Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kon Kan's Barry Harris: Toronto Mike'd #1415

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

In this 1415th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Barry Harris about all things Kon Kan, Thunderpuss and more! Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

What's up Miami? What's up Miami? Toronto! VK on the beat, uh, check, uh I'm in Toronto, baby, wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto, baby, wanna get the city love I'm in Toronto, man, you wanna get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love. My city love me back, but my city love me back.

Welcome to episode 1415 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. RecycleMyElectronics.ca Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling

our electronics of the past. The Advantage'd Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mic debut is Con-Cann's own Barry Harris.

Welcome Barry. Heya. How you doing? I'm pretty good, thanks, how are you? Let's shout out off the top Mark Nathan, because Mark appeared on Toronto Mike I urge people who haven't heard it yet go dig up the mark Nathan episode We talked about bare naked ladies. And of course, we talked about you. Did you listen to that episode? I did

Do you think mark got it? Right? How do you think mark did? So, you know you're here because we're gonna get the full story and I'm dying to know, but can I ask you a quick question off the top? It's important. It's from Captain Phil Evans. Do you know Phil? I don't think so. Okay, he was like a long time promotions guy at CFNY.

Okay. So he wants an, do you have any idea where Chris Shepherd is? Do you know, have you heard from Chris Shepard anytime recently? I, who was I talking to? I was talking to Dan, Dan Freeman, Tarzan Dan. Oh, Tarzan Dan? Yeah, just a couple of weeks ago. I think it was him.

And, no, last time I read, he asked the same question. Everyone, last time I saw Chris was 2014. It was Pride, oh, that's what it was, no, it was World Pride in Toronto. And I think it was 2014 it was it was Pride oh that's what it would know it was World Pride in Toronto and I think it was 2014 and Don Burns and Deco and Jason they were doing a stage down over by the Maple Leaf Gardens area down that way and Chris and I was farther up right playing out and he came by to say hi and that's the last time I've seen him was 2014 so it's almost ten years ago. And that's the same year as my last sighting I produced Humble and Fred's podcast and they had Chris Shepard on in 2014 and as far as I know it's the last

public appearance by Chris Shepard but 2014 is almost that's almost that's 10 years ago. Okay well everyone's piecing it together now I guess. Well listen if you have any leads let me know Barry. You're here. Okay so what I wanted to do is I Want to get to the story that Mark Nathan shared on Toronto Mike where he talked about and you know the story But you're gonna tell it from your perspective, but we want to get you there like Right off the top. So I introduced you as con cans own Barry Harris. Mm-hmm Where does con can end in Barry Harris begin? Like are you con can I? Yes Barry Harris begin like are you con can I? Yes Yes from from inception to this day yes, so so you so essentially

Concan is is Barry Harris and Barry Harris is con can mm-hmm yes, okay? So bring us up to the moment then mark Nathan hears a song and I'll play the song when we get there But like like give me a little bit of your origin story like how did Con-Can come to be? Well I've told the typed out the big story on Sonfax and basically I went I wanted to make my own record it was the it was the MIDI era so it was the beginning of the MIDI era 87, 88 and I met Tom in Toronto in 87, Gerenzer, who had his own studio at his parents' place in Hamilton. So I would go down there every weekend.

I was working at Star Sound Records, and they also had their own little independent label that they hadn't really done much with, only one of the other guys that worked there. If you look at the original 12 inches, literally REV003. And so I said I want to make my own record. They were like, would you begin to putting it out? And they said, yeah, sure, why not?

So I was going back, creating this, knowing I was going to go on that label as an indie label, had their support. So I went back and forth and created this little, little, little, little, little that I had in my mind. I hadn't written the lyrics yet. I hadn't even had the name ConCan created yet. I was just making a record and I'd bring it to cassettes each weekend as it was growing and developing into I didn't know where it was going or what it was going to happen. And I'd just say to Tom, give me your biggest drums.

Okay, let's go. We had all this kid in the candy store since. So I was doing all this stuff with him throughout and building it and growing it and eventually then I met Kevin who I Thought felt at that time had the right kind of voice I was looking for in this droney, you know type New Orish type vibe for voice and put him on it and And then I came back to Toronto.

We press, I'm trying to make this long story short. I like it long. Oh really? Yeah, let me, it's a long drive for you to be here. I've carved out some time for us. Let this story breathe. I'm hanging on every word here. Okay, okay, great.

I'll, I'll, good, good, I guess. That doesn't mean slow down, It just means don't skip details because this is not the Tarzan Dan show where you get, he says you got two minutes. Let's tell the story of Beg Your Pardon. I'd share. Okay, so I went back and forth to Hamilton on the weekends, camping out in his parents' basement.

And then eventually we put it out through all the revolving records. That would be summer of 88 around June. And it was growing, it was blowing up. I remember I first heard on CFNY. It's funny, I was, I mean, time went and, it's a funny little story. For the very first time I heard it on the radio,

I was also working on an additional remix idea. And I'd come back and I popped it in the little boom box and I and I I press I turned it on and I I think I press play but I was on radio I didn't realize and then I beg your pardon was playing I'm like wait what that's not the way what's going on Oh my god. Wait, what does the radio? Y was playing it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, well just fun fact here and we can spend a little time on CF and why and can't con can by the way I I might have butchered this with Mark Nathan my mind wants to say can con that everybody in Canada does I know Absolutely. I'm but the ways that I've been trying to remember it rhymes with con man

Like this was the trick and I'm like Mike and rhymes of con man It's con can but I if I butcher it, please don't be offended It's just my brain has been talking about can con my entire life. I'm used to it. I Expect it. Well, this is from Mark Weisblatt He says when CFNY owners had to defend itself at the CRTC license renewal in 1989 the story of breaking con can was an example that they gave of the fact that they were still able to break acts. Like this happened, and I trust Mark on this one, but now, so pick it up here. You hear it on the radio. CFNY was playing. So pre-Mark

Nathan, CFNY is of course playing Konkan. I beg your pardon. And you let me know, touch your hat or just say, go Mike. You let me know when you want me to play the song because I know listeners are like, they want a hit of that. I beg your pardon. So, you know, when the timing's right, I'm gonna play it and then we'll come back to it, but keep going. Sure.

So no, it went out, we got it. Revolving was getting in distributors going back into the States. So what was happening and what little did I realize at the time, yes, CFNY started playing it locally. So what was what was happening and what little did I realize at the time, yes CFNY started playing locally, so did other alternative stations like if it was at WDRE or is it I get confused at DRE or WLIR in 92 the alternative station out there on is it Rhode Island? See I don't know. They were that where New York was catching in on I think it was their

version and also in Houston the two major radio stations there are kind of like their version of what our version at the in the 70s was CFTR And 680 a sorry CFTR and chum right two big major radio stations were playing it also using Yeah, yeah as an import which was very which caught the ear of everybody else in America because of course everyone's looking for a hit so I didn't realize this was really going on right in behind the scene so I don't know if this is pre mark Nathan or if I think it might be now I'm the pieces I'm putting together now I think it might have been part of mark Nathan's pre doing that he handed it he was saying he handed it to those stations well listen this is why you're here because I had Mark Nathan there.

Now I need you. Now I got Barry Harris here. And now we're going to piece this story. This is an important story. Charlie Mike's all over it. Let's rock. Well, then, OK, so there was one night, yes, that I went to the went to the bar. And this is where I get the story where he got a little muddled. I was at the bar visiting my DJ. It's going up going out Saturday night or Friday night. I'm not too sure visiting my DJ. I was going up going out at Saturday night or Friday night

I'm not too sure what it was and My DJ friend was there so I always Went up there put my coat underneath the booth and just walked around and have my drink and whatever you're gonna shout out this DJ friend Oh, he's he's died. He died in like 93. I know I still feel like we only if you if you want to shout him out You don't have to obvious. No, he's he's he's gone. He's left. He's left the earth. All right shed his mortal coil. Shout out to Ridley funeral home. Yeah, so and He he's the one who told me hey, there's a guy or I can't remember when I was checking out or whatever Ready to leave he said oh, there's a guy here that he's from from New York or whatever

He really likes your record. He wants to meet meet you I told him that you were here so that's where I met Mark was in the booth and he said I don't want to come across as a big cigar smoking so good how do you put it something to the effect of a big cigar smoking executive guy but I really love your record and I really wanted I'm hoping you take it back I work for Atlantic he probably handed me his card and Atlantic Records in New York and if I can get I hope I can get everybody And I really wanted, I'm hoping to take it back. I worked for Atlantic. He probably handed me his card and Atlantic Records in New York. And if I can get, I hope I can get everybody else

to love this record as much as I do back at work and keep in touch. So he heard, I beg your pardon. And he's like, what is that? That's a hit. Like he just heard a hit. I think that's when he did hear it. Yes. And I think the next day

he did go into the record store. And of course the record store owns the record. So everybody that works there, if we're pushing the crap out of that record, right? Everybody is right. So this is like young and Wellesley. Or young in college. I used to go there, but yeah, college. Just south of college. Okay. Yeah. So I know it well. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So, and I guess that that's what he did do he but he took a whole bunch of

copies and took them back to Atlantic and then we then I found out I remember it was the record rack in Houston we're doing it as an import and they're the ones that got it on the station or something I'm not too sure because a lot of people tell different say different story I've heard it a few different stories but they I was talking to them somehow and they said hey do you know your records being played on on the radio station here and I'm like what? So Mark calls me up to doing it because I was also working at Star Sound and out there at that point records in 12 inch

were selling really really well so I was kind of working at wholesale trying to sell it to other record stores for them. Like we're buying lots of bulk records. And he called me and said, hey, I'm just checking in. Just wanted to do a check-in calls. How's it going? I said, hey, guess what? It's charted. It's been playing in Houston.

He's like, what? I'll call you back. Click. Because I didn't know. I was just like naive guy. Right. Right. Yeah. You'd only know, I guess, when one or two point one played it, because you could hear it.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You'd probably have friends who are like, hey, they're playing your song. Well, you can't when you're 28, you're not. Your world is southern Ontario. You know, right. You really can't comprehend what's outside of that world. So in the pre-internet world that's that was your universe okay I gotta play it though can I play it and we have lots to pick up on the other side I'm itching to play this okay still holds up catchy as heck I played it in

the Mark Nathan episode here we go I want to answer my phone. There once was a time and there once was a way We had something going into my dismay Attention to me seemed to drift though I don't know where And when we're alone seems there's nothing to say I bring up the topic, you push it away You say that you do, but I think it's just you don't care Why do I feel you're using me? Are we an item or are we just two? I need some commitments, all I ask of you. Your lifestyle can change, don't be afraid what you think's in store I know what's on your mind, you've got lots to lose Your shallow acquaintance is what's there to choose

It won't get too deep even though I'm worth so much more So think about it carefully So let's move on for a while and let's be done Now that the sun's shining, it's the moment of time I'm kind of thinking, gee, pretty damn good for the very first record I ever made. Yeah. Like, okay, so these samples, you got to clear these samples, right? Does that, does that carve into the, you know, the, the, the cashflow and you got to do that?

Like, I'm just curious how that part works, that mechanism. Well, yes, yes it does. And at the time though It was also 88 so you have to you have to really have to go back into the area Like I mean pump up the volume bass How low can you go all these UK records like there wasn't any kind of sample clearance stuff going on the word I know I never hadn't even heard of the word interpolation until like 95 That wasn't even a word that people used right and lot of things. That back then too. But I did approach Sony in New York. I got

the name of the guy that I would get it cleared from. But once again, in those days, I still think I must hold the world record for the biggest sample ever put in a record like having the whole What is it the bridge of the Rose Garden here, right? But but but when it did get signed to Atlantic like no one at Sony that summer would would call me back because it's just a Little you know record out in Canada. What what do they care? They got a hell of a lot bigger fish to fry than you know getting on the phone with me and working out anything Right so but by the time I went to Atlantic Records and they were interested in it a lot bigger fish to fry than getting on the phone with me and working out anything. But by the time it went to Atlantic Records and they were interested in it, then yeah,

it was time for them to listen. Atlantic and Sony worked it out. Okay. And worth noting, of course, that you win a Juno for this song. Yeah. Where's that Juno today? In my basement. Okay, but is it on display or is it in a box or something? It's in a box. That's a sin right there. Shout out to the Pet Shop Boys. You got to get that thing on

display somewhere. That means something. I know it does and I've got lots of records from the Thunderpost days as well. I displayed all that stuff but for me it just, I don't know what it, it makes me feel stuck in the past. And it makes it feel difficult to kind of move forward. So if I look at all those things, I don't want to look at something like accomplishments from 30 years ago that are constantly in my face. It kind of like, oh, and also, yeah,

she gives me anxiety because it's so hard to match that kind of stuff. I was gonna say, like, you don't want to be that, like, Al Bundy from Married of Children, like his life highlight was high school football game, right? When he, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, you don't want to have that. Oh, I peeked early.

Yeah, right. Exactly. They just, they, they're, they're, their presence kind of makes me feel sad. It doesn't motivate me. It's like you're in your late twenties and you did that and you're like, I'm still creating good art. It's like, uh, you know, but that moment did that and you're like I'm still creating good art like You know, but that moment though and just for the record When did you come up with the name con can and I'm assuming it's a play on the term can con I keep saying

Well, that's another CF and why story actually because at the time around that time I remember it was May Potts and she was on CF and why at the time and they were doing submitting records bring sets. I don't know if it was a competition or what they were doing because they all had what the CAS. Oh, well, they had the CASBs as well. Yeah. And she I remember one day she said, well, because I'm going and developing this record bit by bit, weekend by weekend, right? Just not really knowing it. Yeah, absolutely. Just building from an idea. Okay, well, it was time to now now, well who am I going to call this by? She said one day we get a lot of submissions of independent bands

we've never heard of before and I just got an of a submission that was in like this brown paper bag with a big bow or something. I can't remember she said but it really stood out from the rest. She goes, I just want to recommend if anybody you know wants any of the future people if you want to submit record, make it stand out, submit it in a way, in a fun, cool way that will notice it. And I thought to myself, because I was a DJ, here's the go. How can they not get the tongue in cheek play on word by calling it con cam with Kase? Now the rest of the world, if I should be so lucky, isn't going to know it's going to be TikTok, Milli Vanilli, Squirty Politi, you know, Flippy Flop, you know, who... it wouldn't matter.

Right, it's gonna go over their head, but if you get it, you get it, and that's your target, the guys. Right. It's like a dog whistle. Kind of, right. So I thought they can't ignore this record by Con Cam. They have to check it out. I love it. When I was walking around, I don't remember I think it was Paris, France. I'm walking around. I was running like a CBC exploding asshole t shirt or whatever. And I'm like I told my wife this is a this is a dog whistle because the Canadians are

going to like graph it go to you. They're going to just like like a magnet. They're going to come to you and go like hey you're Canadian at CBC and everyone else is just a cool design. Like so you know it's sort of like it just attracts the person you're trying to suck in and go hey I'm Canadian too. You know hey where are you from? Saskatoon is like, Oh, I'll say hi next time I, uh, I'm in your neck of the woods. Okay. So con can, uh, love the May pot story. She's an FOTM like you, that means friend of Toronto, Mike Barry. So welcome to the club.

And because you're FOTM, I'm going to send you home with a large lasagna. Do you enjoy Italian Oh, of course. Oh, wow. So it's in my freezer right now and it's going home send you home with a large lasagna. Do you enjoy Italian? Oh, of course. Oh, so it's in my freezer right now and it's going home with you and that is courtesy of Palma pasta and that's delicious food there in Mississauga and Oakville. But go to palma pasta dot com for more. I know you're not a big beer guy, but take home the crap fresh craft beer from Great Lakes because a neighbor or friend or somebody is's gonna pop over and you can crack one open They'll be like this is delicious Barry. Thank you very much. So awesome. Thanks. Thank you Great Lakes for that and Ridley funeral home

There's a measuring tape there Barry. You never know if you need to measure something. It's kind of useful So that's courtesy of Ridley funeral home pillars of the community since 1921 Okay, shout out to Brad Jones at Ridley Home. OK, so what happens next here? So Mark Nathan hears the song, and he's like this. So just obviously you win the Juno, which is sitting proudly in a box now in your basement. Well, that's the following year.

That's the 1990s. So yeah, bring us back. What happens with this song? I beg your pardon. As I hear it in the, I beg your pardon as I hear it in the I beg your pardon Barry but when I hear it now in the headphones, I'm like catchy AF. This is a jam Well, we're picking up around where well around that time when it got on the Houston station now We're going into September October ish

But now all the I got tons of offers from lots of different record companies from Geffen and almost every major one except Sony. And I considered others, but I went with Atlantic because I thought Mark was the first one who caught this and believed in this song from the beginning. So I'm going to go with Atlantic. And then as it was blowing up more, we met with Peter Kopeke, I think, who was at Erdegon's right at Man,

came up to Toronto, and my lawyer at this time was saying, that's a big deal if he's coming up to you, like to Toronto to meet with you guys. And that's when he wanted to, I wanted it to be a project. In my mind, it was always just a project. Like an S Express, like a Simon Harris bass, how low can you go? Like pump up the volume by M-A-R-R-S, Mars and stuff.

It was just like that. There's tons of those UK things out there. Yaz, the only way is up. All these people, S Express. That's all I wanted it to be. Well, when you got a record company handing you the world on a platter in those days If we want you to be a duo and I'm like

This we don't even know each other you know this was just a one-off You're talking about Kevin right? Yes Yeah, so I went with it You know but it was always under contract we even subcontract with me that I would just give this a shot, you know, basically give it a shot. So Kevin's like a hired gun for vocals, essentially. Uh-huh, yeah. Okay.

Yeah, so that's quite the misconception that I kind of went along with, that it was a duo, and I just kind of, okay, just shut up and put up, and just, but, you know, times have changed. Okay, no, this is where we get to the real story here. Interesting note, so it's fun that you created this in Hamilton, because I got a question from Hamilton Mike, and you've already dropped this artist's name,

so I actually know the answer, but I'm asking Hamilton Mike's question anyways. When he listens to that sound, I guess, of Kevin's voice mainly, but also more than that, even the instrumental there, he says he hears Joy Division slash New Order so the question is he wants to know how much of an influence that sound was on Konkan a lot absolutely my still one of my favorite dance songs of all time is bizarre love triangle so yeah I can't deny that I'm

not gonna deny that who's new order Order? You know, like, what? Never heard of them. Play stupid? Oh, did they do that song called Blue Bundy? I think I've heard of them. No, I'm not. Sounds familiar. Absolutely. No, of course I was going for that vibe. And yeah, yeah, and yeah, I've, dare I say it out loud publicly, but I've often thought that was, it's kind of, yeah, and some people have said that actually in in different words that it's basically New Order's biggest commercial hit maybe I shouldn't say that I gotta get in trouble now I'm gonna now I am gonna hear from Bernard and them no I Andrew so we have a live stream live dot Toronto Mike calm and there's a gentleman named Andrew Ward who was listening to us play I beg your pardon there and he says he always he loves that song firstly so he says great work but he says he always mistook it for new order So I get that I do get that a lot. Absolutely

No, like everybody even Paul McCartney and everybody has said like Everybody is influenced by other people a lot of most I don't care even Bono and you two whoever they are any but not to over There but anybody whoever you are is what I meant to say whoever you are a lot of people go I like that record I want to make a record like that basically okay well maybe my made it a little too much like that like like you know we talk it with Canadian centric here because I'm born and raised in Toronto and what do I know about what's going on in the States but I do look at the charts and stuff and this song like where did it chart like how did it chart in the US of a oh it got to number 15 with a maze with no video the video was

not shown in on MTV at all that's video listen so why wouldn't they play a video for this song we've spent thirty seven hundred dollars on that video and it looks it it's crap but it doesn't matter but at at the time, it wasn't my intention to do a whole album and have this be a band or at the time, like I said, it was just a project. One off, like a piano. Well, so, but Atlantic agreed with me at the time that I don't want this video out,

it looks like crap, it's too cheap, and they agreed that we didn't want it out, but we are not going to pay you, give you money for a new video Until the album is done. So I was in a rock and a hard place So you needed more songs essentially, is that what I'm hearing? Well, I guess they well under in those days like it was all about selling the album and the big you know Right attaching the big song to the album

So by the time the album came out the momentum the biggest you know the momentum was done like it was it was a hit song it never got the chance to be a hit band or a hit act it was basically very much a hit song there wasn't a lot of visuals attached to it at that time because there was no YouTube until what 2005 oh yeah yeah yeah yeah by the 90s that song was done like no one in the 80s even Bon Jovi they weren't working in the 90s but they were they weren't working very much don't bring up Bon Jovi it triggers me that's a highly overrated band in my humble opinion but he is a handsome guy right you know John

Bon Jovi you have to agree he's still got a great voice you have to I was watching a Ronnie James Dio documentary actually last week and yeah, he's never been my cup of tea, but you hear that guy's voice and you go, okay. Always. I don't have that voice. Maybe I'd have a, I'd have a hit. You got to give them respect. There's still great singers. It doesn't matter if you hate the genre. Well to bring it back to CFNY as I often do, but uh, Iver Hamilton is responsible, the man responsible. I don't know if you know this, but at the air, when it was air Canada center, there was a

banner for Bon Jovi like hanging from the rafters of air Canada center. And that was a, I guess, um, Iver Hamilton, who was a CFN, why guy in the eighties who was responsible for that, cause he was working for UMG. And anyway, that was a, they were one of his artists or whatever. So so the Bon Jovi banner flew in the rafters of Air Canada Center thanks to Iver Hamilton's doing their former CF and wire. So now happily retired.

OK, so you needed more songs. You've got this worldwide hit on your hands. I beg your pardon. It I saw in the UK it was a big hit, what, top five I think in the UK? Wow. Yeah, for a couple of weeks. And according to my research, a top, you said 15 you said in the States,

is that what you said? It peaked at number 15? Uh-huh. On the Billboard Hot 100? Yeah. Okay, and you got your, you know you don't seem to, you don't wanna be reminded of for best dance recording,

for those who are keeping notes. Okay, so you need more songs. Can I play another song, and then we'll find out about you building an album out for Atlantic here. Yeah, sure. So let's get this rock started here. Take it from this top. Another catchy song by the way.

You just were able to put together catchy songs man. Go on, Kevin. Just recognize hooks I guess. Hanging around all those 12 inch singles you were listening to. Uh huh. I I guess we're supposed to talk it up and hit the post. That's your, your department here, I guess, but, uh, coming soon. This is why I never worked in radio, but they, they cheat, you know, they know when the vocals come in. Oh, oh, this threw you off? Threw me off, but I don't have the countdown timer here. All right, well, how about this? How about this? I fade it down. We talk a little bit about this song and then I'll turn it back up when we get to the Harry Houdini vocals

here. But Harry Houdini is another hit. Somewhat, yes. Here anyway. I feel here. I knew it. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was played here. We had a proper video for it and we got on Much Music here. And it's a big hit in actually Latin America as well.

And I think it's rather recurrent to this day. Yeah, but that's also me working at the record store being like, I wanted, I'm a fan of so many different genres. So this is more of like the freestyle department in me. You know, and then of course Puss in Boots later goes into the rocky hip hoppy part. Well, I got questions about samples in Puss in Boots, okay? We're gonna get there for sure right after we get a taste of Harry Houdini here. I gotta ask you about Puss in Boots.

But I'm still, you know, the first big hit, I beg your pardon. Like all the... So you... Like there's so many samples. Like if you start to, you know, comb through it, like you're even... Even our theme music's from The Magnificent Seven. Like... And Cam Gordon, when he heard you were coming on, he sent me the link to Disco Hotline. He sent me the Disco Hotline. National Lampoon's Disco Hotline. And I'm listening to that. I'm like, okay, there's a lot going on, and I beg your pardon. Way beyond Lynn Anderson's, I never promised you a Rose Garden, which is obvious. It's even, you know, that's obvious. But there's a lot going on there.

Like you never, like you didn't have to clear these things because of the era. Like it's just like Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys, where it's like, okay, this like the, you can never afford to do that again. Yeah, that's, that's, that's pretty much it. Atlantic got a lot of that stuff. Oh, here come the lyrics. Here comes the signal. All right. Well, I think that got a lot of all those legalities worked out. It was very early in the very early days, so remember that too. You've got to learn a lesson given day I want to be where loving is easy If I could go it wouldn't be a dare

Cause when you look in my eyes How can you not realize That I would go and couldn't give a care I want to be like Harry Houdini Where there ain't nothing that'll keep me in So how's your singing voice? Like, if you could get, you know, you don't need, Kevin, if you can do this, right? How's your singing voice? It's fine. It's fine.

Absolutely fine. Yes. No, I'm on two of the tracks. I'm Move to Move and Am I In Love. Move To Move was kind of at least I'd seen like a hit from where I was sitting. It's the one that got away. It was like the last gasp off that album that Atlantic gave a shot for at radio and it was just starting to get some radio ads and they dropped the ball.

It was like, ugh. So Atlantic dropped the ball? Yeah. I remember Mark was telling me like, hey, we just got a really big station. It was Philadelphia or something on move to move at the end. But Atlantic's enthusiasm was starting to dwindle at that point because they were expecting, of course, when you've got something as big as a make your part and they expect you to do it again.

Of course. If not bigger and anything less than that, you know, I guess at least that's how it feels. Oh, listen, more sampling here. Okay. So, or interloping, I can't tell the difference anymore, but okay. I'm going to ask you another question from the live stream, which is they were big in the clubs in Montreal. Was it like that in France? I guess just if you can shed a little more light on like the international success, you mentioned kind of big in Latin America, but like tell me a little more about how you were outside of Canada. Well, I remember there was the European charts and Billboard at the time and that was actually

higher than the UK. That went to like number three. And I think that represented Europe and Germany and Italy and probably France as well. I believe it's everywhere. It was everywhere. Because when I saw the like the Socan radio play stuff, it was like just Mozambique. Countries you hadn't even heard of. Yeah, you know when you're watching the Olympics and then they march out and you're like, oh, I didn't know about this country. It happens to be every couple of years, watching the Olympic opening ceremonies. Yes. I beg your pardon, just seeped it everywhere. Yes.

Wow. Good for you, man. It was pretty mind blowing. Yeah. It's mind blowing. And we're not, by the way, once we finished the Con-Can talk, I, you know, you mentioned Thunder Puss, but I think there's more mind blows to come. Like I, it's, I'm very much. Yeah. So don't worry. It's not all Con-Can. We're not going to have to get off black cars here, but, uh, coming soon. Okay. So move to move was the name of the album. And we talked about, this is Harry Houdini and we talked about the first big single, I beg your pardon. And then you

mentioned you were talking about move to move and there's a song going to play. If you don't mind, I'm going to play a little puss in boots and then talk to you about some of these samples or inter-polations. You'll tell me the difference as we get there. But these are some big jams. Okay. So whose voice is that by the way? Oh, that's, that's Julia Walters. She is the water sisters. If you Google them, they're like very famous LA singers. I think they're even on thriller. They're like, they're, they're big time and she just rocked. She just nailed that. Did a good job there. Oh yeah yeah. All right puss in boots time

whoa, I Don't think you wrote that Barry. I'm sorry. Sounds familiar to me Well, no one no one gets that little intro Everyone gets the immigrant song, but no one gets big what good times bad times, right? Maybe you maybe you can talk over this and shout out all those samples here. Yeah, so good times bad times and then we got the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. This song does not contain any samples believe it or not. Oh, so it's like recreation? Everything is recrea- even these boots are made for walking. So that's like an interpolation, is that what we call that? Uh, yeah, I guess that would be the...

Yes, yes, just a new song within a song, basically. Nice! Okay. And this is more Kevin. Was it easy to work with Kevin? You just like, say, show up in the studio and sing this, or like, what's to work with Kevin? You just like say show up in the studio and sing this or like what's the deal with Kevin? Pretty much. I gave him some lyrics to write on this because this to me was just kind of

a DJ throwaway song, just kind of like putting on my DJ hat more on this. It said you want to write some verses. We just have to tell the other side of the story of these boots from Aider Walken. So what inspired her to say that? You have to tell your side of the story, whatever. Who's singing that Nancy Sinatra part there? It's not Nancy. No, it's not. That was a session singer that Mark, I worked out, co-produced this with Mark Goldenberg.

And actually I can do the, ah, but he did it. I just let him do it. And he knew a session singer and she came in, she literally held her like six month old or one year old baby in her arms while she was singing in the studio. And she just had that boots away for walking, just that attitude.

She just had that attitude and we're like fine. And I think the same we brought in a stand-up bass for the, doon, doon, doon, doon, doon. Yeah, that's not sample, that's replay too. It's like when you hear, oh, yeah, Mary Clayton came and did the Gimme Shelter part. Like she was like, I don't know, eight months pregnant or something like that.

Did you hear that a cappella when it was out? When it was out? A cappella? There's the hitch and the voice. It's amazing, right? And you hear the guys in the studio, in the, on the other. Murderer! Yeah, he goes, yeah. In the way, in the other. It's amazing, right? And you hear the guys in the studio and the in the in on the other. Yeah, he goes, yeah. And the way in the other side of the glass, right? She's screaming that out.

Wow. I think Mick literally goes, yeah, or something on the track. Yes, you can hear it. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Absolutely. And you ever got the tequilas in here? Just, you know, just for us. I only knew at the time, I only knew tequila from Pee Wee Herman. Right. Like I didn't, you know, the champs Tequila. Well, what's this again? So who's this? A rap, his name at the time was Bronx Style Bob. I brought in, it was Africa Islam,

African Bambaata's son. So he brought in the rapper and he's doing the scratching because I wanted it to be real and legit and they were in LA and we made this in LA. Oh is this? What version do you have here? Let's see what I'm... Why does it sound... Well what I did... What also what I did to make it sound sampled is I literally we these boots are made for walking we really literally I said EQ it like it's an AM radio and we'll edit it in to make it sound like so everyone and obviously it works a lot of people believed it was a sample but then I remember Mark got some complaints on radio say what's wrong with the boots

are made for walking part so we had to take it out and make it just sound normal so that suddenly what I just heard there sounded like you had the original like. Maybe I do. You know, I know people. Where'd you find that? Barry, I know people. I'm well connected here. And you're here because thanks to the Mark Nathan story, I'm like, I got to talk to Barry Harris and you're such a good guy to come here. So again, we've got lots of ground still to cover, but thanks for doing this. Great to get out of the house in January.

You want, he needed some lasagna. Okay. So your Star Sound, that's the name of the record. I used to go there all the time and I just want to point this out. So this is my 12 inch single of Let Your Backbone Slide by Maestro Fresh West, which he did finally sign when he came on this program in 2016. But I bought this in 1989 at Star Sound. I have a story to tell you of that. Okay, now I'm going to put it back and listen closely. You got my attention.

Let's go. What I did in Harry Houdini, there's a section that I had where I sampled more Grandmaster Flash white lines where I went freez, rock, rock, rock, rock. And in between it, I put freez on the left, rock, rock on the right, freez on the left, so it was straight rock, rock on the right. Because when I the left. So it was Strafe, raw rock on the right. Cause when I worked at the Copa, it was this massively huge song. Obviously CNC music factory knew it as well.

And they, you know, use that a lot and influenced it to that. And Mark hated the section. He said, that's just before the, ah, he's, he hated it. He said, just chop that out, please. And it was, and what happens, Maestro Fresh rests.

Six months later at the same time, uses Strafe, set it off with, and it's a big giant hit. And it's just one of those things I don't just- That's funny. I feel like, damn it. You know, like I should have, I should have fought Mark on that. Cause that was really good.

Now in hindsight, that's good street cred to have that attached to and just give you some street value, which I was losing that street sense as your whole world blows up globally and now you gotta make an American top 40 hit and just your whole life changes. And you just, you know what I mean?

You just kind of give in a lot more easier thinking, well, I got Atlantic records, I can't piss them off or they won't wanna work it, I better, you know what I mean? You just kind of give in a lot more easier thinking, well, I got Atlantic records I can't piss them off or they won't want to work it I better you know what I mean? You're balancing acts between disagreeing with them and going with the flow to make sure that they You know you're working with them. So blah blah blah blah blah Anyway, maestro you won. You won this time Batman Maestro got the last laugh there. He certainly did. Absolutely. Okay. So the con can story again, because I want to talk about other things beyond con can, but get off black cars already, Mike. Okay. So you do have cause your

second album comes out in 1990, but maybe I actually didn't. I only pulled songs from the first album. Is that bad? Okay. So that's fine. Yeah. So maybe give us a little more about what happens after that album moved to move, which came out in 1989. Like what happens to con can after that? Well, after that I didn't want to move forward with Kevin and I want to go back to the project idea and I was I knew at this point I could sing and probably should have sung I Beg Your Pardon and stuff from the beginning, but Hindsight's 2020. And so we had a lot of really cool people working on that album and with that album. I stayed at Mark's in New York, had Paul Robb of Information Society.

I wanted to do, once again, a freestyle record. I wanted to do like, like a What's On Your Mind. So he reached out to him and we got the real, real deal. I worked with Martin Phillips in the UK who did the beloved stuff and then who I've been thinking about you. He's got quite the cool resume as well. But my attitude was also the immense pressure to match I Beg Your Pardon over and over and over again. So I had to write a pop record at this point. So you lose a lot of your, right, you know, your original vibe of you've just gone into an entirely different world, different planet. So it's, I kind of went down that road.

So it's, I kind of went down that road. Centonic is the name of this follow-up and not as commercially successful. That's a nice way to put it, I suppose. Not as commercially successful. Well, I will say Liberty is to this day, a rather recurrent hit down in Latin America and South America. Okay, that's Debbie Cole on the volume there, right?

Uh-huh, yeah, he's saying I'm Adam Butterfly. So there's a lot of really good, some, you know, good Indias in there with, you know, who came in with her husband, Little Louie. We worked at Francois Kvorkin's studio. We worked at Def Jam Studio and John Luongo. We remixed everything in the 70s and the 80s, produced a lot of the stuff.

So there's a lot of really good, cool people in that, but you know, you you win some you lose some right in this Atlantic records drops you but then tell me because I know Mark Nathan had already been fired right so he's already gone from Atlantic I'm not sure when the the the timeline Mark was always in and out of my life for years and he was always moving around so I'm not exactly sure. But he so when you drop so Syntonic is that follow-up but then you have another album that's on hypnotic records because that's where I believe that's

where Mark Nathan ends up so he's basically you know bringing you over to hypnotic records right? Well yes and no at-94, I'm not too sure if he was living in LA at the time, but he was managing me and managing Con-Can. He's the one that got the deal with Tom at Hypnotic. So at that point, now we're talking 93, you've got the shadow of this giant knight, once again, I beg your pardon, trying to match up to that, and you've got a whole new era of grunge and all the 80s hair bands and the whole 80s era is over. Right. You know, we're talking as you well aware, now we've got the UK sound with the funky, you know, I can't name bands right now at the moment, you know, that whole entirely different planet world. So I'm just trying to think things very differently.

And that was that was I went back to working with Tom, but that was a real struggle of an album to, you know, to to work that was very, it was a very difficult time. You got to say like Vita because there's an exclamation mark in the title of this album. Well, that's and that's why I've used the the roller coaster because at that point life what my like when I had a big apartment was Like I was just thrust up on this giant huge pedestal and like, you know You're the shit for a while Then all sudden this pedestal is sweep from under you and just land on your ass hard and it is over so that was like that's of the analogy of the roller coaster of

So that was like that's the analogy of the roller coaster of babies. We're having a great time and how's and you go up and also and there's hold on right? Yeah right and then all of a sudden it's gone and you're dead going over the edge. Thankfully not literally though because here you are today and okay so all right so Vita comes out on hypnotic records, which I learned was a subsidiary. That's a harder word for me to say than, you know, I can rewrite it, not say it, but A&M records, right?

Hypnotic. Distributed by A&M in Canada. Now only in Canada, right? So then what happens with ConCan? We're gonna talk about the other projects you're involved in, but like is ConCan, is that an entity today? Even though you are Con can, as we established off the very top here is so if anything comes out from con can, it's you, right?

No one else can put something out from con can unless you're involved because you are con can. Yes. And I, yes, but I did give Kevin permission to go out in 2022. Okay. Okay. So there's a reason I'm building this up like this is because every month I'm visited by Rob Pruse

and Rob Pruse, in fact, Rob Pruse is here tomorrow. So everyone listening, when Liza Fromer is gonna kick out jams, Liza Fromer, who was on breakfast television, and she was here kicking out like 10 of her favorite songs of all time. And then she reveals to me in this conversation that her first crush of her life was the keyboardist for spoons, Rob Proust. So, so she loved romantic traffic.

Oh, she a lot of like, like a lot of us of a certain vintage love the spoons. And she had a crush on the keyboardist, Rob Proust. Well, just a coincidence, Rob Proust is here once a month because we do this special episode of Toronto Michael toast long straight. So Rob Bruce is here tomorrow, but Rob Bruce was a member of spoons in what I call their glory years. So he's not a member of the band anymore. It's just Gordon Sandy and whatever. But, uh, but there was a big tribute album that came out. Were you involved in the spoons tribute album? Cause there's a song attributed to con can. That was a total surprise. This is where we're going. There's a bit of, we had a discussion debate because how can there be a Con-Can thing

that's not Barry Harris? That's kind of what I was thinking. I like, I, when I said, Kevin, go ahead and do what you want. Cause it was also the end of COVID. I was, did not want to go out touring in 2022 and I didn't until Thunder Puss last year. And all of a sudden that came out. I was like,

whoa, what is this? Okay. This answers a lot of questions I had Barry. Okay. Well, let's hear a little of this con can release. I put quotes on that for now and we'll talk, but just a little taste. So there's a con cancan cover of areas and symphonies by Spoons. So I'll just play a little bit because I'm just learning now, mind blow, you had nothing to do with this. Zero. Well then I can tell you it's not that good. Well I didn't know it was coming out until it was out. So that's Kevin singing.

Yeah. Like, did you consider maybe a lawyer letter to Kevin or something? Like, I don't know how, I guess you gave him permission verbally or something and he just ran with it. Like, I'm just trying to understand how we can have, cause it's going to confuse people to see ConCan and them out there that you have nothing to do with. I can't go down that road at this point in time. Your lawyer doesn't want you to talk about it.

I don't want me to talk about it. But that was a take an advantage of situation. Okay. All right. What we can say is that we can now just establish that that song I just played is a Con-Can release that actually has a Barry Harris was not involved in. So that we can say we won't say anything else further. It should not be under that name Con-Can. It really should not be.

Say no more. I'm reading between the lines. But it's a tribute album and it's the spoons and I'm not gonna be a dick. Right, okay. And it's not like that was a lucrative project and now he's flaunting his wealth in your face. Look what I did using your name, Concat. Oh, don't say that here.

We move on now because I don't wanna make you uncomfortable. There is a lot I wanna cover here. I'm gonna quickly tell the people listening that there is a fantastic investment podcast that you can subscribe to right now called the Advantage Investor. It's from Raymond James, Canada. Chris Cooksey is the host.

And it doesn't matter if you have an existing financial planner or if you do your own financial investments, you will learn a great deal. Best practices, where the market's been, what the predictions from experts and where it's going. Subscribe to the Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James, Canada. And while I'm giving love to Toronto Mike sponsors, one, I want to give love to renewed for all of 2024. So I won't have to stop talking about RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Do you, Barry Harris, have like a old electronics piling up in that basement that has the Juno

Award or maybe there's old cabling that you'll never use again? You have this stuff in your house that you need to get rid of. I urge you to go to RecycleMyElectronics.ca to find out a place near you where you can drop that off because It will be properly recycled But don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill and that's no good So you've got your marching orders Barry gotcha. Okay been warned. So I think we got a very thorough Concan history there and I am satisfied but you're not allowed to leave yet. You have to stay there because I need to talk. We have more to discuss here. Mr. Harris,

and I got to dance. dance! But you came home around three, should be with her If six of y'all went out, I, then four of you were really cheap, yeah Cause only two of you had dinner, I found your credit card seat It's not right, but it's okay I'm gonna make it anyway Pack your bag, up and leave Don't you dare come running back to me It's not right, but it's okay I'm gonna make it anyway Close the door behind you, leave your you're supposed to be con can but you're also 50%

of Thunderpus. Yes. So tell me how Thunderpus came to be who Who's the other 50% and what is this catchy AF remix I'm listening to by Whitney Houston? Talk to me. Well, oh, there's another Mark Nathan root like as in R-O-O-T. Yep. Chris had done, Chris Cox, when I was working in Syntonic, when I was at that David Morales studios down at Times Square and it was the new music seminar week and Chris was working for Hot Tracks a DJ service and he had done a re-edited of Puss in Boots and wanted me to hear it and somehow he had met Mark

so Mark brought him in to meet me back in 1990, the summer of 1990 when we were doing Symtonic. And of course me being a DJing work and Star Sound stuff, I knew all about hot tracks and DJ service and everything. So I was very savvy on all that stuff. So over the early years, 92, 91, 92, 93, I had Chris, even Chris did some remixes of Sinful Wishes while Mark was managing me.

And we became friends because Chris was very much, I'm not a technical person, I'm creative, but when it comes to being in the studio and hooking up and the reel to reels and stuff, but Chris is very technical. And I just like, I've got lots of of ideas as probably as you've heard but and by the time I have to Spend an hour to get the tape sync to the computer and the MIDI channel blah blah blah blah blah So anyway Chris and I became friends. I was like help me. I can't get this figured out so we would I would be calling him in Tulsa and

He'd helped me a lot with it with getting stuff hooked up and synced up and then we'd end up start, we slowly became friends and started laughing and giggling on the phone and had a lot of a very twisted sense of humor that we both, you know what I mean, that little ad get who gets you, you know, we really got each other very well. Sure. got each other very well. And then he, then he, Georgia Marauder brought, he somehow met Georgia Marauder who brought him out to LA and he started his own indie label. So fast forward to 98 and 96, 97, 98 around that time and I was doing some work for him on their, on their independent label. So and then he brought me out there and that's when I moved to LA and I was just gonna work with him on his indie label, just me.

They were doing that Euro dance stuff at the time, which is piece of cake for me to do. And I went there with the intention that I just kind of be their staff, writer, producer, co-producer thing. and Thunderpus was like our little alter ego with the two of us working together and By mistake my one savings well kind of by mistake It blew up like we got an offer to open mark gave us Billy Myers kiss the rain And that was a big hit in the clubs. And then Arista Hosh Gorelli comes into the picture and he says, who are these guys?

I need fresh blood for Whitney. And we got offered the Whitney gig. I'd been in LA, moved there in January, and by October I was doing Whitney Houston, in 1998, that fast, it's how that propelled. So it's, I've often felt like, I call it having the ball of success. Like I had the ball of success handed to me

with a beg your pardon and I ran and fell and eventually fell and tripped with it. So when the ball of success happened again with Whitney, I was like, I'm gonna run with this. I've learned from my mistakes. I am gonna stay street savvy. I'm just gonna stay very, what's New Yorkish. I'm not going to, right. I'm just gonna run with this ball's New Yorkish. I'm not going to write.

I'm just going to run with this ball and hold it tight as long as I can stand to do it. Smart. Like there's so many major artists that you remixing dance hits for. So Whitney Houston, now maybe so in this process, do you ever meet Whitney Houston? Very quickly. Yes. Okay. You got a moment with her and does she know you're the know you remixed, it's not right, but it's okay. Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. It was just a very quick, because it was just like the movie.

She's just getting pulled back all over the place, back and forth from everybody, so we got that quick, oh, you're a thunderbird, so nice to meet you. Click, flash, click, and then she got pulled away. And that was about, that was our moment with her. Okay, so that was, you know, I'm gonna talk about some of these other remixes, but that might be, uh, I think it's fair to say that your most notable remix is

that what we just heard there. And I'm just wondering what, from your perspective, what was it like when you heard the tragic news like that her life cut so short? We lost Whitney Houston far too soon. Well, yeah, I mean, everything about it was, was pretty tragic around that time too. I mean, have you seen some of like, she really had lost her voice and I know the record company was rather frustrated with her at the time. So I was hearing behind the scenes talks of that.

So have you seen some of the ones where she was singing in Sweden or was it somewhere? I do know that, you know, she was participating in recreational activities that would fuck up your vocal Oh that drug is so nasty in so many ways. It's just it just it really just it just destroys Everybody gets near that And then the story gets sadder of course when you consider what happens to her daughter, so it's yeah Right just the completely just when you think it couldn't get worse. It does Wow It's an eerie parallel well like Gaga would say the fame monster, you know Gets gets a lot of people but you did I mean that was like a big boost to her career now

it must have been a little frustrating that her addiction and in other parts of her life that sort of would be down again like a but but again I'm not no judgments here just that it's a tragic tale of what what can happen with addiction and issues of that nature. Yeah we were out of the picture as Thunder Puss by then we had a good five six seven year run from 98 to about 2003 and then the times are in the world was starting to change you know digital and yeah.

But, but thought it was okay. So the run real quick because there's a sort of an outlier I want to play in a minute here, but you not only are you remixing songs for, you know, artists and etc. but you also created your own music as Thunder Puss. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun.

It was like, yeah, I, basically giving away the music. You're recomposing all this stuff, but it was such fun. We're getting paid pretty well at the time, you know, in lieu of, so this kind of went, I don't know, once again, it was fun. And as you know, we did share and don't mean to name drop. Yeah. Yeah, no, you named drop. You were there. You were there as brother Bill would say. Well what happened at the same time as when Whitney blew up, we also remixed Amber on Tommy Boy as sexual and that went top 42. So we suddenly had two top 40 hits. It didn't get as high as Whitney because it's a Tommy Boy and it's not a super major label, but it still went top 40 at the same

time. So suddenly we were everybody's alternative. Oh wait, you know, we were emergency exit plan for Brittany, Cher, Donna Summer, Janet Jackson. These are the biggest names we have Mr. Harris. Yeah, the only big names that we didn't do was Mariah because at that time in 2003, she had a little crash down and Beyonce hadn't really started yet until 23 blowing up on her own. But everybody who was major, I can't even

remember Celine. Gosh, I can't remember all the names now. It was crazy. It was absolutely well here's the name. I'm going to just play this because heck it's my show Barry. You can't stop me. Here, let's have a little bit of You dug this up I didn't even recognize it at first I was watching your face Give it a moment here to brew and then we'll talk about it. Wow, you took me by surprise on this one. I never saw that coming. When will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me?

Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will you say yes to me? Tell me when will moment today, every day seems a lifetime. Let me show you the way to enjoy the Just in case somebody listening doesn't recognize that voice, who are we listening to here, Barry? Engelbert Humperdinck.

Engelbert Humperdinck. I know, everyone's just like so confused out there right now, like, wait, what did my channel just change or something? Well, it's funny, here, yeah, we talk, yeah. We talk about Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson. Yes, of course, Anglebird Humberdink fits right there. How did this come to be? They approached you and said, would you remix Anglebird Humberdink?

Well, when I first moved to LA in January, January, February, Interhead had done a Summer and Georgi Omeroder record. And I remember when I was driving into work, which was at, in Hollywood, and they broadcast, like, he was, Chris was also on the dance music station, so they were interviewing him from, I think it was New York or wherever the Grammys were that year, in February. And the inner hit won because they put out the record, the Donna Summer record of Carry On. And it, for some reason, at that moment, I knew, I had this big rush of, oh my god, this is all this, the future is going to look, I don't know what this means but there's something

magical about to happen. So that was before all this stuff happened. Now Inglebert got wind of that, Winder Hit had won the Grammy in the dance and he had wanted his son who was managing him reached out to us that Engelbert wants to do a dance album. So that's basically what we did spring and summer of 98 and he wanted to recover and do all the songs again and it was a challenge for me but I really put on the the thinking cap of working at Star Sound trying to do all these different types of genres on. Okay, what record would suit this and what would suit that?

The song and having to reconfigure and rethink everything. So I was doing every typical different type of genre, dance genre that I could think of or come up with. It was quite the challenge of an album. But... The Kalef can dust off Tammy Winebite and have a hit like you know what I mean? Oh I'm pretty sure I still think to this day going back to that again I think I inspired them to get the real Dale Trammy um previously with I Beg Your Pardon. Oh yeah sure okay but I want to tell you a cool tell me

anything that little cool Inglebert he at the time lived in the James Manfill house with the heart-shaped pool on on sunset Boulevard Wow, which was next door to the Playboy Mansion and we went out there quite a few times to see You did I remember Chris saying oh, it's so disappointing you go to this this legendary house and like oh don't use the washroom Their plumbing doesn't work. It the fifties and stuff. It really looked like a saw, like a, like a house. We, we film one of the videos in there and out by the pool. I'm so, I wish it was so, it was not cool to be going there with like a, what a, a what's an insta camera. What do you call it?

Disposable camera and start taking pictures, right? It's like, you got to kind of stay, keep your cool and not turn into a tourist. Right, act like you've been there before. Yeah, right? It's like, oh it's not a big deal. Okay, so we talked about, you know, the current status of ConCAN and it sounds like it's a little muddy, but we're not going to delve into that any further, but what is the current status of Thunderpus? The current status of Thunderpus? The current status of Thunderpus? Well we were kind of like like all this stuff there's a lot of stuff like I'm still involved with I put on the back burner. We were

kind of done and then the movie came out last year and Hosh reached out to us again last year if we would get together and do it. Wait, wait, what movie? What movie? The Whitney movie, sorry. Oh yeah, sorry, okay. The Whitney Houston movie was about to go to streaming and come out in the movie and everything.

So they asked us to, he asked us, because of, it's not right, but so, okay, was such a big, giant, recurrent hit, they reached out to us to see if we'd be interested in doing that. So it was basically Hosh that brought us back together again, Chris and I, we were both just went down different roads throughout from the 2003 or 05, was it? 2003 when I left LA and came back here. Did you come back to Toronto? Mm-hmm.

Okay, 2003, okay. Yep. Okay, so Thunderus still, you know, still an entity. You're still doing stuff with Chris Cox. We're going out DJing. We're not really doing any produce producing and remix anymore. The world has changed. It's like I mean, are you seeing there's the new Ariana Grande? They put out the a Capella so everybody's it doesn't matter. Everybody's doing their own. You're right. It doesn't matter anymore. Like it does. Like a 14 year old in his room is remixing it and putting it. It's not a thing anymore. Yeah. Like how in 1988 or whatever, when you're piecing together, I beg your pardon. What was your, like, how were you doing? Like a four track? What did you have? Like what did you have?

It was Tom Smitty's studio. It just like the only that was, that's why I don't have the parts. It was just all run down live with until you got the, until you got it right. Until you got the mix right. We created it if you want to. Oh yeah, the only thing that was on tape was vocals. Yeah, the lead vocals, which was running all the other stuff live, the drum machines and everything. Wow, okay, firing it off.

Okay. Run it down. Okay, very interesting. Okay. Now. So we covered con can and I only once called a cat. I think I was pretty good as we covered con can. I was in how many times did I say can con not not many times impressed con can. I remember con man. Okay. Not that you're con man, but that's how I remembered. Okay. Con can thunder puss, but I do want to touch on the fact that you created some wonderful art that's not under either of those brands. So let me just play this and then get the story from you, Mr. Harris on this

no more scary surprises here. Woo! Well alright! I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food.

I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food.

I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. I'm gonna go get some food. How y'all feeling tonight? Y'all feeling good? Well you know I'm feeling mighty good tonight.

But you see baby, it's a little hot in here, in more ways than one. So I've got a little proposal to make to each and every one of you here tonight. I think it's time that we all go dive in the pool. Y'all wanna go dive in the pool? You wanna go down in the pool? I know y'all wanna go down in the pool. Come on! Come on! Let's go!

Let's get soaking wet! Gotta wait for the, let's get soaking wet. Yeah. And whose voice is that? That's Peppermache. Now I brought her as a session singer to do a lot of backgrounds for even some of the remixes of Thunder Puss at the time. I met her in 98 and just her personality everything about her. I remember the first time I called her up I was like hi Peppermache. She didn't even know who I was. She goes, baby.

Like right away. It just like, she's like. Pepper Maché is a great handle too. It's like paper maché. See, it's pepper maché. Yeah. Yeah. So she was, she was a lot of fun. And I, and I brought her in. Um, Chris was on vacation at the time and I had this idea of doing this, this talking type record and I brought in and brought in Pepper. I said, I don't want you to sing this time. And I brought in Pepper, I said, I don't want you to sing this time, I just want you to, this is what I want you to say. And that's what I all had in mind.

And it was the idea, the concept of it, where I came up with the idea was I was at one of the winter music conferences again, and we were seeing Danny Tenaglia at his bass place, which was one of the places to be and he was using this this scroll digital scrolling to talk to the audience because my club DJs will not get on the do not get on the microphone or did not get on the microphone then people say oh look at that that's so

communicate that's so cool that he's kind of talking to the crowd I said well not really I thought then I thought well what if there was a record that did it for the DJ they wanted to see y'all having a good time, like, let's make a record that they'll play the record to find out instead so they can still stay cool and not get on the microphone and have a record that does it for you, basically. And this is what I came up with. In this song, people might recognize it from a certain television show. Oh that yeah that Queer as Folk as well was out at the time so they did that

reach it they reach out to me I think that that reached out to me around the time when it was just coming out or it did just come out and it was a lot of people thought it was their theme song for a while because they were using at the end credits I think. Well, it's fun. I gotta say, this is a fun jam. Like when she, you know, when you get that, you know, let's get soaking wet. Uh, it's, it's sounds great, man. It's very cool.

Very cool. And she's a good job. You put it together very nicely. So, oh yeah, just let it wrap up here. Hold on. Wow. And that's credited to Barry Harris, so no fancy name for that one. No, no, I remember Nervous, I shopped it at Nervous Records at the time and they were

like, well why don't we put out like the Club Kids or something, I was like, you know what, I'm not doing that anymore, I'm going to take the chance, I'm going to put out as my own name, you know, featuring Pepper now, I've done all this work and all this composing as Thunderpus behind the scenes, no, I'm putting out my own record under my own name, you know, featuring Pepper now. I've done all this work and all this composing is thunder-pussed behind the scenes. No, I'm putting out my own record under my own name. I'm gonna have the guts and the balls to do it, screw it. Okay, and I don't know what this means, so I'm gonna pretend it's a big deal,

but you won an ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Award for that song. I know, that was really weird. First of all, tell me, is that a prestigious award, like the leg lamp in Christmas story? Like, tell me. Well, kind of. Okay. Well, kind of. Yeah. Because I'm like, Roberta Flock was there. It was in Atlanta, Georgia. It was like I was maybe I was the only white person. I'm not too sure in the, you know, five mile radius, but I never really crossed my mind. Uh, at the time I thought it was very,

but I never really crossed my mind at the time. I thought it was very, I've really felt like I'm so, this is so unworthy to be here. Just this song, how y'all feel out there? I thought, oh, this is not, that wasn't work. That wasn't creative. That wasn't, I guess it wasn't a way, but I almost felt embarrassed about getting that. I thought there must be some mistake because, you know,

there's a lot more R and B soulful songs that are more skilfully and craft, you know, craft fully written than something as silly, goofy fun as that. It was just a fun, silly, goofy idea, you know? What is it? Is it a plaque? Is it a trophy? It's a plaque. Yeah. Is it hanging somewhere or is this in the same box as your Juno? It's in the same box. Okay, I was gonna say like. But it is really nice, like an ASCAP award kind of thing.

If you could only keep one, okay? Your 1989 Juno or whatever, or your 2000 ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Award. Like if you could only keep one, which one do you keep? Well, I do have the answer for that. Then that would be the Madonna. Oh, that's right, I forgot we did Madonna too. Yeah that would be the Madonna. Oh, that's right. I forgot we did Madonna too.

Yeah. Um, don't forget Madonna. This is a big name to forget. Yeah. That, that I, that I do have, um, the, the, the greatest, the GHV thing that is, that is on a big, uh, poster size in that is on the house in on the wall in the house. Yeah. Okay.

That one was worthy. Yeah. But what award was that? Is it just, um, is it like, what is that exactly that we're talking about? That's on the it's a you want an award for the Madonna remix Well like a gold record good because what song we well we did don't tell me and we did The ghv2 mega mix that she put on only as a promo now That was a really big big deal at the time

It was Jennifer Lopez was on the with Carson Daly on MTV. They're putting out the GHV to and Carson Daly asks Jennifer Lopez. So who are these guys? Who's Thunder Puss? He goes, Oh, yeah, the big deal. They're remixing everything is like, OK, we're we have arrived. We have arrived. That's that's a big move over Swedish factory. We're here. Well, that was free. Pre that. Yeah, we're we are pre that

Sweden took over okay amazing so I got to tell you Barry I really enjoyed all of this now this is the mop up moment here like anything I missed that you want to highlight here you drove a long way what's next for you are you working on anything you want to tease just curious where you're at where I'm at now is returning to ConCan, got a band together and Kimberly Wetmore who I'd worked with since 95-96 even on the out-of-control euro-y stuff as well. She's such a great singer. She's just, she's just, she just doesn't sing. One of those singers like Julia

Waters that just, and Debbie Cole that just sings and they're just on key and sound beautiful every time and it's effortless to them. It's so great to be working with Kimberly again and we're gonna be playing, oh I should tell you that, we're gonna play Ground Control April 5th on Queen Street, Parkdale area. Oh cool, yeah. It's kind of first time.

Sure bike ride for me, that's amazing. Oh yeah, I've not played Toronto since, I figured it was we did electric circus in 94 so it's been 30 years, so I'm looking forward to that. That's a long time. Yeah, it is Yeah, okay. Now, did you so did you redo sinful wishes with her? Because it's from 93 right but you've got a like a 20 23 version. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I just thought we'd do like like a little ballad-y idea, you know, just slow it down almost like an unplugged idea, but then I went back home and produced it a little more and

thought, yeah, I'm gonna I feel that I'm on an illegal high Something's wrong, certainly This doesn't happen to me easily Modern love, maybe so Only time will tell as we all know Had enough, long ago But I was wrong because now I know Am I going to bed With sinful wishes. Yeah.

I go to sleep with sinful wishes of you. The Moonlight Mix. Kimberly Wetmore and you there. You know what, you never needed Kevin. You know this though. You never needed Kevin. I feel like we could have done I Beg Your Pardon with your vocals. But okay, I digress. But okay, this is what's going on right now, man. Okay, and you're gonna play again. This is cool. This is amazing. I love this. I like doing things I've not done before, changing it up and just kind of go where the wind takes me leaving your comfort zone

Yes, I know, you know, okay, why not now But the place some lowest of the low, but now I'm intrigued. So why the no there? Oh, what leave it on my comfort zone? Yeah, Oh Like going you see doing things I've never done before, that's different than leaving your comfort zone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, because I've, yep, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's more if I've had it been there, done it, did it,

type attitude, okay, and on to the next thing. And if it's something, or if it's something I haven't done in a long time, I'll go, oh, let's try that, just do that again. I haven't done that in a while. I'm just very ADHD, you know, all over the place kind of guys. You'll notice even the move to move album, there's so many different genres on there and that's might be I could have made three more. I beg your pardon. It was hard for me to do. I couldn't actually. I'll tell you, there's a little tidbit we toyed with the idea at the time of doing Saturday Night by the Basity Rollers. But that just the lyrics were just so bad. We couldn't 80s that up. We

couldn't make it sound cool. Wow. We dumped that idea rather quickly. Okay now I need I promised Cam Gordon I would ask a question of you that I know is impossible because it's 1988 essentially when you start creating music to be consumed by the masses, 1988, okay? Because he was wondering if you were at all a part of a charity single that was recorded in 1985, but if you're only coming out with your music in 1988, it is impossible that you had any part

of Tears Are Not Enough. But for the definitive record, because this show is now asking that of basically any artist who created anything in the 70s or 80s, for the record, Barry Harris, were you a part of Tears Are Not Enough? No, I was not part of Tears Are Not Enough, but in 1990 or 91 when they redid Oh Canada, they redid that with the choir and everybody. I was in that part of that. I know. Yeah, right? I know. My mom died about five years ago and she had all this stuff

and all this memorabilia stuff and it was in McLean's magazine and it was a picture of me and Sue Medley and oh, it was a Patty Jeanette or whatever. I remember Dan Hill was behind me in that choir. I forgot all about that too. It's like, oh yeah, that never really, I don't think you can find it on YouTube. I don't challenge me, I'll find it, but what year did it come out? 90 or 91, it was around.

I do remember, I do have vague memory of this trying to capture the spirit, I suppose, of Tears Are Not Enough. Oh yeah, the Old Canada Foundation. Yeah, yeah, but I'm at the very end of it. Like you just, you just see a glance of me as the videos fading. I ended up kind of on the cutting room floor there. Okay, so I'll just play you down here. I see, um, Rita McNeil is singing right

now. It'd be tough if I can't recognize the others. They all over the place some were filming Toronto some I think Montreal's Tommy Hunter is here. Is that who that is? That's Tommy Hunter. I think he's still alive I was not in the same room with all these people. Hey, I'm gonna see how many I can recognize and then Let's see how many people are still alive. Oh it's a Oh, it's, um, I don't know. Is that Celine Dion there? Who is that?

No. Okay, now I'm embarrassing myself by not recommending. Yeah, Salome Bay, right? Who's also on Cheers and Ununus. Anne Murray's in here, isn't she? Let's see if she shows up. That's a big get if you get Ann Murray for this. There's the chorus. Are you in the chorus here?

Not in that group. No, there's different choir groups. We'll hang in there for a second here. I see Pat Burns is there. I think Pat Burns is in this choir. He was singing of the Good Brothers, I think at the time. Oh yeah? Former Leafcoats.

Oh and um... What you'll see... Oh there's Atlanta Miles. Real name is Atlanta Biles. Did you know that? Really? Susan Aguil Clark I think I just saw. The Les Miserables cast. Wow. Okay. Gino. FOTM Gino.

Quebecois artists. I guess this. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. because she hadn't blown up in the stage until like 93 or so. But she still would have been a big in Quebec at the time. Yeah. Right. Right. I feel like I heard a story like radio stations were supposed to playlist on July 1st or something in unison or something. I don't know if I'm making that story up, but they were sent to DJs and it's like, play it. I don't know. My understanding is that at the end of when radio CB stations would sign off, they wanted

to refresh this old Eric O'Canada theme. Oh, that might be Randy Bachman. OK, FOTM Randy Bachman just made an appearance. Absolutely. By the way, it's Bachman. Did you know that? He told me it's Bachman, not Bachman. OK, that's great.

Mr. Vanelli. So there's FOTM Gino Vanelli. Speaking of Montreal. Oh, Atlanta miles. Oh, the names are getting bigger and bigger. Wow. Black velvet zone. OK, she can belt it. All chance. All chance. Oh, oh, there's your boy. Maestro Fresh West showed up, everybody. Oh, yeah Jans. Paul Jans. Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, there's your boy. Maestro Fresh West just showed up, everybody.

FOTM Maestro. Oh, Luba. Luba. Yeah, Luba's here. Wow. Oh, there's I think, is that my group? Is that you? Is that, Dan Hill's in it, I'm there. We got, oh, Dan Hill's a big deal.

I might be there. FOTM Dan Hill, I think we see FOTM Barry Harris here. Alright, we're all winding down here, but this is a good way to end the show. You know, like when stations would sign off and you'd hear it back in the day this is signing off Toronto mic episode 1415 we're gonna hear old Canada here Oh Molly Johnson everybody FOTM Molly Johnson just made an appearance Wow. Gino. Can we get off black cars already?

Wow. The Helix guy? Helix? Yeah, I think that's the Helix guy. He's also an FOTM. Okay, this is a... Oh, there it was! Okay, so you're watching at home. So, I'm going to go ahead and

go ahead and go ahead and go ahead and Elix, yeah, I think that's the Helix guy. He's also an FOTM. Okay, this is a... Oh, there it was. Okay. So you're watching at home. Wow, you know what? Who needs Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and Geddy Lee when you have this crew here? Good on you, man.

Okay, O Canada Foundation, 1991, 92. And Barry, thanks for doing this. That was incredible. What a deep dive into the history of a con can and thunder puss and we can all jump in the pool now. It was fantastic. And I don't leave a photo lasagna and we have to take a photo by the Toronto tree. That's what Dave Thomas is calling it the Toronto trees. So make sure we do that. But thanks for carving out a good almost 90 minutes of your life. Really? Yeah. So make sure we do that. But thanks for, uh, carving out a good almost 90 minutes of your life. Really? Yeah. Oh my God. Time flies. Well, you had a, had a busy career and you're not done yet, right?

You're not done yet. Now we're gonna have to get to talk about myself. Yay. Oh, was I supposed to record that? I, I'm sorry. I thought, I thought it was a private conversation. And as I said that I had to go quickly check. I did record it cause it'd be one of those not so funny jokes if I didn't. And that brings us to the end of our 1415th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky.

I'm at Toronto Mike. How can we learn what's going on with Barry Harris? What's the best way? Probably Facebook. Reach out to me there. I'm there as myself in this con can as well. And thank you again to Mark Nathan who connected us and made this happen. Yeah, well, he's a big part of all my story. He's a thread that runs through it. Yeah, to this day. All my story. He's like a thread that runs through it.

To this day. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. That's Palma Pasta. That's Recycle My Electronics. That's Raymond James Canada. And Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow.

And I teased this earlier, but Rob Pruse is going to drop by because Liza Frohmer declared he's her first crush and she's going to kick out 10 More Jams with Rob Pruse. I'm going to make her dream come true. That's tomorrow. Don't you dare miss it. See you all then. 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