Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Festivus Ep: Toronto Mike'd #295

Episode Date: December 23, 2017

Mike celebrates Festivus with Elvis and they discuss a cornucopia of topics.

Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way. What happened to the doll? It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born.

A festivus for the rest of us. What up, Miami? Toronto. A Festivus for the rest of us! Welcome to episode 295 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent brewery celebrating 30 years in the craft beer business. Visit GLB at 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard for $5 beers. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca.

one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me on this snowy Festivus morning is the man known as Elvis

with a small E. Happy Festivus, Mike. You thought I was was gonna say small penis i was waiting that's why i paused i'm like where i thought he was gonna say a small p where the where the fuck is the festivus beard remember last yeah last year i was homeless i just looked at that photo today it was was homeless last year. That was crazy. Just so you know, there was a contingency plan.

There was this intervention scheduled to get you some help. Well, yeah, I can imagine. Remember, I talked about this. There was a conversation with my boss at the beginning of December asking me off the record if I was okay and if there was a need for an intervention. I'm shocked you have a boss. I thought you ran the show over there. Yeah, pretty close. No. At the unknown. Everyone has a boss, my friend, and it all goes up to Jesus on this festival of Festivus. Jesus has nothing to do with Festivus.

We remember Jesus. No? Am I mixing up my things? Well, I'm trying, I've got to keep it direct. So Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario came in and we did the Christmas Cracker. So that was Christmas. Gotcha. Then Mark Weisblot from 1236, we played Hanukkah music. Oh, very good. Did you play the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song?

No, we played a better Hanukkah song. Which one is that? Dradle? Sharon Jones. We played a better Hanukkah song. Which one is that? Dradal? Sharon Jones.

And it's like, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight days of Hanukkah. It's pretty good. I can't do that justice. It's good. Take my word for it. But this is the Festivus episode. It's like a bundle, like a package of Festivus goodness. It really is for the rest of us, Mike. Today is the day where those who don't fall into any of those other categories can just celebrate all the goodness that is Festivus.

And you really have a poll, right? You've taken it out of the cellar? Correct. There is a poll that is up in the Oshawa Elvis household. North Oshawa. And we will be doing the Feats of Strength later today. doing the Feats of Strength later today. Do you mind,

I know you're going to be airing your grievances with the family later, but could you air some grievances now? Sure, sure. Hit me with one right off the top here. I've got a big problem with a lot of you people, and I'm going to talk about that now. I know what's coming. People who, you do? No, I have no idea.

It could be anything. Honestly, it could be anything. I'm ready, though. Other than the You do? No, I have no idea. It could be anything. Honestly, it could be anything. I'm ready, though. Other than the Toronto Argos playing at BMO Field, which I have a huge problem with, I have a problem with people who feel there is no need to respond to emails. Are you fucking kidding me?

Are you asking a direct question in the email, or is it just like an FYI email? Is there a question in there? There is an action, action required. It's gotten to the point as a culture, as a society,

where we have to say action required in bold capital letters. Is this millennials? In the subject line. Because the old people reply. No, they do not. No one replies.

See, I only work with old people. It doesn't make any sense. You have to put action required in the subject line, in bold letters, in order for people to, or how about read this, please. What if you Snapchat them?

Are you fucking kidding me? I got a problem with people who don't respond to emails. No, I feel like I should be saying, you know what sucks, Elvis? Remember? Yeah. That was a long time ago. Can we refresh people? Because now there's a lot more, believe it or not, there's a lot more listeners now than

there was then. Like, we're talking to a whole new crowd who has they probably have no idea that we recorded 10 episodes of a special podcast series called your blog sucks that's right because your blog does suck and it had its own theme song and it had professional uh voiceover i don't my hard drive died i don't actually I don't have the intro handy. Oh, that was... Humble Howard Glassman. Your blog sucks.

Do we have to say all three of his names? I don't know. He celebrates Hanukkah. I don't know what he celebrates. I think he does. Does that offend Freddie P? No, I think Freddie P is just a happy atheist like us. And he's like, whatever.

He lives in an area where he tells me they celebrate, I hope I say it right, Diwali? Diwali, yeah. Diwali? So there's like fireworks and stuff. You know what else fucking pisses me off? No, go on. I want more grievances. People who put out their garbage, like our garbage day in North Oshawa is Mondays.

I hate it when I wake up and go out for a run or a walk or just, you know, I gotta go to the depot early in the morning on Sunday and people have their fucking garbage out already. Oh, early Sunday? Yes, for a Monday pickup. And then they're the ones who complain or put their hands up like,

oh, I didn't realize. They're keeners. They're keeners. I didn't realize the wind was going to blow my recycling all over the fucking neighborhood, or I didn't realize the raccoons were going to get into my green bin. That's funny. Fucking idiots. They moved us.

We don't have any. The Monday pickup is gone around here, I think, because there was too many Monday holidays, so it had to get. Oh. I think. I don't know. What do I know?

I know we're not. Well, it's privatized, too, right, up here? Yeah. So they probably don't care about What do I know? I know we're not... Well, it's privatized too, right? On Wednesday now. Up here? So they probably don't care about working on Saturday. Maybe that's it. Because if it's unionized, they would have to pay them extra, right? It is privatized. Absolutely. That does suck.

It's too early to put out your bins, but... It's dumb. You know what else? But here's the thing, because I've heard this from other neighbors. Well, I'm going away, so I want my garbage to go out. Do you not know any neighbors that you're willing to share a temporary code to your garage with to help them to get them to put it out on the lawn? I can't believe in North Oshawa you guys have not only garages, but garages with codes. Yeah.

I don't have a garage. Do you know that? No garage. Yeah, well, that's... You know, Waze... I have a shed. Waze says that this particular house is in Etobicoke. It is.

Well, technically, when you're on this side of the... It's Toronto! But when you're on this side of the... But for mailing purposes, people still use Etobicoke. The Humber River is the division. Once you're on the west side of the Humber River, you're in Etobicoke. If you have an M postal code, you're in Toronto. Okay, I do have an M.

That's the definition. I used to always say, is your mayor John Tory? And if your mayor is John Tory, you're in Toronto. That works too. That works too. Because June Rollins, okay, she just passed away. She did. She was old.

91, wasn't she? But at the time when June was the mayor, I lived in York. Okay, not York region. I was born in York. Alan Tonks, York. The great Alan Tonks, York. Okay. So you were born in Humber.

Humber. Where were you born? Humber River or something? Yeah, something like that. So I was living in York, and we didn't get to vote for the mayor of Toronto. We had to vote for the mayor of York. The mayor of York, yeah. Who was always Alan Tonks, I think. When did amalgamation happen?

It was like early 90s. 2000 or 98? It was 2000. 2000, yeah. David, so the first, no, Mel. Mel Lassman. Lassman was the first mayor. I'm going? Oh, it was 2000? 2000, yeah. 2000, okay. David, so the first, no, Mel. Mel Lastman. Lastman was the first mayor of, I'm going to go backwards. The Amalgamated Toronto.

Tory, there was the crack guy. And then before that, there was a couple of terms of Miller. Dennis Miller. And then there was a couple of terms of Mel Lastman. So I'm going to say like 98 or something. Dennis Miller beat Mel Lastman or did Mel Lastman just not run? No, no, no. Mel Lastman did not run.

That's right. And Miller won pretty handedly. One year over Jane Pitfield. This just came up recently. And he decided not to run a third time and that's when George Strombopoulos. Cheryl's favorite person ever, remember?

Yeah, George Strombopoulos lost to Dennis Miller or to Rob Ford. He lost to Rob Ford. That was the great 2010 where Rob came up with 40-something percent and won it all. But Rocco Rossi was in that one. Yeah, that's right. I met Rocco recently. Because all Italians know each other.

He's very, very tall. Is he? I would never have guessed that. He's really tall. Yeah, I felt like a dwarf. I have some grievances, too. Okay, hit me. You have more grievances, right?

I have more. I could live my life just on grievances. By the way, I have a grievance. Guys like you, will you guys shut up about the Argos can't play in our film? That's my grievance. Like, let's just move on. What's the point of griping about it? It's happening.

I'm not griping about it. You just did. It was one of your grievances. Yeah. It's not a gripe. I mean, I'm not suggesting it's going to change. Give me the dictionary. You know what? I was thinking about this on the way over because figured it we would come up as a topic of conversation yeah um i got a whole tfc it's probably different now that they're

owned by mla or uh mlsc in the sense that now really nothing's gonna change yeah nothing was gonna change now really nothing however if you want to look on the bright side, maybe MLSC will be motivated now to have another stadium for the Argos. Where would this stadium be? They always talk about Lansdowne. Is that Lansdowne? That's where the rugby team plays.

The Wolfpack plays. My son played soccer there last winter. Yeah, indoor soccer. They got promoted. Did you know? I know. I don't know how that works at all, except people seem to like that team. The Wolfpack played. My son played soccer there last winter. They got promoted. Did you know? I know. I don't know how that works at all except people seem to like that team, but that team, it's going to be tough for them to crack the top five. Maybe they're almost as popular as the Argos.

They don't even want to. I was chuckling to myself because I was listening to Primetime Sports one afternoon on the way home from somewhere, and Bob McCowan was going on about how the Argos are worth nothing. Zero dollars. Because they were actually purchased for nothing, and were also in the red pretty significantly.

Oh, yeah, because it isn't quite like apples, because you have two out of the three owners already owned it. So basically they added the third. So you're right. I could see that. But the argument is that if Rogers paid anything to opt in, basically, to the ownership, then they're super dumb. They share the debt, essentially, right? So someone else does share the debt.

Right. But they're also worth nothing because they also don't make any money. Yeah, right. But now they have the marketing department that the Leafs and the Raptors are in. Might be helpful. It can't hurt. Correct.

You're right. Remember, we haven't talked since the great Eastern Conference final or whatever I was at where... Did you know I was on TSN? Did you know this? Gee, I only saw that posted a million different times. Well, it was very exciting.

And then that was my moment. And then we won the Great Cup. Did you know that? What? Yeah. The Argos won the Great Cup. And don't worry, we're going to get to the MLS Cup. I know this is, I want to have a whole section,

but a couple more grievances. That wasn't actually one of my grievances, but I am tired of the whole, like, get off our field because they're not getting off your field. Okay. Quit your war on Christmas bullshit because there never was a war on Christmas. I'm so tired of hearing...

I don't hear about this, though, either. I feel like both sides are at fault because I never heard about a war on Christmas. The President of the United States just put out a freaking propaganda video, which is the kind of video we used to make fun of North Korea for putting out, but it's like a whole little girl saying something like,

thank you, President Trump, for letting me say Merry Christmas again or something like that. So this is definitely being pushed. Yeah, by one guy. I don't hear it on either end. I don't hear anybody saying... So there is no war. We agree, then. There's no war on Christmas. There never was a war

on Christmas, so there is no war to be over now. The war is no war. We agree then. There's no war on Christmas. There never was a war on Christmas. So there is no war to be over now. The war is not over. It's always, yeah. And to me, and my two cents on this is like, I will say, if I'm in doubt, like, I don't know, I will say happy holidays. Primarily not to be, just to be a nice guy. Like, you know, it's inclusive.

Like everything's in that bundle. Like New Year's is in there, which everyone celebrates, I guess. And then you got your Hanukkah in there. Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa, right? Kwanzaa. And there might be others. Miscellaneous.

Festivus. Festivus. So I always say happy holidays or season's greetings or whatever. Just like not to be a dick. It's not that I'm putting a war on Christmas. I pretty much exclusively say happy Festivus. You can't go wrong with. But I'm sure that's.

I'm sure you can't go wrong with Festivus because nobody really celebrates Festivus. You can't go wrong with... I'm sure that's... I'm sure you can't go wrong with Festivus because nobody really celebrates Festivus like we like to pretend we do. I fucking celebrate Festivus. It's fucking Festivus, man. I know. I'm going to see the photos later. The pizza strength. Can I make a prediction?

My little man has never won. Charlie will win this year is my prediction. I feel he's due. That's exactly what has been commented on Facebook today. Okay, that's my prediction. That he is due. One more. I have a few more grievances, but here's one.

Don't invite me. And this is a true story that happened within the last four weeks, okay? Don't invite me out to lunch to thank me for something wonderful I did for you and then not show up. Like, stand me up because you screwed up. And maybe one of the two people forgot, and the other person, because it's two people. It's a famous, a Toronto famous duo.

This is Freddie P and Howard. And one of them, when he checked his Google calendar, only checked until like 11 a.m. or something, and never looked beyond. And this was in there for 12. So somebody, me, i can admit this but i biked over to the um sureway what's that place called jack asters because they were buying me lunch at like 12 o'clock one day and i sat there like i'm sitting there at noon now it's 12 10 so now i phone f Freddie P. And I'm like, hey.

He's like, hey, my boy, what's going on? I'm like, where are you guys? And he's like, he goes, oh, fuck. He goes, was that today? And I go, yeah. So he called. So I ended up just doing a bike ride. So you didn't order anything?

No. I never even went to a table. I just stayed in the benches. Oh, I would have gone to a table. I just stayed in the benches. Oh, I would have gone to a table. No, because what if they don't show? We still got to eat. No, I'm never going to buy myself a meal at Jack Astor's alone. I will go home and make myself a meal.

I'm only there because they were taking me out. Fair enough. Don't do that. Don't invite me out to lunch and then stand me up. I have another grievance right now. Okay, go. Play the fucking Great Lakes Brewery promo already so I can open this beer. There's nothing to play.

Okay, yeah. Are we supposed to talk about? Of course, yeah. Here's a real, you want a real fucking plug for Great Lakes? Do it. And this is not fake at all in any way. I went to the beer store uh a couple of weeks after you and i last recorded which i think was probably in november was it or

i can't remember i don't know when we get to the part where i go through all the episodes all the episodes i didn't listen to um and uh i picked up 12 great lakes uh beers because i was i just really i enjoy this shit that you gave me and then I actually went and purchased my own and that's not you're not the kind of guy who would just say that this is real I can tell by looking at your eyes

so what we have here are you have a cold winter ale yeah it's a big one it's 650 mils. Right. And there's a couple of pint glasses in front of you. Yep. From David Rothstein.

What's his name? Brian. Brian Gerstein. Brian. But we're not going to drink out of those because I haven't washed those. That's the thing. They come in a box and I don't wash them.

So we don't drink out of those. But I do have some Great Lakes beer pint glasses we're going to drink from. So I will have some winter ale when you pop that open. You can drink whatever you like. I've got a Canuck Pale Ale. I've got a Pompous Ass English Ale. I've got the Saison Dup. Dup?

Dupop? What's that? Saison Dup... Dup... DuPop? What's that? Saison Dup. Oh, that's pumpkin ale. Yeah. I get it. So while you're looking at your beers from Great Lakes Brewery... Audrey Hotburn.

Which is great, by the way. I was there yesterday, so they had an open house yesterday. It was really snowy, and they had an open house. Ooh, a new one. Lake Effect IPA. I've never had that before. That's a good one. So I biked over yesterday, okay?

I biked over. So one of my grievances is the plows came out on, I took Royal York. This has got a bike lane in it. But the streets are plowed and salted and everything, but they are ignoring the actual, it's only a

painted line, but they're ignoring the bike lane. So it's really, I just, one of my grievances is like, if you're going to maintain Royal York, do the whole width. Like get us to do the bike lane too. Well, they probably don't think anyone's stupid enough to ride their bike when it's fucking snowing. It was safe. Like I had traction and I cut my speed and it was completely safe and it was

fun. That's primarily, it was fun. So yeah, I biked to the great lakes and i had this um it does play into the whole doug ford argument that bike lanes are a waste of time because and and money because no one rides them in the wintertime but you can't really ride them in the wintertime if they won't fucking plow them so it's kind of a catch-22 also um there's a difference between a day where it's actively snowing and then the days following. When it's actively snowing,

I could see somebody saying, okay, for safety reasons, I'm skipping today. Like today? Like today, yes. Like right now? Yeah, right now. Funny, I was just looking at that and thinking, while it's like this, I can't trust the traction, which is everything in a bike ride. So I'm not interested in killing myself. So I could skip a day like this, but then't trust the traction, which is everything in a bike ride. So I'm not interested in

killing myself. So I can skip a day like this, but then the following days where it's snowy but it's not actively snowing and it's been plowed and salted and everything, A-OK to bike. I've been doing it for years and it feels completely safe. A-OK. So just maintain these bike lanes if you don't mind while you're maintaining the streets.

Who am I? Oh yeah, so Mac Great Lakes Beer. And they have this, I don't even know if they still have it, but they had, it was called Grandpa's Eggnog or something. It was an eggnog-flavored beer. Oh, really? It was fantastic. It was very rich, though. It felt very...

Was there dairy in it? Was there actual eggnog in it? I don't know. I don't know. I just know it tasted eggnoggy, like an eggnog and alcoholy, beery goodness. It was really... Interesting.

Really interesting and very tasty. I'm going to see if my local beer store has that. It was very interesting. Maybe I'll stop off on the way home. It was like, yeah, it was fantastic. So I was there yesterday. So enjoy your Great Legs beer. I poured you one here, my friend.

Oh, thank you so much. Happy Festivus. Cheers. Cheers. Hold on. Let's do a little clink here. Oh, it tastes so good. You can't do this on mic,'s do a little. Oh, it tastes so good. It tastes so good when it touches your lips. Okay. My first sip.

Hold on. The winter ale I really like. We did with Retro Ontario. We were doing winter ale and it's. It's good stuff. What is the percentage of your guests that drink beer during the show? Very low. Very low.

Me. Retro Ontario. Retro Ontario for sure. He won't do the episode unless I'm constantly serving him. That's me too. Because he hops on the go. If you're in a car, it's different. I'll have one or two. You'll be careful

because you're... Although you might have to spend the night here. It is Festus. It might get crazy. It's really snowy out there. But yeah, Retro Ontario. He takes the go and as a result, he really enjoys himself. But you know who's been doing it a lot?

Mark Weisblatt's been drinking. Oh yeah? He drank during the last episode. Didn't Jeff Merrick or one of those hockey guys drink? Didn't you say? Mike Richards. Mike Richards.

He, yeah, he dove in. How's that podcast of his working out? It's still going. I'm trying not to be a dick here. Okay. I don't know numbers.

I just know that he is still actively doing it. Gotcha. to be a dick here. Okay. I don't know numbers. I just know that he is actively doing it. Gotcha. And I noticed what he does, which I don't do, but he put a lot more money into his, I noticed. So he's got a... You put $5 into a podcast. It's more money than you put into it, other than your equipment. And that's not a diss. I'm not dissing you at all.

I guess what I mean is... You're focusing on content. He's big on video. So like... Oh, is he actually... He always pushes a YouTube clip. Like, oh, watch this episode on YouTube. Oh, gotcha.

Okay. Where I'm like more of like, that's not a real... That's not a podcast. Can you imagine if there was a fucking camera in here? Jesus Christ. Well, that's it. A lot of people think there should be a camera in here, but I think it would change a lot of like...

I'd be too conscious of it. And I'd be doing one of these all the time, you know? It would be... I'd be too aware. You'd have to wear be doing one of these all the time. It would be... I'd be too aware. You'd have to wear sunglasses like Bob. Right. And lighting. Lighting would be a huge problem.

Oh, I'd have to fix that for sure. You'd have to get Stokely in here to help you out with the lighting. He's like, I'm audio. I don't do lighting. Whatever. Come on, Stokely. You can do it. I have a message for you from Brian Gerstein.

Oh, fuck. The pint glass there, by the way, which is the original design. Yes. And he'll explain this in his message, but I only have a few of those left. That's going home with you.

It's going to become a collector's item because he's upgraded these pint glasses. Really? Yeah. Like, added color. Oh, wow.

At the beginning, when I say, what did I say? Toronto real estate done right. Yes. So I just, I invented that what did I say? Toronto real estate done right. Yes. So I invented that off just to say something. I just said it. Right.

Now it's on the glass? Now it's on the glass. Fucking A. I think he's going to have to trademark that now. You should go into marketing. Oh, man. If my career in broadcasting doesn't work out, I'll consider it.

But let's hear from Brian. You listening? I'm listening. Hey, Elvis. Brian Gertstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage, wishing you a happy Festivus. Next time in, Mike will send you back to North Oshawa with one of my new and improved pint glasses currently under production. 416-873-0292 is my direct number to chat or text me about the upcoming spring market and brian at psrbrokerage.com also works. My listings always

come with a pre-sale home inspection professional floor plan photo and video shoot and tons of marketing both print and online thanks brian brian's fucking awesome you know that's the kind of shit that works for marketing man you know what i agree because i think we got to a point i think i have a predictable block of ad mentions and i think we got to a point where a lot of subscribers would fast forward five minutes or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah, sure. So it's like, that's not cool.

Come on. Come on. We need to pay attention to these guys. They've stepped up. Here's why Brian is someone that you should work with. And again, I'm not pumping anyone's fucking tires here. No, you called him Brian Gerstein for a long time. Well, I don't know. Whatever. No, Stein. Stein. You. No, you called him Brian Gerstein for a long time. Well, I don't know.

Whatever. No, Stein. You called, sorry, he is Brian Gerstein. I want to get, we should, I am convinced that, I remember hearing someone saying that Stein and Steen, the pronunciation is an American versus Canadian thing. Albert Einstein. Like process versus process.

I don't know. And people and families over generations are Stein or Steen only because of where they come from, not because of the proper way to say your name. Anyway, Brian, I mean, there's lots of real estate agents out there, right? You have your choice of pretty much anyone that you want to work with. You're one. Here's a guy. Here's a guy who has put money where his mouth is and is supporting a local community broadcast, which is amazing. In this world of going after the big fish or little independent

podcasts, there's not a lot of them that are successful. And Brian's helping to make this one successful. And so if I know, if I was in the market or I wanted to get in the market, Brian would definitely be a person I would call. Well said, Elvis. Well said. And sometimes people ask me, like, how can I support you? So here, I'm going to just quickly on this wonderful Festivus morning, here are a few things you can do if you want to support this podcast, all right? So number one is... Wonderful Festivus morning, which is so wonderful. Right?

So number one is... Wonderful pessimism already. It's so wonderful. Number one, you can become a patron. I know you love the term Patreon. You go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and you could pledge like X dollars a month, whatever you're comfortable with. You can do that.

That's the primary thing you can do. They're not fucking anyone anymore. No, they've unfucked. So that controversy is over. I did lose some patrons over the controversy. You did? Yeah. One, though, said, I still want to support you.

And then we worked out a way where she could email me money. So that person, that wonderful Dutch woman, she's in the good books. Some, though, never. They just disappeared. So the Patreon nonsense, that's been fixed. So please go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and become a patron. That's the first thing you can do. But the other things you can do are this.

If you're drinking a Great Lakes beer, you could tweet at Great Lakes beer and say, heard about you on Toronto Mike or thank you for sponsoring Toronto podcast. Toronto. What am I? Toronto Mike. Like just do that social thing to make them, Toronto Mic'd, like just do that social thing to make them aware

that like people are like listening and that it's working. So drink that GLB, tweet or Facebook or Instagram or whatever and tag GLB on it.

What the hell is he doing right now? So you can also, that's one thing you do. You can also, like if you're in the market to buy or sell in the next six months,

have a conversation with Brian and just say, hey, I got your number from Toronto Mic'd. Have a conversation. The guy's lovely to talk to. He can talk your ear off. The Raptors are kicking ass right now. They've won, I think, 10 of 11 or something.

They've been just playing lights out lately. And he can talk your ear off about that if you want. He's also a big tennis fan, but he's a big sports fan in general. He'll tell you which Expos should be in the Hall of Fame. Big Expos fan. By the way, Elliot Price is coming on the podcast very early January. I'm just going to let people know. Elliot Price is on the Fan 590 Morning Show, and he is a Montreal guy. So that's when I said Expos, I thought of him. He's coming on. The other thing you can do is you can go to paytm.ca

and you can download the Paytm app, sign up for that, and then when you make a transaction, use the promo code TorontoMike, all one word. This is something you could do to tell Paytm that their sponsorship of this program is working. So those are the things you can do. Talk to Brian, tweet at Great Lakes Beer,

use the promo code Toronto Mike on paytm.ca. And of course, become a patron at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. Done. Done. Elvis, I'm a little banged up here i had a late night last night so me and the missus spent the night at horseshoe tavern with sky diggers and their christmas show and it was beautiful pictures look good they're fantastic fantastic. This band here, Andy Mays, I mean

this voice they call it Roots Rock but it's just sweet ass music and not only I'm a little biased now because I had a wonderful chat with a man in my basement but holy shit do they put on a good show. It's tremendous. I can't say

enough about how good the Sky Diggers are but before the Sky Diggers hit the stage there was like a duo a Toronto duo called Harrow Fair and they do kind of a I don't know what to describe it kind of a roots rocky kind of a like an old country kind of

like haunting kind of cool like blues grassy thing it's really cool what they do. And I'm listening to this. This is live and I'm there in the horseshoe. I'm really close to the stage and I'm like, fuck, these guys are so good. Like they sound so good together, the man and a woman.

And afterwards, you know, before Sky Diggers hit the stage, Monica and I are discussing the band and my wife and Monica says she didn't love Miranda's voice and we're talking about it. And I'm like, holy shit, that was so great. I can't imagine having something negative to say about that. It was amazing. And she tells me this.

And tell me what you think. She concludes that I think all music I see live is great. I can see that. When I see a band live, it's a totally different experience. I would plus one to what Monica said for for sure because i have uh been like that i will add i fall in love with artists when they're interviewed by howard stern to the point where i have i have listened to this yeah i have i won't do it anymore because now i have i i've i've gotten out of the habit of buying music it was just you know like you and

I grew up as as you go out and buy music and then it translated to the digital space where I would actually buy digital music I'm not sure why I would ever have done that but I did so I actually bought a jewel album jewel I I mean she's got a great voice and stuff but I'm not a jewel fan but I listened to her interviewed and she played some music live and I'm like, oh, my God, this is the greatest fucking thing ever. And then I've never listened to it ever again. That's similar. So it's not. So I'm with Monica.

Yes, I would. If I listen to a band live, I think that they're 10 times better than they are, generally speaking, than if I were to listen to a recording. And then she challenged me to name a band I've seen live and thought they were terrible. And then she challenged me to name a band I've seen live and thought they were terrible. I really struggled with this because he's absolutely right. I'll be honest, I never heard of Harrow Fair until they hit the stage last night. That's difficult to say though because unless it's an opening act, what concert? Right, because you're purposely there to see that band.

But it's like back in the day. I remember going to concerts when I was... Oh, you know what it was? It would be like an edge fest, right? And you'd see like 10 bands that day. Or we were like back in the day when we were sponsoring a concert. When I was working at the radio station, I saw a lot of fucking shitty bands. But, you know... Did you ever see Rusty? I don't think so.

They're coming on the fucking show. The main guy, Ken, and this other guy, Scott, he's a founding member. They're coming on the show. Wow, that's cool. Yeah, I think it's, I can't believe it even though they'd probably like paint my room here

if I asked them to, you know what I mean? But I'm so fucking stoked. Come on. To me, it's like, like Rush is coming over. That's pretty awesome. That's cool.

Anyway, I have a, throughout the show, I'll be dropping names that are coming. I actually took a month. This is what I did. I got booked up for all of 2017

and I actually had this moment of like i can't do any more booking like i'm booked it's too far ahead so for about a month i never scheduled any guests like i just right it's got to stop because it's very tough to say to a guest come on and they're like okay and then they cancel can i come next week and then i say uh no but i can fit you in in like eight weeks. It's just an uncomfortable moment where you're like... I just thought of something, Mike. We play this little game at work as an icebreaker.

Name something that's not on your LinkedIn profile and I don't know why I never thought of this before. Everyone has a LinkedIn profile, right? So it's easy to come up with something in a lot of cases, but if you play it a lot, it's hard and I just thought of this. The biggest artist I ever introduced on stage

was Dee Snider. I just had this image right now of me up on stage introducing Dee Snider. Big deal. And it was Dee Snider solo. It wasn't Dee Snider as Twisted Sister, but obviously he played all the Twisted Sister songs. You had a flashback, right?

Yeah, I did. It's like a NAMM thing. But how cool is that? No, it's a big name. He's also a big man. Anyway. Yeah, I heard him on Howard Stern many times, actually. They're fighting now.

Apparently, they're on the outs. Oh, man. I can't imagine somebody having grievances of Howard Stern. They haven't talked in years apparently man um so yeah live music harrow fair they were they were great but then skydiggers come on and they're like okay this is prime time let's go holy shit holy shit by the way the crowd um i felt like these things are going too late like um the concert ended at 1 30 wow yeah and and the crowd like i'm uh right i guess i'm in the middle mostly there are a30. Wow. Yeah, and the crowd, I guess I'm in the middle.

There are a lot of people older than me and there's a lot of people my age. There's not a lot much younger than me. That's old for us, right? We're not kids anymore. We're at 1.30? 1.30, Jesus. I don't know if I could do that.

I mean, I was at Chris Rock a couple of months ago and I think he went till 11 1130 and I was like, oof, I'm tired. Oh, I have to make a point. So the lead singer of sky diggers,

well, they have a few guys who sing, but the main guy is Andy Mays and he was on this show. Listen to that episode. It's really good. But, uh, I want you right now,

Elvis, think in your head of Jamie Campbell. Do you picture Jamie Campbell? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You got his face in your head. Yeah.

Now picture in your head, Greg your head? Yeah. Now, picture in your head Greg Zahn. Yeah. Now, picture in your head if Greg Zahn and Jamie Campbell had a baby. Is that him? That's Andy Mays to a T. Really? If Greg Zahn and Jamie Campbell, who are very close, if they were to have a baby together,

that would be Andy Mays. I think I'd go back and look at a picture of him. It's unreal. You took a picture with him, right? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Yeah, go look at that picture. It is exactly that.

Of course, since we last talked, Greg Zahn was fired. Gone. Yes, he was. I can't remember the terminology they used, but bad behavior. That's not quite the terminology they used. Off the air bad behavior.

Right, right, right. He certainly had bad behavior. On the air, the terminology. Off the air bad behavior. Right, right, right. On the air, he was a dinosaur though. I always, he's like, when somebody would go in a dugout and push somebody on his team, he was always like really excited.

Like that's, that's how baseball is. You, you beat up your teammates. Yeah, you got upset when I called him your boyfriend. I don't,

you got really upset. I don't like these dinosaurs, but, so, Jamie Campbell is a guy I want to talk about really quickly to say that Jamie is coming on the show I would love to hear about the whole

he was the play-by-play guy for the Blue Jays and it was a shock when they made him the play-by-play guy because he'd never done it before and I'd love to hear about all of that and how they, and then not only did they make him the play-by play guy, but then they took him off of that and put him back in the studio and like as if it never happened, which is great for him. But a lot of times that doesn't happen. Right. A lot of times it's like once you move to think that is a perfect role for him. I think he does a really good job of in the studio,

and it'll be interesting to see who his new nemesis will be now that Greg Zong is gone. It will be interesting. And so he's coming on because he's really tight with Brad Fay, who was on the show. So Brad Fay came on the show because he's really tight with Damien Cox. Yeah, yeah. So this is how it's now working.

Oh, okay. You're getting referrals. That's how Brian Williams came on because Dave Hodge had a good time. And Dave Hodge is coming back in 2018. Yeah, yeah. So this is how it's now working. That's how... Oh, okay. You're getting referrals. That's how Brian Williams came on because Dave Hodge had a good time. And Dave Hodge is coming back in 2018. Yeah, I saw that. I saw that. He wrote me an email

because I only had his Bell Media address. So he wrote me with his Gmail address to say, I'm surprised I didn't see him at the Horseshoe last night. Apparently, that's where he hangs out. Oh, really? Yeah, he's a big...

Big time. Skydivers guy? No, he's a big Horseshoe... Or just Horseshoe guy in general? Horseshoe Tavern concert guy. But I did not see him. What's that? Isn't that placedivers guy? No, he's a big horseshoe tavern concert guy. But I did not see him. Isn't that place closing or no? No, Massey Hall is closing.

Massey Hall is closing. Yeah, but they're just getting renovated. Horseshoe is celebrating its 70th birthday. I thought I read somewhere that horseshoe is closing. No, I don't think so. At least they haven't announced that. They did just celebrate a big birthday. I think the real statics played or something.

70. I'm going to play a clip. I want you to close your eyes and listen very closely to this. Eyes are closed. And here's Victor Vasquez. Jovinko. Altidore is on site here. Josie Altidore through on goal.

It's Josie Altidore. And the deadlock is broken by Josie Altidore. The midway mark in the second half. Josie Altidore sets BMO Field alight on Toronto's biggest night. I cried like a baby, Mike.

Now, of course, you're not watching this game on TV because you're there. Here's the story. Talk to me. I had to pee like a racehorse. Real bad. So I went down to pee and I peed in a washroom that I normally don't pee at

and it worked out. It was like the gods knew. I went to the washroom underneath the stadium. So underneath the stand. So I went down, pe peed came back up the tunnel to the set to the opening to my section that is i'm on row 17 probably down by row 5 right down by the field so i can't see a lot at all from where i was when i came out of the field

i could just hear the crowd getting louder and louder like i could see the players coming forward so i'm like you know what? I'm not going to move. I'm going to stay here because clearly something is happening. They were coming towards us, towards the south end. Right. And then because I'm so low to the field and everyone is standing, at a certain point, I lose all visibility.

I can't see shit. Wow. I could just hear the crowd. And they were getting louder and louder and louder. And then eventually, boom, explosion. They win. Everyone starts jumping up and down. So you don't see it i'm by myself man like i don't know anyone around me i molested both of the security guards there i hugged them i hugged everyone and then i said i gotta get back to my seats because my buddies were there so literally i walk from row 5 up to row 17 hugging every person along the on the aisle and then i'm row

i'm seat 17 so i'm at row now i'm at seat number one and literally walk across all the chairs and hug everybody all along the way and i'm crying the entire time i'm like this is the greatest moment oh my because you're a day one guy so you're 11 years i have been in that stadium for 11 years and i've seen a lot of garbage soccer. And I've baked in the sun before they had the roof. I've been frozen. I've been rained on. And just to have that happen and have it happen by a guy who literally is playing on one leg for the most part because he had been injured.

It was just so great. But then, of course, here's what happens when you get into your head after that moment of euphoria happens. Fuck. Now we got to defend. You know, how are the now it's almost worse than tie game because now it's like shit. Now we're ahead. We've got, you know, we've got the momentum. But what are we going to do now?

We got to score another one because we don't we don't want to we don't want to fuck up now. Right. Mike, it was that stain. It was just I mean mean for the first 65 minutes it was the energy was so great and so positive you could tell that people were just on the edge of their seat though yeah and then once that goal was scored we started to sing and dance and Dance and celebrate. It was so awesome. And then, of course, the goal in the 94th minute. Just, oh, it was, I can't explain it, man. The only other thing that comes close, of course, is the Blue Jays winning in 92-93.

But I was also a lot younger then, too. And I was less invested in the sense that I wasn't a season's seed holder. It's for whatever reason, it seems different. Well, because you're literally a supporter. Literally. I'm a member of the Red Patch Boys. I've paid money, physical money, every year to be part of this team.

Mike, it is, wow. But you know what? Here's the funny part. We go to the after party. Where was the after party? Liberty Village? Where was this? I know someone who works at the MLS head office,

so I actually went to the MLS after party, which was on the exhibition grounds. We were laughing because we can't say like we would normally say in any other championship that we're the champions of the world. We're not. We can't even say we're champions of North America.

We're champions of Canada and the US, because there's a Mexican. We're champions of Canada and the U.S., which is funny. But, I mean, it was just that feeling of, like, we are the best team in this league. And no one can say anything until the end of the next year. And that was a thrilling game. So right after that game, I was going to Massey Hall anyways after that game to see the ladies. How great of a top off is that? That was a crazy day. And I'm on my bike going.

I'm going. So I'm going east on the waterfront to I'm going. I've decided I'm going to go to BMO and see what's going on. Oh, nice. Nice. So I biked to BMO. I think I missed all the excitement. Like maybe I'd moved to Liberty Village or whatever.

So my brain has no idea how like a city like Toronto reacts to an MLS Cup because it's never happened before. But I know how we reacted in 92 and 93 to the Jays winning the World Series, which is that people spilled onto Yonge Street.

Correct. So of course, Massey Hall, I'm going to Yonge Street anyway. So it's not like, you know, so I decide I'm going to go, now I'm going to go

bike Yonge Street, whatever. So there's nobody on Yonge. I think everyone would be in Liberty Village. Right. So that's the big thing. It's sort of like contained to Liberty Village, the celebration. Liberty Village would definitely have been alive, I think.

But that was a great night. Mike, it was so funny because, of course, what do I do then? I went out and bought the MLS scarf. I bought a banner for my basement. I'm buying a picture of Giovanco. Who knows if this is ever going to happen again? And it could very well happen again, but this is our

moment, man. This is... Holy fuck. I remember coming on this podcast for many years ago and you're like, so what's the outlook for TFC? We're going to make the playoffs. Dude, not only did we make the playoffs, but we fucking won the whole thing, and it's just, ah, so

great. Redemption. I kept seeing Redemption, and they put R-E-D in caps, so it's like red, because that's our color. We're the Reds. We're the Reds, right? Come on, you Reds. So, it really was exciting, because last year we got the same. It was a rematch, and last year we

lost, even though the other team never got an actual shot on net correct that's right much colder they started the game a little bit earlier this year yeah um and we got lucky with the weather it actually looked i i watched on tv and even though i knew it was cold out uh it didn't look like it's funny i didn't put my mitts on until after josie scored and that was because I think I was clapping so much that my hands then started to hurt and get cold. But it clearly wasn't as cold as last year at all. Did you go to, I'm guessing, did you go to the parade? Or what do you call it?

I did. The parade and then the rally? The victory parade, I did. So I was right out at the corner of Queen and Bay. So I saw the whole parade come by as they went to City Hall. I must have biked by you, because I was at the back of the parade, so you know how the second bus?

Gotcha, okay, yeah, yeah. So the crowd that was just behind the second bus, because I'm on a bike, so I can't go in the crowd, but I'm following the crowd along Bay Street. It was pretty awesome, wasn't it? So I probably biked right by you. It was amazing.

That would only be the third victory parade I've ever been to in the city, because I went to the two Jays victory parade. So you didn't go to the Grey Cup rally at Nathan Phillips Square? I did not go to the Grey Cup. I saw it from our office window, but no, I didn't go. You weren't even there protesting. Which is fine. I mean, it's great. Congratulations,

Argos. I mean, I'm happy for them. That's great that you won. I mean, and listen, I'm three for three in championships right now for this year. The University of Western Ontario Mustangs won the Vanier Cup, which is pretty fucking awesome, against Laval. Okay, that's good. Toronto Argonauts win the Grey Cup, and Toronto FC wins the MLS Cup. I mean, this is a big fucking awesome opportunity to be in this city from a sports perspective. The Raptors are on fire.

10 of 11. You know, the Leafs are, you know, going to make the playoffs. They're not going to win the Stanley Cup, but they're going to make the playoffs. They're an exciting team to watch, you know? We should win a round. The Jays are the...

No, the Jays are in a tough spot because I don't see us surpass... I don't see us beating the Yankees or Red Sox in AL East, which means we're fighting for the second wild card. And to be quite honest, I don't see it happening, but you never know. But we're in that spot where you could theoretically...

This has been a good five-year span, right, Mike? Yeah. Because we have the Jays in the playoffs. We have the Leafs sort of getting exciting and good and number one draft pick and making the playoffs last year. The Raptors have been good. You know, Toronto FC, the Argos certainly are. The nature of the CFLs is,

the nature of the CFL is that it's up and down and that's what makes it exciting is that you can be shitty one year and good the next, which is exactly what the Argos were. You know,

and then you've got this rugby team that's winning the championship even though that, I don't know anyone who watches it, but I'm, you know,

it would be exciting for those people. But that to me is like when the Rock won so many years in a row and it never even registered. It was like, okay,

that's nice. I was at like three of those first five championship games. It was like, okay, that's nice. I was at like three of those first five championship games. It was a lot of fun. I hear it's good. It's good to be in the city right now. It's sort of like when I see a band live and I think they're great. If I see a sporting event live, if the stats are high enough. Dude, the very

first professional lacrosse game I went to was at Maple Leaf Gardens and the Rock won. It was insane. Bananas, as they say. But Toronto FC, man, you've won my heart for life now. Not that you didn't have it before, but fuck. And before, let's talk about what happened prior to the match at the MLS Cup. So you met a couple of celebrities.

I saw a photo on Facebook of you posing with two big-time fucking celebrities, okay? I saw you. I saw you. I saw this photo and I'm like, holy shit. Elvis is there with Drew fucking Carrie and Jerry fucking Seinfeld. That's two monster names. So let's be clear to the listeners out there.

Jerry Seinfeld is my brother. He looks like Jerry Seinfeld. But yeah, Drew Carey is there. Drew Carey is a minority owner in the Seattle Sounders. And we saw my brother and I were at the pre-party, the hospitality thing. Is that in the club? Is that in the club? No, it was run by MLS in a building beside BMO on the exhibition grounds.

So fancy party, free food, free booze, just really good time. Crazy. And so we're sitting there and we see this guy walk in. And my brother's like, holy shit, that's Drew Carey. And I'm like, dude, Drew Careyy he's an amazing guest on howard stern and and i didn't see who he's with but i guarantee you he's with with some really hot attractive woman because he's talked about how he just loves to date playboy playmates so why not we so we sort of like watch him and he's walking around to grab some food and he comes over to the table beside us and he asks them if the two free seats that are at their table are where he could sit.

And they say, no, we're waiting for some friends. So I'm assuming they didn't recognize him. And so my brother pipes up and says, Drew, come on over here. I think he might've said, Mr. Kerry, come on over here. So he comes and sits down beside us and we literally have a half an hour conversation. We never, only until the very end did we acknowledge that he was actually Drew Carey. He introduced himself as Drew.

We said, hi, I'm so-and-so, I'm so-and-so, introduced his girlfriend, Amy, had a great conversation. He told us about how he rides his motorcycle to work, which is only 15 minutes away. I asked him towards the end if he was ever going to be on Howard Stern again. That was sort of the only real acknowledgement that he was a celebrity.

And then at the end, we asked him for a picture. He's a totally normal dude. Talked about how the investment in MLS is the best investment he's ever made because he's made a shit ton of money. He's not really a soccer fan, but he loves being part of it and thinks the energy is great. He loves the spectacle. He's a really fucking nice guy, man. Yeah, he's from Cleveland. He's a totally normal dude.

You know what I would ask them my first question? Which of those three theme songs was his favorite? Because remember, they started with Moon Over Paramore. I never watched the show. I watched a lot of the show. The second theme song was The Drew Carey of the show. The second theme song was called The Drew Carey Show. The Drew Carey Show.

And then the second theme song was Up in the Morning. Gotta get my job. Gotta find my way to the hustle and the hustle. It was some old 60s tune or whatever. Or 50s maybe? Anyway. And then they did the Presidents of the United States of America cover of Cleveland Rocks. So they had three different theme songs and they always had

interesting openings, but I would like to know which was his favorite. Anyway, congrats Drew Carey, big time star. He hosts, what's the game show he's hosting? Price is Right. He's great. He fucking loves that show, man. He loves the

like I said, it's a super easy commute for him. No, it's a good gig. It's got to it's a super easy commute for him. No, it's a good gig if you can get it. It's got to be a great gig. Good for him. Like they probably film all of those shows for the entire season in a matter of weeks. Yeah, it's one of those things where go change your suit because we're recording. Exactly, exactly, exactly. Like on Jeopardy, they say bring five changes of clothing because we're going to do all five episodes today.

We never ever refer, last time you were on the show, we forgot to talk about this, but we went to a game. We went to a TFC game together this year. Do you know that? Yes, we did. But we biked there. We did. That's right. We never ever talked about this. I remember forgetting to bring this up, but how was that experience? Biking from

my place to TFC? Wasn't that convenient? Yeah, it was great. And we won that match? We did. We Yeah, it was great. And we won that match? We did. We did. It was great. It was a lot of fun and worked out well. I mean, the bike you lent me did not have a light on it, so it was a little interesting biking

on the way back here, but it was good. I mean, the shitty part is that I had to bike back here and then go back home, but it would have been nice if I actually lived here. But listen, I have nothing against biking, man. Brian Kirstein could hook you up. Is Mrs. Elvis warming up to the idea of you moving back to the Big Smoke? No, not at all. I have nothing

against biking. I really don't. I just bust your balls because you talk about biking like it's a fucking religion or something. Well, no. It's like a runner. A runner who runs likes to run every day. Most people, they run every day. I can't run. I ran in 2007, and it hurts when I run.

I love that you know the year. I can't run, yeah, because I remember that was the year I was doing couch to a marathon. I bought the package from the running room. Oh, you did? So I did the 5K, the Hazel 5K, actually. And then I did the Whitby 5000. Canada's mayor, right? And then I did the Oasis Zoo run, a 10K run at the zoo.

Yeah, yeah. And I was doing, I remember the day vividly. It was a cold November day, and I was doing a 19K run because I was training for the Around the Bay thing. Yeah, yeah. Is that a half marathon? Around the Bay is 30 kilometers. Okay, so I'm training for that because that's my next one

because I'm working my way to a marathon. Yeah. And I seized up 19K mark. I got this pain. I'm pointing to it. No one can see, but I got a pain where I can no longer even bend my leg. I can't even do a run.

So I actually limped to the car. It was a very, I couldn't run, and I rested for a couple of weeks, and then I went for a 5K, and I couldn't get through like 3K of it. I went to see a sports doctor, blah, blah, blah. Let's just say that I never could fix this. I did ART therapy at the Boulevard Club.

I did all this stuff to try to fix it. I never could do it. So then I started swimming and then I started biking because those two things I can do. Yeah, you used to swim all the time. Because I had a pool in my apartment. Yeah, when you lived in that apartment. Between marriages, I had a cool swinging bachelor.

Yeah, we used to record there. Yes, you're right. I loved that freaking arrangement with the pool. That was great where, yes, you're right. I loved that freaking arrangement with the pool. That was great. But now, you're right, I bike a lot. But I just wondered how you,

that was your first time on a bike in a long time. Yeah, what? How long did I say it was? Probably 20 years or something. That's amazing. It was a lot of fun. It was good.

Listen to this clip. You know I don't own a bike? Yeah, you mentioned that. Clearly you don't because you haven't biked in 20 years of your own one. Well, I mean, I need to buy a bike so I can bike with my kids.

That's the thing. Because my oldest now can bike without training wheels. My middle will do that this year. And then obviously the younger... How old is the youngest, Charlie? Three. We'll leave him on the side of the road. Do you know I have a three-year-old?

Yeah. Three-year-olds are nuts about Santa. This is a big year for you. Are all three believers? Yes. That's huge. Huge. I never had this.

Yes. I never had three believers in the house at one time. You know what else is huge that they believe in is Elf on the Shelf. Yeah, my daughter went through that. Massive. Massive. They literally wake up every morning and the first thing they say is, where's Elfie? That's amazing.

Even before they pee or anything. That's amazing. It's crazy. See, this is just a quick religion thing. Kids will believe anything. Yeah. You pound home religion to these kids, they haven't. The problem is when you get old people who believe in it and then start up television shows and start selling fake food.

Oh, there's money in it. Yeah. Listen to this clip. Are you listening? No. He is in for number 15, Vince Carter. For fuck's sakes, really?

So this is Vince leaving the court the other day. His final, probably, he hasn't announced his retirement, but probably his final game at the Eric Carter Center. More surprising than the ovation for me is the fact that Vince Carter is still playing basketball.

Yeah, he's like 40. And I'm not trying to be an asshole. He's like 40, right? Yeah, good for him. So, all I'm... I won't go too long on this except to say that I was like you for a long time. Fucking he quit on us. He stopped playing above the rim. We got a shitty deal because apparently he was even yelling out us. He stopped playing above the rim. We got a shitty deal because he,

apparently he was even like, uh, yelling out plays. Like he was doing such traitorous things. Quit on the team. Like no excuse for that. You don't quit on the team because you want to trade or whatever. So he left horribly. And for years I booed him every time he came to the ACC. And I'm like, Vince, fucking Vince. I was rooting for him to get injured. I did not like Vince Carter. He betrayed us. But then I had this moment where I saw him live a couple years ago. Again, here's a scene live. Right, right, right. And I found myself cheering for him. And ever since that moment, I realized I had forgiven Vince. Time heals all wounds. I'd forgiven him. And now I'm at a point where I would be a hundred percent fine if we wanted to retire number 15. Okay. That's how far I've come.

I went from booing him every time he played, played against the Raptors to retiring, being, wanting to retire his number. Okay. This is the forgiveness I have in my heart. Could you ever, I can, I already know the answer. I'm going to ask it anyways. Could you ever forgive Vince Carter? So I think you're almost as big of an asshole as he is right now based on this bullshit that's coming out of your mouth. Absolutely not. Fuck you, Vince Carter. Fuck you and everything that you've done.

Talk about airing of grievances. You're a bad person. You're an asshole. I hope you twist your ankle in your very last game. I hope your end to your basketball career is worse than the end of the legendary Doug Gilmore's career. I just hope all

bad things to you. Fuck you and your mom. Yeah, fuck your mom, too. And your fucking degree from North Carolina. Yeah, fuck you and going to walk down the stage to get your goddamn diploma. They couldn't have fucking moved that for you. Of course they could have.

He would have hit that three against the 76ers if he wasn't tired. Exactly. Exactly. The jet lag from that flight kicked in right in on that plane. Oh, I'm with you. I don't know how we flew him to his fucking graduation. And so here's the big asterisk for before everyone starts going crazy on your stupid blog about how I'm an asshole and can't let it go. No, there's a lot of people in your camp.

And how I can't let it go. You're not alone. You know what? If he retires at the end of the season, what is the end? The end of the season is May, May, June. Yeah, yeah. That'll be 2018. Let me do some quick math here.

Yeah. Talk to me in June of 2023. At that point in time, then we can start talking about reconciliation. He's a lock. Five years after his retirement, that's when I'll talk to you about reconciling. But until then, fuck you, Vince Carter.

Fuck you. I thought so. You know what? As I get older, I'm so much less judgmental and more forgiving like I'm ready to

I thought so it was great and you know what your fuck you Vince Carter rant is perfect over this Vince Giraldi

trio jam right here it's Festivus with the rest of us talk about an airing agreement but he's a polarizing figure

you've got two camps now. He put us on the map, and he was our franchise player for many, many years, and that outweighs the way he departed. You've got that camp. That's where I'm at now, but I had to get there. It took a long time for me to get there. And then you have the guys like you who are like, when you quit on a team, it's like this is a line that you've crossed

where I cannot forgive you. Hitler put Germany on the map and we don't celebrate him, so fuck you, Vince Carter. Kaiser Wilhelm put Germany on the map. Come on. What is that argument where everything goes back to Hitler? Godwin's Law. That's it, yeah. Fuck you, Godwin. There's a new thing now

because, of course, the symbol that is the swastika was a symbol of peace before the Nazis co-opted it. Yeah, things change, people. This is so ridiculous. People are like, 3,000 years ago, the Incas said that it was a sign of... Guys. Nazis are popular again. Something happened.

A really bad thing happened like 80 years ago. Fuck you with the swastika. Who are you more likely to forgive? Vince Carter or Adolf Hitler? Vince Carter. Vince Carter. But it's close. No, Vince Carter never killed anyone.

No, we're joking. There is no genocide with Vince Carter. He crushed our hopes and dreams and broke our hearts, but he didn't fucking kill anyone. So I've forgiven Vince. You have not. Fuck you, Vince Carter. For the record. And your mom.

So this is episode, what is this, 295? I can't wait for him to get here. You know we haven't actually started this episode yet. You can play this back when he comes on your podcast. You think he'd come on? Yeah, what else is he going to fucking do when he's done playing basketball? So I can go play clips of

Half Man, Half Amazing? I think his punishment I do not believe in karma. I don't believe in karma at all. But if you believed in karma, you would say what he's getting is he's going to retire without a championship win. Good. Do we know how much he makes? I don't know. I'm looking it up right now.

$5 million. I don't know. He probably makes a token come-off-the-bench veteran presence fee of $5 million a year. I don't know. Can you imagine? Fuck. That's where they're at now for those kind of... 4.2...

See, I'm close. Last year, 4.264 million. How close am I with that guess? Because, yeah, he's a veteran presence off the bench. Tracy McGrady makes 1.352. Isn't Barry Bonilla still making money? You know Barry Bonilla? Remember when he played with

Barry Bonds on the Pirates for a long time? Do you remember Barry Bonilla? Major League Baseball star? Tracy McGrady doesn't play anymore, by the way. But that was his last year of salary. So, just real quick, Barry Bonilla had a huge contract with the Mets, I think, and he had a deal with them where they could

pay him for the next, I don't know what it was, something like 20 years or some huge number of years. Bonilla, are you talking about? Barry Bonilla? Yeah. Okay. What am I saying? Bonilla. Sometimes I do that because I read a name in my head

and I do this a lot. I will read it like phonetically based on how I see it. The two Barry's in Pittsburgh, right? I couldn't say Moses Zamer.

Yeah. Can you say Moses' last name for me? Zimer. I struggle with that one too and I've heard it a hundred times. And you also struggle with brewery.

I'm better at that now. I have mastered brewery. I've mastered it. So okay, Barry. also struggle with brewery. I better I didn't know. I have mastered brewery. I've mastered it. So, okay, Barry. I don't even know how you properly say that, but it sounds funny when you say it. It's like rural jerk. Brewery. So, on the Barry Bonilla.

Bonilla. Real quick to wrap that up is he still, every year, he still gets paid by the New York Mets. And he hasn't played in a hundred years. Really? This is very festive. I feel I love this. I'm tweaking my nipples right now. I want to ask you

about my 300th episode really quickly. So this is like... Yeah, who should be on it? Well, what should it be? Like I've been collecting... Oh, this is a call to action for everyone who's still listening.

Is this a bold letters in an email subject line? Yeah. Call to action if you're hearing my voice right now. Take your smartphone and record a, you know, make it about 30 seconds or whatever, where you basically tell us like, hey, I'm Bob from Liberty Village. And tell us what you like about Toronto Mic'd and maybe your favorite episode.

I'm collecting these clips. I only have one female so far, so I need more female voices. This says a lot about your demo. I know. All these dudes. Does Cheryl do one? No. I don't even think Cheryl listens. I don't think she listens. She's not a listener.

She's an open mic reader. Haven't you done the call to action on your blog or no? Yeah, but the whole smartphone thing is going to scare her. She's a little bit of it. And I'm very gentle with Cheryl. I don't like her to think there's any obligation anywhere because she gets stressed. She gets anxiety. I think you should also have

a crowdfunding campaign to get her the money that she needs to come here. Because remember, she would only come on the podcast if you paid her. Don't even joke about that, though. I'm willing to give up a portion of my salary for her to be here. I get paid a lot of money to be

here. Winter ale. Well, Jarvis did draw a picture of you today. You're going to take that home. That was fucking good. I wasn't going to bring that home yet. I see how he draws things. He draws the face and then he draws legs and then he puts hair on the top and then that's it. It's legs right from the... Just so that you guys can imagine. Imagine the face like

a round circle, but the legs come right from the head. There is no torso or arm. It's just legs from the head. The hair he draws looks like antennas. It always ends up looking like aliens. Like a bug. So I'm looking for ideas for the 30th episode. It could be a first.

I'm also looking for ideas for the 30th episode. Go back and re-record it with Rosie. You could be like the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl always jokes that he wants to re-record the first album with everyone in the band now. Because he did it all himself. And that's why a lot of people left.

But the band is like, guys, dude, the album is the album. It's fine. How come you got pissed at me one day? So one day you wrote a very nice little thing on Facebook about cancer-free for X years. What year are you at for cancer-freeness? Actually,

the anniversary is tomorrow. 2009. I don't even know anymore. I don't like thinking about it anymore. Okay, so you are cancer-free for a number of years, but you wrote something on Facebook. Now, I know you pretty well now for well over a decade since you

hooked me up in my porno job. So tell me. Yeah, that's right. Tell me. We've never talked about it, but one day we should talk a little bit about it because it's quite a fascinating story. It was. It was a good story. But we've never touched it yet.

Yeah. Moving on. So you are a ball buster. Like you bust balls. Yeah, I do enjoy busting balls. Big time bust balls. Yeah. Like all the time.

So you wrote this thing on Facebook and I commented on it. Like everyone's like, congrats. I almost used your real name, which you used on your last episode, by the way. I did. I did. Congrats, Elvis. Great news, Elvis. Like a lot of love coming your way from your hundreds and hundreds of Facebook friends.

I don't know how you have so many Facebook friends. I have like 50. Anyway, I wrote the comment. This is my comment. Thank God it was the good cancer. That's what I wrote. So I laughed out loud when I typed this out and I laughed out loud because two things.

One is, thank God, like when I say thank God to you, it makes me laugh, right? And it was the good cancer. It's kind of funny because you hate this terminology. There is no good cancer. It's kind of funny because you hate this terminology. There is no good cancer. But, of course, if I'm going to get a cancer tomorrow, I don't want, you know,

please don't get me a bad cancer. Give me the Elvis cancer. That's what I say. Now, you deleted the comment and you wrote something to me privately, something like that's not funny or something. So why is it that you can bust balls like it's your job, and then that comment, thank God it was a good kid, which you have to admit, it's a funny comment.

No, that's why I deleted it. You know I hate that. It's funny from me. That's a funny comment. No, I hate that. Why did you have to delete that in retreat? That was gone too far. Why can you dish it out, but you can't take it?

I can take it for everything, on anything, except for that. It's something I'm very sensitive of. I'm working on myself, trying to be a better person, and I'm recognizing that, fuck you, you're such a dick. Fuck. Yeah, it's

one thing that I don't... So that's out of bounds. It's just hands off. It's out of bounds. Don't joke about the cancer. I'm working on myself. I'm realizing that a lot of shit has come from that in my life that I'm trying to work on and work through. Still, after all these years, almost a decade at this point in time. So you deleted my hilarious comment. Yeah, I don't like it. But you admit, though, your friends do that to each other. They bust each other's balls like that.

We bust each other's balls all the time. There should be nothing out of bounds. Just don't ever say I had the good cancer. Otherwise, I'll get very angry. Thank God it was the good cancer. Fuck you, man! It's not funny. We'll move on.

I'm glad you're cancer free. You're like Fred Norris now. I'm going to tell you the episodes that have been recorded since your last appearance, and you're going to tell me A, did you listen, and B, will you listen. And we're kicking out the jams too today, right? Yeah. We're going to start this episode any minute now. It's going to be like a three fucking hour episode.

It's Festivus. And you're Snowden anyways. Sarah Boesveld. No. She writes for Chatelaine magazine. Will you be listening? Nope. She kicks out the jams. I'm sure it was great. Brad Fay from Sportsnet.

You see his beautiful face on Raptor Games, etc. No. I'm sure it was great. He kicked out the jams, too. Blake Carter, who is the morning show host at The Move 93.5, and she's an up-and-comer in the industry. Will you be listening to Blake Carter? No.

0 for 3. Paul Romanuk. Listened. Loved it. See, when listening to Blake Carter? No. 0 for 3. Paul Romanuk. Listened. Loved it. See, when you listen, you love it. So don't you think if you listen to more, you'd love more? Yeah. I think everyone out there should listen to your podcast. Much like when you hear a musician on Howard Stern, like Jewel, you need to collect Jewel stuff. Paul Romanuk was

excellent. And I would like to thank Paul for the shout out, too. That was great. Remind me, he shouted you out? He did. You talked about how you have a friend, you had two friends or something like that, that think he's great, and he said, hello, Elvis.

It was great. He's a polarizing figure. I enjoyed it. He's a polarizing figure, really? Some people hate him calling the regional Leaf games, because he does a regional, Roger Sportsnet regional Leaf games are polarizing. If you are our age,

so we're in our early 40s. If you are our age, Gordon Miller and Paul Romanuk dominated our childhood. They don't hate Gordon. Hold on. Okay, sorry. They dominated our childhood when we would listen to the, or watch the World Junior Championships. It is over. And yeah, I mean, like, how could you not like Gordon Miller and Paul Romanuk?

I get that you're saying that Gordon Miller is not polarizing, but both of those guys to me are in the same camp. And Gordon Miller with the curling. Curling was just massive at a certain point in my life. Where you'd watch the Breyer and the Scott Turner. Was it Vic Crowder? Maybe it was Vic Crowder. Make the final. Okay, I am a fan of Paul Romanuk

and I love our chat. I'm just telling you he's a polarizing figure. It was a really, really good episode. But so was Paul Healy. Who am I thinking? Glenn Healy.

Paul Healy. Who's that? Glenn Healy was a very polarizing figure before they fired him from the Hockey Night in Canada gig and I always thought

he was great. Where is he now? Nowhere. Like he's like, maybe he's working for NHL or something. I like Glenn Healy. Oh, no.

Isn't Glenn Healy the NHLPA president? Maybe. Maybe. I know he's no longer on Hawkeye. Yeah, Glenn Healy is the NHLPA president. Romy was good. You listen. I'm glad you listened.

Stephen Stanley. Okay. He kicked out the jams. John Gallagher. No, but it's, I have it on my phone. I want to listen. Because apparently, like, it's juicy, right? Well, he's always interesting.

And after 90 minutes of him balls to the wall, frenetic, like sex, drugs, and rock and roll, I decide to turn the tables here. And I say, let's talk about your father. Oh, boy. Isn't this a great... Did you have multiple crying episodes after we cried for Gerard? Yeah, there was a lot of crying because we're going to get to it, but in fact, after

the next episode I'm going to speak to you about, there was crying. David Schultz. Yeah, I listened. Did you listen? I listened. So I didn't listen to the whole thing, probably 25% of it. I didn't cry. His last jam. I didn't cry, but it was, you know. Well, you're not an empathetic

man. Dude, I fucking cry all the time. How did you not cry? I cry to the point where I probably should be on medication because I cry so much. You're right. You cry when. I cry a lot. All the time. I feel the feels, as they say.

I feel all the feels. Can I try? Well, let's pause and let me try to make you cry here. Oh, fuck. Okay? Let's see if this does it. I almost cried when you replayed the fucking TFC shit. Well, that's see if this does it. I almost cried when you replayed the fucking TFC shit. Well, that's cry-worthy, but...

I think this song, at this point, could make you cry, I'm hoping. But I don't know how anyone could listen to David Schultz kick out his last jam and explain why without some moisture developing in the eyes. No moisture was developing in my eyes. Other places, perhaps, but not my eyes. You didn't think of Charlie? You didn't have a moment for you?

Oh, man. Fuck you. This is my favorite Christmas song. It was last Christmas. This is my favorite Christmas song. The meaning of this song. Second favorite song. Right now.

Second? Do you know this song appears on many internet websites as amongst the worst Christmas songs? Alongside the Paul McCartney Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time, which is a terrible Christmas song. This does not belong in that.

I listened to this song in July and it puts a smile on my face and I fucking hate Christmas. But imagine listening to the song now on Festivus when last Christmas his heart literally exploded and he died. Okay?

It'll never... The resonance of these lyrics will never be this impactful. Last Christmas I gave you my heart. Last Christmas he gave us his heart. His very next day.

He died for our sins. Took it away. To me, he's the reason for the season. So great. This is such a great song. He died for our sins. Took it away. To me, he's the reason for the season. So great. This is such a great song. It is a great song.

I don't know why people don't like this song. You know what? And the other guy in Wham. Andy, Andrew, doesn't get any credit for this.

People think this is a George Michael song. It's not. It's a Wham song. It's not Andrew Tyler. What's his name? Andrew Taylor? Andrew Tyler?

Give me a second. Andrew Ridgely. Andrew Ridgely. You don't need that Google machine. I don't know Wham very well. Andrew Ridgely. Oh, Make It Big was a cassette. I bought a Make It Big on cassette and played the fuck out of it. I love that

Wham. Andrew Ridgely. I love that Wham has their band name or the group name has an exclamation point in it it's great sort of like pink yes yes except for they were around in the 80s started in 1981 right very cool all right great song mike david schultz so great i and if anyone listening to this right now has not listened to the last 10 minutes of the David Schultz episode, just pause this and go do it. You know what?

Good for him for being vulnerable. It's the first time he did that in public. It's the first time he, I felt like almost like he, it was, you know, the roughest week of the year. Do we know why his son passed away? I do, but I don't want to put it out there. I'll tell you later. It's not my place to reveal these things. Aaron Bronstetter.

You know what? You're getting a lot of really new broadcasters. He's a behind-the-scenes guy. He schedules guests on TSN shows. That I don't know about, which is great. I think it's awesome. But they kick out the jams. Yeah, it's great. You get to know them and then they're jams. Yeah, it's good. Alexandra Beaton. Nope.

Ed Keenan. I'm sure all these people are great. I did a lot of jam kicking in a row. This is not an indictment of any of these people. Like, fuck Vince Carter, but not these people. Ed Keenan. No. Oh, his jams were great, buddy. I can imagine. Steve Simmons kicked out the jam.

I want to listen to that. Do it. I humanize the beast. I don't like Steve Simmons at all. Can I tell you? Here's what I read. This is going to sound a little arrogant. Maybe it is. I think I'm good at humanizing the beast.

You are. Send me your beasts. I will humanize them. You are. Yeah, because you, like, Wilner. Holy moly. Turn the fucking tide on that guy. Cox.

You got him to cry? Oh, Cox. That's right. He's coming up. No, he was before your last episode? Okay, he's not on this list. But yeah, Cox. I humanized Cox. I'm not sure I was able to humanize Marty York. He was too tough a nut to crack. That's right.

But I did humanize Damien Cox, Mike Wilner. I humanized Steve Simmons, as you said. I'm humanizing beasts left, right, and center. Andy Mays from Sky Diggers came over. What an episode. You need to listen. Andy Mays from Skydiggers came over. What an episode.

You need to listen to Andy Mays from Skydiggers. Why don't you sing it? I fucking love this song. Anyway, no, I didn't listen, but I will because I like Skydiggers. Jill Deacon. No. What a great episode. Was it?

She's just stuff you wouldn't know about Jill. She hosts Here and Now on CBC Radio 1, the drive-home show on the Toronto CBC radio station. She's great. She's great. Andy Frost is here. Yeah, it's on my phone. I downloaded it.

Not getting any reviews. It's not. Which I'm not used to. Was he open? Was it him or you? No, it's never me, Elvis. Sometimes if a person comes on and they're not willing to take risks

and provide the true, real talk, it can be tough. You're like Howard Stern. He, Andy Frost, I thought it was a fun episode. It's pretty good. We touch on everything. We talk about his son being drafted in the first round.

We talk about everything. You talk about getting fired? drafted in the first round. We talk about everything. Do you talk about getting fired? Of course. From being the announcer? Of course. Of course. Of course. That's huge.

We talk about everything. But he has been at Q107 since the mid-80s, and he's still there. I heard his voice last night. I was driving to the Horseshoe Tavern, and he was doing some Q stuff. He doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds and you know it. So when you say, oh, hey, let's talk about Joanne Wilde or this or John Derringer, that he's

safe. He's got to be vulnerable. He's an old guy on the radio. I mean, like there's not a lot of those jobs, right? And he's not the revenue generating spots on radio are like from the during the the, during the day, during weekdays.

And Andy Frost is not on during weekdays. Yeah. And you know what? He's also not the Roger Lajoie of the world, of which there's only really one Roger. There's only one Roger. He's a pay as you go resource. Roger's an older guy, but you could get him to talk about anything on the radio and it sounds good.

Not that Andy couldn't, but I feel like Andy doesn't have the depth of knowledge that Roger does. A lot of people did like the Andy Frost. First of all, he's a familiar voice, and he answered all my questions. He was great. He's a guy who said,

can I kick out the jams? And I said, no. Right. So bring him back, right? Yes, he's coming back to kick out the jams. He's a legend, man. I think it was great, but some people just,

I think the bar, I talked to Mark Weisblatt about this. I think the bar is too high. We now expect people to come on and be like old Kevin Frankish or Ann Roszkowski or whatever. Sometimes people want to work in the industry. Meredith Shaw was surprisingly fun. What a great person. Awesome.

What a great personality. She's a singer, she's a model, and she's on Show FM. Oh, is that that young woman? She's younger than us. She's that young woman I asked you about? No, that's Alexandra Beaton. Right, okay. Who is Kate Wheeler's daughter.

Right, yes. And she's the one I needed to card her before I gave her the beer. Yeah, I saw the picture with her and I was like, who is this woman that is... How old do you think she is? Well, I think I told you. I thought I was like, who is this woman that is... How old do you think she is? Well, I think I told you. I thought she was like late teens or something like that. Right, so did I.

She's like 23 or something like that? She's like 23. It was nothing other than, why is someone so young coming on the podcast? Oh, yeah, yeah. She kicked out the jams. I needed a younger jam picker. I wanted to know who this person was. Like, is this like a pop star?

Is this an actress that I don't know about? I just was a very different type of person. It wasn't my go-to middle-aged sports media personality. Jaded broadcaster. Right, right. My daughter watches the show that Alexandra Beaton stars on. Cool. It's a dance mockumentary.

Did you get an autograph for her or something? No. Oh, nice. But I took a picture with her. Way to go, Dad. Retro Ontario Christmas Crackers Volume 1. No, but I recommend everyone listen to it, and I also want to ask you,

why is it a Volume 1? He named it. I took the name he wanted for it. Next Christmas will be Volume 2. He brings it. So is this Festivus Volume 4? Yes. He brings it. So this is Festivus volume four? Yes.

Whatever it is. This is Festivus volume five or something. I don't remember the years. Listen to the Retro Ontario Christmas Crackers volume one. There's really nothing else like it. And Mark Weisblot told me

that it is his favorite episode of Toronto Mic'd ever. Oh, wow. And he listens to every episode at triple speed. Cool. Please listen. And then, of course,

the most recent episode prior to this one was 1236. He comes in every quarter. Do you listen? I know you subscribe to the newsletter. You don't listen to his episodes. You're missing out. Correct.

I read his newsletter. We talk about what will Frank D'Angelo do now? Oh, I was just thinking about him. Because he was financed by Barry Sherman. Oh, really? No, I did not know that. No, I did not. Since the steelback brewery days, Barry Sherman has Oh, really? No, I did not know that. Since the Steelback Brewery days,

Barry Sherman has been financing. So he bankrolls these movies that Frank sticks out all the time. I want to see these movies. I want to go to a movie fest or something. See, I don't even want to see the movies. I can already imagine. Has anyone left the podcast to go pee?

Yeah, do you want to go pee? Go pee. I'm going to pee. Go pee. I am fascinated with Frank D'Angelo. I want to meet him. Go take a leak. I want to see all his movies There's a lot of movies you've got to catch up

I'm going to play my favorite Christmas song of all time I'm too lazy to edit everybody because that's like a whole different level of work here This has been my favorite Christmas song

for decades now. I like it because it doesn't have the saccharine of all these Christmas songs. I happen to like sadder, more realistic Christmas songs, be it like Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

or... I like the melancholy, sad songs but as ed keenan points out this song starts out rough a guy and a girl like they're bad times but the last verse of this song is so hopeful and i don't know if this is going to work but when i compare it to bojack horseman so stick with me here i've been watchingJack Horseman. I watched all four seasons and I'm now watching them again. I like that show so much. But there is an episode where BoJack is running and it's going uphill. And he ends up on his back because it's so fucking hard.

And the baboon comes to him and says something like, it gets easier, but you have to do it every day. That's the hard part. But it gets easier, but you have to do it every day. That's the hard part, but it gets easier. And that fucking statement is stuck in my head. It gets easier, but you have to do it every day.

That's the hard part. What is this? Back from his urination. This is Canada What's your favorite Christmas song of all time? We're going to play it? Okay, no spoiler Let me start this episode okay

So I We'll bring this down So let's start So We're going to be kicking out the jams in a minute, but we're going to play our favorite songs from the six musicians. Many great musicians passed away, sadly, in 2017, but we've come up with the big six.

I don't want any arguments. Maybe you have a different big six, but we have come up with. This is the big six. I don't think anyone can argue with these guys. What a great song. This is a great fucking Christmas album. This is Canada. What's Canada about it?

It's just Canada. It's not at all Canada. No one's playing this in the United States. This is an Irish band. I know, but it's Canada. Are you sure? The Pope? No, not...

It just has this Canadian-esque feel. Or a... Like East Coast. Obviously. The video has like a New York thing. Oh, it's a fairy tale

of New York, so you'd think it'd be like a Northeast USA thing. Okay. Great fucking track. I don't even want to turn it down. I'm so excited for this.

Before we kick out these jams, though... Oh, for fuck's sake. Okay, well, I... We gotta play Nat? No, I'm not even want to turn it down. I'm so excited for this. Before we kick out these jams, though. Oh, for fuck's sake. You know why? We gotta play Nat? No, I'm not gonna play Nat. Come on. I'm gonna play a gentleman here

because he came up in a recent episode. Came up in a couple of recent episodes. So I'm gonna play a few songs. So this is an artist that... I went through a phase maybe 10, 15 years ago. I don't know. I went through a phase where I was digging these

big band swing versions of rock songs I like. Swing. I've been looking for that word. Swing. It's all about that swing. Say your prayers, little one. Don't forget my son. To include everyone.

I tuck you in, warm within Keep you free from sin Till the Sandman he comes Sleep with one eye open Drip in your pillow Great music for your party. I'm sipping on this winter ale, and this is perfect music for it.

Holy smokes. It suits it nicely. So this, of course, is Enter Sandman. But this version is by Richard Cheese, okay? Richard Cheese? Yeah. So you can shorten it to Dick Cheese. Isn't that clever? I'm just going to play a few more here. This is

one I really like. And you can tell me when you know the tune. How's that for a game? Long intro, I apologize wake up grab a brush and put on a little makeup hide the scars and fade away that shake up why'd you leave the keys upon the table you wanted to

why'd you leave the keys upon the table you wanted to why did you leave the keys upon the table? You wanted to. Why did you leave the keys upon the table? You said you wanted to. I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide. Wow. I cry when angels deserve to die. Isn't this wonderful?

You know what this is? This is hilarious. System of a Down, Chop Suey. Do you think for the life of me I could come up with that name, Chop Suey? I knew it was from Toxicity. Chop Suey. Fantastic, right? That's good. I don't know. I probably won't listen to it

after today, but yeah. It's good. It's novelty stuff. It'd be like Dr. Demento or whatever. I don't know i probably won't listen to it after today but yeah it's novelty stuff it'd be like dr demento or whatever i don't know if he's still kicking but i know he's alive but fucking i love dr demento as a kid just playing a few more here then we're gonna kick out the jam i think you'll get this right away because he'll say the name of the title oh shit I think you'll get this right away because he'll say the name of the title. Oh, shit. Why? Get up. Come on.

Get down with the sickness. Get up. Come on. And I have dozens of these. Dozens. Oh, good. Great. But I'm only going to play a few more.

Maybe a couple more. Down with the sickness. I would pay money to have Frank D'Angelo in here. I don't think he's coming on. I love Frank D'Angelo. So tell me what you love about him. It's just, it's, it's, it's, I, I, he's, I can't explain it. It's just like one of those, it's like a car wreck.

You know, you just can't, I'm fascinated. It's like Tommy Wiseau. I'm just, I'm fascinated with these people. Tommy's got charm. I, I wouldn't go that far. Oh, hi, Mark. Have you seen The Room? No, I, I've never seen The Room,

but I know that quote's from that, and I saw you put on a face bug. I saw The Disaster Artist. Oh, about that. And I've read the book The Disaster Artist for three quarters of the way through, and I've seen The Room, and I can't get enough of how...

I can't get enough of all of it. And Frank D'Angelo is another guy. I wish I had Roger's cable only because then I could watch

all of his movies on demand. Which I can't. There's nowhere for me to watch them anywhere. But you're hoping they're so bad they're good. No, no.

They're bad and I just want to see how bad they are. James Caan is in these movies, man. Like, legends are in these movies. Oh, I know, I know. A lot of big names.

Paul Servino, a lot of guys like that. Doris Roberts came up and did one. They get an envelope of cash. But now, you know, but now, isn't it interesting, though? Now we know where the cash was coming from. And what was the motivation from Barry Sherman? Was it a tax write-off? I don't know that part, except that according to the articles I've read,

they're older articles, but Barry saw something in, like liked Frank's gusto. Is that the term we're talking about? He's kind of passionate. I love that he promotes his show as the highest rated television show. Oh, his infomercial? Because he pays CHCH to broadcast. Yeah, it's the highest rated show on TV at that time.

It's 1 o'clock in the morning on Saturdays or something like that. I still think the West Coast Hockey Night in Canada game is outdrawing Frank Angelo. He says it's the highest rated. Oh, he said a lot of things. But what will happen now? Frank lost hisAngelo. He says it's the highest rating. Oh, he said a lot of things. But what will happen now? Frank lost his biggest supporter, the multi-billionaire. And that's a fascinating case. And I don't know what happened, but it's one of those,

it's a discussion when the family gets together at this time of year, discussing like, there's three options, right? It's either they had a suicide pact and they decided to commit suicide together. Yep. Which seems unlikely to me, but what do I know? Or it's murder-suicide. Correct. Or it's double homicide. Correct. We've got the three options,

but I don't, I don't, what, like, I don't know. It's almost like a... I've heard, I've heard through somewhat of a credible resource. Maybe I shouldn't say this. I'm not. I'm not going to say what I heard. You have to now. Just say allegedly. Use the word allegedly.

Allegedly they were found hanging beside one another. Everyone knows this. Oh, really? I've never seen anything. It's in the Sun Road article. I don't read the Sun Road article. But then I read it. Did you know that if I see a link

that goes to National Post or Toronto Sun, I don't click on it? You know why? Because you don't like Post Media. Nope. I'm happy with it. It's fine. I don't like their owner is a dick.

That French fuck who wants to separate. I won't support any of his stuff. Okay, but the Toronto Star has now gone in print to say yes. They were held by the swimming pool. So they were hanging by the swimming pool. So, I've even seen... I haven't seen. So, they were hanging by the swimming pool. Okay. Yes. All right.

So, it's... Because they're multi-billionaires and because of the nature of this death, they were planning that they were going to Florida and, you know, she... What's her name? Honey. Very, like, lots of emails from Honey up until the death about, like, making plans in Florida. Who's Honey? Honey is the wife.

Yeah. So, she was the... She was engaged with a lot of like charities. She was a very social person where Barry seems more like a workaholic guy. Like everything I read about Barry is he was like singularly focused on apotex and like his job or whatever. But the whole thing, like murder, suicide, it's a possibility. I don't know. I just find the case so fascinating.

Like it's got all those things that draw you into a real crime. It sucks for the family because they may never know. It seems odd that they would do a murder or a double suicide without a note. It seems odd that the disposition of Honey would agree to a suicide. I don't know. And if you're going a suicide. I don't know. And if you're going to do, I don't know. I've never had to, but if you have a suicide pack, you don't hang yourselves, right?

Don't you just take pills? This is a pharmaceutical. I don't know. Yeah, I guess they would have access to a bunch of stuff. Wouldn't it be easy to take some, I don't know if you'd hang yourself, but what do I know? We'll see.

Fascinating. So I played a couple more. I played Closer by the Nine Inch Nails cover by Richard Cheese, and then I played Fight for Your Right to Party by Richard Cheese. And let's kick out the jams here. All right. So let's talk about, we talked about the big six who passed away in 2017. Chuck Berry.

Yeah. One of the... Founders of rock and roll. Yes. One of the first gentlemen to take the guitar and make it the primary instrument in a song. And in Back to the Future, right? Yeah, that's right.

When Marty McFly is playing Johnny B. Goode, it was Chuck's cousin who phones him up. Yeah, Chuck is in some circles underrated. Chuck is a founding father of rock and roll. And like I said, use the guitar in a way that no one else ever used the guitar in a song. And he's a legend. I mean, this guy is one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time. Is it because he's black that some people maybe don't know who he is? I don't know. Who doesn't know

who Chuck Berry is? Listen to this. Dude. This is fucking great shit, man. For this artist, I don't think I asked you what your favorite song was because I was always going to play Johnny B. Goode because there are a lot of great Chuck Berry songs, but this is the definitive. Blueberry Hill?

Is it Blueberry Hill? No. I found my three last different guy. He had made, Chuck Berry had a lot of hits. He had that sweet Little 16, which the Beach Boys stole for Surfing USA.

But this is the definitive Chuck Berry. Back in the mid to late 50s when rock and roll was... Maybelline. Yeah. Rock and roll music. Rock and roll music is another good one. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Run Rudolph Run.

I mean, yeah, there's... But listen to that. You're right. And this was a time when you had your Little Richard. He's still alive, by the way. I'm trying to think of those 50s rockers who are still kicking. Jerry Lee Lewis. Yes, he's still alive.

Jerry Lee Lewis and... Roll Over Beethoven is what I was thinking of But Sweet Little Sixteen is the track that the Beach Boys steal that I always liked, Sweet Little Sixteen You gotta rock and roll But yeah, Chuck fucking Berry Yeah, it's crazy, man

Legend Lived a good life, though, or lived a long life I don't know if it was good or not. And of course, those tales, those sordid tales of what he was into, they will outlive him. Have you heard the Chuck Berry story? He had a very interesting sex life, shall we say? Specific kinks? Yes.

All right, he's fucking good. Way to go, Johnny. What do you think of the winter ale? Can I ask you? The winter ale's great. Isn't it great? It's fantastic. Fan-f he's fucking good. Way to go, Johnny. What do you think of the winter ale? Can I ask you? The winter ale's great. Isn't it great? It's fantastic. Fan-fucking-tastic.

What's the alcohol content in this? Read that bottle for me. Let me see. 6.2. It's beer brewed with honey and spices, and there's a snow-covered evergreen on the bottle. I decided as a king of

Toronto Mike, I came up with the six. But we agreed instantly on four of these people. We did? What do you mean? There was other people that... No, the four, which will be the last four I do, you and I, we're a no-brainer, no discussion. And then I just made sure that if we extended it to six, it had to have chuck berry in it and this gentleman because i

happen to be a guy who liked lincoln park right i saw them live like i was yes listen to a lot of lincoln park so let's talk about the so that i think the idea was that what did you ask me to do the top three uh five four Four? Whatever it was. And both of these gentlemen, Chuck and Chester, didn't make my top. Or, no, Chester didn't make the top four, but Chuck did. I think it was for me.

No, five. Five? The top four, you and I agree on the top four. But this has always been my favorite Linkin Park song. See, I don't even know the song. I'm not a huge Linkin Park fan. See, I don't even know the song. I'm not a huge Linkin Park fan. It plays for my head. Yeah, this is not a big radio hit.

I would have played like the whatever. In the End or something? Yeah. In the End. There's a lot of hits, like radio hits. But this is the song that, and I'm hoping we play it. I'm going to play the whole thing. Because there's a part of the song that I like songs that there's some songs where my

heart rate will start picking up and then I'll start banging my head like I'm in a mosh pit or something. Yeah. And that like that feeling is like a high I get like I don't know if you get the same thing where it's like I don't do drugs. You know, I don't do drugs. The closest thing to do drugs is I had my you brought me a nice Christmas blend. I can't remember the last time I smoked weed.

I can't. It's been years and years and years. Decades for me. I haven't done anything. Have you ever smoked weed? Ever? Oh, yes. Okay. But it's been a long time. I'm in my 40s now. So it's been, I'd say it's been 23 years

for me. Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Like this winter ale is the... Did you ever have a period of time where you smoked a lot of weed? Nope.

It was always like at a cottage, like a friend's cottage, kind of a social thing or whatever. Gotcha. I've never... No, no.

I don't like smoking stuff. Like it... Oh, here it comes. Hold on. Just a second here. This is the part. You try to take the best of me.

Go away. You try to take the best of me. Go away. This is the part. Now I'm sure some people are like, that's garbage and like shutting down this podcast right now. But for me, that part of that song, that's like my drug. Like I get a reaction. I suspect people might get when they snort cocaine or something. Like the heart rate picks up and I get this like high.

I don't know how else to describe it. I get high on that. Cool. I'm high right now. That's awesome. I don't know my thing, but hey, he was certainly beloved. Nothing's more subjective than music. He was certainly beloved in the music community.

It was a good friend of Chris Burnell, which is someone that we may or may not talk about. Spoiler alert. Yeah. to Chris Burnell, which is someone that we may or may need to talk about soon. Spoiler alert. Yeah.

But before, let's talk about one of your favorite artists of all time. Oh, And this is an artist where I respect this band fucking,

and we have different favorite songs. There's gonna be a couple of tracks we're gonna play. So I'm gonna play mine first. Okay.

Okay. This is my favorite song. Legendary band. Come on. ACDC. Legendary band. Come on. ACDC. Legendary. Yeah, they're legendary, for sure. And this track, I think it's...

They have one of the best-selling albums of all time. Back in Black. Back in Black. And this is from Back in Black. And I owned it, and I spun it a lot, and I love this jam. And one of the few bands ever that has been able to change a lead singer,

Bon Scott obviously died. They didn't want to change it and was successful. Right. Van Halen's up there. ACDC's probably more. I don't know. Is ACDC more or less successful? The biggest one, I think.

ACDC might be the biggest, but you know what the next one is? What? Genesis. Do you think, was Van Halen more or less successful than Genesis after they went to, what's his name? Yeah, 55 Saves Lives guy. The only big hit I can think of from that guy is Right Here Right Now. Right Here Right Now?

Right Now, yeah, yeah. That was a great video. Great fucking video. Yeah, that was a great video, and that was a great song. But I can't think of another Van Halen hit. Tommy Hagar. Yeah. Fuck.

I can't believe that. But they had three. No, Sam Hagar. Sammy Hagar. Did they have three lead singers? Because they got someone else. Because they had three. No, Sammy Hagar. Sammy Hagar. Did they have three lead singers? Because they got someone else. Because they had Gary Cherone. That's right.

Yeah. They had a bunch. But Dave Lee Roth. Who's a fan of Van Halen and the Gary Cherone years? Nobody. Anyone? Not even Gary Cherone. I remember Van Halen's heyday, okay?

Early 80s there. Yeah, Van Halen, man. I mean, Dave Lee Roth. Dave Lee Roth. What a fucking band. Yeah, one of the best. They had some success of Sammy Hagar too but Genesis

Peter Gabriel was the lead singer he goes off to be solo Phil Collins the drummer and they don't fucking miss a beat that's true to me that ACDC might be the best example

yeah because ACDC had one of the best-selling albums of all time. Come on. With the new singer. You know what's really sad, though, is that there's only one guy left. So let's just name the gentleman who died. Malcolm Young. Malcolm Young. The brother of Angus Young, who is the founder, along with Bon Scott, of ACDC.

And actually, Bon Scott is not a founder of ACDC. They found him in a bar, which is where he liked to be too much and eventually drank and drug himself to death. Malcolm Young is he's a co-writer of all the big hits along with Angus. Like this. And yeah, I mean, he's he's just he is a guy who was content with writing the songs and being the rhythm guitarist because all the lead guitar that you hear is angus um and and malcolm was just happy to to to be part of that and uh apparently

he was a stand guy didn't fucking i i was re-listening to one of the interviews that they had with howard stern back on the day and he didn't give a shit about getting into the hall of fame or selling records. He just loved music. He just wanted to play music and both of them, the whole band, well not the whole band, I should take that back. Brian, Angus and Malcolm, they're all straight.

Straight as in straight edge, not straight as in sexual, although I think they are as well. So they're all straight edge and they just fucking like to play music. Yeah, it's sad. I can only imagine what Angus is feeling right now because within the space of two years, that entire band has been decimated. But okay, but not that this makes it any easier on the brother, but Malcolm suffered from dementia.

Yeah, he was in a home. the brother, but Malcolm suffered from dementia. Yeah, he was in a home. I know of my grandmother who died a couple years ago at 98. She died before she died because when you can look her in the eyes and say, hi, Grandma, and she doesn't know who you are. It's like you've already kind of said goodbye.

She's a heart beating in a body and she's physically alive but her mental capacity is gone. She doesn't remember you. Brian and Angus were on Howard Stern and talking about Malcolm and he actually came to them and said, look, it's over.

I want you guys to keep making music but I'm going to go as long as I can go but I know the end is nigh. The end is nigh. Let's play. This is your favorite Christmas song of all time. Correct. And your favorite ACDC song of all time.

It's not my favorite song of ACDC, but I thought it would be appropriate given the time of year to play this as my homage to Malcolm Young. Let's hear it. No. No. There's a twist.

There's a fucking twist for you. It shook me all night long. The Christmas staple. Easy come, easy go. Have a good time Fire! Just simple rock and roll, man. Just simple rock and roll, man. Just simple rock and roll. Such a distinct sound. Like you could never hear a snippet of the song

and think it's any other band. It's true. Which is amazing, right? There's a few bands like that, though. Like U2 is another example. Do you do an impression of his voice? Is it Brian Johnson? Brian Johnson.

I always think they're Australian. Are they British? Scottish. Oh, yeah. There's no Angus who's not Scottish. That's true. Nothing says Christmas like this jam right here. Oh, who thinks about this? Mistress for Christmas.

Fucking right we do. Oh, great. Oh, my goodness. Goes good with the winter ale. So this is from the Razor's Edge, which, of course, gave us the great gift that is Thunderstruck. Yes, but it also gave us their avant-garde song, their only avant-garde song, which is The Razor's Edge. If you listen to that song, that is the only song that doesn't sound like an ACDC song. It's very avant-garde for ACDC.

But this song is hilarious. So here's what I think of as a casual fan, not like yourself. You got like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. TNT. And you got Highway to Hell. Yep. And then you have the big Back in Black explosion where you got a bunch of stuff in there. There's Hell's Bells in there. Yep.

Back in Black, of course. Yep. Shook me all night long. Yep. But then you have, you have a gap, okay? I'll call it a gap. And then you're hit with Thunderstruck. Right. And then there's a few hits that come out after that.

I thought Razor's Edge is after Back in Black, no? Oh, big time. Yeah. Like way after. Isn't there a gap between Back in Black and Razor's Edge? Because Back in Black is like early 80s, right? 85? I think it's earlier than that.

But you tell me. And then when's Thunderstruck? When's the Razor's Edge? Elvis is Googling. Such a great fucking song. Mistress for Christmas. I'm surprised CHFI doesn't play this jam.

So it came out in... I'm dumb. I'm dumb. Yeah, you're dumb, I know. 1980. I'm older than you, so I remember this song. 1980. There you go. And then they came out with 1980. I'm dumb. I'm dumb. Yeah, you're dumb. I know. 1980. I'm older than you, so I'm never this young. It came out in 1980. There you go. And then they came out with For Those About to Rock. Right. Which is huge.

In 1981. And then they did Flick of the Switch. Because no one remembers any jams from that. And then they did Jailbreak. Again, no big hits. And then they did Fly on the Wall. No big hits from there. Like, I'm talking about MTV, much music, jam.

Yeah, but they're also... I mean, Jailbreak gave you Dirty Deeds, Thunder Cheap. Okay, is that on there? Okay. They had actually released Dirty Deeds, Thunder Cheap earlier. Name, other than Highway to Hell, are there any hits? I thought, you know, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

was with the original lead singer, right? Correct. But they did it again. Is Highway to Hell with the original lead singer? No. So is there only one hit before they switch it up for Back in Black? And then they went to Who Made Who, which was a soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive.

I remember that. And that one, you'll get Who Made Who in that. Right. I'll tell you that the songs that Bon Scott was big on. Just the one. No, no, there's a bunch. There's a bunch. Just the one.

There's a bunch. I only can think of. Highway to Hell. Yeah, Highway to Hell. I'm on the highway to hell. Compelling content. I should play... Highway to Hell was probably the biggest album.

Fuck you. What a great Mistress for Christmas. Come on. Great fucking song. You know, I like the Pogues Fairy Tale of New York and you like Mistress for Christmas, butues fairy tale of New York and you like Mistress for Christmas but both are kind of

anti Christmas songs which means we have something in common there you know none of us are picking that shitty Mariah Carey song can I say this everybody's all about

that movie they fucking love that what's that movie TNT Let There Be Rock yeah TNT Dynamite Dirty Deeds Under Cheap

Dirty Deeds Under The Jack don't know The Jack. Big Balls. I got Big Balls. If you want Blood. High Voltage. No.

Jailbreak. Right On. No. Live Wire. There's a bunch of them. Yeah, but they're minor. Yeah, but also it's at a time where they're not going to be number one. No, fuck it.

I'm not here to trash ACDC. I like them enough. one. No, fuck it. I'm not here to trash ACDC. I like them enough. ACDC top 100 Billboard.

I don't even know if they had a number one hit. No, I don't know. But Thundershot was a big fucking hit. This is albums. Their Black Ice album in 2008 peaked at number one, This is albums. Their Black Ice album in 2008 peaked at number one, which is surprising.

Maybe on the rock charts, though, like a special rock chart. Yeah, probably. Probably. A hard rock chart. It's like, what did I just read? I read a press release the other day from TSN saying that they were

the most watched sports specialty station in Canada. So I read the headline, and I'm like, that's bullshit. There's no chance TSN has more eyeballs than the, the station that owns the rights to the NHL and the Blue Jays baseball. It's just not true. But if you read the details, they're like, in this demographic,

for this time period, in this time period is like after the Jays season when there's like just, when there's a, they have the great cup and they have the MLS Cup, which were big. So it was really like cherry-picking which time of the year we're talking. So overall for 2017, Sportsnet has more eyeballs than TSN, as you would imagine. Gotcha. So anyone can spin anything.

Sure, of course. Come on. Let's go to the next. So Malcolm Young. Rest in peace, Malcolm. You're missed by Elvis anyway. You're missed by many rock lovers here. I am.

Very much. But here's a guy. Let's talk about Tom Petty. Tom Petty is one of those guys. He was always there, consistent with the big hits. He could go to the Traveling Wilburys and produce big hits. But we have different favorite songs

from Tom Petty as well. So I'm going to play mine first. Okay. Where is my... This was hard. This was really hard, man. Oh, it was hard for me

because I worshipped that Full Moon Fever disc. And there were like three cuts on that album that could have been my favorite. Running Down a Dream could have been my favorite.

But this is the one I went with. Loves her mama, loves Jesus. I love the songs that mention Jesus. In America too. She's a good girl. She's crazy about Elvis.

And Elvis. Loves horses and her boyfriend too. Is there any more winter ale or are we done? And Elvis. And Elvis. Is there any more winter ale or are we done? Yep, there's more. Hold on, I'm passing you my pint glass. What a great song, man. You know what?

This is a great jam. When you think about American rock and roll, this is American rock and roll, this is American rock and roll. And you sort of think of guys like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Leonard Skinner. This to me, this is of those sort of guys. This is the one that I, I, I value the most. I don't know if value is the right word. Tom Petty to me. It's the one I connect with the most. I don't know if value is the right word. Tom Petty to me. It's the one I connect with the most.

Always there, always big time, but never the guy. I never thought of him in the same echelon as the superstars of rock. But he is. Yeah. And you listen to his, and you realize his songs.

Well, I watched that four-hour documentary on Netflix I watched, and it fucking really banged home the point which is this guy's a fucking gem a musical genius and so many amazing songs this one i picked as my favorite but there's a lot of great tom petty songs i could have picked you picked a different one we'll get to this free fallen man man. Something about it. It's so hard. And this was popularized, I think, again in the in the in Jerry Maguire. Right. He's driving down the road and Tom Cruise sings out loud to this song very poorly and

repopulizes Tom Petty, brings them into a whole different generation of people. Unless we forget without Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr. never wins an Oscar. That's right. He wins an, he won Best Supporting. Great fucking song, man. It's a great song. This is solid. I did not pick this one because I felt like it was, again, I'm not trashing your pick

at all in any way, Mike. It was just too popularized for me and I hate people who do that because sometimes I like the big hits but this was you know and and you know says the guy who kicked out the jams and picked up like Mary Jane's last dance I mean great fucking song but probably you know probably one of his most popular songs ever because of when it came out. It came out on a Greatest Hits album. And it had Johnny Depp in the video. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, this is a big loss for music, man. This is a real big loss for music. And he had his last concert tour this summer and just fucking dropped out of rehearsal. And why couldn't we get a heads up he was going to drop dead? I know. We would have gone to that show. Yeah, I know.

I should have. Smoked like a chimney, though, apparently. Did he? Yeah. Don't smoke. Yeah, don't smoke. Don't do drugs. Apparently, that's the number one thing you can do.

The number one lifestyle change you can make to prolong your life is to quit smoking. Good thing I quit smoking a long time ago. You never smoked. No. At least not a cigarette. I smoked cigars for time ago. You never smoked. No. At least not cigars. I smoked cigars for a while. But did you inhale? They opened up a cigar shop at Lakeshore and First Street across from my bike shop.

And I see guys sitting out there all the time smoking cigars. Yeah, smoking cigars. Apparently it's cool. I remember when I got the first initial you're cured from cancer word, a buddy of mine came over with some cigars and said, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate by giving you more cancer. Are you a fucking idiot?

Great song, Mike. Here's a song I like, though, too. My song's good, too. It's a little bit older than yours. And that's a big thing to me. When I live the song's heyday And that's a big thing to me. Like when I live the songs heyday, it's a bigger deal to me. Like so for Tom Petty,

the first album I bought in real time was Full Moon Fever. And I love that fucking album. So those songs resonate more of me. Because you could pick any of his older jams like this one and you'd be okay. Or Refugee. Great fucking song.

American Girl. I thought of picking that. What's that band? The Strokes steal the opening of American Girl for Last Night. Right. They're big a hit. But let's listen to Elvis' Tom Petty Jam on Toronto Mics Radio.

Hitting the post now. That's a great jam, bud. See, we started off with grievances, but now I'm feeling love. I'm just digging the... This is great, man. I'm getting shivers. I hope you're snowed in.

I want to spend the day with you. That would be funny. That would be amazing. We could just listen to old music all the time. Like platonic cuddling? I'll cuddle with you. I'll cuddle. If you spoon me, are you the big spoon or the little spoon?

The spooner is the big spoon. Right. So are you going to be the... The inside is the little spoon. Right. What would you prefer with me? I like the big spoon. With Monica, I'm always the big spoon.

Yeah. It's usually the way it works, I think, with guys and girls. I think the bigger person. Right. So for you, I don't know. I would be the bigger spoon. I would definitely be the bigger spoon. We. So for you, I don't know. I would be the bigger spoon. I would definitely be the bigger spoon. We'll have to compare spoons.

Oh, I just thought a spoon man, which, oh, no spoiler, but that was a great sound card action.

Elvis is on his second urination drinking way too much winter ale. Oh. Don't come around here no more. I'm in line to check Monica's jacket at the Horseshoe Tavern last night, and a gentleman yells out, Toronto Mike. And I go up to him, and I'm like, hey.

I shook his hand. I go, what's your name? He goes, Dave. So if Dave, who said hi to me at the Horseshoe Tavern yesterday is listening. Hi, Dave. These are the Daves I know. Don't come around here no more You're the first guest to do two pisses in the same episode. Yeah!

You know the first... I have a kitten bladder. I drank like a double long espresso and then a beer and a half. And I'm spilling out my bladder. Nature is nature. But the first guest ever to take a pee break ever was Bob Elliott. Oh, really? He's like Roger Bannister. nature, but the first guest ever to take a pee break ever was Bob Elliott. Oh, really?

He's like Roger Bannister. Do you know who Roger Bannister is? I do. He broke the barrier, and now there's been several, but usually it's during Kick Out of the Jam episodes, because they go really long. So it's nice, because I'll start a jam, and then they go pee, and no one knows they went. That's happened a lot. But Bob Elliott, he's going to take

a pee, because he... Did I tell you Bob Elliott showed up with two Diet Cokes in his hand? Yes. And I had this like, oh, what a nice guy. He brought me a Diet Coke, but he drank them both. And then he had to go pee, of course. But I played like an old legendary call. I love this part of the song. Here we go.

Gets fast. And then a woman in the back singing. Oh, listen to that. So great, man. Excellent. R.I.P. Teddy's dead. man. Excellent. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I.P.

R.I.P. R.I.P. R.I-something. Tom Petty had a heart attack. He died too young. Yep. A couple more coming up who died too young. I prefer the Chuck Berry method. Die in your 90s.

I can only remember one other that's coming up. There's two more coming up. Two big ones. I think you're forgetting the biggest one. Am I? It's over your shoulders if you want to remind yourself. Oh, yeah. Fuck.

I feel it because we've already done that. It's just so big. I bought that as well. It's so big that we're having trouble accepting. You know, I've purchased everything that I can. Anyway, go on. Well, you made big bucks. You should buy this.

Right. Right. Let's talk about Chris Cornell. Yes. Lead singer for Soundgarden and a seminal band for guys our age. I have a proclamation to make. Make it, brother. One of...

Are we going to play the song? One of the... One of the biggest grunge bands. Amongst the first biggest grunge bands. It really predates grunge. It does. They do. Best. Best.

Hands down, best voice of that genre. See, now it's like deja vu all over again. I'm pretty sure we've agreed on this in the past. Yes. Absolutely. Best voice.

Agreed. Best voice of the Grungers. Yes. Better than Nirvana. I haven't seen, to me, second place is my boyfriend, Eddie B. Yeah. This man wins. We agreed on our favorite.

This is nice. We agreed. We have the same. We talked about this, I think, the song before. We played a series of songs with Jesus in them. Right. That was at Easter. I was just going to say that was an Easter podcast. Right. We even played

Black Jesus. We played a lot of great Jesus jams. This Bad Motor Finger is my favorite Soundgarden album. It's legendary, man. It's got Rusty Cage on it. It's amazing. Outshined is on that. But this fucking jam.

Listen to the bass, man. Well, remember I told you when I'm listening to Out of My Head by Linkin Park that there's some songs where they have parts in it and stuff where it's like a drug to me? Yeah. It's coming. This is me getting fucking high in my basement right now. stuff where it's like a drug to me. Yeah. It's coming. It's just, this is me getting fucking high in my basement right now. It's Festivus morning,

drinking winter ale. Here it comes. I'm so loud Like you've been carrying All alone And you swore to me You don't wanna be my slave But you're staring at me Like I Like I need to be

Saved What a heavy Heavy fucking track, eh? And it's just, it was the first time I heard this song, I loved it. And now I'm listening to it for the, I don't know, the 6,000th time. I love it just as much as ever. So heavy. His vocals are on point. This is Bad Motor Finger, which don't tell me, but I think

it's 1990, which it's before Nevermind in 10, like it predates Nevermind in 10. I had a Bad Motor Finger poster on my bedroom wall. Fucking love this band. I can't believe Chris Cornell killed himself in 2017.

It's... I don't know, man. Apparently he was doing well. Like, something happened apparently in that, in those last weeks or moments or hours

or whatever it was, but. And he wrote a song, Pretty Noose. Like, think about it. He wrote Pretty Noose. Here's a guy, this is how he's also different

from a lot of the other guys from that, that was other guys from that. That was our generation, man. That was our music. 90s. He, more than anyone else, had a solo career as well. His solo music is haunting and awesome. Did you own the single soundtrack?

Yeah. Yeah, he's on that season. His solo music and his covers Oh, his covers. are just... Nothing compares to you. Amazing. And the Michael Jackson jam. Yeah.

Amazing cover. Billie Jean. Amazing, man. Like, ah, this was one of those I probably should have cried, but I didn't cry to the celebrity death. I've only cried for one, and he's coming up next. Two? Three? Three, sorry.

Yeah, this is sad. This is really sad. It's just, you can't, and I'm learning to do this, you can't apply your brain and logic thoughts, you can't apply that to somebody who's suffering from depression. Because it's easy to say, why would he do that? He has children. Why would he do that? He's a rich, famous rock star. That's you applying your own mentally healthy outlook to their situation.

It doesn't map over. You can't map that over. You don't know how they're seeing things. He probably had a moment where he thought his, I don't know, his wife and children were better off without him. Like he might've had this moment and that's all it takes. I think once you think,

think of it, I got, you got three kids. I got four kids. If I truly believed some, I could do something that would benefit my four children, I'm fucking doing it. You know what I mean, Jellybean?

I just, you know, if you're gonna... I just feel really sad for the guy that he's in a hotel room and I've been in hundreds of them over my career. Hotel rooms suck. It just seems like even if, you know, I don't know,

he hung himself in a fucking hotel room. Like Jesus Christ. Like what a, it's a shitty way to go period. But even shittier way to go that you're in a fucking hotel room. Like, I don't know. That's the part that I'm just like, Chris Cornell deserved better. You know, if, if, if he's in that place and that's what he needed for peace, okay. But fuck in a hotel room. I don't know. I'm just, I'm stuck on that. The whole thing is just, it's a mess. I mean, his kids and his wife.

It's just, it's really, really sad. And then you throw in the Chester Bennington angle. Yeah, and Chester was at his funeral and apparently spoke. And sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. And it was on Chris Cornell's birthday that Chester took his own life. It's crazy, man. The brain is

a fucked up thing. It's a real fucked up thing. You know, and it sucks that we both picked the same song in a way because we only get to hear it once. It's funny because the biggest musical death for you and I in 2017 is coming up right now. And you mentioned like the brain is a fucking thing.

Like imagine like what happened to fucking our just one of our musical idols. Like this is the only celebrity death where I was just bawling like a baby. I remember coming down here and recording because you said, I should just do it. And I went downstairs and did it. And I was so glad I worked from home. You know what I mean? Because I'm crying like a baby. Dude, we talked about this before. I was

at work and the notification on my phone buzzed. I think it was CBC saying Gord Downie's dead. And it was... I didn't know what to... I said, oh, fuck, out loud.

And there was a colleague of mine that was there. It must have been around 8 o'clock. Yeah, it was early. Or 8.15 or something like that. Because he normally doesn't get there until that time. Yeah. And he's like... But did you ever...

Did you consider going home? I did. But part of me was also thinking that would be dumb because like I didn't know him. He was, you know, he's a celebrity. Why would I go home for that? Like I probably wouldn't go home for a lot of people who passed away, but it was certainly was, you know, Prince was, Prince was when Prince passed away. It was, it was shitty. It happened in the afternoon. I remember. And I only had to go through half a day and then after work, I went and drank and cried and all that

stuff. But, um, yeah, with Gord, it was, it was the beginning of the day and it was just, I didn't know what to do. And so I thought that being alone would probably be the wrong thing to do. It was, it was, uh, yeah. Yeah. We talk about at work, we talk about this thing of gratitude at the end of the year, like things that you're proud of or happy about professionally and personally. At the end of the year. Things that you're proud of. Or happy about. Professionally and personally.

And one of my highlights of the year. Was watching that last concert. With my kids. And they're sitting beside me. And they don't know why I'm crying. They don't know why I'm upset. But I just said. Daddy loves this band. and daddy loves this man.

And he's very special, but he's very sick. And this is going to be the last time that you're going to hear that daddy's going to be able to hear him. And I really want you to be able to listen to this and be here with me. And they, you know, they're young. They didn't know what the fuck was going on. And they don't like rock and roll or anything like that at this point in time. They'd rather listen to Katy Perry and stuff. But they sat there and they watched. And I was able to share that moment with them.

And it's something that made that whole thing extra special. And it's a highlight of the year for me because I'm just so happy that I was able to share that moment with them. And they knew that while Daddy was sad, that that was someone that Daddy really loved. It's eerie listening to you tell that story because it's the same thing, man. The experience I had with my oldest daughter during that same concert when I was in...

Inganish, Nova Scotia. Kept bread in there. Like, she just, she doesn't know the Tragically Hip, but she knows this is Daddy's favorite band, and she was just right there, and I could cry right now, but I already shed all those tears on that clip I recorded right after I learned the news. But what's amazing to me elvis is that we

how many songs in the tragically hip catalog there are hundreds of songs right and there are massive monster hits in there like from bob cajun to ahead by a century to uh blow it high dough like i mean there's big fucking hits from the Tragically Hip. And you and I independently had to come up with our favorite hip song of all time, which is a ridiculous exercise in itself. But how do we both come up with the same fucking track from Road Apples? Like, how does that happen? It's crazy. And it's not even...

This is not a hip hit. No,? It's crazy. And it's not even... This doesn't even... This is not a big... This is not a hip hit. No, and it's not... The hip is like you're sitting around a campfire at a cottage and you're having a beer and it's like uplifting and fun and happy and like, woo! Or it's at least like Wee Kings or... Yeah. I don't know, man.

I think this is just a great song. You know what? I'm an Apple Music guy, and they rank the number of songs, the best songs or the most played songs. And for a long time, it was Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. And I would imagine that this song has got to be number one at this point in time over the past year. I can't believe

he's gone. Like I said before, I have purchased everything. I've bought the print from The Secret Path. I've bought The Secret Path book and set. I purchased the last concert

and Long Road Running DVD. Yeah, I can't. It sucks. I'm wearing a Tragically Hip t-shirt. I never buy concert shirts, man. No, I bought one too. And I bought that show. You're wearing the Jaws shirt.

I'm wearing the Jaws shirt. Like Gord wore on the last show or that last concert tour. Yeah. I just bought the Tired As Fuck shirt. Oh, nice. I wore it for the steven stanley photo and i had a couple of tweets about like like i don't have class or something because

i have the f word on my shirt did i not know what it was i explained what it was they didn't seem to care but uh holy shit uh if it's good enough for gourd it's good enough for Gord, it's good enough for me. That's all I'll say on that. This song, when I came down to my basement to record that 25 minutes right after Gord passed, I definitely played this song. You did. I've told my teenagers, when I die, I don't want a funeral. No funeral. Do not invite God to this thing, okay?

And I said, you're welcome to have a celebration of life party if you wish. Just play Fiddler's Green by the Tragically Hip. Fuck. I'm sorry for crying, Mike. Jesus. No, that's what we do on Trunnel, Mike.

We cry. That was a big one, though. This is as big as it's going to get. We could record for a hundred years We could record for the rest of our lives And we'll never have a bigger musical death Than Gord Downie There'll be big ones man

One day we'll say goodbye to Neil We're going to say goodbye to some heavyweights We're never going to have A bigger musical death to you and I There is one that probably will be the biggest of our lifetime. Beyond the tragically hip influence to us as Canadians and guys in our 40s.

And that would be... There's two guys that come to mind. Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder. For our age group, Bruce to me, because the first... Correct me if Bruce to me, because the first, correct me if I'm wrong, but the first album you're going to remember

from Bruce is Born in the USA. Correct. Right. Me too. Me too. With his ass. Every time I have a guest

and I kick out the jams of lots of guys in their 50s and early 60s and I'm hearing a lot of Born to Run and a whole bunch of The River

and this and that. Songs that I know the same way I know Beatles songs like Past Tense, whatever. I guess Paul McCartney would be big, but he's also old.

Paul's going to be huge. He's old, though, now. Right. Is he in his 70s? He's got to be in his 70s, right? He's probably in his 70s. So there's going to be a percentage of people that don't appreciate the Beatles,

whereas I think Bruce is still sort of in that moment where a lot of his fans haven't died yet. And that's why things like Chris Cornell and, you know... Tom Petty? I would say Chester Bennington, not so much, but Tom Petty and guys like that, like there's people who are fans of his first career and sort of second career that are still alive, right?

And Tom Petty, I mean, second career as in with the Jerry Maguire thing. That was a resurgence of Tom Petty because of the fact that his song was in that movie. I don't remember it. I don't remember the resurgence. He's driving? I don't remember him going away. I don't remember.

Oh, you're right. Tom Petty's got to go away to resurge. But I mean coming back, not coming back, but reintroducing himself into a whole new generation of fans. Realistically, if you're in your 20s right now or late 20s, you shouldn't know who Tom Petty is because there hasn't been a lot of new music from Tom. But you saw Jerry Maguire. It was probably a

sentimental or a monumental movie in your lifetime. That was a pretty big fucking movie, Jerry Maguire. Show me the money, brother. I'm still hunting fucking Gord, man. We miss the money. That's right. If you want that. I'm still hunting. Fucking Gord, man. For that money. We miss you.

That's twice we've cried for Gord. I've never peed twice in an episode or cried twice for the same thing in an episode. Festivus, man. Brings out the real talk. It really is for the rest of us. How long was this fucking episode? 2.12. Holy moly.

What I'm finding now now like I've recorded 295 of these things now what I'm finding now is this is like a therapy it's sort of like therapy like you turn on you start recording

you go on mic and it's just to me it's very like cathartic like just talking about shit guys should talk about more stuff

I I knew on the way over here that we were going to talk about Gord again and I prepped myself to break down. It was, I think, you know what? Here's

my Festivus message for the people who are listening, if anyone is still listening. Feel the feels, man. Feel the feels. Life is too short to put up a fucking wall and pretend like you're not supposed to feel something. Just feel the feels and go with it. I sat down uh two movies i watched back to back with my kids when they were a little bit younger the two older kids uh field of dreams and uh

timbered and big fish okay so okay those are two movies it doesn't matter how many times i've seen them i ball and i when i was watching feel of Dreams and the fucking dad wants to catch. Yeah. And I'm gone. Yeah. I don't know what that says about my father issues or what. And the big fish at the fucking end,

no spoiler alert, but at the end, when he's telling the story to his dad, I'm fucking gone. Like, the father-son thing, I'm fucking gone. Yeah, I hear you, man. It's heavy. It's heavy shit.

Happy Festivus, everybody. And that brings us to the end of our 290... I gotta get this number right. 95th show. I'm... You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Elvis is at, which one do you want to use? Oshawa Elvis. Oshawa Elvis. Disappointing. Disappointed. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Property in the Six is at Brian Gerstein. Not Gerstein.

And Paytm is at Paytm Canada. You know who my next guest is? Paytm Canada? No. Ron James. Oh, yes! So you don't find him funny, right? I'm not a fan, no.

Most Torontonians, or I guess you're not, you're Mississauga, whatever. Most GTA people don't find him funny. But if I had told you or me four years ago, Ron James was coming on the show. You're right. Wouldn't your mind explode? You're right. You're absolutely right. But now we're all like, ho-hum.

Like, oh, just Ron James. Exactly. Dude, the lead singer of Skydiggers. I'd fucking lose my mind. Bob fucking McKenzie was here. Yeah, it's crazy. Ron McClain dropped by. Brian Williams.

Strombo. Strombo is huge. Canada's boyfriend. Stephen Brunt chatted me up for two hours. That's so crazy. Anyways, Ron James is my next guest. Don't you dare miss it. Happy Festivus.

For the rest of us. We'll see you next time.