Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - JJ and Melanie: Toronto Mike'd #672

Episode Date: June 22, 2020

Mike catches up with JJ and Melanie during the pandemic to find out what they've been up to, what they think of Flow syndicating a US morning show, and their podcast before they each kick out a jam.

Welcome to episode 672 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup. Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. The Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home.

Text TORONTOMIKE to 59559. And our newest sponsor, CDN Technologies. Your IT and cyber security experts. I'm Mike from TORomike.com and my guest today, making their second appearance are JJ and Melanie. What's up? Welcome back. How are you guys? How you doing? Oh, JJ.

Ladies first. I believe that's the, yeah, go ahead. All right. All right. I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I was actually commenting on your COVID hair, Mike. It's a look, man. It's something. I guess it's a look. Yeah. I had a little white goatee going. I was trying to be like a man and grow a goatee and it was coming in pretty good. And then half of my kids hated it passionately and my wife didn't like it either.

So I had to lose that, but the hair I'm going to keep going with. Yeah, I like the hair. It's very, uh, it's very Trudeau of you. Oh, well, that's a compliment. I use a right JJ. That's a compliment. If someone says that is I'm, I'm envious of youvious of you if hair envy is a thing i definitely got that for you i'm green with it um i actually threatened my kids as well to threatened that was a bit of a threat you don't threaten your children i was gonna grow out my beard as well and uh and they started to cry and said they'd miss me okay funny story real quick is that when i did shave it after i had it for like a month and then I shaved it and I came downstairs and all clean shaven and my six-year-old started openly weeping. He was openly crying, like tears, real crying. I said, what's wrong? And he said, he missed my beard. And I had to have like a heart to heart with the guy about, you know,

like, you know, hair grows back and it's still me and all this. And I, it's, I only had it for like, Like, you know, hair grows back and it's still me and all this. And I only had it for like, I don't know, five weeks of the six years the guy's known me. So, yeah. I can relate to him, though, as a woman. I like a beard, man. I like the beard. I'm going to grow it back. They say that the beard is like the bra for men these days.

It hides some stuff. This is the new thing. Yes. Every man looks hot with the beard now that's a thing it's true okay my mom this is my source on this my mom tells me i'm i'm too handsome to have a beard because she's of the opinion that ugly guys grow a beard and that improves their looks and she and this is my mom so she's kind of what i'm saying yes it's basically the same thing so jj should not grow a beard because he's a handsome guy.

Thank you. Since we're chucking around compliments, you have a very strong jawline, Toronto Mike. Mel, would you just leave us alone? Do you mind if I just... Yeah, I mean, I can step out of the room. No problem. Okay, so quick catch up. Where are you in the world?

Like, where have you... What are we? Like three and a half months into this thing almost. So let's start with you, Mel. And then whereabouts have you been hunkered down during the COVID pandemic nothing has changed for me I'm still working still doing mornings and berry and uh yeah like we're in studio so my life hasn't changed at all. I mean, other than not really seeing a lot of friends. But yeah, it's all been basically the same for me. Okay, so you're going into the station. Yeah.

And you've been doing that the whole time? The whole time. Hasn't changed. Barry just doesn't give a rat's ass about this thing. Seems like it, doesn't it? No, we're in separate studios um and basically there's no one in the building right now it's just like us really um and that's play hide and seek no we don't actually should we should it would be fun uh but we because i voice track other shows i had they don't have the technology for me to voice track remotely.

So I had to stay in the studio. So that's kind of why I'm there. Okay. Can you run down the laundry list here? Like where can you be heard professionally right now? Like I'm not talking about the podcast of JJ, which I'll talk to you about soon, but like where exactly can Mel, where can you be heard? Doing mornings on big 101.1 in Barrie, uh doing mornings on big 101.1 in barry uh hits 100.7 up north and uh in kitchener at uh on the beat middays oh the beat that's where like uh scott turner is that where scott turner was or

am i confusing my kitchener stations i get confused like i don't know you don't know it's okay i don't know the history okay and. And you're like, you're in Barry right now. Of course you live in Barry. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool.

JJ, what about you? Like where are you right now? And where have you been for this, this pandemic? Right now I'm in my basement. I've been in my basement the whole time. Me too.

I have my work computers here. I still work for CBC too. I have my work computers here. I still work for CBC Music and I have my computers here in the basement with me. So I've just been coming in at 8 o'clock in the morning. I'm down in the basement

and I'll stay here until like 3, 4 p.m. and then drag myself back upstairs. But do you go on the radio with that silver Yeti mic I see, that USB mic? Is that what you on the radio with that uh that silver yeti mic i see that usb mic is that what you use yeah i have a silver yeti and then i also have a samson g sure g g shock what is it sure i think s-h-u-r-e maybe g track samson g track and it's kind of an old

fashion-y kind of microphone but i really liked it but then people are like ah if you're going to be doing podcasting, you got to get yourself the Yeti. They're about the same. Okay, but that other mic is not a USB mic, right? That's an actual... It is a USB mic. Oh, it is a USB mic.

Okay, cool. And again, name drop that mic you've got, Mel, because for some reason I saw this big old mic and I figured, oh, she's broadcasting on that mic when she's on... No, it's just an Apex 747. But here, let me show you if anybody's looking, right? I'm looking.

It's very sexy without the sock. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. Isn't she pretty? It looks like an award. That's why I bought it. Really about the looks. Yeah, it's a hot looking mic you got there.

Yeah, I know. So you guys are making your second appearance so a couple of fun facts I don't know if they're fun or not but you were in the calendar when this pandemic struck like coming soon you were both gonna I was gonna make you get your butts back to this studio and you were gonna kick out the

jams with me like this was going to happen before everything changed and then we had to like I don't know maybe you were booked like a week the jams with me. Like this was going to happen before everything changed. And then we had to like, I don't know, maybe you were booked like a week after everything changed or something. And it was like, I guess we can't do this anymore. And I don't know about you guys. I was heartbroken.

I don't know about you guys. I was grateful because you were stressing me. Can I swear on your podcast? I can't remember. Yes, you can. You were stressing me the F out. Cause I was like, we had to choose five songs.

Was that what it was? I can't remember. Was it five or three? Yeah. Because I was like, we had to choose five songs. Was that what it was? I can't remember. Was it five or three? Yeah, because you're, yes. Normally, if it's one person comes over 10, I think you both had to pick five. Yes. Yeah, that was freaking, that was stressing me out. How do you expect people to pick just five songs, Mike?

I don't know. But Mel, it can be. I kind of feel like that is the hardest thing for me to do ever. Do you know how many people have done it though? Like it's, I don't know, 80 people have been able to do it. Now it's not, you know, your favorite songs. So it's just me then. Yeah, because you're thinking too much.

Like just pick five songs that mean something to you and would result in an interesting story. Like maybe this is the song I listened to right after I gave birth to my daughter. And you know, one of those things, you know, like something that just means something to you. No, I know. But there's so many, Mike, that's the thing. I'm that person. That's like, that's my song. That's my song. JJ, you know, and most people are. And when you have to like, you're about to represent, you know, or present yourself out into the world based on your musical taste. that's a stressful moment for me. It's important to choose the right songs.

So I was freaking out about it. And JJ, you didn't- JJ, why are you laughing? Because at the end of the day, it's just five songs. It's just five songs. And no one's going to remember the five songs that you chose. Your five is going to change in like three hours later anyway so it's like just pick five you know i was on that note this is a morbid thought and uh

i apologize in advance but uh this is episode i know it's great opening statement so just stop listening to me right now but this is episode 672 no guest of toronto mike has ever died okay is that morbid that's morbid yes but but none of them have died and they've been doing this depending on where it's going right now here's where it's going one of us gonna die is this no those crazy the saw type episodes mike what are you saying here man what's going on no you guys you guys aren't even midlife yet you guys are going long okay you guys are gonna live a long time but uh at some point, a guest of mine who maybe an older guest,

like someone in their eighties is going to, at some point, a guest of mine will die. Like everyone dies at some point. Right. And my thought is, and I don't, I don't root for this at all.

This sounds terrible. But if somebody who's kicked out the jam should pass away, I suspect people will revisit that jam kicking. Like this will be like sort of a i see an eternal legacy so you're right so yes hopefully it's like go ahead yeah mike i i have like i i look at choosing five songs like that kind of level of importance and i think you should you should because jj's like brushing it off like hey it, it's just five songs. No, man, five songs. You're going to,

who knows if you're ever going to hear from me again, right? And if I, I need to know that I left the perfect five songs that represent me. And I get that because this will, like this is going to outlive you. Like I'm telling you, you know what I mean? This is, get it right. And JJ, we're going to,

just a little teaser for later in this ep. But there's time. We're each going to kick out one song as a teaser for when you eventually do visit me again. Because hopefully eventually. Right. How was your father's day? Go ahead, JJ. So I was going to say we're episode what?

Seven sixty something. You just said six seventy two. Six seventy two. I don't know what our number was the last time we visited but i have thought about going back to listen to that episode and i'm like i start scrolling and i'm like forget this it's too far you put out too much content man for anybody to ever scroll back to see what melanie's top five songs were better. You just tweet them, Martin,

or put them on your, your epitaph. By the way, for those who are listening at home, if you want to hear the initial deep dive with JJ and Melanie, it's well worth your time. It is episode four 81. It's not that much.

It was exactly a year ago. It was June, way back then june 26 2019 which sounds like a million years ago but it was only like less than a year ago so uh go do that maybe pause right pause right now go listen to 481 and then come right back and uh check in with us again uh jj i just want to know how your father's day was it was very good my my family my wife and kids uh spoiled me um they came downstairs and we went outside they had me sit in the backyard and they uh my daughter put a construction paper crown on my head and they

brought out uh gifts wrapped in in boxes that didn't belong to the gifts. So I was fooled the whole time. Wow. They got me. Let me see this here. It looks like it's tea, doesn't it? Yes. But really, it's gum.

Wow. That's great. Because they know I like to chew gum when I'm down here working. So stuff like that. It was very nice. And then I went to home Depot to get some supplies for some gardening I was doing. And I came home and there was a whole bagels and locks spread on the,

on the table. So I was doubly surprised. And then my wife brought me a beer and just handed it to me. Whoa. Walked away. Didn't say anything. Gave me a beer. expectations just none not an expectation to be seen that's good how about you you got two kids mike three four four keep going jj

four kids and it was great yeah i knew it was a special day because my oldest daughter she never says that she said dad you want to go for a bike ride? This is on Saturday. She said, do you want to go for a bike ride tomorrow? Because she knows I get ridiculously excited that Lakeshore is closed to car traffic. Like it's, right. So every Saturday and Sunday that it's been closed, it's from Windermere to like near Bathurst or something. I've been doing it just because I can.

Like it's exciting to me that I get to bike with her. So she had joined me. She joined me yesterday. So she joined me for the bike ride. And yeah, I had a great day. It was, we got a, took a, all I ask every Father's Day

is that we all take a picture together. Like, cause the teenagers don't want to pose for pictures anymore. How old are your kids? All right. The oldest is 18. Then Michelle, who went on the bike ride with me, she turned 16 in July. And then there's the six-year-old who cried when my goatee was shaved.

That's Jarvis. He's six. And then there's the sweet baby Morgan, who's four years old and is the cutest thing in the world. Wow. That's very busy. And then there's the sweet baby Morgan who's four years old and is the cutest thing in the world. So, wow. That's very busy. Jump between kids there. State the obvious,

but it's a huge jump. Everybody draw, everybody draw your own conclusions there. No, I will fully disclose. They are, uh, each wife produced two beautiful children for me.

I see. Okay. There was a few possibilities there. It would be unusual though. Although I have heard of it happening with one accident like a mistake but you don't do two mistakes dude I was totally avoiding the word accident and mistake and you just

dove right into it I'll say this and no judgment to anyone on this call or elsewhere but I actually tried very hard to make all four I tried very hard to make all four children like it was definitely like trying to make all four be i know mel's laughing i tried very hard to make all four children like it was definitely like trying to make a baby so for what that's worth i wonder what that's like i wonder what that's gonna like to have parents who actually wanted you you know

mine are all like ah shit that wasn't supposed to happen i was like how nice it is for your children to hear that. You know, I tried. I wanted this. You were very intentional. But I tell them all, very intentional. Although I had to be talked into number four because that wasn't part of the deal.

Intentional to what capacity? You were down to fuck that night? No. We say DTF on this program. Oh, I'm sorry. The only difference is that you literally make sure you do it every second day. This is it. We're doing it every second day, but not every day because you need to let the boys build up or whatever.

There's a method to the madness. There is a method to the madness. Do you know the method with regards to if you're trying to have a boy and if you're trying to have a girl oh god uh have you heard this i want to hear it from you but i did hear somebody uh tell me that if i smoked a lot of weed i'd have a girl because my my boys would swim slow yeah this is and i didn't take the advice because it sounded ridiculous to me and i didn't care if it was a boy or girl but tell me what you've heard because it sounds like it'll be 50 50 no matter what you do but tell me so apparently uh boys uh boy seed if you will uh swim fast and die early okay don't they don't they don't last very long they swim fast and then they die but the girls live for a long time and swim really far so if you want a boy you need to cast deep as they say and if you want a girl if you if you want a girl you cast shallower because they're gonna

they'll they'll swim past the boys when the boys die to make it to the egg on time that's the theory anyway didn't you you, you told this, I remember when you were going through this JJ, you talked about it on our show. Yeah, because I, I remember that at the time we had, did it work for you?

Like, I don't really, I can't remember. Like, did it actually pan out that way? It worked. Yeah, it did.

Right. Yeah. Okay. But at the time we were working for a guy and he, he and his wife were also trying to have a kid and they, they wanted a particular sex of a child. And, um, I took it upon my, I was not close with this, this guy at all. And I took it upon myself to tell him this theory. Right.

And in the middle of me telling him the theory, I realized. Basically, I'm telling this guy how to fuck his wife, my boss, my boss, which is ill advised. Never tell your kids, never tell your boss. There's a grown up lesson. Yeah. Never tell your boss how to fuck his wife properly when you get yourself a job. And this was that flow i'm not saying where it was yeah mike i'm using my deductive logic here okay but you you succeeded like i've never had a big preference but i did try like i did try i didn't do anything different or anything like that or whatever but like i know that with my first wife i wanted two kids and i

wanted a boy girl like this this is what I wanted, one of each. And then in my second marriage, I wanted boy girl. And it just so happens I did boy, girl, boy, girl. Like, so it's as if I had like wrote it on the board that way, but I didn't do anything different. So it just got, I don't know, got lucky or whatever, but I would have been happy with anything. So there you go. This is the Father's Day edition. I like this. Uh, yeah, here, let me, uh, let everyone know, including you guys, because I know you'll want to be a part of this. I built, we're not in it now. We're in a Zoom studio or whatever. I'm in my basement, but I have a backyard studio all set up and ready to rock where there's like 10 feet. And I,

you can see all this, like on my Periscope. I did a test episode. Well, it wasn't an episode, but I did a test recording with my six-year-old and my four-year-old just to see how all the parts worked and everything. But basically I'm on my backyard deck with good Wi-Fi and the webcams all set up. And then like 10 or so feet away,

but also on the grass, so like lower than me and 10 feet away, is like one of those Costco foldable tables where I've got the boom swing mic thing. And then I'm going to test this tomorrow. Ben Rayner, do you guys know Ben Rayner? No. Okay, he wrote forever for the Toronto Star,

like about music, until earlier this year. But Ben Rayner is going to walk over and go into my backyard and sit in the social distanced backyard studio. I'm going to do my first in-person recording with a non-family member exactly since March 13th.

So that's happening tomorrow. That's incredible, man. That's cool. Good for you. You gotta make shit happen during this time, right? You gotta figure it out. Right. Everyone's coming up with creative solutions. It's fucked up time. So the only thing that'll mess the plan, of course, is if it

decides it's gonna rain. I can't afford to lose this expensive gear. So if there's gonna be rain, I can't do it. But anyway, you say this is tomorrow? Tomorrow at 7pm. You need an umbrella sponsor. That's true, yeah. It is supposed to be raining. I can't do it. But anyway, you say this is tomorrow, tomorrow at 7 PM. That's true. Yeah. It is supposed to rain tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, JJ. Is it? I don't know. I don't know. We'll find out in my basement. It doesn't really matter to me. I don't know why I'm just throwing it out there.

Do you guys have an opinion on the whole, like I heard today, Ben Mulroney is like stepping down from his e-talk. Is he really? That's breaking news to me. Yes, this is apparently true. Like I saw a little video. He did it on your morning. He announced he was leaving.

What's it called? He has so many jobs. It's hard to keep track of them all. But he's leaving e-talk. And in his statement, he does this. I guess he says he wants to step down so there can be a more diverse person in the role. And I just, since this is news, I don't know, JJ Mel, I'm just curious if you have any opinions on that at all. I guess he did that. That's a follow-up decision because of what happened with his sister.

It's not a sister. It's his wife. It's not a sister. Or his wife. Sorry. It's okay. His sister was the one who. It's not a sister. Or his wife. Sorry. That's okay. His sister was the one who wanted the Doug Ford job, I think. Yes. Go ahead. So I'm assuming that's why, yeah?

For sure. I mean, I'm not stupid. To me, if that doesn't happen, this doesn't happen. It's all kind of muddled up together and he had to spin something. And also, I don't know if you guys know

that Lainey, do you know Lainey from The Social? Lainey from Lainey Gossip? Lainey Gossip, yeah. Like she wrote this like pretty long entry about, you know, just about working with Ben and Jessica and the whole thing. And then I don't know if this is all, like, I don't know. I'm just speculating that this is all kind of a spin so that he leaves that

so he doesn't have to, it would be kind of weird for him to be working with Lainey at that point. So he doesn't have to, it'd be kind of weird for him to be working with Laney at that point. And I don't know. I'm just curious if you guys, longtime members of the, the media here had any thoughts at all on the Ben Mulroney stuff at all. This seems like a good time to take a pause and thank the Toronto Mike partners who helped fuel the

real talk I believe this morning Doug Ford announced that you could open up a patio in Toronto but I've got word from our friends at Great Lakes Brewery fresh local craft beer that they're not ready to open up that patio

this weekend. So slow your roll there. It's worth the wait. I'll let you know or follow Great Lakes to find out when they're ready to open up that patio. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't score some tasty, delicious, fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. So thank you, Great Lakes Brewery, for your support. Thank you, Palma Pasta. lakes so thank you great lakes brewery for your support thank you palma pasta honestly i had a

an off the record chat with mel about that lasagna she got last time she was over uh the frozen meat lasagna from palma pasta she says it is unbelievably flavorful she loved it and i can't wait to get her another one. And you can get one right now. Go to palmapasta.com to find out where they're at. Stickeru.com. Been fantastic partners for a year now. Anything you need.

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Super safe. Thank you, sticker U. Austin Keitner from the Keitner Group. Man, they're killing it in this neck of the woods. And if you have any GTA real estate questions, you've got to talk to Austin. Text Toronto Mike to 59559. And speaking of phone numbers, Barb Paluskiewicz from CDN Technologies. If your network seems slow or if you got some malware, a virus problem, anything at the computer, you call Barb. 905-542-9759. Barb Paluskiewicz from CDN Technologies will take care of you. And GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike.

I love this service. The evening before my curbside collection, I get a text message from Garbage Day to let me know, is it recycling? Is it garbage? Is it the yard waste? I got a lot of yard waste right now. Been doing a lot of weeding. GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike

is where you sign up. Do it. It's free. It's awesome. And it helps the show. Thanks to all the Toronto Mike partners who helped fuel the real talk. Now let's go back to the program and hear how Mel and JJ handle my big Ben Mulrooney question. Well,

I don't have any specific thoughts. We have worked with Ben in the past several times and he was always a friend of the show and was always down to have fun with JJ and Melanie. We'd had a great April fool's day prank on me episode, which was hilarious. I think he's a cool cat and I, I don't know his wife. I never met her.

Right. I don't know her heart. I don't know anything about her. I know that Ben's a good guy and I'll take him for now at his word until something else comes out. But if he's trying to make a difference, I think that a lot of people right now are trying to make a difference. And we have to, I think when people, we talked about this on one of our episodes, one of our recent episodes, if people are showing that they are trying to change and are trying to help, then just

let them change and help until they prove something different to you. You know what I mean? And if this is where it seems like his heart's at, then who am I to judge a man's heart? I say, yeah, thanks. Thanks, Ben. Thanks for doing that. And he really did have a lot of jobs, like leave some jobs for other people, right? Like I think he had like 10 jobs.

He's a very, I understand. I have a friend who works on the Your Morning. Ben's a very hardworking guy, like lots of jobs. Yeah. So he's got one less job there now, for sure. It's like a West Indian. We all have tons of jobs. I don't think that, I mean, but that's not,

I think the responsibility is not on Ben that he's had a lot of jobs. The responsibility is on who's hiring him. Right. I mean, diversity needs to be there. They need to make those decisions. So it's, you know, I think right now, hopefully people are paying closer attention to that and need to really, you can't hire the same person over and over and over again. You know, you shouldn't be, I mean, I don't know. I like

Ben. I don't have any issues with him at all. I wouldn't be airing it out if I did anyway. Sorry, Mike. Drink another sip of that beer and then we'll see. I don't know him well enough to, you know, I really don't. But what I do know is that I did always feel like the same talent was doing the same thing over like in multiple roles. And I think, yeah, give other people other opportunities. I think like, why not? It just makes sense. Yeah, no, that makes sense to me too. And I don't, I've never met Ben, but like I said, I've heard nothing but nice things about the guy.

But that, yeah, that's the big announcement uh you made this morning he's leaving uh leaving e-talk to focus have you ever asked him to be on your podcast here that's a good question because like if I haven't asked him like it seems like an oversight because he's got a hundred jobs in this uh local media yeah you're right and I don't have any memories of asking him so he's never given me a no. I just don't think I've asked him. I don't know. What was Lainey Gossett's statement? I'm interested in hearing that.

Do you know what she said? Do you remember? I'm trying to remember. It was long. I remember that. Like it was one of those long reads. And I'm so worried about messing it up now with my paraphrase. If you two go into a long rant or diatribe, I could quickly Google it.

But it was about, she feared some repercussion from the Mulroney family if she spoke out against Jessica Mulroney. It was really, yeah, I always in fact, I tweeted the link to it and I called it Real Talk because it was Real Talk.

And she said it might not come tomorrow, it might not come tomorrow, it might not come next week, but it probably will at some point come, like actual repercussions for going against. Because remember, Jessica, and I don't know her at all either, but I don't know what's in her heart, like JJ said.

But she's connected to two pretty powerful families, right? Because her family, into its own right, is a powerful family in this country. And then she married into the Mulroney family. So, yeah, so Lainey wrote this piece. And it's all kind of mixed up because Lainey does work on eTalk with Ben. And, well, no longer, I suppose.

But anyway, just lots of interesting things going on. And I alluded, like, I talked about Ben Rayner coming on Toronto Mike tomorrow. If it doesn't rain, I'm going to tell ben if it's raining don't come over but uh also i don't know where you go pee like i haven't fully thought it through i have the safe space but i like if ben says i gotta take a leak like do i let ben into the into the studio bait washroom like i don't know i don't think so like what do i tell that i said go find a bush is that what you can't let him in your house i know so it's like oh you got to go to the washroom like you know go go to lakeshore and find something on lakeshore go to the lake and

be discreet like i haven't thought it all through yet but yeah well that's that's one of the many benefits of being a man is that you can pee anywhere just stand up and pee no you gotta figure it out you're a big boy yes you gotta pee go you gotta bucket mike new rule um male guests only until we figure out this that's right exactly until i get a vaccine in place here but oh so i brought up ben again because i wanted also the toronto star so i don't toronto star is a big newspaper in this country big in this market and they seem to like i know they have they pretty much got rid of the local like entertainment coverage so they got rid of peter howell who was doing movies ben rayner and others who was doing music so uh i just and again i'm just curious if uh like like like when I hear things like now,

I know now magazine's been purchased and there seems to be rumors that their arts coverage is going to disappear in favor of like commercial cannabis coverage or something of that nature. Like, do we have any concerns? Like who's covering the arts in the city now? Is it just you guys now? We're not covering it anymore. On the podcast, maybe? I don't know. We rarely talk about anymore no on the podcast maybe i don't know uh we rarely talk

about entertainment stuff on the podcast i think we like right jj i mean i'm right yeah hardly like unless it's something that uh we're totally into um and or it's a story that we can relate to as human beings but i don't give a shit what celebrities are doing anymore. No, not celebrities. I mean, local arts, like local Toronto art scene. I don't mean so. I don't care about celebrity shit either. I know that's time. That reckoning is long overdue.

I'm talking about like local musicians who aren't named, you know, the weekend. Like I'm talking about these, the smaller, the smaller stuff and local local filmmakers who aren't like Steven Spielberg, I'm talking about the actual local arts scene. If the Toronto Star gets rid of their local entertainment section and now Magazine stops covering it, we really are. Yes, I'm sure Metro Morning will have a correspondent or two chiming in or whatever. Someone should, for sure. Any thoughts on that one,

Mr, uh, Mr. Laborde? Uh, I, I'm sure that other publications will pick up the slack. I think that if they're smart, they'll see an opportunity.

I also think that, uh, um, like who turns to, sorry, print. I have a lot of friends or a few friends in print, but I don't think people are turning to print anymore per se.

And I think that, uh, uh, guys like, uh, Rad Simon Poulet, who's a good friend of mine. I think that, uh, he'd be smart to, you know, start a, start his own website, his own blog, uh, like Rudy Blair. He kind of did that. He went off and did his own thing after he left 680 News. And I think that more stuff like that is kind of coming down the pike. I mean, everyone's kind of doing their own thing. JJ and Melanie, we went off and we're doing our own thing.

You know what I mean? I think there'll be more of that. Well, you know my thoughts on JJ and Melanie. If you see them, let them know. I feel that right there is the CBC Radio 2 morning show. That's the morning show. Yeah. They're not looking to hire JJ and Melanie.

For sure. But not JJ and Melanie. Not our product as us together. I mean, individually. No, but why not, though? I'm just straight up curious because, of course, Raina left a long time ago now to work in Pittsburgh. I think, yeah, during COVID, I think she's back,

but to work in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia, yeah. Is it Philadelphia? Why do I think it's Pittsburgh? Okay, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Okay, yeah, okay, you're right. But why not JJ? Just tell me straight up, why not JJ and Melanie?

Because we don't fit the model of what CBC does or wants at all. We talk about relationships and lifestyle and ourselves and the world, and that's not what, I mean, traditionally, that's not what CBC Music would want at all. Like, I mean, listen to the announcers on CBC Music. Oh, no, I 100% agree with you. I just, I don't see why not.

Like, whenever I listen to your podcast and listen to you guys together, like, it's good. Like, you guys are good together like it just seems strange that we live in a world where you don't you don't fit anywhere uh traditionally like it's like you gotta roll your own to exist thank you mike but you know what the thing is here's the thing we really we appreciate that it's awesome um to put jj like jj works at cbc to put him it kind of feels weird to put him in that position to answer that

question um but jj and i think you're super happy going this way you know it's it's not traditional CBC to put him, it kind of feels weird to put him in that position to answer that question. But JJ and I think are super happy going this way. It's not traditional. We don't want to do traditional. It's fine. This is where we're going now. And that excites both of us. So it's awesome that he's got his own thing. I'm doing my thing. And we have this awesome podcast that's really picking up some steam. We have a lot of our listeners from back in the day who have come through and are sticking by us and hopefully we'll open up

to a new audience. And like, we're really proud of that. And that's really where we want to focus. Yeah. One actually doesn't have anything to do with the other. No. Melanie's gig, my gig

and the thing we do together. Yeah. Okay. I didn't mean to make it awkward there i realized of course there's a little conflict there but i uh just just think i was just thinking out loud as the yeah i've heard i've heard people have texted not texting me tweeted me and they talked about you on on toronto mic and i'll i'll go check it out and it's like somebody says yeah jj and melanie should do the morning morning show well that's mark wiseblo, yeah, JJ and Melanie should do the morning show. Well, that's Mark Weisblatt. Yeah, that's Weisblatt.

We certainly appreciate it. Like, yeah, don't get that twisted. Like, we certainly appreciate what you're saying. It's just I mean, it's kind of a weird thing. Yeah, we're not we're not interested in that. We really, really like what we do. And the fact that we don't have any rules to follow and any parameters to fall under. It's awesome.

It's great. We can show up drunk and or high and just do a show. I hear that. Okay. Then we'll leave all that talk behind us here. And since we're already awkward here, I'm just going to ask you a little bit about your... I don't feel like it's awkward.

I don't either. All right. Okay. I'm going to ask you a bit of flow. Mike feels awkward. I'm going to crack open another one of these Great Lakes beers. Crack it open, man. It's okay.

I would, but just before we press record, and this is a very rare event in this house when the French press gets used in the afternoon. It's every morning, the French press, and we have our coffee or whatever. I'm used to working from home doing the math. math nine years i'm home alone every single day and suddenly my wife is here all day every day and because you know covid i don't know if you heard but she she's like she came down very kind of her she came down of a hot coffee but i you know now i can't do the

beer like is that the beer coffee i can't like do them together doesn't doesn't work they don't go together crack it open and pretend what did you say any of that for no one was gonna call you on it authenticity jj come on it's okay i gotta ask you though this is a big big news at flow so uh they now have a syndicated american morning show i don't know if you've heard this maybe i'm breaking this news to you as well but there's a uh breakfast club is uh the breakfast club airs out of new york charlemagne and uh actually i'm gonna read a comment okay so i wrote about this change because i find this interesting i don't think we've had this in this market since howard stern was doing mornings on q107 where an american show was syndicated as the morning show on a local station. Okay. So I wrote about it on torontomic.com. And now when people like Google flow breakfast show

and stuff like that, or where's Blake and all these things, and suddenly they're on my entry and they're leaving a comment. Okay. So this one came in yesterday. Quote, I can't remember who wrote it, but somebody left this comment on torontomic.com. This is a disservice to the city of Toronto and a slap in the face to our urban music scene. What message are we sending to all the communications and journalism majors in this great city? Sorry, but no work for you because we are going to hedge our bets on Charlemagne of all people. If you want to air Breakfast Club, do it on the weekend. But weekday morning should be dedicated to the voices and talent of this city. And then this person put not one, not two, but three exclamation points.

Holy shit. Three. And I rarely see, I'll be honest, when I see the third exclamation point show up, I know we're angry're angry right so i need to hear from both of you now uh do you have any thoughts on a an american syndicated morning show uh on flow honestly i don't i don't think about flow that often yeah uh i think that uh that uh in radio private radio mistakes get made that happens and i would agree with whoever left the comment in fact when um this all happened um it it launched or it was about to launch and then the pandemic hit and they didn't

launch correct and they kept uh the the current morning or the the morning show as is um and i commented uh on the record on now weekly um saying exactly what what was just said in in the comment you just read um but uh you know the the management at uh at flow have often had the attitude, to their credit actually, let's throw some stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Let's see what works. And I think they're trying to see if this works. They are the main dude there. I won't say his name just in case.

He's not the main dude anymore. he's not the main dude anymore, but he has a reputation of, of yeah. Trying new things and and not being too worried about switching back. We made him a, I mean, we know that about that frequency and those, those managers. So yeah, they're giving it a go. Good luck. Melanie. Yeah, I'm the same. I should run for mayor. I really don't. I don't spend a lot

of time thinking about what's going on there, to be honest. It's kind of so far removed from my life. Having an American show here does not. I mean, it's to me, I'd love to see Canadian talent on the air period. You know, those are our jobs. Um, that sucks. Like, I think that's a, it's not a, but I clearly something's not working. So they're making a decision based on the fact that something's not working. So I don't know the inner workings. I don't know the reasoning why they're making these decisions, but something's not working for them. So they're doing this. And, you know, to me, my only opinion is Canadian station. I really feel like it should be Canadian talent.

That's kind of where I sit. And I realize, of course, because you were both, you were at a morning show on that same station at some point that it may seem like I'm asking you because you were a morning show on that same station uh at some point that it may seem like i'm asking you because you were the morning show there but i'm actually only curious as radio professionals i guess yeah i don't even mean to be asking you as somebody because i realize yeah that you guys actually had that that particular time slot at some point on that particular point in the dial but like as as as uh fans of hip-hop, as radio professionals,

Barry's not the GTA, so I'll say in the... Or is it? I don't know anymore. No, Mike, it's not. I just always wonder, because I personally, let me speak as a radio listener, I like all my radio, but particularly my morning

radio, I like it live and local. I ask two things of that morning, I like it live and local. I asked two things of that morning show, be live and be local, and they took the local part out. And one more thought on that, which is that, like JJ mentioned, this was scheduled to happen, I think it was going to happen on like March 16th, wait, 13th, 14th, yeah, maybe March 16th was going to be the launch of The Breakfast or the week after

that and they decided to stop no don't do it right now because we're in a global pandemic and our radio should be live and local so i mean even the management is basically saying like hey this is not the time to be syndicating an american show we need to be like local in the mornings right now so what changed then and now like Like now it's okay. Like, I just think that either, obviously, I don't know. I'm not a radio guy, but there's obviously some cost cutting angle to this that I'm not appreciating.

Yeah, they may have already paid for the service for a year. So they have to, you know, get their money's worth. Who knows if it's going to last, you know? Yeah, and other companies. I mean, you know, Mike, you, other companies have tried

um bringing in american shows and uh it's it looked like it was going okay and now they're gone so right you know i mean maybe they're just throwing some shit at the wall to see what sticks you know i just to me it's i think there's a lot of great canadian talent i think there's a lot of great canadian talent on the bench yes uh should be brought back up and um before you make those decisions that would probably be my choice you make a good point uh we got to support local talent behind the mic i would think uh and we've already taken away. I mean, I used to grow up, I grew up, I used to grow up. Did you know that? I grew up listening to like overnight shows,

like being quite amused by like late night live local programming where you could, you know, it was not as polished. You could tell like maybe they're cutting their teeth or putting in their reps and trying different funky things or whatever. But it was like, it was another place where a radio talent could get airtime and while they improved and that's that's that's long gone as far as i can tell yeah so uh right okay so okay yeah uh tell me about uh as much as you can about the podcast like like the JJ and Melanie podcast.

Am I right that you guys do seasons? Yeah, we're on season two right now. What's a season in the podcast world? We don't know yet. That's really my only question. He said with a wry smile. Yeah, it sounded sexy. No, I don't know why we did that.

We really, I think because season one was more, we weren't quite sure that we were moving forward. And remember, right? Well, yeah, well, season one was. Talked about it on the podcast. Right, it was actually, it was Melanie's podcast, right? It was unfiltered with Melanie. Right.

And then when I committed to coming on board, you know, 100% of the time, we decided, all right, a hundred percent of the time we decided, all right, well, we'll, we'll start fresh. We'll call all the episodes where I was just a guest.

Yeah. And when it was just Melanie season one and, and, and then when I started on it back in October, I guess mid October, we were like, yeah, let's do season start season two. So we were like,

whatever, 32 episodes deep now. Yeah. Okay. So are you like, yeah, let's do season, start season two. So we were like, whatever, 32 episodes deep now. Yeah. Okay. So are you like, did you just conclude season two or are you still, we're on vacation right now? Okay.

We're on vacation. Have you done a couple of weeks off? Yeah. Okay. So during like, I mean, did you, you were,

were you physically getting together and then, uh, or like, like, have you always done it remotely? Like, has anything changed during COVID? As with everything everything JJ and Melanie

we were ahead of the curve on all that and we were doing Zoom chat style Zencaster. It's what we're using to record every Wednesday to release for Thursday, Friday, June. So Mel would you guys ever see each other or

just it would just be audio that you'd hear and recorded? No we see each other. We're on FaceTime at the same time. Okay. Gotcha. Cause I was going to ask you, when was the last time you saw each other? Okay. You got to see each other, I think. So when was the last time you guys like saw each other? If you you're on vacation now. In real life?

No, like even on a, even on like a FaceTime or anything like. In real life, it's been a minute, man. It was like snow on uh even on like a facetime or anything like in real life it's been a minute man like snow on the ground last time yeah um yeah we see each other like once a week yeah for the podcast and or yeah we might give each other a phone call a couple times a week we actually and i've said this a number of times in recent years we actually really like each other now whereas before it was like the jury was out do they even like each other right but yes we actually do so it's a it's always a pleasure to you know call my do you know what specific like was there something you just kind of had to accept as part of the other's personality was there something specific that you

just had to kind of do like you have no idea. Don't get me in these stories. Because before we kick out these jams, I'd love to know how is it all of a sudden you sincerely like each other when you weren't sure before? What changes?

We always liked each other. We just had conflict. We did have conflict. Go ahead. Well, if you don't talk over me, then, you know. we always liked each other. We just had conflict. We did have conflict. Go ahead. Well, if you don't talk over me, then, you know. Conflict. Exactly.

We just said it on the last episode of Unfiltered that JJ at the beginning didn't really like me much. And I had to admit, you know, and move through some stuff. JJ forced me to really grow up and not be so bossy. You know, there was that.

So he really made me face some of those things and just be a little more respectful, I guess. He taught me some lessons I needed to learn. We were both much younger at the time and places in our lives and whatever. Yeah. And I think, and now too, like doing the podcast together and, you know, it's, it's on our own terms. There's no rules. It's like what we want. There's not so much stress. And it really is two friends talking. Yeah.

It boils down to it. Yeah. Awesome. Now I'm going to kick out a jam here. Now I'm going to, you're coming through the same channel here. Normally I'd set it up differently, but it's okay. I think we can, I could bring this down in the app here,

but let's. Oh, that's my jam. I know that one baby. And feel free to talk over it if you want. I'm going to... Oh, I was. Sorry. No, go ahead.

It's fine. I'm going to... Because I'll bring it down so it doesn't overpower your voice. But Mel, what song are we grooving to here? It's Marvin Gaye, Gotta Give It Up. This is one of my jams. This is just a song that makes me feel some confidence.

When I'm feeling shitty and I want to face some stuff, I put this on. Because he's basically saying, listen, man, you got to get in the ring. You cannot complain until you get in the ring. That's basically, I know it's a little more sexual in this song. But the idea behind it is get in the ring. That's basically, you know, I know it's a little more sexual in this song. But the idea behind it is get in the ring, you know, get yourself out there. And then, you know, at least you're trying. So it's kind of been my theme song over the last couple of years. Get in the ring.

I think that was a Guns N' Roses song, I believe, from Use Your Illusion 2. Was it? I don't know. Fair enough. JJ, do you remember this Guns N' Roses song, Get in the Ring Motherfucker and I'll Kick Your Bitchy Little Ass? You remember this song? You know, it's funny.

I was never a Guns N' Roses fan. Ever. Not even for a little bit. That's okay. That just shows you classier tastes. This is the song though, Mel, right? This is the one that sparked the lawsuit, right? Because the Robin Thicke song sounded too much like this, right?

Blurred Lines. Yeah, I think there was some stuff there. But for me, this one came into my life long, obviously, before that. And then it was in the Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack. So then it was like, oh shit, I love this song. Rediscovered it. Yeah, totally rediscovered it. Yeah. That's a Julia Roberts movie. Yes. I never sighed. I never sighed. But JJ, have you seen Eat, Pray, Love? I haven't. Trying to forget I even heard about it. my I mean Melanie talked about it a lot when it came out my wife

will reference it from time to time but other than Julia Roberts being in the movie I don't know anything about it something about eating praying and loving I'd imagine exactly I know Julia Roberts was in that movie and I also knew even from the moment I saw the

first trailer I knew I had no interest in seeing it. Like it was like, yeah, just, but, but Mel, I am, I'm glad you left an impression on you.

This is, this is key. So this, is this the basically Marvin Gaye? Do you remember your first Marvin Gaye exposure? Like, like when you were first became aware of Marvin Gaye? It would probably be

this song, yeah. I would say. Probably, yeah. I want to say for me, I know I'm just curious. I know some Marvin Gaye, but it's not really the artist in this particular circumstance. I mean, he's awesome, but

I don't have his collection. It's just this particular circumstance. I mean, he's awesome, but I don't have his collection. That's not, it's just this particular song. Just this jam, but that guy, yeah, that guy was good. But he died tragically, too.

I think his dad murdered him, I think. Yeah. He's the one, and I was very young at the time, I remember he had a hit in the early 80s,

Sexual Healing. This was Marvin Gaye, right? Yeah. Sexual Healing, and I remember he was the one You really not was marvin gaye right yeah uh sexual healing and i remember he was the one you really not know who marvin gaye is of course i know who marvin gaye is no way you're delivering this it's like i believe he sexual healing was no i know who marvin gaye is and he's the one who uh it was his uh star spangled banner at the nba all-star game that was uh

you know funky as all hell. So that was the, the, the bar there for a while. And then Whitney Houston came along. Right. And, uh,

you equaled it at the very least, but he had a very soulful rendition. My first, uh, uh, moment of, of Marvin Gaye coming into my consciousness was, uh,

night shift by the Commodores where they reference him and how he was a friend of theirs and i was like who is the who is marvin marvin that they kept singing about and then right i you know my mom told me who he was and then it was like adam marvin gave him a thing henry wrinkler well there was a movie right the light the late shift with henry wrinkler do you remember this the fun night shift? Night Shift with Henry Winkler. Was it Night Shift? That's how I remember it, but this is a long time ago, but early 80s maybe. Yeah, Henry Winkler, The Fonz.

Oh, The Fonz. Yeah. Henry. Oh, you guys are going way back. Well, we're a lot older than you, Mel. Michael Keaton. You're not a lot older than me. It's not about that.

It's just that I wasn't exposed to all of his music. That's the thing. Or these references. I don't know what the heck we're talking about. What the fuck are you guys even talking about? Yeah. Night what? I know of Night Court.

Oh, yeah. With Bull, Shannon. Yeah, I know that show. And the original, the bailiff who the old lady with the cigarette sounded like she smoked a couple of packs of cigarette an hour.

I think she actually died of lung cancer during the filming. Jesus, Mike. Wow, Mike. And Harry Anderson.

Way to go dark. Harry Anderson is, see, I was glad you guys came on so I could, I'm so lonely. I just need to shoot the shit with somebody

but I think we're glad to be here for you and I realized I'm gonna have to truncate it I don't like to do this but I think this jam is like 10 minutes long this is a long one right can we enjoy a moment of it I feel like we're yapping all over the whole thing and it's a great song

okay let me enjoy like turn it up for you here. I see you guys dancing. That's very cool. It's so good. Listen, man, if you're feeling like shit at any point in your life, I'm telling you, just crank that shit up. And when he's like, you just no more dancing against the, no, you just don't stand against the wall anymore. You just got to go. It's like, it just inspires you. Just crank that shit up and when he's like, you just no more dancing against the, no, you just don't stand against the wall anymore. You just gotta go. It just inspires you.

Just know, Mel, when you do have to come up with your five jams when we can finally do the kicking out the jams in person, which is a great deal of fun, I promise, you're gonna have to come up with different jams. You can't put this on your list because we're kind of burning it today. Oh, that was part of my five. Well, then I need six from you.

How's that? All right. All right. All right. We're going to kick out a different jam now. This one's for JJ. The Much Different Jam. Wearing horses

I mean a horse is a horse of course But who rides is important Sitting high with a uniform Parking orders Demand and order And I'm scared that I talk too much About what I think's going on I got away with this

They might drag me away for this Put me in a cage for this I might pay for this I just say what I want Like I'm made for this But I'm afraid some days We'll be right back. Outro Music All right, JJ, talk to us. What are we listening to here? This is Run the Jewels. It's kind of two songs in one. Report to the shareholders slash kill your masters. And, man, to me, it's like an epic song. It starts off with sort of being a song about obeying the system.

And then you feel this rage building to the point where you got to bring Zack the LaRocca in and kill your masters. And I just, I fucking love it. I have it on. I mean, I've been playing it since the album came out. R2J3 came out three years ago, two and a half years ago, whatever it is. And just given the state of the world these days, it has been my anthem. It's just, man, when I'm feeling that rage, I got it.

That and I had tickets to Rage Against the Machine and Run the Jewels. And now I got to wait till July 2021 to see them. Yeah, you were so excited about that. What are the odds that my favorite band from the 90s are going to be on tour with my current favorite band? I mean, what are the odds? And I'm like 47 years old. I mean, that's incredible. Like, you know, and anyway, turn it back up.

Let's hear the kill the masters part. All right, let's do it. Thank you. Memoirs of God's coming so miss me with the whoopie whoop You take the devil for God, look how he doing you I'm Jack Johnson, I be the slave cat to snag him too I'm Tyka Flowers with a higher power, hallelujah Life will get so bad it feel like God mad at you But that's a feeling baby, ever lose, I refuse I disabuse, these foolish fools are they foolish view.

I heard the revolution coming. You should spread the news. Garvey, mine, Tyson, punch. This is bad news. So feel me, follow me. Devil done got on top of me. Bad times got a monopoly. Give up, I did the opposite.

The pitch perfect did it properly. Only killed by his property. This life will stress you like Orson Welles on a radio. War after war, the world to make all your sameness go And these invaders from Earth are twerking our brains, you know Can't wait to load up the silos and make your babies glow It's so abusive, you beg somebody to root for you They'll snatch your hope up and use it like it's a hula hoop

And it's a loop, they talk to you just like their rulers do These fucking fools have forgotten just who they're fooling. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.

Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.

Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Then Zack's rage. Oh man, his voice is like, for some people it's Eminem's voice, the Venom and Eminem's voice that really speaks to them.

Zach's rage just burns to me. It fuels me, man. I love it. He's on a new, on the RTJ4, which is out now. He's on a track called Just, which is with Pharrell Williams. And, man, he's dynamite. Hit it. Bring it up. The world searches, the nation's nervous The crowds awaken, they can't disperse us We ain't at your service, won't stay sedated Won't state our numbers or our names Remain in faces, but dignify they can't erase us We ain't a secret rope, we'll talk through the flames Man the world gonna riot what's implied in the names Kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill ya, kill Dynamite. Honestly, I love it. I love kill, kill, kill, kill your master.

Dynamite. Honestly, I love it. R.T.J.? I love it. Back to La Roca. I love it. I love it. I still remember the first time I picked up the self-titled Rage Against the Machine album with the monk who had set himself on fire.

And playthrough, and I mean, we do these Pandemic Friday jam kickings, me and Stu Stone and Cam Gordon. And as recently as two Fridays ago, i was spinning killing in the name of just because i we were kicking out uh protest music i fucking love love that band and i and i love the uh see what it does to you you can't help it i actually want to throw a brick through a fucking uh window right now so just just just mel how about you how are you feeling right now. So just, just, just. Mel, how about you? How are you feeling right now? How's the heart rate? I feel fine.

I just, that was great. That was fantastic. No, you know, I just, I love, I love the story that it tells of, of, you know, you start off complacent and you develop your vices and then recognizing your vices and then the vices become your masters.

And I mean, this could be about vices or it could be about systems, which given the times we're living in, I'm all about destroying and killing systems of oppression. And man, this just fuels me and speaks to me on some huge levels. Well, before I play us off, if I may pick up what you put down there. Yeah. What a terrible cliche that is.

But would you speak to this? So I've been playing this song by Lois at the Low called The Barricade. And in this song, it's a couple years old now, but Ron Hawkins says, my next vote's with a brick. And I will say this as the father of four who is really unlikely to actually throw a brick

through any windows anytime soon. But I have this desire to fuck shit up because I feel the system is broken. And it feels to me like we can keep having these peaceful protests and have great protest music like we just heard and we could we could you know and Colin Kaepernick can take a knee which is the most peaceful uh respectful protest I can imagine and nothing seems to change it just feels like uh it's like we need to it's like we need to fuck shit up to get real change in this world. And I'd love to hear your perspective on that.

So really quickly, because I did not come on that episode that you asked me to come on with Garbia. And I can't remember the name. I actually never revealed it was you actually i kept you anonymous uh just you know surprise it was uh donovan bennett it was donovan bennett and uh garbia bailey and yes i extended three invitations for that episode uh and now it's out there now that you were the third invitation right uh i i i get uh, wanting to burn things down when your sons and daughters and mothers and fathers have been murdered and oppressed for forever. But I don't think that – I mean, obviously, burning down your own businesses and burning down your own homes is counterproductive. Obviously, I don't think I need to say that there.

I said it. I think what is important right now is what's happening with you, what may be happening with a guy like Ben Mulroney. And in order to change and destroy systems, you need to change hearts because it's the hearts that will that have the power. because it's the hearts that have the power, right? It's the people behind the hearts that have the power and that will change things. So, you know, there's always going to be assholes. I don't think this is about, you know, stopping bullies and their, you know, incidents of one-on-one racism.

It's about tearing down a system of oppression in Canada, specifically with our Indigenous community, and bullying and harassment of people of color. And in the States, obviously, they're a long legacy of Black racial injustice. Does that answer your question? Yeah, and thank you for that. black racial injustices. Does that answer your question? Yeah. And thank you for,

thank you for that. And thank you and Mel for doing this. And I really, really want the next time we do this, speaking of lowest and low, this is Rosie and Gray from Shakespeare, my butt. I really hope the next time we all get together on an episode of Toronto Mic'd,

even if we're six feet apart, I hope we're in the same physical space. Should I bring a brick through a window? Oh, by the way, when I said throw a brick, I meant through like a Starbucks or a bank or something, not through my home, please. Do we also have to bring our own toilets? Like, is that the thing?

Like, do we have to bring potties? I don't know. And leave a brick in the toilet? Zing! Oh, look at that. On that note, stand by Mel, because I'm going to need you

to help explain your Twitter handle. So, you ready? Okay. And that brings us to the end of our 672nd episode. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. JJ, did you take Toronto JJ

because I was Toronto Mike? Is that what you did there? No, you ask me this every. I'm at Toronto Mike. JJ, did you take Toronto JJ because I was Toronto Mike? Is that what you did there? No, you asked me this every time we speak to each other. It's only the second time. Well, there you go. Every time. That's every time. Okay, so it's a coincidence, right?

That's every time. That is every time. Toronto JJ, yes, that's who I am. Got nothing to do with you. See, I get my back up when I see someone ripping me off like that. Okay, Melanie, tell us your Twitter handle. It's at Melanie Martin. The first E is a three. So

M3, L-A-N-I-E Martin. Okay, gotcha. Great Lakes Brewery is at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at the Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies.

And Mel and JJ, after this Zoom call, you are going to go to garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up for this fantastic free service. Take the guest work out of yard waste collection and garbage and recycling and help the show. Again, garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike. See you all next week. Thanks, Mike. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service

to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.