Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - John Scholes Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #1208

Episode Date: February 21, 2023

In this 1208th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with John Scholes before John kicks out the jams. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1208 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Canna Cabana.

The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Learn more at cannacabana.com Joining me today making his Toronto Mike return to kick out the jams

is John Scholes. Welcome back, John. What's up's up buddy nice to see you hold on yeah go ahead show number one 1208 yes sir did you start this on the titanic how long have you been doing that is hilarious uh 10 and a half years now my god do you remember your first visit yeah it was 2018 it was either i'm gonna'm going to say April, April or March. I should have done my homework here. I'm going to actually tell you, you did notice, I guess, what was the studio like when you were here? While you tell me what the studio was like, we'll go find out. It wasn't this pretty.

It didn't have this nice curved table and three mics. We were kind of sitting at a straight table facing this curtain into the back of your creepy basement. I don't know, but the lighting down here is nice. Is it still creepy? That's what I want to know. No, it's not Silence of the Lambs at all. Okay. Oh, I found our photo.

Look at how good you look. It's a summer day in this photo. We look dreamy. Do we age? Yeah, I did. I don't know if you did. Yeah, you aged a bit, but we all age. Okay.

This was, yes, correct. It was May 25th, 2018. And here's what I wrote at the time. This was episode 339. So, man, you've been gone a long time. Mike chats with John Scholes about his 19 years at Q107, why he left the station. The end of Andy Frost and psychedelic Sunday.

Yeah, very good. Hey, yours is good. Not bad, right? Can you do the whole interview with that? Well, Mike, I'd like to talk to you about the Toronto Maple Leafs. That'd be excellent. What garbage. Very good. And now his son is in the NHL.

Yeah. Flyers. That's amazing, right? Do you ever like, oh, wow, like that Morgan Frost, that's Andy's kid. I used to see him at the studio when he was doing Psych Sunday down at the Hard Rock still, and he was like a little guy sitting in the chair. It's wild how that happens. Okay.

So welcome back, John. Thanks, buddy. So I guess you had just announced that you were leaving Q107 when you dropped by. Leaving is a good way to put it. But am I allowed to say that when I get correspondence from you, it's a Q107.com email address? Yeah, I still have it. So explain to us normies, how is it that you've been gone now? Let me do the math. Hold on. I can do this, buddy. It's almost exactly five years. So you've been, you got let go, if we will, or you left Q107 five years ago, but you kept working for Q. Explain. Yes, I got let go five years ago, a bunch of us. There were several cuts, and then I finally

fell victim to one in 2018 after almost 19 years working there. That was cool. But in addition to Q, for years in tandem, I was doing a lot of work on six 40 for, for, uh, a variety of radio clients, uh, lawyers. I had the great Carrasco show. I had a bunch of other clients on six 40. Right. So that was, that was separate from my Q107 work still under course, still in the same studio next door working. So when they let me go from Q107, that was the music portion of it. That was the FM side, but because I had such a good and solid and long running relationship with my AM clients, I just went over to being running my own business and I would just invoice Chorus as a contractor. And so I'm still with all my AM clients. So my passkey

still works to the building. I still have a Chorus email because I'm still involved, even though I'm not officially an employee of Chorus anymore. I got packaged out, but I still do work with them, right? So because you kept your pass key, you got to keep your email address. Right. Yeah, which I've had for years. I've got a great working relationship with Chorus. I really don't deal that much with them anymore.

I bill my clients directly, but it's all through them. So there's still a relationship there. It's great. It's strong. Okay, so we can count on some of your excellent clients that you do great work with who will come on board as sponsors of Toronto Mic'd. Wouldn't that be great? We'll work on that. We'll work on that. Exactly. We'll work on that afterwards. But John, welcome

back. Thanks, buddy. Now, as I recall, one of your last gigs at the queue, the Mighty Queue, when you were on the air, was co-hosting the afternoon drive of Maureen Holloway. I was with Mo. That was my final gig with Maureen. Then she moved on to CHFI after a brief period.

And then I was alone hosting the afternoon show on cue. And that's when I got let go. All right. We're going to get this out of the way and then we're going to get to your gems. But obviously you work closely with Maureen Holloway. So since your last appearance five years ago, it has come

to light several allegations against your former colleague, John Derringer. That's all been wrapped up. Yeah. So John's no longer with the firm. We got that news release. But were you at all aware of what was happening between, I, you know,

between, I don't know, Jennifer Valentine or Maureen Holloway or you name it over there? You hear things over the years, there's rumblings of it. I was never a victim of it. I mean, it wasn't just women in the studio. There was definitely that angle with it, and I've known women in the past that have worked with John, and there was, you know, they came to loggerheads and there was problems throughout the years,

but I also knew guys that also had, you know, issues with John and other staff members during the years as well. So it wasn't just gender-based at all, for sure. There was some of that. I never had a problem working with John. We always got along great. I didn't work with him a ton. I used to see him all the time, but I didn't work with him a ton. When he first came back to the station,

probably early 2000s, when we were still up young and shepherd, I would fill in, sometimes producing a show on the board, never had a problem working with him. But yeah, that all that finally came to a head and there you go.

It's been resolved. He's gone and they got the new morning show. Ryan and Johnny are back and they have Shauna, who I've never met, but they sound good. I just started listening to them this week. I've met her because she's been over here twice.

Oh, cool. She came over when she was part of the Y108 morning show. Right, right. With, you know, Jay Brody and Chris Z. Yeah, she sounds like a cool cat. No, she's absolutely a cool cat. The show's sounding good. The show's sounding good.

You know, yeah, I think she'd fit at Q. I feel like she belongs at Q. Q's more in line with like Y108 than CFNY was, if you ask me. Like, so she went from Y108, the whole crew, they called it the B team,

goes to CFNY, but then Jay Brody quits. This, I think was the wrench. So a couple of, I think, I think for, uh,

I think it was kind of, uh, killing a bunch of birds of one stone. Not that we should ever hurt these poor birds. Okay. So don't do that. But like you had this problem with this, John Derringer is your morning show guy at q and you're going to part ways of john derringer meanwhile your morning show guy at cfny up and quits and goes out west

to vancouver like going with carly myers there so now you kind of you know i'm i'm told there's like a hiring freeze you're not going to go bring in some expensive new body or whatever, so you kind of shuffle the deck. You bring the morning show Hamilton, what is that, 95.7? What is the station? 95.3. See how close I was? Okay. Not bad for a guy who's done 1,200 shows.

So those guys are now the CFNY morning show and that's Tucker and Maura. They're great. Good people. Good friends, yeah. Absolutely. And then you got the morning show and that's more uh tucker and um mora they're great good people good friends yeah absolutely and then you got the morning show on see you got chris z goes to barry you bring shauna goes to q with the two guys who are working of derringer and there you go problems are also i can't even keep track i can't even keep track what the hell because i'm not i'm not tight around there anymore i don't get the i don't get the memos and you're not at chorus key that often exactly i work

from home mostly we do do TV down there. So I'm not really there that much. So it's like, yeah, I'm not really in the loop, man. Well, I told you five years ago, man. You have a phase for television. What are you doing on the radio? I know, seriously. Well, the TV things come about.

And again, that's because a couple of my AM clients have decided to do TV. Well, we started about five or six years ago on Global. And then they began last June, July, doing a show on CP24, which I now host with them on Wednesday nights. Okay, good for you. So, John, you're like a bit of a survivor here because, you know, I mean, you know who's a sweetheart? You know this as well as I do, but Al Joines is a sweetheart.

I think he's a sweetheart. Love Alvin. Alvin's good. Alvin's good people. I haven't seen him in a while because he lives out east. I don't mean like – Yeah, no, he's like Oshawa. What is he?

Ajax, Oshawa? Not Newfoundland. I mean, he's like Ajax, Oshawa, Pickering area. So I haven't seen Alvin in a while. But he doesn't have a Q107.com email address. Not any longer. Good on you, man. Okay, I'm going to read a note that came in when I said you were returning.

This is a nice note, so don't get scared, okay? This is from Tim. Just Tim? This is Tim. Is this sort of Tim we know or just Tim? Tim. All right. What a class act when he signed off on May 11th, 2018.

It was sad that Chorus punted Al Joines shortly as well. Occasionally, I hear John doing paid radio time for Chorus and financial services or real estate. Please tell him that it was a pleasure to listen to him. I hope he got to spend more time with his wife and his daughter, Jamie. And then in brackets, it says, is a teenager. So, I mean, I can finish a note. Does he have any Club 279 stories about things gone wrong?

I understand it was the unexpected that was so good. Cheers, Tim. Tim's a good man. We like Tim. Yeah, he's obviously firmly ensconced in Q107 lore because he knows about 279 and all the stuff we did there as well.

279 was fun, man, for the time we did that. Did you ever come down? No. In fact, I need you to explain to us, Normie, is exactly what, because I love Inside Baseball, but need you to explain to us, Normie is exactly what, because I love inside baseball, but sometimes you got to explain it

to get people in the side there. But Club 279, what the hell is that? 279 is the address of the former Hard Rock Cafe at Yonge and Dundas Square. So Club 279 was up top, was the top floor, and they turned it into a nightclub and a small live venue. So we would host Saturday nights down there.

When it first started, it was Gonzo doing most of them. And then he, I started to fill in for him and then he eventually left. So I took over that, took over that club gig on Saturday nights. And it's, yeah,

we go down there, you got to know all the regulars, the same people would come every week. We'd give stuff away and just, you know, drink, hoot and holler. And it was,

it was a great club night. It was, it was fun while it lasted. It was an absolute blast, but everything, yeah, but everything runs its course. Why didn't't i go down i think i would have enjoyed that well you're too goddamn late now because it's what a shoppers or a rex all like every other historic building in the city turn it into a fucking pharmacy this is what they do right they did it with the brunswick they did it with 279 let's just you know let's let's lose

the beer taps and put in lipstick it's's true. It's what they do. So it's a, it's a, it's a pharmacy. But even like a, cause I grew up, I would often see a movie at the run of meat theater. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Great historical theater. Although it did originally, it was a chapters, but before you knew it, what's the other way around? Theater, then a chapter.

Yeah. Yeah. That's not me. But then now it's a girl and now it's a drug store. It's a shopper. So you're absolutely right. Just all these. What a great venue. Even, then a chapter. Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. But then now it's a drugstore. It's a shopper's. So you're absolutely right. Just all these. What a great venue.

Even as a chapters, it was pretty because it showed the balcony and everything. Yeah, because they kept the, they restored the stage stuff and it looked really cool there. Really nice.

Shout out to Renabe. I'm trying to think of movies I saw there. Lethal Weapon I saw there. The first one? Nice. And I, the second, not the first,

but the second Poltergeist. I think I was too young for the first one to see it in theaters. Garbage. It was garbage it was don't watch it now Beetlejuice I saw there yeah it's funny it's funny to make that connection because when um when I started at Q yeah all those years ago it was Young and Norton yep um and the Young and Norton the office building we were on the top we the top two floors that was the site of the former Willow Theatre. When I was a kid, I used to go there. I saw Star Wars there in 77, right? It was a great old theatre.

They tore it down and put out the former Q107 studio there, after Young and Bloor. They went up to Young and Sheppard, then down to Dundas, and then now they're at Chorus Quay, of course. Wow. Okay, I love the old Toronto theatres. There's very few left. True. They're gone. Okay. So,

I had a note, but I don't have a name to attribute it to, but somebody says, I love his interest in Queen and Freddie Mercury. Yeah, that just,

I mean, based on where I worked and the music we played for so many years, it's really hard not to have an interest in Freddie. And I love the film.

I thought the film was fantastic and it just kind of, it kind of reopened everybody's interest into Queen. And I love the film. I thought the film was fantastic. And it just kind of reopened everybody's interest into Queen. And for a lot of those, a younger generation, it really opened their eyes for the first time to this band

and how incredible of a vocalist and a rock star and a showman that Freddie Mercury was. The entire band was great, obviously. But when Freddie came about, it was like, man, where's this guy been? Just fantastic.

So that movie did for the, whatever we'll call it, Generation Z, what Wayne's World did for Generation X. Yeah, right, exactly, exactly. But more intense, right? Yeah. It's interesting, though. We're about to kick out the jams. We're going to get right to it.

And then while we get, so I'll start the song. I'll play a bit of it. I don't know, 45 seconds, a minute, it depends. Then when I feel it, I'm going to start fading it down and we'll talk about the song and then we'll catch up a little bit kind of between songs or whatever. And I have some gifts for you, but I'm just eyeballing your list right now. And I'm trying to find it. There's no queen. Well, you'll know when you hear the song. There was no queen. You know what? Here's the problem. You asked me to, you asked me to give you 10 songs. So you're, you know, and I'm not, I'm not a musicologist by any, by any stretch.

I love music, but asking for 10 songs is like narrowing it down from 10,000. So I'm going to forget a few. And now that you mentioned that, yeah, I should have. Well, it's too late now. But I essentially used the word musicologist because I had a guy over a couple of weeks ago. His name's Mike Daly. Great guest, actually. We talked about the history of the folk music scene in Yorkville back in the 60s in Toronto.

Really interesting. talked about the history of the folk music scene in Yorkville back in the 60s in Toronto really interesting but he's an actual musicologist which is to say he got his uh doctorate in music like it's an actual like it's actually a title like you can't it's like if you were like a person who read the news you can't just call yourself a meteorologist like you're a weather presenter or whatever so I just found it interesting because when Alan Cross was here about a week ago with Robbie J, actually, who's also got his pass card back for Chorus Key. But we were talking about, so Alan says he doesn't refer to himself as a musicologist. Like people do refer to him as a musicologist. No kidding.

But that's a technical term for somebody who's accomplished like a PhD in music of some sort. Right, right. So you cannot call yourself a musicologist, John. Never will. Not going to happen. Because I will be the first to shame you. All right, let's get to some jams, and then we'll catch up.

And anything you want to say, but I'm glad that the studio looks better than the first time you were here. You've done well. Your budget has increased. Well. Nicely done. Did you get beer last time?

Yeah, you gave me a couple, yes. Okay, because you're going to get Great Lakes again today. No complaints. If you're in Ontario, if you're listening to me in Ontario right now, you should be drinking fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. They're fiercely independent. That's not some conglomerate, man. There's like 65 people working there.

It's a beautiful, small little shop. And they're so embedded in the community, and they're so good at that that they even sponsored an independent local podcast called Toronto Mic'd. How about that? Wow, amazing. And then we can have these jam kickings of John Scholes.

Okay, so I'm actually going to kick out your first jam, but I do have a question before I kick out the first jam, and it is quite simply this. John, are you ready to kick out the jams?

Hell yeah, son. You think it'd be like a big rocker, right? Like we're going to open up with some big like... Shocker. Mississippi Queen. Yeah, nope. But no, we're going to let this... Let it develop.

Let it develop. Right. Thank you. There we go. I think you're going to surprise a lot of people here today. It's a nice little slow jam. We can come back. Okay, we'll bring it down a little bit. Just for me to say that my last guest on this show was a hard-boiled police detective turned media guy named Steve Ryan. Get Steve Ryan here.

Come on. Yeah, he was the last guy here. So that was Sunday, actually. Sunday. But he's a really hard-boiled detective guy. He answered my questions like he was on the stand, and I was like a lawyer, right? Right. But then we start talking music,

and he starts going on about how he's madly in love with, like, he says he loves listening to Air Supply. Come on. Yeah, like, it was just so, like, you're thinking he's going to say, I don't know what he's going to say. He's going to say something harder. Just Metallica.

All Metallica all the time. Something more aggressive, right? But here you are, Mr. Q107, 19 years. Tell me, first of all, tell us what we're listening to. And then if you want it to come up,

you're like a conductor. I just saw a movie called Tar. Excellent movie. Oh, how is that, by the way? It's excellent. Cate Blanchett is incredible in this movie and it is a great, great film,

but it is two and a half hours long. But now I feel like you can just be a conductor, and you can just raise your hand, and I'll pump it up. I'm going to find the email I sent you for the complete list. I need the whole list. Where did it go?

You don't recognize it? Just kidding. Well, let me tell you then. This is Bill Evans. Yes. The Bill Evans Trio. Yep. And this is called My Foolish Heart.

Yes. Tell us why you love this song. I could have given you anything by Bill Evans, just on the side of... See, it's when you work at a rock station, and anybody will tell you this, whatever format they're at, it's like working at a bank for 19 years.

You don't go home and you count money. You don't want to do it, right? So when you're working at a rock station after 19 years, I'm not going to go home and put on Zeppelin. I know, it's not that I don't like it. It's just you're immersed in it. It you're immersed in it for most of your life. So my, my favorite genre I would have to pick overall would be jazz. Not all of it. You know, it's, I'm not, I don't cut a wide swath of all kinds of jazz, but certain jazz I do like. And Bill Evans is kind of a tragic story. Um, arguably my favorite piano

player, keyboard player of all time had a, had a rough life growing up as a child. And then he was this piano prodigy, played with some of the best of the era, got into heroin. He was a drug addict and subsequently passed. There's more to it than that, but it's kind of a tragic story. But his piano, this tune,

it's just a winter night. You're at a bar in New York. You've got a glass of wine. You're sitting by the window. There's taxis going by. You've got a cigar. You've got the Bill Evans trios on stage. It's a nice night in Manhattan, the skyline, and you're just

chilling, man. I love this guy's music. I love a lot of jazz with Bill Evans. Fantastic. Bill Evans, Bruce Hornsby these are all fantastic fantastic piano players love them later today like at 7pm tonight a great keyboardist will be sitting

down in this basement right here Rob Pruse no way from Spoons 7pm today in person he lives he lives in New York but he's actually in Burlington this week so we get him in person because he lives in New York but he's actually in Burlington this week so we get him in person here. He's living in New York now? I don't like him. He's got some Broadway thing. He works on Broadway.

He's not my friend now. He lives in New York. Can't talk. Can't be friends. First we'll take him in Hatton. Have you had anybody in from Jazz FM? Because that's a station. Yeah, many, many, many people. I'm going to shout out some people. Garvia Bailey when she was there. James B. has been over here.

Love James. Danny Elwell. Yep, good friend of Danny. She's super talented. Gentleman who, gosh, was at CFNY and whose name I'm blanking on right now. Here, we're going to get this name right. But actually, yeah,

geez, several people from Jazz FM here. You put me on the spot. I feel like I'm Brad in here. Brad Parker, of course, from, uh, pursuit happiness. I went to, uh, we went to radio college together. Get out of here. He's a sweetheart. Yeah. It's the only guy at a higher mark than me. The prick, the only guy, the only guy in the class who had a higher mark than me, slightly higher Brad. So settle down, but just a little bit higher than I did, yeah. It's funny, too, if there's very few people from our class years ago at Humber that are actually still in the business. He and I never left.

Never left. Some people dabbled in it, and they got out of radio. They're doing whatever, other things now. Walter Vanafro is the name I was hunting for there. Walter's great. Love Walter. Walter's great. Him and John Devenish, they're great guys.

How about a former Jazz FM guy, Ralph Benmerge? Love Ralph, too. Walter's great. Love Walter. Walter's great. Him and John Devenish, they're great guys. How about a former Jazz FM guy, Ralph Ben-Murgy? Love Ralph too. Former morning show. He was filling in the other week. He was filling in on the afternoon show. Well, he's a dear, he's my rabbi,

but not that kind of rabbi. Yeah, gotcha. As we say. Yeah. Okay, love this. Didn't know you were a jazz guy, so this is going to be good, but let's get to jazz,

jazz, let's get to jam number two. And there's a little buildup here. I'll just say that when I have a 60-something, I'll say no, 55-plus sports writer comes over and we kick out the jams. I am 100% sure. Oh, I see.

I have the volume way down on this. That won't be very good. Let's bring that up here. Oh, I forgot about this one. Let's give this a moment, except I know I'm going to get some of the boss when I'm kicking out the jams. Did you play piano?

Nope. The ranger's had a homecoming In Harlem late last night And a magic rat drove his sleek machine Over the Jersey state line Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain The rat pulls and the town rolls up his pants Together they take a stab at romance

And disappear down Flamingo Lane Well a maximum lawman run down from in gold Chasing her head in a barefoot girl Will the kids around her look just like shadows Always quiet, holding hands From the churches to the jails Tonight all is silence in the world As we take our stand Tomatoes, tomatoes, violence in the world.

As we take our stand. Down in Jungleland. Man, oh man, what a build up. As if you need to explain yourself. You like this guy, Bruce? What's going on here? Terrible songwriter. What's wrong with this guy?

How did he ever succeed? And no energy. Yeah, nothing. Like, what a boring show. Can you do a long concert for once? Can you earn our money for your tickets, Bruce, once in a while? Yeah, what's with these 30-minute shows? What do you think, is Elvis?

Come on. Exactly. Man, I mean, what do you got to say about this tune? Jungle Land, I hate the tune because I hate the word because everyone's using it now as a millennial. It's epic. It truly is. It's a story. It's beyond that. It is epic, right? It's amazing.

It's amazing. This is an epic song. Sort of like, I don't know, like a band on the run or something. It's so tough to narrow down to a Bruce Springsteen song if you're asked to. It's, you know, there's so many great ones, but man, this is like. But you're a 70s Bruce guy because. Yeah. I got to say, I didn't know 70s Bruce.

I came of age during Born in the USA Bruce. Well, big record. So you come out of a different side. Had a good sound, had some good songs on it, of course. But yeah, I mean, if you're going back to. Yeah, sure. You know, Asbury Park and Born to Run, The River, come on, listen to it.

It's just amazing. It is amazing. And to see it live is just the, oh my god, the album is good, it's great in headphones, it's great on a great hi-fi system, but to see this at a concert is just the horniest thing you'll ever get to see musically. How many times have you seen Bruce Springsteen

live? Only twice, if you can believe it. Only twice. Twice more than me. Good for you. Oh, you haven't seen him? Dude, he's coming. Good luck getting tickets. But what is that, like a million dollars to get a ticket? I don't know. I'm used to the $15, $25 show. It's so worth it. It's the best thing you're ever going to do. What's the most money you would pay to see a musician?

Do you have a number in your head of somebody you'd pick? Have you ever seen Paul McCartney live? No, I haven't. I probably had the chance. Not that I'm not a McCartney fan, but I never rushed out to pay an exorbitant amount of money to see Paul.

I've seen Roger Waters. I would pay good money for that again. Even though he's a Nazi sympathizer. Is that what we're calling him now? A Nazi sympathizer? Well, he's absolutely... Oh, hold on. Let's absolutely... Oh, the big... Hold on.

Let's hear a little of the sax here. Yeah. So much feeling, man. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Would you pay, like, to see Bruce, would you pay $1,000 for a ticket? Okay, if I hadn't seen him ever, yes, I would. I would pay $1,000 to see Bruce. What about $2,000? We're negotiating here, John. No. It's a tough question. If it was the absolute last time you're ever going to see him,

if he was, you know, leaving the planet, maybe, but that would be the absolute limit. But I've seen him twice. I wouldn't pay that much. I'd still pay a couple hundred bucks to see him

again a third time. It's worth it. You're there for three and a half hours and it's insane. I would pay a couple hundred dollars to see Bruce at this point

just to see the master here. Now, Clarence Clemons, I need to shout out Ridley Funeral Home, gone too soon, but I can tell you, John, this is kind of interesting. His replacement in the E Street Band is his Clarence Clemons, I need to shout out Ridley Funeral Home. Gone too soon, but I can tell you, John, this is kind of interesting. His replacement in the E Street Band

is his nephew, Jake Clemons. He's great. I've seen him perform. An FOTM. He's been in this basement. Come on! No way! I actually made him cry. By talking about his uncle, of course. Yeah. Not because I twisted his arm or anything. That's amazing. But yeah, Jake's been here, yeah. That's amazing. Interesting story with Clarence. We're just going to stick on this tune.

Yeah. Yeah. We got another four minutes here for several, for several years, as you know, Q and O Q played, or at least carry the underground garage, little Steven's underground garage.

Phenomenal show. Phenomenal show. So a couple of funny stories. Yes. I tell this to everybody. He says, what was the best thing ever happened to Q back in your day? One show where Bruce is coming into town to play in Toronto. This is the

first time I saw him. The band was here and we reached out to Steven's people because we carried the underground garage. Bruce is doing a concert. There's the connection. So we reached out to little Steven's people saying he didn't think he would want to come by and say hi, do a quick interview or maybe make a phone

call. They said no problem. He'll come by for sure. So it was a Saturday and I was working that Saturday and Brian Rodney, our old producer, who was a massive Bruce fan, massive Beatles fan, got this all set up. And so we're waiting for Bruce. We're waiting for little Steven. And I'm working,

I'm just doing the normal noon to six shift on cue. And this couple of black SUVs pull up, just park outside the front of the studio. Door's open. Here comes little Steven, full garb, the headband, the boots, everything. He's just dressed like you see little Steven on stage. He comes out. He's carrying a full duffel bag, like an old gym bag.

So they come in and we let him in. I'm like, hey, Steven, nice to meet you. Blah, blah, blah. Hey, thanks for your time. Blah, blah, blah. He comes over. He sits on the other side of the console, puts his feet up like this on the desk, grabs his duffel bag, and starts pulling just stacks and stacks of CDs. So we start talking about the underground garage.

We're talking about music, and he's like, can I play some music? I'm like, man, you have carte blanche. You have carte blanche to play whatever you like. So we sat there. It wasn't an interview. It wasn't a talk about the concert. He was kicking out the jams with you. For four hours, he sat there with me and played radio.

Wow. We just talked about everything. And he's the coolest guy. He's playing like the stuff from the old Turtles and all the garage bands he plays. We're just throwing them on nonstop. And it got to a point

where we're talking so much and all these tunes he's playing because it's garage bands. Yeah. They're all two and a half minutes long. Yeah. So we're playing tunes. I'm like,

Steven, shut up and give- I'm yelling at Steven Van Zandt. Would you give me a goddamn song, Steve? I'm running out of- Give me a song, man. He'm like, Stephen, shut up and give me... I'm yelling at Stephen Van Zandt. Would you give me a goddamn song? Stephen, I'm running out of... Give me a song, man. He's like, oh shit, sorry, guys, sorry. So four hours he sat there and did this, and it was just after Clarence had passed. So it was close

to the time that Clarence had passed. That's the first time he was with us for that time. Fast forward a few years later, Springsteen's coming back into town. This is the second time I see him. We reach out to Steven again and say, we've been down this road. Do you want to do it again? Of course I do. The man loves doing radio. He loves doing radio. Comes by again, duffel bag on the table. We sit there for another four hours. Wow. At that time, that was just after

James Gandolfini had passed from the Sopranos. Right. Just bizarre incidences when he came by. And that was just after Tony Soprano had passed. So we talked about that too. Great guy, man. Such a down to... That's the thing you'll find with these rock stars. You don't get... There's no divas.

You know, there's no entourage. It's like, don't look them straight in the eye. Make sure you go down a separate hallway. Right. Guys like Little Steven, Roger Hodgson. They will come and just... They're wearing track pants and a $3 t-shirt and they have no attitude.

They don't give a shit. They just love music. They love their fans. And they're the most down to earth, cool guys. It's like you and I sitting here right now because they've been around for half a century and they get it. It's about the music.

They're fans of the music. They're fans of people. And they're just chilled out and laid back, man. They're so good to talk to. That's an amazing story. I love that story. And what's amazing to me, too, is that you're allowed to do that. We hear nowadays in radio, you're so constricted as a job.

It's not like Marsden's day, you know what I mean? Yeah, 100%. Play what I want to play or whatever. No, this is all pre-programmed and automated in software. And this next song will be Journey, Don't Stop Believing. Shout out to the Sopranos. And you can't stop it. But you were able to break format,

and you were able to have somebody like little Stevie just play what he wants for that four-hour period. And that is kind of awesome. We weren't going to let him stop. He wasn't some local guy. I mean, this is Steven Van Zandt, right? I mean, of course, you're going to let him do what he wants.

Of course. Us two sensible people, like there's no, but I can just see in radio some, no, you can't break into the automation software. We're playing Journey. Get the hell out of here. Get him off.

He's got a quarter hour. This is an important quarter hour. Right. It doesn't match with our spot load. It's little Stephen, by the way. We said seven to 10 minutes. That's right. That's all he's getting.

Stephen, thank you very much for your time. Not going to happen, right? Because things are so automated, now I'm always curious. When a big legacy classic rock star passes away, and it's happening more and more often. It's so sad, man. I hate it. How much time elapses between the announcement

that this person is dead and the time that Q107 will start playing their music and talking about it. Like, how automated, like, when, you know what I mean? Like, it's not like the olden days where John Lennon was shot and killed. Right away, everyone's going, all Beatles, all John Lennon, we're talking about it. Like, you know. We still did, and near

the end, before I was, before I left, we still would do that. We still had, like I said, Brian Rodney was our music director and he was, if that would have, if I was working, it was funny. I can't count how many times I was on the air when someone died. It was always me. Who's the biggest death when you were on the air that you can think of?

Like, are we talking Bowie? Are we talking Bowie was pretty big. Tom Petty was huge. That's huge. Yeah. I know. That's what I mean. And so we would like literally, okay, guys, program change massively. We're going heavy on all of it. We'd start taking phone calls.

We'd play clips, old concert clips, interview clips of these artists. And that's the best part of radio. That's what I love about radio. It's really, because I did a, I chatted up Steve Paikin yesterday for just like, I don't know, 50 minutes because his mentor at TVO

just passed away. Peter Horn... I always say his name wrong. Herndorf is his name. Peter Herndorf. He just passed away on Saturday. And now I'm into like breaking my own schedule for like time sensitive news happenings. So when the John Tory

story broke the next morning I had David Ryder from The Star on for 20 minutes to say like when did the Star find out whatever. Like that's sort of like so now I'm playing radio like

I'm little Stevie here. I love it. Yeah man because it's like the best part of radio is when it's live and local.

Yeah. My two cents. Anyway we have a third jam to kick out of it. Yes we do. Let's do it. After this jam I

got another gift for you John. Okay. Make it worth your while. Here we go. Oh. People talking just the other day And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf Let me tell you, I got some news for you

And you'll soon find out it's true And then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself Cause I'm already gone And I'm feeling strong I will sing this victory song Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! My, my. Woo-hoo!

The letter that you wrote. The Eagles. Oh, man, what do you say? How can you have a list without an Eagles song if you're a rock guy? Come on. Sounds great, buddy. Yeah.

There's a documentary on the Eagles that gave me a whole newfound respect for this band. Because I come in, you know, the song was released, you know, basically before I was born. But great respect for this band. Tell me why you love them. You were born in 72? No. No.

Come on. No. Jesus Christ, I'm older than you, too. And you ready for this? Released in 74. On the, uh, yes. Well, it says released April 19th. I just went to the Wiki page.

I'm sorry. I can't pretend to know this off the top of my head no you're correct well wiki is correct i'm just stealing from them sometimes that's right tell me why you love the eagles tell me why you love this song uh well the eagles goes without saying i mean you're working rock long enough you got to appreciate a band like like the eagles um you know their their their library is incredible uh this tune in particular it's just such a great sounding tune. It's like a driving, it's a cottage tune.

It's just a summer tune. And so I have nothing. I love Don Henley. I love his solo work. I love him as a drummer. I love him as a staple of the band. But I'm a Glenn Frey guy. I've always been a Glenn Frey.

You know, Take It Easy, Already Gone, all the tunes by Glenn Frey. Again, you want to talk about Rockstars, we're missing. God damn it, there's another one. There's another one that's gone that'll never be replaced. Were you on the air when Glenn Frey passed away? Oh God, I don't remember. It would have been too difficult for you. I'm just going to say yes.

I might not even be working there at that point, but I'm going to say yes. We're not going to prove you wrong. Yeah, no, I'm a Glenn Frey guy as far as Eagles are concerned. And this tune, it was a toss-up when you asked between this and Take It Easy, but this is the one. So you're telling me you're a Fry Guy. I am a Fry Guy.

And this is one of those songs where the guy's not the asshole. It's the girl in the relationship. Okay. If you listen to the lyrics, right? Well, it's about time we get some. Thank you. Yeah. I know.

We're always crapping the bed. Once in a while, it goes the other way, guys. So, yeah, I love this tune. I always have, always will. Big Glenn Fry while it goes the other way, guys. So yeah, I love this tune. I always have, always will. Big Glenn Frey fan. Miss him terribly. So this album was On the Border. On the Border, 74. Okay, because here's something.

I'm a big fan of music, but when I missed a band in real time, like I'm catching up, I often catch up through greatest hits albums. And then I realize my brain is wired to really have no clue what singles came off which albums like that because if I live the band in real time let's pick on a band like I know

Pearl Jam for example I know instantly which songs come from which albums because I collect them on the go but if you get everything this happened to me of Neil Young if you get all your jams from the greatest hits packages because you're catching up late you don't know what album this song was on.

But the function that has, which is a good one, is you get a nice variety. It's like going on a cruise. I'm not a big cruiser because it's just generally with people who are gluttonous and they just sit around eating. It's disgusting. But what a cruise can do is if it's a Caribbean cruise, it'll stop at several ports of call saying,

hey, I might want to go back there and try it. I'll dig deeper into that particular country because that was a nice one day we stopped there. I kind of look at a greatest hits package like that. If you don't know the band very well, it gives you an overview. Now you can do the deep diving. My son's doing this actually with Neil Young. My 21-year-old's doing this where he's

now telling me the songs from Harvest and it's like, okay, that's awesome because all I had was this two disc collection called Decade. It was called Decade and I loved it, man. I know the album. Love Decade so much. But then it's like, okay, now I need to rewire my brain,

like which songs are from which albums. But yeah, you're right. You get a smorgasbord. And then you can explore deeper. Love it. Okay. And I love that jam. And I promised you a gift at the end of that jam,

but you're actually going to get it at the end of this jam because this jam is three minutes longer than that jam. Let's get this going here. Which one do you got next? I can't remember. I like that you don't remember. You'll be surprised. Like with the listeners, you'll find out when they find out. Be strong.

No, man. Cry. I made Jake Clemons cry. I can make you cry. Oh, man. I made Stu Jeffries cry, but then I found out everybody makes Stu Jeffries cry. I love Stewie. Stewie's a good man. He cries easily. Pretty eclectic mix that I'm giving you.

Yeah, you know, this is very eclectic from Bill Evans to Eagles to Bruce and then... Here we go. Again, jazzy overtones, right? Yeah. You have a tight... Oh. This artist will surprise a lot of listeners. Greatest vocalist coming up. Right here.

Really? Better than Freddie Mercury. Oh, yeah. For different reasons. Talk about him. Let's listen. Let's listen. I should know by now the way I fought for you You're not to blame Everyone's the same

I know you think that you're safe There's the harmless deception That keeps love at bay You'll say, Mr. Harmless perception That keeps love at bay It's the ones who resist That we most want to kiss when to stay Cowboys and angels, they all have the time for you. Why should I imagine that I'd be fine for you? Why should I imagine that I'd have something to say?

Super jazzy. Oh, man, just the way George just weaves that vocal. It's like a smooth roller coaster ride through the instrumental. It's just there's no one, nobody could do it like him. And again, another dead artist. Yes. It's just so. Gone in his 50s.

Yeah, gone way too soon. Love George Michael. And I'm really glad. I have to say, I like it when people surprise me with their jams. You know, you could have come in here. It could have been Zeppelin. I mean, it could have been all, you It could have been Zeppelin. I mean, it could have been all the Q107 staples.

And here you are kicking out George Michael. He's my favorite vocalist of all time. There's nobody even close for me. Love it, though. I love it. And this album, this is Listen Without Prejudice, Volume 1. I don't know if they ever had another volume of that. I think so. It's like Leonard Part 6. But this had

the big jams on this for much music. It was Praying for Time and Freedom 90. Not a big fan of Freedom. You know, the supermodels? Eh, it was okay. Not my thing. But this stuff. Yeah, this is the jazzy stuff.

This stuff is older. And his catalog is just simply amazing. Even with the wham, early wham. You've got to think a guy like George Michael back in Careless Whisper. And what a tune that is. If you break that down to the way that tune was written and produced, again, it's the way he weaves the vocals through the tune. But the tune is very repetitious.

If you listen to Careless Whisper, it's very repetitious. And you listen to the way that was crafted, how it was written. He and Andrew Ridgely wrote that when they were 17 years old. Jesus Christ. No, he's a gifted musician and great voice like you said. And this is a real maturity for him. The previous album was Faith, right?

I think we all had Faith, but it was Faith, literally. But every song on that album, I think, was a hit. It was a complete hit-laden album. From Faith to Father Figure, One More Try, Monkey. This one just seems more personal. Obviously, we don't know George.

Yeah, and it's just, the record is just phenomenal. And this, you know, I remember, it's funny, I remember, you know, we talk about all these passing artists and rock stars. It's like, it sucks every time

we hear of another one. But this, when George, I still remember the, I still remember when George passed and I was down. Christmas day, right? I think it was Christmas day. I think it was Christmas day.

And I, um, I was watching the news and it, the, the news came down the way. And my sister-in-law, who's also a massive fan of George Michael and, and,

and wham, she texted me. She said, Oh my God, George Michael passed. I said, what? Turned on the news.

It was there. And I sat on the couch and I just lost it. Wow. And I started playing his tunes and I just lost it. And my wife's like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. She stayed upstairs, right? And somehow she

knew. She could tell by the tone of my voice. She just stayed upstairs and she just let me chill for like half hour on the couch just by myself. I'm like, man, I've never had that with an artist. But he did it. And I never saw him. Maybe because you never got to see him live. No, we had tickets and my daughter had jaundice or she got sick and I gave them to a friend of mine who's also in radio.

I said, man, can you use these tickets? And Blair Bartram, my former program director. He's at CHFI now. Yes. And he went to the show and he came back. I called him. I go, how was the show? He's like, eh, it was okay.

He's looking at me side-eyed. I'm like, you're an asshole. It was probably the best thing you've ever seen. He's like, nah, it was okay. It wasn't too bad. I'm like, you're a dick. Yeah, what's he going to say? Yeah, what's he going to say?

It was the best thing ever. Best thing ever. You should have been there. Sorry your daughter was ill. Yeah, I sat he going to say? Yeah, what's he going to say? He's just going to rub it. It was the best thing ever. Best thing ever. You should have been there. Sorry your daughter was ill. Yeah, yeah. I sat there, man, for a half hour on the couch, and I just lost it. I lost it. You know what?

That just, you know, maybe it's George Michael was always there, right? He's always been there. I mean, Make It Big was like 83 or 84 or something. He's always been there, George Michael. And then for him to pass away, it's sort of like a wow. It taps into something with your own longevity, your own... You're way too young. He's like Michael Jackson.

You guys are way... Whitney Houston. But at least Michael Jackson, not to make it better, but Michael Jackson was murdered, right? Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. He wasn't 75. These heart attack dropping dead in your 50s, that's some scary shit right there.

Yeah, only 50. Wow. He was two years younger than I am now. Wow. It's amazing. It's brutal. That's some scary shit right there. 50? Yeah, only 50. Wow. He was two years younger than I am now. Wow. It's amazing. It's brutal. But yeah, George, this tune especially, man, oh man. I could have given you a dozen George Michael tunes to add to our list, but this tune...

Love it. There you go. Cowboys and Angels for those listening at home. Now, I was going to give you something at the end of that jam, but I'm actually going to do it at the end. Actually, I'm going to do it during this jam because we're not going to finish this jam.

No, it's 22 minutes. Or 23. In fact, we can talk over the top here. But this jam, you mentioned Roger Waters earlier today. I think I called him a Nazi sympathizer, but... Hmm. SILENT PRAISE Hmm. John, it's your jam, so you're welcome to talk it up and then you can conduct me and when to bring it back up or whatever. Do we not miss artists like this? Like Pink Floyd and their somewhat original incarnation, of course,

without Sid Barrett. But, man. I say this every time I have the box set, or a Pink Floyd box set at home, and my wife and I will sit back, she'll grab a glass of wine, I'll throw some scotch in the glass sometimes. When we're not watching TV, we'll say, let's throw on some Floyd

or whatever, and every time I get in this, we say the same thing to each other. Nobody's doing music like this now. Nobody's building epic albums anymore. And I understand the quick hit, the MP3, the TikTok, the Spotify. And streaming's fault for sure,

but nobody's building these albums anymore. Nobody's writing this shit. And when these guys did, I mean, when Roger Waters and David Gilmour did Dark Side in 1973, you know, day after day the moments of makeup at Dark Side, at least these guys were like 22. Yeah. When I was 22, I was like sticking Silly Putty

into a comic book like I was an idiot. And these guys are making, they're crafting these albums that are, they will last for time immemorial. Dark Side's still the longest charting album of all time. Everybody knows that record. 13-year-old kids today are buying Pink Floyd records that are almost 50 years old.

Like, it's brilliant. It echoes. I mean, I just gave you this one because I thought, how much is Mike going to play of it? Because we got like 23 minutes. We'll find out together. I could have given you this, or I could have given you both parts of Shine On You,

Crazy Diamond. Okay, great song. Great artistry. But real talk, when you hear quotes from Roger, who's clearly angry at the world, I mean, we're never going to get a Pink Floyd reunion because... Except for Live 8. That's the only time they came back together, Live 8. And that was the year I got married. I was on honeymoon, actually. We were in Italy. And they came out on stage together, which blew everybody away. came out on stage together,

which blew everybody away. But I mean, okay, so when you read quotes about maybe pro-Putin thoughts about the war in Ukraine, and then you might read, but I consider because I looked over these quotes very closely and they're blatantly anti-Semitic as far as

I'm concerned. He's not anti-Jewish, he's anti-Israel. There's a difference. It's about land. Remember that. I mean, I don't want to turn this into a political discussion, and I'm not. He's not anti-Jewish. He's anti-Israel. There's a difference. It's about land. Remember that. I don't want to turn this into a political discussion. I'm not fully on board and I don't... Ricky Gervais, one year at the Golden Globe says... I don't know if you've ever listened to it. It's a huge... He got up

on stage and said, come up here, basically. You're actors. This is what you do for a living. Just take your ward, shut the fuck up and go home. You're in no position to make political statements. And I laugh every time I hear that. And I think Roger's a little more well steeped in the education of politics

than what Ricky was referring to. But I don't listen to the chatter, whatever side these artists are on politically. I still love Pink Floyd, whether I disagree or agree with Roger Waters. You can separate his political beliefs from the art. I don't need to hear it.

I don't need to hear it. I want to listen to your records. Right. And if we really, if we stop listening to great art from everybody who had an opinion we objected to or did something untoward, then we wouldn't have many artists in our catalog. You would just be amplifying your own personal cancel culture. We'd be listening to Mr. Rogers' theme song. Right, exactly. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. But just the music from these guys was phenomenal. Absolutely. And there's only 50% of them left too, right? Yeah. I mean, I'm looking back at your list now. So far, there's somebody gone from it. I mean, you mentioned Bill Evans died.

Let's do this. So Bill Evans dies, you said, very young. We lost Clarence Clemons from the E Street Band, who's got that great solo in Jungle Land. Glenn Frey is gone from the Eagles. George Michael's gone. And who's

gone from it? Well, Sid's gone by the band at this point. Nick Mason's gone. Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot his name. Oh, my God. So it'll come in case. So while you come up with that name to redeem yourself there, I am going to bring down Pink Floyd's excellent echoes to tell you that,

well, let me ask you this, John. Do you like Italian food? Hey, of course I like Italian food. Mamma mia. Who doesn't like Italian food? That's what I wonder. I love Italian food. But would you like a large meat lasagna from Palma Pasta?

Yeah. It's in my freezer. No, come on. No, I wouldn't lie to you. Would I lie to you? Palma's is excellent. Oh, Richard Wright. Rick Wright.

Rick Wright. Wright, Wright, Wright. Wright, Wright. Wright. So Palma Pasta, everybody should know about them from now if you listen to Toronto Mike. They have four locations, three in Mississauga, one in Oakville, and you can go to palmapasta.com. Italian tradition, simply delicious. You know it, buddy.

Thank you. And they host a number of Toronto Mic'd events, much like Great Lakes Brewery. We sometimes have a TMLX event on their patio, or now we do it on their lawns at Great Lakes. And we have these December gatherings at Palma's kitchen, bring up the Pink Floyd a little bit, but much like, much like great lakes, Palma Paz is also fiercely independent.

And we, we love that. Awesome. I mentioned a shout out to Ridley Funeral Home earlier. We talked a lot about death in this episode. Yeah. So what I'm going to pass over to you, John, is measuring tape. Okay.

You never know when you have to measure something. Hey now. Insert joke here. Hey now. Hey now. Hank Kingsleyley that's a great show yep you know you mentioned the sopranos we talked a little stevie and it's one of my favorite songs shows of all time but that larry sanders show man that's good pretty solid hbo makes good shit you know i was watching the last of us uh on sunday night yeah and i was thinking you know like it's almost like a good housekeeper seal. Like when you see

it's an HBO show, it's probably good. I didn't see the last episode. I saw the first couple. I've got to catch up. You've got to catch up. There's not too many in the camera.

Yeah, there you go. And I normally don't dig the zombie stuff, but this one feels more like... Those gross cauliflower heads? Realistic. All right, here you go. This is for you. Thanks, buddy. So, you got beer, you got pasta,

you got a measuring tape. Alright, so this song is very long. I want the listenership... How'd you go, Floyd? We're done with you. Shout out to Scruff Connors, who would call the listeners the listenership. Yep, the good listenership. Scruffer. Another man who passed away.

We're getting older. Is anyone alive anymore? Oh my goodness. You can hear this song in its entirety. What album will you find echoes on, John? You tell me. Is it metal? Does it wish you were here?

Well, everybody knows the answer here. I can't believe it. I was setting you up. It's metal, of course. Yes, what year? I was born, yes. 1971, October 30, day before Halloween. Recorded at the Abbey Road studio.

Yep. Interesting. I did not know that. Okay, there's a few different versions of this. Okay, there's the metal version, which you're listening to now. But there's an Echo's version, which is only 16 minutes and 30 seconds. That's a letdown.

If you don't have time for this 23 minute, 31 second version. But you have 16 minutes somehow to listen to a song. There's a live version, live at Pompeii. Yeah. Have you ever seen that concert video? That's from 72, right? So good. Okay, I got some catching up to do.

Yes, you do. So we'll bring down some Pink Floyd and we'll kick out your next jam. Which is vastly different. Well, maybe vastly different. Sounds the same at the beginning. You got kind of an echo sound there. What version is this? What version did you want? I don't know what version it is.

It's called the original mix. Maybe it's not the version you wanted. Just do the radio edit. People know right away. Right, right. Standby, everybody. Standby. This has happened before. Okay. Radio edit. This is like the jungle version.

Ah, there we go. You didn't see this coming, did you? Big Floyd, Springsteen. Yeah. There we go. Wow. Wow. Got to get some Canadian talent in there, son.

Yeah, you have been void of Canadian talent. Outside the lion's room Feeding on remains We'll never leave Look at us now So in love with the way we are Here The world that the children made

The world that the children made Every night they lock us to sleep I love his stuff, man. So this is Deadmau5. Deadmau5. I'm such a fan. Because again, like jazz, like rock, like everything else, I like EDM. There's a lot of EDM I like, though. I like electronic dance music, Deadmau5, Avicii.

There's so many. The late Avicii. God, there's another one who's dead like electronic dance music Deadmau5 Avicii there's so many the late Avicii god there's another one who's dead but yeah Deadmau5 most of all I just there's something about

his production his music I could pick it out of a thousand songs I know right away it's Deadmau5 because if I'm digging the groove right off the top

I'll say is that Deadmau5 even though I've never heard the song before is that Deadmau5 and I'm bang on every time I just think he's so incredibly talented

and what's the name of the song? The Veld. The Veld with the T at the end, right? Yeah. Yeah, very good. Very good. Toronto guy, right? Yep. Sophie Needs a Ladder is another great tune by him. Ghosts and stuff. His repertoire is huge. I love him. For no other reason, I just think it's great sounding stuff.

It's great driving music. It's good to work out too. It's good gym tunes. Yep. Big fan of the Deadmau5. Well, breaking news that we have John Scholes from Q107 on the program, and he's kicking out George Michael, and he's kicking out Deadmau5. Who saw that coming? Amazing. Bill Evans, a little old school jazz.

Yeah, the Eagles and the Bruce, I think people might have predicted that. But the rest is all... And I'm glad I found the radio edit. I don't know what the hell I had there, buddy. I don't know. There's a lot of versions of these Deadmau5 songs. Lots of remixes. That's EDM for you, right?

Right. Six million versions of everything. I'll just tell everybody here, recyclemyelectronics.ca is where you go if you have old tech that you need to dispose of and you want to do it safely and responsibly, don't throw that in the garbage. Don't throw that old smartphone in the garbage

or that old printer, any old tech. You go to RecycleMyElectronics.ca, find out a safe place. That was actually a decent mix. That actually worked. That actually worked pretty well. I didn't plan it. I just thought, okay, I got to type these tunes to Mike. What's he going to want? Okay. Oh, can't forget. Can't forget. That actually worked pretty well. I didn't plan it. I just thought, okay, I've got to type these tunes

to Mike. What's he going to want? Okay. Oh, can't forget. Can't forget the EWF, baby. Oh, another surprise, though. Let's do it. Come on. This surprises nobody. Here we go. Love is changing the minds of the tender While chasing the clouds away Our hearts are ringing In the key that our souls are singing As we dance in the night

Remember how the stars from the night Were laying There we go. Little Dino White, a little Philip Bailey. Yeah, another band where two members just passed recently. Seen these guys three times. Phenomenal. Phenomenal live. What a show. seen these guys three times phenomenal phenomenal live what a show

two of them were at Casino Rama which is just such a good show they got so much energy and they're so strong musicianship these guys, Tower of Power if you've never seen these type of shows before Mike get out to them you won't be sitting for a second of the show.

They're phenomenal. Okay, amazing. This is from 78. Big jam, of course. September's arguably their biggest hit, is it? Chart-wise, probably. I wouldn't bet against that. After the love is gone, their ballot's pretty big, but September's pretty big.

I still hear this all the time on the radio. All the time. Their ballot's pretty big, but September's pretty big. I still hear this all the time on the radio, all the time. Yeah, we lost Maurice White. Yeah, that was, yeah. And his brother, of course, the bass player, Dean's still there. He's still playing. Maurice White, some time ago.

Since then, Philip Bailey's been doing the vocals, of course. And then there was two recently. Yeah, was it Freddie White? In the last couple weeks, or last month or so, right? I feel like Freddie White maybe. Fred White. Yeah. So Fred White just passed away.

Yeah. I thought there was another member. There's so many members of that band, right? I know. Yeah. Which by seeing them on stage is an absolute spectacle. They take the entire stage and stage, is an absolute spectacle. They take the entire stage, and it is just an unbelievable show.

So much fun. So Fred White died on New Year's Day 2023. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, a couple months ago. Thought so. Yeah, 67 years young. So what is it? This gets you on your dance? Oh, yeah.

You like to get on the dance floor? It's just great music, man. It's just positive, happy music. It's amazing. And it's well-crafted, and the musicianship's amazing. They're all amazing artists. And to see them do it live is a special treat. It's really good.

Could you slip any earth, wind, and fire in the mix at Q107? I mean, you could slip anything into the mix at Q107. Depends how long you want to work there. Throw some Mozart on it if you want. I mean, I don't know. It's funny, we talked about Blair Bartram, who's now on CHFI and my former good friend of mine, still is, see him all the time,

love the guy, and former program director, and he said it best. He says, you can play anything on this radio station if it's in context. You can play Beethoven on Q107 if it's in context for that particular reason. You can play anything you want. Oh, come on. This is a goddamn good list I gave you. It's also a good Ridley Funeral Home list.

the average listener won't know who this is which is why i chose it You think I like groovy music? I can see at home, you're like Don Draper with your scotch there, and you're just putting on these jams. Awesome. Any air supply on your list? We're going to hear any air supply. That would be my wife's list. Okay.

We'll do that next time. We'll get her to kick out the gems next it's funny because now i'm into these like just different combos and i was chatting with steve pagan as i said last night just on zoom because he's in florida right now and we're chatting and then he goes oh there's a big fan of yours here and i'm like oh like who and he goes this older gentleman comes on the screen and goes i love your podcast it's larry pakin steve's dad that's amazing yeah and then i said i would do a father's day episode with steve and larry pakin i know and they're both into it so steve's gonna pick up larry and hamilton and bring him here and uh larry's a funny guy too

because he said he loved uh he loves Great Lakes or something. And he goes, one day soon he'll probably find himself at Ridley Funeral Home. And I thought it was a pretty good joke. Hopefully not too soon. Everything comes full circle, Mike. Come on, you know that.

So tell the world who doesn't know, the people listening are like, who is this? Yeah, everybody knows Cold Shot, Pride and Joy, great bar rock, fantastic musician. But yeah, this is just Stevie Ray Vaughan

letting it roll, just letting it rip. Riviera Paradise. I mean, self-explanatory. Listen to the song. Just amazing. Yeah, absolutely. Plane Crash, right? Took Stevie Ray Vaughan. Helicopter. I remember I was working the C&E that day,

so it must have been like 89 or 90. Again, gone too soon. Way too soon. Crap. Colin James was mentored by Stevie Ray Vaughan. He came in and talked about him, but amazing. Easily my favorite tune. I love his repertoire of songs.

Of course, Stevie Ray, of course, working at Q would make sense, but this tune, first time I heard this, I'm like, Jesus, that's insane. So good. When you can get a musician who's got really amazing chops, and when they're not within the, I'm not saying it was within the boundaries of his own music, because he wrote it, Pride and Joy, Cold Shot, great bar rock, great rock and tunes, but I find when you get a musician of this caliber

and just, this is what results if you would take this guy and lock him in a room with a guitar and a single mic and just say, nevermind the background band, but just say, let it rip, man. Like from your soul, give me a song that most people would not realize is you. And I think this would have been the tune because it's just like, geez, I knew this guy was good, but this is just got a, this groove is on a whole different level. You're familiar with this tune or not? No, not till now. You familiar with this tune or not till now? No, not till now. Right, exactly.

No, not till now. You are now. Well, I'm just now seeing the catalog of music he left behind, and he dies at the age of 35. He's a kid. 35 years old, he's gone, like you said, helicopter crash, and still managed to leave behind. It's sort of like when you hear about Otis Redding drowned,

and he was only like, I don't know, 23 or something. I can't find out how old he was, but pretty low. And then you realize the catalog he actually managed to leave behind in a short number of years. It's like the Doors, like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix. Yeah. Gone at 27, same thing. Same thing.

You know what's funny? Look at those guys now. It's not so much Stevie because it's later, but if you look at Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, and I pointed this out to my wife, these guys were gone literally at 27. And if you look at pictures of them, they look like old men.

You see a 27-year-old now. Jim Morrison especially. Yeah. Because he's got the end when he's bloated. And Hendrix just looks like an old musician. Yeah, they lived hard. They lived hard, man.

27-year-old kids now are like, bro, bro, where are we going tonight, bro? They're like kids, but these guys look like old men. Yeah, you know, that's what drugs will do to you, man.

Yeah, yeah. Actually, you know, why did we lose George Michael so young? Well, apparently he did a lot of coke. Hard living. I know some Q107 guys who did a lot of

coke, but you're not one of them. No. Back in the day. Back in the day, of course. So there you go, man. Love it. Will you still find, I know you're, maybe you can tap your nose and opt out of this one, but will you still find coke in radio stations or is that just simply gone? I would say no.

I would say probably not now. No. It's all Evian water now. And the big party days are gone. Those budgets are gone. Yeah, that's right. The boat cruises and all those. Even the breweries would pay for whatever.

Yeah. All that money. Freddie P tells me these stories. We had some slamming parties back in the day on Q. It was so good. It was so good. The good old days. Yeah, man.

Man. But it's a great jam. Yeah, you definitely have a type, a bluesy, jazzy. You know, you can't go with, you made a good point off the top. You're like, at Q107, you're listening all day to Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin or whatever. And when you go home, you just want to. Which there's nothing wrong with it. It's great.

No, of course not. It's great. You don't want to, you know, when you're at home, you want to which is nothing wrong with it it's great of course it's great you don't want to you know when you're at home you want to enjoy something different you know it might be like if you worked at palma pasta maybe that's what you have every day for lunch when you're working at palma when you get home maybe uh you know have some sushi yeah throw a salad in there once in a while all right well they have salads there amazing okay you ready to uh to move on well contemporize i don't know if that's a word did i invent one but oh yeah Oh, my, oh, my. Do it again She look like you're playing for the win Oh baby I'm trying to roll

I'm trying to ride I'm trying to float I'm trying to glide No, no, don't be shy Just take my hand and hold on tight Oh, skate to the baby Skate Slide your way on over Slide your way on over.

Slide your way on over. Oh, skate to me, baby. Skate. I want to get to know you. I want to get to know you. Come on. Love it. What are we listening to, John?

Bruno Mars with Silk Sonic from 2021. This album came out, and it's just, I've always been, John? Bruno Mars with Silk Sonic from 2021. This album came out and it's just, I've always been a fan of Bruno Mars, but this is something they did with Silk Sonic. It's just before the first tune on the record, Leave the Door Open. You remember when that came out? Yeah, absolutely. It's just got that old school Motown, Detroit, Chi Lights sound to it. That 70s sound, which is just such a freaking groove, man.

Nobody's doing this. And this tune's the same way. Skate, this song's the same way. And Leave the Door Open. And even Smoking Out the Window. I just love where he's taking the music with his Silk Sonic record. And it's just, I had to put it on the list because it's like, this tune's going to age really well.

It's going to age remarkably well. Not like a normal pop tune is what I'm saying. Right. Anderson Paak is the guy with him in Silk Sonic. Was it last year's Grammys where they came out on stage? Remember? Yes, I think it was last year's. They had the bell bottoms and the glasses.

It was so cool, bro. I think it was last year's, and it was cool. It was so cool. I love them. I love them. Yeah, sounds great, buddy. I love that it's not all 70s jams. I mean, you had George Michael in there, too, and some other stuff.

But here you are, modern day. Love it. But with a vibe of the 70s. Motown feel to it, right? Which I'm digging the groove. I love it. Old school. All right, we're going to roll right out of Bruno.

Okay, one more. And Anderson here. And we're going to roll right into your Bruno. Okay, one more. And Anderson here, and we're going to roll right into your final jam. I thoroughly enjoyed this, though. This has been amazing. Thanks, buddy. Shout out to Canna Cabana, man. I don't know if you're consuming the cannabis, but if you are,

Canna Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. So if you're in Ontario and you need to get your cannabis fix, canna cabana dot com. cannabis or cannabis accessories. So if you're in Ontario and you need to get your cannabis fix, canacabana.com. I want to get to know you I want to get to know you Yes Yes, guy Love it Let me take you on a trip Love it. I let my body to the talking, let me show you the world with my eyes. I took you to a high mountain To dance out the deepest sea

Now more of a CFNY jam, but love it! Yeah. Depeche Mode. Love it. Did you always love Depeche Mode? Yes. Like from 101? Always. Always from 101? Always.

Always from, you know, everything counts. And before that, people are people right up to their current jams. Yeah, I saw them a few years ago. Was it pre-pandemic? Yeah, it would have been pre-pandemic, I guess, at the now Scotiabank. And they were mind-blowing. They were showcasing a new record then, which was good. I didn't really know it, so I just got to catch up on it.

But they played, of course, a lot of these classic hits of theirs. Have you ever been to a Depeche Mode? I have not. Okay. My wife and I are the same age. We're both in our early 50s, so we're right in the wheelhouse of when this stuff is current and when they were huge, people are people. We know this band very well.

I'm a bigger Depeche Mode fan. She's a bigger New Order fan, but we both love both acts, okay? Right. We go to this show, and the audience is probably around our age, give or take. The mean numbers probably make sense. It's about our demographic. Right.

But there's a lot of slightly older, maybe in their late 50s, but there's a bunch of younger kids, probably in their 30s, if not late 20s. Beyond Springsteen, beyond all these other rock shows I've seen where people get up and sing the tunes, we were blown away. And my wife and I, we're decent Depeche Mode fans, okay? I'll just

say that right now. We're not musicologists, or we can't use that word, but we're not fanatics. We're not fanatics when it comes to Depeche Mode, but I like their catalog. Every song, everybody at that concert knew every goddamn word of every... I'm looking at Shelly going, these kids are 25.

How did they... I've never heard this song. How did they know this entire library? Their fans are absolutely rabid. Absolutely rabid, which is great to see. But this tune, I had to pick one. I love the band. I like most of their music,

but this tune especially, it's, you know, I mean, I love Violator. Yeah, this is the Violator. Yeah, this is off Violator. Yeah, 1990. Because I'm thinking now, the biggest, the first big Depeche Mode song you'd hear on the radio was Just Can't Get Enough, I guess. Yeah, Just Can't Get Enough. So they go all the way back, 1981 here. And this is from the 1990 release.

Violator, which had, help me out here. Personal Jesus. Personal Jesus. Yeah, is from the 1990 release. Violator, which had helped me out here. Personal Jesus. Personal Jesus. And that was my second favorite. Enjoy the silence. Enjoy the silence. And Policy of Truth. Policy of Truth.

That's a big record. You know what? That's a big fucking album. I know. And it's 1990. Yeah. Wow. And thankfully,

Dave Gahan is not on our list of the artists that we love. I think we still got them all, don't we? I think so. We came close with him, but luckily he's still with us. John, how was this for you, man? Was it difficult to come up with that list of 10? No, it was difficult to keep it down to a list of 10. Right.

It could have been a list of 10,000, but I like those tunes. In fact, we saw those guys, Depeche Mode. right right it could have been listed 10,000 but I like those tunes yeah I like those in fact we saw those guys Depeche Mode it's like even those guys considered young in the annals of rock they got the jowls going on

you know they're in their 50s I know oh they're gonna be way way yeah actually 81 if they're putting out you gotta think

they're probably in their 20s in 1981 so yeah they're probably all pushing 60ish they're pushing 65 years old those guys Mike we're getting old buddy we're getting old, buddy. We're getting old, son.

Yeah, because we talk like you're a different generation. You only got a couple years on me. I'm right there in your rear view mirror as they say. Shout out to Pearl Jam. Dude, I love this so much. I love it. Kicking out the jams. I'm so glad you came back all these years later and we'll do this again sometime because you're a great

FOTM. It was the beer and the lasagna. I'm going to be honest. It's the measuring tape. Sorry. Yeah, it was just the measuring tape. Good call. You need to measure some stuff. Exactly. You're awesome and I really appreciate it. So much fun. So much fun. And that

brings us to the end of our 1208th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. But John, every time I go into Twitter

and I search John Scholes, I can't find you. But remind me what that Twitter handle is because you're on Twitter. I would have to get back to you on that because I am kind of on Twitter, but I don't really know how to use Twitter yet.

All right. Well, is there anywhere people can go to follow you? Like on Instagram or something? Yeah, John Scholes official is my like third Instagram account because they keep getting hacked. John Scholes Official is my, like, third Instagram account because they keep getting hacked so I got, like,

three followers. I am popular. Well, I'm going to tag you on this picture we're about to take. Love it. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.

And Canna Cabana. We're at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all. Just checking tonight. Oh, you don't have to wait long. We have a new episode of Toast Tonight, our 14th toast, with Rob Pruce from Spoons

and Bob Ouellette in the basement. We're kicking out talk rock, rock songs that have talking in them. See you at 7 p.m. tonight. We'll be right back. But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true

Yes, I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? All that picking up trash and then putting down roads And then brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am

But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine

And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you

Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine

And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie now Everything is Rosie Yeah everything is Rosie and Gray Yeah

Yeah Everything is rosy and gray