Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lou Pomanti: Toronto Mike'd #1094

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

In this 1094th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with musician Lou Pomanti about his work with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Gordon Lightfoot, Platinum Blonde, Michael Buble, Anne Murray, Triumph and many others. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1094 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. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. 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. And Canna Cabana. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at canna cabana.com today making his toronto mic debut is composer producer musician let's see if i butcher his last name lou pomonti very nice okay i was worried because I butchered Marcia Young's first name yesterday.

There you go. How you doing, Lou? Yeah, I'm doing good. I'm out here in the West End. Whereabouts do you normally hang? Bluffs. Okay. That's where Gowan is.

Yeah. Larry's just east of me. Yeah. Yeah. So. And Gatto was out there. He just moved. He's an F. Boy, wait. Greg Gatovitz is an FOTM

Larry Gowan is an FOTM and now Lou you are an FOTM welcome to the club I've only been to the Scarborough Bluffs once in my entire life well that's typical of WestEnders it's like there are some unbelievably beautiful spots in the Bluffs.

You just wouldn't even believe you're in Toronto. No, it was long overdue, but I decided one day I had some extra time because my two little ones were in Edmonton with my wife, and I said, I'm going to bike to the Scarborough Bluffs, and it was a 67-kilometer round trip. So that's why I always bike everywhere everywhere and it's just 67 K. That's like my max pretty much. So did you make it all the way to the beach at Bluffers Park?

Not only that, but there was like a, I don't know, something like where you weren't allowed to go beyond this point. Like, so I'm on the beach and there's a beautiful bluff. And I said, screw that. I carried my bike beyond the point and I took photos. So don't alert the authorities. But I broke some. But yeah, beautiful.

Honestly, like absolutely beautiful. So photogenic. You live in a lovely part of the city. Well, I was born in the Northwest End. Like Rexdale? Weston. So right next to Rexdale, Weston. So I was at Western Road and Shepherd.

And when I moved to my first apartment, I moved down the beach. So like I went from northwest to southeast. Yeah. And probably just wanted to get as far away from where I grew up as possible. Right. Yeah. So nice to have you here. Do people call you Sweet Lou?

You know what? Danny B. calls me Sweet Lou from the Sioux. Okay. Danny B. Who's Sweet Lou from the Sioux. Okay, Danny B. Who's Danny B.? Danny Blanca. He's a blues singer here in Toronto. Okay, I should know this. Okay. Speaking of, you know, musicians here in Toronto, the very first question for you, Lou, is

James B. famous? It's a great debate. I know you're a little biased. This is not the first time I have been asked this question. Do you want to know what? Tell me. James B. is very Toronto famous. I agree with you, but you'd be surprised at the resistance.

So I think James B. is very Toronto famous. And how long have you known James B. personally? 15 years, I would think. And what are your, like, he's not going to hear this. He told me he's not going to listen. What are your honest thoughts about James B? Well, I can tell you, and I've told him that, and I've told many people this,

and that is the first few years that I came into his orbit, I didn't know what to make of him. I thought, what's going on here? Is this guy for real? And I just kind of didn't know what to make of him i thought that what's going on here is this guy for real and i just kind of didn't know and through knowing him and working with him over many many many projects this guy is definitely for real i've never met anyone who had the good of the musical community in mind, right at the very forefront of his being. And everything he does is to connect people and to further, particularly the jazz scene, but not just the jazz scene.

Jazz is kind of a big word, you know? Right. So, yeah, you want to know what? A lot of people who are exposed to James for the first time look at me and go, really? But he's the real deal, man. Now, a longtime fan, there's my Look People vinyl here. Yeah, craziest band in the world.

Shout out to James B. Okay, now that's always a pleasure to talk about James, but I did get some very sad news. So we're going to start sad and then we're going to get happier as we talk about your career and all the great stuff you've done. But I did catch word earlier today that Gord Lewis from Teenage Head had been found dead. And that's tragic,

man. They've arrested his son. I heard, I heard on the drive over. I played on a Teenage Head album. Okay. Let's tragic, man. They've arrested his son. I heard. I heard on the drive over. I played on a Teenage Head album. Okay, let's get that story. So I think it was 1988, I think, and it was the Tornado album.

David Bendeth, who had subbed for Gord Lewis when he got sick, was producing their next record and he hired me to do all, all the keyboard, all the keyboards on that record. And, uh, yeah, that's,

uh, that's a terrible story. I have, I guess it'll unfold as, as time goes on. Yeah. And it's just not interesting. It's all tragic,

but the, uh, the police did the wellness check because of emails that the son who's been arrested for this, uh, murder, uh, the son was emailing the media so like the new hamilton spectator etc and saying basically my dad is dead and and it was because of these emails that the media alerted the police and then the police did

a wellness check and discovered gourd had passed away. Wow. So terrible, terrible stuff here. So, okay, now people might hear the name Lou Pomanti, and they'll be curious, who is this Lou? Like, that name's, like, I'm not sure I'm familiar with that name. So you mentioned you were playing on some Teenage Head records here. What, tell me, like, in a nutshell, who the heck are you? And then I have some audio I've pulled that are going to help us kind of discuss your career in music.

I don't know how much you know, but... Hey, assume I know nothing. Okay. Who is this guy James B. said come over? Sure. So the short version, I'm a Toronto native. I was born here.

My career has had many different phases to it. And a lot of it was behind the scenes, which is why a lot of people might not know who I am. But in the last decade, I've stepped out and I have two solo albums and you can see me at a lot of high level shows, waving my arms and all that kind of stuff. jazz fm plays the shit out of my records which is fantastic so anyways i started i was a young musician yeah i was banging around the clubs playing the clubs in the late 70s i got my first big break in 1978 patsy patsy galant hired me to tour with her band for a few years. I was 20 years old. Two years later, I was floundering in Charlottetown Theater Festival,

hating every minute of it. So this is in Prince Edward Island? Yeah. No, Charlottetown's a beautiful place. The gig was not to my liking. But anyways, I got a call from Caracas, Venezuela, from David Clayton Thomas, and he asked me to join Blood, Sweat & Tears. I quit the theater festival in about five minutes,

got on a plane home, got a passport in a week, which I still don't know how I did that. It was a different time. Right. And flew out and toured with those guys for a few years. I still work with Clayton to this day. And then I'm going to try and keep this short. Then I joined the Blue Note band Gangbusters and that became such a media hang that all of the top musicians in Toronto used to come out and listen to us play. And that's when

my session career started. So from 1983 on, I was a very, very busy session player. I didn't play live for a decade. I was just, the phone rang, I'd pick it up, and I'd be at Manta at 10, I'd be at Interchange at 2, and then I'd have an all-night rock session at Phase 1 from 8 o'clock on, and then wake up the next morning and do it all over again. And like a lot of Toronto musicians,

I put my time in in the jingle world. And then I started writing for TV and film. I have lots of... Okay, but when you say jingle, I know I have to interrupt you there, but can you drop a jingle I might have heard? Oh, God, no. I don't even want to think about it.

Yes, there are some. I don't want to talk about that. Really? No, it's boring. Oh, man. Who's the boss? want to talk about that. Really? No, it's boring. Oh, man. Who's the boss? Let's talk about the records, man. Okay.

Well, here, look. I know some big names here. So I did pull some clips. Let's start with this to get some more detail here. Sure. Thank you. My wife got tired of me running around So she tried to keep me home She hid my clothes, she broke my nose But I continued to roam

Then she finally hit my weak spot When she tried to keep me out From the basement to the rooftop Everybody could hear me shout Woman, give me that wine Give me that wine Give me that wine Cause I can't cut loose without my juice

What instrument are you playing on this jam? The clavident. And this is, what is this, late 70s? Where am I here? This is 1980 in Sun Valley, Idaho. And it's Blood, Sweat, Tears, and that's the unmistakable voice of David Clayton Thomas. You know, what kind of dude is he?

I almost had him on Toronto Mike via phone, and then the person who was arranging it said, let's put a pin in this for a little while, and we never picked up that pin. He just recently retired officially, so I don't think you're going to get him. Missed my window. It closed on me. David Clayton Thomas is one of the most interesting and most influential guys I've ever worked with in my life. I was 22 years old when I joined BS&T,

and he's 17 years older than I am, so he would have been 39 at the time. He's in his early 80s now. And, I mean, he was the bridge between the old school, the Sammy Davis Juniors, the Frank Sinatras, all those guys. He was the bridge between those guys and the rock guys. He had one foot in both camps,

and that's why he was Sammy Davis Jr.'s favorite singer. Wow. That first record of Clayton's with B.S. & T. came out in 1969. And let's not, you know, whenever people play with him and they're not quite sure who he is, I said, don't forget, at the 1970 Grammy Awards, BS&T 2 with Spinning Wheel on it that Clayton wrote was awarded Album of the Year at the Grammys, beating Abbey Road.

Wow. And presented to him by Louis Armstrong. Wow. So, I mean, his legend is huge. And even listening to this live recording, funky as all hell. Let's just do a jig here, man. This sounds great.

So, okay, so you're still friendly with David, though. Yeah. So, why did he retire? Do you know? He's done it all, you know. He's in his early 80s. I think... Musicians don't retire. That's true.

Like, look at the Stones. They're still on stage. I think some people... I think COVID scared some people more than others. And I think it might have been a factor. Sure. No, it affected a lot of us in negative ways. Okay, so now I'm going to just drop, like, name drop.

I know some people say like, oh, that's your drop in names. I encourage it on this program. So drop the hell out of any name you want. But here's some big Canadian musician heavyweights. You ready? Yeah. Tell me your association, what you did with Anne Murray. Anne Murray, I played on two of

her albums, Country Croonin and Duets. I, just the other day, it came up because, oh yeah, that's right, we played Teddy Bear's Picnic on this

program, and I brought up Hippo in My Bathtub, which was the first vinyl I remember. That one and Saturday Night, or Sesame Street Fever

were the two pieces of vinyl I remember spinning the most in the 70s. So, shout out to Anne-Marie. Okay. Is Anne a nice person? I get good vibes from her. Anne's very, very, very sweet. She's a complete total pro. Walks in, does her job, is lovely, speaks to everyone, shakes your hand.

And she also officially retired a good seven, eight years ago. To focus on her golf career. Probably. She's probably on the links right now. Yeah, man. If it's not pouring where she is. Okay. Gordon Lightfoot. I warned you these would be heavyweight names.

Yeah, man. So it's like 1985, 1986. Doug Riley is doing Gord's new record at Eastern Sound. He quits because he can't handle it. Gord had just recently quit drinking, and his therapy was to keep the band in the studio all day and run the songs for eight hours at a time. Doug couldn't take it, so he split.

And I came in, and I played on that entire record. And that was very interesting. Like, one quick story about that. Yeah, please. So we'd be running a song all morning. Like, one quick story about that. Yeah, please. So we'd be running a song all morning. Like, he's playing double scale. You know, he's Gordon Lightfoot. It's 1985.

And we'll have run this tune 12 times, like starting at 10 and finishing at 1. You take an hour break, and then you play from 2 to 5. We would run, and we'd run it 12 times. And Gordon went, guys, that was absolutely perfect let's try it again because as long as he was in the studio working he wasn't drinking right well you know you got to know your uh triggers right like if downtime is your trigger then just delete the downtime yeah especially if you can afford it right if you If you're Gordon Lightfoot. Okay. And Gordo, man, still performing.

Yeah, man. See, he's not retiring. No. Tell that to David. Okay. He's a good dude, too. Who, Gord? Yeah, Gord Lightfoot.

Oh, he's the greatest. He's the greatest. Oh, he's the greatest. Okay. Cool cat. Okay. All right. I love, let's talk about Platinum Blonde here, man.

Because I'm thinking now, I'm thinking of that scene. There's a documentary about the Tears Are Not Enough, the making of Tears Are Not Enough. And it's Mark, I want to say Mark Holmes, does he pull up in like a limo? He's the only guy. They were notified before the thing. They said, just be cool, you know.

Yeah, remember, we're raising money for famine relief. There's no, there's no trying to do no showbiz, right? So, yes, Mark is the only one who pulled up in a big white limo. The other vision I have is FOTM Leona Boyd in a fur jacket. So the fur coat from Leona Boyd and then the limo from Mark Holmes. I just thought those were interesting moves for this charity single. But you didn't get a chance to play on Tears Are Not Enough.

No, but I was there that day. Tell me that story. I was at Manta. So I knew something was going on because the people had told me, because I used to work at Manta, do sessions there almost every day. Right.

And Manta was at the corner of Sherbourne and Adelaide. It's now the Mozo condos, you know. almost every day. Right. And Manta was at the corner of Sherbourne and Adelaide. It's now the Mozo condos, you know. But so I needed to pick up some gear. So, like, everybody knew me there. So I just pulled my car up to the back of Manta, walked in the back door like I always do, walked into the lobby, and there's Joni Mitchell sitting there.

Now, I'm a major, major Joni Mitchell freak, and I got to work with her later through the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wow. But, I mean, everybody was there, but for me... Not everybody, because Leonard Cohen was not there. Leonard Cohen was not there, that's true. Oh, and Buffy Bale.

I learned that from Terry David Mulligan. Well, for me, it was all about Joni. To have a Joni sighting was pretty major. For sure. Yeah. It was, you know, to have a Joni sighting was pretty major. For sure. Yeah. For sure. Amazing. And did you get,

was David Foster there? Yeah, they were all in the studio. Bruce, was it Bruce Allen, I guess, running the show. Okay, lots of, any. Oh God, everybody was there.

Everybody's there. Neil Young's there. Of course, we mentioned Gordon Lightfoot. He was there. Okay, Geddy Lee, let's name them all. Just kidding.

Okay. Triumph. Yeah, Triumph was really funny. Oh, by the way, I need to go back, actually. We never got your Platinum Blonde story, because I turned it into a Tears Are Not Enough story. Oh, that's right. Well, Platinum Blonde had that big first record, right?

Situation Critical? No, no, no. The first record that was just a trio. Somebody Somewhere? No, that's the record. One of the records I did. But they had that big first single where they were a trio and they were like the police, but different. And then they were doing their big second album, which was the big

expensive album. And they got Eddie Offord to produce from Yes. And I did that album and the following album. But the most important one was the second album, which was Alien Shores. And we were holed up in Metalworks in Mississauga, which is Triumph Studio, for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks.

And I did every bit of keyboards on that record. And we basically lived there for a long time. And I'll tell you something, it was really interesting. That was Mark Holmes' baby. A lot of people have a bad reaction to Mark's voice, blah, blah, blah, but a lot of people have a bad reaction to mark's voice blah blah blah but a lot of people have a bad reaction to getty lee's voice too you know that's true and neil young even yeah so it's like whatever i'll tell you at the time that was the biggest record i had ever played on i mean it sold it it sold well i've got the record, I've got the gold record in my studio.

It's 500,000 copies of the album in Canada alone. So that's a huge number. It was, I used to, you know, the Hostess Potato Chips had those, do you remember the little Rockstar cards? Do you have any memory of this? No. Like you'd pay 45 cents for a little,

like a Hostess Potato Chips bag and you'd get like a Rockstar card in it. I remember the platinum blonde one, highly coveted. And I was a CFTR listener in the mid-80s, and I think every third song they played was by Platinum Blonde. Well, that second album was huge. So when I got those Platinum records

and put them up on the wall, at that time, that was like the biggest record. I was the fifth invisible member of Platinum Blonde. That's amazing. They took my keyboard parts out on tour with them on tape. They just pressed play and there you are. Well, I didn't really have the look. You can get a wig, one of those big blonde wigs there.

Okay, so you mentioned Metalworks, and that leads us to what have you done with Triumph? Well, I played on two of their biggest records i played on thunder seven and sport of kings and so that was basically me and rick emmett in the studio alone because they had already laid the the bed the bed tracks down and so then it was just me and rick hour after hour after hour in the studio, and because they own the studio, there was no clock ticking, right? Right.

Right? Right. So we spent a lot of time, and I played on every track on those two records, which were both very big, including Somebody Somewhere and all that stuff. So, yeah, that's Platinum Blonde, right? No, but there's one. What's the Triumph? It has a has a similar name oh a similar name song someone somewhere or something yeah yeah okay so rick emmett's an fo team i just need to name

check the teams as we pass them but rick's a great rick's you know man rick is so great rick has the mentality of a side man but except he's a frontman star, right? I think it's great. I've had up-and-coming newer bands, like Mono Whales, for example, who will tell you Rick Emmett was their teacher, I think at Humber or something. Sure, he taught songwriting for a long time.

And they'll credit Rick with the mentorship and guidance that now they're winning Junos. I think Mono Whales won one breakthrough artist of the year. Rick's a real human being. He's a good guy. And he writes poetry. Oh, does he? Because he's got a poetry book.

I didn't know that. Shout out to Rick Emmett's poetry book. Okay, here's a guy I wish I could have on, but he passed way too early. Tell me about Jeff Healy. Oh, Jeff Healy. I played on two of his records too, See the Light and something else.

I can't remember. Well, See the Light was enormous. Yeah, yeah. And so we did that. They were already pretty successful. So I don't know if you ever saw the mansion on Spadina. So Spadina Avenue, south of St. Clair. Jeff's success built this unbelievable.

Oh, it's called Casa Loma. Yeah. Almost as big called Casa Loma. Almost as big. Casa Healy. We did those there and I played keys on all that stuff. Is that like Confidence Man? Are we at the right album here? Confidence Man?

Or is that a previous album? I'm not sure. I just remember See the Light was the big jam on that album. Okay. He's buried at Park Lawn Cemetery, by the way. I've seen his gravestone. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Okay.

Kim Mitchell, FOTM Kim Mitchell. Kim Mitchell, man. I'll tell you, this is interesting, and I know that you don't know this. Okay. There's a lot they don't know. So Kim calls me in 92. We kind of knew each other, but he had heard of me really more than anything. Of course, I was very aware of him.

And he said, Lou, I need a new keyboard player. Who's great? And I said, well, I wouldn't mind doing it. And he said, really? And I said, yeah. So I toured with him for 92, 93, 94. And that was a super, that was a super trip, man. I was 34 when I started that Kim turned 40 on that tour.

And yet, you know, headlining at Canada's wonderland and playing the key to ballad with him and touring across the country. Like I love his music. Like I love kim's music and pie de bois toured with us on the first year okay and it was just it it was just amazing but yeah so fast forward 25 years yeah kim calls me again he says my keyboard player's leaving he says who who who do you got lou and I said well I said you're gonna think this is weird I said but my son is the best new keyboard player in Toronto so he went out for lunch with with Sam and uh loved him did an audition with him hired him right away wow so 25 years later my son tours with Kim with Kim that is so's your son's name? Sam, you said?

Yeah. So Sam Pomonti? Yeah. So Sam is doing fabulous. He moved to LA in January, and he's on tour right now with a fabulous artist named Banks who has billions and billions of streams. They just played the History in Toronto. They just played Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Good for him. So my son is out there killing it. Okay. Good. That's awesome. You my son is out there killing it. Okay, good, that's awesome. You must be very proud. I am. Okay, and Kim Mitchell, yeah, there's a rock star wonderland. This guy's a wild party.

He's a national treasure, man. Yeah, absolutely. You know what? Yeah, like Max Webster alone is fucking cool. Exactly. And then think about, you know, I just shared this story. It's kind of a boring story

at this point for listenership, but the G For Soda, which I erroneously called Go For A Soda, and then Kim corrected me. There's no A in that title. It's just Go For Soda. But that should have been a big US hit. He got kind of fucked by the labels. The record studio was pushing.

They were pushing a Twisted Sister song over the Kimmichel song. It's a crime that Kim never became big in the States. There's lots of folklore in Toronto about why that is. I certainly won't name any names here, but I think we all know who they are. You can't give us a clue? Because I never know what's going on. Let's put it this way.

Yeah. Rush was the focus. Rush was the focus. Rush was the focus. Okay, okay. Is there a clue? Because I never know what's going on. Let's put it this way. Yeah. Rush was the focus. Rush was the focus. Rush was the focus. Okay, okay. Is there a clue? We're going to do some digging here. Okay.

Where do I go from now? How can we play another jam and we're going to talk about this guy? Because this guy is a big, big fucking deal here. Oh, okay. He's a BFD, as we say. Thank you. When, when a bloom is born

Life can be a joy But the note they end on will depend on Little pleasures they will share So let us compare I like New York in June How about you? I like a Gershwin too. How about you? I'm mad about good books Can't get my fill

And change the rannies' look Give me a thrill Holding hands in the movie show And all the lights are low May not be new But I like it how about you how about you

yeah man bubbles here okay speaking of big Canadian musicians okay tell me your story like how the heck are you involved with Michael Bublé so I this is the most asked question about my career. And it's the pivotal, that arrangement that I wrote,

the one we just heard, that I wrote for Michael, was the pivotal point in my career where I did a leapfrog. I like to call this a leapfrog. And I've told my son, I said, sooner or later, you got to do a leapfrog, which is you got to skip about four or five levels of success. If you're really going to catapult yourself into another sphere, there has to be a moment where somebody from above comes down and plucks you and brings you up to the big leagues. So anyways, this ties into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, which I'm MDing at Massey Hall on September the 24th.

We should talk about that too, but I was the MD for the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. We were inducting Joni Mitchell. And so Joni's sitting in the front row as we're playing that song. So Michael was a guest. I was asked to do this arrangement for him. After the rehearsal, Michael turns to me and goes, I love this arrangement.

Why aren't you arranging for my records? I said, call me. Now this is showbiz bullshit that happens all the time except he called. But it happened in a funny way. So Bob Rock, I'm sure you're familiar with Bob Rock. Of course.

Yeah. So Bob Rock, who is a Vancouver guy, was hired to be the producer for the Hockey Anthem Challenge. Do you remember that? Yeah, they lost the rights to Dolores Klayman's hockey song. It went to Bell Media. Yeah, so they hired Bob to helm this

competition. There was going to be a reality TV show that was going to be done. So Bob Rock, who was working with Michael Bublé at the time, phoned Michael and said, Michael, I've never worked in Toronto. I need an arranger producer guy. Who do I get? Michael remembers me from the songwriters, says call Lou. Bob calls me

halfway through the reality show. Bob says, look, I'm just about to start the new Michael Buble album. Would you like to arrange one song on it? And I said, yes. So they flew me to Vancouver to adams studio wow and while i was there one became two two became three and they it became six so i ended up doing the orchestrations for six albums on michael's biggest record except six songs on his uh yeah this is including haven't met you Yet Crazy Love is this album yeah Crazy Love and so

Haven't Met You Yet was the big single of that and it's still Michael's biggest single and we we did that there dude that's amazing

yeah so you know planets have to align a little bit like luck is a part of it it's like luck's a part of it you gotta be good or the luck's not going to help you.

That's true. You've got to be able to pull it off. But definitely, things have to fall into place. So you have Grammys. Do you have Grammys? Yeah, I have Grammys by association with Michael. The jury's out whether I actually have a Grammy. So they didn't physically give you a trophy,

but the albums that you arranged have won Grammys. And songs, too. For Michael Bublé. Yeah, so I'm in touch with the Grammy people, and they're investigating whether or not I get a statue or not. You should get a statue. You know what? Just make a replica because you earned it, man.

It's not like you're faking it. No, no, no. But here's a funny story. So on the first record, I'm talking to Bruce Allen's assistant and we're getting ready to do the sessions and I'm in Toronto and we're doing them in van. And I said, so, she goes, so what do you,

she says, so what do you need? She, and I go, well, now you got to understand, I'm used to working in Toronto, not with world famous, well, you've got to understand, I'm used to working in Toronto, not with world famous, well, some world famous people. I mean, you did work with Gordon Lightfoot and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Michael was very current at the time and very big.

And I said, so, Sandy, how many strings can I have? Silence. And she goes, how many do can I have? Silence. And she goes, how many do you need? And I thought, I felt like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hills. I don't know. So I thought of the biggest number for string section that I could think of.

I said, 34. She goes, that's fine. The budget's a little more than you're used to. Well, I figured that Michael spent a million and a half on that record, and I figured that's one corporate for Michael.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, this is a whole different stratosphere. So, okay, that's amazing. So you consider this the apex of your career, is your work with Michael Bublé here. Well, let's put it this way. It was definitely the turning point and it was the most records sold.

Yeah. No, they don't get much bigger than Michael Buble. I mean, to be honest, not my cup of tea, but... That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, man. It doesn't make the number any smaller. You know, a lot of these big fucking deals are not my cup of tea, but man, he seems like a nice guy

to hawk in lots of drinks. Hey, on that note, real quick, I'm going to hawk something here. Your last name, of these big fucking deals are not my cup of tea but man uh he seems like a nice guy too uh hawking lots of drinks hey on that note real quick i'm gonna hawk something here yeah your last name pomanti yeah italian descent yes what a good guess on my part okay do you enjoy italian food i do okay so i understand homemade italian food maybe you're you're you're no no that's gonna you brought me a pizza i thought no so yeah that box it's empty but in my freezer i have a delicious frozen lasagna from palma pasta so when you leave here today that box will be full of delicious italian excellent so you'll love it and i do need a review from you because i have been told by people whose nona would make a great lasagna that yeah next to

that the best lasagna they've ever eaten is courtesy of Palma Pasta. You're going to love it. Sweet. So I'm also sending you home with fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Nice. They've been proud supporters for many years.

And there's a Toronto Mike sticker here. That'll go on my road case. Awesome. Yeah. And take a photo of where it ends up and send it to me because I love it. So thank you, StickerU, for that quality sticker. And of course, if Michael Bublé is listening and he needs some bubble stickers, StickerU.com is available anywhere you have an internet connection.

I shouted out Ridley Funeral Home earlier, but I just want to tell people that Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home has a great new podcast called Life's Undertaking. You can subscribe and listen right now. I'm lucky enough I get to co-host that show, and I think you're going to dig it. So that's called Life's Undertaking from Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home. Okay, just checking my notes here. Where do I want to go next? Okay, tell me about what you've done with the Geminis and the Junos and the Genies. I know Genies are no more.

They've been kind of folded into, like, become screen awards, but you've been your musical director at these big events? Yeah, so I went through, I'm still going through it, but there was a time when I was musical director for most of the major shows, and I was musical director for the Junos once, I was musical director for most of the major shows. And I was musical director for the Junos once.

I was musical director for the Gemini Awards seven times. And I was musical director for the Genies about five times. So the Gemini's and the Genies converged into the Canadian Screen Awards. Right. Yeah. And then that nice segue over, give us a little more detail on your work with the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. You've alluded to it, but let's get a little more detail. So this is one of the high points of my whole career.

When Frank Davies first started the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in the early 2000s, they had been together, you know, they had been formed for a couple of years, but they were about to do their first live gala. So he called me, and I had a band at the time called The Dexters, which used to play at the Orbit Room all the time. And he said, Lou, will you MD the show with your band? We're inducting Gord for the first year. And so it started small. We started at the Glenn Gould Theater at the CBC building. Right.

The next year it was Bachman and Cummings, same place. Then it started to grow. We inducted Leonard Cohen and we moved to the John Bassett Theater, and it became televised. We had some real high points on some of these shows, Katie Lang, blah, blah, blah. Oh, yeah, she did Hallelujah, right? That's right.

Yeah, it was great. And then the following year was 2007. Now, that was the big year because we were inducting Joni. So I was leading the house orchestra, and my guests were Michael Buble, Herbie Hancock, James Taylor, and Chaka Khan so all of them hit me beautifully in one way or another

so it would be the kind of thing where I'd be in the basement studio working and my wife would call down Lou James Taylor's on the phone so James Taylor ends up performing your arrangements and Herbie Hancock is performing your arrangements. And we already know Michael Bublé's performed here.

Dude, honestly, you've lived a life, man. This is very, very cool here. And Paul Anka, you did one for Paul Anka, right? We did. And is he a good guy? It's not too late. Paul feels, it feels to me, and again, I think it's because he started so damn young, but it feels to me like he would be like

110 years old at this point, but he's not nearly that old. How was it working with Paul? Listen, this is when it gets exciting because it's like, oh yeah, this guy's great. This guy's a fucking legend. What a sweetheart. Everybody's wonderful. I'm afraid of Paul Anka.

I'm afraid of his lawyers. He's extremely litigious. He's very difficult to work with. But is there something bad to say? You're joking. Are you not joking? Let me look at your eyes. Okay, because you can't.

I've been told this by the great Lorne Honickman himself who gave me some good advice recently when I had some issues. You can't get in trouble for telling the truth. Okay, then all I would tell you is he didn't show up for rehearsal. He actually said to our producer that he would never work again.

Of the show, the producer of the show. Paul has a lot of demands in his contracts, of the show, the producer of the show. Paul has a lot of demands in his contracts, and he has a reputation of being difficult to work with, and I can confirm that. Because Paul's got fuck you money. That's the, once you, you know, if you're of a certain nature,

like a lot of people with fuck you money are still sweethearts because they're just naturally sweethearts. Well, look it. We, when we were, when you induct someone and you're the main inductee, basically you talk to all the people that, like Paul wrote a lot of hit songs. Like he wrote She's a Lady for Tom Jones. We asked Tom Jones to come. He said, no way. Interesting. come he said no way uh interesting so and basically the only person that would come

on behalf of paul anka was david foster wow and they have a business relationship sure yeah okay now paul anka also uh sinatra made uh my way that's his jam, right? Yeah. He wrote the lyrics. He wrote the lyrics. Okay. And The Tonight Show was based on that. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So disappointing to hear about, you know, Otto his own Paul Anka. Maybe he was just having a bad week.

Maybe he was just having a bad week. Right. Right. Okay. Tell me a bit, if you don't mind, about what you did for the 2011 Pan Am Games. Okay. That was cool.

I almost said no to it. What happens is the Pan Am Games have what's called a handover ceremony. So on the final day in Guadalajara, at this stadium of 80,000 people, they take like 10 minutes and they do the handover ceremony because the next place is Toronto. Right. So they asked me to write an eight-minute piece of music that was going to be choreographed.

And it was going to be performed live at this stadium in Guadalajara. So I went. There were tequila stands like every seven steps in this studio. So there was like 80,000 completely shit-faced Mexicans. And then they performed my eight-minute piece in the middle of this thing in Guadalajara. And it was kind of like it blew my mind. No, very cool.

Yeah. That's very cool. Yeah. That's very cool. Yeah. I remember the 2015, hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games because we did get some cool shit out of that and they enhanced my bike trails. Thank you, Pan Am Games for that. Okay. Whatever it takes. You have your own studio?

Yeah. I have a small studio in my home where I do most of my work. Gotcha. Not as small as mine, though. No. No. That's next level. Okay.

So I'm going to play a jam. We're going to listen to it. It includes you and another FOTM, and then we're going to talk about some more recent stuff. I wonder what it is. Oh, you know what I'm going to say? I just realized. The wrong pod is here. We're going to start that again.

And I'd say I'd fix it in post, but then somebody may have said that's the funniest line I say on this show is fix it in post because I never do. But here we go again. Huh? Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok A slow high wind A slow high wind A slow line Here in the shade Like a cool drink waiting

She sat with slow fire in her eyes just waiting some days it's too warm to fight slow hot wind alright before you say anything Lou this is a contest for the

FOTMs who are listening right now in their automobiles or on their walks. Maybe you're walking the dog, maybe on a bike ride, maybe you're just chilling out in the backyard. You have a moment now to think in your mind, what FOTM is this? What FOTM are we hearing here?

Which FOTM? So whose voice is this? And now the answer will come to you courtesy of new FOTM, Lou Piemonte. Lou! Yeah. Who are we hearing here? Well, that is the one and only Mark Jordan. Woo!

So I got to tell you something. Sure. I was a huge Mark Jordan fan in 1978, 1979 I was 20, 21 And his record Blue Desert came out in 1979 And it's a masterpiece I absolutely loved it And then when Mark moved back to Toronto

After living in Los Angeles for years and years I'd run into him at a show You know, I had him on the songwriter show 15 years ago, blah, blah, blah, blah. Did you ever meet him at Allen's on the Danfork? No, no. And then finally, about five, six years ago, I get a phone call.

And it's Mark. He says, Lou, it's Mark Jordan. He said, I just heard a song on the radio that you arranged for Matt Dusk. He said, was that you? I said, yeah. He said, do you want to produce my next record? And I said, yeah.

And that has turned into a great working relationship, and he's a great friend of mine too. I can honestly say that on a strictly creative level, he's been my number one favorite artist to work with in my entire career. You have something in common too, in that you have talented musical children. Yeah, yeah, it's true. Zoe and Ezra are really great.

Yeah, we played when Amy and Mark came on. And Mark was great. His stories were great. But I think I said this before I pressed record, but Mark was so chill on the mic. He would just sort of like... He's chill in life. He's chill on record. Chill is good in life. It's not as good on the mic.

Sometimes you've got to project into this thing, but get, so we can capture those stories. But did you consider that late seventies Mark Jordan music? Do you consider that yacht rock? Yeah, definitely. Cause there's,

there's yacht rock elements in your music. Sometimes when I'm listening to it, I'm hearing like, okay, this would have sounded like right. Get, get this, uh,

was it McDonald? Yeah. Yeah. Or Messina like, okay, this would have sounded like, get this, was it McDonald's? Yeah. Or Messina and, you know. Well, look, I came by it honestly. I was 20 in 1978, and I loved all those L.A. records like Steely Dan. Like all those records that use those great L.A. session players. I was a sucker for it, you know? Yeah, you can hear it. I'm always thinking my buddy Stu Stone would dig this

vibe. Okay, and so Mark Jordan's great. I'm going to actually play, before we find out what album that's on, I think, I hope I pull this, I'm going to play this, and then you'll tell me what the heck I'm playing, but I think it's from the same album. Yeah. He come on flat top He come grooving up slowly He got juju eyeballs

He's one holy roller He got head down Down to his knees. Got to be a joker. He just do what he please. Yeah. Whose voice is that? So that is Robin Black.

So that's the first cut off my newest album, which just came out in May. That's the first cut off my newest album, which just came out in May. And so I lead a group called Oakland Stroke, which is a Tower of Power tribute band. It's a 10-piece horn band, right? And I said to our lead singer, George St. Kitts, we were doing a new record and I needed some background vocals. I said, George, you work with all these great girl singers. Can you just bring one of them?

Because I need some backgrounds when you come over. And he says, sure. So he comes over and he brings Robin Black. And from the minute this girl opens her mouth, I'm like in. So I have been working on a project, on a spec project with Robin for three years.

So her first single just came out a couple of weeks ago. Her second single will be coming out in a couple of weeks on my label. And I just think she's just the bomb. And the way that she works with Mark on this song is just like, you know, magic. So more Mark Jordan here. Okay, let's hear a bit more. He's down below his knees Hold you in his armchair You can feel his disease

I'm digging it. This album's called Lou Pomonti and Friends, right? Okay, so please tell anyone listening now, how can they, listen, how can they score this album? Okay, so Lou Pomanti and Friends is on all the streaming platforms. So Spotify, Deezer, Pandora, Apple Music, everything. You can either look under my name or under the album name of Lou Pomanti and Friends.

And we're going to spell Pomanti real quick, even though you guessed it, but P-O-M-A-N-T-I. A-N-T-I, just like you would have guessed. Yeah. And so I decided for my second solo record, I thought, okay, I work with a lot of great people. And I'm going to take a track for each one of these people and try and write an arrangement, do a production that highlights this person in a way that maybe they haven't been highlighted in the past. There's some great names on there. I've got Randy Brecker on there. I don't know if you're a jazz fan or not, but there's no more famous jazz trumpeter alive in the world

today than Randy Brecker. And I've got Emily Claire Barlow, who I've known since she was 15 and who is just an amazing artist and I've got Matt Dusk on there I've got Robin I've got Larnell Lewis you have recent FOTM uh John Finley on there John Finley just made his debut here like I'm gonna say about a month ago I saw. Well, I produced John's last album for James B., right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we're all interconnected. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're all interconnected. John Finley is a force of nature, man. Have you ever seen him live? Not yet, no. Okay, so like do yourself a favor. If you get a chance, I've never seen a singer allow themselves to become that, to surrender themselves to a song as completely as John does.

I think I could be wrong about this. You'll tell me. Does he occasionally play the Old Mill? Well, he... Or was there something? Maybe I'm conflating stories. No, that's right. Because James B. throws shows at the Old Mill,

and John is usually a part of them. I bike by that damn Old Mill all the time. I'm just waiting for the VIP invitation from James B. There's lots of jazz shows there, right? Yeah. Cool, cool. And just looking, I see that you caught David Clayton Thomas just before he retired here. He's on this album?

Yeah. So that's the duet. That's on this album? Yeah. So that's the duet. That's track two off of the record and that's a big band. A big brassy big band track. And we thought it was really cool to get two 60s

Toronto's legends. John Finley who of course was the lead singer for John and Lee and the Checkmates and Rhinoceros and Clayton of course. And the lead singer for John and Lee and the Checkmates, and Rhinoceros, and Clayton, of course. And the two of them play off each other like some kind of a jazzed-up Righteous Brothers or something, you know? And I see your son's on this album. Yeah, he is. What's that like, working with your boy?

He's the greatest. I wanted to hire him. Man, it's terrible. I wanted to hire him as the second keyboard player on the Songwriters Hall of Fame show that's coming up, but he's too busy. He's too busy. Well, you know, he's coming to town because he's going to come to my event on September 1st from 6 to 9pm.

I'm having an event. It's TMLXX. That's the 10th Toronto Mike Listener Experience, and we're going to be on the lawns at Great Lakes Brewery, which is in Southern Etobicoke here, 6 to 9pm.m. September 1. All FOTMs invited. But Rob Pruce.

Rob Pruce was the keyboardist with Spoons during their heyday, and he's making the trek to make an appearance at TMLXX. So if you need a keyboardist, let me know. Okay. And he played of Honeymoon Suite as well, just the suite and the deal here.

Honeymoon Suite keyboardist. Okay. sweeten the deal here. Honeymoon Suite keyboardist. Okay. You mentioned that. I have a song here, so I'm just going to play this since you kind of mentioned it. You said one, one, and one. Oh, yes. Get fucking with the group, y'all

Come on Get a fucking with the group, y'all John Lennon John Lennon John Lennon John Lennon John Lennon Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie

Get fucking into the groove, y'all Come on Jungle Boogie Get fucking into the groove, y'all Come on! Jungle Bookie! Get fucking with me, yeah! Jungle Bookie! Jungle Bookie! Jungle Bookie! You'll make it move, it will make you move!

Jungle Bookie! Jungle Bookie! So you mentioned Oakland Stroke. Yeah. So tell me more about Oakland Stroke. All right. So this is my passion project. And in 2013, I realized that it was time to put together a big, brassy horn band. I was playing with a band called Brass Transit at the time, which is a tribute band to Chicago. I get my Chicago tribute bands mixed up.

And maybe, no, okay, I'm trying to think. That's one that sounds familiar. You played some, like, Etobicoke locations. Anyway, that's one I'm familiar with. Continue, but I've heard them. They sound great. Yeah, they play mostly in the States, but they do do the odd thing around here.

But I said to Tony, the leader, I said, you know, we were listening to some Tower of Power, and they've always been my favorite live band. And I said, Tony, what do you think, man? Should should we do it should we put together a tower power tribute band and he said yes and i called all my best friends from from humber college and i said look i'm putting together a tower power tribute group it's going to be a huge amount of work and very little money and everybody said yes so So we got a record about to come out, and we've got a bunch of original tracks on YouTube and Facebook and all that stuff, and that's really been a great passion project for me.

That is one band that live, like, I'll put it up against anybody. We've got a five-piece horn section. George St. Kitts is our lead singer, and it's a funky good time. And Oakland Stroke appears on Lou Pomonti and Friends. Yes. Just to bring it full circle here. We did a big band version of the Billy Paul hit, Me and Mrs. Jones.

Sure. Yeah. Hey, do you smoke weed? What I do is I drink weed drinks. Sure. Okay. So when you're looking for a good weed drink, we'll call it, Canna Cabana is where you go.

So they want to... Here, I'm going to... Steal your keys. Just kidding. All right. So here, this is for if you know somebody who smokes weed. We've got an ashtray from Cannaana for you to take home if you're here. So that'll come in handy.

That'll go on my patio. Yeah, for sure. And somebody's smoking a blunt there. And I forgot to give this to you earlier when I was shouting at the good people at Ridley Funeral Home. But this is measuring tape. You never know when you have to measure something. Maybe you stick this in the glove compartment or something. Measure a dead person?

You never know. See if they can fit in the coffin? See what size casket you need. It'll come in handy. I'm re-watching Six Feet Under right now. Oh, I love that show. My God. I'm going to actually go I'm going to say it's my second favorite show of all time. How's that for an endorsement?

Right on. They're always selling the Titan casket. That's the expensive one and they're always selling the titan casket that's the expensive one and they're always trying to upsell their caskets on six feet under but uh anyway uh that's yours to take home courtesy of ridley funeral so lou this was amazing and i'm worried like i don't want you to be driving home and thinking oh shit there was this story i wanted to share like this is your opportunity if there were any stories you were thinking about that you forgot to share, now's the time.

I know I'm putting you on the spot here. Before we play you off, it's up to you, but I don't want you to feel any pressure here. But now is the time. Well, I think all that I really want to do is I just really want to tell everybody that I have two new records about to come out and that is the second record that I produced for Mark Jordan which will be out

December January and it's a it's a it's a beautiful orchestra album you know mark with strings kind of a thing and there's some it's a song it's an album about America and, uh, the state that, that, that America's in. And it's, it's amazing. And of course the other one, as I mentioned before, is the new Robin Black album. We're releasing a new single every five weeks and just, uh, that's Robin with a Y. I was actually just about to say that. And so people, when they Google it, it, Robin with a Y, Robin Black.

Amazing. Dude, this was a great thrill for me. Well, I can't believe all the parting gifts. It's amazing. Don't leave here without that lasagna. Yeah, man. And we got to take a photo. Everyone gets a photo by the same tree.

This is the tradition. And even if it's like, if we go outside now, because we have no windows down here, but if it's pouring rain, because when you showed up, it looked like, oh, it's going to rain. If it's pouring rain, we're still taking that photo by the tree. Just warning you. Okay. It might be pouring rain.

Well, prepare to get wet, Lou. It'll be worth it. And that brings us to the end of our 1094th show wow that's a lot of shows man and only two or three feature James B. I'm glad I was so high on the list

hey all good things man I'm just getting into some of the grades I've got lots of ground cover here look you got in before David Clayton Thomas right exactly our friends at greats. I've got lots of grand cover here. Look, you got in before David Clayton Thomas. Right, exactly. Our friends at... No, we have friends, but first I want to tell you you can follow me on Twitter at

Toronto Mike. And Lou, tell us, can we follow you on social media? Please do. I need you to subscribe to my YouTube channel and I need you to go to Facebook and I need you to follow me on Facebook. Follow Lou Pam to follow me on Facebook. Follow Lou Pomonti.

And Instagram. And Instagram. Follow him everywhere. Do it. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're on Twitter at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Electronic Products Recycling Association, They're at EPRA underscore Canada.

Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all next week. It's eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. ¶¶ 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, yeah I know it's true How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down ropes And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am

But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray

Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in 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 gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine

And it won't go away Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy, yeah Everything is rosy now everything is rosy and everything is rosy and great

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, but I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a little bit of a story, I'm a story of a story, I'm a story of a story, I'm a story of a story, I