Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Laura Hubert from Leslie Spit Treeo: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1775

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

In this 1775th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Laura Hubert about the rise and fall of the Leslie Spit Treeo, their dog Tag, and her solo jazz career. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, Blue Sky Agency and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Welcome to Toronto Welcome to episode 1,775 of Toronto, I'm from Toronto, brought to you want to get a city love, 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.

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two podcasts you ought to listen to. Recyclemyelectronics.c.a.comitting to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut. you. It's Laura Hubert. Welcome to Toronto mic

Laura. Thank you. That was quite the introduction. Was it too long? No, I think you got to do it down. You know, sometimes you got to make the money, right? You got to do the ads. Thank you. I feel like I'm selling out here, but I mean, that's no, you know, you need it. You do what you got to do. This gear doesn't just appear from anywhere. Thank you for understanding. Listen, and I want to say

thank you for making the trek to visit me. I want to talk about Leslie Spit Trio and more and I just want to say I appreciate the fact you took the time and made your way here even though I'm not sure you know what's going on or where you are. Exactly. So can you speak to that

because you made a reference outside? So you're puzzled as to why I want to talk to you or are you just putting me on? I sort of like checked you out kind of thing. Okay, elaborate. Like you Google me? No, I didn't even Google.

I just listened to some of your, you know, who you had and who you posted. Who did you listen to? You know, well, didn't really. I just kind of flashed through and went, what the hell does he want to talk to me? Okay. I have no clue. Is it so far-fetched that somebody would want to talk about a band as a fixture on the Toronto music scene like Leslie Spit Trio? Well, like I bet you, most people don't even know the band at this point.

you know that was like 90s early 90s really sure but gen x is still a thing like we still exist and we remember leslie spit trio like let's speak to the people who remember leslie spit trio and then let's introduce maybe some younger people to this band that they should know about okay dokey all fired up here Laura so because I know first time I invited you here and you're like why do you want to talk to me and I'm like well please visit me Laura please and then you went like you went to a cottage instead yeah okay which i yeah i woke up this morning i thought i wonder if i can blow him off again that would be a third time yeah because the second time you're like oh man i got to do rehearsal because you're still uh i was doing the kensington jaws fest so i was

doing that shout out to molly johnson yeah okay you friends of molly oh god i daycare at all for both her kids we go back a long time i put up with molly would would molly and you go out for a drink Well, she might have a, you know, grand marionier or something like that. Or a coffee? She's not really a beer drinker. Yeah, she likes her coffee. Speaking of beer before we proceed. Again, I want to cover a lot of ground with you.

You're now held hostage for the next, as long as I want you for. Please, Laura. Oh, really? But I did get a fresh can of Great Lakes beer out of my fridge, and I thought we'd open our beers together on the mic. I think that's a good time. I'll count you in, okay? Three.

So stand by, stand by. Stand by. Stand by. Stand by. Okay. One. Okay. Cheers to you, Laura. Great legs. Cheers. I wonder if these guys are the ones that make that vodka. Lemon vodka cooler. Oh, that's them. Really good. I have to hunt that down on Roncesvals.

Well, you know what? There is a place around the horn. Do you know a bar called Around the Horn? I've heard of it. It's in Ronsies. and they serve up, I don't know, I think they definitely serve up Great Lakes beer because the owner has been over here to be on the Great Lakes Brewery podcast. No, I walk up around seeing it ain't too far from Queen Street and then it's on the right-hand side.

And they do have like a little barry thing and they have some coolers in the back. And this is a beautiful yellow tin. My friend Charlie hooked me up with a, you know, sitting on her porch a couple weeks ago. And I'm like, wow, this is the best vodka level. drink I've had in a long time. So when Troy Birch hears that, because I'm going to cut that out and send it to him, he's probably going to send over some of that for me to, like, bike to you in Parkdale or whatever.

Like, I think I can hook you up. Okay, that sounds good. I could share it with my friends. Share it with your friends. And just the hedge our bets here. I also have some fresh beer here that you can take home with you, Laura. So you're going to leave with some beer. Wow.

You're drinking a beer. Getting some swag. Well, here, I'm going to do this off the top because we're going to rock and roll here. I have. You're going to love this. I have a measuring tape courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. That is for you, Laura. Okay?

What will you be measuring of that? Ridley Funeral Home measuring tape? Hmm. Well, I got these curtains that I need to have him. Well, that's a very safe answer. A very safe answer. I also want to give you one more gift. Then we're going to get going.

Okay. Do you like lasagna? Well, who doesn't love lasagna? That's what I always say. Who doesn't love lasagna? I have... I'm an Italian. My grandmother was born in Italy.

Okay, because Hubert is not Italian. No, that's my dad's name. Okay, so on your mom's side, you're of Italian. Okay, so you're going to let me know if the Palma Pasta lasagna is the best lasagna that wasn't made by Nona. Got it? Okay. I'm going to send you home with a large lasagna from Palma Pasta. It's in my freezer right now.

Wow. I might need a cab. You're going to need a bigger boat. I might have to get you some bags to carry all this swag with. So your tires are going to be pumped You're like, why does anyone want to talk to me? You have no idea how highly anticipated this episode is. I'm going to start reading some notes

And we're going to walk through like your life in times. Like this is your life, Laura. You're ready? Okay, carry on. And stop me if it's too much. Like if it's too much gushing, please stop me. But Bob Wegener writes in, I'm going to quote these people. Oh, Bob.

Do you know Bob? Yes. He writes, my God, she's wonderful. Should I stop there? Because there's more. This is wild. I need some explanation. He says,

there was a giant photo of her in the last place I lived in Toronto. So what is that like a shrine? No, that was a photographer that took a bunch of black and white photos of a bunch of us girls that live in Parkdale. And it just happened to be that

they were up where he was renting a room. Can I ask about these girls in Parkdale? Anybody else I might know? That's part of this. Well, one of them was Charlie, the one that turned me on to the vodka drink. Okay. Well, I like Charlie already. Yeah.

Okay. There's a great documentary about characters in Parkdale that was made by a filmmaker named Kiri Papoots. Anyway, I'm just shedding out that doc. It was kind of interesting characters of Parkdale. I love Parkdale. I was born at St. Joe's. Okay. I'm at St.

Mike's. So you're downtown. I'm Parkdale. But that's just the hospital. where I was born. But I do, like, I love hanging around Parkdale. So I think it's got a cool vibe still. This hood is kind of reminds me of.

I even see the Tibetans have moved this way. Yeah. There's Momo to be had. Absolutely. You want more tires being pumped here? Okay, carry on. And this will help us kind of get into a Leslie Spit trio origin story here. And I actually have a song that will accompany this.

Maybe I start the song and then I read this note from Y, Y, Y, Z, Gord. So, Mike, let's get our shit together here. a little bit of this Sometimes when you're You dream you hear a sound You part your eyes awake and But there's nothing to be found The sound it will not vanish

The dream and lingers are Y'i hear a voice call out to you watching all the voice is gone You sing, hi-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-you- ain't born just to die Nothing or nothing will ever come true if you're living a life singing aye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ye-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-you can make the Y Y-Z Gord writes in, I first became aware of Leslie Spit Trio watching Roadkill, where they randomly appeared playing in the middle of nowhere. I still love that version, so this is not that version, but still love that version of the sound,

and I bought the soundtrack just for that song. So I'm going to use, this is our jumping off point, because Laura, I want to hear from you. Please, can I get the origin story of Leslie Spit Trio and, like, who were you when the band was formed? and then we can work our way towards how you end up in Roadkill. Well, I met the boys, Pat Langner and Jack Nicholson, at a theater company called Theater Direct. And we were all in the theater. I was an actor, Jack was an actor.

Pat was a budding playwright. And for some reason, you know, the acoustics in the building, this is a bathurst and nuts by doing. Bathurst and Bloor just south and we just started jamming and our voices were like magical together

for some bizarre reason so then we just got into writing Langner was really the playwright so he was like the leader of the pack in terms of writing but we all contributed to everything but then we just started singing on the streets

like busking yeah with the dog we started off on Bloor Street just by by the way cafe there across from the Brunny that would be we would do the afternoon crowd there and then we go down to

we're in the late 80s here yeah late 80s yep yep and then we would excuse me do the shoe and beside the shoe there used to be a bookstore there and they had like a big narrow kind of entry into it and we used to sing in that entry

because the acoustics were so good. Wow. So, you know, then we threw out our hat, and then, you know, one day X-ray comes out of the club and says, you kids should play in here someday. And that's kind of how it sort of began. And he might not, he might have known a few guys from Capitol Records. And the next thing, you know, we got a record deal.

And then we, I knew Bruce and Dawn McCuller. Because Donne and I went to. university together. We did some plays together and that kind of fun stuff. And that's how we landed in that movie. And you're essentially playing buskers, right, in Roadkill. You're just buskers in a field. No, we're just like outstanding in a field.

Yeah. And suddenly. So, I mean, that's Y, Y, Y, Z, Gords. And that's before you have a record out, right? No, that we were just, we made the record and we were just beginning. to promote it. Okay. I need you to spend a little time now,

and this will actually come up in future comments and questions, but can you chat with me? You mentioned a dog. Tag. Tag. Tag, essentially a member of the band, right? No, definitely.

He ran the show, really. Like your manager. This is, like, listed at least, as your official manager is tag. Yeah, pretty well. Like, if we had to stop the bus, we had to stop the bus. And if he wanted to screw off,

and run into the field and get ticks, then he will do that. And that did happen. So whose dog was tag? Well, Pat got him from the Humane Society. And then, of course, you know, now you start to live with the dog hair, and everyone's tag is everybody's dog.

Okay, so many comments and questions about tag. I mean, Jimmy Cooper, for example. Jimmy Cooper writes in, in the early 90s, did they have a band painted van slash a bus that was often parked on Harvard near Ozington well it was close it was in the market

it was a school bus and it was graffitied up to the yingang so that this was Oxford and Spadina okay I realized that actually that question had nothing to do of tag shame on me

we did some videos and tag was coming in and out it was a dog in the neighborhood that he was he kind of was smitten with, so they kind of hung out together. So it's a video called, we made, called it was a happy song and

the dogs are centered in that video. Like, there are literally Leslie Spit Trio songs where you will hear TAG, right? Yeah, he's on the first record, yeah. Does, uh, did TAG get any, uh, did TAG get any, like, royalties? Like, was TAG set up as a fourth member?

treated as you know he was the first member of the band really whatever tag wanted tag got well okay that's now the question i meant to call i called up the the jimmy cooper by way jimmy cooper wants to know who was the designated driver in leslie spit trio mostly pat pat did most of the driving okay all the occasional the drummer would drive and they'd get us into trouble because he didn't make the right turn next thing you know or at some border down like it was oh man so sounds like uh this is hardcore logo or something. Yeah, that's close. Mike from Kdub

writes in, one night at the hideaway in St. Catharines, I witnessed someone in the crowd getting chased out because they were shouting rude things about the band's German Shepherd. Mike will just insert, the name of that dog is tag.

But Mike says, the details are a bit hazy, as you would expect. Was this commonplace? What's Mike remembering here? If you yelled rude things, about TAG, you're out of here? Well, you know, that's...

I don't really recall that incident. Is that possible? It's totally. It's very feasible. Listen, this is where we're getting the definitive history here of the band. And I just wanted to spend a little more time with TAG because somebody named M wrote in, wanted his identity protected, okay?

M says, is it true? They almost got. kicked out of the CFNY studios because TAG smelled bad? Is that possible? Is it possible? Anything is possible. Let me tell you. Like, whatever, it's unbelievable the kind of thing.

You know, we would all come in smelling like tag. You know, we basically had hair all over our clothes. Like, it was, you know, we all stunk clearly. So now that CFNY was brought up, like, do you have any memory? of, like, who you would talk to at CFNY or anything you would have done in cooperation with CFNY as... Well, they were the first radio station that sort of played us

and welcomed them into their studio. But I don't really recall any big drama. But then you never know because, you know, you leave and all of a sudden, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, who knows? Do you remember any specific on-air personalities at CFNY that you might have talked to through the years? No, not really. Sorry. I'm like 66. What do I know now?

You're 66, but, you know, I'm going to jog this memory. So my job is to see if we can extract any stories at all. So there's a song I want to play. So your debut album, which we're going all the way back to 1990, can you believe that's 35 years? years ago? No, it's wild, hey. 35 years ago. My goodness, Laura.

Okay, so don't cry too hard. That has the sound on it, but not the version Y, Y, Y, Z, Gord gravitates towards, which is from Bruce McDonald's 89 film Roadkill. See, that's why I think you're doing, I think you're in Roadkill before your debut album drops. Maybe we were. You know, it's all a bit blurry. Everything is blue.

I think, you know, you should, like, call up Pat Langner. He'll have a lot. Well, you know what? You always, this is going to sound terrible. I feel like you always start with the lead singer. If you notice that? Yeah. He's got, he wrote a lot of stories about, like, he, he would be the guy to talk to if you ever want to.

He's out in Alberta. He's in Edmonton. Oh, I'll zoom him in. You can zoom him in. He'd probably love it. He'd be talking. You'd get so much out of him. So here's what we're going to do because, by way, I'm going to share with you what prompted this whole, like, when I reached out to you.

So I got a tour of the Toronto Island from a guy named. Professor Pricklethorne. I have trouble saying that. Professor Pricklethorn is an arborist, and he was giving me this tour of the island, and then we're on Toronto Island, and we're learning all about the history,

and he's giving some great information, and then we're looking at the Leslie Spit. So I ask the group, does anybody remember Leslie Spit Trio? And because this is not a bunch of youngsters on this particular tour, a bunch of people have very fond memories of Leslie Spit Trio.

And then somebody says, what happened to Leslie SpitTrio? And then I went home and I said, where is Laura? Now, you've been hiding in plain sight. You're still a going concern in terms of your jazz singing in Toronto, right? Yeah, I'm still kicking at the can there. Still kicking at the can. And I'll play some of your solo stuff soon. But I reached out to you, and that's when I booked the first, I guess I had to talk you into it.

Did I need to talk you into it? Yeah, I think you did. Because you didn't want to do this. Why do you want, what? When this is over, you're going to be glad you did it. Okay. But you blew me off for a cottage, which I respect. And then you blew me off for a rehearsal, which I respect.

And then this was your third striker. Yeah, you know what? Like I said, I woke up this morning and I thought, I wonder if I can blow him off three times. Listen to, ah, Laura, it's a nice day. Just get on transit and hike over there. You don't want to piss off Toronto mic, okay? No, I don't want to. I'll be dragging Leslie Spit Trio for all eternity.

Okay, here's the song. So this is my introduction. to you guys, and I think a lot of people, in fact, I thought this was your song, so let's talk about this. Every dream will I need Thunders word is liar There's no house When it burned out A lot of time ago

Make me an angel That flies from a gunpray Make me a poster Of an old rodeo Just give me one thing That I can all want to To believe in this living It's just a hard way you go

When I was a young girl My first question is What's going through your mind As you listen to this song in the headphones? I can't sing in that key anymore. I still sing the song. But it's, you know, it's not that key. And I don't scream it.

It's more of a storytelling, jazzy, voicey thingy. Yeah. What caused you to cover John Prime Ryan's Angel from Montgomery. Okay, I had this buddy, and I met up at Popper's. Back in the old days, there's a bar on Bloor Street. And he said, this was even before I met the boys. He was saying, you know what song I think you should sing is Angel from Montgomery.

And I knew about John Prime, but, man, what a prolific writer. And what a gentle soul he was. Wonderful writer, gentle soul, but not, like, didn't have him. hits where he wasn't like that particularly well-known outside of the... Yeah, he's more of a storytelling folk guy. Right. Yeah. So he said, Lori, you got to sing this song.

So when I hooked up with Pat and Jack, I introduced the song to them, and we would sing it on the street. We got... And that was the song that made us the most coin. And this was before the Looney and the Toonie. But then as we were playing, the Looney came out. And then eventually the Toonie. And we, you know, tripled our guitar case.

God's gift of Buskers. Oh, yeah, it was amazing. We needed a $5 coin. Yeah, I know. Because people were just pulling out coins, right? And that song, we would play like six, seven times in night. Just because it was the hit, people would stop and hear that. Like, everybody loved it.

So we would, you know, we'd wait. People would listen. They'd throw their coin in. they go off to the camera and wherever the hell they were going and then we would sing it again for the next crowd I know, it was a moneymaker

and people, I'm going to guess because stupid Mike thought it was a Leslie Spitrio song like I didn't know it was a John Prine song Well you know Bonnie, Bonnie Ritt covered it as well and then Bonnie when I met John Prine

because we opened for him at that beautiful venue that is no longer Ontario place for him. Yeah. Yeah. Every time I went to see a concert the other night, the Lena Lovitch was playing with Devo and B-52s.

Right. And, you know, every time I walk by that dome, I always think about the good old days of the now with all the nonsense and the big piles of dirt, spa talk. I saw my first ever concert there. Shout out to Chalk Circle. There you go.

Oakville crowd. Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant in Oakville. Chalk Circle, weren't they? Hold on. Let me think for a second. Chalk Circle, I feel like they were more north of the city. Why do I think? I don't think

they're from like a film. I don't think so. Burlington, of course, home of the spoons. Oh, see, maybe I'm thinking spoons. And shout out to Rob Pruss, who was just here last week, but he speaks so highly of his forum experience. Yeah, that was, so we opened

for John Pryne at that. Wow. And then I met John Prime. You had to play Angel from Montgomery. Oh, no. And then John, then we met John Prine, and it was so exciting. And then John says, Bonnie, Bonnie tuned me into it. If you're a best band playing your song?

Because she sings the shit out of that song too, right? Yes. Different, but different stylings, but. Did John Prine join you on stage? No. For your version of Angel from Montgomery? Because that would be the move, right? Yeah, no.

Come on, John. The late great. Okay. So this gets you radio play. This is like, is this the first song that you would know? Yeah, that's the one that really flew. We had a few that got on. When much was there, you know, the videos helped.

But now that, so we did, we had to catch the highway UFO song and a couple others sort of, that was out there in the airwaves, but mostly it was the angel. that demanded that we go on the road, I think. Do you remember what radio stations? Can you name check any stations that might have played? Well, I remember Shome, Montreal liked us. And, of course, you know, Seekin-Wite. Like, they played it.

CFM-W. C-F-M-Wi. And I think there might have been a local Toronto station that threw on a few. Okay, I want to play a little of UFO, Catch the Highway, because you wrote this song. Yeah. This was a gang effort.

Catch the highway Gonna search for UFO We made Colored lights Shining on black roads Hey Mr. Spaceman Are you looking for a dream Take me away.

Take me away. So on the live stream, live.tronomike.com, I want to shout out a couple of people. Langer's there. He's got a question I'm going to ask you about in just a moment, but Wardo's there, and he says he loves the love for the Ontario Place Forum. He says, what an underrated venue. So a lot of good nostalgia for the old form.

They're actually going to, even this current venue that you saw, the B-52s and, uh, Devo at is going to be blowing up soon. There's a whole new venue coming to Ontario Plans. Yeah. I can't keep up. How was that venue? I'm not sorry.

How was that concert? It was fun. It was a beautiful night. It wasn't too overcrowded. In fact, which was curious, we had grass seats. So, you know, and you buy them in a bundle. Smoking grass or on the lawns? Okay, on the lawns.

There was plenty of that going on. You should see the young kids trying to get people to stop smoking dope and cigarettes. You know, the young ones, they're like, okay, you really can't really. And everyone's, you know, all the, you know, everyone's 60, 60, 70 years old. Okay, I saw Neil Young and the Who there recently, and I can tell you, it's just one giant cloud of cannabis. Yeah, but they're so cute because they're trying to say, you know, they're just like 17 years old and they're looking at you with these big eyes. Do you partake? So cute.

Do you partake? Oh, of course. Are you high right now, Laura? No. But I did have a beer up at the corner there waiting for you. I'll keep, uh, I'll keep him flowing for you. And I still smoke tobacco, which is bad, I know. Oh, yeah.

Evil, evil, evil, Laura. But is that how you get this really cool, because I heard you doing like a Lewis Armstrong thing. Like, I've been, some of your jazzy stuff can get pretty deep. I've always had a control to a voice. I sang in a choir back in the, in the days. So I was always on the bottom end of everything. So I've always had a deep... I've had a deep voice.

No, of course something's got to do with smoking pot and cigarettes and all the rest of it. Did I start? Because I want to sound like that. No, no, no, no, never, never. You don't want to stink like I do. Well, okay, we blame that on tag, the late gray, but we'll talk more about what happened to tag and what happened to the band in a minute.

But can I ask you for the definitive way we're supposed to stylize this song? Like, is it UFO slash catch the highway? Yeah, I guess that's how we called it. So you don't have an answer, because sometimes I see it UFO and then in parentheses catch the highway. I need to know. I don't think that's very important.

Next. Why don't these details matter to you, Laura? Let's dive into why you don't care about these. Maybe we had to make it official. There was something to do with you can't make, I don't know, have no clue. No clue. Well, who am I getting? Jack?

No, Pat. You said Pat's the guy to score. He's in Edmonton, Pat Hanger. Yeah, and he just love talking to you. Okay, you know what? You're like my, we're going to get the 101, the base from you, and then we'll go to him for those stories that you can't recall. Oh, because he's got lots of them.

And he, you know, he was a prolific writer, so he would notate a lot. Like, so he would write. Like, he was very, some of them were mostly true, but some of them were false. But most of the time, he would write a diary, a diary from Tag. So Tag would be. You know what that is? Before the internet, that is a. dog with a blog.

That's right. Yeah, exact mom. Today, Teg would have an Instagram account with a trillion followers. That's right. And you'd be printing money. You'd be printing money. Oh, maybe he's doing that out there. Who knows?

You've got to get a hold of Langner. He'll love it. I will do that. Langner, not to be confused with Langner, who has a question for you in a minute. But you said all three of you. Now, I almost skipped the obvious question, which is, I'm going back. moment, then I'm going to come back to UFO, catch the highway. But was it a quick

decision on what the band name would be? Like, I mean, Leslie SpitTrio is the most Toronto name, I think, other than the band Toronto. Well, you know, it's funny because when we first hooked up, we were started, we had to find a place. The tag could run, and

we could sing freely. Now, this was just a dumpside at the time, right? Spitt now is a glorious place to hang, but in those days, it was a big dump but there's nobody down there so we could let the dog run and we could rehearse outside we weren't disturbing anybody we were you know we're living in this old victorian house on niagara street and it was you know not favorable for working on harmonies let's

say so you're basically choosing the leslie spit sorry i guess the proper name is leslie street spit uh for tag to run around and for you guys to rehearse your stuff exactly so then naturally when it's time to come up with a name, you're like, well, we're rehearsing at the Leslie Street Spit, and there's three of us, Trio, and then whose idea was it to spell trio? T-R-E-E-O. I think that was a group thing, I think, because there wasn't a trees down there. It was like sort of irony, I don't know. I'm hip to that, okay. And you mentioned the group, the three of you, and maybe Teg was involved too, you'll let me know.

But you guys wrote UFO Catch the Highway, like, in the room? Or, I mean, in the park? Well, no, we're living on Niagara Street. And then I would, like, I started the, I would write the first verse. And I think Jack wrote second, you know, that kind of thing. It was like that kind of then, Pat would write the third verse, that kind of a thing. But that was like on Niagara Street way before. There was still up, there was the bottom of Niagara and King Street, south of King.

and there used to be a slaughterhouse. That's why the rent was so cheap because it stank like nobody's business. I grew up near the stockyards. This came up very recently that when I was growing up. So the junction. Yeah. And now it's all big box stores and everything.

But back when I was growing up, it was just where you held your nose if you were driving through. I remember the cattle used to actually cross the street to go to the slaughterhouse. Like St. Clair and Keel. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so shout out to old Toronto.

We're doing a little nostalgia here for the kids here. But where, Laura, I need to know this is an important question. Where is your Juno Award? Because in 1991, you won a Juno Award for Most Promising Group at the Juno Awards. My mother has it. My 90-year-old mother. Still with us. Has it.

She's still with us. When she's a character, she loves singing too. She just pulls out all these old songs. And when I go out, because we all take turns. I have two brothers, two sisters, and we all help. weekly to do the duties. Sure. And she's just a singing maniac.

That's amazing. And she lives in Toronto? Yeah. Downsview. Okay. Downsview. Okay. I just was remembering

this broken social scene concert I saw where the tragically hit broken social scene in Buck 65 and who else was on that Rosetta. Hey Rosetta. This was a band out of Newfoundland, I think. But they were all at Downsview Park.

I was just sort of chatting about this just yesterday remembering that show. Okay, I digress. So that's a big deal. What was that like for you guys winning a Juno Award for Most Promising Group? Well, you know, it was a really funny moment because we were touring and it was in the middle of a snowstorm. And we were opening for the northern Pikes. And we had to make it up that mountain.

Where were we going? Not Whistler Way, the other way. and the Pikes packed it in. They said, we can't do this. It's too much of a blizzard. But we ended up getting there and doing a paredown show. And then the next thing, you know, we got to get back because we're nominated for in Vancouver. Okay, so nearby.

Yeah. So I remember Molly was out attending the Junos. and I went to her hotel room to get an outfit because I had nothing to wear. Somali dressed me up and some cute little thing. I love these stories. Keep dropping these names. I think that's fascinating.

So you win the June Award for Most Promising Group. Now it's time for your follow-up album. Okay. So what's the vibe in the band, if you're thinking back all the way back to whatever, the early 90s? Like, what's the vibe in the band coming off, don't cry too hard,

You know, a couple of radio songs, Angel from Montgomery, and UFO Catch the Highway. And, of course, for the Y, Y, Y, Z, Gord and all the other roadkill heads, you got the sound. And that was Capitol Records putting that out. What's the vibe in the band with the follow-up, Book of Rejection? Well, we end. Okay, so Tom Cochran had just had his life as a highway. He was on the same label, right, Capitol. And he, his record was produced by a guy named Joe Hardy.

Joe Hardy was out of Memphis at the time. So Capital decided that we were going to go down there and make a record with Joe. So that's what we did. And it, then they wanted to polish stuff and make it prettier. And it just got lost in translation. Okay. I will play one song and read Langer's comment in a minute because I've teased it long enough. But I mentioned Chalk Circle, which had a big hit with April Fool,

and that was produced by Chris Wardman. Yeah, Chris did our first record. Chris does all the records. Yeah, he's a good point. He lives out in B.C. now, living the life of O'Reilly. I think he's on the island, right? Yeah, he is. Jeez, I know I connected with him, and it was like, oh, you know, I think it was dial-up modem.

I'm not sure. But he's, so he was in Blue Peter. Yeah. With Jason Snyderman. That's right. See how I'm connecting these dots here? Yeah, Jason was playing the keyboards on their first record. And Chris played some guitar on that album too.

Right, right. So Jason's now playing with Chog Circle, Jason Snyderman. Really? Yeah. Well, I saw them at the Alma Combo, and Jason was on keyboards. Oh, interesting. With my own eyes, Laura. He has this old persona thing going on.

What's all, like, seeing him, he's got something going on there. There's something going on for sure. Yeah, yeah. He's a son of Sam, so he's going to be, you know, be dead. I still have my Sam the record man. I have a check that I put in a frame and hung it on me well. Like the last check

that I ever got from Sam the record man. So you worked at the... No, no, no. It's like royalties. Royalties. Okay, you know what do I know? It was $8.77 or something like that. When you say hung it on me wall,

are you doing the Ringo star from The Simpsons? No, I'm not. Where Marge drew the picture and he goes, I hung it on me wall. I don't have any members of it. Can I share? I've never put this in the public.

again because it's very fresh info that I'm still kind of newling in my head. Can I share something with you? Sure. So I quite like a rock band out of Halifax called Sloan. Yeah, of course. Of course. I don't know why I'm presenting it like you'll be like who's Sloan. But you know, forever, and I just had Chris and Jay in the basement like I think last maybe two

weeks ago. But I forever have heard this story about how they came up with the name Sloan and they had a friend and he had a nickname Slow one and then, but the story never really made much sense. okay and a lot of people I think when I talk to members of the band they're like kind of like reading from a script and I don't really believe them you want to hear my new theory

okay bring it on so it just so happens on Saturday night I was at the rec room by the dome like literally I was locking at my bike when the Blue Jay game ended in an 111 victory for the Toronto Blues sweet that must have been fun yeah it was fun because they do that

the big noise and everything's happy everyone's in a good mood this city's in a good mood now because the jays are crushing the Yankees it's quite something it brings us all together jump on that bandwagon again. Okay. So I'm there and I'm chatting up Tara Sloan. Do you know the name Taras Yes, I do. Okay. So we're chatting. She's a coaster, isn't she? Right. So this is, thank you. You're good. You can co-host the show with me and I'll give you a beer every time. But I'm sitting

with Tara and we're shooting the breeze and catching up because she moved out to California for a shark she was in love with and then he broke her heart and now she's back here. It's a whole thing. We're chatting about her times in Halifax where she worked at Sam the Record Man with Chris Murphy before there was a Sloan. So you got Chris Murphy and Tara Sloan working at

Sam the Record Man together. Do you know where I'm going with this? I think Sloan is named after Tara Sloan. Okay, I'm in. Yeah. Why not? But I've never shared this in public. This is, you know... Maybe you'll win something.

Well, what might I win is what I want know but so I'm still you know I have to you know talk to the guys from Sloan about this I don't want them to punch me in the face they seem like lovely people they wouldn't do that but I think that because I didn't realize that Tara worked with Chris at a Sam the Record Man in Halifax and then this whole slow one thing which I never really bought now it makes more sense Tara Sloan they just changed the spelling there you go I'm gonna try to I'm rolling with anything here I'm rolling with it Roll with it, baby. Woo!

Okay. You can perform that jazz. Roll with it, baby. Love it. So, what else did I want to say? I want to play a song, but let me read Langer's note for you because I teased it so often here.

Okay, so I'm going back to my question. So we did Bob Wagner. We did Y, Y, Y, Z, Gord. Oh, Sabre Scott. Sabre Scott says, I caught them at Nietzsche's in Buffalo way back when, and they were awesome. Nietzsche's great.

Great club. You know, I really wish I could put my toe in Buffalo right now, but I'm just a little bit nervous about going over that border. Is it nervous or on principle you won't do it? Well, it's principal too. But at the same time, I'm like, well, it's Buffalo. It's just over there. Does it count?

Is it kind of like... It counts. Can I tell you it counts? That is enemy territory. Yeah, I understand. I know. I won't go, but it's one of those places that I kind of love and it's so close to home. And they listen to you on CF&Y.

And they were so supportive. We always had fun at Nietzsche's. I get it. You know. I get it. But hopefully one day, you know, you can go to Buffalo with pride because they've fixed things down there. I hope so. This is getting ridiculous.

Yeah. It's way over the top. I can't even believe it's happening. But that's the thing. They're allowing it to happen. And you're like, how are they allowing this to continue and to happen? And there seems to be no all these. Like, I grew up, I studied history at U of T.

and we were learning so much about checks and balances, okay? Oh, the system, the checks and balances, so you can't have some president become a dictator or whatever. Well, these checks and balances are failing before our very eyes, Laura. I'm just flabbergasted it, the whole thing. Flabbergasted, and I can tell you. Well, it's actually, it was the one mildly awkward moment with the two guys from Sloan is I played a clip of Andrew Scott on this very program.

Andrew Scott's the drummer, and he told me, I am not stepping foot in the United States during this administration while this administration is in power and, you know, that is one of those things where the band is kind of popular in Buffalo and they would love to play gigs and make money. They make their money off the band.

That's right. So the band can't, well, the band can, but they wouldn't, I don't think, tour without all four members and one member is refusing to cross the border. So it is part of the band dynamics. It's all very interesting here. Okay. So that was Saber Scott.

remembering Nietzsche's in Buffalo. James Edgar. I like James Edgar. Did you know Rush is having a tour? I just saw they got this new fabulous woman drummer. Some people are outraged. Some of the men are not happy. How dare they?

Anika is her name? Anika, yeah. And apparently she's played with Jeff Beck and all kinds of... Yeah. I think it's cool because I love Rush. That was the first real concerts I ever went to at Maple Leaf Gardens. I remember coming home and my shirt, my clothes, my hair all stank of pot

and, and this was like in the 70s. Yeah, you're going way back. Yeah, I'm going way back. Sure, well, you know, no clue. It was their album, 2112. Was subdivisions on that record? You know, I'd get confused with my rush stuff. Is subdivisions on that?

I don't remember that one. Okay. Well, James Edgar is a big rush head. So hello to James. He says, I met the Leslie Spit trio at a car rental at Parliament and King one time. This is his memories. This makes sense. This is very Toronto.

Yeah. I met Lesley Spit Trio at Parliament and King at a parental. Very cool to talk to them. I had just seen them at the horseshoe a couple of weeks before. I still have them on my playlists. So hello to James Edgar.

Hi, James. Hello to James Edgar. Oh, James Edgar. And did we ever, did we talk for Mike from K-dub? Yeah, okay. Did we ever talk about you playing St. Catharines? Oh, you had no memory, right, of a tag. Yeah, we, yeah, St. Catharines was one of those funny towns where you,

I remember going to do a radio station. Hits is there, hits 97-7. Yeah, yeah, and that was kind of fun. I think they had an underground, talked about the Underground Railroad coming up from the States. Yeah, so there were some cool moments there. Well, that's the White House of Rock. Yeah, yeah. Paulie Morris.

built a key figure there whose daughter is now covering provincial politics for CTV Chauvin Morris. Oh, okay, look at full of fun facts. You've got to hang around me more often, Laura. We're going to be best friends. I know where you live now. That's true. You could be at my side door every day. So Langer

shout out to Mr. 20 for 20. He'll be at TMLX 21 on November 29th at noon. That's the last Saturday of November. Laura, this is where listeners can just show up at Palma's Kitchen. I do a lot of recording. I feed everybody with delicious Palma pasta food. I bring cold beer from Great Lakes Brewery.

Again, November 29 at noon. Just come to the second floor. It is Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga. Langer will be there to go 21 for 21. Langer goes, I loved the album, Book of Rejection. Let me play the song actually

before I read the rest of this. Let me do this. It's a bit of a potato recording. I couldn't find a pristine recording on YouTube, but this is the video so it's a little bit fuzzy I can walk alone I don't need someone I can own I've got things to do

I don't need any hair from you In your eyes I don't look tired In your eyes I like how I see In your eyes I am inspired

In your eyes It feels just fine Langer writes In Your Eyes is a masterpiece Peace. Get that on a t-shirt. Sweet. Another great song from that album is She's a Slut, which I was listening to earlier today.

Was she's a slut written about anyone in particular, Laura? No, I think it was because oftentimes you would be, okay, I was out in the East Coast. We were in, I think we were in, it was New Brunswick, and they can be a testy bunch out there. Really? Yeah. I thought they were all sweethearts out there. No, I think we were a little bit. to rock and roll for this crowd.

Really? And this guy kept screaming. You're a slut. That's your rock and rolliest song, I think. So I was like, okay. So that's where that came from. Okay, because she's a slut is like your heart. I don't know if it's your hardest song,

but it sounds harder than the other stuff. Yeah, it's angry. Yeah. I love it. Okay. So Book of Rejection, this is In Your Eyes. By some accounts, in your eyes is like your biggest song. song. Well, they did play that on much, quite a bit, much music. The videos seem, we shot that in

Martha Hamilton there in Dundas, Ontario. They have fabulous waterfalls up that way. Yeah, it's the city of waterfalls. I've done like trips to the... So Webster's Falls, we shot that Webster's Falls. So it was a beautiful, beautiful day. You can do with the Gorge there, not Gorge, what is it called again? What's that series, God, what Sarah Harmer would remind me? but escarpment, escarping, you know what, the gorge? What the fuck am I talking about? The escarpment, you can do wonderful walking tours and encounter so many gorgeous waterfalls.

No, it's extraordinary, isn't it? Everybody's got to do it. Okay, so I do have a question about In Your Eyes, which was a top 20 hit in this country in the fall of 1992. Isn't that something else? I think it's technically your biggest hit. Yeah. Let's go with that, okay?

There you go. Who's on guitar? Any special guest? Oh, Jesus, where's the record? Let me look and see who was playing. Any chance FOTM Randy Backman is on guitar. Oh, yeah, that's right. Randy was doing...

Come on, I'm setting you up here, Laura. What's wrong with you? Randy did play some, uh, some on, oh, that was another... Didn't we rehearse this? No. Yeah, I do remember Randy coming down the hill. Well, like, what do you remember about Randy? Randy is full of great stories.

We were, we were recording in this old house, sort of north of Barry. and it was there's nothing north of Barry there was something okay it's all coming back to low I'm gonna get play by play I remember I remember him coming down the hill because it was like it was very steep

hell and he had to walk up and park the car and it was there's a few moments here I'm like oh my God please don't please don't fall that's fucking Randy backman American woman yeah BTO that's

that's Canadian rock royalty I know yeah okay he just dropped in for a couple of licks you know but like how did that come to be oh that's probably

part of the record company okay okay so so here's I need to get real with you here okay so am I right that you had a seven

album recording contract no it was five no it was five and we lasted for two right so like why I need some answers

as to why only the two albums when there was a five album recording contract. Because that's the record business. I don't know what you've heard, but you can have a five record deal and, you know, make one. You know what I mean?

Like there's no... Can you be more specific? Because I'm learning from people like you because I can't carry a tune. Well, you know, what happens is then the A&R guy says, well, we need this and we don't like that, this and that,

and the other thing. You know, Everyone's got their nose in it, sort of ruins it. You lose creative control. Yeah, and then we don't like that. We like this.

They wanted to make me the focus, and I didn't want to be the focus, and, you know, it was the three-part harmony thing, and now it's becoming, you know, they would say,

look, we don't even want the band, we just want you. And I'm like, well, no, I'm not going to be doing that. Yeah. So there was that kind of crap. Well,

I can see a record label wanting, like, a front person that can, You know, like, you know, I don't know what to compare it to Chris Eind and the Pretenders or whatever. Like somebody up front who gets the focus. Yeah. Well, this is, I hate, I think this is. Well, that's what they would do in the video.

It's like they would like focus on me and then, you know, and then once we, you know, once we didn't have a record deal anymore, we just went haywire and did whatever we wanted. Well, let's catch up. Now is a good time to check in on Pat Langner and Jack Nicholson. Okay. So these two, these are like actor, aspiring actors. Am I right? But Jack was more of a, no, Jack was an actor. He still is, to this day.

He still does a lot of shows out and Blythe. And he has his own band. He sings, I think he's got a Hank Williams show. He does a Hank Williams show. He's a very good country singer. So he's got his own stuff going on, right? But after the release of Book of Rejection. Yeah, he went, okay, that's it.

I don't want to do this anymore. I want to go back to acting. He's going to focus on his acting career. Yeah, exactly. You can go to IMDB.com. And he's got a lengthy list of credits. See what he was focusing on here. So that makes it, what, the core of this band is now you and Pat.

Is that right? That's right. And that's no trio. That ain't no trio. Unless we count tag. Yeah. Well, tag was there. Tag was there.

Okay. So now that you guys think we got to change our name, because we're not a trio, and we're being dishonest to our listenership by saying we're a Leslie Spit trio when there's two of us. That's like when Martha and the muffins, Mark Gain told me in this very basement,

he was tired of being a muffin, and they decided they'd be M&M. Okay. But nobody wants M&M. They want the brand that they know and love. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So the Spits were born.

Yeah, enjoy that. You know what? you know what let's pause here drink some beer and let me shout out a couple of partners and then we'll really just we'll talk about you know the demise of the band and what happens next uh and we'll kind of i got a question for you about chocolate chip cookies by the way i want to just go on the record and say give me like a tall glass of milk and chocolate chip cookies and i'm a very happy man that might be one of my favorite treats i think that's very civilized chocolate chip cookies for the win here so let me play this is something that Rob Pruss, who has already been mentioned, Burlington's Own. He put this together. Building Toronto Skyline. It's a podcast and book from Nick Iini, sponsored by Fusion Corps Construction Management. So Nick Iienies, he's got a great podcast called Building Toronto Skyline.

And that's where I find out that the condominium market in this city is frozen. He's always giving updates and talking to people in the know and everything. And it's completely frozen. The big news that I was sharing on Toronto Mike.com this morning is that, the Cloverdale Mall, which has been earmarked to be demolished for a condominium development. For years, you know, people have been moving out and getting ready because, okay, Cloverdale Mall is going to be shout out to Ridley funeral home.

We're going to, I think they were calling it the Clove. And it was announced this past weekend that they are not moving forward with the condominium market because they sold like less than 10% of those units. It's all over the city. Yeah, I know. All these, so what's happening here in 2025, And you know this, Laura, because you're in Toronto, is all these condo developments we've been hearing about

and that have been proposed, they're all paused or being canceled. Yeah. Good. That's enough for that. So long live the Cloverdale Mall is what you're telling me. Well, let me tell you, they used to have some, I used to go there, like, when they had the flea markets in there,

didn't they have one of the best flea markets on a Sunday? It had it outside, inside. I'm pretty sure it was out this way. You got a couple years on me. I talked to Bill Breyo once on this very program about the outside Cloverdale Mall and then they made it all inside. Like it was outside

and then there was open air and now it's inside. But they do have a great music store in there called Sunrise. And the guy who manages that is a beloved FOTM. So hello to Robert Lawson. You can see him at the...

Robert Lawson. Show them out. Sunrise. I want you. You can do a signing session for Leslie Spitrio at the Sunrise. They even have a copy. Oh, my goodness. Who owns these masters? We do. One thing we did not let go of was our master,

like all our songwriting is we capped. So tell me, I'm looking in your eyes, Laura, your beautiful eye. Why was it so hard for me to find a decent version of In Your Eyes on YouTube, for example? I don't know. Don't ask me. Well, you own the masters. The buck stops here.

Well, I guess, uh, hmm. Like, who is that? Do I need to talk to Pat about this? Well, he's probably got all that. He probably, you know, when he took off to Alberta, he might have packed a big giant suitcase full of it. And he went to Alberta because it was, what, less expensive to live there? Oh, well, well, you know, then he meets a girl.

Oh, that's always trouble. Then they have kids. Then they get married. Then they got to go and be responsible. Well, my wife's brother bought a big home. He's got a few kids, and he bought a big home for like $320,000. And I can't, like, I don't think I could build a garage here for $320,000. No, you can't.

So I can understand why families, well, yeah, maybe now because they're not, no condo developments. So it's all garage development now. But, so shout out to Nick Aienis, and then I want to let you know, Laura. Recyclemyelectronics.ca.c.a.c.c.commyelectronics.ca is where you go if you have old electronics, old cables, old devices. You don't throw that in the garbage because then those chemicals end up in our landfill. Oh, yeah, don't do that.

Don't do that. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and find out where to drop it off to be properly recycled. And that's good for Mother Earth. It's good for everybody. And the latest sponsor, I just want to shout out, Blue Sky Agency. They forged partnerships with established office furniture brands like Ceylon or green furniture concept or Rooliard. Doug Mills is the man's name. He's eager to chat with any and all Toronto mic listeners

who are looking for dynamic and creative work environments. Write them now, Doug, at blue skyagency.ca.ca. Let him know you're an FOTM and engage him. Dynamic and creative work environments. Okay, so we have now a duo going by the name the Spitz, right? Mm-hmm. and you put out Hell's Kitchen independently. That's right.

I'm getting all my facts right here. But nobody wants anything from the Spits. They're like, give me some Leslie Spitt Trio. So you've got to go back to the original name. Do I have any of that right? I'm not sure. I don't think we ever called ourselves a Spit Trio again. No?

No. I think it ended up being just... Oh, you know what? I think what happened was you re-released Hell's Kiel's kitchen as Leslie Spittrio. Okay, maybe. I think that's what you did here. Okay, so we're going to talk chocolate chip cookies right now.

We got a shout out, Dance Me Outside, though, because you were so, so good. When you were in the first film, you had to return in McDonald, got you in the next film. So you were in Roadkill, and now you are in the new movie, right? Yeah. Okay, getting all this right here. Okay. 1996 Chocolate chip cookies

Okay Can you tell us a little bit about I don't know if this is a time for Lauren Honickman to enter the fray Because of the legal troubles But your packaging for chocolate chip cookies Resembled Chips Ahoy, right? Yeah, well, that was the thing

Okay, so my brother has the cancer So I made him all these cookies So that's why it became made with TLC and THC You know, that's kind of Anyway, and then They got all mad And this and that You see all these things

Every Every kind of Advertising has been Usurped and mutated Now, but in those days They were a very litigious Nabisco They didn't like the fact

That your packaging Looked like a chips-ahoy packaging Yeah, it was just with a little red Triangle thing It was hardly a, you know Come on, Nabisco They got the bra on and off That's what they did.

today because we'd all rise up on social media and shame Nabisco and they wouldn't even try. Anyways. So what did you do when you got this threat in the lawsuit? Well then we had to cease and desist and then we had a little fire burning ceremony in high park.

Like literally you burned all the packaging in a bonfire in high park. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's very cool. There's your proof. And then you have to put it out in a regular old boring jewel case. Yeah, exactly. Okay. And this is the last Leslie Spit Trio album. Chocolate chip

cookies. Let me just go to a quick question here and then we'll wrap this up and talk about the solo work here. But let me go back to my questions, Laura. Um, bum, bum. Okay, so M wants to know what is the real identity of the slimy agent who

was lampooned on their CD chocolate chip cookies? Let's let's hear hear it, Laura. No, they're just a general. That's a general slimy agent, perhaps. Somebody got to you.

Yeah. M, by the way, says, I absolutely love this band, but then M is nice enough to add, keep doing what you do, Mike. So he loves you. And he loves you. Good.

Well, this is fun. I like this person, M, whoever M may be. Yay M. Yay to M here. Okay. So talk to me about tag, if you don't mind.

like when did we lose tag do you remember 2000 maybe yeah so that's another answer for Langner but he he lasted quite a long time we lived at the Cameron House yeah he got a lot of

tumors in his body he just you know he didn't want to die you know dogs I don't know if you're familiar if you've ever had a dog but they they love you so much they don't want to die so just hang around and So his hips went, you know, big dog, Mick's dog, you know, hips went. He would just drag his ass about until finally it was time.

Put him out of his misery. Well, you loved TAG so much. You did the right thing there as difficult as it was. Maybe TAG didn't want to go, but you know what's best for TAG. That's right. And is there any correlation between the band breaking up and TAG dying? Like was there any sense of, like, we don't want to do this about TAG? No, not so much.

Because when we make the biopic, because I'm going to try to get a biopic, there's going to be a scene, okay, where tag passes away, and you guys look at each other, you know, and you realize, we can't do this without tag, and the band breaks up.

Yeah. That's funny. All right, and now that's 96, so the band, the band does break up, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, we do you know our own way.

Everybody go, You know, Pat had to deal with a pregnancy and a marriage. And I'm like, I remember I was like halfway doing this little tour. And I said, that's it. I'm done with this. I can't do this anymore. But you pivot, right? Like you decide I'm going to become a fixture on the Toronto jazz scene.

Yeah, well, then I, you know, I always played Grossman's back in the olden days. I used to actually just hang out there because I lived in the market. So then I was talking to Christine and Tony, and I went like, they go, look at Michael Keith is not, no longer doing Monday nights. Do you want to pick it up? And I said, great. And then I called my piano player friend that I hadn't talked to for many a years because we were rehearsing these old songs from like back in the late 70s, early 80s. I said, hey, I got a Monday night slot. You want to start getting out of the basement?

coming and hauling that keyboard out and doing some tunes and that's how that started and we're still playing together today that's quite a long time A little Laura Well, that could be the name of an album A Little Laura

Write it down Okay, I recorded it. Cool, baby Hi-Fi's morning, sweet and low Cool, baby Warm because I love you so Cool, baby Take that mellow, soft guitar

It's saying Move up closer, you're too far I'm so glad we left the party so glad we're all alone The only time we've ever talked like this before us over the telephone Oh, baby Love that fire in your kiss

Please tell me We can spend another night like this Cool baby Is this song about me, Laura? You can tell me now. Cool baby. It's for all of you. You're all cool babies to me.

Ooh, cool, cool, cool vibes. So this is from my girlish ways, I believe. So my girlish waves, 2001, live at the Rex, 2002, half bridle, 2004. 2004, fun fact, 21 years ago. Oh, my God. What's going on? long, Laura.

You're performing live. Approximately how many nights a week can we see you perform live? No, no, no, no. Like, I do, um, like, no, I'm like, I like my matinees. The odd Grossman's gig. I do every other month

at the Rex on a Sunday 5 to 7, 3 piece, chill, get in, get out. You know, very rarely do I get like a job. I just did the Kensington Jaws fast. That was with John Alcorn and his three-piece band. Yeah, sort of slowing down.

I don't go racing around. You know how hard it is to tour and put anything out together and take it on the road and get grants and all this nonsense. Oh, so I hear. So I hear. It sounds like a nightmare. Now, would you still play, of course, Leslie Spitt Trio songs? Occasionally. People must demand Angel from...

Oh, yeah, but I still. sing that so that's that song's never going to go away that song sings itself when john prine passed away he died of covid i know sad i would think possibly uh many people discovered that song for the first time maybe at least john prine's version i feel like that's a song like that's a songwriter's song that's such a gorgeous beautiful song you made it work you mentioned uh who's the let's give him some the talk about who is the uh bonnie ronnie brady of course bonnie ray of course Bonnie Ray. Does she dye that

white piece of her hair? I think she comes by that, honestly. I'm sure her hair is white, and then she probably dies the red vets. You know. Hey, I want to know what's going on there. No, no. She can do whatever she want because she's Bonnie Raid. She can do whatever she wants. Absolutely here.

But I would think there's a rediscovery of John Prine's work since he passed away that typically happens here. So you're content. We can still, like you mentioned where we can still see you. Is there any possibility at any point of a reunion for Leslie Spitrio? Well, you never, you can't say never,

but, you know, for the conditions to prevail and for the cost and the, because they'd be like, you got to come to Toronto, I got to go to, you know, they've got to do some rehearsing. Okay, so one's in Edmonton, one's in Toronto. Where's the third member? Jack, he's around, but he's mostly, he's acting. He's busy.

He's, he's, filming, like, Murdoch Mysteries or what's... You know, he's totally, he's actually probably on set right now. He's got, that Murdoch Mysteries hires a lot of my friends, let me tell you. I do a show for a guy,

and it seems like every guest has been on Murdoch, man. And I want to get on that, too. Joel Greenberg, he was known for theater productions, but he talks to these, these people, these Canadian theater people, all get a spot on, uh, I know, I'm an actor member.

I, you know, I can put on... You haven't been on Murdoch Mysteries yet? I don't have it. I want to wear one of those, like, old hats and with the gloves and then just walk by whispering to my friend. What if, Laura? I don't need to be like a major role, but I could. You know, the other one is Hudson and Rex. Oh, my God, the East Coasters.

That's on 27 hours a day. The controversy is, so the dog died. Yeah, the dog died. This is a new dog. But, not that he died, but the Hudson, he got. cancer for a little while. He went on way to treat his cancer, and they replaced him, and when he was healthy enough to return,

they said, it's okay, we've replaced you. Really? I wrote about it on Toronto Mike.com. So there's a new Rex. Scandal. And there's a new Hudson. I have not seen this new version. I just see it on repeat,

you know, in the middle of the night. It's quite controversial. Some American fanatic took out a full-page ad in the Toronto Star to ask some big questions about this. And then it was revealed that that, ad cost her $25,000 Canadian dollars. Like somebody spent $25,000 to bring some awareness to the fact we have a new Hudson. Wild.

I had no clue. I thought he would be back. I thought he would bring away back. He wanted to come back. He's healthy enough to come back. And they said, your services are no longer required. You wish you were on your future endeavors. It's a brutal, brutal world, isn't it?

There's no empathy anymore. It's just like, oh, sorry, let's just. That's done with that young man So I'm going to pitch something to you Laura on our way out And again, thank you so much for doing this Was it, was it okay for you? Oh yeah, I've had a great time

Good It's not as painful as I thought it would be No, this is a, don't worry Pat's going to be getting the painful episode Okay, good He'll love it, he'll love it, he'll crave it If this episode Is a huge hit

And I know it will be And everybody starts having that nostalgic panging for I want to go back to the 80s and 90s. I want to go back to a time where I can see Leslie Spit Trio at the horseshoe, whatever. Maybe it's a one-off. We've got to get some guy in from Edmonton, of course. But we should have a Leslie Spit Trio reunion at the Horseshoe Tavern. Okay, well, I'm not going to argue with that.

You throw it together there, darling. All right, I'll talk to Elliot Lefko and see what we can do. Elliot, he rocks. He put the, yeah, he's the guy for the job. I'm going to talk to Elliot. He could do it. And that brings us to the end of our 1,775th show. That's a round number, Laura, 1775.

Bring it on. Go to tronelomike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. And hey, go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. Become a member now because I'm posting there and I want more members. How about it? Check it out. Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery.

Laura's got her fresh craft beer. Yes, thank you. Palma Pasta. I have a lasagna for you. We've got to figure out how you can carry it home. Nick Aini's. He's back, baby. He's got a couple of great podcasts you should listen to.

Recycle MyElectronics.ca. Blue Sky Agency and, of course, Ridley Funeral Home. Brad Jones has an excellent podcast called Life's Undertaking. Subscribe, enjoy. See you all Wednesday. when, and I'm going to my calendar right now, Laura, to tell the universe that on Wednesday's Toronto mic program, it is the debut, see how I'm vamping while it loads up,

the debut of Rudy Blair. Rudy Blair was a long time 680 News Entertainment Reporter. He's going to be in the basement. Can't wait for that. That should be fun. Yeah, you want to come back and co-hose. See you all. I'll hear some spoons right now.

There we go. See you all then.