Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Damien Cox KOTJ: Toronto Mike'd #270

Episode Date: October 5, 2017

Mike and Damien play and discuss his ten favourite songs. There is also a frank discussion about Damien's Twitter behavior.

And right now, right now, right now it's time to... Take out the jams, motherfuckers! I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm a Toronto Mike, you wanna get the city love. My city love me back for my city love. Welcome to episode 270 of Toronto Mike'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent brewery celebrating 30 years in the craft beer business. Visit GLB at 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard for $5 patio beers.

And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And our newest sponsor, PayTM, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week to kick out the jams is sports media personality Damien Cox. Welcome back, Damien. Nice to be back.

It was a while ago. Yeah, it was 110th episode. So right off the top, let's let people know if they want to go back and listen to the deep dive with Damien Cox. And I'll read the description so we can remember what that episode was about. When was it? When was it? When was it? That's a long time ago. I'm going to guess because I'm thinking, let me see.

I think that was like early 2014, I think. Before the beer sponsor. So you didn't leave with anything, right? No, I was empty handed. Well, I took a few of your personal items. I noticed my wallet was missing after your visit. 270 episodes. Congratulations.

No, thank you. How have you managed to... I guess now that you're piling up sponsors, it's easier to keep it going. Well, to be honest, the reason it keeps going is because I'm still enjoying it. I think the day I wake up and it feels like a job, I'm shutting this thing down.

The day you wake up and go, I cannot possibly talk to Damien Cox again. Well, I gotta say, so your appearance, which I enjoyed and I think it was a great episode, but I wasn't...

I couldn't tell if you enjoyed yourself because you hold those cards close to your chest. Do you know that? I do. So I actually...

So when I invited you back and you said you'd love to come back, I was mildly surprised. Oh, okay. No, I don't know why that would be. You know what? I think in this business I'm in, you end up talking and interviewing other people.

And sometimes it takes you a little bit of back and you end up not necessarily comfortable talking about yourself. I'm not necessarily comfortable talking about yourself. I'm, you know, I got to tell you, I mean, whether it's music or sports or just meeting somebody, chatting, I'm interested in other people's stories. I'm not so interested in my own. Well, that's going to suck today because we want to hear 10 stories about your 10 jams, but that's coming up. But I promised I'd tease your episode 110. So here's how I wrote the description. In this 110th episode, Mike chats with longtime Toronto Star journalist

and Rogers broadcaster, Damian Cox, about his years at the Star on the Fan 590 and on TSN and Rogers Hockey. We also talk about his Twitter behavior, the perception. And I wrote this then, I don't know if this is going to upset you. Have you ever read this,

but the perception he's condescending and arrogant. And I played this glorious audio for him. And I went to the link and saw that was a Carol of the bells as performed by you from bloge or blog. I never knew how he pronounced that. Bloge Salmin. And I'm going to guess that's not one of your jams today, is it? Oh, I actually, if I recall the one you're talking about,

I actually, my family loved it. They thought it was the funniest thing. Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that was quite clever, actually. It was, yeah, it was great. It's great. And that was before the Shanna plan.

So the Leafs, MLSC had no plan. And you were 100 right that we just floundered and uh i guess you have to you'd have to rewrite the lyrics today because there's a plan and it seems that they're following the plan for the first time in my life and i see true hope imminent hope of potential Stanley Cup in my lifetime. And you should. You know what? I'm 56 now, and

it dawned on me not that long ago, I might actually never see the Leafs win the Stanley Cup. I think this is probably the best opportunity during the last... So my first game I went to is in 1971.

So this would be the first serious, really, really, really... I mean, there was 93 and they had a run, but this is a team that's built to win a championship somewhere down the line. That doesn't mean they will, but it means they might, and that's more than I think Toronto Maple Leaf fans have had for a long, long time. And we have time on our side, as they say,

because the core is so young that they just get better every year. So it's going to be fun. Good to have the Leafs back. Speaking of jams, I'm just going to just mention that we suddenly lost Tom Petty. Are you a Tom Petty fan? I am. You know what?

And I think I'm a Tom Petty fan because of his music, obviously. I think probably the first song of his that was probably when I was in high school was Refugee. You know, that was, don't do me like that. But I also like him from, I said this to somebody the other night, if Tom Petty had been an athlete, he would have played on 10 teams. He would have been one of those guys because he has so many connections

with so many other artists or had so many other artists. I remember reading a book on the Eagles and talking about Tom Petty and his connection with Don Hanley, many other guys, and you saw the tributes when they started flowing in. So I can't say he would have been among my top, top, top guys,

but I was always sort of aware of his music, and I always had Tom Petty music. Have you seen the, I think it's called Running Down a Dream, but the documentary, it's on Netflix now. It's like four hours. No, I've heard. So, you know,

Barry Davis, of all people. So Barry Davis came on the show. Barry Davis, of all people? Well, of all people, the reason I watched that documentary. I shouldn't, yeah,

rephrase. Barry is the lead singer for a Tom Petty tribute band. Oh, he is. I knew he was, I know he's a musician because Barry and I, I play guitar and he plays guitar.

I think he's much better at it than I am. And so we've talked music in the past, but I didn't know his band was a Petty tribute band. I think it's called Ain't It Petty, I think. And he's the biggest Petty fan I ever met. And he turned me on to this documentary and I've actually watched it twice since then

because it's that good. Like even if you're not, even if you don't think you're a big Petty fan, if you watch the doc, you're left overwhelmed by what an amazing musician he is and the influences he had, whether it be with the Traveling Wilburys or with people like Dave Grohl. Just Petty and Eddie Vedder, he's in this documentary. This is a cool doc.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I grew up with my older brother who was a Rush fan, but I never really was. Then about two or three years ago, Bob McCowan was the one who said, you should watch this documentary. It was Beyond the Lighted Stage. After that, I had such an appreciation for them.

Then I read Neil Peart's book after that. It's funny because they're not in my top ten, but they easily could be. And they are probably the band, I wouldn't say they're my favorite band, but they are a band I respect as much as any band. And I think Tom Petty too, because you know, he was

just always, I mean, how long did his career span? 50 years. Yeah, well, he was big in the 70s so yeah we're going back anyway yeah that's a good song you know this so i was in high school when uh full moon fever came out and that was my introduction tom petty so forget american girl and refugee and all this well i think i might have known about the songs but i picked up full moon fever and i couldn't believe how good that album was like every cut on that album could have been a hit and most of them were.

And they had songs like this and here I'll fade down. Free Falling is a beautiful song, but here's the one you might... I mean, that's a great song, Free Falling, but I won't back... This album, Full Moon Fever, is a gem of an album. And you might be familiar with Johnny Cash covered I Won't Back Down near the end of his life.

And that was amazing. He gave it the hurt treatment, if you will, where it just sounded like it was written for him. Petty's a big loss. Didn't see that one coming. Get your heart checked, Damo. You ever see a heart doctor? Your heart's okay?

Tom Petty had a big sudden deadly heart attack. I actually have and I could tell you a long, boring story, but I won't. But your heart's okay. My heart, I hope, is okay. I don't like the hope in there, Damien. Well, I know. You do what you can. The weird thing is, I'll tell you quickly, briefly.

The weird thing, what has caused me problem is I have this... This will fit in with your description. What was I on? I'm arrogant and condescending. Arrogant and condescending. And that was, maybe this is why, because I have an abnormally low heart rate. So that's the opposite of, is that scary to have a low one? Well, they don't like it because they wonder.

So like I'm sitting here now, it's probably 41 or 40, something like that. So it's a bit weird. Okay. I'll get you. Maybe you'll get excited when the jams kick in. I told you it was more information

than you thought. Right. Well, before the sponsor mentioned, I'll try to upset you a little bit and get that heart rate going just to keep you alive here. Would you consider moving back to Hamilton? And I'm asking that

because Brunt was here last week, Stephen Brunt, and he's loving it there in the new Hamilton? And I'm asking that because Brunt was here last week, Stephen Brunt, and he's loving it there in the new Brooklyn. And I'm just wondering if you would ever move back. I would not because I just, you know, I mean, who knows, right? I mean, never say never. But I mean, Hamilton's my hometown. I love Hamilton. But I was having this conversation with somebody this morning.

I've been living in the Islington Kingsway area for some time. My kids go to school. I have gone to school there. I belong to Islington Golf Club. And I now feel as much as a citizen of Islington slash the Kingsway as I ever did of Hamilton. So I don't have this great longing to go. I go back occasionally. My dentist is there. My doctor's there. But other than that, I don't go back. Yeah, I didn't know that's where you live

because that's a short drive for you, man. I didn't realize how close you are. You just kind of fall south. I just want, I could have walked down here. Yeah, and you can skate, but it's, you know, getting home will be tough, but it's all downhill, right? Because you're going, you can just skateboard down. I come down here.

My brother lives right around here. And my favorite coffee place is Fairtrade just down the road. Yeah, Mimico. Yep. Nice. Nice. I didn't know you were a local boy. They call Islington Village the Toronto's neighborhood of murals.

Do you know this? They have a lot of nice murals. Yep, they do. Like on Dundas. Yep, they do. It's, you know, and it's funny, you know, and Hamilton has a lot of history, but the Islington area has a lot of history as well. So it certainly feels like home.

I went to high school at the original, the old location of Michael Power, and it was at like where Dundas and Bloor meet Islington there. Now it's condos. So I can't go home again. No. All right. And I have a go home again. But all right.

And I have a question about, you mentioned Bob McCowan. I assumed we were going to do some sports media questions first. Yeah, we're going to do a couple. Don't worry, it's coming. Just warm me up first. I got to get you into a false sense of security

before I attack. It won't work. I got to do my best. That's my claim to fame. Is it? You lure people into a false sense of shame. Yeah, yeah. But I do have a question.

So since you were last here, the big change is that you're now the co-host of Primetime Sports. How's that going? Good. Great. Some days great, some days good. Depends how good the show is. Um, uh, I would say, and particularly now, um, radio, I mean, radio was always became my sort of favorite medium, um, even more so than newspapers. And, uh, after working in television for a little, uh, a little bit longer, I'm now more convinced than ever that radio was kind of

my thing. And, uh, Bob and I have known each other for a long time. And, you know, more like every other married couple, we have our ups and downs. And how much longer I want to do it, we'll see. But it's great. And it's a great show. And it's a show now, I think you'll agree, that has, well, they just celebrated

their 25th anniversary. And it's a show with a lot of history to it now, and it's kind of a privilege to be part of it. I would say it's the best sports radio presentation in the country. That's what I would say. I'm glad you feel that way, and I would agree. And you know what? A lot of people have taken a run at McCowan and that show,

and a lot of people have failed. So that really, and over a long period of time. Like how many shows have that kind of staying power? Like Meet the Press? I mean. Yeah, yeah, 60 Minutes? I don't know. Yeah, I mean, there aren't many shows

that hang around that long in pretty much the same format. So you know Bob McAllen as well as anybody. By the way, don't piss him off like Brunt did because I asked Brunt straight out, would you ever consider going back to primetime sports? And he says he doesn't think he's ever going back to primetime sports. So I don't want you in that little black book.

Well, I've already pissed Bob off on more than one occasion. And he really needs you because you're a solid co-host and he's running out of guys who will work with him. I'm the last option? Is that what you're saying? You're the last best option. I won't name the names of people we don't want to have in the co-host seat. But let me ask you about Bob McCown briefly here. I don't know him at all. Never met him.

I listen to him. He's a great broadcaster. Would he ever set foot in this basement? Is that something that even has a 1% chance of happening? You know what? If you advertise his wine, I would say then you have a shot. How about that? So how do I get to him to tell him that that could happen? How's that? I don't even know how to get to this man. Yeah, well... Do I have to stalk him at the... You might want to do that. You can probably call him or go... You know, I think you'd have a great chat.

I think he'd enjoy it. And actually, I was going to say, I would disagree with you. I don't think I know Bob as well as anybody. There's a lot of people who know him better than I do, even though, you know, I've known him for a long time. But he's, you know, he's got an interesting story. And it goes back to what we were talking about. Everybody has a story.

You just got to let them tell it. I got to start stalking him. Sounds like that's the message. Received. That's weird. I don't want to approve or disapprove. And the cops ask me what I'm doing. I'll say, Cox told me I should do this.

That'll even sound weird. I'm very curious in your thoughts on The Athletic. Yeah. The Athletic has made a lot of noise lately in kind of hiring up in all the NHL cities in Canada anyway. And you tweeted something. I'm going to read your tweet. You tweeted, indeed, little unfortunate such a new venture can't show even a hint of diversity in its hiring. So I read this tweet from you.

And I took a little mental note that if I ever get Cox in my basement, ask him about this. Because to me, I'm just a guy who listens. But it seems a little hypocritical to me because the fans lineup from the morning show through primetime sports is all white guys. So let me have you speak for you. That's why you're here. What do you think of the athletic, and do you find that hypocritical that you would kind of suggest they're not diverse when the Fan 590 is anything but diverse? Yeah, I think that's

a fair criticism and I think I would welcome and we would welcome more diversity. I think Sportsnet as a whole has done a really good job. Whether the Fan as a part of Sportsnet has done enough,

I think that's an open question. Now, at the same time, Mary Ormsby was the first host ever of a sports radio program in this country. So that was way back when. Sure. You know, and they've had Barb DiGiulio has been on. But look, I think we'd all like like more I think as far as the athletic that was I'm first of all I'm a subscriber and I'm a big supporter and I hope they do well because

you know I've seen what's happened to the newspaper industry and this seems like a good idea I don't know if I understand the financial model well enough to believe that it's going to survive long term i hope it does um i think uh i've seen some good things i like the fact that they seem to be getting a little bit newsier which i think they're going to have to be to get a to get a bigger audience um i i i think the other thing when I was, I don't know why I was tweeting on The Athletic that day. I probably should mind my own business. But I think they've gone a little bit overboard

telling everybody how they have the best of the best. Well, you know, there's a lot of great people working at a lot of other places in this country. So I'd like to see them prove themselves over a long period of time like a lot of other mediums have done, but they seem to be off to a good start. And the one thing about them that I think is interesting is they,

they seem to have an ability to reach out and sort of try to conjure up this sense of, of you're not just, we don't want you just to read us. You want us to be, we want you to be part of us. We want you to be part of our club. And I think that's it. This in 2017 is, is a really interesting approach. So I wish them tons and tons of good luck. And as far as diversity goes, they can be more diverse.

We can be more diverse. And hopefully that'll happen. Speaking of Twitter, do you have any beef with Mike Wilner that I should know about? Because I saw a bunch of stuff on Twitter. And then I saw Wilner was tweeting. You're always looking for who I'm fighting with on Twitter. Only because that's public. I should let you know.

Twitter is public. People can read it? That explains the disconnect. You think it's private. No, I think I objected to... When the Blue Jays got off to that horrible start in April, I said, that's it. It's over.

Right. And I think Wilner and a few other guys kept saying, no, it's too early. And I kept saying, no, it's over. This is an old, bad team. And it's not going to get better. And they didn't. And I think he tweeted something at some point that just caught my attention, sort of saying,

you know, it was in August, anybody who said this was over now, that was asinine. And I thought, you know what? Every once in a while, you can just say to somebody else,

yeah, you had that one right. I was wrong. And that's what Mike should have said. You know, I have to, you know, now that you're both in the exclusive Kick Out the Jams Club,

I just need you guys all get along. You're like a little family now. I don't get along with anybody. I get along all right with Brunt. Is that right? Because Brunt's a music fan. So he's going to come back. Brunt's a huge music fan. I think next to Dave Hodge, he's maybe the biggest music fan in sports

media, maybe? Yeah, you know a guy, the other guy, and I mentioned to him when we were chatting before is Brad Fay at Sportsnet, and he guy, and I mentioned to him when we were chatting before, is Brad Fay at Sportsnet. And he is a, I don't know how many Bruce Springsteen concerts he's been to, but it's probably close to 100. Cool. And he's a huge music fan. I got to reach out to Brad and get him on here.

You should. Brad's a cool name. Like, I don't think I've ever had a Brad on this show. See, that's one of the... Maybe you get more sponsors if you had more Brads. That's a good point. All right. I'm glad that beef... You know, Wilner, to his credit, though, it was too early.

I agree. The team looked horrible, but it wasn't time to write them off at that. Why? Because we did... We. Okay. I can say we. I'm not a journalist. There was a run, as I recall, in May, I believe. We were like a game under 500. And at that point, true, it's a true story, true story.

Right. But it was too early to write them off. It turned out you were right, but you didn't have a crystal ball. And I know they were one year older, but they were only one year older than the team that went to the ALCS. And the only huge missing part, in my opinion, was Edwin Encarnacion. And it just seemed like maybe this is a shitty start. And I'm not trying to defend Wilner, except it was too early to say season's over. Well, and you know what? You're entitled to say that.

And I mean, we can always say it's too early. It's too early. It's too early. Well, that's not a very interesting conversation for starters and uh you know i i've been watching sports for she's getting close to 50 years so i'd like to think that there are some things i can evaluate and and when i looked at that team i thought it was it was a team that didn't hit down the stretch last year and the big thing that people the two big things things were that was no longer a powerful offensive team. And it had a reputation as being one,

and it wasn't because it hadn't been from the tail end of last season. And the other big factor was that last season was powered so much by the health of their starting pitching staff. There was no way that was going to happen again. And they were the oldest team in baseball and they were breaking down.

So I think there were a number of things that made it, certainly made me believe that there was no chance they were going to bounce back and they didn't. All right. One more,

one more, maybe two more Twitter questions. So by the way, you're dangerous on Twitter, but not as dangerous as the president of the United States of America. So that's,

I'd like to think I make more sense than that. Let's talk about something to clear it up once and for all so we can kick out these jams in loving harmony i gotta ask you about the tweet you sent and i'm gonna uh read it and then you can finally just settle this once and for all okay but if you'd rather not that's cool just a selfie from right now is good this tweet you sent which i'm gonna guess was supposed to be a DM.

If I'm thinking of the one you're thinking of, I believe so, yeah. That got a lot of people excited on Twitter. They thought, oh, look, we've caught Damo on Twitter soliciting selfies from chicks on Twitter. I'm a big benefit of the doubt guy. I have no reason to give you anything but benefit of the doubt. But please tell us what the heck that tweet was about. No, I was amused by this and that, what did people think was going on? I think people thought that you were DMing a female that you were not married to,

looking, trying to get her to send you a selfie. Maybe you were trolling for a date. This is not me thinking this. This is what people think. No, that's fine. Well, I mean, look, people can think what they want to think. I don't think I'm going to sit here

and sort of say what I wasn't doing. I mean, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. People can think what they want to think. It wasn't that. It was an entirely innocent thing. It was inadvertent, and it was my mistake. But if that's what you want to think, folks, you know, fill your boots.

Well, consenting adults and all that, you know, it's no judgments here. Whatever it is, it's probably an innocent thing. I mean, you say it's an innocent thing. I believe it's an innocent thing, but your reaction was very, like, right away, your Twitter went into what I call lockdown mode. You went from like public, anyone could follow me to the padlock. What's that mode called? Privacy mode or whatever. And for a long time, you lived in that Twitter lockdown before you opened it back

up. So is that just because people were, you know, uh, assuming the worst and, uh, bothering you on Twitter about that or? Yeah. Well, and there were some other things going on that, uh, at the time with that whole thing. And I just thought, um, this doesn't make any sense. I, I, I don't, I don't want to do this anymore. And, and, uh, um, me, you know, was I being too sensitive, but you know what, It was, it was actually a good decision. Um, because I mean, I have a love hate affair with Twitter. I like parts of it. And I now think I've settled more into just a regular, uh, the way I want to handle it. I don't react to anybody really. I don't argue with anybody. Um, but I think that was the way to go. And you know, there comes a certain point where, you know, compared to a lot of people, I'm just somewhat of a public person, but I am a public person.

You're Toronto famous. Yeah, so whatever. Sure. And, you know, there's parts of that that leave you exposed. And I was feeling like I didn't really understand why it was getting, what was going on. So I just thought, you know what? I think I'll just remove myself from this conversation. This is why Brunt refuses to go on Twitter, by the way.

He's smarter than I am. He's always been smart. He's one of the smarter Hamiltonians. But you opened it back up. So I guess you had your little break and then you were ready to handle it and you opened it back up. And then I saw like this week, like this is hot and fresh uh ty domey of all people tweets i heard

about this damien speak for yourself you haven't been informed your whole career you're the most disrespected reporter and co-worker i know and what bothers me is that he says yore. He spells it Y-O-U-R. He's got the wrong yore. That's a big pet peeve of mine. Come on, Domi. You're better than that. Or maybe you're not. I don't know. What do we think of this Ty Domi tweet that he... Well, I think... So it relates to his son in the wake of that terrorist incident in Edmonton decided to say something like you know we've got to be uh careful about um the people we let in this country and that just made me go whoa we don't that's not that's not I mean if some white guy stabs somebody in Vancouver do we say let's let's start evaluating which white guys we let in out in public I I mean, it is such, um, you know, I think, I think the, the word that

a lot of people use is it's such a dog whistle comment and it's so strong and prevalent now in the United States, um, that we really don't need that. And I tried to be, you know, I like, I've met Max, I've talked to Max, I've, I've interviewed Max, I like Max. He's a young guy who probably was offering a comment. And so, as you say, Twitter's public. And so if you offer a comment, people are free to comment back. I felt like I commented pretty respectfully. His father obviously differed. But I've known Ty since he was 18.

We've had fights. And when Ty is happy with you, which means you're saying nice things about him, then you're buds and pals and all that. And when he's mad, then you're the worst ever and you're the awful and you're a terrible person and everybody hates you. And that's just Ty.

And I just, whatever, Ty. I still think this is all fine if he gets the right your. Come on, that's just Ty. And I just, whatever, Ty. I still think this is all fine if he gets the right yore. Come on, that's unacceptable. But one more. This is from a guy named Canada Cracker on Twitter. He wrote me yesterday. I just said you were coming on. He said, he's getting hammered on Twitter for his politics.

People generally seem to dislike him. Has he considered sticking to sports? I personally despise the whole notion of stick to sports personally i'm glad that you speak your mind and on more than just the leafs or uh blue jays or whatever that i want to hear what you think about the world we live in i like that uh what would you say to canada cracker i'd say well first thing i'd probably say is um unless he's got it attached why are you afraid to Canada Cracker? I'd say, well, first thing I'd probably say is, unless he's got it attached, why are you afraid to use your name?

If you want to take a run at people, use your name. I use my name. Other than that, there's no chance of that ever happening, that I'm going to stick to sports. So as I do with a lot of people who get upset about that on Twitter, I say, I can send you instructions on how to unfollow and then I won't bother you anymore. That's it. And whether people like or dislike my politics.

I mean, it goes with all these questions, I think, are sort of elicit the same answer from me, and that is people are entitled to their opinion. If people want to think I'm smart and interesting, that's great. If they want to think I'm arrogant and condescending or is one of your, some sort of pervert or a creep, well, then that's fine.

Go ahead, do whatever. I'm really confident in the people who know me that I am who I am. So I think people like that should open their minds a little bit. Right, and you said it, and this is what I always say, if you don't like what somebody

tweets, unfollow them. That's it. This is a voluntary option. You know, I had a discussion with somebody a while ago, I'll try not to make this story too long, but it was at a party and they said they subscribed to a certain newspaper because

they thought that it basically reflected their general views. And I said, that's why you choose a certain newspaper because you want someone to agree with you? I'm kind of the opposite. I look for, um, I look for media that, that I don't agree with because then it'll make me think

and make me change my way of thinking. And as someone very wise said to me once, um, smart people change. And sometimes the way you thought when you were 18 shouldn't be the way they think when you're, you know, 30 years later. And so, you know, I'm interested in what the other point of view is. That's why when you pulled into the driveway today, I heard the Fox News coming out of the car, right? No, I watch Fox News. I listen. I look at their website. I want to know what all the crazies are thinking. Sorry, what the opposite point of view is. Oops, that was a little slip there.

Yeah, it was. All right, thank you for clearing up all that Twitter madness. On the radio side, you're hammering. I was going to say, that can't be all you want to ask me about about sports media is just Twitter. Yeah, well, the thing is, I want to kick out the jam. So I had some Twitter stuff. And I guess the books, I get some stuff that leaks into the public realm in terms of the ratings books.

And it looks like the fan is hammering TSN radio in the books. So how does that make you feel? Are you proud of this happening? Yeah, I haven't seen the ratings either, but that sort of is my impression. And I think it speaks to, hopefully, that we're of is my impression. And, uh, I think it, it speaks to hopefully, uh, that we're doing some good stuff, but it also speaks to, and you know, this from, um, uh, watching radio and various things.

Radio's a, a really, it's hard to get people to change their habits. Absolutely. The fan became a habit for people a long time ago, and it's really, it's really tough to get people to change their habits. And hopefully we're still giving people what they want.

And the other guys... Well, I mean, I worked at TSN. I almost got involved with TSN Radio. In fact, I read a report. You did get involved and it was erroneously published. There was a whole thing about you. We talked about that in episode 110. People will bend the truth to fit their own purposes.

Well, did you hear Brunt? He says he never put this in the public until this show last week, but he said after the Olympics in 2010, Keith Pelley, when he was with TSN, they had a whole deal in place. He was going to be the TSN guy, and it's just like Pelley left.

That's what happened. And then they reneged, and then he ended up, Pelley took care of him at Rogers. Well, I mean, I think it's, you know, it's, I don't know what reneging is in a business negotiation. Reneging would be is if you sign an agreement and then say, I changed my mind. Oh, okay. Because this was, there was a condition that they wanted removed and it was going back

to the lawyers to remove one condition. Who's this? Okay, so Brunt wanted a condition removed. Well, I don't know his whole thing. But I think certainly when Pelley left, that changed a lot of things for a lot of people. Right. And it all worked out in the end.

So congrats to the fan for delivering the big numbers. Which do you listen to? I've been a fan guy. You're right. It's tough to replace the guys who've been there for so long. I've been a fan listener since day one, since 1430.

And before that, I used to listen to anything I could hear. When Scott Ferguson was doing out-of-town scoreboards after Tom and Jerry, I was listening in my bed. Well, and I think when well-, radio is one of those things. And you get this when I run into people on the street

and they start talking to you and they feel like they know you. And that's the difference with radio is there's no distance between you. If you get into the habit of listening to them, to somebody on your car on the way home, you feel like you'll hear stories about their family, about where they've been, about what they like to do.

And that connection takes a long, long time to build up. Yeah, absolutely. And it's tough to chisel. And the similar thing in the New Rock area, there's a similar thing going on where 102.1 has been going at that New rock, alternative rock demo forever. And then Indie 88 comes in, new kid in town, to try to supplant the Heritage Station.

And it's tough plowing for the new kid in town. Yeah, and look, I think if you want to be honest about it, probably the two major ones to take the run at the fan were the team, which was a complete disaster. Right. And Brent will tell you about that. Yeah, he did. And TSN Radio.

And I think both probably, if they were to do it again, would have taken a run at McCowan. And that would have been the best chance to break that. And so I think, you know, not being able to put out, because other than that,

like who's been able to put out some personality that's been able to rival that? That's a big challenge. Absolutely. The other side of that coin that, I'm not sure how relevant it is, but it matters to me, is that the signal strength of 590 is so much better than the signal strength of 1050. Yeah, I don't understand that in 2017. Especially since all I hear about from people

your age and older, all I hear about is the legendary 1050 chum that, you know what I mean? Like I hear my mom will tell me story about being a chum bug and all this stuff. So in my mind, this is a big mega station, 1050. So I don't understand why the reception is so shitty. Isn't it a technical question though? It is. I don't know. I got to get a technical,

I got to get a nerd on this podcast. I mean, it's funny. Like I grew up, you know, sharing a bedroom with three brothers and having a transistor radio pressed against my ear, listening to CKOC or CHAM in Hamilton for music. But I will also remember being able to pick up Pete Franklin on 3WE Sportsline out of Cleveland.

And I used to get Chicago Blackhawk home games late, late, late at night on cold winter nights. And I think that's a technical thing as well. I don't know if there's just so much more out there now. Maybe there's some interference that didn't exist back in the day. Why don't you do some research into this? I will. All right.

I'll make that a personal project and I'll get back to you. But for your third appearance, I'll have all the answers. Okay. All right. Everyone listening, please help keep this passion project going by going to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. Give what you can. I see Damien's already reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

Damien, you can do that after the show. No need to do it right now. Give what you can. $ Damien's already reaching into his pocket for his wallet Damien you can do that after the show no need to do it right now give what you can one dollar a month whatever patreon.com slash Toronto Mike Damien it's been so long since you've been here

that you did not get any beer when you left last time but you still came back this time you're going home oh I get this? you get to take that home with you the six pack in front of you. I thought I had to drink it.

That was your way of getting me to drop my defenses. Well, you know what? If you had a couple before the accidental DM question, maybe it would have been a different answer. I don't know. I don't know. What answer would you like? I'll give you that answer.

What you said is, it's basically what you said was, to recall, was, it's nothing bad, but I'm not going to tell you what it was. That's sort of the answer, which is fair. You don't have to tell anybody what your intent was. But you know what? Here's the thing. If I did, if you were someone who believed it was something awful, you wouldn't believe me anyways. See, but what about, so I'm a guy.

But I get this all the time from people who say, if I tweet something about the Edmonton Oilers or something, let's say, for example, and they'll say, well, you're from Toronto, therefore. And I thought, well, then why did you ask me in the first place? So I presume with something like that, that people don't. They just want to try to humiliate you or play gotcha with you. And like I say, fill your boots, man.

Yeah, they want you to use this forum to tell the world you're in a very happy, open marriage, and this is all good. This is the place for that. I think happy. We'll leave it at happy. All right. So you're taking home the beer.

The beer is from great lakes beer you got a pumpkin ale in there you got to drink that before halloween i don't know if i can drink that but i'll try some people don't like the flavored beers i hear there's the big thing now the rage now is sour beers that is supposedly one of the rage but i've kind of changed my beer habits i learned that i've been pouring beer wrong for a long period of time and i'm now much more into craft beers. I've had the Great Lakes beer, so I'll have more. Well, that's a craft beer for you.

And, you know, you're kind of in the neighborhood, so it's not, you know, they're at like Royal York and Queensway, like right beside the Costco there, not too down the street from the Costco. You could pop in anytime for the $5 pints. But you mentioned that you've been pouring your beer wrong. And I think we saw the same video where you're supposed to, yeah,

you got to pour it into the glass to break up the CO2. CO2, yes. And that's why you end up feeling bloated. And so, you know, I, and you want the big head. You don't want just a little head. And I grew up pouring my dad's beer

into a long glass and pouring it really slowly so there'd be no head. And that's what I thought was the right way to do it. So I've only been wrong for the first 50 some years of my life. Well, we've all been doing it wrong. But now to help you with that, there's a pint glass you're taking home with you. So that's from propertyinthesix.com. Brian Gerstein, who, by the way, asked me to just let you know, you have blocked him. His other account is at Raptors Devotee. Sorry, I what? You blocked him on Twitter.

Why did I block him? I don't know that answer. See, no, you can't do that. You asked me various things on Twitter. And I do the same thing with anybody who's blocked. I say, because I get it all the time, will you unblock me? And I'll say, sure, what did you say? Oh, it was, people, and I think it has to do with what you were asking me about before. Like, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I get on Twitter.

No, I would, because... You wouldn't believe it. And so after a while, it becomes like, I just can't deal with this poison. You're right, because I do wonder how you guys put up with it, because people are just hiding behind anonymous usernames, behind their keyboard. And when people are in that state, they'll say anything. And they'll probably meet you. And I think someone made this point recently, they'll meet you in public and probably shake your hand and want a picture with you. Absolutely. I mean, I can honestly say I've never had somebody come up to me in public saying,

you're a scumbag. I hate your guts. You're awful at your job, whatever, you know? And so I think that tells you something. And I think we're learning. I think we're learning that a lot of the stuff that you think is real on Twitter isn't real at all. Or it's from people pretending to be something or whatever. And, you know, and yeah, I'll just leave it at that. So I'll find out from Brian, what did he do to get blocked? I don't have that answer right now, but he's at Raptors Devotee on Twitter. If you're in the mood to unblock somebody later, you can do that for Brian because Brian is giving you that pint glass

from propertyinthesix.com. Let's hear a brief message from Brian. Brand new message. Propertyinthesix.com Brian Gerstein here, proud sponsor of Toronto Mike and sales representative with PSR Brokerage. PSR specializes in new condominium sales with the hottest projects in the city. Contact me at 416-873-0292 for more information on two new exciting condo projects, Kingley in the King West neighborhood and the One Residences at One Bloor West.

That's 416-873-0292 to learn more about these exclusive projects. Thank you, Brian. Now, Damien, you're here on a very exciting day here. We're so close to kicking out the jams, but I'm excited because off the top I mentioned a brand new sponsor. This does not happen every day on Toronto Mike. This is a big deal. That's why I came on this day. I had to wait.

That's right. I was saving this day. I had to wait. That's right. I was saving this new sponsor for the Cox episode. PayTM. PayTM is an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. You don't have to visit

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This is important, people. Use promo code TORONOMIKE to get $10 off on your first bill payment. That's free money, my friends. Visit Paytm.ca, download the app, and use the promo code TORONOMIKE. All one word and ten dollars is yours and you can thank me later i've already heard some good jams and we haven't even begun but damien are you ready to kick out the jams? Okay, yeah. I'm ready.

I thought about it, but I am. This makes you feel like a DJ when you get to talk over these tunes. Well, I made Jim Van Horn hit the post on every single tune. Wow. Now there's a guy. How's Jimmy doing? He's doing great because he's back on his bike and he's cancer-free and he's feeling good. Awesome. What a great guy. Did he tell you about our story about sliding down a hill in Germany on a two-man sled?

I can't remember, but he told so many fantastic stories. I might have got that one, too. What a song this is, eh? You were telling me, and normally I let it breathe a bit before we talk over it, but I want to get that story. You recently took a road trip to Detroit. When I saw Bob Seger, this fantastic singer. Boy, this song just, you know, and when you asked me, well,

I went to see Seger at the Palace. It was the final event at the Palace a couple weeks ago. He was singing Rock and Roll Never Forgets. He changed the line to 15 turns. 72! Bob Seeger, and it was a great show. He's excellent. He is excellent.

And this is Night Moves by Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band. This was when I was putting together a top ten, which we should talk about the process a little bit. Sure. This was always, always, always going to be one of the top ten. If you were a kid growing up in the 70s and a teenager like I was, this spoke to teenage angst, to meeting a girl,

to aspirations of making out with a girl, to cars and late nights. He was really a guy who, in a lot of his music then, really spoke to that. Let's hear a little bit here. You know, speaking of Jim Van Horn, and why wouldn't we? He actually had a Bob Seger tune on his jam list.

And it was? i can't remember you know it's an early a very early seger track and i cannot remember the name but uh i can dig it up in a moment here let me let this play a bit this is a really good part right here it's the bridge Oh, wonder I felt the lightning Yeah, I waited on the thunder I waited on the thunder I waited on the thunder I woke last night to the sound of thunder How far off I sat and wondered Started humming a song from 1962

And it's funny how the night moves When you just don't seem to have as much to lose Strange how the night moves With autumn closing in With all them closing in Beautiful song, man. Oh. Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. Oh, yeah.

From the Bob Seger system was Jim Van Horn's jam. You know, and this is a song, and this is to make the top ten. It has to be a song that when it comes up on my iPhone I don't fast forward it

to another song I want to hear it every single time you never skip that jam one of the things I love about this song by the way is so you think he's now

kind of wrapping it up but then he turns it around a bit more at the end and he starts again and what a voice he had it you know coming out of Detroit wasn't as popular outside of Detroit for a long period of time and he always said he was more influenced by most of the many black artists

than he was by white artists growing up. And you can hear that influence in his music, for sure. Have you said he's 72 now? Yep. Man, that's great. Listen to this singing right here. So, you know, when I was thinking about putting together, I thought it was a really difficult task to do.

And so I don't think these are my top 10 songs. I think these are 10 songs that are basically representative music that I love. But I would say Night Moves is, if I had to make a ranking of top 10 songs, it would be right there. So, I mean, born in 61, I mean, I think, you know, so I was listening to pop music in the 70s. I mentioned CKOC and CHAM out of Hamilton. And so I'm a creature of that. And I think the music that you hear when you're a teenager tends to stick with you in a really profound way more than any other time of your life. Without a doubt, I say that all the time. The best music is the music you loved when you were a teenager. And so, I mean, I could have easily shown up here with 10 songs from the 70s or 10 Bob Seger songs.

70s or you know 10 Bob Seger songs um but you know you'd like to think you have a a greater musical breadth than that um but that was I think that's one of that would be I don't know where it ranks on all the all the big lists and stuff but for me um uh the voice the music, who Seeger was. He took a long break from music for a period of time to be a father. He's got people in his band now who have been with him since the late 60s. And he's sort of been an, you know, I think people throw around the term icon a little too loosely, but to me, he is. And again, like again like tom petty who we were talking about before his connection with a lot of other musicians um glenn fry in particular um the late glenn fry um they were they were pals growing up in detroit um and so i i just you know i find him a compelling character and i just that song for some reason really just hits me in a place that I

sort of go back and you know at the end when he's saying I remember I remember well you know I'm older now but I remember and I love that like sandpaper in his voice too it's just so fucking cool alright let's hear another Damien Cox jam I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own I used to roll the dice Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes Listen as the crowd would sing Now the old king is dead, long live the king One minute I held the key Next the walls were closed on me

And I discovered that my castle's down Upon pillars of sun, pillars of sun I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing Roman cavalry choirs are singing Be my mirror, my sword and shield My missionaries in a foreign field For some reason I can't explain Coldplay, Viva La Vida. Viva La Vida.

Guess I wore the right T-shirt today. I was going to say, we've got to take a picture after this because we didn't get a picture the first time. And then people can see. Nobody said anything about a picture. A selfie will do for now. Well done. I should shut it down right now.

That's it for me. Tell me about, by the way, Sofia Jurstukovic, when she came to kick out the jam, she brought a Coldplay song, In My Place. This is another great Coldplay song. Tell us why you love Viva La Vida.

Okay, so, you know, sometimes you like songs because they have a personal meaning to you or that place in time or whatever uh i like this song because it's a great song it's an and and i like coldplay because they are an they kind of they're an uplifting positive vibe band you know chris martin's an amazing performer saw them last month in toronto went with my three kids my three oldest and it was like being in a concert when i was in my 20s again and we were just had the best and that's where the the dome was open right that's the it was incredible it was incredible and we just stood and danced and had a great time all night this song um i first heard i was a little slow to coldplay they had

been going for a while and uh and this song i first saw them perform on saturday night live and all i remember is they had the big bell and you can hear it in the song right and then and with chris martin and um i've just sort of gradually now over the last 10 years added more and more Coldplay. And then the crowning moment was to see them in concert. So I think this speaks to what we were talking about earlier. I could easily give you all songs from the 70s. But that was when I ruled the world.

But I kind of want to believe that I'm still listening to music and finding new music. And Coldplay would be a band that I've really come to like in the past thing. And again, it goes to that thing, this comes on, I never turn it off. And I think they're also a band that I can keep watching for. They had a great moment in that concert, by the way, down at the Dome, because they started,

I can't remember which song it was, and they started to do the song, and the previous song they'd done, they'd had a whole bunch of confetti-like stuff falling down. And Chris Martin started singing the next song, and then he had, sorry, I have to stop. He was choking on confetti. And he said, this is really bad.

Please don't YouTube this. I know this isn't very, but we're going to have to start it again was choking on confetti. And he said, this is really bad. Please don't YouTube this. I know this isn't very, but we're going to have to start it again. And it made the concert better because it made it more our concert. So that's, you know what? As I say, you can have many connections to music for a lot of reasons. For whatever reason, that song just makes me feel good every time i hear it and isn't it great seeing concerts with your kids isn't that the best oh this that this night was um you know because uh you know my well three of my four in particular are a little older now and uh and uh it was

you know what i'm always their dad they're always my. But that was sort of as close to a moment of when all that just sort of fell by the wayside and we were just four people loving Coldplay at a concert, having a great time. And it was one of those... I've really been lucky that I've gone to some concerts with my family that have really become memorable moments to me.

You know, I take them all to a Springsteen concert, and all my girls, I made a promise that they would all get to see Paris before they were 16 with their father. And so I was able to make that promise come true just this year, finish that off with my youngest. And now I think one of my kids hasn't been to Springsteen with me, but hopefully there's still time. Are all four of your kids daughters?

No, I have a son. My son's at Queen's. So yeah, no, I, but I am, the other night at dinner, there I was again, surrounded by women. So that's my life. And there's worse things in life. That sounds pretty great.

Let's hear another Damien Cox jam. I ride east every other Friday But if I had it my way A day would not be wasted on this drive And I want so bad to hold you Son, there's things

I haven't told you Your mom and me Couldn't get along So I drive me couldn't get along so i drive and i think about my life and wonder why that i slowly die inside every time i turn that truck around right at the Georgia line and I count the days and the miles back home to you on that highway 20 ride Zach Brown Band Highway 20 Ride This is a really good line right now. And a part of you might hate me

But son, please don't mistake me For the man that didn't care at all And I drive And I think about my life And wonder why That I slowly die inside Every time I turn that truck around Right at the Georgia line

And I count the days And the miles back home to you On that Highway 20 ride So what are you thinking about right now when you listen to Highway 20 Ride? I'm thinking about I probably shouldn't talk about this song. I know you want me to bare my soul.

I mean, first of all, I'm a huge fan of Zac Brown Band, but for a good chunk of time, this was my life. And this song spoke as personally to me as any song I've ever

maybe ever listened to and had as a favorite. This is a killer. In my whole world it begins and ends with you on that highway 20 ride 20 ride 20 ride Isn't that great

how music can have such an emotional effect on you? Well, I mean, I have to be careful here because I could easily get very emotional about this song. But I'll tell you the story. I mean, so I have four kids, and three of them were with my first wife, and we split up when my son was very young. And it was, as it always is for people,

divorce is very, very hard. But that was my life, was driving between Toronto and where they lived outside of Hamilton for years. I made that drive back and forth. And I would, I mean, their mom and I were always able to put the kids first and, uh, we never, we never, you know, we didn't have, this is your weekend or that weekend. It was, and they, there were the kids needed their dad and their mom. And so, um, I would drive down at six o'clock in the morning to make them breakfast. And I would drive down and take them to hockey games

and baseball practices and all that. And because my son was the youngest, I think I feel it the strongest because there's that line in there that basically says, I can't explain to you why we couldn't get along, but don't hate me for it. And all you could ever do was do all you could

to be the best dad you could be, even if you weren't there and with their mom. And so when I hear that song now, and I love Zac Brown Band. I mean, I'm just a gigantic fan. Saw them last month. It just spoke to me on a really personal level. I could give you nine other songs that I feel,

but when I said to you at the beginning, I was sort of picking songs that were representative of music that I like. And this is one of the ones that music I like is that really hits me at a personal gut level. And so there's a lot of us out there who have been divorced and have children. And you read about deadbeat dads and families that fall apart.

Ours didn't, and I wasn't. And my kids and I now talk about it when they're older. And that investment that I made driving up and down that highway over and over and over and over again, well, it certainly paid off for me. And I hope it paid off for them and for our family. Your story really resonates with me. I'm wondering if you started cutting onions over there. I'm not sure. Because I have, from my first marriage, I have two children.

And then I have two children in my second marriage. It's very similar. So I'm at a point where the two little ones I'm with obviously a hundred percent of the time in this home and I'm like half, basically half the time, but it's, uh, not a deadbeat dad and the family, uh, they're thriving and they know their mom and dad love each other on that level. And, and that they love them. And, you know, I'm at, I'm at hockey or soccer, or I'm taking my daughter to ortho. Like, it's just the toughest part. The toughest part of divorce is the fact you won't wake up every single morning and see your children.

And it breaks your heart, but it's almost for the greater good, you have to bite that. Yeah, I mean, and everybody's story is their own story. But I think that's exactly right. I mean, I give incredible credit to my first wife and to my current wife for helping me to navigate all of this and being part of it because it wasn't easy for either one of them. Right. I'm sure.

But we've all benefited. And now here we are all these years later. And on this weekend, we're going to have a Thanksgiving dinner. And we'll have all the kids. And we're going to have my wife and I are hosting it. And then we're going to have my former wife and her partner. They're going to be part of it. They're in and out of the house all the time.

And all these years later, we are anything but a broken family. So I think that's why that song, you know, that it just, you know, that when I remember, I think one of my kids played it for me, and they like to do that. They like to spring songs on their dad and see if they can get a reaction. And so that is representative of those songs that just get you because it's your story as well as the singer's

story. I don't know if that's Zac Brown's personal story or just a song he wrote about. That's awesome, man. And I'm glad you did share that story. And I didn't cry. I might still. Just the other day, my first wife,

who I was with for 15 years and I still love very much, watching her with my baby girl from my second marriage, and they were kind of being playful together. Oh, I can tell you. So the three kids, the three

older ones will go up to stay with their mom. She lives, not downtown Toronto. And often they'll take their little sister with her as well. And she goes and stays up there. And then she has developed her own relationship. Yes. She's never asked me.

Well, I think she's piecing it all together. She's only 12. You were married to her before you were married? But she's also very accepting. And I'd like to think she's piecing it all together. She's only 12. You were married to her before you were married? But she's also very accepting, and I'd like to think she's accepting of it because she just feels a lot of love and respect and everybody wanting everybody to do well. All right, let's move on to another jam before

we have a pool of tears here. That would be it. I hope that wasn't too much. Your listeners may be going, but you know what? But it's real. It's real to me. No, but you know what I would say? Well, absolutely. That's why I put it on the list. But also I think to way back when we started this and, or when you were referring to the last thing, sometimes when I hear people say, you know, things like arrogant and condescending,

there are times when it hurts because you know that's not you. But at the same time, I can't go out there and explain to everybody who I am and what matters to me and what hits me emotionally. And certainly when you're in the public, you can't, sometimes you hurt when people say things and you don't want to sit there and go, you just hurt me. So instead, you say nothing or you block everybody. Right. And neither one's perfect. And look, I'm a guy who's made mistakes in my life. And all I've ever tried to do is when I have is try to fix it. And when it comes to my family, which is the most important thing, I think we all did a good job of fixing it.

The first time ever I saw your face I thought the sun rose in your eyes And the moon and stars were the gift you gave To the dark and the empty skies The first time ever I kissed your mouth, I felt the earth turn in my hand. That was there At my command My love That was there At my command Gordon Lightfoot, The Last Time I Saw Her.

It's a nice poem. The first time Ever I lay with you And felt your heartbeat close to mine It's a young light play. Wow. I was going to say, this is not one of his better known tunes. This is from the 60s when he was starting off.

It's very young. You don't hear it. It was back in the Black Day in July and all that sort of stuff. So for me, there had to be Lightfoot on this top ten. I mean, I'm such a gigantic Lightfoot fan. And if you play acoustic guitar like I do, you end up playing a lot of Lightfoot. The first time

ever I saw your face Tim Thompson was in here recently and he brought a Gordon Lightfoot jam with him. If You Could Read My Mind is the one he brought. And a lot of people love that.

And if it wasn't going to be this, it would probably have been Song for a Winter's Night. Yes. Which, by the way, there's a very nice Sarah McLachlan cover

of that song you might want to take out. Oh, is there? Yeah. I mean, for me, you know, being a contrarian, I automatically am attracted to songs

that aren't necessarily the number one song of every artist. Like, if you asked me what my favorite Beatles song was, you know, a lot of people would say Hey Jude or Revolution or Lady Madonna or whatever, right? You know, um, uh, saw her standing there or whatever. For me, it was, it would be for no one, um, which isn't, people go, what, which song is that? And, uh, and I think it's the same with, with Lightfoot. So, um, I listened to a lot of Canadian music. I mentioned Rush before.

Everything from, you know, I've always been a big Sarah Harmer fan. A very good friend of mine, who I golfed with yesterday, actually, is in the band Walk Off the Earth. And so I've been, you know, I've seen a lot of Canadian acts. I love Canadian music.

So this was sort of to that. And then actually eventually, and you'll explain the change later on, because I kept changing my top 10 for you. Right. I realized I've got to have more Canadian music in my top 10 to be representative of that. So, I mean, for most people, Lightfoot is sort of the standard bearer for Canadian folk music and, you know,

still, you know, a giant, a true giant. And, you know, his songs like that one are, you know, when I hear that, I don't think of one particular person. You know, I think of, you know it i think of you know just that feeling of of being and you know it as we all do being that into somebody else you know and so um i could uh you know i could listen to canadian railroad trilogy or beautiful or um you know that or and I'm lucky enough to play guitar well enough that I can play some of them myself. And so Lightfoot just holds a special place for me. He's Drake's neighbor now, you know that? No. Yeah, apparently the bridal path Drake built down the street from Gordon Lightfoot. One of my favorite stories is I'm also a big fan of Ian Tyson, another Canadian, you know, music legend. And I remember going to see him at Ian Tyson, another Canadian music legend.

And I remember going to see him at Hughes Room, which we used to go to all the time. Love Hughes Room. Folks, if you're out there, go to Hughes Room. They need your support, actually. They almost closed down. Well, they did close down. Well, they did, and they reopened.

And they reopened. And I remember seeing him there, and he had two guitarists with him, accompanying him, both of whom, and he made the joke at the time, both of whom were named Gord because they were of a certain generation where people

named their kids after Gordon Lightfoot because he was such a giant on the scene. You mentioned Sarah Harmer there and it just made me think, have you ever gone to the Newfoundland music festival

that Brunt puts together? I haven't but I'd like to. Yeah me too. You want to go together? Yeah sure we'll do it. And Brunt I give him credit. He's really into he loves to hear new music. I don't know what his top 10 looks like. I'd be interested to see it but he's

one of those guys who I try to be and that is don't close your mind to new music i don't want to be listening to everything from 30 40 years ago and he's really he's really uh uh great that way and i know there's a couple of hamilton bands that he really really likes as well so uh well he's he says november so hopefully at some point in november he will come here kick out the jams and that that can be an episode you queue up in the truck. No, I'll just come here and sit and listen. Yeah, go ahead. I got three mics.

See, if you got us together, then you'd really have a show. Because Brunt and I love to trade stories. And one of the favorite things we like to do are trade McCowan stories, except we couldn't tell you most of those. Well, that's the episode I want to record, the untold true story of Paul McCowan. All right, let's kick out another jam. People are going to think I only listen to soft love songs. You're showing a different side of yourself because on the radio you're a bit of an arrogant condescending guy.

There are people who believe this is written actually at least partially about a hockey player. Really? Great expectations. Everybody's watching you. is watching you People you meet they all seem to know you Even your old friends treat you like you're

something new Johnny come lately The new kid in town Everybody loves you So don't let them down I like this part right here. You look in her eyes As the music begins to play.

Hopeless romantics, here we go again. But after a while, you're looking the other way. But after a while you're looking the other way It's those restless hearts that never mend Johnny come lately The new kid in town Will she still love you When you're not around The Eagles' New Kid in Town

Don't you think you're drawn to songs often too because they're in exactly your key and you can hit the notes for sure you know like i can sing this song bang on that's why so many people like yesterday by the beatles i think that's in a key a lot of people can do yeah and i mean this is glenn fry singing for the eagles and boy we lost him a little while ago. That was sad, too. We spoke many times already about Jim Van Horn, but just one last note on Jim,

that he had a couple of Eagles songs in his 10. One was Already Gone and Peaceful Easy Feeling. Oh, sure. Well, I went back and forth and back and forth with this one because there there had to be an Eagles song, because I'm a huge Eagles fan. That's another great documentary, the history of the Eagles. I was going to say, it turned me, I wasn't a huge Eagles guy. I missed the 70s. I was very young anyway.

I was listening to that Sesame Street album that was like Saturday Night Fever. Grover was on the cover. I can't remember what they called that thing. Sesame Street Fever, I think we called it. That was my jam back in the 70s. But I watched that doc you're talking about, about the Eagles. Two parts or whatever.

Excellent. Oh. Excellent. And I don't know if I would have liked Glenn Frey if I'd ever met him, but boy, I liked him as a musician. And I love the band and the harmonies, right? Like, you'll pick it up here in a second.

I mean, that's pure Eagles there. That's beautiful stuff. So they're one of my top bands. And it was either going to be this or Lion Eyes. And I went back and forth and back and forth. And I finally chose this one because I thought this was a little bit more complex. And I think it showed a little bit more of what a great band this was. So part of it's about the Eagles. It had to be an Eagles song.

And so this is the one I chose. That was off the Hotel California album, which I think probably was their best. This is one of those songs that I never turn off. And then people have always wondered, who is this song about? Or is it about somebody? It's like You're So Vain or like Ode to Billy Joel or a lot of those songs where people always wonder, who's it about? Who's it about? And you'll hear many different things. One of the stories, which I think has some truth.

So Mike Murphy, the former head coach of the Maple Leafs, is a good friend of mine. And we had this chat a while ago. In the early 70s, he was traded from the Rangers to L.A. Along with a guy named Gene Carr, who had blonde hair and they went to LA they arrived in LA in the early 70s um when um you would they would go to the troubadour where guys like the Eagles Jackson Brown Linda Ronstad um and all those guys were hanging out at the Troubadour and Murph knew these guys. But he, very soon after he got to LA, he ended up getting married. So he ended up being slightly removed from this. Well, Gene Carr got into the whole lifestyle. Gene Carr's still around living in LA. And he really

got into the lifestyle. And it's been written and reported that he was the inspiration as the new kid in town in LA when he arrived. Now, some people think it's somebody else. So it's one of those ongoing kind of debates in music history. But it may or may not have a sports context to it. I mean, I've just long loved this song for the harmonies and for the tune. I was thinking about this the other day, and I sort of, and you know, as I was listening to it and thinking about my coming to visit you, it made me think a little bit about sort of my own place now in the sports media, because hopefully my career is not over yet but it's you know it's

it's getting to that element of it and you you sort of feel that now as you're seeing you know sort of you asked me about the athletic and different people that have come into this business and you're sort of all looking at the the new kids in town and you feel like saying you know what be aware be careful because there there's a lot of things along the way that'll sort of trip you up. But you don't want to be the grouchy old guy who's saying, it used to be better when I was there

and now it's no good. So that's not how I feel. But it sort of made me think about that a little bit. But more than anything, it's the Eagles' great harmonies and just a great song. Remember, Macallan made a career out of being the grumpy old man,

so that's his shtick, right? He's the curmudgeon guy. That's like a shtick. Yeah, I mean, he'll tell you that, although he's a pretty grumpy guy anyways. But yeah, I mean, everybody's... He certainly made a thing out of that. Carly Simon, why do I think she confirmed it was James Taylor,

or did I just dream that maybe? See, I've heard it was an amalgam of James Taylor and Warren Beatty. You know, that actually almost made the top 10 because it's such a great song as well. So yeah, there's a few songs like that. I was just reading a bunch on, you know the song Ode to Billy Joel? Yeah.

About throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Yeah. Which is a lyric in that song. And people, there's still a debate going on was what were they throwing off the Tallahatchie Bridge? So there's a bunch of songs that are, who's that about and what was that and what does that mean?

I just remembered a question I wanted to ask you when you mentioned that you were, not Twilight, but the later years of your career or whatever. There's a guy who you worked with whose career went into his 90s, Milt Donnell. And I heard you on the radio tell this story and I shared this story of Brunt and now I want to confirm it with you to make sure I've got it right. But you had a conversation at least once with Milt about Bill Barilko. Yes, that's right. So I love Bill Barilko. I had Kevin Shea on here to do a whole episode about Bill Barilko. And I thought of Bill when you talked about... I told Kevin this story too.

Okay. Yeah. Kevin is great. But you mentioned like the song, the song, the Eagle song might be about a player. And I was remembering that, you know, this, this handsome guy, Bill Barilko was playing with the Hollywood Wolves before he was late. But I digress. Can you please share the story of when you asked Milt to compare Bill Barilko to a player that guys our age have seen play?

So this would have been in the early 90s or right around there, because I remember asking Milt, and I remember being shocked by the answer. I'm shocked. Every time I tell this story, I tell it a lot. Like, I told it to Brunt last week, and he's shocked to hear it. Everyone's shocked to hear it.

Yeah, I know. And first of all, Milt was such a wonderful man. Boy, was I lucky to get a chance to work with him. And so encouraging, too. People have to remember, Bill Barocco was a rough-and-tumble character, though. And this was at a rough-and-tumble part of the league. And you're right. He did start playing in his minor league career at the Hollywood Wolves

and then became a big kind of... He was blonde, and he liked to fight and all that sort of stuff, and came up, eventually ended up working his way up to the Leafs. He was from Northern Ontario. But I remember one day saying to Milt, so who would you compare him to now? And he said, John Cordick. I almost crashed my car when I heard you say it.

Because we have him like, he's the, I always say the Buddy Holly of Canada. Like this is a legend. The legend of Bill Barocco. I know. I mean, I liked John Cordick. I was a fan of John Cordick. I knew John Cordick really well. So hearing this comparison, though, I really was shocked.

And I think what he was commenting on, I'll have to ask him when I meet him again down the road, I don't think Barocco was a great skater, and I think he liked to fight, and I think he was not a skilled player at all, and he was a big personality. And Cordick was all those sorts of things. But I agree with you. skill player at all. And he was a big personality. And Kordick was all those sorts

of things. But I agree with you. And this is what legend and myth does, right? They've made Bill Barocco into like he was one of the greatest players in hockey history. He was going to be Bobby Orr if he had played more than his five years. Yeah, and I don't think he was, but that's what

sports legends do to you. That is an amazing story. Yeah, ask Nick Borchewski what it's like when you score a goal that fans... Let's face it, I would say the world's most famous hockey team or most popular hockey team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. I would make that argument. So one of the biggest goals in franchise history,

if you score that, and especially if you die young and leave a good-looking corpse, as they say, James Dean style, then yeah, it's going to be blowing way up. And then when you hear somebody who watched him play compare him to John Cordick, it's sort of like a reality check, I'd say. It brings you down to earth for a moment there.

But you know what? In his own way, and I don't think this is what Milt was referring to, but I knew John. He came from a tough upbringing, and he had a lot of problems. And he was in his own way. I mean, if Borilka was a Canadian tragedy, well, so was John Kordick in his own way.

Absolutely, absolutely. Gone way too soon. Let's hear another Damien Cox jam. guitar solo We'll see you next time. We may still have time, we might still get by Every time I think about it, I won't cry The bombs and the devil, and the kids keep coming Don't wait to breathe easy, no time to be young But I tell myself that I was doing all right There's nothing left to do tonight Let me go crazy on you

Crazy on you Let me go crazy, crazy on you The love is the evening breeze touching the skin This is good sound you got coming out of this. I know, and you forget how good music sounds in the headphones, right? Great jam, too. So that's Heart, Crazy on You. This is for everybody who thinks I just listened to wussy love music. Love songs.

This qualifies as CanCon. I think it qualifies. How so? CanCon. I think it qualifies. How so? I remember reading this somewhere, like Heart was CanCon because... Really? I can't remember.

I have to Google it. They qualify as CanCon. I don't know. Is one Canadian or something like that? No, none? Was it they were based in Canada and had Canadian production? There's something. I have to Google it, but somehow Hart qualified as CanCon, I think.

By the way, it's yours. Go ahead. I wanted to mention, as I said to you at the beginning, you said your listeners might be able to help me. Yes, please. There's an extended version of this song that I cannot find, but I would love to find. So this version we're listening to is like,

I think it's like five minutes, I think. But you're saying, how long is it? There's a much longer version that you can't find? Yeah. So anyone out there can find it. Let me know and we'll get it to Damien. So this is back in the 70s, right? Taking me back to the 70s.

Turn this part up. This is great. Thank you. Crazy on you Crazy on you Let me go crazy, crazy on you Oh What a song that is. I saw him open up for Def Leppard a few years ago at the Molson Amphitheater, and yeah, that track is just killer.

I can do you one better. I saw Nancy Wilson 10 days ago when she opened for Bob Seger. There you go. And she played this song. And for me, it was a bit of a bucket list moment because that opening and that guitar riff, I think, is one of the great guitar riffs in the...

Can you play the beginning part again? Yeah. This part? Yeah. She played it just like this. And then she's 62 or 63 now. So Anne is the singer, for those of you who get the Wilson girls confused. Nancy's the guitar player.

And she now, in concert, she did this, an extended version of this sort of classical guitarist part. And then, but then this part right here is what every guitarist would like to be able to play and play well. We're going to play it again. So, I mean, as I said, to avoid being pegged as somebody who just listens to syrupy love songs all the time, there is nothing I like more than a great guitar riff. The song that I had on here, as you remember, was Layla by Derek and the Dominoes.

And that was one of the great ones. by Derek and the Dominoes. And that was one of the great ones. But we could go through a bunch of different hard guitar riffs that really work for me, from Led Zeppelin to Rolling Stones to whatever. And I just think that one in particular is just the right one. So I'm like most people in that I'm driving in my car.

I got all my songs. I don't know how many are on here. And they range from every kind of music you can possibly imagine. And they come up, and then it's whatever the mood is in. And some days you're in the mood for stuff, and someday all you want to do is hear Crazy on You and crank it up and open the sunroof and play it so loud. And that is one of

those songs, the louder you play it, the better it is. Let's hear another Damien Cox jam. Who's this? I have to tell you, I could have easily, easily done ten Bruce Springsteen songs. The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays. Roy Orbison singing for the lonely. Hey, that's me and I want you only. Don't turn me home again.

I just can't face myself alone again. Don't run back inside, darling. You know just what I'm here for. Don't run back inside, darling, you know just what I'm here for So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore Sure, little faith, there's magic in the night You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright Oh, and that's all right with me You can hide with your covers and study your pain Because your lover's thoughts isn't right

Waste your summer praying and praying for a savior to rise from these dreams Well, now I know you're all that's understood Oh, I'm an awful girl That's beneath this dirty hood With a chance I'll make it good somehow Hey, what else can we do now Except roll down the window And let the wind blow back your ear

Well, the night's busted open These two lanes will take us anywhere We got one last chance to make it real To trade in these wings on some wheels Climbing back in One's waiting down on the tracks Oh, come take my hand Right now tonight to the case of promised land

Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road Lying out there like a killer in the sun There are no words to make it, we can make it Oh, Thunder Road's here tonight. Take off, Thunder Road. Well, I got this guitar. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Thunder Road. And my car's out back.

Feels in play to interrupt the boss. What a song, eh? Like, huh. Even now, you know, it's amazing. Isn't it amazing, songs you've heard? Hundreds of times can still give you a chill. That's the beauty of music, man. Sometimes the song comes on,

it's like you're hearing it for the first time, even though it's, what, the sound of the song. Absolutely. Just get you that day, at that moment, in that mood. Let me just say hi to Siobhan Morris, who's a reporter at News Talk 1010,

because she had Thunder Road on her list of 10 channels. Oh, well there you go. You have some common ground of Siobhan. So I'm a big Springsteen guy. He's my guy along with everybody's guy. And being a Springsteen fan, you really do feel like you're part of a bigger community. That's the thing.

So just like my first big band that I was really into was The Clash. And this was probably the first Springsteen song that really got me. I went, okay, I can go with this. Unfortunately, there's no Clash on my top ten. There's a guy who left us too soon. Joe Strummer. And that's another, we talk a lot about these rock docs, but the future is unwritten. Yeah.

Joe Strummer doc. Oh, and coincidentally, Ed Vedder appears in that doc too. I think he shows up in all the good rock docs. There you go. Just a big fan. One of my favorite things is, you know, the movie with John Cusack, High Fidelity? Of course, yeah. And Bruce Springsteen shows up in that.

And I think Joe Strummer comes up in that. I always thought, again, I was thinking about this as I was thinking about our visit, was in that part he talks about, he always dreamed about he'd like to be married or dating a musician, and then they talk about music, and she would like...

And I think that also made me think of Nancy Wilson in our previous one, which was, boy, a woman who can play guitar is a pretty sexy thing. Absolutely. Don't put that in because I don't want my wife to hear that part. She could take lessons. Thunder Road is just, obviously, it's one of his great, great, great songs. And his latest book is fantastic and really takes you through and

and you go through that stuff and you want i think he wrote that when he was 23 or 24 or whatever and his depth of of uh of of lyricism and and you know his ability to to write songs and both the music and the stuff was incredible and i mean i think I think it's just, if you love Bruce, you love Bruce. And, you know, I mentioned you, Brad Fane, I driving down to Detroit to see Seeger. Well, probably half the time we talked about Bruce and songs and lyrics that we liked and, you know, and for me on a personal level, my youngest is named after a Bruce Springsteen song.

So, and it's not, and to go with For No One and some of these other ones, it's not a very well-known Bruce Springsteen song. Her name is Leah. And Leah is on Devils and Dust, I believe. And it's a super song. I've never heard him sing it live in any of the concerts I've been to. But it's a wonderful song.

And I feel kind of good about that one because she'll go through her whole life thinking, actually, her name is Leah June because a good friend of mine was June Colwood and Trent Frayne. And so she's, her middle name is after the wonderful, amazing, incredible June Colwood. And she's named after Bruce Springsteen, a Bruce Springsteen song.

So I always thought that was kind of cool. Very cool. Let's hear another jam. Let's hear another jam. The way I see it He said you just can't win it Everybody's in it for their own gain, you can't please them all There's always somebody calling you down

I do my best and I do good business There's a lot of people asking for my time They're trying to get ahead They're trying to be a good friend of mine I was a free man in Paris, I felt unfettered and alive There was nobody calling me up for favors And no one's future to decide You know I'd go back there tomorrow

But for the work I've taken on Stoking the star Maker machinery Behind the popular song Joni Mitchell. Free Man in Paris. There we are back to the 70s again. It's funny how I keep getting dragged back to that.

Wonderfully, I always thought her songs were so subtly complex. And anybody who's tried to be a little bit of a guitarist, they try to play a Joni Mitchell song, it's really hard. And there's a story to this one. I was just reading a book about Robbie Robertson's book I'm really kind of into the band these days and he talked about him and his wife going to Paris with David Geffen

and a woman he was dating at that time who was in fact Joni Mitchell and they spent time in Paris for days and David Geffen got away from the whole music business. And that's what Free Man in Paris is about. You mentioned Paris, you take your kids to Paris, but isn't that a magical city? Isn't that a wonderful city? I just had the most wonderful visit there this summer and saw parts of the city that I hadn't seen before. and saw parts of the city that I hadn't seen before.

The best part of it was I did three days in Paris, went up north, went and saw Vimy Ridge, went to Dieppe, and then came back to Paris for two more days, and it was incredible. I got it. My second marriage, I got engaged at the top of the Eiffel Tower. That's very nice. That's how I roll, Damien.

Yeah, you're obviously a very romantic guy. I'm learning. Better late than never. So I had to add this. I can't remember. Oh, I took off one of those to put this in because I needed

more Canadian songs because I listen to so much Canadian music. What did you remove again? This wasn't the latest. Oh, I removed Year of the Cat. Right.

Al Stewart. Which I just thought was another one. Some songs, right? Like, we can sit here and talk about songs. Why does it matter to you about that? Some songs you just like. Yeah. You like what you like. Yeah. And the Year of the Cat was a song I liked.

But Joni Mitchell, I've read a lot of her songs had stories. And so anyways, like I said, I've just got into the band again. I just watched The Last Waltz again. I just watched it again too in the last month, I watched it again. The part where she sings Coyote is amazing. Yeah, that's fantastic.

Speaking of, I guess, is that a documentary? I guess, speaking of musical reality, whatever. Yeah, if you haven't seen The Last Waltz, it's worthwhile. And Levon Helm is amazing. It's really a shame that he and Robbie Robertson were kind of bitter enemies at the end. Absolutely. And that's another band that he and Robbie Robertson were kind of bitter enemies at the end. Absolutely. And that's another band that qualifies as CanCon. Levon's American, obviously, but there's enough

CanCon in there that it qualifies in the regulations. Oh, Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson's story. Have you read that book? No, I have not. You read it. It's fantastic. And I always remember they were the Ron Hawkins, Rockin' Ronnie Hawkins band, I guess, and then Dylan wanted to go electric or whatever and took over.

And during the time when he was getting booed for going electric, they were his band. Right. And so they had to live through that whole experience of being booed. Absolutely. How many are we at now? Two more. Two more.

Let's kick one out. And this is an inspired choice. So let's play this and talk about this jam. © transcript Emily Beynon ¶¶ ¶¶ It feels sacrilegious somehow to speak over top, but that's Ashokan Farewell. Am I saying that right? From the Civil War soundtrack. Yeah, a lot of people...

Jeez, when they keep adding, it's just heartbreaking. And that's why it was so beautiful. It was in Ken Burns' documentary, or series, on the Civil War. And now if you're watching the one he's done on Vietnam, it's just incredible. I mean, it's just,

this guy is one of the great talents of our time. So this music served as a perfect backdrop to that. It's not a new song, but it's been, and it's been covered and recovered. And my wife and I just love this. And it's from that Civil War series. And it's sort of, this is one of those things

whenever it comes on, I just stop. Because it's beautiful beautiful but heartbreaking as well and again I said to the beginning that a lot of my choices were representative of a type of music I listen to so I guess I've pretty much given away the the fact that I'm really just an old softy and a romantic you're ruining your rep man I am so just don't let anybody hear this this will just be between you and I. No one listens. Don't worry.

But I could have picked off something from a Broadway tune, like anything from The King and I to Wicked to Chicago. I could have picked La Cavatina from The Deer Hunter. I love soundtracks. I love musicals. I was thinking on the way down here I was listening to a Chris Stapleton song because I heard it at the end of the TV series bloodline one night that connection between the visual and music

always is really really really worked for me and so there's there's a whole, you know, world. That's like an entirely different, it's not really a jam, is it? But it's a whole other part of my musical catalog, I guess, that I really embrace. And it really works for me in a personal way too because I went to a friend's funeral of a friend's mother earlier this year, late last year, I can't remember what it was. And his sister, my friend's sister, got up and sang this incredible hymn that I'd never heard before. And I immediately went and found it and put it on.

And now I have an entire playlist of hymns and some of which really make me think of my late mother. And I think, I guess, you know, I want to be as open-minded as I can. I want to be able to listen to Led Zeppelin or Bruce Springsteen or The Carpenters or Heart or that music as much as I can. I don't say no to any music. Um, and, uh, and if, and if you're really,

and I kind of, my kids will tell you, I try to brainwash them on music, but I, I certainly have encouraged that and I do it in return. They play something for me and I want to hear it. I want to hear something new. Okay. May I ask you, because my teenagers listen to a lot of rap. So if they brought, if you're you mentioned you'll listen to anything, but if they brought you, I don't know, the new Chance the Rapper.

I love Chance the Rapper. I took my daughter to see him a couple months ago. Oh yeah, my son and I are heavy into Chance the Rapper. You mentioned him. He's like a gospel rapper. There's something really beautiful going on there. I think a lot of us associate rap with a negative, violent, misogynistic,

or with those themes. And sometimes they are. There's that fair share of that, yes. Yeah, but I love Chance the Rapper. And I'm not a rap fan, but there is rap that I like, that's for sure. Yeah, that chance the rapper, even non-rap fans, will find something in there I think they'll like.

He's great. But are you ready to listen to your final jam? I am. It's got a little bit of rap in it. That's right. That's a perfect segue. I should become a broadcaster. This will surprise some people probably.

Let's hear it. I'm going to set up the rap when it comes, okay? Sure. And there's a reason for that. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. Rise up, shepherd, rise up. Here for lock is wrong. Wrecking Ground Angels are shouting glory and alleluia. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. Forty days and nights of rain have washed this land.

Jesus said the money changers in this temple will not stay. What a biblical reference is that. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. And to your flock on Leadwell Street we'll be called for our service, come judgment day Before we cross that river wide Blood on our hands will come back on us twice While we wait for the rap part, let me just say this is, if you can't tell, this is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, right? And this is Rocky Ground.

Speaking of, like, hymns and such. Yeah, it's funny how that worked out, eh? It's the lapsed Catholic in me. There's lapsed Catholic in me, too. We got a lot in common, Damien. Yeah, okay. I think we're coming up to it. I'm sure people are thinking,

this is your second favorite Bruce Springsteen song. Here we come. We'll be you next time. A new day's coming We've been traveling on the rocky ground The rocky ground We've been traveling on the rocky ground There's a new day to come We've been traveling on the rocky ground The rocky ground We've been traveling on the rocky ground

The rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. You know, hearing that in the headphones here, I can see why that's one of your favorite sounds. Yeah, the sound here, and you mentioned before, we're so now used to listening to music in our iPods and we don't hear it as much.

And it's so much more powerful coming in a great pair of headphones. So I guess I should explain myself. Of all the Bruce Springsteen songs, I'm sure people are saying you call yourself a Bruce Springsteen fan. That's your second favorite. Well, I could have picked the one that I named my daughter after,

but that would have been a bit self-indulgent. This is off Wrecking Ball. I think it's a brilliant song, and it's wonderfully complex. And I really feel, and having read his book, I know the Springste having read his book, I know the Springsteen feels that way, that he's somewhat disappointed that music,

his more recent music, isn't held in as high esteem as some of his older ones. So I could have put Jungle Land or 10th Avenue Freezeout or Growing Up or whatever on there. But I think his last, you know, really, you know, Devils in Dust, The Rising, Magic, and Wrecking Ball there um but i think his last um you know it's really you know devils and dust the rising magic um and wrecking ball have been just fantastic albums with some fantastic music and people don't to me they're like that's a whole part of his career that would stand on his own and make him one of the greatest of our time so um the other part of that is, I think it shows from Thunder Road to there, the growth of his music,

the growth of his social conscience that really became a big part of his music and still remains a big part of his music. And the rap part in the middle, why do I like that? Well, first of all all he was going to do the rap and then he decided no i don't think that sounds right and and to have a woman do the rap is really interesting because we talked about how often rap rap is seen a misogynistic or has

misogynistic themes so they have the rap but it also shows me a musician who's willing to change and do different things and and embrace different kinds of music and that's those are just some of the reasons i love this guy as a musician so um you know is that my second favorite song i don't know but it it it's my it's a song that's really representative of why i love this guy as an artist and why he's endured for so long because the stuff in my mind that he does now is just as good as the stuff he did that people are more acquainted with. How's that? Did I explain myself?

Absolutely. And I was going to tell you that that rocky ground, if you like that, that could be your gateway drug to public enemy. Time to dive into the public enemy discography. I saw their, they had a great doc, or no, that movie. Because the doc you're thinking of, I think, is a tribe called Quest. No, I haven't, they had a great doc, or no, that movie. Because the doc you're thinking of, I think, is a tribe called Quest. No, I haven't seen a new Public Enemy doc.

But that's a band that's socially conscious. He's not talking about the misogynist stuff you hear out of some West Coast rap and stuff. But Public Enemy, if you ever want to try rap, listen to It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy. Just listen to it.

You'll, you'll let me know what you think, but Damien, your jams were fantastic. Your stories were even better. And thank you for addressing all the, the pestering Twitter questions I had off the top. I appreciate it.

I'm flattered that you invited me back and were interested enough to hear my musical thoughts. I hope I didn't drone on too long, but I enjoyed it. musical thoughts. I hope I didn't drone on too long, but I enjoyed it. And that brings us to the end of our 270th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Damien is at Damo Spin. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Brian Gerstein, and Paytm is at Paytm Canada. See you all next week. ¶¶