Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kicking Out Hip Jams: Toronto Mike'd #683

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Mike chats with Jamie Dew from the Fully and Completely podcast about The Tragically Hip before Jamie kicks out his 10 favourite Hip jams.

Welcome to episode 683 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling, and yard waste pickup. Visit garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. The Keitner Group, they love helping buyers find their dream home. Text Toronto Mike to 59559.

And we welcome back our friends from Pumpkins After Dark. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is Jamie Du from the Fully and Completely podcast. Welcome back Jamie. It's so great to be here. It was lovely this morning waking up knowing I was going to be going somewhere. up knowing I was going to be going somewhere. That's how I'm feeling these days. If I have these, I was with an FOTM for a brief period of time yesterday, tipping a Great Lakes beer, and it really felt like it was big time. It was almost like I was going to a wedding or something.

You know what I mean? It's like, oh, I'm going somewhere. And by the way, I was supposed to go there right after. I recorded two episodes of Toronto Mic'd, and I was in the backyard for both, even though my guests for the second episode. So the first episode, Bob Weeks came over and he sat where you're sitting right now. And then I did an afternoon session with the good people at Garbage Day, but they were on Zoom, but I was already set up outside. So I kept it outside. But for the first time in the history of the TMDS Backyard Studio, it wasn't blue skies above. By the end of that episode, dark skies above.

And I said to them, I said, I got to shut this down. I got to get my, you know, how many thousands of dollars worth of gear inside before the skies open up. And like five minutes after I got everything inside, and I was really fast. I knew it could come down any second. The winds were blowing. It got so dark. And my phone tells me there was a tornado warning.

Yes. Because you're an East York guy. That's right. It wasn't as bad there. It was pretty bad. Okay. I made these assumptions. It blew its way over.

It was pretty bad. I mean, I saw pictures of water just spilling over the Prince Edward Viaduct. You know. Okay, because I kept, and again, I was in the West End and I was going to the West End and I kept hearing it was really bad in the West End. I know there was at least one FOTM, shout out to Steph, who was in Oakville and said they didn't get a drop of rain. What?

I know. So I thought it was like really like localized. Like it was just above my house or something. But okay. So you guys, so, so you know what happened? It was that,

uh, yeah, well the tornado, tornado, tornadoes never happened obviously, but it was like a lot of broken limbs and power outages. And it was just one of those things. And then I,

I, I waited for that storm to calm down. Uh, and then I was, uh, on my bike ride to meet this FOTM. And like the flooding, Toronto's got an issue. We've known this for a long time. But if it rains a lot in a short period of time, it just pools in parts.

And I had to bike. It's on Ellis Drive, right near the Queensway, between Queensway and Lakeshore. And it was honestly, I think I was able to bike through it, but it was like up to my waist. Holy jeez. Oh, I mean, not quite, but it was over my knee. Wow. And that's me on a bike, so if I were walking.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, we survived the storm, and I have yet to lose a Toronto Mic'd episode due to weather out here. So, beautiful day today. So glad you're here. Yeah, I was worried when the rain started to come down yesterday. I hadn't looked at the forecast, and I was uncertain whether or not it was going to be something that we were going to be dealing with today. But I guess it was just what we needed.

It cooled things down a little bit. Oh, barely, though. I don't know, because I thought on that, that on that ride that after the storm, it was hot, man. Yeah. And I'm here, I'm South of Lake shore,

but I got, I had ready. I had to go almost as far North as bluer street. That's how North I had to go. And it was a whole, it was really, really, really,

really hot. It's hot. It's hot, man. This is a hot time. This is a, are you okay there? So,

uh, is the sun in your eyes? Are we okay? Sun is in my eyes. Do you want me to get you like a pair of sunglasses or something? No, because then I won't be able to see. So I'm good. I'm good, honestly.

I can, I can, I can. See, I'm learning all the things I have to consider. Yeah, because I know Bob Weeks had sunglasses and he put them on early. I thought about bringing them. I thought about bringing them. It's only this time of day. Like by, by the third hip jam. So we're going to kick out 10 hip jams. We'll get to that in a minute. But by the third hip jam, so we're going to kick out 10 hip

jams. We'll get to that in a minute. But by the third hip jam, the sun will be gone. It's just right now. It feels glorious. I love, I'm a child of the sun and I love it. I could soak it up all day. No complaints here. Just like Sheryl Crow.

That's right. And you're here to kick out your 10 favorite Sheryl Crow jams. Is that correct? That is right. Yeah. We're going to start with that one. Let's go. Can you do the one with Kid Rock?

I always liked that one. I did too. Pictures. Yeah. And when I saw Kid Rock in concert, and I'm not ashamed to say that because I don't agree with him politically, but I always liked his stuff. And Sheryl wasn't there. So another woman took the cheryl crow part but

it's a great how'd she do i mean serviceable there was a few things like he had a you know a song with uh remember joe c the shorter gentleman yes yes who who passed away quite a while ago so for his part it was video presentation like they had joe c on the video screen oh my gosh his part so there was a whole lot of you know stitching things together but it was video presentation like they had joe c on the video screen oh my gosh his part so there was a whole lot of you know stitching things together but it was a good time man good time apparently kid rock is very prompt i've heard from uh many music journalists that he is always on time very professional did alan cross tell you that alan cross may have said that yes i'm trying to think what music journalists

are left in the world yeah we're running out that's true did you hear of course you've heard but uh ben rayner is no longer at the toronto star i heard and i listened to that episode as well yeah he was the first backyard guest that's right and i don't know what you are you're the fifth or something but i'm totally digging this and i'm tired of the zooms i got a great zoom next week with neil osborne from 5440 oh that's so cool and if neil were coming here i'd be like you that's so cool like neil osborne's coming here but because it's on zoom it doesn't feel it doesn't feel as real right doesn't feel real now we we recorded an episode of fully and completely uh recently we're we're pretty sporadic at this point. Well, okay. This is a good opportunity. Tell us about, because you're wearing the shirt.

Yeah. I should have got, I have a Fully and Completely coffee mug inside, but it doesn't keep my coffee warm as long as this thing. But tell us about your podcast. Okay. So Fully and Completely is a comprehensive podcast that explores the trajectory of Seminole Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip, album by wonderful album. And, you know, we look at solo stuff as well. We've had Paul Langlois on the show covering his material. We've covered the Strippers Union stuff.

And of course, we're covering Gord Solo. And that was the one we recorded most recently. We recorded And the Conquering Sun. And that was the first one that we've done via Zoom. That was the first time. Who was your guest? That we've never been together. We don't normally have a guest.

Oh, so it's you and Greg. It's me and Greg LeGrow. And we have a wonderful time just chatting about the hip. You've been a guest on the show. We've had a guest a handful of times. You were on the In Between Evolution show. Okay, I know you've had some FOTMs. Yes, I've been on the show.

It was great. And Hebsey? He has not been on the show, no. Oh, my goodness. I'm going to beat him up. No, he has not. Hebsey, if you're watching on Periscope, he's the biggest hip fan I know. Oh, yeah.

We need to do a hipsteries then. Honestly, Hepsy, he could be the hip biographer. You need Hepsy on your hip podcast. All right. And hell of a broadcaster as a bonus. A hip fan and a tremendous broadcaster, we got to make this happen. In fact, let's shut this down right now and zoom in, Hepsy, for an episode of Fully and Completely.

I want to do it post-COVID, though. Like you, I like the guests in person. When's that? Yeah, that's true. Good point. We could be having this chat in a year from now. Oh, please, please. Well, it's all about the vaccine and does it work and does it get out there and does it take care of the business?

Yeah, you know, this thing's not going to go away anytime soon. I need optimism or something. I don't know. You can rent my backyard studio. Oh, well, that's good. I would do that. You and Hebsey could do it back here. Yeah.

We did have his friend Jake Gold on. He's an FOTM. Yep. We've had Alan Cross on. So we do sub-episodes called Hipsteries where we, FOTM, Stephen Br Alan Cross on. So we do sub episodes called hipsteries where we, uh, uh, FOTM,

Steven Brunt was on. Michael Barclay has been on. Wait, wait, Okay. Yeah. Well, Barclay has been in the backyard studio.

So he's in that exclusive club you're in. Yeah. Uh, speaking of music journalists, tell me, uh, Brunt, what episode did Brunt do?

Uh, it's called hipsteries. Steven Brunt. Oh yeah. So we do. Oh, that's good for him. Good for him.

Cause he's a real big hip fan. Yeah. So he told us the story of the time that Gord came to his festival. Uh. Woody Point. Yes. The Woody Point Music Festival. In Newfoundland.

Yeah. So that was really cool to have him, you know, tell us that. And then, like I say, Michael Barclay and, um, but those are sort of sub episodes. I don't know what to, what to call them. We call them hipsteries. They're sort of off track of the main focus of the show, which is to go through the discography. Well, I mean, the people who are subscribed to your podcast, I'm going to just guess they're hip fans, okay? Therefore, they'd be fine with all of the above that's right you know what i mean like

you you're basically uh serving uh pizza to uh those who just love any kind of who love pizza kind of an analogy did i just come up with there that's terrible i should i should lose my hosting position you should just take over the show i had milan was in the backyard the other day and i basically gave him the show. Watched it. Okay, John, are you a wrestling fan? I am a wrestling fan. I was thinking when I was in the middle of that episode,

I had this thought of, will any non-wrestling fans listen to this episode? That was my thought. I got to find one. So if you don't like wrestling and you listened to, and those guys are fantastic, John Pollock and Wei Ting. Oh, yeah, they know their stuff. If you're not a wrestling fan and you listened to, and those guys are fantastic, John Pollock and Wei Ting. Oh, yeah, they know their stuff.

If you're not a wrestling fan and you listened to that episode, I need to hear from you. You know what? You might have had a few, though, because it was, they didn't really get into the nitty-gritty of wrestling.

It was more, you know, sort of societal issues and things like that. But they had to listen to find that out. Yeah, that's true. Good point. It's one of those things where, and again, there's two types of listeners.

There's the cherry pickers. Yeah. And I love them. And then there are the completists. Like there are subscribers who listen to every episode and they would probably give that a good go. But thank you for listening to that one. That was me co-hosting my own show. Yeah.

And providing great feedback as well every once in a while you just sort of stopped in and and gave milan uh um some you know positive feedback i thought that was great yeah he has a great voice and i was listening to it and just getting jealous over here why can't i sound like milan telsenia from fast time watch and jewelry repair and here is a free plug here is that he is offering all listeners uh 50 off regular priced uh watch battery installation at the richmond hill location where that's where he is if so the richmond hill location a fast time watch and jewelry repairs you just got to go in and say uh i listen to toronto mic or i heard you on toronto mic or i'm

an fotm any of those statements get you 50% off and he swears to me he's never offered that big a discount before. It's like a post COVID reopening Toronto Mike special. So if anyone listening out there has that watch in the I don't know, you have that watch in the drawer beside the bed that

needs a battery and you've been putting it off maybe due to COVID or whatnot, honestly get your butt to the Richmond Hill location. Say hi to Milan and get that 50% discount. Hey, well, we're giving stuff away. Yeah, go ahead. You know what? I've got something I want to give away here.

Once we get into the jam kicking, you're going to notice that one album is missing from the jam kicking, and that is We are the same i've got a sealed uh hermetically sealed cd copy of said album we are the same and this really cool 1984 i'll give you that clue 1984 golden rim motor in keychain and what i'm going to ask you to do is I'm going to ask you to go to facebook.com slash groups slash fully and completely and write your answer to this trivia question. Oh,

I wish I had a drum roll, but I don't. Okay. The trivia question is what year did the tragically hip form? What year did the tragically hip form? And, uh, if you, anybody who answers that question on facebook.com slash groups slash fully and completely will be entered into a draw to win this and then I'll send it out to you. But I'll tell you this.

This is one of the best groups going. Like if you're a Tragically Hip fan, even if you just want to join it, it's not like a scam to get you to join something. There's hundreds of people in this group that just talk hip all day long. It's not the band I hate, it's their fans. These aren't the frat guys who drank too much and were pains in the ass at concerts.

I don't think so. I think we've got a really good group. They all grew up, right? They all grew up and had kids. I think so. Yeah. We've got people posting. There was a gentleman the other day who was at the pier in Kingston, the Gord Downie Pier, and he posted a video of himself just sitting there

playing guitar, playing some Tragically Hip songs. Stuff like that. Al Grego, if you're listening, Al Grego, great FOTM. He's a lead singer of the Royal Pains. And another band, The Weekends, who I was going to get The Weekends to play at TMLX this summer, and then COVID got in the way. But Al does some great hip covers, acoustic jams.

I've been seeing on Facebook. Where have I been seeing them? Twitter, I believe. So, yeah, he should go in there and share some of his songs. Hey, Jake Gold just recently took over management of the tragedy. How cool is that, right? Well, I want to hear it. Yeah, how cool.

So I was asking Alan Cross about it and Michael Barclay, and now I've got to ask Jamie Dew, co-host of the Fully and Completely podcast. No, it won't be like Jake here. There's no the in front. It's just Fully and Completely. But it is an ampersand. It's not the in front. It's just fully and completely. But it is an ampersand. It's not A and D. It's an ampersand. And you got the Killer Whale

Tank t-shirt. That's right. This was designed by one of the... Do you sell those? We do. But join the Facebook group and I won't sell t-shirts on your show. That's rude. But this was designed by one of the... I don't care. This was designed by one of the members of the Facebook group

so okay so I just went into the video stream so at this point the sun is right on you so it's tough to see but I will let you know when it's time for you to kind of really like push out the chest and show off that t-shirt I'll let you know when the shade hits you now I know that when I have these

10 a.m. recordings during the summer yeah it's tough I gotta move the umbrella to help The shade hits you. Now I know that when I have these 10 a.m. recordings during the summer, yeah, it's tough. I've got to move the umbrella to help you guys, and I can do without it up here. So that's what I've got to do. I've got to make some adjustments here. Okay, note to self.

As Norm MacDonald would say, note to self. Get coverage for the 10 a.m. guests because you're going to melt over there. I will not melt, trust me. But you got water at least. Yes, I did bring water. And there's some delicious Great Lakes beer here too. Yeah, it's really early. I didn't know if you'd partake, but I know you can always bring it home with you.

I probably will partake because I'm a lush. Well, I have to get back to the six-pack and frozen lasagna for guests. So Palma Pasta would normally supply a frozen lasagna. But things, when they shuttered in mid-March, I started doing these backyard sessions, but I haven't hooked up with Anthony yet on how we get back to that. So that's coming back soon.

And the beer will come back in its six-pack fashion soon. But I did get a couple of great ones over there. Hey, yeah, I'm in. Oh, yeah, so talk to me about uh what you hope jake does with the tragically hip and what you hope comes to hip fans because of this uh reunification well i think michael and alan both really you know sort of uh explored this pretty pretty greatly um i i think that uh alan's talked about these archives and he said that he's seen them and there are bankers boxes upon bankers boxes full of stuff. So a book would be great. quite a bit and um there was another book that uh indigo put out as well and i thought it was really good as well and um i think that was uh was that steve newton that did that one uh it might

have been and um but but it'd be great to see a book uh from the band you know like uh road tales from the band i think that would be wonderful like you're looking for an authorized biography as opposed to the michael barclay unauthor wonderful. Like you're looking for an authorized biography as opposed to the Michael Barclay unauthorized biography. Well, I'm looking for something that's full of pictures. It doesn't necessarily, like Alan was talking, a coffee table book. You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be that. Release the hounds, as Michael put it. That's right. Let's see this stuff. And then on their Canada Day Eve presentation that they did on Facebook, they were talking to Johnny Fay,

whose birthday was a couple days ago. Happy birthday, Johnny. And what he was saying, what they were saying is that he's currently cataloging some of the live stuff right now. So he's listening to live material and cataloging it. And that makes me scratch my head and wonder, well, what are you cataloging it for? Like, this band that could that could almost do what what pearl jam has done and you know like release every concert ever on cd and i think fans would yeah but they did it just

before cd stopped selling that's right yeah yeah you would have to do some sort of if you did some sort of i used to go into you know say I'm the recommend and buy bootleg, official bootleg Pearl Jam CDs. Like that wouldn't happen today. No, no. But would you pay $3.99 a month for access to some sort of Tragically Hurt Vault or $2.99 a month or $4.99 a month? Like I think I would pay $4.99 a month.

You can't get much more than that because then you're into Netflix territory, and that's, you know, like old TV shows of all time. But I think $4.99 a month, I would pay that for access to, you know, the vaults of Tragically Hip Live material. Jake, if you're listening, that's a great idea. $4.99 a month, you know, all access. Jake is right now yelling at you, saying,

as if I haven't thought of that, you dummy. Of course. No, he's, he had, when we went to his place to record our podcast, he had ideas for us.

So, he's definitely thought of that. But, but at any rate, I think, I think something like that would be really cool. Now,

you're the hip guy. That's why you're here today. We're going to kick out some hip jams in a moment. But I understand you're also a big Star Wars fan. I am. And I've been a Star Wars fan my whole life. I think that's part of our cohort, you know, that we were exposed to this thing. And it either really stuck or it didn't.

So for those of you who it did stick with. But it could stick. Like for me, it stuck for a long time. I even bought the original trilogy on VHS, widescreen edition. Like it stuck for a long time. And then Disney got involved and it all unstuck like magically.

But you're right. It's almost like, I know I always laugh when somebody's's like I'm a big Star Wars fan what a nerd I'm like that's like the least nerd thing like the most mainstream thing it's not nerd it's like that obscure you know minutia

thing Star Wars is not a nerd I'm a foodie I love pizza yeah or yeah it's like I'm such a nerd man I watch the Spider-Man movies. Okay, that's mainstream as it gets. But so, yeah, tell me about this new project that you're... So this has taken most of my last three months.

I've even stepped away from one of the other podcasts that I produce and co-host. How many podcasts are you currently churning out? So I have like a network. What's the network called? Here, I have a network too. What's your network called? It's called, so it's a portmanteau of do and oovra. So it's all my work.

So it's called doovra. D-E-W-V-R-E. Way to keep it simple, Jamie. I could never say that word. Okay. And give me a rundown of the list. Like I'm curious. Okay. So there's going to be of the list. I'm curious.

Okay. So there's going to be a Saturday Night Live podcast that will be coming out later this year. There is a Sloan podcast. There is a Tragically Hip podcast. There is a mental health podcast that has been on hiatus for a little while, but it is a thing. There is a movie podcast called The Do-Over that should be coming back by the fall, I think, if movies come back. And then there is this Star Wars podcast that is called, and then there's another podcast that's not on the network, but it's like sort of a little secret one. It's about the band Pavement. Cam Gordon would like that, I think. There you go. Maybe he's listening already. I will tell you that this Star Wars one, though, has really consumed my life.

Basically, I got my hands on the Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly script that leaked out for their version of Episode 9 that never was produced. And I thought that I would record it as a table read. And then things got carried away and I ended up hiring somebody to do a score. My friend Casey Lyons scored the whole project. For money? For money, yeah. Wow, you got a big budget and everything. Yeah, I spent a little bit of money on this one.

Okay, I'm impressed. And it's not monetized. Like, there's no money. I'm not making money on it. It was just a project that I wanted to do. It was labor of love i can dig that i dig yeah so basically what we did is we uh we i cast i i found about 40 different voice actors and we recorded it all remotely wow through covet uh throughout this crisis. I edited the thing. I would send it out for special effects.

Did you pay for the voice actors? I did not. They did it as FOJDs. I don't know if you could use that. Call my lawyer Ron Davis. I won't. But yeah, then we put it together and it

just finished. It just wrapped. So the ninth episode, what I did is I went through the script and found spots that made good episodes and made it into nine different episodes. And we released them week over week and we just released episode nine. And on this coming Monday, the 13th,

we'll be releasing the whole thing as like one you know two and a half hour blob and yeah it's Duel of the Fates. It's Star Wars Duel of the Fates and I brought a trailer. You brought a trailer so let's listen to 90 seconds of this trailer. This professional sounding

trailer for Jamie Doo's new podcast. Reveal yourself. You are no Skywalker. The people cling to folklore, but they fear the First Order. On Monday, May 11th,

Dew for a Podcast and Such presents Duel of the Fates, a nine-part audio series based on the alleged Connolly Trevorow script. Oh, hey, hey, hey, no, no, no, no, no trouble here. Find the resistance, wipe them out. Okay, trouble, trouble! Experience the excitement you expect. Can't it be easy? Just one time? Ah, Chewie, negotiate. Persuade.

The characters you adore. Mortis is a myth. They fear me. Soon I will command the force in waves unseen since the ancients. They were afraid. Why were they afraid? Luke! Tell me! Why were they afraid? In a story you've never heard,

what do you see, brother? I'm afraid our shields cannot withstand a super laser of this magnitude. Run! I have to bring an end to all this. Duel of the Bates. Wow. Oh, this is my little watermark.

You put a watermark on my... Duvra. Oh, Duvra. I got you. I got some such. Okay, that's you. Okay, this sounded very professional to me. That sounded like... I couldn't do that good a job.

You got some pros in there. Oh, there were some definitely people that are way smarter and better than me. Yeah, but it was just a matter of corralling them. And yeah, I produced it. But they delivered. And I'm really proud of what we did. So if you like it, go to duelofthefates.ca.

Okay, duelofthefates.ca. What's the Venn diagram like for the hip faithful and the Star Wars faithful? Well, that would be a good Venn diagram. This is your new kick you're on, Venn diagrams. It's not new, but yeah. I'm always thinking good Venn diagram. This is your new kick you're on, Venn diagrams. It's not new, but yeah. I'm always thinking of Venn diagrams. I want to know, hip fans, Star Wars fans. I don't think it's, it's not a full circle, that's for sure.

But I would be curious. And those people are going to be just madly in love with you. Those people in the middle of the Venn diagram. Very cool, very cool. So we got to check that out. Thanks for letting me play that. No problem. Now we're going to kick out your 10 favorite Star Wars jams.

The Cantina song is very good. I remember that from the very first one I saw which they renamed A New Hope as I remember. Okay. I was a big... I've got to say, the first movie I saw in theaters, my memory is it was Star Wars, but then I also,

uh, I, I think the second movie I saw might've been Popeye with Robin Williams. Oh, wow. Yeah. Sure. My uncle.

Yes, that's right. That's right. Uh, but anyway, the Star Wars, you're right. At every birthday party I went to for a few years,

they would rent a VCR and play the, uh, Star Wars, a new hope. Like this and play the Star Wars A New Hope. This was what happened at so many birthday parties. Anyway, so they ingrain it and you fall in love and then Empire Strikes Back is even better. And Return of the Jedi is great fun.

Oh, I loved it. That was my 10th birthday and that was just loads of fun. So I have good memories of those three movies. And then with my oldest, we went through the next three. And the only one I really didn't mind was that Revenge of the Sith. That's right. Me too.

But the other two I actually disliked. Yeah, I would say not so good. Not so good. And then we Disney-fied. But enough about the Star Wars universe. Let's get back to the Tragically Hip universe. Yes. So before I press play on your first jam, so you know how this goes.

I'm going to play some of the song and I'll fade it down. And then I want to hear your voice talk about the hip and the song and the album, anything you like. But I do want to take this opportunity to let people know that Austin Keitner, great guy, great family man. He's with the Keitner Group and he's a real estate genius. And if you have any questions about GTA real estate, maybe you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months, I really hope you take a moment to text Toronto Mike to 59559 and chat with Austin. That would be fantastic. And I want to welcome back Pumpkins After Dark. I mentioned in the last few episodes, at least the July episodes,

that Halloween's going to look different this year and it's good to know that we're still going to have this fantastic event in Milton, Ontario. It's a drive-through event this year. You literally buy the ticket online and they scan it through your window so it's completely contactless and you drive this two and a half kilometer route with 150 jack-o'-lantern sculptures and 7,000 pumpkins lighting up the night sky.

Their sculptures are bigger and more impressive than ever. But tickets are going to go quick. So starting soon, I'll have a promo code you can use to save money on your ticket because you listen to Toronto Mike. So welcome back, Pumpkins After Dark. And Fully Completely has a lot of gear. Like you got the T-shirts. You got the mugs. I know I have a mug.

Lots of stuff. Just so you know, Jamie, if you need decals and stickers or badges or things, the best place to go is StickerU.com. So StickerU.com. You upload your image. You pick what you want, the quantities, they safely deliver it. It's a, they're a wonderful Toronto based company, but of course you can get them all over cause it's e-commerce baby. So thank you sticker you for your support. You're ready to kick out these jams, Jamie? Oh, I sure am. I'm curious what one you're going to, the order you're going to play them in.

So I'm very... Oh, is, maybe we should have had this chat before. No, no. I'm playing them in the order you listed them. Oh, okay. Cool, cool, cool. Okay. So that's my default setting,

unless you tell me otherwise. No, no. So let's, oh, and you know what? It's a beautiful July day. It's gorgeous. We're outside. This is the song I want to hear on a day like this. I left your house this morning About a quarter of the night

Could have been the Willie Nelson Could have been the one When I left your house this morning Was a little out tonight It was in Bob Cajun I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time. I almost don't want to fade it down. Oh, no.

But let me hear. It's a pretty wonderful song, isn't it? Yeah, it's a beautiful song. Yeah. It's an absolutely beautiful song. And I think this is one of those crossover jams where I would suggest the non-hip faithful absolutely love this song too.

Like there are some songs and we're going to play some of them that I consider like these are for, like these are literally for everybody. Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. So this is Bob Cajun. Everybody knows the community of Bob Cajun

and what it means, you know. It sort of evokes images of cottaging and being outdoors and, you know, those Canadian summers that we cleave to so, so strongly after, you know, being kept inside by the fierce winters that we deal with. And, you know, this part right here is just so, so wonderful. It always makes my arm hair stand up. And a nice local shout out to the Horseshoe Tavern. That's right. The checkerboard floors

and the band. There is a band mentioned there in the lyric. Oh my gosh. I'm forgetting the lyric the lyric. Oh, my gosh. I'm forgetting the lyric right now. It's because you're live. Yes. Everything's tougher to recall.

Sometimes I once couldn't remember Jake Gold's name. Oh, wow. I mean, he talks about the constellations, which in the video, in the music video, this was the fourth single. I do remember that, of course. But I can't remember the lyric, for goodness sake. Can you remember the, what were the order of the singles off this album?

Do you remember that? You should know. You're the hip authority. Poets was first. Great jam, too. Was Fireworks where my... Fireworks was one. I was like, you know what fire oh my god you know that record phantom power which by the way turns on july 14th it turns came out in 2000

and no it came out in 98 but the phantom power yeah big album and uh when michael barclay came by uh he brought his own microphone and i couldn't get it to work at first until I realized I needed to turn on the phantom power for his microphone, and I just thought it was very appropriate. Yeah, just the keys in this song. So essentially what I did was I didn't want to repeat myself. I didn't want to come on the show and do songs that I'd done before. And I can't give away my favorites just yet because we're not done our podcast,

and that's something that we're going to do on our podcast. So what I did was using the Facebook group, I started just posting polls. And this poll, for example, was Poets vs. Bob Cajun, and Bob Cajun won quite handily. And then what I did from there was... So like a March Madness type deal? A little bit, yeah.

Okay, yeah. So you let the group kind of democracy rule the day here. I injected democracy into the selection. Yes. About time we did that. That's a good idea. And then what I did was, at that point I had 13 songs,

so I put all 13 songs on the Facebook group and told people to choose their top five and gave you the 10 that got the most votes. Well, let's dedicate this next jam to another big hip fan. I know this is his favorite hip song. This is for Mike Wilner. I don't know how old I am If I'm armoring my belly From the 16th century

Conquistadora thing I don't know how old I am if I'm armoring my belly Dashing out of machine revving tension Dashing out of machine revving tension Dashing out of machine revving tension Tension Rush in by the machine Revving tension Morning broke out the backside Of a truck stop

The end of a line A real rainbow Like an enlux Where you could see I became chronologically fucked up Put ten bucks in and just get the tank to top Then I found a place It's dark and it's rotten Darker turn, locked in the trunk of a car. Absolutely. This song was our first taste of a new, more powerful version of the Tragically Hip.

Okay, I have to challenge you. That's my job here. But wouldn't you say Little Bones was that? No, Little Bones still reminds me of, I mean, Little Bones is a great stadium song ultimately, but they're still sort of a bar band at that point. This is like fully completely, you know, they went to London.

They recorded. I can never say the producer's name. If you listen to our podcast, you know Greg always teases me because it's a Greek last name and he's married to a Greek woman. Well, welcome to the club. It's Chris... Papadopoulos.

Chris Tangiridis. And, you know, the production value went up a notch. Don Smith was a great producer, did Up to Here and Road Apples. But this is just a different way that the band recorded. They recorded this not live on the floor. They recorded it, you know, track by track. And it was different for them.

And ultimately, they didn't like it that much it's a cleaner sounding cleaner sounding bigger sounding beefier sounding um uh record sort of as a result i think and well it's their biggest seller right yeah absolutely and it's the most it's the most hit laden it's it's disgusting this was the first single off of it and like like you said, it was dark and dusty. And, you know, we got... And the video was fantastic. The video was dynamite. Yeah.

And we got a taste of the... There's a great live track on a bootleg of Highway Girl and the Double Suicide. Yes. And we got snippets of the lyric from that monologue interspersed in this song, you know, when he's talking about the map that's carefully dotted. The police helicopters would never spot it, you know. Right. I destroyed the map that we so carefully plotted.

So every day we're dumping a body, she and me. And, you know, that was just something we hadn't heard before. But there's also just this build at the beginning, this build that just starts out. It's like you're standing there and you're waiting for this machine revving tension. Yeah. It's almost like that little bit at the beginning. There's that bit of that Hell's Bells kind of vibe. Yeah, a little bit, right?

Yeah. Like, no, I've always loved this song. And then it just kicks into full gear and you get this guitar outro, which is, you know, something that they have done, you know, from the beginning and it's wonderful. I mean, this is the jam that gives you the, you know, it's better for us if you don't understand, which is really my motto for the hip as a whole.

Every time somebody says I don't get the tragically hip, that's the line I throw at them. Yeah. I think that's wonderful. Better for us if you don't understand. Oh, great. And again, you could have gone either way. You could have gone like deep cuts.

Yeah. And so far, and I think you did, we're going to see there's a nice blend here, but a couple of jams, I think. The average Canadian rock fan is well aware of whether they're uh they attend the church of hip or not so uh well done here so far here let's uh okay and i like and you mentioned the uh highway girl and i'm gonna give credit i believe hits hits 97.7 used to because there were two bootleg live versions i would hear all the time and I love them both, but that was one of them and

I would love to hear the other. No Canadian band, no Canadian musician would be complete without a song about a nautical disaster. This song is called Nautical disaster. Thank you. Bourbon blue on the street, loose and complete, the skies all smoky blue-green.

I can't forsake a Dixie Dixie, so we dance the sidewalk clean. My memory is muddy, what's this river that I'm in? If you believe to sink it in, then I don't want to sweat. And of course I promoted it like it was a killer whale tank. I realized I'm not, because this one was, yeah. And yes, I didn't actually listen to it before I loaded it up. But for this one, did you want to tell me when to bring it up? Or do you want me to keep going and you'll just tell me? Yeah, sure.

I think everyone's pretty familiar with New Orleans is Sinking at this point. So there's a funny story to me about this song because I've always told the story that I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard it. And I was in my friend's car. She had gone away to university and she came home for the weekend. I was in my friend's car. She had gone away to university. And she came home for the weekend. I was still at home. And she had brought a cassette that she had recorded off Much Music. It was the Kumbaya Festival.

Which is Molly Johnson's AIDS benefit. That's right. This is a great part of Toronto Mike's history, the Kumbaya Festival. Right. Yeah. And big FOTM, Molly Johnson. Those are your words, not mine. Okay, let's bring it up again right now.

Because this is great. Just that bass coming in. Keep it going, man. Let's keep the wagon wheel going. All right. I had this dream where I relished the rain And the screaming filled my head all day I felt as though I'd been spent here

Settled in, into the pocket In a lighthouse on some rocky socket Off the coast of France, dear This one's a tough one to fade. Well, I just... I find it interesting how many a hip song kind of is born in the New Orleans is sinking bridge. Yes. Yeah.

Like what year? This is Kumbaya Festival. So this is. This is 93. So here we are hearing Nautical Disaster in 1993. And what year do we get Nautical Disaster released on? The following September. Yeah.

September 94. It's essentially a workshop, right? And I know they periodically do this. They would workshop new singles by playing them during the New Orleans' Sinking Bridge. And again, you sent me the songs. I loaded them up. This is the only one that's live. And in my mind,

I was loading up Killer Whale Tank from Live at the Roxy. And I never read it. And then I see now it's actually... So, I'm sure you're probably saving that one for, I feel like that's the, That's, yeah. That's the gold standard. People love that.

Absolutely, and that's at the Roxy. Anyways, but this is great too, and there's a great story here. I mean, Molly Johnson told me, straight to my face during that infamous visit, ask Jake Gold about the Kumbaya Festival. So there's some, I don't know what went down exactly, but the whole

making that happen and stuff, there's apparently a bunch of untold stories. That's what we want now in the authorized biography. But, Maul, it was a great cause. Kumbaya Festival, so many great Canadian acts participated. I believe that ended up earning her...

What do we award in Canada? Medal of Honor? What do we give out here? I don't know. I'm a terrible Canadian. Yeah, I should know this, but this is the top... It earned her accolades and awards and good for Molly for doing that.

Kumbaya Festival for AIDS. Absolutely. So there I am, September 93. I'm in my childhood friend's car, who's a big hit fan as well, and she plays me this song. And the hit knew what they had with this one because there was a story that came... Ben Rayner would know this probably.

He's coming back. I'll promo that. He's actually coming back in two weeks. Okay. You'll have to ask him if he knows. Because I'm pretty sure it was the Toronto Star got a postcard from Gord. And it had the lyrics of this song written on it. Again, a full year before.

So they knew what they had. They had something pretty special. I've had the producer of that album on my show. Mark Howard. Oh, wow. Yeah, he's an FOTM. Oh, wow. What are we? Day for Night, right? Yeah, Day for Night. So this is September 93 and I've always told the story that that was the first time I heard it and it was amazing and it changed my life. And then I found out about two years ago that the first time I saw The Tragically Hip, which was my 19th birthday.

Yeah. At Roadside Attraction 93, July 24th, they played New Orleans is Sinking with Nautical Disaster in the middle. Right, right. So I had heard it before. Right, right. Because in that bridge, man, yeah. But for some reason, it didn't really kick my ass until I heard it on cassette that day in the car.

Although I knew that I was mesmerized with the band that night in Markham. And then we go back into New Orleansleans to sink in so yeah so they're like workshop and nautical disaster in the middle of new orleans is sinking they did the same thing with a head by a century uh workshopped it in the middle of new orleans is sinking and so it's a cool move it's sort of like when uh when eddie vetter and the guys go into like uh what would it be like uh even flow or one of those jams and in the middle they would they would there would be another song kind of baked in the bridge yeah i think it's even flow and they just uh yeah make it a 20 minute song that's right give us more uh great stuff man uh and live hip just

makes me uh sad as i realize speaking to you that i will never see the Tragically Hip live again. Yeah. Yeah. That final tour, was that 2016? That was 2016. That was four years ago, man. That means I was in my East Coast road trip because I was in Inganish, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. How funny. I'm going to be in Cape Breton next week.

Gorgeous. And I just talked to Bob Weeks yesterday about the golf course there. I don't know if, I don't know, not that I would necessarily play it, but it's like he says it's the best golf course. That's what they say. Well, it's got to be, it's the views, right? Right. You're on the edge of the world.

How beautiful is that? But what a place to be. Yeah. You'll love it. You'll love Cape Breton. Well, if they let us in. Are you driving the. If they let us in.

Yeah. So what? They have border patrol? Like, how does that work? Yeah, they have border patrol in New Brunswick. Is it responsible of you to make that trip? What we're doing is we've rented a cottage in Nova Scotia for 14 days, and we're going to self-isolate.

We've got groceries... You're bringing your food with you? We've got groceries being delivered. Okay. I found a beer delivery service already, not unlike Great Lakes Brewery, which I get delivered. They do have a place in Halifax that sells Great Lakes. Do they?

Because that's why I always used to say, remember, back in the day, I would say 99.9% of Great Lakes stays in Ontario. And every once in a while, someone would be going, where's the other point? And I should,

I'll dig it up and email it to you. I know Troy sent it to me before, but there is a place in Halifax that sells Great Lakes. Oh, I would love to know because Hazy Mama right now is like my favorite. I'm going to buy a case of it after I see you. I know Troy sent it to me before, but there is a place in Halifax. Oh, I would love to know because Hazy Mama right now is like my favorite. I'm going to buy a case of it after I see you. I had

some with the aforementioned Cam Gordon in Trillium Park. Can I do a quick aside here on beer in park right now? Yeah. We're in the middle of a pandemic. Please don't tell me that the cops are going to crack down on drinking in parks right now.

I hope not. Because I met Cam Gordon and his girlfriend, who I call MF. Got to keep her identity secret because she's an investigative reporter or something. But MF and Cam Gordon and I, we met at Trillium Park right by Ontario Place. And we enjoyed on the rocks looking over Lake Ontario from a very safe distance apart. We had a great conversation and cold Great Lakes beer.

Give me a break. Don't tell me we can't do that. We're on bicycles. No one's driving. We're on bicycles and we're responsible and again, this is a pandemic. I've heard rumblings of reminders from the cops in this city that you can't drink in parks. It's illegal. I just think is a pandemic. I've heard rumblings of reminders from the cops in this city that, hey, you can't drink in parks.

It's illegal. And I just think during a pandemic, that's sort of an irresponsible and dick thing to crack down on. I agree with you 100%. I have a park right beside my house and I meet a friend every couple of weeks in this park. You ever been to Amsterdam? I've been to Amsterdam, that Vondelpark.

They're drinking beer in that thing, and it's allowed. It's legal. And so civilized and progressive that you can have a can of beer in a park. Yes. All right. So we're at the end of my soapbox there. By the way, I'm going to play some more jams

and then remind me to tell you the Kim Mitchell story about Gord Downie. I don't want to forget that. But here, oh, I love this song so much. Might be a top 10 hip jam for me. Just to see how far down it really is Dropping a bank Jumping on a train Old antiques a man alone can entertain

Takes all your power Prove that you don't care I'm not Cordelia I will not be there I will not be there I will not be there Yeah! Cordelia!

Okay, so for those of you who heard me talk about Locked in the Trunk of a Car, you know, if this is their last record they put out, Road Apples. Road Apples, yeah. If this is the last record they put out, the same story can be told because they spent from 1984 to 1989 becoming...

Wait a minute, you're giving away the answer to your trivia question. Oh. As if the clue wasn't sufficient. You should have just said Dan Halen. They perfected the trade of being just a sublime bar band. They were so proficient with their instruments. They were tight with each other. They were mesmerizing on stage. And it was dynamite. Up to here is a really great representation of that. But then all of a sudden you get Road Apples. And there's this swagger that this band has now on this record working with the same producer uh don smith again

and there's just something about this record that is just fantastic it is again hit laden uh this wasn't even a single cordelia was not a single right And it absolutely could have been a single. Like it's dynamite. It's got a great hook, a great vocal, big buildup again. It's just dynamite. And then the subject matter. The subject matter. Just the idea of I'm not Cord i'm not cordelia i will not be there um that is so powerful a statement to make you know like i i i don't have words the song

this song just i loved road apples buddy uh you don't need words you just gotta listen up to this album because uh my my first dance of Monica at her wedding, like a little over seven years ago, was to Long Time Running. Oh. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I mentioned, and if you put, I don't know, if you put one of those three pistols to my head and said, pick a favorite hip jam, I might, depending on my mood, tell you it's Fiddler's Green.

Yeah. Two wonderful ballads on this record. And of course, you know, Little Bones was like, that was an anthem in my eyes. Like that was, you know. Oh my gosh. Spectacular. Yeah. And Long Time Running is my favorite from this record.

Beautiful song. It's a beautiful song. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. And I'm just thinking about it, but they have that Tommy Thompson reference that's in Three Pistols, right? That's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is very laden with Canadian references, this record. Yeah. You know, the one song that got a lot of radio play I didn't love was Twist My Arm. I always felt it was kind of just, I don't know what your thoughts are on Twist My Arm, but it was never a favorite for me on Road Apple. Of the big jams on that record, it's probably my least favorite as well, but i still

have a good place in my heart for it i saw a hip cover band play at once and uh the way the singer sang the way the singer sang the chorus for that was dude i want you with all that charm dude i want you to twist my arm instead of instead of do um i thought that was spectacular and last of the unpleased gems isems is you know what Road Apples if you haven't heard it in a long time revisit Road Apples

because I feel that's the underappreciated hip album that's the no code of Tragically Hip every once in a while what I'll do on the Facebook group

is I'll have like a listening party and I'll say I'm going to put on this record now and you know I'll start a thread wow

and we listen to the record and you know just sort of talk our way through it And I'll say, I'm going to put on this record now, and I'll start a thread. Wow. And we listen to the record and just sort of talk our way through it. All right. Speaking of hip jams that were everywhere that I did not immediately love, there's not middle of the night You're all alone And the dummies might be right You feel like a jerk

My music at work My music at work my music at work my music at work. Okay, so it's funny that you said that this is a big song that you don't like. This was the first single from Music at Work. The song is called My Music at Work. And it's based on, we all know,

Living in Toronto, the famous billboard. Easy Rock. Easy Rock, My music at work. And apparently that was one of those little Gord notebook items that he put in there and then made this song that the music video is based on that lyric as well. And Kid in the Hall, Bruce McCullough directs that video. That's right. That's right.

Fun fact. But I don't know. Has he ever been on the show? I've only had one Kid in the hall, Kevin McDonald. I need to collect the other four. Yeah, that's a good collection. You'd think I would have got Scott Thompson by now. I've got to work on that.

Hey, it's almost 11 o'clock, so I'm going to... I hope that it's still cold. Oh, they'll be cold. I'm not fussy. Enjoy your fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. So, you know, this song is... What did I pit it against? So my favorite song from this record is Lake Fever,

and I played that on your show before. I pitted this song against... Oh, I totally forget. But you're making a good point that you know we talk about the hit laden hip albums this is not one of them like this album

I felt struggled to have a hit like it didn't have that Bob Cajun or that Ahead by a Century or you know there was

this is your lead single which is you know fine it's going to get lots of airplay for these Canadian rock stations starving for good hip jams and this is fine

a little underwhelming if you're a big hip fan, I felt. And then you listen to the album, and it's sort of missing, it's kind of missing one of those jams that you would be playing over and over again at cottages. Mike, I have a challenge for you. Go ahead. Later today, if you've got some time,

put on some headphones and throw this record on and listen to it from beginning to end. Maybe I need to. Because at the time, I lived in real time, and then maybe I was too harsh on it in real time. We had hit peak Tragically Hip. We had hit peak Tragically Hip, believe it or not.

And this record came out. They were still putting out records every two years. And this record came out, and it wasn't as well adopted as the other records were. And listening back to it now, you're sort of like, it doesn't make sense because it's a solid record. You know, obviously, if you're ranking records, something has to be near the end and it might end up being near the end. But for any other band, this is a freaking solid, solid record. But they're not any other.

They're not the trues. You know what I mean? Like that's jam I'd hear from that. No, I feel like I'm disrespecting the trues and I don't even intend to do that. But we are talking about the tragically hip here though. I don't think fans, and I'm not, no, and you're right. I need to revisit the album.

It's a good one to revisit. It's like a nice surprise when you're lonesome for the tragically hip. Well, cause it follows phantom power, right? And then, but I also, I far preferred In in violet light and and it's funny that you say that because that record uh was like a return to form it was considered a return to form so you need to return to form you need to leave form that's that's right like but i'm talking like from a critical perspective you know what i mean mean? It wasn't critically renowned either.

This was the first band that they brought Kate Fenner on the tour. They brought Kate Fenner and the pianist, Brown. I can't remember. Chris Brown with them. Not the painter. And they played live on the stage with the band. So they were doing different things even. They were trying to mix it up.

I saw them at Massey Hall on that tour. And it was great, but it was different. It was just different. Well, speaking of In Violet Light, let's kick out another jam here. Yeah. guitar solo Come in, come in, come in, come in Under these darling skies Come in

It's warm and it's safe here And I'm almost hearkening Off to a time and place Now lost on our imagination You don't complain but you still do And you don't explain if you want to explain What you believe you say without shame I just do To say what you mean you don't mean what you say without shame i just do to say what you mean you don't mean what you say or you do

where the wild are strong and the strong are the darkest ones you're the darkest one You're the darkest one Gotta wait for Gord to sing the title of the song there. So wonderful. I've said on the podcast before that if anybody were to ever utter me that stanza, I would just melt.

I think that that is the best thing. Are you melting out here today, though? It's 30 plus. You're okay? I'm totally comfortable. I worry for the safety of my guests. Yeah, the wild are strong and the strong are the darkest ones and you're the darkest one. Like, talk about just nailing

somebody, you know? Like, just saying you're it. You're it, you know? I think that that is so lovely. And this video, of course, this is the Don Cherry video. That's right. And Trailer Park Boys. Yes, and Trailer Park Boys. Yeah.

I feel like this record, when it came out, so Music at Work, Music at Work comes out following Fanta Power. And Music at Work, all of a sudden, you shed a whole cohort of fans that were just along for the ride. Yeah, they were here for courage. Or they were here, yeah. Yeah. And then when this record came out,

there's a lot of people like you who say, I really like this record, after my music especially after music at work and this was the beginning of the new the neo hip fan and um this neo hip fan is this fan that like cleaves to the band like no other that this is my band this is yeah yeah you those fans those those frat boys by the beer garden that were making it difficult to enjoy the music are gone now. That's right. And I feel like it let the band open up a little bit more as well. They became more experimental. This record doesn't necessarily showcase that, nor does this song. But it's just, they started to do different things they

started to I don't know like rather than beer drinkers they were pot smokers you know what I mean or something like they were expanding people's imaginations and doing cool shit now I gotta say this album no you can swear on the show this album includes one of my favorite hip songs, It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, which is hauntingly beautiful. That's my favorite.

That's on my top five for sure. Now I know why you didn't play it. You're saving all that. I played it for you before. Oh, you did? See, yeah.

I was thinking, as we said before I pressed record, that if you did duplicate your jams, nobody would judge you for that. We're all here for a good time.

But there's a lot of great hip content. So, yeah, and Silver. Yeah, this is a great album. This is a really good record, right? It's a brick house. It's a brick house. And, I mean, you got Don Cherry in a video. So, for all eternity, he'll be.

That's right. That'll be what he'll be remembered for in 50 years. He was in the video for the Dirk is fine. Great stuff. Okay, remind me to tell the Kim Mitchell story. But here, let's kick out another fantastic hip song. The beautiful love The dangerous tug We get to feel small

From high up above And after a glimpse Over the top The rest of the world Becomes a gift child The pendulum swings For the horse like a man Out over the rim Is ice cream to him

The beautiful love The dangerous turn We get to feel small But not out of place at all Gift shop Okay, so what can you say about this song? This is a

wonderful album opener It introduces Trouble at the Hen House It shows us what they're up to with this record. It's atmospheric. It's sparse. It's produced in a way that is really sort of tight quarters. And it just makes you feel like you're in a room with the band. And then you've got these Gord sort of ideas going on in this song just makes you feel like you're in a room with the band and then you've got these gourd you know

sort of ideas going on in this song that the rest of the world can become a gift shop you know if you give it the chance what a what a fantastic idea to explore in a song when i load up songs to kick out on this podcast uh i i load them into this this this app i have which i mean i see the waveform if you guys like see it so like songs like gift shop it's fun to look at look at it like how it builds you know because they got that yeah and you can see okay oh we're about to go like what I call rectangle. Like we're about to bring in everything and go here. Go rectangle. I love it.

I'm stealing that. Clearly, I'm no Stokely. I don't have the terminology down, but I know just enough to produce a podcast. But great album too. Yeah, absolutely. And this is, of course, this is the album with A Head by a Century, which is one of those like transcends the hip fan staple. The last song they ever played as a band. Yes.

And the first song I heard when the clock struck midnight heading from 1999 into the year 2000. Really? You were at that concert? I was at that concert. Yeah, they did a countdown on the Air Canada Center, you know, monitor

their screen and then maybe a little bit of maybe a little bit know, monitor their screen, and then maybe a little bit of maybe, a little bit of something, a little bit, but then they went into Ahead by a Century, which felt very appropriate at the time. Oh, that's so cool. Have you shared that story before?

I'm 100% certain I have, because I've repeated every story a couple of times at this point. This is episode 6... 683. Right. I'm out% certain I have because I've repeated every story a couple of times at this point. This is episode six. Six eighty three. Right. I'm out of news. You think about a new story. But then just yesterday of the garbage day, guys, I told my Jerry Brody story and I realized, OK, it took six hundred and eighty two episodes.

Jerry Brody was this local children's musician who visited my primary school. And I was really into Raffi at the time. And this guy, Jerry Brody, to me, it was like, sort of like, I don't know, like Gordon Lightfoot was there. Like it was really sounded amazing. And I got my mom to buy me the cassette of the Jerry Brody album and the big jam on that that I loved. Well, there's a bunch of jams I liked on that, but one of the big jams was garbage, garbage, no, no, no. Do you know where your garbage goes? Do you just drop it from your hand you must put it in the can man you gotta put it in the can uh yeah anyway that's all the lyrics are still

funny what sticks with you yeah and i didn't think about it for a long time and then uh i was thinking of garbage songs trash songs junk songs and then that song was in my head and i found it on youtube and i played it yesterday okay so. So this album. Kim Mitchell. Oh yeah. Share the Kim Mitchell while you're telling stories. So if anyone listening has heard the Kim Mitchell episode,

they've heard this story. But if you haven't, go listen to the Kim Mitchell episode. First of all, yeah, listen to the episode. He was great. He was great. All killer, no filler on that episode.

And as Zoom episodes go, that's as good as it gets. So Kim was recording the Max Webster, the lovely, I love this song by Max Webster. It's called Diamonds, Diamonds. You'd know it if you heard it. I won't do it. It's beautiful. And he was recording it again with the Barenaked Ladies. So Barenaked Ladies are big Max Webster fans, big Kim Mitchell fans. You know, Barenaked Ladies are solid citizens in that. I know they've done stuff with Andy Kim, FOTM Andy Kim, and they really

support the Canadian artists that they grew up listening to. They're really good guys. Just shout out to the Bare Naked Ladies if they're listening. We should do that. Kick out the 10 Bare Naked Ladies jams. Maybe I'll get FOTM Tyler Stewart on that episode. That'd be cool.

The story basically is they're recording Diamonds, Diamonds with Barenaked Ladies. And in the studio next door, Gord Downie is recording his very final album. And Kim, you got to go to the Kim Mitchell episode to hear him tell the story. But they had this very cool moment where Gord Downie came over and recording that very final album he ever recorded near the end of his life. that very final album he ever recorded near the end of his life. And there was a moment there with Kim Mitchell and Ed Robertson, the Barenaked Ladies, and of course, Gord Downie.

Yeah. Gord, there will never be, and I will say this, I think I've confidently can state that I don't think we'll ever have another Gord Downie because the world is different. I was listening to these jams. I'm thinking Trouble at the Hen House. I completely missed the days when i would buy an anticipated album the first week it was released and those days seem so distant uh what

was the album they put out in 2002 uh i know i'm putting this but anyway in violet light yeah in violet light right and i was so i'm thinking about in violet light as we're playing a song from in violet light and i'm thinking about that buying that Light as we're playing a song from In Violet Light. And I'm thinking about buying that disc week one. And when I anticipated a disc from a favorite artist, I would pick it up, buy the disc week one. And that was a ritual all through my teenage years and to my 20s. And now, yes, my son and my teenagers get excited when an artist drops something at midnight. But it's different. I know it's just the evolution of music

and how you consume the medium now, but there's something about, you know, I had to get on the subway. Oh, yeah. I had to go to the record shop. I had to, you know, spend whatever it was, 17 bucks, whatever, 20 bucks. It depends what and when.

But then you had this physical medium. You were going to bring home, stick it in. It's not quite the same as drop the needle, you but it's you're sticking it in your cd player whatever and you're going to give that a listen and i miss it i'm not from toronto so where are you from i'm from a small town called waterford but i moved here in 94 they had the water issue uh that's a different town starts with w though it, though. It is. It does. But a small little town, wonderful town. It was great to grow up in. Is that where the movie New Waterford Girl?

No, that's southeast. That's out east. That's Nova Scotia. I've got to get my Waterfords right. It's all good. It's all good. So what's the nearest big city or town I would have heard of? You've probably heard of Port Dover.

Yeah, the bikers go there. The bikers go there on Friday the 13th. That's all I know, though. Yeah. It's about 20 minutes away. But, yeah, I came here in 94 to go to university and September of 94,

Day for Night comes out and they did, that's when they did midnight releases. And I remember getting on the subway, getting on a bus and getting on the subway. Right. To come downtown you know and i just felt so cool yeah the midnight release it was a monday night at midnight because the records came out on tuesdays and you know they gave away posters and stuff and only the

big albums got this that's right use your illusion got this that's right well i wasn't here for that but uh by the way they did the, the water controversy was Walkerton. Walkerton. Yes. Oh, that was terrible. Yeah. E. coli. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely terrible. It's terrible that, yeah, that's a whole different episode. But one of those like fundamental human rights, especially in a country like Canada, is you should be able to turn your tap and have clean, safe drinking water in this country. And whenever I hear stories,

and yeah, there's no excuse. We take it for granted, and I like that. I like that I take it for granted, that I can turn that tap, and I let it run cold for a little bit because we tested the lead, and you just let it run cold for a little bit. And then you pour yourself a glass and

you just drink it straight from the it tastes great and it's good for you and it's safe. And that's tap water? That's tap water. Good. If somebody comes over with bottled water to me it's the same as lighting a cigarette in front of me. It's like we don't do that here. I drink Toronto tap water for sure. Good for you. Look at all these little messages

we're hiding in here. Now we have, I'm going to just look at it. We have three more jams. So let's get to the, what is this? The eighth jam from Jamie Dew. Gently breathing Lit by the morning sun Through the night It's been raining venom

I want to be kind Not a bullet in the right place Or just of two minds More important than important I want to help you lift enormous things A pinch, a sting, I don't feel a thing. As the earth revolved around the sun. At Transformation.

Okay, so At Transformation is from Now For Plan A, which to me is a pretty wonderful gift that we got from the Tragically Hip. Because this record is almost, and I said this on the podcast, so I'm copying myself, but it's almost a pre-see of what the band ended up going through the last six years that they were in existence. You've got songs on this record, like Goodnight Up, Out of Wapiskat, that are about indigenous relationships, indigenous relations rather, you know, in Canada. Canada you've got Gord's perspective on the terrible disease cancer that ultimately took his life and at this time his wife was battling and you know there are several songs on this record that deal very specifically with that we want to be it you know there's the drip drip of the chemotherapy. In this song, you know, just him talking about I want to help you lift enormous things. And at transformation is also a cancer term for when cancer turns from regular cancer to metastasized cancer.

I didn't know that. I didn't know that either. cancer to metastasize cancer. I didn't know that. I didn't know that either. And somebody pointed that out after we released our episode. Wow. So yeah. So it's directly about cancer and his wife's struggle with it and how he dealt with it.

So although we didn't get a record that really describes his feelings on his own sickness, we understand how he feels about the sickness, you know, where one of his loved ones is concerned. And then you've got this wonderful guitar sound that Bobby Baker is exploring here. Really cool stuff, Robbie Baker, sorry. Really cool stuff. This is just a great song on a really, really wonderful record. And I'm willing to bet it's a record a lot of people listening to us right now never owned.

Yeah, I bet you're right, because this is post CDs, post Nap like you you had to buy it from itunes or google play or whatever you know and yeah and I here's the fun fact I bet you nobody nobody knows maybe you know what Jamie is an authority but uh this is actually the the this album and this is shocking to me that this is actually the album that, uh, now for plan a, that achieved the highest, the highest position on the billboard 200, uh, ever of all their albums.

So this one hit, uh, one 29 on the billboard 200. It is the highest position. Any, uh, tragically hip album has ever achieved in the U S yes, of course.

Yeah. Yeah. Conversely in Canada, this is like the first time since road apples that their album didn't debut number one. That's right. In Yeah. Yeah. Conversely, in Canada, this is like the first time since Road Apples that their album didn't debut number one. That's right. In Canada. Yeah. So conversely.

But yeah, tremendous selection. And I'm checking out here where we're at. Okay. You ready for the ninth? The penultimate jam here? The penultimate jam after the... Do you know what I learned the other day? Tell me.

Do you know what the word before penultimate is? I actually do not. Anti-penultimate. I'm going to use that. A-N-T-E penultimate. From now on, I'm using that for jam number eight. Yeah, there you go. Anti-penultimate.

That's right. Like it's spelled with an E. Easy for you to say. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Well, let's kick out the penultimate jam. All right. Thank you. I write about words

I find treasure or words I watch the end of man and I dream like a bird I'm running alone And I forget a lot I try not to try And I can't remember for now

I'm a real machine. It follows. You're a real machine. But I'm a shadow. I'm a real machine. Follow. You're a real machine. But I'm a shadow. You're a real machine Fed on shadows Machine

This is not your father's Tragically Hip. This record, I would love to see B-sides and explore the material that didn't make the record. It was a record that was originally going to be named Dougie Stardust. And then David Bowie passed away. And they didn't want to disparage David Bowie in any way. So they gave it a new name, which was Man Machine Poem. Which, if you're familiar with Now for Plan A, there

is a song called Man Machine Poem. Yes. And again, back to the cancer, Gord described that phrase, Man Machine Poem, as he was the man, his wife was the poem, and the machine was all the apparatus that was connected to her. Wow. Yeah, pretty cool. So we get an album named Man, Machine, Poem.

I'm guessing because they really liked it. But I wonder if the track listing remained the same as Dougie Stardust. Dougie Stardust just sounds a little more tongue-in-cheek. It sounds a little more playful than what we get with Man, Machine, and Palm, which is a really obtuse record where this is a band that is exploring realms that it has not explored and doing things that it has not done necessarily. This song is a perfect case in point. And remember, we're all hearing this album for the first time, well aware that Gord Downie has brain cancer.

That's right. So it's, yeah, it's funny. It can't be light. No, that's true, yeah. Because it's December 2015 when I woke up to the email from the Tragically Hip to share the news about Gord. And then, of course, this album comes out like spring 2016. And then they have that tour we were talking about, which was their final tour, 2016.

It was December 2015 when they made the announcement. For some reason, I thought it was May of 2016 when they made the announcement that he was sick. I should Google this, but I thought it was December 2015. It's funny because I should just see when did I drop the bonus Toronto Mic'd episode for, yeah, I don't know. I recorded that morning. I learned the news. Like, I got to check into this.

Yeah. No, that's okay. Maybe during the next jam I'll check into this. When was the announcement? You're probably right. But for some reason I thought it was May, which is the traditional time that they did that press conference in the hospital and they made the announcement.

I think, but I'm not sure. So, yeah, I don't. I'm not 100% sure. So maybe, yeah, you'll have to do some fact-checking there for us. Okay. Yeah, you know, you might be right. I've been wrong several times here. I'm not afraid to admit it here, but...

Oh, okay. You know where I think this is it. I think he gets diagnosed in December, but you're right. I don't think they tell us until May 2016. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. I don't think they tell us until May 2016. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. I think the public, like myself and yourself, we become aware of it maybe in May 2016, but the

diagnosis for Gord comes in December 2015. Oh, okay. Yeah, so we're both right. If you're listening and you know, or if you're watching on Zoom and you know, tell us or whatever watching on Zoom and you know, like, tell us or whatever. But yeah, Gord definitely knew.

Gord knew in December 2015. Yes. For sure. And I think we find out in the spring there. Okay, my friend, one more to go. I want to tell you how much I've enjoyed this. Like, it's just nice to be outside with seeing your face right there. You're not on Zoom.

You're right there. You sound great in the mics. This is the thing too. You sort of get used to, after a few months of Zooming, you kind of get used to the fact the guest sounds like they're on Zoom. Right.

And it's practically a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I did my best. I'll say that. And I'm still doing Zoom episodes, obviously. But when the guest is on my mics, I just love how it sounds. Yeah. It's sounds yeah it's always good to be in person and so thanks for making the trek and i'm glad we could get fit you in before you disappear to the uh the east coast yeah have a good time you

can show off the shirt now if you want because oh sure the sign here so if people uh and people should be uh chrome casting or uh putting this periscope on the big screen and they can see the fully and completely with greg and jamie shirt uh and then you can see it's a it's a killer whale an orca there with a individual who's got the cns right clean and scrub union of course that's right and uh again uh we got the wonderful New Orleans is Sinking with Nautical Disaster from the Kumbaya Festival, even though in my mind we were about to hear live from the Roxy, the killer whale tank. But I'm sure anyone listening to us right now has heard it. You can find it on YouTube, and I'm sure we'll play it again at some point.

But here is the final jam today, picked by Jamie Dew. ¶¶ There's a world container with your name on it And a billion ways to go berserk When the country quits on you, it must be dinner And the hammer on this one is there's no dessert He's the one who couldn't imagine all the people living life in peace good news you get to vanish go to cleveland be an indie smash the good news is now you're smaller the bad news is you can be smaller than that. Go sex and souls, be a reader, get used.

Laugh at a funeral or two. Laugh and laugh till all the chameleons turn black. Laugh and laugh till you're told please don't come back Then fake incredulous say I just can't believe How'd it get this late so early Say ain't life a grand and I'm an all-your The drop-in's a world container World Container. This was a record that was sort of fresh for me.

It was a record that when it came out, I listened to and enjoyed, but didn't play it to death. I didn't spin it into oblivion like i did with so many other tragical hip records and so getting to do this for the podcast it was really nice revisiting it and it's an album that's maligned uh for the you know i'm guessing because it's paired with we are the same uh as two bob rock records and a lot of people really feel as though Bob Rock was trying to manipulate, and I don't mean in the bad sense, I mean, you know, like mold the band into something that they weren't necessarily.

Well, it includes maybe the poppiest, and a song I love, by the way, but the poppiest song ever maybe to come out of Tragically Hip is In View. Yeah, yeah. It's so bonkers, that song, right? Phone rings once. But it's catchy as all hell, but it is, like, it's a very pop song, even though I do like the video where, is it Fly? Lovesick kind of brings in some of that.

And I love the song In View, but it really is very poppy. This song, yeah. This record is a good record. Give it another spin if you haven't listened to it in a while. I know we've given you some homework. We've given listeners of the show homework. That's not fair, but hey, what can you do?

I mean, this album, if we're going to talk about the album, this is the album with The Lonely End of the Rink. That's right. Which I absolutely love. And of course, You're Not the Ocean. You're Not the Ocean is so great. And the kids don't get it.

And Pretend, maybe it's Pretend that comes into the, it might be Pretend. Family Band. Really, it's a strong album. It is. But I don't think many people heard it, especially at the time. Well, they heard In View if they were listening or watching any much music

or listening to any new rock radio. Yeah, I suppose you're right. In this country. Yeah, I suppose you're right. Honestly, what a nice way to spend, I can't think of a better way to spend like a beautiful July morning. Is it still morning? Yes, it's still morning. Me neither. Thanks for thanks for having me thanks for doing this enjoy the trip uh you've gone for

like a couple of weeks this is a long trip maybe a month maybe a month wow glad we got you in because i don't want to wait a month for this this is uh too much fun and uh your podcast again again the one regarding the tragically hip is fully and completely fully and completely dot CA you'll find it there and you really do got to get Hebsey on that yeah he'd be amazing he'd be

amazing and this new Star Wars to remind us how the Star Wars fanatics can get out that new offering go to duel of the fates dot CA and you'll find all that good stuff there

and that brings us to toolofthefates.ca, and you'll find all that good stuff there. And that brings us to the end of our 683rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. What am I? I'm at Toronto Mike. Jamie, you're at Fully Podcast. That's right.

Fully Podcast with Jamie Dew. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. And Garbage Day, they're at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. Jamie, I just did an episode with the Garbage Day people.

Yesterday. Just yesterday. And it's really good. You need to listen to it. It's very interesting. And your job, your homework, Jamie, is to sign up at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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