Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - David Eisenstadt: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1873

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

In this 1873rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike plays songs by 10 Canadian musicians you may not know are Jewish. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Hello, I'm David Eisenstead and delighted to be on Toronto Mike with Toronto Mike. Either or, right, David? This is Toronto Mike with Toronto Mike. Welcome to episode 1,873 of Toronto Mike, an award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at great lakes beer.com for free, local. home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palmaPasta.com for more. Fusion Corpso, Nick Iienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to.

Recycle MyElectronics.committerronics.ca. committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, making his Toronto-Miked debut as we celebrate Passover,

it's David Eisenstadt. How you doing, David? Hey, I'm doing well and great to be here with you. Happy Passover to you. you. Well, thank you. Thank you. To all your listeners who may be celebrating. Well, let's disclose the fact that you were a part of the episode I just wrapped.

So we're speaking at, it's almost 1 p.m. on March 31st. Passover begins on April 1st at sundown, right? At sundown, it does. I'm learning a great deal. And Ralph Benmergey was just here. He drove, drove in from Hamilton. and we had a great conversation, and you were a part of that, David.

Well, it was a lot of fun to be sitting next to Ralph. In fact, way back when I started to write this collection of books simply referred to as musicians under the radar when I'd completed my first book, it was during the COVID pandemic time frame. I actually was one of Ralph's first guests on his show. the rabbi show. Not that kind of rabbi.

Not that kind of rabbi. That's the guy. Okay. So it was good to see him again in the flesh. Yeah, absolutely. So this was a happy happenstance. You're a part of that episode. Now you're making your Toronto Mike debut,

but you did disclose to me right now that you've written these books called Under the Radar. Tell us a little bit more about these books. Well, literally, Mike, what happened was I run a public relations consulting firm called TCGPR, the communications through Pinkin. On the first May, believe it or not, it will be 53 years.

Really? Still rock and still cooking. Were you in diapers when you started this? Maybe just out of them. But I have to tell you that one day I took a phone call from a fellow who said, you know, things are going on in journalism. And the world is changing.

and publications are falling left, written center. Remember, Coriera Canadaezi, you know, big, big, broadsheet newspaper, they went under. And the Canadian Jewish news for the second time has just gone under. But a few of us are looking to find a way to do an online presence, a community newspaper, if you will, on a weekly basis. We'd like you to be one of our writers. I thought, hmm, well, I see. said, gee, I have a full-time job.

And he says, well, let me, let me add, we're not going to solicit any advertising, nor are we going to pay anybody. So I thought, hmm, hmm, hmm. So I said, give me a couple of days. Let me think about it. Anyway, the person who asked was a fellow by name of Bernie Farber. Bernie is a first cousin. When family asks, you don't say no.

But sometimes you can stall. And I did because I thought to myself, what could I write about? Anyway, I had this idea that I didn't think the Canadian Jewish news, and this is not a slight, did enough arts and culture reporting. And that may well have been because as a tabloid newspaper, there ain't that much space. So, you know, something has to give. Anyway, I went out and I did what I sort of tongue-in-cheek might call empirical research. I asked some family. I asked some friends.

Gentile, Jewish, whatever. Could you name three, four notable Canadian Jewish musicians? This is what was going through my head. Right. And I would get almost in this order, again, different age groups, different backgrounds,

different experiences. Some people like music, some people were not into music. And I would get Leonard Cohen. I'd get Getty Lee, the bassist guitarist from Rush, and I'd get Drake because his mom is,

Right, right. And then, Mike, I'd get this pregnant a pause. Nothing. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, they're classical musicians, they're rock musicians, they're folk musicians, they're cantorial musicians all across the spectrum. All across the spectrum. Wow.

Right. So anyway, fast forward. I came back to Bernie and I said, I have an idea. I'm prepared to knock out a 750 to 800 word column on a weekly basis on what I deem in my mind's eye to be a notable Canadian Jewish musicians, musician, and I'll, and I want complete control, but, you know, you can spell check and double check and make sure it looks right, but that's where it goes. And, and I will commit to doing this for at least six months, and he said, okay, and that's fine. Fast forward, by the time I had, I guess, about 15,

a couple of people said, David, this is a book. You're working on a book. So what I wound up doing was creating the first book, which was called Under the Radar, 30 notable Canadian Jewish musicians. Why 30? In the world of journalism, 30 is the end. That's what people, as we know in this business,

that's how we signify where the copy, where the storyline ends. But for me, 30 became a very meaningful number. It became the beginning of a hobby. And that's how the first one started. During that, and the book is very, very simple. I had set out criteria very simply. The musicians had to be Canadian citizens, Jewish,

covering all genders, all genres, individuals, individuals in groups. I needed geographic representation, like they couldn't all be from Toronto and Montreal, and the last category alive or dead. And that's really, those are the criteria that I started with on the columns. As I began to create the book,

I spoke with Younger Son, and I said, you know, I need a title for this book. Younger son's a graphics guy, an AI guy, a tech guy, lives and works in Burnaby, B, B, B, C. And he said, Pops, you know what, under the radar, under the radar. This is your title. And he basically came up with a design that kind of focused, focused on radar. This is my third book, and I'll sort of get to that. but if you look very closely, you'll see the radar circles.

And that theme has been a continuum throughout what is now five books. What happened essentially was I started, after I started writing these columns initially and then ultimately to the book, not a week to this day goes by where someone doesn't send me a text. I get a phone call. I bump into somebody for a beer or a cup of coffee. and hey, you know my cousin Mike? Mike was a violinist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1942 to 59, and he also gigged with Mo Kaufman

and all that stuff. And so I have this never-ending file of nominees. Now, some, after those first three, everybody else is under the radar, even well-known musicians to people who know music. I've also kind of learned that sometimes musicians that I've spoken to, they're so in their own lane, they don't know about other musicians in other genres. It's a curious thing. The book is very simple and the pattern is very simple.

I've actually, to this date, written 108 chapters, which were in my first three books and subsequently have done two spinoffs, one on jazz. musicians and one on rock musicians of 18 each. And I'm working on a six book. Okay, well, have you ever published a person you deemed under the radar, a notable Canadian Jewish musician, and then later found out they weren't actually Jewish? No, no. That's... You have a perfect record.

Well, very, very lucky. I guess where the bar gets drawn is if there are some who, um, um, were not yet Canadian citizens. You need to have citizenship, and that gets you in the door. That checks off one of the boxes. Okay. And in your five books you've written, have you yet to write about the fantastic 90s alt-rock band

from Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Watchman? Yes, yes, Daniel Greaves is in one of my books. I think, you know, I always have to look because I have to look because I don't remember sometimes which book. Sure, but one of the books. Yeah, he's in, Daniels. People should buy the whole collection. Well, they should.

The books are all on Amazon and actually just about to be on sale at the National Music Library in Calgary, which is a real, you know, big, big, I'm a Calgary and it's a wonderful, wonderful institution. And they were really quite keen to kind of, uh, to kind of, uh, add them. Here's... Danny Gray. F-O-T-M.

Danny Graves. Okay, he's in the book. Musicians under the radar volume 3, 42, notable Canadian Jewish musicians. So just to go back to... Okay, because then I'm going to set the table as... Because we're kind of kicking out the jams here.

Yeah. And I'm eager to get to that, but finish that thing. Okay. All I was going to say is the books are very simple. It's... It's the chapters are A to Z and, and they're,

750, 800 words, easy reading about some quite wonderful people. So let's get to it. Do they give gifts at Passover? Is this at all a tradition to give somebody a gift for Passover? Well, you can. It's a great birthday gift. It's a great, it's, you know, if you're interested, I jumped into somebody in the street yesterday and they said, I'm taking a trip.

I need some easy, easy reading. I love music. I've heard about your books. And they bought two. Great. Terrific. So, yeah. You always need a backup.

Okay. Exactly. So, yeah, for the, for the person you love, find a read a list of notable, you know, Canadian Jewish musicians. And they may not be obviously. So I'm guessing you do not write about somebody like Getty Lee because he is not under the radar. Well, again, those three didn't make it. They're above the radar. And, and, and, and I have to, I have to say, this under the radar was never meant to be a

put down. You know, I've had some musicians kind of bridled back and kind of go like, well, you know, I'm really, you know, I was never hiding the fact that I'm Jewish. No, no, no, no, no, no. The issue of don't you know that I'm a star? Don't you know that I'm a star? I've had that kind of, I've had some of that. Name those names.

No, I'm not going to name those names. That's why you're here, David. I will tell you most everything else, but I'm not going to embarrass them because they shouldn't be embarrassed. But back to the watchmen for a moment here, and then I'm going to thank some sponsors, and then we're going to kick out the jams, everybody. In honor of Passover, to help celebrate Passover, I have chosen 10 songs from 10 artists that are in one of David's books,

and these are Canadian, Jewish musicians. So these are also 10 I chose that I didn't know they were Jewish. One I kind of thought might be Jewish, but I didn't really think about it. But, you know, we'll get to that in a moment. But the Watchmen, at least three out of the four members of the Watchmen right now, I know to be Jewish. So I'm not sure about Ken Tissard, but I can tell you not only Danny Graves,

but the drummer, he's drumming up results. Sammy Cohn and the guitarist Joey Sirlin are also proud Jewish men. That's absolutely right. Absolutely right. And the story is in musicians under the radar, 42. Love it so much here. Okay, so I want to say thank you to Great Lakes Brewery.

They have a fine podcast called Between Two Fermenters. and we just dropped a new episode with the chap from side launch, which is a craft brewery in Collingwood, Ontario. It's a great episode. I urge you to check it out. I have some fresh craft beer for you to take home with you, David. That'll be a treat. Thank you to Great Lakes.

Thank you to Great Lakes. Thank you to Great Lakes. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community, they have sent over. It's pretty cool, David. You're coming at the right time. These are brand new. But this is a flashlight, a bottle opener, a leveler, and also a measuring tape all in one.

This is courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking with Brad Jones. I urge everybody to check out Life's Undertaking of Brad Jones. Thank you very much to you and to Ridley Funeral Home. Speaking of great podcast, I often talk about Nick Iienes. He's got a podcast called Building Toronto Skyline. That's just fantastic. And another one with me called Mike and Nick.

And I urge everyone to subscribe. Also, two fun facts about Nick. One is he's hosting a fundraiser for Toronto Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford, and that's taking place. See, I'm dropping this on April 1st because that's the day Passover starts. But this fundraiser is actually April 2nd. So that is Thursday of this week. Get a ticket. Check that out.

I'll be there to technically produce everything. But the other fun fact is I was introduced to Nick Iini's by you, David. Yes, indeed. A terrific client, great developer, great builder, great Toronto booster, and a smart, nice guy. I like him very much too, but he is a big personality. So you have to give him a bit of, you have to, you can't just, I think with Nick, the trick is, you can't be put off by the big personality. You have to spend a little time with it and realize what a likable chap he actually is.

Because he is a big personality. So he comes across with a lot of. luster. But if you start chatting them up and you spend a little time with him, you'll realize I like this guy. Yeah, he's just got a lot of substance, no question. That's the best way to put it. Nick, he's full of sub sub, I stepped in a pile of shaving cream. Oh, so clean. Okay, I also want to just quickly thank, uh, recycle my electronics.ca, because David, if you have old electronics, old devices, old cables, don't throw that in the garbage. Go to recycle my electronics. dot ca, put in your postal code and find it where you can drop that off to be properly recycled.

Good spot. And it's needed. It's needed. Just ask Ralph Ben Mergi. I'm going to take care of this planet. And last but not least, my daughter, my youngest daughter, all my daughters, I only have two, but the youngest daughter is so in love with the Penae with Rose Zesos that you get from Palma Pasta. And I'm telling you, this is the place to go go to palma pasta.com. They have locations in Mississauga and Oakville, but you know, you can get it delivered. And you can find them in some longos as well.

So find your Palma pasta. Buy it, enjoy it. Thank me later. At some point later this year, David, you got to come to the TMLX event that we're going to have at Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga. So that's late November, early June.

I'll keep you posted. Absolutely. And by the way, I'm just going to throw this in the abyss because I need to start promoting this event. because I am headlining at the Elma combo, David. Like, that's happening. We need to know the date. We need you.

Oh, see, you're in PR. You're, this is, I needed you. I need you in my life. Okay, so the date is May 21st. That's a Thursday night. The location is the Elma combo. And an address. And everybody knows where the Elmo is.

Okay. You know where the Elmo is. We do. The Rolling Stones played there and I'm going to play there. That's all you need to know. And Rob Proust will join me on that stage. He's from Spoons and Honeymoon Sweet, Not Jewish, though, so he doesn't get to go on your book.

No, they're too bad. I'm tracking for you. I'm going to get you some new names here. Okay. Perfect. I would just let people know that you can buy the tickets for this event, and I hope you do, by going to Toronto mic.com and then click Elmo gig at the top and buy a bunch of tickets and come out. I'm crafting something that should be unique and interesting, and this is only going to happen once,

so don't you dare miss it. Okay, I want to get to this Passover special with David Eisenstead. because I'm going to start playing a song, and then I'm going to bring it down. And I mean, people will know because I'm playing the song that this is somebody who's under the radar, a notable Canadian Jewish musician. And I'll be honest, this first artist I love very much.

I know him personally. He's being in the basement, big, big fan, did not know he was Jewish until I read it in your book. Let's kick out these jams. As bad as they sing, it's only 16. That's why she's only a dream. Street. Has a daughter who's 16.

That's why she's only a drink. This war got to get out tomorrow. Go down to the grocery store Meet someone out of door One who made on the bay of midnight All right, I won't play as much of every song But I so love that album I so love that song.

Hayden knows it too. Hayden Desser under the radar. There you go. Paul Hayden Dessar, indie folk, alt country, acoustic rock, folk rock singer. known as the long-heralded king, downcast Canadian indie folk. Although the Globe and Males Brad Wheeler,

I never really quite understood this. He called him the mumbling mope. Mumbling mope of Roncesvails. Yeah, he does live, by the way, so his kid and my kid played at High Park soccer together. Yeah, yeah. And he, not really Ronsies. It's close enough.

Yeah. Ceron in there. But I don't know, the mope thing, except this era of Hayden, because he's evolved, but this Hayden, he was sort of in that kind of grungy, Neil Youngie, folk-rocky thing.

Just, I loved it. Well, interesting enough, he came from a family where his dad was a visual artist. His dad was actually in a parasitology, prophet U of tea. Interesting kind of background. Anyway, Hayden kind of has this elusive

and reclusive kind of background. And he kick started his career in 94. You obviously were close to him there. My chapter really takes him through a release up to up to 2023. He's in my third volume, 42 notable Canadian Jewish musicians. But I did not know he was Jewish. Well, you know, that makes sense, I suppose.

You know, that is a common theme that I hear from Jews, from Gentiles, from people who love music. I mean, again, music is universal. It's not just, you know, a particular ethnic group identifying it. People kind of going, he's Jewish? I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Ben Murgie, God bless him. When I published my first book, I was on his show.

And he, two or three times, I can go back and listen to the clip. And to my surprise, I didn't know that. Really? Well, part of it is, and I will disclose, I'm a Gentile. What I've noticed, my wife is a Filipino descent. And I've noticed if somebody's on that screen or there's, you know, Olivia Rodrigo, you name it, there's something we're hearing. I'm told, oh, they're Filipino.

Like, they're part Filipino. Like, so it is in the Filipino community, they love to tell you who else is a Filipino descent. And I would only assume it is the same with Jewish people. Oh, did you know they're Jewish? Like, this would be something in the Jewish community. So me as a Gentile, I don't think I've ever thought about people's religion, right? Like I'm listening to music. I'm not thinking about, oh, what's his religious background?

But here's the common word. Let's scratch out Filipino. Let's scratch out Jewish. And let's replace it with the word immigrants. We are all immigrants. And whether we've come from the British Isles or Russia or Southeast Asia, the reality is, and music is a universal language. But, but, you know, again, there's always, let's call it ethnic pride. and you always want to kind of say he, she, one of our team.

Right, right, right. One of us, like in freaks. There you go. One of us. Okay. So, by the way, this has been well documented on Toronto Mike, but there's a chap named Noah Mince. Is Noah Mince Jewish?

Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. Thornley collegiate buddy of Paul Hayden Deser. And there is a famous, It's kind of in this community. Anyways, the TMU here. This song called Take by Hayden

that's on the ongoing history and the new rock surge, 93, I think. And the vocals on that are not actually Hayden, although I thought for many years they were, it is actually Noah Mince who would go on to form a band called Head with Brendan Canning, who would then go on to form a band called Broken Social Scene. There you go.

It's all coming together, David. Okay, I can't wait to get to this jam because I did not know this chap was Jewish. Let's kick this one. Neon shivered in the heat. I was feeling like a stranger and a strange. People play games with the night. I was too hot to sleep.

Followed the sound of a judebox coming from up the levee. A sudden I could hear somebody whistling from right behind. I turned around and she said, you always end up down at Nick's cafe. She said, uh, and just kind of pushed me this way. She said, David Robbie Robertson is Jewish?

Well, an interesting, interesting story. I was surprised when I was doing that empirical research. On occasion, I will admit, somebody would mention Robbie Robertson, but very, very rarely, and I thought to myself, my goodness, the band, could not be in love with everything they did. Well, I decided... They invent Americana, basically. Well, there you go.

I decided to write about Jamie Royal Robbie Robertson. and I decided to write it from the perspective of his Jewishness because it really wasn't covered that much. But there are a couple of stories and the chapter really goes into them. Let me just share a couple of things. I mean, despite all of Robertson's own books, Scorsese's film, and so on and so on and so on. It just goes on and on and the background, two short stories.

His indigenous mom, her name was Rose, She was of Mohawk and Cayuga heritage, moved to Toronto. Subsequently, she married a fellow by name of James Patrick Robertson. Marriage didn't go well. He went off to the, I think he was in the Navy, went to Halifax. Anyway, she had an affair with a fellow who happened to be a Jew from America. Robbie was 13 when his mom divorced her first dad. and the fellow that she married

and who fathered Robbie Robertson's name was Alexander David Clegerman, K-L-E-G-E-R-M-A-N. He was actually a professional gambler. He embraced Robbie from the absolute get-go as if he was, you know, I mean, he obviously was his own, but it just was like kind of a family made in heaven. Tragically, Cleggerman died in a... hit-and-run accident on the QEW and Robbie was left as an orphan.

Cligerman's brothers embraced him and took him in and that they couldn't understand you want to be in showbiz why don't you want to be in the garment industry or you know stuff that they were involved with and he was really very keen on showbiz and they helped him with all the connects as he started to play. He hooked up with Ronnie Hawkins and so on and so forth. There's a Ronnie Hawkins story. I guess that's the other quick one that I'm, and I'm going to try to read this from the book because I think I don't want to get it wrong. Anti-Semitism and racism were realities experienced and it was especially so moving from Canada to the Mississippi Delta in the early 60s when Robertson hooked up with with Hawkins.

He said, anyway, and his own book, I quote, His southern bandmates could hardly comprehend somebody in their group of a heritage that was Jewish or North American Indian. He goes on, and I quote, that Hawkins at one point says, God, it was bad enough that he thought Robbie was a red skin. Now we find out he's a damn Jew on top of that. Chuckles, chuckles, uh, Hawkins. Anyway, there were also issues with Robbie's bro, Levin Helm. Also, and I don't mean disrespect, but a Southern Cracker who really struggled. Yeah, yeah.

So I approached the chapter wanting to sort of share that kind of information because a lot of people didn't know or don't know. Okay, there's a question on the live stream for you. This is from Hey, Ref. Why did David choose 36 songs? Well, let's go back to the four books. I started off, I explained how the first was 30. Then I thought, well, okay, I'm going to do a second book, and I'm going to hit the number 36.

The number 36 is double 18. The word 18, let's go back to Rabbi Ralph, or spiritual director, Ralph, 18 means life. This was double life for me. 36. 2 18, two times life. And that's where the 36 came from. That's volume 2.

Okay, is 42 from a hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? No, it's not. It is an interesting connect. That's the third book. Interesting connect to both Christianity and goodness. And to Kabbalah, which is mystical Judaism. Yes, popularized by Madonna, as I recall. Yes, exactly.

Exactly. Anyway, it's all explained in the book, but I was just doing, I was doing the iterations of 30, you know, 30 and adding six. Okay, gotcha here. A little lesser knowing than the first two tracks I played, but... And I know when it feels really true, yeah. Maybe then, I'll say maybe. This David is Mendelssohn Joe. Well, Mendelssohn Joe is not your...

average musician. In fact, he was considered by many to be the consummate multimedia artist. That was really, really a big thing. And he was internationally recognized. There's no question about that. He's a legend. He passed away a couple of years back. And... I believe it was made. I was reading. I believe he took advantage of made. I think that that's right. I mean, I think he realized, you know, he could no longer pluck the strings. He could no longer paint the canvas. you know, took his own, or was really the master of his own destiny. Interestingly, there's a reference in the book, Ben Mink,

who's chaptered in my first book, very much his career was influenced very much by Mendelso and Ben Mink, you may remember, really co-wrote so much stuff with Katie Lang. So, you know, he just sort of was everywhere. Also, there's a connect to Colin Linden, who were going to play a little bit of a little bit later. Spoiler alert, David. Spoiler alert. Wow.

Okay, so Mendelsohn Joe, when he passed, I spoke about this, but I remember his, like I would see him, first of all. I remember biking by him on DuPont. Like, I have a distinct, oh my God, there's Mendelsohn Joe. But he would appear on much music.

He was this guy about town, interesting artist, and then you'd have, I'd have on guests who would talk about getting snail mail from Mendelsso and Joe. Mendelsso Joe was a prolific snail mailer. Like if he saw you,

David, he might see you on, maybe he heard you not that kind of rabbi. He would write you a letter about, oh, I heard you, David, and he would kind of give you his thoughts and everything, and he wouldn't even hold back.

But Mendelsso and Joe, character in this city and missed. Well, he was born in 44, and he died in 2023. There you go, and he was Jewish. And again, and he was part of a group known as Mainline. Do you remember Mainland?

Little bit. A little bit. Yeah, I do. A little bit. That's uptitch before my time, but I remember hearing about them for sure. He actually recorded 30 albums during the chorus of his group, too. Prolific snail mailer and recording artist. Absolutely.

Okay, I'm going to roll right into a song that was played recently on Toronto Miked, a little different, and we'll see if you can name that singer here. Let's listen together, David. So astute listeners will know I played this recently on Toronto Miked. I'll review later what episode that was in, but this is Maureen Forrester. Now, Maureen Forrester was Jewish, David, you're telling me? Well, she converted to Judaism after marrying a violinist

by the name of Eugene Cash, and that was back in 57 and had five children. She became, as is often the case, more Jewish than he. Really? And that's everybody kind of knew this. She started off as a, she was born in Montreal, and she was a soprano, but her voice

kind of changed. She ultimately became an operatic contralto because she really has the pipes. Again, her voice changed soprano

to contralto. And, you know, she almost not a month goes by where somebody doesn't sort of say, did you know

that Maureen Forrester is Jewish? And I say, she's already checked. in one of my books. Yeah. And,

and again, quite, quite a marvelous, marvelous, marvelous, entertaining. Well, on Seinfeld,

there's the, the dentist who converts for the jokes, converts to Judaism for the jokes. Well, she converted for love. She converted for love.

Gene Cash. Although they didn't, their marriage didn't last long, but a couple of kids, I guess Linda. Well, that's the Linda.

So, Linda was on. A couple of actors in that five-sum you described their... Linda and Daniel. Right. Now, Linda

Cass recently made her Toronto mic debut and I actually played this off the top just to get a reaction

and she talked quite a bit about her mom who had early onset dementia and just very

just fascinating to hear Linda Cash talk about her mom Maureen Forrester and like you said

under the radar Morrian Forrester There was an American critic who called her Canada's greatest natural resource

There you go since gold was discovered in the Klondike. So there's perspective. Okay. And we're going to let Linda take us into the next jam. We'll dedicate this coming jam to Midtown Gord, if you're listening at home. We'll call this the other trio from Toronto.

Who in triumph is Jewish, David? Are you on that mic there? And what can one say about him? Sorry, I'm moving away from this. Basist, keyboardist. the hard rock group triumph. I mean, like, you know, even last year, one of their tunes came back

for the... Was it the four nations? No, no, no. No, when the Maple Leafs were... Oh, the playoff run. All of a sudden, it was, you know, wow, triumph again. Anyway, the band started back in the 80s.

No, no, earlier than the 80s. Oh, sorry, earlier in the 80s, but around the globe, they were referred to as the other tree. And I'm not sure, Mike, because you're in the industry. How did that really, who positioned them there? Well, Rush was just a bigger deal. So Triumph was a big deal.

They had international hits and they were a big band. But Rush were bigger. It was such that simple. Yeah, I think it's that simple. So Triumph was the other trio from Toronto. Wow. And both of these trios have Jewish members. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Well, again, you know, the whole scenario with Triumph to me just, I mean, Their music is just so listenable. It really is listenable. I mean, there's stuff that isn't. This is great. This is great stuff, man. And Levine, Levin, you know, was a bit of a character, too. You know, he liked to, I'm kind of smiling at your McGill hoodie.

But Levine has always worn different NHL hockey jerseys whenever and wherever. He just does. And that's part of his schick and part of his persona. And Triumph are going, much like Rush, who opened up the Juno Awards this week. Triumph are going back on the road. Yep. So it's a good time to be in a Toronto trio, even though the Rush trio, sadly, no longer fully intact. But they have a new drummer.

Well, we have a new drummer, and she's okay. Well, I mean, I saw her perform that one song, but I've got to say, I'm not familiar with that song. But that song apparently, not apparently, there was no Neil Peart playing on that song. from the first album before Neil joined the band. Well, it'll be a good time. I hear she's a great drummer. The fact is they've come back and they're doing it. And if you can't pass Alex and Gettys muster,

then they're going to get another drummer. Rush heads are going to have a great time in that tour for sure here. Okay, thank you to Triumph and Mike, a fellow Mike, and I'm going to roll right into a name that you've already mentioned on this program. This is some hard time killing floor blues. This is Colin Linden. Colin's Jewish. Yes, probably best known as the founder of the Folk Roots Supergroup with Steve Furling and Tim Wilson.

Blackie and the rodeo king. You got it. He's the missing member in the FOTM community. I've had the other two. I haven't yet had him. And yet, as his career unfolded, he's a big-time producer in Nashville. He's a big deal.

He's a very big deal. I think it's O'Brother Where Art Thau that sort of puts him into the stratosphere. Let's put it this way. Colin Linden is such a big deal. I'm having trouble getting him on Toronto Mike. Well, there you go. Anyway, I mean, he's played with Coburn,

the band Colin James, done stuff with Greg Allman, Emmy Lou Harris, Diana Crawl, Robert Plant. The list goes on and on. There's some names for you. Yeah. When my, when my, the book, the chapter in which he's in, which is in the second volume, that's the 36 notable, he was, he told me in quotes, the past 14 years had been the best so far for my life in music. Playing with Bob Dylan, working on the ABC TV hit show, Nashville, producing shows with T-bone Burnett and getting our group signed to Warner.

mostly making music in the studio, which my wife, Janice Powers, built for us. I am blessed. Love to hear it. Colin Linden, we'll call him a future FOTM, okay? So mind blow that Colin Linden is Jewish. I never really considered it. But here, this is a banger.

We're going back to the 80s for this one. What a monster song. You still hear this in the wild on the reg. I had no idea this chap was Jewish. You're blowing my mind, David. Oh, it's the sunglasses. Where are my sunglasses? Wear your sunglasses.

You really need, I was going to bring mine and I forgot. They were in the car. Mike, you can do it. Yeah. I wear my sunglasses at night so I can, so I can. Watch you weave and breathe. All right, you'll probably hear this later today at a supermarket, or maybe on Boom 973. Who knows?

But this, of course, is Corey Hart. Well, Boom 973, Zuma Radio. Can't forget Zuma. Anyway, his career back. He was also from the 80s, come back in the late 90s, and he disappeared. He just disappeared from the island, right? Well, he moved to the Bahamas. And he basically wanted to raise family and just sort of just kind of backed off from the world.

Yeah. And, you know, Montreal. Come back, Corey. Let's come to the basement, buddy. Montreal-born pop singer, my goodness. Fast forward to 2011, celebrated 30 years in music. He came back, teamed with Canadian DJ I Love. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. And on a remix of Truth Will Set You Free. That was his first single in 20 years. Okay. Heart said. Again, another, I have to pull this from the book, originally penned from friends in the music business who were born gay and disseminating the message of that song took on new renaissance,

sorry, new resonance after I Love approached him for the permission to remix it. So, you know, contributing, contributing, but again, under the radar on the I didn't know he's Jewish. I had no idea. And like, where are you with Corey Hart? lest we bury the lead Mr. Eisenstadt in that he was also a key part of the Tears are not enough charity single He had a good part in that, Corey.

Oh, big time. Here's my speculation of my part, but because Brian Adams was involved in writing that song and he was part of that Vancouver Brain Trust that made it all happen with David Foster and Bruce Allen and Jim Ballons and all that, right? I always felt like Brian probably felt a bit of a, Because there was a rivalry.

I felt the rivalry in the early mid-80s. Corey Hart, Brian Adams, top 40 hits like this. Maybe Brian definitely gave himself the better part. Like if you listen to Tears and not enough, the best part goes to Brian Adams. He rigged that game. And Brian Adams, not Jewish, right? He won't be in any of my books.

Don't put him in your book. He's not Jewish. But Corey Hart Jewish. And nothing personal. But I was glad to have Corey Hart included, absolutely. Yeah. Big fan of Corey Hart. I used to collect these like rock star.

They were like, were they stickers or just cards, but they were in hostess potato chips packages in the mid-80s. And you would get one and it would be Brian Adams, for example, and you get another and it might be Corey Hart. Or platinum blonde. Like it was just these 80s, you know, rock bands. And maybe Lee Aaron was on one. I can't remember.

But Corey Hart, he is Jewish. And a little fun fact for you, David, before I kick out this next jam, which is a little older than that song, I believe Corey Hart resurfaced fairly recently. He was producing music for Patrick Waugh's son. I'm not sure of that. I feel like that's in my brain somewhere.

Patrick Waugh's son has a music career, and I believe that Corey Hart was producing that music for Patrick Watton. You were Toronto mic and all know. I'm not Montreal Mike though, even though I'm wearing the McGill hoodie. You are Toronto mic and all knowing, all see. Oh, yes. And all hearing. Well, listen, I'm taking, you know, I did break the story that Rush was going to play the Juno, so here you go.

I said it here first. Corey Hart's involved with Patrick Wosson's musical career. Here, let's go back, David. Let's go way back. You ready? Sure. Music from the movies. I mean, because there's no words I can talk over it, I believe this is probably one of the most famous pieces of instrumental music.

Like, there's no. words in this, it's all instrumental, and it is iconic. Well, here's a story you might find of interest in terms of Percy Faith. He grew up in Toronto, he wanted to be a pianist. He took piano lessons, but there was a family, there was a tragedy in the family. There was a fire in the house. He ran in, he rescued his sister, pulled her out, burned his hands. No more piano lessons.

So he decided composition and, and, and, he was a song. and conducting was a route he might want to go. Anyway, bottom line, bottom line, his career just took off and ultimately written tons of stuff. Moulin Rouge was another one of the oldies and goodies in the same kind of vein. Now, I want to tell you a quick story. In each of the books, each chapter has a photograph of every artist. So there's a Caldon Linden, there's a Corey Hart, there's a Percy Faith. when I was looking for, and the hardest part of this whole project over the years has been getting permission for photographs with no budget to spend five grand for the rights.

I kept looking for Percy Faith and everything I saw was copywritten or copyrighted. And the reality was besides that, every photograph was of him high cheekbones and a stern, stern look. and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, I would really like to have a shot with a smile and maybe with a baton or his hand in the air leading an orchestra. Anyhow, I contacted a few people, ultimately reached a grandson just outside of Pittsburgh, and he said, the family does not have the rights to any of Grandpa Percy's pictures. I said, how come? He said, it's the way it is.

He said, but I think I can help you. A couple of days later, I get a call from a... a photographer in Hollywood because that's where Faith basically finished his career, writing tons of movie music. And the photographer said, my dad had taken photographs of starlets and sports personalities and musicians and so on. And I think I have the kind of photograph you're looking for. I'll double check and I'll send you something. So I'm going, okay, a couple of days go buy. I get a text message. Then I get an email. He says, how's this

shot? And lo and behold, it's the shot of Percy that I wanted in my heart with a smile with a hand waving. And he's in my first volume under the radar 30 notable Canadian musicians. So I'm waiting for the shoe to drop and I say

as delicately as I can, what could I give you for that photograph? And he said, David, if you in fact do this first book, I want to sign copy. Perfect. And it's yours.

And that's how I got the picture. Wow. But Percy Faith might not have made the book because I didn't want the chapter to have no picture. Fascinating. And that song I played, a theme from a summer's place. I heard it on an elevator the other day. It's part of the fabric of the world's pop culture, mosaic here.

But I would say I have a memory of, I had snow in the basement. Snow, not Jewish, right? Just checking. Darren O'Brien, not Jewish. Okay, yeah. All right. So, Snow is in the basement, and we're talking about his big hit, Informer. And I think the previous Canadian song to spend the longest time at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 was, in fact, that Percy Faith song that we just played. So I think that record was either tied or broken by Snow's Informer. Well, I have to tell you, I've done a number of presentations to, I'm going to

use the word. I don't like the word seniors, but I'm going to call them veterans groups. And I'm telling you, the bobbing and the weaving, the swaying and the waving and everything. Unbelievable. They love Percy Faith. Well, I was doing some bobbing and weaving and celebrating when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in Vancouver in 2010. Okay. And this song was all over the CTV telecasts. Crosby of the golden goal, David. Okay. Nikki Yanovski.

She's Jewish. And no relation, no relation to Zaliyanovsky. Names are spelled differently. The love and spoonful. Yeah, Nikki's in the second volume, 36 notable. She was a sensation at age 12. I mean, this is when she, this is kind of when it all started for her. But she's fallen under the radar.

I mean, she did become the youngest artist to headline her own show at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2000. 2005. And she was kind of everywhere. Crowds in the thousands. But, and I guess her recording debut happened in 2007. I had to go back and take a look called Air Mail Special in the album. She cut, We Love Ella. Oh, Ella Fitzgerald, sure. Yeah, exactly. Well, again, she, you know, she picked up on a lot of the oldies, but she's been, was one of the more. Kind of an old soul, really, like for a young woman. But one of the more difficult people to write about because she has, subsequently fallen under the radar and candidly I don't know where she's at today. And it's wild when you consider that song was forced down our throats, whether we liked it

or not for a couple of weeks there in 2010. It was a huge coup for her. You know, one of the nicest, I'm going to call it perks of this experience of writing about the various artists. And I hadn't thought much about it, Mike, in advance. But I started getting messages from families of artists deceased, saying, you know, we are so appreciative of the fact that, you know, you've documented in more than three paragraphs, the history.

The work here is music history, not music critique. You've documented the history of my uncle, my cousin. Quick story if we have time on Mo Kaufman. Mo Kaufman's in my very first... Well, hey, why don't I play the song? I'm closing with Mo. That's right. Well, then I'll tell you the Moe Kaufman story after you play.

Well, let's... Because this will be a nice way to end things, David, which... And I thoroughly enjoyed this Passover gift. There you go. We're giving all who celebrate here today. And those who don't. And those who don't.

Yeah, you can have it too. I'm glad this all worked out because I didn't disclose again on this episode, but I screwed up my calendar. So you were forced. to sit there while Ralph and I, you know, talked for 90 minutes. But here you are making your Toronto mic debut. And this will end nicely. We're going to hear your story about Mo Kaufman.

But this song inspires the Toronto Micth theme song that I've been using for almost 1900 episodes. So let's listen to some Mo Kaufman. So CBC radio listeners will recognize CREED Soul here by Mo Kaufman as the theme song to, as it happens. and when I decided to launch Toronto Mike back in 2012, I went to local rapper producer Ilvibe. I don't know if he's Jewish or not.

I got to find out. If he's Jewish, you can stick him in the next installment. But Ilvibe, I said to Ilvibe, I want a hip-hop version of Curried Soul by Mo Kaufman. I wanted it to be in the spirit of this song, the opening theme of Toronto Mike. The rest is history. Tell me, David, about Moe Kaufman.

Well, let me tell you about Moe Coffman. He and my late uncle, who's also in my first book, his name is Morris Eisenstadt, clarinetes, saxophonist. They were, like Moe was connected to everybody, and he was also obviously connected to my uncle. And they had done some commercials, some jingles originally way back when. And Moe Kaufman said to Mo Eisenstadt, the dough is in jingles and commercials, TV was starting to happen, etc., etc. Anyway, and then Moe Kaufman's career really escalated my uncle's career. He was a classical musician guy, long-time tenured O'Keefe's Center Orchestra, and so on and so forth. Anyway, bottom line, I write about Moe Kaufman, and I wind up going to an event, and there's a Moe Kaufman tribute band.

Piano player is Bernie Senninsky, who happens subsequently to be in another one of my books. and Bernie says to me you know if you do a third book you've got to do Moe's grandson Jake he's a clarinetist a saxophone he's really a mainly a sax guy and so on so

in my third volume there's Jake Kaufman okay so he and I wind up having a cup of coffee and I wanted to sign the book the first book with Moe

the book the third book with Jake and Jake says I want to thank you I want to thank you for having written about my two grandfathers I said your two grandfathers what are you talking about your grandpa Mo's in book one you're in book three and Bernie

kind of made it all happen he's in book two so there's this whole Kaufman connection he said but no no but my other grandfather is in your first book I said who is it he said Victor Feldbrill Victor Feldbril got into the book because

classical musician, a conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conductor the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and he happens to be Jake's grandfather, and no matter how much research I did, I didn't know that, I didn't know that, so he said, wow. And so again, Mike, this whole notion of something more than three lines or two paragraphs in the Canadian Encyclopedia is what these books do better than that. I believe. All back to Nicky, I believe. I believe back to Nikki. There you go. David, I love this, man. This was great. I got to kick out the jams.

I learned about 10 musicians, Canadian musicians who are under the radar. There are so many more in your fine books. 108, and the next book, actually the one that's just out is actually a compendium. there are two compendiums of the first the first three hundred and eight musicians readers others were saying things like could you do a book by genre so there is a jazz book with 18 and again 18 is life it just out of the 108 is a fluke and I went back and somebody said would you do rock I went back and did the count there were 18 so the latest one is rock musicians under the radar and it's it's quick and easy reading and it's historic and it's fun.

And if you love music, why not? If you love music or if you love Jewish people. Well, or both. That's okay. But again, remember, we're all immigrants. We're all Canadians. Absolutely. 18 in life, that was a Skid Row song. I don't know if Sebastian Bach is Jewish, is he?

Maybe. I don't think so. Because he's definitely not really a Sebastian Bach. So we'll have to dig into that a little bit. But I got to say, again, thank you, David. you're finally an FOTM. It was long overdue. Thanks for introducing me to the wonder that is Nick Aienes.

And we'll take a photo by Toronto Tree here. And can't wait to drop this. Happy Passover to everybody who celebrates and even if you don't. And that brings us to the end of our 1,000, 8703rd show. Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs and buy your ticket to see me at the Elma combo on May. 21st. Rob Proust will join me on stage. He is my Paul Schaefer. Paul Schaefer, he's Jewish. Paul Schaefer's in the book. He's in the second book.

Keeping track over here. I'll tell you. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. You've got your fresh craft beer here, David. Palma Pasta, Nick Ieini's Recycle My Electronics.ca.ca. And Ridley Funeral Home, you've got your combo flashlight. I'm just walking out with all this swag. It does everything, man. Does everything. So the next episode of Toronto Mike is FOTM cast with Cam Gordon and Tyler Campbell. And it's going to record tonight because I'm dropping this on Tuesday.

It's all complicated. But it's going to be an April Fool's Day special. I will play Chalk Circle. Don't you dare miss it.