Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jane Harbury: Toronto Mike'd #1448

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

In this 1448th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Jane Harbury about her career in PR, working at the Riverboat Coffee House, and the many musical legends with whom she's crossed paths. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1448 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, the best baseball in the city, outside the dome, with eight championships since 1967. RecycleMyElectronics.ca,

committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Today, making her Toronto Mic debut is Jane Harbury. Welcome, Jane. Thank you very much. You're one of the great- Glad to be here, by the way. Oh, I'm glad you're here, Jane. You're now an FOTM, that means friend of Toronto Mic, and I just wanna shout out previous Janes who are F FOTMs and tell me if you have met these people and how familiar you are. I think you're familiar with at least a couple of these people.

You ready? Yes. Jane Sibiri. Yes, I worked with Jane. Maybe a little more detail of where did you work, when and where did you work with Jane Sibri? Well, back in, I think, 83 or 4, I was at Duke Street Records and I was the National Publicity Director. That was my title. That did not mean very much, actually, but there were some great friends that I made there, including a longtime friend and client, Hey Good Hardy.

But I met Jane Sibbery because we had Mimi on the Beach, that album, the first album. And that's where I met Jane. And we kind of, well, we see each other very occasionally when she comes to Hugh's Room or wherever. Sure. Okay. That is a famous moment in Toronto Mike history was when I pointed out to Jane the fun fact that the director of the Mimi on the Beach video went on to father the most decorated Olympian in Canadian history, Penny Oleksiak. So Penny Oleksiak, who's won more medals than any Canadian ever in Olympic history, is the daughter of the man who directed Mimi on the Beach.

I did not know that. See, now that you know that, every time somebody mentions Jane's a Grave. I can tell it everywhere. In your opinion, Jane, is that a fun fact that I just shared with you? For me it is. I love trivia. And I don't call them trivial people, but I love that. Every year somebody gives me the Blue Jays Daily Calendar. Okay. And I love the fact, and I just today, like I was looking at the one for yesterday and it said

the, the, there was one season where there were 10, I think it was 10. Ten home runs in one game. I'm trying to guess your trivia, but I, Oh, okay. And they, they were, they were like, I think it was 10 of the rookies who were first season and including Danny Jansen. And in my mind, Danny's always been there, so it's kind of surprising, but it was along with Vlad E and Bo and all that.

Of course. Poe Bichette and, yeah, Kevin Bigio and all these youngsters. Yeah, exactly. Jane, I love the fact you're a Blue Jay fan. So were you always a Blue Jay fan since they arrived in 77? Well, I arrived in 66. Yeah, but the Blue Jays arrived in 77. Yes, yes, yes.

And well, I actually was very early because I was working for Quantum Records, which had Mad About Plaid and a bunch of other artists and and I got two of them on the Blue Jays singing the Blue Jays anthems which was easy in those days. Which anthem exactly do you remember? Which anthem? Okay, okay only because okay so I have here we're gonna get rocking. Okay Blue Jays you got the. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Canadian and and and and though in those days and I think still they have to

Know in those early days. They were actually Live it in I think they're still I think they're still live I well they're not they're live recorded because of the because of the echo and that the time delay is about I think Six seconds that when you record you you pre-record it, you have to have it that timed because of the echoes. Okay, this year here, fountain knowledge and just to wrap up the Jane Sibri and then get back to these other Janes. Oh no, it's okay.

I like, I love the tangents. I'm going to throw another one at you in a moment about okay, Blue Jays, but she did not find the Penny Oleksiak's father directed Mimi on the Beach fact to be particularly fun. She seemed pretty indifferent to it. And I was thinking, what does it take to get a reaction to a piece of trivia as a fun fact? I thought that was a pretty good one. Yeah.

I think Jane, Jane is a character and brilliant. And I truly love what she's done and how she's lived her life. But she's always had an opinion, and I don't know how much she loved the director, the producer, or anybody else, but she had a dog that she loved very much, I think called Wolfie or something.

Okay, well she takes her art very seriously. And there is footage, I've seen the documentary about the recording of Tears Are Not Enough in 1985. And she's kind of sharing stories with Ronnie Hawkins and some of the cats there about cows. Like she was very, I remember there's a bit of footage of her kind of talking about cows. Yes, she loved cows.

Clearly, actually a big fan of cows. Okay, quick fun fact about OK Blue Jays and then we'll get back to the Janes. But do you know who sings, who's lead vocals on the Okay Blue Jays, which is basically known as the Blue Jays theme song. Do you know who does lead vocals? I've known this, I know that Tony Kosinec co-wrote it,

I think. I think you're right, yeah. I don't know who sang. I do know, but I can dead. I can't remember. Keith Hampshire. Right. Of course. Who is a dear friend. I'm having a good time if you already Jane. Okay. A dear friend. Okay. And also don't be,

I know you won't be cause you're here to share stories, but don't be shy. I want you to drop as many names as you have got in that jacket pocket. Okay. Just drop names. I'm not trying to, but it's just, I've had such a history in the business and Keith, you want to hear how I met Keith? Please. This goes back to, I think, 69.

And I had been in theater in England. And when I came here, Tom Williams, who is wonderful. Attic Records. Yes. Just passed away. No, Tom hasn Just passed away. No, Tom hasn't passed away. Yes, he has.

Are you serious? No, I wouldn't joke with, I would never do that. I would never do that to you. I'm going to say maybe I want to say 12 to 18 months ago. He passed away. Yeah. I don't think you're right because we did the Al Mayer tribute at Roy Thompson Hall and so he passed after Al like Al passed first, that's for sure. But I'm, I mean, only because I...

Because I saw him and I hugged him and we were so, everybody was so happy to see him. Yeah, okay. So he did pass away. So I do these, for Ridley Funeral Home, I put together these memorial episodes and I paid tribute to Tom Williams. He passed away at age of 79 on September 6th, 2023. So he passed away in September. So we've lost both founders of Attic Records now and I never got a chance to get Tom on the program, but absolutely, you know, Alexander Mayer's been on this program to share stories from Attic Records. I love those stories. Yeah, I'm sorry to break the bad news. No, no, you did. And I honestly thought we were going to have Tom because he seemed so positive about things,

but he had been absolutely through the ringer. Well, he'd been attacked and there's some tragedy there. Then sadly, yeah, he's gone. He died in a Georgian Bay hospital. Oh dear. Yeah, that's very sad. I'll have to kind of figure that one out. And I know you have to process that in real time,

so I feel awful, but once you, I thought you knew, because you brought up Tom, but again, my apologies. No, no, no, no. I know I didn't know, or I would have not been so blase about throwing his name, but he was a truly lovely guy. But okay, back to the story. He had the overnight show on, I think it was CKFH or CKLH. The studios were on Gloucester Street,

just north of college. And Keith Hampshire and I would go in on the Saturday afternoon. He had the overnight show that Tom produced. And so Keith and I would go in and we'd record commercials for the show overnight. I don't remember much more than that other than occasionally Keith and I would go and drink Sunrises or whatever afterwards. But that's, but he's also from England, like yourself, because he was on Radio Caroline. Yes, that's where I heard him first on Radio Caroline.

Isn't that wild? So I want to, because I do, again, I'm going to shout out a couple more Janes because I, they'll be, they'll be like, Hey, you didn't, you didn't shout it out. Me Mike, what's going on? So after Jane Sibri, a couple more, but I do, you didn't, you didn't shout it out. Me, Mike, what's going on? So after Jane Sibri, a couple more, but I do, I want to bring you back to England because I can hear the accent. I know you were born and raised in England and then get you to Canada. And of course the Riverboat Coffee House. I've got questions.

Other Janes I want to shout out very quickly here. And I do think it's wild though, that you can, you're hearing Keith Hampshire on, you know, Radio Carolina and you'd eventually end up working with him in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Like it is kind of a mind blow. It is, isn't it? And really, and I didn't even, I mean, I didn't equate it because I listened to the overnight show or whatever offshore in England on the on the pirate radio. Yeah, amazing.

Yeah, amazing. All right. I want to show Jane Houghton. Jane Houghton. Oh, yes. Yeah. Amazing. All right. I want to shout out Jane Houghton. Jane Houghton. Oh, yes. A lovely woman and very smart. Oh, my goodness. Yes.

And I see her occasionally and Chris, her husband. But I don't I'm not like in constant contact. She because she had years on Q107. Right. And then of course went produced her own TV show, had great success. And now I understand she's a judge now. A justice of the peace or something. Yes, that's what she is.

Right. Here's a Jane who says hi, cause on Twitter today she said she's a big fan of yours. Jane Stevenson from the Toronto Sun. Oh, I love Jane Stevenson. She's, she's an absolute darling. And, and I see her at the last time I saw her was actually at the day, the week after Gordon Rightfoot died and I went up to Aurelia for the Sunday

and Jane came up and covered it. Jane and I kind of, well, of course we've always known each other because of her doing music in For the Sun. And she was one of the people who was an early fan of probably one of the most important people I've ever worked with and known was Lhasa Desela. Do you remember her? I don't, it's not ringing a bell at this moment.

I feel great shame. Tell us. Remind us who we talk. OK, Lassa de Sela. And she was she was the most magical person. I she was the most magical person she she. She moved to she grew up with her father, who's a Mexican professor, and her mother, who's an American actor.

And they grew up, and the four girls of the family grew up and traveled in a school bus around America. And dad would do whatever, this is my understanding, dad would do whatever it took to clothe and feed the girls. They squatted in a lot of places and he would pick melons and that kind of thing. The girls were unbelievable, they are unbelievably intelligent and well educated, but in their parents' way.

So then they were, last they were, mother was pregnant with Lassa, and Lassa was born in Big Indian, New York. This is a bend in the road called Big Indian. They were squatting in a house. The mother went into labor, and the father said, okay, we'll get you to a hospital, but there was no hospital because it

was a bend in the road, but called big Indian. So Lassa was born and was born very, very, I think, normal comparatively for a family that was living life on the edge kind of thing. Um, her birth certificate read something like born big Indian zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, whatever number, because she was a, there was no other place. Anyway, so the parents, the parents traveled and Lassa at about 14 got started singing and, she would they would go to places in San Francisco and she um she loved the jazz and blues and and she spoke Lhasa spoke many languages but she was brought up in English and um Spanish and and then she made it to Montreal and uh fell in love with Montreal and found her home place and uh then she started singing in various places. Last I had my first platinum album, my only platinum album actually, but my first gold album. No,

maybe yes, the first, but anyway, I have my first platinum album for her first album that I worked for two years called La Llorona. And that La Llorona is a mythical creature who apparently turned people to salt or something. I don't know. Okay. Anyway, so Lhasa found a label in Montreal, or they found her and they signed her for an album. And La Llorona is her first album.

And I was contacted by Denny Wolf, who was the, he was the director and the A&R for the label. They had a brand band, 3000 and- Of course, drinking in LA. That's an anthem over here, come on. This is like a kind of a you-me thing. So Denny Wolf called me. This is like a kind of a UV thing.

So Denny Wolf called me, I was recommended to him. This would have been in 1996, I think. And he said, she's a gypsy. And I said, what do you mean by that? Can you send me some music? He said, no, I'm coming to Toronto and I want to sit with you. So we made an appointment and he brought a tape, a cassette tape, because that's what it was in 96 or seven.

And I listened and I went, oh my God, this album is, I said, I want to, and I said, I want to work with, what do you mean by gypsy? Because I had in my mind, big earrings and she wasn't far from that, but she was, she was much more than that. Um, so, so then Lassa met me because she wanted to meet who was going to be steering her career really. And I was given six months contract. So it would have been like in October and we were releasing, we were gonna release the album.

The French album was another thing, but we were releasing in English in March or beginning of April. And I was like, I've never had the luxury of six months for an album set up and be paid for it. And so I got copies of the album well ahead and I sent out to, I knew that this album was gonna be huge because it covered so much ground musically.

And everybody embraced it, jazz, world, folk, everything. Everybody embraced Lassa's album. And so I said, we need to bring her here. And at that point, Richard Mills was at Feldman and he and I talked and we talked about, we needed to do a launch. So I called Sybil Walker at the top of the senator, which has become the Jazz Bistro. And I said to Sybil, can we have a Monday night? Because they're usually dark

on Mondays, right for media. So she said, yes. And then I said, can we please put a hole on a couple of nights after that? Because I have a feeling that we're going to need it. And Denis was all up for it and he brought the band here and blah, blah, blah. I couldn't fit everybody in on the Monday at all. So we had the people doing interviews the next day, television, the whole thing. And so we had two, we had one media night, that was, everybody came and they were blown away. And then the second and third nights were public

and we had lineups of people outside from that one day. Wow. And the album went to Platinum and eventually, and so my contract was extended for another 18 months to cover up to top up at two years. Lassa's sisters, her three sisters from from her mom and dad moved to Montreal and they were they had gone to circus school and so they just they did circus training and then they decided that they were going to do a circus in Europe. So the off, they went,

the three of them to France because they, they spoke French as did Laza. And then, um, so they, they did the circus thing and it was a single ring and they traveled and they squatted and they, they set up and they picked a puppy up on the way and dada. I mean, it was absolutely a classic story that kids would love, you know? And so then after we kept going with Lassa and they got a deal with Warner, I think in the States.

But she was kept so busy in Toronto and she did, she did Lilith Fair and she, she won a Juneau for the album the first year and everything went nuts. And, and then after, after the second amount of time, she said, okay, I'm leaving. I'm going to join my sisters in France to join the circus. So Warner's, I don't think was very happy in the U S because they'd invested a lot of time and probably money on, um, on setting it up in the States. So she, she, so Danny and, and, uh, the, the team at the label said, okay, we understand. And so all she went to France and she traveled

with her sisters and she loved the whole life and then she started writing some songs again and she came back after two years over there in Europe. And then she was like Iceland, Finland, Chechnya, all these countries, UK went nuts for her. And so then she came back and she did the second album, which was a much different album called The Living Road, which she was very proud of.

And off we went again with her in Canada. And she basically said to the label, I want Jane, which was, it was a mutual thing. I didn't want anybody else to have her because I understood her so well and she understood me. So we went and we did a second go-round and then she got into the States and did a lot of shows, jazz, a lot of jazz festivals headlining

and she headlined the jazz festival here. It was actually her and Madeleine Peru and it was on the city hall property and I wasn't actually sure until I got there whose audience it was because Lhasa had been gone for a while and it was all her and Madeleineu. I mean, I know Madeline has a lot of fans, but I never got it. So I was really happy that it was my artist, if you like. Well, Jay, now you're discovering some of my blind spots. So I'm just, I apologize in advance for these, these, these great artists I'm like learning about today because I don't know if they weren't played on CFNY, I missed

it, right? Exactly. Exactly. Fortunately, there were a lot of ex CFNYers who did remember or didn't know not remember but did find her. Good. No, good. Amazing. But now I'm going to bring you back. So here's what we're going to do. So firstly, just to set everything up, I was introduced to you by another great FOTM, Kim Hughes. Oh yes. We met at Pamela Wallen's Catbook in the junction. Was that really the first time we met? That's the first time I met you in person. Yeah I always read your emails. I can't believe that we never

crossed paths. No I don't believe it either except Kim Hughes introduced us and it was fun to see Kim Hughes there and it was great to meet you there and I'm like Jane you got to come over and we got to share stories here. So we're gonna get you to Canada I guess 66 that's when you come to Canada 1966? I think it was June the 5th or 6 1966. Now did you out of curiosity last night did you watch any of the Oscars last night? No I didn't because I was having computer, um, difficulties. And, um, my, my friend, we'd been down to, we had gone down to the wrecks early for the five to seven show.

Um, and that was, um, one, you will remember them, the, the suspect trio, of course. Yeah. Well, Laura Hubert. Okay. Yeah. Let's just say a bit trio. Of course. Yeah.

Well, Laura Hubert. Okay, yeah. And she was playing with one of the most brilliant duos. So it was Peter Hill on piano. Peter could play anything, does play anything, and brilliantly. And Kevin Clark, who's a great trumpeter, who's based in New Orleans now. Okay. And he was blown away. And so it was nice. He had a great trumpeter, who's based in New Orleans now. Okay. And he was blown away. And so it was nice.

You had a great night. So I did notice watching the Oscars last night, a lot of British accents on that stage. Like there was many an English accent I heard. I feel like the Brits might've cleaned up last night if we do the math on that one. But tell me a little bit just about your life in England before you come to Canada and what brings you to Canada?

And if you always knew you'd work in music, I'm very curious. No, no, no. Okay, yes, I can tell you why I came to Canada. I can tell you what life was like and how I eventually got to Canada. Yes, please. I was brought up in, I mean, we were very, the family was, loved music and we were brought up by our maternal, grand, my grand, my father's mother and my dad. I don't know whether that's paternal. That's paternal. Maternal, okay.

The big P, yeah, the father's paternal. My father's mother, mother, yes. So we were basically brought up in, with her being the kind of Victorian woman who was amazing. And had never, the family, my dad's family and I think my mother's family too, were both, I would call them upper middle class, you know, and, and dad, dad was a major in the army and towards like in the last couple of over three years of the war. And granny and our mother, I have brought, I have half brothers in England, so I don't want to hurt them.

But but our mother and then my mother's children. But they, it wasn't, I think my mother wasn't very responsible and she couldn't cope with three or four of us actually. And so she wasn't in the picture from the time I was about seven. And so, and granny told us, my grandmother told us, don't ask dad about your mother

because it's too painful for him. So we as children of a certain era, like we obeyed granny. And so when we were all in boarding school from the time we were eight, all three of us, my brother, the fourth one in that relationship is actually not my dad's, he wasn't my dad's son or dad wasn't his father. But dad apparently didn't know until the divorce court.

So mom took him. On Facebook we say that it's complicated. Yes, it's very complicated. And it sounds like a movie itself. Anyway, so I grew up and I was very, very good in things I liked in school and lousy beyond rotten at things I didn't, because I didn't care, like math and science and any of those things. So at 15, um,

dad was called into the headmistresses office. Uh, and, and she said, Mr. Harbury, this is a waste of our time and your money. Um, we suggest that you let Jane leave school and do something with her life. So I mean, we were allowed to leave at 15 in England. So I I'm sure for dad, it was not a thrill to have that news. For me it was like freedom. Yeah. So anyway, so the first thing I did was

my grandmother knew the buyer for the lingerie department at probably the most famous store in the world, Fortnum and Mason's. And, and she got me a job as a junior, which I indeed was, I was probably about mentally about 12, but not 15 or 16. And, and so we had a uniform that we had to wear as juniors and Mrs. Gorman was her name, the buyer and, and Mrs. Gorman was her name, the buyer and Mrs. Gorman in the lingerie department, Mrs. Gorman had underneath all the showcases,

she had this huge drawer and nobody was allowed to go in there except her. And so when the Duchess so-and-so or the ladies so-and-so would come in and they'd ask for Mrs. Gorman and they were going to a week of parties or whatever, so they were trying to lose weight and they played at it obviously, but Mrs. Gorman knew them very well.

So when the corsets and the bras and all of the underwear would come in, she would remove the labels with the size and put a label that was so in a label that was a size or two smaller. And so that would be for the Duchess so-and-so. And she'd go, oh my goodness, I'm so delighted. I've lost so much weight. She's wobbling. You know, this was a plot in Seinfeld, right? Sherry wanted to be sized 31 waist or something. And then, yeah. And they, and they took, they took Mrs. Gorman advice. Oh, that's funny. So anyway, so there was that and I, and I had, and as a junior, I, I basically did kind of what I wanted. I like, I,

I made friends with the, with the porters who would have to take the food that was for sale on the floor, food floor. They would take it in the elevator, um, upstairs at the end of the day to put in the fridge so that it would be okay for tomorrow. And I'd go, I'd time my, my break or whatever. And I'd go up in the elevator with them and they'd say, here, take sausage rolls. She'd take this, that and the other. So I figured that out. then I left there and then I went to Kent County Council as a baby carer in the home in the Kent County Council home and the children were from like two weeks, three weeks to four years or something and I loved that and then I kind of got excited by the, by the love, I love children.

I always did, except my own family. You know, it was like, we fought a lot, but that's okay. That's family, right? Right. And then, so I, I decided that I would like to, I could be a school matron. So the school that, that I got as a junior, because I was still a teenager,

was a school in Derbyshire. My brother had gone to this school, it was what we call a prep school, which is eight to 13 year olds. And then he had gone to the, what we call public school, which is called private school here. And it's then he had gone to the, to the, what we call public school work, which is called private school here. And it's a very old, old school, I think 900 years old called, um, Repton, Repton. And, um, so Martin had been to both and, um, and he had just

left by the time I got to be the mainstream, which is a good thing because it would have been really hard to be rough or kind to your brother, right? Right. And so I was there and I learned a lot in a year or two years or something. I mean, I learned a heck of a lot. And then I decided that I was worthy of my own school. And I think I was 21 maybe.

And so then I applied for a school in middle sex and got the job as I was the matron and There were two well there were two matrons. I wasn't the head matron at that point so there were two of us and we basically I think were fairly equal and and I learned a lot there and And there I met the Della quartet the Della Quartet, the Della Consort, pardon me. The Della Consort was an amazing group of men. There was a countertenor. And so they played all over the world.

And I didn't meet them really. I just met their family because their family was part of the school. And then I left there because I got my own school in Cambridge. I got 36 little boys between the ages of seven and 14 and they were in my house, the boarding house and I was responsible entirely for them. Okay, now, just so I understand now, is this like Edna Garrett in Facts of Life? Okay, like, like you, did you ever see Facts of Life?

Yeah, I remember that show. Yeah. Well, like when it, you remember the like all girls school and they were in uniform and they lived on the premises and she was like the major. Okay, I'm with you now. I'm with you. The boys. Okay.

A lot of them, I mean, a lot of them were there because their parents were stationed overseas in you know in territories that I don't remember or whatever But I was responsible for them they come home from school at lunch and and they'd have lunch in the in our dining room and then I and and then I was Responsible for surgery in the morning and surgery at night and if there was if there was a real problem I put them in the sick room and called the doctor and blah, blah, blah. And I did everything for them.

I didn't wash their clothes. I sent the clothes to the laundry. We did everything. I did everything. And I'm in touch with a bunch of them, my little boys, I mean, which for me is extraordinary. And we, I found one of them, his name is Guy Buncombe in Cambridge.

And I went, there's not gonna be a lot of Guy Buncombes. I'm gonna check and see if there's a Guy Buncombe in Cambridge. And I did. And I said, I don't know if you remember me, because I had a very, it was a very turbulent two years in terms of the boys' health. And I, my doctor, the family doctor said, you can't do this. It's too much. So anyway, so I couldn't say goodbye to my little boys.

And so Guy wrote back saying, I, yes, I am the one and I can't believe this and shall we talk and so then we we Skype we we talk And and he has he he has a gathering of the of that that particular year, right? And I got to get together with them last summer Wow Yeah, it like that's so long and they're now They're now 70 Wow. Yeah, yeah. Cause you were so young. Of course. Okay. So anyway, so that, that was what I loved. However, I had gone to theater school in,

in during the time I left school and, and did my other things. So I had gone to drama school and, um, and I, and, and I was doing this when it was 12 or 13. They wouldn't use boys in Shakespeare because the boys' voices couldn't have broken. And they also, they didn't like, the boys didn't like having long hair, you know, so that they would have, I'd be a page boy.

My liege, my liege! You know, anyway, so I did that and, um, and, and I came to Canada because, oh, I'm missing a huge part. Oh yeah. Don't bury the lead here. Yeah. Get that part cleaned up before we get you to Canada. Yes.

So, um, our, our parents, our mother, our, our father and our grandmother were very staunch conservatives. And I always say, don't blame me for that. But anyway, so when I was 15, after I left school, granny insisted that I become a young conservative, which was 15 to 30 years old. And so every Thursday night would be the meeting. And every Thursday night I would climb the Elm trees where we lived and I try and hide not to have to go to the meetings

because I was a little girl. Right. And the rest of them were like 20s, you know. And so granny would always find me and make me go. And so I became a young conservative because it was a lovely group of people and we actually had great times together. Then when we moved to Hampshire, I joined the young conservatives there and they are my friends still and I'm very close with a lot of them.

And so one night we were at a pub, we were always doing our meetings at pubs pretty much. And we were doing a debating thing. I was on the debating team. And my partner, my debating partner, is a woman who had moved, I think she, I hope she's still here, I'm not sure. She had moved to San Diego, and we were talking about,

because I had to leave the school, my own school because of my health. So she said, you should come to Canada, you should come to San Diego, she said, because there's 11 guys for every girl. And I went, oh, okay. Of course, it's a Naval town, so that was a no-brainer. So then,

um, so we talked and, and then I, so I did go to the American embassy or consulate and they, they asked me what I did and I said, well, I'm a school matron and I act and they went, well, we don't have much call for school matrons. We'll, we'll put you down as file clerk. So they didn't give me a, they didn't let me go to America. And then somebody said, well, you should go to Canada. Canada loves the Brits, you know. So I did and I got the same thing. We're gonna put you down as file clerk.

So dad had been with Sun Life of Canada for years and years and years and had a friend who immigrated here, Jack Peacock. And dad put me in touch or him in touch with me and said, when you, so I'm fast forwarding again. So anyway, so they said, yes, you can come. So I went, oh, okay, whatever. I mean, I really didn't have a,

the problem is I've never had a plan. I've just gone with what happened. Right. And that's really a blessing and- It occurs. And I'm sure it was a trial for my father, you know? Um, anyway, so, so I, I booked to come to Canada, not knowing very much. And when, when people, when in England, they, somebody said, well, where are you going? And I said, um, I don't know, I'm just going to

Canada. And then they said, well, maybe you should do Ontario because it's an up and comer. And so then they said, you should, I said, I don't know where I'm going. So I put a pen thing on a map and it said Hamilton. And they said, don't go to Hamilton, go to Toronto. So no disrespect to that beautiful place. The hammer, shout out to the hammer. Yeah, really. And Tom Wilson.

Tom Wilson and Kerry Dool and all Laura, what's her name? She, she's beautiful, beautiful singer. There's a lot of great people there. And, and it's, I love that town now. I really do. Cause I did a couple of junos there and people were warm and friendly and welcoming. Absolutely. Anyway, so, so, so I, they said Toronto.

So I arrived in Toronto on the 6th of June or the 5th, and it was very, very hot. And I went to the Y, I'd never been in a Y before, and I kind of loved it. I thought maybe I'll move in here. You know, you had a cafeteria in the basement and grape pop, I'd never had that, and it was incredibly sweet and delicious.

And so then I had called Jack Peacock and he said, come up to the house. And it was in Willowdale. And in those days, that was a too fair trip. And you could smoke on everything, all the TTC. Which I did do then, but very, like maybe five a day. Cigarettes, that is. So anyway, I went up to Peacock's place

and he had a daughter about my age or a bit younger and they had a lovely house with a swimming pool and blah, blah, blah. And he said, so what are you gonna do with your life? I said, I just got here. Like I got here on whatever day it was and what am I supposed to do? He said, well, you got to do something.

Oh, right, yeah, I got to, I don't have money to do anything. So he said, come down to Sun Life on Monday or Tuesday and I'll introduce you to the employment officer, Mr. Perkus. And so I did go down and do you remember Mike Feile? Yes, yes, absolutely. I loved reading his stuff, Yes. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.

Loved reading his stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Well, his wife was, they were engaged at the time. Her name was Isia Miller and she, she handed me the tests that I had to do. Tests. I left school not to have to do that. Right.

But I did the English and I did the whatever, whatever. And then I came to the math and I, I went up to her and I said, excuse me, if my getting a job here is dependent on me doing this, you might as well let me go now, I don't do math. They had put me down as a file clerk in the Canada thingy. And so then I was given a job in the office pool. There was like, I think 30 of us. I was given a job in the office pool, there was like I think 30 of us, and Mr. Roden was in a glass cage in the middle of us,

and you had to use a card to sign in and sign out, clock in and clock out. And so I was given the job of premium things coming in, and I had to do something with them, but nobody really explained to me what. So then I, so I figured it out sort of and there were a lot of very patient and tolerant people really, I mean I have to give them CUROS,

I can't remember who they were but they didn't fire me. And then I got, I learned how to do the Xerox machine. I actually got a do the Xerox machine. I actually got a certificate from Xerox for learning how to change a cylinder. And I was pretty proud because I never had much. Do you still have that certificate? No.

You should have kept that, frame that. I know I should have. I don't think I do. So then I also learned switchboard and I loved it. And it was on the mezzanine floor by the, by the Xerox and the postage machine. And I learned those things and I loved, I had 15, I think there were 15 incoming lines and about 200, uh, where you plugged into. So they were, they were wires, the sync plug-in plug-in.

And I loved this cause it was on my own. I was, I had my radio in with a, with a speaker. What station were you listening to? Cham FM. Oh, you should not 1050? No, Cham FM. Cause that was a classical, wasn't it? It was classical at that time.

And then I came to, went back to England for a couple of weeks, couple of years later, and I came back and it had changed and I even loved it more because it was all the music that I loved. Um, and so anyway, so I listened to that. And I, and then the only time that anybody would come would be to bring me my check every two weeks or whatever. And I just loved that. And then, uh, after two, two, two and a half years, I went, okay, that's enough of this. Cause people would, I'd met a photographer, it wasn't a relationship. He was at a party and he said,

I'd like to take some pictures of you. And I said, oh, I, you can't get a good picture of me. I know that. I've tried. They've tried. He said, I can. And so I don't have those and I don't have any of them but he did do a good job apparently and and I got back and into acting and I got somebody wanted to be my manager woman joy somebody and and it was I was going swimmingly and I and I did a commercial on so I think it was for somebody jewelers and it was meant to be a husband and wife in bed, but they had to have a line down the middle of the bed. So cause it was a photography or whatever to, to ensure that people didn't think they were actually in

a, in any kind of relationship other than husband and wife married. Um, so anyway, so that, and then she gave me, she came and she said, I've got a great script for you and it will take, the shooting will take place in Maine and it'd be six weeks and it'd be a great opportunity. So I said, can I see the script? One of my rare sane moments, I said, can I read the script? She said, well, they don't normally let you, but they'll give you a scene. And I went, okay, I feel like there's something going on here that I'm not sure of. And I'm not. So I, that was probably the smartest thing I've ever done in my life was actually insist on reading it. And it was, it was soft porn, but it was porn. And so I turned it down.

And then I met a director, Sean Mulcahy, who was a fabulous theatrical director, promoter, producer. And he was doing a play at the theater in Edmonton that Joe Schachter was the owner or whatever. He was the big guy at the theater. What the heck was the name of the? Anyways, in Edmonton, and a beautiful building, and the theater moved to a new place years later. They built a big theater.

And so I auditioned for the, not the lead, the second female lead, in a play called There's a girl in my soup that had played London and Broadway and I know this. Yes. Yes, of course so I got them I got the part and Wendy Shatt Thatcher who I'm still in touch with she she got the lead Angénieur all because she's very very young she and I shared an apartment on Jasper in Edmonton and

And we went to Tommy Banks on Monday night We were dark and that was that was fabulous and then I came back to Canada to Toronto Now I have to go back to you to oh No No, I think I'm good. So that, I do have to go back to some life. I miss the chunk here. That's really cute. This story I'm enthralled because I know at some point you're going to end up at the riverboat and it's like, okay, it's exciting to me. Okay. We're going to get there. Okay. Okay. So do you want me to go to there now? Yeah, sure.

Yeah. Okay. So when I was at some Life, the first fall I was at Sun Life, some of the girls in the office had asked me to go out places with them, which was really nice of them. I don't know that they wanted me necessarily, but they were very inclusive. And they're really good people. I don't know them anymore. But anyway, they said to it,

so it was late October, early November, I think in 67, probably. And they said, would you like to join us? We're going to a club. And in my mind, a club was a disco kind of club, but I'd never been to one of those either. So I said, sure. And well actually I probably said thank you, that would be lovely in fact. Anyway, so it was very, very cold and it was on Yorkville. And in those days the hotel hadn't been built and no big buildings had been built.

So the wind came right off Lake Ontario and it was frigid. So we get to this place and we go down the stairs and we walk in and we say yes we'd like tickets for the show tonight and they said that the person said well this show is sold out and the second one but you could come you could buy tickets and come back for the midnight show if you'd like this was a Friday night okay so it was like are we gonna do you want to oh sure let. So that's what we did. So I don't know whether we went to, I don't even know if the work,

I don't know anything about Yorkville at this point, to be honest with you, other than we were there. So we waited and it really was so cold. And we were let in at whatever time and walked in and it's downstairs and I think it was three dollars or four dollars to get in which was a lot of money and when you're making like 60 bucks a week or whatever you know so I we walked in it was warm but it was also filled with smoke because they could smoke people would smoke in there sure and

So we were shown to the back of the room a long skinny room with with brass poles of anchoring the tables and and brass portholes with green gel to signify the ocean, right? and it was called the riverboat and the ocean, right? And it was called the riverboat. And we were seated at the back, which was fine. It raised seats in a banquet kind of thing. And that was perfect because it was warm.

And then we had to buy a drink. It was coffee house only. There was no alcohol. The nearest we had to alcohol was essence of rum for the cafe room. And so anyway, I think I've had a hot lemon because you had to have something. You had to buy something for a dollar.

Which was a lot, because you explained, yeah, what you were making, okay, so that's real money. So the artist, who are you there to see at midnight at the Riverboat Coffee House? Well, it was just the, I didn't meet Bernie that night. Bernie Fiedler. Bernie Fiedler, who started the Riverboat. So at whatever time, the lights went down

and this voice came out of the speaker, and good evening, welcome to the Riverboat. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please give a warm welcome to Gordon Lightfoot. Wow, there you go, Gordon Lightfoot. So out walked Rick Shea, Red Shea, pardon me, and oh my God, fabulous bass player, and then Gordon. And that's when, that's truthfully when the magic started.

So it would have been 67, maybe six. I don't think it was six. It might've been 66. I don't know, but it was certainly in the sixties. Okay, amazing. So I have questions obviously. So you're there, you're at the riverboat as a guest there with some friends from work, Gordon Lightfoot.

No, not a guest. I paid. That's what I mean. Sorry, I meant like you're not working. There's what I'm saying here. Sorry. Sorry. You bought a ticket. You're there. Gordon Lightfoot. And is this so during this performance, do you have this sense of like, I want to work around this environment or what happens to you?

No, I just was, I was so blown away and I was busy working in things, you know, and so I just, I looked at it as a wonderful night out and actually when they said who the name was, the girls, they said it's Gordon Lightfoot and we had a jazz player in the UK called Terry Lightfoot, who's a jazz player, and did all the big theaters and clubs in the UK. So I kind of had no idea who Gordon Lightfoot was.

But that magic started, but it was like just a one-off. Right. And then a year or two, I think it's in 68 or 69, And then a year or two, I think it's in 68 or 69, no, it would have been 69 when I got back from doing The Girl in My Soup in Edmonton. And so I was going out with the guy who was doing The Door, who I'm in touch with, I see, he and his wife come to the Hustroom

shows and Bernie comes up in breaks, Sonny, Terry and Brandon McGee were the artists of that two weeks, cause they always did two weeks twice a year at the riverboat. Two amazing old blues cats, right? and hated each other and never spoke to each other except on stage. Right. Anyway, so so Bernie came up in the in the break and I'm sitting with Michael at the table where he could see people coming in at the door. And Bernie said, and I am absolutely convinced he wasn't doing it for anything other than just talking to Michael. He said, I don't know what I'm gonna do, my dishwasher didn't show up.

And I chirped up, I don't mind doing dishes for a night if you'll help you. And he said, would you, I'll pay you. So I did dishes and then he said, can you come back? Oh, okay, so here's the thing about that. I had come back from, I was working as the spare matron at the National Ballet Junior Girls House boarding house. So I was doing, putting them to bed. So I do from like four in the afternoon when they got home from school until eight o'clock at

night when they had bedtime. So the riverboat didn't start till eight at the shows. So the first break would be not until nine or 9.15 or whatever, so that would be good. So, and then I was also started a boutique with a friend of mine on Yonge Street called Jane and I. And I was the Jane obviously in it and he was the money. And so I was the Jane obviously in it and he was the money and so I was the schlepper who worked and and he was in He and these English guys were importing

dolly clothes Like you know the the white that just showed up under the blue lights or the black light the white dresses and things. Okay, so He was great at this and and and he brought in a friend Ewan So he was great at this and he brought in a friend, Ewan, who would put the girls into these clothes and they looked awful in the clothes, to be honest, because they shouldn't be wearing them, but they really wanted them. And Ewan would stand behind them and hold the dresses

and say, look, see it fits you perfectly. Kind of like Mrs. Gorman all over. I was going to say, yes. So you know that drill. So anyway, I was going to say, yes. So you know that trail. So anyway, they, they, I was doing that. So I was the Jane and I, and I was there every day and, and he was the buyer and he put the money in and, and, and I think I got money. I got paid to do rent and stuff.

I don't know. I can't remember the money. I've, that's my problem. So anyway, then I ended up, Bernie said, can you come back tomorrow? And I said, sure, because the store was closed at seven or whatever. And, and the kids were in bed and lights out and it wasn't my responsibility anymore. So that was good. And then, so then I, the second waitress out of the blue said she was leaving. She wasn't there every night. It was only when there was a big crowd that they expected because there were no

advanced tickets in those days. It was just people walked out. So I became the second waitress, which suited me fine because I still had time to do the other things for a while. And then Laurel who was a lovely, I think is a lovely woman. I have, she, she called me one morning and she said, and we had Jim question of Jim questions, jug band playing and he still plays. He's still on the, on the circuit, um, in the States anyway. Uh, anyway, so she called me and she said, uh, I'm leaving my jobs, yours. I'm going to the commune in Boston, so she called me and she said, I'm leaving, my job's yours,

I'm going to the commune in Boston with Jim. And so she left and I took over as head waitress. And then Bernie realized that I was kind of good at what I did and he made me manager. And so I was there from 69 to 74. Wow, okay, now we take a break here. Okay. So, because now I'm going to just riddle you with names that you may have crossed paths with while you're working at the riverboat coffee house,

which of course is one 34 Yorkville Avenue. I like your description going down the basement and it's like a, like, like a boat, right? I don't know. Like a, like a, like a, something like it was long and narrow. Yeah. like a boat, right? Or like a, like a, like a, like a, It was long and narrow. Yeah. Like a submarine, right? Well, it kind of was, yes. And that's what the portholes were meant to represent.

I mean, it was, it worked because it was so kitschy, but it was all in wood and it was beautifully, I mean, Bernie had done a great job making it, but it was, it was long and thin. It was narrow. So face, the stage was on the east wall and Facing the narrowest part of the whole riverboat and so the I

Think there were about a hundred and I think the capacity is about a hundred and twenty something like that And I can name names. I mean, okay. So here's what I'm going to do. Firstly, I was thinking, okay, there's only one song that we need to play a little of the song. But before I play this song, just for the definitive record, I'm going to ask you about two great Canadian artists who, you know, were around those parts in the in the sixties. Did you ever cross paths with Joni Mitchell or Neil Young? I'm afraid I have to say no. I met Joni at a party or two, but no, I'd have to say no.

They had moved on by then. They had moved. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Neil was down in California there. So just a little of this, then I'm going to give you some gifts and we're going to talk about the Riverboat Coffee House. This is Ambulance Blues. Rockin' in the rain

Midnight was the time for the rain Oh Isabella, proud Isabella They tore you down and plowed you under. You're only real with your makeup on. How could I see you and stay too long all along a narrow road trail it gives me a little chills listening to Neil sing about it. It gives me chills remembering how magical it really was. So let me give you a few gifts and then like I said I'm going to mention some names and you're going to drop names and we're going to talk about your years at the Riverboat Coffee House in Yorkville and then of course what you've done since then.

I said did you have an hour? I realized I'm going to need a lot more than an hour. I realized because I didn't realize it might take that long to what you've done since then. I said did you have an hour? I realized I'm gonna need a lot more than an hour I realized because I didn't realize it might take that long to get to the riverboat. Okay but I'm loving it. I should have shut you should have shut me down. I could never do that to you Jane. Okay so quick gifts here firstly thank you to Paul Mapasta. In my freezer it actually just arrived when you arrived the delivery. I have in my freezer a lasagna. So I'm happy to give you a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta that you could enjoy. That would be lovely. Thank you.

Delicious. Delicious. Thank you. Palma Pasta and fresh craft beer arrived from Great Lakes Brewery. Oh, delicious craft beer brewed right here in Southern Etobicoke. And I love IPA. You'll love the IPAs from GLB and I can even stack that deck and get you more IPAs actually. That's what I would do for you, Jane. Great treats for you. I have a measuring tape courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home.

They're in this community pillars and they're wonderful. So you always need to measure something. And I love this because I always have to go and look for my toolbox and I never find it. My wife was using it yesterday, the Ridley Funeral Home measuring tape. You just need to measure things and then it's right there. Okay, so thank you to Ridley Funeral Home. You know, we talk about the Riverboat Coffee House, which we're going to talk about right

now and you think about Toronto institutions. One is the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, which plays at Christie Pitts. So this summer, this tradition continues, Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. That book is the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. You know, you mentioned you like trivia about Blue Jays trivia. Well, the best baseball in this city outside that dome is Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. And you're going to love that, that Jane. It's really great book. Thank you. This is a big, this is a huge, wonderful thing.

I hope you can carry it all. If not, I hope I can bike it to you if you can't, if you can't carry it all. One podcast for those, whether you manage your own investments or you have a somebody who a financial advisor who does that for you. I am all choked up talking about it. You got to subscribe to the Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, hosted by Chris Cooksey. Great advice, best practices, what you should do. I just bought tickets last week to see Neil Young at Budweiser stage, like kind of like a birthday present to myself.

So I just, just listening to Neil and the headphones here. I'm just shouting out Neil. I'll see you in early Jan, July. So on the lawns at Budweiser. But you seen him before? Yes, I have. You're a big fan. I'm a big fan of Neil, absolutely. So last but not least, if you have any old electronics or old cables or devices, Jane, in a drawer at home, don't throw it in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and you can find a place near you where you drop

it off and it gets properly recycled. So thank you to recyclemyelectronics.ca. Yes, that's probably the best advice that anybody could get. Absolutely. Okay, so you're well taken care of. It was worth the trip here to Southern Etobicoke. You got your pasta, you got your beer, you got everything set up here. Yeah, I can eat pasta and get drunk on the beer and rich read the book. Lots to do here. Okay, we've already dove into that Great Lakes I hear. Okay, so Riverboat Coffeehouse.

Closing my eyes like I'm there. Okay, so I'm going to just shout out some people I've met who I know played there. And if you saw them play there, let me know. But Marie McLaughlin. Oh, of course. Maybe a little bit about Murray I'm just starting with people who have been in this basement okay so Murray's been over to the basement. Tell me about Murray. Murray McLaughlin is I think the absolute world of Murray. He's a magnificent human being. I love his songs. Murray has, I mean, he has become a friend because of the years. One time, I very quickly, I will very quickly

recall, he, I don't think he was here, he was at the club to see somebody and some, and when, in, when you were in the kitchen, um, they, the espresso machines and the, the boiling scalding milk, um, I, I speak of because that's the story. Um, I was picking up, um, I think it was cappuccinos and three cups, you know, like walking out of the kitchen, turning left and walking past the stairway that led to the women's washroom and the two, um, what you call them rooms for the artists. Right. Yeah. Dressing rooms.

And I was walking from the kitchen to the club, holding these three double espresso, not double those all the cream. So it was really, and somebody came charging down the stairs and what, and went right into me and I spilled, he, he spilled like boiling hot milk on me from here down to here. Oh my goodness. And Murray was there and he took me off to the West, the Wellesley hospital because I did have them, but burns. Yeah. And so that was, and then I did go to Murray. The McLaughlin

family were a big family and one year Murray invited me to go to one of the brothers for Christmas day, which was lovely. But Murray has remained a constant friend and as has Denise and I, and I'm also an FATM. But Maria has remained a constant friend and as has Denise. And I'm also an FATM. Oh, you've had Denise here? Yes, absolutely. Yes. She's a wonderful talker.

She doesn't go, um, um, um, like I'm doing, but it's a lot of recall here. And sometimes words escape me. I know where I was. It's your authentic voice. I don't mind the ums when you're, you know, trying to remember. Yeah. And it's trying to, trying to remember the simple word, you know? Anyway, so Murray has remained a real dear friend, and I'm proud to know him, and I love his songs. What about, just recently had on for the second time, Ian Thomas?

Oh, Ian. Ian is another of the very best. I call him my petal and he calls my flower. We talk in that that language. He's a magnificent human being. I've done some independent work for Murray. He comes to me for Ian. He's written the books and the books are fantastic. His books he's written and he did some shows at I think the Westdale Theatre in Hamilton and he asked me to help out with those. And he's on Alma Records of course. So I get to do work with him when I do work for Peter Cardinali. I haven't done any in a while but you know, life has been interrupted on many levels. Do you think he's funnier than his brother? Yes. This is what I

hear. Oh, I've had, I've had Dave Thomas on and I had Dave and Ian on together actually, which was really fun. In 2019. Well, they were on together actually just about two months ago. Oh, really? Yeah. Absolutely. And one thing I noticed is even Dave will say Ian is the funny one. He is. He's hilarious. And there was a night that Liam Titcom did for me in 2019 and Ian wanted to be there. I didn't know anything about this. I hadn't, it wasn't anything I had any control of for Hughes Room and I got really crazy because I wanted to know, because I'm nosy.

A show from my night. No, you're curious, because I don't know if I'm so nosy as I am a curious cat to bring it back to Pamela Wallin's book. Yeah, you are a curious cat, obviously, and that's good. Yeah, and you're scratching the edge here. Okay, so, Dan Hill. Dan, of course.

I worked with Dan recently on the last album he did, but I had worked with Dan in, actually, this is a story. A guy named Robert David, who was an artist who was playing at the boat. And Bernie, if Bernie was there, he would be the one who would say, yes, you can do this or no, you can't. But he wasn't. So I was and, and Robert David, who is a lovely singer songwriter and still is, he came to me and he said, I've got a friend here tonight. Can I give him a, can we do a guest set? Can he do a couple of songs? So I said, if you're recommending him, sure.

So this kid barefoot with a shock of dark curly hair, got up and sang, you make me want to be a father. And I'm going, how the heck does this guy even know about this, you know, because I think he was 19. And yeah, so that I've known Dan for a very long time. Wow, there's Dan Hill. Okay, now I gotta be clear. So Bernie Finkelstein is the FOTM.

So not so Bernie Fieler we've been talking about, Bernie Finkelstein, the Bernies of course. So I haven't yet got this gentleman on the program, but I've been working on it for quite some time. I don't what what I'm doing wrong. Maybe you can help but Bruce Colbert Oh Bruce the first time I heard Bruce was in a place in in Toronto and I think it was on Queen East and it was called Muldoon's and I was sharing a house with Tim Thomas who was a wonderful I was sharing a house with Tim Thomas, who was a wonderful radio guy from Chamath M. And we were, I and three or four other people were sharing a house.

And so Tim said, let's go here. I want to go to this club and check it out. And there's a guy that I want to hear. And so I think this would have been like 1968 maybe. And so we went to this place, Muldoon's, and there was Bruce Coburn. And that's where I heard him first. And then of course he did play the riverboat

several times in my time. And unbelievable. I love him too. Look, we're covering a lot of the big names here. What about Ian and Sylvia Tyson? Where did they play during your time? They did not play during that term. Ian, of course, I did do work for on the Gravel Road album and I knew him for a very long time. And Sylvia I've known forever as well.

And I'm very fond of her. She played, she played Hustrum, the old one, and I mean, the riverboat, of course. Well, I don't know that she, I don't, I can't recall if she played it solo or not. Maybe not, because I think maybe they weren't separated by the time the boat closed. I think the boat closes for the record on June 25th, 1978. Yes. When the Riverboat Coffeehouse

closed. Now that duo is, Sylvia is the FOTM, just to be clear. But of course, as we discussed when I talked to Sylvia, her son plays with a guy you know quite well. And this is not so much talking. Now I'm, I was going to bring him up later because he did not play the Riverboat Coffee House. I'm willing to bet right now. But I was going to ask you about your relationship with James B. And then I'll come back to the Riverboat. Okay, yes. And James is another very, he's a very special man.

He's an extraordinary go-getter. He's talented in the extreme. He's a lovely, caring person. He really is, and he does this wonderful thing every year for Unison, which is coming up in April. It's usually around his birthday at the Old Mill. And I help out there. I've known James for a very long time.

I know James actually alone. I know I know exactly where I know James from. He was on quantum records with the look people. Yes, that's where Ian and Sylvia Tyson. Clank clay. Yes. And I I worked with Clay back in them in the late 80s, I think, or the early 90s.

And he's another very special person. He really is. And he's so talented. And I think it was very hard for him growing up in a family of such talented parents. I don't think it was an easy one. Four strong wins is practically our national anthem in this country. It is, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, it is actually. And to bring a full circle out, a great version by Neil Young as well. He did a great cover of Four Strong Winds. He did. Okay, it's a whole other place. So in your opinion, Jane, this is kind of a silly question, but do you think James B. is famous? Famous? He is...

That's a very good question. Isn't it? Yes. It's sort of a recurring question on this program because it's a great debate. Is James B famous? Because then it leads, of course, what is fame? And then you have a bigger discussion about like, how do you define fame? Famous and what?

Like famous amongst us dial-in people? If you walk into, I don't know, you go to Islington subway and you grab 20 random people and you ask them, do you know James B? How many of those 20 random people will say, of course I know James B? I don't think many. I mean, he's just, that's a very good question. And I've never really thought about it because he's famous within circles of, of, of the people that listen to jazz jazz FM, people who love his crazy zany shows. You might, I think where I was introduced to James B was that a swinger's revival that

happened and much music, James B would kind of get lots of play that. And of course, lowrider, the cover of a lowrider. Yeah. That's a good question. I think, I think James is maybe on his way to become way more famous because of his film directions, the films he's making. He's made like he's getting awards all over the world. He might be getting awards. But Jane, the real talk here is that 20 random people we just pulled from Islington, not one knows a film by James B. Right? Like you might, if you got one, you'd be like, okay, there you go. Like it's a great discussion.

That's here. Probably if you go to Germany or Switzerland or, or Japan, I think they might be a different story. I don't know that. Japan. Love it. Okay. So love the guy though. He's been over here several times and I will shout out because he was here just last week. Jay Douglas was here and I just want to shout out Jay Douglas because I know he performs quite a bit at these old events with James B. So Jay is a beautiful, beautiful soul. He's, he's, he's, he's kind of personified, you know, he's got this one love is what I think about Jay Douglas. He says it often, yeah, one love.

And he means it. And I think that, well, he's certainly got the chops. He's got all of the, he's got everything going for him. But I don't, I mean, he's how many people know Jay Douglas? Good point. That's a good point. And, uh, you're right.

Cause it's hard to the great, I call him the great unwashed, but the random hundred people that you select just from the cross section of the city, how many know Jay Douglas? It's a great question. Yeah. Uh, it's probably, you can count on one hand maybe. I would think. Yeah. I mean,'s probably, you can count on one hand maybe. I would think. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I think, yes, I mean, I think the fact that, that he goes over so well,

he's received so well, he's, uh, I mean, I think he, he's, he maybe has his days, his best days ahead in terms of being, being known. You know, and I have a gentleman coming on. I just want to promote a future episode. Gentlemen who put together those consulate, those compilations, one of which was called from Jamaica, no, from Toronto to Jamaica, I think is the name of the compilation, but uncovered some old gems that were overlooked and won by the Cougars, the Cougars being Jay Douglas's, you know, group back then.

Yeah. So coming soon. Okay. What's his name i'm absolutely gonna tell you his name right now i'm glad i'm glad jay i'm glad i'm glad you asked you can be my co-host on all of uh all of these uh wonderful things but i'm gonna just tell people this episode is happening i'm here checking my calendar when is this gentleman coming in kevin james house so i in. Kevin James House. So I don't know if he uses James anymore, but Kevin House. So H-O-W-S-E is his name and Kevin is actually here tomorrow morning at 10 30 a.m. Wow.

And we're going to be talking about all this stuff. So shout out to Kevin House. It was Alan Zweig who said you need to talk to Kevin because Alan heard Jay Douglas talking about the Toronto to Jamaica, Jamaica to Toronto. I think it's called compilation. He's like, yeah, the guy who phoned Jay Douglas and asked if he could, you know, put them in touch with this, whatever. That's this guy, Kevin house. That was fantastic. Oh, it's back to back some good Toronto music history happening here. Some more names here before, uh, before I lose you here. Okay. Uh, I never had this gentleman on my show and I regret it. And he passed away recently utilizing maid, Joe Mendelson, I'll refer to him because you probably knew him as Joe Mendelson. Yes. But we know of course, he was Mendelson Joe. But tell me about Joe Mendelson.

I've known Joe forever, it seems, because he was, he was a, what a character. I mean, he lived his life the way he wanted. He would, he would interview, he would offer people like myself and I don't, I don't, I have a Polaroid of it to come and when he lived on Ossington and he had a storefront and, um, and I'd known him for, Oh, because of Mendelsohn, McKenna Mendelsohn, mainline really, that's how long I'd known him. Um, and he, and I went and he, I still have that, a $300 Joe art for sitting for him, you know, if I wanted to, I bought a painting of his actually, I bought one of the Olympic series, the scholar,

and I love it. And he was so talented and he was so feisty and he was such an old codger. And he was very appreciative of things that people did. He really wanted to get hold of Brian Ahern, who is a dear friend of mine. And Brian, and I made Brian reply, I mean, I didn't make him, I kind of,

well, I did really make him actually come to think of it, but he was happy to because he did love Joe. To write to Joe, return to Joe the letter. And so Joe was always writing letters, as I think you probably know. He wrote letters to editors, he wrote letters to people he liked, people he didn't like, people he was angry at, people,

he wrote me a letter because he got angry with me at one point and he said, you've disappointed me in you didn't get back to me or something. And I was like, Oh Joe, you know, like I'm busy and I should have and you're right. And I felt bad, but Joe was a multi-talented and he lived his life the way. And I understand he had, he was happy in a marriage

Towards the end which is wonderful. Well, not like not the first marriage. It was over right, right? But yeah, yeah quite a character that yeah great. I don't make them like that anymore, right? Today the emails, okay. Yeah, so before I get to some American names real quick here I was I had Brian good here and we talked about the good brothers and, uh, I read somewhere about Jim Croce playing with the good brothers at the riverboat. No, he, he, he did a guest set. Okay. So you were there for that, of course. Yes. And then he was another one that, that, that I think it was probably Bruce or well, it wasn't Larry. It was because it was the, it was Jay. The first time they played, I think was James and the Goodbrothers,

James Ackroyd and Bruce and Brian. And Larry wasn't old enough at that point, the banjo player. And then the Goodbrothers did play and of course they played all over the city. You know, I remember going to the Elmer one night, they were playing upstairs and Margaret and Crystal, who were two of the wives,

Margaret still is the wife of Bruce. And we drank tequila and we had to ask the boys during the break for more money to buy more tequila because we drunk so much. But anyway, yes, they played, but that night they said, can we give a guest set to and I don't think I can't remember if he was famous yet. Like pre message in a bottle or whatever.

Yes, exactly. So anyway, so I said, absolutely, he can play as guess it. And he did. Don't mess around with Jim, I think he was. Leroy Brown is that Leroy Brown. Yes, that's it. And he did, don't mess around with Jim, I think it was. Leroy Brown, is that it? Leroy Brown, yes. Yes, that's it. Thank you. That's a good Jim. I'm here to bail you out here. I was there. Okay. One more person in the basement than some big American is, but Mark Jordan has been here. Mark, Mark is magnificent creature. He's brilliant. He's so talented. He's, I think Mark suffers from insecurity about

Is that why he's so low key? Because he sat there. His wife was even here, right? So Amy's guys here and and I felt sometimes I wanted to like bolt jolt him with some electricity to wake him up a little bit like Mark was so laid back. He was so chill. Yeah. I found him like, you know, he's kind of like, he is, he, he's incredibly laid back. But I think underneath that it's like, I think he kind of, I don't know. Marcus has a, what is the word? What's the phrase? He says an enigma wrapped up in a riddle. Yeah.

Yeah. I think so. I'm an interesting subject though. There's I think so. Um, I'd be an interesting subject though. Um, there's rumors out there. There might be a, like a documentary about Mark. Uh, so stay tuned, but, uh, I don't want, I don't know how much I'm allowed to say in public, but I think he'd be an interesting subject for such a documentary. Oh, are you kidding me? Totally. I wouldn't kid you Jane. You kidding me? Okay. I'm seeing my response to kidding you is, you kidding me that was just a natural okay so shout out to Mark how much called him Mark Crawford Mark Crawford was a former NHL coach who had a yeah we

were talking about the 1998 that's right Randy Drew's and we talked about 1998 there was a shootout against the Czech Republic and Wayne Gretzky wasn't chosen to shoot even though he was the NHL leader, an all-time leader in goals. Mark Crawford kept him on the bench, so shout out to Mark Crawford, but that's Mark Jordan. All right, just a couple big names. John Prine? I don't know how many weeks I worked with John and he became a very dear friend. He worked, he was just out of the army. He had an ulcer. He was married to Anne at the time, his childhood sweetheart, I understand.

And he was pretty much, he was learning the guitar as he played, I think. You know what I mean? He wasn't very good at guitar. His songs, oh my God, the first week he played, and we did Mondays, we did Tuesdays through Sunday were our weeks. So Monday was a dark day, and I think Bernie did

Hootenanny nights or whatever, you know, but I didn't do that when I was there. I had one night off a week, you know, because you need't do that when I was there. I was, I had one night off week, you know, because you need to do things like that. But I mean, that wasn't an issue. It was just, I never did the Monday nights, except when Harry Chapin played, because we had to do a Monday night with Harry Chapin

to set up for the week. But, but no, I, Brian Mort, well, every, every week he played the riverboat. Every time he played the riverboat, it was a week, and I worked with him and got to know him very well. And a funny human being and a delight, absolute delight. And I have a great story to tell you about Brian and Goodman if you wanted me to please this. Steve, Steve Goodman also because he was managed by managed by Albin

Edda, as well as john. So I have a couple of stories. Okay, that when they met Chris Christopherson, no, they knew Chris, Chris knew them and had found them in Chicago. And he was a big fan of both of them. And Paul Anker, he talked to Paul Anker, and he said, you've got to hear these guys. Paul Anker was, this is how I learned it from John and Steve. So I think it's true. So Paul Anker was playing at the the hotel, the Plaza Hotel in New

York and he was doing a residency or whatever it was and so Christopherson got to him and said you've got to meet these guys they're amazing songwriters writers, blah, blah, blah. So he arranged for the, for, what's his face, to anchor to accept them to come to the hotel and have a meeting with him in his suite. And so they arrived and they were two scruffy kids from, well, Midwest, I guess you'd say. And they went to the, to the front desk said,

may I help you? You know, like that kind of attitude, like just snotty nose kids, we don't want your type in here. And so they said, yeah, we're here to see Ms. Anka. We have a meeting with him. And he said, I will check. So he called up to the suite and whoever it was said, yes,

he's there invited, they have a meeting. So they went up to the whatever floor of the hotel, which Anka had the main floor of, I think of the top. And they went into the rooms and he met them and he was getting ready to do his first show of the evening. And so according to both of John and Steve, they both told me this. He's he listened to them and he said, Well, I've got to go do my show, but I'll be back up in the in the after the first show. In the meantime, call room service and order

what you want and and see what you come up with. If you feel like writing a song, great. So off he went to do his show and they kind of went room service. We haven't had a lot of those things in our lives. So they ordered everything, including an awful, I think that's where the origin of kneeling before the porcelain altar may have come in from Steve. So they ordered everything and they drank a lot and then they started

writing one that the song that was mother, oh, mother prison Christmas dog train truck. I think that was the one where the mother was in prison for murder and mother Chuck went into a train and the dog died. So this was that song, I think. So then they wrote that song and then Paul Anker came up. And so he put his, and I have the card still from his younger brother who was I think 19 or 20. Paul Anker decided that Andy Anker would be on the road

with the boys, not together, cause they weren't performing together, but like whenever one went out, they would. So I think it was, I can't remember whether it was John or Steve that he was out on the road with, but it was to me and thanking us at the Riverboat for being so kind and it may have been Steve.

Anyway, so, so, so that went and then, so he put Andy in there and he managed them for a short while and I think it was like not his, I think it was not his forte or he felt like I don't know, I don't know what happened, but I don't think it was bad. I think it just didn't work. And then Albinetta was that manager forever and Albinetta and Dan Rubin, maybe it was his last, that was the active management team for both Steve and John and were there for it all.

And they started Oh Boy Records with John and I think Steve was I know Steve was on a couple of the albums his albums were on Oh Boy and Those guys loved each other so much. That wasn't the story. The story I wanted to tell you was like in I think 90 97 98 and was like in, I think, 97, 98, and Rob Bennett, wonderful Canadian Rob Bennett, who was one of the best agents who put his heart and soul into who he worked with. He didn't work with just anybody.

In other words, he didn't put his money at risk buying shows at Convocation Hall or putting them on or Massey or wherever. He had John and Steve doing a show at Con Hall. And he knew that I knew them very well, obviously, because he'd known them from the riverboat days. And he'd invited me to go, and he said it would be great to have you there at the place.

And I was working at Eastern Sound at the time. And so he, and so I was going home, and I lived in Kensington Market, and I got a call on the home phone and he said, hi Jane, it's Rob. I went, oh hey Rob, I just got home, I'm just gonna have a quick bite and a shower and whatever. And he said, how long do you think you're going to be?

And this was like around 6.30, seven o'clock, maybe 7, 7.30 actually, I'm not sure. I've lost track of time on that. But, and I said, well, I'll be there as soon as I can. Is it urgent? He said, well, he said Steve, and we knew that Steve had been diagnosed with further cancer.

So it was a year or so, but it was 80 something. It wasn't 90. It was 81, 82, something like that, or 89. No, it's 78, 79, 80, somewhere in there. And Steve had been diagnosed with the cancer, it had come back and he was on borrowed time. He was opening and he said,

Steve, it would be great if you could come soon because Steve's been on the show for a long time and John's been drinking a bit and I don't feel comfortable letting Steve off the stage yet. So I said, okay, I'll be there. So I forwent dinner and the shower and I hurried over because it was closed.

And I got there and I said, oh, thank God you're back. And then you're here. So I could hear Steve on stage. And so I said, well, why God you're back. So I could hear Steve on stage. And so I said, well, why don't I take John for a walk on the fields? He said, that's a great idea. So I said, hey, John, how you doing? We hugged him because I knew him for a long time.

And he was holding one of those plastic mugs that hold the bats blue or whatever, had the signage on them at the side. And so I said, what you drinking? He said, have a taste. And so I did and it was vodka and an ice cube or two. And that was it pretty much. And so I said, okay, let's go for a walk.

And so he said, oh, that's sure, sure, that's great. So he's in his little lifted boots, he worked boots with the fancy cowboy boots with him. And so we walked out and we walked around and I'd hold the cup and I'd sip and I'd spill. And then he'd say, give me another take. So he did have another swig and then I'd take it back. And then finally I felt like he could be okay to go on.

And so we went back in and Steve was like, Oh, thank God. It's been a long night already. And, and so anyway, so then we did the show and then I happened to mention to either or both of them that Maria Maldara was playing at El Macombo that night, upstairs, so I said, oh, that'd be great, go see Maria, so I called Mike Elder and I said, Mike, can you accommodate a couple of people, me and two, he said, well, it depends, I said, well, it's John Prine and Steve Govan,

he said, yeah, we can, and so, so then he managed to get a photographer, and I don't remember which one it was to come down. And I have the picture of them and Maria sitting under Layner Lovage's poster at the Elm. Wow. And anyway, so then Rob Bennett had booked them into the Westbury Hotel, the one on Bay Street.

I think it was the Westbury. Anyway, it was the hotel where all the film festival and all the guests stayed. And so then they talked to Barney and Barney, and Steve was drinking still, but not like excessively, but John, and John was pretty straight by then because he'd been doing his show. So then they said, let's go back to the hotel.

We've got, they had adjoining suites or whatever. So somehow in the time that they had arrived during the day, they'd managed to get a full bar going up upstairs in the room between the rooms. And we went and Maria said, we said, come Maria, let's go to go to hotel. And she said, well, I've got my band and said, well, the band, where's the band?

She said, well, they're in the bus. And so I didn't say anything, but I left it to them. And they said, no, just you come, like it'd be great to hang and get caught up with you. So the four of us went back to the hotel and then they said to Bonnie, here, have a drink. She said, no, no, I found God. She found God and she said, he's so close to you.

I can feel it. All you have to do is accept him. And John and Steve kind of looked at each other and they started singing their anti-Jesus songs. And then about, and they kept saying, have a drink, have a toke and she said, no, no, no. And then about five in the morning, she said, okay, well drink, have a toque. And she said, no, no, no. And then about five in the morning, she said, okay, well, I'll have a little thing.

And I forget what she had. And then we had to get her in a taxi to go find the bus, the band bus, because they were playing in London then that night. And I always remember that. It was like a magical experience. And Steve would, yeah yeah gone far too soon Way too soon. Yeah, 36 when he died in 1984

84 and he he was wait, but he'd he he had he had had cancer Leukemia when when he first played the boat and Bernie and I had to know that in case Because he had to do every two weeks in New York to get blood transfusions. Yeah. Leukemia. Yeah. And then, but then he got other cancers in, in the eighties. Um, but, but in the meantime, he, they, he and Steve and Nancy, his wife, who is a nurse or was a nurse, um, and to Steve's four foot 10 or whatever, she was five 10 or something, and they would loved each other madly. I'd never met her. But anyways, because of Steve's leukemia and the treatments,

they couldn't, he couldn't father a child. And so they adopted Jesse and right from the birth hospital. And then, then when he went into remission and he had, could stop all the meds, he became able to father. So they had two more of their own. So yes, it was way too soon. And the last album has a song called a rowboat when my rowboat comes in and it's all, and he sent me, it was vinyl in those days he sent me a copy and I got in I put it on and I and I just fell apart Wow and I called and I

just said you've done me in for the day you know well not on this bummer note here another gentleman we lost far too soon Tim Buckley Tim Buckley I he did play the Riverboat and nobody knows Tim, right? Because they all think of Jeff. Yeah. Son. Yeah. Right. Who also gone too soon. Yeah. Um, he, he, he, I never got to know him. You know, you, you know, who, as, as, as somebody who's been in service situations a lot, you know, when somebody wants to, I could tell you the people who didn't and the people who did from the boat, like towns, vans and towns was one of the most

tortured people I've ever come across. Phil Oaks was another one of that. But Phil, the last time he played, you know, Phil Oaks, Oh, of course. He wrote changes. Changes, yes. Apparently on the steps of the grab bag next to him. And shout out to Ron Hawkins from Lowest of the Low, who kicked out some Phil Oakes when he kicked out the jams on Toronto Miked.

Oh, really? Yeah. He's a big inspiration to Ron Hawkins. Not the romp and run, the Lowest of the Low run. Oh, really? Yeah, big, big inspiration, yeah. The last time Phil played the boat, um, it was two weeks and he was on A and M and it was a few months before he, and I know I'm pretty sure he did kill himself. I'm pretty sure

it was, it was, he'd lost the, he'd lost the, he felt he'd lost the, the, the creative I think is what happened after he wrote all those songs of the anti war. Um, but anyway, the last, that, that last two weeks, every night, um, he would get, he was so nervous before he would go on stage and, and he and I would, and he didn't drink and he and I would walk around the back parking lot. I'd walk with him and he had a beer and he'd have beer and then he'd be able to get rid of it because he got sick. And he had the courage to go on stage and then he had this Elvis suit, the white Elvis suit.

Sure, the jumpsuit there. Yes. And he'd come, he'd, he'd leave the stage at the end of them, at the end of the show and he'd get the applause and people, and he'd give him a long enough to change into the Elvis suit and he'd come back and he'd be Elvis and he'd be like engaged and, and the audience was like, Oh my God, you know, every night. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. He did sadly take his own life there and he was only 35. So we got it. We got to move on. There's such bummer stuff. So I realized now how much time I've taken and I know there's so much more. So I'll a couple of choice names and then we'll really we're going to sort of just talk really quickly about Hughes room and what you did with the

Ontario place forum and just really do a tidy up. I know we spent a lot of time on Riverboat because I'm so fascinated by the history of that coffee house in this in the city. It was and I of course you'll have to shadow Jane Harboury public publicity and well I'm sort of I'm still doing that. I'm still doing it but I've sort of but I'm not I'm I I got rid of the the publicity ink thing because it's me. I mean I used to have doing the Junos and the you know the all those shows and all that. So you did the 93 Juno Awards. You handled the publicity for Juno Awards in 1993 and then many actually many years. I did 99 in 2000. Yeah yeah now okay. So here did you have any encounters with the legend that was John Lee Hooker? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah for sure

John Lee Hooker was oh My god, he was one of the magical people he couldn't tune his own guitar So that it's seriously so the the kid the kitchen guy Greg Was played the guitar. So I know that when he came, when Greg was there, he could tune the guitar for him. Also, John Lee Hooker, oh, you'll love this story. When he arrived at the boat, he'd come in

with one of those cardboard containers of beer, bottles of beer. And he'd put it down and he'd say, Okay, can you open them up and pour the beer away? And then he'd get, he had bottles of I know, I'm not, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna not have the actual recall, but it was some kind of I'm going to not have the actual recall, but it was some kind of liquor or liquor. It might've been, um, it might've been whiskey. It probably was whiskey. And so it was whiskey cause I know I've exactly remembered. Okay. So then he would, he would, um,

have whiskey poured into the bottles and recap. And then he would have them in the fridge. And then he'd say, he'd call out from, no, he didn't call out. We knew what he wanted when he asked for, could he have another drink? And it would be whiskey. Oh no, it was, he did call it out. He'd go, can I have another beer?

So we knew that the beer wasn't there. So it had whiskey and what he, what we do is it put it into a glass or whatever and pour milk in it, whiskey and milk. So when he said, uh, beer, it was whiskey and he said beer. Um, it was, it was whiskey and whiskey and milk. And the first time we had to make it, it was like, are you kidding me? But then we realized that it was, it was not beer. So that was, he would ask for that. I'll tell you another person who used to do funny things on, on the cam, on the

mic was Jerry Jeff Walker. He would call out, um, he would call out, could I have a, um, could you, could Jane, I would need to say my name, which was embarrassing because over the night he'd say, Jane, could you bring me another, um, picnic hamper? Uh, or it would be a picnic basket or whatever it was, whatever, what, what it was, it would be something and something. So one would be a beer and shots of whiskey and the other would be, uh, something else. And, and I had to, and the other would be something else.

And I had to know what he was actually asking for every time. Jeffrey, Jerry Jeff Walker. Now, okay, John Lee Hooker, all these three named people. Okay, so how do I map up this great, you know, legendary career of Jane Harbory? So, okay, so we'll maybe talk a little bit about Hughes Room. You're still handling publicity for Hughes

Room, right? Yes. So like, for example, remind people like so there was a Hughes Room relocated, am I right? So this is now tell us like, where is Hughes Room now? Hughes Room now is 296 Broadview Avenue in Toronto. So we moved from the west to the east, which has pleased a lot of the East Enders, but has really ticked off some of the... Toronto's funny that way, right? Like, you're here, you're on the west here now. So it's like, you know, oh, you're either an East Ender or a West Ender.

Well, they're getting the acts that they want to hear. So they have to make the journey now and it's not like a crawl home. It's like a journey. Right. Right. Right. So shout out some of the, some of the artists who, uh, like you have, uh, who are booked for Hughes room. I did just have Alfie Zappa Costa on the program. Uh, and we, he shouted out Hughes room. So like, shout out any artists that are booked to play Hughes room. Uh, where do you start? Iris Dement. Iris Dement is one of the most talented women I have ever, and the most wonderful.

She's like, you've gone to Bible church and she sings like that and she plays, she loves the upright piano and she plays it like a Bible thumper, but it's not Bible. It's she's like current about being pissed off. Oh, sorry. You can swear on it. It's not the radio. So go nuts. About Trump, for example, you can't, you know, she, she, you have to swear when you talk about Trump, right? Come on. Yeah. Yeah. You can't avoid it. Um, regulars still are, um, Harry Manx. Harry Manx is one of the most talented and lovely people. Um, Oh God, I

mean, everybody has played the Hughes room who was able, Ian Tyson would come often. Ian was funny. People would line up to get autographs and they'd say, could you sign it too? He said, I signed my name. I do not do anything else. You put into who it's for. And that was mainly because he had crippling arthritis, I think in his hands.

But you know, he was great. he was great. He he he was so professional he was and of course Sylvia Gordon of course used to come every year for the Lightfoot Tributes and he never played on his own He he would play He would come down. He started it way back when Jory first started the way we feel Jory Nash and, uh, Gordon was, he'd come in and he'd sneak in after the show had started usually, but some people would be waiting cause they didn't know which

night of the four or five nights he would come. Right. And, and he'd always get a standing ovation and the artists on stage understood. But Gordon would eventually, he'd play one of the artists guitars and do a track. And then later on he'd bring his own guitar and do it. But he always went and talked to each of the artists and gave them an encouraging word. Cause all of the songs they did were his,

of course. Right. Right. Amazing. Okay. So Jane, website for Hughes Room, if we wanted to send people to... www.hughesroomlive.com or at Hughes or however it goes with the www.hughesroomlive.com Hughesroomlive.com.

Amazing. It was amazing collecting these stories. Rob Pruse, who played keyboards with spoons, tells me, he introduced me recently to Bob Roper. Oh, Bob is wonderful. And he says you're a friend of Bob. So maybe if you say anything nice about Bob, I can actually play it for him when he visits. I think he's here next Monday.

Oh, good. Bob, Bob is, Bob is one of the very special people. He loved the artists he worked with when he was at the label. He's got great stories. He's such a kind, kind human being. Bob and I are very lucky. We go to a Jays game early each year.

We're given a pair of tickets by, I don't want to say the name because he knows who he is and I appreciate him and Bob appreciates him. And we have an afternoon and Bob, it's a mandatory, we take a picture of us with the, with, with the sky dome or whatever. Sure. And, and with the CN tower, usually if it's open. um, Bob is like, he's a do-gooder. He, he cares a lot about, he adored Rob Bennett. He worked for Rob Bennett after he, um, had time. And, uh, he was very close with, with Bob, uh, Rob Bennett. Um, and he was a, he's a carer. He's,

he's a lovely human being. He's got a wonderful wife who he adores. And they go on adventures. And, and I think the world of Bob, he's also very strong in his opinions. If he gets angry about something, he, you know it. But that's, that's Bob, you know, doesn't take it home with him, I think, is what they would say, you know? Well, I can't wait to meet Bob. I'm glad we had this long-form chat. I'm sure it's just tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you, you know,

we'll have to do a sequel at some point and collect the rest of these. But Jane, and I'm trying to figure out now, what we'll talk when I wrap this up here, we'll see what you can carry home with you, because I've got so much swag for you. And I realize, you know, you're taking the TTC so I might have to bike some of these goodies to you we'll discuss this later but Jane

thanks so much for dropping by and making your Toronto mic debut. I'm very glad to have done this and I love the space this is a fabulous little studio. And you know good space not quite the riverboat coffee house but it would fit This would fit in the... It's in a basement. It wouldn't fit in the kitchen because of all the equipment but it would fit on it wouldn't fit. It would fit on the stage actually. Yeah it would and the ceilings were are yeah the ceilings at the boat were higher. Amazing, amazing Jane. By the way, quick before I do my little outro, I was looking at all

these great songs that reference the name Jane and I was wondering if you have a preference. Here are the two I'm going to ask you about. The Velvet Underground of course have the wonderful song Sweet Jane. Yes. Love that song. And Cowboy Junkies do a great cover of course. Of course, yes. Well, Sweet Jane, I mean, I don't know why, but some, but that's, that's what people call me now. And, and I'm, I don't think I'm sweet. I think I'm, I'm a bit of a bitch at times, but you know, but at the same time you have to be in this business,

you know. So Sweet Jane, I don't know what can ever beat that, but I will shout out Lady Jane by the Rolling Stones is also a pretty good ditty there. So like, do you have a favorite Jane song? I love the Stones song. And Rainer Schwartz used to play it all the time for me on Chum FM. Of course Chum FM and then I remember Rainer Schwartz on CFMY. Now it's all back to James B because now I'm thinking of Danny Elwell who loved working

with Rainer Schwartz. Danny Elwell is on Jazz FM. And of course that's where the great Bob Scott. No, the great James B and it all comes back to the very famous James B. Jane? It's a small, it's an endless but small circle or endless and small. No, it's all of that. It's endless but I'm gonna see if it's bottomless. I'm gonna try to get as many people in this circle as possible to visit me and tell the stories. So, Jane, you're a key part of that. And as Neil would say, keep on rocking in the free world. I think we should try and get a free world is what I think. My hope is that people in the States come to their senses in a hurry.

that people in the States come to their senses in a hurry. And that brings us to the end of our 1,448th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. Jane, like, do you want to send people to, is there a Jane Harbury portal on the World Wide Web we could send people to? Like, or just follow you on Facebook? Where's the best place to follow you? Do you post on any social media, Jane?

This is not a trick question. I'm on Facebook a lot. Facebook for Jane Harbury, that's where you go. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team.

The season starts at Christie Pitts on May 12th and stay tuned because I plan to be there and you should too. And Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow when Kevin Howes is my special guest. It's fine, it's just like mine, it won't go away Cause everything is rosy green Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name

And I've seen the sun go down on Shakla Khor 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 gray, yeah Rose in green