Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - FROMAGE 2020: Toronto Mike'd #779

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

Mike chats with Marc Weisblott of 12:36 about the Fromage from 2020 and the current state of media in Canada and what you oughta know.

What you got for lunch, Joey? Um, ham sandwich and apple and cheese. Mm-hmm. Cheese? I'll trade you my cookie for cheese. No. For half sandwich? No, but I kind of always like it by Scott.

Uh-huh. Cheddar cheese. For Scott and Joey and you, it's always the answer. It's practically indispensable. So always have enough. Cheese, please. Cheese, please. Welcome to episode 779 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities,

good times, and brewing amazing beer. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Sammy Cohn Real Estate.

For a complimentary evaluation of your home, contact Sammy. Sammy at SammyCohn.com. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pill pillars of the community since 1921. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com. And joining me for Fromage 2020 is 1236's Mark Weisblot. Did we do it, Mike? Are we recording on the most inclement weather day out of all the 2020 Backyard episodes?

I hope I set the record. That's what I was going for. It's the coldest rain because Cam Carpenter got drenched, but it was a warm rain. It's a whole different story. So kudos to you for showing up in the backyard instead of saying, hey, Mike, let's do it on Zoom. Because you're right.

We're about one degree snow on the ground, but it's actively raining. It's raining. Okay, here's what happened. I came by early December for the last monthly recap, and that's when the wind chill was sinking in. and that's when the wind chill was sinking in. And I think we came to the realization over the course of two and a half hours that it's not that it was too cold to be outside, but it was too cold to sit in one place and have to think the thoughts required to do some coherent podcasting.

Didn't it have that effect? Didn't you walk away from that experience thinking, we've got to cut some quarters next time. Well, yeah. We've got to figure out some content that's a little bit easier to do under these Canadian winter circumstances. So what's different this time? Actually, I have some intro music.

Hold on here. Let me make sure I'm all set up here. A little intro music as you share with us the premise of today's special 1236 episode of Toronto Mic'd. This is Robert Michaels, a flamenco Canadian guitarist, and a piece called Memento from 1998, which came back up the charts thanks to the fact that it was used as the hold music for Service Canada whenever people phoned to ask about their CERB or some other employment insurance or wage subsidy situation. This Robert Michaels tune was the hold music that they heard throughout the year. And it took a few months, I guess, for anyone to ask or mention it on Twitter.

Maybe they Shazammed the music with that app. Have you ever used that app where you can hold it to a speaker and get a sense of what song is playing? Many times. Somebody might have mentioned it on Twitter. It turned into an article on vice.com, and they got in touch with Robert Michaels, who didn't know they were using his music. That, in fact, hear this song, Memento, was one of the most heard pieces in Canada in 2020,

due to the fact that you could be on hold with Service Canada for an hour or two, with these soothing sounds ringing in your ear. Now, Mark, for the younger listeners, when they think of fromage, they might think of FOTM at the sock. Is that where we're at now? I was putting together, as usual, a playlist for this episode, and I noticed that the songs that I thought we should talk about had something in common and a lot of them would have fallen into the category of cheesy music released during the

year 2020. Now I grew up with a Much Music special annual episode every year called Fromage. It might have been as old as Much Music itself going back to the mid-1980s. And there was another FOTM, Much Music, VJ Christopher Ward, who would do his character Charles de Camembert. And he would celebrate, he would commemorate the videos that were too cheesy for traditional airplay on Much Music. This didn't mean the music was necessarily bad.

He wasn't even so much into disparaging the people who made him. In fact, I was reminded listening to FOTM, Erica M's VJ interview podcast, that Christopher Ward had been a recording artist himself before. He wasn't much music. Young rocker. I mean, he was known for finding the comical side of what was happening in rock and roll, but he wasn't into the idea of insulting the people who were making it. So something could qualify for the Much Music for Homage special,

which wasn't necessarily bad. And I ended up with a list of 2020 songs. The qualifier here isn't that they're bad music. It doesn't mean I hate the songs. In fact, we're going to go through a couple that I actually quite like. But then what's in people's memory is the fact that the Fromage brand handed over to Ed the Sock, and it became a thing of the sock character doing his irascible cigar-smoking act over top of boy bands and girl groups. So popular music that was played quite a bit on MuchMusic.

And look, if I was 12 years old in 2001, 2002, I would have thought this was the most subversive thing I've ever seen. But the reality here, Mike, is that we're a little bit older than that. We're old enough to have seen that whole music video era unfold. We've talked about it enough here.

Is it within our rights, then, to claim the Fromage brand for ourselves? I think if we don't who will so i would just like to reiterate what you said which is that this is fromage 2020 in the spirit of fotm christopher ward and not necessarily in the spirit of fotm at the sock is that fair is that fair mr weisberg yeah that's fair and also, look, a few factors at play. First of all, you had Dave Hodge on for the annual Hodge 100, and I've been keeping track of Hodge's year-end adult alternative roots music favorites

ever since Dave Bookman was a custodian of them, and he'd get them in print or on the website or on the radio. He'd always give a shout-out to the musical taste of Dave Hodge. And here, you know, by that point, he was a longtime veteran of Hockey Night in Canada. We were, you know, a decade past the pen flip, Dave Hodge of the reporters. At first, I thought this was some sort of joke, right? Does Dave Hodge actually listen to this music that he's attaching to his name on a year-end list?

Now, he's been on Toronto Mic'd every year for, what, three, four years at this point? How about that, yeah. Doing his year-end list, and he did his top 100 of all time, KOTJ episode. So we know now that Dave Hodge is very serious and sincere about his musical taste. If you want to know the latest

from Phoebe Bridgers, Dave Hodge is your go-to guy to explain this music to you. He keeps up on this stuff, I think, like only a guy who comes from hockey can. He keeps track of the stuff, right? Like it's scoring statistics. Right, like his analytics.

Yeah, analytics. I think at one point I imagined being one of these people when it came to becoming a rock critic. Like I would keep score of everything, like Robert Christogau, the dean of rock critics, does a letter grade, copious notes on all the records I listen to. I couldn't do it. I couldn't pull it off. This is where I tried to establish myself, and it wasn't happening in the end.

I could not rank with Dave Hodge as far as keeping track of good music is concerned. But when it comes to keeping score of the crap, I figure I've got everybody else beaten. I think in our Fromage 2020 list, we'll live up to everybody's expectations of reviving the legacy of the original Fromage with Christopher Ward. Now let's do a little trigger warning.

Some of these jams stink. I'm just doing a little trigger warning. So prepare yourself. Some of this is some stinky cheese that we're going to listen to. I'm going to open a GLB. What did you crack open? Canuck Pale Ale? Canuck Pale Ale. That was the one you put in front of me.

As if it's not cold enough outside. And once again, this fromage 2020 maiden voyage before we get to some of the usual 1236 monthly recap episode stuff. Before we get too far of the usual 1236 monthly recap episode stuff. Oh, and before we get too far from the Hodge 100, I just want to shout out FOTM VP of Sales, Tyler Campbell,

who put in some solid work on Hodge100.com. So Hodge100.com is now live, and you can access easily all the Hodge 100s on Toronto Mike. Not only do you get the top 100, you get the 100 runners up. Yeah, he had some talent. Counting down to number one. He's passionate, and he walks the walk. So when, I don't know, when venues open up again,

just take a stroll to the horseshoe on any given night, and you'll see in the front row Dave Hodge walking the walk. Where do we begin then in Fromage 2020? I topped the list with something you have already mentioned on Toronto Mic'd, which tells me this song got on your radar somehow. It was Christmas Eve, baby I'm going to need more beer. Hold on. In the trunk tank

An old man said to me He's spilling it. Won't see another one Then he sang a song Rare old mountain dew I turned my face away May I bring it down? How long do we have to endure this? Oh, boy. Now, if you didn't know what song this was,

and I told you you're listening to Jon Bon Jovi, would you not think that he's found a more sophisticated new direction after all these years? Oh, maybe. It definitely sounds like Jon Bon Jovi covering Fairytale of New York. That's exactly what it sounds like. Now he's got some real Celtic musicians going on there, I think,

unless it's some sort of computer program. This is not the usual Bon Jovi band backing him up. This is a Jon Bon Jovi solo work. And I think here we ended 2020 with something that can stand amongst the worst songs of all time, the cover version of The Goves. It's a great start for Fromage 2020 because it smells. Do we know who the woman voice is? Do you have that in your notes?

You can dig deeper than that. I mean, this song, Fairytale of New York, the Pogues and the late Christy McCall, it was the subject of increased controversy this year over the language used in the context of the characters of the song. Different BBC stations said they were outlawing it. They were going to censor the words. On that note, the first thing I did when I heard this existed

was I wanted to find out what was Jon Bon Jovi going to sing instead of the offensive F-word line. And do you want to hear what it is? All right, it is. You're a bum. You're a braggart. You've lost all of your swagger. Would you say then this was Bon Jovi exploring a little bit of opportunism?

I would think this Pogue song, I mean, thanks to CFNY in Toronto, a bit more of a Canadian hit. I don't know about the American awareness of it, but across Europe, people know the song. Well, Matt Dillon's in the video. That's all I remember. Bon Jovi's chance to move his way in on the airplay, right? All these Christmas format radio stations, if you wanted to play a non-controversial version, fairy tale of new york bon jovi to the rescue here as he tried to kind of rehabilitate his image a little bit i mean we've we've lived

our entire lives with bon jovi i remember bon jovi speaking of christopher ward much music they came to the city Limit show back in 1984 when they were still kind of unknown. That's early days because Slippery When Wet is like 87, I want to say. They were still looking for any sort of TV airtime they could get, even if it meant coming in

at 3 or 4 in the morning to be on a Toronto television show. Of course, that footage came in handy years later when they became superstars. I was reading a book by rock critic Michelangelo Matos called Can't Slow Down. I devoured it in a night. It's a history of music in 1984.

Mostly pop charts, but it also gets into hip-hop and the indie scene and other influences out there. It ties it all together. A great, great narrative. I think any FOTM would be into this Can't Slow Down book. And it brings up Bon Jovi, right? At the time, already into the second album by the Bon Jovi band, 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Was he working on that during 1984? Somewhere between the first Bon Jovi album and the second one. And it was a fact that at the time, Bon Jovi was marketed as heavy metal. And this was kind of like the height of cynicism, right? Like, what was metal about Bon Jovi? Or was it really just a guy who wanted to be famous and he figured this was the route to get some credibility? Like go on tour with Kiss and the Scorpions and position himself as like a hard rockin' guy when he was really aspiring to be the next bruce springsteen

and what became of bon jovi after that the stuff of legend don't they still have their banner up in toronto i think it was taken down i think it's gone center i i mean is it still there as long as there were like a hundred thousand fifty fifty year oldold Italian women in Toronto who would buy tickets to a Bon Jovi concert, right? He could count on selling out like three or four shows here. Right. Maybe even like once or twice a year. Oh, very popular. And I have to admit, I own Slippery When Wet on cassette,

so I think that is 87, and I just blame my youth. But I have to say, this is a band I really cannot listen to anymore, and I dislike passionately. And there actually are very few bands I would say I dislike passionately and this is one of them. That's an awful cover of a great song and it's a hell of a way to start from us, 2020.

There was a Bon Jovi album this year called 2020 and he was trying over and over to put out songs to try and capture the zeitgeist. I don't know. Did you catch any of these videos? No, no, no. Where would I see it? He made his commentary about the killing of George Floyd.

Bon Jovi had something to say about that. No, that's the big change. You mentioned Christopher Ward. You mentioned Erica M. Back in the day, you would sit down, and it was all curated for you. And there might be, you know, they played three videos in a row and maybe two of them you liked and one wasn't really your jam, but you watched it because you were watching the whole flow.

And nowadays when I watch a video, I literally seek it out. I actually type in the name of the song on YouTube. So I don't stumble upon the Bon Jovi stuff anymore. Next up here, somebody who would have been around 35 years ago. A tribute song that he released when his sidekick died. Work in the corner

when the record deal happened in a week before I found out I was sleeping on the floor with my new best gal In a very, very empty house Wrong kind of nonconformist That's the case in all we speak In a sleeping bag front of the fireplace Your girlfriend and me

Somewhere Over the rainbow bar and grill Well I never knew me a better time And I guess I never will Somewhere Over the rainbow bar and grill Mike, what do you think of this? Have you heard David Lee Roth, Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill? I'm listening to it for the first time, and I'm trying to hate it, and I don't yet hate it.

I much more hated the Bon Jovi but this this is funny because I just released like volume 16 of FOTM kick out the jam and two of the 10 jams that were kicked out were Van Halen songs in tribute to the loss of Eddie Van Halen. I think that was a very big loss for a lot of listeners in 2020. And, you know, I don't know. What do you think of this jam? I'm trying to hate it. It hasn't happened yet. It's on brand for David Lee Roth.

It turned out he had some songs that he had recorded over the past few years with John Five, the guitar player before from Marilyn Manson. And I don't know if there was an audience waiting to hear a new David Lee Roth track, but look, the timing here that this was his tribute to starting out in Van Halen. So does the writing credit? Who wrote Somewhere Over the Rainbow?

Who wrote Crocodile Rock, which he's also quoting in there. So a lot of credits, a lot of writing credits on this, Jim. And, I mean, speaking of music, I think, which would lean a little bit more into the cheese category, was Wolfgang Van Halen. And he had a debut single that came out after his dad died. It sounded kind of like Daughtry, Chris Daughtry from American Idol,

like that corporate rock sound. Right. I thought it was a likable enough track. And, of course, everybody felt bad for the kid. And here was him showing off that he had talent on his own. But, yeah, cheesy music, what fits into the fromage category. Oh, yeah.

It's worthy of Fromage 2020. Absolutely. We're less into the idea here that people were not self-aware that they were making music that would be categorized as cheese. David Lee Roth, after all these years, is well aware that his persona and personality is going to be received that way. The guy was playing lounges in Las Vegas. He was warming up the crowd for the farewell tour from Kiss before it got pulled off the road.

And he had to sit at home for most of the year and work on his painting. But Diamond Dave here paying tribute to Eddie Van Halen and the whole Van Halen band. Looking for their big break somewhere over the Rainbow Bar and Grill. So again, if I haven't said so already, thank you Great Lakes for sending over your fresh craft of beer. Because I'm going to be needing a lot of it during this Fromage 2020 segment here. But this is a worthy jam. Let's kick out another Fromage 2020 segment here, but this is a worthy jam. Let's kick out another

Fromage 2020 jam. So a miracle happened And I got my wish Jesse saw it fitting Stranger to me than It's up to me now I gonna take what's his Oh, he did me dirty Things got funny As time

Explodes That did it Nothing can stop her Side of Jessie's girl That no one knows She's set up She's set up I don't love you no more

Okay, Mike. Wow. What we're listening to here is the sequel to the song Jessie's Girl. Now, you genuinely like this one. I can tell. Okay, so let me let the listeners know. You literally gave me a YouTube URL. I copied

that, put it in an app that would produce an mp3 and loaded it in. I'm now listening to these jams for the first time. So these are all genuine reactions. Again, for the second time in a row I'm trying. I just want to hate anything called Jessie's Girl 2 by Rick Springfield. Maybe I'm

just in a good mood or whatever. I'm having difficulty. Maybe it's the beer. The actual band behind this has been around for quite a while, Coheed and Cambria. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, of course. And when they first came out, like 2003, 4, 5,

their style was more like this. It was like this very bubble gum prog rock, and they were writing the hits that they were looking for. It got them, I think, the following they needed to get a lot more self-indulgent with these comic book narratives. Imagine everything loathsome about 2112 by Rush, except carried out through an entire career.

And I haven't cottoned on to it as much. But look, they got Rick through an entire career. And I haven't cottoned on to it as much. But look, they got Rick Springfield to appear on Jesse Girls 2. Here he is. Wow. Beat your heart out. Rick Springfield has been performing for over 50 years at this point. Wow.

Right? Dude is into his 70s. And he is self-aware, which I think adds to his charm. I find him to be very self-aware of how he's perceived. Yeah, I think it took him some time to get there, right? He put out albums along the way that were a little bit too pretentious, but the market decided they wanted to hear more Jesse's Girl, more of Dr. Noah Drake from General Hospital. He leaned into it, and here's the thing with this song.

They had this Jesse Girls 2 Ready to Go, a sequel to the original song, and Rick Springfield was around. He was available. No state fairs to play in summer 2020. And they made a video of the song, claiming it was like the first time that anyone had written a sequel to somebody else's hit, which is not true. Because there was a Major Tom by Peter Schilling.

Major Tom Coming Home. Do you remember that? Like an electro pop thing. It was a sequel to Space Oddity. I got into Googling that. Did David Bowie ever have any comment on the fact that somebody wrote a sequel song with his character that he never publicly said anything about it? Maybe partly because David Bowie himself was kind of ripping off Stanley Kubrick in 2001, A Space Odyssey.

And in the end, you've got to figure he appreciated the homage, A Space Odyssey. And in the end, you know, you got to figure he appreciated the homage, if nothing else. So Major Tom got to that concept, the conceit first, but here's a case where it was actually endorsed by the original guy, Rick Springfield, on the song and in the video, Coheed and Cambria featuring Rick Springfield, Jessie Girls 2.

Now, before we kick out this next jam, and based on title and artist alone, I'm ready to cringe actually. I just want to make sure we let the listenership know it is literally pouring rain. This is conditions, I'm going to just call them out right now. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and there is a Pandemic

Friday New Year's Eve special planned to take place in this backyard. In these conditions there there is zero chance Stewstone would come and record out here. So kudos again to you for being here. Stewstone is a very precious flower. Well, all those L.A. years, L.A. Stew has been ruined, I think. But, oh, my goodness, this song is going to ruin a lot of listeners. Let's try it out here.

I'll just think about the video. How's that? The original. Bye-bye for cowboy. Bye-bye for Calvert Bye-bye, my love I'm sorry to say goodbye When you were here You made love like God As a clue to people listening to this for the first time, I'll just say the voice we're hearing belongs to an FOTM so people can try to guess before we do the big reveal. Bye-bye, cowboy Bye-bye, mon odeo

Si tu me tomes si va Conta este cio Okay, where are you on this one, Mike? A cover version of Bye-Bye Bye Mall Cowboy by Mitsu done by a rock group called Trapper where the singer is someone who has been on the Toronto Mic'd podcast

and also the Ralph Ben Merge show. She was on, right? M. Griner. M. Griner. So I have a lot of love in my heart for M. Griner and I think she's fantastic, but this is the answer to a question that nobody asked. Similar to that Bon Jovi cover. Just unnecessary, unless you're going to add something to it.

They started doing this heavy metal, pop metal, mid-'80s tribute act, cover versions of Scandal, The Warrior. Nick Gilder wrote that song, right? Stolen from Lee Aaron, right? Yeah, that was my theory, although she said she never heard that before. Did I give you credit? I can't remember. Sometimes I give you credit, sometimes I don't, but yes. Another song out there by this band Trapper is Your Love,

the Outfield song that they did, I think a competent computerized arena rock remake of and this band with M. Griner guitarist Sean Kelly I know they opened up some Canadian concerts for

Def Leppard and somewhere in 2020 here we got their homage to Mitsu. I was hoping like Mitsu might have a cameo in this jam but they didn't. Maybe she declined the offer or maybe they didn't make the offer. Here's the thing. When we're talking about for homage 2020

releasing music is lower stakes than it used to be. It's not like there was necessarily a lot of money poured into this production, releasing it online or getting it on the radar. And I think it does a trick as far as making people aware of the concept behind Trapper and the fun that they're trying to have. But, yeah, I'm with you. I think the execution here misses the mark

I don't know why I can't give it a lot of thought while I'm outside like if you're gonna do cause there are some great covers out there there's a lot of great covers and I mean obviously there's some that jump out like Johnny Cash's Hurt right that's a completely like re-envisioning

of the song and it completely kind of changes how it's heard. And if you can do something different to the song, and Respect by Aretha Franklin is your classic example, I'd say, or Proud Mary by Tina Turner there. But this song is just kind of a paint by numbers

and what does it bring that the original doesn't provide? It just doesn't seem particularly necessary. But again, like you said, the bar has been lowered. You and I can record something right now and release it this afternoon if you like. Are you up for it? Mitsu has been in the public eye more in Quebec,

even though she was, I think, working as the CBC's interpreter of Quebecois celebrity culture. And so she remained a celebrity, but of course, like, it was hard to get past the idea that everybody associated her with being this French-Canadian answer to Madonna, right? Like a teenage pop-tart kind of paving the way for Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera,

but like more of a oversexed Canadian version. I don't know whether Mitsu today embraces her old image, whether it's something she's proud of. I should get her on Toronto, Mike. Do you think she'd say yes? What do you think? I've been thinking a guess for 2021. Would Mitsu say yes or would she ignore the invitation?

It's going to go one way or the other. I think Anne-Marie ignored it. She would either be embarrassed about being asked about all this stuff that she used to do here. You imagine that there might have been a kind of toxic masculine manipulation of her image. Either that or she was very empowered. Like she was willing to own everything that she did that got her on the map. I might have to leave the Steve Anthony

anecdote out of that episode I think out of respect. I'm new here. What was the anecdote again? Revisit the first Steve Anthony episode of Toronto Mic'd for a fantastic Mitsu story. There's another act doing that shtick

called Took doing like CanCon cover versions and the lead singer of that group is Todd Kearns from the Age of Electric. Where's my remote control?

And they just put out a remake of the Sheriff song When I'm With You. Which we talk about all the time on this program. It's a very loyal remake. We'll have to get

we'll have to get that in another month. Here's something else. Nothing matters but the weekend From a Tuesday point of view Like a kettle in the kitchen I feel the steam

begin to brew Switching to glide Switching to glide A theme so far is covers. This seems to be a common fromage cover. Pun intended. To glide Switching to glide Balancing in my head All right, tell the people. I don't think many will have guessed it.

Tell the people who they're listening to here. Who's recording this jam? A band that has been around for over 30 years called the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. That name didn't age well, did it? I feel like they need to change that. What was the song? They had a breakthrough hit song called Zoot Suit Riot.

And Cherry Poppin' Daddies became part of the swing music revival of 1997. Shout out to James B., who I think is famous. Cher and Pop and Daddies are still at it once again. Maybe they were a sideline this summer from their own state fair circuit. I would think they're maybe a rung lower than

Rick Springfield. Oh, for sure. Several rungs lower. And I gotta say, this song by the Kings of Oakville, Ontario has annoyed me pretty much my entire life. I hated it when I would hear it during the beaver hours when they're running off the CanCon on 1050 Chum. Nick Gilder, right? No, the Kings, a band who commemorated 40 years since they performed

as the closing act at the Heat Wave Music Festival at Moseport, which was a legendary event for having the debut of the expanded version of Talking Heads, and Elvis Costello was there. Wow. This was a legendary Toronto area concert that reached its 40th anniversary. And to mark the occasion, they had a professional shot version of the Kings set during that show. So there they were at the peak of their fame that they were like the Canadian ambassadors of new wave music. That there was a show with the Pretenders and the B-52s, Graham Parker and the Rumor,

but in fact the Kings replaced the Clash when they were held up at the border and ended up serendipitously closing that show. So we're reminded that the song Switchin' to Glide had enough American impact that this band, whoever's left in the cherry-poppin' popping daddies have fond memories of hearing that song, maybe on K-Rock Radio in Los Angeles, because it broke through like a regional hit in the United States.

But it was part of a medley. It was switching to glide slash this beat goes on. Right. I do. I've seen. Yes. And I don't think I ever got an answer to the question that the reason it got so much airplay

was because here was a short enough song that counted as two separate tracks of Canadian content. That can't count twice. When you would play it on the radio. No, because it was two distinctly different songs that were made into a medley. And yeah, for the purpose of gratifying the CanCon regulations, even to this day on these radio stations like Boom 97.3.

They play them together. They'll play this song. They'll play the two songs together. This summer, they started giving out all these inductions into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. I think it was just something, some kind of COVID activity. They could do these little inductions on Canadian TV shows, like on Breakfast Television or Global TV Morning Show.

Robin Thicke would come on and talk about his dad's greatest songwriting triumphs, which were themes to to Different Strokes, the Facts of Life, and the original Wheel of Fortune theme, not the one that's used today, but one from the incarnation before Pat Sajak. I told you I spent like a day with Alan Thicke. Have I ever mentioned that on Toronto Mike?

I'm sure I have. By the way, we've got some Robin Thicke here coming up in a little bit. Back then to the Kings, this song that was produced by Bob Ezrin, who at the time in 1980

had just come off Pink Floyd's The Wall. So this got inducted in the summer to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. And these guys from the Kings, not the Kinks, they assembled at the El Macombo some morning and they trotted out this same old song. I guess you got to hand it to them.

They recognize that they're known as a one-hit wonder. Even if they gave it a good enough shot to be known as these more nuanced, new wave power poppers. These guys into their 60s seem genuinely happy that they were remembered for any song at all. And thanks to the fact that someone had the idea to put these two songs out as a medley, they were two hit wonder.

And that's the legacy of the Kings and their producer, Bob Ezrin, who comes up in another Fromage 2020 track and another one that involves FOTMs. Hello, hey, hey

It's a hot parade Sing a song of love And pass it all around Hello Hey, hey It's a hot parade Everyone's invited Can you hear that sound?

We're gonna sing Loud In a big house You can hear it loud Boom, boom, boom This could be my new theme song, actually. Wow. Now, Mike, you have a couple of kids, two times over,

and you've listened to your share of children's music in your life. I've had less reason to consider the genre. By the standard of children's music that you've been forced to listen to, where does this stand? Okay, two thumbs up. Two thumbs up. Really? It's that good?

This is a great kids jam because totally tolerable by parents. Like, listen, it's almost hello, hooray, let the show begin. Are you ready? And a symptom of the 2020 pandemic, once again, like this is clearly a recording that was capable by the fact that Splashin' Boots could call up Alice Cooper and ask him to do these vocals on the song. And he had nothing better to do. I mean, it's either this or record some cameos. Let us know who hooked Splashin' Boots, FOTM's Splashin' Boots, who hooked them up with Alice Cooper?

Splashin' Boots, FOTM's Splashin' Boots. Who hooked them up with Alice Cooper? Bob Ezrin, legendary producer of Alice Cooper, who is still working with him to this day and doing some sort of tribute album to Alice Cooper, rocking in Detroit. They put out a single, which was a version of the Velvet Underground song, Rock and Roll,

which at first blush didn't make much sense, like the Velvet Underground weren't from detroit but i'm trying to explain that uh this this was the kind of music that people uh that the the 1969 hipsters were listening to when alice cooper's on the scene there was a lengthy toronto star article that talked about uh who linked up Bob Ezrin and Slash and Boots? Sorry. Slash and Boots? Splash and Boots. Yeah, Splash is the dude and Boots is the gal. I might have said, did I say initially Slash and Boots?

That's a different fromage jam. This is a children's act. Splash and Boots. And with their rock and roll manager, FOTM Jake Gould. Is he still their manager? I don't know. You tell me. No, they're not. They parted ways.

You know what? I would not have thought of Splash and Boots in a rock and roll context were it not for their appearances on Toronto Mic'd. Right. I think we got our share of backstage revelations about what it's like to be a children's act, right? A couple, they started this school project. I told you, I think they're mad at me. They got romantically involved.

They decided to get married. That didn't work out, but they were under whatever sort of delusion about what their life was going to be but they're best of friends they're as close as ever they're just not romantic anymore and great guests and they were booked to play a TMLX event and they blew me off

last minute because of another rock star they were in Newfoundland with the great big C guy whose name is I don't know you can They were in Newfoundland with the great big C guy whose name is... I don't know. You can Google it while I find some other digression. Now, looking up, we're talking about carrying on this legacy of Christopher Ward at MuchMusic. An interview with him when he put out his oral history at MuchMusic book

where he talked about the fact that he would never put a Canadian act in the year end from launch special. Alan Doyle, by the way, Alan Doyle, everyone knows that he didn't. So, so Christopher Ward,

uh, you know, he recognized what it was like to be a struggling Canadian musician himself. He wasn't going to hold up a cheesy Canadian video for humiliation across the nation. Like he was very sincere about all this. So not only are we acknowledging Canadian content here, we are talking about people who have come over to your house. Right. Oh, I love it. This, this, we should have been doing fromage every year. I can't believe this is the first one, but I can't wait for already for next year. There's another Canadian on this jam, and this jam really

smells, so trigger warning. The fromage stink is really bad on this one. Yo, JB. Talk to him one time. Yeah, you got that yummy yummy yummy yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy Say the word, I'ma wait Yeah, babe, yeah, babe, yeah, babe

Day, night, day, night Say the word, I'ma wait Yeah, babe, yeah, babe, yeah, babe In the morning, I'ma wait Say the word, I'ma wait Bonafide stallion Ain't no stable, no, you stay on the run I ain't on the side, you're number one Every time I come around, you get her done Okay, this is my least favorite genre, by the way. This is the country hip-hop hybrid. What do you call this?

Tick-tock rock is what Justin Bieber was going for hip-hop hybrid? What do you call this? TikTok rock is what Justin Bieber was going for with this song Yummy that came out of TikTok. I think it was January 3rd, 2020, right? We knew it would be a big year for TikTok, and here we got to the point where even an old guy like

Justin Bieber was tailoring his music towards being popular on TikTok and reaching the audience. Okay, fine. But this is basically Justin Bieber appearing on a Florida Georgia line. No, no, the other way around. This was Justin Bieber's song. And here we have the cynical ploy of putting out versions in different genres to try and reach other audiences.

in different genres to try and reach other audiences. So Florida Georgia Line is like a country duo of two Justin Biebers. And I don't know how literate people are in knowing what country radio is all about these days. Kind of like that guy Morgan Wallen who was on Saturday Night Live, the guy who initially canceled himself because he had, I think, TikTok videos of partying in a bar without a mask on. And they kicked him off the episode of the show. And later on, they let him come on. And this is like the new generation of country music.

It's beyond the Garth Brooks new country of almost 30 years ago. But it's in fact this cast of characters that are operating from the same playbook as Justin Bieber, except, of course, they're aiming at an audience that's a little more fond of pickup trucks and carrying guns, buying them at Walmart. I don't know. What other cliches do you want to give about what the country demographics might be?

I mean, their president is now on his way out of the White House, but the music lives on. Here's Justin Bieber and Florida, Georgia line in one of the versions of Yummy. Although we end 2020 with more people talking about Justin Bieber's aunt, a woman named Hilaria Baldwin. Oh, great. Yeah, aunt-in-law. Yeah, aunt by marriage.

But I mean, it's all in the family. It's all intertwined. Okay, if you say so. But absolutely, I was reading about this. Born and raised in Massachusetts, but not only puts on quite the Spanish accent, but there's footage of her struggling to remember the word cucumber in English, which I'm sorry, that is priceless.

Like, how do you say cucumber, says the Massachusetts native? That's the content that people were looking for, but I think I think, like, her social media presence and the fact she became this kind of Instagram star, it's an extension of the world that Justin Bieber made.

But look, I mean, he managed to put out some singles during the year that caught on on the pop charts. I mean, you know, Justin Bieber here is 26, going on 27 years old, about to join the 27 Club. His dude from the Hillsong Church. Hopefully not, though. The Hillsong Church guy also had a year in which he was caught with his pants down.

A guy who is best known as Justin Bieber's spiritual advisor. Oh. And so I think Justin Bieber is safe enough to consider in the context of Fromage 2020. He had a jam in 2020 I heard called Holy, which I think is a great pop song. So there you go. That wouldn't be played there. Well, with Chance the Rapper. Right. Exactly. And I think is a great pop song. So there you go. That wouldn't be played there. Well, with Chance the rapper, right? Exactly.

And I think it's great. I just think it's a great pop song. And another duet with Shawn Mendes. So yeah, even though it was Carl Lentz from the Hillsong Church, who was seen as the guy that put Justin Bieber on the straight and narrow, only be a little crooked himself.

We'll see what's ahead for Justin Bieber in 2021. But there are more TikTok jams to come. Right from the break. Just got brand new keys. Making my way on the J. Fuck boy talking that tough shit. Talking that fuck shit. Daddy won't stay to my face. Put a little twist in the fender. White bitch sucking my dick in Atlanta. Did it so good I had to go get the camera. Ain't no MC but she gonna get this hammer.

She gonna get nothing from me. I ain't signing. Handing my tanner. I get that coochie up. Coochie bad darner. Took it right back like Shaq. I knew that coochie was slamming. All red jagger like Thriller.

Feeling like. Hit me. Who would have thought that we could end 2020, do this fromage 2020, and find a way to work in Toronto's own chair girl, Marcella Zoya? Should I play the Beach Boys song? Because I was actually thinking that when I saw the list come in. I was thinking we almost made it.

This was going to be a very rare Mark Weisblatt appearance without any chair girl update. But how is she? I think last time we also avoided chair girl update because it's too damn cold outside. We couldn't get around to focusing on it. Here we have Marcella Zoya chair girl. Not on the song. You remember a year ago, right around Christmas time, Drake had a video which featured Marcella.

Right. had a video which featured Marcello. And he ended up having to edit the video on Christmas Eve, typical of Jewish people like Drake, to work on Late Into the Night, December 24th. And he edited the chair girl cameo out of the video. Well, leave it to Toronto's own Tory Lanes to put out a new video for

a song called Boink Boink from an album they dropped a surprise release in trying to state his case and defend himself after facing criminal charges for

allegedly shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion. And with that, we got a petition that Tory Lanez should be deported from the United States back to his native Canada. And as far as the support that Megan Thee Stallion received, and of course she had her big number one summertime hit, WAP. Big hit. Along with Cardi B.

hit WAP. Big hit. Along with Cardi B. Definitely public opinion is swaying towards Megan Thee Stallion's side of the story. But Marcella doesn't judge. And in fact

as part of her American adventures where she seems to have spent the entire autumn in Miami. At some point, she detoured off to L.A. with her rapper friend, Cromaz. Also talked about Cromaz on here. Video with Chair Girl filmed at the Yorkdale Mall and made an appearance in the new video from Tory Lanez paying tribute to that which Chair Girl is famous for, throwing a chair.

Might be imitation Eames, I think, that she is brandishing here and her friends try and get her to stop. You don't want to do any damage to Tory Lanez before he goes on trial. So that's some real fromage, right? That one stunk. Boink, boink.

Perfect choice. Tory Lanez. And some CanCon, too. I feel all alone when I check my phone. I can't go without you home. check my phone. I can't go without you home. All alone when I'm horny.

All alone when I'm lonely. All alone when I check my phone. I only check my phone when I'm lonely and horny. Mike, do you think when Bella Thorne sits around

and listens back to this track that she genuinely thinks that she's producing something great that she's putting out into the world? I think Bella Thorne was gunning for a Fromage 2020 shout-out, and she got it. So congrats, Bella Thorne. What's new with Bella Thorne? Is your teenage daughter like a fan of Bella Thorne?

I'm not hearing much about Bella Thorne. These are household names. She was originally involved in a show on the Disney Channel, and then she moved towards, what do they call it? Pornography? I wouldn't know. I haven't heard much about it. She directed a movie for Pornhub,

a company that is going on the 2020 Wall of Shame here. As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof exposed the fact that Pornhub is hosting a lot of rape videos. Oh, there's no moderation. They weren't doing anything about it. There's no moderation. It's a company based in Montreal. And it's serious stuff.

Oh, sure. Justin Trudeau called them out. There's no moderation. in early 2021 on Parliament Hill. They want to have a word with these Montreal Pornhub business people. And I think that kind of takes away from trying to get excited about the fact that Bella Thorne is making films on this platform. And she pivoted, A, how to OnlyFans and got a lot of people angry with her because there she was peddling a subscription. You could sign up and see revealing pictures of her and they turned out to be not very revealing at all. And there were a lot of women who need OnlyFans

as a way to support themselves uh selling their photos and videos on there and you know thinking who is this celebrity scam artist getting in in our way and so bell thorn didn't didn't come out looking very good after that so i don't know she went over to tiktok and here she gave the kind of song that uh i guess a young woman would want to lip sync to, to talk about how she's lonely and horny. Yeah, that's no worse than My Humps, for example, by Black Eyed Peas. Like, there's no worse than that. Although if we had been doing a fromage back then, I'm sure Black Eyed Peas, My Humps, My Humps, My Lovely Lady Lumps would make it. Well, some different dynamics there. And I don't come here to bury Bella Thorne,

but we'll also stop short of praising her. Just a reflection of the sort of content that could be created this year in self-isolation. 다음 주에 만나요. 돈도 다다다다다 외쳐봐도 성과의 몫 매 매 매 매 매 Hurt that do my thing damn if I fail 계속 울렁대성도 와주를 탓 부완전의 검평 우리 적응은 직업이 주는 스톱 Maybe 내가 파서 그래 생각이 많은 탓 I hate that 다순하지 못한 지기 어린 날 나도 참 어려 몸만 어려 절뚝거려 Mike, I think the main reason I included some of these tracks

was just to try and show off a little bit because Dave Hodge has got like a quarter century on me. I can't let him be the hippest guy in the room. I got to show I'm down with be the hippest guy in the room. I got a show. I'm down with what the preteens are listening to. Well, I know Cam Gordon kicked out a BTS jam on one Pandemic Friday, and then Stu piped in the fun fact

there are multiple rappers in BTS. And I will say, for a band as popular as BTS is, I am shockingly ignorant. Like, I couldn't name one BTS song that I know. And here's BTS, the Bang Tan Boys, with a track called

Dis Ease. And this was their attempt, I guess, while they're still famous enough to make an impression all the way from the K-pop scene in South Korea acknowledging the COVID-19 pandemic

and showing some sympathy for the mental health struggles of all their fans. Just a way of like wearing the fact that you're going through some stuff. This is them trying to empathize with their young audience.

And I don't think before 2020, even when it comes to K-pop, you would have had a band put out a song called Disease. Right. Here talking about viruses. So there's a typhoon, I think. I'd say to be ready, though,

these winds have picked up and that umbrella might come down on you. So I'll try to save you, Mark, if I see it coming down. Continue, though. These winds have picked up, and that umbrella might come down on you. So I'll try to save you, Mark, if I see it coming down. Continue, please. It's all the fun of being out there. I mean, look, BTS are big enough that they got into a whole bunch of controversies this year. One of the funnier ones was the fact that they suffered some kind of, I guess, government-direct directed backlash in China

because they suggested that South Korea was better in the Korean War than North Korea was. That would be the kind of controversy that some boy band of guys in their mid-20s don't want to step into. China's a pretty big market out there. And something appeared on social media telling kids not to listen to these pro-American singers anymore. Real talk, Mark.

When you're alone and you want to hear a jam, have you ever sought out a BTS jam to listen to? It's the first time for everything, Mike. You know, back in the day, this year, of course, Boxing Day was canceled, and, you know, we're a long distance here from Sam the Record Man, these other record stores, but you always knew which acts were on their way out

at the end of the year when they had the cheapest discounts, like the lowest price, on the holiday Christmas inventory that didn't sell. The $9.99 A&A record. So you'd get an indication on Boxing Day which albums they bought too many of, which ones they were trying to unload.

I remember at the tail end of the New Kids on the Block phenomenon, I got the New Kids on the Block No More Games remix album. It was on cassette for $0.99. Because they had so much stock sticking around.

And that version of games is better than the other version of games. Good enough for me to try to be a pop anthropologist right before you could just look it all up on YouTube. I think we kicked it out with Bingo Bob Willette. I think only about a month ago we kicked that jam out back here. Bingo Bob flying the flag. I got to say, I have really enjoyed the Bob's Basement podcast produced by TMDS.

I think every episode, the latest one, was it the latest with the guy from Econoline Crush? Yes. Yeah. I forget his name. Taylor something? Anyway, yes. Trevor Hurst. Trevor Hurst.

Right. No, Bob's doing a great job. Again, yes, a TMDS production, but Bob's doing the heavy lifting. Shout out to Bob's Basement. And before I forget, brand new offering from TMDS. Carla Collins rocks the Elmo. Rocks is R-O-X. We just dropped that this week.

Surprise! So Carla Collins in the TMDS family. Any other plugs you want to get in now that we've got your attention? Oh, yeah, one more, one more. Mark, where were you for the Christmas Eve FOTM live Zoom Pandemic Friday spectacular? I was probably working on something new that we'll talk about after we're done. Okay. But I did tune in.

I listened on double speed. I caught up to hear all the FOTMs who gathered with you, a Pandemic Friday extravaganza. And I love hearing the stories about how some of these dedicated FOTMs first came to listening to Toronto Mike. Who was it who said they were Googling Muffy the Mouse from today's special? And they found the episode that you had done with her, and they've been addicted ever since. That's how it starts. You do a harmless Google search.

You listen to the episode that scratches that itch, and then you're hooked. And that's how we get you. Way down the rabbit hole. Okay, so that's out there, too. After we're done, to catch up on Pandemic Friday, right? FOTMs. Yes, and another episode tomorrow, whether it's in the backyard or on

Zoom will depend on Stewstone's what he thinks of the weather forecast. He might not be quite the trooper you are. On that Christmas Eve episode, we had a visit from Barb Paluskiewicz from CDN Technologies. So thank you, Barb, for paying a visit.

She had a very fun 12 days of IT Christmas thing she did, which was great. And if anyone out there wants a... And you should get a network assessment. If you're responsible for a computer network, you should get an assessment from CDN Technologies. And there's no obligation to take them on as your outsourced IT department, but contact barb at cdntechnologies.com to make that happen.

And shout out to Sammy Cohn. I was talking to Sammy yesterday. Not only is he a fantastic drummer with the Watchmen, there's no Watchmen jams on this Fromage 2020 episode, but he's a great real estate agent, and he'll give you a free drum lesson in exchange for any real estate inquiry. Go to drummingupresults.com. He was telling me about an FOTM who's taken him up on the offer.

So you can follow suit. It's good for the show. It's good for you. It's good for Sammy. And the exciting news is Sammy just signed on for January 2021. So this won't be the last week I get to talk about drumming up results.com. You ready for another fromage 2020 jam? Yeah.

What do you think I've been doing here all this time, Mike? No more lockdown. No more government overreach. Controversial. No more fascist bullies. They're serving our peace. No more taking of our freedom.

And our God-given rights. Pretending it's for our safety. When it's really too enslaved Who's running our country? Who's running our world? I knew of this jam, but this is the very first time I heard this jam. Examine it closely This problematic 2020 jam here.

It's no Brown Eyed Girl, but what are we listening to here? Van Morrison released this track in late November, an anti-lockdown song. You know, it was Right Said Fred from I'm Too Sexy who had become like the

biggest anti-lockdown crusaders among the pop stars in the UK. I had no idea. There was also, what, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses? Wasn't one of the Gallagher brothers also maybe in there as far as speaking his mind? If not, whatever position one would take, the other would then say the opposite. But here came Van Morrison, I think, representing the sentiments of the aging boomer generation, bringing his buddy Eric Clapton along for the ride in a protest song.

You wonder where did all the protest songs go? And here delivering the goods of Van Morrison in no more lockdowns. Wouldn't you like to go back to Woodstock and just tell those kids at Max Yazger's farm and just say, this is what you'll be doing in the year 2020. Okay, do you think Van Morrison is now cancelled then

in the parlance of our times? Eric Clapton, who I think people started digging up a lot of dirt on him after this tune came out as well. They're legacy artists, so I think their legacy material will survive this. I'm pretty confident of that. Because Van Morrison did, I think, a very good job of transitioning to being one of those boomer acts.

In the late 80s, he had some albums where he did songs that were a little more like Waltz style, a little more mellow, recognizing that the 60s were over, and here we were enjoying the fruits of the new yuppie reality. And Van Morrison, I think, solidified what became like 30 years of being known as this classic artist who could command big bucks at all these jazz festivals around the world. That's what I'm wondering. Like, will the Van Morrison payday be coming to an end that he might be stigmatized by the fact that he put out this song? You don't think so?

I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. Not for this. He'd have to do far worse, I think, than this. But this song, first I've heard it, and I knew of it because we talked about it on Pandemic Friday. Well, we've gone through a number of months here where you always try, I can tell, I can see it in your eyes, Mike. You're always contemplating whether or not I am an anti-masker.

Well, you were wearing a mask when you arrived here. I'll add different stories to our monthly recap rundown list that I can tell you're suspicious. You're wondering if I'm trying to sneak some anti-masker propaganda into the Young Mike podcast. You know, because I have more libertarian leanings than you do. Nobody tells Wise Blunt what to do. I'm a little more into the idea of freedom. I listen to all my podcasts

at double speed because I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. Here's how I know, and no anti-masker would wear a mask into somebody's backyard. Like, that is a sign no anti-mask would do that. Is that the moment of truth? Is that it? That it was too complicated for me to take it off

after getting on the bus? That you have now, we have now settled the argument that you recognize that I will not go on the TTC without following rules and wearing a mask? Right. So, I mean, if you wore it coming to my backyard, which you did, very respectful, because I don't even ask that of my backyard guests.

You're not an anti-masker. A shout-out here to my namesake, Ocean Weisblatt of Calgary, Alberta. Hockey prospect on the rise. Is he in the junior tournament? Is he somewhere? I don't know. I never heard the name. I keep hearing about the Weisblatt brothers. Four brothers with very unusual names.

A lot of these junior hockey guys from Western Canada were granted, I would say, generally hippie parents that gave them these quirky names. You've got Ocean, Oasis, his brother Orca. Wow. Oh, yeah. These are Danger Bay people. His sister, Oceana. Wow.

And I don't know. There was one more brother in there. These are Danger Bay names because not only do you got the Orca and you got the Ocean in there, but, yeah, literally the actress in Danger Bay, her name was ocean Hellman. I think I want to say ocean orca Aussie. Uh, and,

their sister's name is, uh, Oceana. Oh, and one other brother Oasis with a Zed. Wow. At the end. Okay.

So shout out to ocean Hellman who played Nicole on Danger Bay. Ocean, okay, Ocean Wise Blatt. No relation that I know of. I mean, certainly... Spelled differently, right? Spelled differently, but close enough that we should be plugging into 23andMe or Ancestry.com. Okay.

I'll report back to us next month. So what happened? Ocean Wiseblatt was on an outdoor rink in Calgary playing like a shinny game outside. A neighbor complained. And the police showed up by the officers. And, you know, there was a big skirmish. And so they're not allowed to be playing hockey outside. I got angry.

Let me tell you, I'm not an anti-masker. Okay, the tables have turned. Because I saw someone called security or something on too many sledders on a hill in Mississauga the last couple of days. Whoa, look at that. I wish the cameras were on because it's a wonderful sight here. But anyway, I'm sorry. But if you live with someone, your pod of people you live with could easily stay six feet from everyone else on a toboggan sled.

And that's basically what happens. I took my kids sledding. There it comes. There okay so that's a broken yeah be careful there we have the the umbrella has come down i'm gonna do the play by player actually let me kick into this next jam because it's a little short and celebrities and i'll do this and then i'll come fix that here we go imagine there's no heaven it's easy if you try no heaven it's easy if you try no hell below us above us only sky imagine all the people today Imagine there is no country yet It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for This is awful, Mark. This is awful. I almost wished that umbrella had landed on my head. That's how bad it's getting here. We're still doing the Formage 2020 thing. I almost forgot. And just what I dreamed of

when this Gal Gadot video appeared online there at the beginning of quarantine. She says at the beginning of the video, it's day six of the lockdown. What day are we in now? Day 286?

At the time, it was imagined as something that would only last about three weeks. And there, Gal Gadot, Gal Gadot, Israel's own Wonder Woman, rounded up a bunch of her celebrity friends,

or I guess called the right agents and managers and PR people, ran them all up. And I mean, that's the biggest Fromage 2020 track. That was awful. That's the one that everyone will be playing for decades to come to symbolize how

ridiculous it got pop culture in COVID-19. But Wonder Woman 1984 was supposed to be the big christmas movie that belongs on fromage 2020 the people i know who have seen it uh have warned me to avoid at all costs and it did open in theaters in the united states in the states that were allowing people to go to the movies and i guess people were, it's maybe a good sign for the movie industry.

Like people were restless enough that they wanted to go out on Christmas Day, Christmas weekend. And they were very desperate for action comic book movie that did okay there. And it was on,

I mean, it did okay in the theaters, even though it was also on HBO Max in the United States. You could buy it for $30 here. Good reviews or not, I don't know. I mean, with her being the front person for that Imagine video, you'd think maybe this would have been a career killer, but it was forgotten enough that she survived it.

No, it takes more than that to kill Wonder Woman. She was able to play Wonder Woman again. What else we got, Mike? Looking out on the morning rain I used to feel so uninspired And when I knew I had to face another day Lord, it made me feel so tired For the day I met you

Life was so unkind But you're the key to my peace of mind. Cause you make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman. Okay, Toronto Mike, do you remember the days of May and June 2020 when everybody was talking about how the day would come when black people across America, around the world, would finally be getting respect for their culture, that the killing of George Floyd was the last straw, that Black Lives Matter was a mantra that we all had to say at every available opportunity, that we had

to post a black square some Tuesday on Instagram to show our solidarity with the cause, that we were going to be respectful of people who had a different skin color than us. Mike, do you remember when all this happened? Of course, yes, of course. Well, I'm here to tell you that at the end of 2020, all of that was out the window, thanks to an organization called Global Citizen, which is one of those charities where, I mean, I don't know where they're at now, but you look at their filings from previous years,

and here's this Australian organization where you see between the salaries of the people behind it and the expenses that they have throughout the year putting on these celebrity concerts and telethons that Global Citizen

may not be helping anybody that they're claiming to at all. But, hey, it costs a lot of money, right, to put on a big celebrity show hosted by John Legend and getting Justin Trudeau, even though we had the whole We Scandal, right? He taped a little message of hope for Global Citizen, scandal, right? He taped a little message of hope for Global Citizen and you had Raphael Sadiq

used to be in the group Tony, Tony, Tony, producing his album, a song on there called Human Race with an X instead of an A to show that, you know, we're living in the age of non-binary.

We are all one and getting two of the whitest singers ever. JoJo, JoJo Levesque, who was like a young teenage singer, had, I think, some provocative tracks back in the early to mid-2000s. Another singer, Tori Kelly, who was on American Idol, placed somewhere as a finalist and had a recording career to show for it. The two of them doing

a socially distant duet. For homage 2020. Tribute to Aretha Franklin. You make me feel like a natural woman. What do you think of that one, Mike? Fit for the pit. Read the liner notes.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Fire it up Fire it up Fire it up Okay, I can't take it anymore. What is this? What is this? My sweetest baby My very love Okay, I can't take it anymore. What is this? What is this cheese? I warned you. Robin Thicke.

Who's actually technically a Canadian citizen. Another cultural appropriator. Here we go. A reflection of the fact that maybe these, these lessons of racial reckoning in 2020 won't, won't survive into 2021.

I don't know. I mean, R and B is his genre. He'd been at it for years and years before blurred lines. Although the lawsuit around that song didn't do much for his image. It's being seen as here was a privileged white guy who was teaming up with Pharrell Williams

to take on the tropes of black music and claim it all to himself. But Robin Thicke has undergone a bit of image rehabilitation by the fact that he's a judge on the Masked Singer. And that seemed like a gig that he was born

to be doing, that he's comfortable enough at. And Robin Thicke was one of the artists who was called in to give, I guess, more of an urban R&B image to the National Football League. And that was a song that was commissioned for NFL Telecast. The NFL this year changed the Monday night football theme from Hank Williams Jr.

But it hasn't been him for a long time. Are you ready for some football? He was canceled a long time ago. But now they use Little Richard in tribute to his legend and rip it up. So that was another sign there. I'm sure you'll get into this more at Hebsey on Sports. Do you think that more of a social consciousness, the woke universe, worldview, that's what I'm trying to say,

working its way into professional sports. Do you think that was a net positive, or do you think that's going to be something that they leave behind in 2021? That comes back tomorrow. Hebsey on sports. Took a little hiatus, but we're scheduled. But I guess you've noticed that Twitter is cancelling Periscope.

So I think we're actually talking about where do we live stream. It looks like it's going to be on Facebook tomorrow morning if people are looking for Hebsion Sports. All right, we're down to our last, well, it's kind of our last jam of the Fromage Night 2020 segment. Then I'm going to ask you about a couple, just a couple of items before we get to the memorial section brought to us by Ridley Funeral Home.

By the way, you have a gift from Ridley Funeral Home. I gave you a toque last time. This is a hand sanitizer, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars of the community since 1921. Pay tribute without paying a fortune. Go to RidleyFuneralHome.com. I figure hand sanitizer would have always been at the ready

at a funeral home. Now the rest of the world is caught up to them. I will slather on my Ridley Funeral Home hand sanitizer with pride while wearing my Ridley Funeral Home toque. But again, being outside in these conditions, it really is, you can do an hour. Can you do three hours? No.

So basically, here, let me play this again. Okay, Mike, I think we're at the point now where we'll feel lucky to be alive if we make it to the end. Whoa, this isn't a 2020 jam. Whoa, this isn't a 2020 jam. Although it's probably worthy of a fromage episode, but not 2020. Oh, I see. I've never heard this. Oh. I see. I've never heard this. have to look for. They no longer have to spread out on the bedroom floor. It's time to say it. Gotta

say it. Good times. Good times. Look at this photograph. Every time I do, it makes me laugh. Every time I do, it makes me... Hey!

Nickelback and Chad Kroger in absolute self-deprecation mode. Yeah, he's self-aware. That's good to see. What's he doing? That is a commercial for Google Photos. I didn't know that. They're trying to move in on that hosting action here. Sure.

Every many decades into people having all these pictures on their computer. Google looking for a piece of that action as a place to store your photographs and there chad kroger poking fun at himself i think a little help from a little help from auto-tune there and getting the the 15 year old uh vocals uh up to par up to pitch with what it used to be. And I think, you know, to sum up this Fromage 2020 concept, I mean, there you go. Is there really such a thing as bad music anymore? Or do we in fact get to the point where someone like Chad Kroger is very self-aware and conscious of the fact that this is how he's perceived? He's not trying to make artistic statements that work against that.

I'd surmise it this way. Guilty pleasures are now guilt-free. Not only that, I think we're into a world where if Nickelback announced they were, you know, doing a concert in 2021, all the vaccines were implemented, everyone was free and in the clear. I think Nickelback is the kind of band that could be playing for bigger crowds than ever, right? Like people would come in droves, hundreds of thousands of people to a 2021 music festival that had Nickelback as a headliner just because people would want to feel being part of something

again. Or you're talking to a guy who has seen them live not once, but twice, and dug it both times. And so, once upon a time, when people might have felt sorry for you, now it's like, hey, Mike, you probably can't wait until you get the opportunity to see

a band like Nickelback again. Only when they headline for a good Edge Fest again. Mark, that Fromage 2020 was fantastic. Now, we're going to do this every year at the end of December. Do you agree? This is a binding stage. Okay, I'm not sure if sitting outside is going to be part of the deal now that we're getting a taste of the reality of December 30 weather.

I hope we did justice here to this original concept of Fromage. So shout out to FOTM Christopher Ward. Much love. And you can hear a new interview with him on Erica M's podcast. FOTM, Erica M. Tell me, this is exciting news. Before we get to the... We get some Segway music here.

Come on. All right. I was trying to cut some time out of this. It's not just to take a little bit of a break, but it's to make sure that I'm not dying out here.

Mark Wiseblot, this is exciting news. The Canadian Jewish News returns. Tell me everything I need to know about CJN. I don't know if I would want to talk about this if I wasn't involved in it myself. But you are involved.

How are you involved? There's a lesson here, I think, for our hopes of where the media might go. Can I be involved or do I need to be Jewish? Is there anything for me to do? Mike, Toronto Mike, TMDS is the second most Jewish media company in town next to the Canadian Jewish News. And with the Canadian Jewish News just having been on hiatus for nine months, I think you moved up to first.

Well, because Carla Collins is a – Humble Howard told me that she's a member of the tribe. What? That's breaking news to me. That's what he told me that she's a member of the tribe. What? That's breaking news to me. That's what he told me, yeah. I'll have to do a bit more research on that one. Okay. So for a couple of years, we discussed here a little bit.

I had a little involvement with this 60-year-old CJN, Canadian Jewish News, Jewish Community Newspaper, a long legacy there. I was writing some stuff. I was helping out with a few ideas. I was filling in for some people that weren't around. Then what happened just after the pandemic arrived, there was a decision made that they were no longer going to continue publishing as a weekly newspaper in that form. The whole thing was shutting down.

That was the end of that. Sixty years were gone forever. I mean, it was very abrupt and got a fair bit of coverage because it's not every day in Canada that a pretty well-read 60-year-old newspaper just disappears. But there were reasons for doing that

which were maybe a little complicated, maybe above my pay grade, not of that much interest to me beyond the fact that it created a window for me to be asked to be involved in Bring It Back. So I am now, technically speaking, this is like a real business card title, the managing editor of the Canadian Jewish News. Well, congratulations. That's a big title for a well-regarded... It's not like I'm going into an

office. You're the perfect man for that job. It is still 2020 after all, but here I have been commissioned with the idea of finally bringing this product into the 21st century, and given the fact that we're 21 years into it,

there's a lot of opportunity there. And so I'm working with a team initially comprised with people that were involved with it before, the editor-in-chief, a guy named Yoni Goldstein. He's returning to that job. He's the CEO of the operation. There'll be some print magazines. There'll be social media.

Podcasting. What? And what will initially be occasional, but then a little more regular as you ramp things up and go on, an email newsletter, which will be another entry point in the Canadian Jewish News.

And that's something you know about. Well, it's made possible by the fact that suddenly these email newsletters are being taken seriously. And that's something you know about. Well, it's made possible by the fact that suddenly these email newsletters are being taken seriously. And that's a whole other topic about this service called Substack, a big article in the latest New Yorker magazine. It's been the subject of considerable hype, like finally somebody figured out a way to solve the problem

about how a journalist can go it alone. I mean, going back, Mike, to the early days of blogging where everyone fantasized about, you know, could a a journalist could a news outlet be a be a one person shop right could somebody like make it work on their own uh get paid subscriptions or maybe advertising the advertising part i don't think it has been figured out yet here i was working on working on the 1236 newsletter for five years with saint jose Media. As far as I know, this situation will continue, and we're going to grow that too, is what I've been

led to imagine. But... This is all great stuff. This situation is all subject to change. I don't want to come on here and be like, okay, I got fired from the job that you know me for.

It happens. But right now, we're still going to do it all steam, full speed ahead for 2021 because I think this might be the time to really test in the marketplace whether something can be done with this newsletter format. So if it's not the email newsletter that I've been working on, then in fact, I've got the audience, I've got the forum to bring in other people, other newsletters,

other new and different ways of researching and developing new routes in media. That'll continue at 12.36 every day, but now it's also in this other thing. The CJN. I want to be able to set a precedent for how these ethnic community

media outlets are perceived. Because it is written in English language. As Toronto Mike himself knows, it is possible to do content with Jewish people that appeals to a much wider audience. And so we can also fulfill that agenda by reaching people who aren't part of the Jewish community at all, but would want to keep up on things with a wider lens.

to keep up on things with a wider lens. So that means a lot of pop culture stuff, a lot of familiar names from the media, and a lot of things that everybody can relate to. As long as you're not an anti-Semite, you might like what we're doing. And here's the thing. The anti-Semites will be paying attention, too. Probably closer attention. They always have. And F those guys.

That's what's up. And g guys. That's what's up. That's what's up. Did I explain it all? No, that's fantastic. So the cjn.ca is the URL where somebody can sign up. Okay, so firstly, and I said it before, I'll say it again. Congratulations to you, Mark Weisblatt. You're the perfect man for this job.

Muzzle, muzzle-toff. Yes, muzzle-toff. Is the word you're looking for. Muzzle-toff. You're right. Ralph Edmund taught me some Yiddish. I try to sprinkle it in liberally. I also just want you to know that if you want to

help with the relaunch and the branding, I highly recommend StickerU.com. Get some CJN stickers. Start plastering them around. There's badges and there's temporary tattoos and there's decals and all this great stuff available to you. Excellent quality, good local business.

Sticker you dot com. Oh, yeah, Bruce Springsteen there. He's not Jewish. Well, speaking of 1984, I was reminded from that book I mentioned earlier, Can't Slow Down, Michelangelo Matos' survey of pop music from that year, and the Arthur Baker remix of Dancing in the Dark. It was cool. It was cool because at first it sounds just like the Born in the USA version,

and then it's not. It's cool. And so we can't do a December recap without mentioning there was an FOTM on Saturday Night Live. That was what I was getting at. Okay. Yes. Somewhere a few minutes ago. The little big man

Jake Clemens was on Saturday Night Live with the E Street Band and the boss and it sparked a convo like how many FOTMs have been on the Saturday night live stage or whatever. And I know for a fact, bare naked ladies played Saturday night live. And that's two FOTMs there,

Tyler Stewart and Steven page. But I also, and tell me, am I misremembering? Wasn't, uh, was Kevin McDonald ever on any set? I don't think so.

I think he would have been one of the guys in kids in the Hall who was not ever on Saturday Night Live. And he would, I mean, that's part of the whole Kevin McDonald sort of schlepper schtick that he does. Like he's had the least American exposure of anyone involved with the troupe. But he's on Cameo. Okay. He's on Cameo. But there's one name, of course, I want to mention. One more FOTM who has definitely

played on that stage, because I'll remember it well. It was the Michael Jordan episode. He's probably done more than that, but that's the one I remember recording the VHS. Public Enemy has played Saturday Night Live, and that means Chuck D has been on that stage. Are you ready now for the Ridley Funeral Home

memorial segment here? We got to get to this because we can't go four hours out here or I'm going to die. I can't imagine how you're feeling there. You ready to go? Imagine if under these circumstances, okay, where we've got an umbrella falling on my head and a tarp ready to tackle Toronto Mike's computer, if in the process of it all I force you to stick to all those other media topics. And we ended up doing the longest ever episode of Toronto Mike.

We'll do it really quick. Pam Seidel's gone. I don't think that's a big surprise. She probably got the tap on the shoulder, time to retire. That's how it feels to me. I don't know if you have any more insight than that. I wouldn't look any further than that. The other one that didn't make your list

that I've been getting lots of notes about is Brandon Gones from CP24 has quit. So I would just suspect that whenever the, you know, this, whatever this non-compete, whenever that expires, he will pop up on another news

channel. Bob McCowan in that article in the Globe and Mail by Simon Haupt. Oh, right. Some thoughts there. His wife left him and his family left him and he's still in the house. I think that wife, ex-wife is also the real estate agent. Yes, that is true. Christina McCowan. On the house. That's true.

So we've got Bobcat there and in radio, Bell Media launching Move Radio. But there's no Toronto stations affected, so St. Catharines would be your closest Move station, right? With the Easy Rock that had Rick Hodge on it. And I think with Rogers,

they're also trying to make Jack Radio more of a thing. They brought in Drex, an Australian DJ, put him on in the morning show, and I think they're looking for more of a national profile for him and something I noticed at job posting 5-6pm on Christmas Eve they were looking for a producer for The National on CBC

and implied in that job posting is they're going to try and make The National more of a talk show like moving away from documentary news reports and make the National more of a talk show, like moving away from documentary news reports and turning it into more of a soundbite, talking heads extravaganza. You know who would be perfect for that? Ralph Ben-Murgy would be perfect for that. Friends How many of us have them?

Friends Ones we can depend on Friends How many of us have them? Friends, before we go any further, let's be friends. Friends is the word we use every day. Most of the time we use it in the wrong way. Now you can look the word up again and again, but the dictionary doesn't know the meaning of friends.

And if you ask me, you know I couldn't be much help Because a friend's somebody you judge for yourself Some are okay and they treat you real cool And some mistake your kindness for being a fool We like to be with some because they're funny Others come around when they need some money Stuff you grew up with around the way And you're still real close to this very day

Homeboys through the summer, winter, spring and fall And then there's some we wish we never knew at all Okay, kicking off our memorial segment is one of the members of Houdini. H-O-D-I-N-I. Did I spell that right? Correct. And there was a Toronto rapper named Houdini. Who was shot, right? Shot and killed in broad daylight in downtown Toronto. Is this the Freaks Come Out At Night band?

Yeah, Freaks Come Out At Night. Houdini, original pioneering hip-hoppers. I think one of the first to have a major label deal and some chart hits. The biggest pop hit they had was this one, Friends. Friends, okay, was bigger than Freaks. Okay, so who from Houdini passed it? That was a rapper, singer, whatever. His nickname was Ecstasy.

John Ecstasy Fletcher. And this is me, I guess, contemplating my own mortality because he died at age 56. And, okay, you know, he would have been maybe like still a teenager, fresh out of high school, doing hip-hop. But I'm thinking, oh, all right. doing hip-hop, but I'm thinking, oh, all right.

I guess I'm not that much younger than the people who were coming up in hip-hop in the mid-80s. And The Freaks Come Out At Night, that was a song people knew from the video, but I think this one is remembered most of all. Friends

by Houdini. Rest in peace, Ecstasy. You took her out with you and your guy one night. Just remember, just remember to say Somebody promised you something, but it wasn't me Before you blow them away For the past ten years, Janet Burke, Jennifer Dean and Deanne Taylor, known as the Hummer Sisters, have been performing multimedia political cabaret.

In the Toronto municipal elections this past week, they took their platform beyond the stage and ran against Mayor Art Eggleton. Eggleton won easily with over 116,000 votes, but the Hummers experienced a major victory as well. Winning close to 11,000 votes, their art versus art slogan shot them into second place. Deanne Taylor was the woman behind what in 1982 would have been definitely a subversive little project, which was she put herself on the Toronto mayoral ballot, as Jeannie Becker explained there, running against Art Eggleton for mayor of Toronto. One of those years when, you know, it would have been generally like unopposed back then. These municipal elections were only two years apart. That's hard to believe.

It was kind of like the thing, okay, he was doing an okay job. There was no real chance of him losing. Nobody was going to make the effort to run against him. But here, Deanne Taylor stepped in. She was part of this thing, Video Cabaret, doing this political video art around Toronto. And with her act called the Hummer Sisters, something that might have gone over the head of, I don't know,

10, 11-year-old me at the time. Sure. That a Hummer appeared on the ballot up against Art Eggleton kind of rallied a certain amount of attention. I think Colin Vaughn of City Pulse News had a lot to do with it because he covered her and the Hummer sisters like a serious candidate. They were trying to make a point, art versus art. This was the Toronto Queen West scene, trying to make a statement, have an impact at Toronto City Hall,

which might have been just like up the street there at Queen and Young, but a world away at the Cameron House that they made it their headquarters for doing this fringe candidate campaign. And when it came to the final results, which you say they got 11,000 votes, like this is the original city of Toronto. Right. Not the mega city that follows. Yeah, not where we sit right now.

They actually did pretty well. So somewhere in that report from the new music, it's mentioned, like, political observers are concerned that, in fact, this artistic project, This artistic project, which licensed its democratic right to be on the ballot, got a significant number of votes. And you could imagine it. You could see a certain generation that would go out and be excited to vote for a Hummer and stick it to Art Eggleton. And Deanne Taylor was the driving force behind this campaign. So I learned a little bit more about her from her obituary as she died in December. And that included the fact that she was like a child actress on the CBC in the somewhere age nine. Put it somewhere around, I guess, the mid-1950s.

Maggie Muggins, I think, was the show that she was on, and again, went on to this fascinating artistic career within Toronto. Also an example of somebody who has written about a lot in the Toronto Star over the years, and when she died, there was no article about it, like no obituary. Yeah, that's sad. Falling into that case, and we always try to recognize those here. That's what we're doing here, right? That's what we're doing here.

So Deanne Taylor, if you missed the news, and that was a great clip, and it reminds me of who I need to get on Toronto Mic'd in 2021. Jeannie Becker's got to make her debut in 2021, so mental note here. Let's remember another person we lost in December 2020. Somewhere over highway I had my eye on you I wake up every morning Gonna pick up cans I knew what you were going through

I waited underneath the bridge for you Started a fire What in the world could happen to you On a morning that never dies? And if you never die, I'll love you all of the time and shine shine shine I know you've never heard this song before, Mike, because I never heard it either

until I learned about the death of a guy named George Reineke. And he was in a Toronto band that got a lot of press in the early to mid-90s called Busted Flush. And they even had some sort of major record label deal. It might have been Polygram Records in Canada. And George had moved to Toronto, where his wife was from. And the fact that he was involved with a couple of indie rock all-stars,

a guy named Alex Chilton, his solo career. Big star. Yeah, before that. The Letter by the Box Tops. Anybody who was working as a sideman to Alex Chilton would have had a cachet at the time

with the hippest of the hipsters. Also played in a band called Tav Falco's Panther Burns. So as my friend Rick McGinnis wrote in a blog post about photographing George Reneke for this Busted Flush album around that time, I mean, you know, this guy would have been a big deal to a very select number of people, probably at the time hanging around the Cameron House on Queen Street in Toronto, that he would have been, in their world, a bold-faced name. And we found out here in late December that he died. I don't have any more details in that or too much about what happened to him.

But again, somebody who got a lot of press in the big papers for being this kind of presence in Toronto, and here we lost him at the end of the year. I can't afford it. Tell me the truth. Someone just bought it. Say Mr. Whistle. Kick on the kicker. Black builders of paradise.

Larger than life. Twice as ugly. We have to live. You'll have to trust me Maybe these luxuries can Only compensate For all the girls you will get Like a dance of faith

So tell me Tell me, tell me How to be Mike, did you see the movie Party Monster with Macaulay Culkin? It was going to be one of Macaulay Culkin's big roles, maybe even win an Oscar. He would no longer be Kevin from Home Alone. Instead, he would be known for doing this movie about Michael Allig, the club kids of New York City, and Michael Allig, who died on Christmas Day.

Foul play. Not suspected that he died at age 54, having served his time behind bars due to being convicted in the death of one of his fellow New York club kids, a guy named Angel Melendez, due to being convicted in the death of one of his fellow New York club kids, a guy named Angel Melendez, in one of those stories about some drug dealings gone bad.

And so Michael Allig was a name that was synonymous with a certain notoriety on the club scene in New York City, which also involved a Canadian, a guy named Peter Gation, who put out a memoir in the past year, which I read, and I got to say, I think came up a little short. But then again, I think he had editorial control about what he told in his story. Here was a guy from Cornwall, Ontario, went from selling blue jeans to putting on concerts to being seen as like the coolest nightclub impresario in the USA. But with that and with the kind of young people that he brought into his clubs, I mean, essentially when it came, I don't have any experience in this world. And Mike, I don't think you do either.

But the glory days of clubbing involved curating the people who would come to your club, right? A club didn't get buzzed by accident. You had to pay a certain strata of people to not only promote your club, but hang out and become synonymous with the environment, right? Essentially become that kind of club personality, a host who was on the scene. Like, I guess, a more modern version of a maitre d' who would keep the party hopping. And here this kid, Michael Alec, who moved to New York from, I think, Indiana,

and got mixed up with the wrong crowd to say the least. And as a result, ended up in prison. Then Peter Gation himself ended up being shut down by various levels of law enforcement who were looking for a hook on him, tax evasion or whatever. enforcement who were looking for a hook on him, tax evasion or whatever. I can't remember ultimately what he was charged with, but it resulted in him being deported back to Canada. Remember there was a nightclub called Circa in Toronto, downtown, like near the Sky Dome, Blue Jays Way, Peter Street.

I think it's now a Marshall's store. And that was going to be Peter Gation's sort of foray into making a comeback because there's no longer a lot in the United States. That fizzled out pretty fast. All this stuff about nightclubs. Ancient history now. But think of Michael Adler. I mean, do you think, Mike, in our post-pandemic world that this nightclub scene will make some sort of comeback? Because people

want to go out, right? They'll want to hang out together. If history has taught us anything, we're in line for some roaring 20s. Yeah, the roaring 20s might be a place for this club world of a renaissance. People are worried about what's going to happen in Manhattan, right? Is New York City ever going to be the same? There will obviously be people with new entrepreneurial ideas,

but I don't think Peter Gation's allowed in the country to execute them, I know for sure. Michael Allig won't be there because he's dead. Died at age 54. 54. That band we played, ABC, I have great memories of digging the jam When Smokey Sings. That was an ABC jam from back in the day. ABC put out a series of albums where from one album to the next, they would have a different style, different image. That was How to Be a Millionaire.

The album How to Be a Zillionaire. It was a cartoon video they were putting on. I mean, to change your image that much was okay when the Beatles were doing it, but I think it got a little more confusing into 1980s, and that song was on the soundtrack of the Macaulay Culkin movie, Party Monster. For the forest and further on Painted wagons of the morning Dusty roads where they have gone Sometimes traveling to the dark ends

Yet the summer coming home Fallen faces by the wayside Looked as if they'd parted from is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is

is is is is is is is is

is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is I feel not only is this a theme for an imaginary Western, but I feel it's like a good theme for what we're doing out here today, Mike. This is sort of, we're on the frontier here of fighting against the elements. So the rain has returned. Do you want me to open up that umbrella again?

Are you getting wet? Well, feel free. There's always a risk of you breathing on me. I got to put on my mask. I won't breathe. I'll put up the umbrella and tell us who we lost. Tell us about... Rhapsodize here about the life and times of Leslie West, who we lost somewhere in December, end of December, at age 75. Leslie West, who came to prominence with his band called Mountain.

Mississippi Queen, which Mike has launched into off mic while opening up the umbrella again. Not only to keep me dry, which I don't think is going to work, but to avoid possible electrocution issues, which is all part of backyard recording here. And as Mike does what you've got to do in the bushes in the backyard after consuming one too many cans of GLB,

left to consider the life of Leslie West, born Leslie Weinstein, in his band called Mountain, and later performing with West, Bruce, and Lang. Part of their credibility came through the fact they were linked with the British power trio Cream. And performing with Jack Bruce. Now, as part of Eight Nights of Hanukkah thing, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, along with the record producer Greg Kirsten. Did you catch Dave Grohl doing his tribute to Jewish rock and roll?

Just the one that you tweeted. And that might have been, I think, Mississippi Queen by Mountain. Not only for the fact that Leslie West, Leslie Weinstein, was a member of the tribe, but also the drummer. Speaking of Canadian Jewish news, the guy from Montreal, then Corky Lang. That's exactly right. So that would have been Corky Lang from Mountain

and Corky Lang from West, Bruce, and Lang. And shout out to Mississippi Queen for being a hell of a song. Like, I've always loved it. And then at some point, Howard Stern in the 90s was professing his love and had this chap on the program, and I heard them chatting it up, and I've been a big fan of Mountain ever since. Yeah, Leslie West became one of those characters.

Did you know that when Howard Stern was trying to get a show going on the Fox network to replace Joan Rivers, did a whole bunch of pilots, and Leslie West was his band leader on those pilot episodes? So that's how far back they went. Yeah, a lot of people would have known who Leslie West was just by going on Howard Stern, talking about all those legendary days of playing Woodstock.

I think they played Woodstock. And just being this great classic rock and roll. The Great Fatsby was the name of his solo album, which maybe indicated he was not in shape to live for this long, but there he made it. 75 years old, remembering Leslie West. Oh, this is a fresh one. I just read about this yesterday.

Oh, this is a fresh one. I just read about this yesterday. And I just watched a Dolly Parton documentary on Prime, I think it was. It might have been Netflix. I can't even remember anymore. I've been hanging out uptown, Lord, in that low-down rain. Watching Good Time, Charlie Friends, is a-driving me insane. Up on shady Charlotte Street Lord the green lights look red

I wish I was back home On the farm Lord my feather bed And I got myself A rocking chair To see if I could lose These thin time Hard time

And alone church street blues Great song, huh? Church Street Blues by Tony Rice, who I don't think we would have mentioned him at any point in time until we learned that he died. A bluegrass legend made it to age 69. He played with Dolly Parton, though, because I learned that Dolly had a bunch of Bluegrass records

and he was playing on those. It's funny. It's one of those things where I just kind of learned he existed like days before he died. It happens once in a while. One other quick thing is I just did this FOTM KOTJ and a gentleman named Luke Murphy kicked out a Philip Glass song that's like 20 minutes long.

He mentioned a bed set. He lived in a bed sit when he was in Ireland and he explained what a bed sit was and it's the first time I ever remember hearing what a bed sit was and that night I sat down and watched a documentary on Netflix about the uh Yorkshire uh Ripper in the 70s and they referenced a bed sit and uh I just thought that was a hell of a coincidence. But I digress. And then after all that, on an episode of Toronto Mic, you play the entirety of a 20-minute long Philip Glass piece. Yes, of course.

Because when an FOTM kicks out a jam, I'm not going to truncate it. That's not my role in this. I play it for sure. Okay, remembering Tony Rice. Bluegrass legend died Christmasmas day age 69 but i guess i'm gonna stay right here in the pick and sing whenever i chance to meet some old friends on the street They wonder how does a man get to be this way I've always

got a smiling face Anytime and anyplace And every time they ask me why I just smile and say You've got to And every time they ask me why, I just smile and say, you've got to kiss an angel good morning and let her know you think about her when you're gone.

Kiss an angel good morning and love her like the devil when you get back home. And love her like the devil when you get back home. One of the things I learned in 2020 was how much Toronto Mike's mom loved Kenny Rogers. Yes, that was a 2020 episode. Right, she forgave him for everything. You know, she didn't hold it against him that he would have women call up his secret phone sex hotline. Where he could whisper sweet nothings in their ear.

Do you know who loves that bonus episode with my mom talking about Kenny Rogers? It's Steve Paikin. He says it's the best thing he heard in 2020. And another member of the country music Mount Rushmore who we're remembering here, who died at 86 years of age, Charlie Pride. Who didn't quite cross over in the way that Kenny Rogers did. I was going to say, because I

just mentioned Dolly Parton with the last jam and now we're talking Kenny Rogers. A couple of cats where even if you weren't a country fan listening to country radio, you knew the songs. This gentleman, I learned of his songs after he died. You know, the first time I heard of Charlie Pryde was watching the CTV show Thrill of a Lifetime. And one of those thrills of a lifetime was a housekeeper.

I could Google that much. The episode didn't seem to be anywhere. But it was a housekeeper, and her thrill of a lifetime was to spend the day with Charlie Pride. Wow. And she was burst out into tears. She couldn't believe it. So Charlie

Pride, he died of COVID-19. And with that, we had the suspicion whether he caught it at the Country Music Association Awards. And they're saying, no, they tested him before and after, and he didn't get it from hanging out with Florida Georgia Line at the awards show. But still, a little sketchy that the Country Music Association Awards were like an anti-masker event.

They wanted to honor the African-American country music pioneer, Charlie Pryde. And guess what? It was the last thing he ever did in his life. Eek. The smart one used her head, she made her fortune And me, I crossed the border every chance I get We were the girls of the 50's Stone rockin' rollers of the 60s And more than a name's got changed

As the 70s slipped on by Now we're 80s ladies There ain't been much these ladies ain't tried KT Auslin. Is that a name you know when you heard that she died at age 78? I mean, could you name a KT Auslin song? This was like the final days, the 80s ladies. I guess the end of like the AM radio era of country music. I thought I, I'll tell you the truth, I thought I was familiar with the name.

Like it seemed like a name I knew, but I could not like name a song. Don't confuse her with that other singer, KT Tunzel. Well, maybe I did. Who I couldn't name a song from her either. Well, maybe I did. Who I couldn't name a song from her either. A little later. KT Auslin was already creeping up on middle age when she became a celebrity on country music radio

because she told it like it is. Listen to this song, 80s Ladies. A reflective empowerment anthem for the yuppie days of country music. And after we got into the new country, Garth Brooks era, there was no place for KT Oslin on the scene anymore, and she kind of vanished. But a few singles that are fondly remembered,

I think a little more substance in the country music genre. In a different time, she might have been more like Joni Mitchell, but it was this glossed-up, synthesized production that got her some success at the time. Ladies, ladies There ain't been much These ladies ain't tried Sweet, soft summer nights

Dancing shadows in the starry lights You came for me to follow And we kissed on distant shores Long, long time ago Speaking of an act born at the wrong time, Chad and Jeremy got lumped in with the British Invasion Acts around 1964, 5, 6. They came to America. They were on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

But I think Chad and Jeremy had somewhat higher ambitions than that. They were hanging out with Paul Simon in the UK and perhaps provided some influence on what became with Simon and Garfunkel, that it was Chad and Jeremy who provided a template.

You can hear a bit of it. Yeah, you can hear it. This was an evolution beyond Jerry and the Pacemakers or Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas or, I don't know, Herman's Hermits. Yeah, I hear it. This was a more sophisticated sound, but it's not like there were all these different genres

happening at the time, right? Either you fell in line with what was perceived as pop music or you were too artsy. You were on the outside there around that point in the 60s. Now, as things got more psychedelic, as tastes started to widen, you would have thought Chad and Jeremy would have been well positioned, I guess, to find an audience

with this trippier style of contemplative, folky music, but never quite happened for them. But as a result, we've got those kinds of albums that, you know, if you're digging in the

crates, want something genuine from the British 60s. Chad and Jeremy were seen at a certain point as the apotheosis of creativity, and we lost Chad Stewart, died at age 79. You saved my life. Thank you are alone i have two droids we've come in search of a ship that crashed near here maybe i can help you i am boba fett the ship you seek is nearby are the imperial troops near this planet they are here friend and growing more powerful how far away settle down and growing more powerful. How far away?

Settle down. All they do is eat. This is all we have, but he's welcome to. You are foolish to waste your kindness on this dumb creature. No lower life form is worth going hungry for, friend. I take it you have no love of the Empire. I don't. Well, neither do I. It will be easy to find the ship you seek follow me friend uh boba fett that's you pronounce it right boba fett yes

i had to think about it like bubba is it it's boa. Yeah. Okay. I think it's Boba Fett. Boba Fett. You know, was it last month we talked about the death of Darth Vader? Right. David Prowse? David Prowse. But David Prowse's voice, work with me here, was not the voice that you heard from Darth Vader. We all know that was James Earl Jones in the original Star Wars.

Which then gave me license not only to bring in a clip from the Star Wars Holiday Special. Featuring Bea Arthur. Which was the debut appearance of Boba Fett. Correct. In fact, if you ask Star Wars fans, they say it's the only redeemable segment from this entire special, which I've seen on YouTube, is the cartoon which features and introduces us to Boba. Boba. I can't pronounce words, Mark. Boba Fett. The voice that we heard there in the Star Wars Holiday Special was the voice of Dawn Franks.

Okay. Canadian actor. Right. Who has, I know he has his very own laneway around Bathurst and St. Clair. Wow. I've walked by it a few times. Did you know his son was a much music VJ? Rainbow Son Franks?

I know of Rainbow. His daughter, Cree Summer Franks? Right. And there's the movie. Yeah, and the movie, what was the big movie in the 80s that she appeared in? You can look it up. Okay. I'll look it up.

Work with me here. Okay. Don Franks died, he died a few years ago. Died April 2016. Who we lost in December 2020, much like Darth Vader, not the voice of Boba Fett, but the guy who was in the Boba Fett costume, an actor named Jeremy Bullock, who died at age 75. No relation to Jim J. Bullock.

And there for the second month in a row. And the recap, I mean, look, I'm already, what, like 43 years behind on keeping up on Who's Who and Star Wars. Now you've got The Mandalorian, these other Disney Plus shows going on. They brought back Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen. He doesn't have to make these Canadian movies like Little Italy anymore. He got his old job back. People like Star Wars on Disney Plus.

I'm never going to catch up. Don't at me. Too late for you. Don't at Mark. Where are you as far as Star Wars literacy is concerned? Oh, pretty good. Because if you can't spout off all the correct Star Wars talking points, you're going to get people angry at you.

I don't even bother trying. I'm not that deep into it, but I did watch several times. The original trilogy I watched many, many times, and I even bought it on DVD and widescreen, and I've seen it many, many, many, many times, the original trilogy. And then because my oldest son, who's turning 19 in like two weeks or something, unbelievable, he and I watched a lot of that second trilogy. And then I've seen everything else except a couple.

I haven't seen it all. But, I mean, I don't know. Like, you know, now my six-year-old's starting to get into it. And he wants, at some point, we'll watch The Mandalorian, I'm sure. But that's, so I don't know. I think I have a better than average but not like one of those you know deep

diving nerds Mark. Well everyone from the original Star Wars trilogy. I know enough about Star Wars to know the original Star Wars trilogy is not the

first second and third part of Star Wars. It's four or five seconds. Oh it just gets so annoying. But they're all getting up in years and of

course Carrie Fisher that was a monumental death around Christmas time. Right. Four years ago. Yeah, just before her mom. I guess her mom died the next day, I think. But, yeah. And so I think whenever we lose somebody from Star Wars, there'll be a lot of media attention.

Even if we never heard their voice on screen. Did we hear the voice of Jeremy Bullock, Boba Fett in Star Wars? You're going to have to Google that because my phone is down to 1% and if I try and charge out of here, I'm going to get electrocuted. Then I'll be on the obituary list. Well, we're down to the final four, everybody.

This has been quite the episode. I'll bet you dollars to donuts we're Zooming with Stu Stone and Cam Gordon tomorrow because they won't put up with this the way you have, Mark. So kudos again. This was a good movie. What was the movie? Gary Oldman was in it.

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. With Gary Oldman was very, very good. But this is the original TV series theme of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, written by spy novelist John Le Carre. How old was he when he died? 89. 89 years old.

And I know it must have been important because you put a posting about it on your blog. Yeah, yeah. He's a big deal. Right? He's a big deal. He must be. I remember I would always see Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy in the TV Guide. Was it on PBS or TVO?

Thinking there's a show I should figure out what that's about. The name sounds cool. I never saw the show, but the movie, which I don't know, we're going back 10 years now maybe, but with Gary Oldman was exceptional and really strong. So how old was he? 89, we said, right? 89.

Okay, here we go. ¶¶ Thank you. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 This would have been very dramatic music to accompany the umbrella once again falling on both of our heads. Well, my beard did fall at the right moment, I think. Taking out Mike's soundboard, computer, the heat lamp that I noticed. It's just some distance away from me. It's just for the MacBook and the board here. Remember, not for me.

My laptop battery is gone. My phone, maybe it's down to 1%. I'm not even going to. It's okay. I've got the notes here. I can tell you that... Well, tell us. Why are we playing this song from the right stuff?

Oh! Chuck Yeager. One of the more significant deaths of December 2020, but he made it to age 97. 97. That's awesome. Chuck Yeager. And he broke the sound barrier.

I remember he was a big deal when I was growing up. It was like, this was a big deal, Chuck Yeager. Broke the sound barrier. I think he's the first guy to do that. One of the astronauts then, right? Who's written about in that book by Tom Wolfe and depicted in the movie The Right. He had the right stuff, is my understanding.

Absolutely. Okay, we have two more to go here. I think we're gonna make it. Pierre Cardin, Man's Girl Just enough of a Pierre Cardin, Man's Girl. Wear it well. We are garbage. Just enough of a glimpse of Pierre Cardin's legacy in a commercial with some, I don't know, Bonnie Tyler imitator doing a Rod Stewart song. Or is that the actual Bonnie Tyler? It was Pierre Cardin who died here in the last few days of 2020, made it to age 98.

A French designer who said something like, you know, he created clothing for a future world that doesn't exist yet. Every signature style where you knew something was Pierre Cardin, if you were literate enough, in his fashion design legacy. I saw also on YouTube a commercial for Pierre Cardin pens, Pierre Cardin fragrances. So it went beyond doing high fashion. And so he's fondly remembered as one of the greats before clothing apparel

stores became, you know, something cheap where everything was imported from shady slave labor from overseas. Before fashion got fast, you had a character like Pierre Cardin represented the height of style. And he lived to be 98 years old. So good on Pierre for that one. Okay, we're pushing 100 here. And you always want to end with the oldest obituary I can find.

And this guy was actually a little bit younger than Pierre Cardin. But I think a better note for us to leave on. guitar solo Okay. Okay, that makes two jams involving Eric Clapton on this episode of Toronto Mights. Just to wind it back, before the days of no more lockdowns, there was Eric Clapton performing with Yoko Ono. And Mitch Mitchell. Keith Richards. John Lennon.

And an act that they called the Dirty Mac. Like a play on Fleetwood Mac. In 1968, UK. On a movie called Rock and Roll Circus with the Rolling Stones, which spent a lot of time in purgatory. Ultimately, all was released, and there on that track, we had a violin player born in Israel named Ivry Gitlis. Gary Gitlis.

And here this guy served in World War II, putting his violin skills to a good cause as a younger man, playing with all sorts of symphony orchestras. And somehow in this rock and roll circus show, they brought him in to be the middle-aged man. I mean, do the math. This is 52 years ago. He died at 98.

What's that, Mike? Yeah. 46 years old. 46 years old. Okay, positively ancient. I mean, compared to the Dirty Mac and all these hippie legends of the era. But there he was doing a duet with Yoko Ono on the rock and roll circus stage, and

Ivory Gitlis died on Christmas Day. I had the CTV news on in the background. Like, they reported this as a story. I guess, even if you're not all that famous, but famous enough to fill a slot on a newscast on December 25th,

that that's how you can get attention for the fact that you died. They're desperate for content. They need to talk about somebody. Here this guy's name showed up in the news for the fact that he died at 98. And they talked about here this legendary violinist who once played with John and Yoko and the Rolling Stones. Every get list. The last death here on the, what do we call it,

the Ridley Funeral Home obituary memorial segment fixture of every 1236 monthly recap episode of Toronto Mike. There's no reason to stop now, is there? Just because that's the last 2020? We did our best. We missed a month in the monthly recap. I didn't show up for some special podcasting

episode we were going to do. We'll get to that in 2021. I don't know, Mike. The future is unwritten. Yeah, Joe Strummer. Listen, that was fantastic. The Fromage 2020 was amazing. You hit it out of the park, as always. I've enjoyed every single visit from yours

and from yours, from you. And I hope the weather is such at the end of January that you're back in my backyard and we're not slumming it on Zoom. I can picture a sunnier day, but they're off the top. I mean, we were wondering, you know, were we going to be fighting the weather to get this backyard episode done?

And, Mike, we put up a good fight. I mean, we won this one. You and me. We did it together. You only had to take a couple of leaks, leaving me to my own devices in the middle of the episode. Hey, nobody knew that but you. Nobody knew that but you. You pulled back the curtain there.

My phone charge almost made it to the end. We did alright in that regard. We got to pay our respects here to Fromage on Much Music by reviving the original Christopher Ward concept. Sorry about that, Ed the Sock.

But the franchise belongs to us now. We'll try to get next year, and I think we did an okay job. We'll get back to it at the end of January, rummaging through a few media topics, including this development with the Canadian Jewish News. Right, and we'll find out where Brandon Gones' surface is. I'm sure it'll be somewhere local shortly. All that and more in a month, and I think

me coming back here today was really like a mental health issue. Because I find that if I resorted to Zoom and did the episode that way, I would end up depressed. Oh, that's no good. I'm glad you're here. Because it doesn't end with the same excitement as it does knowing that we gave it our all here with the same excitement as it does

knowing that we gave it our all here in the backyard. Now, of course, the third option was not to do the episode at all. Sure. In which case, everything would have been neutral. But, you know, we'll get back to normal. I hope, I mean, there seemed to be some enthusiasm out there with the FOTMs that we were going to be coming here today, making this episode happen.

Oh, they love your appearances. Almost all of them. Fighting the elements. Okay, so that was the year I did the 1236 newsletter throughout the year with the support of St. Joseph Communications Media Division. We'll see what's up with that in 2021. I want to have even more to tell you about with the CJN being in startup mode. You know the feeling.

You've gotten a whole bunch of podcasts off the ground the last couple of years. I do know the feeling. There's some excitement in birthing a new era, even if it's an older media enterprise. And the fact that I got to inherit some of an audience that was already out there add to it by bringing in a new one I'm excited for the future and what's to come I hope hope everybody out there can feel

the same way too and that brings us to the end of our 779th show one for the books this is going to be an episode to remember End of our 779th show. One for the books. One for the books.

This is going to be an episode to remember. My socks got wet at some point, and they're literally frozen. I just hope I can recover from this. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mark is at 1236. That's 1-2-3-6. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. Sammy Cone is at Sammy Cone. And Cone is spelled K-O-H-N. And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley F-H. See you all tomorrow for the New Year's Eve edition of Pandemic Fridays with Stu Stone and Cam Gordon. And we'll see you then.

Everything is rosy now. Everything is rosy and everything is rosy and great. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.