Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lorraine Segato: Toronto Mike'd #1180

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

In this 1180th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Lorraine Segato about being appointed a member of the Order of Canada, the origin of The Parachute Club, Rise Up, At The Feet of the Moon, and so much more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1180 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta

in Mississauga and Oakville. Electronic Products Recycling Association. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Canna Cabana. Thanks for watching. estate. Ask Sammy any real estate questions at Sammy.Cohn at ProperlyHomes.ca. Joining me today,

making her Toronto mic debut is Lorraine Segato. Welcome, Lorraine. Nice to be here. I was just grooving on the music there. I was like, so much easier to talk when there's music, right? That's Ill Vibe, local rapper and producer. And that's been the theme since episode one in your episode 1180. That's cool. I like that. I don't know what took me so long because I'm going to just address this off the top before I dive into the congratulations that are in order.

But how are you related? Please tell the FOTMs listening, how are you related to FOTM Jean Valaitis? Oh, Jean. Well, Jean, first of all, I knew Jean way back in the day with Parachute Club, but Jean ended up being married to my sister, Carla Segato, for many, many, many years,

and they're still very deeply connected together. I know that there's, because I was, you know, you have to be careful with this because sometimes people aren't as friendly, but I saw like a social media post for Jean's birthday from your sister. Yeah. And I knew it was like kosher to bring it up. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. We're family for sure. I call him my brother-in-law. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, we're family, for sure. I call him my brother-in-law. Okay, good. And we love Gene on this show. And Gene, not only an FOTM, but he also, every Friday morning, I co-host a show of a gentleman named Mark Hebbshire. And on the live stream on YouTube, I know, even though he's over in the West Coast now, I know Gene Valaitis is going to be up early watching us live. So shout out to Gene Valaitis. Yeah. Yeah.

Deep shout out. He just returned back to West Coast, I think, yesterday. Oh, he was here for the break. Yeah. Oh, and he didn't come in for his lasagna. He's always giving me a hard time on Twitter because he never got a Palma Pasta lasagna because he remotely did it. But you, I'm going to tell you right now, you're leaving here today with a large lasagna from Palma Pasta, a frozen one.

Oh my god, this is going to be good because my mother makes the best lasagna in the world, so it's going to be kind of interesting. Are you going to give me a review? Am I going to get via email, maybe you'll review the lasagna after you consume it? No, I wouldn't do that to them. That's not fair.

We can't compete with your mom. No, right. It's just not fair. I'm always careful to say like, oh, the best lasagna you can buy in a store because nothing's going to beat the homemade lasagna. But you are going to take that home with you. I will, yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I love it. Congratulations.

The timing's amazing to me. We booked this well before. We did. Congratulations. Tell us exactly, like you are now, you're going to be a member of the Order of Canada. Tell us exactly what's happening to you that's very exciting. Yeah, well, first of all, really big surprise out of nowhere. And I think it was sort of around the time that you had asked me to do this. I did this lorraine

were you responsible oh my dear um so i knew but i couldn't say anything and that's the way it works right well i mean i had just found out and interesting and it was i was quite surprised and very blown away but then it was all very surreal because you've got to wait for the announcement so it doesn't really feel real and you don't know who else is getting it and you know the way are you worried like uh what if they put a dink in there and you're like oh i don't want to be a member of any club that would have that dink as a member no it's more like it's more like oh my god why did they choose me? It's kind of like that.

Well, I think today, over the next hour, we're going to do a lot of celebrating of Lorraine Segato, and I think it'll become very clear. But I'm going to just read the sentence that comes with this announcement. It says, Lorraine P. Segato. What does P stand for? Pompeia. Pompeia.

Pompeia. Pompeia. It's my grandfather's name. Okay. I was named after him. For her contributions to the Canadian music scene and culture as a pioneer in 2SLGBTQ

plus. Wait, there's, I apologize. Is there something between the Q and the plus? I'm just, I mean, is there an I? Maybe? Anyways, I have to find out what that initial stands for, but also Canadian history. So congratulations again.

That's amazing. Thank you. Amazing. And we're going to play some of the music, but people might know you best from the Parachute Club. I know that's when I first discovered Lorraine Segato. So a couple of quick notes from nice listeners before we dive in.

And then I'm hoping I can get the Parachute Club origin story and we could play a couple of songs. And some very interesting questions came in. But right off the top, nice comments. Hamilton Mike writes in, Nice. Always been curious about her Stony Creek roots. Where I live.

It's a part of Hamilton, he tells me. And what working with Daniel Lanois early in his production career was like. So we're going to get to the Daniel Lenoir for sure. But you have Stoney Creek roots? No, but I do have Hamilton roots. I was born in Hamilton. I was born in downtown Hamilton. I lived in Hamilton, even on the mountain, until I was about 18.

And then I scootled off to Oakville for film school and then ended up in Toronto for the rest of the time with bouts in Nova Scotia and L.A. and this and that. Okay, so no Stoney Creek, but Hamilton's close enough. I think Hamilton Mike will be happy with that. The mayor of Hamilton, I always think of Tom Wilson. When I think of a Hamiltonian, I think of Tom Wilson. He's like my, when I think of a Hamiltonian, I think of Tom Wilson. Yeah, he's awesome.

Absolutely. And he's got a great voice. I'm just really just jealous of the guy. Like, imagine you could say, I would never shut up if I could sound like Tom Wilson. I know he's, he's awesome. And he's so talented. Oh my God, his visual art is beautiful. Everything about him is good. But you know he's dying his hair, right? Because I asked him straight out, how does he keep... Because I went white very quickly. And my hair, I should say. And Tom, hanging in there, he's like, he dyes it. That comes out of a bottle. I love that.

Craig M says, Parachute Club, nice get. Love those guys. So let's start with this because we don't have endless amounts of time. Please can you share with us the Parachute Club origin story? And of course, I'll play a song in a moment people want to know about. But how did Parachute Club come to be, Lorraine? Okay, well, I'm going to tell you that story. But do you mind if I scroll back just a little bit? Oh, my God. Are you kidding me? You can do whatever you want. You got the Order of Canada, Lorraine. Rockin'.

I'm gonna have to use that. I'm gonna have to use that more. You're not the first. This is gonna just knock you down a peg since I'm building you up. I'm gonna knock you down. You're actually not the first person to be in this basement today who is a member of the Order of Canada. Well, Murray. Oh, no, today though. Oh, Donovan. Donovan Bailey

got the call previously. But you're in good company. I think he's an officer today, though. Oh, Donovan. Donovan Bailey got the call previously. I think he's an officer even, possibly. So that's because you get companion, and then you get promoted up? No, it goes member, officer, companion. Okay, because I know Eugene Levy is getting a promotion or something. Yes, he is. Speaking of great Hamiltonians, please tell me the – go back as far as you want and then bring me up to speed.

Okay, I'm going to go to the very first band I was in was a band called Mama Key. It was a seven-piece all-woman rock and roll band, feminist rock and roll band. And within that band, during that time period, I met Billy Bryans, who's the drummer and the co-founder of Parachute Club, along with me and a producer. And that band lost its woman drummer. And there were not many female drummers at that time. Billy was my friend. And so I pulled him into the all-woman rock and roll band. And we started our musical relationship and our partnership together and then billy and i um joined a group called v along with um a very popular um

arasta musician named mojo from truce and rights at that particular time and terry wilkins who used to play with rough trade and is kind of like a roots rock bass player who's awesome. So the four of us had a group called V. Spell that for me. V, just V, the letter V for victory based on the Thomas Pynchon novel. And we were playing what you'd call sort of dub funk, you know, dub funk, reggae, those kinds of groups.

And we had been asked by the Toronto International Film Festival if we would play that party, but neither V nor Mama Kia was able to play that party. Both of those bands were happening at the same time. And so Billy and I put together a random group of friends that we knew, including Laurie Conger, who became the third original member of Parachute Club, to play this gig. And then we had to come up with a name.

And we did. But how did you come up with that name? Well, okay, soie had this postcard that was um the visual was a monkey parachuting into an african graveyard and it was called drummer monkey and parachute is parachutist and so we were like you know what are we going to call the band what are we so we kind of like rolling it all around. What about Drummer Monkey? What about this?

And eventually we ended up with The Parachute Club. And it was appropriate because the music that we were really influenced by at that particular point was African, Latin, reggae, you know, all the world music material. So that postcard really was a good representation of, you know, where we were coming from. Love it. Love it. Now, that name, though, you said The Parachute Club,

but it's funny because Pink Floyd originally was The Pink Floyd, and then they said, we're just Pink Floyd, like we're dropping T-H-E. But you did, there's no, it's just Parachute Club, right? No, it's The Parachute Club, but everybody calls it Parachute Club. Interesting. Okay, because when Gord Depp was here, I was confused too because it's, you know,

spoons or the spoons. And none of this actually matters except Jake Gold once chastised me for saying tragically hip. It's really, duh, it's important to this guy. Duh, it's important, yeah. Okay. So do you want me to say the parachute club?

Well, I mean, you could say whatever you want. But the truth of the matter is the real title is the parachute club. It's a definitive. I'm glad you cleared me up. Please continue. No, so that's what we came to but you know at that same time we at that very same time within that same month so let's say we are now 2023 in in this in the fall of 1982 was when this gig came about but also at that exact same time, we were playing a booze can called the NBC. And it was run by Patty Habib and Richard O'Brien, who later opened the Bamboo Club.

Okay. Right? And so we were playing this booze can. And at this booze can, there was a gentleman named Jerry Young who had an independent record company, and he basically offered us sort of a demo deal. And they had, at that point, they had Martha and the Muffins. I have a Martha and the Muffins t-shirt on right now. Do you? Let me see. Echo Beach. Yeah, fantastic.

Let me see, let me see. Echo Beach! Yeah, fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah, okay, they just made their debut, like, in 2022. They were down here. So, please, yeah, continue. You guys must have performed together all the time, I would think.

At least maybe recently. No, we didn't perform together all the time, but we certainly knew of each other because they came out of, like, they came out of the art school world in Queen Street West, as we did. But then Echo Beach was quite big. It kind of blew up. Not kind of. It did blow up.

So we were always in the same circles. And then because we were on the same roster, we knew each other and supported each other. I love and respect those folks a tremendous amount and over the course of the years we've stayed in touch. Now last, again I'm trying not to interrupt you but I want to know your take on this real quick. So there's brand equity

in Martha and the Muffins and then one day they're like, oh, actually I think it was Mark who didn't want to be a muffin anymore. And he's like, we're now M&M. But you can't do that. You know what I mean? You can't just suddenly rebrand as M&M like you're Martha and the Muffins. You think? I don't know.

What do you think? You're Lorraine Segato. Well, no, I don't know. I can't have a comment on what other people choose. But, you know, sometimes what happens is I think people become identified by one thing and then they don't only want it to be that one thing so i guess they change their mind but listen i gotta tell you one of the things that we do we shared in common to the your first question there is that uh daniel and what produced both

parachute club and um m plus m speaking of hamilton speaking of the hammer so why don't we do this why don't i just play a bit of the big one, okay? Okay, sure, the big one. The big one. Yeah, the big one. Your Echo Beach, if you will. Except it's got you the Order of Canada. This is very impressive and a wonderful song.

But here, a little bit of this, and then we'll talk about it in more detail here. Sure. Thank you. All right. Rise up, rise up All the rises show your power Rise up, rise up We're dancing to the sun Rise up, rise up And we're out celebrating time Rise up, rise up The biggest time has come

I can't write music, Lorraine, but if I wrote something like this, I think I would take great pleasure in hearing it, like it in my headphones. How do you feel hearing this right now in the headphones? Well, because I don't listen to our music very much. At this particular moment, it feels really, it's cool because I think, oh, there's Julie's chorus

and there's Billy's drumming. I relate to it in that way, and yeah, it's Julie's chorus and there's Billy's drumming. You know, like I relate to it in that way. And it's, yeah, it's cool. Damn cool. No wonder you got the Order of Canada. Holy smokes. Okay, so can you, I'm getting, obviously we've got the origin story for, you know,

the Parachute Club. But now also, can you share with us all how this iconic song, Rise Up, how did it come to be? What was the writing process like for Rise Up? Well, we did this demo, as I mentioned, this four-song demo, that basically Billy and I went to Trinidad. Do you want to hear the extension like this? Or do you want me to keep it?

No. Take three hours on the Rise Up story. Do you know where you are, Lorraine? Honestly. I'm like nutso about the details. Because you can hear, I don't know, you can hear all over the place. You can hear the five to seven minute version of everything that had to do with Lorraine Segato. But here it's like this is where we can breathe a bit,

listen to the songs, get the details. So take your time and give me all the details you know. Okay, that's great. All right, so the interesting thing about this song, first of all, is that it was the last song that we wrote on the record. And the way it came to be was that, as I mentioned, we had this four song demo that was funded by this, you know, current records. And they went away while Billy and I went to Trinidad to study Soka music with our friend Moja.

While we went away, they took the demo to, I guess it would be called Midem. So that's where they shop, you know, all of these kinds of things to record companies. And in that time period, they picked us up and said, okay, we're going to do a full length record. So when Billy and I came back from Trinidad, we were like, oh my God, we got to write some music. And so Rise Up was one of the last songs

that we wrote on the album. We, of course, went to... Danny had done our demo, and then so the demo then became, you know, the full-length record with full-on production. And I have to tell you that this song is partially successful because Danny, in essence, gave us our sound, like our sonic sound.

We had our groove and our jam and everything, but sonically, Daniel Lamoie was the one who sort of imprinted this opening, you know, this opening. Yeah, so distinctive. In fact, you're going to pause for a minute because we're going to let this song finish up and get back to it.

Spirit time has come. up Spirit time has come Woman's time has come Spirit time has come Rise up Oh, everybody Now it's time to leave And make me happy You realize you wrote an anthem, right?

Not at the time. But in the interim yes wow really uh when i you know you know protests etc uh just this is like a like i i call it an anthem because i i believe it to be an anthem like it means so much to so little so i do need to ask for your comment on the mccain's ad just really quick aside oh yeah because right i remember you know this song showing up in uh an ad for like a mccain's pizza or something like that rising crust i think it was right and i mean that's so wrong like it is so wrong to use this song which is like a an anthem for rights of be it woman rights or gay rights, you name it. This is the song, the anthem,

and suddenly to sell pizza with it is so wrong. So can you please just help me understand, obviously you had no say in this matter at all, like who owned the song? How did that happen? Okay, lots of questions there. It's all one big question, which is what the heck?

What the hey? Yeah, okay, so so listen i'm in nova scotia at that point and i'm walking down the street and i love nova scotia that you know the the folks are so friendly and these people across the street start yelling at me like um you know sell out you know what are you? You know, like this kind of thing. And I'm like, what are they talking about? And then I find out two days later from my sister, she calls me and she goes, have you seen the ad on TV?

And I'm like, no. So she explains it to me. And so I guess what had happened was, is our publishing company at the time sold the song without her permission to um the rising crust pizza people right so um so we had this one clause okay in our contract that said that that song could not be sold for political religious or commercial purposes without the the full everybody because there's five writers on that song you know saying yes okay it's a go and that did not happen so what what happened then at

that point was we mounted a media campaign and we also sued you know um the publishing company who was holding our rights at that time and not paying us anything, and also McCain's, you know, for that, for the sound alike. They had a sound alike person. And, you know, that time was really, I got to tell you, it was a really complicated moment in time because on the one level, our fans thought that we had sold out on the other level we hadn't been paid anything for that sellout you got screwed twice because you know yeah like they ignored the clause you should have been consulted i mean you need to

approve and we would have said no anyways and if you're gonna like if you're being forced to watch it like like it's almost like if you're being forced to buy a ticket like at least let me watch the movie you know what i mean like like at least compensate me either that or i mean but the other really sad thing about it was that um the the people who were a part of the sound alike and the whatever have been told by and you know i don't know who it was whether it was the publishers of the lawyers am i allowed to name the publisher or are you purposely not yeah i don know, I don't know who it was, whether it was the publishers or the lawyers. Am I allowed to name the publisher or are you purposely not naming them? Yeah, I don't want to. I won't name them.

They don't like us anyways. So, but they had been told that we were going to sue them, you know, which meant their livelihoods as musicians would have been, you know, compromised by us. And that is, could not have been further from the truth. So we were getting it from all of these different sides and people were feeling like we um you know we were just and i remember walking into a bar and some guy in this in one of the music industry guys saying to me you're not even a band anymore like you have no clout whatsoever what do you care like they were just it was so horrible at that moment

but the good news is that it only went to discovery and it was settled um which means that um you know our david and goliath moment was really you know amazing okay good for you and now i'm reminded when martha johnson was here and i'm reminded now that i guess uh a big bank uh named a ontario place venue echo beach okay and they weren't compensated and their argument mark's argument because mark wrote that song was that uh you're only naming it echo beach because of our song right right like that's why it's resonating with toronto's as a music venue. There should be, you know, compensation. But yeah.

So it's interesting that you both had these interesting legal battles with the man. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad. OK, so I'm glad it was. I'm glad that was settled. But that is startling when you hear. I feel like there was a story with Instant karma showing up in a nike ad or maybe it was revolution when the beatles and it showed up as a nike ad or something and anyways

i'm just thinking now of all these times that musicians have their songs sold without their consent or used in used in a context that is so the opposite of what it was intended for right well that's like a ronald reagan using born in the usa is his uh right you know it's like did he listen to the song and it's like spotify not really paying musical creators for okay let me ask you that because rise up uh i was playing it quite a bit as you can imagine knowing lorraine sagato's dropping by and by the way inviting lorraine even before she was a member of the order of canada so i was like i need her in this studio you're so sweet and then all of a sudden find out did i do that no of course not but um i'm taking credit for all of my friends who have why not why not i told donovan he was on my show last year and he

wasn't and i said that's a because broody sir and was okay and i said what the heck you're the guy who won the 100 meters and had the world record i, this is BS. And the next thing you know, it was all rectified. So here I'm getting, my head's getting too big for this room, but, but, um, the,

the song rise up, um, is it a lucrative song for you? Like, is, is it, uh, cause I would imagine that,

uh, it was a, like, can you give us a sense of how big a song? It just seems big to me because it was everywhere. Cause I grew up in the city. Lucrative. Which is a relative term.

It's a relative term in Canada. I mean, our records were released in Europe and we did very well in Germany and in certain aspects around the world. It was released in South Africa, released in parts of South America, those kinds of things. But the interesting thing about Rise Up is that it, in the American world there, it was tacked onto the,

so it was on the first record that was released in the US, it was tacked onto the second record that was released in the US, and it was also tacked onto the third record, was released in the U.S., and it was also tacked onto the third record because they kept wanting for it to break. And part of the challenge around it breaking was that every time they were going to release it, there was a middle management change in the record company, and so those people would be like,

no, I want to make my own. You know how it is. You have a champion at a label or something. That champion's gone. Your advocate's gone. And they're like, I have my own. I've heard from so many musicians with wonderful music have a similar story about why they didn't break in the States.

And so much of it is shit beyond your control, like you're describing there. And I'm just because you know i naturally wonder rise up like when i hear rise up i don't hear oh that's a distinctly toronto sound like i just hear a good jam i mean you know it could be you know why did so timing is everything though you know i mean like uh canada was more forward and progressive thinking, you know, and where Canada was in terms of, I mean, part of the, I've thought about this quite a bit in terms of, you know, okay, why did Rise Up sort of crack through in that particular moment in time. It has so much to do with how Toronto and the rest of the country was actually changing at that particular point. You know, the influx of immigrants coming into Toronto, the Caribbean music, the, you know, all of the folks coming from South America, all of that

was having an impact in that Toronto is a small C conservative city, right? So we were influenced by all of this stuff, you know, the food, the culture, the art, everything. And so Toronto itself was changing, which meant also that in larger city centers with immigration influx as well, they were changing changing so there was an opportunity there you know and and rise up came out of this the states at that particular point if you think about the states in 1983 ronald reagan um you had uh all sorts of really you know uh political clashes but also like the issues that we were facing up here, they were facing down there.

They weren't ready for it. It wasn't in their moment. You were on the bleeding edge. The bleeding edge. Should I tell people we wrote a song before we pressed record? What is it again? It's Lorraine-ing out? What is it?

We're going to use rain and Lorraine? Because it's actually rain-ing out, and then I made it. It's Lorraine-ing out. It's Lorraine-ing out. So everybody, out what is it we're going to use rain and lorraine because it's actually raining out and then i made it's lorraine out lorraine is lorrainey note so everybody went when you hear a new song from lorraine sagato and it refers to lorrainey note uh remember i co-wrote that and i will be seeing you in court lorraine i want my cut of that pie okay so we kind of covered it but just to put a bow on it uh it sounds like daniel lenoir was even early in his career he had it going on he had it all together this guy well interesting side note on that is

that um my co-partner co-founder billy bryans was the one who introduced danny lenoir to brianino who then um introduced and he did that because Billy was going out with a performance art, one of the people in this performance art group called Tom Twins, and they were hanging out with Brian Eno. So this introduction happened, and then Brian Eno, you two, and on and on and on. So nice moment in time. Next to yada, yada, yada, the Joshua Tree.

Yeah. That's right. Wow. Okay. Okay. So, you know, you're going to need to cancel. I have a bed around the corner. You're going to spend the night, Lorraine.

This is going to take a while. Okay. So actually, I want to play another Parachute Club song and talk about it. But before that, I need to ask you about a song I am mildly and healthily obsessed with. Okay. So there's nothing scary here, but I have people on who took part in the recording of this song and I asked them many,

many questions about it and you are on that list. So Lorraine Sagada, listen to this for a bit that I got questions. As every day goes by How can we close our eyes Until we open up our hearts We can learn to share And show how much we care Right from the moment that we start

Seems like overnight We see a world in a different light Somehow our innocence is lost Can we look away Cause every single day We've gotten to heaven and we've come We can bridge the distance I can hear you in there. Oh, wow.

Okay, so tears are not enough. I once did a 2.5 hour deep dive into this song with Cam Gordon. That's what I think about this song. So please, so many questions. But the first question is, do you remember at all like who called you and asked you if you'd be a part of this like how did you get uh invited to this recording uh i would imagine it would have been somebody called our manager um we were on tour out east at the time and it happened really quick you know the way this all came together

okay i think it's david foster at the grammys or something and then i feel like uh uh quincy jones maybe tapped him on the shoulder and says you need to do this for canada something like that maybe i i don't know that backstory but they yeah that makes sense because they had just finished we are the world right and um and so and they were buds and that would have been easy and also david foster is connected to b to Bryan Adams and all his people. Jim Valance. Yeah, and they all organized that. Bruce, who's the label guy there?

Bruce. Allen. Bruce Allen, right. So I always fantasize it in my head that there's a phone call. It's Bruce Allen, line one. And you pick it up, and it's like, Lorraine, Lorraine, we need you at the studio in Toronto on Sunday, whatever. We need you.

No, it wasn't, no. Okay, so that's question one. Okay. And so it went through your label. But it was also interesting because we were on this tour. I remember playing. It was in Newfoundland. I was playing a gig, and I got this thing saying, okay okay you're on a flight tomorrow morning at five in the morning this is after you know you play till three in

the morning there right right and you're on a flight and you're going here and this is what you're doing and i'm like okay but at least you lived here i mean you were on the road so it's inconvenient i suppose but you at least it's your home base right because you're probably uh you're living here at that time right yeah 85 is that where we're at 85 i feel like it's 85 but okay so you are uh like when i watched the video you're right there with mark holmes from platinum blonde and uh when i again i've asked like from dan hill to marie mcglock and i've been talking to people about this for a while and he arrives in a limousine did you know that mark holmes arrived at this recording in a limousine? No, I didn't.

I didn't know him, actually. So you weren't sure, like, who's this guy with the big hair? No, I knew Platinum Blonde, for sure, but I didn't know him personally. I was kind of, you know, I was shy because I was a newbie on the scene, and I sort of, when I walked into the room where everybody was waiting to be called into the big thing, because they were doing lines, right? Not coke lines, but I mean line lines.

All of the above. Yeah, all of the above. I walked in to see Jane Sibber, who I knew, sitting with Joni Mitchell. And I just kind of beelined over there and just kind of sat there quietly, like listening, until I could interject with something. I don't know. So I was kind of shy at that moment. Okay.

Okay. So I'm wondering if you have any other recollections of note that we need to collect here for the definitive record here. There's that great moment. I've seen it in the documentary, butid foster doesn't like how neil young does his line i was there okay that's all because i love hearing about it i was like just quietly sitting in the back um and you know david foster was very diplomatic you know he was like um do you think we could kind of do this again kind of thing and at that moment where it was like uh that's my style man right something like my sound like that's my style man right

my sound man yeah Leona Boyd had some interesting stories about Mark Holmes now that I remember when Leona Boyd came on but that's a great Neil Young line I think I dropped it on the reg but anything else I'm trying to think that's an interesting cast I know Geddy Lee nails his

line I don't know everybody was you know I think everybody was really excited to be there. And then there was those of us that were quite, there were the established people like, you know, Murray was there. You know, it starts with Gordon Lightfoot, right? And then you got, yeah, and

Murray, you're right. Yeah, and then you had all the young people, like younger people like, you know, Carol Pope and myself and Mark Holmes. Mike Reno. Is he in there? He might have had a bigger part. I don't know.

He had a bigger part. Yeah. And Corey was there. Yeah. And, you know, so it was this interesting mix of people, um,

that were just, I think just happy to be there and be a part of it. I had, uh, Terry David Mulligan was on the program. He was, by the way, friends with, was longtime friends with Joni Mitchell from her early days. But okay.

So Terry David Mulligan was like part of that crew you're talking about, like Jim Valance and Bruce Allen. Right. And he's in that crew or whatever. So he's in the room when Bruce Allen gets a phone call. And this phone call is to notify him that Buffy St. Marie won't be able to make the recording. Oh, wow. So Buffy was obviously, she's like, where's Buffy?

This is like, where's Buffy? Like, Buffy should be there. There was no Leonard Cohen either. There are some of these certain people you'd think would be sitting there. So they obviously weren't available or whatever. Although Bruce Colburn was not available. And they went to, Jim Valens flew to Frankfurt or Hamburg or somewhere in Germany and recorded him and then flew back with the tape.

So they made exceptions. You know way more than I do. I'm going to write a book about it. But I guess Bruce Allen gets off the phone, looks at David Mulligan and says, Buffy bailed. That's his two words, Buffy bailed. And then Terry picked that up as an expression.

And I picked it up now. So, like, for example, if you phone in and said, hey, Mike, I can't get there, the weather's bad or something, I'd be like, Buffy bailed. Right, it's become a quotable thing for you. Right, so you can use that, too. And if that shows up in a song, I'm going to need more. I've never known Buffy to bail, though.

That's the problem. I love her because she was on Sesame Street when I was watching it every day and I sometimes consider her my second mother. But okay, I digress. Again, great tears are not enough recollections. If anything else strikes you, just spit it out. But I have a question that came in

about another song. It's from Diamond Dog and Diamond Dog wants to know what does the feet of the moon mean? And here, if you don't mind, I'm going to play a little bit of it and then we'll talk a bit about this. I saw you shadow you Dancing on the beat of the moon

I tried to call you But you went and disappeared In the cover of the night I'm in the night I'm raised up to hold You said you cared Promise of passion I saw you shadow you

Dancing at the feet of the moon I heard your laughter ringing out Between the wings and she laughed I'm I a secret one That a voice is heard in song We are the sun We have desire to follow A hope for the future

Whose name is tomorrow I saw you shadow you Dancing at the feet of a moon Still sounds great to me, Lorraine. Okay, tell us all, tell Diamond Dog, what is this song about? Desire. It's about sort of awakening to a concept of spirituality that you didn't really know before we we wrote this when we were in um in mexico and we'd had a series of

experiences where we'd met a mayan gentleman and i was really into the Mayan history for some reason at that point and his name translated to at the feet of the moon and so I just thought this would be a great title for an album for a song and so it's about that amazing great jam that's the fabulous David Gray on guitar there I love him he's one of my favorite guitar players. Okay, drop those names, Lorraine. Don't bring any back home with you. Leave them all here. Well, I'm name dropping a guy in my band.

That's true. But I meant that sincerely. I do love it. Okay, so there's another name I'm going to drop now. I'm going to drop the name John Oates. Oh, name drop. That's a big name, right? John Oates.

I'm going to read a couple of questions, though, that'll segue us over to a song called Love is Fire. But Rock Golf, that's how he calls himself on Twitter. He says, I saw Parachute Club open for Culture Club at Wonderland, and the audience basically treated it as a double bill any that's i think there's a lot of comparisons i would think there's a cult there's a culture club there's a parachute club like these are club names these are the club names but uh he says it was basically uh treated as an equal a double bill that that performance do you remember that

i would yeah i remember it sure and it was one of our very first gigs playing an event space like, let's say, Wonderland, right? Because we had come from bars at that point, and we were just promoting the record. So, yeah, I remember that. Do you remember the play in the, I miss it actually, the old Ontario Place Forum? Yes, I love playing there. We used to, the way we did that was that after every tour, we would come back and, you know, in the first year, we played one night.

And the second time, we played two nights, three nights. You know, we just kept tacking on a night. It was a great way to always end our tours. Love it, love it. So he also, the reason I asked about John Oates is because he also wants to know how did John Oates get involved with you? Also Bracebridge Hall

that's the title, the Twitter handle. How did her collaboration with John Oates come to be? So let's hear about it. Hold on here. Let me hear. Always like this part. Yeah, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, shut up, yeah, Boom, 97.3. I love playing that song live, I gotta tell you. We just did that at Massey Hall when we were with Glass Tiger in December there. And we sort of opened with it.

And the crowd, it was so great to see the crowd, you know, recognize it right from the guitar riff. When's your next live gig? That, I don't know to be determined to tbd yes if and we're not i know you we're not wrapping up here because i actually have some hot points i have to get to still but if somebody wanted to track i know i'm staring off in the space i'm visualizing visualizing where would i go like do you want to shout out like you have a website for uh parachute club do you have a social media home where people can always be informed when there's a new concert announced

um well there's my website which i'm revamping now and and actually making a parachute club uh sort of i call it a cultural history site because we don't play a lot you know if they guarantee us money we play if they don't we don't play so um that's about to happen so yeah it'll be coming up is it like lorraine sagado.com yep okay that's right okay so that's a place people can go and uh very cool i think it's a very important i mean and there will be now i think more attention like on on just on parachute club and lorraine sagado just by nature of the uh order of canada oh my god you're so sweet you know how many times you've mentioned that and i think that you

think that i actually time that i got it because of um because of rise up but you know what when they called me yeah when they called they didn't know you were in the parachute club no they did when they called me i said to the woman, because I was like, what? And I said, can you tell me, like, why? And she said, yeah, well, it's all your work with the LGBTQ, you know, that thing. She said, but it's also your work with homeless, the low-down tracks and the Regent Park residency and this and that. And I thought, oh oh that's kind of good because it's so much bigger than that song well I was I was gonna get to all that of course did I

was that you're not just a spoiler alert there spoiler alert here more than just a great musician here of course Mike listen it's okay it's a journey journey. We're together here. But now, you know, Oats. Oats, yeah, John. Okay, so John, all right, look. So the success of the records here in Canada, you know, obviously the record company wanted to have a hit in the US. That was, you know, kind of difficult based on, you know, where the US was at with its music at that point, you know, like, so think, you know, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, blah, blah, blah. Like, the music of that time. Madonna, Michael Jackson. Hall & Oates were huge, right? And John, they wanted us to have a hit in the States. And John and Daryl were on a bit of a break at that point.

And John wanted to produce records. And so because we were on the same label, they were on a bit of a break at that point, and John wanted to produce records. And so because we were on the same label, they were on Arista, they sent our demo down to him, and he was really interested. I had a phone call with him. That was a really funny phone call. He's a lovely, lovely man. And while we were talking, there was a bit of an earthquake happening in Toronto, so I knew that was the sign.

We should do this. I'm going to play a bit of it, obviously. Bye. When there's anger, I'm out of control Heat is fire, love is stone Time feels like time So what's wrong with these Americans? They didn't bite on this. What's wrong with them? Something was going on at the time, again,

with kind of a bit of a changeover in the record company, and I'm not sure why. They were excited about it, but it just didn't seem to pop, and I think so much of that was really beyond our control, all the interpersonal things that happened. I don't know. I really don't know, Mike.

Well, F him. You can be ours. But I loved working with John Oates. He is a very cool dude. And he tried as hard as he could to, you know, to figure out why do you have a seven-piece band, for God's sakes, you know. But other than that, very cool. On that note, though, like when you hear about these uh

collectives like broken social scene or whatever i always you know and there's at some point like when you're doling out the cash or whatever like i'll make up round numbers because i'm not that bright but we earned you know we earned 500 from this gig there's 500 members everyone's getting a dollar i know well it was never and you know billy and i talked about this all the time which was what are are we doing um i mean this is insane i mean even though the records were doing very well and everything it was impossible touring at that point um and sort of you know making a decent wage. And so, but that was our sound and that was our groove and that was our family

and there was no way we were going to change it. Good for you. Honestly, good for you. So, Love is Fire is a fire song. Maybe not a top 10 billboard hit like it should have been, but John Oates,

great contributor there. I have a couple more big questions here before we say goodbye, but I want to make sure you know, Lorraine, that you're leaving here with fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Breweries. So not just the pasta, you're leaving with the beer as well, which you will enjoy. I like to support local, right?

So actually, so this is what I like about these sponsors. So Palm La Pasta is a family-run business. It's in Mississauga and Oakville. Okay, there Palm La Posta is a family-run business. It's in Mississauga and Oakville. Okay, there's four locations. That's family-run business. This is also Great Lakes is an independent, fiercely independent family-run business and delicious craft beers. So I love working with these guys.

Speaking of independent businesses, Lorraine, I don't know if you ever need to measure something. You're like, where's my measuring tape? All the time. This is for you. My cuffs, my arm length. You never know. You never know. Now my head because of the, you know. Because you. My cuffs, my arm length. You never know. You never know. Now my head because of the, you know.

Because you got the Order of Canada. That's right. You need a bigger hat now. So that's from Ridley Funeral Home. They're in this location at New Toronto is the name of this neighborhood. They've been a pillar of this community since 1921. Great people. And shout out to Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home.

He also has a great podcast Life's Undertaking. I almost dropped my beer here. Okay. Life's Undertaking. So thank you Ridley Funeral Home. And last but not least as I shout out these sponsors, I just want to say thank you to Canna Cabana. Lorraine, look, it's legal

now. Do you smoke any weed? Is there any weed going on in your life? Yeah, from time to time. Yeah. I'm really good with the, what do you call it? The gummy bears. Yeah, the gummies. The gummies. The edibles, sure.

There's actually going to be an episode coming up soon of Toronto Mic'd with Andy Palalas from Canna Cabana, where it's just about edibles. Because I think, I actually think this is the future. Like, I think smoking is going to go the way of the dodo. And I think it's going to be more like capsules and edibles and drinking cannabis. I think that's where it's going. And, you know, for me, it's also I love the CBD component, you know, because now after all those years of lifting amps, everything hurts.

Everything hurts. So I love the medical marijuana as well. There's over 140 locations across the country. Canacabana.com is where you go. They won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. And real quick,

shout out to the drummer for the Watchmen. That's a great Canadian 90s band. But the drummer, Sammy Cohn, yeah, he's still with the Watchmen. They're like you guys. If someone will pay them to perform, they'll do a few shows a year

or whatever. But his full-time job is being a kick-ass real estate agent. And if anyone has any questions about real estate, write an email to Sammy right now. Sammy.Cohn, that's K-O-H-N, at ProperlyHomes.ca. Shout out to Elephants and Stars who say he loves Rise Up. Jake the Snake, who's from Hamilton, by the way, just wants to point out that you won the Juno.

Is that right? Did you win the Juno for Group of the Year in 1985? I'm not sure what year it was, but... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where is your Juno today? That's my question, not Jake's. Where is my Juno today? In storage?

Oh, I'm disappointed. You could have brought it here. I think I may have given it to someone. Does Gene Velaitis have it? No, Gene doesn't have it. Helix. He just wants me to know. He loves Helix.

It's his favorite band. Helix, he says, still recording and performing. You beat them out in 85, apparently. Oh, no. But he just wants me to know Helix is okay. So that's good to hear. It's good to hear. A quick note came in about something.

I had no idea anything about this, but I did pull the jam and you can now shed some light on this for some happy people. This song here. Okay. There's a, I think it's anime, but there's a,

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You must know what I'm talking about because you don't. Well, let me hear that again. Okay, hear it all. This is you, right? Oh, my God. Okay, so what we need for the record,

because apparently there's a big fan base, like it's, I guess, a very devout fan base for this. I think it's from Japan. It's called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You provided the music? What can you tell us? How did your music end up? I barely remember. Oh my god. I have not heard it since we've done it.

Okay, so this is like the theme song for the show. I'm going to look it up, man. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I didn't know about it until I got a question about it. Who's the producer on that? That I would remember. I have to look it up. I think they might have done like an English dub.

But your music's in both versions, I think. I think in the Japanese version and the English dub. So you have this like, I feel like you could start touring Comic-Cons based on this, okay? It's a new career for you. That is so funny and I may, I may jest. You should just do that.

Yeah, at least maybe if, you know, the Comic-Con that comes to Hamilton at least or Niagara Falls or whatever, you can come out and be like, yeah, I recorded the theme song for the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

So you have no memories of like somebody must, it must have been an opportunity. What's it even called? But I, no, when I heard that i i vaguely remembered oh yeah we were asked to do uh there were several things we were asked to do um what was the as it happens theme for cbc um which yeah like our version of it yeah yeah that thing and then this and i'm just trying if you told me i know i remembered but i remember doing it i just don't remember anything about it well here before we we say goodbye since i'm jogging your memory goodbye i don't want to say goodbye but

bad recording okay it's a shame i can't find a better recording do you know what do you have any idea what i'm playing here Bad recording, okay? It's a shame I can't find a better recording. Do you have any idea what I'm playing here? Again, I apologize for the potato recording. No. Sounds like a Janet Jackson thing. Well, give it a moment to breathe, and then I'll jog your memory here.

This is your life, Lorraine Cigano. Oh, dear. What if I name some people that are a part of this, okay? Okay. Maestro Fresh Wes. Who's an FOTM like yourself? Oh. Dream Warriors. Right. Mishy Mee, who's an FOTM. I love them.

Lillian Allen is a part of this. There's a whole bunch of people here. Wow. Messenger. Okay, the recording's terrible. I'll bring it down. But do you remember Can't Repress the Cause? Right.

Wow, that is so cool. And those folks, I just, I really love them all. They were really coming up through that time. And this is what I'm telling you about, you know, how the influx of immigrants coming in and their families and whatever started to affect everything. What I, as a kind of a big student of like Toronto hip hop, if you will, and here's Mishy Mina.

So one of the big differentiators between American hip-hop and Toronto hip-hop was that there was a huge reggae Jamaican influence in our hip-hop. Because Mishimi and other artists, I know Maestro's family was not actually from Jamaica, but from the Caribbean. And they would bring these elements into their hip-hop. And it created a distinct Toronto hip-hop. So what can you tell us about the purpose of Can't Repress the Cause? Do you remember the cause that we were not repressing?

Well, I remember the issues of the time were, you know, the issues of that time was obviously racism, police brutality, apartheid. Like, I can place it in the issues of the time, but not the exact same. You know, because I've done a million kind of protest benefit-y things, right? Well, you're like a social justice activist. Such a great one that you got an Order of Canada. Oh, gosh.

That's foreign. Now I'm done. But you know what this makes me think of is, okay, so if you look at some of Drake's stuff, his beats, I'm feeling like he was really very much, although I don't know much about him but i feel like he was very much influenced by a lot of the hip-hop in toronto the folks you know these folks

here oh yeah i think he's on the record as saying maestro fresh west was a big influence oh good good for sure yeah growing up here and uh you see the connect then absolutely absolutely and uh yeah i love i love uh well i've never had drake on the program but i've had the best chats of maestro okay so what was this particular all right so this was you're asking me to go back 40 years this is from 1990 so it was a plea for greater inclusion of hip-hop music in the canadian music scene right so there So there was no, like, no radio. I mean, you had a fantastic voyage on CKLN, which was, you know, Ron would have that as an outlet, but that was like a couple hours a weekend or whatever.

Like, there was no forum to showcase our hip-hop artists. And you took on that cause. Would it not also have had a video with it? Yep. Absolutely. Because that, I sort of remember that, you know, there was a bit of a thing trying to get much music, play more hip-hop as well.

Right. Right. It's funny because, here, hold on here. Wow. All right, just here showing Lorraine Segato, my maestro fresh West 12-inch, Let Your Backbone Slide. Yeah. Which much music played, like, yeah, Wow. All right, just here showing Lorraine Segato, my Maestro Fresh West 12. Just let your backbone slide. Yeah.

Which Mudge Music played, like, yeah, you can, yeah, yeah. That's so cool. It's from 89. So this is about when, you know, he was like the first, I think Maestro was the first Canadian hip hop artist to crack, in this country, crack the top, you know, 40, basically. He would be played on like 680 CFTR and stuff. Don Valley Sounds. Yeah.

Mark Amondaria. And the director of the video that got played all the time on Much Music was a guy who helped co-create Electric Circus. Right. Joel Goldberg, his name is. Wow. There you go. He also worked with the Dream Warriors and others. So, you know, Maestro.

So Parachute Club got inducted in Songwriters Hall of Fame several years ago. And Maestro was also inducted at that exact same time. And it was really great because, you know, we all came up kind of at the same time together. And so that was a wonderful moment to see him honored like that. Yeah, I love that guy. Amazing. He actually left the city, which I'm going to ask you about real quickly here,

because you don't live in Toronto anymore. Oh, just this year. I'm looking after my ailing parents. Oh, okay. I don't know. I just thought, okay. Did you live on the island? Yeah.

That's where I spend a lot of my time, is on the Toronto Island. Okay. My daughter works there in the summer because she's working for the YMCA camp. Oh, yeah, yeah. I got to say Toronto's greatest treasure, but what is it like living on the island?

It's amazing. The people are great. It's a great community. It's kind of like living in the country. You have to be dedicated. You know, in the winter, you're always hauling stuff for seasons and such, but it's so beautiful. And, you know, you want to preserve it to the degree that, you know, it's not filled with garbage, you know, every time people come through. So's great it's great it reminds you of um

actually the history of the island is fascinating and that used to be a place that people used to go to there'd be like these hotels and people would go to them you know um like every summer and they'd stay the summer so it's great what can i tell you and uh again if it's none of my business just tell me to f off but how did you get so lucky i feel like uh it's tough to you know get a home on the island that you can live in well that's got to be difficult i've got to be a friend i don't own anything i choose not to own much right um, in my life. So I actually have a friend who rents to me, and if she can't rent to me, then I rent via other people. And I'm sorry to hear about your parents that are ailing

and that you're helping them. I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, well, you know what? We're at the stage and the age where you become the caregiver. That's how you give it back to them they're lucky to have you that's that's great that you're doing that and uh helping them out like that uh real quick gears i know that you played uh you perform rise up at the the funeral for jack layden uh yeah maybe a moment uh about about jack i see it's funny where that

where that uh fairy is that would get me to the island i jack late in terminal yeah jack late in terminal and he's got that that great they put up that great uh bicycle statue of the bicycle built for two with jack on it and i've taken many a picture of myself on that bike but uh yeah i say hi to him every time i go by there um well you know jack jack and olivia i knew from back in the day uh uh when the bamboo they used to hang out at the bamboo all the time he was on city council they were both um working uh the streets there you know trying to make it a more interesting inclusive place and so i met them there and he was a big they're both big art, you know, cultural people.

So Jack had asked me at one point when he was running for the NDP leadership, you know, can we use Rise Up? And I sort of said, that might be a little tricky, but happy to write something for you. So there was a couple of us and we all wrote a song called bringing the folk people together or something like that and it was for his campaign uh for ndp he and then he became the leader and so we remained friends and then um and then of course he became ill and um and i had been asked by the family if i would, you know, sing at the funeral.

And I said yes, of course, because he was my friend. And, yeah, that was a deeply tragic moment for me to, you know, and I think for the country, for the folks who liked Jack and what he stood for. But that particular day was really, you know, that was a tough day because he had been in Ottawa, and there was a procession that brought him here to Toronto. And while he was that whole week of the funeral, I was doing interviews, you know, because I had been asked to do that.

So I never got to say goodbye. And it was, luckily, I was able to say goodbye just before I had to go on stage, because there's no way I would have been able to sing that song if I hadn't been able to say goodbye to him. So I was able to touch the casket and sort of uh you know send him off that way I know I'm so sorry for your loss like you know the whole country mourns a loss but you knew him personally and that's a whole different level so I'm sorry no that's well you know we have our friends that family is incredible that whole family is incredible and so I was deeply touched by that moment I'm playing a just a different version of Rise Up here

on our way home here oh that's a like the it's like this is like a disco single I'm not sure oh I think Danny Laiwa actually mixed this. Or no, Jelly Bean Bonitas?

Madonna. Oh, Madonna's right. Yes, that's the one I think I picked. There's so many, right? So many. There's one. I could have picked anything. There was a Pride version,

if you will, I think, in 2014. And there was one we did just recently called Rise Up Redux that was a country version. And then one called the Diesel Mix. That's for when you're working out? Yeah. I should listen to that one, right? Okay. So Lorraine, I got to say,

so glad you're here and so glad we could have this conversation because you're such a fixture on the Toronto music scene and beyond. I mean, you know, you touched that. You didn't get, let's face it, you didn't get the Order of Canada because you co-wrote Rise Up.

It's all your wonderful work in the community. I mentioned you're a social justice activist and a lecturer and just such an important fixture on the scene. So I just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do and thanks for making the trek here today. This has been amazing. Thank you for having me. This has been really fun. No, I don't want you,

because you're going to leave with the lasagna and you're going to get the beer and we're going to take a photo before you drive off, even though it's Lorraine-y note. All right. Lorraine-y note. I gotcha. But I don't want you driving home and being like, oh, I didn't get a chance to mention X or I wanted to talk about Y. So this is like, just before I do the extra, this is your moment right now. Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you're aching to talk about?

Well, I have a one-woman show I've been writing for the past 15 years, and I think that next year I'll hopefully be able to mount it in some way, shape, or form. Get off my dress. That's it. I was hoping you'd bring it up here.

Okay, so maybe in 2023 we can see Get Off My Dress. Maybe. Maybe. And you promise me that every year. Just kidding. Yeah, so every year. But on the note,

how is the solo? Is there a more solo that you've got coming? I've got a solo record out there called Invincible Decency, which is out on probably the streaming platforms. I'm not sure.

Do you ever see a penny from any of these streaming platforms? Do you get any money from Rise Up on the streaming platforms coffee money no not really a lot no not a lot that's criminal right I had Torquil Campbell

on from the stars and he says unless you're Drake yeah I mean that's really it and so you have to do it for different reasons oh I mean I know's really it. And so you have to do it for different reasons. Oh, I mean, I know what I can tell you is that... Anything, on the real talk. Anything, okay.

All right, so one of the things I do now, like it's really important to have other things that you love to do. And over the course of the years, I've made films, I've done all this kind of stuff. But what I'm doing now is I'm working with an Olympian named Mark Tewksbury. Known very well. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

And his partner, Debbie Muir, that she's also an Olympic gold champion. And they have a company called Great Traits and they teach high performance leadership practice. And I am one of the teachers there and I love it. So we, what we teach is makes better leaders in the world, and I'm grateful to be doing that kind of work now.

And you know what Tewksbury and Donovan Bailey have in common that we don't have? They got gold medals. They got the gold medal. They got the gold medal. When is your ceremony? Like, when do you get that pin? Well, I'm waiting

to hear. Okay, they haven't announced it yet. No, well, you know, with the DEMEC there, the pan of DEMEC,

everything has been pushed back. So I don't really know. Well, late breaking, because we're live

streaming at live.tronomic.com, Cam Brio wants me to ask you a question. What's your favorite song that you have you know written or co-written oh my favorite song yeah your personal favorite of all the songs

you have written slash co-written i really love this song that was on my second solo record called no brave face and i co-wrote it with a guy named mika barnes who i love yeah i know mika barnes absolutely yeah and um it's it's oddly enough it's not a groove oriented song it's a kind of a ballad it's a slow thing but it was about all the friends that we lost during the process of aids and that and And I love that song because it really, it's the most vulnerable I've ever been, you know,

in terms of sharing my life as opposed to my ideas. So thanks for that question. Amazing. We'll be checking out the lorainesagato.com. Ooh, that's a little louder than I came in.

A little hot there, Lorraine. But I'm going to be checking that out to find out, you know, when we can see you guys perform live in 2023. But again, thanks for doing this

and for the final time because I think I promised you I would do it four times. Just kidding. But I do want to say on our way out that you should be very proud of yourself

and I want sincere congratulations that you were named to the Order of Canada because that just happened, everybody. That was like December, at least it was announced to me in the public December 29th. That's only a few days ago.

Yeah, I know. I'm so grateful and so surprised and so I feel honored like everybody would. And that brings us to the end of our 1180th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Lorraine, do you know your Twitter handle? At Lorraine Sagato? Yeah, it's Lorraine underscore Sagato or Lorraine Sagato. I'm going to tag you on this and people can find it that way. Who knows? Figure it out, people. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. and people can find it that way. Who knows? Figure it out, people. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. And Sammy Cone Real Estate

is at Sammy Cone K-O-H-N. See you all tomorrow. And my special guest more than eight years. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or will do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you well you know that's true because everything

is coming up rosy and gray yeah the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't speed the day and your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away

cause everything is rosy and gray And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away. Cause 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 grey Cause I know that's true Yes, I do

I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? All that picking up trash And then 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. Because everything is rosy and green Well 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 Cause everything is rosy now Everything is rosy, yeah Everything is rosy and gray, yeah, yeah