Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ken Pompey: Toronto Mike'd #1033

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

In this 1033rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Ken Pompey, the Electric Circus Cowboy Dancer who went on to produce the single Summertime Summertime, father two exceptional baseball players in Dalton Pompey and Tristan Pompey, and founded a new coaching app called PomSports. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Patrons like you.

Welcome to episode 1033 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta.

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Joining me this week, finally, it's the cowboy dancer on Electric Circus, who also happens to be the father of Dalton and Tristan Pompey. Ken Pompey. Ken, welcome to Toronto Mic'd. Well, thanks for having me. I'm a little bit disappointed because you're not wearing a cowboy hat. Oh, well, hey, I thought of bringing it, but I wanted this to be on a professional level

since you guys are actually our first official podcast. So we want to make sure that it keeps a professional image. I'll only bring in the cowboy when necessary. But Shirley, just to make sure we're on the same page here, these two images can coexist because we need to go back to the past and talk about some of this fantastic what I consider important Toronto history before we come up to the present day and talk about all the great stuff you're up to nowadays. Yes. No, no, I agree with you. It's only like I said, I wanted to put the spotlight on Palm Sports.

Definitely. Kendrick is my given name. And that's the name I went by when I was on Electric Circus. And I was very passionate. I actually still am very passionate about dancing. And it took me to a few different levels. Well, you're in the right place. Again, Palm Sports, the app. I would consider that sort of like the price you're going to pay, Kenrick, for the Palm Pay conversation, which I'm really looking forward to,

is that I am going to just mildly pester you. I guess that's the wrong terminology, because I hope you're very proud of this, but ask a few more Electric Circus questions, play a couple of songs, and finally, after so many years of wanting to talk to you, get some answers

on things that have been very curious to many of us FOTMs, but in a good way. We're all very excited about this. No, I'm game. I'm ready for it. Okay. So first, I'm going to share a little history of when I learned about all these fun facts here. So just a little history is that I've had this podcast for 10 years, and several years ago, I invited Dwight Drummond over. You know Dwight. Yes, I do.

So Dwight's over. Of course, we have a lot to talk about because Dwight Drummond is not only a great news anchor, but he was at City TV, and there was so much to discuss, including a fun fact that I knew of from my friend Joel Goldberg, that Dwight Drummond was in many of the early Maestro Fresh West videos. Yes. So Dwight reveals to me and anytime you want to chime in

a fun fact or a story just do so because I'll ramble a little bit off the top here but Dwight tells me the reason he got that job being in the Maestro Fresh West videos is that he worked on Electric Circus as a security guard. So then he mentions the cowboy hat wearing dancer. Now, when he mentions cowboy hat wearing dancer, I remember that I had a conversation on this program with Maestro Fresh West years earlier.

Fresh West years earlier. And Maestro, and I have quotes here, he described this cowboy hat-wearing dancer in Electric Circus as soul train meets Dukes of Hazzard. Yes, yes, absolutely. And that was my actual idea as to how to create that character. That cowboy was created when I was in Los Angeles. I was down there, I was visiting some friends, and I saw this great straw hat. I put it on and then came back to Canada, and Electric Circus had just started, and I thought this would be a good place to show off

this look, and with the look came the cowboy hat, and I got a pair of scissors and just annihilated some of my t-shirts and my vest and I just created this character and I just filled it out by being myself and danced and like I said extremely passionate about dancing in the first place so that came easy for me. Are you aware Ken Ken, of how many of us look back at you as basically one of the great characters in this city, the cowboy dancer in Electric Circus, the stuff of legends? Are you aware of this legacy?

Yes, I have. Did you know that there's a bear with my image on it? Maybe you're on top of it. Well, okay, I don't have it. I had it, and then I drank it. I had it and then I drank it, but I'll just let the world know because this podcast has been sponsored by Great Lakes Brewery for many years. Are you ready for a mind blow?

Yes. So he's no longer there, but one of the great Toronto Mike champions at Great Lakes is a, was a gentleman named Troy Birch. champions at Great Lakes was a gentleman named Troy Birch. And Troy heard the story of the cowboy dancer on Electric Circus on this program, Toronto Mic'd. We dove pretty deep into it with Joel Goldberg, who created Electric Circus.

And he honored you with the Electric Circus brew at Great Lakes. And I've seen the photos. You and your son Dalton paid a visit I suppose to kind of bless the endorsement. Absolutely. Dalton came out to support his dad rather than his dad supporting

him. That was a great feeling. That was a great feeling, yes. I thought it was a good thing. Again, I'm making you pay a serious price here to get to the business talk, but I want to hear more about your love of dancing, if you don't mind, before I play this song here. So what, at some point you moved to LA? Where are you from originally, Ken? Originally from Trinidad. My father came up to Canada back in

69, and then he brought my sister and I to Canada in 1971. And coming here, it was like heaven to me because in Trinidad, we looked at snow as something in a fantasy. We didn't look at it like that's what it really is. But regardless, we looked at it as a fantasy. Like, that's what it really is. But regardless, we look at it as a fantasy. So coming in 1971, it was heaven for me to be in Canada and now to be a Canadian. My father, again, trying to make a better life for my sister and I.

So coming from literally poverty to the point where we're cooking, boiling water by digging a hole in the ground, putting sticks in it, lighting it up, and putting a pot on top of it. That's where we boil water. We went to outhouses. I had to learn how to use a knife and fork before coming to Canada because I used to eat with my hands. We didn't know.

We didn't use knives and forks. That was just for the wealthy people. So this was a major life change for us. Wow. And is it Mississauga? Whereabouts did you move to? We started off in Parkdale. Started off in Parkdale. So obviously my father did not have a lot of money. We worked as a janitor and

it is best to make ends meet. So we lived in Parkdale for a while, for a few years. And then from Parkdale, we moved to Jane and Finch when Jane and Finch was brand new, all new developments. And then from Jane and Finch, we moved to Mississauga. And from Mississauga, we stayed there until my father passed away back in 77, unfortunately. And I continued on with life. He passed away when I was 15 years old. And him passing away, and myself and my sister not having a mother, I was an orphan. So was my sister, obviously.

We were orphans. And I then went out into the world, continued on with school, but was able to lean on friends to stay at their place while I was going to school. I was always a strategic type of individual when it came to survival. It was about finding somewhere to live, being able to go to school, and making money at the same time. And for me back then, it wasn't work. It was effortless. It was like, ask my friend, hey, can I stay at your place? I got to go to school, and then I got to go to work after school. Are you good with that? No problem. And I was able to continue that for a few years.

And from that point, moved on to become a welder. I was fantasizing about being a ticketed welder, welding steel. So I became a welder, and I was very good at it. And unfortunately, that's where I started realizing what the world was really like. I had to work for somebody to be a welder. And my last job as an employee was at the age of 18 years old as an employee in Ophel, where I was a welder. And my boss at the time, I guess he may have been having a bad day. It was a Friday.

He came to me, crumpled up his check, threw it in my face. Friday, he came to me, crumpled up his check, threw it in my face. And unfortunately, at 18 years old, you don't know how to say, hey, listen, can we talk about this? No, at 18 years old, you get aggressive. And unfortunately, I became aggressive. I was let go. I was told I had a bad attitude. Then I realized it's not really my attitude. I just don't like the master-slave thing.

It doesn't work for me. So that was the last time at 18 years old, I was an employee. I haven't been an employee ever since. I'm now 60 years old and I've been an entrepreneur ever since. So he actually did me a favor by throwing that check in my face. But regardless, I don't see it. Are you still on screen? Yeah. No, I'm still here. You can't see me? I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm listening to your great story here. And I'm thinking at that young age of 18, it seems like you already realize that you're a natural born

entrepreneur. Yes, I didn't know what the word was at 18. I didn't even learn about the word entrepreneur until a few years later. But I was at 18. I didn't even learn about the word entrepreneur until a few years later. But I was an entrepreneur in that I realized I didn't want to be an employee anymore. So I then went out to a gentleman. I just went and knocked on the gentleman's door. He's with API Alarms. He's the creator of API Alarms. I asked him, listen, could I sell you alarms? He said, sure. This is my product.

Go out there and sell it. I took the product to London, Ontario, and I went knocking on doors, and I asked folks, would you like to buy it in London? And the ones who said yes, we installed. I got paid for making the sale. I got paid for having somebody come in and do the installment. So I'm starting to learn something. Rather than me being the guy who's using the hammer, I can get others to help me by them using the hammer, and I just go out and get the deals. So I continued on with that model, and it was very good for me because I then realized that,

okay, if I could do this for security systems, security alarms, what else could I do this for? I then became passionate about the IT field. This is a few years later. I wanted to become a Microsoft systems engineer. So I then, at this time, I'm living in Vancouver now. Okay, so I've moved from the GTA to Vancouver,

and I became a Microsoft professional engineer, an engineer, systems engineer. Doing that, again, what I did, knock on doors, ask individuals, would you like me to put together your computer network? Yes, Ken, come on in. Then I would hire people to put in the system. They would put it in, and I would continue on looking for a new work to keep them busy. And that was just one venture. I did a few others. I became a bricklayer doing the same thing. Never laid a brick a day in my life. Went to builders at the time.

There was a shortage in the GTA bricklayers. Do you guys need bricklayers? Yeah, we need bricklayers. We didn't have any of the GTAs, so I put ads in newspaper all over Canada and brought bricklayers here. I got the job. I got the bricklayers.

I had them in hotels. I became a bricklaying contractor. But then I'm realizing, hey, I got this little skill. I don't know what it is, but I'm liking it. So I did that to become a bricklayer. I did it to become a drywaller. I did it for becoming a drywaller. I became a drywaller, did the same thing up the Andorras, got drywall projects, hired a drywall boardman to come and do the work. And I'm into it.

And at this time, I kind of like went ahead with the computer systems, with networking. I did the bricklaying stuff before I did the networking with Microsoft and Microsoft Worker. Then from that point, I wanted to have a family. This is where I met my wife, but we haven't even touched on the cowboy stuff. Cowboy stuff was before all of this.

Okay, wait, let me, so what brought you to California? What brought me to California was the cowboy stuff. The cowboy stuff, I met someone because of the cowboy, but I wasn't a cowboy then. I was just a good dancer and i met someone and she has relatives in california we then went down to california and we were considering possibly living there and while i was down there this is when i found the hat when we went out shopping one day and then but it was just done out of

the look. I liked the look. I didn't want something too fancy because I was more of a grunge guy. So for me to get something too fancy wouldn't be me. Soul Train meets Dukes of Hazzard. Shout out to Maestro. So Maestro, of course, everything comes back to Electric Circus, of course, because that's where Maestro gets discovered. So it all comes full circle for him.

But okay, so it's funny. I got a comment when I wrote about this in 2011, and we're going to play a song in a minute, which listeners of this program know because I'm mildly obsessed with it and I have questions. But in 2011, there was a comment about, I'm more curious as to where the cowboy hat wearing guy that used to dance on electric circus every week is now.

He could really hold that cheap cowboy hat and bust a move. Now, I should point out, it's around the time that Dwight Drummond is telling me the story of the cowboy dancer that I realize the cowboy dancer, and at the time, Dalton Pompey, your son, was a Toronto Blue Jay. I think the fun fact that the cowboy dancer

went on to father, and at the time, Tristan was still, I think, was still in school, but a major league baseball player. Like, this was the mind blow of all mind blows to me, that that cowboy guy is the father of Dalton? Like, tremendous. a mind blow of all mind blows to me that that cowboy guy is the father of dalton like tremendous and i know so so and we'll get to this part of the story there's so many components just i just want to play a little music here so you're on electric circus you're dancing uh by the way

when did you learn about this new show called electric circus at 299 queen and like like what how did you get in the doors there? Somebody actually asked me, would you like to be on the show? And it was back in 1988. Somebody asked me to be on the show. But they weren't a part of the show. They thought you would be a perfect

fit for the show. Because I was wearing a cowboy hat, the ripped shirts, in nightclubs. And someone thought that I was wearing a cowboy hat, the ripped shirts in nightclubs. And someone thought that I would be a great fit for that. So I checked it out and sure enough, I thought it was perfect. I was very passionate about dancing, extremely passionate to the point where I would close my eyes and I would feel very euphoric when I was on the dance floor and having that feeling and now sharing it with literally an audience was even more euphoric for me so it was a it was an easy thing for me to do unbelievable so this is the part of the story

that I actually went to twitter and i actually tweeted at dalton pompey your son and to confirm this that the cowboy dancer was his dad and i actually copied and pasted his reply he basically said uh basically yes ha ha uh so once i had that confirmation i started you know writing about it and talking about it on this podcast. So now, Ken, so now we've established you're the cowboy. By the way, Monica Diol, was she the host for the, was she the original host? Was she the only host?

Yes, she was. Okay. Yes, yes. And I guess George Laguganis, we butcher his last name. No, George was a cameraman. Okay. George was a cameraman. Her partner was was his name mike uh a brother who another brother from another mother uh a brother he was he was the

co-host if you were able to go back that far uh it was her and uh and mike that uh that did the show and uh george yes he was a cameraman but him and i connected because he's he he obviously uh was impressed by the way i danced actually when bob when uh when when george wanted to progress from being a cameraman to something else within within the organization he asked me if I could do a help him do a story on myself and he used that to show the big boss at the time. I forgot what the gentleman's name was.

But the big boss at the time presented that to show the boss his skills. Was this the biggest boss or the big boss? Because the biggest boss of course was Moses Nimer. That's the one. Okay. That's top of the food chain.

Exactly. So we had to do this. So like I said, George and I, we connected big time. So it was not a problem for me to assist George with that. And I get him going. And look where he is now. And I quietly watch him all the time. I'm sure you'll be on CP24 Breakfast any day now.

So, Ken, we're going to play a little jam here. So I'm going to probably let it go at least a minute before I fade this down. But get ready. If you want to dance, dance, okay? Never stop dancing. But here is the jam we're going to talk about I'm out summer time boy Fell out of bed, checked the headlines There's a heat wave starting a good time When it's hot, gotta hit the spot

Where the water's cool and the girls are hot The beach is packed, gotta get on track I can't hold back, hit it with a new jack I make it dance and your body is sore You should be rocking like never before My rap, it's serious It makes a woman delirious I rock and mic like a smooth operator,

motivated, fascinated, innovative creator. It's getting hot in here, Ken. Absolutely. Absolutely. Brings back a lot of great memories. All right. I need the origin story because it's one thing to be a dancer on Electric Circus.

It's another thing entirely to put out a single. I've seen the video as well. This is called Summertime Summertime. It's credited to Kay Pompei. That voice, that male voice you hear, of course, is yours, Ken. Tell me how this came to be. It came to be because of Electric Circus. On Electric Circus, I danced. I got in of electric circus uh an electric circus i danced again someone seen something and they thought have you considered rapping i said i've never done that but you know what let's give it a go never done any rapping never sung never wrote but i just made a decision i'm gonna do it and that's usually what it takes for me to decide I'm going to do something. So I decided I'm going to do it.

So I sat in my condo with my girlfriend, my wife-to-be at the time, and I wrote a few songs. And Summertime was one of them. I never wrote a song a day in my life. I was able to write that tune, and then it came time to put it all together. So rather than me getting the studio to put up everything, I said, let me do it. So I went out in Toronto, found a producer, and worked with him. I said, well, this is the song. it what can you do so he helped

me with the music and I said I well we need backup and if you look at the credits as to who the backup is we have pretty good backup in for that particular to and continuing on with the with the writing of the song with the producing of the song I was able to produce it myself and just give it to Sony. And then they did what they did. Do you want to name check some of the people that helped you on this single?

Yeah, well, again, it's on the back. That's to the guy's name. I don't have it in front of me, but if you had it and you're a researcher, you appear to be one of those guys who's good at researching. But if you look at the credits, Deborah Cox was my backup singer. Wow. Okay, let's not bury that lead.

Deborah Cox. So you helped break, not only do you produce a couple of major league baseball players, but you help nurture some fantastic artists. Deborah Cox is a big deal. Yes, she is. We're all a big deal.

Every one of us have talents. You have a talent. You're talking to myself and a bunch of others. That's your talent. If you're able to feed off of your talent, everything's easy. It is easy. This stuff is not difficult for me.

Palm sports, dancing. I was talking to Dalton today. What do you want to do? I gave him a bunch of different ideas, but you know what he wants to do after baseball? He wants to create a sports empire in terms of somewhere where kids can go to learn how to play baseball, basketball, football, whatever the sport is. Obviously, he's going to start with baseball first. But he wants to be all over the world creating these different things. We've all got skills.

We've all got a gift. I believe in nurturing the gift and taking it as far as you can take it. That's super inspiring. I'm going to have some additional questions about Dalton. Congrats. I hear Dalton did sign with the Guelph Royals. That's some...

Yes. Yes. He was with the LA Angels up until last year, and then he had moved on from the Angels, and the guy was hitting.367, his last at bat. But the Angels needed to make room for others. But Dalton was hitting 367. And any of us who know baseball,

that's pretty good. That's incredible. So he's at the top of his game. It's not the best time to leave. It's not the best time to leave. So he's still got a passion for it and i'm glad i was able to help nurture him to get to where he is and again never played i never played baseball day in my life we weren't even able to afford baseball i came out of parkdale we couldn't get it to get

me into organized sports but my boys i was able to i had money I was able to find a way to get them into whatever sport they liked, baseball, basketball, and soccer. Basketball and soccer wasn't their sport because they didn't have the aerobic ability that one needs to run up and down the field or court for an hour nonstop. They'd be the fastest kid on their team, but then their tongues would be hanging out after 30 minutes. With baseball, you get to run as fast as you want to first base,

and you get to rest. And so that was a breeze. But Dalton was actually flat-footed when he got into baseball. I had to hire a coach from York University who who at the time, and I bring this up all the time, he said to me, I don't work with little kids. I work with, because Dalton was seven at the time. He works with big boys. I said, I'll pay you for it. I gave him a dollar amount and he said, okay, I'll do it. He brought Dalton and he taught Dalton how to run. But that's how I did everything in business. I hire, if I can't

figure it out, I hire somebody who's good at what they do. You know, and that's, I didn't know how to throw a ball. I didn't know how to catch. I hired coaches to teach Dalton how to play the game. But while

the coaches are working on the kids, I'm, as a parent, I'm standing at the sideline looking at what they're doing. And sure enough, their coaching ability leaked onto me to the point where I was a part of three OBA championships, AAA championships, where I was able to share some of the stuff I learned from the coaches I worked with.

Do you ever do the math? What would be the odds on somebody who doesn't know how to throw a baseball himself? What would be the odds on him fathering two major leagues? Not one, but two. That's astronomical, I would think. It is. But again, it's like a bird takes to the air with its wings and it's effortless.

I take to what I do like a bird. It's effortless for me. So I'm about sharing what I got. And I'm trying to teach others just like Rishi. I'm teaching him. Share what you got, Rishi. teach others just like rishi i'm teaching him share what you got rishi well i haven't even uh told the listenership that we do have a third person on the call here because when we do start diving into the uh uh palm sports app uh rishi uh is going to be a part of that conversation but

i did warn him before you jumped on the zoom i did warn him. I said, just be warned. I've got some summertime, summertime questions. And I'm almost done them, Ken. And then we'll talk about your boys and we'll talk about the app. But did summertime, summertime get any airplay? And before you answer that question, know that today is Scott Turner. Scott Turner is a great FOTM. He was on energy radio throughout the 90s. And Scott's birthday is today. So I want to do a happy birthday message to Scott Turner. And I would just like you to know, Ken, that I've been trying to ask this question,

did energy radio ever play? Because I feel energy would have played summertime, summertime. But now let me ask you, did it receive any airplay in this market? Yes, it did. It received airplay on the radio. What's that like? Do you remember what stations?

Yeah, to me at the time was Chum. Chum was a big deal for me. And no, it got played and I was excited about it. But there's a reason why I walked away from that life. Why? Because that life attracted a lot of females

and I'm a guy and I'm attracted to females. At the time, I didn't know how to control my appetite. So I'm realizing that this kind of goes against what my real dream is. My real dream was, and still is, to be a dad and to be a husband and to have a wife that I'm able to be with for the rest of my life. And the cowboy made that almost impossible. Women couldn't keep their hands off the cowboy. And the cowboy couldn't keep his hands off of them.

That became a problem. And that's a conflict when you're trying to be a family man. That's a conflict. You needed to choose one. Most definitely. Again, the cowboy was created. It was a hat I found in Los Angeles. Shirts I ripped up.

I created this character. Who I am on the inside is a husband and a dad. That's who I am. So was there a symbolic moment where you have to set this hat on fire because you're killing the cowboy so that Ken Pompei can live? Absolutely.

I actually told some girls near the end of that life that I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to have a wife. And I put that actually to Valerie, my wife. And she was a law student at York University. And I said, well, if we're going to continue on, I'd like to have a family. And she decided to have a family with me. And she gave up on her law career. Dalton came into the world and then Tristan came into the world. Tristan was born in New Westminster,

B.C. Dalton was born in Mississauga. We've been together now for 33 years. When I first discovered Summertime, I was having Twitter DM conversations with Val to ask.mertime I was having Twitter DM conversations with Val

just to let you know just to ask I think I was trying to see my vision at the time was imagine if Ken and Dalton came on together and everything was happening in person at the time so I had this whole idea we'd both come on I'd play Summertime Summertime we'd talk about it but this is

just as good here finally catching up with you so we're about to do a segue, but I have to clear up my audio. So just one more jam, because I want you to tell me the truth on whether this song was the inspiration behind Summertime, Summertime.

You ready? Yeah. ੧ ੧ Right, a deep love C&C Music Factory, A Deeper Love. Was this an inspiration? Yes, most definitely. C&C Music Factory at the time, they had a bunch of tunes. That's one of them. Definitely. CNC Music Factory at the time, they had a bunch of tunes. That's one of them.

And being a dancer, I got off on CNC more than once to the point where it was, again, very euphoric when you heard the right song and you're dancing. It just puts you in a better place. And that was a part of that time. But even watching you now, when you're listening to that, I feel like you want to dance. You're suppressing it because this is a business conversation in a minute. But you want to dance right now, don't you? Absolutely.

I'm dancing all the time. I know I have to be cool. I feel that is cool. Like imagine you're the dancing entrepreneur. Like you can dance and close the deals, you know? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm very passionate about dancing. I don't see as much dance collectively as there was back in the 80s, 90s, 70s, 60s.

It's a little quieter now in terms of dance. Why do you think that is? Like, why have we stopped dancing? Because I think you're right. At least it's, yeah. Did somebody decide dancing was too much shtick? Was it too orchestrated? Is it not natural enough for today's youth? I don't know, but I don't think it's necessary that we stop dancing.

I think we should just say, dude, you're having a bad day. Start shrugging your shoulders. It doesn't matter, though, because you're a great dancer. I've seen footage. My buddy, Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario got me some footage from Electric Circus in the late 80s, and there you are. You've got rhythm, man. You're a hell of a

dancer. Is it okay for me? I have no rhythm. I'm not a very good dancer, but can I dance too? Absolutely. Absolutely. It's funny you should mention that there are young kids who play baseball they weren't very good but they loved the game right and i did my best to get them to do your best let's play get their parents involved it just puts a glow on your face if you

feel it do it absolutely okay Absolutely. Okay, last song, and then we're going to segue to the next topic here. But I did, so I was doing homework, and then I sometimes have like Twitter DM conversations with people like Mark Weisblot from 1236 and others about, you know, oh, my guest is Ken Pompeo. I want to do this, this, and the other. And he mentions that he came up with a fun fact

about summertime, summertime. So I'm going to play a little bit of this song and then we're going to get that story. The password is play. When I saw her walking down the street, she looked so fine fine I just had to speak I asked her name But she turned away As she walked All that I could say was Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah

Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah All that I could say was Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah Ken, do you know what song this is? You can help me. It's been a while, but I used to dance to it all the time. Okay, so this is Nunu, it's called, but Liddell Town Cell, I think. I hope I said that right.

But is it true that Summertime, Summertime was the B-side to this single when it was released? to this single when it was released? It could have been because the producer, the gentleman who assisted me with putting it together, I gave him the reins to choose the music. So we believe that maybe to help find a new audience, because this was a hit, like this song, Nu Nu, was a hit. And having Summertime, Summertime, the legend that is Kay Pompey,

having that as the B side would be a way to get it into, you know, the, get it into the clubs and to DJs and to dance fans. So, okay. So you, you passed on those reins to somebody else.

So you don't have any insight into how that came together. No, I don't know. I tell, because Ken, when you don't know something, you, you go to the experts to educate your whole life, whether, you know't. No, I don't. Because, Ken, when you don't know something, you go to the experts to educate your whole life.

You didn't know how to rap, and next thing you know, you're writing a rap, and you're producing a song with Kay Pompei rapping it. You didn't know anything about baseball. You fathered a couple of Major League Baseball players. Man, you get stuff done, and we're going to talk about that now first. But first, this is a serious question.

So I mentioned you were coming on and I got a serious question via Twitter about Dalton. So this is from Eric. And Eric would like me to ask you, he says in 2019, Stephen Brunt made, he talked about how Dalton was the target of bullying inside the 2015 Jays clubhouse.

Would you mind commenting on that? We all remembered the 2015 Blue Jays season because I called it the hype train, but what a season. It didn't quite end the way we wanted it to, but this, can you speak to these allegations of bullying of your son in that clubhouse? Yeah.

Well, Dalton is, is half black and half white. But in the world, he's looked on as a black person. And you're going to have individuals who don't like black people. And sometimes my two boys have to deal with that. And unfortunately, some of the aggressors, we already know. I don't even like talking about that. But the aggressors go to the extreme to show their hate for another race.

And Dalton had to deal with that, but not only in professional baseball, also in school sports, in rep baseball. Dalton got cut from a team who a kid didn't like him, called him the N-word. And because my wife and I disagreed with that, brought it to the coach's attention, the coach cut Dalton and the kid stayed on the team. This stuff is real. This stuff is very real. But it goes on in professional baseball. It's going on in every sport. And not just here in our country. It's going on in every sport and not just here in our country. It's going on in every country.

You have racism of all kinds. But I prefer not to focus on that. I prefer to move on from it. They just, I call it ignorance. They don't know any better. That's just how it is. But Ken, it's one thing to hear and it's awful, but you do hear about in the schoolyards, you hear about this stuff

happening because they're kids and they need to be educated and sometimes they're almost oblivious to their ignorance because they were raised by racists and they need some education and some enlightenment. But that's one thing. It's a whole other thing that this would be taking place in the 2015 Blue Jays Clubhouse. Yes, it's going to happen this year in some clubhouse. It's going to happen next year. We can't, you and I, all we can do is just be the best we can be. And if we see it happening, just get in the middle of it. And that's what my wife and I did throughout the boys' upbringing. Get in the middle of it. And that's what my wife and I did throughout the boy's upbringing. Get in the middle of it whenever necessary.

Elton was told at one point by a coach at school that he could be, because I've always said to him, you could be the best in the world. You could be a professional one day. He mentioned this to a coach in school. The coach said, you'll never be a professional baseball player. It's up to the parents. We're the ones that take them through life. We are their mentors.

Whether they like it or not, we are their mentors. In some cases, their mentors aren't looking out for the kids' best interests. They're not looking out for humanity. They're just feeding them a lot of bad stuff. Okay, so Dalton, we just mentioned, he's with the Guelph Royals now in Intercontinental, Inter-County Baseball League. I always get the name of that league mixed up. But it must be nice to have him close to home at least.

And he's not done with baseball yet. And that's great news because like you mentioned, he had a 360 something average when he last played for the is it the Tripoli affiliate for the Angels of Anaheim? That's correct.

367. Wow. Wow. The Mendoza line is way down at 200. So I think when you get 367, we call that the All Arood line. I think that's the general name. Yes. Yes. Tell me about your, so what's the age difference between Tristan and Dalton? Four and a half years. Four and a half years. So give us an update on, because Dalton is the hot topic around here because he was a Blue Jay, and you know what that does to this market, right? But tell us about Tristan.

Well, Tristan is with the Florida Marlins, and he's with their, last year he was with their AAA, AA, AAA and AA team. And this year, he was with their AAA and AA team. And this year, he's waiting to get back into the game.

Tristan is still pursuing baseball because that's his passion as well. But I'm now realizing that the boys, when Valerie and I were bringing them up, we focused a lot on hiring the right coaches for all the positions but we did zero when it came to working on their mental skills because we didn't know how huge of a an issue the mental game was in any professional sports. So we didn't focus on that very much. So where Tristan was injured, he had a herniated disc throughout the entire year, played with a herniated disc. While he was at the University of Kentucky, he was experiencing a herniated disc,

but he didn't tell his mom or I about the herniated disc. this but he didn't tell his mom or i about the idea this i just saw in his performance near the end of his last season at uh at kentucky that he wasn't he wasn't swinging like he normally does uh he told us once he got drafted by the marlins that um yes his back hurts we had to get him to get an mri done so we could see what the problem was we then had to get him to get an MRI done so we could see what the problem was. We then had to acknowledge to his agent that Tristan's got herniated disc. Somebody's got to talk to somebody about this. So they then talked to the Marlins, and the Marlins then treated him accordingly. And now he's pretty well.

He's just recovering from his herniated disc. Okay. Well, I wish him a speedy recovery. And I love it when Canadians make the majors. You know, this is forever. You know, be it Rob Ducey or the Butler boys or you name it. I won't even mention, you know, we have the best player in the league right now out of Etobicoke, if you ask me.

But thinking back to, you know, Larry Walker, just so many great Canadians. Ferguson Jenkins? Amazing. Anyway, so we root for your boys regardless, but especially because now you're an FOTM, so I think we're all going to be rooting hard for the Pompeii boys. But you talked in that, as you spoke about everything there, you're talking about difficulties,

getting your kids to the big leagues and having the right coaches around you because you might not know how to throw a baseball, but you can hire someone who does and you can help your children develop and succeed, which, you know, you've proven that you can do that. So this might be a really good segue and maybe Rishi can come in and tell us what he thinks of Summertime Summertime. Yeah, absolutely. Sure.

Okay. Well, before you tell me about summertime summertime uh i just want to point out that you're also going to talk about palm sports and basically the two of you so first tell us rishi what you think of uh the cowboys uh summertime summertime jam you know i'm still dancing over here and then i want to know ken uh about the creation of Palm Sports and exactly what is Palm, P-O-M, by the way, not P-O-A-L, sorry, P-A-L-M. And Palm, of course, as in Pompeii. But tell us about Palm Sports and what you thought of Summertime Summertime. Okay, let's start off with Summertime Summertime,

because that's the one that I want to start off on. Well, the first time I saw that, the first time I looked that up and saw the evidence in my eyes and in my ears through the audio and video, I was absolutely stunned. I thought this serial entrepreneur, Ken Pompei is, you know, the cowboy that even, you know, that legend spoke about, so to speak. And no, it turned out to be him. So I rethought my business partnership with him. No, I'm kidding. No, you bought a cowboy hat. You went out and bought a cowboy hat. Yeah, actually, I have a few.

I had to take them off the wall before the call, actually. So I put up these fake, whatever these are, degrees back here. But nonetheless, it was absolutely insane to see it. I loved seeing it because I have a good dancing side to me as well, but I'm not nowhere good at dancing as Ken is, that's for sure. Not nowhere close to releasing a single.

And he had those muscles. I wish I had those muscles, the pectoral muscles. He just looked good on the dance floor. He had the whole package, I'll tell you. I thought he could have been an NBA player. He could have been something else, too, when it came to the athlete side of things, too.

So the sky was the limit, and it still is the limit for Ken. Well, let's face it. Ken had the right DNA because he passed it on to his boys. So it might not have been nurtured because he didn't have the same coaching help that he was able to give his boys, but he had the genetic talent. Exactly. It's not a fluke that Ken was able to get two boys into the league.

He got two sons into MLB. I call it the Pompeii way of doing things. He got his two sons into the league league and we want to do that now that's exactly what he was talking about earlier palm sports and and that's the side of things that's us trying to bring the pompey way essentially into the world uh which is you know we can talk about that more um but what is it like the way i feel like at this point we got to tell the listeners what the hell palm sports is. They're like, we teased them so much. Yeah, it's a good point.

So the Palm Sports is Ken's latest and biggest venture, really. That's what it is. And it's the most exciting venture, probably because I'm involved in it. That's why I'm a little bit of biased when I'm saying those things. But nonetheless, it's our way. It's an app. Let's start off with that. It's an app that we've made that allows anyone to find a coach quickly right near them. So Ken had to hire a plethora of coaches for Dalton, for Tristan. You need coaches in order to help your kids develop, in order to develop yourself. in order to develop yourself if you want to give your chance to make it to the next level or if you just want to get better at what you know whatever sport you play for the gym for the rec league for

the big leagues whatever it is so we thought how can we bring the pompeii way to everyone to kids to parents to adults to youths to whoever it is how do we put it uh into the world so we created an app you just sign up for our app you you know, hit up, hit up our website, sign up on our app, and you can instantly have access to coaches near you. You can schedule times, um, you know, to meet with the coaches and get training done, you know, see the coaches profiles, meet the one that really fits your needs. So right now we're in the beta stage, by the way. Any sport? Like, yeah, we're starting with the big five so um you know baseball is the one that we love so we always start off with that baseball basketball hockey um and football soccer okay amazing because i have four kids so uh i i've been desperately searching for some evidence of

talent in the sporting realm but i think maybe the eight-year-old has a knack for soccer so i could use palms the app i could download it on my android device here and i could use it in the sporting realm, but I think maybe the eight-year-old has a knack for soccer. So I could use POMS, the app, I could download it on my Android device here and I could use it to find the right coaches to help, you know, my son Jarvis develop and succeed at the game of soccer. Yeah, well, right now it's accessible on our website. We're like a web app. What is the website? What is the website? Yeah, it's POMSports.com. It's exactly our company's name pom sports which is ken's name pompey right so it's pom sports and p-o-m sports dot com just click on our website you'll see a little link at the top to um log in and sign up

for the app there and just sign up and right now we're in the stage again we're in the beta stage so we're just rostering coaches we're asking coaches to come on board because it's really important that we get coaches on board we're trying to put income into their pockets because as a coach if you become a palm sports coach every training session you do with an athlete with a user basically on our app on the web app you get paid right so it's a great way to supplement your income to create income and to get coaching and get paid right so it's a great way to supplement your income to create income and to get coaching and get paid for coaching you're like the the uber of sports coaching you can say that you can definitely say that i just did you said it first but instead of finding

uh drivers you're finding coaches right and these are these coaches are helping you get better at sports it makes so much sense like like any good idea, you hear the good idea and you're like, oh my God, that's so obvious. It's just sitting right there. But somebody has to, just like, you know, I'm still stuck at Ken in the bricklaying thing. He's just like, oh, we need bricklayers. From bricklaying to making apps, that's where Ken has come.

So he was all the way from there and he's still going strong. And I guess like I'm the young Jedi that's helping him to make sure that this app, this project gets out into the world. Because again, it's our biggest and brightest. Okay, so it's website only right now but the plan, of course, is that this can

go to Apple and Android. Exactly, exactly. We have something baking in the oven already for that, but yet to be uh yet to be released and this is that true this is your first interview about palm sports is that right ken yeah that this is my first one where i'm taking this serious interview serious i've had other conversation but this is this this is where it starts well it almost happened yesterday but this is where it starts well listen i know yesterday, but this is where it starts.

Well, listen, I know it almost happened on another show I produce, so if it wasn't for an audio technical problem, I would have been number two. So in hindsight, I'm actually glad there was a technical glitch. It's almost like I manipulated it.

So, palmsports.com and again, it's funny. I was just my buddy Cooksey. I was just chatting. I was at the Leafs game last night and I got a tour of the media gondola because, uh, Mike Ross is the PA announcer there. And he's a, he's an FOTM and Mike Ross coaches baseball with my buddy Cooksey. This is a long winded way of saying Cooksey's son, uh, he's 15, but he's like, uh, he's a fantastic hockey player. Like I think he's 15 but he's like uh he's a fantastic hockey player like i think he's anyway he's got a bright future in hockey he's doing very well uh cooksy son but um i want to ask uh palm sports sounds fantastic but i have a couple of concluding questions for ken about the music but just before

we do that though i just want to thank a few of the partners the sponsors that helped make this possible so this real talk i mentioned great lakes brewery and it is true although they only brew it occasionally but they have an electric circus beer with the cowboy dancer k pompey on the label like it's unbelievable you're that and I have these photos of Dalton and Ken enjoying Electric Circus on the patio, which is amazing too. So that's like a small world connection. We're both linked by Great Lakes Beer. I want to thank them.

I also want to thank Palma Pasta. I know you're a Mississauga guy there. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. If you want authentic Italian food, you go to palmapasta.com. Ken, if I ever meet you in person, if you want authentic Italian food, you go to palmapasta.com. Ken, if I ever meet you in person, and I hope to one day, I'll get you a frozen lasagna from Palmapasta to check it out. Absolutely.

And last but not least, stickeru.com, where I get all my stickers. That's where you guys can get your Palm Sports stickers and decals and start plastering them everywhere. They're in Liberty Village, but anywhere you have an internet connection, you can utilize stickeru.com. I said that was last but not least, but I lied because I want to thank Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars of this community since 1921. And now truly last but definitely not least,

Canna Cabana have over a hundred cannabis stores across this country, and they will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. These guys are awesome. If you partake, you go to Canna Cabana, and you tell them Toronto Mike sent you. You got that, Ken? Got that. Okay, Ken, so we know in your spare time, you're still dancing.

You might be dancing right now in your heart and soul there. You're a serial entrepreneur. Palm Sports is just your latest venture your greatest venture but i know there's a lot more brewing so to speak but have you ever considered going back in the studio and just giving it one more go i bet you could still you could still rap you could still sing like why not try it one more time I can still dance but like I said one of the side effects of that industry it wouldn't work

for my marriage but there's no way you could just like have like the discipline to say no thank you you know you could be the rock star and still be the family guy. Why should I put that in front of myself? I'm good.

I'm good. That's like me and pizza, man. Like sometimes I put on, you know, an extra five, 10 and I realized why do I order? If I put the pizzas in front of me,

I'm going to eat it because I love it. I don't want any temptation. I run from it. I just put on my sneakers and take off. All right. Last question here. This is important. So I've heard Summertime Summertime,

and people can hear that on YouTube, or they can actually find it on TorontoMic.com as well. But are there any other singles in the can that were recorded back in the day that you have copies of but haven't found their way into the wild? Yes. Okay.

Whoa. Slow down, Ken. Okay, slow down. How many songs do you have in the secret archive that never saw the light of day? There was 10 done and there was four that was developed and we just published one before

I realized I don't want to do this. So if my math is correct, I'm not as bright as you, but that's three produced songs. Where are they right now? Are they on a memory stick or on a hard drive? Where are they right now? They're in my Dropbox. a hard drive where are they right now they're in my drop

box okay Ken here's what we're going to do you can't say no till I pitch it to you just how about we release them just to FOTMs who listen to Toronto Mike these three songs let's set them free if you love something you set it free

let's set these three songs, let's set them free. If you love something, you set it free. Let's set these three songs free. Well, once I get Palm Sports, Richie and I get Palm Sports up and running, I might consider it. But until then, I'm good. Ken, I love this, man. Congrats on everything. You know, the great marriage,

the two beautiful children. May they have great success and heal from any injuries mental or physical. We're all rooting for Dalton and Tristan. We're all rooting for you. We're all rooting for Palm Sports. Thanks for doing this, man. I've had those summertime, summertime

questions for years and finally I can sleep at night. Right on. Right on. I'm glad. That's great. That's great. That's great. Well, thanks for having Rishi and I. And again, this is the beginning. This is just the beginning. We've got a whole lot of work ahead of us,

but we're looking forward to it. And that brings us to the end of our 1,033rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Great Lakes Brewery, who brew the electric circus beer with the cowboy dancer on the cover. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all next week. Well, I want to take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in

Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the snow, snow Wants me to dance And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away

Cause everything is rosy and green Your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and green. Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do For me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up

Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine We'll be right back. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day. But I wonder who. Yeah, I wonder who. Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray. Because I know that's true. Yes, I do.

I know it's true. Yeah. I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down ropes And they're broken in 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 gray

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 gray 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 Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy Yeah, everything is rosy now. Everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray. I can't. We'll be right back. I'm on my way. Summertime, keep your summer time. Fell out of bed, check the headlines. There's a heat wave, starting a good time. When it's hot, gotta hit the spot. Where the water's cool and the girls are hot. The bitch is packed, gotta get on track.

I can't hold back, hit her with a new jacket. I make her dance and your body is sore. She be rocking like never before. Her rap, it's serious. It makes a woman delirious. I rock the mic like smooth operator, motivated, fascinated, keep it real, it's summertime Oh, summertime, keep it real, it's really all about Oh, summertime, keep it real, it's summertime

Party people get together, I rock the beat, now and forever The party's on the beach where people meet Check on the sound, get down, got me pumped Just to pass the test, yo, I'm muscle bound I look like the rest, my body's leaning A playgirl's dream, it's an erotic love machine Outro Music I'm on the case. You got a taste. Back to the base. We're going to rock this place. Yeah. I can't feel it. I can't feel it. I can't feel it. Young black girl, drenched with style

Rock the world, let's get wild Gotta be a leader, makes me superior Can't relax, makes me inferior Time for delay, heat's on, two days Time to play, gotta go my way I take my shirt cause I'm gonna flirt Looking for affection, I got protection I'm on the case, looking for an ace

With a pretty face. Take back my place. I won't sleep till my mission's complete. It's the only way to beat that heat. Bye.