Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Colin Cripps Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1891

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

In this 1891st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with Blue Rodeo's Colin Cripps while Colin plays and discusses his ten favourite songs of all-time. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Hi, this is Colin Cripps from Blue Rodeo. I'm here with Toronto Mike to do the kick-out-the-jams song list. You know, it's one of those things where it's very tough to pick 10 favorite songs and then not think of others. But we're going to do our best today to go through the ones I have chosen. Welcome to our best. Episode 1,891 of Toronto Mic'd, an award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great Lakesbeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA.

Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit Palma Pasta. com for more. Fusion Corp's own Nick Ieemis. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline. And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.C.A.

Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mike, To kick out the jams, it is indeed Colin Cripps. Good to see you, buddy.

Good to see you. I feel honored that you invited me back. Well, listen, I'm going to tell you straight up, and I'm going to tell the listeners the episode number in the description. But I do this a lot. Okay, this is episode 1891. But you were kind of the ideal guest in the perfect blend of, you've got interesting stories.

You've been a part of junk house and Blue Rodeo, and of course the spoons. Like, we had so much to talk about. But at the same time, I felt you were very giving. Like you weren't guarded. You were very open. And I felt like I could ask you anything. And that's all I would ever ask out of a guest.

You were perfect. Thank you. I appreciate that. And the feedback was really strong. We talked about the Cripps episode. It's like that's the goal. Excellent. Well, I'm glad to be back.

And no regrets. You didn't feel you were too open about anything? Not at all. I'm at an age now, Mike, where I think it's healthy to just, you know, sort of be open enough to discard either things that you thought weren't, you know, we're talking about or, you know, when you ask the right questions, I think you get the right answers.

Well, I ask a lot of questions and I just hope some of them are the right ones. And then we can overlook the wrong ones. Okay. So a bunch of notes came in when I announced you were coming back to kick out the jams. And that means that you have provided me with the names of your 10 favorite songs of all time, and we're going to play them and discuss them. and I heard you in that cold open. This was a tough, I'm guessing this was tough to get it down to 10, was it?

Very tough. I don't think as a musician you're ever going to be able to just distill it to 10 songs or 10 records even. I think it's, you know, I'm, I picked based on your request, I picked 10 songs that I think are significant to, to me. But by no means do they represent, you know, I left out songs simply because I had to prioritize somewhat. But, yeah, it's a really tough thing to do. It's like when I watch these, you know, podcasts where people talk about, or so they interview actors and they talk about, you know, their favorite films or something. And you get informed by that, by those discussions, like how deep some of those

artists are with the work that they have revered. But it's really tough to just go, oh, well, my favorite this is. It's actually impossible. I feel like I set you up for failure, but this is like, this is 10 songs you love. Yes. And you're ready to talk about. Absolutely. Mike from Kdub on the Blue Sky said with all the great bands that Colin Cripps has been associated with,

you could flip this around and do a great episode just kicking out the Colin Cripps jams. Oh, well, yeah, that's a humbling thought. That'll be the next visit. But I certainly have been through the ranks, as they say. Yeah, well, you've been around. So, well, let me ask you this one because I just had a call from this guy. I was worried because this gentleman, who I'll name in a minute, and you know and love, but this gentleman calls me up and he explains, I can't visit today because he had a little bout of

vertigo and he goes, I'm getting old, whatever, whatever. And I said to this gentleman, I said, you're not in the calendar for today. Like I didn't expect this was yesterday. I didn't expect this gentleman to visit yesterday. But it turns out I'm going to see him Friday in Hamilton because I'm going to, it's a good life if you don't weaken. Oh, okay. Yeah.

It's set to the songs of the tragic. Yeah, yeah. Is it Tom? It's Tom. Okay. So I said to Tom, I said, you know, your boy Colin's coming over to kick out the jams. And Tom Wilson wants me to ask you. So I'll just read it.

Last time I asked you about your third nipple. And I ended up looking pretty stupid because that's Tom's game. But what was it like to be in a band with a guy that wrote a song as great as shine? Oh, that's from him. That's Tom's question for you. Of course. Well, that's, you know, that's sort of Tom's MO is to always make sure. sure he's part of the narrative, regardless of the input.

Well, you know, it was a privilege to be part of that song, let's say. And, you know, and I certainly, how do I put this? You know, I certainly reflect on my time with Junkhouse and Tom. I mean, as I've said, I think in the other, in our last interview, you know, we go back to being teenagers together, you know. He was the, he was 19, I was 17. he was the loud, you know, bull in a China shop. I'm more reserved, quieter, kind of, you know.

But that dynamic together obviously worked really, really well from my point of view in terms of the songs that we wrote together and the work we did together. And so I'm very proud of it. I, you know, sure, that's about all I can say about it. That's a longer answer than I think he expected. But I did notice your 10 songs were about to kick out. Does not include any, does not include shine. so it didn't make your top 10.

Well, yeah. Because you were a part of it. You felt you shouldn't pick something you're a part of. Absolutely. Okay, I understand that. So, Tom, I'll see you Friday. Hamilton, Mike, well, I see Hamilton, Mike. Oh, this is about Hamilton.

Oh, no, Mike was from K-dub. Okay, close enough. Hamilton, Mike says, cool, I'm going to be seen him and his bandmates in CNC Surf Factory, again on May 28th in the Hammer. Definitely one of my guitar heroes and influences and inspirations on my. my guitar playing. So give us a little update on CNC Surf Factory. Well,

CNC is a instrumental band. We sort of are inspired by the sort of surf instrumental sort of genre. I guess it's a broad genre now. But it's basically guitar driven. And we started at the Champaign James Robertson and I started it in 2013. 13 or 14 and we've made uh over the years we've made uh two full full albums in an EP and uh we rarely play because we're all in other bands including Glenn Milcham who's in blue rodeo with me right um and everybody's sort of doing other things so I try or we try to get together at least once a year or a couple times a year to play shows and so this is kind of like the first two shows we've done we're doing in um in over a year so cool and we generally play hamilton

in Toronto because it's just easy. And we went on tour once, I think, for four days. And by the end of the four days, I think there was some, you know, there was like, yeah, I can't, I can't, you know, I can't go on the road with these guys. That's funny. So here's what I'm going to do, Colin. I'm going to read the description from your Toronto mic debut.

So people can go back and hear that. That's where we do, like the A to Z. I'll read that. That's from August 2025. This is your return to kick out the jams. So I'm going to read this description. And then I'm going to roll right into your first jam and we'll catch up between songs. Absolutely.

That sounds cool. Okay. So August 2025, I was lucky enough to be to be visited by Colin Cripps. And this is what I wrote at the time. In this 1,742nd episode of Toronto Miked, Mike chats with guitarist Colin Cripps about his years playing with. I'm going to count these down. The Spoons, Crash Vegas, Junkhouse, Kathleen Edwards, Brian Adams, and some big. band known as Blue Rodeo. And again, one of my favorite Toronto Mic episodes of all time,

but I've said too much because we're going into the jams. Betty came by on her way, said she had a word to say. Today said she hadn't heard than you, hadn't had the time to chew. Way to loop, would she believe? Gonna see the river man. If it tells me all he knows is riverflow. Colin, talk to me about Nick Drake's Riverman. Well, I would say that I'm pretty consumed by all of his work.

Riverman is, I mean, it's just one example of, I think, a young genius finding his voice so early in life and so profoundly and so significantly. and I have, you know, there's, you know, there's some musicians and music that I listen to that just has this sort of complete immersive effect on me. And Nick Drake is absolutely one of them. You know, if you're a player, you can evaluate from a player's perspective. You know, you play a guitar or you play piano. And then you think, okay, well, there's this level of, of, of, uh, ability and and talent.

And then, which is significant with him. And then you think about the songs that he wrote and how impactful they were as far as an emotional, you know, a display. And then you listen to the recordings and they're, I mean, to my ear, they're flawless.

They have such an emotional impact on me. It's hard. And then you take that and you, like, you're listening. to Riverman, he's 19 years old. Really? Really? Just turning 20.

So he was fully formed as an artist at an age where most people are still just trying to figure out who they are, what they're going to do as an artistic expression. And so this is just one example of a song. I could have picked many of his songs into that. But this song is like, it's on the first record. one of the first songs on the record. And it just, yeah, it just, it says it all for me.

In such an interesting, tragic story in that people don't discover Nick Drake's music until he's gone. Well, yeah, well, most of the people that will speak about him now, including me, obviously, you know, I was too young. but most of them found him much later, you know, than, you know, then he was around. Yeah, it died far too young, and I think it's like the 80s when many people sort of start discovering the Drake, the Nick Drake catalog of music,

and I can tell you personally, I think it was a car commercial with Pink Moon in it. Yep, yeah, I think that was a catalyst for a lot of people to discover him. It's probably around the time that I first heard him, to be honest. And, you know, I mean, there's so much out there. You know, you think about our lives and how we found music and how we found things.

It's not the same as today. So you think about the 80s, 70s, 80s, 80s, you know, generally it was word of mouth. People would say, oh, you got to hear this record or you got to read this book or whatever. And so, yeah, that commercial was significant. significant to his rebirth as a recognized by the general, you know, the greater populace. Okay, amazing.

We're off to a rousing start. Loved it. I will say that word of mouth only works if you know the right people. Otherwise, you're relying on the old radio. Like so when I was a young man, it was, the radio was very important. And then when much music showed up, that became like sort of like a national radio signal, if you will. And between much music and the radio, that's how I discovered both. of my music growing up.

Yeah, and me as well. The radio, well, records were a part of it, you know, people that, you know, I mean, just to speak to Tom, you know, Tom was one of the first guys I met when I was a teenager who had like 3,000 records. And, you know, and it was everything. And, you know, so I go over this place and be like, wow, I've never seen this many records. And then he's like, you've got to hear this, you got to hear that.

Yeah, exactly. Love it, love it, love it. There's a great episode from last week with Alan Swig where he talks about his, he made the, the documentary vinyl back in 2000. And we talked about, you know, his favorite songs from his vinyl collection. So glad to have you here,

Colin, to kick out the jams. And we're going to roll right into the second song here. It's not too funny in this heat. You should have seen how I was kept. Into the light, copyright. Talk to me, Colin. Yes.

I was very fortunate to know these guys back then. I've always been a huge fan of their work. They were one of those Canadian bands that to me were internationally great. They had all the elements I thought that made up a great band, and they had a voice and a sound that was theirs. Their roots were obviously sort of in punk and sort of almost anarchic type music, but they were very, very, they were just a band that I really identified

with the elements of them individually and then collectively. I love the guitar player, for example, whose name was Christian Thorbilsson. And I just thought, like, this guy's, he's like Johnny Marr to me. You know, he was that good as a creative sound.

You hear those parts, you know, again, being a guitar player, you hear things from perspectives, that guitar players approach song, you know, that song, um, architecture from. And so I always loved his playing. And I always loved Tom, the singer, as a, just a great songwriter. Like he had great lyrics. He had a great persona, uh, on stage. And, um, I just sort of like they kind of got lost, you know, they got lost in the

business, you know, or the, whatever it was, I just thought they should have been way bigger. than they were, and I celebrate them through their songs. Well, you're celebrating them here today, and I'm sure there are listeners being introduced, because you're right, this is an underappreciated band. You don't hear much about them. Yeah, but they were, you know, they were, they were, they were certainly influential in a period of time.

And they say, like the 80s, they started as a band called Slow, and they were very punkish kind of attitude to that. And then, you know, as time went on, they refined and they they they they became I think they became more confident in their you know Tom was an amazing front guy but they also you know and they got a big record deal in the early 90s and they made a record this you know that that was really really really just really well done but it just something didn't click you know in the in the public domain much in the same way that Nick Drake didn't connect in this time.

Right. But I hear that song. I hear that song. Now that song's 30 years old. Probably more. It still sounds amazing to me. And I love hearing you talk about these songs because, of course, you are a guitarist. And I imagine that you listen to songs in a very different way than I would listen to songs

where you probably, you know, hear the technical aspects. Yeah, it's hard not to separate some of that because, you know, you're looking at the architecture, right? And I go, well, how did that happen? Like, how do they come up? Yeah, some songs are, they're riff-driven. You know, guitar comes out with a cool riff. And then, but there's also this really,

when I hear sophistication and the way that things are put together, I can't help but sort of listen and deconstruct a little bit. But I also ultimately try to just listen to it as a, how does it make me feel, you know? Love it. Okay. So my real-time production thoughts here that we're going to, roll through the first five.

And here you talk about the first five. And then we'll pause so I can give you some gifts and we can catch up a little bit. And then we'll do the back, the back nine, as I say in the golf world. But here's a, here's a song I remember. This is a band so nice, they named it twice. Talk Talk, Talk. Life's what you make it. Talk to me, Colin.

I saw Talk Talk Talk in 19. The only time they ever played in Toronto, they opened. for the psychedelic furs at Canada's Wonderland. And I went specifically to see them. I was a big fan again. You know, I just thought, I thought Mark Hollis's voice was really interesting. I thought there was a minimalist kind of thing to his lyrics, but they always spoke in a way that was direct and impactful.

And I love the guitar, obviously. I think that's Tim Friesgreen playing guitar. And it's just, yeah, they were just a fantastic band, very much in that British, to me, that British style of songwriting and the sound of things. And that to me has always been kind of a pinnacle achievement, you know. That's all analog, you know, there's no like, it sounds like there's a drum machine, but it's actually all real.

They were very, they were very, very, I mean, they eventually did a lot of analog recording and then editing and sort of things in this sort of before sampling was really a thing. But, but anyways, I, um, uh, obviously, you know, I could have spoken to their, to their experimental records, uh, Spirit of Eden and Laughingstock, which came later. This was kind of more their pop hit sort of period, but, but, but it was, but, but it was, yeah, it was, uh, and they were fantastic live. I'll say one little thing about Mark Hollis. When we saw them live, it was the middle of the summer, so it was probably, about 85 degrees out.

And they came on stage. He didn't say a word to the audience. And he had like a winter two con and a full-length trench coat. And he just stood at the mic, didn't move, didn't say anything. And then they did all the songs. Yeah, they had a bunch of big hits. It's My Life was a banger, right? Covered by no doubt at some point.

Yeah. If I remember quickly. But yeah, talk talk. And this band's called Talk Talk Talk. They had a song Talk Talk Talk. Like it was all about the Talk. but very cool here. Oh, here's some indie band from Liverpool.

Nobody's heard of these guys, but he'll play it anyways. The long and winding road that to your will never disappear. I've seen that road before. Who needs me here? lead me to your dog the white washed away

has left a pool of tears You can't fade down this song, Colin This is a sacrilegious, I feel, but wow, you know,

I'm playing a little extra here before I bring it down just to piss off Spotify because they've been giving me a hard time lately, but talk to me about these four mop tops from England.

Well, this is one obviously one of countless songs of their catalog and Paul's catalog that you know that you could pinpoint in having an effect

in very many ways. This song is just sort of encapsulates the greatness and genius of his songwriting and it's also one of Paul's songs where I feel like a lot of Paul's songs are sort of character driven where he's presuming a character

and he's being sort of like this ulterior alternate person to, you know, convey a sort of sentiment or it's a narrative or almost like a script. But this song really feels to me like, like the songs of Paul's that really affect me are the ones where I feel like these are personal songs for him. These are the ones that came from him as a message to either, I think in this case it was like, you know, maybe it was early days with Linda and McCartney. But it has that feeling to me. And I've seen him twice live. And every time this song comes, I just, I just fall apart. Yeah. So,

it's that song. Now, the funny thing about this song, too, is that when he first recorded it, there were no strings. And then what happened was that it was being produced by George Martin. Well, no, this wasn't George, well, George did the basic track,

but then they did actually, they did it with, I'm going to draw blank there, it'd be terrible. crazy producer. Oh, Phil Spector. Phil Specter. Say no more. The last Ronette passed away this week.

Yes, that's, yes. So Phil Spector took the track, unbeknownst to Paul, and put all the strings on it. And Paul didn't like the strings. He thought it made it schmaltzy sounding and more. I'm sort of on the fence about it because I think the song's such a great song.

It didn't diminish the impact it had on me. But if I listened to it and go, okay, like I've listened to the naked version And, you know, the, right, I remember that. But, and it's, it's beautiful. It sounds more Ray Charles, which I think is what he might have been trying to get as a character. But I, I, I would say in this case, even though Phil was Phil, I would say that it works well for me, you know. Well, you know, when you fall in love with it one way, it's hard to love it a different way.

Like, you always, you always want to hear, like, when I hear it, like, when I fall in love with the, a version of a song, and then, and later it's reworked and whatever, remixed or whatever, it's like, no, I need that exact version I fell in love with as a kid. It's even alternate take sometimes throw it for me. I go like, where's that little glitch that was in, you know, the third verse and stuff, you know, because you're so. It becomes a part of the fabric of the song. It's hard to imagine the song without it.

Yeah. Absolutely. Have you seen, Colin, the Paul McCartney photography exhibit at the art gallery? I have not, but would love to. You know what? It's there till early June, I believe. So you got lots of time to get your butt to the art gallery. There's a recent episode of Toronto Mike with Deirdrie Kelly,

who wrote a book about the Beatles and fashion, and she played a role in this exhibit. And I can say I've seen it with the curator. Well, of course, he kind of customized it for Toronto with some unique Toronto stuff, but Jim Sheddon is his name. Okay. So if you get to the art gallery, find Jim Shetton and say, Toronto Mike sent me.

Sent me. He'll take care of you. I got that? Take a note there. Okay. I would love to see that. All right. One of my favorite artists of all time.

Let's kick out this jam and then we'll catch out. Oh, yeah, nice slow build here. I like it. There you go. There you stood on the edge of your feather. Expecting to fly. I could wave. Goodbye.

Uncle Neil. Expecting to fly. Expecting to fly. This is probably one of my favorite songs, period. It's Neil's first recorded solo song. He did it right in the time, I believe, either just left or was sort of in transition from Buffalo Springfield. That's why it's on the Buffalo Springfield record.

But it's the first thing you did on his own is produced by Jack Nietzsche, who did the strings with him. And it's also the first song where he ever did his own harmonizing. He never knew he didn't, hadn't done that. These things are all I'd read years and years ago. Sure. Anyway, so that's the technical side of it or the, you know, sort of the sidebar. But I just absolutely love the song.

I love the impact, again, that it has on me emotionally. I love the message of it and the visual sort of message. And I also just like the landscape. It's very dreamy and, you know, it's kind of that late 60s, Phil Spell. sector meets, but it isn't. It's got its own thing, you know. It reminds me of the Beatles song we just played with the strings. It seems like maybe you have a thing for the strings. I definitely love strings when they're done. I mean, I probably love, I would probably love more classical music if I was immersed in it and disciplined to it. But I just like, I like strength, I like

landscape. I like things that create an environment. And strings done in a sort of trippy way sometimes. create that for me. When it comes back there, nice too. Okay. I've shared this on the program before, but my gateway drug to Neil Young was the two-cd collection decade. Oh yeah, decades. And this one's also similar to the,

so the stones I had hot rocks, and for Neil Young, I had decade. And basically, so forever I loved the songs that were on those. Like, you know, you could put out your greatest song ever after that, but it's no, I need the Neil Young I heard on decade. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, I get it. And it's, well, yeah, just there's implants on your cranium.

And it's out of time in your life, too, where you're, I guess you're so much more impressionable, you know? Well, that's the thing, right? I feel bad saying it because, you know, if I have Dave Hodge over for, I might see Dave Hodge on Friday. We'll see if he's at this Hamilton event because he's in Grimsby now and he makes his way to Hamilton. But I will. I'll say, Colin Cripps says hello. But, you know, Dave Hodge comes on this program every single calendar year to kick out his 100 favorite songs of the year, okay? And I always sit there listening, Dave will talk about all the new music he's taken in.

I'll be like, I haven't heard 100 new songs this year. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I'm a, I can't tell Dave Hodge. I don't even be disappointed in me that the bulk of what I listened to I fell in love with before I turned 25. Interesting. I know. It's pathetic, right? Well, I don't know about that.

I think you have other priorities that come along. It just doesn't mean the same. Like, I hear grace. Of course, I'm thinking like a band like the white stripes, for example, which well after I turned 25. Like, I absolutely do seek out white stripes and I still love white stripes. But the bulk of what I listen to is stuff that I fell in love with before I turned 25. Because music, even if I hear a great song today, a great song today, for some reason

it doesn't imprint the same way. Right. Like it's like I had this openness. And it mostly closed, not completely, but it mostly closed. Is it being sort of jaded or cynical? I think it's just you have other priorities. I've got four kids. I got a mortgage.

You know, I got to run my own business. Like there's a lot of shit going on, right? Yep. Your brain can only take so much. And then it prior to, yeah. I don't have room for that because I, my brain is filled with, you know, um, pearl jam. You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's a reasonable thing to say. And, you know, I'm still drawn to new music in sort of moments, you know. I'll have time where my brain's kind of cleared out of all the stuff. I'm not working as much. And I'm not as sort of, I don't have so much, you know, hard drive space.

But then I'll look for new music. And I can absolutely say that I've discovered some pretty amazing new artists. And so, yeah. Got to keep open at least a little bit there for sure. But I will point home, call you out one thing, which is that we're five songs deep. And the newest song was copyright, but then the second newest song is Talk Talk.

Oh, well, there you go. So, you know, we have Nick Drake, Beatles, and Neil Young. So, you know, not a lot of this century. But, hey, a question came in on the live stream from Rob Delmundo. Hello to Rob. And so since your last visit, Michelle McAdory returned for a catch-up. It had been a while since Michelle had been over. We have great chats.

Michelle McAdory, we were trying to. figure out exactly what part of Toronto the video for Inside Out was filmed at. So she had some thoughts. She wasn't 100% sure. So the question from Rob Delmundo is, can you help solve this mystery, clarify where exactly was Inside Out filmed? I remember it was done in, it was done and it was very cold. And it was done in the Don Valley. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't tell you exactly where was at the south end or the, you know, it was probably around the middle. of the valley. We went down and I guess the directors, there were two directors.

It was like they were buddies. I remember that. And they were sort of co-directed the video. And it was, I think it was sometime, and it would have been like in November of 1989. There you go. Something in there. And it was freezing cold.

And it was shot in Don Valley, somewhere, you know, say the middle of the Don Valley. Somewhere in the middle there. Okay. So there you go. We shed a bit more light on that. In Toronto, I guess for those who don't know in Toronto. Well, if you don't know where Don Valley is, why are you listening to Toronto mic? Well.

Okay. Come on now. Okay. You're probably an expat or at least you know the city. Okay. So I'm going to give you some gifts, but can you give us an update? Give us a blue rodeo. We haven't talked much blue rodeo here.

Is there a blue rodeo update? Like, what's cooking in the blue rodeo universe? Well, we had an incredible year last year. The band was a, you know, 40th anniversary. So a lot of shows, a lot of moving around the country. that and great. We finished basically at the beginning of February. We did their, I think it shows at Massey Hall,

and then went right into recording what will become a new album, probably for beginning of next year, I'm guessing at this point. But so we did that. So we've been sort of in the process of doing a couple of recording sessions and got the bulk of the songs to a place, and then we're going to sort of chip away at them over the next month or so, a couple months. And then otherwise, I just got back.

We did a, we do these private, and they sound, you know, on the, you know, on, it sounds kind of, you know, novel, let's say. But we, we, as an experiment, we did this private cruise about, almost two years ago where it's, you know, people buy a trip, and we go down a certain destination between this place. at this point and this point in Europe. And so we just did our third one. We went, we were on the Moselle between Luxembourg and Nuremberg.

And it's like a week-long cruise and we play a few shows and we hang out. Do you have other bands on board? No, it's just the rodeo. So it's, you know, so if you buy the trip, you get to travel with us. That's amazing. But it's a small, like it's small. It's like 130, 140 people. and it's very well curated, very nicely done.

Everybody gets treated really well. We get treated really well. And then it stops every day in these little sort of beautiful places. This was all in Germany. So all these plays in Germany that you may or may not have heard of. And so it was a nice, you know, it's a nice way to interact with the crowd. And it's also very intimate. So we just did that.

And then, you know, we have the usual summer shows coming. and, you know, that... You know, they renamed that venue. Like, again, so it's no longer the Budweiser stage. Oh, what is it now? RBC Amphitheater. Okay. All right.

So don't go, just, just know. It's, I think that's the third name change, and it's going to be blowing up soon. Well, I've been calling it the Moleson amphitheater forever. That's the OG name. That's like calling at the hockey arena, the ACC. Oh, I still call it the ACC. I know it's terrible.

Well, I still called Skydome. It came up a lot in yesterday's Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. episode. But they're going to blow up that, they're going to demolish that venue and build a new one. Have you seen these plans?

I have not. I think you got the record, right? I mean, Blue Rodeo has the record, I think. Of a number of shows. Yeah. I don't even know what it is now. They should have you guys play the last show before they get the wrecking ball out there.

I think we're scheduled to play there in August. Yeah, they're going to finish this season. Okay. I think it's after this season. So we'll, yeah, we play there in the third week of August. So, yeah, maybe we're one of the last before they...

Bring you back to say goodbye to that venue. I don't know if it was around long enough to have nostalgia. It's not like a Massey Hall or whatever, but I love that venue. Like I've seen you guys there. There's another band I've seen there that when you mentioned your crews,

I was thinking about, Bear Naked Ladies Forever did this like Ships and Dip or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they would invite other bands on, like the tour. So, like Sloan or whatever, would be playing on these cruises. I think those are much bigger boats. Ours is, these are these European...

So how many people? You said 150? What did you say? No, maybe 150. They're quite small. And, you know, they are, they're popular in Europe. And they obviously, they go specific routes. Either go on the Rhine or the Moselle or the Danube.

And so it's a different experience than being... I remember when Kathleen and I were together, we did one of the, the big, you know, Caribbean one is like sort of akin to the bare naked ladies one. And those are like 3,000 people on a giant, you know, incredible, like a floating city. Like a Titanic, you know. And then you go down generally from Miami down through the Caribbean and some other, you know,

like Nassau and stuff. So I did that with her years ago. Well, I like the kind of the jib of that blue rodeo cruise in Europe. But like that sounds really cool. Yeah. Yeah, the people that come are really, they seem to really enjoy it. We really enjoy it. You know, as first it was kind of like, well, let's see if this is going to fit, you know.

And everybody likes it. Everyone likes the experience. What's not to like, okay? Shout out to my former high school class. Well, his brother was my classmate because he's a tit younger than me, but shout out to Mr. Boguski. Oh, yeah. Went to my high school.

So his brother, Mark was in my class. Nice. There's our connect. Okay. And he's been on since your last visit. But okay. Let us give you a couple. gifts because you made the track and we got five more jams to go. I'm loving this, but I have for you

in my freezer, Mr. Cripps. I have a palma pasta lasagna. Did you get one last time? I did and it was fantastic. I got to tell you. Not that I was surprised that it wouldn't be, but it was fantastic. I shared it with a couple friends because you gave me a substantial. I'm on my own. I don't have kids and I'm not, you know, you gave me like a 10 pound lasagna or something. So I had to I had to figure out a situation I could share it with friends. Beautiful. Yes. Okay, that's great to hear because I got another one for you.

So I'm glad you loved it. And thank you to Palma Pasta for sending over these lasagnas for great guests like Colin. I also have fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. Excellent. Yeah, excellent brewery. Love Great Lakes and they got, I think there's a sunny side there, which is hot off the press, as they say, because the sunny side session IPA, now available, everybody.

Okay. And that's my, my beer of the summer. Oh, oh. I have for you, I don't believe you got this last time, maybe you did, you'll tell me, you might have, but I have a, did I give you the history of the Toronto Maple Leaves baseball team? You did. Okay. Yeah, which I very much appreciated being a baseball fan. Right.

Yep. Okay. So you did give me that. Well, see you at Christy Pitts this summer. Yes. Ridley Funeral Home sent over another measuring tape for you. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Can always, uh, needs to never have enough of those.

You never have too many. Oh, look at that. Yeah. Have fun of that. Thank you. And everybody knows if you have old cables, old devices, old electronics, do not throw them in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recycle myelectronics.ca.

Put in your postal code and find out where to drop it off to be properly recycled. So it's recycle myelectronics.ca. Got it Colin? I've got it. Oh, and last but not least, shout out to Nick Aienis, who has stepped up to help fuel the real talk. Nick will be back on Toronto Mike soon. It's part of his contract.

don't you know. And he has a couple of podcasts that I produce. One is called Building Toronto Skyline, and the other is actually Mike and Nick, which we kind of discuss the happenings in this crazy world. Our thoughts on it, our perspectives. It's always a civil, interesting conversation. So those are two podcasts that you can subscribe to.

Colin, I'm rolling right in here. Song number six. Here we go. Who are we listening to, Colin? This is Karen Viros, and this song came out in 1966. I've just loved it because it's an origin song in my mind. It's a song that came out at a time when everything is kind of blowing up in terms of recording ideas and sounds. And so Karen Viros was kind of like the classic one-hit wonder,

but it's a Genesis song in my mind. It's like it begins, it's, in a lot of people's eyes now, this is considered one of the first psychedelic songs because it didn't really exist until this time. You know, it was obviously influenced by all these sort of outside forces, including the Beatles and that. But it's,

I just love the song as an attitude and a feeling, and it was produced by Jack Nietzsche, who's the same guy who spoke to who did the strings on Neal's expecting to fly. So he also has a really interesting story because he, you know, he was this young guy who ended up having a record deal. He was kind of like a nerdy, creatively brilliant guy.

But he wasn't, you know, he wasn't star material, let's say, in the traditional sense of it, but he was this conduit to a lot of things in this period between like 1965 and 1970, especially. He has a famous record. that I have that I love. It's called The Lonely Surfer. And so this song, Karen Viro's song,

I just think it's just a great encapsulation of that. I love the attitude of it. I did not know that name, Karen Veros. So I'm learning today. Yeah. And you know, and you hear that sort of, you know, the sort of girl group beat sound. And there's a lot of things in there that are, you know,

that are just, they're familiar for sure. but this is the beginning of it. Sounded very cool, so I'm discovering that song, but here's a song I know. For the county, and I drive the main road, searching in the sun for a new you're singing in the wire through the wine,

the Wichita line is still on the line. What a great song. Everybody says that, and it never gets old. It's a great song. It's an immeasurably great recording. If you're just a guy who makes records and, you know, I'd really try not to always sort of separate the technical in that sort of language of a great song and how it makes you feel,

because that's ultimately what matters, you know. But if I just sort of like listen to it. it and I go, it's masterfully recorded. Like it's, it's not flawless in that it's cold. It's just flawless in that it does everything. I, I can't imagine it being a better arrangement, soundscape, you know, like, just the way it sounded in our headphones. It's like, oh my God, that's 1967, 68, you know? So it was produced by a guy named Del Lory, who did all the string arrangements. And he was kind of like a staff guy at Capitol. and the way that it worked with Glenn,

because this was Glenn's first solo record. Well, it's not his first solo record, so it's the first record that where he had a major hit. And he had worked with Del D'Lory because he was kind of like one of the staff guitar players at Capitol. He did the stuff with the Beach Boys. He was part of the wrecking crew and all of that is this kind of brilliant young musician.

And then he sort of steps out as his solo guy and he's like, nobody knew he could sing like that. first off, he's like an amazing voice. And then you just think, how did this all come together in such a way that now, 60 years later, I still listen this song and go, it's one of the greatest, you know. That's kind of magical. This is why I love kicking out the jams with guys like you, because I feel that magic. Like that magic is in the room right now.

And that's the beautiful thing about music, right? Like it'll take you back. It'll strike that chord. It's just, just like you say. it's magic. Yeah. Jeez. Okay.

So, here's a song I learned from The Simpsons. Okay, here we go. Oh, yeah. No words required here. Classical Gas, Mason Williams. Hmm. I probably heard this song when I was 10, you know? And it just was like, you know, it was like, you know, it was like a meg.

it to my brain. I was like, what is that? And then I remember seeing Mason Williams. I remember seeing Mason Williams on, I don't know what you, I'm going to say it's the year that the song came out and there was a, you know, he played on the Grammys and or the American Music Awards. It wasn't one of the two. And, and I didn't even, I hadn't even learned to play guitar yet. I was just like, you know, one of those kids was a sponge of things and, and, uh, he, he, played the song. I think he probably, he probably mime to it, but he played the song on this, you know, beautiful soundstage in that, and the guitar was made out of, was made out of acrylic, and it was clear, and it had a goldfish in it. And he just played it like he was,

played the song. And I'll never forget that. I was just like, how could you ever forget that? And, and, you know, and then when I started learning to play guitar, I was just like, I, I, I just love that song. I just love it. So I'm, you know, I'm like, why not celebrate it? No, and I mentioned the Simpsons off the top because they were on strike at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer, they were on strike. They needed a dental plan for Lisa. And they were, you know, marching in their signs.

And then Lisa sang, and the march day and night by the big cooling tower. They had the plan, but we had the power. So she's singing this song. And then somebody, she's got the guitar and somebody says, now play classical gas. And then she goes into that do do do do do. That's why when I hear that song, I'm like,

play the Lisa part. Like that's the part. But very cool too. And the whole thing is really cool. Yeah. And there's a cool story behind it too because he was a, he was a staff musician or a music writer for the Smothers Brothers show. Yeah.

And that's where he was kind of his day gig. And then he would just, you know, when they weren't doing takes and stuff, he's sitting in the corner playing guitar. And I guess somebody heard him playing. this sort of with the basics of that song. And then they sort of encouraged him to record it. And it was originally called classical gasoline. And that it ended up being, you know,

it was just like, it was one of those serendipitous things where, you know, a lot of what happens in art and, and creativity is that it's, you know, it's not profound all the time. It's just people doing things.

And then all of a sudden it becomes something. Well, the best example of that is green onions, right? Absolutely. They're just jamming away. And then, yeah, Booker T and the MGs is kind of boring.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. I love it. I love, you know, I might have to get you back here every year to kick out ten more songs here. In fact, in fact, I just checked the clock and we're doing really well.

So what I'm going to grant you, I feel like I'm some kind of a fairy here with the wishes I'm granting, but I'm phrasing, Michael, but I will grant you a bonus jam if you like so we're gonna do your 10 and then there'll be an 11th song we're gonna kick out

Colin Cripps that's that's very cool here so let's get to the 8th I think we're at yeah no the 9th the 9th jam here we go was this number 9? Number 9 hey this is the second song in a row

Colin you're kicking out with no words yeah I know the shadows so the shadows were kind of the first super group in the UK they started in 1959. They put their first record out solo. They originally started out as the accompaniment to this, sort of the British Elvis of the time,

his name was Cliff Richard. And then they got so popular that they ended up being like putting out solo record or sort of instrumental records and eventually went into doing sort of singing in that. But this is the early days of them. and so the guitar player Hank Marvin, there were two guitar players,

but Hank Marvin was kind of lead guitar player. He really sort of like, he, you ask, if you read about any British guitar player between 1960 and 1975, you know, they all cite Hank Marvin as kind of like

their early influence and an early inspiration. And so he was like the original guitar hero of the UK. And I just, I've always loved the playing. I've always loved this sort of, like lyrical thing. And I mean, when we started C&C Surf Factory, it was kind of like, you know, we didn't want to sound like a retro band, but we wanted to be like an homage to the things that we all, that that we liked. And for me, that would have included Hank Marvin. And he was, he's still alive.

And yeah, so it's just, you know, I mean, guitar players obviously know who he is. And, but maybe not as many people in the general public would have known that, and the shadows were probably the biggest instrumental after the ventures in, in, the white boat band, is that white boat? The wipeout band was the, who did wipeout, safaris, okay. But the ventures were probably the most successful American instrumental band, and then the shadows were the most, the UK version of that. And then, of course, when the Beatles came along, a lot of these bands ended up getting, you know, no pun intended, overshadowed. So then they ended up, you know, they ended up surviving through their nostalgia

and their early years. But anyways, I always love Hank Marvin. He's also the first guy in the UK. He was a little sidebar stuff, but he was the first guy in the UK to ever get a Fender Stratocaster. And I think it was an influence because if you look at him from like 1960, he was a little prodigies, 18, 19 year old kid playing, and he looked a bit like a nerdy version of Buddy Holly. So, of course, and you think, well, what did he want? Well, Buddy Holly was a nerdy version of Buddy Holly.

Yeah. So you look at these things and you go, oh, where's this sort of, you know, where does one sort of lead to the other? And so Hank Marvin sort of had the big horn rim glasses. And it makes sense to me that he would want Buddy Holly's guitar. And that became, so he was the first. noted guitar player to have a Fender Stratocaster in the UK in 1959. Love these fun facts.

Nerdy stuff. Keep them coming. I love that stuff. And because we're playing some surf rock there, I got to shout out that in the Toronto mic calendar for May 12. So that's what? That's less than two weeks from right now. Don Pyle returns.

Don Pyle from shadowy men on a shadowy planet. Excellent. He wrote a book about the scene. I'm going to read this book. And then I'm going to grill. on pile about it, but nice. Yeah. In fact, it's funny because of course the theme song for

kids in the hall is having an average weekend, which is a shadowy man and a shadowy planet song. And I mentioned I'm going to Hamilton Friday to see it's a good life if you don't weekend. And Tom Wilson, when I'm on the phone of him, told me, I'm going to introduce you to my buddy

Bruce. That's not a good Tom. I can't do it Tom Wilson. I can't get down there. You've got to talk really low. I got to smoke more cigarettes is what you're telling me here. But he's I got to introduce you to my buddy, Bruce. And of course, this Bruce I'm being, you know, introduced to is Bruce McCullough from kids in the hall. So apparently Tom and Bruce are very good buddies here. So, Dawn Pyle on May 12.

And this is your final jam, but it's not, it's your final jam of your 10 jams. But there'll be a bonus jam. So don't go anywhere, Colin Cripps. Okay. Here we go. Where are those happy days? They seem so hard to find. I tried to reach for you.

but you have closed your mind. Then too, I wish I understood. It used to pay so nice. It used to pay so good. Abba. S-O-S-S. Yes. Love Abba.

No shame. There's nothing to say that would... You know, when I was young, I probably didn't understand the complexity and the quality of the music because, you know, I wasn't, I didn't, hadn't played an instrument for long enough and didn't really understand recording or any of that sort of thing. So, you know, it was probably wasn't cool when I was young, you know,

it was cool to love the clash and it was cool to love, you know, bands of my generation. Velvet Underground or something cool like that, sure. Which I think is, I still love those, those bands in that music. But, but Abba to me was, you know, it was an awakening, let's say, because those songs, again, they were recorded at a time

when they were, everything's analog, there's no digital recording, everything's tape, you just break down the quality of those arrangements and the brilliance that they put into those arrangements and the vocals. And so it still has an effect on me.

I just go like, this is flawlessly done, pop music at its best, you know? And there's a reason why people still love Abba. You know, it's like, generationally. And so for me, it's on different levels, you know. I'll give you another thing that was, you know, 20, say, I've known Ian Thornley.

So I'll talk about Ian. I've known Ian Thornley since, Big Rick. Since 1994, him and I've been buddies. We've worked together. We've done, you know, and, I remember one time we were having a discussion about Abba. And it was like, we both were like unanimously.

There's one of the greatest recordings, bands there is. And that's coming from somebody who's not from on the surface from that sort of background any more than I am. Right. So, you know, I had to include it because I think Benny, I think Benny Anderson is a genius. I think his arrangements. And I think he and, and Bjorn, I think they were brilliant songwriters. And I think that Freda and Agneth were incredible singers.

So what else is there? I am so glad you included it because I feel like sometimes when rock stars like yourself come over and they kick out the jams they're too like they're trying to pick five like ten really cool songs like this is the you know

the coolest songs and they come off really cool but there's no shame your jams or your jams you like Abba there's no shame in that I love Abba and I you know the other thing is I could just say like you go through all like that's all real instrumentation you know

there's real drums real bass playing there's no it's not digitally, you know, there's not it's not architectured in a way. It's like, like they really put a lot of, I just watched this really interesting documentary on on sort of the

sensibilities that that Benny had. You know, Danny played the keyboards. But he wrote all the arrangements and generally, especially anything orchestral and keyboard oriented. Like you hear all those synth parts and all that beautiful stuff going on.

You know, he was very, very, very, And you can tell. Like these guys, it isn't just stuff that just got thrown on the paper, you know, and thrown on the tape. So I love the fact that he was very passionate about the quality of the way that things sounded. And I'm a big fan of anybody who does that, as well as I like, just like hearing those songs. It sounded great in the headphones. Yeah. And we are kicking out one more jam, Colin.

But hearing Abba makes me realize one of the biggest Abba fans I know is, Rob Pruse? Rob Pruss. Yeah, but you didn't overlap with him. Like, he's gone before you get there in the Spoon. Yes. But Rob Pruse is joining me on stage at the Elma combo on May 21st. So I have crafted a 90-minute, I call it a one-man show because I don't know what else to call it, Colin.

I'm not singing if you're worried about that. I'm not singing. Rob is there on keyboards, and I have crafted this presentation that I'm going to deliver at the Elma combo on May. 21st. And if anybody has an interest in checking this out, it's a Thursday night. I've got a top secret grand finale special guests thing lined up and you can buy tickets by going to Toronto mic.com. There's a link there that says Elmo gig and you can buy a couple of tickets. And again, I think Rob Proust is just going to be like playing his favorite songs at seven.

And then at eight o'clock, I'm going to grab the mic. And then at about 9.30 will be this grand finale. I just tease that I'm not going to tell you what it is. And it's going to be a great night. So I hope people come out. One more jam, Colin. Here we go. Take the ribbon from your hair. Shake it loose and let it fall.

Laying soft upon my skin. Like the shadows on the wall. Come and lay down by my side. Till the early morning line All I'm taking is your time Help me make it through tonight I don't care who's right or wrong I don't try to understand

Let the devil take tomorrow Lord tonight I need a friend Yesterday is dead and gone And tomorrow's out of sight And it's sad to be alone Help me make it through the night Chris Christopherson, the late great This says, Help Me Make It Through the night

One of the greatest experiences I ever had Meeting somebody And I was very fortunate To spend time with him Like three times And then one of the last time we were able to play, we backed them up on like three songs we did.

You know, at an intimate situation, at one of those crazy things that happens where you're just kind of pinch yourself, you know, and we were invited, it's funny, Jim's solo band, we were on our way to play a show, and I don't remember what it was, but on the way, Jim's like, oh, we're going to go, Ronnie Hawkins has invited us to go to his sort of afternoon barbecue for a couple hours,

and it's on the way. So we're going to go. Oh, great. So we go. And then it's like a who's who at Ronnie's place just outside of Peterborough. And Chris was there. And so then he said, Ronnie's like, you got to play together, you know, kind of thing. So he's like, so we ended up being his backing band for like three songs.

And three or four songs he did. Did you do Sunday morning coming down? Yes. I love that song. Yes, we did that. So, you know, just one of the most beautiful human beings I ever met, I'd met him 20 years ago with Kathleen at the Americana Music Awards in Nashville. And I had chosen that day, too, because it's Nashville first time in a musical way I'd been there. And we were at this award show.

She'd been nominated for some awards. So I decided I was going to wear my nudie suit. I have an original nudie suit. And I was like, well, what better place than this? So I walk into this, this, the front of the, of the, I guess was at the, it was at a hotel ballroom back then. And I was walking into the thing. And there's all these people there.

And I'm like, wearing this. And of course they're all looking at me. I'm like, well, who's that guy? He's like, who's that? We don't know who he is. And then, honestly, out of the corner of my eye, about probably 10 feet away, I see Chris Christopherson, I go, oh my God, it's, you know, and he just makes a beeline right towards me. And I'm like, I thought he was going to go past me to somebody else.

Right. Anyways, he makes a beeline right for me. And he's a suit. And he leans in, he goes, I just want to say, thank you for wearing that suit. And I was just like, oh, my God. That's so cool. Chris Christofferson. Wow.

So I love the song. I love a lot of his work. but I especially love the man. My goodness gracious. I love those stories too, and I love that story at Ronnie Hawkins. Oh, that's like, I think I, well, I know, I remember him telling a story

about John Lennon racking up a long-distance phone bill at that place. Yes, I've heard, I've read that story too. I think Ronnie, not to be confused with, I'm seeing lowest of the low on May 9th, and Ron Hawkins was here last week, but Ronnie Hawkins, Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, the late great, Arkansas.

boy, he tells that, he told that story often, early and often about John Lennon racking up the long distance phone bill. One of the greatest storytellers there was. Geez, you're a pretty damn good storyteller yourself, man. This was great, honestly. I always appreciate you having me. Well, now I remember how much I love, see, Spotify gives me a hard time. Like this song, this episode, the fact is that this episode may not live very long on Spotify,

but there are 100 places to listen to podcasts. and it will be everywhere else. But on Spotify, this episode may be pulled because, of course, I am going to get caught by the algorithm for playing unlicensed music. This is how it goes. But to me, it's worth it because I love kicking out the jams

like this. And we learn so much today. And I want to say thank you for dropping by, man. You're going to be back. That's a pleasure. I really enjoy it. Thank you. And also, I'm going to pester you to get me Ian Thornley on the program. I just saw him at,

Bob Bluette. I just saw him at the Phoenix. You went and saw Big Rack? Big Rack. And my good friend from the Watchman, Danny Graves, opened up. But I would love Ian Thornley on tournament. I can send happily, I'll send you in a message for you, sure. Best voice of this side of Chris Cornell.

Yeah, he's incredible. You know, there's that thing we used to joke is like, you look in the dictionary and it would be, you know, under Rockstar and there'd be a photo of Ian Thornley. he's a personification. One of the greatest vocalists I've ever worked with and listen to. So yes, great musician. And that brings us to the end of our 1,891st show, 1891.

It was a good one. That's a good year. Go to you remember that year, don't you know? Go to tronelomike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. Again, you can buy your Elmo tickets there. click Elmo gig. That's May 21st. 7 p.m. for Rob Proust.

8 p.m. for me. But Rob is sprinkled in throughout mine as well. And then the grand finale at 9.30. We'll see if I can hit all these time stamps. Stay tuned. Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. Collins got his beer.

Palma pasta. I'm going to get his lasagna from the freezer. Nick Iienies. Recycle MyElectronics.com. And Ridley, Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow. Paris Black. Do you remember this name in all, Paris Black?

Kind of a media raconteur guy. We're going to catch up with him because he's going to drop by and make his Toronto Mike debut tomorrow. Paris Black on Toronto Mike. This came out of the David Bronstein episode. We were talking about Dial-A-Date. Do you remember these dial-a-date infomercials? Yes. Call now!

Yes, yes. Talk to these attractive women. That's my right. Bronstein. Anyway, it all came out of that. It's going to be cool. See you all tomorrow.