Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Friendly Rich: Toronto Mike'd #1222

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

In this 1222nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Friendly Rich about his career in music. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Hi. Welcome to episode 1222. That's 1222 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, making his Toronto mic debut, is Friendly Rich. Hi. Are you friendly, Friendly Rich?

I hope so. I hope so. I think so, you know. I get along well with strangers and old friends, so let's do it. But did you give yourself the nickname, the moniker Friendly, or was that granted upon you

by people who felt you were a friendly guy? It was an old friend took my face and slapped it on the friendly giant. Oh, Bob Homey. Years ago. Wow. And he said, friendly rich. And he made a poster. And because I was friendly to strangers, it kind of stuck.

So here we are. I loved the friendly giant. Oh, the best, right? Just like when he put that chair out for me like that was for me man yeah i was gonna get cozy in front of the fire yeah yeah it's comfort comfort food in a way yeah and the rooster and jerome the yes yeah i mean there's a certain like now i know you're you're vintage like there's only that certain i don't know yeah age that can relate like this to the friendly giant. You're not too old for it. You're not too young for it.

You're right there in the wheelhouse. It's kind of timeless. And you know, he wouldn't do public appearances because he didn't want kids to realize he wasn't a giant. He's just an average-sized man. So he wouldn't appear at events or in front or uh like in front of like schools and stuff like that because he wanted to keep the myth that's kind of smart yeah because you're gonna see this guy he's the same he's shorter than my principal what the wtf what's going on right right and then kids what would you believe like can i believe in anything right no the answer is no okay so you're friendly but are you rich uh i i do well i do well for uh

really for a weirdo artist you know i try my best i punch above my weight and i weigh enough okay okay i had no i didn't see that coming i just assumed you were like every other artist in this country and you were coming here basically for the Palma Pasta so you could actually have a meal. Well, I am Italian of Italian descent. So the Palma Pasta resonates. Well, listen, since I just dropped that hint, you will leave here today. Mr. Friendly Rich, you will leave here with a large lasagna.

It's frozen. It's in my lasagna. It's going home with you. You're going to enjoy some Palma Pasta. That's exciting. I know. I'm not done yet you. You're going to enjoy some Palma pasta. That's exciting. I know. I'm not done yet. Look, I want to give you some fresh craft beer.

You're leaving here with Great Lakes beer. Really? Yep. Wow, you are very generous. I love this. You had no idea. You had no idea. No, I'm loving it.

Thank you. So you're literally here for the conversation. You're not here for the pasta and the beer. I'm going to say say it's a power trio i'm here for all of it at this point yeah i'll take it but your name is richard yes that's the real rich that makes you friendly rich yes okay good now that we're learning a lot about you today uh leave a fumka writes in when uh leave a fumka learn that friendly rich was finally making his toronto mic debut she's asking uh is there a an unfriendly version like an unfriendly rich out there i often when i'm on stage i'm barking at people and uh i can come off as abrasive and possibly unfriendly yes it comes up a lot okay we have so much So I know there's a lot of people listening right now are like,

who's friendly Rich and what stages are we on and how did he get so wealthy? And I have a note in here. The handle on Twitter is MySchoolRocks. Okay. That's fantastic, Toronto Mike.

Yes. I had the pleasure of knowing Rich and his brother since high school. Right. What high school did you go to? I went to St. Thomas Aquinas in Brampton, Ontario. Shout out to Brampton. Yes.

He's a supremely talented, funny, and engaging artist. Oh, very kind. I was wondering how the Regent Park Children's Choir is going. It's going very well. We're still standing post-pandemic um yeah so i work at the region park school of music i'm the executive director there among many other hats that i wear so i've been doing that for 13 years and um it's a passion project for sure and still give us a bit more like what is it yeah uh It's a community music school. So it's over 800 students across the city who may not otherwise have access to music education,

get a free music lesson once a week. Personally, that's amazing because one of the great, well, before the pandemic, it was actually falling, like music in schools. Yeah. It's disappearing. Yeah. So good on you because there's so much evidence that how it nourishes, nurtures a child and how good it is for their development to learn an

instrument. Oh yeah. It's saved my life on many occasion and, and I've seen it like being there 13 years now, that's like a generation of kids and I've seen it kind of transform communities, not only Regent Park, but we're also in Jane Finch and other neighborhoods. So yeah, it's dear to my heart and I could talk all night about that. You know, it's really, really fun work and tough work too, you know. Each of my kids came home with a recorder.

Yeah, yeah. But I never got a recorder. Like how did I miss the recorder part of primary school? Really? Yeah, I never got a recorder. Like, how did I miss the recorder part of primary school? Really? Yeah, I never got a recorder. And watching The Friendly Giant didn't make you want to, like, go back there and pick up the old rooster? Of course it did.

But so no one nurtured my musical gift. Yeah. Oh. I'm just saying, at St. Pius in the 80s, I did not receive a recorder. But, I mean, I just assume now everyone gets that recorder for a week or whatever the heck it is. St. Pius, though. That's a fun name for a school, eh?

Yeah. And not just St. Pius, but the 10th. There were nine Piuses before this guy. Were you an altar boy? No. Were you? Yeah. Are you okay?

No, not really. Do you want to talk about that? Not really. In fact, there's a group. Kevin Bright invited me to this group, and I felt like it was being, I don't know, brought into some secret cult. But it was a group of ex-Catholics, but primarily, I guess.

Like lapsed Catholics. Like lapsed Catholics, but Catholic musicians who were altar boys when they were kids. And going to this lunch, it was a dinner. It was amazing. It was in Wayne Fleet. And it was like...

Where's Wayne Fleet? Just... I think it's near Welland. Okay, I'll take your word for it. And that's where the canal is. Right. Good. It was amazing.

And what a meal, first off. But like intelligentsia of uh toronto or gta musicians who were once altar boys was mike baguski there uh didn't see him there no uh only through yes i do through mutual friends musician he went to my high school oh neat neat neat saint pius okay so you know no no saint pius is a primary school. Ah, okay. Michael Power. And his brother was in my class, Mark Boguski. Wow. Shout out to Blue Rodeos. Yes, yes.

Mike Boguski. Okay, so he finishes this. My school rocks. And again, everybody, we're going to learn who the hell is this fine-looking bearded gentleman who's in my basement right now. And he's working with the Regent Park Children's Choir. As if that's not enough, we're going to learn more. I have a lot of music queued up too okay uh in fact my school rocks

wraps up his lovely note by saying this will rock being too long since i heard friendly rich okay well tell my school rock you got new music you can hear right i do yeah shut it down now and we'll talk about it later okay end of the month march 31st 2023 a new record i've been working for a few years now on it it's called man out of time whoa exciting okay awesome we're gonna hear some choice cuts from that uh release in i don't know about a half an hour cam brio writes in this will be the second musicologist on the show so i will read Cam's note, but I will interject here and there my own thoughts, which is, are you

friendly? Morgan, I'm downstairs. I'm the only adult in the house. The sweet, just-turned seven-year-old might come down and ask a question, but that's okay. I like it. Brad Roberts was just on the show from Casha's Dummies. You should hear this episode just to hear the new york traffic

oh yeah like he had his windows closed and everything but it sounds like he's in the middle of like time squares sounds great so nice so come down if you need something okay so cambrio uh so are you a musicologist friendly rich no i mean i have a PhD in music education, which is not musicology, but close enough. Okay, because Mike Daly came on the show. Yeah. And he is a musicologist. Yes. So we're now like, I mean, I'm kind of leading the charge against people who are simply,

maybe they're music knowledgeable in the field of music, or maybe they're passionately interested in music, but are using the term musicologist because this is a very specific study. Yeah. So you're not a musicologist, but you do have a PhD in music. That's right. Dr. Dick. Cambria wants to know,

what's your favorite venue to play in Toronto? I'm going to say the Cameron House. I don't have to think twice. It is the Cameron House. For sure. It's such a beautiful uh historic pillar in the city and they've since day one uh just made time for weirdos like me to develop and foster their voice in music so i can't thank them enough you know do you know justin rutledge sure like you

know him personally i should say i met him at a wedding in october at a good friend of mine uh who's waiting uh tom yuhas and joan smith shout out to them they got married at the cameron house and justin was there because he plays with them okay or they play with him i guess that's amazing uh richard flohill was just here he takes a well he's partial credit in getting uh justin rutledge is uh like a record deal at some point oh neat neat neat neat yeah no it's a special place it's a small venue but it packs a punch right yeah and did you know that uh dave hodge's favorite musical artist of all time is mr justin rutledge i did not know that dave hodge like the hockey dave the one and only wow cambria wants to know what's the smallest venue you've ever played

i played uh a whole wagon down by the river in germany in a place called offenbach it's it was called wagon halle and when we first wheeled up there with like harps and a drum kit like a we were like a five-piece band we were all like kind of down on it going like is this what the music gods have given us that we're playing a five-piece band we were all like kind of down on it going like is this what the music gods have given us that we're playing a wagon down by the river like really but then it was like you get talking about it and tours since then we've been like yeah we got to play that wagon down by the river like it's such a cool spot so that that one stands out for me very small like i think it would fit 20 people in it at most,

but amazing shows in there. Well, if you ever play my basement, that could be the new answer, I think. There's been several wonderful artists that played this site. Really? With one person in attendance, and that's me, myself, and I. I guess that's three people. Are you familiar?

This is still Cambrio. He's got a few more. Are you familiar with Dan Mgan's uh side door access yeah i'm familiar i've heard of it he wants to know his question is could it be successful i don't know enough about it i know that it's like a presenting like house tour kind of or no i it affiliates with venues and stuff like Listen, we need that kind of thinking in 2023 to keep the live music scene alive. In a lot of ways, you see it thriving in the city, but in a lot of other ways,

you see it struggling to figure out who it is coming out of the pandemic. So I'm down and I'm supportive, and I think artists like Dan Mangan getting their hands a little dirty with that side of the music industry is actually kind of healthy because sometimes you need the artists pushing a little dirty with that side of the music industry is actually quite kind of healthy because

sometimes you need the artists pushing and and and uh leading leading the charge so i i applaud it i don't know enough about it though i i don't know if it's for me per se but i think it's really healthy for the the scene in general all right friendly rich we're gonna go uh back in time come with me hold my hand we're going back to the wonderful decade that is the 1990s. Amazing. What is the King Stanislav show? Oh my God. Okay.

I did, friends and I made like clay animated, you know, children's shows and it was a, it was a children's show and it got picked up.

It was like a Russian kids show. And I did the music for it. It aired in Russia early day. Yeah. In Russia, like 94 early days. Yeah. Early days of my career.

I just landed these weird things. They just sort of fell on my lap. Is that your first, like, uh, I don't know what thing you did that would appear on a, you know, a scoring.

Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was, yeah. So then, okay. So you know a scoring yeah yeah it was it was yeah so then okay so you're uh big deal in russia composing music for the king canis so okay so you're obviously you're from brampton i am the home of culture herself and you always uh knew you'd work

in music or was this your calling for sure like it helped me um i think music has played that role in my life that it's always kept me uh it's allowed it's that self-expression that has like saved me time and time again from i think losing my shit so uh yeah i'm super thankful uh to have that outlet you know i've been doing it since i was 11 so wow yeah how like approximately how old are you and they must be a pretty young man when you're doing music for the king stanislav show yeah i'm like i'm like late high school wow so i don't know okay good for you man yeah good for you now here's a name you know i'm not as familiar with the king stanislav show as i should be but i definitely watched uh well i didn't watch it on my mtv actually but i watched it on cableable 10. But Tom Green Show. Yeah.

What did you do for the Tom Green Show that aired on MTV? I did music for, I think it was like three seasons, like background music. Stuff that I was doing for the King Stan Show anyway got recycled and I threw him all, literally all the music that I'd ever made on like CDRs and mailed them down to Ottawa. And he used it all on the comedy network.

I gave it away for like, you know, a $5 a piece of music. And then when he went to MTV, he kept being loyal to me and it ended up like paying for my house in my first house. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. God bless the music industry there's a good i always felt like you'd be a great toronto my guest and i dm'd with him back and forth and then logistically i don't know if he was i don't think he wanted to you know visit my basement to be quite honest like maybe if you vouch for it or something oh my god you're surrounded by pasta and beer and hospitality yes let's just. Yes. It's a safe space and you can just hang out for an hour or so and shoot the breeze with Toronto Mike. And I know he spends a lot of time here. Like, has he moved here? He's in.

Yeah, he's moved back to the Ottawa region. He's back in Ottawa. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So this is a big step up for you because the King Stanislav show.

Yeah. Yeah. Russian TV series. Yeah. Yeah. Then you're doing the Tom Green show. Like, that's quite big step up for you because the king stanislav show yeah this russian tv series yeah and then then you're doing the tom green show like that's quite the step up i'm super thankful just for all of these kind of things that i mean not that i haven't hustled in life but things like tom green and others have just kind of um right place right time and i am super thankful for those connections and those experiences and they all lead to other things and new friends and new experiences and i it's just kind of like helped kind of kick off my my career in making weird strange music you know so i'm giving you permission you can name drop

uh as much as you want like i enjoy the name drop and if you want to interject with like it's not bragging to like sort of i don't know celebrate your bio or like your cv or whatever i know some canadians some crazy canadians think like they need to be humble all the time right like i like that shit but i am going to play a clip i pulled uh this is uh this is the nation's music station. So we'll listen and then we can talk over this and bring it down. Oh, wow. The Brad TV Christmas extravaganza continues here from Much Music headquarters. Corner Queen and John, Toronto, Ontario, Friendly Rich and the Canadian All-Stars with me.

How you doing? Pretty good, Rich, you? I'm stoked. Rich and I have known each other for a couple years now and we've been chatting throughout this year looking for an opportunity for the two of us to come together and give a little something back. I mean, I give

back where I'm at and he gives back where he's at. There's the recorder. Yeah, I'm jealous. Okay, he just dropped the year. Again, if you want to, you can just raise it up like a conductor here. Sorry. Did you ever see Tar? No, not yet.

No, it's good. Okay. Hold on. Oh, Geddy Lee. Right. Great man. Hold on. We're here to pay tribute. Oh, Geddy Lee. Let's do so. The other night, we went out. Right. Out and about. Traipsed about the neighborhood, caroling in the cold, hoping to share our gift with Geddy Lee. Take a look at this here on Bradford.

So I watched this. You're looking for Geddy Lee's house. So what am I listening to? One of my early bands on Much Music. I don't know when that would be, but. He said it was Christmas 2002. Oh, wow. You're good.

Okay. Well, he said it. Bradford House. You're a great listener, he said it, Bradford House. You're a great listener. You still friends with Bradford? Yes, yes. What's up with Bradford? He's moved to the US.

He's still doing his thing. We lost another one. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. But a lovely soul, and all those old bunch of music crew, like him, Strombo, like all of them are really, I think, in my universe loosely, you know,

and that was a lot of fun. You friendly with the sock? No. Kim, Strombo, like all of them are really, I think, in my universe loosely, you know. What about the sock? You friendly with the sock? No. I mean, maybe came across him once or twice, but not much, not much. Respect him to the end, you know. Yeah, Steve Kersner. He said something very nice about me on Twitter yesterday. Is that right?

Yeah. Okay, wow. This is fresh. Yeah, absolutely. He's a little bit, I think I'm going to use the word bitter. Yeah, maybe. Because 299 Queen Street is a documentary that's coming out. Oh, right.

Imminently, it's going to be on Crave. Yeah. And it's like about 299 Queen Street, about the much music people there. Yeah. But Steve Kersner, who is Ed the Sock, was not invited to participate. And he sent a note to the director like why wasn't I invited and never heard back so

now I'm interested to know who was invited and who wasn't yeah interesting interesting like why aren't you talking to Ed the Sock right

right yeah I don't know I don't know how that stuff goes but Bradford how yeah man Bradford and then we're gonna

get back to you Bradford's super supportive and he let me drink like I don't know I might have drank like 8 liters of eggnog that night as part of that and it was a mess we made a real mess there like it was i mean look tom green was in the air i was a shit disturber back then you know so it got it got ugly at times 2002 is a crazy time like we were dropping our words and we were all like uh

you know gently homophobic and it was like like we're looking back it's like uh that's complete madness yeah it was pretty it was pretty wild um but you know much music was also like they let me in periodically to do weird things like this you know they do come out to the arts festival i used to do a an independent arts festival in brampton and i remember um strombo did a feature on that too. And it was like, it was just pretty cool to be like picked up periodically and, and a light Sean on the weird stuff, you know,

which is appreciated. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So can I, can I, like, again,

it's going to be a little random here, but I'm going to play something, man. I'm going to play something. What am I going to play? I'm going to play this. to play I'm going to play this yes I'm

I'm excited because this song is on the set list I'm going to be playing in a couple of weeks in Louisville, Kentucky. Okay, let's hear a bit more and we'll talk about it. Let's do it. Round two. The Ballad of George Shavalo. Uh-huh. So, yeah, how do you describe your music? And then we'll get to the song.

But how would you describe your music, Friendly Rich? Oh, boy. There is anthropology involved, you know, where I say formally I'm not a musicologist. I'm paying attention to what's around me. And, like, George Shavalo, like, someone's got to write a song about him. And I'm proud to say in this case

it was me you know I love just kind of telling weird stories and sharing he's a heroic figure I also did like a four part suite called the Terry Fox suite I love Terry Fox me too buddy you know what we're almost the same person except I have no

musical talent thanks to the fact I never had a fucking recorder yeah you needed that recorder it's not too late That's the good news Oh bless your heart Okay So George Chiavallo There's an entire episode

Of Toronto Mic'd About George Chiavallo But George wasn't well enough To be the guest It's Mitch Chiavallo His son Oh sick His only surviving son

Of course Because of the tragedy In the Chiavallo family Yes So people who want to Learn more about George Listen to the ballad Of George Chiavallo

From Friendly Rich And then go find that tribute to George Cavallo. I'm digging that up. Thank you. So would they air this video on MuchMusic? Is there a video? Yes, there is. I shouldn't say that.

I watched the video. There is a video. And no, they didn't air it. MuchMusic was long gone. Are you really friendly? Show me your driver's license. No, no, it's AI. I just had an AI representative show up and do the interview for it.

No, there's... Much music was long gone. I mean, it's nice to have survived past much music. You feel like George Chiavello in the arts, right? Surviving past the actual broadcast corporation that would support us or the newspapers in some instances

that would support us or the venues. What newspapers would support you? Can I guess? Now Toronto. Now weekly. I and Now used to be pretty good but now we're done.

Now it's like survival of the fittest. You know, we really are done. There's no alt. I mean, now they bought the logo. This guy, Brandon Gomez and his group bought the logo, but for now Toronto, but now weekly, but it's not at all anything in the spirit of what now was. Yes, exactly. It's just a logo, basically.

But there's folks like you doing the good work. It's a domain name. Yeah. I'm trying, man. It's a different thing. And you know what? Maybe equally exciting. Maybe even more.

You get pasta. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's right. Now never gave anybody. This shit's pasta powered. Pasta from Palma. know what maybe equally exciting maybe even more you get pasta yeah well yeah that's right now never gave anybody uh this shit's pasta powered pasta from palm up they catered my daughter's birthday on the weekend palm up pasta delicious love it we had penne my daughter loves this penne with rosé sauce and i had a meat lasagna and some uh baby cow you know this say that again now baby cow baby cow like mortadella parmesan okay a little oh a little baby cow? Baby cow, like mortadella? What are we talking about? Oh, okay.

Oh, that little baby cow, yes. Baby cow, okay. So, wow, now I want to... Ten rounds, the Ballad of George Ciavello. Ten rounds. Never got knocked down, this man. No, no, no. And he's still with us. That's right, he's still with us.

His Mitchell Post photos, he's not... Yeah, yeah. He's not bad. I don't know. You know who he's good buds with? John Gallagher. Do you know this character, John Gallagher? Sure, sure, sure. Is that not bad. I don't know. You know who he's good buds with? John Gallagher. Do you know this character, John Gallagher? Sure, sure, sure.

Is that not much music related as well? City TV. Yeah, okay. Like, I don't think he ever did much stuff, but it's his 299 Queen Street for sure. Yeah, yeah. He was on Q107 and stuff. I'm going to ask you about another guy

who's kind of been invited into 299 Queen who's kind of a funky character, and I want to know what you think of him. James B. Yes. What say you? That's why I rotated and I want to know what you think of him. James B. Yes! What say you? That's why I rotated, I don't know if you saw here, but I had Maestro Fresh West there and I rotated my vinyl a minute ago to put the look

people in the front. Oh yeah, great. There's James B. right there. Shout out to Kevin Hearn. He's a good FOTM. What say you about James B.? Do you think he's famous? And then tell me what you think of him. I don't know. Sure. I'm going to say he's famous. I agree with you. I think he's famous and then tell me what you think of him um i don't know sure i'm gonna say he's famous okay i agree with you i think he's totally um he's a role model uh he's been a great supporter of my brand of weird like i'm playing a show at the old mill on april 12th in support

of the unison fund where he's put me kind of dueling with Fred Speck off set. So I do a set, Fred does a set. I do a set, Fred does a set. And not a lot of people are taking chances like that. So I applaud what he's doing. And I think he's a big inspiration. You know, he did a Christmas record through the pandemic where I got to sing alongside Mary Margaret O'Hara.

Wow. What an honor. So he's a legend. Yeah. And he's an FOTM. You are also friendly, Rich. You are an FOTM. That means you are a friend of Toronto Mike.

Oh, boy. You and James B. So you're in good company. And Kevin Hearn, of course. How exciting. How exciting. I'm just going to play something else and then we're going to learn more about you.

This is fun. I think you're fascinating. Here we go. We'll see if you recognize anything I play. Yes. Is going from Chimsey Beach From the Yacht At the Market Is this with the Lollipop people?

Yeah. What am I listening to? Yeah, that's from my Bountiful record, and that was one of the singles. It's called Sausage Samba. The Lollipop people, yeah. I mean, that was one of the bands that would play very regularly at the Cameron House, this band. Featuring Nick, yeah. I mean, that was one of the bands that would play very regularly

at the Cameron House, this band. Featuring Nick, that's Nicholas Robertson on the guitar and Sly Uhas on the drums, yeah. Okay. And these lyrics. Morta Della Meep is dead donkey. Great, some deep shit. Wow. great deep some deep shit wow so like the lollipop people you just uh you just you're

just running the same circle and you said let's collaborate uh no i mean all of it goes back to those early much music days actually you know tell me the story well sly yuhas is the drummer on that session where i'm pouring eggnog all over my head and, and, and, and I've remained loyal to as many musicians as I can. So it's kind of like making long time friend, like that's over 20 years,

um, making friends through music. It's what Dave Clark from the real statics and the wood choppers and the woodshed orchestra has taught me. And I love that. I love that, that that's a, that's a That's a good kind of mantra for us weirdo musicians or any community-minded musician.

And so this band you're hearing now, I am still in touch with. There's Steve Ward and Scott Thompson on trombone. Yeah, so many dear friends. That's why we do it. Thompson on trombone and yeah, so many dear friends, you know, um, that's why we do it. It's equal to the music I make is the adventures and the kind of connections it fosters. Yeah. Okay, tell me what's... Again, I'm jumping around. You can guide me anywhere you want.

But Tom Fitzgerald had a film called Three Needles. Oh, yeah. Lucy Liu's in this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did some... Before you go, Lucy Liu is in Charlie's Angels with Drew Barrymore, who was married to Tom fucking Green. Yeah, what's going on here?

Okay, I didn't even make that connection. But yeah, first off, the director, the guy who animated that video for Sausage Samba is a weapon. His name is Smearballs, Nick Dembore. He's here in Toronto, and he's insane. He worked for Conan. He's doing a lot of stuff with Deadmau5 and a bunch of others. He's just amazing.

Flying Lotus, you name it, the list is long. But yeah, yeah, the Three Needles, they used, I think, three of my tunes from my first record, Where the Baker Sleeps and other tracks. So it's exciting. These things kind of come from just i don't know where they come from right these connections it's it's kind of neat but you're friendly maybe that is your secret weapon maybe that is a good rule i find it's we're supposed to be nice to each other right um so i can understand like that whole thing

you were talking about with ed the sock is unfortunate because like i have like i sent like a nasty note to um here's a lesson i sent a nasty note to the montreal pop uh what is it called pop montreal because i sent i brought two van fulls of music like a big ensemble like a 12 piece ensemble down to pop montreal like 20 years ago now 15 maybe or more and um they put us us and the silver hearts in the smallest venue in montreal barfly and i just thought it was really i don't know maybe i was like young and aspirational but i just thought it was a bad fit i i knew what they were going for of like putting us in a dive bar but like it didn't feel good. They didn't put us up

in a hotel. So we ended up driving home back to Toronto that night. And it was just like a really weird experience. And I wrote them a really nasty email, you know,

and guess what? They never invited us back to play the Pop Montreal. And I kind of learned that as like how many of us burn our own bridges or make our own beds like I I live with that in the back of my mind and just go yeah that was probably the wrong move you know

but you still need to stand up for yourself as an artist but I know it's such a small like I mean even on the show when I have people on and everyone gets everyone's connected somehow and I realize like this country of ours I guess we're 35 strong, but it might as well be a little village. Like everything is connected. You can't afford to burn a bridge. Imagine you were in radio and you got mad at Bell Media. Well, you just lost one third of your job opportunities. And then Rogers doesn't want to touch you because of how you treated Bell Media.

And next thing you know, what are you going to do? You're going to leave the industry. Yeah, I think so. So it's like try to be friendly. Try to be nice to people. You got to leave the industry. Yeah, I think so. So it's like, try to be friendly, try to be nice to people, you know, don't get walked over. You know,

I agree. Like there, there comes a time when you got to stick up for yourself, but you know, you learn a valuable lesson. Okay. Now, how did Tom Fitzgerald come to know you?

Just that you're a friendly guy. Yeah. You know what? I honestly can't remember. It's just like these things. I love tracing forget about like not even tom fitzgerald or other other other filmmakers or anything it's like how sometimes i'll go up to a musician who i've known for 20 years and go like how did we meet in the first

place it's just like it blurs it becomes almost like a soup where it's like that but that is your universe right and it's a beautiful thing now Now he, I see here he is, because I always thought he was American. He is American, but he resides in Nova Scotia now, for example, Tom Fitzgerald. And he has like, he's kind of an American Canadian now. Okay, smart choice. I'm just on his wiki page to learn.

Look at you. This is great. Yeah, no, well, I'm learning about Tom Fitzgerald. Maybe I'll reach out after this and just say, hey, man. Yeah, he's in Nova Scotia for goodness sakes. That's nice to hear, yeah. No, well, I'm learning about Tom Fitzgerald. Maybe I'll reach out after this and just say, hey, man. Yeah, he's in Nova Scotia, for goodness sakes. That's nice to hear, actually. Yeah, so he's from New York. You know where I get along nicely with a lot of strangers?

Maritimes. Yeah, man. But everyone does. You don't even have to be friendly. Exactly. There's no assholes coming out of the Maritimes. Amen to that. Amen to that.

As far as I know. Maybe Brad Marchand. I don't know. But there's not too many. out of the maritimes amen to that amen to that as far as i know maybe brad marshall i don't know but there's not too many yeah okay now tell me uh you already we already talked about the lollipop people but old trout puppet workshop uh-huh yeah i did a thing called the uh was it called something of captain alonzo the the uh it was like a six minute puppet opera and they did a short film with dev singh that's a dream to work with those guys those guys Alfonso, it was like a six-minute puppet opera, and they did a short film with Dev Singh. That's a dream to work with those guys. Those guys are like masters in the field of puppetry,

so it was an honor to score that. Well, I don't doubt that for a minute here, but I am trying to figure out where you make your money. Oh, really? That's what we're doing. That's amazing. It doesn't matter to me, except what you're doing here is very punk

in the sense that it's no sellout. You're not going to create music to go mainstream and end up on some Netflix show. I mean, look, I am talking to some music supervisors at the moment about doing projects like that because I think that's really fun. And I don't think that's selling out. I think that's, I don't know.

We all have it in us to do stuff for the wrong artistic reasons. But I've, yeah, I've managed. I think you're right in touching on that. I have managed to do it on my terms and fund it the way I have to. But yeah, I've also been really smart with my money. Like since Tom Green gave me that gift early in my career i bought a house and then sold a house smart you know yeah so and everything i can to to be stay weird yeah thank you tom yeah tadpole yeah that's recent that's an italian

director animator um gabriele favorato and we And I got to collaborate with the great Brett Higgins from Great Lakes Swimmers and other acts in town. And he's a wonderful musician. And Gabriele, actually an Italian, brought us together. He said, I want you two to collaborate. And boy, did we ever. It was great to go into the studio with him and kind of belt that that score out yeah yeah yeah lots of um fun adventures that's that

thanks for that the reminder that was done in the pandemic that was yeah 2022 and then just before that uh tell me about the brampton indie arts festival oh well i used to put that on you used to past tense yeah yeah it was about a decade. I did it from like... Oh yeah, 2000, I guess. I think like 99 or 2000 to 2010, around there. Yeah, it ran for about a decade in my hometown. And it was really to battle boredom. So we'd have everybody from, you know, the Nihilist Spasm Band in London to Mark Rebo came up.

Well, I want to ask you about some of the people that you featured. No longer with us, but a gentleman I know quite well just from studying the city and its history. Nash the Slash. Well, yeah. And there's a documentary being made on Nash. The last track on my record,

my upcoming Man Out of Time record, is called Thanks for All the Fish. And it takes some of Nash's words that he wrote on his website when he kind of left the music industry and puts it to music and they're using it in the documentary film about him that's coming out next year I think or maybe this year.

Interesting because we just got the Much documentary we got an underwhelming Harold Ballard doc and there's a CFNY doc that just finished filming that they're just putting together right now. Wait for it. It's directed by, or brought together by Colin Brunton, who did Schitt's Creek and The Last Pogo, so it's an exciting thing. Wow.

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Okay, you know, Gary Topp is in my basement next week. Well, I'll talk to Gary, say hi to Gary, give him my love. Gary was part of the reason why that track is on that documentary. See, this is what I mean by being a small world although I am kind of poking around at the heart of this world

Gary's another one of those people and we need them out there like yourself who don't need to say yes to a random message but when you do good things happen and friends are made well I'm just trying to amplify these stories.

I am obviously not, you know, when I get a Mike Daly on, we can talk about this and then I'm going to put a Gary Topp on. He's been on before. He's been over before, but I just know there's more stories. I love his book. I need more Garys and I've had Gary Cormier over too. Oh, wow. Shout out to the Garys.

Sick. And Bernie Finkelstein. Wow. Okay. I'm going to say you're a musicologist after having done this over a thousand episodes I'm going to shit on

everybody who calls himself a musicologist except Daley who actually is one but I myself will start referring to myself as Toronto Mike musicologist

I think you can I had to punch Alan Cross in the nose and then he told me he never calls himself musicologist others call him and then I had to take it all back. Wow, okay, that's controversial.

I didn't realize I was opening a can of worms or a bowl of pasta. How well did you know Nash the Slash? Not like Gary or Colin Brunton, but I knew him well enough. I booked him at the Brunton in the Arts Festival. I booked him at another thing I did in Brunton called the Parade of Noises with like 700 kids playing homemade musical instruments. And I used to go to his shows all the time and hang out with him.

And he's a huge influence. You know, he's connected to The Residents and other really weird experimental musicians that I know and love. So yeah, yeah, really, he looms large for me. And I'm excited about this documentary to kind of give him, to honor him. No doubt, there's a story there, absolutely.

Another FOTM, you're in a steam company, is Ron Sexsmith. Yes. How well do you know Ron? Well, I mean, he played the Arts Festival as well, and he's a Cameron House scene guy as well. He's kind of born from the Cameron House, and he's connected to me through Bob Wiseman,

who produced some of his first works and mine he bob weisman produced my very first record okay tell me about uh ron and bob i want to hear about bob weisman of course and then if you i think look further into that tree of like connected and listening we're all connected bob weisman and i would not be connected through were were it not for the late, great Mendelssohn Joe, who we're honoring him next week at the Transac on the 28th. We're going to be sending him off proper. And Joe, I can't speak higher of, still just kind of processing that loss.

But Bob, thankfully, came to me through Mendelssohn Joe and that connection. So I really love that I really embrace that kind of lineage you know and and Joe was a huge supporter I mean Gary Topp we're all connected through you know in a lot of ways through Joe and his art and his his work so Joe also connects me with Huxley Workman and many others you know so it's love that man yeah he's a good he's become a good bud actually right on right on i'm glad to hear that yeah wow okay so yeah well let me back away from the mic and if you don't mind more on mendelssohn joe i just uh i do i do this monthly

episode where i uh reference people who passed away in the previous month i play some stuff it's it's actually sponsored by ridley funeral home oh. Oh my God. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921, wants you, Friendly Rich, to have this measuring tape. You never know when you need to measure something. That's yours, buddy. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ridley.

I really appreciate that. Yeah. So where am I going? So what I really like, I'm just happy on behalf of Mendelsohn Joe that he was able to plan his exit. Sure. Like with medically assisted dying. Sure. You know, his wife by his side.

Yeah. And that's such a, to me, such a civilized way to exit when you have a debilitating disease like Mendelsohn Joe had. But talk to me about Mendelsohn Joe here. We're going to do a trifecta here. Okay, do it. So Mendelsohn Joe no longer with us. Who else did I want you to me about Mendelsohn Joe here. We're going to do a trifecta here. Okay, do it. So Mendelsohn Joe, no longer with us. Who else did I want you to talk about? Nash the Slash.

Yeah, yeah. And if you don't mind, you're also going to talk about Bob Wiseman. Go. Okay, in that order? Sure. Great. Well, Mendelsohn Joe, I mean,

wrote me a letter. He heard me do something on Brampton Weirdos 20 plus years ago on the CBC and he wrote a postcard to the CBC and the CBC were good enough to give it to me and we became like you know connected right away pen pals I share a cynicism I share political activism I share a lot of you know just underdog kind of outsider artist there's a lot we bonded on over the years and he into the

point where like he really gave me a lot of his time and love and he actually gifted me his guitar as he was no longer able to play it. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It means a lot. It means a lot, him passing that down to me. He was kind of like a father figure in a lot of ways. So I'd go up to the woods. I'd go up to Emsdale and visit him. And I know Bob Wiseman and I have that in common. And it's going to be nice to actually get together with Bob. And James B. will be there and many others next Tuesday night at the Transac

to celebrate his life. And Karen Robinson, his wife and art dealer, and he used to say everyone needs a pimp, and he was really right on that subject, right? Everybody, every artist does need a pimp because we're trying to find, like, we are trying to find like-minded people who resonate with the stuff that we make so joe would i mean i he's on my last record called

we are all terrorists he actually sings a song or he's intertwined in this tune called god is dead that features dave clark and the woodshed orchestra as well so joe joe's uh joe looms large in my life i'm gonna really miss him i'm gonna i don't know who the hell i'm gonna write letters to like a lot of us have been like selena martin and many others have been like who the hell am i gonna you know like bounce ideas off of that way you know like it feels like canada post can almost just go away now are we making maybe are we making mendelssohn Joes anymore? Like it feels like. I don't know. I feel,

I feel like, yeah, it's a very good question. Like when I used to visit him in the woods, like he'd have like all of the phone numbers to the CBC, every show, every producer, every,

every politician on his wall, sharpied on his wall. It's a, I think that that cabin, he, he left it when he, when he got Parkinson's and moved in with Karen, but I don't know what becomes of that cabin.

I don't know. I hope those activists are out there. I hope that in a way I'm one of them. I really feel the torch as he gives me his guitar. I really feel that torch being passed, and it's heavy. It's a heavy torch, but we got to. We have to remain engaged. That's why he gave it to you.

He knows what he's doing. He knew what he's doing he knew what he was doing yeah i hope so i don't take it lightly and i i just feel honored and in a way kind of just yeah like his uh even his music everything about joe like needs to kind of live on and so i've been taking on a lot of his songs now and just like relearning them and playing them through his guitar just feels very very spiritual in a lot of ways. I'm not that spiritual a guy, but it's hard to ignore that.

And if you go to Mendelssohn Joe's website, his farewell letter is right there on the homepage. Yeah, it's so beautiful. So beautiful, so beautiful. I did read an excerpt in the most recent Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode. Wow, wow. Yeah, it was powerful stuff.

Wow. Okay, now I did drop a bunch of names on you, but Bob Wiseman. Yeah, well, Nash, I think, I don't know if you drained the swamp there. Yeah, we talked a little bit about Nash. I think it was Ron. So Ron Saxon is just a sweetheart, right?

Yeah, Ron's a lovely guy and he's always made time for me. And there's a lot of nice people in Canadian music, aren't there? He's a punny guy, right? Like, I mean, on Twitter at least. Twitter is, him and Huxley have a good thing going. I mean, I'm way more close with Huxley.

Huxley produced one of my records. Talk to me about Huxley because there's a guy like, I mean, just us. I mean, we text each other all the time. We have long phone calls. I almost, I almost produced a podcast called Hawksley night in Canada. Yes.

That was you. Yeah. He was so worried. He would be unfiltered and would get himself canceled. Like this was his words. Like, so he was hesitant to do it because he doesn't know, like if he talks freely,

he thinks it'll get himself, he'll get himself in trouble. Sure. I remember radical. Like I said, I didn't know that was you, Mike. I, he would talk to me about that yeah i didn't realize that that's making that connection i mean small world yeah it is it is that's nice because he loves what was happening here yep yeah and he had his during the pandemic he did his hoxie night in canada

yep and well in the pandemic he and i went into a different phase of our relationship where i was getting up at like uh four in the morning and doing these long winter walks and he would he's up pretty damn early so we do like a okay man 5 a.m call tomorrow and i just walk the neighborhood and it is early yeah it was kind of fun it was kind of fun wow um we were getting into it we were getting into a lot of interesting uh subjects going deeper you know in our relationship and he's a he's an inspiration i really admire his body of work and he's he's just kept punching you know and we kind of need to so i i feel very blessed to have made that record the great blue heron with him at in emsdale

or in burke's falls actually where he was yeah Yeah, at his old studio there near Mendelssohn Joe. So that was a fun week that we took making that record with him and Kevin Bright. Amazing. Yeah. What about Cuff the Duke? I mean, I know those guys. I booked them for the Arts Festival.

I wouldn't say they were close. You're not doing 5 a.m. calls. No, no, no 5 a.m. calls. But I admire anyone still doing it you gotta you gotta give them credit for just survival tact uh you know strength yeah yeah yeah okay one more name from your like brampton indie arts festival okay and then i want to ask you about the uh the cbc but okay hayden desser yeah booked him as wellire him. It was a beautiful show. Like I remember, packed Heritage Theater,

which has now gone defunct. It lies empty without a plan, but that's how our politicians treat space, right? Hayden was lovely, lovely, and a beautiful solo show he put on. I haven't really kept in touch since, but that's how it goes. He's got good hair.

Really nice hair. Yeah. A little jealous. Okay. Tell me about your relationship, friendly, rich with CBC radio. Um,

well, I used to do a lot of stuff on out front and that's how I got to know Mendelssohn Joe. I would, I would produce little radio documentaries on like bocce or like rush geeks or weirdos in brampton that was the one that that uh that was the one that joe picked up on so it was an outlet it was an avenue i mean when i see our governments trying to kind of dismantle cbc it makes it reminds me of people like mendelssohn joe and staying engaged with our community through that thread of radio and television. More so radio for me is where I gravitate. You know who was here, I'm going to say three weeks ago, making his Toronto Mike debut as you are today,

Brent Bambury. Oh, great. We talked quite a bit about Brave New Waves. Oh, the best, right? I mean, I discovered so much weird music through Brave new waves and patty schmidt was another great supporter of my work and i love that i love that forgot about that yeah well i'm here to remind you of all the things of yeah i meant to play this off the top here um do you know what today is personally how about this do this? Do you know this song? Or do you need to hear it a little more to make it more... This isn't ringing a bell. All right.

I'm going to give it, because I love it, I'm going to give it a moment, and then we're going to talk about why am I playing this song? And I will tell you, my efforts to get the lead singer and the songwriter, I tried to get him on Toronto Mike, but he's too busy as a scientist in British Columbia. He's like a scientist now.

I wanted to drop his episode today, because today is the first day of spring. And this song, which I love, is called The First Day of Spring. And this band, I believe from Guelph, Ontario, is called The Gandharvas. Yes. Wow, you're going. Here it comes. Mid-90s, I'd say. I didn't realize they were from Guelph.

There you go. I love how random that is. That's really beautiful. Apparently they're from London, Ontario, not Guelph. Who's from Guelph that I'm confusing them with? Okay, they're from London. Close enough, right? Very nice, very nice.

Constantine's, maybe you were, right? No, another band, like another 90s alt-rock. Anyways, Paul Jaggo is the name of the guy who's a scientist in BC right now. Okay, so shout out to Gandarvis from London, Ontario. Yes. And, yeah, okay, London. London, Guelph, it's all one blob to me.

The home of the Nihilist Spasm Band. Right? London, Ontario. Right, Guelph. It's all one blob to me. The home of the nihilist spasm band. Right? London, Ontario. Right, right. There you go. All right, first day of spring, everybody. Yeah, happy spring. If you have any, Friendly Rich,

if you have any old tech, like obsolete technology, stuff piling up in your living room that you want to get rid of, don't throw that shit in the garbage, man. That doesn't want to go in the landfills. There's a lot of chemicals and stuff in that tech. You got to go to recyclemyelectronics.ca

and find out somewhere near you that's been verified, accredited by the good people at EPRA. They will tell you where to go if you're old tech so it can be safely and properly recycled. Yeah, I love using a nice Dell computer. I'm sponsored by Dell. And my old Dells, I'm going to throw those right out.

Not in Lake Ontario. No, you're going to find out at recyclemyelectronics.ca. That's where I'm going. Do you remember WKRP when he's like, speed kills, Dell? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. But I love that show, so I'll believe you. I love that show, too.

I love it when Dr. Johnny Fever would drink his Great Lakes beer and his reflexes would get faster. Is that a Jerry Cheever's mask up there? What is this mask on your arm? It's from the older than that, I think, but Cheever's would mark with stitches when he took a puck. Shout out to Jerry Cheever. Shout out to Don Cherry. Great name, Jerry Cheever. Don Cherry's listening. Yeah, his was, that's right, that's right. Took a puck to the, yeah. Shout out to Jerry Cheevers. Shout out to Don Cherry.

Great name, Jerry Cheevers. Don Cherry's listening. Yeah, yeah. All right, I want to ask you. Ron McLean, too. Ron McLean. Shout out to Ron McLean. Ron McLean's an FOTM.

Yeah, thank you, thank you. So you're in the good company, Ron. Thank you for that. You know, he was born in Germany. Thank you for that. Did you know that? I don't know. I did not know that.

Shout out to Germany. Military base in Frankfurt, I think. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, then he went Red Deer, Alberta. Great. Alright, I want to talk about Man Out of Time. You told me this is going to be available March 31st. Yep.

End of the month. Couple weeks. Yeah, this is the first day of spring, March 20. Alright, what can you tell me? Maybe it will help us. Do you want me to play some stuff and we can talk about this new LP? Yeah, man. You know what?

You still call them LPs? Yeah, well, it's released on We Are Busy Buddies record label and they're pressing vinyl of this thing with ships internationally, which is exciting. So yes, LP. Go for it.

All right. I'm going to bring Gandarva's into Friendly Rich as God intended. Look at this mix. This is exciting. I'm going to do a little crossfade here. Oof. I'm a man

Out of town Hit rewind Blow my mind I'm a man out of time In his prime, draw the line I don't wanna to burn on your feet on the fire Just a little diesel that had desire When it's hitting, don't you think I wasted my time? Don't you think I live in 40 months? I'm a man

Out of time Is this you doing your best Leonard Cohen? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or is this Brad Roberts from Crack Disdain? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or is this Brad Roberts from Crash Test Dummies? There you go. A little bit of all that is in my garlic sauce, my palmless garlic. I can't get, because I tried, now that I've got like Crash Test Dummies on my mind,

I've been trying to do it like, once there was this girl. Like I can't go down there. But you can. You know, I just started taking throat singing lessons, two of them throat singing lessons, trying to expand my breadth on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's a, you got a deep delivery on this jam,

Man Out of Time. Thank you. And I'm insanely jealous right now. Oh, wow. Well, look, it's a... I was already jealous of the beard when you arrived at the door, and now the voice, the beard is too much for me. Holy cow, right?

Yeah. No, that's the title track, Man Out of Time, when you arrived at the door and now the voice, the beard is too much for me. Holy cow. Right. Yeah. Um, no, that's the title track man out of time. And it only goes a weirder from here. This is the opening track of the, of the record too. And it's a,

it's a ride. It's a, it kind of like captures a few of my different musical personalities and, uh, voices over the years. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

I'm going right into it. I'm going right into another jam here. This is an interpretation of Félix Leclerc, the great Quebecois songwriter. You don't have to tell me that.

I'm a musicologist. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Featuring Mike T. Kerr. And Drew Jureka. Oh, you can feel that in like, you can just feel it in like the soles of your feet,

that bass there. You know, my buddy Stu Stone, who's an FOTM Hall of Famer, actually, he also, much like you and Tom Green on MTV, he has an MTV pedigree. This is him with Jamie Kennedy. They had a rap album called Blowing Up. They had an MTV show and everything. Oh, yeah, wow.

You might have crossed paths with him at an MTV party or two. Oh, my God wow. You might have crossed paths with him at an MTV party or two. Oh, my God. Who knows? But why am I bringing him up? Because he thought the Sopranos theme song was a Leonard Cohen jam.

Ah. But this is a Leonard Cohen song. Yeah, possibly channeling that spirit, for sure. For sure, for sure. Wow. Yeah, it's got a vibe, right? This record,

and super proud of it, man. Super proud of it. Okay, March 31st. I'll be counting the seconds here. The last tune is the one, the Nashislash one, the honoring Nashislash. It's called Thanks for All the Fish, if you want to give that a little taste test.

Well, yeah, I'll take it up, because here's what I'll do. Here's what I'll do. I'll play a bit of this while I go fish for that one. Okay. Ah, this is Killdozer. Yes, sir. Thank you. Love it.

Tom Juhasz. I'll shut up. And Joan Smith. And his brother Sly Juhasz on the drums from Budapest. Everybody in the town Go out Take me to the end of the road With a black mailbox next to the cloud

For you'll be raining on the road It's the rain Where the sky rips from the sun It's the rain It's the rain Who's the woman on background? That's Joan Smith from Joan Smith and the Jane Doe's, an excellent Toronto band.

Yes. We've been sharing the stage a lot lately. Friendly Rich and the Jane Doe's. We've been kind of amalgamating our bands, and it's been really exciting. Very punk rock thing to do, right? Just like share your music and maybe even do releases together.

Love it. A little Frank Zappa vibe going on here. Is he a musical influence in your life? Definitely, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Grew up. That stuff changed my life for sure.

So I'm almost ready for the Nash the Flash. Nash the Flash. Nash the Flash tribute here. But your files are so enormous, it's still loading in, believe it or not. Well, that's what they say about my files. You have the biggest files. Big files. Okay, here we go.

Thanks for all the fish. It's time to roll up the bandages. Back off, you cutthroats. And wash away the pain. The sting of insignificance haunts me again decomposing i am i am so yeah gary top nasha slash we're in the mix on writing some of these words for nash's website on writing some of these words for Nash's website. And I kind of took them and turned them into something a little different. I'm excited to learn about the documentary.

I'm excited to learn about this song. Thank you for all the fish. And Friendly Rich, I'm excited to meet you. Is there anything like on your way here, you're saying, oh, I want to make sure I tell this story or talk about this. Is there anything I missed here that you want? This is your chance.

Oh my gosh. No, you know what? It has been a great kind of walk down memory lane. Mike, you know what you've done? You've helped me realize how many people, like we're all kind of connected and, and that's special. And I don't take that lightly. I think it's really the beauty in,

in what we do as musicians and, and people in arts and culture. So really thanks for the opportunity to, uh, share my story with you and your listeners. And of course, people can go to friendly, rich.com to learn more about my stuff.

He's friendly. He's rich. Go to friendlylyRich.com to learn more about my stuff. He's friendly. He's rich. Go to FriendlyRich.com. Any lowest of the low stories? Any Ron Hawkins stories? No. No. Okay.

Well, Ron Hawkins, his rosy and gray from Shakespeare, My Butt, takes us home every episode of Toronto Mic'd. Beautiful. Thank you, Friendly Rich. It was a pleasure getting to know you. Good luck with the new release on March 31st. Everybody go to FriendlyRich.com for more. And that,

that brings us to the end of our 1,222nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Now, Friendly Rich is at Friendly Rich, but there's an underscore between those two words. So it's at Friendly underscore Rich. Somebody beat you to Friendly Rich? Somebody grab that.

Really, what was I thinking when I made that Twitter handle? It's at Friendly Rich on Instagram. I wised up when it was time to get an Instagram account. All right. Shout out to Bobby Wiseman. Okay. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. I'm actually meeting my accountant there on Friday if you want to come by and say hi.

That's a true story. That's exciting. At the South Etobicoke location, not the Jarvis and Queens Quay location. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palm of Pasta is at Palm of Pasta. I really do have a lasagna for you, Mr. Friendly Rich. What a great thing. I haven't eaten dinner tonight. This is exciting.

Well, it's frozen solid. I don't know if you're having it tonight, but tomorrow night for sure. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home. They're at Ridley FH. See you later this week. My next guest making his Toronto Mike debut

Is John Dore Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't stay today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy and gray Well, I've been told That there's a sucker born every day

But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of green Cause I know that's true Yes, I Cause I know that's true Yes I do I know it's true Yeah

I know it's true How about you? All them picking up trash And them putting down rogues And they're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar Just the best that I can I'm a headbroker in stocks, the class struggle explodes. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can.

Maybe I'm not, and maybe I am. But who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away

Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you

Yeah, you know that's true. Because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy and Everything is rosy and gray Thank you.