Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jaymz Bee: Toronto Mike'd #1001

Episode Date: February 21, 2022

In this episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with the very famous Jaymz Bee. They discuss the Being Bee documentary that's in production, Kevin Hearn, the Look People, Music for Agents, and so much more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Patrons like you.

Welcome to episode 1001 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. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business.

Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community since 1921. And Canna Cabana.

The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at cannacabana.com. Joining me this week, the very famous freak magnet, James B. Welcome back, James.

Ah, well, let's hold on. You said Great Lakes. I'm going to toast you right now. Oh my goodness, okay. James B. just cracked open. What did you crack open? I cracked open the premium lager okay that's a good one buddy oh they're all good they're all good but this i was in the

lagerish mode just got back from mexico last night and uh wow uh i was just drinking tequila there not beer but you know nice to have a great like so nice to come back and see that you're sponsored by all these people your intro reminded me very little of the time that Mike McDonald, the late great comic, he said, this is a really great joke. He said, I understand that Trudeau's thinking about legalizing assisted suicide. He goes, I get that. I mean, there are people that just want it to be over

because they're in pain. They're not going to get better. I get it. But he also is going to one day legalize marijuana. He should maybe do that first because if you're high, you might be like, hey, this isn't so bad. I'll just stick around a while. Right.

Oh, I love Mike McDonald. Tell me, okay, because he's one of the, I call him a comics comic. Every time a stand-up is here, they rave about Mike McDonald best in the business. But on the, not that I'm motivated by, you know, crass commercialism, but when it came to like the commercial side, he struggled somewhat. I just would love it if you'd share a few more words about the late, great Mike McDonald.

Well, here's one. He didn't have that golden handshake. There are Seinfeld-ish comedians who are so good with people, and they walk in and they just go to a cocktail party. Mike, not that guy. But Mike McDonald was so kind and yeah he was a little bit wounded in some ways right he had some issues but he he was funny he went out on a limb that one i just told you is a great example of he's he's giving you like he's being political

saying i understand euthanasia makes sense to me, but maybe you should legalize marijuana first and people would stick around longer. It's a double whammy. It's a sucker punch. It's smart. And so he was a really smart comic. So maybe half the people in the audience wanted a Pull My Finger comic or something else, right?

He wasn't a shock comic. He was a thoughtful comic. Hey, did your uh ever cross with uh norm mcdonald yeah now personally i don't get norm mcdonald i love him he makes me laugh and then sometimes i'm like well that's not even funny that's just weird so but but i like him he's also very nice guy backstage like he's easygoing yeah we did pretty much almost every comedian that was famous before the year 2000. My band, Look People, would have been their backup band at some point.

Fascinating, fascinating. Like Jim Carrey and Harlan Williams and Judy Tenuta and Emo Phillips and all these people. Yeah. Yeah, all of them. Keep name dropping. I love it, man. Oh, well, you know what?

Name dropping. That's why I made this coloring book. Okay, you know what? You're ahead of me, but look. Well, but it's name-dropping. Let me shuffle the deck here. That's what the whole book is about. But they're not cool stories.

They're like, I'm usually an idiot in a story. I'm usually the funny guy or the idiot guy who didn't know who I was talking to. Right. Or I end up at a dinner party with a ton of who's who, but I just luck into it. I'm not that guy. I'm the most famous, not famous guy you ever met. Okay, on that note, let me first tell people a bit more about Color Me Crazy.

So Color Me Crazy, colors with a K, and crazies with a K. And this is like a memoir meets coloring book, right? It's like a hybrid. I called you Freak Magnet off the top. Yeah. I know some other names, Divine Fool is what I've read, and Noted Canadian Surrealist.

Yeah, Mark Breslin called me that. Mark Breslin's also an FOTM, so speaking of the yuck yuck stage. Okay. But so what? Somebody can pick up Color Me Crazy right now. Oh, it's selling really well on Amazon because all around the world, you get it in like three or four days and it's 10 bucks, right? Plus postage or free if you're on Amazon.

But do you actually color it? Like, can I see it? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. In fact, I brought you crayons, but I suggest get your own pencil crayons. I got my kids upstairs. They're ready to go.

Oh, they will be. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh, Tommy Chong. Okay. The Tommy Chong bong. That's a beautiful tie-in. I've got for you here. I don't know if you smoke or not,

but this is a handpipe. Well, I'm picking it up. It's a handpipe from Canna Cabana. Oh, amazing. You're taking that home with you. So if you crack open that box, you'll see there's a beautiful glass pipe in there. Well, I can tell you.

I'm not shy about this. When this stuff became legal, I'm like, you know what? I haven't smoked hash for a while. Let me try that. And oh, it's so nice to sleep to. I don't smoke, go to a party and get high. Like, I like life. I want to be there and remember.

Yeah, but man, you smoke some of that government-issued hash out of a pipe with no tobacco, and you can sleep. And I have a problem. I mean, I don't have a problem. I just don't sleep. So now I sleep a little bit. It's kind of cool.

Okay, good. So make sure you do it at canacabana.com. I will certainly check that out. Bea Arthur's Archbrow. So I want to just tell the people. I love Bea Arthur. She is hilarious, or was hilarious. I loved her too.

And not only from like Golden Girls and Mod and stuff, but she would do the Shopper's Drug Mart commercials. Do you remember this? That's right. That's right. She did. And she always had that arched brow. She was there.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And so it really is David Bowie's golden throne. Yeah. Like, I'm glad you did this. I pinched a loaf on his toilet, but he wasn't there, which I felt kind of weird. Like, wow, man, I'm in his golden bathroom and he's golden thrown yeah like i'm glad you did this a loaf on his toilet but he wasn't there which i felt kind of weird like wow man i'm in his golden bathroom and he's not home this is amazing so yeah his interior decorator was a friend of mine and he allowed me to take pictures

of his home leonard cohen oh that's my favorite that's probably the easiest story right there okay well how about you give us that story and then people have to buy the book yeah yeah this is this is so easy uh i met lederkorn many times but the first time and the last time are the stories i put in here first time i met him was in switzerland i was 25 years old i was in look people we were just starting off our tour he was coming i was uh writing for a swiss magazine based in zurich called music scene schweetz And whenever there was a celebrity in town, they wanted me to go to interview because I was brutally comfortable around people. And their people were worried that their English wasn't good enough. They might not get the right thing. So anyway, there's a press conference. Everyone's standing around asking Leonard questions.

And I go up. I'm wearing a black suit. My hair slicked back. And my lowest voice, I go, my friends, I'm uh my friends i'm from canada i'm writing for music scene switzerland my friends tell me i look like you what do you have to say to that and without stopping he moves right into his mic and he goes your friends must love you very very much what a great line and again without a pause right then years later so now i'd met him a few times he knew who i was he he walks into a party at sony music i got there early it was like 20 minutes into the party and a very woman a few years older than me and maybe twice my size at least came up to me and said i know you you're james. I heard you give free massages. I said, well, yeah, yes, what do you mean?

And she goes, you massaged my friend on the pool table at the squeeze club last week. And I remembered the waitress, and I said, oh, yeah, but I mean, she had her clothes on. It was a real massage. It wasn't like, you know. And she goes, right, well, this is my party, so get to it, son.

And I see this pool table. I'm like, okay. So she's already had a few drinks but she's also like she's a powerful woman she's like she's funny she gets she lies on the pool table i start kneading into her back and do it a little acupressure cohen comes in all of these people go up to the front door to say hi to him he's surrounded by people but he sees what's happening across the room and he walks right through the crowd right over to me and he says i must know what's going on here and and i said oh hi leonard uh she asked me for a massage and who am i to say no to a goddess and the lady gets it puts her hat goes hey leonard uh yeah if i was uh what do you say if i was 100 pounds lighter 20 pounds younger i'd strap this one on.

And then Leonard, without even batting an eye again, puts his hand on his chest and nods and says, as you were. And he walks away calmly. Wow. And you've lived a life, my friend. I need to just tell the listeners off the top that this is not your first visit. So if people are looking for like more of an A to Z, the ongoing history of James B, they need to go to episode 415. And that was recorded in December 2018. Wow.

That's another James B ago. I'll read the description I wrote at the time. Mike chats with musician and radio host James B about the look people. Al Waxman. Yep. Because you're a fanatic. Ben Kerr. He came up.

Mr. Dress Up. Yep. Molly Johnson. Yep. Because you're a fanatic. Ben Kerr. He came up. Mr. Dress Up. Yep. Molly Johnson. Sure. And Jazz FM 91. And then that episode. That episode ran two hours. I want to thank you, though, not only for that great visit,

but also for the recording that you submitted for episode 1,000, which was the episode before this one. So you're also on 1,000. Oh, where I just basically congratulate you on 100 episodes. What's a zero between friends? Nothing. But thanks for doing that. That was awesome. And you look healthy. You look great. You were just

catching fish. Did I see you landed a big fish? Yeah, 150 pound marlin. And my buddy with me got 135 pound. The boat started taking on water. We had too much weight on the boat. It was a small boat. But how do you... I didn't think of you as a fisherman like that's a major catch oh you know there are so many things people miss i'm from north bay so so i was born there so there's an outdoorsy thing now i just went rock climbing that's not my usual thing i'm not a danger cat

like that but i don't say no my friend yaz is from japan whatever he says let's go do this i go okay right especially after two years of lockdown i will do anything that has the word exercise in it except play sports i will not play sports but you caught a big one what was the weight of that that marlin and 50 pounds it took three of us to get it on the boat like cat that's amazing and i had to play with it for 45 minutes i would my back was so sore but here's the weird thing yeah the boat for no one else caught fish around us by the way there was boats no we were way out we were far i've never been so far out to catch a fish where abouts are we here like uh sea of cortez so basically pacific ocean wow good for you uh that's an enormous uh that that marlin sounds enormous but here's the thing so we come back

now we realize the boat's taking on water and the captain's not worried he goes but we're going back now we can't catch any more fish right we you know so they're big freaking fish so he goes so he goes and then there's no dock where this is right he drives on to the beach at like 120 miles an hour right and that's how you do it i didn't know this but he said brace yourself it's gonna go bang. There's a bang. So I had thrown up my back fishing, like going back and forth,

back and forth for 40 minutes with this thing that is really strong. But when we, when I was sitting facing the back so that when we hit, it cracked my back into place. And I felt great. Everything's coming up. That's weird. That's just,

that's like horseshoes up my butt. That's just weird. That's fine. Good for you. I saw the the photo like if i had a photo like that i'd probably blow it up and put it on the wall here like somebody asked me said you should put that fish back in the ocean where it belongs and i said unless you're a vegan that's a weird thing to say but but for vegans i get it that's fine we can all have a difference of opinion. But we fed a village, man. That thing, I only took a little bit home with me. I didn't know you could legally do that, but you can. Okay, so yeah, so you didn't just do that to create like a trophy.

Oh, no way. In fact, I made it very clear to Yaz, my buddy, like if we're going out, we're only keeping a fish that we're going to eat. Otherwise, we're putting it back in. And this thing we fed the captain our main man over there who looks after us uh then he uh brought half of it to a uh a rehab center for kids oh good so they got to eat then the fisherman brought a whole bunch of his family so tons of people tons of people i would like to see the look on these kids faces when they're eating this this

fish and then they're like, this was caught by James B., the famous James B. That's a mind blow, I think, to these wonderful kids. Well, I only got recognized twice in Cabo. Okay, but this is, because I'm leading to something here, which has been an ongoing discussion on Toronto Mike,

but when you go to Cabo, you're recognized. People are like, you're James B. Right. And it always freaks out the people that are with me it doesn't surprise me because i travel a lot and it just seems to happen but is it so it's fellow canadians that's that recognize you or the weirdest that ever happened and it's funny i just was talking about it today with a woman at the coffee shop um she's from

switzerland i said you know i was in los angeles she's from there i said i'm walking down a dark alleyway yeah and a guy yells james b and i look and it's this amazing piano player Tom McDermott from New Orleans in Switzerland in a dark alley in a tiny French town and I'm like Tom what are you doing here and then I took him out to Zamfir's house so we could we could eat some grapes but it was so weird like so you never know. It's usually Canadians, but sometimes it's something else. So what was that line you dropped earlier? You said that you're the most famous non-famous person.

What was the line you dropped? Do you remember? Yeah, something like that. Like, I'm the most famous non-famous person I know. Because why do I tend to... I guess a lot of people I know travel a lot or something. Okay, so the ongoing debate, since your fantastic appearance when you became an FOTM

that was in, like I said, December 2018. Yep. I would have guests on and one topic of discussion would be whether James B is famous. That's hilarious. I kind of like that. I don't know if you caught wind of this yet, but some of your friends have been on. I only heard it from one. Melanie said that.

She's the first person who said, Mike asked me if you were famous. I'm like, well, everyone will have a different answer. For the record. But not infamous, because I don't want to be known for naughtiness. No, that would be OJ Simpson, I think. So you are famous,

and I've been on the side of you being famous. I think you're famous, from Look People to the times I'd see you all over Much Music, playing for, and we'll get into this, at Daytona Beach or whatever. And just as a man about town, times i'd see you all over much music uh you know playing them for and we'll get into this at daytona beach or whatever and uh just your as a man about town a personality not only on jazz fm but uh your own podcast and elsewhere like to me james b is famous especially especially from a toronto perspective but it's interesting that you said you're kind of the most famous non-famous person

because it seems like you get it either some people are like who the hell is james b but i i think the uh majority of people plugged into the city's fabric the city's history know 100 who james b is well they know something they know here's the thing even on the airport here two people when i checked in last night right yeah one guy is about 25 young black guy uh one of the uh covid testers i got i got a another test i'm doing great i've got about 14 tests and i passed it i mean a negative for everyone which is okay i feel safe so this guy so this guy comes up yeah and he says i know you i said really yeah do you are you on tv i I said, not anymore. He goes, breaking the beats? I'm like, yeah.

That was a while ago. He goes, yeah, man, you were great. See? I'm like, what? You remember a show from like 10 years ago? And it was only one season. Right. Because I was interviewing break dancers and DJs on the BPM network.

And I'm like, this is weird. So after a year, I'm like, I don't think this is the right thing for me. But getting recognized by a cool guy. Like a 25-year-old. And then I walk past and a cop says, James B. And I look and I wave at him and I keep going because now I'm going home. I'm not going to stop. But it was kind of nice that a cop yelled my name.

These are all just further examples of how you're famous. That you're recognized all over the world. In the airport, the people like the cop and the person doing the COVID tests. New York, it's my favorite because whoever I'm with, I travel with people, right? So when I travel with people, that, because I am kind of surprised. I mean, I am. I'm walking down the street and it doesn't have to be Broadway. It could be Williamsburg.

It could be Brooklyn. It could be whatever. But I always bump into people I know. It's be Broadway. It could be Williamsburg. It could be Brooklyn. It could be whatever. But I always bump into people I know. It's really bizarre. Now, here's the other reason I say not famous, because I know half the people who know me. I've got like 20,000 names in this Rolodex. I hear you.

I don't have a digital braid, by the way. I have a Rolodex. Is it a real Rolodex? Because my Rolodex is growing itself, but it's not an actual Rolodex. No, I love Rolodex. I can spin the Rolodex is growing itself, but it's not an actual Rolodex. No, I love Rolodex. I can spin the Rolodex and take something out before you can turn on your computer.

It sounds like a hazard. Hopefully there's no fire in the air. I'm about to change subjects if you're okay with this. You know what? I'm writing a short film. I want it to be a feature, but it's a short film. And the only thing I tell you is it's kind of based on me,

but stupider. It's someone who refuses all technology. And the only thing I have is a tiny laser flip phone is the last thing I ever bought that was modern in the film. It's really funny. Do you own a smartphone? Oh, yeah. Okay.

I-12 plus. I'm a nerd that way. I get all right just just wondering the character doesn't the character in this thing still has the vhs panasonic camera because i would say you're technically just based on what i've seen from the uh james b podcast you seem like you're a fairly technically savvy guy not savvy i have a couple of really good friends you know gg helps me with all my computer brain issues like but i do a lot of work on computers and i and i edit on imovie and i do garage band when you created the clip okay so your clip for episode 1000 uh like like i only needed audio but yours is wonderful that it's actually video uh like did you do all that independently yeah okay so if

you're no i work with peter gross okay if you're capable of that then you're a fairly technically savvy dude for my age i like to think so you know anybody who hits 50 and embraces technology i think is is is gonna be okay okay so james b before i read this uh it's kind of a message about whether you're famous or not that came in when you were announced uh For the record, what's your answer to the question, if I were to pose it to you? Is James B. famous? You mean if I didn't know me or me

answering that? Is it a different answer? Well, probably, because if it was me answering it, being a Canadian, I'd have to have false modesty and go, oh, no, I'm not really famous. I just get around. but if i wasn't me i'd say oh yeah that guy's crazy yeah he goes everywhere i i i've seen him 20 different scenarios like the difference between between look people royal jelly orchestra right you know and then the stuff i'm doing that like everything keeps changing oh and bonsai suzuki and toque like

every i do electronic music or i do jazz music or i do well we're gonna take just so much to cover here oh my goodness yeah but that's why i say like i would say if i didn't know me and i kind of knew of me i go well yeah see probably okay i think that's really your subconscious saying that uh yeah you're you're fucking famous james just uh, okay? Don't fight it. In a weird way. Not a typical thing. I think that whole like... I'm Canadian famous where I need a name tag or a star or a star on my lapel or something.

You're Canadian famous. That to me, where I live here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that's famous enough for me. Have you had a Taylor Abrams on your show? No. Oh, great young singer-songwriter. He has a song called Canadian Famous and it's so cute, so clever.

And yeah, he's going places. Let me read a note that came in. So I'm going to read it verbatim here, so get comfy there, James. When he showed up in Toronto in the mid-80s from North Bay, he acted like he was already famous. And then a certain influencer segment of society figured, sure, we'll go along with that.

In this sense, he was ahead of the curve. Like today, where there are tens of thousands of people who are famous to just about a million people each. By the time James showed up on Jazz FM, he had honed the act pretty well, and a whole other generation figured

he was famous. Except Ralph Ben-Murray, who rolled his eyes at it all, but it worked. Ergo, James B. is famous. Oh, do I have to guess who said that? I don't think, I don't know if you'd know. I don't think so. How about this? I don't even know if this,

see this person DM'd it to me and I don't know if it's for public consumption. So let me just let the FOTMs know that this is a regular guest of Toronto Mike who wrote that and we'll let people guess. Well, the fact that they said Ralph rolled his eyes on radio is interesting,

but it's funny. What about Friday night with Ralph Ben-Murray? Oh, yeah. Rolled his eyes a lot on that show. Remember, Ralph and I are buds and he's a client. Oh, no, no.

I love that man like a brother. Speaking of Breslin. Yeah. And Breslin, I love like a brother. There is a guy, he was so important in my life when I was young, and we are still besties.

Oh, good to hear. Took him out for dinner just in that one little COVID middle ground there. We went for a nice dinner. Is he in California? He's a cheap date, by the way, because he doesn't drink alcohol. So I love to take him out for dinner. Take his great legs. Okay.

I know he's doing the older dad thing. Ben Berge is actually doing that too, but it's his second round. But this is, I guess, Breslin's first round. He's got a kid. Well, I don't think it's any secret that when Mark was younger, he's like, I'm not getting married. Okay, I'm getting married, but we're not going to have the same house.

Okay, we're having the same house, but I'm not going to have a kid. Okay, I'm going to have a kid. And now he's just like, I love it. I love my wife. I love my kid. I love my life. Right. So good for him.

I still haven't. I was just having breakfast today. it's family day when we're recording this yes so uh i go into a restaurant full of kids and i'm like uh waiter could i get a vasectomy please oh it was so loud the waiter laughed but it was so there was never a moment where you thought uh let me try this fatherhood thing you never consider that there was one girl that I was ready to just go all the way. Yeah, do it all. I would have been 29, 30 years old and madly in love and she wanted kids. I'm like, okay, that's it.

But I don't think, I think I attract women who don't want children. I don't know what that is, but it never came up again. But that window there closed i guess you're kidding anthony quinn uh uh tony uh tony curtis and tony randall tony randall had a kid when he was 75 years old anthony quinn fathered when he was 78 right so but no i'm not gonna do that like i'd have to have a gazillion dollars to know i could look after everything and yeah

but you have not uh you have not got a vasectomy, so the store's not closed, is what you're saying here. Oh yeah, it's really, really unlikely. It's unlikely. Really unlikely. I never say never to pretty much anything. As Robert Priest once said,

never say, never say never. Never say, never say, never say never. It keeps going. I'm going to play a little bit of... Just to get us into this next topic I want to ask you about. One, two, one, two, three, four Five is the number that makes me want to do the game. Five is nothing that makes me want to do the game. So this is five, and it's going to... Yeah.

How many persons on the victory tour? Five. Wow. How many movies Till Rocky sucks Some would say The first one sucked But five is when

They're wrong Five is when he got beaten Yeah That first Rocky Was exceptional It really was Wasn't it I really loved it

And it was technically A low budget film But it had all the makings Of a classic Especially when it came out Now it may be a little bit too slow for the kids, but no, it was a real classic movie. And when I look back

at the Rockies, I think I've seen them all, but that number five was the street fight with Tommy Morrison, as I recall. Four was the Russian. And he lost, though, right, in five. So that's why we said he sucked. Not because, yeah, the other movies weren't all brilliant, but the first movie was great, and you know the story, right?

He stood by it. He was not going to say yes to anybody until he could star in it. Everyone else said, we'll take the script, we love your idea, but you can't be in it. Good for him. And it is a great, I can watch that first Rocky, I can actually watch the first four Rockies anytime, actually.

Well, you know, I just recently worked on my last record with Adrian Ferugia, so it's really nice to be able to go, Adrian! So, okay, so why am I playing Look People?

Well, because James B. is here, and then there's a few things I want to ask you about regarding Look People. Firstly, because I want to get this question out of the way

before I forget, FOTM Canada Kev, hi, Canada Kev. Oh, yeah. He says, was it him at the cottage in the 90s making blender drinks

in a canoe with a battery-powered blender? Holy... Yeah, that was me. Holy jumping. Talk about that for me if you don't mind. What is that about?

That's wild. It was just after... Just after Look People, I started doing Big Band Lounge kind of comedy, right? Sure. World Jelly Orchestra.

I got some of that I'll play in a minute. Well, I did get... 1997 was my year where I made like a couple hundred thousand dollars. So it's the big year for music for me

because I got a record deal with BMG. I had a deal with IDG Books Worldwide. When they give you an advance, it's not recoupable. I mean, it is recoupable, but none of the promo.

All the promo was built in, so I didn't have to pay back to travel all around North America. It was all free. And then Smirnoff were sponsoring me. And then I had a great manager. And then Black & Decker had a battery-operated blender, and they sponsored me.

Wow. So I did go to places where there are yachts or golf clubs, and I would go to people, especially, what were they called Grandview and Muskoka the big one uh Viewhurst so I would go around and I would take my blender and make people cocktails on the spot okay because because uh this is some kind of uh I wasn't paid to do that I wasn't paid to do that that's okay over like over the top, because I just thought, why not? This is fun.

Okay, before we get back to look people, here's a little of that. Hold on here. At the same time, burning her man. Now, you know, I'm not down with that. There's no pussy good enough to get burnt while I'm up in it. Now, that's realer than real deal Holyfield. And now all you hookers and prostitutes know how I feel.

Well, if it's good enough to get broke off a proper chunk, I'll take a small piece of some of that funky stuff. It's like this, and it's like that, and it's like this, and it's like that. Wow. Nothing but a G thing, baby. Oh, that's Snoop Dogg. Holy moly. James B.

And is this the jelly? No, this one was a one-time project called The Deep Lounge Coalition. I was hired by a company called Olio Records in California to do an album of urban songs, but like if I was a white guy in the suburbs trying to cover it.

So basically I had people reading the rap lyrics or singing them but really enunciating so you could hear what was actually being said right and i would not change the lyrics except a little right um like i might say prostitutes instead of hoes right like because that's what a guy would say in the suburbs so i never used the n-word even though the label said oh no it'd be funny if you do that. I'm like, no, no. If someone says that to you, just say, okay, you do that then. Yeah, this was before the finger-wagging generation,

but I already knew better. Don't do that. You had good instincts there. So this is another one of those jams, before I get us back to Look People. This is Jay-Z, of course. With all this cash, more money, more problems. You'll forget your man.

Now give it to me. Give that funk, that sweet, that net, that gush. You know who that is? Don't lie to me. Who is that? Gino Empry. The late great Gino Empry, who used to work with Tony Bennett.

Working at the Imperial Room. Wonderful eccentric. I miss, we need the publicist at the Imperial Room. Wonderful eccentric. I miss, we need more eccentrics in this town. When he's gone, that guy cannot be replaced. And Dave Wall is the other rapper on there, and he's fantastic. Singer, he could be a comedian if he wanted, but he's just a fantastic singer. Okay, so you mentioned, you know, characters in this city.

You are a character in this city. I'm aware of that. And so is Melanie Melody. You've had Melanie fresh. Yeah, I'm going to get to her for sure because she's fantastic. There's another one. I want more. Please.

There's got to be more of those young people up and coming. Like, get out there. Play outside. Do something. Stand out and don't care if people wag their finger and call you weird. But now it's all happening on YouTube, I feel like. So I feel like there is no local anymore. I feel like the kid in Rexdale, whoever has that in them, is broadcasting to California and the rest of the world.

That's okay, but they can still go down to Harborfront and enjoy a concert in a tutu or something. I'm saying you can still... I think the internet fame is fine it's probably fleeting but when if it's you if you're being yourself you're not doing it i'm gonna dye my hair pink to get famous no you're doing it because it's you and you're just gonna let your freak flag fly so before you mention melody fresh uh we're gonna get to that uh in a moment because i want to want something that a bomb that was dropped

on this show about you in 2021, which is a good thing here. But I'm going to play Melody Fresh, Melly Fresh. See, the names always combine. Well, Melody Melody is who I've known forever. And Melly Fresh is her handle when she's doing dance music. Melly Fresh. Okay, so we're going to talk about Melly Fresh. But there's a, this came in from Tyler Stewart.

I know you know Tyler Stewart. Sure, sure. Wow, I haven't seen him for years. Except on you know Tyler Stewart. Sure, sure. Wow, I haven't seen him for years. Except on video or whatever. Sure, of course, of course. Tyler Stewart sent this in for episode 1,000. So I'm going to play it because he talks about somebody from Look People.

But let's listen. Hey, folks. This is Tyler Stewart from Bare Naked Ladies. I am here to heap a crap ton of praise on my man toronto mike toronto mike mike mike of toronto congratulations man a thousand episodes one thousand plus hours of you asking great questions eliciting real talk from your guests, and entertaining us all with great personalities and wonderful stories about Toronto, about people in Canada, media figures, sports figures, musicians like myself, all so good.

Sports figures, musicians like myself, all so good. Listen, man, you know you are a good interviewer when you get my bandmate Kevin Hearn to open up. He did an extra part for you. You had to do an extended segment with Kevin because you got him talking. I've been in a band with the guy for 25 years, and I don't think I ever got as much information out of Kevin Hearn than you did, Mike. So congratulations on that.

And when I was on your show, you unearthed the hilarious clip of Super Dave Osborne talking about me. Back when I was his driver, we talked about that. We talked about the band, everything. You're really good at your job. You're really interested in people and the things that make them tick. And you're interested in Canada and Toronto. Very proud of you. Very, very happy that you have a forum for your inquiring mind. Congratulationsonto mike on 1000 episodes tyler stewart from bare-naked ladies and i'm out wow okay so that i'm plugging to play that every day because he says such nice things about me but the kevin hearn part so i in 2021 i had the uh privilege of

two as tyler mentioned, two different conversations with Kevin Hearn. One was like about his, you know, the A to Z of his life. We talked a lot about look people and then, you know, Barenaked Ladies and Lou Reed and everything. But the second one was all about Gore Downey and the secret path, et cetera, et cetera. Now, can you please, would you mind telling me more about like Kevin Hearn, who of course, for those who don't know, was a member of the Look People with the very famous James B. Well, I can tell you when I first met him

was at a coffee house at Ingle Nook Community High School, the school I went to for my last year when they had grade 13 um so i was there and about i don't know eight years later he was there so i don't even know was it that many years i think so so i i went into a coffee house i see this kid's playing the key this kid playing keyboards i was already in look people we were we had come back to i guess it was in 89 or something i'd come back uh after four years of look people to toronto and we wanted to form a band and the one thing we didn't have was a keyboard player i saw this kid playing the keyboards i'm like he's probably too young but he really knows how to play and i think i gotta ask him so i asked him if he would like to come by Clay Tyson's place

and audition and just kind of play with us and see if there's something there. And when we were talking, I could tell, okay, he comes across as a really nice shy guy, but he has a wicked little dry sense of humor right from the get-go, right? Right from the beginning, I said, oh, this guy, he's not quite so normal.

He's just, and he's not shy. He's not introvert. He's just a little bit reserved. That's all it is. So the rehearsal went great. Everybody is like, dude, we should just get him to go to Europe. So I don't think I'm speaking out of turn. He may have told you this, but his mom said,

I want you to be a classical piano player. And his dad says, I want you to do whatever you want, if it's not what your mom wants because they had they had separated now now they're pals but at the time there was a little bit of a thing so so he said so if i go to classical my mom's gonna like help me out through the conservatory if i go to rock my dad probably will help me out not to the same extent a normal thing but you know i'm good i said what do you want what is it you want because i don't want to take you away and normal thing but you know i'm good i said what do you want what is it you want because i don't want to take you away from your path but what do you want he goes i want to be in a rock band i said well our tour starts in two months and it's europe and maybe you should

just try this you know for a year and after a tour you'll know if you're cut out for this maybe you know maybe it'll work so So we went to Europe. Now, the only thing I won't give you any details about, because Kevin will have to tell you these things, but my drummer, Great Bob Scott, likes to basically haze people. So Kevin got some serious hazing. A lot of practical jokes were at Kevin Hearn's expense on our first tour. And they're great stories.

I just don't know. I think he should probably tell you. But really funny stuff. Basically, okay, I'll give you one. Sure. Without the exact words or anything, but we taught him how to say something in German that was inappropriate,

and we told him it meant we should have lunch. Okay. And it didn't mean that so he basically asked a biker at a bar for a blow job okay in german but but it was hazing we were just like fooling around that's good natured hazing i know yeah absolutely it was only like and i said to him i said i, you seem young and a bit shy. So I said, Bob's going to toughen you up. Like, you get ready for a weird sense of humor.

But Kevin rose to the occasion every time. I was on the phone with him yesterday six times. Since I came in, we've already been texting each other back and forth. Because I was going to ask you, was there anything in his personality? It sounds like you know him just as well now as you ever did. But he's a guy who was there for Lou Reed in Lou Reed's final days. When Peter Mansbridge

is doing that final interview with Gord Downie that we all watched on The National, that's Kevin Hearn's living room that they're talking in. So Kevin Hearn, he's got this empathy where he's there for Lou Reed, he's there for Gord.

Here's one more Kevin story that's a good one, because the Lou Reed. He's there for Gord as Gord. Here's one more Kevin story that's a good one because the Lou Reed thing reminds me of this because I had the same thing with Don Franks that he had with Lou Reed. Don Franks was my hero. I got to be best pals with him for six years. We got to make music and hang out all the time and I miss him every single day I think about him.

It makes me so sad that he's not here. Kevin was like that with Lou, and my heart went out to Kevin when I found out Lou wasn't well. And he really wasn't well for quite a while, but my heart went out to him, and we really could empathize together about, wow, you've got to be...

Because Lou at one point was like, he wasn't going to go on tour unless Kevin was available. He postponed something because he wanted Kevin to be there for him. But one thing I'll tell you, because we're kevin and i are both uh in a way like he's grimsby i'm north bay but we're small town nerds in a way because we're comfortable around people just because we are uniquely interested like it's not about whether you're famous or not famous people on my that coloring book right right? Right. And Color Me Crazy, those stories, it's because I like people. I could write you stories about lots of unfamous people

that are just as fun as that book, but you wouldn't have anything to hang on to, right? So this was a theme. With Kevin, we were in New York City, CBGBs, doing a sound check, and the late, great Hilly Crystal, really important in my life too, that'll be the second part of the coloring book, I thought

of another 50 stories that aren't in there but like Donald O'Connor and Gordon Lightfoot, I got so many other stories, but this one with Hilly, Hilly got Rolling Stone was doing a Best Bands of the 80s cover of their magazine.

He booked the photo shoot when we came in for a sound check. And he said, you've got to be here at two o'clock for sound check. So we're there. Deborah Harry is there. The band Blondie is there. Talking Heads are there except for David Byrne. Ramones. That was Kevin's shit.

Kevin's like, oh, the Ramones are here. And I'm like, Tina Weymouth and Chris France are here. I was most excited about that. Somebody else was excited. Blondie is here. Well, probably Bob. Hey, were the Pretenders there? Were the Pretenders there?

I don't remember. But they were all famous. They were a bunch of famous people. Of course. Lou Reed wasn't in the audience that day. But a bunch of people were. Oh, because Lou would have been a decade earlier probably. He was in the 70s.

But it was the 80s, guys, right? And so we were all, and Talking Heads 77, though. Technically, they were late 70s. But in the 80s, that's when they skyrocketed. So they were all there, and they're watching our soundcheck. Wow. So years later, I bump into Tina and Chris, and I say, hey, I'm James B.

I was with the band Look People. They go, oh, yeah, CBGBs. And they remembered. Wow. Because we were a weird band. Like, honestly, that was, we were Hilly Crystal's favorite band. He actually got on stage

and said, this is my favorite band. I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. And that was a bunch of record companies from New York in the audience. And they all loved it and they didn't know what to do with us. We had one label, Atlantic asked us to do with us we had one label uh atlantic asked us to do a version of my shirona because they thought if we do a version of that

right we can probably they can then they could they need a single they didn't know what to do with us our live show was great what how we're going to get them on the radio so we sent them a version kevin chris uh gartner was in the band i think at that time must have been because this was a weird thing we did um he wasn't in the band he was chris wasn't in the band when we were at tbgb's but i think when we made this demo i can't imagine maybe it was clay but it was weird and it was like it sounded like primus but it was before the band well i can't imagine the look people having a weird sound oh my little, oh, my little pretty one, when you're going to give me some time, Sharona. Right?

And it was all... So the guy thought it was a joke. He goes, okay, that's funny. Now, where's the real single? I said, no, that's it. He goes, get out of my fucking office. He was so mad at us. Is this before or after the Lowrider cover?

Let's see. It would have been right about the same time. And we didn't want Lowrider to be a single see. It would have been right about the same time. And we didn't want, we didn't want Lowrider to be a single. We didn't want to record it and we didn't want it to be a single.

And A&M Records in Canada said, oh, no, no, no. That has to be a record. We did it live. So why you didn't want it because it wasn't your song? Yeah, because we had a whole album of original music

and the only song we didn't write is the one they wanted as a thing. Now, luckily, Joel Goldberg, the great director, he made the video, right?

He's a friend of the show, I'm sure. He is amazing. In fact, I saw you had a Maestro album here. He did Maestro. He did Shuffle Demons. He did Look People. He was the best video director we ever worked with. And so when he did the Lowrider video,

then I'm like, okay, I'm glad we did the video. The video is a hoot. It was so much fun to make. So I'm glad we did it. But at the time we were like, oh, please. I'm glad you brought up Joel Goldberg. Okay, very good friend of the program, FOTM. He's also on episode 1000 with yourself as well.

Oh, cool. And another gentleman on episode 1000 is Ed Conroy, who we might know better as Mr. Red Toronto. Do you know where I'm going with this? No, but I know that you and Ed are like really important to the city. Me and my family are invited to his new, he's living far away now. I don't know, one of those ports. Well, where he can store his 18 garages full of video.

He's got a barn or something. I just hope it's fireproof. So here is the question. So I think, and I'm going to give some credit. You already mentioned her name because I do want to speak about her as well. But Mellie Fresh was on this show. Bananas, fantastic.

It was a great conversation. But it was revealed, and this was revealed by Ed Conroy first and then sort of confirmed by Mellie Fresh, whether she knows it or not. But in 2021, on this very program, it was revealed that a documentary about James B's life, that's you, buddy, the working title, Being B,

is currently being produced. And the collaborators on the project that I've confirmed include the great team of FOTMs, Retro Ontario, Ed Conroy, and Joel Goldberg. What say you about this? I am gobsmacked and excited. They have not dropped the ball. They've been doing this for two years now.

The first thing they had to do, and this is Ed's forte, is get all of my stuff. I have some Super 8 and some other weird formats I have to transfer. For example, David Bowie's house. That's on Super 8. I have to find a way to transfer that. But he has my three-quarter inch, my beta cams. Yeah, but the problem is I need to do it

because there's some Super 8s no one can have. Understood. Understood. Wow. He's like your parish priest. He's all secrets are safe with Ed Conroy. Go ahead. Yeah.

Well, possibly. Possibly. Because I'm sure I gave him at least one or two VHS tapes that had some south of France antics. But anyway, we won't. That's the B-roll, man. That's going to be the underground hit that we trade those tapes. What I love about this is Joel already, like, he put the program together. He got a broadcast license very quickly, which is the hardest thing to do.

And financing is just starting now to come in. They're going to have a lot of people to interview. Hopefully, they'll raise enough money. Because, I mean, I'm not involved in this. All I said is, I can give you names of people who like me if you want to try to raise some money. But I said, I can't ask people to finance a documentary about me. I ask people for money for charity or to invest in an album for, you know, John Finley or Irene Torres.

We're going to get to that too. But not me. So, okay. So this is ongoing. I feel like Moses should just cut a check from his like petty cash fund or something. Hard to say. I don't think it has not been brought to Moses yet.

I'm sure of that. Because Joel works a lot with Moses. Well, so does Ed. Right. But we really respect the guy. But I don't think they're going to go... Maybe he'd be like a call after they got half the funding or something. But they don't want one person to do this. If only I had somebody I could call. It takes a village to raise a child. that's right okay so but that's exciting like the idea that like should

being b come to light to see a documentary about the very famous james b if you're you thought you were famous now wait until this comes to fruition because there's good people behind it and no and no doubt what it will do why i'm excited about it is because if somebody tries to cover what I did properly, it will look like a charmed life. I'm not a rich person. I just, I got horseshoes up my butt. I'm just lucky, right? And I work really hard and I rarely sleep. And I help people as much as I can because I feel like why should an artist, I don't want to be self-absorbed.

So I always find singers better than me. In fact, the first record for BMG, I didn't sing on my own album so that's fine i produced it because i loved all these other singers because you found a better voice for the song is that because yeah and i saw people working really hard in the jazz genre that i thought that guy deserves because this was a major label right wow so Wow. So, and also, I have this extreme comfort level with John O'Grant, who I've been working with. I've known him since he was 16. We've made so many records together.

There is a, we're connected at the pineal gland. We think alike. And he's so talented that I always feel like whoever I discover, whatever I want to work on, I pretty much always bring to him. I've had a few albums with Dave Howard. I love working with Lou Pomonti. There's other people in the family.

But this guy, John, we have made so many records together. Oh, and by the way, he did the one show at CBGB's. He filled in for our guitar player, who was out of the country. And so we go back in a bunch of weird ways but that kind of made me always feel comfortable with saying i don't need the limelight i at first i thought i think it was bob scott called me lawrence welk on acid because he's like what are you even doing right now you're not singing you're going on tour oh james i'm so glad you returned i have

all these like follow-up questions and other parts I want to explore but back to Mellie Fresh again you're tight with Mellie Fresh she's a good friend of yours we have been hanging out since 1988 I knew her from fashion TV in Europe I saw her on a Jeannie Becker TV show Jeannie Becker is on this show in March

Jeannie Becker is so famous in Europe it's unbelievable fashion TV was the first ever fashion show that went all around the world Jeannie Becker's on this show in March. Jeannie Becker is so famous in Europe, it's unbelievable. Fashion TV was the first ever fashion show that went all around the world. Everyone watched that show. Everyone in Switzerland knew who she was. When I got back to Toronto, right away, I went to see a friend of mine, Joanne Smale, and I said, I know Jeannie.

Jeannie's always been nice to me, way back when I started, when I was doing almost nothing, right? But she was always pleasant. But I said, but i need to know who's this melanie melody person like i need to go meet her so joanne picks up the phone says i have a friend who wants to meet you she said come on over i walked up to her house so like an hour since i came in from switzerland i'm at melanie's house and we became friends ever since melanie uh should be financing this documentary, B&B. Well, you know what I would say for that? I would say maybe as a consultant, she should be interviewed about me.

Oh, that's a slam dunk for sure. Her husband is... I should be interviewed about you. Yeah, that's right. You should be too. And I bet you Joel will do that. And Clive Smith, her husband, famous for Nelvana. Yeah, that's right. You should be too. And I bet you Joel will do that. And Clive Smith, her husband, famous for Nelvana.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I would love him to come in and actually do cartoons. But again, I don't ask my friends for money. Someone else can. But I think they're so talented. As long as they're in the film, I think we're off to a good start.

Okay, good answer there. It's no secret, though, that somewhere there in that relationship of Mellifresh, there is some money from the Nelvana sales. No, no,, though, that somewhere there in that relationship of Melly Fresh, there is some money from the Nelvana sales. No, no, they're not hurting. I'm just trying to get this film finished

here. I want it made. Well, you know what? I don't know how the ask has happened. Maybe by the time this airs, the ask... Well, it's going to air in the 10 minutes after we take the photo by the tree. It's going to be aired. Oh! Well, then, maybe they're hearing about this idea for the first time because i haven't heard that idea okay i did i did speak with joel about asking clive to maybe come up with an animation he has all different animation ideas

in in the documentary wow which yeah joe i just trust joel whatever he wants to do i say yes no joel joel created electric circus okay like Like this man, you know, you mentioned the Maestro Fresh. Hey, out of my house of roach, Shuffle Demons, right there. Just give him an award. Honestly. Oh, and of course, all the documentaries he did. Sure. Like, I mean, Bruce Coburn and Downchild Blues Band.

Yeah. Shout out to Bernie Finkelstein. Okay, so we have so many places I want to go with you, my friend. So shout out to Melly Fresh, who I had a great conversation with last year. I really enjoyed it. And we did talk quite a bit about you, James, because you're very famous. The first place I want to go, Rita. Rita wants to know, she would like to find Look People Stop Making Cheese, the EP,

and wants to know if it was ever on CD. She can't find it. No, it was never on CD. She can't find it. No, it was never on CD. I am not sure. You see, the stuff that's long ago like that, I guess there's a chance that the band, like that band was a completely different band. So whoever owns the rights to that,

technically, I guess someone could buy it and re-release it and do something with it. I've got probably 10, 20 copies in my garage left, so maybe she could get one from me, but that's only the actual EP. I know this Rita because

actually, she's affiliated with a college, a GTA college, and I've spoke to this college. Do you want me to get Rita in touch with you to buy one from your garage? JamesB.ca. Yeah, sure.

Why not? Okay, let's see what we can do. That's what I'm here for. I've got a handful of vinyl. I have no CDs. I mean, I have a CD of each thing I've ever done. Hopefully. Hopefully, I still have it.

I don't know. It's the garage storage. But vinyl, I have kept. Any record I ever made, I usually bought 10 or 20 and just kept them. Bought my own records back. Wise. Very wise.

Okay. Now, speaking of look people, I mentioned Canada Kev earlier because he saw you making the blender there. He's got a buddy. I believe his buddy's in Newfoundland. I could be screwing that up.

And he's watching live at live.torontomike.com, the pirate stream where you are actually live right now. Because he wants me to ask this question because he was there. What can you share with me about Look People at Spring Break in Daytona Beach, Florida? This aired on Much Music back in 1993. Tell me everything, my friend. Oh, boy. Okay, I'll give you one really, really good memory. They didn't just bring me down for the look people because I worked with MuchMusic in different capacities.

I brought a camera down to Lollapalooza and shot for them. And it's just like one of those little cameras. But, you know, when you've got a Bravo and a MuchMusic sticker on your camera and you have a press pass, it's amazing what they let you do. This time, though, they wanted me to help with some of their games. Now, keep in mind, the jocks who go to spring break and get hammered, they're the ones who beat me up in high school. That's right.

I was the nerd. So I thought, this will be fun. So I had something called Brown Log Relay. And I had two guys at one end of the pool and two guys at the other end of the pool. Right. And I threw, I had a couple of chocolate bars. This is and two guys at the other end of the pool. Right. And I threw, I had a couple of chocolate bars. This is like a Caddyshack reference, right? So I threw two chocolate bars into the front of the pool.

The guys had to jump in the pool and get it in their mouth. And then the guys on the other end had to jump in the pool and swim towards them. They had to meet halfway and change the mouth-to-mouth, brown log relay. And just before, and it got approved, because they thought it was hilarious and very in the spirit of spring break. But

just before we went to shoot it, like it was just happening, and this guy, I think Chip or Skip, the guy in charge of sales is running by, cut your video! Cut your video! So Steve Anthony's looking around going, okay, we're going to go to a video! And they go to a video. And he's like, what's going on? Why didn't we do this? He okay, we're going to go to a video. And they go to a video. And he's like, what's going on?

Why didn't we do this? He goes, we're sponsored by Cadbury. So somehow they didn't actually ask the sales rep if we should do this. Money ruins everything, James. We had girls in fuzzy handcuffs. They were handcuffed with hands behind their back. Hawaiian Tropic girls bobbing for tofu, which is disgusting. So, yeah, my ideas were not,

like they're not today. They were, it was, this is... But you performed, right? Those people performed. We performed. We had a great time. I also had the Hawaiian Tropic Girls come out and dance around us

while we performed. It was politically incorrect, but we also thought it was very funny because the song is called Lousy Lover, Lousy Lay, based on a beautiful poem by Al Mad the minimalist jug band so we so i'm saying to everyone i'm a lousy lover and all these girls are dancing around and i'm blowing a condom up on my head so it's the size of like yeah giant so and and also i would douse the audience with my beer like i'm blessing them um because they all wasted. And again, they were a great audience and they loved

us, but these are the people that beat me up in high school. So it was kind of fun. And was it Kim Mitchell that performed on that bill? The year before it was Bare Naked Ladies. And this time it was Kim Mitchell, Sass Jordan.

I don't remember if it was Coreyory hart there was a few other famous bands so this today as we speak uh on february 21 2022 uh is the two-year anniversary of sass jordan's epic visit to the tmds basement oh really yeah sweet woman very very very natural and kind yeah i like her i liked her a lot. And some listeners thought she might have been like a little tipsy during the interview. But in actuality, as she also tweeted at me earlier today, she's just like drunk on life. Like it's a very, she's just naturally tipsy on life. And that's just how she is.

Oh. Oh. I don't know her that well. I've met her a few times though and she really especially when she was at the top of her game she would stop and talk to anyone she was like weird al yankovic friendly okay that's pretty damn friendly yeah that's like kevin that guy if you walk down the street with weird al you better have a lot of time it'll take you an hour to go one block because he will seriously stop and talk to anyone who asks oh my goodness gracious uh and

have you spent a lot of time with al yankovic oh yeah for years and years and years i don't he's not even in that coloring book i better get on that okay that you do need a so let me just because just because i don't want to bury the lead here oops yeah you can buy this uh again you said it's on amazon so color me crazy k-o-l-o-U-R, good Canadian spelling, Me Crazy with a K, and it's like 10 bucks. And by the way, the guy who did the artwork is a genius. Okay. Charles Hackbarth. I'm actually, I'm holding up this album.

This started, my association, I knew him for a long time, but when he did this particular record for me, I did a christmas album and charles hackbarth uh did the album cover art he said he always wanted to do an album cover i said well i got this christmas record it's terrible it's irritainment everything's out of tune it's to clear your house christmas eve and guests won't leave put this on right so he he loved it and i loved it and it's black and white and you color it in. It came with free crayons and it comes with a download card because nobody has vinyl. So it comes with a download card, right?

And you get this and you get the crayons. So I did it with him. And then he said, I said, this is so much fun. All my friends are addicted to coloring. He says, why don't we do a whole coloring book about your life? And I said, actually, there's a documentary. I'm working on a book on a book i mean this is i don't think i could keep milking that and he goes and i said oh but what about celebrities because in my book i talk about that is i don't drop so many names in in the book i'm working on so this one i'm like oh i'll just drop all beautiful i

love it yeah i love it when i love it when you drop names so well, there's so many not in this book. And Weird Al's one. Weird Al, by the way, I don't think I told you this. Because last time I was on your show, I think I had just left Jazz FM. Yeah, and I'm going to get a follow-up on that in a moment. I had just left Jazz FM. I mean, escorted out the door. Did you know, I got a cease and desist.

Do you know what? We didn't talk. There's somebody we won't even name his name. But we did not talk about somebody during that conversation. Like, we actually didn't talk there's somebody we won't even name his name but we did not talk about somebody during that conversation like we actually didn't talk about him and i got his lawyer sent me uh ordering me to remove your episode god for a comment so we didn't even we didn't even talk about no no i would say that lawyer uh should think about another career because that lawyer that did that to you um he was just following commands that aren't legal or smart like what he basically,

I had respect. I'd heard his name before and I had respect until I saw that note he sent you. I'm like, that's insane. We didn't talk about the person. I still won't. He is the person I will not talk about. We don't have to talk about it.

At all. Because it's a big life disappointment that you learn how people can turn. But what's cool is I went to LA i saw al we went out for for lunch right i told him i was gone he goes how could you be gone i know your record there i know what you're doing over there how could you be gone i said uh it's a long story so i kind of told him the story right okay two months later i'm back in la i say, I need to buy you lunch. I need to, because he bought lunch last time. I said, I need to buy you lunch and tell you the follow-up. So I told him, I said, you know, there's a new board of directors.

The first thing they did was brought me back. I was only gone for nine months, which I call nine months for good behavior. And I did have a new baby. I came Phoenix from the ashes. I had a whole new thing that I wanted to do that I'm still doing now, right? When I went back, I went back as freelance. I didn't want to go in every day.

They couldn't afford it anyway. Like it was a beautiful thing to go back into that station and work with all my friends, bad people gone, good people back. So Al says to me, how is that possible? I said, well, donors donors are they can vote this is like this is a different this is a charity and people can vote so they were voted the board were voted out and he said democracy works in canada he says he says i got i said yeah it should be a feature

film i would i think this should be i followed very closely because i was so like involved it should be a film uh names will be changed so no one can get sued but i think it should be a feature film i would i think this should be i followed very closely because i was so like involved it should be a film uh names will be changed so no one can get sued but i think it should be a feature film and he says i got the tagline so weird al says hell hath no fury like an angry canadian jazz fan that's al okay so al is amazing yeah now uh i i heard good things uh kevin shea was like the al gankovic handler when he'd come and way back from the attic record days yeah kevin's stories about my uh motley crew are fantastic by the way okay i'm gonna get him back just to talk more music stories okay but back so andrew ward's question he's not accurate i'll ask it as he wrote it but i see he's

uninformed about a couple things but he writes and andrew Ward, thanks for your submission for episode 1,000. It was amazing. But he goes, can you ask him if he'd consider a podcast? Now, before you answer that, because I know the answer there. Since the, and I won't name the gentleman, the blank, blank fiasco, we miss his banter with Ralph and wish we could have gone on jazz safaris.

James always made mornings more bearable and fun. But it sounds, so the first thing about you having a podcast, I have been listening to your podcast. You have a podcast. Well, here, what I did is when I came back onto the scene, when I, really that nine months, I just traveled everywhere and I had so much fun. But when I came back and said, all right, time to reinvent,

what am I going to do? I did a a vodcast a video podcast on youtube i did about 80 of the shows or something like that and i had good guests david clayton thomas barbara lika like cool people right molly johnson because i watched that and all i could think about was how pleasant she was with you and like how happy she was to be in your presence. I adore her. She started my big bank career. I had no idea I could do this until she heard my first demo and said, that's really good. You should play Kumbaya. You should play between Berenice and Moxie Fruvis and all this.

When you guys are together in that vodcast, as you put it, you could tell she's just like, you guys are just amazing. She's my big sister. I'd do anything for her. So these people, I had fun. But then, you know what? As soon as clubs closed, I'm like, the point of mine, and they weren't like big paying sponsors.

It was just like, look, I want to tell people who's playing where. Do like eight minutes off the top. And all visuals, really. Jason J. Brown did all my visuals behind me, all green screen stuff. It was fun. But the thing is, after like a year of lockdown i'm like you know what no i i'm people don't want to see me interview people on zoom they spend enough time on zoom right so your podcast makes sense and it's also trustworthy because people

that have listened to you know if they come here they're and i don't have to know who the guest is i've listened to some of your shows where i don't know the person and then I learn about the person, especially sports because I don't know anything about sports. I don't know how many innings are in a hockey game. I don't know anything. I'm an idiot.

So I learn stuff and there's a trust level, right? So I'm not doing that right now. I do miss the banter with Ralph. We were like the, I don't know if you remember Death of a Salesman. We were happy in Biff Loman.

Yeah, we were having a pillow fight in the bedroom upstairs. Like we were not getting along on air, but we were getting along. We just, we were opposites. He'd be always like, why don't you get some sleep? You never sleep. Like he was like a Jewish mother. And you've been on his Not That Kind of Rabbi podcast, right?

Oh yeah, he was deep. Yeah, Rabbi podcast, right? Oh, yeah. He was deep. Yeah. Here's the other thing. I had him interview me when my first book, well, I guess technically my first book. I had a book of poetry. I don't count. But in the book called Cosmic Fishing, he interviewed me and everyone in the audience

that only knew him from radio. And some people said to me, me hey he beats you up too much i don't like ralph i said no no no you don't know understand he's a great guy no no he insults you i said well once in a while but no he's a great guy no and even the insults i think are like yeah they're good they're dry they're dry humor yeah right anyway they met him they met him and they fell in love with him they're like that guy has the most beautiful questions because he wanted people to know oh he has to be interviewed on my documentary um he wanted people to know that i'm a ladies man not a womanizer like the difference between right why why do you hang out with these women what is the thing and he would really ask pointed questions right i'm like you know what if someone asked me a

pointed question i'm not going to skirt the, except for he who will not be mentioned. Stuff like that. I'm not going to bad mouth people by name, but I'll tell you anything about me. Right. Yeah. And you gave us that Jazz FM, but just to clarify this,

occasionally, like for fundraising, et cetera, you'll be on Jazz FM. What's your deal there? Well, okay. So the deal is, but I'm freelance. So I have a show Thursday night from nine to midnight. It's been going for 20 years now wow 20 year anniversary is in another month minus nine months yeah minus nine months but i mean 20 years in a row minus nine we don't start that clock again you get to continue yeah right right i mean yeah if i had the exact number

of shows i wouldn't count those nine months yeah um but but yeah it's 20 years and and then i started a show i don't know a year and a half ago called jazz but yeah it's 20 years and and then i started a show i don't know a year and a half ago called jazz gone wild it's late night radio i play ridiculous movie that music i can't believe i'm allowed to play and it's my greatest thrill i love to promote local local bands local musicians on the one show for three hours and then one hour of nonsense it's psychedelic it's. It's my vinyl collection. I'm allowed to spin actual vinyl that's in stereophonic 60 sounds.

And you can play what you like within whatever the CanCon boundaries are. No, the late night, the late night, we have CanCon for the day that we super exceed. We don't even think about it because we play so much.

It covers you for the night. But that one o'clock in the morning slot, no, there's no rule. Nobody really cares. And I do have some local favorites, like Friendly Rich, who I'm sure, has he been on your show, right? No, not yet.

Okay, so there's one, Fred Speck. What a crazy story he has. So there are local people that I really like. Laura Silnicki has this crazy high art. I don't know who will play it, but it's important music and everyone needs to hear it amazing yeah you're like one of the last guys left in canada who can uh design his own playlist oh i know i'm so lucky i tell you like i don't take that for

granted i i actually stay awake so i can listen to jazz gone wild because i pre-recorded by a few days um and i stay home and listen to it at one o'clock in the morning because i laugh i'm like i can't believe it i'm getting texts a lot of texts and emails from europe um where it's uh six or seven in the morning and people get up to like some guy in israel seven o'clock in the morning he's listening to my show and he goes it sounded like a stupid idea when i heard about it and it is but i but I love it. Love it. And then LA, it's 10 o'clock at night, so I get more listeners on the West Coast than I do in Toronto. Now, when I think back at that period,

the unnamed person who sent me the season desist and had listed the six or seven episodes I had to delete, which, of course, I did not do, but you were on the list. Ralph Ben-Marie was on the list. Heather Bambrick was on that list, and it's awesome that she's also back on the list. Everyone who wanted to pretty much come back is back there now.

Almost everyone, even a sales guy, almost everybody who wanted to come back. This is good news. A few people went on to do other things, and a couple I haven't heard from who I miss. There was no one there. The only people I didn't get along with are the people that are gone now. I can't imagine. We're really missing a couple the people that are gone now. So everybody else. Yeah, we're really missing a couple of people.

Well, there's one. I mean, I'll just, because this is the home of Real Talk, but she's been on to talk, but there was a lawsuit because of how awful that was for Garvia Bailey. And I know it was settled,

but Garvia, of course, I have not heard her back on. I love her. She was a joy to work with every minute. Like, I just have nothing but respect for her. She's one of the people I miss the most.

I wish she was around. But again, I'm not there full time. I don't see anybody anyway. Right. Like, except for fundraising, I go in late at night and do a show. I don't see anybody. Is Dani Elwell back on the air there?

I don't think she's back on the air yet, but she's definitely back in a big way. And I'm not sure why. So hopefully she'll be on the air because she's the pro. I mean, she's got to be on the air. Mark Wigmore is over at Bravo now, and he's a great guy, but he's doing well.

So he's probably just going to stay there. And Mark Wigmore can be heard on episode 1,000 as Ken Garvia Bailey and Danny Elwell. So all those voices. So I saw Mark a few times. I saw Dave Wong a few times. Garvia, I miss her. But she's, yeah, everybody who left there,

we were all together locking arms, saying we got to fix the station. But it got fixed. So that's a really weird, happy ending. And it honestly should be a film one day. I agree with you 100%. I was following it very, very closely. Okay, so I also, here, let me play,

just while I transition here. I wanted to play something from the, what do you call it? The Royal Jelly Orchestra. And I was thinking, what do I play? But I'm going to play some Alanis here. This is from our first big budget album.

John O'Grant production. Oh, and Walter Zweifel. Walter Zweifel lives in Switzerland. The two of them produced this for me. Alanis heard this and laughed real hard. Oh, good. I want you to know that I'm happy for you. I wish nothing but

the best for you both. I know the version of me is she preferredverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theater? Does she speak eloquently? And would she have your baby? I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother. Cause I thought that you gave her a name.

Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open. Why? No. And every time you speak her name. Does she know and you told me you told me until you died till you died but you're still alive and i'm here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away it's not fair i dig it i love the i love the vibe and it it's well done. And we're going to get some more recent output from you. You're a prolific artist, James B.

This one, by the way, it's like, okay, I knew Alanis Morissette before she got super famous. When she was the teen star, right? Exactly. She was a pop star. Too hot. Yeah, exactly. Never too hot to hold or something. Never too hot, never too cold.

You take your best shot. Too hot to hold. Oh, you know all the lyrics. Of course. to hold or something. Never too hot, never too cold to take your best shot. Too hot to hold. Oh, you know all the lyrics. Of course. Better go for gold. Yeah. So she came to do a show in Toronto, and it was just like a little party where she got up and sang jazz,

and I went over, and I'm like, Alanis, you sound great. You should probably sing jazz. And she said, oh, actually, I just finished an album in L.A. It'll be coming out soon. It's a little different. Oh, yeah, with Glenn Ballard. Jagged Little Pill came out. It's like, okay, she could have taken my advice and made tens of dollars.

That's right. But instead, she released Jagged Little Pill. Unbelievable. But she heard this and laughed her ass off and said she loved it. Good, good, good, good, good, good. Do you like Italian food? Oh, my word. I love Italian food.

Like, like, they, when I was young I thought it was pizza. But, my God, I love Italian food.

Did I, did you get a Palma Pasta lasagna last time you were here? I did not. You didn't, okay, you're getting one today.

Yeah. Okay, that was probably before the Palma Pasta sponsorship. You are leaving here with a large lasagna from Palma,

Palma Pasta. It's in my freezer. I'm sure they have a vegetarian lasagna from Palma Pasta. It's in my freezer. I'm sure they have a vegetarian lasagna. So two things going on here. One is you are a vegetarian. Yeah. Well, pescatarian because I eat that fish when I get home. Okay.

I am going to bike to you a vegetarian lasagna. I only have a meat in my freezer right now because I suck and I apologize but I'm going to get you a vegetarian of course they make vegetarian lasagna and pommes pasta I'm going to get you a vegetarian lasagna you got my word on that you've been enjoying the fresh beer from Great Lakes Beer

I sure have, almost empty shout out to Ridley Funeral Home Brad Jones has a new podcast called Life's Undertaking it's really wonderful. I slipped an episode with Brad in the feed last week. Because death is inevitable. Ridley.

Yeah. Ridley's funeral home. They're just good people to talk to when you're at your most vulnerable. So much love to them for their support. StickerU.com. Did you get a Toronto Mike sticker last time you were? I don't know. Let me take a look. If I see it, I'll remember it.

Oh, I did. It's yours. That's yours. Oh, wait a minute. I did get one, but I want another one. You can have another one. I have a trumpet case. I need to put this on.

You can have another one because you're James B. and you're very famous. And Canna Cabana. So I've already given you a pipe, right? Yeah, you did. So here's a... Here, you're getting... Because you're going to take these Great Lakes home with you as well.

Oh, beautiful. So then I have a... Canna Cabana Cozy. Oh. That's from Canna Cabana. Wow, a cozy for a beer. No swag. Here's an ashtray for you.

You can never have enough ashtrays for when you have friends over. And it's plastic. It doesn't burn. Right. And that's from Canna Cabana. Well, that's miracle plastic. And I don't know how you can leave the house without measuring tape, but this is from Ridley Funeral Home.

This is actually a... I mean, you never know when you have to measure something. That's for you. house without measuring tape. But this is from Ridley Funeral Home. This is actually a, I mean, you never know when you have to measure something. That's for you. Measuring tape. Okay, but I'm trying to figure out what they're thinking over there at Ridley. So is that to know the size of the casket? Yeah, what size casket do you need?

Absolutely. That works for me. I'm not too sure, actually. But so thank you to all these sponsors. Well, you know what? My feet stick it out of the casket. That would be a fat swaller song. We won't need that.

We won't need that casket for many, many decades. But just as people know, of course, Canna Cabana was created by and for people who love weed, love to smoke it, buy it, chat about it, and share it with their friends. I urge everyone to become a member of the Cabana Club. You'll be the first in the note when there's a sale going on and they have unbeatable prices on cannabis

and smoking accessories at Canna Cabana. So go to cannacabana.com to sign up today. Now, James, I am on that episode 1,000, which I've only mentioned about 1,000 times in this episode. There is a wonderful clip from FOTM, Nina Keough. Nina Keough, puppeteer. Oh, yeah, yeah. So Nina knows I'm a big James B. fan because I'm human.

Nina sent me a photo of a James B. puppet. It is like the size of a Muppet. It looks just like me. Yeah, it looks just like you. I used to make puppets when I was younger. I made really good money as a puppeteer before I got into music. Really? I didn't know that. Yeah, from 16 to 18.

And back then I was making 400 bucks a show and i'm a teenager right in the 70s this is good money yeah um but they died in a house fire all my puppets died and i never got back into it after that but nina made me this gorgeous puppet and uh they're not cheap but if anybody needs a puppet of themselves she nails it well she worked with worked with Mr. Dress Up. She, of course, was in... Great story about Mr. Dress Up and Color Me Crazy, by the way. Oh, okay, okay, okay. So, yeah, I mean, I'm going to go through that.

He was surrounded by drag queens at his retirement party. I threw a party for him at the King Eddie. Surrounded by drag queens. And he's like, you know, I never thought that dressing up might inspire all kinds of different people. He was tickled that missed the tickle trunk yeah see that's oh he was tickled by it yeah yeah i'm just i didn't even went away can i because you know you slip that in just in

this this 90 minute conversation you slip that in meanwhile like if i step back and tell young mike that one day you know james b is going to tell you about the retirement party for Mr. Dress Up. Unbelievable mind blow right there. That is wild stuff. And Nina Keough, she's Muffy Mouse on today's special, if you're wondering. She was great there, but she did a lot of puppeteering stuff. And she made you a puppet and looks just like you,

which is mind blowing. Okay, here's a project I want to discuss here before you escape. I have a few great jams, but I'm going to start with this one here. Diamonds are forever They are all I need to please me They can stimulate and tease me

Another F-O-M-T, I'm sure. F-O-T-M. T-M, sorry. Friend of Toronto Mike. Not Mike Toronto. Yes. Diamonds are forever So we'll do it like

pop-up video. Whose voice are we hearing right now? That is the unmistakable voice of Carol Pope, and she recorded that only less than a year ago. She is in fine form. She is at the top of her game. I agree. I had Rob Proust

on recently. He's a great keyboardist. He's of Spoons, etc. I'm working with her for a long time, yeah. Yeah, and they did this Church of Trees single, which was unbelievable, but Carol Pope is a recent FOTM. Loved my combo with her. She sounds fantastic. Yeah.

She heard we were doing a Bond tribute, not a Bond tribute, but Secret Agent music, including some Bond. I said, would you be interested in Diamonds Are Forever? And she just said, yes! Yes, I'd love to sing that. And Alison Young on sax is just ripping it, right? And this is,

and I got, this is music for secret agents. Brand new record. We're just starting to work it now. Okay, we came to the right place yeah so there's more FOTMs on these jams not just Carol Pope

this is a great one and by the way and the thing about that was cool here is we nailed it we did a rock version and then Lorenzo my executive producer

and Davide Lorenzo both were like can we try this a little bit more like a 70s porn soundtrack can we slow it down a little bit and this is the version we're hearing now at first it was a little bit more like a 70s porn soundtrack? Can we slow it down a little bit?

And this is the version we're hearing now. First, it was like a bit more rocking and really pumping. But before we sent it to Carol, we're like, let's make this a little sassier. And I just love, you know, when you enter the studio, my favorite thing is collaborating. Don't say no to an idea if you can afford to try it out. It's quicker to try it than to argue about it. Just try it out and see what happens.

And with our producer, with Lorenzo, he is the guy who says, yes, take your time. Let's try it another way. Let's do this. Let's do that. We have the luxury

of actually having a budget and trying to do something right. Oh, yeah. actually having a budget and trying to do something right. That's either John O'Grant or Eric St. Laurent guitar. They both play guitar all over this thing. That's another FOTM, by the way. I had a mad crush on both of these women when I was a kid. What you do to my body? Leigh Aron. Again, she jumped at the chance. finger. What you do to my body? Lee Aaron.

Again, she jumped at the chance. I'd only met her a couple times back in the day, but when I called her, and it's something, we shared this stage once that we'll both never forget. So, like, there's a kinship. Well, tell me that story. Well, okay. We were opening for her.

It was a kind of a tribute to Mark Caporell, who was a good friend of all of ours, who passed away. I think it was hang gl her. It was a kind of a tribute to Mark Caporell, who was a good friend of all of ours, who passed away. I think it was hang gliding. He was doing what he loves the best, right? Extreme sports. But he died.

And so we had a party for him at the Diamond Club before it was called the Phoenix. Right. We played just before the air. When the air got on stage, great Bob Scott jumped out with his kilt and danced all around her and flashed her. And he had nothing on.

So she got to see why they call him great, Bob Scott jumped out with his kilt and danced all around her and flashed her. And he had nothing on. So she got to see why they call him Great Bob Scott. But anyway, she said to me, I'll never forget that gig because I laughed and forgot my own lyrics. But it's a song I wrote. But I found it so funny because he wasn't like macho naked like Anthony from the Chili Peppers. This was more like the Lucky Charms Leprechaun getting naked. So it was something else. So we both laughed about it and said, yeah,

I'll never forget that weird concert. I love Lee Aaron. By the way, did you know Lee Aaron was the name of her band? Mm-hmm. Okay, you knew that. Some people, yeah.

She's a Karen. Yeah. But Lee Aaron was the name of the band. But the thing is, what's cool, she still has a ton of fans in Europe. They never, no matter what genre of music. she still has a ton of fans in Europe. They never, no matter what genre of music. She's still the metal queen over in Europe.

Yeah, but also whatever genre she decides to go into, she still has people that are really on her side. So that's cool. That's something you might not get as easily these days, is people that will stay with you. I'm sure Billie Eilish will have fans forever, but there's a whole bunch of people that have their two minutes of fame and move on.

So tell me, what gave you the idea for putting together this project, Music for Secret Agents? Well, the project was based on something I did in 1997, the year I made a bunch of money. The last time I made a lot of money.

But 1997, I was emceeing Bond events. I think it was The World is Not Enough. I think it was the first Pierce Brosnan movie. So I was the emcee of the party in New York. Pierce Brosnan is there. I'm giving out Rolex watches to the people. It's a very well-to-do crowd after the grand opening of the movie.

And so I'd say things like, so it was called 007-101. It's a crash course on Bond. And it was a game show. And so I'd say, one of these names is not a Bond girl. Kissy, Pussy, Vulva, or Dick. Help her out, audience. And then the audience is all yelling, Dick. You know, Vulva.

So the answer was Vulva. There is no Vulva. The other ones, Pussy, Kissy, and Dick are all real women in Bondva. There is no vulva. The other ones, pussy, kissy, and dick are all real women in Bond movies. But anyway, I do that,

right? So I liked Bond and I knew everything about Bond. And I mean, you're the martini guy. Right, right. It all matches up. Yeah.

My name is B James B. Yeah. I wanted to do that. But the thing is, I never, for some reason, it was not meant to be. I never got the RJO to do the Bond record.

Then I moved to the Tiki Collective. Didn't seem right. It seemed to, it seemed to be kind never got the rjo to do the bond record then i moved to the tiki collective didn't seem right it seemed to it seemed to be kind of stilting the idea i wanted to do a spy jazz tiki record and i realized i not every song's going to have a vibraphone or not every song's going to be tiki it's going to be different so i wanted to do it then lorenzo de gianfeliz my partner at vesuvius music he said why don't we get Carol Pope and Leigh Aron? And I'm like, really? You think so? I mean, I'll ask them, but come on, as if, right?

He goes, well, you don't know if you don't ask. So I asked him. Right away, they said yes. I said, okay, I better. So then I tried Randy Bachman and Alex Lifeson. They both said yes, but it just turned out we had a quick turnaround that they weren't able to. So they'll be on the second Secret Agent record. but it just turned out we had a quick turnaround that they weren't able to,

so they'll be on the second Secret Agent record. Look at you. Already have funding for it, but now I'm going to go slow on this one. I want to do it right. I want it to go way slower. More original music, less James Bond. We'll do a few more Bonds, but less.

This is another Bond jam I like quite a bit here. I love this. That's June Garber right there. That's Carol. That's Leara. That's Carol Wow That's Leora That's Irene Torres Wow And that's Bill McBurney on the flute

Sounds great in the cans here, buddy I loved doing this song This was, again, Lorenzo's idea to cover this song and my idea to say, let's get all four females to come and sing together. And they get different lines and they're mixed in a way that it feels kind of like it's one person.

But if you listen, you're like, no, no, slightly different. But they sit right in there together. And probably the greatest thing about these kind of projects is you see how much people work together. The egos are left at the door. We don't have any of that problem. It must be because we're like nice, wholesome Canadians. Well, if you keep recruiting FOTMs, you're going to get a bunch of sweethearts. That's right.

That's right. You can't go wrong. They're all genuine and they're really giving and they're fans of each other. Carol Pope saw a video of Irene Torres and said, wow, she's fantastic. I said, yeah, she's actually on the album, too. Did it make her creamer jeans? That's what I want to know.

You know what? She grabbed her crotch 10 years before Michael Jackson did, and I was watching that. I was a little kid watching it on TV in North Bay, and I went, who's that woman? She's amazing. I asked her if she thinks Madonna stole her thing from Carol Pope. You know what?

The stealing, I think it's all borrowing because I have a lot of ideas that I saw come out. I had lyrics that really pretty much were used in a world-famous song like four years later after I sent it away to some comic book Make Your Songs Famous. And I was wondering if that was actually my song. But no. Some ideas, if you rhyme girl

and world, there are things that whatever. So you're wearing leather and grabbing your crotch. Okay, someone else is going to want to do that too. So, yeah. It's not stealing, but hopefully influencing. But that high school confidential, what a jam. If you want to, if you listen back to that. Cutting edge.

Nothing. Yeah, no one had done that. This is so much. I hope young people will go back and look at some of this stuff. Because when you see Katy Perry kissed a girl and she liked it, I'm sorry. That was, this was done way before and way sexier. Yeah. All right.

So, James, as we wind down here, I see you have a couple of CDs on the Palma Pasta. I even made a note so I don't forget one thing because I've been so busy. So, we started off with the Tiki Collective, right? With Vesuvius Music. And this is just me and one other fellow, Lorenzo, and then we

have other people who are like patron saints who come in. They either donate because they like the artist we're working with, or they invest and want some return. Either way. So we'll take little bits of money or lots of money. But we get people to help out. So we got to John Finley and June Garber. Okay, let's talk about these wonderful people.

So John Finley was with, from the very beginning, John and Lee and the Checkmates. Huge stars in Toronto. from the very beginning, John and Lee and the Checkmates. Huge stars in Toronto. People older than me were seeing them and freaking out, saying that he was like James Brown, but he looks like a little leprechaun, but he was James Brown.

He was the funkiest, soulful guy you've ever seen, right? Totally. Then he went away to play. You've got to have him on your show. He had Rhinoceros, world-famous first super group. I have his vinyl from when I was a kid. So the fact that I get to work with him now and his voice is better now than it's ever been. Okay, you know what? I actually have been thinking, at some point over the last year

I got a PR email about John and I went into YouTube and started kind of catching up. Robbie Robertson said he was one of the greatest singers in Canada in the 60s. Paul Schaefer is still a fan. Paul Schaefer introduced him at one of the shows. You know what, I would say it's my mandate here at TMDS to get John Finley on Toronto Night. And here's another. June Garber. Yeah, tell me about June.

Off the carousel. She came from South Africa. She was away from music for about 10 years. She is so... Again, her life story is so amazing. Every woman who meets her wants to be her because she is so naturally gracious. Think of if Zsa Zsa Gabor meets Mother Teresa or something like that.

I don't even know. Why not? She's got a big heart. She's super classy. She's like, hello, my babies. Everything's beautiful. She brings the energy on. Both of them, what I love about this is both of them, and I'm the most non-ageist person I know.

I have a best friend who's 11 and a best friend who's 77. I don't care how old you are. I love people. And these two have stories to tell, not just great voices. Because they've lived a life. Stories to tell. So we put out their records. Now coming out very soon, Lou Pomonti. Lou they've lived a life. Stories to tell. So we put out their records. Now coming out very soon, Lou Pomonti.

Lou Pomonti and Friends. So he's got Mark Jordan, David Clayton Thomas, all kinds of people on his record. Sure. Leon Taylor. What's Allen's? Yeah,

Lunch at Allen's. Yeah. With Mark Jordan. Mark's fantastic. With Merv Glocklin. Right. Who else is in that? Somebody else.

Oh, Ian Thomas. Right. Wow. Right? Yeah. Crazy. Then, Irene Torres and Queen Pepper. is in there somebody else uh oh uh ian thomas right wow right yeah crazy um then irene torres and queen pepper we're having we're just starting their records now that'll come out this year and then the weirdest thing is uh like i my first second time i've ever had a pitch that worked

once was many years ago but but um i i spoke to a woman on Zoom and I got funding for a short film that I'm doing this summer. And so that's kind of right now my most exciting cosmic carrot is I finally get to go make a film. What do you mean? You just randomly, you know, what, you met her on...

Someone told me, I know this woman. A dating app? What's going on? No, a friend of mine said, I know this woman. She wants to get in the film business. Okay.

So I got her on Zoom and I said, what exactly are you looking for she told me i said well i could probably help you i have five things in development one of them is inexpensive i was hoping to get like half a million for the feature but i'm like and even that is like a demo feature it's not even a real budget i can imagine but anyway i i i got the uh the short film and it's by the pitch i can't i can't give it to you now but but it's like it's film, and it's by the pitch. I can't give it to you now, but it's a two-minute pitch. That made her go, okay, I'm in. Okay, and you can't share what this is about or anything.

Not yet. It's still in the middle of financing and stuff. Well, you know what? Good for you, man. You can't just be catching giant marlins off the coast in the Pacific. You need to actually use that massive creative brain of yours and put it to work once in a while. You're prolific, man. You're doing so many things.

You're a true character. I honestly consider you famous, and I consider you a great FOTM, man. We'll do this again, but I love these visits from James. Well, this is good, especially because it's been a few years, and honestly, in those last four years, you know, I learned so much from lockdown.

I didn't lose my crap. I did know way less time on social media. Don't argue and try to change people's minds. I don't get in

the trucker debate. Forget it. I'm going to focus on my well-being And they fight dirty, so don't fight with them because they fight dirty. Well, also,

I'm going to try to help the musicians that I love and the friends that I have and just try to move forward and stay positive. Before I say goodbye, could you very, very quickly tell me what your tour of Liberty Village is about?

That was just something I did every year for Jane's Walk, where I'd take 50 to 100 people and I'd walk through the bullhorn and I'd tell them all the history of Liberty Village. Is it free or what? When do you do it? Are you going it free or what? Like, can I, when do you do it? Are you going to do it again?

Well, Mother's Day or whenever Jane's Walk is. Right. It changes dates. But because of COVID, I couldn't, so I did it on camera with my buddy,

Otak Fang. He's a young guy from China who's studying at Ryerson. He took his camera, we went through Liberty Village and we made a video together and it's getting a lot of hits and people,

I think, it's a fascinating area of Toronto. I like it. And I lived there for a long time. I worked there for a long time. So I know all the weird little history. For example, Bishop Strachan. He's from Scotland.

He was never Strawn. Right. What the heck? You don't call it Strawn. Right. That's the last thing he'd want to be called. He's like, oh, great. So the British can't say my name right so they're just going to give me their version yeah he didn't like it

you know he was ornery though he was an ornery fella so liberty village that's actually where sticker you is headquartered there really you're at 219 dufferin there beautiful yeah i actually you know what i've actually had stickers made there and i didn't know the name of the company but i've walked in there and done it. So there you go. Well, Andrew Witkin from StickerU is on episode 1,000 with you. But James, before my lowest of the low runs out,

I got to thank some sponsors, but I just want to thank you again. This is amazing. We got to get our photo. Thanks for the party gifts. You just tell me, give me an address. I will bike a vegetarian lasagna to you and hand deliver that to you.

Beautiful. address, I will bike a vegetarian lasagna to you and hand deliver that to you. Beautiful. And that brings us to the end of our 1,001st show. I'll be back in 2001. I mean, 2001st show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. James, what's your Twitter handle?

Oh, well, you can find me at, I believe it is James B. Says. J-A-Y-M-Z-B-E-E-S-E-Z. But you can also find me at J-A-Y-M, for Americans, Z-B-E-E-DOT-C-A. That's actually the best place to go because you'll see all my crazy shit right there. Okay, go there.

We say Zed on this show, okay, James? Yeah, I'm going to do it. But most people know how to spell my name here. Americans don't. We have our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Anthony, I'm going to be requiring vegetarian lasagna from my friend James.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. Thanks, man. Smoke them if you got them. See you all tomorrow when my special guest is gold medalist and Olympic and world record holder Donovan Bailey. I actually know him.

That's an athlete I've heard of. Yay! holder Donovan Bailey. I actually know him. That's an athlete I've heard of. Yay. Yay. 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 Sacré-Cœur. 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