Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - DJ Dwight: Toronto Mike'd #1046

Episode Date: May 6, 2022

Mike chats with DJ Dwight Hybrid about his life as a club DJ, working the Live-to-Airs with Martin Streek, their emotional fallout, and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Duer Pants and Shorts.

A man makes his way through the darkened streets of Toronto. He is on a mission. Tonight, he will have an entire club on their feet. The beat. Unstoppable. The club. Club 102 at the Phoenix. The man. DJ Dwight. Saturday night, Club 102 at the Phoenix. It's all new rock, and it goes live to air on 102.1 The Edge with Martin Streak and DJ Dwight.

Club 102 at the Phoenix. This Saturday,ak and DJ Dwight. Club 102 at the Phoenix this Saturday every Saturday. The Phoenix 410 Sherbrooke. Dope. Shout out to Ill Vibe I'm in Toronto, I wanna get the city love My city love me back, for my city love Welcome to episode 1046 of Toronto Mic'd Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer.

Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh,made Italian pasta and entrees From Palma Pasta In Mississauga and Oakville Dewar

The world's most comfortable Pants and shorts Save 15% with the promo code TMDS Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community Since 1921 and Canna Cabana

the lowest prices on cannabis guaranteed over 100 stores across the country learn more at canna cabana dot com joining me this week making his Toronto Mike debut

is DJ Dwight. A.K.A. Dwight Hybrid. Oh, you have another name? Because I was just going to call you DJ Dwight. You can call me Dwight. You can call me D. You can call me DJ Dwight.

For 17 years, I've been going by the industry name of Dwight Hybrid. You know, I kind of came across that moniker by accident. Not by accident. It actually happened in a question one night when someone, Phoenix, came up to me and said, hey, how would you describe your sound? And I said, well, it's a hybrid of sound. And it just stuck in my head.

Okay. The origin story. Okay. But your birth certificate says Dwight. Hennings. Okay. Dwight Hennings. Okay. So, and I'm allowed, I just want to make sure, I'm okay to call you DJ Dwight for the remainder of this conversation. Hennings. Okay, Dwight Hennings. Okay. So, and I'm allowed, I just want to make sure, I'm okay to call you DJ Dwight for the remainder of this conversation. Of course.

All right, well, thanks for being here, buddy. Thank you for having me. This is great. I want to shout someone out because I played a promo off the top, and I have a few more I'm going to play. Christopher Kotsopoulos. Kotsi. So you know Kotsi.

I do. I've known the young man for a long, long time. He used to shadow and hang out in all the DJ booths I played at over the years. And he became a keen and good little DJ himself. Kotsi. Okay. Well, Kotsi was amazingly supportive through this. Kotsi said, hey, have you thought of having DJ Dwight on the program? I told him the truth.

Every single day I think about that. And he said, hey, why don't you, I think he hooked me up with your email address or something. And then he sent these promos. And I kept thinking about, maybe you remember this. Let me look at you. Yeah, okay. Do you remember Chris Kotsopoulos, the defenseman the Leafs

had in the mid-80s? I do. It's not the same guy, though. No. Unless he's retroaging, which would be ironic. Okay, he's a younger guy, Codsey. Yeah. Okay, so shout out to Codsey. Rhymes with Podsey.

And I'm going to just play another one, and then I want to get into how you ended up being DJ Dwight and who the heck you are. But here's another one. Saturday night, this man is going to ensure hundreds of people stay up far too late. He will instill in them a rhythm, a passion, that will electrify a club

for the entire evening. The club, Club 102 at the Phoenix. The man responsible, DJ Dwight. Saturday night, Club 102 at the Phoenix. It's all new rock, and it goes live to air on 102.1 The Edge with Martin Streeck and DJ Dwight. Club 102 at the Phoenix. It's all new rock, and it goes live to air on 102.1 The Edge with Martin Streak and DJ Dwight.

Club 102 at the Phoenix. This Saturday, every Saturday. The Phoenix, 410 Sherman. Dude, that takes me right back. I love that. Shout out to Rob Johnson, producer at the time, who was the one who cut that spot. It was pretty rad.

I remember he surprised me. He was like, hey, man, we did a little something for you. I was like, you know what? That's really nice. Thanks, Rob. Appreciate it. Robbie J is not only worthy of that shout out, but he's an FOTM like yourself now. He's been on the show a few times.

Nice. So shout out, yeah. And we still hear his name whenever Alan Cross, he shouts out as technical producer on those ongoing history of new music. So you get Technical Production by Rob Johnston. Okay. Credit well deserved. So, okay.

So where do I begin with you? Like, who were you before you were affiliated with 102.1 The Edge? And then how did you get involved with them? Like, give me the whole story. I'm going to soak this in, man. Wow. Do you want like the origin story? Yeah, like give me the origin story.

Your superhero origin story. Hero, yes. Super, maybe. We'll find out. Actually, interesting. I had the privilege of being raised with two different

households of music. Well, my parents split at a young age, but, you know, two different tastes and flavors

and ears of music. My father, and I'm half Caribbean, half Italian, my father was much more into Roots Ska, Rude Boy Ska, but as well as Motown

and Soul, and I loved that stuff. I used to play that around the house when I was a child a lot. It I loved that stuff. I used to play that around the house when I was a child a lot. It inspired me a lot. I used to love the Melodians and Commodores

and the OJs and Marvin Gaye. So to this day, I'm a huge Marvin. Many people wouldn't know that. You'd think, wow, this guy listens to alternative music. He's a Marvin Gaye.

Yes, I'm a Marvin Gaye fan. If you like good music, you like Marvin Gaye. And my mom, on the other hand, she was always more into the punk rock stuff of the 70s, the alternative music in the 70s,

which was a heavy, heavy influence on me. When I was a young man, late single digits, eight, nine years old, I was listening to Blondie already. One of the first albums I ever bought was on Yonge Street at Cheapie's. With a few dollars she'd given me for allowance that I had squirreled away. And I remember that being in 1980. And walking to Cheapie's, you could buy an album. And that was the one that I bought.

And I played that record ad nauseum. Still have it today in the crate. Not kidding you. Wow. Yeah. You know, you can buy an album and that was the one that I bought and I played that record ad nauseum. Still have it today in the crate, not kidding you. Wow. Yeah, you know, 42 years old,

still have that. And that stuff holds up. I find that, because if you listen to like an early 80s like Pretenders album, for example, it still fucking sounds great,

like that kind of scene. You know, good music is timeless and it truly is. And not only was it good music, but because it was just such pivotal music. It was the sound

of a generation, but not only of that generation, one that defined an era and then many generations to follow. And it's interesting, you know, looking at 40 years later plus, you know, as how we define generations of being 20 to 25 year windows, they seem to be shrinking now with technology and how fast life is moving. Right. Easily it is to span three generations. It has probably more of an impact now with the younger kids. is moving. Easily it's a span three generations that has probably

more of an impact now with the younger kids when you talk to them you walk down the street and listen to YouTube and accessing an array of social media platforms to access music.

Their influence, their taste, their sound and what they're doing with modern technology is such a reflection of that music versus a lot of the pop music

that has been propagated and dominating the airways over the last 20 years and it's fantastic to see. Digressing from that point. So that pop music of today, would you consider that disposable? Not at all.

Okay. Not at all. Let's not forget that the pop music of our generation, Generation X, was at one point considered disposable. They thought, Depeche Mode, who are they going to be? Bah!

You know, new with Pet Shop Boys, come on, they're not going to happen. And lo and behold, you know, they're legendary. Absolutely. Okay, so you grew up in a family, at least, I mean, it sounds like, again,

I have divorced parents too, man. And I'm a divorced guy, so I know the drill, man. But you had music surrounding you, so different influences from your mom and dad at a young age. Yeah, music was always part of the household. So, you know, growing up with my mom, predominantly, exclusively, actually.

I say predominantly because i was split living with my grandparents being raised by her parents as well um but that was the music in the home all the time and she had taken me to shows and she'd been she'd been with my stepdad for 40 years now so uh they'd come together when i was nine see now i know you're 81 41 years now yeah that's right you're working it all out okay i'm working on yeah you out. Yeah, you do know Chris Costopoulos then. I do. The hockey player. That's right. I'm a Leafs fan.

Let's go Leafs. And, you know, I'd taken all the shows, seen the cult tour Love at the concert hall, going to see Depeche Mode an array of times at Kingswood Music Theater, Psychedelic Furs at Kingswood. You know, anytime there was a good show at Kingswood, I was always there.

We were at Massey Hall for U2 for War, Simple Minds, Tears for Fears, et cetera, et cetera. So we were always, music is such a part of our household and it always was that way. And I started to get a little bit wasteful at the time with some of the extra monies I was making with the little job I was working with my grandfather

and whatever little allowance monies I was getting, always buying records, always buying a tape, always buying something music or skate related. And you consider that wasteful. Well, that is a quote because the challenge question was, why don't you spend your money on something that you could invest in? Okay. And that kind of resonated in my head, you know,

and I was about 14 or 15 years old at the time. And my mom, who was also the manager of a venue downtown at the time, was called Maxwell's Plum, which became Remy's in Yorkvilleville eventually which was a prominent venue you know for yorkville and even when i was underage she used to get me in different clubs such as you know nuts and bolts dominoes silver crown never went uh diamond and you know select few others and i had gotten a chance to meet friends that were hers who were also djs and I was just in awe of what was going on around me. Like, this is so fantastic.

Little did I know until I became a little bit older that my dad was also a club DJ. That was a strange one. I didn't know that until I became one. And then he told me, he's like, I used to play too. I was like,

what? You waited my whole life to, okay, that's fine. Wow. Yeah. Okay. So you come by it,

uh, honestly, it's in, it's in your DNA, buddy. Perhaps I guess, you know come by it honestly. It's in your DNA, buddy. Perhaps, I guess. Hopefully, I'll pass that on too. I think I have with a few people and inspiring them.

All right, here's my big question for you. How do you define, at the time anyways, how did you define DJ? What was DJ? Was DJ your selector? What was a DJ to you at that time? It wasn't the cut and mix and blend as it is now and remixing live and

reformatting and reimagining music. What it was back then was creating a tone, creating an energy, creating atmosphere, just making sure that that energy was always constant and stimulating and really provocative to the crowd, but also a reflection of the crowd. You'd also toast the crowd?

I was very quiet. I was not very confident when I'd started out. The first parties that I'd done, which were the first one Like you'd, yeah, you'd toast? I was very quiet. I was not very confident when I'd started out. And the first parties that I'd done, which were, the first one was in 1989. It was at Bar Mitzvah. No, but close.

I was just talking with one of my good friends about this as well because we had no idea that we'd run in the same circles at the time. At the time, I was hanging out at,

you know, CKD's on Bloor Street and they'd move down to College Street and a lot of my friends were the punks and the rude boys and, you know,

the Trojan and Sharp members and we used to go to the punk rock shows at the Apocalypse Club on Friday nights. But a big part of lot of my friends were the punks and the Rude Boys and the Trojan and Sharp members. And we used to go to the punk rock shows, the Apocalypse Club on Friday nights. But a big part of that culture and scene were the Rude Boys and the Scooter Boys. So knowing my history, that they knew that I loved old Rude Boy ska

and reggae and two-tone music and Motown and soul and R&B, they'd ask me, hey, want to DJ one of our scooter run rap parties? I'm like, what? What's a scooter run? Well, we, you know, we ride our scooters down Niagara Falls.

We camp out. We drink. We start fires. We roast marshmallows. We come back. We have a party again. I was like, I'm all in. Let's go.

And how old are you at this time? I was 18. Okay. Yeah. So I did a couple of those, the Royal Canadian Legion on Queen Street, which ended up becoming the 360, which was right next to the Rivoli. Yeah. And yeah, I did a couple

of those. Let me tell you, I was as nervous as nervous can be. And I kind of choked a few times with dead air, which was fine, but they were totally cool and supportive about it because that was the community at the time. And I found my sound. Because what I was also doing that night,

somebody said, hey, would you mind playing some of this stuff? And the person had asked for Depeche Mode. I said, do you think anybody will mind? And that was the stuff that I'd loved to play. I loved listening to The Ska.

I loved listening to Motown and Soul and Set, etc. But I really wanted to play that stuff. And the moment that question was asked, okay, and that's all I played the rest of the night

without anybody contesting at all. And I went, okay. So the next party, I said, hey, do you guys mind? They're like, you don't want everybody to love it, just go with it. But make sure you play X, Y, and Z. And I'm like okay. So the next party I said, hey, do you guys mind? They're like, you don't want everybody to love it, just go with it.

But make sure you play X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, no problem. I'll get that done for you. And it just went from there. The next parties I did after that were Sneaky D's Upstairs. Then I suddenly found myself with my first residency at Catch-22

in 1992 doing Tuesday nights. Wow, what a time too. What a time for music. That was my first club residency. Thanks to Joe Cristiano for that opportunity and Pat Fiolo. And then 1993, I started kicking off one of my bigger and more successful,

one of the first of my successful nights, which was Wednesday nights at the Dance Cave. And I ran that from April of 1993 to February of 2000, which I'd walked away from it because at that point I was playing five nights a week, every week for forever. And I just said, you know what,

I need to scale back a little bit. And I'd handed that night off to a friend of mine and he did okay with it for a little bit. Okay, I need to know and hopefully you'll be honest here, the statute of limitations

and all that, but what kind of scratch could you pull down DJing these clubs? What are we talking about? I don't need to see a T4 or anything. You mean then? Yeah, then.

Like early 90s. The early 90s, a resident gig, depending on who you were. So let's just put it this way. Depending on who you were, you were making at least $150 a gig, which wasn't great. But if you were well-established, you were making $400 to $500 a night. Some of the bigger names and mentor and a good friend of mine such as DJ Ian,

he was doing incredibly. He was the man. Yeah, shut up bigger names. I'm trying to place myself. So who were, at the time, who were the high rollers in the DJ community? And at this point,

are you DJ Dwight yet or you haven't adopted? I was just Dwight. Just Dwight. Yeah. I just let people call me D. So who, like who were the,

the pop, the DJs that could be pulling down the four or five hundred dollars? A lot of which were CFNY alumni at the time. Craig Bzak. You know, let's,

of course, Chris, the Shep, right? It was, it was. Do you know where Shep is? Because I have to ask you this

because I've been looking for him for years now and I can't find him. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to divulge where he is right now. You do know where he is? I do know where he is, yeah. Okay, look, I'm going to have to ask you this, because I've been looking for him for years now, and I can't find him. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to divulge where he is right now. You do know where he is? I do know where he is, yeah.

Okay, look, I'm going to have to torture you now. We could say it off air, just in case, Chris, don't get upset with me, so I'll tell him it off air, okay? When was the last time you spoke with Chris Sheppard? Three years back. Okay, so, but you know-

Wait, what year is it? Four years back. Four years back, okay. Remember, this is a safe space. I'm nothing but just a fan of the guy, because listening to him, you know, over live days on Okay. Remember, this is a safe space. I'm nothing but just a fan of the guy because listening to him live to airs on 102.1, big fan of Chris Shepard. I'm just looking to,

I don't even mind if he says no. I just want to get an invitation to him just to let him know Toronto Mike would love to have a conversation with you about your career, et cetera. Sure. So would you be able to get this message to Chris Shepard? I think I'd get that message to Chris Shepard. Wow. Okay. So we're making progress here. Yeah. Sure. So would you be able to get this message to Chris Shepard? I think I'd get that message to Chris Shepard. Wow. Okay.

So we're making progress here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So Chris Shepard obviously you want to name check some other prominent Toronto DJs at the time? Craig Bezac, DJ Ian, Don Burns, another CFY alumnus. And what was he going by? Trance? So

when he was doing techno, he was Dr.ance so when he was doing techno he was Dr. Trance when he was doing alternative music and he still did that at the time he was still Don Burns

right yeah right because he had he could play the CFNY side and then he could do the Energy 108 side

man we lost him too soon he's a guy I would have loved to have on this program you know having had the chance to meet and spend some time with him one-on-one, hanging out in the booth, watching him, he was always so generous and so kind and so welcoming.

And, you know, you've heard people say he's larger than life. His voice wasn't only larger than life, but his heart was. And he really was a really good man. And everyone he'd come in contact with, definitely he's inspired and influenced directly and indirectly. And a lot of what we enjoy in Toronto Nightlife culture, he has a fingerprint on. And credit where credit is due.

Okay, I love it. Unfortunately, there will be a few people who are no longer with us that we talk about during this chat. Let's also credit Paul Dinkra as well, who was DJing at the time. DJ Dinkra? Of course.

I met him. Okay, we'll get to this later. We'll talk about Streek. Okay, we'll talk about all these guys. But okay, so you're kind of making a name for yourself on the scene, DJing, and then I'm enjoying this story. Keep going here. Right.

So then I started taking on other residencies and I had the honor and privilege of becoming friends with DJ Ian and James Kakanovich. James K was the big promoter at the time. The two of them were doing all the big parties. The two of them are actually the minds behind the Nitrous Rave, the very first raves, and big raves, warehouse raves in the city.

And it was them, the two of them. Can I crack a GLB here on the microphone? Please do. Let it hiss. Crack it hiss. How could you know? But you got to pop it on the mic. If you have another one,

that's what you got to do. I can just crinkle the can. Can you do it? What's a guy from a police academy? He could like imitate sounds. You know, make it sound like that. I just want to thank. This is my second episode of the day,

so I've been drinking all day here. No worries. I want to thank Great Lakes Brewery for sending over the fresh craft beer. Cheers, Great Lakes. I'm a big fan, by the way. Okay, so legit. Okay.

Cheers. They'll love hearing that. They're send some home again. I'm a big fan, by the way. Okay, so legit. Cheers. They'll love hearing that. They're opening a new venue. Is that a venue? I guess. They're opening a pub on Lower Jarvis near Lakeshore. I'll be there. So it's opening like super soon.

They're just getting some permits and stuff. And just quickly, I know you mentioned, is it your mom's side that's of Italian descent? That's right. So would you know a good pasta sauce if you tasted it? You could sense an authentic Italian pasta sauce. First of all, I appreciate you saying pasta, not pasta. Okay, I do. I say pasta.

That's the correct way to pronounce it. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's the first time I got one of those right. And yes, I do. I make everything from scratch at home myself. Okay. This is from Palma, but I do have a frozen meat lasagna in my freezer.

Would you take it home, eat it, and let me know legit, straight up, tell me what you think of it. The best I can do is level some unbalanced furniture with that. You're refusing the Palma because if you refuse it, I'll eat it. That's all yours. Enjoy. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. More guests

should do that. Okay. Well, much love to Palma Pasta because my family... I'm sure it's great. There's no question. Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I really do have one in the freezer and you can take it home

or you can leave it. Either way, it's going to get devoured. So let me know. Buon appetito. And there is a Toronto Mike sticker on the red box there. That's courtesy

of stickeru.com. When you're getting your DJ Dwight stickers, you get it. Well, you got something there on the box. I got a little something for you. You're not pulling out a gun or anything, right?

No, I'm pulling out a button. Okay. Enjoy. Oh, yeah. I love buttons. I got to put this with my Lost Indie City button here. Thank you so much. Okay.

Hybrid. Love it. My hybrid button, everybody. Thank you so much. Look at this. We're giving each other's gifts. I have more for you later, but I want to save some of that. Okay.

Now, back. I'm going to enjoy my, but I want to save some of that. Okay, now back. I'm going to enjoy my GLB and listen to more of your origin story. So I have become acquainted with Ian James Kay and the two of them, including Chris, were instrumental in one of the biggest and pioneering raves that kicked things off at Nitrous 012,

which was behind, or just a little behind Maple Leaf Gardens at the time. And they were doing, you know, the biggest alternative nights and techno nights at the time. And Ian had doing, you know, the biggest alternative nights and techno nights at the time. And Ian had seen some promise and fire in this young man. And he'd give me a really good opportunity to open up for him, doing the opening slot at his limelight gig on Sundays for an hour.

And whenever he was away, I would cover the night for him. And I did that for almost a year. And having met other people over the years who I'd come in contact with, and, you know, I was always in the booth, just kind of being that fly in the booth. Like, what are you doing? I,

you know, let me figure this out and make it for myself. And, um, I, I was just always so inspired by what everyone was doing as a sound, but I hadn't, I had,

I'd already found my own sound and my own sound was again, kind of going back to and inspired by, you know, the punk rock roots that I enjoyed when I was a kid, listening to blondies, circle jerks, suicidal tendencies, attitude adjustment, you know, the punk rock roots that I enjoyed when I was a kid, listening to Blondie, Circle Jerk, Suicidal Tendencies, Attitude Adjustment,

JFA, Dead Kennedys, The Clash, I'm a massive Clash fan, like Martin was, we'll get to him later. Sure, of course.

And we, the Ramones, Misfits, et cetera, et cetera. And so I'd often approached my sets in those years in a very renegade punk rock way, where I'd already believed,

and come from this, this school of thought, that part of what was reflective of alternative culture and alternative nightlife culture and music culture wasn't that it was homogenous. You know, I loved that it was now more than ever it's an umbrella term. But at the time, it still had some parameters and genre specifications that people felt one needed to fall into in defining that category or expressing their taste in music of and back then i was already starting to add you know little small things like playing the trip hop when it came up you're like oh but it sounds too much like hip-hop and i was like you know what this is i'm all for it like portishead that kind of portishead uh molu uh hoover phonic massive attack of course tricky yeah sure mono etc etc tricky and and now we celebrate and we love it but at the time i remember getting a little bit of resistance and playing some of the electronic music

because that was something that I loved as well, but inspired from my roots of listening to New Order and Depeche Mode, anything and everything Vince Clark, which, again, I was always kind of confused about. I was like, wait a minute, how can you like these bands but not like Underworld? Okay, sure. But it wasn't so much of a contest or a sense of pretentiousness it was always a bit of a confusion like but this this this is our music

this is our sound and you know it was it was a bit of a push back at times and you know like everyone coming up you know i had some gigs i had more failures than i did successes as gigs but the ones that i'd succeeded in were the ones that I'd really was most honest to myself about in playing the music that I knew what people wanted to hear, but trying to be not just part of that curve, but a little bit steering that curve and that trend and riding it before it got stale. Cause that was also a huge part. It still is today of what makes alternative nightlife culture, alternative music culture so prevalent. It's being fresh, being new, being evolving, being encompassing, being reflective

of such a dynamic and diverse community. And that was something, when I really felt more confident and comfortable with that sound is when I found myself getting more residencies. And I started doing Thursday nights in August of 1994 with May Potts on the second floor of Whiskey Saigon. Hello, May.

Miss and love you. Okay. How exactly, how does that come to be? Shout out to May Potts, who's also an FOTM. I have to, I'm like legally obligated to let you know who's an FOTM and who isn't because not everybody is, but May Potts most definitely is. How exactly does that come to be? Because that sounds like your gateway to CFMI. I was a pretty passionate and fiery young man.

And I still am to this day, but a little more subdued with my fire. Not a control burn rather than just ravaging fire burn these days. And I was determined. You know, I had my demo tapes and I mixed my demo tapes. Some of them I'd recorded live from my shows. Some I just, I would sit and pour over for days and days until I just got them perfect. And I'd approached Whiskey Saigon

a few times and he'd rejected me a couple of times. And then the resident DJ on the second floor of Whiskey Saigon was moving on for whatever reason. And he had given me a word of this. He goes, listen, here's an opportunity. There's a few other people in line for it. Just put in your tape.

And I said, did. So I did. And I sat down with David Craig at the time, who was managing programming. He was the promoter and managing the programming at the venue at the time. And he said, okay, let's see what you can do, young man. And worked with May.

And we hit it off really, really well. And I came in guns blazing, and we tore that second floor apart for many years. And I mean, we tore it apart. And I also huge credit and thank you to May because when at that time, the station had already moved or was beginning the final transitions from Brampton Kennedy Road to downtown to Dundas. And there was a smaller street front storefront studio, which was just north of Queen. It wasn't 228 yet. It was just North of Queen on the West side and you kind of took about three or four steps

down and I was always a fly on the wall in there too. While at the same time, I was doing Sunday night overnights at CKLN radio 88.1, which is now Indie 88. Right. On the dial. And so I was, I was just doing as much as I can and soaking in as much as I could and learning and honing and refining. And then I'd pick May's brain.

Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Can you show me your logs? Why is it forming? And of course, you know, there was a different science to the broadcasting. But I also took that into how I programmed my sets as well because I realized, wait a minute, the best way to understand an audience and tailor a sound to your audience is to understand a certain bass formula.

Now, not that I played formulaically, but it kind of gave me a blueprint to better understand how to weave and bob and turn left and turn right and go straight and go back with a crowd. Like, hey, you got these gold tracks. Drop that gold. It keeps everybody happy.

You know, drop this B track. Give me an example of a go-to gold that you can't miss gold track. Well, here's a gold track from that era. It smells like teen spirit. A simple one, right? Like, let's just call it it is. You know, and then play something

which was a B track where let's look at it like Beck's Beer Can. It was a big track, but it wasn't a top, top five track. Right. But because Hot on the Heels of Loser, which was an A, it was a gold track. You know, B had that cachet.

Beck was getting his teeth and had that traction already. And then there was, you know, as we talked about before we'd started this interview off the air, you know, Beastie Boys and things like that. Right. And just kind of weaving a bog and find your way to introduce new music into that. And I figured out, hey, this is, this is what I was kind of missing. And I picked May's brain from this by looking at her logs and picking her brain about how

to introduce new music constructively without shocking your audience. Or what I used to say is like without becoming Moses at the club and parting the dance floor like the Red Sea. So you got to put, yeah, you got to put in your reps to kind of figure out what works and then keep improving. I got to say,

I'm right now living precariously through your story. Like that's what I wanted to do. Like what you're describing here. Like this is, you can still do it. Is it too, it's not too late? I,

you know, no. Oh yeah. Okay. You're inspiring me now. Okay. So where would I be? DJ Toronto Mike. What am I to work, you're inspiring me now. No way. Okay, so... Where would I be? DJ Toronto Mike?

What am I... I need a handle here. I got to work on some things here. Well, you can't be Mike D. No, Mike Diamond's got that one. Rest in peace? No, Mike's not dead. Oh, wait, wait.

I'm thinking MCA. My bad. MCA is actually the anniversary of his death. That's right. I think it was yesterday, actually. That's right. Anyway, what bothers... Of course, it bothers me,

but the fact that he was my age, the age I am now is the age MCA was, Adam Yock, when he passed. I'm not ready to go. Are you ready to go? Not even close. I think you got a couple of years on me, if I do the math.

One or two. Not many, but a couple. Yeah, that sucks, man. And he was the thoughtful boy, the thoughtful beastie boy, you know, the one who was teaching us about Tibet, et cetera.

The consciousness of the group. Yes. Yeah. That sucks. Okay. Nah, he's still with us. You know what? Over the years,

I've learned that, you know, we used to lament the loss of our artists and icon, but they left us the greatest gifts that they could have left us, a library of music,

a history of influence and inspiration. That's true. And we couldn't ask for anything more. We just have to be grateful and celebrate that. And that, you know, this is all prompted because Sticker, you made that sticker Check Your Head because you were going to smash your head on the ceiling like everybody else. And that was, you know, I asked

him, hey, I need something here. And I love Check Your Head. I do believe that's probably my favorite Beastie Boy album. And they've got a bunch I listen to all the time. But it starts with Jimmy James. You know, even Time for Livin' is on that thing. Like, it's like, yeah, it's a hip-hop album, but it's a fucking punk album

too. Like, it's everything. It absolutely is. It is a punk rock album front to back. You know, we were talking about that, about hip-hop. Hip-hop is punk. Hip-hop is the sound of the street. Hip-hop is the sound of rebellion, just like punk rock was, just like rock and roll was in its roots. It was a voice from the street, from

those who were voiceless and were able to scream and shout and make noise, or sometimes twist and shout, if you will. And that is what punk rock is. That's also what alternative music is. That's what alternative culture is. It's not a lane. It's not a category. It's an umbrella. And it's such an incredible diverse community of people

and music, culture, arts, lifestyle. And man, it's just, the more it grows, I'm envious of the younger generation today who are coming into it right now with social media and the different outlets because the menu and pool of stuff they have access to is incredible. And the diversity of community is even better

to service that music and share with each other. But you were working on turntables, right? What were you working on when you were in these clubs? Oh, man. Wow. This is, okay. Sometimes a Fisher-Price speak-and-spell. No.

This is a song. Moo. No, not quite. Sometimes they were tape decks. Tape decks, okay. Sometimes, a lot of the times, so the technology then was turntables and domestic CD players.

I repeat, domestic CD players. Like the studio component ones that you had on your rack mount at home that sat atop your preamp and above your tape deck that you hit eject, you threw the CD in,

you wait, and you had to time hitting play just right. It wasn't until a couple of years later when the first Pioneer CDJ came out, and then Denon did their 2000, which was the dual CDJ deck, which changed the game. That's a game changer. And that was just, wow, wait, wait, we can mix on this now?

This is so rad. Wow. But today, everything's so digital that, you know, I'm going to go see a DJ and they got a MacBook. Sure. And sometimes I think they've got it all preloaded, pre-mixed. I think they're just pressing play. Sure. And to be fair, some do. And I don't say that disparagingly.

It all depends on how and what they're playing. For example, with remix DJs, with a lot of cut, mix, and scratch DJs, you know, they have their banks loaded into different banks into different hot cues. The technology has actually given them greater platform to mix, remix, and reimagine the music, which is awesome. What I do as a club DJ, and what many of my peers have, and a lot of younger people coming up doing as club DJs, is it's

a different style of DJing. It's all DJing, but club DJing, scratch DJing, mix DJing is its unique way of DJing, but club DJing, scratch DJing, mix DJing is, it's a unique way of DJing and presenting the music, but they're not entertaining a crowd for five hours a night. They're not trying to move a dance floor. They're trying to move vibes.

They're trying to move energy. They're trying to move hands in the air. People freak out and go, oh my God, wicked mix. Awesome. But you know, we're also trying to sell drinks to the bar and keep everybody there. Right. And club DJing is about taking that journey and saying to everybody,

hey, let's take some rides, my best friends, and playing the music for the masses. Man. Okay, so you're with May Potts there. Then what comes next? Does that get you more CFNY-sanctioned gigs or what happens there? So at the time, I was also,

I just met Martin, I believe, in 92 or 91. It was in 92, and he and Paul were doing Club Max on Friday nights at the time, and I'd met them through a friend of mine who was also the resident DJ at Catch-22 at the time, and his name was Ronald Box. He was playing the lower level of that building,

and I met Martin and Paul and acquainted myself with them. And Paul is Dingro, right? That is Paul Dingro, that's correct. I met Martin and Paul and acquainted myself with them. And Paul is Dhingra, right? That is Paul Dhingra. That's correct. I just want to let the listenership know we're talking about. Yes, friends. I referred to him on the first day and was like,

I forget that most people know him as Dhingra. Yeah, they will say, yeah, we know him as Dhingra. I think it would be the brandy and DJ Dhingra. That's right. Okay. So, and do you remember how you met Martin Streak? I don't. It was just,

we were there and we just started chatting and hanging out and it became a conversation and we both had long hair at the time. Mine was virtually down to my hips. His was down to about the middle of his shoulders. We talked about hair. Paul's hair was long as well as hair was the style at the time. And yeah, we just hit it off and

I started hanging out with him a little bit more and then we started playing Scrabble on Tuesday nights. I'm a Scrabble guy. And there was a few of us who would get together, have a few drinks and enjoy each other's company, play some Scrabble. Then I started heading out to Hamilton to hang out with he and Paul and started hanging around the pool tables and we developed

a rapport and a friendship and suddenly in 1997 I'd made a move over just west on Richmond Street to the Joker Nightclub. Right. And started doing Thursday nights with Martin there. We called that night Redemption Thursdays. We did that from, I believe, February of 97 to summer of 98. I just remember it being warm and it just,

the tide had changed a little bit at that time with Thursday nights in the city. And yeah, and then things evolved further. I was doing a couple of other gigs. I had a couple of other residencies at the time at venues.

And things evolved. Paul Dingra had talked to me as well as Martin in November of 1998. And Dingra was getting married and starting a family and going into another phase of his life and also evolving as a professional. He was working tech and working with a prominent industry company that does event and concert rigging, staging, lighting, sound, et cetera, et cetera, touring, touring outfitting. And he had said, hey, you know what? I'm going to be walking away from this. We're thinking about you. What do you think about this? How could I say no? This is a huge opportunity. And I remember just

Paul very wryly, dingress, smiling. he says, you know, don't screw this up. I said, I won't. You know, that kind of made me feel pretty nervous and so I shadowed him for the month of December of 1998 and I was at all the venues. You know, I was at Kingdom on Friday nights with them and Phoenix on Saturday nights and hanging out in the booth

and being a fly on the wall. Can I play a Kingdom promo? Do that. Okay, here we go. A guide to Friday nights at the Kingdom. Remember more distinctive details about the person you just met. Have you seen the hot girl I was with? She's blondish, wearing black, I think.

For more tips, be at the Kingdom for 102.1 The Edge, live to air Fridays. With me, Martin Streak, and DJ Dwight. Women in free before 11. And a full-on retro party in the Amazon room. I'm not leaving till I find her. 102.1 The Edge, live to air Fridays at the Kingdom, 1400 Plains Road East, Burlington. Burlington. Quick story about that spot.

Yeah, all the stories, please. That's actually based on a true story. Okay. It was a guy who drunkenly came into the booth and had said that to us, and we had laughed hysterically, and we were like, that would be a really good spot. Okay, so do you have any memories of how these spots came to be? Like, do you have any idea?

Or like, any idea? Some of them were random. It got to a point and it evolved me. If I'm just going to backtrack, I forgot one little piece of the history. I used to, you know, from Shadowing May for all the time and then there was the Bloor and Bathurst studio.

I was always hanging out Thursday nights with Martin while he did the Thursday 30. So I was always there. And then I would meet him at the club afterwards. I'm like, I'm going to go down and set up a joke or I'll see you down there or we'd end up wherever else. Who was doing the Thursday 30 with Martin Streak at that time? Fowler.

Okay. Feet Powder. Okay. Peter Fowler. It's funny because you gave me the button and I thought, I was thinking about, I have a lost Indy City button that Pete Fowler. Nice. Yeah. So shout out to Pete Fowler. He's a good guy. I like that guy. But okay. So

that's Edge of Bloor and Bathurst of course. Now I think it's like a restaurant or something now. It's a Popeye's now. It was a Taco Bell at one point. Right. So okay. So you mentioned the kingdom with Streak. please so shadowing the crew

and uh you know just taking it in and understanding uh how things were operating you know the dynamic of being in a mega club at that time and i didn't feel intimidated by the mega club as i was already doing whiskey saigon and you know i played a couple nights down at industry at the time which was a mega club i had residency at the boom boom boom room on Saturday nights which evolved into fat city and things just with that it was just a greater insight about the the business aspect of it like I was always wary of the business but at that time because I was still young and fiery it's still more about the passion of it all it's about the music it was about the crowd it's about djing about making sure that the night was going off and everybody's happy.

I'm getting paid. I'm going home and calling it a day. But it was now seeing it through their eyes and then really understanding the weight of the influence that not just the music had, but that those shows it had. And it made me reflect back

way back. Now I'm going to backtrack a little bit to add to the story about the first time I met the chef okay and that was just popping an rpm and he just casually grabbed me and said hey kid come down to the bar i was like okay and we took a little cafeteria tray full of shots don't spill any of it and okay and then we got back upstairs into the booth. He's like, cheers, it's a party. And we just went nuts. You do a good job.

It was crazy. And we went to, I should have done the vocal warmup. I probably would have got a little bit better today. And yeah, that was the first time

I met him and sitting and watching him on the wheels of steel and having, even met Hedley back then in the day. But that was part of the day. Um, but that was part of the inspiration.

And it just finally hit me one night. It's like, Oh my God, this is, this is part of the legacy that inspired me as well. You know, and hearing Shep do those shows and, and,

you know, the, the mid, the mid late eighties to where I am now, like, am I going to be a part of this? And that's when the gravity really, really hit me.

And it was the gravity like, wait a minute, I'm actually working with Martin because I didn't look at Martin with the same profile that most people did. You know, he was my friend.

Right. I, I didn't, I didn't relate or understand or even comprehend the reverence. I didn't comprehend the stature yet. And I didn't even comprehend that or understand that with,

with, with Paul, with Dhingra yet. And I, it was that moment that I realized, oh my God, the scope of this. This is huge.

I think we need to explain to listeners like how the duties are divvied up because they're hearing, you know, Dhingra and Streak and then they're hearing DJ Dwight and Streak. I mean, some are going to be wondering why does Streak need somebody? But can you explain like who did what in that booth?

Okay. Why are the two of you in there? Well, the shows always started outside of the booth, actually, and they always started back in the studios, and we did a lot of show prep. Part of that show prep, first of all, to debunk a myth that a lot of people had said about the live tour shows, no, we were never told what to play. No, we were never given a playlist. In fact, it was just an understanding that because of the reach

of the radio station and then yes, we are still selling advertising and yes, there is familiarity. There's branding with the radio station and yes,

most importantly, there are iconic tracks that people associate with the radio station that yes, we should be playing in a club night. Like again,

these smells like teen spirits. Would it be like, I'm thinking like Bencott Steeling. Like Bencott Steeling should play at a live air, I would think. Sure, at that time, yeah.

You know, and in the mid-90s, closer. Well, I don't know anything about any other time. Like, that's the only time I know. Oh, okay. So, yeah. And, you know,

those iconic tracks, which were the gold tracks that we talked about earlier, they had to get played. And not because they had to get played because someone was telling us to play,

it's just that they were part of the identity of the station. And you knew, just by playing those us to play it's just that they were part of the identity of the station and you knew just by playing those iconic songs it's going to throw everyone to frenzy and most importantly by virtue of understanding and trying to catch that casual listener who's dial rolling yes used to roll dials back in the day children that they would stop and say oh my god I love this song and you'd catch their attention and they would stay locked and cranked to the live tour shows.

Locked and cranked. And I'm thinking Rage Against the Machine. Of course. Killing in the name of. And White Zombie, like Thundercriss 65. Absolutely.

Because these are the songs where you just went fucking nuts. People went absolutely bananas. And making sure that those were there and then understanding like, okay, now let's make sure that we you know offered a

small percentage of the show to some of the more underground stuff that people associate with alternative nightlife culture and alternative music like the Young Gods and the KMFDMs and the Front 242s which were very popular but they weren't mainstream radio popular but the live to our shows made them mainstream

radio popular. Yeah. I gotta play one more promo from, I'm not leaving any of these promos on the, in the board here. We're going to play them all. So here's another Kingdom one. Sure.

Friday nights at the Kingdom and it's all live to air on 102.1 The Edge with DJ Dwight and Martin Street. Rock in the main room and retro in the back. And lots of ample parking. Right, Martin?

Tons of parking. Not only that, but the parking lot fills up with girls. Why? Because girls get in free until 1030 parking, right, Martin? Tons of parking. Not only that, but the parking lot fills up with girls. Why? Because girls get in free until 1030. All right, Martin, slow down, man. And they look so good this time of year. Shorts, the skirts, the cut-off shirts, and...

Martin, Martin, Martin! The Kingdom, 1400 Plains Road East in Burlington. Ladies are free before 1030. The Kingdom, 905-333-4700. You know, if I'm not mistaken, that's a Jim McCourty spot. That's a Jim McCourty spot. Okay. Cool.

A shout out to Jim McCourty as well. So it was both he and Rob Johnson who were really, really key. And you know what? Thanks and credit to them because they taught me a lot about the production booth. Because at one point it evolved where I started to do all the splitters and started cutting spots myself. Awesome. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. So,

uh, okay. Now keep, keep, keep rolling here because at this point, oh yeah. So, so,

so was Marty just like the voice of these live to airs and you're actually the music guy, right? So this is how it works. We would do all the music prep and in the studio, you know, and again, we didn't format anything. We just kind of had our key tracks and et cetera,

et cetera. We'd get to the station, we'd have our logs so that we wouldn't have any music conflict with the shows, you know, and again, we didn't format anything. We just kind of had our key tracks and et cetera, et cetera. We'd get to the station, we'd have our logs so that we wouldn't have any music conflict with the shows, you know, prior to us and after us. And Paul and I took care of the DJing and the music. And we found that right balance between doing a club show and a radio show,

but it was a club radio show. And Martin was the voice. He was the host. He was the identity. If you may recall, Martin sometimes would refer to me as DJ Dwight Action. Right? And that was his way

of saying it. This guy's the action. Like he's doing the music. And same with Paul. He always gave credit where credit is due. But you know, Martin was the icon of the party. He was the icon of the show. He was the voice of that nightlife culture at that time and that went on for a very long

time and still to this day. Absolutely. Okay. So much, so many, so much ground to cover here. So what was your personal relationship like with Martin Streak when you're working with him here? We were very, very close. Very, very, very, I can very, I can say this on behalf of

Dhingra and I, because we've talked about this at great length over many years. Deep love and very deep closeness and to the point where tears were shed many times, many hands held,

many great moments of vulnerability and candidness that not many people had that privilege of sharing or being able to share with him. Yeah. We'll talk more about Streak soon, of course, but I'm going to play another promo. Sure, please do.

I got a Phoenix promo here. Here we go. Nice. In 1991, one man told a friend his revolutionary idea. We take the night from the club, put it live to air on the radio. Man, that's stupid. Mr. Negative didn't think it would work. It won't. So he

did it anyway. And it took off. Yeah, well, it's a fad. It's a fad. It's a fad. It's a fad. It grew through the 90s, always on the edge. And in the 21st century, it's still going strong. We do it like this. Club 102, live to air Saturdays on 102.1 The Edge

with Martin Streak and DJ Dwight at the Phoenix, 410 Sherbourne Street, downtown Toronto. Yeah, told you so. Shout out to Dean Blundell. Yeah, Dean. What kind of guy was Dean? He was a nutter. It was interesting crossing paths with him.

When I would come in to reconcile my logs after doing Whiskey Saga on Sunday nights, here come Jason Barr, Danger Boy in the morning, and they're walking in while I'm walking out at five o'clock in the morning. So it was kind of a trip. And when I first started, it was actually crossing paths with Humble and Fred,

but still Danger Boy in the morning. Right. Because he was producing at the time. Yeah, Danger Boy was there. That's right. And yeah, Todd Shapiro would be there as well. He came in a little bit after me, if've been after you okay okay so our is this the time can we play a mod club promo first here i gotta treat my swamp here here we go starting september 23rd 102.1 the edge will go live to air every thursday night from the hottest club on college

the mod club 102.1 live to air thursday Thursday nights with DJ Dwight and the best from the UK. Oasis, Blur, The Vogue, English Beat, The Jump. Thursday nights, The Mod Club. Music from the UK. Get there early because there's no cover. It all starts Thursday, September 23rd. Keep listening for details. Whose voice is that?

Her name was Amy and I cannot remember her last name. You know what's funny? Because recently I was thinking about her and I could remember her last name and now it just escapes me. She was living here temporarily from the UK and she came in to voice the spots and she was kind of... Her and Mark Holmes were the hosts of the night. Shout out to

Platinum Blonde. Yes, sir. Wow. Yeah. Of course, Mod Club. Sure. He's a guy I've been working on getting over here for a long time. And he's into it. He's into it. And then it never happens. Like, it's almost like it's like hurry up and wait on with that one. So maybe one day.

Okay, one more promo here. And then we're going to, I'm going to give you a couple more gifts here. And then we're going to do some real talk. Here we go. This is Martin Streak here with DJ Dwight. Two words, Saigon Sundays. It's 80s. Reach out, touch faith. It's 90s.

Two words, guest list. Get on it and get in. Email martin at edge.ca or djdwight at edge.ca. Saigon Sundays are back at Joe. Live to air with 102.1 The Edge's Martin Streak and DJ Dwight. Second floor, New Rock. First floor, Industry. Saigon Sundays, the night

everyone talks about. We flip Mondays the bird. Saigon Sunday at Joe, 250 Richmond Street West. I could just listen to those promos. Like, just string a couple of hours of promos together, I'd be... Oh, I'm going to drop one on you right now. Paul Dinger and I have been doing Saigon Sundays solid for the last 28

months, every single Sunday at 7 p.m. on my Mixcloud channel mixcloud.com backslash Dwight starting at 7 p.m. and we are back doing it at the clubs

again at the Piston long weekend Sundays 937 Blue Street West here in Toronto and we crush and every single show we do we raise one up for a good friend of yours

MC Martin Streak in celebration. Always. Always, always, always. And you know we just keep the night alive. It's a fan favorite. It's our favorite. And most importantly, it's been our opportunity. We actually were doing the club event

a few times previous to the pandemic. But throughout the pandemic, it's been our time to kind of give back to the audience. You know, we've gained so much. We've earned so much. We've celebrated so much. And all of the privilege and success we have has been because of the people who have supported us. And we do the show every single Sunday. and I do other ones on the weekends as well

as a means of giving back and saying, you know what, thank you. And, you know, this is, let's just keep celebrating our community and this great music and our good friend, you know, we keep the spirit alive. Well, we're going to, we're going to get there in a moment here. I'm going to give you a couple of things though. You know, I know you drink beer. You're drinking beer right now. Do you partake, do you enjoy cannabis? I haven't in a long time. Okay, so when you get back on that train, okay,

you're going to Canna Cabana, cannacabana.com. Ooh, I will. Canna Cabana has over 100 locations across the country and they won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. And they're good people too.

I mean, they sponsor the real talk here. So much love to Canna Cabana. And they're good people too. I mean, they sponsor the real talk here. So much love to Canna Cabana. And they did, there's a toque for you. Unbeatable. That's a Canna Cabana toque. Oh, super rad. Thank you. You're taking that home with you. DJ Dwight has a Canna Cabana toque.

You know what? I'm taking that lasagna too. Okay, see? Babe, we don't have any dinner tonight. Just kidding. You take the lasagna. If you want to work radio, radio, you gotta learn how to go hungry. That's where it all starts.

I can afford to skip a few meals. Okay, you got that. Okay, you were eyeballing that measuring. Yeah, you got the sticker, use sticker

for Toronto Mike sticker. You were eyeballing that. That's a measuring tape. You never know when you gotta measure

something, man. You never know. I'm digging it. Yeah, that's from Ridley Funeral Home. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. The funeral director there, Brad, has a great podcast called Life's Undertaking.

We just dropped a new episode a couple of days ago. People should subscribe and enjoy Life's Undertaking. And okay, so before I press record on this episode, you saw me, I was showing my butt off on the pirate stream because Lieve Fumke wanted to see my ass. Okay, so that sounds dirty, but it's not. pressed record on this episode you saw me i was showing my butt off on the pirate stream because leave a fumka wanted to see my ass okay so that sounds dirty but it's not she wanted to see my new pants because doer d-u-e-r sent over uh some some clothes for me they want to style me up because i have no style at all like i saw you i said this guy he's got the leather jacket he's got

the the uh gordy levec shirt there i'm like this guy knows he's got the leather jacket. He's got the Gordy Levesque shirt there. I'm like, this guy knows how to dress. I have no clue, but I have my new wardrobe from Dewar, and these are the world's most comfortable pants. And I can bike in these things. They're super rugged, super comfy. So I just want to shout out Dewar. And this t-shirt's so freaking comfy. It's ridiculous uh this is wonderful performance and simplicity and if anyone listening wants to save 15 either online or in store at doer d-u-e-r the promo code is tmds so tmds toronto mic digital services tmds and when you use it not only do you save the 15 for good shit because i'm loving it but it lets them know that uh you use it, not only do you save the 15% for good shit, because I'm loving it,

but it lets them know that it makes sense to sponsor and fuel the real talk here. So thank you, Dewar. Now back to DJ Dwight. All right. Why does it end for you? I've heard so many stories about why it ends for you, and I want to hear it straight out of your mouth now, the real deal.

What happens at the end of your time doing the live to airs on CFY? The best way that I can frame it is this. With chemistry, there can sometimes be combustion. But it wasn't because there was friction. There are hard conversations to be had. And a friend of mine who might have had this conversation with a few times now in contributing in support But it wasn't because there was friction. There are hard conversations to be had.

And a friend of mine who I'd had this conversation with a few times now in contributing in support of his documentary of Martin Streak, it reminded me the importance of this conversation. And it's not in addressing some of these things and even talking about it very candidly. demonizing, pointing a finger or anything like that, but of understanding the importance of overcoming our own life's adversities and continuing to support and love those when they go through challenges, even when they're very painful at the time, even when those challenges through mental health, through addiction, through adversity can cause on both sides and both sides and all parties around to become very volatile that we should never forget that we love those people, even for a brief moment when we're really angry at one another. at one another. And it became challenging to manage some of those issues for me, to be very honest. I tried my best to be the loving friend and professional and found myself carrying a lot of that hurt with me a lot. And it took me many years to reconcile that. And if I may say this, we finally did reconcile that over time, uh, between he and I, which, uh, I'm still very grateful for. And recently, I think very strangely, uh, had a dream and he and I were just kind of sitting and talking and he just said, you know, thank you for being part of my life. And I said,

no, thank you for being part of mine. You know, sometimes I think about dreams like, are they premonition? Are they real? Is it figment of imagination? But it was one of those where I really felt that we were sitting and just enjoying each other's love and company and friendship, you know, for one more time as he moved on to whatever plane, if you believe in such a thing, he is in this world and universe that we called life. And it was a tough time.

And I finally realized I didn't have a place anymore, that I couldn't do it anymore. It was too painful for me. It was... The adversity was too great, and I couldn't manage anymore, and it wasn't the first time that I'd said, I can't do this anymore.

In 2003, I approached him and I'd said, I can't do this if this is how we're going to be operating. And not because I'd given him an ultimatum, but because I loved him and I wanted better for him and for me and for us and the people around us. And it was difficult. It was very, very difficult. So, Dwight, did you end up quitting?

I walked away. I did. Contrary to some of the misinformation that people have disseminated, yes. Well, most of that misinformation is on that old spirit of radio message board. That's unfortunate. And I'm aware of that. Some people have engaged in some terrible campaigns

against me, very hatefully, and I understand why. And wrongfully and And I understand why. Um, and wrongfully and misinformed why. And it unfortunately had forced my hand, uh, to just pursue avenues to correct that. Okay.

So I'm just, so just so I understand. So, uh, cause obviously you were, you were close with Martin and. We worked side by side for six years and had been friends for 12, 13.

And you are, I mean, you're being sensitive to the whole situation. Of course, I mean, on this program alone, when I think about how many episodes have people talking about Martin Streak. I mean, I never met, did I meet him? No, I never actually i never

actually met martin streak but i was a big fan i listened i you know i was always writing you know two months before he took his own life which we'll talk about that but two months before he took his own life he was fired by the station you know i was covering that on torontomike.com and everything throughout and of course so there's many of these stories documented in this podcast series, Toronto Mike. You know, Alan Cross, we did an episode 1021 for 102.1

and this was not very long ago and, you know, it came up in that conversation where, you know, Alan Cross was talking about how he didn't want to fire Martin Streak because he was worried it might be akin to ending his life. Like this was a concern Alan had. Those years when Martin was really battling addiction and mental illness,

there were several occasions which our live-to-air contract holders had approached myself and the administration, the management team, so the radio station management team as well as the sales team, and said, we don't want to deal with this anymore. I say this very gently,

and I say this very sensitively, and I hope people don't take it as, because I know, again, it's still a sensitive issue all these years later, that sometimes being matter-of-fact can sometimes be hurtful, but sometimes being matter of fact is also very cathartic to understand. And again, offer sympathy and understanding compassion about what he was battling that they had said, we don't want to deal with this anymore. We can't stand the inconsistency, um, and erraticness of his behavior. You know, I was always lobbying

for him and I'd always said, you know, I know he's a, he, we are a team here and this is why the lives of ourers work. And Martin is an integral part of this team. Um, and we had gone to bat and this is part of where I'd mentioned earlier that I was constantly approaching him saying, listen, dude, what can we do to make this better? I need you to stop doing this. You know, like I, I, it's hard for me to see you going through this and it's hard for me to go through this with you because I was never, most people who know me, I don't use drugs. You know, I enjoyed cannabis. I wasn't a heavy cannabis user. I was an occasional one. I wasn't a heavy drinker. I didn't, I never gotten into illicit drugs of any kind, mostly because it's just not me.

And prior to my experiences there, I'd already had experiences with other friends who had, uh, fallen by the wayside because of addiction. And, you know, just looking through the eyes of that experience had reminded me of how I wanted better and,

and, uh, for him and for all of us around him. And we were just not, you know, we have this privilege of retrospect number one, to be able to see things from a greater perspective and a compassion, understanding and wisdom. But also now in the day and age that we live in today, you know, in the 2020s and a lot

of this understanding and wisdom and education has also come in the last five to seven years, maybe 10 years tops about better understanding mental health, mental wellness and addiction that was not present then because there was still the stigma, sweep it under the rug, everything will be okay. And it's not that people swept it under the rug. It was just kept quiet as opposed to it being part of a dialogue

that did not stigmatize one as being weak or vulnerable or being less than, but because there was that stigma and Martin had felt that stigma and Martin had felt that stigma and he had communicated that he had hated and resented himself to me many times. I quote him, I hate being this way.

One night, I share this again with compassion and understanding and love because I want all of you out there, if you're dealing with anybody with addiction or mental health issues in your life, they are not weak. They are not weak. They are not weak.

They just need love. They need understanding, compassion. But you have to understand through that is about following their lead and understanding how to love them rather than you trying to force how you love upon them. It's always an evolved learning curve to help them find their way to their own path of mental betterment, whatever that may be, and physical betterment. And there was a part of that, the adversity of dealing with him one night is I had to pick him up off the street while waiting for him to show up at the

Phoenix. And I'd gotten a phone call where he'd said, I don't know where I am. And I kind of abandoned post. I'd called back to the station. Carlos was at the boards at the time. I said, Carlos, I need you to program the next hour for me. Um, cause we were still within the stop set hour of the nine o'clock hour between nine and 10 stops at hour. For those of you who don't know, it's when we still run commercial ads. And then after that we were nonstop from 10 to two. Um, and I said, I'll be right back. And Andreas was technical doing the technical production, on-site production at the time. And I'd found him and I'd said, I broke down.

I'm trying not to get too emotional now. I broke down in tears and just grabbed him and said, I'm going to take you home. And that memory still to this day hurts. It's okay. Because that was not, that was not, although it was the physical body, it was not the heart and man and friend that I loved.

And I, you know, having, I felt that I failed him as a friend, and I'm going to be very honest about this right here on the record. To this day, I feel like I failed him as a friend in some ways that I was not able to help him through that. And it's a hard thing for me to reconcile. I still, it haunts me to this day. It hurts me to this day that I've not been able to help him through that. I'm trying to read between the lines here, but did you give him an ultimatum of sorts?

I did. Okay, so it was essentially something to the effect of like, clean up or I can't work with you anymore, that kind of a thing? Yeah. And we'd had that hard talk in 2003, and it went from a talk to a pretty serious argument. And then my departure in November of 2004. I'm quoting the board now. You were trying to screw Martin out of a job while he was on vacation.

And then, you know, they go on to praise. Is it DJ Craig G that replaces you? I don't know. Okay, well, he's an FOTM too and a good guy. So I know he's tight with Pete Fowler. But okay, good guy. But yeah, but you left under your own terms, basically. You left because you didn't want to see your friend Martin.

Well, most people, well, let's put it this way. I have a nice letter of reference from Alan. And I don't think many people would get a nice letter of reference if they left under any adversity or negativity. And again, I wasn't there. I wasn't there. Shout out to Brother Bill. You were friends with Brother Bill?

Yeah, we still chat every once in a while. Okay, so once a month, he's my co-host for a special series of Toronto Mic'd episodes called Progressive Past of Modern Melodies. Very rad. Shout out to Brother Bill. But he once went off a little bit on alan cross because he said alan wasn't there like he was talking about these scenes he wasn't actually there but

uh so that term you know he wasn't there became kind of a catchphrase over here but but we love alan here and alan was busy doing other things and he was in a lot of other places and you can talk about things as an authority even if you weren't there you know how i know there's like world war one experts and civil war experts and they weren't there but they talk as an authority, even if you weren't there. You know how I know? There's like World War I experts and Civil War experts, and they weren't there, but they talk as an authority. Okay, I digress now. But, geez, that's, so, I mean, I wasn't there. That's for damn sure.

So I'm hearing stories from people like yourself. But what is interesting to me as host of this show. Look, you know what? This is the industry as well. If anyone knows anything about radio industry or entertainment industry at all, you know, sensationalism makes for good conversation. And people wanted to blow things up because there was, like I said,

with chemistry there was combustion and we had moments of friction because of dealing with these issues. And that is what it is. And you know what? Those issues should and remain between he and I and those who are closest to us. Those who have chosen to impose their own narratives,

you know, good on you. You say whatever you want. You know, those who can't control the facts opt to control the narrative. And that's the way life works. And it doesn't bother me one bit because if that were the case, you know, I don't think I would still be able to celebrate

a lot of the successes I still do to this day and celebrate a lot of the love and support that I've had from people who I've worked with then, who I'm still friends with now, and the audience that we had built, shared, and created from then till now. Is this sort of, I guess that kind of messes your relationship up with Martin. Like, what was your relationship like with Martin Streak between that and then when you, you know, his passing in 2009? We didn't talk for many years. We didn't talk for many, many years until one day he'd reached out to me and he apologized. And I apologized as well.

And he just said, hey, dude, I was, I was out of line. And I said, Look, I, you hurt me pretty bad. And I said, I'm sorry, too. I wish I could have done better. I wish I'd understood. I wish I knew how to handle it. And I didn't, I didn't. I tried my best, you know, and I worked with what I knew and what I felt I was doing right. And that is what it is. You know, at the end of the day, too, I also understood at some point, you know, looking back at that, I have no, I have no, not one bad thought of any of those things, even though we went through some very, very hard times.

And for many years we didn't speak. You know, for a time I did. I was angry. I was upset. I was bitter. I was very depressed because I felt betrayed by my friend. I felt betrayed by my friends. I felt victimized. I felt vilified for something that I was trying to do the best that I could. Those who knew and were closest to us knew. They knew the truth of our relationship and they knew. And those that didn't looked for opportunity around us to take advantage

of that for their own socio-political opportunity and much to their failure unfortunately. Sorry guys, it didn't work out for you. Now, where were you, like who notified you that Martin Streak had taken his own life? How did you find out, I guess, is what I'm wondering.

Someone very, very close to him. I was one of the first people. I would imagine I was one of the first handful of people to find out. And if this is too personal, you can tell me to fuck off. But I'm curious, how do you react to that news? This person you were so close to and seems so full of life taking his own life at such a young age.

It's just shocking. I collapsed on the floor in tears. I was home and I'd fall into a heat. Yeah. I didn't know. I thought it was... To be honest,

I just thought they were fucking lying to me. I'm sorry to swear. No, you can swear on the show. Yeah, I just was they were fucking lying to me. I'm sorry to swear, but yeah. You can swear on this show. Yeah, I just was like, you're bullshitting me. Don't give me,

this is a sick joke and knowing him, it's just him being like, I'm having a bad fucking day. Fuck all of you all. How would you feel if I did this? You know, because he would sometimes do things like that.

And yeah. Were you his Facebook friend? I didn't even know he was on Facebook. Okay, okay. Because, yeah, well, he's essentially, obviously hindsight mean what it is, he wrote a suicide note on Facebook.

He posted a suicide note to Facebook before he took his own life. I didn't know that. It's heavy stuff, man. You know what? And now I, to be honest again,

you know, when it was so painful for me, I disconnected from a lot of those things. And I, and even a lot of the people that we were connected with, I had had to disconnect too, because it was a very painful, painful time for me.

I can't express, I can't express the, the depth of sorrow and depression I'd gone through after that, after enduring that. So I come at it as a guy who, like I said earlier, literally just knew him as this voice on the radio and the host of Live to Heirs and a guy I'd write about on my silly little blog.

And I remember how it affected me. I remember the weeks after me. Like I, I remember the, the weeks after learning that news that night, like I remember how it affected me. And then having, you know, hosted this show for 10 years, I would have people on like George Strombolopoulos or he's just people,

even, even my buddy, Bob Willett, right. Who knew him, you know, knew him and actually knew him or Fred Patterson. Bob worked with us for a little bit.

Bingo, Bob. We nicknamed him for a little bit. Bingo Bob! We nicknamed him R-Q-E-Q. Right, that was right. And Street came up with that nickname. We both did, actually. I'm the Star Wars guy. I actually remember the story vividly.

Okay, tell me. Bob's a good friend. We have to give you a name. We asked him what his father's name was. I believe he said Richard, and he lived on Queen Street West. And Martin said RQ, and I said EQ. And I just blurted it out because he's doing tech. He's like, of course you'd say that. You're a Star Wars writer.

He goes, but it fits. And there he was. We anointed him with it. Did you notice how soft his hands were when you shook his hands? Bob has really soft hands. Oh, yeah, no. I don't remember soft hands at all. Not one of my memories, to be honest with you. Well, it's not too late to shake those hands.

Many good memories, but the hands were not one of them. Mostly the smile, mostly the smile. He's a nice man. I was at an Argos game with him in November, I think it was. He's a good guy, so shout out to Bob Ouellette. game with him in uh november i think it was he's like he's a good guy so shout out to bob willett but okay so you're obviously devastated i was so i guess my point here is that when i talk to people like yourself who had a personal relationship with streak i realized like oh my god like imagine how he feels like if i feel this way as a guy who was just a fan of the radio station for goodness sakes

but so my condolences to you. Like, I know time might make, I would assume time would numb it a bit, you know, as time passes, but, you know, it doesn't heal the pain. No, it didn't. But again, one of the things that really has offered a great opportunity and platform of celebration, catharsis,

and healing from it is that, you know, Paul and I have been doing these, what I've called the live-to-there shows. I've dubbed them such every Sunday when we do the Saigon Sundays. And I mention and celebrate them every time. And I'm very mindful. People who listen to the shows

will notice that when I do throws, I do so in a certain cadence and memory of him on purpose to keep him in the mix. Could you share some? Because you mentioned keep it cranked, keep it locked. That's his. I would never say that.

I just did that as a bit of an homage. But it's an homage keep it locked. That's his. I would never say that. I just did that as a bit of an homage, right? I did, but otherwise I would never say that. That's his. That's his thing. But I mean like the Beastie Boys, right? You would call them the Beasties? The Beastie Brothers. The Beastie Brothers.

So there's an interesting little thing there. For years, so while I was doing the logs whenever we were on site, I started screwing with his head, and I would write things like smells like Otto's jacket. Yeah. Right? So he would say that head and I would write things like, smells like Otto's jacket. Yeah. Right? So he would say, and he would start laughing.

So I started, I would always be messing with his head and writing little things down on the log and playing with the band names and things like that just to take the piss, if you will. Right.

And we always kept it light and fun. And one of the things that a lot of people didn't see a lot of the time is we would often be just laughing our asses off in the booth and just cracking jokes. But the moment we were alive and mike was on boom we were just locked in and a lot of people only saw the end of the product they saw the party but they also

didn't see how staunchly professional we were and we really were when we were locked in the zone there was nothing stopping us no natural disaster would make the live to air stop, except for when there was the blackout in the Eastern seaboard. But, you know, like I said, that wasn't really so much of a natural disaster. It was just a power grid failure. And we just nailed it every time.

And that was part of the great success that we had. You know, I had the incredible privilege of taking over the babies, as you know, Paul So said to me, to take care of the babies and being entrusted with that for six years, you know, and being that part of that legacy from Chris Shepard

and doing my part to grow the Live2Ware as the way I could and where I believed that they could with some contest and with some friction with program directors over the years. Any details? Oh, yeah, simply.

One of the big ones, I didn't play Lose Yourself by Eminem. And the program director at the time said, why are you not playing this? And I said, well, everyone's hearing it every hour on the air. He's like, yeah, but that's why you should be playing it.

I'm like, no. If they're hearing it enough, they said the LTAs, the lives of the sound of the street, not the sound of the ratings books. And he's like, yeah, well, you know, just remember, I said, the LTAs, the live tours are the sound of the street, not the sound of the ratings books. And he's like, yeah, well, you know, just remember, you know, you're not bigger than the music. I'm like, yeah, yeah,

I do know that, and that's why I'm selling you. The live tour is the sound of the streets, the sound of the audience. That's why they're so successful. You know, they want a bit of a break. They want to refreeze from what they're hearing in rotation all the time. Otherwise, we're just going to be a homogenous program with the rest of the weekly programming.

Wow. Yeah, that was a big point. I got suspended for that for a weekend. For not playing Lose Yourself. Still didn't. Okay, so. Still won't. To this day, standing my ground,

20 years later, not playing it. Every man gotta have a code, as Omar would say. A man's gotta have a code. It's the punk rock in me, man. It'll never shake. Like, you know,

I'm gonna be a staunch professional. I'm mature, but there's the punk rock part of me. It's like, wait a minute. It's not gonna happen. I salute you. I thought you were gonna do a Dana Carvey doing George H.W. Bush there. Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. I salute you. I thought you were going to do a Dana Carvey doing George H.W. Bush

there. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Alright, so wait. So post, sadly we lose, of course, again, this is the detail I need to be the pedantic guy who points out that Streak was fired before he took his own life. So he's already gone from live to airs before he

takes his own life. And I think they do a short stint, and I know you're not paying attention at this point because you've moved on with your own life and things, but I think Lorianne does a little bit and then live to airs seem to disappear. She does. And I'm aware of this because little known fact, I was reached out again about, hey, what do you think about?

And I was like, I don't know what's going on. Someone had reached out and said, hey, would you want to do Saturday nights? I was like, no, no, I don't. There's only one person I would do it with. She's, right. Lorianne, shout out to Lorianne, though, who is working at The Rock in Oshawa. Oh, yeah, she is.

And kicking it, good. And I think she's, so I think she got Bob Ouellette's gig when Bob Ouellette left The Rock. Like, I think she took his slot. How incestuous. It's all connected here, okay? Bob, where did Bob go?

He went to, oh, he went to do a maternity leave fill-in at Bell Media, I think. And then the maternity leave ended and COVID was here. And Bob ended up podcasting at TMDS here, so. Oh, rad. And now Bob's like a program director for Kingston Chorus Station. So he's doing. Super rad. He's doing A-OK.

Congrats, Bob. And Lorianne. And congrats, Lorianne. I'm going to ask you about an event that I met Lorianne at shortly. But actually, okay, let's do it now. So I was invited by DJ Craig G and Pete Fowler. They said, Mike, we're going to have a party for Marty, they said, at the Opera House. Where was it? Yeah, the opera house.

We're going to have a party for Marty because it's been 10 years since he passed. He said, you can broadcast. You can record from the lobby. Then when people come to pay tribute to Martin Streak, you can get them on a mic and capture some stories and stuff.

So many people... Let me interject just quick. Yeah. Martin did not like being called Marty at all. So party for Marty he would like. No, no. It's not because I say T instead of T. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

It's Martin. Those of you who know him, you address him as Martin. Pardon for Martin. He did not like Marty. I can right now, I can just see him smiling while grinding his teeth, while thinking, what's the right way to give you shit while not sounding like a total asshole for calling me Marty?

He does not like it. You can ask Dhingra this. You can ask those of us who are closest to him. He does not like Marty. I'm doing this for you, Martin. You know this, right? Okay, so name notwithstanding, though, the sentiments, you will concur, the sentiments were sweet.

Sure, sure. And people are going to share stories about it. I believe I was in Europe at that time. Well, that's where I'm going. I noticed you weren't there. I was in Europe. I was in Italy. You were in Italy, which is a good reason why you can't make it to the operas, because

that's where I met DJ Dhingra, and a lot of people who worked with Martin. You know, I have trouble saying Martin. I do. Martin. Just do the Canadian pronunciation, Martin. Okay, I do more like Martin with a D, like Martin. And then, yeah, but forever, I just literally have difficulty saying Martin.

So, pardon for Martin is a new handle we're going with there. So, you're in Italy. That's going to answer my big question, which is did you intentionally skip that event? Because maybe it'd be too painful. But no, you were geographically limited. No, I'd already had plans. I was gone.

Yeah, the whole thing's so fucking tragic, if I may, again, as a fan. There's not any other comparable that I can think of of a popular DJ because live to air is for a certain, for generation X let's say. Live to air is for a big fucking deal.

They still are. Yeah, they still are. But why is it this is where I was going before when I mentioned Laurieann did it for a bit and then they seemed to disappear. Why did the live to airs, I'm not talking about like, you know, DJing at clubs or whatever,

but the live to airs did disappear. Is that, what was that? The, the, the clubs didn't want to pay for it anymore. Like what happened? I,

you know, did the quality integrity of the product diminished? You know, we live in a supply and demand economy and that's just that simple. If the quality of the supply is there, the demand will be there. And it's not a slight to Martin. It's not a slight to the live to errors.

It's just like, what went wrong with that? And somebody asked me, he said, hey, we come to your nights at Tattoo Rock Parlor. We're coming to your nights

at the Annex Rectum. They're slammed. Why is this not happening there? I said, listen, I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that if you like what's happening at the Annex Rectum? They're slammed. Why is this not happening there? I said, listen, I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that if you like what's happening at the Phoenix,

go for it. Please support it. It's something that's still a loving part of my heart, but there was a disconnection. There was a generational disconnection because music was evolving. And the music that I'd evolved alive to where it was too, from what Paul was doing, Paul was doing stuff, Dingro was doing stuff that was very 90s core alternative.

I started, you know, phasing out the 90s stuff and I started doing stuff that was more current to the time with 2000s stuff, you know, playing, you know, the Linkin Parks and the Slipknot and Tools and so on and so forth and doing a little bit more electronic music as well, you know, with more Prodigy and Oakenfold and things like that, Delirium and so on and so forth and as well, but indie as well, you know, with more Prodigy and Oakenfold and things like that, Delirium and so on and so forth,

but indie as well. And the trend had gone towards indie music in the mid-2000s. And I launched a night in 2007 in cooperation with some people at the time and, you know, building this venue called the Annex Rec Room. And I started a night called Pop Rocks. And i coined it the alternative pop indie pop night and it was very you know pop oriented alternative stuff like the cure but more like just like heaven versus there darker stuff and indie stuff like the strokes and arctic monkeys and white stripes and that's where the music was going and was evolving and i think that there was a missed mark there. And one of the things that the live

tours had always done from Shep's time, which was part of my identity, which was part of who Shep was and who a part of what Paul Dingro was and who I was, was always evolving the music to evolve with the times and not just be part of the curve, but to set the trend of that curve. And I listened a few times and I thought to myself, you're right there. And if you remember, indie started coming up a little bit and indie started taking over with some of the audience demographic that were formerly CFNY slash edge listeners. And that was indicative of well, as to where, as well as to where the trend of music tastes were going at the time. Perhaps that there was a evolution a little bit, it would have changed. But also how people were consuming music was changing.

And it's not because of YouTube or anything like that. People went clubbing. You know, I've heard some people say, oh, the reason why the live tours didn't do well is because of YouTube and things like that. No, no. YouTube is no substitute for social interactivity. We are communal creatures.

We need to interact. We especially love interacting, commuting in large congregate settings. It's what we do. But the money must have dried up because otherwise, why let Street go in 2009, like the two months before he died?

It's a numbers game. And at the end of the day, I don't know. I don't have that inside information and I'm not, I wasn't part of that administration. I can only comment from an outsider looking in it, but also from the position of somebody who was part of the day, I don't know. I don't have that inside information and I'm not, I wasn't part of that administration. I can only comment from an outsider looking in, but also from the position of somebody who was part of the industry and still is part of that

industry, that at the end of the day, if the product is not there, it's not sustainable. And that's just what it comes down to. Martin was not, Martin was the identity icon and voice of the product. But he was not the entirety of the product. So I could only surmise without vilifying anybody

and I hope, please don't take it, people are so sensitive like, oh my God, he said this to me, he's calling me. And look, you're not Carly Simon, this comment is not about you. It's simply that sometimes we have to take hard looks at what we're doing to review and evolve and make those tough changes and educated risks to sustain the success of what we're doing.

It's easy to find a formula and be comfortable and play it safe and recycle and regurgitate the same old thing, but it just does not work. I didn't aspire to be Shep, nor did I aspire to be Dhingra. I aspired to be me. And that worked for me. What worked for Dhingra worked for Dhingra, worked for Shep, worked for Shep, worked for Burns, worked for Burns. And a lot of people I found around us, and there were a lot of successful secondary and tertiary products in the city that very much sounded like what we were doing, but they weren't us. And in the absence of the integrity of product and people behind it, things can change.

Martin could only carry so much of that weight himself. He was hyper-intelligent, super attuned to what was going on. But I also know that because of how successful, this is one thing I know because we had chatted about it, he and I. because we had chatted about it, he and I. The station had reached such a pinnacle or such a peak of popularity and success that we'd even seen and we talked about it and he and I both in tandem as a team had tete-a-tetes with certain people in there

about how, no, we're not going to fall back and be more restrictive. We're not going to follow these. We don't want to do this because we don't want to fall into this trap of just being formulaic and sounding like the homogenous programming of the rest of the week. Right. This is our identity. This is who we are.

We are the nightlife. We are the sound of the city. We are the sound that people look to for identity and culture. as more money kept coming in and those ratings got higher, they wanted us to tighten our grip a little bit and not be as risque and not be as adventurous. And hey, let's play lose yourself. Let's not, yeah, let's play, I ain't playing lose myself. Still to this day, not playing lose myself.

You know, the whole trope of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or no need to reinvent the wheel. It's like, well, I hate to break it to you, but the wheel is continuously being re-engineered right so even you know so it's it's that understanding and so with where the live tours went it's also i think just fair to say more appropriately they were defined by a generation and no slight to whomever. I understand there was a few people who succeeded me after my departure. Sure. Um,

but a lot of, I think the time from Shep to Dhingra and myself were the, was the definitive, definitive generations of the live tour programming and the live tour shows where people talk about us, uh, with great reverence and celebration, but they don't talk about us as individuals.

They talk about us relative to how they were a part of what we were doing, and that's what's really, really special. I'll bet you hear from people all the time, Gen Xers who tell you about, you know, they miss those days. I know that I got four kids and a mortgage, and I know that I miss those early to mid-90s when I didn't have four kids and a mortgage. And I know that... I miss those early to mid-90s when I didn't have four kids and a mortgage.

And I just... Music was everything. I miss those days. Yeah. Music is still everything nowadays. Some of our friends, I'm sure you've heard this before, they don't put out the same music they do.

Actually, you know what? There's some really, really good music coming out. We just don't have the luxury time like we did when we were kids. Nor do we have the same passionate, subjective, impressionability that we did you know to be identified by the music and have that be the expression of voice and right you know but you know man the music is better than ever dude i believe it but there's a lot of science there's going to be a

future episode of dr brian goldman is going to be discussing this but there's a lot of science behind why the music that hits you when you're like a you know 15 16 implants itself like it burrows in and implants itself for life like and it's like all i might like tomorrow i might put on check your head wait was that 95 when the fuck was that like you know a little earlier is it earlier 94 keep going 93 keep going 92 there you go so yeah so so okay well case in point hey man what's your timeline? Do you have to get out of here? No, I'm in no rush. We can chat all night if you want. Because

at some point you'll return to kick out the jams. I just can't decide whether I'm going to ask you to, you know. MC Streak or MC5? MC5. MC Streak. That's right. Motor City Streak. So Charles, what was the middle name? Charles? Like Martin Streak, this middle initial was C, was the middle name? Charles? Like Martin Streak,

his middle initial was C, right? Will not disclose. Will not disclose. Okay, clear. Somebody's told me at some point. I just got to review the tapes, but okay. So MC5, Motor City 5, the Kick Out the Jams.

Do I want you to like kick out your 10 favorite songs of all time? Or here's what I'm thinking maybe, and this will be at a later date, obviously, but I'm thinking like 10 definitive live-to-air jams from like 1993 or something like that. Like we just pick an arbitrary like mid-90s kind of, like I feel like that would be so much fun.

That would be Dinger's domain. For me, it would be anywhere from- Get Dinger on the phone. December 1998 to November 2004. Okay, I've gone too early. Okay, well, that's fine. Your era, 10 definitive live-to-air jams, I think would be fun.

But right now, I want to play a couple of songs that you personally love, just to hear a bit of these songs. And then I want to hear you tell me and tell the FOTMs listening why you love this song. You ready for this, buddy? Let's do it. Thank you. Thought that never changes remains a stupid lie

It's never been quite the same No hearing or breathing No movement, no color, just silence. Rise and fall of shame, search that shall remain. We asked you what you'd seen, you said you didn't care You said you didn't care Oh my goodness. This is Your Silent Face by New Order from their debut album, Power, Corruption and Lies. This was the first album where they really, obviously their first full length album

without Ian Curtis. Moving on, growing from Joy Division. Everybody knows who Joy Division is. If you don't, well, make sure you celebrate them today or sometime in your life. They will change it. This album for me,

and this track in particular was the perfect balance of sound, tone, emotion, atmosphere, energy that touched you mentally and emotionally in whatever mood that you were feeling. If you were feeling joyous, it touched you. If you were feeling somber, it touched you. If you were feeling somber, it touched you. If you were feeling reflective, it touched you.

But this track in particular hits all the right tones and notes. And when that synth hits in and that bridge, it just screams connection. And you connect with it and it connects to you and it connects you to the people around you. You said the word atmosphere. Also a great Joy Division song.

My choice. There's no coincidences here. Awesome. That's actually quite the story, you know, just basically what happens to joy division and how you know new order rises from the ashes if you will let's hear a little more and then we get a second jam just to tease us for when you return let's go Yes. Yes.

Here comes the beat If you're not familiar everybody Make sure you get familiar with this band This is Actors from Vancouver Canada puts out amazing music Savage heart Fever dream All these love lost memories Home to me

Swallowed home Into the night Restless feeling constricted I'm home. One night so bad Your heart's growing cold Like the kiss of a spirit stone Your heart's growing cold so actors is a current band. Yes. Wow. Yes.

Yes. An amazingly current Canadian band out of Vancouver. Now, you can hear the parallels. You'd ask me coming on the show, hey, give me two songs that you'd like to play on the set. And I was like, you know what? It's got to be Your Silent Face and it's got to be this track. And you can hear the parallels. Why?

Well, those of you who are New Order fans, Joy Division fans, you know that signature Peter Hook bass sound. It speaks. It's its own vocal track. It's singing to you in its own way while keeping tempo and thudding in your heart and soul. Just like this track does. And they nail it. And I

mentioned earlier about how there's such a great wave of new music coming out. Well, just listen to actors. Listen to Traitors. Listen to Trick Casket. Listen to D. coming out. Well, just listen to actors. Listen to Traders. Listen to Trick Casket. Listen to D. Augur. Listen to 40 Octaves Below. Listen to Phantom High. Listen to a lot of the great talent that's coming out from coast to coast to coast in this country.

Tons of indigenous artists, a tribe called Red, represent. Check them out. Canada is exploding with incredible talent. Support local. Go to your venues. Go to the shows. We're killing it right now. So good.

Okay, shout out where we can see you. If people listening are like, I want to follow this DJ Dwight guy, where can we find you exactly? At dwight.hybrid on Instagram. Look for Dwight Hybrid on Facebook. And of course, mixcloud.com backslash Dwight Hybrid. Every single weekend doing live to their shows. Every single Sunday at 7 p.m.

as I mentioned with DJ Paul Dhingra. We do Saigon Sundays, the classic retro, new wave, post-punk, Britpop, synthpop, classic alternative, and 90s show. And I stagger the shows every weekend. I do one show called Hard, or Hardcast, which is alternative rock, alternative metal, industrial metal, new metal. I do the pop rock show, alternative pop, indie pop, Britpop, synthpop, electro pop show, the big club night, which we just made our final return back to doing again

Hybrid, you know it well, the premier alternative club night in the city, we crushed it the last event we did, we did 237 people, so happy to be back, thank you all for the love it was amazing, and yeah we do a 90s show as well and we just crush it, every single weekend we have fun doing it, and again it's my gift to say thank you to all of you, you all have given me so much over the years. And it's my way of celebrating music, celebrating you and saying thank you. Dude, this was awesome.

Like, thanks for doing this. And I know it got heavy, man. I'm listening to you. It's okay. You were so close to streak. And then there's all these stories flying about. And I'm like, I got to get DJ Dwight in here and find out exactly what happened

because as is often the case, these stories have become like a copy of a copy and they don't resemble the truth anymore. So thanks for coming here and clearing things up. Mike, I really appreciate you having me on and hopefully we can do this again soon. For sure. We're going to kick out the jams.

Wait, just quick. Before you do that, you might want to wait on this. We're working on something very special for 2022. Okay, I've been holding this in my pocket. I'm not going to say too much. But it is going to be a big celebration of life, celebration of music, celebration of history and community. We're hoping to announce it in July. And it'll be at a venue that everybody knows, everybody loves.

And we're going to do something special for our friend Martin. And that... That brings us to the end of our 1046th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. So it sounds like you don't do the Twitter. You're more of an Instagram guy. Remind me what that handle was.

Dwight.Hybrid. Dwight.Hybrid. Follow DJ Dwight on Instagram. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're on Twitter at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Dewar are at Dewar Performance, loving my new pants. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.

And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all next week. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Wants me to date And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day

But I wonder who Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day. But I wonder who. Yeah, I wonder who. Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray. Because I know that's true. Yes, I do. I know it's true. Yeah.

I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down roads And they're broken stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold

But the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine It's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy now.

Everything is rosy, yeah. Everything is rosy now, everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray.