Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Hal Harbour: Toronto Mike'd #1114

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

In this 1114th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Hal Harbour a.k.a. Doug Barron as they discuss this time at CFNY 102.1 as Director of Canadian Content, the talent he worked with, his music with Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith, playing Steve Rogers in Trailer Park Boys, surfing, and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at canacabana.com. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is Hal Harbour. Welcome to Toronto Mike, Hal Harbour. Or would you prefer if I called you Doug Barron? Well, I don't use Hal Harbour so much anymore, but I answer to either.

Oh, good. And then I'm going to call you Hal. Yeah, good. Sounds like a Paul Simon song. You can call me Hal. It does, doesn't it? I was given that name by brother Jake Edwards when I was working at the rock station here, Q104. We were driving across the Halifax McDonald Bridge, and the station was just becoming on the air. And he said, we've got to come up with a name for you for the news guy in the morning. And Hal Harbor just kind of sprung at us somewhere, so we went with that. And of course, Earl Jive used to call me Halibut Harbor, Halitosis Harbor.

You know, he had the whole run. Brother Jake Edwards, also an FOTM. Hal, you are now an FOTM, a friend of Toronto Mike. So congratulations. Thank you. Have you at all kept in touch with Bro Jake? Any contact of Bro Jake over the last, I don't know, like last decade or so. Yeah. We communicate a couple of times a year. He's out in, in, on the West coast there. And

he's, uh, I think he's retired now playing golf and driving motorcycles and stuff. And we still reminisce about some of the old great days of, uh, of, uh, fun radio that we had together. So before we, you know, find out how you ended up on CFNY, let's find out if you knew, or maybe you know, John Gallagher. Because sort of famously on Toronto Mic'd, we learned that John Gallagher ended up on Q107 here in Toronto because he was playing softball with Brother Jake, who mentioned there was an opening and he should apply. And Brother Jake was on his way to Q107.

But are you familiar with the John Gallagher? Yes, John Gallagher just moved back to Halifax a little while ago. But here's the story. They actually offered me the sports guy's job. Wow. And I said, thanks a lot, but I'm not your guy. John Gallagher is your guy. He was knocking them dead on the morning show here at C100 in Halifax.

And so he took it and went with it. And the rest is history. I got to process this information. This is quite the mind blow. So you, Hal Harbour, you're the reason John Gallagher entered our lives here in Toronto. That's right Gary I'm trying to think Gary Slate was the big guy there at the queue

and he said Hal you know you gotta come down here and work with Jake and I was like love to but like I said John's your guy and so John took it up and yeah he's quite the character he's back here now and he's been bugging me to get out and party and stuff with him.

Well, that man can party. You sure can. I got to know him pretty well because Peter Gross and John Gallagher had a show called Gallagher and Gross Save the World that I was producing. And they would, so John and Peter would end up in my basement

for like extended periods of time as we recorded these, these are great episodes, by the way, uh, kind of the pandemic kind of killed that show because John was pretty, he didn't want to go anywhere. And, uh,

next thing you know, he sold his Toronto home and ended up back home in Nova Scotia where you are. But, uh, yeah, quite, quite a character in this city.

I mean, you know, he's kind of polarizing, I suppose, but, uh, I, I got a lot of time for John Gallagher. Yeah. He's bigger than life. That's for sure. He's got that big booming voice. And, and, uh, if you look at his, his, uh, social media pages, he's got selfies with just about everybody. He was the selfie man before we all had, uh, you know, phones in our pockets.

Exactly. Yeah, he in our pockets. Exactly. Yeah, he was. Okay. So here's how we're going to do this. I got to get you to CFNY, but I want to understand. Who the hell were you before you moved to Toronto to be on our airwaves? Give me a little background. Yeah, I'll give you a brief history. I went to Humber College radio broadcasting.

I graduated in 72 or something like that. Moved to Simcoe, Ontario, worked there for a spell, then moved back to Toronto, worked a little bit in advertising and did some overnight stuff at the country station up in Richmond Hill. I can't recall the call letters. And then I moved back to Halifax and worked at CJCH, C100. And it kind of dried up. Things kind of dried up for me here.

So I moved back to Toronto and bugged Don Burns to give me a break. Let me in the door. That's all I need. And so he found a weekend spot for me and a spot doing a little bit of writing on his music history thing. And once I got my foot in the door there, then I was away. What year was it when you arrived here and showed up on 102.1 CFNY? Well, I'm not good on years, but I think it's 1988. That's the year I came down, and Liz Janik was just being appointed

the Canadian talent director or whatever as such, and was there from 88 to 92. Okay, now, as you can imagine, I have some questions. But first, I got a couple of comments for you when I tweeted that Hal Harbour was finally making his Toronto Mike debut. The first, well, a couple, but the first one's from Danny Elwell. Okay, yeah, Danny. I know you know Danny well,

but she tweets, yes, lots of S's in that yes, by the way, and even exclamation marks. I think of at least three of them. And she writes, wonderful human being. So maybe right off the top here, tell me about your relationship

with Danny then and now. Well, I was doing live toronto at six o'clock which was the live music show we talked about what was going on in the clubs and played interviews had guests and then danny and i would make that transition into her evening show so we'd always we always had this fun little turnover uh you know carrying on and joking and such and uh and eventually i had a band too called Funky Bummer and I used Danny to do some vocal work in that. It was kind of a trippy, trip-hoppy thing

and she did some poetry on that. And we've just remained good friends over the years. She just was down here this summer with her husband and I took them around and we had a little fun. And I saw the photos firstly. That was amazing to see you and danny together uh there's another gentleman sorry not that danny's a gentleman but there is a gentleman yeah there's another gentleman uh scott turner here's the comment from scott turner he first

of all he says hi so hi hal hi hi scott your voice reminds me of scott's by the way like i do a lot of i chat with scott often and you have a very similar timbre to your voice than Scott Turner. Yeah, that's interesting. Never heard that before. Just an observation. But here's what Scott writes. Still have that old station wagon? Or what was it?

The Howmobile. Not sure why I remember that. What's Scott talking about? It was probably one of my old Volvo, or I had a Peugeot at one time too, which was pretty vintage. And it took me around to various events that we took part in at CFNY. That's probably what he's referring to. So I'll kind of liberally sprinkle them throughout our 102.1 discussion here. But let me get the first one going here just to hear a bit of Hal Harbour on CFNY. From Don Burns' afternoon drive, we shift gears and go straight to Live in Toronto, an hour-long look at Toronto's club and concert scene. The program is hosted by Hal Harbour and is followed at 8pm by Danny Elwell.

Live in Toronto from CFNY FM 102. How you doing? Welcome to the Thursday edition of Live in Toronto. We are going to review some of the concert announcements we made last night in case you missed it. We'll also take a look ahead at the Rockabilly weekend we are presenting this weekend at Harborfront. Off the top here, we have a cancellation. The Box will not be performing tonight at the Diamond Club. They've canceled. Apparently, they're going to be doing some dates with Sinead O'Connor.

The Box not performing at the Diamond tonight, but the Saddle Tramps will be there, along with the Paul Myers Band. We'll start the show off tonight with the Saddle Tramps will be there along with the Paul Myers band. We'll start the show off tonight with the Saddle Tramps live in Toronto. Saddle Tramps. Okay, so are you the original host of Live in Toronto? No, I'm not. And I'm trying to think of who preceded me on that show.

I can't remember who was doing it before me. But what a delightful show to do. There was so much music going on at that time and just to meet and bring people into the studio and interview bands and, and dig up new music from some of the Canadian indie bands was just fantastic. Even listening to that clip. So that's actually,

I got to shout out brother Bill and we're going to, we're going to talk about a bunch of personalities you came across, but brother Bill at some point he digitized this scope. I think it's from 1990, but that's what you heard there. Like the CFNY scope. And I shared it on the Toronto Mike feed. So if anybody,

you know, you can actually hear the entire thing. It starts with like humble and Fred, and then there's some deadly headly. And I think Chris Shepard's in there, but I mean, you know, it's just listening to that. that it kind of sets it up

so you had Don Burns and hold on and The Duffer yep he did the afternoon thing with Burns for a while there The Duffer and then yourself live in Toronto and then like you said Danny Elwell after you the alternative bedtime hour

was her late night thing which was pretty fun absolutely and even though sleep in a good way Danny's been on and I told her that was amazing The alternative bedtime hour was her late night thing, which was pretty fun. Absolutely. Put you to sleep in a good way. Oh, no. No, I mean, Danny's been on, and I told her that was amazing. Okay, so many questions. Oh, my goodness. Overload here.

But even that little clip I played, it mentions the Paul Myers band, another FOTM. But I didn't even know he had a band, Post Gravel Berries. I guess is that, I'm trying to think, is that Post Gravel Berries, Pre Gravel Berries? Anyways, he's Mike Myers' brother. Yeah, I don't know if that was poster. Yeah, it's a good question. We'll have to look at that. I wasn't aware of the Paul Myers band, but why not? And I love the shout-outs to The Diamond. Of course, it hasn't been The Diamond in a while, but very cool. Okay, so where will I begin? Let's talk of Don Burns. Talk about Don Burns off the top. So, Don's, sounds like Don is the reason you got the gig at CFNY.

And he's no longer with us. And sadly, I'll never get to have him on Toronto Mike gone far too soon. But what can you say to us about the late great Don Burns? He was well, he was an enigma for sure. And it was I just had this obsession with if I'm coming to Toronto, I want to work at CFNY. So I started. Marsden was still there. David Marsden was still there, just about to leave. And I kept calling him every two weeks.

And finally, he said, talk to Don Burns, because Don was the new guy. So I pulled over into a pay phone somewhere near the 401 and called up Don. And he said, look, I can offer you weekends and a writing gig, writing for my music history thing. And so the day I went in to meet with him, I went into his office and he was sitting there and he put his feet up on the desk and he had these giant furry moose slippers on. And I'm like, this is the guy for me you know what a character and he just uh yeah he he was great he just uh you know he'd been through a lot of different radio experiences and brought all that crazy energy to CFNY and and uh knew how to knew how to pick talent and let talent take it take it

their way their own way you know what I mean he didn't step on people. And he was like the imaging voice before that, right? I mean, his voice, I hear, I have all these old CFNY promos and ads, and he's all over the place with his voice. Yeah, I think he was doing the, yeah, was it the history or sports or something? Yeah, he had the regular gig. Great set of pipes, yeah, just

energy. And then he, of course, he really got into dance music in a big way when that uh that storm rolled through ontario the uh the trance thing and everything yeah the raves i mean it's funny that i played i mean i read that clip that note from scott turner because he was at energy 108 during this rave era like he was the guy there so it all comes full circle and i think i think dj uh i think he was dj tr, I think was. That's right, he was. Yeah, with that big giant doctor funny hat that he used to wear.

Right. Yeah. All right. Who do I pick on next? You know, essentially, I want to talk about everybody that you encountered at CFNY. But let's talk now about Liz Janik, future FOTM. We've discussed this. She did appear on episode 1021. We had Liz Janik, future FOTM, we've discussed this. She did appear on episode 1021.

We had Liz Janik. And while we're talking about Liz, at the time Liz was on Toronto Mic'd, her husband, Peter Goodwin, who you knew well, also was very, very sick. He was very ill. And he has subsequently passed away. So rest in peace, Peter Goodwin.

But what can you say about Liz Janik and Peter Goodwin? Well, I think the thing for me was I was always into, and I appreciate the fact that radio stations play music away from the West Coast of the States or England or whatever, but I could never quite get my hand on why we didn't play more local music. And that's what Liz championed was local new music. And so I think when she left, I kind of inherited that position and see if and why I became the director of Canadian talent development,

if that's not too redundant. And it was my job to like my stack of cassettes came in every morning, listened to them. That was great because I'd lived in western part of Toronto and I drove in my Volvo to the station and I got a chance to just like pop in cassettes and listen to them. And I'd be like, that's the song. You know what I mean? It was great. Well, can you, do you have memories of any particular band or song that you brought to the airwaves and sort of helped break

that uh we might be familiar with well i guess i mean the biggest one is of course the bare naked ladies they i got their first cassette and uh yoko ono and all those tunes jumped out at me or if i had a million dollars and i was like this this is too cool it's fun and and people are going to get and and i either i played it for uh jive, Live Earl Jive, and he was a music director at the point. He heard it too. He knew it was going to be huge. And we put it into heavy rotation. Phones went nuts. We got a chance to give them $100,000 to do what they could with it. And it was a great era for breaking new music. And they had all the charisma and the charm and everything to take it all the way. Well, I was listening to you and your station at the time the yellow tape came out.

And my memories are all those jams and high rotation, including the cover of McDonald's Girl. Yeah, yeah, that's right. We got that from a live show. I had a chance to commission the CFNY 24-track mobile unit every week. We'd go down to the River Lee and do the rheostatics, go here and do the saddle tramps, and we got that track, that live McDonald's Girl track, which I don't think they ever put it

on a record. No, never. They didn't write that song. No, it's not theirs. No, because I've had a few members of that band on and you have to go to YouTube and find a potato quality recording of it off of 102.1

and absolutely no official release of McDonald's Girl, which is too bad. It's a perfect song for them. It sounds like it could be their song, their sensibilities. So that's a big one, Hal. I don't want to advance too quickly, but

let's face it, that band had a number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. There's not a lot of... I was going to say, there's not a lot of although now i say i was gonna say there's not a lot of canadian bands that can make that claim but in the era of streaming uh with drake and um and weekend and uh sean mendez and and justin bieber there actually are a lot of canadians topping that chart but prior to streaming it was super rare to get a canadian artist uh that topping the chart that wasn't like a Celine Dion or Shania Twain or whatever.

But yeah, we used to, I mean, we played the early Tragically Hip records, stuff like that. They would call me, their manager would call me weekly. Head with Brendan Canning and went on with Broken Social Scene. He used to call me all and i became friends with these people because they call me all the time to urge me to play their records and of course after and in the saddle trance wasn't was sarah harm uh armor wasn't she the lead well no that was uh weeping tile wasn't it maybe okay i think, I think Sarah Harmer's Weeping Tile. But yeah, but like I love,

I absolutely love talking about this time in music and all these artists that were kind of, you were shining a light on. Did you have anything to do with, you know, the frequency we heard songs from Shakespeare, My Butt? Shakespeare, My Butt. Well, we'd play them when they, I mean, the thing is, if you were gigging,

then you got a good shot at getting a spin on Live in Toronto or on The Weekend Show. That was kind of the way to do it. Now, that manager who's calling you every week for the Tragically, that's Jake Gold, right? Jake, yeah. Shout out to FOTM, Jake Gold. And okay, so I'm trying to remember i don't i don't remember and you will correct me because you were there but i don't remember cfy playing any songs prior to the uh up to here album but did cfy play anything from that uh first ep the last

american whatever it was called i can't remember what it's called uh but the ep before up to here you played yes it was an ep yeah we did yeah that's the kind of the thing that broke it yeah i remember having that on my on my desk looking at it and giving it a spin yeah so i'm wearing this t-shirt today because this is steve falls uh label and steve falls with acid test there you go my old buddy steve fall and he's got his new project now called on right and They're going hard. They've got it back together. Power trio.

He's a fellow Nova Scotia guy. He remembers Mr. Skin. I guess you were the advocate for Mr. Skin getting that on the air at CFNY. Yes, that's right. He played the corpse in that first movie. Do you ever know that? I didn't know he played the corpse in that in that first movie do you ever

okay i didn't know he maybe i did and i forgot maybe but uh yeah but yeah mr highway 61 is that yes yeah that's right you see the beginning of that movie there's a corpse in that steve yeah no he's a he's a he's a hustler he's a he's moving and he's always got something on the go. He was back here for quite a while and teaching guitar. He probably still does. Then he moved back and got back with Lucy and they resumed.

You got it exactly right. He's a sweetheart. Him and Lucy, their one big issue is that they're sort of diehard Leafs fans. I myself root for the Leafs, but I'm a realist where every year there's going to be a parade down Bay Street with those two. So yeah.

Yeah. No, they seem to be doing pretty, pretty well. They've got a real crunchy sound and you know, Lucy's a great front person in that band. Did you know, absolutely. Did you know Peter Goodwin well? I didn't know Peter that well. It was kind of a transition point when him and Liz were working on the show

and then they left and then I kind of fell into that position. But I did certainly work with him for probably half a year or something. Now, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, but I'm going to ask you about some people who are no longer with us. We've lost recently. What can you tell me about James Baby Scott? I didn't know James very well, actually. Yeah, he was always a transition.

Again, he was probably just on the way out when I came in. Yeah, but I heard great things about him. People loved him. You know, people talked about him all the time. Well, then maybe you're right. Yeah, because you're 88. You're right. Maybe I'm off a few years here.

But did you overlap at all with Brad McNally? Nope. Nope. Nope. Didn't work with Brad. Let's do it this way. Let's see how good your memory is. And you knew you were coming on,

so I'm thinking you might have gone back to the notes or something, but can you name check who was on the air when you arrived at CFNY? Well, I real time was certainly on there. Shep was on there on Saturday nights. I'm trying to think of who was doing the morning show. Cause there was a stage where,

well, who was doing the morning show because there was a stage where um well hum humble was there for a while with uh um fred humble and fred and uh dan duran right and then steve anthony did mornings for a while too which was crazy right before still doing much music as well too so he's doing both gigs and just running it to you know burning the candle at both ends he'd he'd nap on on the floor underneath the the control board after his shift and then before he headed home because he was sort of out of touch and i'm trying to think of who was doing the afternoon show probably duff maybe and and uh don yeah yeah the duffer and Don Burns were afternoons and I know Alan Cross was at the station

oh for sure yeah and it was so funny because almost the first week I was there and I was supposed to do weekends it was like well the afternoon show's open we're doing a live show at the Hard Rock Cafe we need you to host and so I was thrown right into this live show at the Hard Rock Cafe. We need you to host. And so I was thrown right into this live broadcast

at the Hard Rock Cafe on Yonge Street. And it was like, okay, Jane Silbury's coming in now. Now you're going to interview Blue Rodeo and next you're going to talk to, and I was like thrown into all these terrific music personalities. So I kind of was trialed by fire. It was great, great fun. Sounds amazing. And May Potts was trialed by fire. It was great.

Great fun. Sounds amazing. And May Potts was there. And May, yes, of course, May Potts. Yeah, my memory's really bad. It's okay.

I remember the first party I went to when I first got there and it was all these lovely women. It was May and Danny and everybody was so friendly and welcoming.

It was great. Because at first you're kind of a little intimidated. But everybody was so friendly and welcoming. It was great. Because at first you're kind of a little intimidated. But everybody was so supportive and great. No, good to hear. Good to hear. Now, just this past week, it was a busy week here on Toronto Mic'd, but a couple of people who paid a visit here to the studio were Dave Bedini

from the Rio Statics and Stephen Stanley, who was from Lowest of the Low and now the Stephen Stanley Band but what those two have in common is that they were very close with Dave Bookman yeah now what I'm hoping I can get from you and I think this because I know Bedini would be

you know helped Bookie get his first radio gig at CIUT but how does how do you play a role in Bookie transitioning from CIUT to being heard on the air at CFNY? Yeah, I think we worked together on the live in Toronto thing because he just had so much insight and he had such a great way of talking about the music that we just used him more and more and more. And then after I left, you know, he really went on to the bigger and great things. And Bedini, I'm a big fan of Dave Bedini, too, not only for his music, but just his general, you know, intelligence and journalistic abilities and sensibilities, but all kinds of things.

So yeah, I think, and it happened to me here in Halifax too, I found another guy too named Les Ismore, who was just a character and he was just so brilliant on the air. We just brought him forward because he was a natural. Dave Bookman was a natural. Didn't the Lost at Low just do some kind of a documentary? He was a natural. Dave Bookman was a natural. So, yeah. I guess we'd call that. Didn't the lowest of the low just do some kind of a documentary? They're working on a film just lately? Yeah, yeah.

So, Ron Hawkins was here too with Stephen Stanley. And they mentioned it, but it's not available yet. But, yes, there is a lowest of the low documentary coming. Absolutely. Are you in that doc by any chance? They asked me to contribute a little bit. I just did some text. Okay, cool.

Now, Bookie, so just to be clear, because I think there's been a lot of Bookie talk, they just dedicated a plaque to him outside the Horseshoe Tavern. Did they? Yeah, very recently. And Stephen Stanley and Dave Bedini were there, amongst other friends of Bookie. But Bookie, of course, just before he passed away,

again, far too soon, like some others we've talked about, but Bookie was at Indy 88. And he was at Indy 88 because Alan Cross recommended Indy 88 pick him up because he was no longer at CFNY where he had been for so long. And just to connect all the dots, he basically ends up as the street reporter for Live in Toronto because, like you said,

he had the content and you'd put him on the air, but prior to that, it was CIUT. And I just think it's interesting to connect all these dots. So the bookie that we know and love, really, you helped shine a light on him by putting him on your show, Live in Toronto on CFNY.

Yeah, when you hear somebody that's got it, you know, it's, and it's great that the management will let you do it too. Let's, let's work with this person, you know? Yeah. Some people just have it. He had it. You knew what he was talking about. He was down, he was on the street, he was in the clubs and he, yeah, he had the gift of gab too. I like to share like old i call it like retro blue jays music i don't know what else to call but these these these compilation cds that were

for the variety village charity and you know there'd be like toronto radio personalities would be like singing blue jay songs in the early 90s. And this was very common, as you know. So one of them that I've shared is Humble Howard Glassman singing, let me get the right, let me get the, Jays to the Top, okay? Jays to the Top. So Captain Phil writes me that Humble did that song. I couldn't remember like whether he did that at CFY

or if he had done it during that period he's at the mix 99.9 because humble leaves and comes back basically in like an 18 month span or whatever but humble did jay's at the top this is according to captain phil we can say hello to captain phil right captain phil what a great guy he's at west too he's a good guy good fotm okay so humble did jay's to the Top at CFNY, not the mix. I know because I sang on the chorus with Hal Harbour. So apparently, you know, we're going to get into some of your music in a moment, but your vocals can be heard on Jays to the Top.

Fun fact. That's news to me. I don't remember this. Okay. You know, I never questioned Phil because, uh, he's got a great memory and he seemed to like be taking notes along the way.

So, uh, is it, is it possible? Oh, it's possible for sure. Because we did, we did a lot of music in the studio,

like, uh, uh, just sort of cut and paste to stuff late night stuff. And, uh, um, one of the ones we did was Wild Wild West about the CNE. And, oh, there was a Neural Jive tune, a bunch of stuff.

I should say, I'll send them to you. Send them because I'll release them into the wild for the CFNY fans out there. All right. I said I had a few clips of you on CFNY. So here's another Hal Harbour on CFNY fans out there. All right, I said I had a few clips of you on CFNY, so here's another Hal Harbour on CFNY. There's the Saddle Tramps live in Toronto. They're performing at the Diamond Club, not with the box. The box have opted to open for Sinead O'Connor, and so it'll be the Saddle Tramps tonight at the Diamond along with the Paul Myers Band.

Also tonight, the C&E, it's Ronnie James Dio with guests Inge Melmstein. Junior Gone Wild is in town for the weekend at Albert's Hall. At the Black Swan, the Kendall Wall Blues Band tonight. The Abrasives do the Cabana, the Nancy Sinatras of the Cameron. And at Clinton's tonight, a show with Scott B. Sympathy and the Boneheads. And here's a track direct from cassette from the Boneheads. Their release is called Sex, and this is My Baby Cried in Toronto. My baby cried all night long.

A little more of you on that day at CFNY. Yeah. Oh, yeah, there was so much going on. It was an easy show to do because there was so much coming up and going on. It was great. I was working at the C&E that day. I can tell when this is recorded because I was

working at the X when Ronnie James Dio was playing at the X. I was working at a game booth. I remember you could tell the Dio fans when they were coming before and after the concert. They had working at a game booth. And I remember you could tell the Dio fans when they were coming before and after the concert. They had a distinct look to them. I know I mispronounce every

second word. That's why I was never a professional broadcaster. Although some say I might be one now. But how the heck did that happen? But basically, I think it's Yngwie Mamstein. I'm really bad at that stuff. Well, you didn't have youtube to go confirm things before you that's right just let it roll off quickly and hope nobody was paying

attention all right let's burn this third clip of you this is the third clip and then we'll find out um why it ends for you at cfny here's hal harbour cfny there's the boneheads yeah live in toronto my baby cried the boneheads with scott. Sympathy at Clinton's tonight. Some concert announcements that we made last night on the program. We should tell you about again in case you missed them. CFNY presents Adamski at Lee's Palace, Tuesday, September the 18th. Tickets are $10 at Ticketmaster, Peddler, Vortex, and The Club, and they go on sale today. We present the Sundays at the Diamond

Wednesday, September 19th. Tickets are $11 for the Sundays plus service charge and they are available at Ticketmaster, the Peddler, Vortex and the Club. That's the Diamond. They're on sale today. We also present an evening with Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists Wednesday, October 3rd

at the Minkler Auditorium. That's at Seneca College. Tickets $23 reserved plus service charge. Available at all Ticketmaster outlets. They're on sale today. We also present Marian Faithful. Saturday, October 13th. Convocation Hall U of T. Tickets $23.

Available at all Ticketmaster outlets. And these are available today as well. This is Live in Toronto coming up, some rockabilly. What a different time in Toronto radio. Like the fact that,

okay, here's some rockabilly. You know what I mean? Like it's, like what were the rules? I know in the Marsden era, like Marsden's been on this show many times and basically

he let the DJjs play what they want within these like parameters i can't they had a system like there had to be a certain can con and certainly but yeah pretty much how you could pick an album off the shelf and play like a cut whatever but what were the rules like in your era fcfy which is a little post marsden um when i yeah when i first got there we were still picking our own records we had to wreck albums and you could just go in and just pick your show uh you know you knew what time of day it was and you know at night saturday night you want to be playing something a little more upbeat or or danceable or whatever but uh with live in toronto it was there was nothing it was wide open you know like you could play Razorbacks and then go to, you know, Depeche Mode or whatever,

you know, you could go all over the place. If you were supporting a show or talking about something that was coming up. So it was great. That was the beauty of that show. Yeah. And even on the weekends, we would do requests. And I loved, you know, putting on a long track

and then pre-recording the interview and then when and then mixing it with the with the track when the time came. So it sounded like I had the record in my hand. You know that one? Hi, can I hear this? You got it. Boom. There's the track. Well, how do you do that?

You know, it's pretty tape. Smoke and mirrors. You're. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm a producer, so I love sound effects. I mean, I was sampling just stuff off CDs and playing them during dance tracks or whatever,

back before we had samplers or digital punch out. You know what I mean? So that was a great fun. You could tell people got off on that stuff. All right, let me tell you a little story, Hal. Okay, this is, again, I you a little story, Hal. Okay. This is, again,

I never worked in radio, so I'm not from radio. So I would just listen to radio. And I still remember, I think we're going back now 15 years, but Humble Howard, who I produced the Humble and Fred show today. So I'm still close with these guys,

but Humble Howard was on Easy Rock. Okay. This is post Humble and Fred before the podcast he was on Easy Rock with Colleen Rusholm okay and I was in I think I was I was in there and uh like to see how the sausage gets made because

I'd never really been in a studio or whatever and I remember they said okay like uh I'm trying to remember now uh uh caller 90 what is the call letters for it's boom. 97. Okay. Caller 97 wins something. Okay.

And then he picks up the phone and he's like, sorry, your caller one or something. And he picks it up again and he goes, sorry, your caller 15. And then he picks it up the third time and he says, congratulations,

your caller 97. Okay. Like I'm witnessing this. And I remember thinking, wow, like how gullible was I as a kid? Like you're hearing all this and you're just like buying it. And how much of that is smoke and mirrors? It is so much of it. That's the beauty of radio. It's all smoke and mirrors. Yeah. We used to do that, but actually count them down to higher one, higher two, higher three,

you know, and then finally get the fourth call was higher caller 102. And then I'm call was, hi, your caller 102. And then I think I should have thought like I was so naive that like how quickly you got 102 calls or whatever. Like I should have like had this like there's probably not 102 people who are going to call in if you gave them like a week or whatever. Like that's like I should have used some common sense. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean's all, I used to, when I was in radio broadcasting at Humber, I would sit in my bed at night and listen to David Marston reaching into his brown paper bag and mixing all this music

and Fireside Theater comedy bits and just take you someplace, take you away. Okay, so I'm a little mildly confused about one thing. You're a Maritimer by birth, right? Born and raised in the Maritimes. No, I was born in Kitchener-Waterloo and I worked in Southern Ontario Radio

for a spell. Then I moved down here in 76 to work at the Chum Group station, CJCH, which was the top 40, number one station. It's all crystallizing for me now. This is why you targeted, essentially. Alan Cross did the same thing in Manitoba, apparently.izing for me now and this is why you targeted essentially and alan cross did the same thing in manitoba apparently like he wanted to work for this station which was cfny yeah so you you were a fan of cfny this spirit yeah i actually worked

a spell at chick which was the am station just down the road i did a morning show there for like four months before you know they were a little wacko there and they moved on to somebody else but he hired me as the morning guy yeah and uh so so that's fred patterson was there no i don't think fred was there at that time like i say i was only there for like four months uh the allen brothers i think ran it at that time and they were okay so everyone listening who wants the full this is quite a gory story actually but you want if there's a there's you know jail involved all this very exciting story oh yeah later days yeah when i when i started there i mean he brought me into the studio to

watch the morning show guy i don't recall who it was do the show and i could tell he was looking over his shoulder going uh what's going on here? There's another guy sitting there watching me do this show. And the next day, can you start tomorrow? And then I went, I'm going on holidays for a week down to see my folks and whatever. I come back, well, we've decided to let you go. Oh, thanks a lot. Wow.

Okay, so this story is told in great gory detail in episode 102.1. So if anyone here is like, oh, I want to hear more of this CFNY, we cover it from like day one to modern day. We even had the, at the time, the current morning show host on what is now the 102.1, The Edge. But it's all there in 102.1. Well, sorry, episode 102.1, which is 10.21.

So when I, here I hear me ignore that, when, well, so I'm just almost going to call you Doug, but I'm going to try to call you how this entire episode. So the overall, when you look back at, you know,

working for CF and why, what was your overall, uh, like, were you, were you happy with the experience? Was it a little underwhelming considering how big a fan you were? They say never meet your heroes,

but what was it like working at CF and why? Oh, no, I mean, it was, it was was it like working at CFNY? Oh, no. I mean, it was terrific because I got to work with all these great personalities, the live Earl Jive and Shep. I mean, we had Martin Short. We did the video Roadshow going out. Oh, you mean Martin Streak?

Martin Streak, I'm sorry. Did I say Short? Martin Streak. That's all right. And doing all that and then being involved in the Caspian Music Awards, too. I mean, we had license to just party and bring in all these great bands. I remember we hired the Reostatics as the house band.

We got Stompin' Tom to come out of his sort of retirement. Wow. And, yeah, it was just great because, uh, I mean, the station had this, uh, obligation to financially support Canadian content. So we had a budget to do all this crazy stuff. And then when I came back to the Maritimes and, you know, Sloan was just 18 years old and, uh, we played their, their, took their record back and played it and it took off. All that stuff was just, it was, it was extraordinary. I mean, really, it was just on a daily basis. It was, and then Reiner Schwartz.

I was, and again, I was a super big fan of Reiner's from his days in FM radio and to finally work with him. And actually we played music together as well, too, in a band called funky bummer. And so, yeah, every day was,

it was an adventure. It was great fun. Just great fun. Couldn't, couldn't get there early enough in the morning to the station to start another adventure with those people. Now, because you said Casby,

that's a Canadian artist selected by you, but of course, prior to that, they were known as the, you knows. Yeah. The, you knows that's right. So this is before you're at CFY, Casby. That's a Canadian artist selected by you, but of course prior to that they were known as the You Knows. Yeah, the You Knows, that's right. So this is before you're at CFNY, but maybe this isn't the era when you're listening

to CFNY, but I'm going to play this because I don't know when else I can drop this, but I got a great You Know bit here from 84, so let's just listen to this promo for the 1984 You Knows. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the CFNYFM UNO Awards

82. Tonight, Long John Baldry, Martha Johnson, Carol Pope and Kevin Staples, The Spoons, B.B. Gabor, Bruce Colbert, Mick Karn of Japan. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly

present the CFNYFM UNO Awards 83. Jonathan Gross, Ivan from Men Without Hats, Murray McLaughlin, Carol Pope and Kevin Staples, Robert Priest, Vladimir Rogoff, The Spoons, The Tenants, and of course, Lenya Lovitch. All appearing at the UNO Awards. Monday, April 2nd, Royal York Hotel. CFNY-FM presents the UNO Awards 84. The listener's choice. A night with the stars.

In honor of the Canadian music industry. UNO Awards 84. Register your votes now. You'll find the ballot every Thursday in NOW Magazine. UNO Awards 84. Tickets go on sale March 1st at all bass outlets a night with the stars the listener's choice the you know awards 84 april 2nd at the royal york hotel a presentation of cfny fm 102 the spirit there you go little flashback for you yep and it just goes to show

the amount of names, musicians and bands in there that were recognized by CFNY. A lot of those bands didn't get airplay anywhere else. We broke a lot of music. Why does it end for you at CFNY? I guess it was the old story

of management change. A new management crew came in and said, we no longer require your services. And I remember driving, it was one of those days where I was like, oh, great. I don't have a job. And I went out to my old Peugeot, which was parked out in front of the strip mall there in Brampton. And one of the big signs over my car had shorted and melted plastic down onto my car. And I'm like, nice. And so I started driving back into town and the engine block cracked and all this water got into it.

And I was driving down the highway in this big black billow of smoke. And my car was, was, you know, disintegrating. And I'm like, I don't care. I'm not stopping. I'm going to get home. And then I got home and it's like, it's my wife. I don't have a job. The car's destroyed. And, and then within a week they called me back and said, well, you know, we, could you do weekends? We don't have a weekend guy. So, you know, they brought, they brought me back for a few months on contract or whatever while they figured out that they didn't have enough people. They had to let too many people go.

Is that the same wave that took Scott Turner off the air at CFNY? I think so, yeah. Is that before or after Danny Elwell quits on the air? I don't know if it's before or after, but it's in that general time frame. Yeah, a lot of, yeah, sorry, go ahead. Because they were coming down on us for, yeah, playing, you know, what we wanted.

And then it became modern music as well. They like CFM1, modern rock, I think, or modern music. Right. Yeah, it was a whole different vibe in there. So a lot of us who, you know, just can't work unless you're happy had to leave. Well, you know, happiness is everything. As I look back in my almost five decades of life.

And it's tough. Yeah, I mean, people do it all the time. They put their head down and do the job, but sometimes radio people are very, you know, it's their life. And if they're not doing what they think represents where their head's at, then sure, got to go. I'm going to read a comment from a gentleman named Javid Jaffrey. This will kind of segue us into the next chapter here.

But he writes, I remember driving up to the cottage in the early 90s and hearing a cover his group did of the beach boys do it again on cfny must have been just a demo as i've never heard or found it again but a nice cover that i wish i could hear again do we know what javid's referring to here no the steely danton do it again beach boys do it again? Beach Boys do it again. Yeah. Oh, okay. So this is not you. Is it possible it's you? It is possible because I had that

Beach Boy record they put out that was just instrumentals and I probably did a send up on that. So let's talk about you and music here. You've alerted a couple of times to, what do you call them? The Funky Drummers? What was the name? Funky Bummer, Guru Workshop. Yeah, I had a band with Steven Elphitt, who I met doing music with Bruce Murphy.

We had a group called the Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. And we were like high tech. And we actually opened for Digital Poodle and MC 900 Foot Jesus at the Rivoli. And it got a great crowd. And we had a, you know, we had a song called Claves, which was a pretty. Well, here, let's hear a bit of that. And then we'll talk more about Stunt Chimps. Because I've been getting comments about another Stunt Chimps song as well that people remember.

So let's, let's, let's hear a bit of this and then we'll get back to you. And I'd love to hear the song Claves by the Stunt Chimps. I love it! La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, Thank you. Transcription by CastingWords Trading blood for fossil fuels Lost at the bottom of the black lagoon Shifting time, running lights Driving blind in the middle of the night Running hot with stolen bikes Raising dreams to cities in a hotline

Changing, coming along for the ride Fuel injected, suicide, suicide Pretty techno. Yeah, that's my friend Dr. Bruce Murphy. He's the guy who put together most of that sound. A little bit of vocal and lyrics and stuff and some samples. I met Dr. Bruce Murphy in Halifax. He was in a group called Steps Around the House.

I was working at Q104 here in Halifax. And they were one of our bands that we featured on an indie album. And then we got along famously and started doing music together. And then when I moved to Toronto, we hooked up there. He was technically a dentist. He had a dental office on the top floor of the Much Music building and he was a dentist to the stars during the day and had all the toys and he had a you know he had his room with all his dental stuff and then he had a room with all his samplers and keyboards and and stuff so we'd go up there late at night and compose this stuff yeah it's very fun that's a mind blow there in itself like are we talking 99 queen street east yes yeah the big

building yep up on the top there. So he would, there were several much music personalities that went to him for dental work. Okay. Yeah. We had some great parties up there too. Okay. So since this will be like the definitive deep dive into Stunt Chimps, and I have, I did receive notes here. So.

Wow. One, one, a couple of people remember hearing the song on the radio. They remember hearing She Wild. She Wild, yeah. And that was a tune that, well, Bruce was always into sound. He would spend hours just coming up with MIDI sounds for drums and for keys and whatever. And so he just flopped a CD into the CD player and put it on spin

so it kind of jerked and kept starting and stopping. And wow, I love that sound. That became She Wild. And then I wrote the lyrics and he recorded it at his home studio. Yeah. Wow. And it kind of sounds,

because I hear it in the headphones now, it would fit right alongside like a Mr. Skin or something from Acid Test. Yeah, they had a great sampled kind of techno, just a modern sound for the time, utilizing voice samples and MIDI

sound, as well as great live guitars and vocals and whatever. And this is you on vocals? On claves, that's Bruce singing on that one. I sang on Chihuahua. Okay. It's funny, hearing the vocals on this claves here, sounds like it could be

Chris Shepard. Now there's a song that I did. I've got to send you too. I did a song with a sample of Shep talking to the lead singer in the cult. Ian Ashbery. Ian. They were back and forth.

They were good buds. So I put together a sample track of that. I'll send you that. That's fun to hear, Shep. So She Wild sounds like, uh, she wilds the one people seem to remember the most. I mean, based on my very small sample size of like,

Hey, how Harper's coming on. Oh, I must be growing Outro Music Thank you. I know Bernie Money. A real wild princess, make me show my sword. A real wild princess, torn, packed in hose. Got them heart at your bottom, and funny people dancing. The 7-Eleven gets held up, she keep on dancing. I know Bernie Money. You're listening to Hal Harbour on CFNY. This song is She Wild.

And it is by Hal's band. They're the Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. That's the full name. Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. Quite a name. I'd shorten it to Stunt Chimps, but who the heck am I? This conversation is only possible because of great people,

like the good people at Great Lakes Brewery. Fresh craft beer brewed right here in southern Etobicoke. Unfortunately, Hal can't get any in Halifax, but if you're in Ontario right now, you can get Great Lakes beer at the LCBOs, and if you're in the right now, you can get Great Lakes Beer at the LCBOs, and if you're in the GTA, you can go to Great Lakes Beer and get free delivery straight from the retail

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StickerU.com, another great website. That's where you go to get your stickers, decals, your temporary tattoos. Thank you, StickerU, for your continued support. Shout out to Canna Cabana. They will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. Go to CannaCabana.com. Ridley Funeral Home have been pillars of this community since 1921. Check out Brad Jones's excellent podcast, Life's Undertaking, co-hosted by yours truly. And EPRA, they know how to recycle your old tech, your old electronics,

safely and ethically. I'll have more when Cliff Hacking joins me next month on Toronto Night. Let's get back to Hal. I also did pull Working for Slash. Anything you can share about Working for Slash? That's another one that Bruce primarily wrote and put together, and I just did a little bit of background stuff on it.

But yeah, that was one of his first tracks that he played for me that got me interested in working with him. And that's all about working for nothing, you know, what musicians do. You know, they often are asked to do benefits or whatever, and that's what working for slash is not about uh nash the slash not about nash the slash all right we're gonna so so what's next for you because i do want to hear about uh you know you're in trailer park boys for goodness sake so i do want to hear all this but what like help me out so after cfny uh and i know you did a

few months where you did some weekend stuff and everything, but what was next for Hal Harbour? Well, eventually then my wife and I decided to head back east and come back here. And I came back and worked at a couple of commercial radio stations, just weekend stuff. And I started a studio with Stephen Elthit, who had played with the Stunt Chimps. And we both decided to move our families back together. And we started a studio called, well, Deep Nine Recording. But before that, I worked with Kerry Pulliam, the guy who did the Sloan recordings.

And we set up a studio called Sound Market down in the Goddard Street area of Halifax. So we started that studio. Then I started semi-managing some of the local bands or working with bands producing Cool Blue Halo, Bye Bye Skull. It was all, there was this, the new sub-pop scene was happening here in Halifax.

They were calling it the new, you know, the new music scene. So we kind of helped bands do live shows and stuff and, and had that, had sound market. And then Steven and I eventually set up deep nine recording where we recorded. Oh, well, Bubbles had his, had his group sandbox and we produced their record and they got signed to a label and all that stuff so there was yeah there

was a lot going on we had a great studio and a rehearsal space so we had bands in there drinking beer and smashing walls you know every every morning we had to come in and clean up all the mess because there were you know bands who tend to need a rehearsal space are the ones that are very loud and like to party so that was a tough business to be in well that uh sandbox mind blow because i mean we talked about much music briefly there but they played the mess out of uh curious curious that was the big one yeah yeah yeah and of course in the fun fact of course is oh mike smith is Bubbles. Bubbles, yeah. Is that how you end up in Trailer Park Boys? Kind of. Yeah, Mike, I actually work with an artist

named Ellen Regan Devine, and we came down to Toronto, back to Toronto for New Music Week and hired Mike and his drummer to be in the band and I was playing a sampler and she was singing. And yeah, I think I got a shot on trailer park boys i knew mike klattenberg that you know the uh the director and the producer of that show from he was in a band i think called spawning grunions or something again he was a you know a 19 year old kid who used to send me cassettes

at q104 and then he did a comedy show on cable TV, and I was a big fan of that. And so we were friends, and I met him in a club one night, and he said, I got a role for you, you know? I got this news guy, this thick news guy named Steve Rogers, Channel 10. And I was like, I'm in. And so in the early season, it was just Mike shooting it just wild.

He just had a 16-millimeter camera, and I was just like, okay, so you're talking to Bubbles, to bubbles and bubbles is like you know it loves cats and you're going to be doing a documentary on cats he just would give you the you know the general uh gist of the shot and uh so then every season i i tended to get a role a new role as steve or they'd write it they'd write me in and i had a great one i don't know if you saw the one where I was getting married and I had a stag party. And I met Snoop, did a scene with Snoop Dogg. Wow.

And some other people like that. It was great. Shout out to Canna Cabana, if we're talking Snoop Dogg here, created by and for people who love weed. Friendly with a fellow Nova Scotian, Jonathan Torrens. Yeah, well, Jonathan and Mike shot, they had a collective little company and we got a loan to do a video

for Ellen Regan Devine. And Jonathan was kind of the production manager on the set that day and Mike shot it. And yeah, and I know, I've known him over the years and doing, you know, we kind of spun off each other here and there. And I mean, and I, I don't think I had any direct scenes with with his character on, on trailer park boys, but I know him pretty well when I see him.

I feel like having a character in the trailer park boys universe means you could probably like appear at comic cons throughout the continent. I probably could. And it was so funny because I just flew back to Toronto this summer and this young guy, I could tell he was looking at me like, are you an actor? Like,

yeah, kinda. Are you Steve Rogers? And I was like, it's been three years since somebody's done that. You know, you go to a Tim Hortons or McDonald's like, can I have a can I get a selfie? And I hadn't had that for a while. So Steve still lives. That's great. Love it. Tell me about one of your, you know, hobbies, if you will, or pastimes surfing.

Yeah, well, I mean, I grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo when the Beach Boys broke and we used to make our own early skateboards. So I was kind of always into that kind of surfing lifestyle or that idea. So when I moved here in 76, somebody said, yeah, you can surf out at Lawrence Town. And I went out and bought a, in those days you had to buy an old diving wetsuit. It

wasn't, the equipment wasn't what it is today. And so there was like 12 guys who lived out there, you know, transplanted South Africans and just the people who decided to move out there and surf. Now there's hundreds and hundreds of people surfing, but yeah. So I've been surfing since 76 or whatever. And I love it. Yeah. It's just such a great sport, great way to relax and get out on the water. And I don't, I don't take on big waves anymore. Like I did when I was younger. Cause you know, you can get some big powerful humbling waves that'll beat the crap out of you.

Oh, the big kahunas. The big kahunas. That's right. But yeah, I just love playing in medium-sized surf and I found a couple spots that are semi-secret. There's not a lot of people. Well, we won't dox those spots here and keep them secret. But I will say, this is, to me,

when I think of what's the coolest activity somebody could say they do that I've actually never done and I think it's so damn cool, it is surfing. When I think it's so damn cool. It is surfing. Like when I hear you'll, Oh, you know, I'll hear like, Oh, Eddie Vedder's taking a break from Pearl Jam to surf in Hawaii or whatever. I'm thinking like that guy's got it going on, man. He's surfing. Yeah. When you watch it, it's such a natural thing. You know,

you're kind of the, you're working with the wave and the wave is doing something different every time. And the water can be cold or warm and you're seeing seals out there while you're surfing and yeah and uh you know the the joy for me is going going south i'm going to costa rica again in november for probably three weeks where you don't have to wear a wetsuit and you can get in the warm water and watch the sunset amazing that's the joy it's kind of tough out here when it's cold, having to slop on all that rubber.

When you think it's tough out there, try it here, man. Once in a while, if we get a windy day, I notice there are surfers in, there's a park called Marie Curtis Park, which is in the southwest corner of Toronto, and then it bleeds into Mississauga. And I do see surfers there, but that's your only surfer sighting, at least in my, uh, my Toronto experience.

No, it's crazy. Now, anywhere where there's water, it doesn't matter if it's great lakes or, uh, the ocean people are surfing. Yeah. I hear, I hear about more and more sightings all the time in Lake Ontario. Uh, I want to ask you before we say goodbye, I want to ask you about, uh, the CFL. But you mentioned Costa Rica, so I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you the big question that we're all wondering on Toronto Mike. So I'm a big fan of Chris Shepard's show on CFNY.

I used to record that thing, the cassette, the overnights, and I love those live to airs from Chris Shepard. Chris Shepard was on Humble and Fred show in 2014. So let me do some quick math. That's eight years ago. I've had people, mutual friends, be it, you know, Scott Turner, for example, and all these mutual friends. I simply, and I'm fine if the answer is no,

I simply want to ask Chris Shepard if he'd come on Toronto Mic and talk about his legacy and everything. But nobody I know can find him. Do you, Hal slash Doug, know where Chris Shepard is? I'm the same as you. I was like, where's Chris?

And I think somebody said, I think he's moved to Costa Rica. So that's all I know. And I was like, when I get down there, what am I going to do? I've got to find him or something. Making a documentary, like searching for Shepard. Yeah, searching for Shep. Waiting for Shep.

Waiting for Godot. Waiting for Shep. But it is remarkable. I feel like I should make a doc because I get three different theories floating around. One is that, yes, I've heard this. He's in Costa Rica. But then I've also heard he's in King I've heard this. He's in Costa Rica. But then I've also heard he's in King City,

which is much less glamorous than Costa Rica, but he's in King City here in Ontario. Okay. And the third one, which I get periodically, is that he's gone like a hermit style, but he's hiding in plain sight here in downtown Toronto, which would be interesting. But anyway, if you do find out, if you do find Chris Shepard in Costa Rica,

let him know. Toronto Mike would love to talk to him. I will do that when I find him. Yeah, right. My oldest son was just in Ottawa for the weekend visiting his grandfather, and he went to a Red Blacks game, and we were talking about the CFL,

and he's 20, and he's all about the NFL. Like he simply cares zero for CFL. And, you know, here in Toronto, we've got the Argos, but they can't get that BMO field even half filled for the Argos anymore, which is really a sad shame. But what are your thoughts on the CFL and the possibility that the CFL puts a team in Halifax? I'm kind of the same way. I sort of went, yeah, CFL just didn't in Halifax. I'm kind of the same way. I sort of went, yeah, CFL just didn't do it for me anymore. And I suddenly became an NFL watcher.

And we just had this thing going on down here where there were some people who wanted to take some public money and build a stadium with the promise of jobs, jobs, jobs, you know, one of those. And you knew it was just like build us a stadium and then we'll make money bringing a CFL team here. So there was a bunch of us that were a little upset with that notion. It's since kind of fizzled out a little bit. And I don't know whether, frankly, whether a CFL team could survive here. It's a good question. CFL seems to be having some tough times

right now, for sure. I will say this, if I think of Regina, for example, that's, well, yeah, I was going to say something that might be misunderstood as rude or something, but when it comes to major league sports,

CFL is all they have and they seem to embrace it and love it and it could be similar in halifax like i don't know it just seems like halifax doesn't have and you know the distractions we have in toronto nfl and nba i mean did i say nfl i meant mlb we do not have nfl mlb nba you know nhl. It feels like maybe Halifax would be a smart place for the CFL to go. But you don't want to do it, but use private money. Don't do this with public money. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a couple, there's a stadium here at the St. Mary's University that could expand and pack the place and make it, and it would work. And we do have a history of great college football, St. Mary's and St. FX, and there's some great, so there's no shortage of people who love football here. So that could work. It's the principle of taking that, you know, like let's give me money and we'll, and it'll sit there. You know, stadiums tend to sit there when they're not being used. So it's kind of like you've got to have a plan.

It's going to work for everybody. Well said. So I've loved this. I mean, before we say goodbye, I want to make sure that you've drained the swamp, so to speak. Is there anything you're thinking, Oh, I'm on Toronto Mike. I want to make sure I tell this story or share this, anything at all. As David Morrison would say, play what you want. That's right. Well, I'm going to be wading through all your great podcast items here because it sounds like I'm missing out on some good stuff here.

It's just great to talk with you, and it brings back a lot for me and all the people that I bounced off of. I'm pretty lucky to do that. And it's good to talk about it again. Well, if nothing else, Hal, you've got to listen to episode 1021. It is literally like, I just zoomed with,

I mean, you name it. Like Mae Potts is on there, Scott Turner, Alan Cross, David Marsden. A lot of people you know are on that episode. Danny Elwell's on that thing. So shout out to Danny again. And Humble and Fred are there. All these cats. And we just talk about the history of CFNY for like, I don't know, are on that episode. Danny Elwell's on that thing. So shout out to Danny again and humble and Fred are there all these cats. And we just talk about the history of CFM. Why for like,

I don't know. We went like three hours maybe, but I think you would dig it. Uh, your voice was missing. I realize in retrospect, but when I do a sequel, you're going to be my first call.

Cool. And I will send you some of that, that rare fun audio that I have of, of, uh, various tunes and outtakes and such. Love it. Thanks so much for this, Hal Harbour.

Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 1114th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. you can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Hal Harbour, a.k.a.

Doug Barron, is at Barron D, B-A-R-R-O-N-D, on Twitter. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta are at Palma Pasta. Sticker U

is at Sticker U. Electronic Products Recycling Association are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all tomorrow when my special guest is Steve Paikin from TVO. And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years

It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or will do For me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't speed the day. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away.

Because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true Yes, I do I know it's true, yeah

I know it's true How about you? They're picking up trash and they're putting down roads. They're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn

Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away We'll be right back. And I've kissed you in places I better not name.

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour. But I like it much better going down on you. Yeah, you know that's true. Because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today and your smile is fine and it's just like mine

and it won't go away cause everything is rosy now everything is rosy yeah everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray.