Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lou Schizas Returns: Toronto Mike'd #391

Episode Date: October 29, 2018

Mike chats with Lou Schizas about why he's no longer on GNR 640 Toronto and what's next for him. Then, they kick out the jams.

Welcome to episode 391 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Lou, that 99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? Absolutely, Mike. As a listener of the Toronto Mike podcast, I've been informed repeatedly and hold it close to my heart. GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com,

Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And Census Design and Build, providing architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is Lou Skizis. Welcome back, Lou. Thanks, Mike. Great to be here as always. You know, one of these dynamic type of events, you know, it's always on the top of my agenda when I get an opportunity to spend time with you and be part of your broadcast.

agenda when I get an opportunity to spend time with you and be part of your broadcast. And I just noticed now I'm ecstatic because last time you were here, which was a tremendous episode, people who want to go catch up with Lou's, the ongoing history of Lou's skis, I should go back to that episode. But I would say my disappointment was you weren't wearing suspenders. Like you had no suspenders on last time you were here. Well, it wasn't a money deal then. And, you know, I'm anticipating this becoming a money deal. And plus, because it's Kick Out the Jams, I have a special pair of suspenders to memorialize this opportunity.

That's perfect. And when you say it's a money deal, does that mean I'm paying you or you're paying me? Which way does that work? Well, after this recording is over, I'm going to ring you out like a sponge and find out the monetization process that you've been going through since you were released.

Are you still working with the Germans? They're now clients of TMDS. That's fantastic. I just wrote a case study for them last week. Yeah, and that's interesting how, because remember, I don't know if you remember, but maybe I never told you, but I reported it to Frankfurt.

Right, I remember those. And it was one of those ideal things. They loved me because I was responsive. I was effective, reliable. Mike, you're the best. Listen. I'm the best. Go ahead. Keep going with your character.

What else am I? I'm efficient. Effective. Right. Yeah. And competent. Quality work. Yeah.

Responsible. All those things. And of course, this, the whole, anyways, TMDS, which was, we can talk about that briefly, which is that.

No, you know, we have all kinds of time. We got jammed. If you want to, if, what? Well, we can jam. We got jammed here. If you want to... What? Well, we can jam. We will jam.

And I actually am so interested in hearing your update, but I will give mine briefly. Okay, but hold on a minute. You have unlimited time. That's true. Right? You said it would take 90 minutes to do the jam? At least 90 minutes after we catch up. You know, I have nothing but time these days.

Is that right? I'm glad you made time for this because I had such a good time with you. And then you appeared at both TMLX1 and TMLX2. And for those who don't know, what are these alphabet soup I'm spitting out? The Toronto Mic Listener Experience, the first one in July and the second one in September.

You appeared at both. And I'm honored and the second one in September, you appeared at both, and I'm honored and flattered and just so glad you did that. Tone that down? Well, no. I appreciate that you appreciate, but remember, you're a leader in the podcasting space. You're an innovator. When Humble and Fred were going into podcasting, who did they come to? That is Toronto Mike. Why? Because you're a technical expert and you're impassioned and engaged with your subject area. So when I had the opportunity to come to your live event, which, you know, if you know anything about podcasting, which I know you do, And which, you know, if you know anything about podcasting, which I know you do, listener engagement is so important.

Right. That's the way you drive passion for the work that you're doing. So I had to come and see it because I worked for a broadcaster who in 17 years never had listener engagement opportunities. And I kept saying, duh, duh and duh. So, you know, I just wanted to see how you did it. And clearly, you have people that are pumped up about what you're doing. And I got to engage with them. And, you know, I've made new friends because of it. You know, whenever I go out into the public, Mike, there's a couple of objectives, you know, find engaging people and interesting people. And certainly that's what I met when I, those are the types of people that I met and followed up with after your two live events at Great Lakes Brewing. Again, so honored that you appeared. The first one I thought went quite well.

It was something like 45 people and it was really nice, but a lot of people, it was like mid-July and a lot of people were at the cottage or on vacation or whatever. So I wanted to have one that was sort of like after Labor Day. So that one in mid-September, the brewery told me over 80 people came out for the listener experience. So I mean, to me, you know, I don't have any lofty expectations here. I'm still excited when two people show up. It's about growth. Once people experience something and they talk about it word of mouth, they're off to the races.

So I can let you and the listeners in on a little something, which is for spring 2019. The Saddledome? No. No. The Scotia Center? That's right. Whatever they call that these days. The Scotia Bank Arena

will be filled to the rafters. That's the plan here. Hey, dream big, baby. You're right. I have something so cool planned for spring 2019. It's just amazing. And I know I ran it by a couple of people

I trust, and I can tell you after we finished recording, and their minds were exploding before me. They're like, that is amazing. So more to come. This is quite the teaser. And I know- Does it involve Gary Cormier?

Oh, by the way, thank you for setting that up. Gary Cormier was a great guest. What amazing stories. Yeah, well, it's funny because he used to listen to me when I was in broadcast radio. And he contacted me on an issue. And I went and met him. And I said, oh, my God, this is the treasure chest of rock and roll history, which I thought you would be interested in. I sure was.

Yeah. I found it engaging to listen to him and telling the stories of, you know, his, uh, his manifestation as an impresario in rock and roll in the Toronto area. Absolutely. And I mean, even just hearing the stories about, you know, you're first to bring,

uh, the police to Toronto and you talk about, you know, not, he said nine people over two shows at the horseshoe and, uh, and, uh,

Gordon, some, uh, and sting is out in his underwear kind of doing the encores and stuff, and it's just hearing this stuff firsthand from the guy, one of the Garys, right? Were you aware of the Garys

before you met Gary Cormier? Oh, well, I became aware of the Garys when you sent me that note and said, you're friendly with Gary Cormier, and he'd be available to come on the show. And then I quickly caught up to speed. And then I realized I did a whole episode. It's funny. I did a whole episode on the history of the Horseshoe Tavern with David McPherson, who wrote a book on the topic. called the Gary's. And we actually did. It's like I knew about it, then I forgot I knew about it. And then I remembered I knew about it. And then it's like, I can get a Gary and there's so much history I need to like extract from his brain. So that was like an amazing discussion. Yeah. And so, you know, for me, it was just about, you know, finding, you know, I asked him before I drove out to his place on Victoria Park Avenue or Boulevard or whatever it is. You know, I said,

are you going to be interesting and engaging if I'm going to drive across the city? And he guaranteed me that he would. And then, you know, all this stuff came out, you know, and I was particularly interested because I had read about the 25th anniversary of the police picnic in Oakville. Right. And I immediately contacted my old pal Donnie Rosso, who is currently doing a Donald Trump lookalike cycle during the Trump years. He's a spitting image of Trump when he puts the makeup on and the whole shamir. And I contacted him because we were engaged at a time when the police were emerging.

And that soundtrack was playing all that time. So I contacted him and then I met Gary. Yeah. It's like synchronicity, right? I see what you did there. And when you said you needed to guarantee it would be an interesting discussion, I was thinking of a Gary T. This would be a Gary T.

Oh, Gary T. I'm sorry. I apologize. No, you don't have to apologize for being witty. I'm just slow. And because I graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Mike and I always say, go slowly, repeat off, and I'll eventually get it. That's funny. But I didn't want to guarantee.

I just wanted to see what was there. And when you challenge somebody and say, you're going to be interesting and engaging, they're going to step up or step off, right? Brother Louie, may I call you Brother Louie? You can call me whatever you want. I have a question for you. So, okay.

Hold on. Let's let this... We are kicking out the jams later, so a little jams to tease us here. Just a little bit here. If you ever start a podcast, and we'll talk about that soon, I want to know this is your theme song, man.

Oh, I don't know. You know, packaging and all that. You know, soundscape. You know, I'm not that, you know, fussy, right? I think it's good that, you know, when you have better packaging, you get better outcomes. But you've got to let other people, you know, help you get there. Because, you know, I would have like a Sousa march or something like that.

Well, we're goingX 1 and 2. Yeah, happy to do it. Thank you so much. Happy to do it. Do it again. You're a big thing in the spring. Oh, that would be fantastic. Now, since you were last here on Toronto Mic'd,

there's been a significant change in your professional life. Why did Chorus relieve you of your duties at GNR 640 Toronto? Again, to me, Mike, to be quite honest with you, when they stop paying you, you don't have to care anymore, right? I don't care why. I just care that the money dried up and now I'm scrambling to find new opportunities.

I've never been more impassioned, more vigorous, more engaged to find new money, right? Because my cash cow for 17 years was slaughtered. And the only objective that I have now is to harvest what I can off of that carcass. And that's why I've engaged Jane Milburn, an attorney, to do that. And I hope the operative term is the last syllable of her last name, burn. So it's irrelevant to me. They can do whatever they want. I don't own those assets, right? Those belong to somebody else that have engaged managers to do whatever they're mandated to do. So good luck and goodbye. I'm going to pepper you with a few more questions.

Yeah, go ahead. Whatever you want. Refer me to your lawyer. But hold on, hold on. Yeah. You know, Jane Milburn, my attorney, has suggested that, you know, watch what you say. Okay.

And I would give you the same advice. Yeah, okay. Because you're a good man. And you're so smart. I know you already know this, so you'll be very careful. Well, I'll be as careful as I can. But I'm still, here I am. Because I am

spontaneous. Pepper you all. Maybe we should have, it's too early in the morning, we should have maybe cracked open the Great Lakes beer in front of you first. I don't drink. Did you get a six-pack last time you were here? I left it with you to enjoy. Not that I don't respect

what they're doing. And I have consumed beer and spirits and wines in the past. But a couple of years ago, in 2016, my wife asked me, you know, honey, I want to lose weight. And I don't want to drink wine. I said, fine, honey, because I'd gone through life multiple times stopping consumption of alcohol just to see if I could do it. Right. Because there's always that challenge. Right. You're, you know, tippling for many years. Can I stop? And I proved to myself that I could. And in an effort to help my wife, I said, OK, let's flip that switch and turn off the flow. switch and turn off the flow. And she continued to hit the wine rack like a linebacker. And I just, you know, got to the point where I realized that the only thing I really got out of alcohol was the buzz. I didn't care for the taste that much. I didn't care for the aroma. I didn't care for the,

I mean, not sufficient to keep me on. I said, oh my God, you're self-medicating. What in God's name does Lou Skizis have to self-medicate about, right? I have a wonderful wife, beautiful wife. I have a wonderful child that I love dearly, right? I'm in control of my day, right? I have assets, no debts, right? I live by a certain philosophy. And you know i said you know maybe we'll just you know leave it off so it's been since july of 2016 well good for you well you look great we didn't talk about the last episode but you look you look fantastic i'm not dating you i know you're married i'm married no but i'm not dating you it's the suspenders okay i know i know i can leave you a pair i can send you a a pair. So am I getting this six-pack today too?

I don't know. I was thinking, you know, because I got some other visits to engage. Well, it is yours. I know. If you want it, you can have it. But I'm sure you have like a pipeline from the brewery right here. I mean, the Great Lakes Brewery, I would love it if you passed it on to somebody you care about or somebody you're going to work with or whoever you like. It's your beer. Only people that I like.

Only people you like. Don't give it to the asshats. Give it to the good people. Enjoy, though. I will. I was just by their neighborhood last week visiting someone that used to listen to me on the radio who's got a place right there.

It's Queen Elizabeth Boulevard, isn't it? That's exactly right. Number 16. It's called Innovate. And I was just blown away. What do they do there? A variety of things. They are involved in monetizing the internet experience

through marketing. And I was like, they have, if you want any kind of gifts, you know, so they're developing an ongoing, like chocolate, flowers, that kind of giftware and what have you, you just go on their website and bing, bang, boom, you are off to the races. And I said, you know, when I looked up their address, I said, oh, you're right by GLB. That's really close because I'm looking at the six-pack box here.

It's 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard for Great Lakes Brewery. And because I had been at your events, I knew exactly how to get there as quickly and efficiently as possible. No, amazing. That strip, the big thing on that strip is, of course, there's a Costco. Yeah. That's the big thing on Queen Elizabeth Boulevard.

It didn't look like it was a big enough footprint for a Costco. Yeah. They're usually like an aircraft carrier of retailing. See, it's the only one

I really know, so maybe you're right, but it does seem pretty darn roomy when I'm inside there. Well, how long does it take you to go through it? Because it's a one-way channel, right?

You can't go any way you want. They get you in. Well, it's not like an Ikea. Like an Ikea, you got that, like, you have to go this way and go through this, whatever. But I feel in Costco, it's your free range, right? It's, right? At least this one. I usually follow a pattern.

Is yours, is there an Oakville? Is there an Oakville? Mississauga, right? Mississauga, okay. Just over the other side. On this side on the west side of winston churchill maybe ours is a has a tiny and done this here but uh okay back to gnr yeah for a moment here so tell us how you were notified at least give us a little insight into how or how did so i'm out at a meeting with a company called uh media suite uh cindy suite right they do virtual reality and augmented reality just a with a company called Media Suite, Cine Suite, right?

They do virtual reality and augmented reality, just a fantastic experience going there. And we had lunch and, you know, I get a voicemail that, you know, it's from the program director. Can you contact me? And I said, well, I got to get home, right? I'm not going to do that, you know, here in the parking lot because, you know, I've never had good got to get home, right? I'm not going to do that here in the parking lot because I've never had good news from this character, right?

So it was just a matter of let's delay it. When I get home, my phone is ringing, and people are saying, hey, is there any truth to the rumor that you've been fired? Oh, wow. And I said, well, I don't know, but I've got a phone call set up with the program director. And so I said, thanks for the heads up. Wow. So how did it leak? Do you have any idea? Well, I think, you know, first of all,

it was incompetence, right? I mean, I don't think that's the way to do things. I could be wrong. Maybe that's the way things should be done. You know, part of chorus values and all that. Well, it's usually it'd be some idiot like me would tweet out the news, just learn Lou has been let go, and you'll be on Twitter and you'll be like, oh, it sounds like I'm being fired today. Yeah, I don't really care.

It's just the protocol of it. And I'm sure that people that practice human resources would say, no, no, no. So I knew there was something on the horizon or a thought. There was some signs on, no, no. So I was pre, you know, I knew there was something on the horizon or a thought, you know, there was some signs on the trail, Mike. And, you know, that conversation when it happened was very short, as you can imagine. And I closed it off by saying,

I'm sure you'll remember this sound, click. And that was it, you know. I don't need any more conversation with people you'll remember this sound. Click. Oh. And that was it, you know? And I saw... I don't need any more conversation with people that can't handle their affairs. And I saw you, you know, you did tweet, and I saw on LinkedIn as well,

like, that you were a little disgruntled on how that went down because you were, you know, having people call you up and say, is it true that the rumor's true? Mike, you know, it's Mike, it's just not done. 17 years you were there, right? 17 wonderful years.

Now, you kind of alluded to the fact that you smelled it coming. Okay, so an advertiser of the firm had contacted me about doing endorsements for their service. And what happened was, you know, he gave me this news that, oh, we can't move ahead right now because of traffic. I said, BS, right?

The traffic guy's on holiday. And then when he contacted me back, an advertiser on the station about doing some endorsements for him. He said, yeah, they're waiting for X to come. And I said, oh, it's that one. Oh, nothing good comes out of that. So there was some signs on the trail. But I had been anticipating something for a long time.

Why were you anticipating something? I just think that, you know, when there's a change in management, when Gord Harris, who had been the program director, was replaced, I had never had a positive experience with that individual, right? And this is the Mr. X? I don't want, you know, do I have to say the name? Yeah, I don't, I don't care to waste time on it. Okay. You know, so I realized that nothing good was coming out of it. Uh, through all the changes, the morning show Oakley moving to the afternoon and so on, no communications with me, you know, about my role or anything that they want or didn't want. I've all, The only time I heard from Mr. X was when the issues with Kelly Cutrera on her show,

where she was bringing unqualified people in to speculate about the mental health of the president of the United States, which I think that if you are at all involved in someone's mental health issues, you should be a professional. I don't think I'm aware of this. I don't think I was aware.

No, no. Did we talk about this? You clipped it. You sent it to me. I'm sure you have it on your server somewhere. If only I could go back and find out. But okay, so other than this situation uh so so okay yeah it's coming back to me now so you you had a word you had words with uh kelly on the air

uh right sort of there was some tension there well it was which makes for great radio by the way for what it's worth when you have like real human apparently it makes things interesting apparently you're not faking that that was all straight up now not only were you relieved of your duties uh that day or week or whatever but suan levy suan levy as well and cam stewart and cam stewart yeah now let me just ask uh an open question that i i was thinking i was thinking like since you rebranded since they rebranded 640 uh yeah i don Yeah, I don't own the station. Just let's be clear. I did correct myself very quickly. When Chorus rebranded the station Global News Radio

to, I guess, leverage the brand of the TV side there. It's a Global News Radio, GNR as I call it. Possibly, and this is just me speculating, but possibly that they were trying to move the needle a bit because the content the, the, the content of 640 was a little bit, uh, was right of center.

And maybe they were trying to move the needle a little to the left, possibly with some choices and decisions they made. I'm just wondering if maybe you and Sue Ann Levy were, uh, removed because you both are rather, uh, right, uh,

aligned with your political ideologies. You mean responsible and accountable? Is that what you're trying to say? Right of center. Well, no. You see, when I hear right, I see people with armbands goose-stepping up the street, and I prefer responsible and accountable. That's what I represent to our listeners and to your listeners, right?

Accountable and responsible. That's all I'm asking for. But do you think that that played a role in your removal? I have no idea. No idea. Again, you know, it's irrelevant to me. The only thing that's relevant at this point is harvesting meat off of the carcass. That's it.

You know, why? They can do whatever they want. Like, do I come in here and tell you how to run your show? No, I do not. Although I did, you know, suggest that we take the photograph before it rained. That's true. This is the first time in the history of

Toronto Mike that we took the photograph before the episode, which means if this goes poorly and goes south, you can't just storm out of here. I have the photo. How is that possible? How is that possible? You, the Brian Linehan of podcasting, who conducts

in-depth research, you know, who is, even Molly Johnson, you concluded your experience. Did you listen to Molly Johnson's episode? I did. Would you mind sharing? I'm fascinated with people's opinions of the episode. Did you think I did something wrong in that episode?

Like you have any professional feedback? Okay, so there was a mis-threading of the needle, wasn't there? Oh, when I said I got a diva-like vibe? Is that the quote? No, no. There was a timing thing, right? She was here early. Oh, yeah, yeah.

She was here for 10 and she was booked for 11. That's true, yeah. Yeah, I don't know who booked it. I don't know why. Well, I did that on the phone with her, like directly with her, because she blew me off the first time. Yeah, but you didn't follow up, right?

Well, on the phone I said, let's do 11 o'clock Tuesday, and she says, okay, I'll be there, and that was it. So there was no email follow-up confirming the 11 o'clock? I never had her email address. That's the weird thing about this whole setup

was that I only had a phone number, and I talked to her on the phone because she, yeah. So you're right. It started off on an interesting foot. Yeah, that's what we call a misthreading of the needle. We didn't actually get the thread through the eye of the needle. So it starts off that way.

She's tense and so on. Now, clearly, I think that when you describe someone as a diva, it usually takes a negative connotation, whereas for me, I love a diva. You know why? Because they're so easy to get along with, easy to get along with, as long as you're serving them, right? Is that correct? That's true, of course. They want to be lauded, if you will. Well, it's not so much that. When you finally ascend as an individual, is there a devo? Is that a male? That's a good question. Or is it just the woman? But, you know, when you think about the trials and tribulations that someone goes through to ascend to a status of diva in the female gender, you'veaires that I've met, you know what? When they get to that point, they don't tolerate a lot of crap because they've already had a lot of it to get where they're going.

Right. So is it surprising that they would push you back for suggesting that they don't like the way they're being handled? I don't think so. And if you look at stars, real stars, they don't put up with a lot of stuff because they already have over the course of a lifetime. So were you wrong? Misthreading the needle set it off on a bad footing, but it's not something you know, perhaps, Mike, you're a little sensitive. And you could have realized you're there to serve, not to be served. And I do, like in hindsight, I do wish I had not used the word diva because it obviously carried a lot of weight for her. Like this word meant something different to her than it meant to me.

Well, I think because she doesn't see herself as a diva because she never achieved the success that she wanted. Oh, you mean monetarily? Well, she certainly- Because she's so critically acclaimed and- Well, you know what? That doesn't pay the electric bill, right? Right, right. So I got a sense in the conversation that you had with her that it was about financial stress. And when you suggested a diva, divas usually are deep in dough, right? That is true. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, maybe the misnomer, right? You should have called her a struggling artist.

Maybe that would have gone better. But you know what? It's really irrelevant because it was still a compelling conversation. It really was, actually. That's the episode I've heard the most times. So I try to listen to every episode at least once. But I listened to that with my wife, and I listened to it with my teenagers, and I listened to it on my own after I put it together. And then I listened again later because I had a discussion about it with my friend. So I actually heard that episode like four or five times.

And it really is compelling even though I was in the room and it's me listening to it because it's like a roller coaster ride. It starts off rough and then it gets a bit better, but then it gets rough again and then you think, okay, well that's as bad as it's getting and now it starts to improve. But then it has its low like it finds its new low, if you will,

and then slowly climbs its way back up. So it's really an interesting ride. Well, I mean, maybe you should have said, listen, obviously this isn't a good day, right? We started off. Let's just gas it. I mean, it's not like...

I thought of doing that. I did. I really considered that strongly. Yeah, well, maybe next time that's what you'll do. You'll say, yeah, this interview is over, Lou. I mean, Molly. See, Molly. See, Molly came a long way, and she really

wanted to promote her Kensington Market thing. How did that go, by the way? I don't know. I hope it went well for her. No follow-up. Are you kidding me? I tried tweeting at her. I tried as many channels as I could to basically tell Molly that I would love to have her back for another

go at this. Let, let's try again. Another thing happened that day. Not only was there a timing missync, but Aretha Franklin died that day, and I started by asking her about the influence of Aretha in her own life as a singer, and she did not like me starting that way. So it was kind of a bad, really bad start.

See, the only thing I focused on with Aretha Franklin was that she died in test state. Is that a term for... Tell me what that means. I should know this. Is this a legal term? She died without a will. So her estate is now up for grabs. It's like a jump shot. I will say this. A tip off. This is the second time you've been here. And I quite like you. And we chat often, off air even.

And I will say that I can tell you really value money. I shouldn't be surprised. Well, no. I think it's not the little pieces of paper with pictures and numbers on it that stimulate me. It's a resource that we all need. stimulate me. It's a resource that we all need. Okay. So when I see that Aretha Franklin has passed away intestate, it really says, I don't care about my inheritors. I mean, a big bag of dough, no two ways about it. You know, she had a significant net worth according to, you know, the research, the cursory research that I did. But it really says, let them scramble for it.

Let them go to the courts. Let them figure it out. And I think that given that it's a resource, and if you're a steward of the resources in your life, money being one of them, which translates into anything and everything that you use. Like, look here. You have resources. You have a home that you use. Like, look here. You have resources.

You have a home that you bought, right? Would you want to make your children fight over it, or would you want to declare who gets what when? Yeah, I think it would be prudent. It would be wise to have that taken care of before. Well, if you really care about their outcomes, right? Because I don't have to tell you about the number of cases where it's a bare-knuckle fistfight in the parking lot of the funeral home over the assets, right? And some of them are insignificant assets, right?

No, agreed. But, I mean, money is important. We all need money. You're right. For resources. That's all it is. It's a tool. Your kids need to go to school.

It's a tool. It feeds your experience. So you value it, but you don't value it above all else. I mean, family and happiness, these are values that are more important to you than the dirty paper. But I cannot achieve those outcomes without sufficient do-re-mi to put a roof over my family's head, to secure them against the risks in the economy and society, right?

To provide them with transportation, nutrition. I mean, come on, Mike. It's entirely possible that I undervalue money and have something to learn here. Clearly. You haven't dug out this basement yet. I hit my head again. Oh, that's true. I wasn't even going to share that.

I'm embarrassed. No, you're not. And you don't have to be. Although, I am going to research those bumpers for that ledge. That we can do. That we can do. And my lawyer will be in will appreciate that, too. My lawyer will be in touch.

Oh, yeah. Jane Milburn and Associates will be in touch. Burn is the important syllable there. So I want to... Here's a question from a Joe Batista. Yeah. I'll be able to read it. No, the rug guy?

Joe Batista? Yeah. I don't know what he is. I just only have the name here. Okay. So he's a guy that I blocked on social media and email because he was abusive. I only saw the tweet and I copied and pasted it. So I'll read it and then you can hear it.

Go ahead. I have no idea if he's a real guy or not. When are you moving to MAGA country, a.k.a. West Virginia, and are you taking Sue Ann with you? I'd be all in to contribute a buck or two only for a one-way ticket, though. That was Joe Bautista. Yeah. Joe Bautista can kiss my big, red, royal Canadian ass, okay? And you know what? This guy runs some kind of a carpet company, and I would recommend that if you ever, ever, ever want carpeting, think about it. That's right.

Yeah, Joe Batista. Too bad it is a very popular name, I think, Joe Batista. I don't know who he is. I hope there's no other rug Joe Batista is wearing right now. I don't ever want to spend time with him. And Mike, you have to appreciate someone like myself, you know what? I attract the people I want to attract, and I repel people like Joe Bautista. And not to be rude, but I hope he dies soon. Okay. Let me ask you a question related,

but would you consider if the rebel called? Okay, the rebel called. They'll never call. If they called, though, would you consider- They'll never call, and I'll tell you why. I have a history with ezra levant going back to calgary i didn't know that well there's a lot of things that's we're gonna need more time on the clock yeah well you know i like i said i have nothing but time but okay so there's some personal uh conflict so conflict there that might prevent a relationship. I had a show on AM 1060 CKMX in Calgary. And I knew Ezra

because he and I and others were involved with the early days of the Reform Party. And we were working on a campaign for a guy by the name of Andy Crooks who was running for Calgary Center. And I had a show on CKMX, and I had made time for some

of these young operatives in the Reform Party to come on air, talk about whatever issues were relevant to them. And at one point, he was scheduled to be on my show, and he called me, I think it was the day of, and he said, I'm not going to do it because you're going to have this other guy on who I don't like. And I said, really? I said, Ezra, burn my number

because I'm burning yours right now. You're not programming my show. I'm programming my show. So the rebel will not call. Well, they could. And would I entertain it? Of course. If there's money in it, why wouldn't I? Well, okay. So

kind of related here is... Kind of? It's because I know earlier we kind of... I called you right of center and then you corrected me and you... Accountable and responsible. But there are accountable and responsible people on the left side of the stage. Really? Who are they? Name them they name them name them uh toronto mike okay all right but you're not but you're not a politician i'm definitely not a politician right now um did you on on the air

at 6 40 uh canada land made a bunch of noise because you called uh the children separated from their families at the mexicanAmerican border. You call them actors? Child actors. Child actors. Cast by agents unknown. So you stand by this? Okay, well. Or was that in the heat of the moment, you just tossed that off? No, you know, if you looked at it,

and you looked at the manipulation of the images that showed up on the cover of this one and that one, you know, with the kid crying in a cage, that wasn't actually at the border. But it wasn't an actor. Like, it was legit child crying. You're out of context. You're right. But Mike, come on. You don't know

when you're being spun? You don't know when you're being manipulated? I certainly do. See, I wonder though, if comments like that, because even if you think the press is manipulating an image to pretend like it's at the border when it was not necessarily why is that good tell me why that's that's not no that's not good journalism sensationalism plagiarism how are they different

when you're doing that but that's different than suggesting that these are child actors well they've been cast into a drama okay oh here Oh, here's the kids crying. Let's put him right next to President Trump and say it happened together that he was pinching the kid or pushing the kid or bullying the kid. Do you have this passionate defense? Should, let's say, Barack Obama be in office? Like, is this something that you feel? I had a lot of time for Barack Obama. After eight years of George W. Bush, the worst president ever, who spent $4 trillion in a war he couldn't win.

Yeah, I had a lot of time for Barack Obama. So just to put that to bed, right? I'm just accountable. So this is not you defending a Republican president. I am accountable and responsible. And when you manipulate images to get an outcome, you know what you get from me? You get pushback.

Which publication was that again? Remind me. I think it was Time Magazine, Mike. I have to go back. No, no, no. I just was just... So I made those comments, and the very next day,

it was proven that those images were manipulated. Right. I did hear that that picture was not from where they said it was from. Oh my God! Is that true, Mike? But I consider that different than actors. Why?

Why? Why? Actors suggest that you have a child pretending to cry, but you're now talking about one media, one cover on one media outlet. That's not exactly the same as saying all these children at the border

that are crying because they're separated from their families are actors. Okay, so Mike, let's just be clear. These people have broken the law, crossing the border illegally. It's a felony. If you were to be found with methamphetamine in this house, I guarantee you as a felony, your children would be taken away from you. So what's the difference really? It's a felony to cross the U.S. border illegally. But defending the separation is different than saying they're child actors.

Sorry, Mike. I'm just, you know, sorry. No, it's okay. I thought you wanted my opinion. I do. Oh, no. See, this is why we took the photo at the beginning. Oh, my God.

No, please, continue here. I want to let you finish that. All right, so they cross the border illegally. There is no identification. Do you know if those were actually the parents of the children, or are they smuggling them in for something else? You don't know. That's why they have to be separated and identified.

Sorry, that's what happens when you break the law. Do you think that chorus... I don't care. ...with the new branding of global news radio, that these are the kinds of thoughts that you're expressing that concern them? Does this have anything to do with you and Sue Ann Levy being... I don't know about Sue Ann. I always respected what she had to say. She's the only one calling out the elected officials at City Hall and Queens Park and so on. And I always enjoyed what she had to say. Now, why they acted?

It's their business. They can do whatever they want. Right? They don't want it anymore. Hey, you know what? That's why I got jane milburn and associates involved because you know the tawdry amount of uh severance they offered was unacceptable yeah you're there 17 years that's a long time you think it's a good run you think and you know to

be honest with you given the lack of communications by mr x, right? If you wanted something else, I'm sure I could have cooked it up. Ricardo Da Silva on Twitter wanted me to ask you what Oakley had to say about these firings to you in private. Now, are you ready to disclose your private conversation with John Oakley? Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, he called, and I was glad to hear from him. He said, look, sorry it's over. You know, they're taking apart my show, blah, blah, blah. And I said, John, don't worry about it, right?

When I first met John, excuse me, it was after Humble and Fred had left Mojo to go to... Mix 99.9. See, you have this history down that I've forgotten. It's on my whiteboard here. Yeah, right. And he came in and he was all excited about the opportunity to do the morning show. And I was excited to meet him. And he had all these dreams and ambitions about what was going to happen at AM640.

And I told him, I said, John, and I told him again after we talked, I said, you know, your only real job is to get your contract renewed, right? How they manage this thing, you'll see. And yeah, you're right. They did kind of dismantle his show because you mentioned the raging redhead. Is that what? Yeah. Cam Stewart, right? Yeah. He's a live wire, man. You should have him on your show. I mentioned the Raging Redhead. Is that what... Yeah, Cam Stewart.

He's a live wire, man. You should have him on your show. I will. Actually, I will. I do want to have him on the show. I will reach out to him for sure. Now, I got to ask you because he's a friend of the show, but have you heard from... Since you were let go, have you heard from Mike Stafford? No. But, you know, here's what I understand, right?

When all of your water comes from one tap, you protect the tap, right? Yeah, I hear you. But it would be nice, a private reach out to somebody. Yeah, you know what? Again, I understand people's universes, right? I'm the dead man, right? You know, being associated with the rotting corpse of Lew Skeezis might taint his cash flow. Right. OK, yes. And, you know, he may have private words that are unflattering. I wouldn't know what they are. He may have flattering words. I don't know what they are. And I don't care. Right. I mean, it's his business. I know what it's like to be, you know, in a corporate environment where, hey, he's dead.

What are you still hanging out with him for? You still like him? Oh, we're going to punish you. Because it's not about performance. It's not about measurement or anything like that. It's all cooked up by management. Well, we don't like him okay get him out all right without any regard you know think of dean blundell do you remember dean yep okay i

sure do all right so dean blundell was you know according to the numbers was a ratings bonanza and he was let go because they didn't like something that he had been given license to do for a long period of time. All right? So it wasn't about performance. It was, oh, my God, we're uncomfortable with this or that about Dean. Really? Really? That's a good example because you're right.

That's where, you know, numbers tell one side of the story but chorus has to worry about their family values and all this kind of pr well you know it's cute stuff but when you have high people high-fiving in the hallway hey we got rid of skeezus and then i'm getting it as a rumor before i'm informed you would think that that is in conflict with that positioning but they don't think that that is in conflict with that positioning. But they don't think that laundry is being aired in public. What do you mean? Well, they don't think the people, the masses, the public are going to be aware that these high-fivings are happening in the hallways. Well, I don't know what's going on.

Yeah, I know, but the fact that— I wasn't there. Right, right, right. But I'm just saying, how does it get—like in the oil patch, Mike, there's a thing called a tight hole. So you've gone out and you've drilled an oil well and you've got a bonanza, right, hit. You got so much oil, right, you can't control yourself. You put a tight hole on that so nobody's buying the land around it and sticking a straw in your reservoir. Nobody's buying the land around it and sticking a straw in your reservoir.

Right. So you would think you would think that, you know, something that involves people. Right. That have been long term players with you. Right. You would put a tight hole on it. But obviously they never spent any time in the patch. And it's all about something else. Right.

And, you know, the other thing that you might keep in mind is I'm 62 years old. Am I the only guy with gray hair that's been exited from chorus in the last while? Think of Andy Frost. Think of others that, you know, long-time contributors, right? Now, what is that about? Not just gray-haired people because, you know, Mel and Adam

and a whole, I mean, there's a whole bunch of high-profile. They were the morning show on 102.1 that got turfed in the summer. Yeah, I don't know about that. Was that about performance? I don't know. They never tell you. They never say. They never say.

There you go. So tell me, Lou. Now, obviously, you're moving on because you've hired a lawyer. That's real guard action, right? That's just like mop up that mess. Sure. See what you bring. But I'm moving forward so because you want to be severed fairly after 17 years well i want more than what they're offering right right right which was insubstantial and humiliating i think yeah that's too bad they had they play those games they try to see if you well you know what i talked to

fred patterson who had had a management role with the company, said the standard operating procedure. So anybody that's employed by the firm should be aware that you're not going to get a fair hearing. You're going to get a hardball. I mean, any firm, to be honest, I went through something very similar in the spring. And when they pass you that folder or whatever and ask you to sign it, never sign it. you that folder or whatever and ask you to sign it, never sign it. Talk to a lawyer before you sign anything, just no matter who you work for, Chorus or otherwise. I think that's a best practice that everybody should do. Well, you know, if you listen to Lior Sanfuro, who, you know, has been a longtime advertiser, right, across the channels, I mean, you know, pretty well has informed the public that, you know, you should engage an attorney.

And I would have engaged him, but there would have been a conflict because he does business with the company. Right, right. Because I just would have liked that irony. That's true. That's true. What's next for Lou? Tell me, like, what are your plans now? You mentioned a podcast.

I think you mentioned it. No. Unless I connected dots okay so I'm interested in podcasting but unless I can see the math and the monetization why would I do that so that's why I'm going to ring you out like

a sponge later on well yeah while I post this you know you asked me is money important to me well making money is important to me. You know, if I was going to develop a hobby, it would just be, you know, continuing to read the stack of books I haven't gotten to.

Right. Right? That's what I like to do with free time is read. The hobby will be the podcast in which you review books. That'll be the Looskies' book review podcast. I don't, yeah, I don't do that because I'm in the slowest reader in the world, right? So by the time I got to the second book,

people would say, well, that was three years ago, right? I'm a slow reader. I have stuff I like to read. I got a bunch of books on the go. But yeah, would I do, you know, would somebody pay me to read? Yeah, they'd have to say, it's going to take a long time.

It's going to cost a lot of money. Maybe there's somebody else. Michael Hainsworth. Yes. He writes, ask Lou Skeezes about how he and Linda kept their relationship a secret all the way to the engagement.

But then I saw you, so Linda's your wife. Yeah, Linda Nazareth. Linda Nazareth. She chimed in to say, not just until the engagement, but you kept the relationship a secret far beyond that, right? Oh, yeah. So you were married because you were working together? Is that the deal?

Yeah. So I had come from Calgary in 1999 for the launch of Report on Business Television. And I'm there, I'm working. Linda, at the time, is the only capital markets professional that has been recruited other than myself to populate this TV channel. All the rest were news actors.

And I said, well, if I'm going to buddy up with anybody, it might as well be somebody that gets this game that we're in. And she threw herself at me. She seduced you. No, well, I guess she did in a way. She just proved herself to be someone that if I was going to get married and she wanted to be married and she wanted to

have a kid. And you know how big a responsibility that is, right? I don't have to tell you. It's a big responsibility. Right. And so I identified that, and I've said many, many, many times on air that, you know, who you marry is the most important economic decision that you'll ever make. And in my own evaluative process, she was the best, right? Because she was a professional. She's serious, right? So I knew that she wasn't somebody who was going to flake on me in the middle of this big journey of being married and having a child. this big journey of being married and having a child. But do you hear yourself that you speak of love,

very business-like matter? Like it's almost like you're hiring somebody for a job or whatever. It is a job, Mike. Usually though, maybe you're attractive, there's maybe some lust involved. We already checked that box. There's good chemistry. Mike, you can go through your life any way you want, but this is the way I've chosen to go through mine.

It is working for you. Yeah, right, is to get a list of requirements and see who meets them. So with Linda, yes, she was a beautiful woman. Yes, she was interested in me. Right? Wow. And we were together. We got married pretty quick.

And we didn't reveal that we were married because I wanted to make sure that once I brought that out to the world, if you will, that we were going to get through the whole experience. And we just celebrated 18 wonderful years together. Good for you. With a beautiful child that we both adore. Can I put, oh, here's a terrible cliche, but can we put a pin in that?

Because Brian Gerstein, who's a sales representative with PSR Brokerage, real estate sales representative, he has a question for you that ties in nicely to what you just said right there. So let's listen to Brian. to what you just said right there. So let's listen to Brian.

The property in the six dot com. Hi Lou, Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with BSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mike's. You can call or text me at 416-873-0292 if you are thinking of buying or selling in the next six months. No obligation, just happy to run the numbers for you

so you can make an informed decision. Check out HumbleAndFretRadio.com and click on Choose the October 23rd, headlined by John Tory, and catch me talking Toronto real estate at the 35-minute mark. Toronto condo prices are Halloween scary, by the way. Lou, your daughter Madeline is an accomplished figure skater and scored a personal best score to earn the gold medal in

the novice women's division at the Ontario Winter Games. What kind of commitment has it taken from both a time and financial perspective for Madeline to be at this level and what lies ahead for her? perspective for Madeline to be at this level and what lies ahead for her? Wow, great question. Yeah, Madeline is a figure skater. So how much time do we have? Oh, right. I have nothing but time. So Madeline is a very special person. When she was born, Mike, I looked at her and I said, well, this is the most important project I've ever undertaken, right? Her development, not my satisfaction with her development, but her development. And as a child, I made a commitment when she was born that no matter how many things she wanted to try and rejected, I wouldn't stop bringing things to her. Okay. so at one point, prior to the age of three,

she said, Daddy, I want to go snowshoeing. So I bought snowshoes for myself and snowshoes for Madeline and snowshoes for Linda. Yeah, that was one afternoon. Those snowshoes are still in my garage, right? Why? Because, you know, it was way too cold and way too uncomfortable, right? But when she said, Daddy, I want to go

figure skating, I said, oh my God, figure skating. Now I'm going to have to get my fat butt off this couch, get some skates and take her out and pray God I don't fall on her and crush her, right? But I did it. And I said, I cannot deny her the opportunity to do something that she wants to do because I'm old and fat. I was 47 when Madeline was born. And, you know, I realized that when she's 18, I'm 65. But I couldn't make her live the life of an old fat guy. So I decided that I would do it. And I took her out and I did all the things that was necessary.

And she took to it like a duck to water. And she wanted to do more. And, you know, Daddy, I want to do this. And, you know, my wife and I decided that we would feed that passion. Okay. Because once you have a passion center in your life, your life gets better because all those distractions are kicked to the side. So to answer Brian's question, and I love Brian and all the things that he does in the real estate space, number one, transportation. So we had a perfectly serviceable skating rink, maybe seven minutes from my house. Wasn't good enough. Had to take her to Milton. That involves multiple road trips

from Oakville to Milton and back and Oakville to Milton and back, like twice a day. Wow. Adds mileage to the vehicle. So it ties up. And I recommended against that, to be honest with you. You know, I'm going to be very clear. I didn't support that decision. And I said to my darling wife, Linda, I said You know, I'm going to be very clear. I didn't support that decision.

And I said to my darling wife, Linda, I said, well, that's going to crush you like a bug, right? Because it just sucks up so much time. And that's what I've had to communicate to Madeline over the years. I said, you know, your mother is investing at least 10 to 13 hours a week as your chauffeur, right? Now, I've taken up some of those duties, you know, because now I have all the time in the world. Um,

but, uh, for the last 10 years, Linda has carried that transportation burden now. So it's transportation and then funding. So as a child progresses into skating, like the last pair of skates that I paid for or linda and i paid for for madeline cost eighteen hundred dollars oh wow yeah and then this coaching and ice time and so

on so i would say at this point uh my after tax cost uh per annum linda and i right the after tax cost is north of twenty thousand dollars a a year. Dresses, skates, coaching, ice time, transportation. But well worth it because it's her passion. Right. And you're nurturing this, essentially. Well, I'm funding it, right? And I wouldn't deny her. Like I said, the day she was born,

I realized my only real mission is to serve, not to be served. And I had a totally different approach to the parenting role, right, than the model I was given, right? I'm only there for Madeline, right? Now, Linda doesn't like it when I say that, because what about me? I said, you're here to serve as well, okay? Because it's such a serious undertaking developing your children. And Madeline, as Brian mentioned, has had some very impressive success. Right. Because she's training on ice and off ice 35 hours a week. Wow. Yeah. She's got a full-time job. Yeah. And, you know, I'm happy for her. You know, I don't have, I don't take it like, you know, reflected glory on me. Oh, look at me. My daughter's so good. I'm just happy for her. Right. Because she's having this experience that I never got.

Like this is already impressive and exciting enough. But is there Olympic aspirations like for me, for Madeline? For who? For me? For Madeline. Well, Madeline would like to, but for myself, it's, well, you know, Olympic outcomes equals dad living under a bridge in a van, okay? Because the prices, you know, the cost just gets higher. But Mr. Money Man, at that point, isn't that when endorsements opportunities?

Am I crazy? You're out of your mind. I guess it depends how you have to win a medal, I suppose. Yeah, I mean, on the way to, some janitor money for endorsements, right? It's just a big spend. And that's why when I watch the Olympics and so on, and they're Canadian athletes. No, they're family athletes.

When you look at the funding that goes into developing amateur athletes, okay, I'm talking hockey, I'm talking all sports, it's the parents. And you know who gets to go on the plane with the athlete? Bureaucrats, right? From Sport Canada and all this and that and the other thing and the parents, well, maybe. We're not sure we can get you tickets to your daughter's or your child's outcome. Right? So that's the country we live in. But you're proud of Madeline. I'm not proud of her.

I'm happy for her. But you're also proud of her? Well, I don't, I never, no, I never understood, you know, that whole concept of reflected glory. Well, I would say that I could put, theoretically, I could put 35 hours a week into figure skating, and I'm never going to reach that level of success. But you didn't start at three. A great deal would be innate, I would think.

No, but you didn't start at three. That's true. Right? That's true. Yeah, I mean, if you were to start now, you'd suck. That's true. Right? But I think that there are certain things

that you have to start early in life. It's true. and don't get distracted with other kinds of things, right? Well, congrats to Madeline, and I hope that continued success for her. Yeah, well, me too. Good on you for funding her dream. That's good. Hey, that's what it's all about. I mean, I don't know about your role as a parent, but my role as a parent, I am a traveling ATM, right? And I call it in our house, it's a Luber,

an unpaid driver. Oh, Luber. I like that. That's great. Luber. That's great. Just before we kick out the jams here. Are we really going to get to that today? Well, I guess I suppose, you know, if you told me, Mike, like I've never done this before, but I'm nothing if not nimble here. Like if you told me, Mike, like, I've never done this before, but I'm nothing if not nimble here. Like, if you told me, Mike, I'd rather come back another time to kick out the jams and just talk. Because I'm ready to kick out the jams now if you're still game. Whatever you want to do. If you're still game.

I have time all the time in the world. Well, except for, let me see, I got a phone call at 3 and a phone call at 4. Oh, well, I don't. Please, we'll be well done. Don't you have other things to do? I definitely do. Definitely do. Oh, sorry.

Let's motor on. TMDS has a big day today. Hey, we'll be well done. Don't you have other things to do? I definitely do. Definitely do. Oh, sorry. Let's motor on. TMDS has a big day today. Hey, good. Tell me about it. What are you doing with that? You know what? I tweeted the other day that sometimes, of course, it's scary to leave your comfort zone and to take on something new. But inevitably, as time progresses, you wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Like, I think I got a push I needed in order to do something I really should have done a long time ago because it seems to suit my character, my makeup. Like, it's sort of like my passion and that I'm doing different things for different customers and I'm thoroughly enjoying it and I control my calendar. I am solely responsible for

my own calendar and it's been good. I'm only in the second month of solely relying on TMDS for my revenue generation and we're almost wrapping up the second month actually because it's almost Halloween here. Are you hiring? Not yet. No, I'm not. That's right.

You'll be on my short list. You should be actually, yeah, uh money a money man it would be would be welcome of course but uh yeah it's going well like i think it's going quite well i'm doing the toronto mic stuff i'm doing other people's podcasts uh i'm doing two of those so two two today two different podcasts i'm producing today are for other people where i get paid to do it and then this one's my podcast, which has a new sponsor coming on board in November. Yeah, I heard about that.

Palma Pasta. Oakville, they have a location. And they're fantastic. And if you come back in November, there'll be a free lasagna for you. Is that a listener experience? Let's say, yeah. A GLB? No.

The GL, you can still get the beer and pass that on to somebody, but lasagna is going to be given to all guests. Okay, here's a question. Hold on. I got a question about that because when I heard the podcast with Danny Danny Elwell. Right, yesterday, that last podcast,

right? You were talking about frozen lasagna. Are you going to provide a thermal carrier so that it's not baking in the summer sun, creating all kinds of negative outcomes? Because whenever I buy frozen food, when I'm out shopping... These are really...

I will have to confer with Anthony at Palma because that's his bag. But my experience with the frozen Palma because that's his bag. My experience with the frozen Palma pasta lasagnas, which are fantastic, is that they're hard as a rock, frozen. I have to keep that thing, I have to thaw it in the fridge for 24 hours before I can even cook this thing. But here's the thing about

safe food handling, because I used to own a restaurant when I was younger. Yep. You can't mess around with it because the surface could thaw, and that would become an entry point, a petri dish, for infection, bacteria, and what have you. Right. So you've got to be careful.

Oh, we'll definitely make sure we're super careful. So I would recommend, if I might, a thermal carrier. Am I paying for this consultation? This is a freebie. Okay, go ahead. A thermal carrier. Am I paying for this consultation? This is a freebie. Okay, go ahead. Please continue. I'll send you an invoice or I'll have Jane Milburn

in a session. That's my worry. I'm going to be hearing from Jane later. Okay. You'd love to hear from Jane. What's your advice? Well, I would brand it, right?

So either with Palma Pasta, you know, Toronto Mike, right? So this thermal carrier that people could take to the beach, that people could take to, you know, various events. I like this idea. You know, even leave it in their car when they're buying frozen foods and they're not going to their home refrigeration system immediately.

So that's what I would do. Oh, great idea. And maybe, I love this, anything you can brand, it's another sponsorship opportunity. So this is all great stuff. I would do. Oh, great idea. And maybe, I love this. Anything you can brand, it's another sponsorship opportunity. So this is all great stuff. I love it. I want to tell people how to get 10 bucks. You'll appreciate this

because this is free for anybody listening right now. You can get $10 right now by following these simple instructions. And you can also help out Toronto Mic'd, which is a bonus. It's the only mission we have. Thank you. Thank you, Lou.

So if you go to paytm.ca, they have this fantastic app for paying all your bills. Makes it super convenient to pay them all whichever way you desire. I use my MasterCard because I get points

for President's Choice. But you can easily pay all your bills in one spot with Paytm. So you set this up quickly, paytm.ca, to download it for your smartphone.

But when you make that first bill payment, be it, I don't know, any bill you can pay on there, let's take Hyjo, for example, you can use the promo code Toronto Mike, all one word, Toronto Mike, and right away, they'll give you $10 in Paytm cash. And you got a couple of options. You can either spend that $10 in their reward section, which is like buying a gift card for whatever, Tim Hortons or McDonald's. They have a million gift cards in there. Go pick one. Or you can apply that $10 to another bill. Either way, that's $10 just for using the promo code Toronto Mike. So go to paytm.ca and do that. Also, I want to thank Census Design and Build for sponsoring this podcast. They provide architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. So give them a call and tell them Mike sent you 416-931-1422 or go to censusdesignbuild.ca and schedule your zoning and cost project feasibility study today.

Looskieses? Big Mike. Are you ready to kick out the jam? Let's do it. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Firstly, Lou, did I follow the instructions properly? Because you said Peter and the Wolf, and that's... Peter and the Wolf is the whole thing, right? Oh, it's a piece, a wonderful piece of classical music that was created by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936,

and it was... The mission was to create something that children would engage with and learn about the various instruments in an orchestra. And it was part of my life very early in life because I played it incessantly at home when I was a child growing up, right? Why? It's just a fascinating story, right, about Peter and his struggle trying to be all that he could be, facing off with authority as represented by the grandfather, the challenge with the wolf.

I mean, it's just a fantastic piece. And, you know, it really, for me, introduced me to classical music. And the reason I brought it up was it was the first piece of music that really stuck with me throughout my lifetime as something that started me engaging with classical music. Not that I'm, you know, a classical music aficionado, but I can tell you I use it as a tool, just like money. Okay, why? Because when I was in high school,

I used to listen to classical music when I was studying, you know, for exams and so on. And I was a top-notch student because when I tried to listen to the music of my time, rock and roll and what have you, I was too distracted.

Whereas with classical music, it gets you into a certain place. And I found it very, very effective. I used to listen to WQXR, the radio station of the New York Times, right? Because I grew up in New York. Right. And years later, many, many years later, I was telling this story to a character I knew in Calgary, Scott, who was the the coach of the Mount Royal Cougars, we play classical music because we have found that it opens up learning pathways in the brain of our athletes. Now, he's got over 80 hockey players playing professional hockey at some level, not all in the NHL, but, you know, in Europe and what have you. So I, you know, often recommended when I was in the classroom teaching at Sheridan to my students, try it. See if you can open up these learning pathways that'll help you be more

successful with the limited amount of time that everybody has in life. So that's why I wanted to share Peter and the Wolf, not just this piece, but classical music. And the other thing is, you know, you ever notice when you're driving, do you, you drive much you're a cyclist right i cycle a lot more than i drive but i definitely like i'll be driving tomorrow night when i take my son to his hockey game okay uh do you ever notice when traffic is a headache you start getting stressed yes yeah well that's when i punch on a classical music station and it just lowers my blood pressure, gets me to a place where I can handle the fact that we've had the most irresponsible, incompetent,

ineffective, and inefficient government managing our infrastructure. I think I'm with you on the whole studying thing, especially because I found when I studied with music that had lyrics, like had words in it, lyrics that I would find myself, regardless of whether it's rock and roll or rap or whatever, I would be joining in.

Like I couldn't stop myself. It really did distract me from like studying. The purpose. So just the fact that it's instrumental, that's the kind of music I needed to listen to when I like studying. The purpose. So just the fact that it's instrumental, that's the kind of music I needed to listen to when I was studying. Yeah. So, you know, you find the tools

that help you be more successful, right? That's what we're trying to do in life. Thank you. I got it bad You don't know how bad we got it You got it easy You don't know when you've got it good It's getting harder Just keeping life and soul together I'm sick of fighting

Even though I know I should The cold is biting Through each and every nerve and fiber My broken spirit is frozen to the core I don't want to be here. Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes? Even if it was for just one day. Wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away? Wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away? Wouldn't it be good?

Nick Kershaw. Kershaw. Kershaw, I thought. You would be right. I think, yeah. But you know what? This song is the only part of his repertoire I'm really

aware of so it's not like I'm a huge Nick Kershaw fan but this song resonated with me and all the songs that I gave you for Kicking Out the Jams were about resonating with me as a song and

it was 1984 I saw the video for this song. And a lot of the images, you know, kind of paralleled my own way of thinking. So I've always looked at life as being in a warehouse full of cans without labels. That's people. And unless you open that can, you have no idea what's in it. And that's why I've been like incredibly curious my whole life about people, right? Once I figure out what's in the can, I can either choose to, you know, keep it around or I can dispose of the can. Much like Joe Bautista, that was a can we weren't going to keep around. Why? There's nothing good in it. It's just poison. Right. Whereas, you know, like you, Mike, you know, you had posted something on social media about curiosity. And I immediately told you that it's one of the most important attributes or characteristics of good management.

Right. You got to be curious. There's all kinds of stuff happening out there that you need to be aware of. And one of the things that I do in order to maintain my curiosity is I engage with a variety of demographics, right? Like you, you know, you want to position me as a right wing. I say accountable, responsible. You know, my contact network is not just in my age group, not just in my ethnicity. My wife, you know, ain't white. Right. So if you want to position me in a way like Joe Batista as a West Virginia racist or what have you, kiss my Royal Canadian Joe and I hope you die soon. Hey, that's the way I feel. I call him like I see him.

I was raised in Queens, okay? And, you know, you want to get a real look at the world? Talk to somebody from Queens. Queens logic is don't mess with me. I know that you're full of it, and I'm calling you out on it. I had a recent guest from Queens, Jamar McNeil. Oh, yeah. Which part of Queens? Taking over for Roger Ashby.

Which part of Queens? I don't know, because Queens was as granular as we got. Oh, my God. I'm a Toronto guy. Queens is huge. It has Brooklyn is in Queens. Sorry, it's on Long Island. Sorry.

Yeah, I did know that the Mets played in Queens. Well, you'll have to connect me with them. I will. Jamar is the nicest guy. Jamar is the nicest guy. And, you know, Roger Ashby with them. I will. I'm a Queens guy. Jamar's the nicest guy. And, you know, Roger Ashby just announced his retirement, so it's going to be...

He got a party. He's going to get a... Yes, he's going to get the cake and the farewell. But he put in 50 years to get that. You only put in the 17th. I guess... I guess...

Yeah, what can I say? Here's what I'll tell you. 17. If Ingrid Schumacher got walked out with a box after 40 years on the air at Chum FM, I'm no longer at all surprised when long-time on-air people are walked out with boxes. No cake.

There's no cake. No cake. No goodbye party. By the way, I will say this about Nick Kershaw, and I'm sorry for butchering his name there. That song, I knew that. It's okay. It's your show. I know that song.

Great song, popular song, but if you had put a gun to my head a couple of weeks ago and said, who sings Wouldn't It Be Good? I'd be dead right now. Well, I mean, I don't think you're a musicologist, right? You're Toronto Mike. No, I'm no Alan Cross, but I do know enough

to be dangerous. He already has that space, right? Speaking of chorus, we won't speak of them anymore because we're going to kick out another jam. One morning the sun was shining, I was laying in bed Wondering if she'd change at all, if her hair was still red Her folks, they said our lives together sure was gonna be rough They never did like Mama's homemade dress, Papa's bank book wasn't big enough And I was standing on the side of the road, rain falling on my shoes Heading out for the East Coast, Lord knows I paid some dues Bob Dylan's Tangled Up in Blue.

Yeah, so the reason this one resonated with me at the time was the line he started in with dealing with slaves and something inside of them died. And what got to me was that I was willing to do almost anything to make money, but I wasn't about to do stuff like that. And so from then on, at the age of 19, I set my sails towards things that didn't diminish other people. Right. I expected them to step up. And if other individuals, you know, had a need and they were doing the best that they can, I would be more than happy to help them. Right. And that's what I've done through my mentorship with a lot of different people. And, yeah, I expect a lot from people. To those whom much has been given, much is expected.

And those that cannot, let's see what we can do for them. And those that choose not to, well, I got a lot less time for them, right? And you had this epiphany of sorts when you were 19. Yeah, I have a lot of epiphanies throughout my life, Mike. I can only deal, you know, when I was putting together this list for you, so many different things, but you only wanted 10. Yeah. And I have all the time in the world.

You can come back and do 11 to 20. So that's what got me with this song, was that line. It said, yes, you have to make choices in life. You have to direct yourself towards the outcomes that you're going to be happy with. And dealing with slaves, well, you know, in the economic history of the United States during the American Civil War, the single largest asset class were slaves. More than land, more than ships, more than factories, more than anything. More equity value was tied up in slaves.

That's why they got to a fight and war over the assets. So I said, no, I'm not going that way. Now, unlike Wouldn't It Be Good, where it's the song you dug but didn't know much about Nick Kershaw, would you consider yourself a Bob Dylan fan? I like Bob Dylan, but not everything he's done, right?

I mean, I'm kind of selective. There's some diehards, right? You can meet a guy who's just so deep into the Bob Dylan catalog. I don't have that kind of time. It does take Bob Dylan catalog. I don't have that kind of time. It does take time. Yeah, I don't have that kind of time. I mean, I pick things out.

I cherry pick life, Mike. I try and find the best experience that I can have and move on to the next thing, right? Because as I said, I'm curious. There's so many wonderful things happening out there, right? I'm curious. There's so many wonderful things happening out there, right? So I just want to have the best experience while I'm still efficiently processing oxygen. Which is full value for life, right?

You mentioned sort of like you said, exiting this 17-year gig you just came off of, but you want to extract everything you can from that asset or entity. I want to harvest the meat off the car because the milk cow is dead. Okay? It's not going to produce any more milk for me,

and the likelihood I'm ever going to go back to that ranch is zero. Right? Do you have any concerns that... You're right right you're never going back to that ranch but are you worried what other ranch owners will think of your behavior there if they don't want me that's fine that's fine mike i have assets i have no debt i'm 62 years old right i've been building bricks of dough around me as a defensive strategy since I started playing this game at 11. Wow.

Okay. Why? Because, you know, what do they say? Life is like a crap sandwich. The more bread you got, the less crap you eat. No, good for you. Well, that's the way I saw it. I came from Queens.

Queens is a tough part of New York. Why? Because you got the hoi polloi in Manhattan trying to hold themselves above everyone else? Yeah, right. Thank you. Nessun dorma Nessun dorma, nessun dorma. Tu pure, o principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, Nessun Dorma. I almost don't want to speak over it. It's gorgeous.

Oh, it's fantastic. And it's, you know, it's a piece that I was introduced to in the 1980s. And it got me interested in only a specific slice of the opera universe. So when I was a kid, my mother introduced me to classical music, Peter and the Wolf and so on. And she was also interested in our development. And she would take us to various kinds of cultural events. So she took us to see Carmen. And I liked it, but I only liked parts of it.

And as I grew older, I realized the only part I like are the arias. And the arias that I like the most are from Puccini. And I found a compilation in the 80s called Puccini Weekend. And it's all the Puccini arias. And you can put that on and the length of the length of time that the uh the the disc or what have you plays out is so uplifting and rich right and this particular song is so powerful here let's bring it up a bit CHOIR SINGS In a time I asked Gary Cormier he was coming over and I sometimes even if you're not kicking out the jam

sometimes I'll ask you what's your favorite song of all time and then if time permits I'll play it and chat about it like a teaser and for him I did that

and that was the song he sent me but I never played it on the episode because it was we didn't have time and it was all killer no filler

right he was he was pressed for time right something like that but I know I left it on the cutting floor because you have all the time in the world. Well, yeah. Within reason. Let's kick

out another jam. Okay. So I just wanted to mention. Oh, yeah. Please. Can I tell you a story around that? Of course. Are we running out of time? No, no, no. Please tell me. You don't have any more tape? No more digital space? Yeah. I think we're out of gigabytes. So at this particular time in the 1980s, I'm living in an apartment building in Calgary.

And the stooge that lives below me thinks that I want to rock and roll with him when I'm trying to sleep. He was getting up to Puccini Arias till he left. Because as you know, Mike, I'm an early riser. How early are we talking here? It depends on the day. I'm trying to break into a more normal sleep cycle. My normal, prior to September 25th, as I call it, Independence Day, I was usually getting up around 3, 3.30.

And some of it has to do with getting on top of information that's happening as we speak in the capital markets. The capital markets are the biggest provider and consumers of information in the world. Plus, you know, I just have a lot of stuff to do, a lot of correspondence. So I would typically be in bed by 8 o'clock. Well, that was my next question.

Yeah, 8 o'clock. So you're not watching the uh world series no well i mean i i've watched the world series and when the yankees are in i'm more interested right uh and uh but i did the other morning i happened to have gotten up i think at 2 30 and i went to check the score and it said 2 2 in the 14th i said must be a mistake i ran downstairs to the tv they're still playing oh yeah yeah that was after three in the morning i think yeah 18 innings yeah so you know it was uh i i like baseball but i don't like what's happening in the world of sports like i was in buffalo last week to watch the habs game some would say it was the Savers game, but it really wasn't.

So get this. Are you a hockey fan? Yeah, big time. Okay. Have you ever been to Buffalo for a game? No. Okay. So let me tell you the economics of that. So my buddy, Daryl Simsevic, gets in touch with me and says, do you want to go to the game? And I said, well, I have nothing but time. And I said, sure, I'd love to. I got to clear, you know, with Linda, make sure that Madeline has her needs satisfied, you know, unless I have an assignment, you know, as the natty half nanny half daddy. So I get cleared and we drive to Buffalo. So Daryl had scored two rinkside seats for $40 each. Insane. American.

Insane. And the hall was the arena. I guess it's the first Niagara Center. It was a sea of red jerseys. I bet, yeah. Canadian jersey, Canadian fans populating the space way more than people from the the sabers it's funny because i don't think you can get ringside at a marley's game for 40 bucks us yeah so i would

recommend oh i guess i'm screwing up my own access you know but um and a lot of people you know it's it's more of a hassle you got to cross the border right uh it's american money it's 40 american not canadian plus the stub hubHub tag. But when you think about it, you think about going to see the Leafs. First of all, can you get tickets? And what do you have to mortgage to go, right? I cannot remember the last time I paid my own dollars for Maple Leaf tickets. It's been a long, long time. Well, I mean, Toronto Mike, I guess they're just showing up every day. Mike, you want to go to the game?

My son wishes. Well, take him to Buffalo. What team is he a fan of? Maple Leafs. Well, then you should definitely check that out. I am a lineman for the county And I drive the main road Searching in the sun for another overload I hear you singing in the wire

I can hear you through the wine And the Wichita lineman And the Wichita lineman is still on the line. I know I need a small vacation, but it don't look like rain And if it snows That stretch down south Won't ever stand the strain And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time Glenn Campbell.

And the Wichita lineman is still on the line. Tell us why you love this jam. This, I was introduced to this song when it came out in 1968. I was a member of Troop One, Boy Scout Troop in Flushing, New York. I was a member of Troop One, Boy Scout Troop in Flushing, New York. It was the first troop chartered in the United States by Dan Beard. And the characters that populated that space I am still friends with, John Baletzis, Pete Guastella, Tony Guastella, George Muller. And, you know and we created we formed a bond

that lasted a long time and John Baletzis introduced me to this artist and this particular song and it just stuck with me because of the emotion that comes out of it

in terms of a seeming longing for connection, right? And yet we were doing that, right? In Troop One, Rich DeCiccio was there as well. And, you know, we just connected in a way as a troop, right? So we were very small in 1968. Do you think it was that popular to be a Boy Scout? We used to have our meetings at PS 107. And when we would leave the troop meeting, invariably, there was, you know, bands of youths that would say, get them. And we were like running up the block to escape a good beatdown, right? Because it was seen as unpopular or what have you. But for me, it opened me up to so many great experiences, going camping, learning different skills.

Pete Guastella went on to be an Eagle Scout. And he wrote an essay that got him an interview with President Nixon. Again, unpopular for some, but for me, I couldn't have been prouder for Pete for his achievement, right? Cool. Yeah, so that's how I got to, and I love that bass line. Holy cow, that opening. Fantastic. that opening.

No, fantastic. And, you know, years later, one of my very good friends, Brad Shawaga, he was playing in a band. I said, you really should cover the Jimmy Webb catalog because it's been dormant for so long that, you know, any band that can put it together, you know, you should get a certain resonance with listeners right Thank you. Children play in the park They don't know I'm alone in the dark Even though

Time and time again I see your face Smiling inside I'm so happy That you love me Life is lovely When you're near me. Tell me you will stay.

Make me smile. Make me smile, Chicago. Yeah, you know, I really like the sound, right? Them and Blood, Sweat & Tears, the big sound. The horns, the instruments, right? And this one resonated with me because as a kid, right, coming out of grade school, going into high school, you know, you used to go to record stores.

I don't know if anybody still knows what those are. They're making a comeback, Lou. I think they're making a comeback. I'll tell you a funny story about Madeline. So Madeline has been taking the Royal Conservatory of Music piano program and voice program. And she has started teaching piano. She's got 13 students now wow and uh in creating the visual field in what used to be our family room and it's now the music room linda uh went with her and they bought a bunch of old albums or no they found them curbside somebody's getting

rid of them and they created a piece of display on the wall. And the kids that come in today, the young kids that she's teaching piano, say, what are those? Right? She has to explain to them that it was a storage device, very popular, but no longer popular and no longer in manufacturing. So I thought it was interesting. And so why did I like it? The sound? I used to go to the record store. There was a band called the Chicago

Transit Authority that the Transit Authority in Chicago got all up in their stuff. I guess they didn't need a positive soundtrack, you know, for their trains and so on and buses. So they changed it just to chicago and um so i was in uh ninth grade in uh francis lewis high school in flushing and i had to take an elective right

music and so i took it with a mr larry feldman and dr feldman or Mr. Feldman. He said, you know, Lou, you know, next week we're going to have all the students bring in, you know, music that they're interested in. We're going to play it. We're going to talk about it. And, you know, he was he could play all the woodwinds. And he asked me why I said it's all about the horns, right? That searing, incredible sound. And I was taking the flute at the time. And Larry, as prescient as he was, said, you know, Lou, somebody who's a good flute player is a killer kisser.

And I said, you know what, Mr. Feldman? I'm going to put that to practice. And I did throughout the rest of my life. There you go. Yeah. So that's Chicago and make me smile. It made me smile. Let me tell you. nature's way it's nature's way of receiving you It's nature's way of retrieving you It's nature's way of telling you Something's wrong

It's nature's way of telling you Nature's Way, Spirit. Randy, California. I was introduced to this song at a time when we were becoming somewhat more aware of the environment. You know, first year of high school, in a science class, Mr. Werner was telling us about the first Earth Day. And some of the things that resonated with me with this particular song was that, you know, we have to be better stewards. Right. We really don't want to be creating a lot of toxic waste dumps. Right. We've got to manage the stuff that we're dealing with better. And I was introduced to the song by a character by the name of Paul Chillingarian.

He was a neighborhood guy, right? So you grow up in Flushing, you play basketball, and you go to the scout meeting at PS107, and the space is populated by kids your age a little older and what have you and paul uh subsequently was friends with uh john beletsis from boy scouts and uh he and john had um later in life um met up and uh they were populating an old mansion in the area with other guys like fred herman and so on and Chillingarian and what have you. And Paul gave me a bit of advice that I took and have carried forward. He says, you know what, Lou?

He said, if you don't have an opinion, you don't matter. Right? He said, you can't go through life without having an opinion. And I said, you know what? I'm going to take that to heart. You got to have an opinion. You have to stand up for it. And you can't let anybody push you off it, right? Because if you don't have an opinion, who are you really? And, you know, I believe them. And I think there's some truth to that. So he introduced me to this, and it made me think about responsibilities in terms of, you know, it's nature's way of telling you something's wrong. It's not just about the environment, you know, the external environment. It's also about your internal environment, about your social environment.

Right. And you need to be aware of it and you need to call it out when you have to. And there are costs to that. Don't get me wrong. OK. You know, I learned a long time uh, I wasn't really the type to kiss a lot of butt, just not my style. Right. Cause I just found that the aftertaste would just didn't suit me. So I just did away with it. And I said, these are my opinions based on these facts, right? Cause I am an evidence-based guy. Show me the numbers, show me the facts, and then we can go from there. But I don't care what you think unless you can back it up. And you have opinions and you own your opinions.

Oh, yes. And you know, they're not free, right? Someone will always extract a price for your opinion, right? Even though they want to impose theirs on you, right? So, you know, there's the master-slave thing, getting back to Tangled Up in Blues, right? I didn't want to deal with slaves, but I didn't want to be a slave either, right? Welcome to your life There's no turning back Even while we sleep We will find you Acting on your best behavior

Turn your back on Mother Nature tears for fears everybody wants to rule the world yeah so in 1985 uh they're using this as the soundtrack for breakfast in wimbledon so So I'm watching because I'm living in Calgary at the time. And, you know, the Wimbledon broadcast is coming in like at the crack of ridiculous, but I'm up anyway. And I just found it to be so powerful in terms of, you know, that particular presentation of the Wimbledon finals. And they used it, I guess it was NBC, right, used it throughout as the break music, right? So introduction, break music, and so on. And, you know, you could see that everybody wanted to rule the world, at least at Wimbledon. And I fell in love with the song. And subsequently, when I was putting together a package for a radio show in Calgary,

so I'm a financial advisor, and I bought a service from a guy by the name of Bill Good, which could teach anybody how to sell money. And, you know, because I'm not that gifted, but, you know, with the proper training, if you go slowly and repeat often, I'll eventually get it. And Bill Good had somebody talking about getting a radio show. And, you know, as a financial advisor, being on the radio and sharing what you had and harvesting inquiries from it, right? So I immediately went out and put together a program proposal. And universally in Calgary, all the radio stations said, nah.

However, there was a change in format at AM 106, which became AM 1060 CKMX. And I took it to Gary Russell, their general manager. DC KMX and I took it to uh Gary Russell their general manager and I said to Gary because they were changing it from Kitty Rock to the Frank Sinatra station and I said listen I'm willing to do this for you right for the airtime right and he said yeah it suits this audience so we lit that up and then uh that's when I met Pat Holliday uh who is also this guy was a brilliant strategist when it came to radio. I mean, I'd come in early for the Saturday morning show. And here was a guy programming his station to kick the other guy's ass. I mean, just a brilliant strategist.

Gary went off to Vancouver. Pat came in. We ran that show, The Money Manager, for years afterwards with my team, Catherine Perez, Melanie Lamb, Peter Yan. And it just worked like a dream, right? Because we had time to talk to people about money and how to manage it and how to accumulate it and how to grow it. So I used to play this song every Saturday before the show went live to get everybody in the right mood about what we were trying to accomplish. Nice. Yeah, it was great. I'm just glad to hear Bill Good didn't sell you a bill of goods. Oh, no, Bill Good. If you ever want to. Now, you know, it's specifically targeted to the financial industry, but build good marketing is a good place to learn how to market yourself and harvest results. When we're living here in Allentown

And they're closing all the factories down Out in Bethlehem they're killing time Filling up horns and standing in line Well, our fathers fought the Second World War Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore Met our mothers with the U.S.O. Ask them to dance, dance with the flow. And we're living here in Allentown.

But the rest of this was happening now. Allentown, Billy Joel. Yeah, this was a song that 1982, I'm living in Calgary. The National Energy Program has devastated the energy industry. 100,000 people laid off overnight, mostly construction workers that were uncrating the buildings that they were going to build, oil field workers that were, you know, drilling holes in the ground so you can get energy out of it. And I took this to heart for one reason. You know, I said, you know what? You can wallow in it and complain about it, or you can get on with it.

And that's what I decided to do. And I love this song only because it was a kind of a symbol that, yeah, you can wallow about all the things that you were promised didn't get or it didn't happen, or you can get on with it. And that's one of the traits that you get from Western Canada, get on with it, right? You got a dry hole, too bad, drill another one, right? As opposed to just embracing your wallow and your pain and your suffering. So I took this song and I got it, right?

Because towns like Allentown got devastated. There's no two ways about it. Calgary got devastated. That's why, you know, when there was the financial crisis here in 2008 and everybody was, you know, crying and whimpering, I said, really? I've seen whole subdivisions handed back to the bank and foreclosed on. I've seen 100 people, 100,000 people laid off overnight. Cry me a river. Okay?

And so it toughens you up. And this one is really kind of a wallow song. I love the sound, the piano. I love the sounds of the factory and so on. But the reality is I just used it as like a rebound, you know, like a Super Bowl, hitting concrete and going even higher. Right. Just taking the energy out of it and kicking it up higher and getting on with it. Nice. And that's what I'm doing now.

You know, I often say that I'll talk to somebody for 90 minutes on this show and you know we'll i'll learn a lot about the person but when i kick out the jams of somebody that's when you really get to know somebody like get them to talk about why do they love the music they love or their favorite songs and you really get insight into a person i well you know fascinating you know mike i was listening and i i think I wrote to you when you were doing Kick Out the Jams with Bob Ouellette. Yep. Bingo, Bob. Yep. Right. So I listen to that, and I listen to your podcast frequently because I spend a lot of time doing handwork that doesn't require brain work. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not trying to work.

Like tedious stuff. Yeah. Like, you know, like many billionaires, I do my dishes by hand. Yeah. Right. So I'm in the kitchen because I, I think that it's important that you do something with your hands every day. And so I will plug you in when I'm doing that kind of, I don't want to say tedious because there's a Zen to it, at least for me, because I paid for some of my college washing dishes at the College View restaurant in London, Ontario, when I went to Western,

and I learned how to do dishes by hand and do it efficiently and effectively and competently. But you could put that on autopilot because your hands know what to do, and then you can absorb content. Right. And so taking in your podcast, the Jersey Boys, the History of New York City I tune into. Sorry, the Bowery Boys.

Bowery Boys. You know, I also listen to a lot of documentaries, right? So, you know, yes, the visual field is being displayed on the screen, but I'm just listening to the audio. And what I deduced is that really a documentary is a story with pictures. You don't necessarily need the pictures. Right. Very true. And that's why a lot of there's a lot of great podcasts out there that are essentially audio documentaries. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I think that the world of podcasting is exploding. You, a pioneer, of course, you know, well, you know, Mike, you, you laugh. I'll take it. I don't mean,

well, I think you need to, you know, I think you need to exploit that more because as I said to Humble and Fred, who are also pioneers, but you know, you were like the mad trapper, I guess, and they were the settlers. You know, There are people going around saying, oh yeah, we're the consultants in podcasting. You know what I say? You don't know shit, boy. I know the kind of people you're talking about. Usually they're people who worked in radio and they were restructured out or whatnot and they're on the outside and now they've rebranded themselves as some kind of podcasting consulting. But when you actually look for some substance, like can you show me some evidence of some podcast that you have created,

like A to Z that had success, they're sort of like moving on to say, hey, look over here. There's something shiny over here. I think that you, as the pioneer of podcasting in the GTA, you need to really step it up in terms of marketing and visibility. I mean, you do a good job, but I think you shouldn't be embarrassed

to brag on yourself. I'm happy to brag for you because I respect what you've done, but you've got to start getting those corporate gigs and consulting because you know more about it than anybody. I love it. And you know what?

I'm going to give you another hour to just talk about that. About you? Yeah. Hey, let's talk about you because I'm a big fan, as you know, because I respect people that take the bull by the horns and actually don't wallow in their misery and move on. Love it, man. I can't wait to kick out this final jam with you. We'll be right back. If you want to get official reaction We hope you want to know Ask the statistician He'll tell you about the world's precision

We hope you want to know Want a real reaction Well go get yourself some boogie action Get it right in your mind It's much too late So have a good time Get into that rock and roll If you wanna save a soul

If you wanna save a song soul If you want to save the soul Get into that rock and roll We're gonna be alright We're gonna rock all night Get into that rock and roll The Climax Blues Band. Rich Man. Yeah, I don't know if this is Rich Man man i was actually and as i'm listening to it i'm

like i don't think this is rich man no i've screwed up here that's okay mike uh did you want to redo that here's what we can do because i don't have rich man so i'm gonna head over i'm gonna bring down so that was another that was the climax right though. Right. Okay, here's what we're going to do here. We're going to head over to YouTube and see if it's hanging out over there. Bear with me. Here, it figures out. But, you know, let me just tell you the story while you're doing that so people aren't saying, oh, for goodness sakes.

Go ahead, Michael. What is this format? So I was introduced to the Climax Blues Band by my younger brother, Alex, who sadly passed away from cancer at the age of 48. But he introduced me to it. And the reason that Rich Man resonated with me was because Alex was studying at the Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler in New York. So he was studying to be a merchant marine officer. And the song that resonated with me was Rich Man because the message was very clear. Rich man plays, poor man pays.

And that stuck with me. It's better to be rich than poor. Not because you're a better person, but your life is that much easier, maybe, maybe that much more fulfilling. And, you know, we were talking earlier, and I wanted to mention, you know, if you really look at what the most important thing is. This is it. I am a rich man And I drive a Cadillac I buy everything I want I sell bullets to the soldiers

Oh, I am a poor man I don't drive a Cadillac Can't buy everything I want They want me to be a soldier Rich man wins, poor man pays Rich man wins, poor man pays Rich man wins, poor man pays. Rich man wins, poor man pays. Oh, I am a rich man

And I drive a Cadillac I buy everything I want I sell bullets to the soldiers I am a poor man I don't drive a Cadillac Can't buy everything I want They want me to be a soldier I think you were in mid-sentence there when I... Found the song? Found the song.

Did you have to go report to somebody that there was an error in the show? I was fooled by an improperly labeled YouTube song. And clearly I'm not familiar with the source material. Yeah. That's part of my problem. You know, I mean, you know, if you look at the dates of all the stuff I've given you currently, you know, you would say, I've never heard of this because it happened when the dinosaurs were walking the earth. But so Rich Man comes out in in 1972 my brother introduces me to it

and um you know it's 1972 i'm in high school and there's still a draft in the u.s right you know you get to go to foreign countries and meet you know interesting people and kill them right let's go to vietnam that should be a party. And so, you know, the idea of the economic disparity, right? How that happens, right? And I looked, I listened to this. I said, well, I know what I need to do, right? I can't afford to be poor. I've got to do something better than that in order to create other alternatives for myself as opposed to, you know, Sergeant Bad Times offering me, you know, a ticket with a rifle to go to a foreign country. That just didn't resonate with me.

And so now, luckily for me, you know, I was born in Canada. I was raised in the States. So I didn't, you know, I had options. But by 73, the draft was over and you had to volunteer if you wanted to play that crazy game. But I did get the message, right? If you have money, you can buy whatever you want. Now, there's limits, right? There's always infinite need.

Just thinking in terms of life, the only real asset you have, Mike, is your time and your health. Okay, so let's make sure that all of your listeners recognize that tomorrow is promised to no man. And most of us, after my brother Alex died, who introduced me to this band, I realized that every day we go to bed, I realized that every day we go to bed that we're going to get up the next morning in exactly the same shape that we went to bed in and that's not a guarantee and every time we leave the door

we assume we're going to come back home in exactly the same mental and physical state and that's not necessarily the case and when my brother got cancer I came to realize that all of the concerns that he had prior to that diagnosis and the subsequent to trying that disease, they all went away. He became a medical file till the day he died, right? Doctor's appointments and treatments and this and that, just trying to get one more day. I think pressure.

There's a lot of wisdom there, and I hope you do end up with a podcast. I hope I can maybe talk you into doing it. Maybe that's my goal right after I stop recording this, is to convince you to broadcast and own your own broadcast. Well, I told you I was going to ring you out like a sponge, and you know that I do the dishes, so I know how to do that. That's like David and Goliath, I think. Well, no, it's equitable, right? I'm not trying to take anything from you, right?

If I take anything from you, I know I'll bring more to the party than you gave me. And that brings us to the end of our 391st show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Lou is at Lou Skeezes. Skeezes, if you don't know, is S-C-H-I-Z-A-S. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Go Raptors. And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. See you all next week. Rosie and Gray Yeah the wind is cold But the snow is cold Wants me to dance And your smile is fine

And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie and Gray