Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Colin D'Mello Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #720

Episode Date: September 15, 2020

Mike chats with CTV Toronto Queen's Park Bureau Chief Colin D’Mello about leaving the anchor desk, covering Doug Ford and the back-to-school plan. Then he kicks out the jams.

Welcome to episode 720 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 MIC'D. That's M-I-K-E-D. Thank you. stickeru.com create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business the Keitner Group they love helping buyers find their dream home text Toronto Mike to 59559 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 Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. I'm Mike. From TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is CTV News' Queen's Park Bureau Chief.

That's a good title there, buddy. Colin DeMello. Hello, Mike. Welcome back, Colin. Thank you for having me. Did I get that right? You're the CTV News. The Queen's Park Bureau Chief for CTV News, yes. Thank you for having me. Did I get that right? You're the... The Queen's Park Bureau Chief for CTV News, yes. And you were not that.

I know when you were here last time, you were the... Last time I was here, I was the weekend anchor at CTV News Toronto as well. Okay, so tell me, as a layperson, is this a promotion or is it a lateral move? Like, is this where you want to go? Tell me why the change. I mean, it's a lateral move? Like, uh, is this where you want to go? Uh, tell me why the change? I mean, it's a little bit of both, right? Like when you work weekends, um, sometimes it can be just a little bit difficult in family life. Um, I made the decision around two years ago when I had, uh, we were just expecting our second child and, uh, you know, the position opened up and,

uh, I, I went hard for it because that was something that I wanted. And it's provided us a lot of work-life balance. And it's a really exciting job because I came in right around the time that Doug Ford was elected. So it's been, you know, it's been a very uphill battle, but it's been interesting every single day. Yeah. Never a dull moment, right? Well, no, and now with the pandemic, it's, you know, Queen's Park is at the center of all of the decision-making. And so I get to report basically

on every move that affects millions of people across the province. Is it fair to say, Colin, you are the one who benefited the most from the global pandemic? Well, I don't know about that because I worked for the last six months at home with my two young children.

So I had two full-time jobs. It was hard. It was a tough go. Okay, so is that coming to an end this week? Like are your kids school age? Yes, they're not school age. They're in a Montessori and the Montessori had closed down during the bulk of the pandemic. And they just recently went back. Last Tuesday was their first day back. And today was actually the very first day that I got to return to Queen's Park and work there full time. And how did it go?

It was wonderful. Well, I mean, you know, the thing about working with kids is, because the work that I do is very labor intensive in terms of like, you know, I have to edit a lot of my stories. I have to listen to news conferences, really pay attention to details and, you know, try to figure out the gray area between those details, right? And a lot of times I'd be, I'd try to do a task and then I'd have a kid coming up to me, like tapping me on my knee or whatever, asking me for something. And so I had to, you know,

so in between kind of editing, I had to make meals. I had to do nap time. Dude, you're singing my song. It's been hell, right? I mean, kids are great and we love our kids, but they really interfere with a work day. Well, I mean, this is why daycare and school, I think, was invented, to make sure that you can work in peace. Parts of it have been great, you know, because I get to spend more time at home with them. I don't come home quite as late. But I think working with them during the pandemic was one of the greatest challenges, I think, of my life. And your profile would be higher now, I would think, because A, you're on Toronto's biggest news station.

Most eyeballs go to CTV News. Yeah, I think during the course of the pandemic, it actually increased. I'm not sure of the exact metrics, but we were, I think, averaging about a million viewers a night between CTV Toronto and CTV24, where we simulcast. It's a big deal, right? A lot of people were looking for information because this affected their lives. They didn't know when they were going back to work. They didn't know when they were going to be able to see their family. They didn't know how long this was going to last and whether their entire

livelihood was going to go up in smoke. And so I think they were tuning into any newscast, but predominantly CTV every single night and CP24 and they were really i mean they were well served with the information but it just goes to show you when things are really blowing up this is when you need you know credible journalism the most and and how do you like it so far like the change i mean from like anchor guy weekend anchor guy to queens park uh

bureau chief i have trouble with the word bureau. It's a really funny thing because it's actually a bureau of one. I am the boss of the bureau and I'm the sole employee. If I went back in time 30 years or something, 20 years. It was actually well-staffed a while ago.

It's just the nature of the business. right? Like journalism is a, it's slimming down. It really is getting smaller. There are a lot of people looking to get into journalism and there are fewer and fewer jobs every single day. It's just the nature of the business. But once upon a time, the Queen's Park Bureau, I think used to have maybe about a half a dozen people, including camera guys. But now I do a lot of my own shooting. I edit my own stories as well.

Right. I'm the reporter. So you do it all. For the most part. I get the feeling you probably would enjoy that, right? Like having, wouldn't it be boring to just be the reporter, like that you get to do these other things? Well, I mean, you know, there are pros and cons to everything, right? So my roots are in radio, and in radio, you're a one-man band, right?

You do your reporting, your recording, your editing of your material, going live, you do it all. And so when I came into TV, it was actually really difficult to relinquish control to somebody else. And CTV is a pretty unionized environment, so, you know, I was only allowed to do so much. So from that control perspective, it's really good because I get to make the decisions

and then I get to execute those decisions. I'm going to let people know, like if they want to go to the first appearance by Colin DeMello, and this is a really good like synopsis of your career. And we spent a lot of time talking about how, well, the number was 258. So find episode 258.

The description I wrote at the time is Mike Chatz of Colin about growing up in Kuwait, his years at 680 News and anchoring CTV News. So if you're looking for that deep dive, A to Z bio, we talked about the Gulf War. It was a great conversation. So what took you so long to get back here? 258, I think that was, this is 720.

What took you so long? I don't know, kids. Again, those kids. I can just blame them for everything. I think just a lot of life stuff got in the way. No, I'm just trying to bust your chops a bit here because we are going to kick out the jams. Yes.

So you've made the big change. You're now at Queen's Park. I got a note from a gentleman named Mass. I think that's short for Massimo. He says that Colin always has great questions for Doug Ford during his daily briefings. So I think because there's a lot of eyeballs on it, like how has it been?

Those daily briefings. Yeah. So, okay. So it's been very, it's been a massive change for the last six months because we've gone from, you know, being able to question either the premier or other politicians in person and really kind of really getting, being able to get up in their grill and really being able to hold them to account.

I mean, there's nothing like being in a media scrum where you've got maybe about a half a dozen to a dozen microphones stuck in your face and reporters screaming questions at you. And Toronto media, news media, tends to be a pretty aggressive one. And Queen's Park is one of the most aggressive. But we get answers because those politicians try to keep as much away from us as possible.

But when we work together as a group, it's great. The past few months have been weird though, because we've been doing our journalism. We've been making the sausage basically out in public because people watch these news conferences every day. They get huge ratings, but they can watch us ask questions of the premier. And that's a rare thing because you don't often get to be a part of that process. A lot of times it's happening behind the scenes or whatever. So it's been nerve wracking as exciting and welcoming as it's been because, A, I love it that people can see that I'm asking the premier a question and that he doesn't answer. Right.

Or the education minister, which, you know, I think would drive a lot of people crazy when you ask a question, a very direct question, and you get a roundabout answer. And finally, you don't actually end up getting the answer. So I love it from that perspective, but sometimes it makes me want to vomit because there are a lot of people listening to you and sometimes critiquing you in real time. Like, you'll get a compliment if they think it's a good question,

and you'll get some criticism if people don't think it's a good question. It's all subjective. So it's kind of, you know, there's plus and minuses to it, but I can't wait to kind of get back to the old way of doing things. Yeah, and I mean, I think I would say that,

and I don't know how to say this nicely, but typically I feel Queen's Park, it's an acquired taste. Like there's a lot of people who are bored, I would think, are bored by Queen's Park. Like there's a lot of people who are bored. I would think are bored by Queens Park politics. You mean in terms of the viewer? Right, a viewer. Like obviously people are interested

in what's going on at Queens Park, but not the same way they're engaged when there's a pandemic. And like their day-to-day life is really impacted by the decisions happening at Queens Park. I think this is the most, right now you have the most people interested in Queen's Park coverage.

A hundred percent. A hundred percent. You know, I think a lot of times provincial politics deals with such high-level issues. It's like, you know, federal politics as well, right? It deals with such top-level issues, and the bills take quite a bit of time sometimes to pass into law, and things move quite slowly. Their decisions can have wide-ranging impact, but it takes a long time for them to become reality. And some of the measures, some of the policy, some of the regulations are complex, complicated, and sometimes I can, I can understand why people's eyes glaze over. Municipal politics is different, right? Because it, day to day, it impacts your life. Um, you know, that really angers a lot of people. But provincial politics, you know, people get really mad. Like Kathleen Wynne selling off parts of Hydro One.

I mean, people still are really burned up about that. Or even things like Doug Ford has done, right? With cutting city council, stuff like that. Right. But it's not at the same level where it affects you. You know, you don't actually see the bill at the end of the day sometimes. And I think that's why people

are a little bit more hands-off. But here we are suddenly, and literally, like we're talking on a Monday night, and Wednesday is the big day for my JK daughter and my grade one son. So Wednesday is their first day back. They're going back. All of them are going back.

I know. I know. They're all going back. And we've been screaming forever as parents, and I know you're just a reporter here, so don't shoot the messenger, but we've been screaming for smaller class sizes so physical distancing is more possible.

And I'm sure this was in the Sick Kids report that Ford keeps waving like he's following it but except for that one detail I noticed and we've been asking for this and here we are going back Wednesday and I mean there's still Have you guys been told what the class size is?

I think the one year old is being saved I think because French immersion like-old is being saved, I think, because of French immersion. So this French immersion has lowered, so it's not that big a class, but I know there are people out there who are talking about upper 20s and class sizes. So I just find it interesting that Doug Ford,

I should get Doug on the show. Doug says he's following the Sick Kids report, but the Sick Kids report recommends a class size of 15 kids. What am I missing? What's important to keep in mind, though, I think, is that he's gotten a lot of input from a variety of sources who have told him and the government what it should look like, what the policy should look like.

That being said, the very first day that they announced the policy in like late July, they had said that, you know, no class size was going to be above 15. And then ever since then, you know, we're hearing about class sizes that are upwards of 30, right? Oh, I didn't even know they said that. Yeah, Stephen Lecce, the education minister had said that. And what's interesting now is what's happening is some class sizes are being collapsed. So if you know we're seeing in peel region as an example um there are a lot of students who have decided to do online learning versus in-class learning much at a higher level that they than they expected and there's been like a flood of kids flocking to online learning so what happens is in some grades they're collapsing classes into one. The teachers are going online. The classes are-

Splits. Huge. Or splits, right? Three, four, fives all together in one. I think my two youngest are both in split classes this year. So it's like a J, K, S, K split, and then a grade one, grade two split. I mean, listen, I'll put it to you this way.

My kids, both of them, are in a Montessori classroom of 24, inclusive of the two. And I've known others who have been in the same Montessori over the course of the summer. These are all young kids who obviously, you know, they share everything and it all goes in their mouth. And over the course of the summer, this Montessori didn't have a single closure related to a case. So I think it's one of those things where, you know, the province has said, try it out and see what it'll look like. And if they have to make amendments or adjustments, they certainly will.

But I will also say that I think a lot of the confusion in the education system can squarely be placed on the shoulders of the people who made the decisions in the first place, which is why we continuously try to hold their feet to the fire in terms of what they said and whether class sizes at 30 are appropriate and if they're willing to stomach that. One good piece of news I was reading, I think in the National Post, they were talking about Germany and I guess Germany's been back a month now. They go back much earlier and they see, you know, one in two cases in schools here and there, but they haven't seen any mass spreading in the schools. And they've been at it a month and they have a much higher rate in the community than we had, you know, at least a single case of COVID. And it was all the kids who caught COVID outside of the school. So there's no in-school transmission.

And I think when there's in-school transmission, that's when you have to really worry. I'm with you. I'm with you. So I guess we will do a lot of hoping and play it by ear and see where this goes. But to a degree, though, like, I mean, every time you leave your house, you're kind of hoping, right? Like, like when you go to the grocery store, you're kind of hoping that the shopping cart you touch was sanitized properly and that the person before you wasn't sick, right? Like it's, it's, it's, it's one of those things where I think, I think you have to,

at some point come to some level of acceptable risk. And that's what, like, there was one infectious disease specialist with the University Health Network, Dr. Isaac Bogosh, who had said that, who said, you know, we all have to come to a place in society in which you say,

how much risk am I willing to tolerate? How many new cases are we as a society willing to tolerate? How many hospitalizations, et cetera, et cetera? I don't think we've all come to a conclusion on that. We got to get, we got to get the kids back in school. So, uh, yes. Cause I didn't choose, I mean, didn't you notice your kid? Like did your kids regress? Like my kids regress.

Uh, they might've gone the other direction actually. And my kids are exceptional Colin. Oh, wow. I didn't notice, but you know, there's behavioral changes by the end of it. And your kids are younger than mine, right? Yes. So maybe... Right. I got four and six. Like, I didn't notice any regression, but...

I noticed by the end of it, my kids were getting much more... Like, their fuse was much shorter than it was at the very beginning. My fuse was much shorter than it was at the very beginning. It's tough with the two-year-old, though. They're crazy two-year-olds. They're nuts, right? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, yes. Yes. My two-year-old though. They're crazy two-year-olds. They're nuts, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes, yes. My, my two-year-old especially, he gets very hangry. Yeah. He takes after dad. And so, but if he doesn't get his food at the appropriate time, oh my God, he loses his mind. Okay. I'm going to do this right now because he's hangry. I've got your family fed tomorrow night. Okay. So there is a large lasagna. It's a frozen lasagna. So you take that home, you can stick it in the fridge and then you can cook that up tomorrow. So remind me, I take it when you were last here, I did not give you a lasagna. Like you didn't get a lasagna. I got beer. I feel like one time I come here, I'm going to get a car. Is that in the works? I don't even have a car. Okay, Colin. So we'll see. Maybe we'll see.

I did. Or at least a nice bike. You like to bike all the time, right? I bike everywhere, my friend. Absolutely. But that is from Palmapasta. Palmapasta.com. They're in Mississauga and Oakville.

I'm going to make a bet right now. And I want you to tweet this at me. And even if, just be honest with me. I think you'll tell me that it's the best lasagna you've ever had that comes from a store. I'm telling you, this is my belief. So you've got the lasagna from Palma Pasta. I got a note from Troy at Great Lakes, because you

interviewed him. Yes, I did. Troy Birch. How did that go? Can you remember in this busy summer? Yeah, I think we were talking about Bucca Beer. I had a mind to do Bucca Beer. I remember when Bucca beer was a thing. Yes, it was one short and not so eventful

summer. I think at the end of the day, they sold I want to say something like $250,000 worth of Bucca beer. When I say they, they facilitated the sale of about, so that's about 250,000 cans or whatever of beer. There's no Bucca beer at Great Lakes, but it's very reasonably priced. I think

that Blonde Lager that's in front of you, because you're taking some Great Lakes home with you today, that Blonde Lager is something like $2.70 a can or something. Like it's a really reasonably priced, and it's my wife's favorite Great Lakes. I've been enjoying the, lately, the Hayes Mama, but you're going to take some fresh craft beer home with you today, Colin. Why? Thank you very much. So thank you.

Great lakes. And, uh, Troy says, hi, that's for sure. By the way, you worked at 680 news.

Yes. Do you have anything you can tell me about, uh, a guest I have coming over next week who just tweeted about you and I'll read his tweet in a moment, but Richard Southern. So Richard, um, so the last month, I think Richard and I talk on a, like a daily basis. Richard is a great friend of mine. So Richard and I actually, we went to college together.

We both went to Seneca College. I can't recall if I, I may have just known him just barely back then, but back in 2008, I was working at 680 News and Richard was working at 680 as well. And we eventually became overnight anchors together at 680 News. And then we got, we became really good friends over quite a lot of alcohol. Well, now you can do it because he's going to get Great Lakes beer next week. So you guys can do it over the Great Lakes now. But because he covers Queen's Park, right?

He covers Queen's Park and Richard also does business. Richard is one of the most entertaining business reporters you will ever meet. He has just a knack for turning you know some mundane stories sometimes into really interesting memorable stories and he's just he's so much personality he's made for TV very quirky always has like the best stories you're raising the bar here I'm going to have

great expectations next week I have all the time in the world for Richard he likes you almost as much as you like him he wrote one of the best in the biz and nicest too. So it seems like there's a nice bromance going here with Richard. No, but we honestly do. Like we, for the past month or so, like we talk every morning.

We just like, you know, call each other, you know, shoot the breeze about whatever, ask each other what we're doing. Yeah, we're really, really good friends. Can you name check other, i'm always interested in this you you go to queens park you're like the you're the ctv guy at queens park and i i don't know if you're going now or not or if it's zoom or what the deal is but uh like can you name check the other queens park correspondents from other media outlets like that you would uh you would know from the same uh circuit like when you have a blue jays beat guy on and you can name check the 10 people

who are always there from the, you know, the Globe or the Star or whatever. Yeah. Okay, let's hear it. Okay. I want to hear the list. Okay. At City News is Cynthia Mulligan.

Yes. At Global News is... She's been there a long time, Cynthia Mulligan. She has. And she is one of the... She asks some of the sharpest questions at Queen's Park. She's fantastic. Yeah, a long time she's been there.

At Global News is Travis Danrage. I saw your tweet. Has anyone ever confused you guys? All the time. You can swear on this show, Colin. This is not CTV. All the time. Mike Crawley works at CBC News.

He's a provincial affairs reporter. At the Toronto Star, there are four. There's Martin Regcon, who's the columnist there, who's like a father figure to me. He's fantastic. There's Christopher Shoei, who's a fantastic education reporter. There's Rob Ferguson and Robert Benzie,

the two Roberts who always, always have their finger on the pulse. At the Globe and Mail, you've got Laura Stone. And why am I not getting Jeff's last name? Jeff Gray. Jeff Gray used to work at City Hall. This is live here. I know you're not used to live on the CTV.

Oh, no, you know what? I'm actually really terrible at names. Names are one of those things. But have I not named enough? And then there's, you know, Mom I'm actually really terrible at names. Names are one of those things. But have I not named enough? And then there's, you know, Momin Qureshi sometimes is in there. Lucas Meyer is there for Newstock 1010. Ashley Lagasic is there.

Yeah, there's a lot. And fun fact, I don't know if you know this. Yeah, tell me. I love fun facts. Over the course of the pandemic, I was actually elected to be the president of the Queens Park Press Gallery. Oh, no, I didn't know that.

Congrats. Yeah, thank you. So it's been really great because I get to represent like one of the best group of journalists in this country, bar none. Okay, now Travis is Dan Raj. Yes. He was at CP24 and he left CP24 for this great Queens Park gig at Global News. Correct.

So, okay. Yeah, I remember when he kind of said goodbye on CP24 and made the switch. Yes, and he got a plaque from John Tory, too. Oh, wow. Okay, and he's a good guy, too, Travis? Yeah, you know what? The entire gallery is kind of a very family-oriented gallery.

Like, a lot of the people there have kids, and so they're just very family-oriented. Right. lot of, like a lot of the people there have, have kids. And so they are, they're just very family oriented. Right. And everyone looks out for one another. Like I can, I, I someday see,

or some weeks see the reporters at Queens Park more often than I see my own colleagues at CTV, just because, you know, by the nature of the, of, of the job that we do, you're always on the road, you're all over the city.

So I consider the colleagues that I have at Queen's Park to be my own colleagues. And I walk around the halls of Queen's Park talking to them all the time. We text all the time. Very good. It's been fantastic.

Now, just not too long ago, I had Stephen Del Duca on the show. I'm just naturally curious. Is that part of your duties as a Queen's Park reporter to check in on what Stephen Del Duca is saying on Toronto Mic'd? Does that ever of your duties as a uh queens park reporter to check in on what stephen del duca is saying on toronto mic like does that ever make your agenda for the day yeah you know i actually talked to some of his staff before he was gonna appear on your show

yeah okay what did they say well because they were the tea here well they were just saying that uh that you had never had a political guest on before no active politicians had ever appeared and i like so i don't know did you court them or did they court you? No, no, no. They courted you. I don't court active politicians. No, they courted me. That's great. Yeah, no, I was, in fact, my buddy Ralph Ben-Murgy works very closely with the leader of the

Green Party, and I was ribbing him, like, you never tried to put Mike Schreiner on Toronto Mic'd. And he's like, I didn't think it would be a fit. And I'm like, well, the Liberal Party of Ontario wants their guy on Toronto Mic'd. And he's like, I didn't think it would be a fit. And I'm like, well, the Liberal Party of Ontario wants their guy on Toronto Mic'd. And my only rule was just, my only rule was, like, I need at least an hour

because I can't do some silly 12-minute thing or whatever. I need an hour and no rules. Like, I can ask anything I want and do whatever I want. They said, okay, no rules. Do whatever you want. And you have an hour. And we did it. It was cool.

And how did it go? It was fine. Yeah, it felt like a conversation. My worry was that he would just spout these talking points or whatever. What would have given you that impression? But it felt like we were really chatting and I enjoyed it. And yeah, I'd have him back and I'd have the other leaders on as well. So you're working your way up to Doug Ford.

See, you're like a provincial affairs Queen's Park reporter in the making. See, you got it in your butt. But I was curious, you as a real Queen's Park guy, was that on your radar that Del Duca was on Toronto Mike? Like, does that make your radar?

I mean, to be honest, I think sometimes if it's like the premier, you try to listen to almost every interview they do just to make sure that... Because he's not even leader of the opposition.. Because he's not even leader of the opposition. No, he's not the leader of the opposition. He's the leader of currently the independent liberals because they don't have enough members in the legislature

to actually form a recognized party. You have to have at least 12 before it was eight, and Doug Ford changed it. But no, I mean, we pay attention to the things that they say. But it's a lot of times they'll come to us for big announcements that they make. But you like to listen to sometimes a lighter side of an interview, sometimes almost closer to election time, because those are the nuggets that you can use when you're just kind of talking on election night about a particular politician. So I'll probably definitely revisit it sometime on the drive into Queen's Park,

probably closer to election time. So it's fresh in my mind. Okay, cool. No, I was, you know, I have to ask the tough questions here. Now, just before we start kicking out your jams, I want to thank just a couple more partners here. So I want to thank, who am I going to thank now?

Let's thank Sticker U. It's been a great partnership. There's a Toronto Mike sticker for you, courtesy of StickerU. I'm also working on getting some StickerU stickers for TMLX6. That's my little event. We're all going to be outdoors

and six feet apart in Marie Curtis Park on Friday evening at six for a very low key chill Toronto Mike listener experience. So hit me up for details and a map and all that of where we're hanging out. But again, outdoors and six feet apart.

Let me see. I want to encourage anyone looking to buy and or sell in the next six months to contact Austin Keitner and chat up Austin from the Keitner Group. Great guy. He knows his stuff. And you can text Toronto Mic to 59559 to get a hold of Austin. And this is very cool.

In fact, I'm curious. I'm very curious what happens with Halloween this year. Like, how do we modify it? Does it still happen? I don't think people are going to want to answer doors to people, you know. Well, you know what? I think even if the province doesn't kind of clamp down on Halloween or cancel it altogether,

I don't think a lot of people are going to do it. Like we're talking personally at home about perhaps making little gift bags, little loot bags for like neighborhood friends or people who know. Okay, I gotcha. I gotcha. But I mean, you're right. Like a lot of people are going to opt out

because my thought was, and I hadn't given it a lot of thought, but put a bunch of treats in a bowl. Yeah, but then who wants to touch the bowl? I don't think it's... From all the reading I've done, I don't think it's spreading that way. I'm not saying that of some strange...

Based on the science and the doctors I've been listening to, I listen very closely to Dr. Brian Goldman, for example. I've asked him plenty of questions. It seems to be water droplets from close... There's a reason we're not in my basement right now because of this poor ventilation down here. We'd be closer and we're outside with distanced with great ventilation.

I don't think it's spreading because they touched a bowl. I mean, I believe it's spreading from close contact with people who are, yes. Yeah, I mean, from what I've read, the science keeps changing, right, on how you contract it or whatnot. I just think you're going to sense some deep discomfort from a lot of people. No, I'm with you. A lot of people, more people will opt out than normal.

I think so, yes. Like, I mean, it's even the ringing of the doorbell, right? Like, I want to be the first person to ring the doorbell. Like, I want to be the first person to ring the doorbell. I don't want to be the last person to ring the doorbell. No, we can't do that. I think like, my idea was the bowl with the treats, and then if somebody's dressed up going door-to-door in the hood here, that they could safely

come up and take one and then leave. Listen, here's my thought. It's probably cheaper to just buy the candy yourself. You're probably going to buy less of it. And as a parent, you're going to eat less of it. If you just, I just give it to them.

What do they know? And I do like your idea. Like if you have like good close friends on the street, maybe you just target like five to 10 of your close friends. You go something like that. But think about it. How many houses do your kids want to visit on Halloween night? Like sometimes it's been raining.

Like let's say 30? Right, last year it rained. 30 houses? Okay, let's say 30. Okay. It's more, but let's say 30. So just go to your classroom. Right.

There's 30 kids in there. Right. And just have them all share. Thank goodness there's not 15. Yes. Thank goodness there's 30 in there. So all this is to say that if Halloween happens at all, it's going to be dramatic.

It's going to be very different. So the way to save Halloween for your kids or your grandkids, ready for this? It's pumpkins after dark. So pumpkins after dark is a 2.5 kilometer driving route in Milton, Ontario. You basically, it's 88 acres. They have 150 jack-o'-lanterns lighting up the night sky. 7,000 pumpkins. There's a big bridge, 50-foot-long tunnel. You got a 40-foot-tall tower.

It's incredible. You go to pumpkinsafterdark.com to buy your tickets. It is a drive-through event, as I said, so it's completely COVID-friendly, pandemic-friendly. And you can save 10% with the promo code miked. M-I-K-E-D. So pumpkinsafterdark.com. I'd do that.

I think it's amazing and you should do that, Colin, but don't forget to use the promo code miked. Again, it's pumpkinsafterdark.com. And finally, before I kick out the first jam here with Colin, we're going to get to the tunes in a moment. I want to talk about CDN Technologies. They're there if you have any computer or network issues or questions. in a moment. I want to talk about CDN Technologies. They're there if you have any computer or network issues or questions.

Consider them your outsourced IT department. Call Barb at 905-542-9759 and hit her up with any questions and tell her Mike sent you. And Colin, now I am ready. I hope you are. Because I'm going in the order that you sent them.

Oh, okay. Were they in a particular order? Well, I mean, at first I started putting them in just a random order. And then I was like, maybe I'll put them in an order and see what happens. So basically... This took me a long... I like a lot of music. And this was just one of those things where I was like,

all right, let me go with the ones that maybe perhaps tell a story. So if you don't know how this goes, I hope you have heard at least one. I've done, I think, 75 of these so far, but I'm going to start playing the jam. We're going to hear, like, I don't know, a good 45 seconds to a minute of the jam, and I'll fade it down, and then you're going to tell us why you love this song, okay?

Okay. And I'm going in the order that the list is in order so I'm going in that order. The first one is quite embarrassing but anyway, we'll go with it. My wife guessed your age

based on this choice by the way. Oh. I don't know how public you are about your age but she guessed it. You want me to tell me the birth year

she guessed for you? What did she guess? 81. Oh, she was four years off. Oh. On 1985. Oh, she aged you years off. Oh! On 1985. Oh, she aged you. I see.

That's okay. But I think that's okay. So that's interesting. Okay, well, without further ado, here is Colin DeMello's first jam. Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. Don't tell me what you want, what I really, really want Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna I wanna really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig If you want my future, forget my past If you wanna get with me, better make it fast Now don't go wasting My precious time Get your act together

We could be just fine I'll tell you what I want What I really, really want So tell me what you want What you really, really want Okay, first, who's your favorite Spice Girl? Oh, Baby Spice.

Baby Spice. She's the worst singer, right? I go, who cares? I don't care. I loved her. I was like in love with so when i was so the backstory to a song like this is um when i was when i was growing up in the middle east um they were very restrictive with what kind of media we could listen to there was no rap there was no hip

hop and and like i grew up in the late 80s obviously in early 90s which was you know um kind of a zenith for a lot of really good rap and hip-hop, and we never had any access to it. We didn't have access to rock, either. So what we had was a lot of pop. Pop music, sure. Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, they

were my jam. Because that was what we had. That was what we had access to. And I mean, to be honest, especially for a young person, this is a great pop song. It's catchy as all hell. You've got to sing along with it. There's no shame in this game. I think you're okay.

Yes, thank you. It's funny that when you actually play it, the moment you hear this, I mean, if you're at a club, if you're wherever, you hear this song, you're like, yeah, you're in a good mood. It's a good song. It just makes you feel happy inside and brings back really good memories about Baby Spice. So you would listen.

I love Baby Spice. So I know, yeah, Baby. I'm surprised. I guess. Yeah, OK. No, I won't judge that choice. Sporty Spice was the best singer for what it's worth. Was she?

I felt so. But I'm a lot older than you, Colin. I'm a lot older than you, Colin. All of that, I don't know. Maybe so. You would listen to Spice Girls in Kuwait. Spice Girls were big because we had a lot of European influence

because we were so close. It was the same thing with food, shopping. A country like Kuwait, which is very oil-rich, if you came there and saw some of the malls, you would be blown away. I mean, they have every name brand. And I'm talking about, you know, European name brands. And it's just one of those places where, like, unless you have a lot of money, you're not really going to fit in.

But this was the music that was kind of dominating the space, and so this is what we all listen to. I love this start to the jam kicking here because this already tells me right off the top you're not going to try to be cool. You're not going to load it up with Frank Zappa and all this stuff. You're like, no, Spice Girls want to be, so good on you, man. Well, yes.

I love it. I love it. You ready for your second jam? I think this is the jam where my wife decided you were. 1981? Yeah, so she's off by four years. I have it. I love it. You ready for your second jam? I think this is the jam where my wife decided you were like. 1981? Yeah. So, you know, she's off by four years. I have to let her know.

But here we go. Yes, Naya. Cool, Naya. Who am I? Just a girl, them sugar. All right. Here I go. Oh, I know. Wait for it.

Isn't this a jam? Oh, without a doubt. Without a jam. Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt. I can't even sing all the lyrics because I couldn't even understand half the lyrics. For people who don't know, because everybody knows Wannabe, I don't think everybody knows that this is Beanie Man, Who Am I? Yes.

So my family and I immigrated here in 1998, and this was the very first dance hall slash reggae song Who am I? Yes. So my family and I immigrated here in 1998. And this was the very first dance hall slash reggae song that I'd ever heard in my life. Other than Shaggy, which is, you know. It wasn't me. But this was the first. And the moment I heard this song, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I couldn't understand the lyrics, but just the bass. I was in a small banquet hall, and the bass reverberated.

And it just sounded so cool. And that was the first time that one of my older cousins had told me that I was wearing my pants too high to lower them a little bit because I was coming from a different kind of society. my pants too high and to like lower them a little bit because i was coming from a different kind of society and i just i like i i couldn't stop listening to this song and really just enjoying it and feeling it and this began um you know a a love affair with like dance hall and reggae music i was i was living in scarborough at the time so it was a massive massive influence um and and all of my friends listened to it and this and soca music and it was it was just massive, massive influence. And all of my friends listened to it.

And this and Soca music. And it was just stuff that you could really dance to, like really jam to. And just, you know, whether you're listening to it by yourself or whether you're, you know, driving down the road and blaring this out of your car. Or if you're listening to it with friends in a club. It just always, always fit. Oh, man. Love it. So you're right now, you're listening to it with friends in a club, it just always, always fits. Oh, man. Love it. So right now, you're feeling it?

You feel the nostalgia flowing through your veins right now? Yeah, every time I hear it. And the thing is, I can't over-listen to this song, because if I do, it kind of loses its meaning. So I kind of keep it, I don't know, I kind of portion it out from time to time. If I'm going through all of the music in my car And I come upon Who Am I?

I won't listen to it all the time But whenever I do, it's just It brings back such good memories and such good feelings Love it, I love it And I love how eclectic your jams are We start with pure pop I could have gone all the way back to the 50s Well this next jam is a personal,

a definite personal favorite of mine, and it's, can't wait to kick it out. In fact, we can do it right now. I said I must completely She's in love with the world Sometimes these feelings can be so misleading She tells us that you are right I said I must be fine Cause my heart's still beating Come and kiss me mother in my side, yeah Bobby says it ain't funny, don't consider it cheating

Now, wet her hair with a curl No more roll for the fever And the eyes will beat me Can't keep away from the girl Two sides of my brain need to have a meeting Can't think of anything to do Do you like the white stripes? Yes, very much so. I love the white stripes. Very much so.

In fact, on Friday, we're kicking out Autumn Jams. So me and this guy, these great guys, Stu Stone and Cam Gordon, we have this thing every Friday through the pandemic. It's called Pandemic Fridays, and we kick out songs of a certain theme. So this is autumn songs. I'm kicking out, I'm not going to name the song, because I need to have some surprises on Friday, but I'm kicking out a White Stripes song as one of my autumn jams.

I love it. I even love some of the just just obscure white stripes songs that you couldn't, couldn't find anywhere else. Like stuff that he, that Jack White would just do kind of, I don't know, at some concert somewhere and somebody's clipped it and put it up on a

YouTube. I love all of their stuff. I have all of their albums. I have some of their albums on vinyl. I just absolutely love them. And the, and the thing is, what got me into white stripes was like a lot of late 90s rock.

Anger rock. I was a very emotional kid. So I used to love Korn, Limp Bizkit. New Metal, we call it. Was that New Metal? I used to love it. And then I found Garage Rock. Yeah, the Strokes and White Stripes and the Hives.

But the White Stripes, I mean, I can blare this song in my car if I'm in a bad mood and just like scream sing it. It just makes me feel so good. It's a fantastic, I think that's a fantastic song. I think Jack White is a musical genius. And everything he does.

Well, his ex-wife, right? They pretended they were siblings. I think Alan Cross has decided they're exes. But I don't know what she brings, but she's on the drums there. But yeah, Jack White, fantastic. And that song, one of the very best. Do you want to guess, just before I move on,

do you want to guess the White Stripes song I'm going to play for the Autumn Jams on Friday? I don't mean to put you on the spot. We've got a camera on you, the lights are on. But it's from that same album actually. Was it White Blood Cells? White Elephant? What's the album?

White Blood Cells? Why do I think it's called that? Yeah, you're right. It's something about cells. In the MP3 world, they're all mixed up in my head. But this is back. This is old enough that I was actually still buying discs and stuff. I'll give you a little clue. It's Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground. Oh, yes.

I do love that song. That's my autumn song. I was about to get there. I know. I know. I know. I thought I'd throw you a bow in there and just didn't want to see you. I figured it had something to do with autumn.

Right. You know, there's only so many. Although there are some like Billy Talents got one. There are more leaves songs than you think. You have to go digging for them a bit. But that's awesome. So, so far we've had White Stripes, Beanie Man, and, I'm sorry, yeah, Beanie Man, White Stripes,

and Spice Girls, so it's very eclectic. You ready for your fourth jam? Sure. Sure. I had a feeling once That you and I Could tell each other everything For two months But even without oath

With truth on our side When you turn away from me It's not right I think you're a control I think you're a control I think you're a control I think you're a conch-eye. I think you're a conch-eye. Vampire Weekend. You ever listen to Vampire Weekend? Just a little, like the cousins and some of the bigger jams

that would hit the radio and stuff. I still like that cousin song. So for the longest time, the White Stripes used to be my favorite band of all time. And then I heard Vampire Weekend, and I could only wish that they would keep making albums for the rest of my life. Because their music just makes me feel so introspective, so full. It's so ethereal.

It's such beautiful music. And if you listen to some of the lyrics, so Ezra Koenig, who's the writer behind a lot of the songs and the lead singer in the band, he has this great ability of taking very melancholic lyrics and matching them with very poppy beats. And so you kind of like, you listen to it first, and you're like, wow, this is a really good summer jam

to have a beer in the backyard. And then you kind of like, you listen to it first and you're like, wow, this is a really good summer jam to have like, you know, to have a beer in the backyard. And then you kind of like listen to it one day. I sort of, it can make you cry. Like it's just, it's so, it's all about, it's all breakup music. That's a theme for kicking out the jams on a pandemic Friday. Songs that if you listen to the melody or whatever, it's a happy song. But if you listen to the lyrics and realize it's actually like, like, hey, yeah. it's a happy song but if you listen to the lyrics and realize it's actually like like hey yeah right hey yeah sounds like a poppy uh fun song until you dissect the lyrics but uh i like that you

talk about vampire weekend it's selling me on this band vampire weekend is i mean they're just such a good band they have not had an album in my mind that has not had a song that i i absolutely love just everything is great And this song is called I Think You Are Contra? I Think You Are Contra. You're a Contra. It's from the album Contra. Right.

Contra was a great video game I used to play. Yes! Yeah. And then, what's that code called? Konami? What's the code?

Anyway, at some point, that's the game where I... That's the name of the company that made it, isn't it? Konami? Okay, because that's the game. I... That's the name of the company that made it, isn't it? Konami or something like that? Okay, because that's the game. You can play those games online. Okay.

Maybe I don't have the spare time you do, Colin. I'm trying to run an enterprise here. But Contra is the game that I was introduced to the code, the Contra code, because you got like three lives in Contra. And with the code, A, B, I can't remember it now, but you get 100 lives. Literally, yeah. And you can finish it with 100 lives. I was never great

at arcade games. Well, you need 100 lives. But that's the game where I learned about the Konami code. It was Contra. I always play games with cheats. Well, that's a cheat, I guess. That's technically a cheat. I love it because there's nothing worse than coming home after a long day, playing

a game, and it's difficult. It's like, my life is challenging enough. I just want to. Well, that's why I just play Mario Kart. Yes. I love Grand Theft Auto games, because I just like to, funny enough, just, I hate the commute to work, but I love driving Grand Theft Auto. You ever considered biking to work, Colin?

I would if I could. It's just, I wear a suit. There's not really a place to shower, Colin? I would if I could. It's just I wear a suit. There's not really a place to shower and I have a lot of equipment to take with me. But I would if I could. That's a good reason, actually. I'll back off now. Okay, now we're going to kick out your fifth jam.

How do you feel about the setup out here? This was like from the, because people weren't coming, I didn't want people in the basement for some obvious reasons. And I got tired of doing these episodes via Zoom. So I started like, what if I built it out here? And I actually just ordered a heater for out here,

which arrives next week. So you'll, like, as it gets colder, we should be able to, you know, stay out here till, I don't know, maybe into November, who knows. But what do you think of the setup out here? I like the setup. I like the setup.

It's good. It's physically distant, which is, you think of the setup out here? I like the setup. I like the setup. It's good. It's physically distant, which is, you know, the term du jour. I'm really impressed by the camera setup you have here. It's... I'm really impressed by it. Technology is... Always trying new things here, Colin. I have to see now whether...

And you've got a very nice... It might be too... I might have to go closer, tighter in with the camera shot, actually. And mine's a bit ridiculous because there's glare coming off this light. Oh, see, yeah. You've got to put that camera behind the light. Or just underneath that light. Right. Okay.

That way it sees you and it's not seeing the light. Right. Because then it's being blinded by the light. Yeah, there's definitely mines. Which is not a song that we have on Kick Out of the Dream. No, and it's also... That is a Bruce Springsteen song. Did you know that?

Because people know it as Manfred Mann. Yes, I only know that version. No, and it's also, that is a Bruce Springsteen song. Did you know that? Because people know it as Manfred Mann. Yes, I only know that version. No, it's a Bruce, that's a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. Didn't know. Now you know.

And there's a great movie called Blinded by the Light about, you should check it out. It's Better Than Yesterday, which is the sort of same time period, the movie that came out with the Beatles.

But Blinded by the Light, I highly recommend it. And now there's a song that my kid is obsessed with blinding lights by the weekend oh yes and that's got uh don't tell me it's got a it samples a bit of uh uh take on me right maybe i don't know if i have the right weekend song i could have the wrong weekend song i think if you listen i think it it's samples. I got, I got it. We have to play it here. Like maybe I'll do it real quick here before we get back to you.

No, I actually, I, you know what? I, I think I know what song you're talking about and I don't think it's the same. it's not that one then. Oh, see,

my weekends are all blurring in here. So I'll just do this real quick and we'll get back to your jams here. Oh, I see. It's a long videos. I'm going to hold on here. What's a long. Yeah. See that. Listen, that's, that's a long video. So I'm going to hold on here. Was it long? Yeah.

See that? Listen, that's a bit of aha. Oh, yes. I mean, I always hear it when my daughter plays this. Anyway. It's a snare drum. Yeah. There's something reminiscent of aha's take on me in that song.

And it's all I hear when my daughter plays it. But okay, we'll kill the weekend. But I got the right song, so kudos to me. All right, let's get back to the Colin DeMello jams here. Oh yeah, here we go. Speaking of covers, here's the original. Let's hear it. The tide is high but I'm holding on I'm gonna be your number one

I'm not the kind of man who gives up just like that No, it's not the things you do that really hurts me bad But it's the way you do the things you do to me I'm not the kind of man who gives up just like that No, the tide is high but I'm holding on that No The tide is high but I'm holding on I'm gonna be

your number one Number one Number one The tide is high by the Paragons. Yes.

So this was the John Holt, who I believe is also part of the Paragons, is the one who wrote the song originally. So there's like another version before this version. Oh, is that right? But this is the version that Blondie based The Tide is High on. And I've told you about my love for that version of the song. Right.

We played that in your first visit. That's exactly right. I read a lot of true crime novels. Yeah. And I like to, because I have a very distracted mind, so I like to listen to one song on repeat. And for some reason, I chose the Titus High by Blondie a long time ago and so now I can't listen

to that song without thinking or like without kind of conjuring up some kind of an evil image. So I thought I'd bring one of my favorite songs but just a different version

of the same song. But not the original version although Garrix, I... Well, this is as close to the original as you can get to. But not the original. So Blondie's is a cover

of a cover. Yes. Essentially. Okay, that's also a fun theme. This is such a good version of the song. Oh yeah, well... It sounds like the Blondie one. Yes. Like that's structured like the Blondie song. The original one by John Holt does as well. It's just a little bit more stripped down. It doesn't have the... I don't know if that's like a violin

or whatever they're playing there. There's a stringed instrument. But the original one I don't know if that's like a violin or whatever they're playing there. There's a stringed instrument. But the original one I don't think has that. But it's a good version of the song. Yeah, your jams are all over the place, and I dig it. I dig it. Sometimes people come in here and you're like, okay, this is their genre. And everything's kind of in that same, like, okay, this guy likes...

No, you know, I was the type of person where I like all music except for country growing up. And then I started liking... Then I started liking folk, which is kind of an offshoot of country. So now I guess I like everything. Yeah, I never liked country either. And then I started listening to like old country and I realized, oh no, I just hate 80s country.

Oh, see, I never made that distinction. I'm not a big fan of the... Like country, if you go back and listen to some old Waylon Jennings And I realized, oh no, I just hate 80s country. Oh. Oh, see, I never made that distinction. I'm not a big fan of the- Like, country, like, if you think, if you go back and listen to, like, some old, like, Waylon Jennings or some old Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson stuff, like, it's great. But the 80s country sucks. I like Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash is great.

Yeah, like, in 80s country, I find it- Is he considered country, or is it, like, rock and country at the same time? I think so. You know, yeah, but he's in the Million Dollar Quartet, so you've got a bit of rock to him. But he's kind of country rock. Yeah. I think Johnny Cash. You usually find him in, if you go into the, back in the day Dollar Quartet, so you've got a bit of rock to him, but he's kind of country rock. Yeah. I think Johnny Cash. You usually find him in,

if you go into the, back in the day, you went into Sam the Record Man, he was in the country section of the Sams. That's definitive. It's official here. I guess it depends

which Sams you go into. But here's a jam. This is your, what do we got, number seven. I was going too quickly, but here we go. Oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, seven. I know it's going too quickly, but here we go. Here we go. She don't try to hide it Diamonds on the soles of her shoes He's a poor boy Empty as a pocket Empty as a pocket With nothing to lose Sing ta-na-na Ta-na-na She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes Ta-na-na

Ta-na-na She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes Diamonds on the soles of my shoes Diamonds on the soles of my shoes Diamonds on the soles of my shoes Diamonds on the soles of my shoes Diamonds on the soles of my shoes People say she's crazy She's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes Well, that's one way to lose these walking blues

Diamonds on the soles of your shoes She was physically forgotten But then she slipped into my pocket with my car keys. She said, you've taken me for granted. It's a pretty song, man. Paul Simon. Diamonds in the soles of her shoes. Yes.

So it's got a really like poppy vibe to it, but it's just got this really, I don't know, it's so chill, but it just makes you feel really happy inside, I think, right? Like you were kind of bopping to this. Have you ever heard this song before? Oh, absolutely, yeah. Absolutely. And so I like a lot of the components of the song because I love like Afro, like Cubano music.

Right. That kind of like African guitar music. I just, I love that. It's so good. The horns in the song are great. It's well-rounded. It's got a lot of stuff that I really enjoy. You know, it's a great jam.

And just so you know, I accidentally skipped your fifth jam. So I'm now looking at your list. And so this is actually not 505, 6, 7. It's not your seventh jam. It's your sixth. Because I got to go back and pick up the fifth jam, which I accidentally skipped. So, yeah, fascinating.

And yeah, Impulse, this whole album is really good. And this is a classic. Yeah, I love it. I love that opening, too. I love the opening. Yeah, the opening is great. Because it just... I'm a big believer in taking people through a story and not just giving them the goods right off

the bat, right? And this is great because he holds your hand, he takes you through, and then there's a payoff at the end. And it's so beautiful. It's just such a good song. And I was reading up about it. The song basically means nothing. He really liked the melody. He came up with the melody

and kind of the rhythm of it all and then just wrote garbage lyrics. It means nothing. What does Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes mean? It means nothing, but he just liked the song, and I think he specifically wanted this falsetto in there. He just loved it, and I love it. And he's quite the singer-songwriter, Paul Simon.

Yes. He's got a few good jams under his belt. I was... Alan Cross, again, a second time he got a mention today, but he was doing this episode about lasts, and he was saying the very last song ever performed by Elvis Presley

ever in concert before his death, and it was Simon and Garfunkel. It was, I think, Bridge Over Troubled Water, I think was the final song that Elvis ever performed live. So I know these useless facts, but there's one for you. I watch, from time to time, I'll watch Elvis's, one of his final concerts where he sings Unchained Melody.

And so this is where you can tell that. I mean, he's heavily under the influence. So like 1977, I guess we're looking at. And man, he just, you know, he's almost at the point where he's like struggling through it, but he's not there yet and he just pulls it off and it's fantastic and the whole crowd goes wild. Yeah, that song got a resurgence in 1990

with a little movie called Ghost and suddenly it was back on the charts again. So, yeah, the Righteous Brothers. They had a song. This is a stupid memory, but they had a song, You've Lost That Loving Feeling. It was a big Righteous Brothers song. Where I discovered that song because there's an episode of Facts of Life.

I was watching it in syndication as a kid. And they sing You've Lost That Loving Feeling like the girls. I don't know if you ever saw Facts of Life. I was watching it in syndication as a kid. And they sing You've Lost That Loving Feeling like the girls. Like, I don't know if you ever saw Facts of Life. No. Maybe you're too young for Facts of Life. But Blair, I'm going to try to name them all here while Paul's wrapping up. Blair, Tootie, Joe, and Natalie. That's right.

Okay, look, I did that. They were singing, like, that song into, like, a hairbrush or something. And I'm like, this is a great jam and then they used to have these like cassettes you could buy at gas stations

in this city which were like golden oldies like classic 50s hits and early 60s and I had a cassette that had

You've Lost That Love and Feeling by Righteous Brothers and I just played it like hell like I just fell in love with that song and it's all thanks

to an episode of Facts of Life. I guess that takes for granted, weren't they? I used to always record directly from the radio. Oh, yeah. I loved it. So remind me, how old are you when you moved to Canada?

I was 12. Do you remember your radio station of choice when you got here? At the time, it was actually... So, yeah, we first liked 104.5. I used to listen to Roderick and Marilyn all the time. I loved it. And I think that was partially as well what kind of kept my love for radio going.

And then I used to listen to Kiss 92.5 all the time. Like the original Kiss 92. Like the Jack? No. No, God, no. We talked about my hate of country music. No, no. Jack wasn't country. No, Kiss was the country. Oh, no. C-I-S-S. C-I. No, God, no. We talked about my hate of country music. No, no. Jack wasn't country.

No, Kiss was the country. Oh, no. C-I-S-S. C-I-S-S, yeah. Jack was like a jukebox playing like, sort of like your hits. Yes, yeah. That was when they laid off all the people from Kiss 92.5.

No, so this was like the original hip-hop incarnation of Kiss 92.5. Gotcha. Like the top 40. It was fantastic. Right. I loved it. Oh, man. No, yeah. No country on the Jack there. All right. Here, like the top 40. It was fantastic. I loved it. Oh, man. No, yeah, no country

on the jack there. All right, here's the song I skipped. Sweet Little Melody. Here we go. Here we go. Sunrise, sunrise Looks like morning in your eyes

But the clock's held 9.15 for hours Sunrise, sunrise Couldn't tempt us if it tried Cause the afternoon's already coming on And I said, who, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, This is Nora Jones, and man, what a voice. Sounds great. Oh, gosh. Nora Jones. So, I mean, so you can tell by now that I've liked, you know, 90s pop music,

you know, 90s dance hall music. There's some garage rock. There's some, you know, there's indie stuff coming up, too. And jazz. I love jazz. Like, one of my friends, Patrick, paid me one of the best compliments. stuff coming up too. And jazz. I love jazz. One of my friends, Patrick, paid me one of the best compliments. He'd said, whenever we come to your house, it's so classy and there's always

jazz playing. There's something so fulfilling about jazz. And Nora Jones, daughter of Ravi Shankar. Yes. No, fun fact. Absolutely. Fun fact.

I don't know. Her music just always made me happy. Yes. No, fun fact. Absolutely. Fun fact. But I don't know. Her music just always made me happy and a bit melancholic too. Like this has a bit of, like just a touch of sadness in it, but just an overall great song. And she's got other wonderful songs, but this one and Don't Know Why

were two of my all-time favorites. And my wife loves this song too now. So now we can both kind of listen to it and really like it's one of our top requests whenever we ask our our google home to play something that sounds oh maybe that's almost romantic it is yeah i mean but there's just there's something about this song that just makes you feel you know somewhat somewhat like you literally are drinking a glass of wine you relaxing on the couch on a nice warm summer evening. You just feel cozy.

Like a Sade vibe, right? A little bit maybe. She's got a new album out too. I haven't had the chance to listen to it, but all of her stuff from here is just so beautiful. Sunrise. And if I keep you here any longer longer you might be here for the sunrise i think that's the tie-in here you're not getting are you getting bit by any mosquitoes over there

no i'm i'm very surprised i can see the mosquitoes though yeah because the light they like this light they're attracted to the light okay excellent my friend and let's move on and get to your now we're on your seventh jam here uh my math is terrible i think this is your eighth jam number eight i'm just a dreamer, but I'm hanging on Though I have nothing big to offer I watch the birds as they dive in the gorge It's like nothing in this world is ever still.

And I'm just a shadow of your thoughts of me. But sun is setting, shadows growing. A low-caste figure will turn into night. Thank you. Sometimes the blues just don't pass and burn And why can't that always be A tossing aside from your virtuous crown Just enough dark to see How you light over me This song is not about me. This is Tallest Man on Earth.

Is that the artist, Tallest Man on Earth? Yes, yes, the artist, Tallest Man on Earth. I don't know much about Tallest Man on Earth. Oh, he's fantastic. Wow. Educate me, man. He's just got this, I mean, you can hear his voice. He's like this really tall, rail-thin, European white dude who just has this incredible, soulful, raw, raspy voice.

And, you know, a lot of times it's very stripped-down, bare-bones, like him with a banjo or him with a couple of instruments. Right. It's just all voice. And the voice is just so good it's it's kind of like mumford and sons if you were to strip back a lot of a lot of the um like the additional stuff um you know but it's still so layered and again like very good lyrics um you know it's you know this is again you've got a lot of really really sad lyrics about breakups or about you know chasing

after someone. Should I be worried about you? Are you okay? No it's just this is the kind of music I think I ended up really liking as my taste kind of got a little bit more mature or refined. It's just, you know, music that you can listen to and really, really enjoy. Like, it touches you on a deeper level, right? It's just... And there's a comfort in being sad.

I like sad songs. It doesn't mean I'm sad. It's just like I just... Yeah, I mean, you know, melancholy is a bit of sadness and a little bit of happiness. But I would submit that if you were to go on a camping trip and you were to play

Tallest Man on Earth the entire time as your soundtrack to that, every time you heard this, like with a campfire and good friends and a guitar, you would have good nostalgic memories. In this song, I feel like this music I'm listening to right now

in the headphones would pair very well with Vampire Weekend. Yes. The voices, yeah, the style. Cool. So this is where I say, you know, I didn't like country, but I like a lot of folk. This is that kind of folk music that I really enjoy.

There's no twang in this song. No, no. Man, I'm telling you, if you listen to some of that old, there was a PBS documentary series by, I think Ken Burns did it actually, called Country Music. And I watched it maybe just at the very beginning of the pandemic or something. I heard earlier this year I watched it. Except for the last episode where it kind of goes into the 80s and and 90s country honestly you'll come away from that doc and say oh I do like

country music I watched his uh five or six part Vietnam War documentary oh I mean the first time I saw anything from him I think was the baseball doc and I still love that baseball series he did he's got the jazz series and so Civil War, before baseball was Civil War. No, I take it all back. The Civil War series was the first one. I should watch that. But the Vietnam one. The Vietnam one, yeah.

Mind-blowing. Find the country music one. They aired it on, I don't know, I saw it on PBS. But find that country music series and give it a go because you'll be surprised. It's got that bluegrass stuff and everything. It's kind of got a cool vibe to it. But speaking of cool vibe, here's your ninth.

We'll call this the penultimate call into Mellow Jam. It might be over soon. Too, too far. Where you gonna look for confirmation And if it's ever gonna happen So as I'm standing at the station It might be over soon There I found you marked in constellations There isn't ceiling in our garden

And then I draw an ear on you So I can speak into the silence It might be over soon There's so much going on in this song. It's a headphone song. This is a headphone song. There's some songs that need to be heard in a headphone, and that's one of them. And there's even this degradation of quality, which you think it's like, oh, you got a bad a bad recording but no it's actually part of the song it almost it almost seems like the song is either skipping or or your your

connection your bluetooth connection is kind of fading you're like in another room or the and the phone i thought i thought i had a bad copy and i went to several different versions and realized they're all like that's what i that's what i love about it the first time i heard this i was like this is such an odd such an odd song it's it's it's bonnie bear uh i believe it's called 22 a million um i think that's the album's title like i think it's called 22 over soon yes yeah so to be honest i don't understand this album whatsoever i really don't like i i and bonnie bear has another album that's come out that's kind of in the similar vein where it's just like you don't it's it's it's another album that's come out that's kind of in a similar vein where it's just like,

it's music, but it's not very traditional and it's not stuff that's going to be played on the radio and you don't really quite understand what they were trying to go at here or go for, but it seems like they were really deconstructing their old music. And Bon Iver has some really good, great music, but this was just, yeah, it was just weird.

I find it compelling. And I listened, because once I got into this, I realized all the titles in this album were strange like that. And so I started listening to more. It's obviously a concept album, but again, headphone album, though. It's different in the headphones.

That's why I didn't even want to interrupt him. I was digging it. I was digging the vibe. And so back in back in 2014 uh my wife and i traveled to turkey this was and we had gone to like cappadocia in turkey and we'd taken a balloon ride and so when i came back i like we had lots of video from it and i i put together a little video and i used this song. So now it always reminds me of being, you know, several thousand feet up in the air over Cappadocia in Turkey. Beautiful. That's amazing. And that's the power of music, man. It can take you right back. Richard Southern's calling me. Oh, would you want to take it? No, no, no. Put him on speakerphone. Just to say, just to say hello.

He should be, come on, tell Richard. He wants to find out what he's getting himself into. He's coming over next week. Okay, one more jam to go, then you can call him on the way home. An artist I'm not familiar with at all, you're going to have to educate me on this one. Let's get it going here. So ច្រូវប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប okay my friend is this polo pan polo polo and pan okay so this is a this is a really butchered that no no, no, no. Oh, no, no. This is a recent discovery. And when I say recent, I mean during the pandemic discovery. So I really love EDM, electronic dance music.

I love it. I mean, I've been a fan ever since the early 2000s, and my love for it has just grown from there. 2000s and uh and it's just in my my love for it has just grown from there like i can i can really um like yeah like did you ever go to like uh did you miss the rave era are you i didn't i did miss the rave era well like i'd like not yeah it's like i missed it meaning like i was too young for it you were too young for it yeah you're born in 85 um and so and so part of my part of my like love of edM music was this craving to have been part of that era, but never

actually had the opportunity to be a part of that era. But EDM music is so great. You can just really dance to it. You can really jam to it. You can really enjoy it. Is it good when you're sober? It's still good when you're sober. Sometimes. How would you know, Colin? Not often. But Polo and

Pan is like this French EDM duo that I randomly discovered. I was just looking up, I think it was one of the suggestions to me on YouTube Music. Okay. And I put them on and I was like, whoa, this is just, it's really chill, but it's still got that good EDM vibe. And I often actually listen to this while I was biking along the lakeshore quite often. How come I've never bumped into you? I'm always looking for you. I'm out there literally every day looking for you. Because you and I actually live

rather close to each other, a five to six minute drive away from each other. So I would bike all the way down to the lakeshore and then go west sorry, east into the Lake shore and then go West, sorry, uh, East, East into the city. Yeah. And then sometimes like, sometimes I'd make it all the way down to like, uh,

you know, CN tower to Harborfront center and then come back. It's a, it's a really good ride. You can go to like Trillium park, for example. You could. Yeah.

Um, or sometimes Ontario place. Yeah. Ontario place. Uh, the, the, the William G Davis park.

that is Trillium park. Yes. It's really nice. Um, yeah. And so I'll listen to, I'll listen to Polo and Penn and it's really good riding music. Davis Park. Well, that is the Chilean Park. Yes. It's really nice. Yeah, and so I'll listen to Polo and Pen and it's really good writing music. Oh, man. I really enjoy it.

Very good here. And before I play us out, I want to say firstly that I've wanted to do this with you for years now. So thanks for... Really? Yeah. You just think you've been,

obviously blocked me on Twitter. No, I have not. But I'm glad we got to finally do this and kick out the jams. And I just want to reiterate something. I mentioned it briefly, but just to bang home this point. In fact, the best way to,

what I recommend you do right now is Google TMLX6, like all one, no spaces or anything, TMLX6, just Google it. You should see the first result is a torontomike.com thing I wrote. And that gives you all the details. But I toronto mic.com thing i wrote and that gives you all the details but i'm dead serious like we're talking on a monday night and on friday

night at 6 p.m i'm going to bike to marie curtis park which is here in the southwest corner of the city and i'm hoping any all listeners uh fotms if you will who who make the trek. We're just going to literally, again, we're outdoors. We're all going to be, you know, six feet apart and we're going to check in. Like this is six months of this shite. Okay. This has been this six months of this pandemic. We're all going to basically check in, talk, see how we're doing. I'm going to bring some beverages and we're just going to have a low-key chill TMLX 6. This is happening Friday at 6 p.m. at Marie Curtis Park. So that is happening, Colin.

So Google TMLX 6. Again, TMLX stands for Toronto Mic Listener Experience, and this will happen Friday. It'll be our sixth one. And, Colin, thanks again for making the long drive to the backyard the arduous journey right thank you for having me Mike give Richard a call on your way home and tell

him he's in for a treat next week he's a lucky man he's a lucky man and that that brings us to the end of our 720th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Colin, are you, is it at Colin DeMello?

At Colin DeMello. Okay. There's no apostrophes in the Twitter universe. So just Colin D-M-E-L-L-O. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery or at Great Lakes Beer, Bring that beer home with you. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Bring that lasagna home with you.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Bring that Toronto Mike sticker home with you. The Keitner Group are at the Keitner Group. I can't give you a house to bring home, but Austin can hook you up. And this is why I was here. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And Pumpkins After Dark

are at Pumpkins Dark and make sure that you use the promo code miked. M-I-K-E-D. See you all tomorrow. I got two episodes tomorrow. In the morning it's Bingo Bob Ouellette who will explain why he's out of radio and why he wants back in

it. And then Michelle Storino is going to talk about why she's out of radio and I don't think she wants back in it. And then Michelle Storino is going to talk about why she's out of radio. And I don't think she wants back in it. This is going to be very, very interesting. So see you all tomorrow. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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