Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Farley Flex: Toronto Mike'd #466

Episode Date: May 19, 2019

Mike chats with Farley Flex about managing Maestro Fresh-Wes, getting Flow 93.5 on the air in Toronto, becoming a judge on Canadian Idol and giving back to his community.

Welcome to episode 466 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, Camp Ternasol, StickerU.com, and Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from Toronto Mic'd. And joining me is Farley Flex. Welcome, Farley. Thanks for having me. You know, when I first became aware of you back, I guess, late 80s,

I never even considered that Farley Flex might not be like your birth name like you know what I mean like yeah you know you're not the only one it's like as an adult you think wait that's awfully convenient like Flex is a pretty cool name Farley Flex the alliteration yeah the alliteration and I guess the all the meanings you can attach to it but you're you are a Farley right? I am a Farley, and my family last name is actually Friedel, so the alliteration is already there. FF. Yeah, FF, all the way.

All my siblings are Fs as well. And that's Trinidad. Is that Trinidadian? Well, nothing is Trinidadian. Everything is correlated or related to whatever the slave masters. Oh, man. Yeah, so there's a propensity actually for people who are descendants of the transatlantic slave trade

to do a lot of nicknaming. Gotcha. A lot of people don't connect with that, especially through hip-hop and just social environments. You detach yourself from that history as much as possible. Oh, yeah. I mean, I would think right off the top of my head, I think of, for example, Cassius Clay.

He always said, that's my slave name, right? Exactly. You give yourself rebirth, if you will. Absolutely. Very cool. So do people call you Mr. Fleck? But when you sign a check, like you've got to sign a check or whatever,

you're not signing Farley Fleck, right? Well, I've been at the same bank for a while, so they're very lenient. So if somebody accidentally puts Farley Fleck instead of the company name or if they don't know my family last name, the bank's pretty lenient with me. Well,

yeah, that's kind of nice. That's good, man. You've got, you know, they know who you are. You're not,

that's awesome. That's awesome. So, uh, I'm checking the forecast this morning because, well, that's what we do in Canada. We check the forecast,

right? Absolutely. And I saw today, I saw 26 or 27 degrees, like, uh, amazing. I went outside, uh, when I was at the kids this morning and I was like, I saw 26 or 27 degrees. Like, amazing. I went outside.

Went outside with the kids this morning. And I was like, I need a jacket. So I guess it's coming later. I don't know where you live. Is it a lot warmer? I got the lake effect here. It's coming? Yeah, yeah, you get the lake effect here.

But I'm close to the lake too, but in the east, in Durham. But yeah, it was beautiful out. It was worth the ride from Durham to come down here. I was going to say, this is like the Sunday of a long weekend. And here you are in like the southwest corner of the city. Thank you, man. That's real cool. Thank you.

You didn't have to make that effort. Like I'm, I honestly like to get an opportunity to talk to you. I mentioned to you before we pressed record. I see Farley Flex. I see like four pillars. Okay. Like there's maestro there's flow

there's idol and there's community like I mean there's more than all that we're going to talk about everything else but like there's these four pillars

like I could probably talk to you for hours man that's amazing and I can hang okay you just committed to hours so there you go

thanks so much now yeah so hopefully it warms up and hopefully by the end of today i might maybe uh not having to wear a jacket that's what for the record you came outside barefoot shorts and t-shirt no you're complaining about the not complaining but you're you know you know what though if it was minus 10 i think i'd be maybe not the shorts but i'd be in the t-shirt out there i'm a little nutso but i i'm worried about the regular people the uh the

normal people so you're right though now um i want to thank two sponsors right off the top here and then we're gonna start talking here but uh capadia like i have a man crush on this guy his name is rupesh capadia uh he runs capadia llp cs. These are public accountants. Accountants have to know numbers, but this gentleman and his team, they see beyond the numbers. He's literally a rockstar accountant. And if you, this is a great offer for all guests, okay?

Farley Flex. If you want a complimentary 30-minute consultation with Rupesh Kapadia, literally you could just run by any business ideas you have or anything at all that, you know, you want to talk to a CPA who will see beyond the numbers and help you out. Like he'll hear you out. He'll chat with you. Like I said, rockstar, like he runs marathons. He's got, he's just the coolest accountant I think in the GTA. So probably in the world, but I might take you up on that. You should, because completely for all guests, they get the 30 minute

consultation. And for anybody else listening who wants to for all guests, they get the 30 minute consultation. And for anybody else listening, who wants to talk to, uh, Rupesh and the Kapadia team, uh, Kapadia, I've been saying Kapadia and it's Kapadia.

It's one of those names. You can get Caribbean, Caribbean. Which one do you like? Caribbean? For me, I'm Caribbean. Cause it's the Carib,

like the, the indigenous people are the Carib indigenous people. Okay. From now on, I'm only doing it that way then. So Caribbean is the way way i say it right no more caribbean for me okay so he's capadilla and i've been remembering it by thinking of like cappuccino it's like cappuccino capadilla but it's capadilla yeah yeah yeah so uh again it's capadilla llp.com if you want to contact capadilla mentioned toronto mic'd but i have logos on torontomike.com.

So if you don't know how to spell Capadia, go to torontomike.com and click through. Quick fun fact. A corporation can pay life insurance premiums on the owner or manager's life. And the death benefit can be paid out to the owner or manager's family on a tax-free basis. So there's like a million and one of these like facts that, you know, us common Joes, maybe we don't know, but they know that at Kapadia and they can kind of coach you along and guide you in the right direction.

So thank you, Kapadia. I also saw in the calendar that May is quickly ending and that means you're running out of time to put your child into a summer camp. So only until the end of May will we be talking about Camp Tournesol pending and that means you're running out of time to put your child into a summer camp so only until the end of may will we be talking about camp turnasol because if you don't have your kid in camp by the end of may then what are you doing you got to register them now so if you have a child between the ages of 4 and 14 go to camp t.ca they are the uh gta's biggest french camps they've been doing it since 2001

they got overnight programs day camps ecological camps called love my planet so go to camp camp t.ca and when you register your child use the promo code mike 2019 mike 2019 all right let's 2019. Mike 2019. All right, let's start, if you don't mind, with a gentleman who has been on this show a couple of times. I'm actually looking at him over here. But can you bring me back? Like, I want to go way back when you were a teenager, like Scarborough and meeting Wesley Williams of Maestro Fresh West. And can we talk about

the rise of Maestro in the late 80s? Absolutely. In fact, can I play a song here? What song are you going to play? I'm going to play a little... This is a throwdown, a showdown.

Hell no, I can't slow down. It's going to go. First offense. All the mix. Go on and break Okay party people in the house May I have your attention please In a moment

The beat will be played in many parts Go on and break Many many parts Very One Two Three Go on and break

Man this song still kills, you know? Killer song. Killer song must always kill. You know, I'm kind of unique. I don't get tired of anything that I really enjoy. I can listen to this 24 hours a day. I'm like you, man. I'm the same way once in a while,

but usually I don't get tired of the stuff I really like. When I hear this now, I'm enjoying it. I've probably heard it a million times, but I want to actually take you back before let your backbone slide. Like, so, so take, you start telling me about,

uh, you know, as a teenager and when you meet, uh, Wesley and just the origin story, if you don't mind, I'll bring this down. Absolutely.

So, um, I went to, I attended the university of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and I came home as most students. I went to I attended the University of South Florida In Tampa, Florida And I came home As most students Away on scholarship or what have you do

Played soccer down there And what we did was You just come back for spring break You come back for summer holidays, etc And my late younger brother Francis Who was a friend of Wes's much prior to my being introduced to Wes, worked at a place called Wizards in Scarborough at Kennedy and Shepherd.

Now, Wizards was a roadhouse type venue that transitioned into like a dance, somewhat of a dance club at night. And in my efforts to always earn, my younger brother created the opportunity for me to work as a door person, security person, what have you. But what was really, really unique about Wizards is that pretty well the entire staff was super athletic. We had guys like Rick Talkett coming through. Amazing. Who had friends that he played with who worked at the door and stuff as well, like I did. So it was a really cool dynamic and really diverse as well. But what was the biggest, I guess, line was the line between the busing staff,

which was my brother and DJ LTD's younger brother, Paul Swaby, a lot of guys who ended up playing in coaching and doing all sorts of stuff, mostly football. And then on the security side, we were slightly older, right? The guys who did the door and stuff, older and bigger. I guess that's part of the prerequisite. You've got to be a big guy. Right. So these are the early days of of um certainly of canadian hip-hop and there was

always an interest in the whole freestyle um you know man sort of manifestation of what hip-hop was about and that's and that's is that like rap battles or yeah rap battles but very informal usually humorous or in some way shape or form and um very impromptu right so not as not a setting not as like you create your own setting right so anyway you know i had a little bit of a little bit of freestyle skill and uh the guys who worked as bus boys and so on and so forth barbacks and etc we had the just created became this older guys versus younger guys type scenario right and gotta be honest we we crushed them we crushed them on a consistent basis and then i'm telling you one day they got absolutely amazing i'm talking in one day like so me being the kind of character i am like okay what's who

who's responsible for this how could you guys up your game like this in like 24 hours kind of thing? Right. So lo and behold, uh, they take me back to the kitchen and I see this, you know, lean the, the,

the rear view of this kid washing chicken wing, chicken wings and, you know, getting ready to put stuff on the, in the fry. This is at wizards, right? Yeah.

This is at wizards. Yeah. Candy. Yeah. And, uh, and I was working, so I said, hey, are you the one responsible for this? Because they told me that he was the one responsible.

And it was this kid named Wesley Williams, right? And how old is he at this time, approximately? I'm trying to remember, as you mentioned, the whole teen thing, I'm trying to remember our ages. I've never lived by age, to be quite fair. Yeah, but he was young. He was a student at Carleton at the time. So he would have been 18, 19 years old.

And yeah, so he just turned around with this coy smile. And he was the perpetrator of this. He's the reason the skills improved overnight. Yeah, literally. And at this point, he's not maestro yet, right? No, he's not maestro yet. He's still, there were two,

Wessel's part of a duet melody at ABDMC called Vision. Right. Which you probably know about. And yeah, so he wasn't maestro yet, but I'll tell you right now, without even knowing,

maestro was brewing in his mind. Well, the one thing you'll hear me say consistently in the maestro segment of this is that the visionary, ironically, he was in a group called Vision, but he's a visionary, right? He always saw himself at the next or stage or beyond. Was he, when he was preparing the chicken or whatever, was he wearing a black tuxedo? No black tuxedo, but probably the white apron-ish type thing.

black tuxedo but probably the white apron ish type thing um but yeah so you're again in his mind yeah i i would i mean it's something that we actually haven't talked about in detail he and i but um i think that vision of the tuxedo would have been there before i met him now so so he's he's working at wizards you're working at wizards you're like security or bouncer whatever and he's like in the kitchen preparing the food at wizards the chicken wings and you're doing your these these impromptu like uh freestyle raps and suddenly the young guys they've got flow like they've been listening to big daddy cane or something and the cleverness it was about the flow was was what it was because it's about the delivery, right? But the key was the cleverness, right? Like almost like the, whoa, the stuff that makes you say, oh, you said that?

That kind of vibe. You know what I mean? And it turns out the guy responsible for this vast improvement, Wesley Williams, is this guy. So when you met Wesley when he's a teen at Wizards, did you know there's something, did you have any idea that this guy could be a star in this country? Prior to this experience? Like when you first, yeah, when you first met him at this time. No, well, for me, Wes was a relatively quiet, contemplative person, right?

So he didn't, I guess you could could say represent the persona that a lot of people associated with rap and and just a quick fast forward i know we go do photo shoots and the photographer would say maestro can you give me a little more attitude like he's not that guy because rap at the in the late 80s uh bravado right like that was the big style like i gotta jump back and kiss myself like i remember this remember this stuff. Exactly. Right? But Wes was able to do that lyrically. Right. Right? But he didn't walk around like that.

He's confident. He has a strong walk, you know, a strong presence. But he's not the I'm in the room kind of guy. You know what I mean? Gotcha. Yeah, he was never like that. So, okay. So, you got this guy working in the restaurant in Scarborough.

Like, where do you go from there? Like, how do you become involved in his professional career? So he was aware of, we had interacted and stuff, and I guess he got a sense of whatever acumen I presented. And he called me and said, he's thinking about leaving university

and trying to get a rap career, and would I help him? That was literally the verbiage, right? And I said, and I had heard now, by then I'd heard different aspects of what he was doing, not to any great extent, not a number of songs or anything, but it just clicked in terms, and then he started to rhyme and it would be over the phone,

it would be when we got together, et cetera. And I was like, and I'm a lover of lyrics. I've always been, even now, I still manage artists, but I'm a lyr lyrics i've always been even now i still manage artists but i'm a i'm a lyrical fiend right and um he just was saying things and um positioning and using uh literary techniques like alliteration and and metaphors and similes of course but the alliteration was one of the things i know that grabbed me which is one of my favorite when you listen to let your backbone slide you hear blowing away blockades and barricades make it black and blue from the

blast of the blade like all that dude i've been doing it for uh 30 years exactly exactly you know what i'm saying and that that just and then yeah he just had this really cool way of jumping forward jumping back as a lyrical reminder that listen i'm on a flow that has uh it's an infrastructure of song you know so so when he says um something like for instance to use obviously backbones the more familiar um song so i'll say when he says no x's or o's or tic-tac-toes it's in a game i'm on a mission call me a hip-hop tic-t tic tactician yes you see i'm saying but that was normal for him that you understand i'm saying he was he was uh gifted lyrically yeah oh yeah no he had he had a style and a technique that nobody else said you know people you know as a canadian

rapper people is trying to liken you to this guy and that guy but what what he did that other mcs didn't do and i'm talking kane and rakim etc etc right i was thinking of rakim yeah yeah what he did was that that technique there where he would say um um a rap is like a slab of clay that's shapeless champagne no shimmer no glass is tasteless a universe without light is lightless that's why i always take time to write this i mold it in my hands so he's back to the clay again right yeah yeah see a lot of people you know he'll go off on the tangent but he'll come back yeah but and that's the thing it's not a tangent that's the beautiful thing that's my whole point right it's not actually

a tangent it's an intentional journey he takes you on and then he brings you back to home base yeah this is because this harkens back to i'm a little biased because of my age but when hip-hop they were storytellers right these were you know what i mean yeah there's also storytelling feels like we've lost a little of the storytelling um but i don't want to be the guy who shakes his fist at the clouds because i got teenagers and they listen to a lot of rap but i i try not to be the uh oh you know you should hear public enemies it takes a nation of millions to hold it's a good dialogue to have though it really is because you can actually, from the kids' perspective, they're hearing similar things that ignite them

and ignite their curiosity that we heard. You're right, you're right. It's a really great dialogue. I have it all the time in my youth work and stuff I do. Yes, absolutely. And we're going to get to that for sure. Lots to cover there. Now, your maestro Fresh West is,

and I don't know when, you'll tell me when that moniker arrives, but you're Wesley Williams' first manager. Yes. So you're helping him, you become his manager. Is this around the time when he would, at this time, appear on Fantastic Voyage, for example, on CKLN? Yeah, we often would go down there. And, you know, when the point at which i sort of got involved west had a like i said he had a vision so you know he knew what his name was going to be to answer your question he you know he knew that maestro fresh west was his intent he knew that um rather than wear a track suit and a gold chain and a can go right a maestro wears a tuxedo so again advanced thought right um so when we went down to ckl and

we wouldn't go down in a tuxedo but we'd go because radio anyway so but we'd go down and we go to all the um college radio stations and so forth and he would drop verses and and you know the timeline of when the this first single was released um you know and the first video i'm showing you and so forth we'll will go down and, you know, hook up with Ron and hook up with power. And so for those different guys at the different stations who, I mean, remember that was the only outlet at that time,

literally. Right. So DJ Ron Nelson has been on the show and we, we, we talked about the, yeah, these early days and you're right. There was nowhere else to,

to showcase like a Toronto rapper, but, but there's no infrastructure, right? Like there's no Canadian hip hop blueprint at this time. And the reason I know this is because, would you believe the very first Canadian hip hop video to go into the Much Music vault was Master T did a video, the Much Music groove.

Okay, I had Master T on, was it last week? Probably last week. Okay. Yeah, so Master T was here. We played the much music groove okay i had master t on uh was it last week probably last week okay yeah so master t was here we played the much music groove and it was 87 so we're in 87 so rap's already you know i'm hearing rap by american rappers by 87 all of them plays run dmc and stuff so it took until 87 and it took a like an internal promo video by master T about Much Music to get a Canadian hip-hop video into the vault. So you're groundbreakers, right? Yeah, and you're breaking ground with not the, you don't have the awareness that that's what you're doing. You're just doing what you can do,

and then you recognize it along the way, especially when the trajectory of the career or the music especially starts to take place. And it's the touch especially when the the trajectory of the career or the the music especially starts to take place and you know you it's it's the touch points right so if you go anywhere you go people want to talk about that that's when you know you're progressing but the song we i almost want to play it again to talk a little more now specifically about this song but uh let's i'm trying to think of what order because i want to actually speaking of much music i want to talk about electric circus but okay let's uh let's do this again and then we're going to just do a little deep dive into this particular single because this

is the first canadian hip-hop hit uh for sure so yeah this is a throw down a show down Hell no, I can't slow down It's gonna go First offense All the mix Go on and break Okay, party people in the house May I have your attention, please? In a moment, the beat will be played in many parts Go on and break Many parts, very parts

One, two, three Go on and break One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. This jam is amplified, so just glide, glide. And let your backbone slide, slide. So I need you to bury me in details here Just about this particular single Like when do you first When does Maestro Yeah because he's Maestro at this point When does Maestro first play it for you And what are your first thoughts

And how do you go about making this The first Canadian hip hop hit So what many people don't know Is that this version is actually a remix Right And this is the radio version we'd hear on I don't know CFTR or whatever And this is the radio version we'd hear on, I don't know, CFTR or whatever. Yeah, this is the one that,

but we had, there was a previous version and the journey from the original to this is really interesting as well because anybody who talks about this would be remiss without, if they don't mention Peter and Anthony Davis who produced the track, right? And many of the tracks on the first album.

Yeah, many of the tracks. And anyone who knows the lyrics to My Short Fresh Blast with Anthony and, wait, with Pete and Anthony to lay down the beat and now it's just so damn sweet. And the voice on the Sony

walking down the street. There you go. There you go. All right, continue. Pete and Anthony Davis. Yeah, so we, this kind of, you have to integrate

the electric circus experience into this because we went on and we performed I'm Showing You This kind of You have to integrate The electric circus experience Into this Because We went on And we performed I'm showing you We did our little Version of a video

You know Baby video I call it now Sure And that got us Some attention And we got called back To do electric circus

A second time Where we performed This song Okay you know what Here let's do this Sure Here I'm freestyling and we got called back to do Electric Circus a second time where we performed this song. Okay, you know what? Here, let's do this. Here, I'm freestyling myself here. No problem. What's the point of having a show if you can't do that?

Now, hold on. Let's just enjoy a tiny bit of this particular... hit as I recall because I heard it on CFDR all the time. Do you know what team I'm playing? It's coming, it's coming. It's coming. I got your letter From the postman Just the other day

Is it ringing a bell? I was just thinking, what is this garbage? Okay. This is Because I Love You by Stevie B. Wow. All right. But no, so again, I've had... So I had Joel...

Yeah, go ahead I was just gonna say sorry if you're going for familiarity Spring Love is a song to play right this was a hit like I'm promising you I'm sure it was

top 40 hit yeah you're right so continue with your Electric Circus story here so they come back a second time and then Maestro performs we perform

we perform and we've got a dope state jackets on and everything else which is the desire to overcome the pressures of existence Is the acronym And after the performance We're walking out towards Queen Street

To leave And I get beckoned Vocally, hey And I look back and it's Stevie B And I go back and speak with him And he mentions that he really enjoyed the performance And the single And that his label was in town he invited me to his show or us to his show and I ended up being

the one going and talking to them and this is where we met Larry Mullis and talked about they literally offered us a single deal in their tour bus right and um but wes and i we we used to dialogue a lot we talked about we knew enough to know that an album deal was what you wanted to go after so but i still you know it was still exciting obviously and i came back to call i think i called him that night and told him what transpired and um that they'd offer this a single deal and we again we visited the the notion that or the idea that we wanted an album deal and uh so i called them and um talked to them about that and said that's what we're looking for but they said well we haven't heard anything

else so wes and i did what it took to get to um get to new york meet them in person her mollus in person at that time uh he, he spent the first three minutes trying to get me to try out for the Giants. I kid you not. Are you sure you don't want to try out for the Giants? I can get you a trial with the Giants. You know, that's like, you know, because I was relatively deezed, as they say back then.

Wow. And I said, no, no, we're here about this. And it was very jovial. You could do it two for one. you know i'm saying and um so wes ends up uh reciting lyrics right there in the office and um for which song do you know i think he did mike's my peace um you know that one uh yeah let me hear the first line you know the first line i can't remember the first line of mike i'm a ruler that's how i reign i do the rap what the mona lisa does to the frame yes written in the rhythm of rhymes like a rodeo i ain't kidding the jacob portfolio played it wise

yeah i mean see i'm i love lyrics yeah i'm telling you man so working with wes yeah you don't understand it actually made me more of a hip-hop fan it's just when you think about this if you have a relationship with someone and it makes you more of a fan of that right you see i'm saying yeah yeah you know like if you have a wife and it makes you love the female species more you know what i'm saying that's what that's i i my love for hip-hop grew exponentially i can imagine from working with west. I can imagine. So you, obviously you dropped,

yeah, so Mike's my piece. By the way, okay, you're, I was gonna, I actually, so I know I remember you being dropped in lyrics,

like Maestro would say Farley Flex in lyrics or whatever. And I mean, what song was it? So last night I actually remembered it was in the Maestro. He does that. So I actually, XR, do you want to hear him just really quickly here? So this is the Maestro drop in Far maestro he does that. So I actually, XR, do you want to hear him? Just really quickly here.

So this is the maestro dropping Farley Flex's name here. ...cause of him to go, y'all are scared to rape me. You underestimate the intellect of Farley Flex. My rhymes and the cuts, LTV selects. I'm the maestro. The intellect of Farley Flex, okay? It's on the record there. Forevermore, Symphony in Effect.

So you're in I guess you sold them on This is of course We should remind people This is like a big deal Because this is a US record label Like this is a

US record deal Yes it is And you know Granted they weren't A hip hop label But it was a US deal Which was from A Canadian perspective

You know it's like Getting you know Athletes getting A scholarship To a Even to a even to division two school in america that was better than getting the biggest school in canada oh yeah for sure now had there been any canadian hip-hop artists to get a american record deal at this point i don't know the chronology of it but i know mishy me and ivan ivan berry's um beat factory

camp had some stuff happening for mishy sure okay hold on mishi wants to say something toronto stay tuned right here with toronto might and it goes a little something like this hit it i just wanted you to say i like this i like how you do that good for you i got george bell too if you want it but no all right he's my favorite still my favorite though george bell number 11 okay got you all right so but this is a big deal so you scored one like you were successful yeah yeah that was yeah it was on the trajectory of what we were aiming for and um you know what was i think unique for us and you know there's varying perspectives on this but being signed to u.s label ending up with the kind of presence we had in canada um of like in hindsight we would have loved to have done quote-unquote better in the u.s right

but um you know looking back for me no regrets in terms of um what it did for wes's life and and certainly for my life this is like i think this is a common theme so i am toronto born toronto raised and i like what i like and i never ever really considered or cared whether Americans liked it too. Like, what do I care? Like, I like it here. And often I'll have on artists I like. So we'll talk about, you know, whether, I don't know, Sloan, like bands like Sloan or all these bands that are big in Canada. And a common theme is, you know, trying to break the state. I'm thinking of the Sky Diggers. I mean, there's a long list of bands that are fantastic bands, massively successful in this country. The Hip. The Tragically Hip is a great example.

You know, what degree of success? They had some success in the States, but nothing close to what they had here. Nothing comparable. But here's the difference, though, if I can interject, is that Yeah, of course. all those bands you name had an

infrastructure here right right yeah we had like literally yeah yeah we had no infrastructure to work with and then that's really the to me the bedrock of the groundbreaking story is that there was no infrastructure at radio so this song broke barriers in that way like cftr and all its sort of like stations across the country played the record on demand. It was like people were demanding that it be played. It was probably one of the most requested. They did a top six at six on CFTR 680 back in the day

because I used to record it to cassette, okay? And I mean, Let Your Backbone Slide was number one for a long time. It was a heavily requested jam. When we heard it, we're like, I hate to use this line, but nah, this kid can't be from Canada. This is what we were all saying. Yeah, and I think that's key. And down to the title of the track,

I sort of break down the anatomy of what I call a hit. But down to the the title of the track relative to other songs on the radio that and we west and i little consciously talked about this stuff when you empower the listener then you say let your backbone slide that that has impact that contributes to it becoming a hit you know i hope you know i like to emphasize those things because that that's sort of the lens i look at things through right absolutely now you need a uh i'm actually gonna see if i have quickly uh give me a no do i have it here uh i pulled it

for when maestro was on uh the line from the stroke right this is This is the song, The Stroke has that let your backbone slide. This is the inspiration for the whole term, right? Let your backbone slide, but don't have it quick enough to call up. But anyway, so tell me about though, you mentioned the lack of infrastructure, but stations like top 40 stations like CFTR start playing it by demand. But we always had, we had MuchMusic at the time. So that kind of was the nation's music station. And tell me about making a video for Let Your Backbone Slap. Well, that introduces our great friend, Joel Goldberg, you know, which was the MuchMusic connection.

We didn't know of many, if if any videographers back in those days like locally right um and and joel's obviously um you know being a much music employee and having the open-mindedness to delve into this space and the connection he and wes had and still have you know obviously was it was um know, a marriage made in heaven. And, uh, another, so Joel Goldberg has been on the show. We've talked about this and he directs, well, he directs, not only does he direct a let your backbone slide, but the, there are other hits, but here's many, but he also did, uh,

cause this was the followup, right? Which got, I mean, again, much music went nuts on and, uh, as did like the top 40 stations in this country, but give it a moment. And then there's another guy in the let your backbone slide video. on and as did like the top 40 stations in this country but give it a moment and then there's another guy in the let your backbone slide video who's been on this show i want to mention too i like how he references the uh the first hit in the first line what did i just say about the lyrics that's exactly what i I'm talking about. You know, it's not fluke. It's very intentional. Very intentional by design. Now, and actually in this video too,

so Joel Goldberg, of course, Joel Goldberg in this video plays the Geraldo Rivera type guy. They called him, what did they call him? They gave him a different name, but it was... Geraldo. Something similar. Herrera? they called him what did they call him they gave him a different name but it was Geraldo something something similar Herrera

yeah Gualdo Herrera or something of that nature yeah we just modified his name to connect to Geraldo Rivera and tell the people

what current CBC newsman has the cameo early oh in both these videos but primarily early in the let your backbone slide

video none other than the infamous Dwight Drummond. Amazing. It's his TV debut actually in this video. That's the first time he's ever on television. Amazing. And not just him, other people who are in that have gone on to some pretty amazing

lives and stuff so it's kind of cool. Man, it's like one of those touch points in Toronto pop culture history. You can't deny it. I know I have the four pillars so i can't spend all day on my stroke here but uh i do want to ask about financing the video like how do you how do you help finance the video for let your backbone slide so um entirely different than the first video i'm showing you um the budget for for let your backbone slide came from the label, from Le Frac Records, or LMR was the label. Right. So you didn't have to cut a personal check or anything?

No, not for Let Your Backbone Slide. No, I got you, just for the first video. Okay. Gotcha. Now, I have an anonymous question from Anonymous. He wants to remain anonymous. To ask you about the War Child show in Winnipeg. Okay, cool.

Don't try to guess, because I promise to keep this person anonymous. Okay, no problem, no problem. And what's the actual question? Well, that's quite... He wants me to ask about the War Child show. So tell us, what was the show and anything of significance about it?

Maybe just tell us about the show. Well, War Child is a charitable organization that supports children who are literally um war children who forced to get involved in in war you know in the predominantly to my awareness anyway in africa and on the continent of africa but um the opportunity to to get involved there had some impetus from the infamous Jake Gold a great friend awesome human being and the hip was the headlining act on the bill and I guess when they were orchestrating the whole idea with Sam Nunn Dr. Sam Nunn and Eric Hoskins they decided that or Dr. Eric Hoskins,

I'm not sure if Sam's a doctor. I don't know. Anyway, let's call them both doctors because they both deserve to be doctors. They're social PhDs. There you go. And yeah, so we were asked to be on the bill and it was Angélique Cujot, I think,

was the other artist on there. And who else was on there? Anyway, so the Warchild show in Winnipeg was massive. I mean, outdoor show. It was a tremendous opportunity for us to work outside of the genre, right? And gain, I guess, a broad-based sort of, you know, I can't remember how many people there. I think it was like 40,000 or something.

Is this the one and only time that you would share a stage with the Tragically Hip? Yeah, that was the only time we did. And yeah, it was a great experience. You know, when you do shows like that, that sort of festival-y, you don't necessarily get to hang and all that stuff. But I will say that when we went to dinner after,

that's when I got a sense of Jake's personality, right? Because when the somalian came around with the wine jake advised him that uh it might be schlop he's unbelievable man you gotta i i know you know jake so i'm sure you appreciate what i'm saying no jake jake likes to uh share uh tips and advice and stuff all the time. He's a maven. He's a maven. And he doesn't charge me either. No, no, he's a maven. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about that.

But what I did learn from Gord Downie directly was that the notion of toasting, right, was a practice that I guess evolved or was derived out of Viking culture where poisoning was the chief mechanism for murder. So what you would do is, they were wooden vessels they drank out of back then. Right. So you'd clash them

so that the liquids would exchange into each other's cups. I don't think I knew this. This is cool. So Gord Downie, that was the first conversation I ever had with Gord Downie. Amazing. How cool is that, eh? Yeah, it's a fountain.

I love those facts like that. That's fantastic. So uh no that's cool that you got to share a stage of the tragically hip and uh sounds like it was a worthwhile benefit now uh when do you part ways uh professionally with maestro like so um when does that journey that part yeah what happened was um the radio landscape changed drastically right and um cf the cftrs as you know is now 680 news right right and that happened that reverberated right across the country and at the same time being in the position i was in in the community and in the business music business community i heard wind of an effort actually i prior to that i was um part of an effort uh to get a dance what we call a dance music station.

And we did a song, whatever they want, they want top dance music, whatever. With a gentleman, rest his soul, named Daniel Corderon was spearheading that effort. And Wes was involved and other acts that I was working with were involved in creating that song to create awareness to really nudge the CRTC to allow for a dance music station. That was unsuccessful. And that was the station that went to KISS. Is that the one? 92.5? Yeah, so we weren't attached

to an actual broadcast effort at that time, but we were the music community saying we need it. Because we do. This is Toronto. We need it. Absolutely. And then KISS got the license. And they did country with it, right?

This is my... Right, they started as country. Country, right. But in that effort, there was a group run by a gentleman, a great friend and mentor of mine named Denim Jolly, right, who is responsible for starting

the Harry Jerome Awards, the BBPA, Jamaican Canadian Association. He owned Contrast newspaper, newspaper etc anyway um so he they had an effort that i was not involved with against kiss that obviously they were unsuccessful right then um as time transpired and the radio landscape changed even further in the in what we considered the wrong direction i went to them and said, I would like to support you on the music side. And they knew who I was and so forth.

And I got involved with the milestone effort, which was also unsuccessful. Is that the one? I'm kind of remembering. I remember these CRTC decisions and stuff. But is this the one that CBC wanted the FM license? You got it. So 99.1. That's 99.1. We hear Matt Galloway in the morning here. That wanted the FM license? You got it. So 99.1.

That's 99.1. Where we all, you know, we hear Matt Galloway in the morning here. That's the big flagship, I guess, for CBC Radio 1. They got it. Right. That's correct. That's correct. Because they wanted to move to FM, essentially.

Right. And then the third effort, which was like 12 years had gone by now at this point. And in terms of the first effort to when it was finally successful oh let's okay can i pause you there sure okay so i'm gonna pause you there because we have a successful effort that you're helping to spearhead here so uh let me go into the time machine with you so this is a good time you're gonna enjoy this uh now you're not old enough to remember this but 60 years ago, this was the number one song on the Billboard 100. 60 years ago this week.

By the way, would you believe 60 years ago was 1959? Like, that part breaks my brain. My brother was born that year. Okay. This song is called Kansas City by Wilbert Harrison. Number one on the Billboard Hot 100 60 years ago this week. I call this segment Remember the Time, and I love doing it because I just like to see what was number one.

The reason I had to go back 60 years is because songs like to stick around at number one. So when you record three episodes a week, it doesn't refresh. You know what I mean? Gotcha. I think 10 years ago, there's a Black Eyed Peas song, Boom Boom Pow,

that sticks around for something like 14 weeks. Okay. That's like 100 episodes. Okay. But I'm back 60 years ago. And I do this for Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repairs. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for almost 40 years.

If you've ever been to a Sears Canada outlet back when we had Sears in this country, if you ever went there to get your watch battery replaced or your band fixed or something, it was actually Fast Time doing the work. That was Fast Time, but they weren't allowed to be called Fast Time because Sears, the contract said they had to be called Sears Watch Repair or something. Sears. That was a great service. I've Sears Watch Repair or something. Sears. That was a great service. I've used it many times.

They've been doing this for 40 years, family-run business, and they're experts. They know what they're doing. Like, if you have any jewelry or watch repairs at all, or even just need to swap out the battery, and this is good, Farley, if you have a watch battery that needs to be replaced, you can get 15% off by just telling them you heard about them on Toronto Mike. So go to fast time, watch repair.com to find a location near you.

They have a new one in Richmond Hill and, uh, yeah, I mean, Milan from fast time is going to be back here on May 31st to help co-host an episode of Toronto Mike. So he's got a much better voice than I do. So I need a little help.

It's a, it's a wrestling podcast episode and I need a little wrestling expertise to help me out to do it right. So I can talk maestro and flow and idol and about the community.

But wrestling, I need a little help. Unless you let me do mid-80s wrestling and then I'm pretty good. So thank you, Fast Time. Some gifts here too because we talked a lot

about Electric Circus and this is cool. So do you recognize, I wonder, do you recognize the gentleman on the the label there does that oh man is that what's his name so his name is uh his name is uh kenrick pompey absolutely i remember yeah k pompey and uh he was known as the cowboy that's right so that is the great lakes brewery electric circus beer i actually because you're farley Flex, I put two of those. These are sold out, okay? I scored a case and I gave Master T a can.

Of course, because he worked that much. I made sure Joel Goldberg got, of course, he helped create Electric Circus. But these are two cans for you in your six pack of fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. That's awesome. That's clever, eh? Great idea. Absolutely. I wonder who gave That's clever, eh? Great idea. Absolutely. I wonder who gave them that idea.

Hint, hint. But yeah, I mean, if you want local fresh craft beer, you have to go to Great Lakes Breweries. So they're near, not too far from where we are here, but Royal York and Queensway area, like down the street from the Costco, actually. So Farley Flex, here's exciting stuff. I want you to have this invitation, anyone listening.

I have an event. Believe it or not, my third one. So this is called TMLX3. June 27th, my 45th birthday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery, unless it rains, in which case we go inside. But assuming we get some nice weather, I got live music from the Royal Pains. They do great covers

of like 90s songs, Canadian alt-rock and Pearl Jam, and they do a lot of Tragically Hip and a lot of good stuff. But then after my speeches, Lowest of the Low are going to perform. So Lowest of the Low, Ron Hawkins and Lowest of the Low are going to perform. So lowest of the low, Ron Hawkins and lowest of the low are going to perform on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. There's no charge, no cover. You don't have to go on a list. Just show up from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Great Lakes Brewery on June 27.

I'm going to have some gifts for everybody too. I'm going to have some stickers from Sticker You. And of course, your first beer. This is killer on the house. Great Lakes buys you your first beer. That's great. We just collect like listeners and guests collect and we just, it's a great, like a great time and you would love it. So it's going to be bigger and better than ever. Everybody should come, come to that event. Palma Pasta wants you to enjoy. Thank you for wanting

to meet. I've been asking guests meat or veggie. I've been getting so much veggie, which which is fine i think it's good to go veggie they make a great veggie lasagna i personally still like the meat and you like the meat as well so enjoy your uh meat lasagna from palma pasta thank you very much authentic italian food this is great like i'm not reading a script here. I've had other, you know, lasagnas, frozen lasagnas. No, there's no comparison. Like the Palma Pasta lasagna is the best lasagna you'll find. It's like his mom used to make, right? That's the recipe, the Italian recipe. So go to palmapasta.com.

You can get your events catered by Palma. You can find out where they are to pick up some food. They have a hot table at Palma's Kitchen. They're also on Skip the Dishes, and they're great supporters of Toronto Mike. So Palma Pasta, thank you. I mentioned stickers. So Farley Flex, I have a bunch of stickers in front of you,

all for you. There is a six sticker, courtesy of StickerU.com. There's a StickerU.com sticker as well. But here I'm excited to find out where these end up. There's a Toronto Mike sticker. There you go. And a Toronto Mike temporary tattoo as well. If

anybody wants any custom stickers, and I think it's a great way to promote anything. Like anything you have to promote or anything you want to brand. These decals behind me, there's a Toronto Mike. They anything. Like anything you have to promote or anything you want to brand, like these decals behind me, there's a Toronto Mike. They're courtesy of sticker you.com. So go to sticker you.com. They're in a Liberty village,

great people. And you can get your custom stickers or magnets or temporary tattoos or decals or labels, like anything you can stick essentially, uh, do that. And I'll make sure there's some Toronto Mike stickers at TMLX3 for everybody as well.

So you're not going home empty handed. Now we're going to bring you back to the successful application. So let's play a little Bob Marley while we talk about this. Play some music This is reggae music Play some music This is reggae music This was the first song played on Flow 93.5 back in 2001 when it first went on the air. So be specific here.

What role do you play in the arrival of Flow 93.5, which was known as the first urban music format radio station in the country? Forget Toronto, in the country. And quite importantly, black-owned and operated. Very important. So my role in the application process was to really package the music to be able to articulate to the CRTC exactly how not important it was, just important it was socially, but the popularity of the genres that are associated

under the umbrella of black music which euphemizes urban music right so it was very important to make sure that folks were aware that michael jackson whitney houston right down to at the time let's say big daddy kane or or um certainly in the maestros, the Dream Warriors, et cetera, et cetera, were all part of this incredibly impactful and popular, ubiquitously popular music. No question about it. And that was my role at the hearing. And then functionally was obviously to build the playlist,

make sure that the community was aware that this opportunity presented itself, both the music community and the listening community, listening audience. Right. Right? Very important because that was going to really fuel the station. Right?

And obviously by fueling it that way, then you can go to advertisers and say, okay, you know, I remember being in a meeting with an unnamed brewery, major brewery, who we had to enlighten to the fact that Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston is black music. Because they sort of were on the receiving end of this. These are huge artists we're talking about. Massive, yeah.

Yeah, so they didn't drill down to the fact that these are people from the black community who also need opportunities up here. Right? Because they were so mainstream yes but when you attach a michael jackson song to a local song by julie black right you're putting them in the same foray like you know they're in the same world now and canadian talent is there's no borders for talent obviously obviously. And at the time, like Julie Black, for example, where does a Julie Black song get played?

Like, who is going to play a Julie Black song? But this is actual. So it lets our ears take in a Julie Black song. And that's what we had to impress upon the CRTC, the adjudicators, if you will, is that there's no other outlet for this. And that's why it it deserves to be licensed in a city that has obviously the highest population or concentration of people

of african descent number one and those who love the culture that's the key right there right it's not about just the black community it's about all the people that partake of the culture vicariously directly indirectly what have you and that turns out to be as you can tell nowadays is a massive number where hip-hop you know it it takes the lead on that okay so um 93.5 now i'm always interested in these details and some people aren't but okay so we thought i think i believe the the royal we here we thought that uh we were out of radio stations in the city like so when when when cbc radio one gets the 99.1 frequency now uh we're done like we're full i feel like at the time we're full but so as i and i had to do some digging into the crtc

stuff but uh i guess uh i guess cbc had a repeater station. Correct. It was their repeater on 93.5. And because the 99.1 frequency was so strong, they determined they didn't need a repeater on 93.5, which frees it up. That's right. And again, you mentioned this is like the third time's a charm. This is your third run at getting a station in Toronto. And you're successful.

And you mentioned Black owned and operated. So I guess I'm curious about the, like, you know, because at some point, 93.5 gets gobbled up by like a big conglomerate, right? No, not gobbled up, sold. Sold, right.

Big difference. Big difference. Okay, yes. So they sold to, remind me, who had it before NuCap? Chum. So Chum,

because Chum has to sellum, does Chum, because Chum has to sell it, right? Because you can only have, they bought, I'm trying to remember, but Chum, okay,

so Chum, no, Bell buys Chum. Bell buys Chum. Yeah. And Bell buys Astral and because of that, they now have too many

stations in the market so they have to sell one and they have to choose like which ones do we keep and they decide to sell 93.5 to NuCap and then NuCap, now they, I think, were gobbled up by stingray by stingray so right now the owner of 93.5 and i went miss you me was on we talked about this but they've also reverted so i didn't

but they've also reverted back to the flow brand right yes because when when new cap got they changed it to the move yep right and now they've reverted back to the flow brand um to regain that ground of authenticity they never should have left the brand but that's another story i guess but so yeah they're back to flow are you happy with uh the playlist and and the what what's what's what they're playing on uh flow today in 2019 i i'm not unhappy with it i still think that there's a lack of infrastructure for for um homegrown black music um and the infrastructure i'm talking about is not just access to radio but the access to uh venues for instance right but the only consistent um aspect of the music industry when you obviously we went through vinyl eight track cassette cd yada yada but the only consistent aspect of the music industry is a live show

right and i i know arguably we talk about i'm involved in a lot of issue um social um efforts against anti-black racism and things like that. And it really is important to talk about how much access do people of African descent or people who are involved in music that emanates from African descent in the current consciousness, how much access to venues do they have relative to a rock band, country band,

singer-songwriter, et cetera, et cetera. It's a vast, vast difference. But the problem is the music being created by these people is the most popular music. So it's so counterintuitive. So when you extrapolate that, you have to say, why is that? And then things like anti-black racism and stigmatism and all these things come up.

And then from the inside looking out, there's the understanding that, and this is a key distinction as well hip-hop music in the black community right is an economic opportunity as well as an art form people who consume it assume it from the outside no matter what race or demographic they're from right it's to them it's art but within the the creators of the music it's an economic opportunity in a different way than it is a rock band in a garage rock band in a garage they have a garage right right that's a good point you know i don't have a garage just you know but you understand my

point so of course so and under the the best comparison i like to make is that you know when when cocaine entered into the marketplace, mostly in America, it was, the initial form was the powder version, which was a luxury leisure type Hollywood drug, yada, yada, yada. Crack was an economic opportunity. Right. And that's a parallel to what hip hop is now. At one point, because if you think of the music

that black people share with the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere, is very much music from an oppressed culture. Right. So that's why the content, calypso, jazz, reggae, gospel, hip hop, of course, are all oppressed. The expressions come out of oppression. Right. So when you you can't discount that or forget about that you know in any phase of the industry so people look at the dj khaled's and the you know the p diddy's and the jay-z's and say yeah they've made it no we not even close because there's a

this toronto probably has 15 000 rappers think about that how many are going to get on billboard why is it such a low-hanging fruit of engagement for people to say i'm a rapper i'm a producer you know i'm saying and then again the other thing is when you drill down further where are all the publicists the graphic designers the infrastructure that's required to keep that icon from the community at the level that he or she needs to be you know i'm saying so that's we could that one we could talk about till well okay so the raptors game well dude i'm nervous man that's a whole other story man you're not down in a series till you lose at home this is the old adage i agree i agree must win

game tonight like you're not coming back from three nothing against the bucks no way good night irene we gotta we gotta win tonight but anyway that's, you're right. You know, he's in tomorrow morning. Just to let people listening know. Leo Roudens is here. Yes, he mentioned that. Tomorrow morning. Do you think he's your tall guy? But you didn't hit your head.

No, I didn't hit my head, no. But when you finish, you're going to jump up and hit your head. I got to make sure Leo can fit in here. Maybe we'll have to do this outside. I don't know. But okay. So the largest, probably the biggest musician in the world right now calls Toronto home, speaking of the Raptors.

Absolutely, absolutely. So Drake, I mean, in 93.5, because my 14-year-old daughter listens to a lot of 93.5, and we'll go in the car and go on. 50-50 shot, you're going to hear Drake's song if you turn on that station right now, because I guess there's CanCon regulations. So yeah, you do hear it.

And you heard him first on Flow too. Yes. I'm sure. Important to know. Yes, of course. Yes. Now,

I guess the band date, I mean, and they do it in some respect. Like for example, the artist I quite like is Jesse Reyes, for example. Like there are local talent getting an opportunity to shine. And I'm sure she'll be an international star.

She's not already. She might already be an international. I don't know. She's a continental at least. She's like a meteor. But that's urban. See, right, it's not rap. No, no, no, no.

It's part of, rap is a subset of urban. But my point is, I always like to get back to the source and the influence like you know she identifies she'll of course she's crossing over because while artists are now crossing over communities also crossing over that's okay that's passion i like to hit that mic but give me i'll send you an invoice for the 300 bucks but the community is also crossing over and embracing urban as well. Like lifestyle. And you're a music lover, but you tell me one other genre of music that's influenced speech, fashion, cuisine, design. Like hip-hop is not something small.

People used to say to me, how long will it be around? That's what they asked at the CRTC. How long will hip-hop music be around? And that's back, the CRTC. How long will hip hop music be around? And that's back, yeah, in the late 90s, they're doing that. It's probably, yeah, it's okay. But yeah, and I mean, it's amazing how many though, like local urban artists have success across the continent now. Like it, so I always say, you know, the trailblazer- It's still a really low number though, my friend.

Yeah. I hate to say it it but it's a really low number relative to the excellence and and the opportunities and the fact that you know i play that remember the time and i'll go back so even 20 years ago 30 years ago like okay in 1989 this was number one it might be a deaf leopard song or some of that today the billboard hot 100 is absolutely dominated by what was obviously become the people's genre of favorite genre of choice like hip-hop dominates the hot 100 so i guess to your point that uh i see some success stories but you you are providing the real talk that it's not enough it's not enough and and while the top 100 is an indicator you go down to the street level i want to say street a street in boise idaho or street in brampton right everywhere in between the fact like we always say from brampton to the hamptons

right but um yeah the it's been the most popular music for well over, in its 40-year life now or what have you, right? It's been the most popular music for the majority of that, right? And that's, again, the infrastructure has never had people at the decision-making level who identify with the culture in a real way. But if we were living in a totally egalitarian society where everybody had equal access to everything, it would be a whole different thing. You'd have a hip-hop artist running for president kind of thing.

Right, which we might have. Stay tuned. Now, one thing about 2019, of course, is that except for the... I'll take the 1% out of this. I'll take the Drake's out of this and then take the Weeknd out of this. Artists are not making any money right now selling their music.

Like the streaming, I mean, I have artists coming here all the time and they'll be like, yeah, like we got 2 million streams. That sounds really good. Yeah,

they got a check for like $23.16, something like that. Like literally, like wait a minute. So you mentioned like venues and opportunity to perform. That's where the money is right now

for an artist right it's performing lives and always has been again the lowest hanging fruit of quickest money if you will

if I book a show for Maestro we get 50% up front back in the day as you know I don't manage them anymore but then when we were functional together

you get 50% up front and you get the balance before you go on stage or it depends on the type of promoter you might get it after you go on stage but the point is it came a lot faster than royalties right and then you might you know and hopefully you sell some t-shirts at night and there's another exactly more cash at the

end of the night very transactional in real time right right right right by the way on that i know you don't manage them anymore but uh maestro's had some good music lately like in last few years like there's a song he had a song called uh i know your mom okay yeah all, there's a song, he had a song called I Know Your Mom, okay? Yeah, yeah. All right? There's a lot of songs. I still listen to New Maestro, but a station like 93.5, they might do a throwback

something or other and say, here's some Let Your Backbone Slide, but they're not touching. They're not touching with a 10-foot pole I Know Your Mom. Like, they're just not playing

New Maestro. So I just find it interesting like these legacy artists like Maestro can get their 1989 hit on the radio once in a while especially when they went to the move and went to throwbacks or whatever. A little less so

now but still. They will get in the mix if you will but they're not playing anything new by the same artist even if it's good. It's just I guess that's the nature of this business. But it goes back to the same thing. It's somewhat the nature of the business but what more importantly it is, and again, from an infrastructural perspective,

the curators and the gatekeepers are not people who are connected openly, open-mindedly especially, to the culture. So for instance, I'm hoping to see the day where, like the Stones, aren't the Stones touring right now? They're about to. About to, yeah. hoping to see the day where like the stones under stones touring right now. They're about to mix recovering from heart surgery.

And yeah, they're going to be in Burles Burles Creek or something, something up. Right. So, you know, obviously arguably one of the greatest bands of all time, but there are a lot of not so greatest bands of all time who are still

touring in rock and roll and country and everything else. And again, the, the genres like hip hop and and so forth well hip-hop specifically doesn't have that road ahead you know the sustainability because of the lack of inclusion okay but so if i'm reading you correctly are you suggesting like there's this like classic rock opportunity for like legacy rock bands that might not necessarily exist for the legacy hip hop artists? Or am I misinterpreting?

Yeah, you go to a classic hip hop show and there's going to be maybe 15, 20 acts on it, like in terms of like a festival type thing. Right. And the money they're making relative to genres

that are not that much more popular. Right. Like, I mean, the Stones are going to make millions on their tour. I mean, they may be a bad example because there's such a legacy. That's like that 1%. Yeah. Right. Like, I mean, the Stones are going to make millions on their tour. I mean, they may be a bad example because they're such a legacy. That's like that 1%, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. But you know what I'm saying? But, you know, what we need to really look at is that opportunity for, that equal opportunity, right? That's all I mean. Sure.

So the Phoenix and venues like that are because of the economics attached to hip hophop the phoenix has to say to themselves okay if we've got this act from rexdale on the same flyers and act from parkdale and they have a beef my venue is in jeopardy right that doesn't exist in any other genre on the planet no you're right yeah so so there's a there's this sort of unwilling or unaware cannibalism happening because of the economic attachment of not making any money for your craft, having to still stay in a lifestyle, right, that brings in some sort of revenue so you can go in the studio,

so you can do a video, et cetera, et cetera. And then you announce a show, right, or an independent promoter says, I want to do a show with all the best rappers in Toronto. And Toronto Police Services will shut it down before it even gets to ticket sales time. Because there's jeopardy there. Like they see it as a security risk?

Absolutely. Absolutely. So now that reverberates right across the country. Right. You see what I'm saying? So all of these things, again, when I talk to the mayor and people like that, I try to help them understand,

let's support, like the Remix Project is a fantastic project, but it can encompass everyone, right? But if community, if we really, really care, and this is the big word in my life, if we truly care as community leaders, both publicly appointed um appointed or people who just have community organizations if we truly care and we say to ourselves that okay there's a there's an economic and an uh deprivation and an anti-black racism component

to hip-hop yeah let's deal with that through hip-hop right so that that rapper from rexdale or from regent or wherever they're from right doesn't have to has other support other aspects of support and again that infrastructure i talked about yeah you got a crew of like 15 guys everybody's the rapper where's the publicist where's the marketing person where's the graphic designer where where's the infrastructure right that the main the marketing person? Where's the graphic designer? Where's the infrastructure that the main guy needs so that you can have a succession plan? When he gets a deal, rapper number two comes up

and has that infrastructural support to get where number one was. Wow, okay. So we're gonna revisit your involvement in the community. We touched on it there and there's so much more. It's so impressive what you've been up to. So let's spend a bit of time quickly here on a little show.

Here, I'll play a promo for it here. This is for the premiere. You've seen the lineups. We've been here since 10.30 last night. We've heard the auditions. They made me sing like five songs. Now it all comes together as the television event of the summer.

I made it! I made it! Thousands of hopefuls vying to be the first Canadian Idol. Remember me, I'm going to be the next Idol. Tune in for the launch of Canadian Idol, because you know that's where everyone else will be. They're nuts. They're absolutely nuts. Canadian Idol, coming to CTV June 11th.

Brought to you by L'Oreal Paris, because you're worth it. You're worth it, Farley. Okay, I'll bet you most Canadians will recognize you from this part of your career. I'll bet you this is where you start getting, you know, get recognized everywhere. Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is the most public thing Farley's done. Right. My job is to make, you know, my artists the most public thing that Farley does.

So Farley, I like how you did yourself in the third person there. So Farley, I'm going to start doing it. So Toronto Mike wants to know, okay. How the heck do you end up as a judge on Canadian Idol? So it was basically a manifestation of the work that I've tried to do and tried to do successfully from managing Maestro to being involved as a founding sort of guy at Flow um and all the other you know

being on boards you know being on the much fact board for some would say far too long but again that was to me a community role right you know there was a time when people would say go black for video fact i don't know if you heard of that one no i haven't no but because when i jumped in the mix there the julies and the cardies and the Cardys and all the acts that prior to that weren't getting their just sort of assessment to be funded. So I would argue that, listen, this kid named Shaw Claire is awesome. We got to support this grant.

And then I think for Canadian isle what happened was they were looking at i think around 75 music industry professionals and obviously they wanted um some measure of diversity gender wise race wise etc and i know some of my peers in terms of people involved in music as black people who are involved in music also quote unquote were vying for the opportunity and so i went when I went to the little, they did a bunch of pairings and groupings to see dynamic and so forth. And yeah, I was fortunate to get involved with that.

That's definitely a highlight of my life. Now, the video fact stuff, if I skip anything like that, feel free to chime in here because I mentioned these pillars. I mean, I, uh, I didn't mean to overlook the video fact work for sure. That's cool.

Now, uh, again, Jake Gold's been on, so I'm halfway through my collection of Canadian Idol judges. So, uh, yeah.

So were you like, I mean, the American version was already a massive success on Fox and they had three judges. So, uh, Simon simon one year only one year is that right okay okay well it works let's do it here too so of course simon cowell is sort of like the big star judge and then they had randy jackson and they had paula abdul as i recall correct and we uh had four judges so i guess uh they decided to just be a little

different is that the deal? Yeah, yeah. I mean, John Brunton and his team and the folks at CTV knew we were in a different country. Obviously, the value of having the original manager that are tragically hip had certain relevance. And I think Zach in particular

had that sort of edge that they were looking for as well. So is Zach, is he, we need a Simon. Okay, Zach, can you be our Simon? Is that kind of what I really love about it? And no people choose to believe this or not. Okay.

What I like about John Brutton as a human being and his team is that he found people who were like, who were the way they are in real life and place them in the role. He didn't say, try to be more of this, try to be more of that. Farley, Randyley randy says dog can you say cat you know like it was there was none of that and when i say zero yeah i mean as sub-zero he we were always encouraged to be ourselves and then i knew zach prior to idol i knew jake prior to idol and they didn't change as people to to be on idol so it was

okay so to remind people it's yourself and jake gold zach werner and sass jordan yeah awesome he's a great musician and she's a she's awesome human being awesome human being too i saw she did a show not far from where i am in a park called sam smith park uh yeah it still sounds sounds fantastic so now uh let me play another promo real quick because when else am i ever going to called Sam Smith Park. Yeah, it still sounds fantastic. Now, let me play another promo real quick because when else am I ever going to be able to play it? I didn't play it for Jake. I was saving it for Farley here. So let's hear another one.

Ready? Set. Sing. Happy baby. Canadian Idol has scoured the country. And listened to a lot the country. Canadian Idol. And listened to a lot of performance. Marsden Race.

Some good. I teared up on that one. Some bad. You're standing here until you make me move. So get ready for a new season of Canadian Idol, Monday at 8, 7 Central on CTV. How many years did you do Canadian Idol? It was six years.

2003 to 2008, inclusively. Gotcha. Any highlights? Oh, absolutely. Share. Feel free to share some Canadian Idol highlights. So the highlights for me were, A, traveling across this amazing country.

I think we are guilty as Canadiansadians of under traveling domestically because it's expensive it's expensive but you know what it's it's how much more expensive is than going to disney world you know i'm saying like i get disney world don't get me wrong right but but if i say okay kids we're going to newfoundland okay versus kids we're going to florida there's no comparison i think in terms of what yeah because but it's marketing right it's like anything else it's about marketing like i didn't know about this lasagna but trust me if i enjoy it as much as you think i it'll be your favorite uh lasagna ever my turn to do the plug for palmer's kitchen palmer's kitchen but yeah i'll tell people about it that's the way it works

right so i've personally been responsible i'm gonna say for maybe 15 20 people going to newfoundland who had never thought of going there before i want to go so next time you go i'm gonna say for maybe 15 20 people going to newfoundland who had never thought of going there before i want to go so next time you go i'm going with you and i i'm i will be going actually for a particular reason but um so you're invited oh when are you going right i just can't tell you it's a secret but honestly like i think when you go then you have that time that good time and you get the i'm talking newfoundland i'm talking um well the maritimes in general but newfoundland is the highlight for me um you when you see the country through the lens that we were allowed to see it through where people are

remember they're called hopefuls right right right so you're you're seeing people irrespective of their talent, they're hopeful. That's a great way to learn about a country. Honestly, you're right. And you're dead on about the fact that Canadians don't enjoy their own country as much as they should. What a beautiful country. It's so different.

The landscapes and everything. And obviously, you know, not everyone's going to be able to see it in the way I have, whether it be touring with Wes or... Also as a business expense. Yeah, well, well exactly you know fine flying business class everywhere and everything but um but when you get on the ground and you meet people and you talk to people and you get to learn the just the human condition you know we had um individuals on the show who were

quote-unquote artistic savant type people we had one guy named touch cc i'll never forget him that he knew every single category of every single oscar winner going back to the beginning of the oscars wow so and you and this guy's coming to is he coming to sing or is it again inside productions insight into the human condition and what would Canadians like to see. You understand? And that's the part I want. Of course I want to hear great singers.

That was the primary objective. Right. But the secondary and close secondary objective was to meet Canadians, see what would inspire someone to come in front of four people and who inspired them. If they weren't inspired by themselves to come and stand in front of four people and show canadians in the early shows yeah right so with the william hung thing in the u.s and people thought anybody who couldn't sing was meant to be a joke but it wasn't meant to be a

joke not in the eyes of the inside productions and ctv you know what i'm saying it was about showing the landscape of and the dynamic of canadians and conditions and mindsets and some people like you know we had people who were um well paraplegic quite frankly who just wanted to the feeling of doing it you know i'm saying they didn't have to do that trust me they didn't have to do that we could have just shown great singers and lousy singers and the show would have been close to as popular but it wouldn't have been as meaningful now in terms of uh some of the success stories that come out like one of the big ones i always think of is carly ray jebson right uh so she people forget i think because she doesn't she doesn't i don't even know by the way next time

you call me don't use the word baby okay that's right that still holds up that jam by the way i went to number one by the way so uh uh carly ray uh is first introduced to canada on canadian idol absolutely because i don't even does she make the top five or ten or like does she or is she just one of those like i can't remember she went very far uh sass really championed her in the initial audition um as did zach right zach wanted to you know zach's line was you know let's forget about this idol thing and the gold ticket come i want to manage you you know all right i hope you don't make it to toronto so i can yeah your record on the side or whatever yeah that was his thing his his shtick so i learned all this yiddish stuff through these guys it's amazing i love it dick you hear that too but um i was at my kid's swimming lesson yesterday and it's like it feels

like 45 degrees in there it's like a sauna and i think i was saying i'm schvitzing here yeah schvitzing well jake again would introduce you that because i was a schvitzer on the set right um so yeah yeah we had a lot of fun man but yeah to yeah, to your point, the Carly Rae Jepsen's. I mean, you had a success story, which is no longer cool to talk about, I guess. But Jacob Hogart was a big success story until he had some personal failings. Yeah, and it's unfortunate. But if you focus on the career stuff, he came in the room and he dominated. He dominated because he was comfortable in his own skin and was willing to take risk

and had a sense of humor and everything else. And yeah, I remember when we were in the Sky, it was still called the Sky Dome maybe then, holy smokes, but the Sky Dome Hotel. Yeah. Right, and he's standing on the check-in counter entertaining his peers, his fellow hopefuls, right? Yeah.

Stuff like that. And I pushed hard for him to get in right because he i saw stardom right the other side is what it is unfortunately and you know we don't want to yeah yeah that is what it is i guess that's best we'll leave it at that there but uh uh one thing of interest though and i think maybe this you can tell me this has something to do with the canadian infrastructure as whole, but a lot of your Canadian Idol winners are in other careers now. Like, you know, they're like software engine,

I don't know, they're sales, software sales, like just regular jobs, like me and others listening. You don't have a regular job, but for regular people, they're doing that. So music didn't, you know. Take off for them. Didn't give them a career. Yeah, and many did though. Many were doing state stuff and, you know, different for them didn't give them a career yeah and many many did though many were

doing state stuff and you know different type of things and not all just winners either by the way some people were able to parlay the opportunity into careers on a local level um country artists etc etc but yeah to your point the canadian infrastructure for music i remember years ago i'll never forget this. Gordon Martineau was on the news and he said that some survey had been done and more Canadians were watching American news at 6 o'clock than Canadian news. That shocks me. Yeah, it shocks you now, but if you go back, it wouldn't shock you as much.

Okay, but don't you want, I mean, just in terms of news, don't you want to hear about the, I don't know, the fire north york as opposed no because there's 15 fires in buffalo the same day you see i'm saying i know right that no that's what it is that's a perfect analogy yeah right so if somebody says you turn into this channel there was a fire and somebody says what are you talking about turn to that channel there's 15 fires right and then again the news and the sports and everything. Yeah. We've been inundated with American culture and media, like far disproportionate to the numbers.

No doubt. And I think that's always been a challenge. And that's, that obviously feeds why so many artists in this country determine their success measures by, am I getting some love in the U S in all genres? You're so right. And I'm personally sick of this,

even though I brought it up several times myself lately, because not only with Jake Gold, but I had a gentleman who wrote the book about the tragically hip and the never-ending present. He was on recently, Michael Barclay. I'm sick of talking about the hip's failure to become massive in the USA. Like, I'm personally tired of it.

Yeah. It's, yeah. Anyway, that's a whole, that's a whole thing. And I'm here, I'm doing it again. Okay. So a good run for you in Canadian Idol. It really, in terms of like, though, you don't, you don't get rich off being on Canadian Idol.

This is really an exposure branding thing. Maybe, maybe it's good for Farley Flex. Yeah, you get richer. Richer, yes, yes, yes, yes. You don't get rich, but you get like, you don't get, I won't even richer yes yes yes you don't get rich but you don't get like you don't get uh i won't even use him but you're not getting simon cowell money here no no no definitely not and as an entrepreneur which you know we all are and certainly even sass in the own way as a musician right is is still going to benefit from having been a judge

on canadian idol right um the key is to be in use that entrepreneurial spirit and drive to parlay it into other things no different than and this probably works for you but this is how i was able to grow my community impact right okay good so yes because a higher profile for farley flex it gives you power uh you know it gives you the ability to get meetings and to have people listen to you absolutely to get on uh tough shows to get on like this one right here, because you're, you're far away from Canadian Idol. So as we return,

as we talk now about your, your great community work, I'm going to let Brian Gerstein start us off. He is a real estate sales representative with PSR brokerage. You can find him at property in the six.com. Here's Brian. 0292 for any of your real estate needs. Farley, your ongoing community work is impressive. Your Just Think First violence protection campaign has made a difference. But how do you measure success?

Let's talk about, so he mentions Just Think First. And of course, there's Urban Res Solutions. And there's a whole bunch of stuff here. So maybe we'll just do a talk about all these different uh you know programs you're involved in and initiatives like start and don't be afraid don't be uh too humble on this one like talk about all all the work you're doing to give back to your community because it's amazing well i want to if i start at the beginning i start with the way i was parented my mother is someone that I've never heard say no to someone in a time of need. And she was a nurse who had some specializations in psychiatry.

So she became that person for her social group, right? And I would often hear, be within earshot when I'm not even noticing it and hearing her support others, support others, support others. when I'm not even noticing it and hearing her support others, support others, support others. And my sister, same, of the same sort of cloth, right? And even back when I was, my first, I haven't had many jobs per se, right?

But one of my earliest forms of employment was working for Recreation and Parks, teaching kids how to play sports. You know, I was a greenie. Because you're an athlete. Yeah, exactly. I kids how to play sports. You know, I was a green. Because you're an athlete. Yeah, exactly. I play a lot of sports. So I would teach kids games, sports, et cetera, et cetera,

working for recreation and parks in the summer. And that was probably the first time I was able to impart my upbringing on others. Like you could essentially mentor these kids. Absolutely. And then when my career started to build and and and amass influence and so forth and notoriety public notoriety then i was able to take that and move it literally to take it everywhere i went and um so one of the first recognitions was when there would be a career day at school there'd be a fireman a doctor a lawyer a nurse etc and then there's

farley talking about music right right in a room and the kids just gravitating i'm talking to high schools all over toronto right so um i realized okay this is an opportunity here not to just talk about music but impart some character and leadership skills and you know all this so and i would formulate ideas on the fly literally um one of the first things i started was something called real school which is reality education and applied life skills right and that was formulated and based on experience in galloway which is a what's called a neighborhood improvement area in south scarborough just south of where i grew up and um you know there would the organizer was having a rap contest and asked me if I would come and judge it.

This is in 1990, right? And I said, yeah, I love it. I'd love to do that. And when is it? And so on and so forth. I said, how many kids are in the program? And she went on to say there are approximately 80 to 90 kids. Excuse me.

80 to 90 kids. And I said, okay, how many entered the rap contest she said oh we signed them all up they all love that stuff now with the kind of mind i have and enjoy is that when you say make a sweeping statement like that that doesn't impress me much right so and i knew the demographics of the community were predominantly people of car, African descent, African Caribbean descent. So just because they're young, black and poor, they want to be rappers. That's not the way the world works.

So I said, okay, well, just, you know, I'd like to maybe come and meet the kids a couple of weeks prior to the date of the event and show you just how diverse their interests might be. And she says, oh, it was one of those sort of, well, yeah, sure sure come on down if you have time kind of vibe and i said well i do and i will so anyway i get there two weeks yeah so i get there two weeks prior and i have about 85 90 kids on the gymnasium floor i start asking start

asking questions and this is strictly this is my version of freestyle right so i said who likes math right and mike would elbow farley put your hand up bro you like math you like math you're good at math you did good on the math test and the kid would put their hand up so tons of peer-to-peer identification with at that age demo 12 to 17 that's monstrously beneficial right right and it's a great tool and then the folks who would identify self-identify anyway the questions were who's good at math who's good at english who likes to draw who likes to argue who likes to gossip who's a control freak who's got a good sense of style who can write poetry etc and what i would do was correlate those interest personality traits and skill sets with roles in the music business right map it yes yeah so if you like to gossip you'd be a great publicist

remember they're 12 to 5th 17 so they may not know what a publicist is but i'm connecting who they are to what they can be love it right yeah you're essentially giving them a path essentially absolutely yeah absolutely and you look if if i spoke to your parents right and they would tell me we're not surprised mike is doing what he's doing right now you understand right because you because you're sitting here you're smiling for every two seconds you you you't work for a living. You live for your work. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Yeah. I'm digging this.

And that's what I do. I detect those things. Should I have recorded this? Because I didn't. This was just a private chat, right? We'll have to do it again for real after this. But you understand my point. So now you've got young people who you might be able to write poetry,

but you're shy, right? So you're a songwriter. Right. But if you like to write poetry and you're shy right so you're a songwriter right but if you if you like to write poetry and you got a gregarious personality you're a rapper right right if you like to draw you're a graphic designer potentially if you good at math you could be a business manager if you like to argue you're a lawyer and i made it fun for them right if you like to gossip you're a publicist right you see what i'm saying so that's what we did and we ended up with um i put them in individual cluster common clusters based on description went around and gave them rudimentary job descriptions of how the what the correlation was between personality and

career right interest personality skill personality traits skill sets and career yeah then um went around and intermixed them so that every cluster had as much representation of the key roles for an artist to be successful. Right. Right? The support that we talked about, right? Exactly. Then they were made to go away and dream wildly and come back and present their individual contributions

culminated by their rapper's performance. Now you had an engaged group of kids who love hip-hop just as much as the rapper. Yep. But they're applying who kids who love hip-hop just as much as the rapper yep but they're applying who they are to hip-hop dude you never made it to my high school i needed this this is amazing by the way michael power which is no i didn't get to michael power you know topical school yeah amazing i know michael power yeah and man we were we were digging the uh michael power we were really digging maestro fresh west hallow, awesome. Halloween in Tobacco. But amazing.

That was real, you call it. Yeah, real school. So that still runs today. Oh, wow. Yeah, we do that in schools, elementary schools. We're hoping to enter some high schools. And it's taken different iterations from a social side because it's not just about music. It's about anything.

And these are transferable skills people are learning if you can market maestro you can market the crisis 300m right no amazing you're still doing that that's amazing i think that's fantastic and it's no wonder and why am i playing another bob marley song i played the first one because it was the first jam they played on flow but why am i another man well any excuse play marley but uh you are the recipient of the bob marley community role model award am i right do you have this this is a yeah that's a is that a plaque or a trophy or a medal yeah it's a it's a plaque and it's recognition for you know contributing back to community um and again it's community by choice, right? So I love the whole juxtapositioning of things that engage

with things that can motivate. And music is a great tool for that. Sports is also a great tool for it, of course. And now pop culture in general. I've broadened real school to represent pop culture, music, sports, film, television, you name it. YouTube stars, Instagrammers instagrammers well kids are telling you now what do you want to be i want to be a youtube a youtuber that's a profession now that's

the new tv star absolutely absolutely uh the urban music association of canada gave you a special achievement and media personality of the year award so that's another you got a big trophy case at home or something and And you were inducted. And I think, tell me if I'm right on this, but you're most proud of this, I would think. Because this sounds amazing. The Scarborough Walk of Fame? Where is the Scarborough Walk of Fame? It's in the Scarborough Town Center, actually.

Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah. I think it's right in front of Walmart, if I'm not mistaken. So when did you... High traffic. When did you move out of Scarborough? People step all over me every day. No, to be honored by that.

That'd be an honor. Be honored. When did you move out of Scarborough people step all over me every day no to be honored by that that'd be honored be honored uh when did you move out of scarborough like uh how long ago uh moved out of scarborough in uh but it's gonna be about 21 years ago but still have a home in home there my sister lives there um yeah i i'm everywhere excited guy i don't really belong to one community i i like to belong To the universe kind of vibe You know As ethereal as that sounds You're global You're global

Yeah Now So Brian mentioned Just Think First Yes So and that And I want to know how that And Urban Res Solutions

So is it So you tell me Okay What are these So I'll start with Urban Res Solutions That's a company I have With my business partner

Roger Brereton And what we do is We have various programs that help folks manage change, change management, getting performance out of potential. And this is all about pillars that we have called the seven C's, which are seven steps to being able to change your life if you're stuck or if you're heading in the wrong direction, et cetera, et cetera. So we work with the institutions like Roy McMurtry Youth Center, other marginalized people, a lot of indigenous. The res in urban res is for the reservation life. So we work a lot of indigenous the res in urban res is for for the reservation life uh so we work a lot of aboriginal community indigenous communities um we motivate help kids get engaged in their own lives so they can do better academically socially and you know get involved in pro-social change

etc etc so just thing first came about because there was something called the Black Youth Action Plan that the liberal government put forth where organizations could apply for grants that would make a difference and enhance cultural identity. It's the provincial government. Provincial government, yes. So to enhance cultural identity, to address violence, things like that in the communities. Smart. So we came up with this idea, Just Think first is essentially that think before you act and we did um because we're we understand the marketing side of life we market social initiatives the same way we mark i would market a record no difference freak high frequency get as much play as you can everywhere that the

people you try to reach are take the them out into Mohammed, go into the communities and work with them in the style and language that they communicate to each other in. So it's not like there's no gap, right? And that's one of our real key techniques that we do for engagement, that we use for engagement. And Just Think First was wildly successful. The first iteration was in partnership

with Toronto Police Services. Then we replicated the model for this Black Youth Action Plan grant, which was windsor hamilton ottawa and toronto so hasn't uh doug ford pulled this funding yet is that uh he's he's he's uh cut funding that initiative sounds so sensible and so forward thinking and so progressive and wise that it i'm surprised it hasn't been cut yet if it hasn't but maybe yeah what we do well what we do is um our measure of resilience is that we don't stop so we're now we're um we've moved it onto an umbrella um called tides that does funding outreach on our behalf

through like foundations and things like that so it's still living and breathing and we're going to be more robust our goal is to make it like mad, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or buckle up, just think first. You know, that's our goal. We want to be as present as those things are. You know, as impressive as, you know, helping to foster the first Canadian hip-hop star, you know, and then, of course, getting flow on the air

and then being on Canadian Idol idol which of course gives you exposure from c to film you know from the atlantic to the pacific in this country like i think this is your most impressed the most impressive part of your resume is all this like what you're giving back man i love this stuff i mean i still love what entertainment how entertainment can can uh fuel these things so i still do it like i just got involved with a great company as a partner called true gravity and we're doing um it's film production television production um it's an agency with kind of a full service type of entertainment model and um that's gonna that's gonna again it's gonna raise my profile in a particular way but all of that will be used to fuel social influence amazing yeah

that's that's what i that's the formula i like to live by dude if i honestly if i can help in any way i don't know how i could help but if i could help in any way uh i'm here to help well you gave me some great podcast and podcast insights so we should talk i'm gonna promote them yeah well yeah we definitely should talk about that and then uh i'm glad you did this appearance because maybe you'll reach some people who aren't aware of all the work you're you're up to and they're gonna hear this and uh dude i could uh i know i promised you 90 and we're good i stole a few more minutes but uh what an absolute pleasure you're as advertised i mentioned my buddy mark hebbshire i just mentioned him in passing he likes to know who's coming on because he's here monday and friday for uh

hebsey on sports and i said oh farley flex is coming on because he's here Monday and Friday for a Pepsi on sports. And I said, Oh, Farley flex is coming on. Nope. Pepsi's good friends with Jake old since they were two years old. Yeah. And he just said,

he looked at me, my Pepsi looked at me and said, he's a great guy. And I said, all right, I'm going to be, it's going to be a great episode of Farley. Right back at him.

Right back at him. Well, I'll see him tomorrow morning, right after he gets out of here. I have a Pepsi coming in. So I'll let him know. You said after Leo Roudens gets out of here. I have Hep C coming in. So I'll let him know you said hi. So thanks so much for doing this. Amazing.

What a pleasure. Thanks for having me, Mike. It was a really good time. Really good time. And that brings us to the end of our 466th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Farley, you're at Flex Original.

Correct. That's your Twitter handle. Did you want to point it somewhere else? What's your Instagram? It's at Flex original correct that's your Twitter handle did you want to point it some everyone somewhere else or Instagram what's your Instagram it's at Flex original as well

original right and all the websites obviously urban res solutions dot com so that's urban res with a Z Z solutions dot com just think first dot com you know you'll find out all about what we're

up to you'll Google them you're gonna find out all the things Google it brother Google it who else we got up to. Google them. You're going to find out all the things. Google it, brother. Google it. Google it. Who else we got? We got Great Lakes Brewery.

They're at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee. It's funny. When I listen to Brian ask his question of you about Just Think First, I can hear in Brian's voice. I've heard his voice hundreds of times now. It's a little rough. I think he's been yelling at his Raptors a little.

I think that's what's going on. So, Brian, let me know if that's true. But I personally, I'm sad to say, I tuned out at the end of the second quarter of game two

because it was hurting me to watch. Yeah, yeah. Just they didn't bring it. Yeah, there's a measure of consistency we have to have that Kawhi can't carry by himself.

We got to do it tonight or that'll be it. Okay, who else we got? We got Palma Pasta at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Camp Tournesol is at Camp Tournesol. Everybody, it's now or never to get your kids in the French camp.

CampT.ca. Use the promo code Mike2019. Capadia LLP. Rockstar Accountants. Capadia LLP. Rockstar Accountants. Capadia LLP. See you all tomorrow when my guest is Leo Roudens. Thank you.