Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lorne Honickman: Toronto Mike'd #1317

Episode Date: August 31, 2023

In this 1317th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Lorne Honickman about the sorry state of media in this country, his brush with George Harrison and the late great Robbie Robertson. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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And Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Michael Williams was going to be the guest for episode 1317, that's 1317, But he did not show up for his Toronto Mike debut. So I've left him a voicemail. I've contacted Eric Alper. I've got everyone hunting for Michael Williams

so he can finally make his Toronto Mike debut. But as luck would have it, the great Lorne Honickman dropped by earlier today and I was going to hold on to his episode and drop it on Monday,

Labor Day. But since Michael Williams is not here, here's my fab conversation with FOTM Lorne Honickman. Lorne, welcome back to Toronto Mic'd. Unbelievable to be sitting in this chair again, almost four years to the day.

It was yesterday, four years, right? Yesterday in recording time. I'm not sure when this episode drops because I've got a back-to-back, but yeah, it was August 30th, 2019. And you just told me moments ago that we have not seen each other in person since that date. That's right.

And I don't think that's true. Like, didn't I visit your office? You visited my, what? Wow, that's fair. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How can you? Look at that.

I know I've been, I think I've been to your office like just maybe in March, 2020, just before the pandemic. You are absolutely right. You forgot. Mike. I'm hurt. No, no, no. You're right.

You came to my office. Because you're a lawyer. You shouldn't, you should know your facts. So let's be completely accurate. The last time I saw you here sitting in this chair was four years ago. Then you came to my office and the incredible thing, Mike, you came to my office literally, I think it was literally days before the lockdown, right? Yeah, you went to like a Maple Leaf game that week, I want to say, like maybe on the Tuesday

night or something? No, the Wednesday night. Wednesday night, right. My daughter, Laura, and I were at the Leaf game. It was a Montreal game. I remember that. And the only thing that was happening then Mike that was two days two days before the quote yeah the 11th the that was the 11th right

the lockdown was the Friday or they they announced everything on Friday right Laura and I are at the game and the only thing that was happening at the game where people were fist pumping right or fist I do that week I had guests all week in the studio that week and i remember that was the big change i made which was uh no longer shaking hands with the guest like that was my and i thought i still try not to shake hands like i just kind of got used to it but we made it through the i think we made it through the pandemic i don't know covid still everywhere but lauren you look fantastic i'm i'm shocked i haven't seen you since march 2020.

And will I see you? This is the big question off the top. Will I see you next Thursday, this coming Thursday, which is the 7th of September, 2023? Will you be at TMLX 13? I'm going to do everything I can. What could stop you? Well, you know, just about a hundred things. Should I go through them all?

But how about a crazy, crazy busy time? Okay, I'm going to do my best because I have to say, one of the things about you, you and I spoke. So you came to my office and so people understand. You weren't in trouble. People are like, well, why was Mike? Did Mike need, no, Mike didn't need a lawyer back then. Mike and I were talking back then

about me podcasting, webcasting. Right. And through the pandemic, that occurred. You and I did this thing called Judgment Day for a while. Which I quite liked, and then you got too busy, I think. Yeah, and it just, you know, it was just one of those things. But that's why we were talking. But the thing about, like, you just, you know,

to quote the great Bob Dylan, you just keep on keeping on. And I've always followed what you were doing. And by the way, I think what was really interesting to me, speaking of you and I, is the last time I appeared with you, we talked about Dylan. But the time before that was on day 10 of the pandemic. I have a little Dylan ready to go because I have a question for you, but keep going.

Wow. Song one, side one, Blood on the Tracks. I was just talking about this with my wife, Kathy. One of the great Dylan tracks, right? No, no, no. One of my favorites. When I put that album on for the very first time. Remember when you put an album on and the needle dropped and you of course you know you hear the

little I'm almost 50 of course I do Lauren and first song first side and uh any you're getting me off topic here but but what I was about to say is when you and I spoke in that first 10 days of the pandemic and I listened to that recently Mike and what was amazing is we were talking about how frustrating it was getting the right messages from the media or and then getting the right information from the politicians and that was only 10 days in and things improved since oh no no I mean like when you look at what happened through that pandemic, let's just talk about a couple of things. I think it's really important.

Can I just observe, though, you are such a professional broadcaster, and I could tell you cut your teeth at, you know, 299 Queen, and I got a guest later today who also, I guess he was at 99 Queen before he went to 299 Queen East. But you're right in the heart. I have a couple of light things here, just to set the table. Just a couple of things. Okay, all right.

No, that's okay. I want to tell you, Lorne Hunt, I mean, often on this show, when I have a gourd on, like Gourd Dep or Gourd Stellic, any of the gourds come by, I tell them about the great Canadian gourds. Like we have a great history in this country

of men named Gordon who are just great Canadians, okay? I want to say you're one of the great Canadian Laurens. I want to put you right up there with Lorne Michaels, Lorne Green, and then there's Lorne Honigman. I think Canadian Laurens are next up after Canadian Gordes. Well, thank you very much. Well, you deserve the accolade.

And I do want to tell the listenership that there's a big event coming up, but I don't know when I'm going to drop this, so it might have already happened. But regardless, I woke up this morning to a brand new Tragically Hip song, and that does not happen every day. So it's called Bumblebee,

and I tweeted a link to it on YouTube. But check out New Hip. Just dropped this morning recording day this morning not drop day that's where it gets confusing but i want to just tell people if they missed your first appearance on toronto mike the first time i met you which was almost exactly four years ago that's episode 503 lauren did you get a tattoo of the number 503 on your body yeah you want to see it yeah where is it it's? It's on your butt? Okay. Mike chats with Lorne Honigman about his years at

City TV, CP24 and 640. There's also a frank discussion about what ails news today. So this is a recurring topic with you and I'm very interested in your perspective because you are a former broadcaster, but lest we forget to mention you are an active lawyer. You're

a working man, working hard for the people you're you're an actual lawyer can people hire you what the heck is your specialty uh yeah i i don't come on and talk about you know trying to advertise myself i i deal a lot in libel and slander a lot of defamation law we're very relevant you are you kidding me yeah well you know very important uh in in today's day and age. And as you know, we were mentioning the pandemic before. I was busier than ever during that time. And a lot of it had to do with the fact that people were sitting at home.

They were on the internet. They were blogging. They were doing whatever they do on social media. And, you know, people wake up and they become journalists and they become uh commentators uh you know maybe we'll get into the depth and herd trial where where social media was was rampant as as far as uh amateur journalists amateur commentators and legal commentators and what it meant but but certainly uh that kept me busy with people who i'll bet you know like yeah because idle hands are the devil's play thing sure and the and the internet and you

can go on and you can still hide we you and i four years ago i i used the words hiding behind cloaks of anonymity and that and it still happens today um it's a it's a wonderful place and it's a it's a dangerous place and it's and it's a place where we saw in the pandemic where really really if i could just say where it just got accentuated was the the what i call the the pandemic of misinformation and it became um and it's it's where we are today nothing's been cured in that way mike like for example let me give you an example of what was happening throughout the pandemic and it happens now when it happened we are today nothing's been cured in that way mike like for example let me give you an example of what was happening throughout the pandemic and it happens now when it happened before but it's

really highlighted and it's a it's what i what people call confirmation bias so through the pandemic you wake up in the morning and let's just use one thing vaccines we'll talk i mean we could do an hour on on the information or misinformation about vaccines, what you knew, didn't know. If I was in the camp, whatever camp I was in, if I was in the camp that vaccines were harmful, like don't, you know, like this is, all I needed to do was type in vaccine harmful, hit enter, and I could get 10,000 different websites that I could go to and read about why I am right. Same thing with respect to whether or not school closings are proper. Whatever the issue was, I would be able to get the information that I needed to make myself feel good that I'm on the

right side of whatever issue it is. That produces divisiveness, that produces polarization, and no one is getting the information that they properly need. We saw that throughout, and oh my goodness, think about this, Mike. Like when we talk about vaccines. Yeah. Okay. Remember when the vaccines were first coming out, and all you heard about were were these were the efficacy rate.

Okay. So, oh, AstraZeneca was 67%. Pfizer was 73. You could go on and look and, okay, which one? So we took, Kathy and I took AstraZeneca. We made the decision. Me too, Lauren. Yeah.

Yeah. AstraZeneca. Okay. Me too, Lorne. Yeah, yeah. AstraZeneca. Okay, because this organization called NACI, that I never heard of before, but became like the word, the letters that we knew, they were going, AstraZeneca is great. It's great. It's great. It's great. Days. Okay, we took AstraZeneca. About nine days after we took our, oh, it's terrible. It's terrible. Don't take it. That's the type of, wait a minute. It was okay. No, no, no, no, no.

Oh, no, wait a minute. If you're over 55, it's okay. If you're, yeah, okay. Oh, great, great. I'm over, okay. So we're okay. We're okay. And then of course we took our second shot.

We was at, but then we couldn't get Astrozyte because then it was totally off the market. Right, you had to mix and match. You had to mix and match. But then. Like sleep country Canada. And then you went on and talked about mix and matches mix and match okay you hit that what about and what about um what about all the issues mike uh about the red green yellow and red zones in ontario you'd wake up in the

morning you go brampton peels red right york is green i'm getting like ptsd flashbangs well no no but but that's what it was like because what did that mean? And what was happening at those news conferences? Nothing. Because what was happening at the news conferences, either the prime minister standing out in front of wherever he was or the premier, remember the premier standing there in his mask and he had Christine Elliott and then he had the officer of health beside him, Dave Williams, and they would do their way.

This is what it is, and this is what's happening. And nobody was going, well, wait a minute. Like, I'd be sitting there going, ask this. Wait, how can it be red in Brampton and green in York? Well, wait a minute. Isn't that going to mean that everybody will just drive to York or it's yellow in Toronto, but blue, I don't know, whatever the colors were, it didn't make sense.

And that's the type of thing that was happening. School closings. Oh my goodness. When you think about the information that was coming out there. So that's what ended up happening. And we see it. We saw it with our health officials. We saw it with politicians through the pandemic.

And then, of course, now, Mike, we see it in politics itself, right? America, polarized, divisive, right down the middle. If Trump and Biden go against each other and Trump loses, it's because the election was stolen. If Trump wins, it will be because he stole the, whatever it will be. And we're going to, and we have that in Canada now as well, right? It's the, it's the same thing. The same thing is going to happen here. And, and that's what concerns me. And I, I'm sorry, I'm on this rant here, but, but I love a good rant, Lauren, keep going. You got me going on this rant here but but i love a good rant lauren keep going you got me going on this because i that's the thing that to me is where we're there's no impartiality i could

never say right now that you could go to the news you could get you could get what we used to call a fair reporting because everybody's pointing the finger. Independent media says, well, you can't trust legacy media. Oh, no, no, no. Mainstream media, oh, they won't give you the news. They won't give you all the right information because they're getting money from the government. They're getting subsidies. And because they're getting subsidies, they somehow are not going to give you the right news. And of course, mainstream media will say, well, you can't go to independent. I mean, they're going to look at this one way you know they're all right wing blah blah blah dot dot dot so nobody is ever going to say that's good that's a good story that's a fair story that makes sense everybody will say i

somebody will say to you where do you get your news from my you may say well i i watch c at all you watch c oh you're not going to get anything from cnn c at all you watch c oh you're not gonna get anything from cnn or you go i watch fox oh you're not gonna get that what do you i read the start you read the start yeah well i would go to rebel new rebel new no matter what it is there will be somebody there that will shake their head and say no no no that's garbage that's not news or that's they're not giving you the right information and it is for somebody like me. Yeah. Okay.

So, and I'll just say personally, I mean, if I was doing the news now, if I had a show now, if I, if that's where my life was at, I would be trying to say,

let's call it, let's go down the middle. Can we go down the middle? Can I get something from that site? Can I get something from that? Can I give people the proper information can i make sure the right questions get asked i don't know and somebody asked me the other day we i was talking about this as you oh lauren that's really depressing like

it is depressing you know i said well i'm sorry i'm sorry'm sorry, but that's what you see now. And people wake up and you go, all right, I'm going to go read my news websites. All right, I'm going to read mine. And that's what it is. And it's a confirmation bias. It's a divisiveness. People look at things.

And I just wish that people would sit back and maybe say, all right, why don't I take a taste of everything? why don't why don't i i'm like a smorgasbord right i'm gonna read let me read that story in the star and let me see maybe how the post reports it then maybe i'll go to and i do this i'm speaking for myself now i'll go to true north though and i'll go to let's see what Ezra Levent and our friends David Menzies and others are doing at Rebel News right now. Because there are some good things that are coming out of all of these places. I'm not going to read that because that is this bias or this whatever, then how is it that I'm going to be able to ensure that at least I'm on the road to getting the proper information? Because I don't believe, and I'll say it for the record here,

I don't believe for one iota of one second that legacy media, if you want to call it that or mainstream media doesn't do a story because they're getting paid not to do it for all intents and purposes oh they get money so i just say they're not doing it because maybe they're not doing proper journalism maybe that's it maybe they got to figure out how can they make sure that they're getting all the information out how can they make sure that they're doing something that we would call fair reporting? And people aren't thinking about that enough. They're too worried about what side they're on, and that's where we're at.

I don't have the answer, Mike. If somebody said, well, what's the answer? I don't know. Yeah, well, of course I'm going to ask a few follow-up questions. So you kind of addressed one, but how does Lorne Honigman access the news? Here, I have a little story, is a couple of februaries ago i got a call from you lauren honickman because you were reading your toronto star and in fact i framed it i framed it it's behind you lauren okay so i was staring back at you right you were uh where you were at your i don't know your breakfast table or something okay so what So what is, like, give me a, give me some, a

vibe of what a typical Lorne Honigman news absorption, uh, Sunday morning. Well, no, I do this every day. Every day, of course. So here's what I do. I, I try and set aside about 30 minutes to just see what, what I need or what's going on. And I will go through all four papers.

So I'll go through the post, the globe, the star and the sun. so we'll call them the four uh major you know papers in in this jurisdiction um and i'll look to see and and of course you know you're scrolling down and and you're not i'm not going to read everything or whatever but the important thing to me is is how you know i'm going to look and see different stories how they may and then i'll go to the u.s and I'll look at CNN. I'll look at Fox news. I'll look at the New York post. I'll take a look at those. I'll pull up, uh, I'll pull up the times as well once in a while to see what's there. But other than that, because of how busy I am, I can't really, uh, I can't access everything.

So I will try at least three times a week. I'll look at True North. I'll look at Rebel News three or four times a week. I'll go through that. They've done some great stuff. David Menzies does, you know, people may say, oh, what are you talking about? David Menzies would have fit in at City Pulse News

way back in the day. He knows how to do television in many ways, and he's great to watch. Well, shout out to Morty Shulman. Yeah, that's right. Only because, you know, his daughter is a city councillor now. Oh, is that right? Diane Sachs.

I didn't even know that. And a client of Toronto Mike. Wow, I didn't even know that that was his daughter. I'm full of the fun facts. You are. So that's what I try to do, but is it enough? I don't know, but, but here's the motivation. Here's the motivation. I think if everybody had this motivation that I have, um, I think it would be a good road to go down. Let's call it the motivation to be impartial if possible. Why don't we call it that, Mike? Impartial if possible. And to be

impartial if possible would mean that you have to open your mind to being able to read what you may think is garbage, or you may think is nonsense, or you may think comes from some sort of bias. comes from some sort of bias. Because if you can't do that, if you can't at least strive for impartiality, then you're not doing yourself or anybody around you for that matter any good because all you're doing is confirming your own position on issues.

And if you do that, again, this is just Lorne Honigman's opinion. I don't think you're going to be able to ever make important decisions based on impartiality. And that to me is what we should be striving for. Maybe somebody would say, if we were a phone-in show right now, and I'd go to the lines and I'd go, Mike, Mike in Etobicoke, what do you think about this? Is it ever going to be a possibility that we can look at things like we hopefully used to with a sense of impartiality? Is that possible?

What would Mike in Etobicoke tell me right now? Well, I want to ask you your opinion on the CBC. You didn't mention CBC, but do you consume news from CBC? I should tell you that. I do. Sorry. I will look at their website 100%. I'll go through CBC.

CTV, I do that. I'll look at Global two or three times a week as well. Because I know you mentioned the Big American Network. I three times a week as well because i know you mentioned the big american networks i actually made a decision if well years ago i guess now but i made a decision i would no longer consume uh american television news like i just decided it was i didn't i didn't feel good this is during the i mean i guess the trump heydays continue much like covid lingers trump lingers but i stopped consuming american news i unsubscribed to cnn i don't get it anymore i never did actually look at fox news i don't

think i ever had it but i do find i consume a lot of cbc news and i'm curious lauren honickman lawyer and broadcaster do you think there's a bias in the reporting from the uh the mothership there cbc and that's think of the words that you just used you said is there a bias so bias is a very interesting word to me but if you mean if you mean that when i read cbc do i look at it and say wow they're they're really pro-liberal like they'll do liberal you, you know, pro-Trudeau, whatever. Sure. I mean, there's always been bias. You think so?

I mean, because we just came off, not that recently, but Harper was in power for a good decade, right? And what, during the Harper years, did CBC suddenly do, you know, pro-Harper pieces? No, no, no. And I think you're absolutely correct. And that's one of the things that you have to look at when you get back to say, well, you know, they're funded,

they're funded. And, and, and sometimes people will say, well, it doesn't matter. You know, justice must be done.

It also must be seen to be done. So, so you got to say, if you're funding, you don't want that because of a potential bias, but let me talk about the CBC. Yeah. I want you to only because it's,

it's my main source of. No, no, because it's interesting. I used to be I've got to hear Lauren's take. Because it's interesting. I used to be a much bigger fan of the CBC for one reason, only because of the journalists that were there. I used to think they did a much better job than they do now. For me, it's not a matter of saying, oh my goodness, they are so slanted towards this side or that side. I always look at news organizations like this oh my goodness that's just that's just bad reporting oh that reporter didn't do this oh

my and and again i just keep throwing myself into what i would have done so so i'll give you a good example yeah like we were talking about the news conferences during the um during the pandemic uh when the prime minister was standing out in front of wherever he was standing out in front of and and the questions would come in and they'd get you know sometimes you'd hear like you know uh cbc and you know the prime minister um is is um should canadians be you know uh you know optimistic about whatever and you go oh my goodness oh god this is like if this was the american open you know, optimistic about whatever? And you go, oh my goodness, oh God, this is like, if this was the American Open, you know, here's your soft serve over the net.

Oh, like when they asked Jeannie if she liked Justin Bieber. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Remember that? Yeah, I mean, so my criticisms through the years into now about CBC or even ctv or any news organizations would not be that oh my goodness they are so slanted towards this political party it's oh my goodness like ask the right questions ask the hard questions if you want to be perceived as impartial i'll get back to my word and you don't want to be perceived as biased by those who have

that confirmation bias coming into the conversation, then show that you're able to do stories and that you are able to be as hard or as thorough as you would be with questioning other people. That to me will be the way to do that because Mike, when you and I were growing up, people talked about newspapers having a slant. I mean, I remember many years that people talked about the globe. Oh, that's somewhat right, right?

And the star has always been termed as, oh, they're somewhat left. I don't even know if left or right exists in Canada anymore. Right. I don't even know if that, if they, I don't know. We've seen memos, of course, from, you know, internally at the Toronto Sun. I think it was Canada Land that broke the story. But we've seen memos in which they instruct the journalists to favor the

Progressive Conservative Party provincially. Like we, so, I mean, we've always suspected and known it, but we have a smoking gun there. Well, and again, I guess maybe I'm speaking, maybe that's the lawyer side of me, the law side of me that comes in. I don't know. I would never sit here and go, oh yeah, there's evidence, you know,

oh yeah, that's, you know, there's the smoking gun. It would be a really interesting, I've always thought about, you know, writing about a hundred different plays in my thought about you know writing about a hundred different plays in my head you know and i think maybe one day that's that's what i'm going to do i'm going to sit down and one of the plays that played through my head throughout and it came out of the pandemic and it came out of this this fight that you'd see every day online mainstream media oh you can't get that from legacy and i'd say wow can you imagine if there could be a trial

you know you could put put put the media put mainstream media on trial and somebody has brought an application to the court for a declaration that that newspaper is bias and that newspaper to say what you just said mike is is is is purposely not reporting a proper story to give one political party its due. I'm sorry, and I know, because I deal in evidence and I deal in rules of evidence and I deal in what would really be facts that would have to prove whatever. So I would never sit here today and go, oh, yeah, I agree with you, Mike. Oh, yeah, there's smoking guns out there to show that uh that these these reporters are doing a bad job if you will because they've been ordered to do so or they've been ordered to do whatever so only you what was your phrase of impartial remind me of that

slogan you want to coin there oh yeah what was it we got to play it back guys impartiality if necessary what was it again impartiality if possible i let's look at it because that that's what i that's what i believe is is if i was running any newsroom in the world right now anywhere i don't care and what you're doing i don't care what the news is i know independent not independent paid not paid whatever it would not paid, whatever it would be, I'd be, I'd be, I'd be, the very first thing I'd be saying is we got to strive for impartiality. Of course. And well, no, well, that's, well, maybe, maybe that's where we're, we're failing right now. Right, right. Okay. On that note. Okay. So by the way, when you said that phrase impartiality, if possible,

it reminds me of my history class when you learned about the phrase, conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription. Right. It's sort of in that vibe. Okay. I want to know, as I listen to you now, you're such a passionate, well-spoken orator. And why are you not currently on the radio or television, Lorne Honigman? I mean, the lawyer thing is going to pay the

bills, but you're not doing your podcast right now unless you're doing it somewhere else. And so, you know, why are you not on the radio? You used to be on 640, right? Yeah, no, I had a great run at 640. I was, when my TV career came to an end in 2010 at City TV, then CP24 when I was doing legal briefs. Gord Harris, who was the program director at the time, thought I could do a good fill-in position there.

And it worked out great. I did seven years there. I used to fill in for all the hosts. I filled in for Oakley when he did the mornings. And you know what? It was a great time, Mike. Jimmy Koshon, who was on the board, I don't know where Jimmy is now. I think one of the most talented people that I had ever worked with

in the broadcast industry. He and I did shows together. We did those four hours. And maybe I'm just, here, let me reach around. There it is. I can pat. There it is.

Patting myself on the back. I would put our shows that we did, that I did with Jimmy against any shows. I mean, we did funny. We did serious. I love taking calls. I mean, I don't know if people, do people still take calls on talk radio? I don't know.

I hear it on Coast to Coast, on whatever, not Coast to Coast, whatever, Cross Canada Checkup on CBC. There's also an Ontario show at noon where they take calls. But I don't know about AM radio. Well, I don't know. So, I mean, we used to take calls, you know, and I, but whatever happened, I don't know why it happened. I don't know, you know, I can speculate, but no, I, but whatever happened, I don't know why it happened. I don't know.

You know, I could, I can speculate, but no, but no, I don't, I, nobody, nobody's knocking on Lord Oddickman's door saying, can you come in and fill in for me today? Your deal at 640 was like a pay as you go. They would call you when they needed you. Right, right. Freelance style. Sure. So, you know, I would, I would, that's exactly right.

So I was. So your phone stopped ringing. My phone stopped ringing at the end of 2017. And then I, you know, and it was okay. I mean, there could be lots of different reasons for it. I mean, I was, you know, I was busy in my, you know, there was times I'd get called and I couldn't do it. But there was a time there, Mike, where I was filling in for, for example, Oakley. When Bill Carroll was on 640, if he was away,

they put me in his slot. I filled in for Stafford on many times when his show would follow Oakley. So I was sort of the fill-in guy back then. And it was good. I mean, I had a uh, it was, uh, I had a good time doing it, obviously. I mean, you can't do something like that and not have, and also it was, uh, it, it was a different type of, uh, broadcasting experience for me, but I, I had

that one, uh, legal briefs. I don't know if you remember legal briefs on CP24. Of course I do. We did, it was talk TV, right? We were doing, we were doing talk radio on TV, you know, we were taking calls and, and, uh, so I got, I got used to being able to manage calls like that. And, and then of course it was just, I guess things just change. Uh, uh, there's, I, I have no expertise in the metamorphosis in, in AM talk radio. I don't know why people get on or why they don't get on, but I stopped getting on at, at that period of time. Well,

speaking of changes and, uh, AM radio, there was a big change just announced recently where, uh, FOTM, that's right. FOTM,

Amanda Cupido, who was the program director at AM 640 was let go. And they brought over, uh, they brought in Mike Ben Dixon who was the program director uh fairly recently for a pretty good uh length of time at 1010 CFRB now known as News Talk 1010 so Ben Dixon now is the program director at 640 so that's a recent change so I'm just maybe I don't know what your relationship's like with Ben Dixon but I'd make a call to Ben Dixon and let him know you're on the bench and you're ready to go you sound great oh okay you're good you're gonna uh you're gonna be my agent here well i won't even take a cut i

just want to i just think you uh if you're not going to start i think you should be podcasting as well but you should be on the radio because uh you combine the two worlds in my opinion you have the broadcast savvy, you know how to produce a show, you know content is king and you're well-spoken, but you're a bonafide, you know, working lawyer, like you're a law guy. But hang on, hang on, hang on. Are you against me?

Well, yeah, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. I mean, I don't know. Pumping your tires here, Lorne. No, I understand. But, and again, could I be able to prove what I'm about to say? I don't think so. But aren't I out of the demographic if you put it in a huge umbrella of people that they want on radio right now? I hear this so much.

You're telling me you don't check any diversity boxes. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I'm white. I'm over 65. I'm male. Now, I don't, yeah, I'm white. I I'm, I'm over 65. Um, I'm male now. I, you know, I don't know. I would, would I be able to get somebody in a witness box to testify under oath and say, yeah, that that's the reason that you don't know, but maybe there are other reasons. Maybe people don't like that, but let me say this. Let me say this. Let me say this. Yeah. When I look at my life where it is right now, and I'm listening to you, and I say, you know, should I come full circle here? Would it make sense for me right now? Get on the air. Talk about these issues that I'm talking about with Toronto Mike today.

Do it on. Yeah, that probably makes a lot of sense in some ways. And I'm always open to talking about those things and maybe maybe that's where you know as we as i enter into it and you know if there is a next phase maybe that's that's where it goes uh because i am passionate about the the issues i can hear it i can hear it you know and and i don't obviously in when you're um i don't deal with these and talk about these on a daily basis. So it's almost like I'm here with Toronto Mike.

I'm here with Toronto Mike, my therapist. And Mike, thank you so much for letting me vent and rant. And I feel. I'm like Dr. Melfi and you're Tony Soprano. That's right. I feel so much better right now that you've let me do this. Well, I'm not done with you yet before you try to slip away. Oh, by the way, in answer to your question question i have met mike ben dixon in the past and he and i've

talked a couple of times so uh uh that is interesting to hear that he's uh gonna be running the ship there yeah uh big uh big fresh news uh yeah he's uh i don't know they have fancy titles now like so he's the program director but but they have to be all fancy at Chorus and call it, I don't know, director of talk and talent or something like that. But it's the job that you used to know as program director. Yeah, that's what I, that's all I do it as, yeah. Eric, I'm going to tease something here. So I am going to thank some sponsors, but I do want to tell people, Lorne Honigman and I are going to chat about the,

uh, late great Robbie Robertson. Okay. And I have some songs loaded up and we all know about your, uh, affinity for Bob Dylan. We did a show for Bob Dylan's 80th birthday. That was so much fun,

by the way. Well, shout out to Canada Kev. Who's watching on the live stream. He wants you to know he is a fellow Dylan fan. And yeah, he, uh, Oh, I'm just reading now. He's got some fresh notes here, but he says there's a, a post Malone, Bob Dylan collaboration that, uh, hasn't quite been finished yet, but he says, uh, wow.

Yeah. Anyway, there's something to, but he's a big fan of Bob Dylan like yourself and he loved your tribute to Bob Dylan on his 80th birthday. Hopefully I don't have to call you up and have you talk to me about Bob Dylan like yourself and he loved your tribute to Bob Dylan on his 80th birthday. Hopefully I don't have to call you up and have you talk to me about Bob Dylan for the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode. So I just dropped the Memorial episode for

August 2023 brought to you by Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of this community since 1921 and in that episode there's a brand new, there's fresh content. So I called up a woman named Joe Faluna who worked at CFNY worked very closely with Hal Harbour

and I called up Danny Elwell who of course worked at CFNY and worked closely with Hal Harbour and both Joe and Danny remained friends with Hal Harbour throughout his life and Hal Harbour passed away in August and we had a great chat about Hal and what made him special.

So that episode is in the feed now. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. The Robbie Robertson Memorial segment of Toronto Mic is coming in moments with the great Lauren Honigman. I have some questions for you about other great rockers. Some guy named Bob Dylan, of course,

he's going to come up. But there's another rocker I'm going to ask you about because I have a great note about you. But I want to let you know, Loren, because you're here, your second time being here, did you get a Palma Pasta lasagna when you were here four years ago? Yes. Okay.

Did you like it? Loved it. Loved it. Okay, I'm bringing, you're going to get another one because you loved it. So yeah, you're going to go home with another one today. Wow. Thank you so much. I know you lawyers don't like to accept gifts, but I'm giving you, I don't know why I said that. All right.

I also have some fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. A reminder, this is important. September 7th, TMLX 13. We'll feature Lorne Honigman because I'm going to text him all day

and make sure he's there. So Lorne will be there. Peter Gross will be there. Are you friendly with, I'm trying to think, do you know Mike Epple? I don't. Yeah, he might've come a bit, I'm just doing the math in my head here. But what about Scott Metcalf?

I haven't met Scott either. Okay, you're going to meet some of these more recent city TV personalities. TMLX13, everyone's invited and Great Lakes will buy you your first beer. This is all happening at 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. David Kynes wrote me today

and he said he thought it was tonight. So my big fear, and by the way, tonight, recording tonight, not drop tonight. This never happens, Lorne.

99.9% of Toronto Mike episodes drop two seconds after we finish recording. But because you slipped in just in front of Michael Williams. Right. You know, if Williams... No, just hold on to me.

If he doesn't show, you'll drop. No, no, no. Hold me until you need me. Well, nah. I've got to keep this content. Because I'm promoting events that are going to happen on September 7th. Just make sure you're going to put me on before September 7th.

You're going to drop, I think, Holiday Monday, Labor Day. Oh, beautiful. I love dropping on Holiday Mondays. So you've got your beer. Yes. You've got your pasta. Yes. There's a measuring tape courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home.

I won't ask the connection. Well, you can use it as you wish here. And I will just let people know that if they have old electronics, old tech, old devices, I'm sure you have some 8-track players in your garage, Loren. You don't throw it in the garbage. 8-track, that sounds familiar. Don't throw it in the garbage.

The chemicals end up in the landfill. It's bad for everybody. Diane Sacks would be very disappointed go to recycle my electronics.ca and find out a depot near you where you can drop it off and they will properly and safely recycle it thank you e-p-r-a okay i have a note that came in years ago and i took it down because i have a little Google document where I keep notes for future guests. And I knew one day I would talk to Lorne Honigman again. But for some reason, I don't know who sent this note.

I checked my Gmail. It wasn't an email. So however this note got to me, see when things come by email, I can find it. But when they come from other places, I don't know, DMs and this and that, I can lose sight of the source or whatever. Okay, you know this as a lawyer.

So I don't know who wrote this to me, but I have a song to accompany it. This is kind of exciting that or whatever. Okay, you know this as a lawyer. So, I don't know who wrote this to me, but I have a song to accompany it. This is kind of exciting that I finally get to ask you about this or tell this story anyways. Let's see if you can name this tune. I got my mind set on you. I got my mind set on you.

Name this tune. Well, you know this is a cover song, right, Lauren? You know it? I do. I was surprised. I loved this song when it came out in the mid to late 80s. I was surprised to find out it was a cover. So, who's the artist?

Oh, I think his name is George. I think, isn't this what he did? Isn't this when I did it with Jeff Lynne? Good job. Yeah, this is like a traveling Will... Well, yeah, it was in around the time of the traveling Wilburys era, and I think I know what you're going to ask me. Okay, so I'm going to read this note I got.

Are you ready? Okay. Then I got another note about Dylan I got to ask you about. Then we got to talk about Robbie Robertson. Okay. Again, I don't know who wrote this note, so please let me know. Read the note.

I want to let this person know that I don't... I'm sorry. Okay. My all-time favorite Lorne Honigman story came from a friend of mine who was at City TV when Lorne was there. Honickman was one of the world's

biggest Beatles fans and would talk about them all the time, spewing out trivia about them at the drop of a hat. He could go on for hours about them if you let him. And I would let him,

just so you know, I would let you. Well, one day in 1987, George Harrison came in to Much music to tout his latest single i got my mind set on you here was an actual beetle right in the same place where honickman worked and where was lauren he was out on a story for that day's city pulse newscast he was doing interviews and stand-ups back in those days before cell phones, so frantic efforts were made to try and get him on his cameraman's radio.

They were trying to tell him to get back to the station or miss what may have been his only chance to ever actually meet one of his true idols. But no matter, it's a long letter, but no matter how many times they tried to raise him, there was radio silence. Harrison, you see, well written. Harrison was on a strict schedule

and had to be out of there in less than a few minutes. And it looked like Honickman would miss his chance. Harrison got up to leave and made his way to the infamous City TV parking lot back door where a limo was waiting for him. Just then, Honickman and his camera truck entered the gates

of the lot. He got out totally unaware that one of his heroes was about to walk out the very door he was coming in. Inevitably, the two ran into each other. As Lorne was entering and Harrison was leaving, Honikman was absolutely stunned as he literally bumped into the ex-Beatle. It was probably the only time anyone ever saw Honikman at a loss for words. As the famed musician brushed by him, all Honnickman can say was a breathless,

hi, George. Well, that wasn't accurate. Everything else was accurate up until that moment. Okay, well, let's finish it up and then you can fact check it. To which Harrison replied in that famous Liverpool accent, hello.

I don't know if that's a Liverpool accent. And then he walked to the car. It may not have been the meeting of the minds he was hoping for, but by a quirk of timing, Lorne actually then he walked to the car. It may not have been the meeting of the minds he was hoping for, but by a quirk of timing, Lauren actually got to talk to his idol, even if it was only for a quick hello. Yes.

So whoever wrote that, that's well written. That's unbelievable. I know. You know who that may have been? Who? That may have been Dan Haber. Dan Haber was in charge at City TV back then.

He did the graphics, and he did some of the great headlines for the stories. You know what? Because it's been sitting in my Google Doc for years. It could have been him. It could have been him because he's active on the soundy board. Oh, the soundy board. Oh, my goodness.

Is that a whole you need another 90 minutes for that? That's right. No, because somebody had speaking you just quickly just about the sony board somebody who who follows the sony board you were asking me about when lauren when's lauren honigman going to go back on the air blah blah blah and and a good friend of mine uh from my city tv days one of my closest friends was said was telling me about how he follows the Sony board and they were lamenting something about 1010

and some hosts and not hosts or whatever. And he just said to me, he said, he said, Lord, why can I write something about you

or what we should, you know, and anyway, but be that as it may, that story was one, almost 100% accurate except the words that were said.

So yeah. So for the record, what were the words that were said? The actual thing that happened. So yeah, we had no phones back then. I don't know if it was maybe 87, 80. We were in the new building for sure. And we moved into the new building in May of 87.

So it was after that, because that back door went into the parking lot. That's where we entered and that's where they would take. Is that where Steve Anthony would throw the Christmas trees? I can't remember. But as I was, so they got us on the radio. We came in, the door opened and he's standing there. So literally as I'm opening the door and he's coming out and I stopped and it went like this, Mike.

I went, there's the pause. I went, and I put my hand stopped and it went like this mike i went there's the pause i went uh and i put my hand out and i went lauren honickman and he went george harrison and i went hi hello and that was it and it was and it was it was so i i said my name he said and he he's and he said, hello, George Harrison. And that was it. So yeah, and it was unbelievable for that moment. Is it surreal? Well, yeah. And just listening to it.

And I'm thinking that may have been. You know what? I actually think you're right, because it's entirely possible. The reason I can't find it in my Gmail is because that's copied and pasted from the soundy board. Okay. So that's entirely possible. So maybe it, maybe it was years ago. He would, he's the type of guy that would, that I used to talk to all the time about the Beatles because Dan, probably nobody I've ever met in my life, by the way.

And I'm sure even to this day, I haven't spoken to him in so long. He knew more about music from the 60s than anybody in the world so he would be the guy that i would have talked to over and over again ad nauseum right about the beatles so that that but but that's almost that is like i say that's 99.9 except the word so yes that was uh for me something that yep i will never forget and please when my memory starts going mike can you please remind me about that again i thought you're gonna ask me to take you back and shoot you i will do that for people i care about okay just you know thank you so much we played a little dylan earlier and we might teaser we're about to do a little

tribute to robbie robertson and there will be more dylan but the big question from eric and eric i really hope i see you because i know i'm going to see canada kev but i really hope i see you at tmlx 13 on september 7th there's no like recording there's no mute like i mean there's gonna be music but not live music it's literally like fotm's collecting to have some beer to to have some pasta, to meet each other, to like just to chill and to hang. And it's going to be a beautiful thing. It's like the park TMLX events coming to Great Lakes Brewery

at 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. And that's not too far. It's down the street from the Costco, not far from Royal York and Queensway. Eric, I hope I see you there. Eric writes, ask Lorne if he picked up his Bob Dylan tickets for the Massey Hall shows.

Prices, and I heard John Donahue was complaining about this. Prices are ranging from $500 to $1,000. Yep, I can't believe it. You got your ticket? No, I don't. Even though you're a lawyer and I'm pretty sure you could afford $1,000 to see.

Oh, listen to that. I bet you you could afford Bob Dylan at Massey Hall. Listen to what he's saying, family. Listen. Yeah, no. Let me see your T4. No, I haven't picked up a ticket. And I've seen the man many, many times through the years.

And by the time I went on, by the time I went on, you know, cause I was too slow to get on the website, you know, the tickets are way, way overpriced right now. So right now, as we speak, whatever the, whatever day this is that this gets dropped. Yeah. Early September. Early September area. I do not have my ticket yet. And I hazard a guess, Mike, if it stays like this,

I will not be getting a ticket. Just, you have a number in your head by which you will not pay that number. Yeah. And that may change in the sense that, you know, I had somebody say to me the other day, we were talking about it and they said, well, Lorne, this may be the last chance. Right. Supply and demand. Yeah. Or the last chance, who knows if he's ever, you know. It's amazing he's still alive, really,

because we thought he was like supposed to, you know, there's been many times he kind of was unwell. He had a respiratory issue at one point. He had a motorcycle crash. There's a lot of stuff. Well, that was. Sure, that's early stuff.

We don't, and nobody really knows the extent of that, but right now, no, I don't have a ticket really knows the extent of that, but, but right now, no, I don't have a ticket. I don't have a ticket to see him. Okay. Let's start our Robbie Robertson tribute. So you're the conductor here, Lauren. I'm just going to play these songs and you're going to like, you're going to be conducting

me when you want it to come down, when you want it to come up. Well, why don't we, oh, there you go. There you go. Just, just hang on. Just stop it there you go. There you go. Just hang on. Just stop it for one second so people... Yeah. You want to hear it again? That's the Judas call.

Right. So that's... Give us context for this. Okay, so people understand. This is 1966. Dylan is on his worldwide tour. He's going electric. He's gone electric.

And he takes Robertson and the band with him. Different drummer. Mickey Jones was the drummer. Okay. So no leave on helm. No, leave on helm didn't, didn't for whatever reasons. It's like the Hawks without leave on helm. Right.

But so there was a lot of difference. So just, just to step back a bit. Yeah. Robbie Robertson, you know, born here, joins as a teenager, joins the Hawks, joins Ronnie Hawkins, joins the hawks joins ronnie hawkins joins these southerners he he here he is the the kid from canada is going to join these southerners to play it was and that's what he wanted to do um and so there they are uh then the band is formed uh with with levon who was the drummer and and they bring in danko and Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson um and then Dylan Dylan goes electric in in um in the famous concert uh in New York um and and

then he goes on tour and he brings in the band because he he loves Robertson he loves him on on guitar okay and they're touring and they're getting booed they're getting booed and screamed at on a nightly basis and because he went electric because he won electric like and and robertson would talk about that and he'd say i never heard anybody ever going through that he said they booed us every night, Australia, Europe, North America. He said it was challenging. And then he said, if Bob can do it, I can do it. And then it was incredible because it happened every single night. And in fact, Robbie Robertson, in one of his interviews, said it was a phenomena. And he said somewhere somewhere and this is a quote somewhere in the middle of the tour i realized we were in the midst of a musical revolution and so so that's what what you

just played there and you can play it back again here it is okay so a fan who apparently was from tor, by the way. Wow. In England. Was it you, Lorne? No. And Dylan goes, I don't believe you. You're a liar. Here it comes. You're a liar.

And then he turns to Robbie and goes, play effing loud. Right there. Yeah, I heard it. And of course, last song, Like a Rolling Stone. By the way, Robbie Robertson

talks about this song as being one of his favorite songs of all time. And if you, right at the end

of that song, at the last, at the end of the last chorus, if you want to get a little taste taste of robbie robertson on lead guitar in 66 and and the sound that he brought i mean that's you could you go right okay so this song is uh eight minutes and 20 seconds or whatever oh where do you want me to just go to like about the seven minute mark for a moment

okay just six minute marks no go to the seven The seven minute mark for a moment. Okay, just six minute marks. No, go to the seven. There you go. Leave it right there. And here comes Robbie. There he is. And they blew him away. They blew him away.

Wow. Every night. So, and that's just, that was a little taste. I mean, you could listen to some of the songs that they did, the electric songs that they did in the 66 Tour. One Too Many Mornings, Baby Let Me Follow You Down. And you'd hear, you just, he had, and you understood, of course, this is all part of Dylan's genius, when you throw it all together as one. He knew he had the band

that he needed and he knew he had most importantly as part of that band he had the guitarist that he needed. So Robbie Robertson on guitar I need to understand from you because obviously we're going to play some of the band Yep. But help

me understand the transition. So it sounds like you've got the band minus leave on helm backing up uh bob dylan right as the electric tour there yeah what tell me help me understand the transition between that and the freaking weight well well what happens is is that they come back they come back to north america and uh the band's living in this, I think it's around 67. So Dylan has this quote. Woodstock, right? Woodstock, right.

Dylan, quote, has his motorcycle accident. And this is right after the tour. And he's not doing anything at all. But he is doing one thing. He's hanging out with the band, all the members of the band, at this great pink house and you can see it right you know uh and of course that was the title of the band's first album music from big pink and they do during the time that they're hanging out they're recording hundreds of songs almost

and that's where you anybody who follows follows Dylan and follows the legacy with the band, the basement tapes. And there's been, and again, that's a whole other show for you one day to talk about the basement tapes. But what happens. I do that show. But what happens is the band records their first album that comes out of a

lot of those sessions. And I think, and I'm going by memory again, Mike, but I think The Wait, which of course becomes the classic, is the fifth song on the first side. But, you know, Robertson would talk about all through the years about writing this, and, you know, he'd sit there and he'd talk about it. You know, he said, yeah, that line came to me. I pulled into Nazareth, and people, you know, he'd sit there and he'd talk about it. You know, he's just, he said, yeah, that line came to me. I pulled into Nazareth and people, you know, everybody's analyzing.

Yeah, because they made guitars there? Is that the statement? Yeah. Oh, and somebody said, no, no, it's biblical. No, no, I, you know, it came in. And the part of that, the part of the chorus each time, and, and, and, put the load, put the load. You know, where did that come from?

Oh, we were just hanging out, you know, and we started singing it and it the load to put the low you know where did that go we were just hanging out you know we and we we started singing it and it just seemed to come and there's a great great video you can watch on youtube the 50th year anniversary of the weight i i'm sure you've seen this this is robbie robertson gets all these people from around the world and they record it it's amazing but uh it is and just so we don't bury the lead here robbie robertson is the principal songwriter for the weight like he's the guy well he wrote the song he wrote the song so all i think pretty much all the band hits that we know you know up on crippled creek or the night the joe will dixie down all these these songs that

we know from the band the weight they're all written by they're written by robbie and and he would write them trying to keep uh the the other members in mind like so uh we can get to a few of the other songs but and the weight of course sung like most of the songs were leads uh the lead singer by the late great levon helm so this okay this is so i uh i'm a bit younger than you no you're not so i know the oh yeah you are just a bit you just don't look younger sorry that's true as i've had a rough year so we know the the band we now robbie robertson principal writer he's the guitarist but yes the vocals we hear uh leave on helm and that's one of those fun, you know, drummers who sings. There's only, you know, you got your Phil Collins. And he's, you know, incredible to watch when he. Oh, yeah. Levon Helm.

Amazing. So that right there is Ronnie Hawkins. So, okay, we're playing now a clip from the last Waltz. Oh, okay. So let me set this up. Let me set this up. Do you want me to bail on this? Yeah, just bail for one second.

You got it. I think the tease is. Bail for a second. okay nice tease um so everything's a tease lauren so just again to put this in perspective again the band puts out that album 68 i think music from big pink comes out um and and they're the band and they're they're putting out a few albums they're the band. And they're putting out a few albums. They're touring. And they're incredible. Dylan, 1974, decides he's coming back. He's going back on tour. We do see glimpses of Dylan in the Isle of Wight concert.

He plays there. He also comes on the invitation of his really close friend, George Harrison, and comes out for the first time with his acoustic guitar at the concert for Bangladesh in 71. Right. And then he goes back on tour with the band. Yours truly, 19 years old, gets himself a ticket, Maple Leaf Gardens, and I get to see him with the band,

and it was unbelievable. And they recreated what they did. Dylan, not only, so the concert was him playing with the band dylan by himself does an acoustic set three or four songs and then the band by themselves they do their big hits the weight all up on cripple creek um the night they drove old dixie down and by the way know, you talk about singers just real quickly. Yeah. Levon Helm. Yeah, he was the principal singer on most of the songs. Rick Danko, unbelievable voice of his own, did the Stage Fright. Sorry, I was sitting there in my head.

See the man with the stage fright. You had Stage Fright right there. Right there. And of course, the late Richardard manual the shape i'm in he sang uh that but but leave on did did most of it okay was there any lead vocals by robbie robertson in the band not in the band no i can't think okay good yeah i can't think of anywhere so that's where the age thing is because well we'll get to it i have a song i pulled. I pulled a song of Robbie in the 80s. But tell us more about this last one. All right.

So anyway, so that's 74. They do that. Then they go back on tour themselves. Now fast forward 1976. Yours truly now got to see the band at Varsity Stadium. I took some exams in there. Remember Varsity Stadium. at varsity stadium i took some exams in there remember varsity stadium and the band was on tour in 76 as they prepared for their november last concert that would be filmed by the very young

martin scorsese i think this is his first film i could be wrong some film aficionados will tell me i'm wrong i think it was and and in the last waltz, he has all the great people with him coming out, doing their stuff. Ronnie Hawkins was there. I couldn't even go through them. Neil Young, Neil Diamond was there. Not his first, because he directed Who's That Knocking at My Door. Okay, thank you. Just to be a fact checker here.

No, no, thank you very much. I gave him a call, but there I said I'm not sure if I'm right. And Eric Clapton. very much. I, I, I gave him a call, but there I said, I'm not sure if I'm right. Um, and, and Eric Clapton and he brings out Eric Clapton and Eric Clapton is going to do further on up down the road. And after Clapton begins one minute into it, his guitar strap breaks in the middle of his lead and Robbie, not missing a beat,

picks it up. And then through through the song they trade off a couple of times and it's one of the greatest what is it Mike four minutes and 28 seconds the song but but if you just start the song you know and we'll we'll give you let's I'm gonna let it breathe so let's take a moment and enjoy but let's play it from the top and then you just have to tell me when I can bring it down and we can can talk about it. And I'll just point it out right when... Yeah, yeah. We'll hear you. Wasn't that a man?

Muddy Waters! So Muddy Waters is just playing. Harry Clapton. In what year is this? 76. This is November. Scorsese's already directed Mean Streets by 76, because that was his first big film, I guess, 73. So now we're at his third. Here we go.

Okay. There's Eric. So Eric Clapton. Yep. Now just watch. Watch Mike as you can see it on the video when his guitar strap's going to break. Everything's okay.

Listen to that. That's it. You ready? Yeah. There's Robbie. Picks it up. Okay, so Eric's string is broken at that point. Not his string.

His strap just broke. His strap. Sorry, his strap. Yeah. And this is Robbie. Yeah. Wow. Robbie Robertson.

There you go. And I'll go. Amazing. This is, and I have seen this several times, the last waltz, and I love it. I love it all, but I really love the staple singers. Doing the weight. Doing the weight, yeah. And love the staple singers doing the weight. And Pops does, oh man.

Oh, there's some incredible versions on there. I think, you know... And Dylan's there. Dylan comes out and he does Forever Young. And by the way, there's... And you never know what's true or not true. So many myths and stories come out of it.

Yeah. Speaking of Dylan, if you watch Dylan singing Forever Young, which he wrote in 1973, which he re-recorded when he was on his, near his 80th birthday. But when he sings it at that last Waltz concert, he sees somebody in the first row. And you see him look around and you see him point to him and smile and everybody's like, at that last Waltz concert, he sees somebody in the first row, and you see him look around, and you see him point to him and smile, and everybody's like, who's that guy? And there's been a thousand things written about who it is.

Who was it? Well, the one that I heard that I want to believe was his son, who he apparently wrote the song for, was in the front row, and that's who he was pointing to. Which son? Jacob? Because I know Jacob was the Wallflowers guy. He was the filmmaker row and that's who he was pointing to which son jacob or because i know jacob was the wallflowers guy and i think it was i think it was jacob i think isn't jacob the his oldest son whoever was born in in in 73 when he wrote it one headlight okay shout out to

the wallflowers okay so they had a moment lauren they had a moment a couple of big yeah they did he had a voice that sounded very much like his dad's as well. And he had that, you know, he was like if you were to take Bob Dylan and match him with like a supermodel, you might get Jacob Dylan, right? That's how it works. Oh, that's very good. So yeah, so that's the last waltz. That's Robbie and the last waltz

and that's the last time the band all of them I believe played together. Wow. Okay, so I teased, I almost feel sacrilegious to bring this down, but I believe, play together. Wow. Okay, so I teased the almost feel sacrilegious to bring this down, but I want to play another song. So for me, of course, I knew the hits from the band, Triple Creek, and I knew the weight.

I knew the hits just from the radio and just from osmosis as a music fan. But then I would be listening to Q107, for example, and I would hear songs like Somewhere Down the Crazy River and Showdown at Big Sky. Those were a couple of big songs. And Robbie came out with these amazing solo albums, didn't he? And that's the first time he was lead singer on an album?

Yeah, and I'm sure many of your really informed listeners may say, no, Lorne's wrong, that he did sing lead on this particular band song. You didn't do your homework, Lorne. And, well, I was wrong about Scorsese and whether or not this was his first film. So I'm in the range. But if he did sing lead on any band song, and maybe there is a song on one of the albums where he's singing,

my recollection is that. That's the first time. Yeah, that may be the first time. I'm going to play a song from that album in a second that was a big hit. And I know recently when Robbie Robertson passed away, Rod Stewart played it in concert in tribute. Oh, wow.

Kev is letting you know that they digitally edited out the cocaine under Neil Young's nostrils when they re-released The Last Waltz. Okay. All the fun facts here. Don't know if that's true or not. Oh, yeah, you're smart to say that because you don't know

if you haven't corroborated that yet. I don't know that. Because you don't know, but that's according to Canada Kev and Neil Young can address his legal concerns to Canada Kev. But don't ask me for the IP address address I refuse to serve that up to you okay so that's why I have

Lauren Honigman on speed dial let's play a song another big song by Robbie Robertson in the mid to late 80s here Thank you. Who else is going to bring you a broken arrow? Who else is going to bring you a bottle of rain? There he goes. Moving across the water.

That's right. There he goes. That's right. And you're turning my whole world around. Do you feel what I feel? Can we make that so it's part of the deal? Can we make that so it's part of the deal? I gotta hold you in these arms of steel Lay your heart on the line This time I wanna breathe when you breathe

When you whisper like that hot summer breeze Count the beads of sweat that cover me Then you show me a sign This time Who else is gonna bring you A broken arrow Who else is gonna bring you A falling rain

And it goes With a cross of water Beautiful, Lorne. Yes. Listen to this man. And this is Daniel Anwar, right? Just listen to this man. And this is Daniel-Anne Law, right? Who's produced this album. Right.

And he did some great... Oh, look it. He produced... Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree. He produced Dylan's album, Time After Mine. And one of the great songs for that album, you know, Make You Feel My Love. People talked about that song and

but this album is When was this was? 1987 and if I remember correctly, I think even a couple members of the band I think Danko and Garth Hudson contributed There was you two Contributions on the album. I remember that. You talked about Somewhere Down the Crazy River. Somewhere Down the Crazy River. Showdown at Big Sky. I think that was sort of the single.

If they still had singles, they came out of albums back then. Both were on the radio. They were both big songs. This one, which got covered, like I said, Rod Stewart covered this song. The album was called Robbie Robertson, right? I believe so. I think that was, he had two.

There was another album, Storyville, I think that came out at some point. But I think that's what the album was called. But what a career. I mean, you know, now we're left with one member of the band remaining. Garth Hudson. Isn't that wild? Yeah, and I think he was the oldest member, too. And he was

like the professor, the music professor. He was that anomaly up on the stage when you used to, when you saw him. But yeah, great loss. Great loss. And it's great to be able to, and I thank you for this too. You know, I'm back to what I said about being on Toronto Mike.

When you come on Toronto Mike, you know, you feel like you've, you know, you're with your therapist. You know, I got to talk about media. I got to do a rant about my, the things I'm concerned about. It's therapeutic. And now I got to talk about, I got through in a little Dylan again today and talked about a great connection with Robbie Robertson so thank you very much for that. Well speaking of great connections so Lauren what a great

I can't believe this is probably the third time I've ever been you know in your physical presence and I feel like we're old friends I can't believe we've only been together three times I know it is it's amazing and you're the type of person and that's why you have the people who are so loyal to you because you are the type of person that makes

you feel that way you and i hadn't met until like exactly four years ago and and you're absolutely right it does feel like i've known you a long time and it just feels like yeah i've seen you but but it's like we had just talked the other day. So I thank you for bringing me back. How are the grandkids? Grandkids are fabulous. Sarah and Nina and Kathy and I have a wonderful time just being with them. And everybody talks about it's great having kids and it's wonderful. And they say, yeah, but wait till your grandparent.

Wait till your grandparent. And for all those people who told me that you were correct. Yes. Okay. Here's a pro tip for you, Lauren, to be grandpa of the year here. Okay. So pumpkins after dark is an award-winning Halloween event. It takes place in Milton, uh, September 23rd through Halloween, October 31st. And if you buy tickets now, you can say 15% with a promo code TOMIKE15. So T-O-M-I-K-E-1-5.

Save 15% on your Pumpkins After Dark tickets. Go to PumpkinsAfterDark.com. That's your homework. Be Gramp of the Year. Lauren, love this. Let's not wait another four years before you visit again. Even though I'm going to see you next Thursday at TMI. I'm writing that down.

Thank you very much, Mike. And it was a pleasure. And that brings us to the end of our 1,317th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Lauren is too smart to get on social media, right? You don't have a social media presence. No.

Too smart for that. Okay, but you do need a podcast. We'll talk more about that later. Okay. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Pumpkins After Dark, they're at Pumpkins Dark. And Ridley Funeral Home are at ridley fh see you all next week and wander around and drink some goodness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in

Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the snow, snow Warns me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And, won't stay today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green