronto Mic'd, and Steve Anthony learned this week that brother Jake's not talking to him anymore because of comments that Steve Anthony made on Toronto Mic'd. Oh, wow, that's almost empty. I wrote Jake. Like, I wrote Jake an email.

Like, I had this on my, like my conscious, my heart, like these two friends aren't talking because of my podcast. So I sent Jake the exact excerpt from Toronto Mike and said, no, no, it's not as bad as you think. Here's the excerpt.

And brother Jake wrote me back and goes, no, it's exactly what I thought. Oh my God. Ouch. So, I mean, that's not quite at the,

uh, Mike Boone Ragging on lousy Lisa Lattiser or whatever you're saying Not lousy she's not lousy I called her 12 years ago or something I wrote laughable Lisa Lattiser Laughable okay She's still upset about it and I've deleted

It but yes that came back to haunt me Well Rainer's gonna Bridge that Divide there but that's a wild Story Mike about it and I've deleted it, but yes, that came back to haunt me there. Well, Rainer's going to bridge that divide there. Well, we'll see. That's a wild story, Mike. Yeah. I forgot when Sammy mentioned Steve Anthony. Go ahead. Here's the moral of the story.

It sounds like Erica's back in the media, so get back on your promotional or get your PR people to get a hold of her people. She's on Facebook. I need people. I a hold of her people. She's on Facebook. I need people. I'm Mike's PR person. Yeah. Cam, can you hunt down Erica M and get her on Toronto, Mike?

Thanks, everyone. Absolutely. We'll get this on mobilesyrup.com. Just acquired this week, by the way, by Blue Ant Media. Did you see this? I did see that. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, good for them.

Shout out to Ian Hardy. Not Ian Service. Ian Hardy. No, Ian Service. He left the Zoom, I see. He's gone. He had to go. He's had enough. He said, no, Stu, I'm out of here. Well, the fact is, Stu is coming soon. We have Stu coming soon. I'm told now there's some debate that Sammy needs to watch, so we got to get to Sammy's third jam. guitar solo You belong among the wildflowers

You belong on a boat out at sea Sail away, kill off the hours You belong somewhere you feel free Sail away, go find a lover Go away, somewhere brand new I see no other man that compares with you. You belong among us. Sammy Cohen, what are we hearing here?

We are hearing a Winnipeg trio called the Waylon Jennys covering Tom Petty. And these lovely ladies happen to be from Winnipeg, Manitoba, my hometown. So I should mention that when you asked me again to join you guys tonight, Mike, and let me also say how grateful I am. I love being on your podcast. Love talking to you and Cam. I was stuck on on content i i it made me realize i need to listen to more canadian female artists because i don't have enough in my my library um there's lots of great

stuff but um and this one was kind of a late edition you had been asked you asked me for five and i i remember these guys and how great they are. They're covering Tom Petty. So Tom Petty's in the forefront of my mind right now. He's just reissued the album Wildflowers. This like five box set reissue of every outtake known to man. It's sort of the pinnacle of his artistic output. So anyway, the Will and Jennys are covering this song. And I tied a few things together because I'm back on a bit of a Tom Petty kick. But the reason I wanted to talk about these guys, I'll be very brief, just a kind of not really a

story, but more of just an anecdote when the Watchmen were kind of, I'd say, I suppose in our heyday in the late 90s, I was still living in Winnipeg and there was this girl named Nikki Maida, who I would always see at this coffee shop every week. When I wasn't touring, I'd basically just drink coffee and read newspapers for a living. And sometimes for weeks and weeks at a time, I'd go to the same coffee shop, and I'd always chat with this lovely girl, really pretty girl named Nikki Maeda. And she'd tell me how she was an aspiring guitarist, and she was really unhappy with what she was doing and she wants to be a musician and anyway cut to 20 years later or maybe 15 years later i'm not sure when i

realized i'd been hearing so much about this band the waylon jennies and how they're they're winning bluegrass awards and they're playing the grand ole opry and prairie home music companion and all this they're this wonderfully successful band from winnipeg i learned that one of their members is the lovely nikki mayda who wow i talked who i'd been talking to in that coffee shop and i just felt so proud because she she she'd always ask me questions about how to get into the business and and the music business in canada was just so vibrant at that point there was an actual infrastructure of labels and A&R people who were actually signing bands. And I remember,

I think I tried to help her introduce her to some people and, and I just never thought much of it thinking, God, another really great potential artist that will probably struggle to get where she needs to go. But look at her now she's, she's, she's made it. They sell records and do huge business in the States. They're great. It's a little success story there. That's a great story.

I'm surprised she didn't just phone up her cousin Rain. Her cousin's Rain made it. Is that correct? Is that true? No, I'm making that up. I made that up. I don't think so. I think that's a falsehood.

I hope not. That's speculation. I don't think so. I think that's a falsehood. I hope not. That's speculation. Yeah, no, this band, they seem to have that sound like that band Nickel Creek, like bluegrassy, folky. I've definitely heard of this band. It's sort of just clued in. It's like, oh, they're sort of like Gnarls Barkley or the Dandy Warhols, like the Wailingent.

Like Wailingent? Okay. it's like oh they're sort of like narl sparkly or the dandy warhols like the whaling jet like whaling jet okay you got a pun on on whaling jenning on whaling whatever you know joy orbison do you know joy orbison yeah so the name might be maybe a little silly but it got them a lot of attention if you google if you google their stuff it's three multi-talented uh winnipeggers who play uh all the instruments i believe probably and nikki plays drums too she plays guitar she's a great songwriter all over throughout the whole pandemic she was doing solo compositions on facebook and i was really enjoying those she would just sort of uh in the privacy of her own library or something played like a replacement song or something. And it was really charming and she's really great. So,

um, yeah, love these guys. And I'm super proud of them too. We don't get a lot of sort of notices or a lot of mentions about the fact that they're from Winnipeg and they should. For sure. For sure.

Um, okay. This is a jam. I'm glad you're kicking out cam because i this was on my short list too i love this song as well but let's hear it we'll talk about it guitar solo You live out where the street ends In a basement apartment with one of your friends The tap drips all night, water your friends and the tap drips all night

water you're torturing sick the furnace is burning but it's still cold and I can smell the bleach that they use in the hall But it can't clean the dirt off me It's seeping under the door and across the floor It's starting to hurt every time i pray basement apartment Basement Apartment Yeah, so this is

the voice you're hearing is Sarah Harmer, but this is the original version of this track that I think was a much bigger hit when she did a solo version in around 2000 or so. This is from Weeping Tile, her first band.

This song is from their first EP that is literally just called EP. That's spelled E-E-P-E-E. Creative title there from Weeping Tile out of Kingston, Ontario. Sarah's originally from Burlington, was in

Kingston to go to Queen's University like so many others before. I don't think I realized she was from Burlington originally although she's been very involved in the escarpment. like so many others uh before i don't think i realized she was from burlington um originally although she's been very involved in uh the escarpment like yeah exactly niagara escarpment yes yeah very very heavily involved like that's what i know her best for these last like 10 years is like saving the escarpment yeah so that sort of makes sense if you know her roots are kind of in burlington and down

towards that part of the province um i love this song i don't know like i i you know this is so like cliche but i i do like this more raw version than um you know kind of her solo single which i thought was great too it was just very different she kind of had a little drum machine or something on it uh is this a sad song something about this song makes me feel very melancholy almost like wistful because i i think because i was not quite in a basement apartment but i was in student housing i remember when this came out so i could definitely sort of identify with some of the themes and this like i i never had the weeping tile so i only heard this version years later. But when her solo version came out, and again, let's get back to Much Music.

There's a video. She's sort of in this house with a bunch of sort of drunk 20-year-olds. It seemed like there was some party. It just seemed like every shitty house I lived in in Hamilton was attending McMaster. So perhaps I identified with it. So anytime I hear it I get a bit wistful. You guys

dig this song, Mike? Can I just say something? Sorry, Mike. In response to Cam, what you've just said, two things. First of all, that's good songwriting. It conjures something in you. It conjures imagery and colors and nostalgia.

And that's, that's just good songwriting, plain and simple. And I also have to say, I never knew that, that there was another version. I thought that the, the solo album version.

So this was a weeping towel song. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it's kind of interesting because I think that was like her first solo single. Certainly the first one that got kind of the full push in the video and the radio play. And I mean, that album she put out, like You Are Here, I mean, you know, was huge.

Like it was still kind of a landmark album at that time. And I always think of that plus Weaker Than's Left and Leaving and maybe like New Pornographers, Mass Romantic as sort of those albums that bridged the 90s and the 2000s. Yeah, I hear you. Because they were like all right around 2000. I sort of think of those three albums together. And then obviously kind of Arcade Fire and the aforementioned Feist

and Broken Social Scene and The Dears and all those bands came later. What a great time for music in Canada. Yeah, it really was. I mean, there's just, I don't know, it's interesting because, Sammy, when we started talking about this topic, like I had like no problem populating this list. I could have like, I could do like 20 episodes like this. Like, I don't know. I just feel like there's something definitely it's stirring in me i mean now i'm thinking new pornographers should have been on my list too nico case they're canadian aren't they

nico's not canadian but the band's mostly canadian right cam yeah that's that's right like she i think she went to art school in vancouver which's from, I think she's from Chicago or something originally. But yeah, like everyone else is Canadian. Yeah, but yeah, maybe I just didn't give it enough time. But you're right, the bridge, those three albums you mentioned are uh i mean i love um what's this twin cinema too that's my favorite yeah um so yeah a final fun fact and this is sort of like a three-part fun fact about weeping tile who only put out two albums i didn't realize between their first full-length cold snap and then the fall of Valentino that came out only a year later,

the entire band turned over, which I didn't really know. She brought in her, I think it was her sister. And also I think Luther, Luther, right. I don't know if you remember Luther,

right. And the wrong. Yeah. Like he, he was in that iteration, but I didn't realize i sort of missed this because i'm i i think they played a handful of shows but not many but the last piece of recorded music from weeping tile the band was actually for a rea statics tribute album that came out on

zunia records we mentioned this off the top because they released some martin popoff books or pop-up um And this is a version, God, there's going to be like all sorts of tentacles in this. So buckle up. So this was like weeping tile with Chris Brown. Okay. Of the bourbon tabernacle choir.

I'm doing a version of the real sex public square, which I think was the last song on the first real statics album. The very confusingly titled Greatest Hits. Right. So Chris Brown, when I was doing my research, you may have seen I just put something on my blog. Musicians who are also baseball players, and I'd reference the dancey pop music, Rihanna X, Chris Brown.

I'm like, oh shit, there's another Chris Brown. Cause there's also, there was a baseball player in the late eighties. Right. also on that tribute album was, yeah. Also on that tribute album was stuff by the inbreds and local rabbits who both got back together. Um,

and this album was called the secret sessions. Again, Rihanna tribute album came out like 2007, wasn't publicized in advance. And they actually sprung it on dave bookman um i think had like a new music night oh which is very cool i thought you were you meant dave badini but you mean dave bookman cool no i i think badini was like he was sort of in the mix they are but uh yeah it was like they it was sort of like they ambushed dave

bookman because of his uh obviously fondness for the re-ecstatic. Anyway, last recorded appearance by Weeping Tile, but anyway, fantastic song, Basement Apartment, and I love it. It makes me sad. I love that song too. I will say just a sidebar that I had the great pleasure

of doing a national tour, The Watchmen with special guest Weeping tile in 1996 probably we saw them we played maybe 20 dates with them and um we were all very inspired i remember by sarah that was the with her sister luther wright that was that iteration when she had a band she was dating luther at the time but we we were inspired because Sarah had this, she was just kind of oozed music. She would sit backstage before shows, after.

She'd just have a guitar. She'd play songs, sit around, play Neil Young covers, come off stage, continue to play songs. It just wasn't like, okay, I'm on stage now. I'm playing music. It was just like, this is who I am, and I do it all the time. And I just now jump on stage and play a short set. But anyway, super inspiring and great songwriter.

Yeah, and Sammy, I mean, as someone who's, you know, has been in the industry a long time, like, you could tell, again, when that first solo album came out, I think it was called You Are Here, had seemed to have, like like the full engine behind it i don't know who her record label was but like that that album got the support it's great because it's a great album too like it's you know it's one of those albums i think deserved the success it got but uh yeah it seemed like it had a lot of like push behind the label support of really kind of dying days when you'd actually see that record labels here in Canada.

It was probably 20 years ago. I mean, I think it was rounder records. It could be wrong. I think. That sounds, sounds right. Yeah. Okay. She's, she's great. I was going to put her on, but I knew somebody else would. So I. That's a dangerous game you're playing there, Sammy. That's a dangerous. Yeah. We call that someone getting scattered or hansen hansen uh quick to put a bow on that because i'm going to kick out an fotm and i'm excited to do that but of course sarah harmer recorded with the tragically hip uh the tragically hip were managed by jake gold and i think the watchman had something to do with jake for a

while as well so here jake by the way good fotm and it seems like he's madly in love with Ben Rainer, which gives him some points. I was going to say, they seem like sort of an odd couple. Like they seem like, I don't know, like, like Rainer,

I have like a, just a crush on Rainer. He's just, he just seems like he can like bob and weave into all these different like pockets of music. It's just, yeah, just one of the great, great FOTMs.

All right. Now here's another great FOTM. But it was forever, till death do us part And then he cheated on me, and he broke my heart Jody So young, so confused, what was I to do? I'm so sorry Jody, But I couldn't keep you I hope you can forgive me I hope you can forgive me My baby

I'm glad we have Sammy Cohen on the show actually because similar vintage I'd say also growing up in Winnipeg is uh biff naked and uh sammy maybe i'll shut up now do you have any like any interactions any stories throughout your career of uh crossing paths with uh she bithicus that is uh biff naked I have to admit, I don't know her music. I remember her when she fronted a band called Gorilla Gorilla. She might have just been dubbed Biff Naked.

This is like 1990 in Winnipeg. Right. She was in a punk band called gorilla gorilla and um yeah i uh and i i i've met her a few times that's it i i don't know her stuff mike well you're both lovely people so i can just say that so you probably got along swimmingly um and uh yeah i mean i i don't know when she moved to vancouver but i know she was definitely hanging around Winnipeg, like you said, in the early punk years for Biff Naked. Yeah, for sure.

This album, though, this was like sort of the big album that brought, you know, people Spaceman and Lucky. And I think Spaceman and Lucky are sort of, I guess, if you're looking for the Biff Naked greatest hits, it's probably those two songs. And they're both on iBificus. But this is actually the jam I prefer on iBificus. This is Choti.

And it's a banger, man. If you're looking for the banger, this is the one. And the lyrics, I like the lyrics of this song are so, I would say, semi-automatic. I married my drummer. The whole story she's telling is the Biff Naked story. If you ever chat with her. Well before Snake came along.

I think she's on Marriage 3. Oh, is she? Okay. Yeah, she's had a few. She was married to a guy in Gorilla Gorilla in Winnipeg. I think it was short-lived. Was he the drummer? I don't remember.

See, I think that's him because her lyric at the beginning... Oh, I kind of dig this part here, but hold on. She says, I married my drummer. She's a lovely lady and she lives in Mimico and she takes my calls so she gets bonus points. I was going to say, okay, so U.S. equivalency. This era of Biff Naked. Who is it? Veruca Stolt. No it that's a good guess you could maybe talk me into it but i would say sort of no doubt i feel like sort of biff naked at

times was on a similar sort of uh footing to gwen stefani so i would say don't you think more courtney love though A little dirtier. Yeah. A little bit, definitely a bit more, uh, grit. Um, by the way,

Mike, did I see a Biff naked guesting with, uh, one of the latest, uh, Toronto Mike pod or productions, uh, on the deal with Dana Levinson.

Was she on this week? Am I matching that? No, you're yeah. I dropped it this morning. You're absolutely right. Very perceptive, Cam. I love that you're keeping tabs on these things. Very good.

I saw a provocative teaser from Dana Levinson saying she was going to get naked or something, but she was being literal because Biff naked was coming on. Right. And Biff, of course, naked is because she's a punk rocker or whatever, but Biff, of course, is because her name is Beth. And somebody in the family couldn't say Beth and would But Biff, of course, is because her name is Beth.

And somebody in the family couldn't say Beth and would say Biff and it kind of stuck for her. But you're right. Biff Naked is Dana Levinson's guest on this week's episode of On the DL. And if you're listening to Toronto Mic'd right now, you can pause and go find On the DL with Dana Levinson and subscribe to that because it's pretty good stuff. So shout out to Dana and shout out to Biff. with Dana Levinson and subscribe to that because it's, uh, it's pretty good stuff. So, uh, shout out to Dana and shout out to Biff and,

real quick, Winnipeg, we're talking about like Winnipeg rockers. And of course the Watchmen, one of the, one of the finest bands to come out of Winnipeg. And I'm, I'm still kind of surprised because I was,

I'm a big weaker than, weaker than fan. And I still can't quite envision, I can't picture like john k samson in uh propaganda like i don't i i honestly i know you're the big propaganda guy right uh sammy i like them yeah i do like them yeah so john k samson was just the bassist what was he in there i believe he was the guitarist i mean propaganda is it it was, I don't know the guy's name, but the kind of the leader of Propagandhi, it was sort of his band.

It wasn't John's band. And John was too much of a talent to just let that slide. But the guy, in addition to the drummer, Jason Tate, they had very punk roots. But the guy, in addition to the drummer, Jason Tate, they had very punk roots and also that real DIY ethic, as well as a lot of human rights content in terms of what they write about. And so The Weekend Ends were just kind of a more gentle extension of what... It's hard to picture that sound.

The sounds are so different that it's hard to imagine that John K. Sampson was in that band. Just knowing who he became is just interesting. Maybe. It's almost like Dallas leaving... What's that band he was with? Lexus on Fire.

Lexus on Fire. Yeah. Dallas is like a crooner with a beautiful voice and now Lexus on Fire is this noisy punk band, you know? By the way, speaking of which, and sorry, this could be a small aside, Sammy, I know you and I think chatted briefly on Twitter DM when this gentleman passed. But did you ever encounter a chai pig like Kenny Chin kenny chin from the mighty nsfu i never met him i my connection to to him

it's interesting because you can tie everything together here so nicely the watchman when we first toured we we used to have a guitar tech a guy called randall steffes and Randall. Okay. Follow me here, Randall. I lost touch with him for many years, but he, he was our guitar guy. He did some tour managing for us. I learned that he went on to be very successful and was managing a road managing green day for a while. Randy's really done well for himself. And then I connected with him on Facebook about three or four years ago, and I

asked him, hey, Randy, it's Sammy. Remember me? You watch me. He's like, of course. How are things? Blah, blah, blah. Randy, what are you up to these days? I'm the guitarist in SNFU. Oh, wow. So this is like version 12 of uh yeah so and i'm like that's that's pretty wild but he i mean i didn't know him personally i just knew that he was just a complete western canadian punk legend yeah like biff had lots to say about him like i remember the the biff statements upon his passing were how he helped her out in the early days and, uh, you know,

taught, taught her the ropes and so, so forth. Yeah. Like, uh, I mean, a legit Canadian eccentric for lack of a better term.

And was he, the James B of Edmond? Was he, is he from Edmonton? Where is, uh, is he the James B of the West, uh,

Western Canada? Well, he, he was from Edmonton, but I mean, like mainly was Vancouver. Yeah, like sort of

gay, I think he was Chinese background. Grew up in Edmonton to scale the heights of hardcore punk and literally tour the world. Staggering. We don't see that often short of like,

you know, DOA and like no means no, and maybe like one or two other bands, but yeah. Okay. Are we, are we ready for Sammy's fourth is his penultimate jam, if you will.

Like, yes. It's a big word for a podcaster. Thank you. Oh talk to me sammy What's your fourth jam here? So this is Grimes. In case you guys don't know, you probably do. But Western Canadian artist. Do you know her stuff, Mike? You know, honestly, I did not.

I mean, I knew what it was because I pulled it and I see it in front of me. But if I hadn't cheated like that, I would not have been able to tell you who this was. I see in front of me, but if I hadn't cheated like that, I would not have been able to tell you who this was. So another really, really smart, inventive, creative talent out of Western Canada. She's I think she's in her mid 20s. I love to my point earlier about always it's synth pop. It's ambient. It's electronic., it's ambient, it's electronica, all kind of blended in together. Really, really sort of deceptively simple. She writes, she produces, she does the graphic arts of her records.

And she kind of just, for me, she just sort of came out of nowhere. And she's just one of those artists to me that she's not going to be a household name uh well i think she she's a household name but i think it's because she's with elon musk well now she she that's kind of the later part of her story she she she i think she's married and had a kid with elon musk but um i just find her music really interesting and the fact that she does it all it's not a it's not it's not a sort of a fluky thing that she's one of those kind of garage band artists this puts a record out if you listen if you go on some of the streaming services she's got playlists she's got she's done her homework she's fans of of you know an apex twin and um

uh so yeah i i she's one of my one of my, one of my latest favorites, sort of that, that Enya vibe as well. You know, people are going to be all over me for dropping Enya's name all over this episode, but Cam, I've got a quick,

a quick, a question for you. Sure. And she's sort of, you know, turning the tables here. What is her equivalent? Not an American artist,

but if we were to put an equivalent on her this artist was very popular in the 90s and this is somebody in terms of her her image visually uh musically who comes to mind um like chime in if you like you're gonna kick yourself when i say because i think it's obvious yeah i was gonna say shirley manson but probably too like she's like grimes is too like kind of glitchy electronicky like bjork i guess nailed it okay yeah i could see that um yeah she grimes is a real blind spot for me musically like i'm sort of aware of what she does i i thought for a second this was uh i don't know if you guys know the band purity ring yeah yeah i thought that's what this was when i heard it yeah who uh i mike i feel like i kicked out a well technically it was a danny brown track but danny brown featuring purity

ring 25 bucks i feel like the first ever time i kicked out the jams okay i played that like two and a half years ago right okay possibly i have to go back to the archives but uh like yourself cam i have a grimes blind spot myself uh i just i don't know i don't think i'm exposed to enough grimes yeah what what albums where should we start start with visions She's got a record called Visions, and she had gone from the first two indie records were not really formed songs. And then suddenly with Visions, it was conceptual to me. I remember seeing her on, I was like Conan O'Brien or something. Just a little cute little girl surrounded with keyboards kind of dancing around doing everything and i thought this is really unique and uh and then visually again um if you

go to her instagram or something you'll see the bjork reference you know bjork dresses up and it's very colorful you know super colorful it's got a feel to it and i just uh i'm always a bit suspect of of of somebody who just says i made a record on garage band sort of thing but like i said i feel like it's not a fluke with her she's a genuine creative talent um who again produces writes um composes and does the album covers and so visions is the record to start with do you guys want a very obscure... We want you to fix your internet first, Cam. We lost you there. You got garbled.

Both of you know, I think Sammy definitely knows, and Mike, I'm sure I've mentioned this to you, there used to be a dance club. I won't name it because the address of Twitter Canada is unpublished there used to be a dance club in the same building

there is a photo, if you know where to look on facebook.com of Elon Musk dancing at that dance club circa like 1996, so dancing in the nightclub in the same building where Twitter Canada now is a very young Elon Musk dancing at this nightclub. I feel like, like Carl Cox or like Kevin Saunders then or something like while there's like sort of like real legacy DJs was playing at this place. And yeah,

Elon Musk wearing like a golf shirt. I, I feel like he might've even had like frosted tips. I guess he was in school in Queens at the time. But yeah, same building where Twitter laid its nest like 15 years later. I'll dig it up. Electric Circus. That's the place you're talking about, right?

No, just kidding. Okay. Are you ready now? Something like that. Are you ready for your penultimate jam, Cam? I like that we have jams from Cam and Sam. I just like how it all rhymes. That's nice.

Absolutely. There was a time when I was alone Nowhere to go and no place to call home My only friend was the man in the moon And even sometimes he would go away too Then one night as I closed my eyes I saw a shadow flying high He came to me with the sweetest smile

Told me he wanted to talk for a while He said, Peter Pan, that's what they call me I promise that you'll never be lonely And ever since that day I am a lost boy from Neverland Usually hanging out with Peter Pan And when we're bored we play in the woods Always on the run from Captain Hook All right, Cam, Lost Boy. Yeah, so this is Ruth B. Yeah, with the track Lost

Boy, Ruth B. out of Edmonton. We have a very nice, maybe because Sammy's here, a very nice Western Canada representation today, which is kind of cool to see that we're not all just Toronto artists. Yeah, this was a big hit. I feel like this could arguably might be

the biggest hit maybe we're going to hear today because this song went to number 14 in Canada. It was a pretty big hit in the U.S. too. Number 24 in the U.S. I included Ruth B because not only do I love this song, I think she's very talented. This song I know when I started Twitter in 2015, she was an artist that was discovered on Vine.

You know, subsequently became very popular elsewhere, but there's little snippets of songs that you put on Vine that really got her first notice. Do you remember her, Sammy? Like she was sort of, I feel like she was in like, you know, keynote presentations a lot. We would reference the exploits of Ruth B. back at the i just think

i don't know her stuff i don't i'm not familiar yeah like i know our former colleague lindsey lynch uh definitely had a lot of dealings and uh you may have seen sammy lindsey just moved over to tiktok i did see that with that. That's right, yeah. Are either of you guys on TikTok? Uh, no. No. I think my daughter's getting into it, but I don't know. What about you, Sammy?

Are your kids on TikTok? Yeah, they are. They're all... yeah they are they're all sammy you might have to boot your kids off of netflix there i think they're hogging all your bandwidth over there mike do you know this song like are you familiar like again this this song i recognize this song and i think it's because of michelle's, my 16 year old daughter, but I do know this song, but if you put a gun to my head right now and said to come up with another Ruth B song, I'd be dead.

Yeah. Well, that's the thing. I mean, she didn't never really followed this up. This song's about five years old now. And I mean, Ruth B, she herself is only 25. But we're leaving heavyweights on the cutting room floor. We each have one jam. I have two jams. You guys each have one jam. I haven't heard any

Alanis Morissette. I haven't heard Black Velvet from Atlanta Miles. Sure. Shania Twain, Celine. Celine Dion, for God's sakes. I was going to say, that's both the beauty of Pandemic Fridays,

but also just this robust category because there's so many great Canadian female musicians. I decided, Mike, that I would have one piece of low-hanging fruit in and amongst my list, and it's coming up.

It's coming up, but I got to go first, and that's coming up it's coming up but i gotta go first and that's coming up here's my and i know uh i heard sammy earlier like trying not to just kick out mid 90s songs well that's my challenge i just want to kick out 90s songs you know so here's one right uh oh is this 90s it might be late 90s we'll have to figure that out but here is my penultimate jam. 1997. So it is a 90s jam. Chase destruction of your own emotions And your need for love makes you easy prey

Safety on the rubber glove seems much too simple much too simple Climbing up and down waiting for the day You can't see if I'm not listening

You can't hear with my eyes open I can't hate you with my eyes open I feel better when I'm numb Woo! Holly McNarland from 1997. This is Numb.

And here's a question I've wanted to ask you for a while now, Sammy, and I'm going to ask it right now. So this song appeared on Big Shiny Tunes 2. A lot of guys, a lot of people listening right now collected the Big Shiny Tunes,. A lot of guys,

a lot of people listening right now collected the Big Shiny Tunes, at least the first few, when it was a kick-ass compilation. And it was always kind of a blend of like CanCon rock hits like this, and then they'd put on bigger international artists kind of in the mix, like Bush or something like that,

or Garbage or something. So my question is, Sammy, why is there no Watchmen songs on Big Shiny Tunes? You know, in all seriousness, I've wondered that. I remember those. I remember it was a big deal. They had like 12 of them or something. And it clearly, it was a relationship

between labels and artists and management or something. It wasn't just record labels are the goodness of their heart putting all this together. So I'm assuming that maybe there was some political backhand that prevented us from getting on those. That and we we had a modest level of success, Mike, as we've discussed. But you had a bigger... So I don't mean to interrupt you, Sammy, but that word modest, in this country, you were a far bigger act than the wonderful Holly McNarland we're listening to right now.

Bigger? What do you mean? Bigger. Bigger. What do you mean? Bigger do you mean bigger how so bigger bigger you'd sell more tickets you'd sell more albums so anyway well yeah i guess i i guess you don't um it's funny those big shiny tunes i guess that was the the the beginning of people's tastes for mixes, and the labels realized that the attention span was waning, and let's just put out 10, 12 songs of the hits. It was a great gateway album. A lot of guys, you mentioned Much Music,

and we're all watching Much Music. We're buying Big Shiny Tunes. We'll hear something on Big Shiny Tunes from some band we don't have the album of and then we'll go down that route like it was a great gateway album at least for me it was yeah i mean it was basically like a sampler yeah it was great i i uh i i have it's been a long time but now that you mention it there was a time when we certainly wondered uh and i don't remember we probably had our management explain to us

what the problem was. One thing I will say, if I could just pivot a second here. Cam is frozen on my screen, I think. No, he's just not moving. There you go. He's just so stoically handsome, Mike. You know what I mean?

He's statuesque. I think it's better than age. Better than age. I was at the dog park a week ago with my new pup and somebody called my name and I look over and it's Holly McNarland.

Whoa. Sammy. Yes. It took two hours to tell. How is she doing because um what was the big hit she had a few years after this a massive hit to at least Canadian hit uh which is all I give a shit about uh there's a song called Elmo

Elmo but there was a big Holly McNarland jam that'll come to me in two seconds here uh why haven't it... A huge one. You ought to know. No.

I think you're making this up. Do you get high? Do you get high? Do you get high? It was a big radio hit. At least 102.1. Do you get high was a big radio hit. How's Holly doing Sammy?

You know what? Honestly, it was so good to see her. I had, we had, we were friends on Facebook. She's not very active on Facebook, but we chat from time to time.

Uh, the Washington did a benefit show for, uh, the, what the basis wife last year, who is not well right now. And Holly was a part of that. And I never got a chance to see her.

She went on early and I got there. I missed her. Anyway, we were friendly when we were both on Universal around the time of the song you just played, Numb, I think is a Universal song. And she was a priority and she would play The Little Affair. It's a wonderful career, had lots of fans. But she's just dropped off the planet in terms

of music and i was just giving her shit i was just saying holly there's there's people out there who love you and you should really get out there and she was just really sort of reticent and just didn't she's not interested in doing it on her own and but she needs to come to the basement that's what she needs to do i need to say next time you bump into her just mention that i have this thing here and uh i would love to chat with her i'll send me a note tomorrow michael i'll make i'll make an intro on facebook yeah she'd be great on your show i don't know if she's up for that sort of thing she's not in promotion mode uh but uh it was i literally probably hadn't her in, in close to 15 or 20 years or something. I had no idea she lived in Toronto.

Cause she was from like, I'm just, he was from Winnipeg, which I sort of remember. Right. I think she, she, we were talking about that.

She grew up in the paw, which is okay. Sure. Yeah. And, um, we just reminisced and it was, uh,

it was fun. We talked about some fun drunken evenings we had together amazing um yeah not the not the two of us just the band and everything settled down there cammy um but no i didn't get the webinar i need to get some excitement that's awesome sammy that's awesome i'm glad you picked her because i was she was on kind of my honorable mentions list because i've always been a big fan. Well, you mentioned you were going to go big on this last jam.

So we talked about like, where's Celine Dion? Where's Alanis Morissette? Well, here's a big one for you. Get ready, Cam. When I first saw you, I saw love. And the first time you touched me I felt love And after all this time

You're still the one I love Mmm, yeah Looks like we made it Look how far we've come up, baby We might have took the long way We knew we'd get there someday They said, I bet they'll never make it But just look at us holding on

We're still together Still going strong Still You're still the one I run to The one that I belong to You're still the one i want for life okay okay there's a big jam for you sammy why shania twain you're still the one this is your choice sammy this is me oh Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Okay.

So here's the thing, all right? Here's the thing. No, sorry. I'm waiting for the debate. No irony with this song. I love this song. This is, first of all, like the hairs on my arms stood up when you played it through this little crappy one-inch speaker. The melody is impeccable.

Just look at that. I mean, too loud? No, I was going to say it's a titch cheesy, okay? Because I'm listening to the cans here. It's all cheese. I mean, it's very cheesy. It's a wedding song. It's right on the nose in terms of its content.

There's no question about it. But when you wash all that away, what was presented to us was this beautiful country star, Shania Twain. She was the biggest artist in the world in the 90s. She had an interesting career. Obviously, things fell off a cliff, I think. Who knows what happened? I think her mot lang who produced this song left her for her best friend or something but any or something when you wash it all away this song sung on even an acoustic guitar i will maintain has such a beautiful melody it's a gorgeous melody in those verses and it's such a beautiful relief when you hear that chorus.

And it's just, uh, I don't care if it's cheese. It's a, it's a fabulous song. It's a piece of art. What's better Sammy Cone. What's better, uh,

this song or, uh, every rose has its thorn by poison. This song by a mile, every rose it's that song is that's cheese. That is the monster. That's like, it's that song is that cheese. That is the monster. That's like, that's like Canada there. Yeah.

That this was the first song of my sister's wedding. So you're right. Yes, it was. Yes. Well, the sentiment, if you, if you remove all cynicism for a moment, because I'm about as cynical as you can get with cheesy songs. It's, it's a lovely little song. The lyrically it's, it just hits all the, all the marks for me. I love this song.

I would say this song, I mean, if you know, not to defend it because I think Sammy's done more than enough of that, but I think, you know, part of its strength is like, it is a very simple song. Like the melody is pretty simple, but like, undeniable, the lyrics are, you know, very straightforward. And I don't know, like I always generally think the best songs are often the simplest songs as much as I like, I understand about it.

It's not that simple. I hear you're saying, Cam. The verse melody, if you listen to that verse melody, there's a lot of up and down. It's a winding sort of hey Jude first verse kind of melody. It's a density. Wow. I got to listen to it through Sammy's ears. I think I've been all wrong on this one uh i yeah

you make a compelling case sammy cohen honestly he is the only musician amongst the three of us so you know he does his his he does bring sort of a level of credibility that mike frankly you and i just don't have in any without a doubt without a doubt here okay so as big a jam as that is so that's a big jam. They know that song and the Swiss Alps, they're singing that song. They know Shania Twain. Sure.

Let's kick out this final jam from Cam Gordon. I've been living on the edge of time Never thinking twice inside my mind I've been given a second chance too. Since I found him, I never lose. I caught an angel in my pocket. Caught an angel. He's forever mine. Well done, Cam, because I know this song very well,

and I don't think I ever knew who recorded this song. Like, I don't think I knew. Yeah, I feel like this is one of my specialty lanes, is, you know, just revisiting songs that we all know and love of a certain generation, but probably have not heard in a long time. Sammy, do you, do you know this one?

It sounds so familiar. This is an 80s song, right? I think it sounds, it sounds like Belinda Carlisle. Yes. Yeah. That's that.

That's a perfect, you know, yeah. So this is the band one to one. Wow. yeah so this is the band one two one wow with the song angel in my pocket from 1985 the album was called forward your emotions uh have you predated email when you'd forward your emotions email i suppose pay it forward that's what we used to say the uh decent size hit in canada went to number 24. Had no idea. I'm sure he probably never thought about it.

But this was actually, I'd say a minor hit in the US. Went to number 92 on the Billboard charts. The band One to One was out of Ottawa. I've got all sorts of fun facts about this band. Yeah, because I know nothing about One to One. I know nothing. Well, I think you both know more than you think. So let's unpack this a bit so um this band consists of vocalists louise renny and producer

leslie howe um susie yeah from the ottawa valley used to be a band called mainstream which was kind of a a cover band so a good name for that um in addition to this this this band also had a song called hold me now hold me now not the thompson twins not not the thompson twins also did a cover of love child are they twins the thompson twins because we talked about twins bands earlier i don't think they are i'm gonna do a quick fact check here just to make sure i don't have my fun facts wrong here um so yeah leslie howe just discovered this it was a guy so okay this this let me just like ponder this a bit because I think I got confused here. So yeah, so Louise Rennie was the singer you're hearing here.

Leslie Howe was sort of the brain, sort of the, let's say the Dave Stewart to the Annie Lennox, if that helps, and not Dave Stewart, the former athletics pitcher, obviously. Sorry, I'm getting choked up here. After the last Pandemic Friday, when you mentioned all the musicians that are on the Dodgers, Will Smith hit a homer off of Will Smith, I think, later that night. Like a big homer. Yeah, Will Smith hit a homer on last night, too. So he's the catcher, Will Smith, having a big postseason. Mike, I can't hear it in the background anymore. It's over um is it over okay

i was gonna say a minute so let's circle around we're gonna have a mind blow in a second but this band one to one actually morphed into a band called sal's birdland is there is there is there a uh mind blow i'm so i missed because i um i the mind blow might have just been in my mind because it's been kind of busy at work. You never sent me a Mind Blow. Is there a link or something you want me to click in my DMs? Yeah, let me just slip it to you in the chat window here. Slide into my DMs here because you did not send me this Mind Blow.

I'm looking at your list. Yeah, so just hold with... So anyway, the band band sells birdland actually morphed into another band that i almost chose artificial joy club i remember those guys yeah so like you know one of those bands you would see on the side stage at edge fest had one uh decent sized modern rock hit called sick and beautiful remember that i would say canada's version of garbage sick and beautiful isn't joy drop our version of garbage or no no i i think joy drop was more well maybe kind of pop your side of uh okay drop um anyway the mind blow so leslie how i mentioned

was kind of the curator of one toto-one again from the Ottawa area I also had a hand in helping another Ottawa artist get her feet on the ground thank you I wanted some Alanis on this episode so thank you yeah so I mean you know Thank you. I wanted some Alanis on this episode, so thank you. Yeah, so I mean, you know, one of those signature artists that perhaps got scategoried. We don't say that, Cam.

We don't say that. You keep saying scategoried. It's called getting Hansened. I call it scategoried. Or Nelsened, I guess. Full Nelsened. Hans'd. Hanson'd. Hanson'd, okay. So, Alanis Morissette, it appears

she might be Hanson'd, but not fully, because Leslie Howe, who was again in One to One, just, you know, part of that great song, Angel in My Pocket, I don't think I've even said the name, was also responsible for

introducing us to Alanis Morissette I guess plucking her off the set of You Can't Do That on television throwing her onto much music co-wrote her first two albums including this song or co-wrote it with Alanis Too Hot

there was other singles Walk Away the whole Alanis story I don't think we have to go into. It's been, you know, well documented. But a final thought on One to One, and Sammy, I'd like to get your thoughts on this. So this album, you know,

let's park Alanis for a second. That album, that song we just heard, Angel in My Pocket, that album, Forward to Your Motion, intro my pocket that album for your mush was actually re-released on cd in january 2010 by wounded bird records which is like a one of these like reissued labels that also put out stuff by uh aldo nova of all people and all sorts of like just stuff from the 80s and 90s. I never understood why labels like that existed. Like why would somebody in 2010 put out a CD of God love them one-to-one,

but was there really a demand for that CD in 2010? Like, did like, do you know like the economics of just these reissue labels? Like this feels like a weird corner of the record industry. I it i know what you're saying i mean i think it's probably a labor of love uh somebody who has a little bit of money uh putting out stuff that at one point they probably liked that maybe is been um deleted from a label's category a catalog or something and just not there's a lot of stuff that's not available on cd or the streaming services so yeah you know if you could just imagine if you're a rich music lover

and you want to put something like that together it seems like it's uh it could be just sort of a hobby or something and i almost like in my mind picture there's some like auction or like you know a bunch of like rights were purchased for basically next to nothing and then someone's sifting through this and eventually it's just i don't know you're probably honest yeah you're honest i don't think it's this is not somebody getting rich in the record business it's just a little low tier small little reissue label yeah but if you look at if you look in exclaim magazine that great thankfully still exists in canada i still pick it up it's filled with tons of those little tiny little new and re cargo does that.

Yeah. Well, like in the U S like something like Ryko disc used to do this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. If we're going to get,

if we're going to get Mr. Cohen in front of the television for 9 PM, I got to kick out my final jam. There's a, there's a very quick mind blow. And then Stu stone is going to take us home. Message from the heel, Stu Stone. Right.

So let's kick out my final jam. Oh, yes. It's a big one. I know it's out of fashion And a trifle uncool But I can't help it I'm a romantic fool It's a habit of mine to watch the sun go down On Echo Beach, I watch the sun go down

From nine to five I have to spend my time at work My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk. The only thing that helps me pass the time away is knowing I'll be back at Echo Beach someday. Echo Beach. Martha and the Muffins. Big Jam came out in 1980. Believe it or not, it's only the third song

that Mark Gain ever wrote, Echo Beach. And it's, you know, the definitive Martha and the Muffins song. Big jam. Martha, just a shout out to Martha. Martha Johnson's battling Parkinson's disease. So we wish Martha very much well. We wish her good health. But big jam here.

What do you guys think of echo beach by Martha and the muffins? Hey, Canadian. I would say a summertime classic. For sure. We did not kick this out on the summertime episode, right? We didn't kick it out.

Did we? No, I, I don't think so. yeah, I don't, again, I feel like the song is just,

it's just, it's just like a stone cold classic. I, and this is so. Yeah, again, I feel like this song is just like a Stone Cold classic. And this is amazing because the roots are in Thornhill, Ontario. I'm sort of at a loss for words for what to say about Echo Beach. I feel like Martha and the Muffins are almost underrated. Like, this is pretty sophisticated music, and I think maybe Daniel Lanois had a hand in some of that. But, yeah, I don't know. Like, oddly, oddly age as well even though it very much sounds of its time too it's like a to me it was uh it it represents probably my favorite genre of music from a

canadian artist and that's a new wave it was this is like like spoons right like a bit of spoons yeah yeah it was the veritable new wave of music coming through and martha capitalized on it's a great little riff i i we used to cover this song i remember the early watchman days um it it definitely holds up camp for sure they're're a cool band. They have another song called Dance Park, which I love almost as much as got the cheap drum machine on it. And then they changed their name to Eminem, and they had to hit Black Stations, White Stations.

You remember this? Yeah, still heard regularly on 97.3. All right, break down the doors now, baby. Hear the music. this is 1984 uh yeah and just earlier today maybe it was earlier today maybe it was yesterday but i think it was today it doesn't matter someone on twitter said hey if i want to introduce someone to 80s music where should i start and my first thought was actually uh nova heart like That was my first start. Sure, yeah. Canadian 80s? No, they just said 80s music. My mind went straight to

FOTM Gord Depp there and the Spoons. Back to Martha and the Muffins. Yeah, that's a big jam. And a really quick mind blow here so we can get to Stew Stone is for the 30th anniversary of that song, which we are literally doing the math in my head,

was 2010, I guess. Okay, so can you believe that song's 40 years old? That song is 40 fucking years old. How old are we? I can't believe I'm in my 40s. I can't believe how great that song still sounds. That song still sounds great. So listen to this and then hold on.

Listen for a moment but i can't help it i'm a romantic fool it's a habit of mine to watch the sun go down down on a cold beach i watch the sun go down On Echo Beach I watch the sun go down From nine to five I have to spend my time at work My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk

The only thing that helps me pass the time away Is knowing I'll be back at Echo Beach someday So to commemorate the 30th anniversary of that song, they re-recorded it, but this is the version they put out for the 30th anniversary. Mark Gaines said they weren't trying to replicate the version that they originally recorded, but they've experienced three decades of living since then,

and this is sort of their new, they called it their grown-up version of Echo Beach. Okay, I can see that. So I thought that was a fun fact. Mini mind blow. Mini mind blow. Mini mind blow that this is what it sounds like when they do their 30th anniversary. Okay, so let's get to Stu so we can free up everybody here. All right, of course. All due respect to Marth and the Muffins, good job on the 30th anniversary. Okay, so let's get to Stu so we can free up everybody here as well. All right, of course.

All due respect to Marth and the Muffins. Good job on the 30th anniversary, but we'll take the original. Thank you very, very much. All right. The next words belong to our very own Stu Stone. What's up, guys? Stu Stone here reporting

for Pandemic Fridays. How are you going to have a Pandemic Fridays without me you can't shout out to mike cam sam what's up fellas um yeah so here's my contribution canadian women songs by canadian women i'm sure you guys have played a bunch of good ones, and I'm sure Cam played a few duds. But I'm hopeful that you guys covered the greats. You know, Alanis, Celine Dion. Nope. Jan Ardant.

Nope. Nope. The other girl, like the Call Me Maybe girl. Nope. Hopefully she didn't get Hanson'd. Biff Naked. Yes. I'm sure she got some love. But I narrowed down my choice geographically,

not just to a Canadian woman, but I narrowed down my search to someone in Ontario, someone in the GTA, somebody actually from Thornhill. I went with Anne Murray. And a staple of my childhood with Anne Murray. And a staple of my childhood

was Anne Murray. The biggest female artist in Canada. Specifically, an album called There's a Hippo in My Bathtub. I guess it's actually called There's a Hippo in My Tub. I can't name a kid that I grew up with that didn't have

that record. There's a Hippo in My Tub. I think he's a kid that I grew up with that didn't have that record. There's a hippo in my tub. Interrupt Stu. I think he's a little high here. I'm not sure. Anne Murray. I think so. Although the album did not make any – you can play the song in a second here, Mike.

Although the album did not make any of the major charts in the U.S. or Canada, it was certified platinum in Canada. The album was initially reissued by Sesame Street Records in 79. So the album came out in 77, reissued Sesame Street Records, and they called it Anne-Marie Sings for Sesame Street Generation. Sings for the Sesame Street Generation.

And then it got re-released again with three bonus cuts in 2001 by EMI Music Canada. Shout out to them. Lots of great songs on the record. But of course, The Teddy Bear's Picnic is a big one. Today's the day the teddy bears have a picnic. Which I happen to be in the cartoon for The Teddy Bear's Picnic, fun fact. You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine, that's on there.

A lot of big hits, including this one. Animal crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop. Gosh, oh, gee, but I have fun swallowing animals one by one In every bowl of soup I see Animal crackers in my soup. I mean, you're talking about

animal crackers was a huge product. Who didn't eat animal crackers? What a sellout. Find it odd, though, that you would put animal crackers in your soup. It doesn't seem like a really good soup cracker. When I think of a soup cracker, I'm more of a saltine cracker in my soup. Animal crackers would ruin soup. So I find it quite curious if somebody was to put animal crackers in their soup.

Is that a tomato soup? A chicken soup? Are we talking like a Boston clam chowder? It just doesn't work. No matter which way you slice it, animal crackers don't fucking belong in soup. That doesn't stop me from picking this song, though, because I think it's funny. And Anne-Marie, of course, legend from Thornhill. Not from Thornhill, right?

From Nova Scotia, right? Cam Gordon used to egg her house in the 90s. True story, don't let him deny that. Hell of a golfer, Anne Murray. I believe she's a really good handicap. So if you're playing

at the old pitch and putt, maybe you're over at the Richmond Hill Country Club playing some golf, you want to stay out of Anne Murray's way. She'll take you for every fucking dollar you got. He's wearing blue tonight. Yeah, Anne Murray. Animal crackers in my soup.

Just a blasphemous idea to ruin a soup. That's like putting ketchup on a steak. I know Sammy knows what I'm talking about. He would never do that. Guys like he and I, we're cultured. We have palates. Sammy's checking his phone. But Animal Crackers in my suit.

I'm not going to take up too much of your time with this nonsense, but it's a banger. Animal Crackers and fucking Murray. And a bit of a mind blow. Animal Crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits move the loop. Gosh, oh, but I have fun swallowing animals one by one. Assuming that you are playing my mind blow now,

I guess it's not really much of a mind blow, but Animal Crackers in My Soup was introduced to the world by Shirley Temple, fellow child star. Shirley Temple, in 1935, in the film Curly Top, Irving Caesar and Ted Kohler wrote the lyrics. They're the ones putting animal crackers in their soup. That must have been big in the 30s, putting Animal Crackers in soup. Ray Henderson did the music. And there you go. Animal Crackers was her second biggest song.

Of course, Shirley's big hit was the good ship Lollipop, which was a number two song on the chart, by the way. So, just so you know, Animal Crackers in My Soup was also covered by Barbara Streisand, but I went with Anne Murray instead. And that's going to do it for me. Hopefully I disappointed all of you. And thank you.

And remember, Faking a Murderer. Faking a Murderer. Now streaming on Hollywood Suite. And shout out to Barb. Who I believe did a fabulous job. She brought it all. With her Elvira costume. So shout out to her.

That's the great Canadian woman, Barb. Don't forget to give her a call, 905-871-4177 or whatever the fuck the number is. Because she is a great Canadian woman that deserves to be celebrated as well. Love you guys, and I will see you next week

to all the FOSSs out there. I love you guys. And Cam, Sam, love you. Toronto Mike, love you too, bud. And Bojana, keep up the good work. Keep chopping down them trees. The great Stu Stone, everybody. I have so many thoughts, but we'll have to take that.

I'll do the full rebuttal. And just for clarity, Anne-Marie was a member of the Thornhill Ladies Golf Course, not the Richmond Hill Country Club. And for clarity, we all know she's not from Thornhill. She just resides there now. She's from Summerhill or something, somewhere in Nova Scotia. East Coast gal. she's from summer hill or something somewhere in Nova Scotia east coast gal yeah

I have nothing to say about that yeah let's leave it on high note with Stu rambling about nothing thank you for joining us Sammy Cohen fucking love you man thanks for giving up several hours of your night

that was awesome Cam next time Owen, fucking love you, man. Thanks for giving up several hours of your night. That was awesome. Yeah. Cam, next time, get your ass in my backyard. It's a lot more fun when you guys are in the backyard. I'll be back before, in no time, for sure. Get the heater on. The heater's ready. And that brings us to the end of our 740th show,

our Zoomer episode. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Sammy, you're at Sammy Cohn. That's K-O-H-N on Twitter. Cam, you're at Cam underscore Gordon. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.