Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Liz Braun: Toronto Mike'd #1239

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

In this 1239th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with journalist Liz Braun as she leaves The Toronto Sun / Postmedia after 34 years of service. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1239 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. 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. Season four of Yes, We Are Open,

the award-winning podcast from Moneris. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Moment Lab. Brand marketing and strategy, PR, advertising, and

production. You need The Moment Lab. And a place Liz Braun won't need for several more decades. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Returning to Toronto, Mike, after a lengthy run at the Toronto Sun. We're going to talk all about it. Welcome back, Liz Braun.

Thank you, sir. Sir? Okay, get out of my basement here. Who told you you could call me sir? You know something, Mike? You have just reminded me that during the pandemic, Ridley Funeral Home were wonderful. They gave me lots of interviews, and they said, here's how we do it. Brad Jones.

He's the owner and the, you know, what do you call it, the funeral director there, and he's a sweetheart. Yeah, and I had questions, and the public had questions, and he was very helpful. What did you learn? I can imagine. Were you, what were you curious about?

How do you have funerals when you're not allowed to be within six feet of anybody? You couldn't have any, and how did they get their PPE? Because obviously handling, you know, bodies with, well,

anyway, they were wonderful. Closed circuit TV and a bunch of stuff that was done. Glad to hear it, Liz. Listen, I will tell you, because now you have some time on your hands, you can listen to Brad Jones' excellent podcast, Life's Undertaking. He's got his own podcast.

That sounds cool. Brad from Ridley Funeral Home. And he's got a co-host that you know and love. Toronto Mike is the co-host of that program. Holy cow, I walked right into that. Listen, thank you for not walking right into my low ceiling. That's always my worry. You know, I can see Brian Linehan's picture over your shoulder. What's going on here? So I did an episode with The Watchman. Do you, entertainment

reporter extraordinaire, know The Watchman? I only know of The Watchman because that's how everybody got to know about Black Wall Street. A chapter of American history that was vanished. And then it was part of that series, I guess. Okay, multiple Watchmen of course, but this is a different Watchmen.

What do I know? What do you know? That's the OG Watchmen. But this is a Winnipeg band that had a bunch of big hits in this country in the 1990s, and they came over. And you're telling me they know nothing about Oklahoma? Who the hell do you get on this show? Well, I never said they didn't.

I did not know about them, sorry. Danny Graves is an Oklahoma expert, but they gave me this. I'm reading it. Dear Toronto Mike, thanks for all the support over the years. Brian Linehan would be proud of you. So they gave me that as a gift. So yeah, like, remind me of your relationship with Brian. How well did you know Brian Linehan would be proud of you. So they gave me that as a gift. So yeah, like I, like remind me of your relationship with Brian.

How well did you know Brian Linehan? Well, he was in the Toronto Sun newsroom for a while. He worked in the entertainment department with us when we were still working with George Anthony and Kathy Brooks as our two main editors. I mean, that was the absolute heyday of the whole thing. Of the little paper that grew. Well, also of print journalism. And you know

Linehan. He was a fast hand with a martini and great gossip. He was a lot of fun. Always, always. Well, you're here to give us the scoop. I did meet him, but it was a very brief meeting in a public park near Runnymede station. So like near

Runnymede and Bloor. And it was more of like a, hi, Brian Linehan, like I watch your show kind of deal. But you who knew the man, like give us a little bit more here. Let's open with a little Brian Linehan. So like if he were on Toronto Mic'd, what would I learn about Brian? That he had absolutely beautiful manners and lots of close friends in high places. I know. He wrote thank you notes and beautiful thank you notes indeed.

And he was a terrific dinner guest and dinner host. I don't know. He was much more sensitive and introspective than I guess his public image would lead people to think. Okay. What do you think Brian Linehan would think about what I'm doing here, Toronto Mike? This is the second deep dive

of Liz Braun. What would be his thoughts on this podcast? On your podcast? Yeah. He would love this. Would he love this? Oh yeah. He was very interested in Toronto. He was a Hamilton boy and came here and made it big. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Is that

true? I don't know. We should write a song about that. Okay. So this is not your first visit to the TMDS basement. Remind me, before I tell people about your first visit, they can go there for kind of like the A to Z on the career of Liz Braun. What don't you like about our photo from last time? I saw on Twitter that you don't like our photo. My melted face. Nothing. I mean, it's an unfortunately accurate reflection of what I look like now. You don't like how you look now?

Well, no, it's a weird photo, I think. I think my face looks melty, like at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Oh, no. I was just teasing you, Mike. I was just kidding. Okay, but when we do here, by the way, now, I mentioned before I started recording, Peter Groves had texted me something. He's phoning me now.

I just want to tell Peter, come on, I'm talking to Liz Braun. I'll call you later. But he's like one of my most frequent, you know, phone callers, like actual phone calls. Although I got a phone call from you today, which was exciting. But Peter likes to phone on the reg and I'll have to call him back. Interesting. So you visited last June and here's what i wrote at the time in this 1070th episode of toronto mic by the way liz did you get a tattoo or 1070 did you get that number tattooed on your body i did i did it's

just where is it well the usual tramp stamp goes but i left a little space hoping you'd invite me back oh good for the second yeah smart smart. Mike chats of Liz Braun from the Toronto Sun about working for Bernie Finkelstein, working in PR. Yeah, that's way back. And I'm going to touch on that in a minute, actually, because I want to ask you about somebody. I want to tell you a story about somebody you know and love.

It'll come soon. Moving to the Toronto Sun in 1985 and her Sun colleagues through the years we also talk about her recent coverage of the allegations against john derringer and the chorus investigation we chatted for 90 minutes so we did that and what's the big news i got so many notes here liz but what is the big news in your life that happened since that visit to this basement last June. What's new in your professional life? Oh, well, I'm allegedly retired, but that's not really true.

I'm sort of retired. The Toronto Sun, all newspapers are in the same boat right now, which is things are not great for print. The transition to digital is underway and and you know, it's tough. So there was an opportunity. They needed people to volunteer to go away. And I said, okay, pick me. So if I understand correctly, and I had a brief chat with Steve Buffery about this. Oh, okay. By the way, when I was at Steve Buffery's retirement party, I was looking for Liz Braun,

but I don't think they invited anyone outside of the sports department. Here are the hazards of not looking at Facebook. If I had been paying attention, I'm assuming it would have been okay for me to be there because I adore Steve Buffery. I don't know him very well, but he always makes me laugh like a fool. He's so funny.

But it sounds, again, I'm an outsider. I'm going to tell you what I think happened, and you'll say true or false because you're here to set the record straight. But they needed to reduce reduce payroll i'm thinking so they offer up these like this package deal like you and i don't know the numbers obviously but for this if you opt in at this time we'll give you x dollars per year of service to go away oh yes they give you money to leave right oh yeah so they just basically put out a call saying,

hey, if you want to take advantage of this retirement package, we're offering X per year and put up your hand and you can disappear with some cash. That's right. And there are certain people, some are in the union, some are not in the union. You know, the pay grades are different. But I think they got, it was a strange transition because buffering is huge in the union you know the pay grades are different but i think they got it says it was

a strange transition because buffery is huge in the sports world and he said yes and uh you know rita demontis took a package i heard yeah and she of course that's who knows where all the bodies are buried that woman has stories you will weep with laughter can you introduce me to her so i can get her in this basement hilarious okay i'm. Okay, I'm going to put her on Toronto Mike, and we're going to find out where these bodies are buried. Oh, no, she really, she witnessed the absolute heyday of print, plus the craziness of the department that she was in. So you took advantage of this package,

so you got some money to go away, so you no longer write for Post Media, which includes the Toronto Sun and I guess the National Post and some other papers, I guess. Yeah, it's weird. It's a weird feeling. I've been typing for a long time. Yeah.

So how many years of service are we talking? Is it 34? 37. 37. See, I've been underselling you all this time. Okay. Isn't that weird? So, and how long have you been, like, when was your last?

April 1st. It was the end. April Fool's Day. And we're only april 17 right now yeah what took you so long to get back over here i had to do my taxes my god i would have been here april 2nd april 2nd because you just uh you know i want to hear all the goods now that you couldn't tell me back in june but here let me pump your tires first i'm gonna warm you up liz this is how it works this is uh from the uh brian linehan uh playbook okay i gotta warm you up. Liz, this is how it works. This is from the Brian Linehan playbook. Okay, I gotta warm you up,

compliment you, and then you'll tell me everything. Okay, you ready? Okay. Don't be scared. This is good stuff. I'm not scared. I, you know, I wasn't paying attention, but go on. Beth Vanstone. Do you know the name Beth Vanstone? Yes, I do. Okay, who

is Beth? She's Maddie Vanstone's mom. So, I got a public She's Maddie Vanstone's mom. So I got a public note, then I got a private note. This is how much Beth wanted me. So here's a public note. This was for anyone on Twitter could have seen this. Twitter's a whole other shit show we'll talk about later. Yeah, no kidding.

We love you. And it's not me Beth is talking about because I'd like to think she's talking about Toronto Mike, but this is all Liz Braun here. We love you so much. So much talent. So much heart. Thank you from all of the CF community for being our champion.

So many living their best lives now and we credit you for continuing to raise our voices. I could cry reading that. Well, she's a wonderful, I shouldn't say she's only Maddie's mother. That woman is a warrior.

And she went up against anyone you can think of, a politician, the people who control rare drug diseases, rare, what is it I'm trying to say? The people who control the medication that her child and thousands of other kids with cystic fibrosis need to stay alive. And yeah, she's an amazing person. So that was her public note, and she sent me a private note.

Are you ready? You want the box of Kleenex? I have it over here if you need it. No, it's okay. She knows I love her, so. Liz was a champion for the cystic fibrosis community. She gave our community a platform for years as we advocated for access to life-saving treatments for patients in Canada.

Please give her a huge hug. So this is why I'll be hugging you hugely after this recording. Okay. It's because it's for Beth here, but please give her a huge hug from Maddie and I. We thank the world of Liz, just one of the many times she showed up for us. Well, you know, in fairness, that's incredibly kind, but the truth is it's all Beth who patiently educated me on the entire scenario, which is extremely complicated. And that's why most Canadians don't really get

it. They say, you know, if you've got healthy children, you say to yourself, all those poor people, that's really sad. And then you move on to the next thing. But what they faced was extraordinary. The worst kind of bureaucracy, the worst kind of bottlenecking and nonsense and, and fake, a lot of fake news. People were told that these drugs cost a certain amount. That's not entirely true. Yeah, give us a bit of this. Obviously, people can, you know, Google this and find out the story, but here I have Liz Braun in my basement right now. Give it to me straight. What's going on here? None of this was, I didn't know anything about this world. I'd had my head, you know, let's not, in a dark place in the movie

theater, writing about nonsense. That's not true. Writing about film was wonderful, but I didn't live in the real world for a long time. You were an entertainment reporter. I was. Okay, we're going to get to that later. So then there was a period when they ended the entertainment section and I moved into news.

I was clueless and I did not know anything about this. And thanks to Beth Vanstone and a lawyer named Chris McLeod, who has cystic fibrosis. They educated me. And I just, you know, I've got children. And I said many times to Beth, I'm amazed you haven't killed anybody yet. That was my take on what she's done. She's moved mountains. So Beth is the true champion for the cystic fibrosis community.

She is a tremendous champion. And her daughter, Maddie Vanstone, who is bright and beautiful, that kid went toe-to-toe with Kathleen Wynne when she was aged, I think, 11, and shamed Kathleen Wynne into approving one Vertex drug. Wow. Yeah.

Saved all kinds of other children. That's beautiful, because I also have children, and I'm blessed that that i we're not they're not afflicted with something like this but i can always like transpose like whatever i think of what somebody somebody is afflicted with or going through or what challenges somebody has i can always imagine that was my child and that's how i look at everything it's like and i i'm like just so pleased to hear maddie you knowdie went to bat for cystic fibrosis and that there seems to be some,

it sounds like there's some progress on this front. I want to end this in some positive note. There's a lot of progress. Vertex is the manufacturer of the involved drugs. These are gene-modulating drugs. They don't make the child feel better or fix the symptoms. They actually alter the gene that needs altering and that differences night and day.

Okay, good. Yeah, it's been a big success. They finally got, I can't remember the name of the last drug, but the third trikafta. They finally got that accepted and paid for in Canada. See, you were doing entertainment reporting for decades, and now you're doing this hard-hitting journalism that's affecting families directly.

Well, I don't know about that, but it was a scary transition. And of course, it was only very recently I realized that when they altered our jobs, it was a form of constructive dismissal, and I was too stupid to know. Oh, yeah. I didn't know you were supposed to say, wait just a damn minute, I'm not doing that. I thought, oh yeah, okay, I'll do that.

You just figured, I'm getting my paycheck, I'll do what you want? Yes, that's how thick I am. But that was the point when Bruce Kirkland and Jim Slotek and Steve Tilly and all the rest of the entertainment writers who could actually get the picture took severance and found other things to do.

So why did you finally accept one of these severance packages that were offered to you? Like what made you raise your hand? The politics at the Sun became a problem. And in fairness, I have to say, the paper has always been quite right, quite right of center. They've been criticized for that throughout and always took that standing up. So they didn't really change their stance.

What changed was the right-wing politicians, the Conservative Party in this country has gone mad. So let me just connect some dots here. So you, and part of this will involve your personal politics, if you will, like your personal beliefs in this regard. But I do follow you on Twitter. So I get a daily dose of what Liz Braun is passionate about and what her thoughts are on many of these subjects matter.

And in my humble opinion, your personal politics are the polar opposite of the politics I would associate with the Toronto Sun newspaper. They are, and I was certainly referred to as the communist inside the paper. For the first 30-odd years of working there, we paid no attention. The entertainment department, you couldn't find more liberal souls than George Anthony and Kathy Brooks, more generous or, you know.

So we just didn't pay any attention. And people say, oh, you've got girls on page three, scantily dressed. And we were like, yeah, who cares? I don't know. I can't explain it. Inside was very different from what else was going on. And then all of a sudden, yeah,

I had to embrace that whole political side of it and that was problematic because the stories were meant to be written in a you know with a certain bent i think that's fair without a doubt and i do know i think canada land i think had the story but there were memos leaked like we we saw memos that were this is during the first run uh when when doug ford was running for premier the first time there and uh these memos that were, this is during the first run when Doug Ford was running for premier the first time there. And these memos, in a nutshell, were basically like saying the quiet part out loud, which is basically like, we want the Progressive Conservative Party to be the government in this province. Like it was essentially our editorial slant is to promote that possibility.

I don't think that was a secret. I mean, that wasn't a secret, but we hadn't seen, no, it wasn't a secret. We all knew it, but seeing the leaked memos,

it's sort of like almost like a, Oh, like edification maybe. But the first time the prime minister, the first time Mr. Trudeau won an election, I wasn't at the time paul godfrey had to defend the stance of his chain i believe and it was all above board he said that you know people

said oh you can't do that and he said yes i can but anyway this the secretive side of it i don't know that much about but you managed again for decades almost what for about 30 years you managed to do your thing in the entertainment section and have your personal politics without any conflict with the actual political slant of the Toronto Sun. We were completely isolated from the news side. There are people who've worked there whom I've looked at and said good morning to some for 20 and 25 years,

and I actually don't know who they are. And I don't think they know who I am. Not anymore, because we've been home for three years with the pandemic. But yeah, the entertainment department, they called us the toy department and other mean names. It's true. It was a very, it was isolated. Well, you know, I speak to many a Toronto Suns sports journalist and we always joke

that that's the toy department. So I guess there's multiple toy departments in a newspaper. But unlike the sports department, they literally at some point, they literally got rid of the entertainment section, like your section that you had to help fill doesn't exist anymore, right?

Well, it sort of does. It's a one-man band though. It's Mark Daniel runs that section. Okay. Excuse me. No, that's okay. If you want me, by the way, if you ever need me, I can run up and get you It's a one-man band, though. It's Mark Daniel runs that section. Okay. Okay. Because what I did. Excuse me. No, that's okay.

If you want me, by the way, if you ever need me to go, I can run up and get you a glass of water if you want. But then you'd have to sing for the guests because I refuse to edit that if I don't have to. That'll work. Let me, since we're talking. You can sing? Well, yes.

Okay. Can you sing me a Jodi Mitchell song? Because. Because. Mike, come on. Eric did send me a note uh i didn't want to forget this eric sent me a note when he heard you were coming back on to say i can't wait to hear which famous canadian musician liz braun drops an unexpected elbow on joni mitchell i didn't see it coming last time remind usind us, you're the only Canadian who's got terrible things to say about Joni Mitchell.

St. Joni Mitchell, get it right. Yeah, I think she's mean-spirited. I don't like her. But, you know, we could talk about Sarah Polly or Ryan Reynolds, Canadian size. They're two sweethearts? Tremendous humans, yeah. Okay, well, if you need water,

you can talk about those two wonderful Canadians while I go up and get you water if you need it. Just say the word. I'm happy to do it. But where was I going? Oh, yeah, because we're talking, we're going to be all over the place. This is Toronto Mike, but I did want to read a note that came in from somebody who also wrote for the entertainment section, still does. Jane Stevenson. Oh, Jane. I feel I have abandoned her by retiring. abandoned her by retiring. She's been here, so she's an FOTM like yourself, Liz. I'll just read her note, and then you can gush about Jane. So Jane writes, while there is no more

side-by-side desk sharing, I'm hoping the martinis will continue with this industrial-sized Grey Goose vodka I presented to my pal Liz Braun, who has moved on from the Toronto Sun after 37 lively years of expert film criticism

and more recently, news gathering. I will miss her wit. What in the pixelated fuck? I can say that word on this podcast. Oh, good. Was a favorite. And advice when dealing with unreasonable people.

Disengage. However, I'm comforted to know she's not exactly going anywhere that I can't swing on by for an emergency cocktail. Stat, love you lizard, Jane. That's very sweet. Jane is also writing news. So I'm not gonna say much about the decision making,

but that woman is so connected to the music industry. The idea of putting her in news and not letting her do her thing is remarkable to me. I think we can agree almost anyone can be a film critic because that's what's happened, but music is a whole other beast. People love Jane Stevenson. Yeah, no doubt. And one day we'll get her back here to kick out some jams.

She gets offered interviews, Mike, that people can only dream of. You know, if Bruce Springsteen speaks to anybody on the next go-round, it'll be to somebody like Jane. And the powers that be are like, no, we don't really need that. That's okay. Is that true? The son would be like, we don't really need that. That's okay. So. Is that true? The son would be like, we don't need a Bruce interview here. That lefty, that bleeding heart lefty.

I don't honestly know what the response would be, but she has certainly been offered that. They're like, give me Kid Rock, Jane. We need Kid Rock stat, right? I hadn't considered that, but yeah, no, I don't think she'll be. Give him a whole section here. She will not be pursuing that as far as I know. Until she's ordered to find Kid Rock.

Okay, so when you were referencing the fact that you're no longer writing for Post Media, you purposely said the words, I'm not retired, something to that effect. You don't like the R word? What is your relationship like with the R word, retired? The problem is you can't really retire as a writer. So I still write reviews for the Association of Women Film Journalists,

the AWFJ in the United States. That's an interesting organization. And I'll probably, if they'll have me, I'm hoping to write a few things for Original Sin, the group here in town that really encompasses all the film critics. And that's a Jim slow text. Yeah. And you know,

Liam Lacey is part of that. And a lot of, uh, Tom Ernst, um, I'm going to start, I'm going to forget to mention, mention people,

but there are a lot of, um, people who had big careers writing about film. You know, I actually, uh, I'm just going to find here, bear with me here. You can sing your song right now if you want, but here. Who else is involved? Yeah, I was going to, I was going to dig up. I do. So I've had Jim Slotek on the show and we,

we talked quite a bit about it, but I was going to run down the list of, but you're right. It's a who's who, right? Is there Kim Gordon? Is that a, Kim Gordon's from, no, is there a Gordon, a Gordon, Karen Gordon? Right. She was with CBC. Right. Why am I blank? Why? Yeah. Karen Gordon. I'm thinking of the emails I've been getting lately. I should just look at them and then I can tell you. Regardless, they'd be lucky to have you. Oh, you're very kind, Mike. It's a, you know, that's a really solid,

if you want to know what's going on before you put your, what's a ticket now, $15? At least. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense to check in with those people and read what they, read the blog. What do you think of the pivot that Norm Wilner has made? He's now working for TIFF.

That made me very happy since now magazine was, was obviously going to have to make some big changes. Well, big changes. I mean, the, the now magazine is merely a logo now. Like,

I mean the new, the new now magazine has no, as far as I can tell, there's, there's, it's a, it's not even an unfavorable facsimile of the

Now Magazine spirit of the old magazine. Well, that was a bit of a disaster area, and I was very happy that Norm went to TIFF because I have a lot of respect for TIFF and for Norm. Maybe that's where you end up. I don't think I am. I don't know. Because you're not retired. I don't think I am. I don't know.

Because you're not retired. I don't think you need me. I think they're, you know, TIFF is like every place else involved with the arts. They're busy hanging on for dear life till people start leaving their houses again. Can I tell you a beef I have? I feel like I can just tell you anything. You can tell.

Okay. Beef away. TIFF, I know there's, I know money is important and I'm not trying to be naive. Like I realize money is important, but it seems like TIFF is on board with this private spa enterprise at Ontario Place because there's a, there's some TIFF component to this.

Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Like TIFF, some part of the new revitalization of Ontario Place is a partnership with TIFF. And I've seen like TIFF core, not,

not norms specifically, but from like TIFF and I've seen like TIFF core not not norms specifically but from like TIFF accounts like promoting the new venture and what what that will mean for TIFF and I'm very uh like it sort of like sours me on the whole brand uh to just to see TIFF aligned with uh a private spa being built in our Ontario place what What are your thoughts on Ontario Place and what Doug Ford has suggested he wants to do with it? I have no idea what involvement TIF would have. I do know they are reliant on various government bodies for funding. So that's between a rock and a hard place, I would guess.

That surprises me. I must look into that. Okay, so there's something... But the Ontario Place business itself... It's a partnership. I'm just Googling it real quick. People in Toronto are calling out TIFF for partnering with the group privatizing Ontario Place.

My kids grew up running all over Ontario Place. It was free. Do you remember those days or no? I don't remember it being free. I just remember once you got on the grounds, you could see the concerts at the Forum for free. Like this I remember. You could go to the sort of children's play area,

not the whole time, but for a certain period, all of that was free. Then there was an admission charge. Then they broke it down you could go to the water park whatever but if you had little kids in the city oh what a wonderful place to take them toronto international film festival has launched an initiative called cinematic cities in which it and i think it's called term a group i never know if it's therma or terma but right well quote work together to celebrate

the importance of art build stronger communities through the shared experience of film and promote the role of art and film in creating more human cities so there's basically there's a partnership here that um there's the tiff x term i never know term you say the word for me. I don't know how to say it. Term, tog, series. So there's a partnership, which is like this alliance of sorts, which makes me uncomfortable. I'm very stuck on the language of that announcement, which is, it's in that special PR language that I don't really understand.

But okay, I didn't know anything about that because I think the whole privatization business, and a spa? I don't get it. Dugg, I didn't know anything about that because I think the whole privatization business and a spa, I don't get it. Dougie's, Dougie's, where's his casino? Isn't that his style? Well, maybe he needs the spa to fail and then the casino is what goes in when the, like this could be like a producer's type thing

or whatever. It's like put in the private, because this Turkish spa company or whatever, like put in the private spa, have it fail and then the casino ends up at ontario is that your theory this is interesting are you writing this down well because it doesn't make any sense right whenever something's pitched like that that makes sense and don't like there's no sense at all to any of this i'm not following it i i to be honest i stopped looking at that when i got to to the underground 450 car parking lot. Is it like 2,000 cars?

I don't know. It just was so bizarre. I have an opinion about these things. I think there are a lot of people who will make money. Oh, yeah. And that's really all it's about. And I don't know how to think about it. And now that 47 people are running for mayor of Toronto,

which will come with special powers. Right. You know. 48 now because Olivia Chow has entered the contest. Olivia, don't get me started. So I want to hear your, because I actually just, because I knew this was coming. And I was thinking like,

in terms of having a progressive candidate, because this is going to be one of those elections with so many potential winners that you're going to get a surprise winner. People are going to split votes and then up the middle you'll be like, oh, look who just won this election. It better not be Frank D'Angelo.

But okay, it won't be Frank, don't worry. But let's say Josh Matlow is the guy. What if it's Giorgio Mammoliti? I mean, you want to never sleep again. He couldn't be mayor of, where was he? Wasaga. He couldn't be mayor. But what are your thoughts on George?

I don't have thoughts on these people. I can't sleep at night worrying about this. But yes, continue. Yes. You should be more concerned with a Mark Saunders, right? Because Mark Saunders, who had a financial stake in this. Okay, or Brad, Bradowitz. Brad Bradford?

Brad, at least. Okay, Brad Bradford. No, there's no at least. There's no at, at least. Okay. Brad, Bradford. There's no, at least there's no, at least. Okay. Sorry, dude. Cause he's a, uh, a prolific and passionate cyclist, which I know that's a, that's, that's, that's gotta be worth something, but who tell me your thoughts on Olivia Chow. And then at some point I need to go federal because I do need to ask you about Pierre,

Pierre Polyev. But what are your thoughts on Olivia Chow entering this crowded mayoral election in Toronto? I just want to know what she's been doing for the last seven or eight years of not doing anything for the city. She started a like she works with progressive politicians. It's coming out of like TMU, formerly known as Ryerson. She's been doing that for like seven years. She'll work with like, I don't know if it's consulting or whatever, but she works with progressive political candidates. My thoughts on this is that all of these people are politicians

and that's pretty well all you need to know about them. Somebody's going to win this thing. Do you have a horse in the race at this point? Or are you still waiting to see it? Well, don't you think Josh Matlow is the... This was my problem. So this was my problem with Olivia Chow entering the race, is that if the progressive vote gets behind Josh Matlow,

I believe Josh can win this election. This is what I believe. But now a big chunk of that progressive vote is going to go to Olivia, and a big chunk is going to be like, been there, done that. She finished third last time she ran. We want Josh Matlow.

And what's going to end up happening is Brad Bradford's going to come up the middle, a centrist guy, and is going to win this because it's first past the post. Liz Braun, you know as well as I do that we should have ranked balloting. That's the most democratic way to elect the leader of the city.

First past the post, especially with 48 candidates, you're going to get somebody that the overwhelming majority of Torontonians don't want. Yeah. Welcome to Toronto. And that person will have these extraordinary powers that were bestowed upon the mayor of Toronto by our premier. Yeah, Doug Ford did that. Yeah, this is all Doug Ford.

And he reduced the number of councillors to 25. It's amazing how much, you know, he lost the race for mayor to John Tory. There's another guy we should talk about. But here, a lot of political discussion here, which is now making me want to revisit the fact that you worked at the Toronto Sun for so long. Did you just not read your

own paper? Like, did you not read the Toronto Sun? No, most of the time i didn't uh except for the entertainment section i said okay to say that's tragic is i just go home and read the globe and mail if we're being honest of course this is the home of honesty liz this is the time to spill the tea so the headline for this episode is liz braun never read the sun don't make it's not that i never read it i can't explain to you i mean there were certain people who were there when i was beginning and and it was kind of hilarious to me i don't know

how else to explain it it was so bizarre but anyway well you can try i mean so many of long time sun people mainly admittedly mainly although jane Jane Stevenson's been here, but mainly it's the sports guys. But I am interested, like, how have things changed and when did they change? Like, at some point you thought of the Toronto Sun as like a family, right? Absolutely. It was a wild and crazy place,

and it still is to some extent, but what I think changed were representatives of the so-called Conservative Party. So in the past, you could say, well, I'm a conservative voter or I'm a little right of center and no one's head would explode. Now it's just nuts what's going on. Everything's been, it's like all MAGA all the time.

I think of it as this, like the difference between a, let's say, a Brian Mulroney, let's say, for example, and a Pierre Polyev.'s it's tough to believe it's not the same party because of course the progressive conservative party no longer exists federally and it became the uh well what is now known as the conservative party of canada but that's essentially your right of liberal party candidate yeah yeah i mean i was never a fan of b Mulroney's, but that's a very good comparison. How could it go from that to this? It's beyond belief. How did that jumped up dog catcher become the head of anything? Pierre Poliev, the man who will not, you know, allow his background to be looked into long enough to, I can't. To get security clearance.

To get security. Thank you. To get security clearance. Yeah. I'm here to help you along the way. Thanks. Please. And this is a safe space. Just go off. Again, I read your Twitter account,

so I know your thoughts and I know you're passionate about this. And of course, the paper you worked for until April 1st, 2023 wants Pierre Poglia to form the next government. Do they?

I wonder. Oh, yes. Well, what's the alternative? There's no way the Toronto Sun editorially wants Justin Trudeau to win again. I don't know. Where else are they going to go? I don't know how to respond to that. It's so

strange to me. Obviously, Pierre Polyev is a puppet, but I'm not sure for whom. He's just this... Allegedly. He's allegedly a puppet. But he has nothing to say. All he can say is that Trudeau, bad,

ooh, boo. This business with the CBC, what a fool. So just to educate everybody, so he, I call this a narc move, okay?

I think it was Sean McAuliffe who was calling this a narc move and I've been calling it that too. That's a great. Yeah, Pierre Polyev's narc move was basically to basically, hey, Elon... Hey, Elon Musk. Elon Musk, slap a, what do they call it,

publicly funded news outlet tag on the CBC's account. And when you link into what does that mean, according to Elon's Twitter, it means essentially that there's involvement, like interference, I would call it. It means it like it's the state. Right. State is interfering.

Oregon in the same way Russia has, you know, their publications in China. It's hilarious. They did the same to National Public Radio and PBS in the United States. It's absurd. And all three of these outlets now, NPR, PBS, and now CBC,

all three are pausing their Twitter activity because there is no interference. The BBC will too because they will get the same title put on them. To even make political hay out of something that absurd suggests how little Mr. Polyev knows about Canada. It's the only place some people can get local news is the CBC. It's wild. What a crazy thing for him to take on.

So he said, I know he's publicly said that he will defund the CBC if he's elected Prime Minister of Canada. So what are your thoughts? Now, as a journalist, 37 years at what we called the Toronto Sun, and now post-media means Toronto Sun Plus, right? But 37 years, what are your thoughts on

defunding the CBC, as Pierre Polyev is threatening to do? I don't even have thoughts on it. It's such an absurd concept to me. You know, when I want to know what's going on, I turn to the CBC. I just quickly click CBC online, and I know the real reporters that are investigating things

are going to have something to say, whatever the topic may be. Exactly the same way we used to look at the BBC for international news, or The Guardian. There's got to be something that's trustworthy for international news. Or The Guardian. There's got to be something that's trustworthy for international news. So do you believe there is a... And I always find this interesting because when Stephen Harper was in power, was that a decade? I feel like that was about 10 years or something.

I felt like it was a century, man. But I mean, I always find it interesting because the CBC keeps rolling regardless of who is... Exactly. Oh of who is at 24 Sussex Drive. Yes. And with the rats. Yeah, I don't, this is what I meant when I said I really don't understand why he would pick that hill to die on. It's such a bizarre fight. But I guess, you know, Mr. Polyev will not speak to the media.

So I guess he fears them and their truth-telling. But won't CTV just tell the truth? I don't know. I mean, journalism is journalism, and it's about facts and truth, in essence. And of course, there's editorial slams. And we've been learning a lot about this right now, if you follow the Dominion voting machine lawsuit against Fox News. I was just going to say,

once Fox News was exposed, I think people began to see more clearly that the media is not what they thought. I mean, a generation ago, if you saw something in the paper, I think you could be pretty sure that it was true. I'm not sure if that's true anymore. I think it's moral omission.

Like, I feel like it's, and I'm not speaking of Fox, because I've actually never it's more omission. Like I feel like it's, and I'm not speaking of Fox because I've actually never seen a minute of Fox News. I have no idea. But my understanding is I produce Humble and Fred show and they're always watching Fox and talking about Fox. And they'll say like, if there's some big Donald Trump thing going on

and there's one in a million there, but if there's something going on with Donald Trump, Fox won't report it. Like they'll literally omit it. So if your only source for news is Fox, then you're not going to learn about this recent controversy about Donald Trump. Oh, exactly. And for many people, that is their only news source.

And it's interesting to see what is left out, what is highlighted, what's included, you know. Do you believe, and again, we've already established you've got rather progressive leanings, and do you believe the Toronto, no, not the Toronto, anything, do you believe the CBC has a political slant, a political agenda? Well, they appeal to me, so I'm going to have to say they're probably more left than right.

But I'm more interested in the fact that they present far more information on a story than other outlets do. And when you ask me about CTV, I cannot comment. I never got news from television. Right. So you never watched Peter Mansbridge on the National back in the day?

No, I watched Walter Cronkite as a child, and that was it. That's the word. No, I just, yeah, no. So how do you get your news? Newspapers. Reading. Reading online now.

Now online. And we're like, what sources, what are your go-to sources for news? You named off a bunch in the beginning, but let me just get the list of Liz Braun news sources. Oh, gosh. Well, I read The New Yorker for long stuff and The Guardian for short stuff. The Guardian was invaluable at the beginning of the, well, throughout the pandemic.

They had this live thing that went 24-7, and you could just click on that and find out exactly what was going on every place in the world. And no editorialization, right? It was just sort of like just the facts, man? Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, does that exist?

You have to question that all the time. Anyway, I'm a bit of a newbie in the news world, so I don't want to embarrass myself too thoroughly here. Is this like, yeah, don't worry. No embarrassments here. Here, let me pause then for a minute because I've got all these questions for you, Liz. First of all, Liz Braun, okay?

I was thinking of the name Liz Braun. Is that your birth name? It is. Okay, because if you were going to have like an invented name, like let's say, I don't know, Chester Macho or something, right? Like I'm Chester Macho.

Like Liz Braun, Braun, like strong, Braun. Like to me, that's like a... You mean like all Braun and no brain mike no all brawn and brain never heard growing up but it's too it's a cool it's a cool name liz brawn i think if you had told me that was invented i would like a pen name i'd believe you okay so let me give you some gifts here before we get back to it and i do it again and i want to talk about something you did before you got to the Toronto Sun because you worked with somebody

who's also an FOTM and then I have something I want to say about it. So I'm giving you, I'm just deciding what I'm giving you first. So I'm giving you fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery, Liz. You need to drink, trust me. You're getting

a large lasagna, frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta. I had it delivered this morning, especially for you because I knew you were coming. So you're getting some lasagna from Palma Pasta. Thank you. Thank you, Palma Pasta. Yum. Yummy. Thank you, Palma Pasta. Good. I won't have to cook tonight. That's so excellent. You won't have to cook tomorrow or the next day. There's a lot of lasagna in there. Okay, good. So you got your booze. You got your Italian food. Wow. You never know when you have to cook tomorrow or the next day. There's a lot of lasagna in there. Okay, good. So you got your booze. You got your Italian food. Wow. You never know when you have to measure something.

There's measuring tape for you, courtesy of the aforementioned Ridley Funeral Home. And it sounds like Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home has been very helpful to you in your journalism career. I bet this is six feet, right? Six feet. Six feet of tape. Six feet under. You know, he's never seen. So Brad Jones, who's a funeral director and lives on site. this is the rare thing and no one else in toronto is doing it

but you where you live where the funeral service like this is from six feet under right he's never seen six feet under how do you resist right like not only is it a show about like what you do where it's a family living on the premises or whatever in an independent funeral home, but it's actually fucking great. Like it's a, it is like, I would say it's my second favorite show of all time. I love six feet under. How do you resist watching it?

I don't know. We're going to have to speak sharply to him. Obviously. Can you text him or something and just say it's Liz Braun and I would like you to watch six feet under. I only saw a few episodes though. So I'm not really the right person to send in here. Do you watch any television?

Not really. So there you go. Okay, Liz Braun. I rest my case. There's no show. You can't tell me, oh, I watched Succession last night. No, you know, I have to tell you that I keep re-watching The Sopranos, and I'm not sure why.

My third favorite show of all time is The Sopranos. Yeah, every time I watch it, I see something new. It's a tragic admission, really. Well, it's a great show, so at least you have good taste in shows. I thought you were going to tell me you were watching Full House for the 14th time. No, no, I was trying to think of who I liked as a filmmaker, and it's Scorsese. So maybe that's what it is.

Maybe I'm just married to the mob. Oh, that's a great movie too. Matthew Modine, as I remember. Michelle Pfeiffer in that? She was. Okay, let me ask you about Martin Scorsese and then I gotta get back to giving you more games. Okay, okay. His new movie is about four hours long.

Like, can you do that in one sitting or do you have to like chop that into like, make like, a two-parter and give yourself maybe a long intermission? People have to pee. I mean, there's gotta be, you can't just sit there. But isn't that, like, I have trouble with three-hour movies.

Not just the peeing. That's obviously, there's that. But it's just, like, three hours is a lot. Although, you know, Tarantino can make a three-hour movie and I barely notice it was three hours because I quite like it. But this four hours, Scorsese, like, that's just a lot.

Like, come on. I haven't even thought about this yet, so give me more. Think on it. You better give me some more gifts. I think that's probably... More gifts, but one more thing about Scorsese. Yeah.

He was directing an SCTV reunion. Oh, I know. And I've talked to multiple people who were there, including Dave Thomas, okay? Colin Mockery was there. Deborah McGrath was there. These are people I've spoke to who tell me it was wonderful. It was great.

Dave Thomas said it was fantastic. Even Rick Moranis was there, and he doesn't do a lot of public stuff anymore. So this is all done. It's recorded. This is now going back. It's pre-pandemic, so we're going back, I don't know, four or five years ago.

Clearly, Martin Scorsese has no interest in actually continuing of this project. It's just left dormant, and it's dying on the vine. How do we rescue this footage so somebody who gives a rat's ass can actually set it free

so people like you and i can enjoy the sctv reunion this came up the other night at dinner i had dinner with jane stevenson and jody eisenberg who's at the toronto star okay and you didn't invite me i would have enjoyed this conversation this exact topic came up i have no idea what happened to that movie um but i'll try to find out before i come back find out i've been talking to somebody you know about this his name is bill brio we've been having conversations i've also asked him to find out it seems like i'm the only one doing the digging around here i think people for you know the pandemic telescope time in such a way that people will say

so i haven't seen you in four years and i think what the hell are they talking about but it's true well i i really do. When I think of events now, I always think, was that pre-pandemic or post-pandemic? And the SCTV, well, that was pre-pandemic. So I know now, you know, it's like, the Raptors won the NBA championship. Oh, that was pre-pandemic. Because I remember being at the parade. And we didn't have to worry about being six feet apart from anybody.

Oh, my goodness. Okay. So that's, you got your Ridley Funeral Home. This is exciting, Liz. This is exciting. Okay. I'm ready. Boxan!

This is a... It says Boxan right there, okay? Yes, it does. Were you at the Horseshoe Tavern when the police played a Gary's presentation and nine people showed up? No, I don't think so but i bet jim monaco was okay so that is a wireless speaker for you courtesy of maneras and that's so liz you

sounds great i got a note from rob pruse who was the keyboardist for the spoons during their glory days rob pruse he he got he was here last week and i gave him one of those and he says my goodness what a great speaker he's going to share more about this on the next episode of toast but i'm telling you it's a great speaker but with that speaker you need to listen to the fourth season and if you have to catch up it's okay you can listen to seasons one two and three as well but the yes we are open podcast from maneras is hosted by fotm al grego and he's been traveling the country having conversations with small business owners and these conversations will inspire the heck out of you. So

now like that you've left the corporate world and now you're on your own. What's next for Liz Braun? Get inspired. You're now an entrepreneur like me, okay? You're going to end up co-hosting Toronto Mic'd with me if you play your cards right. So listen to season four of this podcast. What about

day drinking? I was hoping to do day drinking once I didn't have to have a daily... I've got more Great Lakes beer than you could handle, Liz. I'm telling you right now. Okay, this is actually a wonderful thing. It's all wonderful, Liz. It's all wonderful.

The measuring tape's wonderful. It is. The beer, the pasta, the speaker. If you have any tech, any devices, an old TV, an old VCR, maybe an old 8-track player, don't throw it in the garbage, Liz. Go to recyclebyelectronics.ca and find out a safe place to drop that off and we'll have it taken care of responsibly so it doesn't end up in the landfill. Recyclebyelectronics.ca. You got that? You write that down thank you mike okay now i'm gonna go on a little detour before we go back to pierre polyev because i can only handle so much like

it gets me that's not talking about okay we can scratch that from the lineup here but i do i am glad i'm glad that cbc stopped tweeting because i think with this elon musk takeover of twitter he's really fucked up my favorite social media app. Like of all these social media options out there, I liked Twitter the best. And I still use it every day, multiple times a day, as you do. But as I'm using it now, I'm thinking to myself, if I could find anything I liked even close to as much as I like Twitter right now, I would leave in a heartbeat. I no longer like Twitter the way I used to. I'm just there because it's my favorite of the bunch.

Oh, I think a lot of people feel that way, for sure. And they keep saying, here's where I am. I'm at, you know, something or other. Mastodon. Yeah, and other places. Spoutable. I don't know. It's not going to be the same.

Twitter was a lot of fun. I know. But you're still there. Yeah, but for how long? Who knows? Well, as soon as you tell me where you're going, I'm going to be the same. Twitter was a lot of fun. I know. But you're still there. Yeah. But for how long? Who knows? Well, as soon as you tell me where you're going, I'm going to follow you. And then we'll announce it here. Follow somebody who's actually, you know, paying attention.

When you're paying attention. Okay. But we agree that the Elon Musk takeover of Twitter has really sucked for this social media channel that we all enjoyed. I think that he didn't really want to take it over or intend to. Do you think, just like, you know, we talked about, like, the spa will fail and then the casino will go in, right? Do you think we're getting that producer's thing going on here that Elon Musk is trying to sink Twitter? Like, there's some reason he just wants to kill Twitter?

Like, a lot of his decisions and a lot of his antics here seem to me like a guy who doesn't actually want it to make money and succeed. You know, a couple of years ago, somebody said to me, you know, Doug Ford really hates Toronto and it would make him very happy to see that city implode. And I thought, that's a really dumb thing to say. And now I'm not so sure. So, you know, Mike, maybe there is something to what you think about Elon Musk on Twitter. Well, he's doing a great job fucking it up.

By the way, Liz, on May 11th, I believe it's a Thursday night, but don't quote me on that. I have to check. May 11th, 2023, TMLX 12 is taking place at 6 p.m. And that's a whole bunch of FOTMs get together. And we just like we drink some cold beverages. We check in with one another. It's great fun. And I'm just letting all FOTMs that can hear my voice right now know that if you want to

attend TMLX 12, you can write me mike at torontomike.com and I will send you a little map and say, this is where we're going to be meeting at 6 p.m. It's pretty cool, right? This is like those old raves, okay? Shout out to Scott Turner. Or you know what? I noticed if you just Google TMLX12, because this is going to be TMLX12,

just Google that, TMLX12, you'll find the torontomic.com blog post with the map on it, so you don't even have to write me if you don't want to. Pretty exciting. Come on out. Liz, I can't wait to see you

drinking beer at a public park with me on May 11th. It's going to be amazing. Okay. Before the Toronto sun gig that you just left after 37 years wow liz braun amazing run you worked with fotm gary top i did a couple of times the gary's yeah okay so remind us what you did yes and, and both are FOTMs, by the way. Interesting. But my story has to do with Gary Top. But as I tell this story,

maybe we can start by you reminding us, and I mentioned, everybody, this is not your first appearance on Toronto Mike, so there's a whole bunch of Gary Top stuff in that first episode. But remind us what you were doing with and for Gary Top before your newspaper career checked in. Remind me.

Well, if he was promoting a band on the record label where I worked, then my job would have been setting up the interviews. I mean, I remember the Ramones show that they did at the New Yorker because I was still at GRT Records, and I really didn't want to go. And then I was told, I told this story before. They said, oh, yeah, you've got to take Peter Gabriel to this show. I'm like, okay, who's Peter Gabriel? And I think I told you, you know, this very nice Englishman,

he was wearing a jumpsuit, which was so humiliating and weird. He was very sweet. And we went to the show and people thought it was really fantastic. And I worked with the Ramones more than once, I guess, and sort of thought they were idiots. So I can't really be trusted, Mike. I think that's what we're establishing here. Well, Liz, I think you could be idiots and a great punk rock band at the same time.

Well, maybe. I didn't think that they were such a great punk rock band, though. You know, I thought Americans can't be punk rockers. It's based on a very British class system. So I couldn't figure any of that stuff out. You know what I thought Americans can't be punk rockers. It's based on a very British class system. So I couldn't figure any of that stuff out. You know what I never understood as a young man? I never understood the alliance between the British punk rockers and Nazis. Like you would see like a skinhead punk rocker with a swastika,

like proudly like adored. I'd forgotten all about that. Yeah, like, and I never understood, because I like the spirit of punk, which is sort of like a do-it-yourself mentality. I consider it on a weird level. It's like, what I'm doing here, because I roll it all myself.

It's just me, myself, and I, and we roll it all, and we design it all, and we do every part of it or whatever. There's a punk rock ethic at play here. But where does the swastika fit into that? Well, there was a level of anger involved in the british punk movement that you can't made absolutely no sense once you took it across you're mad at maggie thatcher that that pushes you towards the third reich sir you're asking me to explain the stuff i can't explain back to gary Topp, who's a sweetheart. Okay. So that was one capacity.

You were at GRT. And then if Gary Topp was promoting a artist, you would work with him. Was there any other interloping there with Gary Topp or Gary Cormier? Oh, we used to talk all the time. I can't remember. Okay. So let me tell you what happened to me. I almost feel like, because Gary Topp such a like important part of the scene and i mean the reason and reason he's an fotm is because

i wanted to capture his great stories because i love the what the gary's were about the gary's didn't book a band unless they thought it was a good band they do the same with film they always chose things that they thought you know interesting, but they were really out there cutting edge, picking up bands, promoting acts that people had yet to even hear of here. So they had a whole thing going on. I was just a label sort of lackey. I had Gary Taub booked for his return.

I knew there were more Gary Taub stories out there. So I chatted with Gary, who I have so much respect for. I have so much respect for Gary Top. And I'm like, Gary, I loved your first visit because he came here. And by the way, that was episode three, sorry, 530.

If you want to have the deep dive with Gary Top, it was in October, 2019. In this 530th episode, Mike chats with Gary Top about his role in weaving the cultural fabric of this city, including bringing the Ramones and the police to Canada for the first time, and his other work with Gary Cormier as the Garys. And we talked for two hours.

Okay, don't worry, Liz, you're not going to have to talk for two hours with me today. But we talked for two hours, and I got so many great Gary Topp stories. And I knew there were more because he's Gary fucking Topp and we chatted and I invited him back and he was very enthusiastic he said yes yes and he was in the calendar this is like a few weeks ago he was in the calendar to return and then one day I get a phone

call and I see it's from Gary Topp and I'm like hey Gary what's going on and Gary tells me he needs to cancel his return visit because a book is coming out and his publisher doesn't want the stories out there before the book comes out oh boy so i will tell you i got this and and gary said he said he said his exact words were it's nothing personal so i wasn't going to take it personal anyways but i was actually super fucking ticked this is your chance to tell me to get over it mike but the whole like notion that you can't come on this podcast and talk about your great career in the city because it could somehow put stories out there which are in this book.

I found the whole thing so offensive. And I'll just remind everybody listening that all the stories are in episode 530. It's all there. Go listen right now and you'll get all the Gary Topp stories. But I don't think there's a Torontonian alive who's going to hear Gary Topp on Toronto Mic and is going to be like, oh, I don't have to buy the book now. Like, if anything, it's going to make you want to buy the book. Well, maybe he needs

a different publicist. I have no idea. And the thing is, I don't want to name the guy, but the guy who told him not to come on Toronto Mic is an FOTM, which means he's been down here. What? I know. He's been down here for an episode. How is this possible? I know. Okay, who is this person? You better call them out. Do you want me to say their name i was purposely not who it is i don't know uh derrick emerson does that name mean anything to you no so he does he in fact he was

on an episode i did with uh alexander mayor okay from attic records and one of the few fotms by the way shout out to ridley funeral home one of the few fotms who, by the way, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, one of the few FOTMs who's passed away. This show has a great track record keeping people alive, Liz, so you're going to live a very, very long time. I was just thinking Al died not very long ago. No, I believe it was assisted suicide. Somebody in the inside circle told me

he had terminal cancer, and he took advantage of our very progressive assisted suicide. I don't know anything about that. I was sorry to read about his death though. Yeah. No, me too, me too. And I did re-drop excerpts from that chat with him because

yeah, he was another great conversation. But just like Gary Topp. So again, I don't want this to come across, I'm not trashing Gary Topp. I feel like nobody trashes Gary Topp. I feel like this would be like if somebody went at, I don't want this to come across, I'm not trashing Gary Topp. I feel like nobody trashes Gary Topp. I feel like this would be like if somebody went at, I don't know, Joni Mitchell.

Like, can you imagine if somebody had bad things to say about Joni Mitchell? Who could possibly have bad things to say? Nobody. I've never heard a bad word about her. Okay, so Gary Topp, who I still would, like I'd have him on tomorrow to capture those stories because this whole thing exists.

But he'll come back when the book is published. That's what pisses me off. He'll come back when the book is published. That's what pisses me off. He'll come back when the book is published. The worst sentence I've ever heard, Liz Braun. Don't you think that's how it works, though? But that's how it works when you're on a media thing. I get these emails, alright? It's like, who will I pick on for this one? Peter Mansbridge, okay?

I'll get an email. Peter Mansbridge has a new book. Can he come on Toronto Mike to talk about it? Like, I'm not an idiot. I know how it works. You're not here because you're pushing anything. This is your second visit, Liz.

How come you came over twice? You want to know why? I said, Liz, I'd like to chat with you on Toronto Mic'd. I'm not here to sell your book. You don't have a book that I know of. But this happens. Somebody like a Peter Mansbridge, who I also have a lot of respect for,

but he only became available to me because he needs to sell books. Interesting. Yeah. Nick Kiprios is another great example. Suddenly Nick had a book and suddenly, in fact, Nick's book was ghostwritten by a guy who, I'm going to ask you about his brother in a minute. That's how everything's connected in this country because

Perry Lefkoe wrote the book, Nick Kiprios' book, right? So Nick Kiprios is pushing books so he comes on and a lot of times I'll ask him a question and his answer might be something like, it's in the book, Nick Kiprios' book, right? So Nick Kiprios is pushing books. So he comes on and a lot of times I'll ask him a question and his answer might be something like, it's in the book. I hate, that's why I don't like having people on when they're selling a book, okay?

I just want people on because they're willing to share their story with me. And all I'm trying to do on Toronto Mike is capture these stories and share them. I'm too lazy to write a book. So you're always going to be safe with me, okay? Okay, we'll just cut this out and make it an audio book. No, no. Here's a list of books.'re always going to be safe with me, okay? Okay, well, just cut this out and make it an audio book.

No, no. Here's a list of books. But Gary Taub, so talk me off the ledge here. Okay. Why am I so disappointed that Gary Taub called me to cancel his appearance

because a book is coming out and his publisher doesn't want the stories out there? His publisher probably told him to do that. I don't think he would just ring you up and cancel. I'm sorry, Mike. He said it's not personal. He said it's not that. I don't think he would just ring you up and cancel. I'm sorry. He said it's not personal. He said it's not personal. It wouldn't be personal.

It's an odd directive from the publisher. Yeah. But maybe the PR people are just unsure of themselves. I don't know what to say, sir. Okay. But I look forward to Gary Top's book. You were a PR person. Gary Top's book is coming, everybody.

Maybe that's the whole point. Oh, yeah, but I was a PR person who didn't care. And that's what really distinguished me from all the others. And that's why you went into newspaper. No, it wasn't like that. People would say, now we're going to sell this band. And I would think to myself, well, no, really, we're not. Because they're terrible.

But in those days, I could phone Wilder Penfield. And I could phone Peter Goddard. And I could phone Paul McGrath and say, OK, this terrible, shitty band is at the El Macombo. But if you'll show up, I'll buy you a beer. And they would come out of kindness. You also would say, I don't know who this guy is. And they'll be like, that's Peter fucking Gabriel.

You should know who that is. Yeah, there was that problem, I guess. I kind of like how you work there, but that's a smaller time. That's a time though, I mean, this kind of came up with, I just did a deep dive with a band called glue leg. And the joke was after we did this episode and I loved it. So this is like,

I think Friday and I loved it. Like we just went deep into the, the ongoing career of glue leg, which has like a 25 year hiatus. It's like they're, they're mid nineties band, right? Trying to make it.

And of course they go off and get real jobs because no Canadian band can afford to keep being a Canadian band unless they get like a big u.s hit or something unless they're the tragically hip or maybe sloan or something like that but they're done and then 25 years later they're now they can now they've made enough money in their other jobs that they can afford to be a rock group again like this is how it works in canada this is literally so we're doing this whole thing and i'm thrilled afterwards they go, that was the most thorough, they told me privately, the most thorough glue leg deep dive they've ever been

a part of. That's exciting. Yeah. And I said, that was my objective. I said, I wanted to record the definitive glue leg deep dive. But anyways, long story short. Thank you. Long story short, if that's possible at this point. Twice in that episode there

were times when they needed like new members of the band and they were recruiting like a new drummer and a new like whatever to for the glue leg and bob macklewicz jr came on and both times these these parts were filled because they put an ad in now magazine this is what they did they put an ad in now magazine and i'm hearing them talk It's such a 90s story. Like we needed a new drummer. And we put an ad. If you like these bands and this is your taste, come try out to be our new drummer or whatever, whatever. And that's how they fill these spots.

And Bob Mackiewicz Jr. showed? Yeah, but he wasn't a drummer though. He was for, I think he was trumpets or something. You know, I actually looked him up the other day because his name came up in something I was reading. And I thought to myself, hang on a second, Bob Makowitz can't have a child that old who's an adult, who does those things.

And I looked and it was, and I thought, wow, time has passed. If you're looking for Mako Jr., just go find where Strombo is and Mako will be there. God. This is how it works. Makowitz and I and John Paracall

were all at U of T. You know, everybody we were at school with ended up in the media. Christina Jennings. She's running. I was going to say, okay. Yeah, yeah. No, not Junior. I was doing the math in my head, Liz.

It wasn't working there. But yeah, so Mako Senior, of course. And this came up in the Glue Lake episode. But Mako Senior was program director at 590 when Macco Junior and Strombo and Jeff Merrick had their overnight show called The Game. So it helps when you're not the program director. But I was thinking today, forget we're going to get back to Now Magazine,

like what fills that void? Because I mean, you were like the alt-rock writer before alt-rock kind of deal. Like how do we fill the Now Magazine void? Because that's gone. How do we do anything? At least you could check some things on Twitter. You can't do that anymore.

And I am so starved for information. Once upon a time, you could find analysis in a newspaper, but I don't think that really exists anymore. So is it just finding the right podcast and know, the right podcast and blog for you? It might just have to be listening to you all day, Mike. I don't know the answer. You know, I was thinking to myself, poor Mike, he's going to ask me about that big party for the son's 20th anniversary in 1991. You know, there was that bash. Yeah, tell me about that. I don't remember one thing. I think I was there for 20 minutes. I had a one-year-old at home and

I was like, hi, hi, isn't this fun? You know, fireworks were going off indoors and I thought, get me out of here. But yeah, I don't know what to tell you. I thought. Why didn't you retain, like, why, you're sort of part of this, sort of like a Gary Top, right?

Where Gary Top, though, took notes along the way. Like, I feel like. I wish I had. I kept a journal. I wish you had too. I kept a journal of who I had to work with and I've looked up some of the things that I did. Where is that journal right now? It's in my house.

It should be in the Smithsonian. I have them for every single year. It's remarkable, the actors and singers and the people that I was lucky enough to interview or work with. Okay, so after 37 years, and you said you're still writing, but you're not writing for where you were writing,

what were the highlights? Give me a couple of highlights from the last 37 years. Well, I don't know what to tell you. It was just getting to meet interesting people. Liz, you didn't anticipate that might come up? No? The highlights. You mean who was cool and who wasn't cool?

Well, you have this diary or journal or whatever where you're noting the different people you talk to. You must, you put stars next to them as to how cool they were or whatever? No, you just remember the people who were idiots and you remember the people who were smart. Okay, well, tell me the idiots. I would love to hear the idiots.

We've already gone over this. Joni Mitchell. I'm quite sure. Joni Mitchell's just mean-spirited. I don't think she's... But who else is in that, like you'd be surprised to hear about? Well, I told you this story because it was Jim Slotek. I said to him, what the hell is wrong with Julia Roberts?

And he said, well, she's ignorant and she's arrogant and it's a bad combination. We laughed for three days. But every now and then you would meet somebody who was just so in such a bad mood and so difficult with the media. Cranky. Yeah, I didn't generally have that kind of issue, but honestly. Yeah. Julia Roberts,

Jody Mitchell, who else? Let's slay some more. Hey, I went at Gary Taub earlier. You can go at some of these sacred cows. I didn't have that many bad experiences. I tend to be polite and that's what I got back. And were you ever a victim of any superstars trying to me-to you a little bit?

Any busy hands? Yes, come on. Any woman who can stand up of her own free will can say yes to that. Come on, buddy. Who are we talking about here? I don't know. I'm not saying.

Where's this journal? Can I read the, maybe this is what we published. You know, it's funny because I was thinking about that today and I was thinking, was that Hull or was that Oates? I don't know.

I can't remember. Mustache or no? I don't think so. I think the mustache. One looks sort of furry and one looks sort of lupine. So the mustache guy, the guy who looks a bit like, you know,

Bubba Booey is Oates. I'm going to go home and look it up. All right. You know what? Your third appearance is going to be you reading from your journal. Okay? There's no journal. I mean, some brass musician.

There's no journal. I've been imagining a journal as you talk about your journal. No, it's not that kind of journal. It says things like, you know, yeah, day planner. Okay, bring that in. Okay, we need some source material here. You're not very good at retaining this stuff. Okay, so let me ask you.

Perry Lefkoe is an FOTM, okay? Okay. He wrote for The Sun. Yes. Did you know that? He did CFL. Yes, I did. I did know that.

Maybe horse racing. He did different sports stuff. Okay. His brother, Elliot Lefkoee recently just wrote about how it sounds like uh there was a moment in time when you and elliot were kind of doing similar things and then he went the opposite direction of you like you went into mainstream media to write for the toronto sun and he went kind of in the opposite direction like to work more with like promotion of music and stuff like that like just do you do you have any thoughts on Elliot Lefkoe,

who's a guy I know listens to Toronto Mic, but has yet to agree to appear on Toronto Mic. I don't have much to say. Nice boys, those Lefkoe boys. What do I know? Shout out to the Lefkoe boys. Liz Braun says hello to the Lefkoe boys. Hi, Lefkoe boys.

Yeah, I remember speaking to him often and he had things to promote. I don't know. Is, I remember speaking to him often and he had things to promote. I don't know. Is there any hope for your industry, your former industry, the newspaper industry? Is there any way to fix it? I just read that Jordan Bitov was pleading for advertisers to help him stop losing a million bucks a week.

I don't know how this is going to be fixed. I don't know how people are going to survive without news. So I don't know how to answer that question. But I would make me very happy if people would read, whether it's online or, you know, pick up a paper with their hands. But I think that's why the prime minister of this country decided to put the money forward to make sure that the media stayed afloat. Okay, I'm going to ask you about this now then.

I'm curious for your thoughts on this. So Pierre Polyev, we mentioned earlier, wanted that label slapped on CBC's Twitter accounts. Government funded or something like that. That's what he is. Right. So what about anybody who took this, what do we call it, bailout money? The money you're alluding to? So let's say post-media, for example.

I think everyone took it. Yeah. Globe and Mail. Do they need to, do their Twitter labels, not that I think it should be there, but should their Twitter labels change because they took government money? Mr. Polyev's label should change.

He's done nothing but have his feet in the public trough. What will you do if he wins here? Listen, stranger things have happened, right? Like, what if there's another Justin Trudeau scandal? And this kind of happened with Kathleen Wynne, right? At some point, Ontarians kind of decided

as a whole to change things for the sake of change. We've had many, many years of a liberal government with McGinty and Wynne. Three majorities in a row, I think. Let's change that. When you look at the political sphere in this

country, that typically means in Ontario since the Ray days, it means you're going to go PC party. Next thing you know, Doug Ford gets two majorities in a row. I couldn't even name the Liberal Party leader right now. Who's in charge? Who's the Liberal Party leader? I think when people decided to vote Conservative or, how did that happen?

There was some funny little thing at the end. People didn't want to vote for Kathleen Wynne. Oh, gas plants? Cancelling of gas plants? Yeah, yeah. But at a certain point, you know, a piece of wood or an old rock at the side of the road could have beat her in an election.

Right. And I think people thought it was going to be the minister of health, but that's not what happened. No, if I remember correctly, uh, Hudak, was it Tim Hudak?

Who? No, it wasn't Hudak. Who's the guy who the CTV put out the, oh, the mayor of, the mayor of Brampton. Who?

Patrick Brown. Before him. Christine Elliott. Patrick Brown was replaced by Doug Ford with that CTV news report came out. And then there was that, that night where all of a sudden they pushed out Patrick Brown and then the new, they,

they had a, like the new, it ended up being that the new leader of the party was Doug Ford. That's what Patrick Brown. But something happened. Okay. That Doug Ford became the. Right.

They had their own race and then. After the election inside the Conservative Party, there were some strange complaints from various writings in southern Ontario with candidates saying, you know, I ended up on the wrong ballot. And nothing happened. There was just something. If only we had a journalist around, we could get to the bottom of this. Well, I don't think anyone got to the bottom of it.

All right, great question came in here.'re doing great by the way i have one more partner i want to shout out and then a couple more questions one of these questions came from leslie and i'm hoping i get to see leslie at tmlx 12 on may 11th at 6 p.m so leslie, I hope you can make it. Before I read Leslie's questions, well, her big question here, I just want to tell you, Liz, now that you've left the Toronto Sun, you might be looking to reinvent your brand, the Liz Braun brand.

Maybe you're looking for some PR assistance in that regard. I know you are a PR expert who didn't give a rat's ass, but the Moment Lab, they specialize in public relations. They have a team of experienced professionals who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience and generate positive media coverage. Whether you're launching a new product, building your reputation, or managing a crisis, they've got you covered. So if you want to give your business a boost, don't wait another moment. Write me, mike at torontomike.com, and let

me introduce you to Matt and Jared at The Moment Lab, and you can learn more about how they can help you achieve your public relation goals. So welcome The Moment Lab to the Toronto Mike family. Okay, Leslie's question for you, Liz Braun. What are the stories you couldn't tell last time you were on Toronto Mike because you were still employed? Is there anything on that list? This is Leslie talking, not me. I'm sure there were stories that I couldn't tell and still won't tell. But I missed, okay, here's the really embarrassing part about my being here.

I missed a lot of stuff. I was either at home with children or having children or I don't know, people would say things. Children ruin everything. No, but people would say things like, oh, so-and-so, this is why I'm suggesting Rita DeMontis is your girl. So-and-so and so-and-so were just caught having sex in the handicapped bathroom on the ground floor. I'm like, really? I was so clueless, so clueless. As I was in the music business, people would say, oh yeah, so-and-so's a complete cokehead. You know, he threw his wife off.

And I'm like, what? What? I used to go home, you know, this stuff was going on all around me and I was completely oblivious. So Mike, I don't know, maybe it's not in your best interest to have me. Well, too late for that.

This is round two, okay? And I'm enjoying it. That's all that matters here rita demontis you're gonna introduce me to rita and jane you got to get jane stevenson well she's been here but i'll get her back a second time you will love and so okay so i'm going to promote that now it'll be twice as good as the liz braun uh return three. Three times because, yes. Now I noticed when the entertainment section kind of evaporated and there's no entertainment section really for you to fill as an entertainment reporter

at the Toronto Sun. So these are the, and I know you did some good work with cystic fibrosis there and that was important work, but these are kind of the most recent headlines of Liz Braun before you rode off into the sunset. Are you ready? Oh, this is going to be awful.

But go on. I'll just do it. This is real talk here. Okay. Further proof that pets are good for childhood health. I'm not even going to suggest this. That's a very important story. Get a dog. Yes. Missing cat stowed away in recliner. I remember that.

Did you read that story? Don't ask me these tough questions. Can I just tell you a very exciting thing? No, I want to tell you one exciting thing about the cat stowaway story. At the bottom of it, I wrote, maybe cats are just stupid. Thinking. I'll give the night editor a laugh and they'll take that right out.

And it made it to print. Oh, yeah. Totally. Yeah, because the editors checked out a long time ago, Liz. Oh, okay. Sorry. What do I know? Dreaming of divorce.

That's common in the month of March. Okay, good to know. We made it through March. I'm still married. I think I stole most of these stories from the Daily Mail, didn't I? Or the New York Post. Oh, I don't know. I didn't check that out.

But let me just do a few more because it's amusing me. Kid with huge feet gets custom shoes. Loved that story. That's a good story. That's definitely a New York Post story. Okay. With attribution, I might add. Okay, good.

Dog and goat hope to be adopted together in North Carolina. Yes, I remember being signed on. But did you think, 37 years ago, did you think this would be your story in the paper? Really, Mike? This is constructive dismissal. I should have stabbed you with my big pen

the last time I ever seen it. Why are you stabbing me? Because you're making me laugh. Yes, these are actual stories to which I put my name. Oh my God. Almost done here, okay? I like this one. I like this one. I like this one. Because that dog and goat, were they adopted together?

I think they were. I need to know how it ends. Like, holy shit, that's a, what a useless story. Okay, ready? Yes. Lack of sleep can lead to a beer belly. You know what else leads, you know what else leads to a beer belly? Beer, Liz.

Beer. Okay, I really. Shout out to Great Lakes Beer. All right, one more here and then I'll let you I know you're you're explaining here this one actually this actually was important

okay praise as Nashville police speedily snuffed school shooters that's like that's you so is that you doing hard that was me

trying to make a funny headline about the most awful so let me read it again hold on here oh witnesses saw a truck parked for days. Okay, again. Praise, praise as Nashville police speedily snuff school shooter. So you put a lot of alliteration in there because you got,

this is sort of like what you'd hear on the big eight or whatever. And you would hear Mark Daly, right? Mark Daly would kind of, you know, talk about. I shouldn't laugh because it's not a funny story, but I was asked to write about the fact that the Nashville police were being praised by all the usual suspects because they quickly snuffed out a school shooter

versus those bad cops in Uvalde who waited hours and children died. So they did their job. I wrote in that story the idea that perhaps banning assault weapons might have helped in both situations. That vanished from my copy. Oh my goodness. That did not in alliance with the editorial slant of that paper here.

Okay, quickly though, because I mentioned Mark Daly. The following program contains adult themes, nudity and coarse language. Viewer and parental discretion is advised. Okay, there, shout out to him. So. Viewer and parental discretion is advised. Okay, there. Shout out to him. So you weren't at Buffery's party. Final, this is the final thing,

because, you know, we talk about, oh, me and sun people talk about 333 King East, right? Oh, yeah. And this was like the lively sun building, and everybody smiles when they talk about it. But, of course, you moved to Bloor and Sherbourne, I guess, in 2015. And we all know what happened next. So like, just looking back at the 37 years, yeah, right now, you can talk about how that, you know, the right side of the political spectrum, you move to a place you're not comfortable with. And now we look back at the 37 years. Is there, maybe give us like just a little sense of that building,

like what was going on at 333 King East? Like just give me a sense of what it was like in the, I don't know, let's call it, shout out to Bruce Springsteen, let's call it the glory days. It was the glory days, but it was the glory days of print as well. To have a newspaper job was extraordinary. And to work with some of the people i got to work with you know the staff there was was absolutely amazing we had a book editor we had a theater writer we had a we had a tv critic the i just it was just great you

get out of bed in the morning you couldn't wait to go to work. And it was a wonderful way to make a living. And once you were written, that was it. So if you knew, as soon as I had kids, I could write faster than anybody. That was the end of your day. Once your stories were done and you were ready, you know, the paper was ready to rock and roll for the following day, that was it. No internet. Right.

So even though it's 2023 when you hang up your quill pen, I have no idea if that's what you did, but let's pretend that's what you did. Okay. So if 2023, when you say goodbye, when did it really end? When did your heart leave the game and you were like,

oh, this isn't what I signed up for? At some point, you probably did what you were told for the paycheck. Am I right? Oh yeah. But it was never terrible. I don't know how else to express it. It's just such a privilege to make your living, you know, writing, to have a voice for whatever, you know, for whatever use it is. There was a time when being a journalist was was very much a respected thing way and way back at the beginning being an entertainment journalist that that was you were on an equal footing with the people you interviewed but that's long gone except for julia

roberts who thought she was all that in a bag of just lovely she listens to this show you know i know she does she says oh she's got kids now she's so much nicer i'm sure i's just lovely. She listens to this show, you know. I know she does. No, she doesn't. Everyone says, oh, she's got kids now. She's so much nicer. I'm sure. I hope so. Who knows? So Joni Mitchell, Julia Roberts. I like things in groups of three.

Give me one more and then I'll... Jennifer Aniston is another person who simply doesn't know what to do with the media. And it's interesting. What Slow Tech wrote about was that doing an interview is a tiny acting job. And if you can't get that right, it's interesting to me that someone would show their contempt for the press when those are the people in this symbiotic relationship who are going to carry your image forward. And I used to think, oh, that's interesting. And you dropped a couple of names early.

It sounds like a couple of people who get that in, which Ryan did you drop? Not Gosling, Reynolds. Although, have you met Ryan Gosling? Yeah, he's a very nice guy. But Ryan Reynolds is so goddamn funny. He gets it. And he's a genuinely nice person in your experience. But don't forget, we're also talking now cultural differences.

Canadians, British. Joni Mitchell's Canadian. Oh, that's true but saskatchewan i believe yeah there was just a cultural difference canadians work hard and they seem to have a lot of laughs i don't know how and sarah paulie who uh won an oscar oh my god she should have won six for that film very good film uh i i didn. I did enjoy it. Your experiences with Sarah Pauly are all aces? Sarah Pauly is very smart

and very kind and was always willing to speak to me despite the fact that she could not be more politically far away from the Toronto Sun. I always thought that was very kind of her. That's a good point, but they buy movie tickets too, even the conservative.

Right? Yeah, but that's a movie that should have been required viewing. Conservatives buy more movie tickets because they haven't figured out how to pirate films yet. So they actually buy more movie tickets. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, everybody. I'm just kidding.

So Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts. These are just passing observations. I don't know any of these people. Joni Mitchell. Is there a fourth before I play some Lois of the Low here? I just can't think of, you know, I can't think any mean thoughts. Sorry. Maybe throw a dude in the mix.

Who's the biggest jerk? Just pick a politician. They were all idiots. Have you ever met Justin Trudeau? I have not. Okay. He went, I guess, Canadian viral. He went viral the other day for having that conversation.

With that kid. Yeah. That was interesting. Yeah. And what I liked, and again, I mean, people listen to this show, the many episodes. There's not, you know, I don't, you know, I don't belong to the Liberal Party of Canada

and I don't talk a lot about Justin Trudeau, but I do like how he has a conversation with the kid like he takes that time to actually like reason with the kid and i i think that caught the kid off guard like i think um i think we need more of that like it's like instead of just like oh you're on that side like like fuck you i'm moving on like what if we had a dialogue like this is why some people are like oh you would have would you not have a peer Polyev lover on your show? I think I had this chat

with Humble and Fred just last week. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Of course I would. Like, I would, if you were a big booster

of Polyev, I would want to, I would talk to you about it. And we would have it like a, a civilized discourse about why you think he's the right person to,

to lead this country that I love. Like, we would talk about it. I wouldn't say, I'm not having Braun on. She's a big Polyev booster. But wait a minute.

Can you find that person who can explain to you carefully why? I don't know. But after this chat, I'll call up Tony Clement and see if he'll come on and do it. Oh, my. Ay-yi-yi. All right. He was the guy on Humble and Fred. He was pumping the Pierre Polyev tires. But Liz Braun, I'm here to pump your tires.

37 years. Still typing. Still typing. Touch typing. What a talent. And I hope everyone should follow Liz Braun on Twitter to find out where you can read what she types. I know you dropped a few of these names,

but people who want to hear, see what you type, like, is there a webpage or someplace we can go to find out where you can read these words? Well, everyone should be reading AWFJ. That's a collection of women

who write about film and they're good. Many Americans, many Canadians, it's all there. And Original Sin will one day feature Liz Braun,

for goodness sakes. Holy smokes. Was the second time as fun as the first, and will you take a maybe smile in the picture? Maybe that's the secret to the phone-on. Mike, alright. Alright for you. And that

brings us to the end of our 1,239th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMikeLiz. What's your Twitter handle again? It's still at LizBronSun. Are you going to change it? Can you change your handle? I think so, but maybe it's broken now that Elon's bought it.

But it's at LizBronSun, S-U-N. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. I've got fresh beer for Liz. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. I got a special delivery for Liz this morning. Moneris is at Moneris. Liz is going to be using this wireless speaker to listen to Yes, We Are Open Season 4. I'll see El Grego at TMLX 12 as well.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. They're the ones who want you to go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, a great resource. The Moment Lab is at The Moment Lab as we reinvent Liz Braun. The Moment Lab are going to become her PR representatives. I look forward to that. And Ridley Funeral Home are at RidleyFH. Shout out to Brad Jones and his excellent podcast,

Life's Undertaking. See you all later this week. When my special guest is goes to notes, Rick, the temp kicking out the jams. See you then. Everything is rosy and green Well, I've been told That there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who

Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of green Cause I know that's true Yes, grey Cause I know that's true Yes I do I know it's true Yeah I know it's true

How about you? Oh they're picking up trash And they're putting down roads And they're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because

Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today and your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away cause everything is

rosy and gray well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up

Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy now

Everything is rosy, yeah Everything is rosy and gray Thank you.