Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - FOTMs and Their First Guitars: Toronto Mike'd #1393

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

In this 1393rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Sean Barrette about FOTMs and their first guitars. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1393 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly, as always, brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the greater Toronto area. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. Season 5 of Yes, We Are Open, an award-winning podcast for Moneris, hosted by FOTM, Al Grego, and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Okay, full disclosure. As I speak, it's about 11.10 a.m. on Friday, December 15th.

I'm literally on a Zoom right now because I was promised an 11 a.m. chat with Triumph's Rick Emmett. Rick's been on the show before. Rick's a sweetheart. But Rick is not on this Zoom right now. I don't know where things fell apart. This was booked through the publisher of his new book, Lay It On The Line. Anyway, I did my homework. I cleared my schedule.

I'm fully prepared to chat with Rick Emmett right now. But I don't have Rick. Therefore, in lieu of with Rick Emmett right now, but I don't have Rick. Therefore, in lieu of the Rick Emmett episode, which I'm sure we'll reschedule, and I'm sure there's a good excuse, and I'm sure it'll just drop in the feed magically any day now, so keep your good eye on the Toronto Mic'd feed. For Rick Emmett's return, I'm finally going to drill into

why we don't hear his beautiful voice on Tears Are Not Enough. Okay, this is a big deal for me. And this is all happening. And now it's 11-11, so make a wish. What's that? Sean Barrett? Up in Sudbury?

You made a wish? You want to be on Toronto Mic'd? Okay, Sean. I can't talk to Rick Emmett. So I'm going to talk to a guy who talked to Rick Emmett. Here's Sean Barrett. Sean Barrett, welcome to Toronto Mic'd. Hey man, how are you doing?

Good. You approached my booking agent, Blair Packham, and he says I should talk to you about your new book, First Guitars. So I'm like, okay, who the heck is Sean so let's begin by learning a little more about you who the heck are you Sean it's a good question and one that I think surprised me more than it surprised anyone in terms of people being willing to talk to me because I am a singer-songwriter and communications professional of really no repute. But people have been very receptive to this project so far. So I'm a former radio announcer. I started in radio when I was 17 years old. I come from Capuscasing, Ontario, so way up north on the Timberline. When the wind whistles down from James Bay, it hits you first in Capuscasing. It's cold.

Cool little town, though. I wouldn't have had the opportunity probably to get into radio had it not been for living there i don't skip the details i want to know like when you get to a radio station you've been on give me the call letters like tell me which station sure it was am 58 in in kappas casing 580 ck ap was where i started and i grew up listening to that radio station. The whole book is not just a compilation of people that I interviewed or who submitted stories about their first guitars, but it's also a bit of a narrative about my growing up with a dad who was a musician, loving music, listening to music on that little AM station at my grandparents cabin uh on on remy lake just outside of kappa scacing near moonbeam uh and then getting into radio eventually going to

school in london ontario to take broadcasting at fanshaw moving back uh working as a DJ, becoming the lead singer of a band unexpectedly in my early 20s, learning to play guitar myself only at 33 years old, recording some CDs when I hit 40. And then that whole musical journey morphing into this book, basically me telling the story as a narrative that weaves through about 280 short stories, uh, from guitar players of various stripes, like everything from campfire, strummers to some of the biggest names in music.

Who do you think is the biggest name in music that you talked to for a heartstrings first guitars? Wow. Well, I mean, I, I did have the honor and opportunity to speak with Gordon Lightfoot before he passed.

Well, that that's a big one. That's a big one. Uh, Bruce Coburn, um, all of the surviving guitar players from the Tragically Hip. There are a lot of very recognizable names

in this book. It's hard to pick out just one. And I guess it depends on, you know, what you consider to be a really big name. I mean, I did speak to one. Those are big names, my friend. Listen, when I saw, like like i've got the book right here when i saw gordon lightfoot and i saw bruce colburn and there's a opportunity here for me to

ask you a question that's been uh mulled about in the tmu the toronto mic universe the last couple of weeks what do you think of the bare naked ladies cover of lovers in a Dangerous Time by Bruce Colburn. That's one of those ones that really rivals the original, and in my opinion, always has. I love it. I love what they did with it. They put just a... And I was in radio when it came out, so I played that on the air.

They put just enough of a spin on it to really freshen it up and change it and make it their own while still maintaining the integrity of the original and that's pretty rare not a lot of artists manage to uh to pull that off like mike scott i think with um sweet thing you know his version of the van morrison song managed to do it there's there's been a few and that's a really interesting topic i mean i'm you've probably done that on your show for having this conversation and by the way i've listened to a number of episodes of your show and i love it i think it's great i love hearing that i feel like we could do a half an hour on that topic

do you have a favorite episode of trotter mic'd well i'm just starting to dig into them um so uh so i just what i generally do is i put on my my little ridiculous looking um headband uh earbuds uh when i go to to bed and i i turn it on and i mean just like i was listening to the alan fru one the newest one. It's yesterday. Okay, beautiful. That was really cool. And I don't have Alan Frew in the book.

And I'd really love to have him for volume two. I've got a wish list. And I am thinking of carrying on with this. But that's kind of digressing. Maybe we talk about that. But the cover versions, you know, they don't always work, and yet some of them become really iconic as well. But yeah, that one, Barenaked

Ladies, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, like chef's kiss. Awesome. No argument from me. No argument. Stephen Page was here two days ago. We discussed it as well. So it's been a hot topic lately. Now, Sean, so I go through your book and I'm always on the lookout for appearances by FOTMs. Do you know what an FOTM is? friend of Toronto Mike. I had to Google that and Google had an answer. Is that right? Because somebody Googled it. I called them an FOTM and they Googled and they said, I'm a flavor of the month. And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no. It's much better than that. So what about this as an idea, Sean? And again, if little stories spill out of you on the way, I'm all for it. I love a good story. But what if I just asked you about an FOTM who's in your book, and maybe you could talk about your chatting with them about their first guitar. And then even

before we do that, if you want to tell people how, you know, so many people love their guitars and are like fanatical about guitars. If somebody listening wants to grab a copy of Heartstrings First, is that, so that's the full title? Heartstrings First Guitars? Yes. Okay, good, because the font was so much smaller with Heartstrings, I thought, oh, maybe that's like the name of the series or something. Okay, so let people know, because you could do first drum

kits, you could do, you know, this can go on and on, right? First Cowbell? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it'll be a short book, but and the stories will be very similar i think well maybe it'll be just one person okay so listen my my nephew has a first cowbell story because i bought him a cowbell because that's the kind of games that i play with my sister there you go okay that's yeah that's torturous okay i know what that's like so please tell us

how people can get a copy of the book. And then if you will, just prepare yourself for me to ask you about the many FOTMs in the book. Okay. So they can get the book at www... I don't even know if we need to say it. No, you don't need to anymore. It dates you, I noticed.

I'm not sure how old you are, but are you a baby boomer? I'm 53. Okay, you're too young are you a baby boomer? I'm 53. Okay, you're too young to be doing that. Right? But it's fun, isn't it, though? Just to say it every now and then, www. It's so many wasted syllables.

Who has time for that anymore? But this is a show for the Ws. Go ahead. Okay, so it's firstguitars.ca. Okay. That's the new website. It is finally up on amazon so available worldwide okay on amazon and i do have a uh heartstrings first guitarist facebook group okay that people can join if they want updates uh you know we'll make it easy for people to uh order the book from

me if it's international the shipping is going to be murder, so they should probably use Amazon, but anywhere Canada. Yeah, a lot of people listening are in the greater Toronto area, and they can hit you up there. I'm realizing now that I'm not much younger than you, and I've yet to receive my first guitar. Is it too late for me? No, I wouldn't say so.

I started playing when I was 33 and I still consider myself a new guitar player. And I think that's an excuse that I make for myself because I'm still a terrible guitar player. And after 20 years, I should be better than I am. But I just always wanted to be able to strum out a few tunes around a campfire myself and so I just learned enough chords to get dangerous with songwriting which is something that I didn't see myself going into

either so no definitely not a friend of mine here who's helped me out a lot just with reaching out to artists for me because he loved the book concept. His name is James Fine. He's older than I am. I don't know by how much, but he just started playing guitar. So it's absolutely not. And you certainly have enough people who roll through your studio who could show you a quarter to, I think. I think you think you're 100% right I think in top of my head how many people have dropped by you know spoiler alert because we're going to talk about him but Stephen Stanley was just here with his guitar like about a week ago these people could show me a thing or two okay so let's start with somebody who sadly is no longer with us I

was chatting with well I chatted with Chris Murphy from Sloan about this gentleman because I was particularly interested in what he'd have to say because he's a Maritimer and I know that Miles Goodwin is a proud Maritimer. I can't believe I have to put in the past tense. Was a proud Maritimer. Did you speak with FOTM Miles Goodwin for your

book? I did. I think Miles was the last sort of big name to come in i reached out to him he was one of the first people i reached out to and because growing up obviously listened to a lot of april wine i mean from the time that i was a kid uh and then being in radio canadian content i think i heard an april Wine song every hour for about 14 years. But, you know, again, going back to who is Sean Barrett? Well, yeah, exactly.

So I send this guy in the middle of the pandemic an email saying, hey, I'd love to have you in this book that I'm writing. So that didn't go anywhere. that I'm writing. So that didn't go anywhere. And it wasn't until I got Jim Henman and David Henman on board. And Jim was a good friend of Miles' and played on the first album. And David was one of the founding members of the band that I think was with them until,

well, I don't know. I can't remember exactly, but let's say mid-'70s for the sake of argument. So they were there. And Jim said, do you want me to talk to Miles about this book? And I said, I wish you would. It would be great to have him in there. So he did, and Miles got back to me, I think it was via email, and i'd like to have a conversation with you you know before i agree to this i said of course i totally understand you know you apply your bs meter to who i am and whatnot so he uh he called me we had a really nice conversation

um i got to say all kinds of things to him that I had always wanted to say to him. Cause you know, sometimes you just got to blurt those out really fast. Um, and, uh, he was like, okay, well, you know, you sound legit. Let me think about this for a while and, uh, I'll let you know. I'll, I'll get back to you. And I'm like, okay, cool. And I didn't really know if he would or not. And like two hours later, the phone rings. He's like, okay, I'm in. He's in. And a few hours after that, there's would or not. And like two hours later, the phone rings. He's like, okay, I'm in. He's in. And a few hours after that, there's his guitar story.

And he wrote it himself. He's like, I want to write it though. Yeah, he's a writer. He was an actual writer and a talented son of a gun. And I'm glad he's in your book there. Now, you tell me, like you don't have to give away the stories as we run down the list, You tell me, like, you don't have to give away the stories as we run down the list, but you could maybe remark on whether it's one of the better stories

or if it's one of the run-of-the-mill stories. I would imagine some stories are awfully similar, but what makes a good first guitar story? I think having it come from the heart is the main thing, and that's all I was asking anybody to do was just, you know, what were you listening to? What made you want to play? It's not like a gearhead book. It wasn't, you know, I didn't necessarily want to know what pickups were in it or anything like that. It was just what was the guitar and how did it make you feel? And in that regard,

and because it's my book, I'm going to say there are no duds. There you go. You know, there, there are some that tend to start similarly. The reason that I sort of shifted away quickly from it being the first guitar to sort of the first important guitar was because if it was the first guitar, there were going to be an awful lot of stories that were like, yeah, it was a Sears guitar and it was terrible and i almost quit right uh so it's the first important guitar and i think that really made uh space for some richness to come into because then they could

dig in a little bit more to the reason why they picked up that guitar and what yeah okay this is this is the one this is for me i'm a guitar player now so miles's story was great um but you know so is my friend trevor beauchamp's uh story and he's pretty much never played for anybody uh and he was my first friend in the world we were two when we met, and he just plays guitar because he loves to play guitar, and that was the concept behind the book. Call it a conceit if you want, but what I wanted to do was show that no matter who the guitar player is,

they have a story like this, No matter who the guitar player is, they have a story like this, and the famous ones won't necessarily be the most interesting ones. There will be people you've never heard of who maybe have a really cool first guitar story for whatever reason, and sometimes they still have them and sometimes they didn't. One ended up in a campfire. Several of them were stolen, including Gordon Lightfoot's. I had one person write a poem. I had a couple of people submit songs that they had written about their first guitar.

So there's a lot of diversity in the stories and in the artists as well. Whereabouts do we find you in the world, Sean? I live in Coppercliffe, Ontario, which is just outside of Sudbury. It's basically where mining began in this region and one of Canada's mining hotspots still. So I have the Superstack practically in my backyard.

Okay, well, that's a long ways away and explains why I didn't see you at TMLX14 recently at Palmer's Kitchen. So we all gathered there and gracing us with his enormous presence at this event was tom wilson what was it like talking with tom wilson about his first guitar here's the thing about tom and me we've known each other for a long time we go back i worked at q92 the rock station here for 10 years so i met tom through junk house and we also had mutual friends there was a band called

the walk and i went to college with a couple of them in london they were part of the hamilton music scene so i i've i've known tom and we encounter each other at shows whenever he's up here and it's always nice to see him like we're acquaintances we're not calling each other at shows whenever he's up here. And it's always nice to see him. We're acquaintances. We're not calling each other on the phone or anything. But he always recognizes me. We always have a nice chat. We did a songwriter's session at Northern Lights Festival Boreal here

several summers ago when we were both playing there. here uh several summers ago when we were both playing there uh so so tom tom was one of the first big name artists that signed on to the books because the concept like originally was i was going to do sort of a local book i was going to include people that i had played with or recorded with or who were friends of mine and I had a smattering of artists like Ron Hawkins and like Tom Wilson who I wanted to reach out to and see if they would be that just a little bit of spice for this local book and Tom immediately said yeah I'm into it so talk to my manager Alan Moy and he'll set it up and we can an interview, and I'll tell you a story or two. It's great.

And I talked to Alan Moy, and it was Alan who went, okay, but do you want to talk to the other guys in Blackie? And would you like to talk to the guys in 5440? Do I? Yeah. So that was where it took off, and I started to think, you know what? I mean, I can, I can talk to a number of people. I can reach out to people from the radio days. I can, I can just start cold calling some artists and really make something of this book and this

concept. So I did. So I credit Tom with that. And Tom's story is actually really cool. It's not about his first guitar because he told that story in his book. So he told me a story about one of his favorite guitars. Nice. Like I said, obviously there's going to be a little bit of leeway. And his story is really neat actually. Well, that man can tell a story.

So it's... Right? No surprise. He really can. And he's a good guy. I really like Tom a lot. Oh, I don't know anyone who doesn't like Tom Wilson, to be honest. It's like if you don't like Tom Wilson, what's wrong with you? Look in the mirror. Yeah, I have a couple of great stories about him too. Him coming to the radio station, and it was going to be after hours.

So at the time, both of us still imbibed, and I had gone to get a six-pack. And he came. And we sort of did the interview over the six-pack. And then he's like, well, why don't you come down to the townhouse and see the show, which I had planned to do anyway. But he said, you know, come and hang out on the bus for a little while first. So I did. And that was really cool.

You know, I just have this really distinct memory of him uh playing the replacements lbu and and and singing along and and that was one of the things where i was like man this is the reason why i wish i could play guitar but even then it didn't happen for probably another 10 years. Anyway, Tom, awesome. Okay, now you dropped the name Ron Hawkins, and you're not talking about romping Ronnie Hawkins here. You're talking about the lowest of the lows, Ron Hawkins? Yeah, there's a story about romping Ronnie Hawkins in the book, and my regrets around that,

which people can read about it when they pick it up. Ron Hawkins from Lowest of the Low. They've been a favorite artist for a long time. I know you close, what, is it every show or most shows? It's every episode. Maybe I did like the odd special ending for somebody for a particular reason. But yeah, 99.9% of episodes end with Rosie and Gray. That's for sure.

Well, that album was huge, right i mean many people and i do think i think we must be close to the same uh vintage um you had mentioned that your daughter was 19 my son's 19 yeah well i got it but i also have a 21 year old uh son so uh we're some well i mean you mean, you're 53? Yep. 49. All right. So there you go. We're, I mean, close, right? And, and that, that first album Shakespeare in my butt was huge for everyone. My, my, my wife and I were both really into it when we met. And, and, and then obviously everything the guy has recorded since and whatever iteration or version of what he's doing is awesome. And Ron and I just connected on Facebook and we go back and forth every now and then. I saw them play in Barrie.

I think it was right before the pandemic hit. Um, and Ron's, well, I said, you know, earlier, I actually, uh, interviewed him once for the radio. Uh, that was when crack static had come out and I was supposed to talk to him for five minutes and we talked for over an hour and I lost you can do that on the radio like they don't they don't come in uh you know walk you out with a box or something if you do that no I'm sorry what I missed the oh no you're allowed to do that on the radio like if they you got a five minute spot for Ron Hawkins and you talk to him for an hour they don't uh they don't take your take your badge? It was live to tape and then I was going to have to edit it down. It was so long that I don't think I ever

accomplished the editing part. And we talked about everything, you know, pretty much but the music. So he's an interesting guy, I guess, with my performance. Obviously a phenomenal songwriter. We watched every episode during the pandemic that he did when he was playing

live. Oh, the Tommy Douglas Tuesdays. Yeah. Tommy Douglas Tuesdays, man, that was a lifeline. And I think a lot of people started to feel like they knew Ron really well at that point. So I have huge respect for all of the guys in the low and in the book, I've got Ron, I've got

Mike McKenzie, we've got Lawrence, and past member Stephen Stanley as well. Okay, well, let's spend a minute talking about I don't want to skip him over there and lump him in with Ron. So, FOTM Lawrence Nichols, who's listening

right now. How did that go? And then, yeah, founding member Stephen Stanley, who's a good FOTM himself. Yeah, tell me about those two. I met Lawrence at that show. I had never met him before, the one in Barrie that I was talking about. You know, just such a nice, affable guy,

worked in the merch table, went to buy a couple of t-shirts ended up chatting with him a little bit and and got his first guitar story uh after going back and forth for like i think a year and a half trying to find a time that worked um and steven steven steven and i sort of connect in a few different ways. I mean, I had never actually seen him play with Lowest of the Low on it. I still haven't, in fact. I did see him play at the townhouse one time with Alan Piggins. He and Alan had traveled up and were doing separate acoustic sets and and in this really weird serendipitous way um i had gone down to toronto for a songwriters association of canada workshop and and while i was there there was a

like a busking festival of some kind and i happened to be walking by and the sign said the lowest of the low will be here at i forget forget what time it was. So I went back for that. And Stephen was the one who showed up. So we had a chat. I listened to him play for a while. Then reconnected on Facebook. I love his solo stuff. I always loved his writing and what he added to the low songs,

but his solo stuff is also really good. And through my friend Brent Jensen who also has a podcast and who's a friend of Stephen's we sort of reconnected there and I was able to get Stephen's story too and that was kind of the way things came in there was no plan I don't I had no preconceived notion about writing a book because I've never been an author before. I didn't know how I was going to approach getting people to be in the book. So I just reached out to people by hook or by crook. This is the best way, Sean.

This is how Toronto Mic'd came to be. You know you have a passion for something and you want to try something. Go see where it goes. See where it takes you. And then you start with these, you know, collecting these stories. And next thing you know, you've published a book. Like, no one can take this away from you. I'm holding it up in my hands.

We'll take a photo after this chat. And I'm holding it up for that if I can do two things at once. But this is forever. Like, this thing, you can hold it up and your, you know, great grandkids can say, hey, look, great grandpa, Sean wrote this book. Here it is. You know, one of the philosophies that I've applied to my creative pursuits is if I'm

not doing it, somebody else will be. So why not give it a go and see what happens. And that's, that was my approach with after seven years of writing songs after i learned how to play guitar uh hitting 40 and being like i'm gonna release a cd and then ended up releasing three cds uh and and it was the same thing with the book it's like i don't know how to do this but i might as well do it i mean mean, I write for a living. My day job is essentially writing. I'm in public relations and communications.

So I write a lot of corporate stuff, but I also like writing creative type stuff for social media. So it wasn't a huge leap, but I didn't, and I still don't know what I'm doing. All I know is it's working out pretty well. And thank you. I appreciate that you said that. Yes, it's now a thing.

And it will be forever. And nobody can take it away from you. But this is also, I mean, the source material is virtually limitless, right? So I have high hopes and plans for continuing this and as i've as i've alluded to i'm already talking to people about a volume two and and hoping to get uh some of the artists in that we've just mentioned i mean i've already reached out to chris murphy would love to get some of the guys from the baronet good ladies i'm hoping that this is a story that's just going to build from here because why not keep it going it's fun and it's cool and and you know this because you're an interviewer

right i mean there is uh there's a huge dopamine hit when you get somebody to say yes especially somebody you admire and and spending so many years in radio and listening to so many of these people um like when mo berg and chris abbott from the pursuit of happiness said yes and i'd have to talk to them i'm like a little kid okay let's talk about mo i'm i'm uh it just so happens the timing of this chat i'm gonna see mo tonight so tell me about chatting with mo berg wow yeah mo's a cool guy and you know, I never interviewed him, I don't think, in my radio career. I'd never had the opportunity to speak with him, but I knew he had kind of this acerbic wit about him.

And I knew I admired his songwriting. And he delivered. It was a great little conversation. And, again, one of those things where I'm able to sort of like, you know, stutter out these feelings that I have for some of them and what they've meant to me. And so he's got a really neat guitar story. And so does Chris. Chris's guitar story is amazing.

You know, how she modded this guitar that was on the I'm an Adult Now video. And I think that she said she still uses and so so talking to them was was really cool and I was able to tell him a story that my uh my dear late friend Reggie Wainman who I dedicated the book to and have dedicated all my CDs to and my whole uh my whole music career because it was his passing that led to me playing guitar because he was my guitar player um right he used to tell this story about uh moberg after the junos you know having having been in a category and not won the juno and and somebody approaching him a reporter saying are you disappointed that you didn't win the juno and him just kind of going

off on them a little bit but in this witty kind of way you know going like you think i do this for prizes i don't do this for prizes right and i told him that story and he remembered that interview so it was it was kind of cool oh very very very, very cool. And we got to make sure, because I realize now we've only talked about six FOTMs, and I counted a grand total of 16. So we're going to speed it up just a titch. But we can't speed it up when we're talking about the man who connected us. So I know you must be friendly with Blair Packham from the Jitters. Blair's awesome.

And I never met Blair until I started doing this and I reached out and he said yes right away uh I don't even know how we got connected I think that might have been another one that happened through my friend Brent um but he's he immediately like what he's just got this huge heart he wanted he just wanted to help right away um so he's like this is a great idea i'm in he gave me his story um he's the one who connected me with rick emmett rick emmett who i'm talking to tomorrow no friday sorry again this will drop at a different date than it's recorded which makes everything confusing which is why i never do that but i'm talking to rick emmett on friday Something's at the edge of your mind You don't know what it is Something you will hurt when you find

You're not sure what it is Then you hear the music And it all comes crystal clear The music does the talking Says the things you want to hear. I'm young, I'm wild, I'm free. Got the magic power of music in me. I'm young, I'm wild, I'm free

Got the magic power of music in me Am I though? Am I really talking to Rick Emmett on Friday? I know it's in my calendar. I know it was confirmed. I just triple checked. Absolutely. I had a scheduled Zoom with Rick Emmett for 11 a.m. on Friday, December 15th. Now, I'm a big fan of giving people the benefit of the doubt.

I haven't heard from Rick yet. There could be a very good excuse. I don't want to trash Rick Emmett. He's a legend in this country. I'm already getting heat for what I did to Randy Backman. I can't become the guy who goes at our legends. I respect our legends. I celebrate our legends. And Rick Emmett is a legend. And I'm sure he's got a fantastic excuse and I'm almost certain he'll be eager to jump on a zoom with me this weekend and record his return to Toronto Mike but in the meantime I will drown

my sorrows with delicious Great Lakes brewery fresh craft. FOTMs drink Great Lakes beer. And I will devour Palma Pasta because it is the most delicious authentic Italian food you can find in this country. Thank you, Palma Pasta. And I'll be listening to the first appearance by Rick

Emmett because he's been on Toronto Mike before. He's already an FOTM. I'll be listening alongside season five of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Moneris hosted by FOTM Al Grego, but I'll be listening with my fancy

schmancy Moneris wireless speaker. And I'll be measuring everything in sight with the measuring tape Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home gave me. They're pillars of the community since 1921, for goodness sake. And I'll be investing all the money TMDS has made in 2023 because of the advice I received on the Advantage Invest podcast from Raymond James, Canada. Thank you,

Chris Cooksey for that work of art. And of course I'll be recycling every piece of electronic that breaks in this house. And I've got a seven year old, I've got a nine year old. We break lots of electronics and I don't throw that stuff in the garbage. It never makes it to the landfill because I go to recycle my electronics.ca damn it. And you will too. Rick Emmett, I want you back on

Toronto mic'd. But in the meantime, here's a man who collected the story of Rick Emmett's first guitar and shared it with the masses in his own book. Back to Sean. She's got the power She's got the magic She's got the power. She's got the power. She's got the power. Yeah, nice guy.

Supplied a story right away. They both tried to hook me up with Alex Lifeson. And that hasn't happened yet. But, okay. You need a volume two. You can't burn it all in need a volume two. You can't, you know, burn it all in the first, the first volume here.

Okay. So, that covers Blair Packham and Rick, and FOTM Rick Emmett because he's been on before. But let's talk about a guitarist with one of my favorite bands

of all time. Let's talk about Paul Langlois. Yeah. Paul's got a great story. He's a, did you, I won't, I won't blow blow it i don't know if you're gonna ask him about uh you know where he's been in his career and stuff like that so

really really cool story but who paul or rick who are we talking about all paul and why well he's been here already so that happened so uh he came over it was great 90 minutes he played live it was the best yeah fascinating story on that one on his first guitar but also i'm just mind blown about the fact that his first band was the tragically hip that's wild to me i mean wow what a story so running your first at bat getting the guys from the hip was huge because well i've been listening so i know they are you know one of your favorite bands and also one of my favorite bands i've been listening to them since the video for last american exit came out on much music and just followed their career and obviously as a rock

radio announcer i've heard their songs a time or two uh i can only imagine how often, and again, don't be shy name-checking these stations you've been on. So what's the name of the station? Was it Sudbury you were on for 10 years? Yeah, Sudbury was Q92, Sudbury's best rock. And I did spend close to a year when I first moved here. I actually moved here for a job at 790 CIGM, which was Today's New new country and that was a

weird one for me because for me growing up country was sort of that old-timey or or you know sort of harder uh country and then when i when i found my way into that singer-songwriter country stuff my touchstone was always stevele. And I moved to Sudbury to work at this country station. And I could hardly find anybody that I was familiar with on their playlist. This was the time of the hat act. So, you know, Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, you know, these people. So I wasn't really that familiar with it. But the cool thing about 790 CI Jam was I also offed the Blue Jays game and I was offing the World Series. So when they won that control room,

which had exactly one person in it, it exploded with joy. I can imagine. And then I moved on to the rock station and that's where I was for close to 10 years as the midday announcer and music director, which is how I came to be familiar with and friends with a lot of people from the music industry and the record industry. And that was really helpful, too, when I realized that I should expand this book out, And I started talking to some of those people. Is this where you met Barney Bentall? I never met Barney. I think I had interviewed him once,

listened to him for years, obviously. Always loved Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. I met Barney when he came to Sudbury to play a show at the Grace Hartman Amphitheater. It was part of a concert series they were doing in the summer. And I felt like I was sick. I was so sick. And it was raining.

And I went anyway. And I had my umbrella. And I sat there and listened. And then I just had a chance to meet him afterwards. And, you know, like wouldn't shake his hand, wouldn't come close, but just, you know, told him that he was awesome again. You know, all the things that he had meant to me over the years. And when I reached out to him, he was also very receptive.

Also got his son, Dustin, in there in the family section. There's a, I broke the chapters down into sort of like, you know, these were people from the radio days. These like, you know, these were people from the radio days. These are, you know, these are friends. And there's a family section in which I also have my son and my dad. And anybody who was kind of connected had a family connection. Okay, well, that leads me. That's Jordan Barney.

Yeah, that leads me to the next name who's got a family connection. What a talented family this is, Brian Good. Yeah. Brian and Bruce and Darcy, Brian's daughter. Fantastic. They were my first concert ever, the Good Brothers. I was, I think, five, and it was at the Cap casing district high school auditorium

wow and my parents had that debut album and i loved it i loved the rabbit i didn't know what the rabbit was about i was five right um you know but i loved that one and fox on the run and they brought me down to the show i don't know if it was because they didn't have a babysitter or because they thought i'd be into it. And I fell asleep in the front row. And they thought that was hilarious. So they brought me back. We got to go backstage and they all signed

the record. And I just had these, you know, sort of obviously very vague memories of it at this point. Sadly, that record was lost in a house fire that my mom had from to smoke damage but so so they've i mean they've been part of my life their music and that memory for you know close to close to 50 years and it was just great to be able to talk to them and tell them

those stories and i hope to get some more of the goods actually for volume two. Amazing. You can't get enough goods. Now here's a name I know because Lois to the low introduced me to her. And I think she's fricking awesome. Sky Wallace. Yeah. Right.

She's, she's got such a vibe and she's just so cool. As soon as I thought of this book and as soon as I'd spoken with Ron, I wanted to get Sky in, and she was in right away with her first guitar story as well. I had no idea who she was. She opened that show in Barrie where I saw the low, and I amazing

just mouth agape basically She is so good Alright I'm glad to see you connected with a gentleman his name comes up all the time on Toronto Mike because of how he's connected be it to his production side with Rusty's Fluke or

Chalk Circle April Fool and of course his own work with Blue Peter, but you had Chris Wardman on the program. Yeah. On the program. Now I'm talking like you've got a podcast. Okay. Obviously you had Chris Wardman in the book and that's kind of a program. Okay. Tell me about Chris. Chris, I knew of peter um obviously as a fan of 80s music and that was one that i just called i basically just reached out to chris on facebook and was like here's what i'm doing um are you interested in providing a story we became friends on facebook and chris provided the story And that's pretty much it.

Like some of the ways we met aren't that interesting. It was just me at that point being reaching out. Like I said, no plan. But hey, Chris Wardman, why not? Let's see if Chris will say yes. And again, I did listen to the podcast episode that had, uh-oh, gapping on lead singer's name from Chalk Circle. But the funny story was good.

Sorry? Chris Tate. Yeah, Chris Tate. And the funny story where you had booked another Chris Tate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was funny. I listened to both of those. You know, that's never happened before.

And I can't imagine it would happen again because I can't imagine a scenario where the wrong person's at the door and you don't realize it by looking at them. Like it was a perfect storm of me not quite being sure what Chris Tate looked like these days and assuming that, oh, this guy must be Chris Tate. Like who am I to judge? I had a few stories like that, Mike, when I was doing, when I was getting stories for this book.

I had Brian Heatherman connect me with Saul Costa from My Darkest Days, although I didn't know this at the time. And they kind of hit after I left radio. I had no idea who I was talking to. I just knew this was a really nice guy. Right. And he had a cool guitar story. And he's like, well, you know, what years were you in radio? And I told him, he's like, yeah, no.

So you wouldn't have played any of our stuff. And I was like, yeah, no, I guess not. I didn't realize that these guys, how massive the success they had had was until, you know, after I talked to him and i googled them i was like holy shit well sean okay so i'm going through your book to pluck out the fotms by the way of which there are four remaining and then a name that strikes me right like near the beginning of your book is that you talk to a chap named brad giffen and yeah so i'm reading about Brad Giffen and I'm thinking, oh, I just talked to a different Brad Giffen.

He used to host Toronto Rocks and then he was on CTV News. He's kind of a known personality in this country. But yeah, like you could get switched up pretty easy in this little pond we live in here. Absolutely. Yeah. Brad is with a band called Fortunate Losers. They're really, I think you may end up talking to them because they're really coming on.

And I had worked with his dad in the early days of radio. We spent a lot of time shining up the bar with the sleeves of our coats. Love it. Love it so much. Okay. Let's talk about a sweetheart in this uh country uh one in any country a sweetheart in this on this planet kurt swinghammer kurt i got connected with through uh my friend carl jorgensen who spent years and years in campus radio and working at cbc

so that was how i met kurt i just was talking to Carl. I said, hey, can you think of anybody I should talk to? And he was like, talk to Kurt Swinghammer. And Kurt was great about just sending me a story. And yeah, I know you interviewed Kurt because I listened to that one as well. He biked over for that one. And you got to get Kurt to paint you a picture about

his first guitar because that'll be worth something one day. Yeah, what a talent. I do find that. Barney Bentall day yeah what a talent eh i do find that barney bentall actually sent me a few of his drawings too um and i do find that about artistic people yeah well ron hawkins does a lot of painting now too like i noticed this is the big side hustle now for musicians in this country is some kind of art yeah tom wilson awesome of course i'm sure a number of number of the artists in this book could probably draw you something

or paint you a little something. That is not a skill that I have. But it's never too late to learn. Okay, here is a legend, Leona Boyd, or should I say FOTM Leona Boyd. That one came to me through Eric Alper. Yeah. Eric was able to connect me, who I think is also an FOTM Leona Boyd. That one came to me through Eric Alper. Yeah. Eric was able to connect me, who I think is also an FOTM.

Oh, big time. And a big, big, big supporter of this program. So shout out to the big E. Yeah. And, you know, that was great. Eric sent a few pretty notable names my way. And Leona, she was wonderful. She wrote her own story.

And I remember seeing Leona at the Centre de l'Oisir in Capuscasing as part of the Rotary Club concert series that my mother used to drag me to by the ear. I never wanted to go to it when I was a kid. And she was always like, you live in campus casing and this is an opportunity to see some culture and you're going to get culture. And I never wanted to go. And I went and saw Leona Boyd and thought,

wow, I'm really glad that I came to this. She was amazing. All right. I'm going glad that I came to this. She was amazing. All right, I'm going to guess this next name came through Eric Alper. You can confirm or deny. Mark Jordan. No, Mark? Well, maybe you did.

Because he's a big Eric Alper guy, I think, Mark. Yeah, but Mark is also a guy that my, the friend that I mentioned, James, also follows and is friends with on Facebook. So it may have come through him or it may have come through Eric. But another one where it was like, I just, you know, I'm so grateful to have a guy like Mark. Because Mark is this huge talent that I think flies under the radar, you know, with his contribution to Canadian music and pop music.

I've heard, I'm going to start a rumor now. You ready, Sean, a little rumor on our way out here with one name to go a little rumor. I heard an FOTM, a notable filmmaker who is also an FOTM may be working on a Mark

Jordan. No, you know what? I'm now going to dampen my own rumor. Not a notable... A filmmaker... I won't say notable. I'm removing the word notable.

A filmmaker FOTM may be working on a documentary about Mark Jordan. I'm just going to... I feel like that... I'm going to put that rumor out there that there may be a Mark Jordan piece of film in the works.

I think that would be great. I don't think enough people get documentaries and biographies made about them because, again, in the spirit of this book, and I know in the spirit of your podcast too, people don't have to be super ultra famous to have interesting stories. It's nice to have a seed of something that you can jump off of, but I think people's life stories are generally pretty fascinating. Everybody has had experiences that, you know, that are interesting and that are compelling

in my opinion. I'm starting one more rumor here. Okay. Now, so that was a FOTM filmmaker who may be working on a mark jordan project but there is another more notable filmmaker who is an fotm who is perhaps making a documentary about a and a polarizing fotm who is is a well regarded in many circles aging punker who recently visited and

that might also be in the works so I'm starting to I want to be everybody take note I'm starting two rumors here today okay so Sean thank you for that now here it is the last name on the list he's got connections to Tom Wilson and tell me about Stephen Frearing.

Well, Stephen came out of that conversation that I had with Alan Moy when he offered to hook me up with the rest of the guys in Blackie. And Stephen and I went back and forth. Stephen, I don't think, he wasn't really sure that he was going to contribute to the book. It was during the pandemic. Everybody was very busy. You know, everybody had other stuff that they were doing. And, you know, I realized after the fact that it was a pretty big ask. Like, you know, for me, it's just, oh, it's 300 words about your first guitar.

But for other people, you know, this is, you know, they're public facing and they really have to think about this and there might be a lot of emotion wrapped up in it. So it took me a while to get Stephen to say yes. And when I said finally, like, look, can we just, like, I'm happy to talk to you for 10, 15 minutes and interview you. And he was like, yeah, okay, let's do it that way. And that really sort of, that was the cherry on top.

And it was important because I wanted to have all of the blackie guys. And I think Steven is the last story in the book. He's the last story in the book. And he's the final story about the book and he's the, uh, the final story about, uh, an FOTM, Sean. And,

uh, I, I really do hope people go to, uh, it's first guitars.ca. Yes. First guitar. You got a good domain name.

Good. So first guitar, it's funny. I was giving out the domain name for, um, not the number. Yeah. The URL for like how to buy tickets to this event at the opera house that

Alan Frew is playing at. And it's like, oh, there's no, like there is no like easy place to send them. Like obviously you can search it on Ticketmaster, but I did have from the publicist, they sent me this tiny URL and I'm like,

I got to read this like whole thing here. No, just go to firstguitars.ca, grab a copy or two for the guitar aficionado in your life. And it sounds like there'll be more volumes coming. You found yourself something cool here. Maybe one day this becomes a podcast. Who knows?

You got, you can go anywhere with this. Maybe it's a, maybe it's a crave series that everybody is binging at the holiday season. Who knows what's the future for you? Yeah. You're kind of reading my mind there, Mike. So I hope we have the opportunity

to talk about that at some point in the future. Well, if I ever find myself in Sudbury, and I hope I do at some point, I'll look you up and then we'll finally get our photo together in person. But I did appreciate the chat. Any final words for FOTMs listening as we wind down? And, you know, originally I was thinking half an hour.

It's a Toronto microcast. But no, this is a full episode because we're pushing an hour now. But, Sean, any final words for the listenership on our way out here? Sure. You know, this isn't just a book for guitar players. This is a book for music fans in general, I think. There's a lot of stories about the beginnings of some of their favorite artists and legendary Canadian artists, American artists.

I've even got a few Brits thrown in. And this is going to keep going, and I'm not going to be limiting it to people who are famous. I hope to provide insight to people about, you know, the guitar player in their life and why they have so many guitars, but have a story about that first one. And I hope it encourages somebody like you mentioned, you know, maybe to pick up a guitar and have their own first guitar story that maybe they can put in volume 10. And as I pick it up again, just randomly picked a page. I ended up on page 104.

And I see the name Sean Clark, which is a name. That means I wonder how many FOTMs. Maybe this is a game people can play. When I ran through the book and I jotted down all the FOTMs, how many did I miss? Because I miss Sean. Sean's a great FOTM. He kicked out the jams on Toronto Mike.

And I wonder how many others I missed. I'm going to have to reread it, find out all the missing FOTMs for this, for the sequel. But it was a pleasure. Sean Kelly's in it. Sean Kelly is in it. Yeah, but I've never actually,

I know I mentioned him as a future guest, but he's a future FOTM, Sean Kelly because Midtown Gord won't rest until I do that. So it's happening. And he's apparently because Midtown Gord, who's a listener of Toronto Mic'd, is a big Lee Aaron fanatic, like an unbelievable.

Okay. And Sean Kelly plays for Lee Aaron. So there's a big connect there. But yeah, Sean Kelly will be a guest on Toronto Mike, but I can't put him in the FOTM category quite yet. But you're now in the category. So Sean Barrett, thanks so much. It was good getting to know you

and learning more about this cool book you put together. And congrats on making something. Like it's easy to talk about it and think about it, but you did it, buddy. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. And you know what? If I could just, my final thought,

Toronto Mike, fantastic. And you were an early adop adopter you've been doing this for a long time you were way ahead of the curve and i love your show i really do it's great so i hope you keep at it too and i would encourage every single person who's in this book if they want to be on that podcast to say yes because it's been a great experience and I really appreciate it, man. And that brings us to the end of our 1,393rd show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. Much love to all who made this possible.

That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Raymond James Canada, Moneris, Recycle My Electronics, and Ridley Funeral Home. Maybe the next episode is Rick Emmett when he realizes he's made a huge mistake

Or maybe it's Cam Gordon My guest on Monday night See you then Well I wanna take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been?

Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the snow won't stay today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray