Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dana Levenson Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #880

Episode Date: July 8, 2021

Mike catches up with Dana Levenson before she kicks out the jams.

Toronto, stay tuned right here with Toronto Mike, and it goes a little something like this. Hit it! What up, Mike? Toronto VK on the beat I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm in Toronto Mike, wanna get the city love My city love me back, for my city love Welcome to episode 880 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything.

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He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me this week to kick out the jams is the host of On the DL, Dana Levinson. Hello. Let me hear that again. Hello. You got to project in that microphone.

You've been. Look how far it is. Okay, well, push it really close to you because I have to get within like five centimeters. There you go. Hello, Mike. Dana, I'm so happy to see you. So happy to see you. Let's unveil to the listenership who's listening to the podcast.

This is a significant moment. And I feel like this is going to piss off Mark Weisblatt. Why? Well, Weisblatt was in my backyard earlier this week. Okay. And he said that, please make me the first inside studio guest like since the pandemic started like he wanted to be the first person down here recording with me uh in the basement uh because he's fully vaxxed i'm fully

vaxxed but you dana levinson you actually are the first guest i've had in the basement since uh march 13th 2020, props to me. Seriously? Yeah. Honestly, it feels normal. The sound is great. Really happy to see you. How are things going?

So happy to see you. I mean, and we should tell everybody, we see each other usually once a week via Zoom, right? Right, via Zoom. Via Zoom. You are my producer extraordinaire for On The DL. On The DL. I love your show. Like, I love the way you have these candid conversations with people.

And it's very different from Toronto Mic'd. Like, it's just the way you come at it. Like, I was listening to the Farah Nasser episode. Yeah. Really, really, like, just strong. And, like, after that episode, I'm like, I wonder if I could, like, have Farah on Toronto Mic'd. Like, I just wanted post poach your guest, which I'm going to do.

Like she's going to come over at some point. You should, but you were fantastic with Farah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Did you, did you ever, my guests,

they're all so good. All of them. Did you ever work with Farah? Like, did you ever work for the same company? We did. We both worked for Bell Media. She was at CP 24 and I was at CTV Toronto News. Yeah.

I forget she was at CP24. Yeah. I have to do some homework here. Yeah, I'll help you with your homework. I'm good like that. Here's another fun fact. So not only are you the first in-basement studio guest since March 2020, but your husband, who you're madly in love with, is that correct? Correct. And his name is Kevin.

Yes. Okay. So you're just checking in. You're still madly in love with Kevin. For sure. Okay. What do your, what does your husband and I, what do we have in common? Oh, I can, I have a huge list, but, but, but for sure the most, I want the whole list.

Yeah. Yeah. That, yeah. Maybe off camera. No, I'm just kidding. Um, you guys share the same birthday. Isn't that wild? We have the, like not, yeah, maybe off camera. No, I'm just kidding. You guys share the same birthday. Isn't that wild? Yes.

We have the exact same day of birth. Exact same day of birth. But not the same year. I don't think so. Because I'm like 15 years older than him. I don't think so. But we have the same birthday, which I think is wild that your work husband and your real husband have the same birthday.

I know. I thought that was pretty wild too. Meant to be. Well, there's only a one in 365 chance of that being the case. So it's pretty low odds. But not as low as the odds of one of us having COVID from this discussion because you are fully vaxxed. Of course.

Yes, I am. Two dose summer, my friend. And you're fully vaxxed. I know your husband was early to get vaxxed, right? Yes. One of the first actually. Yeah. Way back in early January. Because he's a frontline worker. He's an emergency room physician. Correct. That's something else your husband and I have in common.

Emergency medicine. You know how to use a bandaid. We're both doctors. I actually got a tetanus shot today. Why? I got a new doctor and she was asking me like, when was your last tetanus shot? And I couldn't remember. Like, I think it was like 15 years ago. So she had me come in today to get a tetanus shot. Ouch. Literally saw a doctor today.

First time I've seen a doctor in a couple of years, actually. Except for when I broke my wrist, which is a whole different doctor. You know, that's a good reminder, Mike. I know that has nothing to do with what we're talking about, but you should probably make an appointment to see your doctor and talk about all the various shots, vaccines and everything you and your kids need. Because so many people, I included, did not take my kids for their schedules. They took a year off.

Yeah, their shots that they need and they're due, but they were double vaxxed. So we have to wait. So is everyone who's eligible in the Levinson household double vaxxed now? It's actually the green Levant, Levinson household. Yeah, we're all vaxxed. Okay, good news. Exciting.

I'm happy for you. I'm going to ask you a question carefully because I don't know if it's public. I'm very careful. You won't even need an edit on this. Is there any announcements you can make regarding Dana Levenson and the screen, the television screen?

Is it still called TV? I don't know. But the screen we watch programs on, do you have anything you can share with us that might be exciting? Or is it too early to share something? It's a little too early to share. Because I have signed non-disclosure agreements, Mike. Well, that's why I was so careful. Yes, I am a professional. You know that.

So I really can't share too much. But I have a couple of things on the go that are exciting. So neither of these things are public yet. It's public that, I mean, I can say I'm doing stuff. I just can't say what it is. Can you say like, say as much as you can that won't violate your NDA? Because this is big news

and I'm not going to violate our trust. You know, I'm like your confidant. You're my producer. I'm your confidant. But there's a couple of projects I know of that you're involved in. And one is a mind blow. Yeah. And you can't say anything more other than you will be seen on popular streaming services at some point.

Like, can I say that? Or like you'll be on the big screen. Will I be able to go to the Queensway Cinema at Islington and Queensway and see Dana Levinson on the big screen? I think so. Wow. But do you know like when you can,

because I will zoom in or whatever it takes to get the big announcement. Like, when can I say the magic words? Because I'm excited to say it and I'm not going to say it. I might mute and say it just so I said it. No, just kidding.

But like, when is it public information? I don't know. I wish I could tell you. I don't know. I, I, I,

I'm not privy to that information. Do you know that there's a comment in real time on the Facebook page that says that the lighting is great. You complained about the lighting when you got down here. It's been a long time. I have to admit, I have only recorded down here alone. There is a light

on the back of my head. So you can see like my hair looks like this glow. Do you want me to change that angle? I don't know. No, it's just, yeah, you, I mean, you see the glow of my head.

You don't see my face. It's quite the profile. Do you want to face the camera and wink or is it too? Sure, I'd wink at anybody. Here, hold on. Okay. So we're actually live in two places.

One is my pirate stream. That's live.torontomic.com. And that doesn't record. So this is like just for people who just basically are anti-Facebook. There's a big contingent anti-Facebook people. Yeah, you know, I know that. I actually know that. Because Zuckerberg is destroying the

world but there's another side to this which is that we're going to play your favorite songs of all time and there's some big time fucking artists we're going to kick out here i can't wait to kick it we might even hear from um madonna i don't want to spoil anything but we might hear from madonna i have to tell you something yeah i i have been given many challenges in my time this was difficult because i love so many songs and i and i really even right down to like the 10th 11th song i had to cut something out but there were so many bands so many songs so many eras so many decades okay i'm going to delve deeper into that but first i'm just going to say because we're playing these songs we you know big name songs uh facebook won't like that so essentially the reason live.torontomic.com exists is because

on pandemic fridays which you were recently a very special surprise guest you were amazing by the way thank you and you also kicked out madonna that day of course but because facebook doesn't like us playing those songs uh we get like removed forcibly removed from Facebook. So live.torontomic.com, we can live stream and they don't police that. Like there is no Sony or Warner policing that. Okay, but who's policing Facebook? It's an algorithm. Like it's not like a human here. No, of course.

But how are they doing that? They can pick up like, they can tell what song you're playing. So they have like a, I don't know, a database of songs where you'll get like, in these countries you're now muted. Sometimes you're literally like the video's unplayable or removed. Sometimes live streams get booted completely. It depends like what song and which, you know,

what they're doing with that song. So we're also on Facebook though. Just see how long we last. It's going to be like a fun experiment. But I'm just going to read a couple of comments. Moose Grumpy says she's very excited to see a live guest in the basement. She says woohoo.

Woohoo back. Brian Shelley also says amazing to see someone in the studio double vaxxed and looking relaxed. Awesome. Relaxed. Andrew Ward is looking forward to the list. He says it's going to be killer.

He says when a guest says it's tough, it means a lot of love, thought, and care went into these selections. He can't wait. Okay, I'm excited too. Just want to let the people know before we kick out the first jam and have our chat here

that On The DL is a wonderful podcast. You're the host and people can subscribe to it wherever you get toronto mic so wherever you subscribe to this podcast just search for on the dl you'll see dana's beautiful face you know you got the right one and uh subscribe and give it a go because i think a lot of the people who like what they hear on toronto mic will also like what they hear on the dl they'll like the conversations. They're pretty. Well, you're candid. Like you talk about everything. Yeah. There's not one, one topic we

will not cover and there's nothing that we will not say. And I've learned so much about you by listening to your episodes, things I had no idea, like struggles you've had in the past and things like, you know, you look at somebody and you say, oh, there's what a beautiful person on my TV screen. They must have a wonderful life. And then you hear like, you just don't know what's going on. And it's, it's awesome that you can be candid about all these things. Yeah. The more we share, the more we care. We help people, right? The more we share, the more we care. That's how you help people, particularly through the pandemic. People needed help. So we were there.

And as we come out of this thing, again, this is completely legal. I'll just point that out. I looked it up. Fully vaxxed people can meet indoors, I think up to five people. We could have three other guests. We could hug.

We can hug. I think we're going to do some hugging. We haven't hugged. Well, we're going to hug after this episode. Do you want to hug right now? We can hug. We're going to going to do some hugging. We haven't hugged. Well, we're going to hug after this episode. Do you want to hug right now? We can hug. We're going to hug after. Do you realize we have never hugged?

But you visited. We never hugged the first time. But I didn't hug you the first time. Because you don't hug people when you don't know them that well. Well, I do. But I used to. You didn't hug me. I'd remember that.

I think you were scared of me the first time. You know who hugged me like crazy though? Ann Romer hugged the shit out of me. Like where was the Dana Levinson hug that first visit? I don't know. I just got back from Italy. I was all in a different place. Oh, Italy.

Yes. Is this going to come up during the jams or did you want to talk about it now? No, I just want to give an Italian wine. Okay. So you know who's, first of all, I have Great Lakes beer for you. I know you do. And you've got wine here. Can I just read it to people?

Because I don't even know. Monica, by the way, is the great beneficiary here. She loves her wine. Il brusciato. Brusciato. Brusciato. I was terrible. Tell me, when was the last time you were in Italy?

Two years ago. But I was supposed to go back last summer and this summer. And I, of course, have not been back. And you're going next summer, I hope. I'm hoping before next summer, but yeah. You know, they're in the... Every summer until I can't. Can I tell you, I've been there once.

Monica and I did our honeymoon in Italy. And I got to tell you, what a trip. Like, I would love to go back. I would love to go back. It's the best. It's like heaven on earth. What did I see? A couple of things recently, like recently that took place in Italy.

One is there's a new Pixar card. Your kids are too old for this, but my kids are like, well, two of my kids are right in the wheelhouse. There's a new Pixar movie that takes place in Italy. And even the Pixar movie makes you want to go to Italy. I don't know. My kid's too old. Maybe not.

How old's your youngest? 14. At 14, I don't know. He may watch it with me if I beg him tell him there's a new uh luca i think it's called he might but thank you so much but he's away right now so i'm i'm kid free wow i wonder what's going on in the uh green levinson household uh that's awesome uh they don't even let's do a show on that. Are they on overnight camp? Is it overnight camp?

Yes, they're at overnight summer camp. Wow. Okay, so a lot of this conversation will continue while we kick out the jams here. You should really move that. Okay, well, look. You want to do it? I don't mind. So I'm going to just put this here.

Poor guests. Okay. I'm moving the camera. But you talk to the people and narrate it while I do it. What would you like me to say? Talk about it. Anything you want. You're the broadcast professional.

Well, I'm hoping that everybody who's watching right now is starting to feel, that's the word I'm thinking of, starting to feel a little bit better about life and the world, because I'm certainly starting to feel a little better. I went out for the first time yesterday. I sat on a patio first time. So I didn't run to a patio a couple of weeks ago when patios opened. So yesterday was my first time and I met with two of my CTV alum and, uh, it was wonderful. Who did you meet with? Naomi Parnas and a friend of mine who's still there,

Kevin Lee, who's still an assignment producer. And we just, like, it was normal. Like, we were just out for lunch. Is that better? Because I don't... It's better. It's just... It's nicer.

It's nicer. Okay, I think. Remember, this is an audio program, so I, you know... Mike, it will never... You have known me now very well for two years, quite well. And you know, even though it's audio, I am a visual person. No, I know because you come from TV.

So you're visual. And yes, and I try to make you happy with that regard. But in my mind, this tries to make me happy. But this show of mine, I still consider it like theater of the mind. I really do consider it an audio program. But the cameras are on because some people do like to see it and i've kind of come around hebsey turned me around on that a couple of years ago so i said okay i guess well he's hit the cameras like yeah i was kind of against cameras in the studio like that'll just change it up or whatever and then he's like no

he's a tv guy too he's like no you gotta have the cameras. Is it open? No, this one, you don't open this one because it's very old, but it's a very rare beer. It's the Electric Circus. These two are empty. I love that. Yeah, shout out to the cowboy, Kenry. Alright, so we're going to kick out your first jam. And then we're going to talk more about... And no apparent order

too. You know that when I sent you my list. I didn't know that because I just put them in the order you sent them. Oh, there's no apparent order. I'm going to play them in the order you sent them okay and then after so while we do this uh we're gonna delve into the the challenge like how did you do it how long did it take you did you get anyone to help you prune your list like i'm interested in the process so without further ado i'm gonna get this one out of the way because everyone's expecting it so here is oh no i like to ask the question dana fucking levinson i knew that was happening i knew that was happening are you ready to kick out the jams i'm ready to kick out the jams yaha you know it good start

it was first on your list well she's always first on your list? Well, she's always first on my list. Medina. Thank you. Holiday Celebrate Holiday Celebrate If we took the holiday Took some time to celebrate

Just one day out of life It would be It would be so nice Everybody said the word We're gonna have a celebration All right, Dana, remind us, because those who missed your awesome appearance on Pandemic Friday recently. Why did you choose this jam? Does it not make you happy?

Does this song not make you happy? I don't care what you think of Madonna. We'll get into that in a second. But when you hear that song, it makes you happy. See, I like this Madonna. Me too. I love this era of Madonna. This is, I don't want to say, I like this Madonna. Me too. I love this era of Madonna. This is,

this is, I don't want to say, I was too young. I wasn't coming of age yet. But this song was like one of the first dance songs where I really felt like I could have a dance party for one. You know,

dance in front of your mirror. Big fucking gem. This is really the breakthrough for Madonna right this is the it was a hit tell me in timelines I think this was her first

hit single it was 1983 so when does Desperately Seeking Susan come out after I can do it after

yeah that's after for sure that's after okay I will check the year while we're chatting the teased hair and the mesh not that much after I don't think.

No. So you just, it was love at first sight? Yeah, I've loved Madonna since Borderline. Like, I loved her from the second she started singing and she was out there. And I followed her story. I loved the idea that, you know, she'd like the, I don't want to say two cents in her pocket,

but like five bucks in her pocket, moved to New York City, wanted to be a dancer, and just, she followed her dream. And while she was dancing in France, she gets discovered as a singer. So, and then she comes back to the States, and it's just, her whole journey has been like,

you have no idea where life is going to take you, but you have a dream, and you're going to stick with it. You're going to believe in yourself. And I have followed her and have, you know, kept her in my back pocket since I was like just double digits, literally. Do you ever wonder like, what would Madonna do? Like when you have decisions or things in your career, like for example, you courageously, again,

I've been called out on the carpet for this many times by you because i thought they pushed you out of ctv oh here we go i'm here to correct the for the record you said you chose to leave after 19 years and uh i'm wondering if that's one of those ballsy decisions like ballsy career moves where you're saying what would madonna do she'd fucking quit. Well, I think Madonna would have gotten out of there years prior. Many, many years. But unlike Madonna, I'm not dripping in moolah.

And I could not. I've been being a single mother for a long time. Like Madonna is a single mother. I couldn't do it. So I had to wait for the right time. And I think she would tip her hat to my courage and being vulnerable and putting it out there. And that's what she has done her whole career. She just puts it out there. She really, I mean, she was the, she did a lot of firsts.

And I don't know if I have done a lot of firsts, but I was one of the first to be a weekend anchor and a reporter in Toronto to, to hold both hats. So that was kind of a, a big deal at the time, which was a long time ago. Um, but she,

you know, she just, her music is just, just makes me happy. And she never got stagnant, right? Like she was constantly re like, uh Like she was constantly reinventing herself. Which, again, I would have little breaks in my career

where I would go and come back, whether it was for maternity leave or various things I would do. And every single time I would think it was a little bit of a reinvention. And it always, again, I had her in my back pocket. would think of her you know and I and I aspire for the Madonna arms I got nothing but respect oh you have them you have better than Madonna no I do not you've got very strong arms that comes from Madonna that's my inspiration oh my god okay see I've got my Madonna arms oh my god

so and they call me Medina was there any any question in your mind and heart as to which, because you know, I only one per artist when you kick out the jams on Toronto Mike. So you can't kick out 10 Madonna songs. Oh, I could though. Were you, was there ever a moment of like which Madonna song or you always knew it was going to be Holiday? Because that's your first love when it comes to Madonna. Holiday was my first love.

But as we talked about, as I was your surprise guest several weeks ago, I love erotica. Like, oh my God, that, oh my God, so good. I love music. I love Vogue. I love like a virgin. I could go on and on. Puppet Don't Preach.

Like a prayer. I mean, Frozen. I could just, there's so many so many so many this used to be our playground right this was the uh you're gonna sing for me no the the the gina davis uh league of their own right this is the song i love see i loved league of their own at the end when the older players come back to the did they come back to the grave where i don't want to confuse the ending of saving private r Ryan with the ending of League of Their Own. Oh, that's funny.

But whatever that ending made me, yeah. At the end of Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon as an old man goes to the grave, you know, and that chokes me up and it gets me. And there's something similar at the end of... Anything about Matt Damon chokes me up. He's my hall pass, by the way. I know we're talking about

jams, but Matt Damon's my hall pass. But for real, because a lot of people joke about hall passes, but I feel like you could, I mean, theoretically, you could meet Matt Damon at some conference and you could end up in his hotel. Okay. First of all, Matt Damon, I am not his type. Believe you me, I've done enough research. Okay.

What does that mean? He doesn't like blondes? No. He likes brunettes. Yes. I'm not his type. Okay. What does that mean? He doesn't like blondes? No. He likes brunettes. Yes. I'm honest. That's his loss. His loss.

But for real though, because I know you and Kevin, you're so crazy in love. Crazy in love. Forget Jay-Z and Beyonce. It's you and Kevin. Is that a real? Oh, that's a great Madonna song. Crazy for you. I love that song.

I'm crazy for you. You know, there's a lot of hits. I fell off. I bought True Blue. I feel like singing right now. Well, do it. No. I bought True Blue. I feel like singing right now. We'll do it. No. I had True Blue and Cassette

and I loved it. Did you say Cassette? Yeah, I had the Cassette of True Blue. So I did. And I had the Cassette of Like a Virgin. What was the album?

Remind me, was it, what was after True Blue? Oh God. Because that's the one where I fell off the Madonna train. Yeah,

she had a couple that went but i loved true blue like and the previous tell you uh yeah sure go ahead i also loved like a virgin so i'm glad i knew you were going to pick a madonna and i figured it might be holiday so the rest will all be a surprise to everybody but um i have to do research right now to see what came after okay let me start your second jam and then we're going to find out how difficult it was for you to pick just 10 songs here so here is dana's second jam oh yeah it's got that slow build up here so we can we can talk over it oh yeah i think this is going to surprise people i think this one's a little off brand whereas madonna holiday is perfectly on yeah you know what what's the brand right like I think this is going to surprise people. I think this one's a little off-brand,

whereas Madonna Holiday is perfectly on-brand. Yeah, you know what? What's the brand, right? Like... So good. so good wow wow wow surprised you didn't you

I'm surprised. And this is fun, right? Here we are on a rainy, rainy day. That's why we're in the basement, by the way. And we're kicking out the jams. This is fun. I'm laughing at these comments. I'll read them to you.

I want to hear them. All right. So one of them is from Beck. She says, then I've got a shot with Matt. I guess that's because you were saying he's into brunettes. Yeah, but he's married with several children. I don't know. Is he faithful?

Yeah. Just checking. He is. Because, you know, these Hollywood types have open relationships. No, Matt Damon is all good all the time. Uncle Bobby Banilla, Bonilla, sorry, who's still getting a million bucks from the Mets every single year, but that's another story.

That's for Hebsey on Sports. I love that handle. It says, that was a good Madonna. He says, a good Madonna song for today would be Rain. Oh, yeah.

We could have done, we could have kicked out the rain. It's completely, by the way, my daughter is, my five-year-old daughter's first ever soccer game is scheduled for 6 p.m. today.

There's not a chance they're going to play. The field's already flooded. No. It's just raining cats and dogs all freaking day today. And that's why we're in the basement here. Why Pink Floyd? Why not?

How could you say why Pink Floyd? I don't. Okay, here's my feeling on you. I know you like to dance. I can envision you singing. I just feel this is the concept, the Pink Floyd. I just don't feel it with you. And I love the fact that you're, I love the fact that you're, you leave the comfort zone

or whatever. But what made you fall in love with Pink Floyd? I love Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd. And not only do I love Pink Floyd, I have given my love of Pink Floyd to my children. Really? And my boys love Pink Floyd, which I know there's a lot that follows with that. So I'm very careful with their age and stage with Pink Floyd.

And that saying, yes, that's pink floyd was for me growing up it was all of that wow now we've spoken in the past because you've been on toronto mic before about your uh father yeah 100 meter uh 100 meter specialist Dash Yeah well 100 meter I mean you run it You don't walk it Or like Yeah stroll it Or whatever

But Canadian champion 100 meters I want to get my facts right He was at the Olympics Okay so but he 1956 Olympics For a period of time At least

He was the fastest man In the world The fastest man In the world In the world Your father And what's his name again Stan Levinson

The late grade Stan Levinson Okay Would he would he have dug a pink floyd jam yeah for sure yeah for sure i mean he was more of a bgs kind of guy like that was his madonna right he loved the bgs probably but he was ran to stain alive but yeah exactly and he was uh i mean barbara streisand and ne Diamond, Frank Sinatra. Those were his, that's what I grew up listening to. Like, there were eight tracks. But yeah, he liked Pink Floyd for sure. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eagles.

But would you have seen Pink Floyd in concert? Not with him. No, I mean, no, not with him. Would you, Dana Lev Levinson have seen Pink Floyd in concert I would have yeah I can see you

at a Madonna show oh no for sure I would have gone to Floyd this is exciting okay so while Pink this is a great song

you chose too this is actually my favorite Pink Floyd song as well comfortably known well done now tell me about the process

like so like do you start off I'm curious do you start off with like 50 songs and you start whittling it down like how did you come up, I'm curious, do you start off with like 50 songs and you start whittling it down? Like, how did you come up with 10 songs?

I had probably 25 to 30 songs. I knew Pink Floyd for sure. I knew Madonna, Pink Floyd. That was like. You had a few slam dunks. Yeah, those were slam dunks for me. Pink Floyd is probably, yeah, I would say by far one of my favorite bands of all time and will be forever.

And like I said, I love that my children can appreciate good music. We listen to Floyd when we're driving. We take road trips. We're listening to Floyd whenever it's on in one of their rooms or they're blasting it, whatever. It's like, turn it up. They think I'm the coolest. Like, turn it up. They're like, they think I'm the coolest. Like, turn it up.

Amazing. Amazing. You know, if it's too old, if it's too loud, you're too old. That's what they say. That's what they say. Okay. So do you wish you could take him to like the planetarium and go check out Laser Floyd? You remember this at the McLaughlin planetarium?

Is that thing open? That thing shuttered, right? Like, it's gone. Yeah. Oh my god, that would have been trippy. That would be trippy. That's real. Let's get that thing back open when this pandemic's over. But you have to consume a few things before you go to that for sure. And I'm not doing that with my children.

There's no way. Okay. So that's a great introduction to cannabis here. So now that cannabis is as legal as drinking this Great Lakes beer right here. Yes. Do you partake? In cannabis? Yeah.

I will say that I definitely did partake in cannabis when I was into Pink Floyd for sure. Woo! But lately. Real talk. L lately, no, not at all. Not at all. What about the CBD? Not at all. I'm trying to educate myself. I started with Dr. Mike Hart, the pot doc.

I spent hours with him yesterday. You did? He's the best. Not in person. We did two hours of Zoom stuff. Oh, he's so good. Everyone go follow him because he is just a wealth of knowledge and he's the best person. We did two hours of zoom stuff. Oh, he's so good. Everyone go follow him. Cause he is just a wealth of knowledge and he's the real deal.

Not just because he's the pot doc, but because you know so much about health and wellness. And I love that about him. Um, and he, he enlightened me. He educated me on CBD and CBD oils. And, uh, I just, I haven't jumped on that yet and I want to, but I'm, I have to, I have to do everything. You got to educate yourself. Yeah.

And you also have the built in luxury that you, you have a medical doctor in bed with you. Literally. Literally, literally. But you know, we, I will tell you something very intimate and sexy. We do not talk about medical stuff in bed. Not even cannabis? Definitely not cannabis. Wow.

Okay. So keep that shop talk out of the bedroom. I have asked him about CBD oils and stuff and he's like, try it. See how you feel. See if it helps with your pain. But I'm going to tell you something. My pain's been gone. I've been feeling great.

Yeah. I see you're feeling great. So good. I feel so good. Before I kick out your third jam, how's Rebel doing? Oh my goodness. I love that you just asked about my fur baby. He's delightful. He's such a joy. It's like, he's just a big ball of love. But he had an injury, right? Yes, he did. What was his injury again he sprained his little wrist so his front paw he did that yeah so sad he was limping and he was in pain and he was just a little puppy so he

had to wear a cast and it was just a horrible is that expensive or do you have insurance for the insurance i've had dogs before and i know yeah that's tough's tough. Okay. So shout out to Rebel. I hope Rebel's listening here. He's a cool dog. Let's get to this third jam. This is a good one. Oh, they're all good ones here. I'm looking at the list. This is so good. the guitar listen to this so good gonna get louder yes it is to get louder. Yes, it is. Come on.

Like, it's so good, right? It's very good. I approve. It may still have time We'll see you next time. There it comes. What is that? What's happening? I can't see.

I know, I know, I know. You'll see it later when you check in on Twitter. But Blair Kerrigan is watching live and he's got Matt Damon behind you. Oh, that's crazy. And Madonna's behind me. Oh, he's awesome. Remember Jimmy Kimmel had that bit with Sarah Silverman?

Yeah, of course. I'm fucking Matt Damon. That could be your jam. Come on. I can't believe it. Matt Damon. I think Saving Private Ryan is the very first time I ever saw him on the big screen. Because Good Will Hunting is after that, right?

Did you see The Martian? No. You have to. But that's later, right? Yeah. It's recently right like i know he's incredible isn't that am i maybe oh maybe um i don't know it's uh he's had such a tremendous career but saving private i'm saving private i believe is before goodwill hunting

in my mind which is very unreliable okay so heart i looked at your list and there's a lot of big fucking jams we're gonna kick out today today. But there are actually no Canadian artists. Yes, there are. No, because. Yes. No, no. No, there's not. We will.

When it comes up, you can bring it up. I say. Oh, yes, there is. There is actually. I'm sorry. I apologize to you so humbly. One of your jams is absolutely pure Canadian. But this jam is a heart lived in like Vancouver for a while

when they were putting out these jams. Yes. So like honorary, temporary Canadians. I could have done a lot of Canadians. But not really. But this is. And you do have a Canadian jam

and I apologize. We'll get to it in a couple here. So tell us why Heart? Okay, first of all, if you're a female and you like music, you like Heart. Well, if you like rock music. You like Heart. Like if you love Barbra Streisand, you like heart. Well, if you like rock music. You like heart.

If you love Barbra Streisand. I love Barbra Streisand. Barbra Streisand was on my list, by the way. I love her. Have you met Stu Stone? Well, we haven't formally met. You've never met him in person? No.

He loves Barbra as well. He likes Babs. He's a Babs fan. Yeah, of course. His parents probably blasted it in his house growing up. Crazy on you. So this song, for all the reasons you can think of,

the acoustics, the words, the melody, it's all there. But to me, it was the idea about the song behind, the reason behind the song right it's about forgetting the world and going crazy on somebody it's and they were you know it's the 70s women didn't talk

about their sexuality and going crazy on somebody sexually they didn't do that people didn't right so they were the first ones that did that and of course i was a baby when this came out. So it's not until I started to appreciate this. Okay, but you know, I'm going to call. Hold on. Carol Pope on line two. She just wants you to know she was going crazy on you two. Shout out to FOTM Carol Pope. She was creaming her jeans for goodness sakes.

What more do you want? High school confidential. That's true. You're right. I'm sorry. You are. She did. In fact, she actually called out Madonna confidential part. That's true. You're right. I'm sorry. You are. She did. I know. Yes. Uh, in fact, she actually, uh, called out Madonna cause,

uh, Carol was grabbing her, uh, crotch in performance. Like, you know, and then hers is not as good. Nothing against Carol,

nothing against Carol, but you do, you keep, there's nothing comparable to Madonna's. Okay. But, but, but is it,

is it possible Madonna ripped off that move from Carol Pope? Like Madonna saw it and sort of took it? Like this is what Carol Pope is saying. I don't think she ripped it off. I think she was maybe inspired by it and she rejigged it, pardon the pun, to make it her own. I mean, she spread her legs a lot differently. Michael Jackson did it as well. Like he was a big crotch grabber.

Right. And nobody crotch grabbed like Michael, right? Well, who's crotch grabbing? No, but that's a whole other podcast. But one would argue that maybe Elvis was before. Never grabbed his crotch. No, he would never grab his crotch. No, you're right, he did not.

No, he didn't. In fact, in the late 50s, I think it was Ed Sullivan, but remember when he was singing, there ain't nothing but a hound dog, and they told him he could only do it if he sang it to a hound dog? Like, yeah, because it was too, like, provocative. It was...

Anyway, this is way back. Okay, we've come a long way, baby. But I do love Heart. Heart is amazing. I love him, too. I love Magic Man. I mean, that's a great song, too. Barracuda.

Barracuda is incredible. But hard is that this song is, also if you have any aspirations of singing, right? And to hit those notes, to sing this song, I've always wanted to sing this song. Anna Nancy, right? The Wilsons. Wilsons sisters are cool.

Yeah. And one of them got married to the director of, oh my God. What's the great movie with, somebody's going to have to help me out here. There's a Cameron Crowe. No. No? Am I getting that fact wrong? I feel like one of them was married to Cameron Crowe.

Really? I'm going to have to double check all these facts, actually. It's a lot of facts. I'm going to confirm my fun fact i will say this uh i try to do some fun facts but usually i confirm them ahead of time like we're gonna do pandemic friday tonight and i have my facts like confirmed and corroborated right now i'm spitballing off the top of my head which is dangerous because then i get facts completely wrong i will tell you that i saw heart open for deaf leopard and they were very good but i see a comment from uh happy donna who says heart kicked ass when this person saw them in 1985 i think that kicked ass but they but they uh i think

as recently oh nancy was married to cameron crowe thank you andrew ward and is almost famous with the movie i could never remember the name almost famous even though it's one of my favorite movies of all time but uh nancy was married but then did divorce cameron crowe so we got that settled there great choice it's a harder rocker i'm actually really impressed because madonna expected pink floyd i thought maybe too cerebral not that you're not a smart chick but i just didn't yeah yeah bring it crazy on you uh hard rock and jam i actually it's heavier than i thought you'd go towards i'm a rocking girl i'm a little bit of a rock and roll here's a song that's more on on brand i'd say so let's kick out your

fourth jam okay and this guy is married to a canadian so there's your canadian element it's a little bit funny such a good this feeling inside i'm not one of those who can easily hide i don't have much money, but boy, if I did, I'd buy a big house where we both could live. But then again, no Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do My gift is my song and this one's for you and you can tell everybody this is your song it may be quite

simple but now that it's done I hope you don't mind that I put down in the woods Now that it's done I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind That I put down in the woods How wonderful life is While you're in the woods

What a nice jam. Isn't that nice? Very nice. This song is from 1970. It was released in 1970, of course. I have no nice? Very nice. This song is from 1970. It was released in 1970 of course. I have no recollection of 1970. But

it reminds me, everything Elton from this era reminds me of being a kid at summer overnight camp. It's so campy. Would you reveal the name of your overnight camp or is that a secret? Camp Winnebago.

Like the remote, the RV. But the camp is called Camp Winnebago. And whereabouts is Camp Winnebago? Huntsville. Okay, nice. Beautiful, beautiful. So I grew up going away to summer camp and this song always reminded me of camp

and everything Elton reminded me of camp. But I just love, I love so many Elton songs too. This was really hard because I was talking with Kevin. We were going through so many songs. I was going to ask, like, did you bring in Kevin? Oh yeah, I did. And we, I mean, there was a lot of, well, what about this one? I'm like, oh, I love that song.

Yeah, there's a lot of that. And we were that and we were singing and we were like wow jamming it out ourselves it was fun i had a role in giving you this joyous time we did we had a lot of fun with it a lot of fun with it yeah do you know this was a lady dies favorite song yeah yeah and it's in the grammy hall of fame too that's a good song it's a very good song bernie Elton there. Elton, of course, married a Canadian. Yep. And

long may he run. I think he was, last when the pandemic hit, he was on like a retirement tour, I want to say, so I don't know what the status is of that. I'd like to go see him. Have you ever seen him? No, I'm dying to see him. Now or never. Money is no object. Let me tell you something.

It's now or never for a lot of things in my life. That's how I look at life. But this really is now or never. I know. But not because you're going anywhere, but because Elton, who knows how long he'll be performing. This could be it. You have to do this.

Okay. I saw him in 89. I just want to see the shoes. Well, you're going to see more than the shoes. Oh, I know. I'm kidding. I want to see a lot more. We got to get you to Elton John.

Everybody, we got to get Dana to Elton John before it's too fucking late. Do you know when? I don't know anything because I had to go. They're just starting to announce their first show now. Well, here's the thing. So I had the keyboardist for Blue Rodeo in the backyard last week. Last week? This week. This week. Oh, my God. What a week it's been. thing so i had the keyboardist for blue rodeo in the backyard uh last week last week this week this week oh my god what a what a week it's been and i asked them they're in the books to play

budweiser stage blue rodeo is playing budweiser stage on august 28 and that's my son's birthday and that's why they're playing they're gonna shout out your son but this mike baguski the keyboardist isn't even sure like we still don't have an official ruling that that can happen. Like it's not yet. Things are supposed to open up by then, but that hasn't opened up yet. So all bets are off. I don't know what the status is of any concerts of any kind. I used to go see Blue Rodeo play in London, Ontario.

Wow. I'm aging myself. In London, Ontario, when I went to Western, University of Western Ontario, I'm aging myself in London Ontario when I went to Western University of Western Ontario and we would go watch

Blue Rodeo and they would be playing like in bars and some of the university gigs shout out the bars do you remember your London bar

the Seeps okay oh god what was the name on campus the big bar on campus that I went to all the time with an S

what's the name what's the name somebody campus? The big bar on campus that I went to all the time? With an S. What's the name? What's the name? Somebody, if you went to Western. You know who lives? We're going to get somebody who knows the Western bar. What's wrong with you? Why am I forgetting? There's a delay here, so they'll get that in like 10 seconds.

Do you know that Dr. Mike Hart lives in London? I do. Okay. You know your shit. Okay. Do you know my husband also? He did a residency in London. No, I did not know that. That's another thing we have in common. Just kidding. Okay. Do you know my husband also? He did a residency in London. No, I did not know that.

That's another thing we have in common. Just kidding. Okay. So this is the Canadian. I'm about to play the bonafide true Canadian on your list. Are you ready? Mm-hmm. Oh, I'm thinking about our younger years There was only you and me

We were young and wild and free Now nothing can take you away from me We've been down that road before But that's over now You keep me coming back for more Baby you're all that I want When you're lying here in my arms I'm finding it hard to believe

We're in heaven You sing to me. This is one of my favorite Brian Adams songs. And I approve. I gotta say, I really like Brian Adams. Okay, you're gonna laugh when I tell you why I love this song so much. Okay, tell me. Well, I love this song for so many reasons, but I love all my songs.

That's why they're on this list. Well, you know, if you didn't love a song we're kicking out, I'd say you're doing it wrong. Right. No, I love this song. I loved it when it came out in 85, I believe. And I was in, I was sort of in that stage where boys were becoming a thing. See, now you can't say that.

Now you can't say boys. Now you have to say like... Yeah, but you can say boys if you are attracted to boys. Well, I was attracted to boys. And my girlfriends, like my friends who are girls, if they were attracted to girls, we didn't say that out loud. Then, as we got older, we were allowed to say it. But we didn't say it then.

Early 80s, like 80s, 45, women weren't saying it out loud. Put it that way. Only Carol Pope. You're right. Right. They just weren't. And Dusty Springfield. You're right.

Oh, yeah. Good one. So I was really, it was sort of like the era of the boy, sort of coming of age and toys. And I found this song so romantic. I thought, could there be a guy out there that would ever think that about me, like being in heaven with me? And that's what I loved about Brian Adams.

I just thought his songs were so romantic. For the 80s, it wasn't like Lionel Richie romantic. That's a whole other story. Hello. No. Truly. Truly. Okay. That's a good song. I don't even know. Do I know Truly? Was that a hit? I only know the Lionel Richie

radio hits. Truly was a hit? No. Because I'm truly truly in love. Oh, of course. So I found Brian Adamsams music very rock like rock romantic yeah and i was a rocker chick you think i wasn't a rocker chick so like madonna but i was a rocker chick so i loved i loved his music so this song um there was a remix of this oh yeah yeah no years ago yeah you're right it was a big hit for someone else recently. And it reminded me of my husband.

Oh. Because I grew up. Because you're in heaven when you're with Kevin. Well, because I knew Kevin all growing up. He was actually my first crush. Wow. Then I hadn't seen him for over 20 years. And then we fell madly in love.

And to me, it's like, now we're finally together. We're in heaven. It took a long time for us to be together. So that's why I love this song. We're finally in heaven. It's heaven. I'm so happy for you. Thank you.

Like, you're so happy. You're so clearly happy. You became so happy when I came into your life. Yes. Is that a coincidence? I don't know. By the way. My second husband.

My work husband makes me so happy i have songs for you you should kick out the the mic jams okay so by the way we were talking about london ontario like campus so you mentioned seeps of course uh there's a comment here the wave no no okay and i googled it it's bugging me this spoke yes thank you i had to go to reddit there's a there's a best bars in london uh commentary here uh right on campus the occasional drink deal pretty much only students yes chill atmosphere that's the pros the cons are people only really go on nights with special events uh this is now... The Blue Rodeo was there. Right, that's a huge event. Yeah, that was a big event.

And do you really want to stay on campus longer? Well, you know... We loved it. Sounds great. The Spoke. Okay, seeps in the Spoke. Gotcha, gotcha. There's other bars in London, but not necessarily on campus.

Molly Bloom's, Jack's, JBR's, Cowboy's, Barking Frog, which is a cool name. This has changed. This has changed. Things have changed. Okay. So, oh, Happy Donna says that

he or she was at Toingo. Oh, down the road from Winnebago. Same road. Yeah, we'd see Winnebago girls on canoe trips. Woohoo! That's awesome. Okay, this jam,

I'm going to play this jam for you now and just to tell you, my almost 17-year-old daughter fell in love with this jam just last year this is okay okay so maybe i play it okay unless you want to that is why okay right makes sense and let me play it and then we'll talk about that okay we love it here we go the resurgence always over and over and over again it will never not be loved, this song. It should have been like number one. I don't know why on my list it was all scrambled, but...

Now here you go, can you say you want your freedom? Well, who am I to keep you down? We're surely right that you should play the way you feel it. But listen carefully to the sound of the loneliness and the heartbeat as you make it. I'm sorry. You have a nice voice. Thank you. I've been told. Did you ever consider pursuing this as a career? I will get to that.

Oh, my goodness. Okay, stay tuned. It's quite the episode. Do you realize we're inside without masks right now? Isn't that mind-boggling? It's mind-boggling. It's mind-boggling that I'm the first one. I love being the first one. The rain saved you because if it wasn't

pouring rain out there, we'd be in the, which is better out there, but not when it's pouring rain like this. This was a real rainstorm. And if it was sprinkling, I think i would have put us out there with the umbrellas and the tarp but this was real rain so here we are and we're both fully vaxxed which is the main reason we're down here it is allowed everybody so hold your fire dana levinson tell us why you chose fleetwood max dreams okay this song it's the kind of song you fall in love with right away like for me again being the rock chick i love i loved lee wood back and all of their shenanigans their

back stories and their personal stories that went into the band um that made it so i mean that was they they had their they had all their you know all that salacious stuff going on when all of that entertainment reporting and entertainment world wasn't a thing right mary hart and john tesh had not kicked off the entertainment tonight era exactly and there was there wasn't the paparazzi and the gossip and it was just about the music but they had so much shit going on in their personal life all between themselves and they're pumping out extraordinary music but the public knew what was going on but you know it just made it that much better their marriages and divorces and with each other and then breaking up doing that mamas and papas thing

where they all just sleep with each other. Yeah, and then they all get married and then they break up and they marry that one and then it was just, you know. And so this song, I fell in love with it again at university, bringing up Western again. Get right on that thing, Dana Levinson. What? No, I'm saying get on that mic so we don't...

Sorry, is my mic not close to me? Is that good? It's just it's better if you're a little close. You know, I get relaxed Mike. I lean back. I'm like a TV person. What are they called? The Lavelle mics? What are the mics that clip to you that you guys wear? A lav? Yeah, whatever that word is.

I have so much to learn. Okay. So this song came back into my life in university. My university roommate who is my closest friend and my lifelong closest friend. I have a few girlfriends from University of Western and we are a very serious pack. We do everything together. They're my girls. And one of them was my roommate and she was obsessed with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac.

And I thought, oh, this is going to work. This is really going to work because we like the same music. And it was just one of our favorite songs. We always had it on. Well, I mean, just listen to this in the headphones here. Like, what a song. The way Stevie Nicks brings it. Okay, now do you want to comment on the revitalization of this song?

And what I mean by that, this song's always been great. But sometimes you need something to like, I always think a son of a preacher man, okay? So we mentioned Dusty Springfield. I was kind of like, I think maybe I knew it was around. I didn didn't really care to delve into it and then all of a sudden i hear it in pulp fiction and it's like oh that's a fucking great song like you kind of need sometimes you need to bring it to a new generation i mean right yeah so i feel like uh tiktok the dude on the uh was he on a skateboard i guess he's on a skateboard and he's drinking like cranberry juice or something.

And this song is playing and it's like suddenly my daughter and her cohorts and her peoples are like, whoa, where did this come from? Like,

it's always been there, but you need something to spark the discovery. There was something else on TikTok recently that I was singing a song and my son knew the words. I went, how do you know that? Like my younger son.

You don't remember what song you were singing? It'll come to me in a second and it was really funny. Because we were basically harmonizing. Like this is too cool. That he knows a song. It'll come to me in a second. Great choice. I think everyone at that time owned Rumors. Like everyone had a copy of Rumors in their collection.

How many times have I said so good? No, I hour you know what you know what do do the clown would say unbelievable you're unbelievable it could be so good you're unbelievable emf that was a uh andrew dice clay sample now i just want you to i I did not pick, like, you can see most of my music really is based on late seventies to mid eighties. I really didn't do a lot of, no, I didn't do nineties. That's okay. I haven't done anything in this. There's no rules.

I have tons, but I didn't, I didn't go there. Uh, right. Like, and you and I, I always think we're the same age. I think there's a couple of years, maybe difference. I won't say which way. Okay. I'll keep, but, but I feel like, feel like you have the gray hair not me my friend does kevin have any white or gray hair some but you can't not as much as me no there's another win for kevin okay uh maybe we'll kick this up but you do go far heavier on 70s than i would go like i feel like

my jams would be a heavy on early 90s i have a lot of 90s i don't know why i didn't pick it i don't second guess yourself you chose your jam wonderwall in a second you know well who can't help themselves but do that but let me kick out this one this is a fucking it's funny because you just retweeted you or liked a tweet from somebody who said stew stone will be listening intently to your jam kicking and it was wayne and garth going swing you remember this from wayne's world like you just tweeted that like a minute ago i just saw it on my my computer to my right and i was going to actually tell you the origin there is that uh stew stone um like many guys is jealous of ke. My Kevin? Yeah.

Big Dana fan. Really? He's a big Dana fan. Oh, that's nice. I got to get him in studio. Well, we got to get you guys to meet at some point. Maybe at TMLX 8 or something. Okay.

But here, let me get into your jam here because it ties in nicely with the swing. This is the masterpiece, this song, by the way. Is this the real life? Masterpiece.

Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide masterpiece it's not like I haven't heard it a million times Dana Levinson oh my goodness I'm just a poor boy I need no Oh my goodness. What? Put a gun against his head Pulled my trigger, now he's dead Mama Life in Chastigan But now I've gone and thrown it all away Mama

Now I realize there's nowhere to fade down in this song because it just goes, man. It just gives her, man. Six minutes long. Six minutes. Six minutes. Like epic. Like it's just epic.

A masterpiece. Absolutely. Hard rock and opera. And that's why it keeps being reborn. Like this song, again. Again. Big fucking hit from the 70s. Big hit.

But then Wayne's World. Yeah. Big hit again. And then the hit again and then the movie and then the movie right i mean it makes you appreciate it so much more that i think that's probably why i picked this a lot of the songs from the 70s because the resurgence of all of them the remixes of all of them, that they, they're not out of like, uh, Wayward Son was one of my songs. Right. Uh,

Kansas. Is that Kansas? Yeah. Carry on my way. And I thought no one would know what that is. Well, no, first of all,

everyone would know what that is. No, our age would know, but people maybe, you know, 10 years younger than us wouldn't know. I don't think if you're more than 10 years younger than us, uh, are you allowed to listen to Toronto Mike? Only if you want to learn about. people 10 years younger than us wouldn't know. I don't think, if you're more than 10 years younger than us, are you allowed to listen to Toronto Mike?

Only if you want to learn about... Well, people 10 years younger than us listen to on the DL. You know, this is a Generation X podcast. Well, I am a quintessential Gen Xer. I should have X on, like, I should sign my things, not XO, just XXXXX. I am such a Gen X. In every way you could think of, I'm a Gen X. No, yeah, no doubt.

You're right in the thick of things in the Gen X, for sure. Me too, though. I'm born in the first half of the 70s. Yes, same. I'm right there, too. Yep. Now, okay, so, oh, this song. It's so epic.

So, this song, also, I sing this with my kids. Again, I do a lot of this with my kids. Again, I do a lot of singing with my kids and in the car because I really wanted them to have an appreciation of good music. It was important to me,

especially when I heard the shit that they were listening to when they started to listen to music. What shit was that? I don't know, but it was shit. And I'm like, oh my God,

you can't, you have to. Don't fall into the trap, which I find myself falling into and I've been trying to stop doing it. But that where you god you can't you have to don't fall into the trap which i find myself falling into and i've been trying to stop doing it but that where you you can't treat music without guitar and drums as a lesser than like i feel i have a tendency to like uh oh you should listen to music that has guitar in it no no no i agree with you and there's there's techno there's all kinds of different jams that happen and there is some really incredible music out there and they do listen to some great music

some of the raps rap being music i don't love because i don't like the beat like it doesn't make me want to dance doesn't make me feel happy doesn't make me want to sing and doesn't listen in emotion except for turn it down okay and then i feel old so i'm like i don't want to listen but i i we sing this in my car yes it's an opera right and we harmonize and we sing it together like our whole family it's so good we should have a little band do you ever see that movie step brothers and then the family is in the car and they're singing Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of Mine. On my list. I had to take it out.

That was on my list. I fucking love it. This is a great jam. There's nothing negative I can say about Bohemian Rhapsody and Queen, amazing band. Best. Freddie Mercury, brilliant. Too sad. No, too sad, of course. Too sad.

Absolutely. We lost a lot of great... So many... Now we're just coming out of the pandemic, but in the 80s, looking back, we had the AIDS crisis and it was a death sentence, as you know, back in the 80s. I just saw this New York Times

article. It was like 30? 40? 30. It was the anniversary you know back in the 80s and just i just saw this new york times article it was like 4 30 40 30 it was the anniversary 40th anniversary of the first reference to aids in mainstream media wow 40 doing the math on that uh yeah i think it was but they didn't have a name for it it wasn't called aids yet they saw it as a some kind of a a rare cancer that was primarily inflicting homosexual men in New York. And they had some pockets of like San Francisco. But they were like, they were trying to figure out like, how was it spread? And what was the correlation here?

But they just, gay men were getting this rare form of cancer and they were dying very quickly. They were going to the cancer. Anyway, horrific, horrific, horrific, horrific how many great, talented, wonderful people were taken by that horrific disease, including Freddie Mercury. Okay, this song is not the 70s. We're going to kick out an 80s jam.

You ready? No, this is from 1992. Okay, fine. You know why? Because Eurythmics was 80, but this obviously is... Yes, but this is when she was solo. Right, okay.

But Eurythmics, unreal. All this obviously is... Yes, but this is when she was solo. Right. Okay. My apologies. But Eurythmics, unreal. All right. Let's kick this one out. Thank you. How many times do I have to try to tell you That I'm sorry for the things I've done But when I start to try to tell you That's when you have to tell me Hey, this kind of trouble's only just begun What is that gay thing? You'll see it when you check your phone,

but Elton is with us, so shout out to Blair Kerrigan again. He's put Elton in the Toronto Mike studio here. Brian Adams is back there. Is that Stevie Nicks? I think it's actually it's ann wilson from heard i think but uh wild okay so annie lennox so the only question i have for you uh dana is why why why no i did there yeah i got it i got the reference it's annie lennox

yeah yeah she happens to be the coolest female probably, female artist probably. Wow, she's very subjective, of course. Oh, 100%. Absolutely. And she's Scottish, not British, everyone. Oh, really? Yes. I would have lost a bet. I would have lost a bet.

What about Chrissy Hynde? Does she get any points? She's cool. She's cool, but she's not Annie Lennox. She's not Annie Lennox. Annie Lennox is great. And this is, you said 92? Yes, the song came out in 92, but she's not Annie Lennox. She's not Annie Lennox. Annie Lennox is great. And this is, you said 92? Yes, the song came out in 92, and she went solo.

This is her album called Diva. Her Diva album. Again, she brought cool to Diva. She made Diva a thing. Before Beyonce was a Diva, Annie Lennox was the quintessential Diva. Okay, I'm glad you're here. Can we do some real talk on the word Diva? Sure.

Okay. Yeah. I am not a diva. Tell me what, to you, Dana Levinson, what is a diva? Someone who is a demanding difficult person? Difficult, not willing to

be a... Singer, right? Is it exclusively like a female singer would typically be a diva? I think there's artists who are divas. They don't have to be a singer. They could be an actor. They could be dancer divas for sure. Performers. In your understanding of the term, in your heart of hearts, are there any racial connotations to the word diva? No. heart of hearts uh are there any racial connotations to the word diva no okay so i'm with you except i was called out by molly johnson for uh saying she was giving me diva like vibes i had no idea but she was suggesting that uh black women were labeled diva unfairly but i was uh thinking that

like i wasn't thinking of race like i was saying Christina Aguilera you name it I was thinking of like I never thought of it as a black woman thing but I since then I stopped using the word diva because I don't want to offend anybody and I had no idea so I was curious well Annie Lennox coined she didn't coin it but she was to the best of my knowledge

she was the first female singing artist who used the word diva. And Annie is white and she used the word and she called herself a diva. She called her album diva when she was interviewed. She used to laugh and she used to say, well, they call me a diva because she was considered very stuck in her ways, very challenging. But what Madonna would say about that word and about being called a diva is that it's a compliment. That a woman who is strong and challenging and doesn't really stray from what she wants, she gets called that.

That's what Madonna used to say. But Madonna is the quintessential. I mean, she's like, if you don't have my certain bottle of water and certain kind of pillowcase, I'm out. Literally. And why not?

You're a fucking Madonna. Why not? I'm a Dana. I just got a pillowcase that I've wanted for years. How much is it expensive? No. Is it silk? Yeah.

And so it's better for your skin? I don't know. It feels good. I don't know what I'm talking about. And it's, you know, I got suckered into all the like stuff you would read. Shout out to Annie Lennox. I hope she's listening. I did not know she was Scottish.

I thought she was English. So you've educated me on that front. And that might be your only 90s jam I'm just looking over what's coming up and looks like that is your only maybe the next one is from the oh no it's not no definitely not no so I love it I want to just say Blair says that he's loving your songs he says he could easily make Dana's jams into a playlist he says they've been all great so far. He gives you a thumbs up. Only two more to go.

Kind of sad it's coming to an end. I have tons. But here, pause for a moment here because we've already shouted out Great Lakes Brewery. Ridley Funeral Home have been pillars of this community since 1921. Good people there. I'm hoping Brad Jones makes it to TMLX7,

which is taking place July 16th. DM me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike or write me mike at torontomike.com and I'll send you the map and the secret whereabouts

where the FOTMs are collecting to potentially, maybe we'll enjoy a beverage and catch up outdoors. Again, that's happening on a Friday evening. That is July 16th. And I hope to see Brad Jones from a Ridley funeral home there.

Much love to Palma, Palma's kitchen, Palma pasta. Can't wait. Dana, I've got a lasagna for you. Can't wait. You're not leaving here without a lasagna.

You know what I'm having for dinner. Well, you gotta let it thaw a bit though. Actually. You can have it tomorrow. No. No, I'm gonna save it for when my kids come home. Okay, well stick it in the freezer and you can, it's in my freezer right now.

So it's being kept nice and cold for you. I want to shout out stickeru.com. You have Toronto Mike stickers or do you need a new one? Are you talking to me? Yeah, Dana. Who else is here? I guess I could be talking to the listenership here and there.

Thanks, Mike. Toronto, you can't have enough Toronto Mike stickers. Thank you, stickeru.com. And we've got to get some on the DL stickers made. Yeah, stickeru.com. I know, I've got to speak to them.

That's where you make the, you get your good stickers. They're high quality. They last a long time. Stickeru is amazing. Amazing, amazing. Dana, you live too far away from me and I would like you to move to Mimico or at least somewhere, maybe New Toronto or Long Branch.

You can talk to Mike Majeski about that. He's in the know in Mimico. Go to realestatelove.ca. Reach out to Mike. Tell him Toronto Mike sent you and just have a good conversation with Mike Majeski. Listen, I would, not just because you're here but because Biff is also in the neighborhood. Biff is here. Biff Naked is one cool chick.

She also was a surprise she was a surprise Pandemic Friday guest to kick out the first jam. She's so cool. You're cool. Thanks. But she was really she's so cool. She's cool too. I love Biff Naked. Real cool. Do you have any tattoos on your body

no that's a personal question is it no i'm kidding i just got you i wasn't sure for a minute i gotta be careful since the diva comments okay uh no i do not no okay because uh biff has many i many she's got many that are very visible if i had one i will say this yeah Yeah. It would be private. Like it would be for. For Kevin. Yeah. His viewing pleasure only.

And you don't have one. No. Okay. Okay. Because it would have, if I did, it would have something to do with him and that's where I would put it. Well, get a temporary tattoo because you can get those at stickeru.com as well. Oh, really?

And then just kind of test drive it before you get the permanent one. Yeah. But you can't. You can't personalize those. Can you.com as well and then just kind of test drive it before you get the permanent one yeah but you can't you can't personalize those can you yeah that's the whole idea of sticker yes of course you upload the image to sticker you.com and you you get them sent to your home of course you can personalize them but they'll see it like the temperate said you think that's coming off the rack no you got you of course you any image you upload you can get back as a temporary tattoo. Yeah, that's the whole idea.

You can create something and yeah. I guess what I was at. I didn't mean it. Can you personalize it? I meant like. Because you wanted to say Medina? No, no, never mind. Well, think on it and let me know.

One more shout out because they're brand new sponsors and I want to give them some love. Love having them on board this summer. The CEO Edge podcast. That's fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. That podcast is from the good people at McKay CEO Forums. I mentioned off the top, there's 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world that are a part of McKay CEO Forum.

So check out their podcast. I just wrote about it on torontomic.com, uh, trying to give that. That's a great podcast. I'd like to get more ears on it. So while you're subscribing to on the DL from Dana Levinson, subscribe to,

uh, the McKay CEO forums podcast. Again, the name of that podcast is the CEO Edge podcast. And that's not Edge from U2, a band that's not on your list, but was almost on your list. I can't believe it didn't make my list because one of my favorite songs is With or Without You.

The Joshua Tree. That's a great album. It is by far one. But I had to put this next song in because it just, there's so much to it about my life. Well, you can talk over this long intro here. You want to set it up here? There's stuff in here about your life, this epic jam about another city, not Toronto.

No, a city that I believed in my heart of hearts I would be living in. A city that never sleeps. It sleeps. I lived there for a little bit. But Sinatra said it didn't sleep. He said, I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps it sleeps i lived there for a little bit but sinatra said it didn't sleep he said i want to wake up in a city that never because they used you know what because they used to have the all night stuff where okay now vegas is the only city that doesn't sleep that's not right okay so new york does sleep but let's let's listen to a little bit of

the piano man here and then we're going to talk about why you're not in New York where you always thought you'd end up you're better here apparently some folks like to get away take a holiday from the neighborhood Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood But I'm taking a gray hand on the Hudson River line

Listen to his voice. I'm in a New York state of mind. Woo! Like, I get why he married Christy Brinkley. I really get why she married him. I would make him sing to me every night. Why did I? You know, okay, firstly, it's awesome that you kicked out both elton john and billy joel

they had that tour together somebody was on the live.torontomic.com chat talking about he caught catching that show awesome just shout out to i see on the facebook amatha so hello to amatha hi amatha really enjoying this list exclamation mark So people are digging your jams here, Dana. You only have one to go here. But tell us, like, what made you think you'd end up in New York? And are you now looking at me with those beautiful eyes and telling me you regret the fact that you're stuck here on Toronto Mic'd and you should be on New York Mic'd?

No, I don't want to be on New York Mic'd. This is way better than New York Mic'd. Is there a New York Mic'd? I need to know. I'm sure, but Toronto mic's way better. Tell us a story. I, okay, first of all, this song is beautiful. I love Billy Joel. Billy Joel's also part of my childhood,

growing up listening to him sing. He's just one of those, just, his voice is so beautiful. It's Billy Joel. Hello, Billy. No, just kidding. It's my big break. I'm going to sing to him. But this song, when I heard it

when I was young, I believed then, and pretty much my whole life up until maybe the last decade or so, that I was going to be in New York. That that was my landing, that I was going to be in New York, that that was my landing,

that everything was going to take me back to New York. I lived in New York for a short period of time when I interned at CBS News. And before I was there in news, I was forever in theatre. That was my first love, was singing and acting. And I just, I was always amazed. Even now, just a little bit amazed that my life went really,

it seemed more academic than I thought, that I was going to, you know, I finished high school very young, at 17, to move to New York. I got out of high school early. It was during the time we had grade 13 back then, so I had fast-tracked, and you were there. OACs? Yes, we had OACs, and I did all of my OACs in grade 11, grade 12. Oh, you were one. OACs? Yes we had OACs and I did all my OACs in grade 11 grade 12 and oh you were one of those uh keeners I liked I enjoyed the fact I got a fifth year to kind of

chill out. Oh god. Where was I going? I got to school very early and I thought okay I'm packing my bags and I'm moving to New York and my parents said go to any university you want to but just go for one year and I went to Western and I fell in love with the university life and academics. And I thought journalism is, I always loved the news. And I knew that it would be the right fit for me. So I went in that path. So I never got to New York through acting and singing. But I did get there through news.

Just like Christie Brinkley's dad. Yeah, he was a big, he was a huge news guy in the States. Yeah, he was. Like a real big deal, like a Dan Rather level. Anyway, sorry. I had to bring it back to Billy Joel.

Right, so this song, it would play over and over again in my head that I was always in a New York state of mind. Always. Wow. And every time we would visit and we would go, I would just get this, you know, feeling in my stomach like this is where I should be. This is where I need to be. But it never happened.

But instead you're here. Any regrets? No, of course not. i've had a beautiful career great life 19 years on uh cfto and ctv toronto amazing amazing yeah amazing amazing amazing and i have you know i love of my life i'm married to him and we're here we've built a beautiful life together with all of our children so i have no regrets however that being said kevin is a is my biggest supporter biggest fan and he keeps saying to me you get a job in new york you go you just commute go back and forth the world is small so billy billy joel inspires me beautiful beautiful

now i'm checking myself because i thought i thought christy brinkley's dad was the news guy uh uh no but i think maybe i have uh maybe it's a different relation like i think christy brinkley's dad the beautiful christy brinkley who married billy joel yeah in the car vacation right uh in the vacation movie the hot blonde in the car that's christy brinkley right it is isn't it what is that you mean like the supermodel okay so all right so the television writer david donald brinkley is actually christy brinkley's dad i okay i have my facts a little wrong nothing new there. Thank goodness it's not Pandemic Friday, everybody.

We'd be in big trouble. Cam and Stu would just have you. No, they would be fine because their facts are mostly wrong too. It is Mark Wiseblood who would ring my neck for not getting my facts right. Remember the song Ring My Bell? Of course, Anita Ward. Good one. Thank you.

Also a couple of hip hop songs have stolen. Yeah, I will tell you that my last song on this list happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time. I don't know why it's at the bottom. Well, that's why it is. It's number one. We're going to leave with your big one. The guy I'm thinking of is David Brinkley. Of course. So David Brinkley was

with NBC and ABC had a very long big career in American news, David Brinkley, but not, hold on, I'm just checking here. I don't,

I didn't think he was related. So no, Christie Brinkley's dad was in media, but was not David. David Brinkley is not the father of Christie Brinkley. And I will shut up now. Okay, let's get to your final jam.

Anything to say before I kick it out? There's a very long buildup before something happens in this song. And this song is famous for this. It's like the climax song of the 80s. So I'll start it and we'll just talk. Listen to it. Come on. Oh, no, no.

I love this song. I love all your songs, to be honest. I mean, I'm thinking if I had to kill one of these songs. It would be Annie. You didn't like Annie. I don't love Annie. I love her I'm thinking if I had to kill one of these songs. It would be Annie. I don't love Annie. That song. I like a lot of Annie Lennox. Not that song particularly.

But all your songs are strong. How do you go wrong with these songs? This one particularly. We will shut up when that moment happens. Because every guy is playing on the dashboard. Every guy and gal, I mean. I saw him live. Okay, tell me about seeing him live.

Phil Collins, of course. He kind of like, he shuffled onto the stage with a cane. He looked pretty bad. He stood at the mic and said, you know, that he had had surgery and he wasn't feeling so great, but he would do his best. And freaking killed it. He killed it. He sang every song you could think of.

How long ago was this? A couple years ago. A couple years ago. You know, his daughter has become quite the star. And his son, Christopher. Is it Christopher Collins? I did not know that. Yeah, Chris Collins. Okay. And he's the drummer.

Because Lily Collins is in that Paris show on Netflix that my wife and daughter watch together. Oh, really? Yeah, there's a big, I don't know, Love in Paris or something. Well, his son is pretty incredible. Okay. And they jammed it out live. It was crazy. And of course, he played both Wembley Stadium and was a veteran, whatever it is in Philadelphia,

a veteran stadium or whatever on that for Live Aid. He did them both on the same day. Wow. So many hits. And I'm looking at your artists you kicked out today. And again, I will turn it up before the part. But like Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac. These are fucking hit makers

yeah man honestly yeah wow big fucking jams I had a lot of Genesis songs on my list

but I had to cut it I love Genesis I love Eagles do you prefer Phil Collins Genesis over Peter Gabriel Genesis

yes yes I do hands down yeah okay do you know about this song do you know oh the urban legend it's an urban legend it's not real right because he wrote this song after he broke up with his first wife and the urban legend is he witnessed somebody no He didn't. No, no, that never happened. But that's the story. I think even Eminem refers to it.

Yeah. It's not real. It's just about him basically saying F you to his ex wife and just, he's angry. He wrote this song feeling very angry. This song is of course, uh, beloved.

It's a great song, but it's epic because, uh, you know, you got this long buildup as we're enjoying now before the drums come in. And then it's just like... Drum solo.

Fucking A. So it's coming up. But that was his like, fuck you. Amazing. That was the drum solo. Here we go. Not yet. You got a bit more to go here.

See, I've got waveform here and I can see where it's going to happen. But it's really late in the song. But don't you find also the beat? It's hypnotic. Yeah, so this was also a big... You ready, though? This is a big sex song. Oh, wow.

More on that after this. No, but... Wow. Here it goes. You can do it. Hell of a closer. What were you saying about sex? Not me. It was 1981.

Having sex in 81. I was listening to Like a Virgin in 81. Oh, not yet. No, no, no. You could have played this jam last night. I could have. Wouldn't you like to know? Especially if the kids are at sleepaway camp.

They are. We have the whole house to ourselves. Wow. My i have a couple step kids around but they're they're older so they're in and out wow okay so dana levinson you kicked out the jams you kicked ass the big uh reveal i wanted to make i can't make because you say i can't so i'm not going to well you can i mean tell me like you have this huge fucking news it's gonna blow minds no i think so come on yeah but there's the two things right come on they're both exciting but one of them is gonna blow fucking minds no you you're you're under valuing the franchise and again i'm not saying the name of the brand. Oh, that brand. Yeah, that's a fucking big brand. It's almost as big as it gets.

And the fact that you'll have a role in something from that. It'll be cool on my resume for sure. Why can't we just say it now? I can't. You signed an NDA that said you wouldn't reveal this. Yeah. Why did I sign it? Oh, because I did.

I respect the process. Okay, well, you signed it probably because they wouldn't give you the gig maybe if you didn't sign it. They didn't say that, but. Okay, so here we are now live on Toronto Mic and we're about to say goodbye and there's no chance you'll give even more, any more of a hint as to what's coming. You know, I will say this, that I became very in touch with, I posted this a few days ago. I became very in touch with my bucket list when I left CTV.

I said, I want to do certain things now. I made this life change for a reason. I want to do things. And I have always wanted to be in a Hollywood movie. Always wanted to be in a Hollywood movie, whether I'm making out with Matt Damon or there's just a close-up shot of me walking on the street. I just want to say that I'm in a movie,

and I'm going to be in a Hollywood movie, so that's check on my back-up list. I'm doing that right now. And that one also has an NDA? Yeah, it sure does. Yeah, that one's, yes. Can you name any, like the director? No, God no, God no.

And then the second one was I wanted to be in a major American TV show. Again, whether I'm a lead character or I'm a minor, nothing in it. I just wanted to have the, it's about the experience and the exposure and having this, you know, in my memory forever. And I am also shooting that this summer as well. So I'm doing those two things, but as wonderful as all that is,

I'm not downplaying it. It's all amazing. What it has taught me is that you make your list and you check it off. And I'm hoping that I will be doing something really, really, really, really big, really soon. And I can't wait to come back here and tell you about that too. So inspiring. But in the meantime, we have On The DL to keep us...

Oh, I love On... You've got to listen to On The DL. Anywhere you listen to podcasts or on my Facebook page. Okay, so there is a website called danalevenson.com and there's a page on that website you can find very easily called On The DL. And every episode gets its own landing page there, just like Toronto Mike episodes get a landing page on TorontoMike.com.

And you can subscribe in Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and have them pushed to you. You know, new episodes are dropping every Thursday morning and there's some awesome stuff coming up. So definitely subscribe to On The DL with Dana Levinson. If you liked these jams, you're going to like that fucking podcast. So do

that. These big nuggets of news that Dana is teasing, as soon as she gives me permission, I'll share. I know how it works. But as soon as you're able to publicize this, I mean, I'm sure you'll be doing your stuff on Instagram and everything, but I will share it with the listenership because it's very, very exciting to me. I love how happy you are.

You look great. And again, let's not bury the lead here. We recorded this in the Toronto Mike, the TMDS basement studio. And the last time I did that with somebody who I don't live with was David Ryder from the Toronto Star and that was March 13, 2020. The last day before lockdown.

Yep. That was the day we picked up the kids and they didn't go back. And here we are and it is July 2021. We're double vaxxed. We're feeling good and we just kicked out the jams. Thank you. Thanks, Mike.

And that brings us to the end of our 880th show. 880, that's like a good luck number, I think. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Dana is at Dana Levinson TV. But she's very active on Instagram. Is it also DanaLevinsonTV on Instagram? Just Dana Levinson.

Okay, so on Twitter, it's DanaLevinsonTV. Her Instagram, which is awesome, is just at Dana Levinson. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. McKay CEO Forums, they're at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, much like Dana, does

most of his social on Instagram. He's at Majeski Group Homes. See you all later today for another Pandemic Friday. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable

virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.