Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mark Howard: Toronto Mike'd #465

Episode Date: May 17, 2019

Mike chats with producer Mark Howard about his battle with stage four cancer, his new book "Listen Up! Recording Music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, REM, The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits...", working with Daniel Lanois and more.

Welcome to episode 465 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Alma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, Camp Ternasol. StickerU.com. And our newest sponsor, Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is record producer, engineer, and mixer,

Mark Howard. Hey, Mike. How's it going? Welcome, Mark. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Right off the top, your book. Periscope viewers can see it. I'm holding it up right here.

I loved it, man. Great. The name of your book. Listen up. Recording music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, R.E.M., The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits, dot, dot, dot. That's quite the roster. Yeah, I've spent about 30 years making records nonstop. So it's been a long time.

This is kind of the first time that I've stood back and looked at my block of work and started to write it down now your brother helped you out um so what it is is um i have all these stories that i tell when i'm producing records everybody's like what's it like to work with dylan of course i have all these funny stories and stuff so um i started to write them down and so what you know i'm'm not a great writer. So my brother's a writer and he's an artist. And so I would just write down little chapters and send them to him. And he would like, you know, correct everything, spelling,

make it sure it was readable, you know, because I don't use periods or capitals. I just kind of like stream it out, get it out of my head. Right. You're the content man. Yeah. And your brother, your brother Chris Howard, he forms it into legible, correct sentences. Yeah, I know.

And okay, so before I pressed record, we were talking about your event coming up at Horseshoe Tavern. So remind everyone listening what's happening at the Horseshoe Tavern and when. Okay, so I've got an event coming up, which it's a book signing at the Horseshoe Tavern on May 22nd between 6.30 and 8 p.m. I think it's, no, 6 to 8 p.m. I think that was. And so, yeah, so come on down and pick up a copy of the book and I'll sign a copy for you

also i've got another event going on which it's uh in hamilton ontario i'm putting on a concert there uh for um for cancer so uh last year i was uh i got uh skin cancer melanoma cancer and i beat it now it's gone but i i've made it my mission to like, you know, push the whole kind of thing about it. Are you comfortable with a little health chat here off the top? Yeah. Okay. So because I was reading about, you know, you're coming home because stage four melanoma. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. That's correct. I'm very happy to hear. I was going to ask you how that was going and i'm so pleased to hear you tell me now that uh you're cancer free right now yeah cancer free right after christmas this year uh they did a bunch more tests and they're like we can't find any more cancer so what's it like to get that news because you get the news first you got you know i'm what i'm glad i don't know a lot about this firsthand but getting the news first you got you know i'm i'm glad i don't know a lot about this firsthand but getting the news you have stage four anything it's got to be it's it's uh yeah it's it's scary stage four

is a scary one and so as soon as they say that and then you're like you know your heart starts to beat and like you get kind of freaked out but i can imagine but i think uh i just kind of through a lot of people being really supportive and and me just kind of taking my mind off of it. And so I ended up putting on this concert last October at Roy Thompson Hall, and I had Sarah McLachlan and Randy Backman and Sam Roberts. I brought all my friends in to raise money for Princess Margaret Hospital that I was under care with. And so, yeah, so now i'm doing another one

in hamilton on june 1st and that's my uh cancer free concert good for you good for you for doing that and by the way surprisingly for a show called toronto mike there's a lot of listeners in hamilton so which is yeah which is fantastic including a guy who, he's famous for being the guy, the Argos suck guy. Do you agree with him? Do Argos suck? Is this part of living, being a Hamilton guy, is this part of the deal? I gotta say, Argos suck.

I'm not clued into the Argos. You're forgiven, that's okay. Well, you're from Manchester. We'll get to that. Exactly. But when, can you tell us where you are or how you get the news that they can't find any cancer in your body? I just want to live that moment through you.

Right, yeah. Well, you know, I've been on this treatment for immune therapy. And so I get this injection every three weeks, and so that's part of it. But I was supposed to go on this clinical trial where they do this other injection into my tumor on my shoulder and uh and so uh i couldn't get it up here so i had to go back i went to the united states and i went to california and i got it there but then the health insurance there ran out and i had to come back up here. So it's like this yo-yo back and forth to get treatment to make it work. But so, um, so they inject this T-Vac into the tumor and what it is, is the immune therapy kind of like, Oh, there's something there, let's go attack it. And then

it takes it out. So then, um, I was having these biopsies done, uh, in my lymph nodes and my shoulder and neck. And so that's where the cancer was kind of like they're kind of growing all over there and so before christmas i had the test done and then i got the results after christmas and like weird we're not seeing any more cancer in there like so they did these punch biopsies do you cry when you get that news um it's a big smile yeah yeah like i feel like crying just hearing you tell the story like i did cry when they told me it went to my brain that was traumatic and i was there with my daughter we were ready to start this treatment and they said sorry we can't do it because now it's gone

to your brain and you need brain uh radiation it was like 10 treatments of brain radiation which was intense. And so, but yeah, so it's, I'm pretty much clear of everything. I just need to stay on this treatment for the full term, because if I do the full term of the treatment, it's 95% for sure that's not coming back. Good stuff, man. Yeah, man. I mean, this sounds like a really modern treatment.

Like, I mean, you're doing these benefits for Princessgaret and i know they're doing great work there i did the ride to conquer cancer for princess margaret and uh it's i always wonder like if you had got the same diagnosis let's say 30 years ago i'd be dead amazing three years ago i'd be yeah i was trying to be kind with the 30 i didn't know how yeah three years and and chemotherapy doesn't work on melanoma cancer it just kills the patients and so they were just dropping left and right and people right no you know the oh skin cancer not a big deal but it mine was very aggressive like within it started off with a little tiny mole on my shoulder black and my i took my kids to hawai daughter said, Dad, that looks pretty black. You should have that checked out. By the time

I got a dermatology appointment or whatever, it turned into this little button and then the guy just cut it off. By him cutting it off, it set it off and made it really aggressive. That's why it spread to my liver, to my spleen, and then to my brain. It was just going

crazy, right? At some point, are they going to be able to realize, like, the cure is worse than the disease? We leave this. Like, I always wonder, like, at some point, is that little cancer in the shoulder, just leave it be? Yeah. Right, because you don't want to piss it off.

You don't want to piss it off. You never know. But, you know, it's really my fault. know i've never never wore sunscreen my whole life so um i'm kind of bringing you know my shows i'm kind of bringing you know showing people look just by putting sunscreen on you're preventing having cancer you know even in canada you think oh wow it's it's no big deal we don't have a lot of sun up here but it's more intense up here you know because you're pale and then suddenly you're getting hit by the sun on sunday on on the sunny days and then that's just kind of like intensity intensifying it man i'm so i'm glad you i'm glad you're doing better and uh i want to

know what came first like was it the diagnosis or the book like is it a did you write the book because of the diagnosis it's it's a you know it's i tell my friends you know like maybe cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me you know like it just made me take some time off of off of uh working and i dedicated every morning till noon uh for six months to write down all of these ideas and get them out you know for a while there i didn't i didn't think i was going to make it because it was like I was down to 98 pounds and, you know, looked like a skeleton and was bald and was like,

it looks scary, you know? Sure. I've seen that. Like, that's the reason I did the ride to conquer cancer. I've seen my buddy, strong, big guy, athlete, and I've seen him. Sadly, he didn't make it. He had esophageal cancer

and he passed away at 32 years of age. But I've seen him in his final days. And yeah, it's rough. It's rough, man.'t make it. He had esophageal cancer and he passed away at 32 years of age. But I've seen him in his final days. And yeah, it's rough. It's rough, man. It's rough. All right. So that's some good news off the top. Now, a lot of this episode, I got some great music queued up and we're going to talk about

some of the stories. Obviously, all the stories, again, and I really recommend this book, Listen Up. So get Mark Howard's book, Listen Up. You know, the complete details of of all these great artists that title only mentions some of the big names but on the cover like i see willie nelson here it's robert plant i see over there like this is these are some legends you've worked with and again i'm glad they made the cover because i know and maybe in the states it's not a big name but the tragically Hip is in there too because of Day for Night.

And we're going to dive deep into all that. So let me, before I bring you back to Manchester, because I want to start in Manchester. There's a vegetarian lasagna for you right there, courtesy of Palma Pasta. How did you know I was a vegetarian? I actually have noticed lately, more often than not, guests are asking for the veggie over the meat. So you're a vegetarian. Yeah, well, I had to change my whole diet. You know, like I had to stop eating meat.

I had to stop eating sugar. It was like, you know, my nickname was Fudge for a while because I was such a chocolate freak eating, you know, chocolate bars in the studio. So, yeah, so yeah so yeah i'm pretty much strictly vegetarian and i'll eat some fish sometimes i was in jamaica at christmas with my kids and nice you know i only ate it because that fish swam that day and i knew it was fresh right so enjoy your uh palma pasta vegetarian lasagna they they really do make the best italian food in the gta they're in mississauga and oakville and i urge listeners to go to palmapasta.com to find out the

location and pick pick up you can get at the palmist kitchen there's a hot table so you can get your fresh whatever penny uh penny penny how he's butchered that yeah well whatever you know what i'm talking about but there's fresh pasta there. You can also, there's a retail store. You can bring some home. You can grab some pizza, have a cappuccino, sit down, enjoy your lunch. Palma's Kitchen, that's near Burnhamthorpe and Mavis. But go to palmapasta.com.

They're also on Skip the Dishes, and they're great friends of the show. Happy birthday, Anthony. Had his birthday yesterday. So he's one of the, his family owns Palma Pasta. Great. Enjoy. Six pack of beer for you here. I'm hoping now that that fits into your dietary restrictions,

but if not, I know you'll know somebody who loves fresh craft beer. Yeah, my brother-in-law is a big beer drinker. These are cool cans. These are almost just cool just to have hanging around, just to look at. I actually keep one hanging around. I won't open this one. This is my, and I think I gave you one. If not, I'll make sure.

But my Electric Circus Brew with the cowboy dancer on Electric Circus. I just keep it here. Yeah, it looks great. So enjoy Great Lakes. Fantastic local craft beer. 99.9% of their beer remains here in Ontario. They were the first sponsor. I'm going to host an event there on June 27th,

and you and everybody is invited. So June 27th from 6 to 9 p.m., the headlining band at the TMLX3, which is Toronto Mic Listener Experience 3, the headlining band is Lowest of the Low. Have you ever seen Lowest of the Low? Never heard of it. This is your chance.

Okay. You're missing out, my friend. I know. Great Toronto band. Ron Hawkins, not Rompin' Ron. It's a different Ron. Okay. He's the lead singer and songwriter, and they're fantastic.

They have an album from, I think, 91 called Shakespeare, My Butt, which is one of my favorite Canadian albums of all time. Wow. I highly recommend it so TMLX3 stickers courtesy of sticker you sticker you.com those are what do you got you got I gave you a Toronto Mike sticker you got a that's actually a temporary tattoo oh wow okay so you can make sure I I wear that. In sport then. I got a bunch here for my kids love temporary tattoos. I don't think they care what's on them even. But also there's a Toronto sticker for you from a local artist. But go to stickeru.com. You can, over the web, you can create custom stickers. You can create one. You can create hundreds. Again, super easy, super slick. They do a great job over there. It's not

just stickers. It's decals. I've got some decals on the back wall here. It's magnets. It's temporary tattoos. It's labels. So go to stickeryou.com. And just before we dive into your music, we're going to pop into the time machine here. So Mark, this will be fun, but we're gonna pop into the uh time machine here so mark this will be uh fun but we're going way back i usually go back in the time machine i go back like 10 years 20 years 30 years maybe 40 years ago but we're gonna go back 60 years so whoa i know and i had to educate myself because i was so ignorant about this song and what it was. But 60 years ago this week, this was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Now I can actually bring it down a bit because it's instrumental.

Apparently it's the first number one instrumental song. Wow. Have you ever heard this? No, is this only in Canada? No, this is actually the U.S. Billboard 100. And who is this again? Okay, this is, it's called The Happy Organ. Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, organ music.

And the artist is a guy named Dave Baby Cortez. Wow. And I have to, I didn't even know the song existed until I discovered it was number one on the chart 60 years ago. Wow. And it's like a two minute instrumental ditty and it's kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I'm a big fan of these kind of like, these organs with drum machines in them. And so I think... So you got to catch up on some Dave Baby Cortez. Yeah. That sounds like 60 years. That's before our time, but fantastic.

And this segment, Remember the Time, is brought to us by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. I actually just wrote about Fast Time on TorontoMic.com. Milan at Fast Time is going to be back here uh may 31st to help co-host a show i'm doing with a couple of uh wrestling podcasters wow because i don't trust myself to do it right because i'm it's not a world i'm familiar with so milan's gonna come and help me out with the cool wrestling podcasters i would just want to talk about uh like Andre the Giant and right right yeah Rowdy Roddy Piper but go to uh go to fasttimewatchrepair.com for a location near you they have a location in Richmond Hill you can get 15% off any regular priced watch battery installation if you mentioned that you heard about Fast Time

on Toronto Mic'd. And again, we're going to do this again right now and then we're going to start rocking and rolling literally. But I want to thank Capadia LLP CPAs. The gentleman I've met there, Rupesh Capadia, is like a rock star accountant. Like they see beyond the numbers. You want your accountants to get the numbers right. But what I liked

about Rupesh is that you could have a real conversation about business practices, what makes sense for you. For example, if you had questions about your business or some kind of a venture you were considering or anything at all, it's a great idea to talk to these CPAs,

their chartered accountants and Rupesh is the man. So Mark, for you, Rupesh is willing to offer you a complimentary 30 minute consultation. Like you could jump on a call with Rupesh and any, any like things you're considering from a business nature or financial nature or whatever, just talk to Rupesh about it.

He literally, he's a rock star. Like he's got skull and bone rings and he's just, he's just a, he's running marathons in Berlin. Like he's just seriously cool cat and you can have a real chat with him. They see beyond the numbers. So he's cool with kind of like marijuana kind of business style. He would be willing to talk to you about anything. And of course that is a completely legal in this country.

So he'd be very happy to talk to you about it. You got some cannabis business ideas? No, but I think it really helped with my treatment. Oh, so, and, and of course for medicinal reasons,

it was already legal, right? Um, great. Yeah. Yeah. It was, I was, I was doing a cannabis

oil eating it and it helped with uh you know with being able to have an appetite and sleep that's you know that's is this the cannabinoids am i i get my uh my lingo mixed up but this is the the cbds it's kind of like a CBD, yeah, but it has THC. Okay, so THC is the part that gets you high. So you're getting a little high, but there's medicinal qualities with the CBD oil. I think they found the THC

actually does something also, too. I bet. I thought it was amazing for me because it really helped. Did your treatments have a side effect of nausea at all, or is that only with the chemo? That was chemo world,

and so the only side effect of this immune therapy is just itchiness. Because I could imagine if you had treatments with a side effect of nausea, a little THC would help, right? Oh, that really helps a lot of cancer patients, for sure. I'm really excited about, I mean, I'm glad they legalized this for everyone, but I'm really excited about the medicinal qualities. Like, imagine if you could, you know, if a little weed could help you with that arthritic pain as opposed to all the big pharma meds they want to put you on and everything.

Yeah, yeah, that's the thing is those drugs are, you know, the side effects are brutal. And my brother got prostate cancer. He lives in London. And he opted to just eat the marijuana oil. And within three months, they couldn't find any more cancer. Do you like, do you literally bake it into like Rice Krispie squares or something? Like how do you eat these?

No, it comes in like a little bottle and it's a little oil. And you just, like it's just the size of a rice, you know, just put it on there because it's super potent. Like, you know, if you eat too much, like you're just wasted. But this way, you know, it just works, you know, and you're still stoned, but not like to the point that you can't stand up. We've come a long way, I think. And I think what's nice is the stigma is going away. Maybe that comes with the legalization but i think not too long ago like even if i have cancer and i'm i'm taking some cannabis treatments i feel like there was a a stigma like that going that route

that seemed i don't i don't think it exists anymore yeah yeah yeah i think it's it's it was a lot of made up kind of yeah it's, it's all that reefer madness nonsense. Exactly, yeah, yeah. It's a plant. Like, let's get a grip here. Like, no one says you're going to... No one says you should drive after you take your treatment. That's a whole different discussion. But responsibly, I think, you know, we're all adults here.

So, okay, great. So, again, Capadia, LLP.com for everyone listening. If they want to reach out to Rupesh and the gang at Capadia. Really great people. And they see beyond the numbers. All right. Tell me about, you grew up in Manchester, right? I was born in Manchester.

And so what it was is my parents immigrated to Canada when I was like four years old. So I, you know, I. And do you have any memories? I guess you would, wouldn't you? I do because, you know, I went back a lot. And so all my whole, you know, family lives there, cousins and aunts and uncles still. So, you know, only my sister lives here in Canada and my mom and dad. So everybody else is still in kind of Manchester manchester and birmingham are you a soccer fan

uh i'm a man city fan because it's crazy i was born like exactly right beside where man city stadium is so and i did some work with uh this guy jeff wooten from the gorillas and did it in manchester and and him and the uh you know the Oasis boys are all Man City's fans. So. Right. Man, that was quite a scene, uh, in the nineties there, there was quite a Manchester scene. Yeah, exactly. So is it Hamilton where you end up in, uh, this country? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I, we, we end up in Hamilton and I grew up in the West end of Hamilton. And, uh, so I kind of, um, you know, I lived right beside McMaster University so as a kid the university was my playground and we would like you know sneak into concerts into movies and

so it was like having like this kind of like a fun place to hang out and for the Hamilton listeners you know I had so people from Hamilton have had on the show like Stephen Brunt, example, he's from Hamilton. Tom Wilson. Yeah, Tom.

Tom's a good Hamilton boy. Somewhere back here, I've got his, here he is. Somewhere back here. Where are we here? Oh yeah, here we go. So this is some of his new

Mohawk artwork that Tom, since he discovered he's a Mohawk, which is an amazing story in itself. And he's got a book too, which is pretty cool. But yeah, do you still have love for Hamilton? Do you feel like you're home when you go back to the Hammer?

I have an affection for it, yes, definitely. And this concert I'm putting on on June 1st, it's a tribute to Hamilton's music crowds because Tom Wilson will be there. I got the guy from Monster Truck to kind of come up. So the concert is a tribute to all of the musicians, but I've asked them all to do a song from one of the catalog of all the people I've worked with.

So Tom will come and do like a Tom Waits song and everybody's got like the Neil or Bob Dylan song, so it's going to be great. the catalog of all the people I've worked with. So Tom will come and do like a Tom Waits song. And, you know, like everybody's got like, you know, Neil or Bob Dylan songs. So it's going to be great. We'll see how many of the songs I play get doubled up as I played that night. That's very, very, very cool. And by the way, just quickly go back to the book before we get you.

I'm going to start you with a motorcycle accident. That's a good way to start this conversation. But first I'm going to ask you about the book real quickly because I think this conversation happened before I pressed record. But a recent guest on this show was Michael Barclay. How does he play a role in you actually writing this book? It happened by I got a phone call, like an email saying,

hey, I'm doing this book on the tragical hip i'd like to interview you and so i said yeah yeah sure and so uh i was in los angeles on the time making a record down there and uh he calls me and i'm you know in a parking lot you know in the car you know talking to him and so he's telling me you know he's asked me all about you know making another record of uh day for night so uh so that it went great and he's like wow this is a lot of great stuff you're telling me and so um i i ended up saying look you know i i've written it's kind of like it's kind of a book and i'm putting it together and i said who who put your book out and he said you, you know, ECW here in Toronto. And so he sent me a guy's name, uh, Michael at the ECW and said, send him an email.

And so I did never heard from him. And then a month later, you know, just before Christmas, again, like I get this phone call. I was like, it's Michael's like, what do you want to do with this book? And I'm like, I want to put it out. with this book and i'm like i want to put it out he goes i love it i want to put it out too yeah and so uh he said well it needs some editing you don't have like an intro log or an outload outro structure whatever yeah yeah so so i kind of went in and fine-tuned it and then brought it back to him he edited it and then kind of went through a bunch of other channels but uh yeah he loved it and it's uh now it's uh it's a proper book and when you do this horseshoe event and again what day is the horseshoe event uh it's on may 22nd may 22nd uh

it's michael barclay is joining you for that event yes he's interviewing me so it's going to be it all comes full circle here in the toronto mics universe so uh awesome that's amazing that's amazing i also had the guy on who wrote the book about horseshoe tavern just okay wow david mcpherson's his name but yeah so it all comes full circle but tell me about okay so i think we're going back to 86 here but you're working at grant avenue studios and that's in hamilton right yep yep so what happens that kind of like tell me about how daniel lenoir enters your life and what happens with the the motorcycle like Give us that little origin story there. Well, in Hamilton, what happened was I quit school when I was 15, grade 9,

and I wanted to be an architect. And so I found an architect firm in Hamilton called Howard Mark Architect. Oh, wow. So I took my drawings in there and he said, Hey, you know, like, these are fantastic. Go back to school and get your grade 12 and, you know, I'll hire you. And I said, well, that ain't going to happen. It's because I ain't going back to school. So I ended up getting a job as a kind of a layout artist for making tombstones. I was a guy that did the Jesus hands and all the kind of stuff on a tombstone. And so I did that until I

was 19 until I was old enough to kind of, kind of go on the road. And, you know, I was a, I was a drummer as a kid, you know, from 15 and I had like the basement like this, you know, set up and I had a stage and, you know, it was like a club in my basement. And so we had parties and smoke weed. And it was like, you know, it was kind of a cool place for kids to hang out, so, so once I was 19, I was able to kind of go into bars, and so I got a job with a local PA and lighting company from a place called the Guitar Clinic, and so this guy Lou Ferlanetto ran, you know, PAs for local bands, and so he would send me out there, and, you know, mix, PAs for local bands. And so he would send me out there and, you know, mix, I'd be mixing shows, setting up PAs and mixing shows for, you know, Portuguese weddings and all

kinds of crazy things. And then I got a tour across Canada with, uh, this legendary harmonica player, King Biscuit Boy, sorry. And so, uh, so I, you know, we went from here to Vancouver, and it was kind of a crazy kind of tour. So I came back, and on a weekend off, I got in a motorcycle accident on my 1971 Norton 750. Because you're a big motorcycle guy. Yeah. It's a common thread in the book. I'm all about motorcycles. I've been riding since I was nine, and dirt bikes, and then choppers, and then street bikes.

So, yeah, I've always been infatuated with motorcycles. Even though, how bad a crash was this? It was a crazy crash, because what happened was there was a bus turning in a lane, kind of turn up Wentworth Street. there was a bus turning in in a lane kind of going to turn up wentworth street and i was coming down barton street and it was raining and there was a guy behind the bus that was going to cut and cut into my lane on ongoing traffic and then take the corner but as he pulled out i was like speeding and you know i hit him head on my bike just went right into the front of his car, like a Z28, one of these things. And it melted into the front. And I just flipped over the car twice and landed on my feet behind the car like a cat.

But I think the shock of it just kind of like, you know, hurt my back and my neck and just kind of like tensed me up, you know. Oh, I can imagine. So I wasn't able to go back on the road because, you know, I couldn't lift the gear. That was part of my gig is moving the gear in and out and stuff. So, uh, I got a job at Grand Avenue studio and, you know, at the time they had this incentive program with the government saying, we'll pay half your wage if the, uh,

if the company will pay your half your wage. And so I walked in there and met uh bob marine who ran the joint and i said look i i got this program through the government and so they'll they'll pay half my wage if you'll hire me and so they said okay let's let's try it sure and so you know six months uh goes by and next thing you know i'm like you know head engineer at night and running all the night sessions and doing you you know, uh, country Western, uh, syndicated shows. And, and then, uh, right after that, uh, Daniel Anwar walked in the door. And so he just finished the record with you two called Joshua tree. Never heard of it. Yeah. So he's fresh off, off that record and comes in and he starts to make his own solo record, which would be Akadi.

And so, yeah, so, you know, he was always trying to stump me in the studio. He was like, you know, he's like, oh, this little kid, you know, we'll treat, you know, you know, with assistance, you know, they try to bosh around and stuff like that. So, you know, he'd always be like, OK, we're going to put a new guitar down and put it on track 12. I'd say, it's it's there like it's set up already like yeah yeah he goes how'd you know i was gonna do it i go i heard you guys talking about you know a guitar idea so i prepared for it and so he was always trying to like stump me and so i think he dug that i was always on top of it and and so uh i got a call from him like a month later saying he's going to New Orleans and he's making a record with the Neville Brothers.

And would I be interested in coming to help him make the record and set up a studio and kind of put it all together? And so I was like, yes, yes. And so my boss at Grand Avenue said, you know, if you leave, your job's not here when you get back. It was only supposed to be for six months, and those six months turned into 30 years. Wow. Okay, let me start by playing. Let me play a song from that Neville Brothers album here, and then I'll start it up,

and then we'll bring it down and talk about it. Let's play Yellow Moon. Right. Thank you. When you hear these percussion sounds now, are you thinking back to creating that sound? It's funny because this record was, it wasn't like a live band or anything. It was all done on percussion loops where you know you can actually hear that's a green perrier bottle doing that kind of like

that one rhythm and then so everybody had like a little kind of handshaker kind of like we had you know just boxes or whatever it was and and so uh we just kind of did like everybody kind of did this percussion group and um and so we just loop it and then the band would play on top of it, and then Tony Hall played that killer bass line on top of it, and so it kind of formed into this whole thing, and Aaron sang it live in the control room, just on a handheld mic, and so it was a pretty cool way of making a record.

And this is the first album that you had a role in creating, right? Yeah, well, I'd been making records here in Hamilton, but it was nothing on this level. And, you know, coming from Canada as being kind of a white, kind of non-groovable kind of guy, to see

the grooves these people are putting out, and the swamp feel, and it's just like, it's sexy, and it's just like it's sexy and it's just you know it's a it's an education in itself you know so how do you split the duties with like uh daniel lenoir like so what can you be specific like uh what role you play in the uh in the process um so you know it's it it's uh i was a technician in a way that because i would set up the studio you know i brought all the gear in from all over the you know for the console from england tape recorder from canada bought all the gear from new york so i was kind of like uh you know um

a real estate agent i had to find the to find the place to make the record. And so I had all these different jobs that I had to kind of put it. So it was like I was doing five man's jobs, you know, kind of thing. But our role between me and Dan, you know, it started as I was his assistant and then turned into like, oh, well, here, just record this. And then I became, you know, there's nobody else in the room to record it but me. So then suddenly I became the engineer. And then so that became, you know,

and just kind of grew into shared productions on some things. And then I turned into my own productions kind of thing. For sure, for sure. Now, this is in New Orleans, as you mentioned. Yeah. Right. But there's, we're like with Daniel, there were so many different studios,

right? Like... What it was is every record we made, we kind of, I'd move locations and, you know, we initially was only supposed to be there for six months to make the Neville's record, but we got a kind of surprise visit from Bob Dylan

and so he ended up coming in the studio and hearing a couple of tracks that we cut off the record that were his songs uh Wallace Brown and God on Our Side and and so that kind of like once he heard those he wanted to make a record with us okay now Bob in total he made two records with you guys right yeah right right so the first I want to do it chronological but then I have to kind of set up I'm going to be breaking up a little bit because I'm going to put you know I want to play the chronological, but then I have to kind of set up. I'm going to be breaking up a little bit because I'm going to put, you know, I want to play the maker, of course, at some point here.

But let's start with this first Dylan record, Oh Mercy. Yeah, Oh Mercy, that's right. 1989. In fact, let's play a jam from that session, those sessions. Oh Mercy. Great tremolo guitar sound. They're deep and they're wide, and the world's on its side. And time is running backwards, and so is the bride. Ring them bells, St. Peter, where the four winds blow. them bells, St. Peter, where the four winds blow. Ring them bells with an iron hand so the people will know. Oh, it's rush hour now on the wheel in the plow. And the sun is a

going down upon the sacred cow. Ring them bells, man. Sounds great. So you can remember back in whatever it was, 89 or whatever, you can remember a specific song, like putting this together. Yeah, this is a funny story in the book where there's a lyric line, and the fighting is strong.

But when he sings it, it sounds like, and the farting is strong. We'd all start laughing, and he'd be like, what are you guys laughing at all the time? And so this one is a beautiful one that has him playing piano. And so I had arranged to have some pianos brought into the studio. We were working in this beautiful kind of like Annabella Mansion, and so it had this big grand ballroom. So I had gotten a Steinway,

a seven-foot Steinway, 1980s, that we got from the Jazz Fest, because the Jazz Fest would rent pianos. And then I ended up getting another piano, a Baldwin piano from Warlines Music, the jazz festival would rent pianos and then i ended up getting another piano a baldwin piano from warlines music and then a friend of ours johnny o'brien brought in like an 1800s steinway and so we had three steinways lined up and bob would always go out there and play the piano and so daniel amois was wanting to buy one of these pianos. And so he was really interested in why Bob would always only go to this one piano.

And it was the Baldwin. And so he got the nerve up and he said, Bob, what is it about this piano? Is it the tone or the feel of this piano? Why do you always come to this piano to play it? And Bob turned around and he goes, it's the only one with a stool. So I love Bob Dylan. to play it and bob turned around and goes it's the only one with a stool so i love i mean bob dylan like is there a bigger artist on the planet than bob dylan like so i have to ask you the obvious question which is what kind of guy was he like that's the first i bet you get that a hundred times a day or whatever yeah yeah yeah well you know he's he's you know he's just like you and me like normal right but you know he, you know, he's... I don't know.

I've seen a lot of Bob Dylan. I don't think he's like you and me. He seems a bit more eccentric out there. Yeah. Sometimes it's a little bit of a show. Oh. And I think it's, you know, from press people, you know, like he's, you know, he's just over. He's done it his whole life.

And so he says weird stuff sometimes. Like a little space cadet-y kind of stuff. But when it's like you know him and me in the room when we're just sitting beside each other it's it's it's normal like it's just like there's no weirdness or anything okay so yeah so it's it's you know i've seen some i've seen him like put it on like bang you know billy bob thornton came in the studio one day and they met and they both went into these two different characters like like what are you guys doing like it was like funny yeah i uh that's fantastic i think there's a story in the book i

really like where uh dylan talks about like when he'll record and and kind of so he has a specific period of time during the day when he'll record right like he won't work in the daytime it's only at nighttime so uh and so yeah he's like he thinks that He won't work in the daytime. It's only at nighttime. So, and so, yeah, he's like, he thinks that everything has to be done at night. There's a certain thing that happens at night when you listen and does to music. So he might be right, actually. I think so.

I think that, you know. Because concerts are, I always think when you see an outdoor show, like, you know, say there's a long lineup, but let's say it starts at something like 2 p.m. I'm like, okay, this is nice and all, but it's when the sun goes down and I know the better bands come after right so that's part of it but when the sun comes down okay now it's a rock show let's go yeah yeah yeah but i liked how he he asked

you one time he asked you uh like when when you did your mixing right like he didn't even want you working during the day is that right no no you had a mix at night yeah yeah yeah so if we did a mix in the daytime and played it to him he's like did you do this in the daytime like yeah we just did it just before you walked in he's like no they don't want to hear it got to do it again at night see that's weird right that's one thing i play only at night it's another thing it's like you can't do your part unless it's nighttime but uh we're gonna have more dylan more uh dylan stuff because one of his well well, come on, we got Grammys and everything coming up with Dylan,

thanks to you guys. So we're going to get back to Dylan. But Daniel Lanois, so you mentioned, is it Akadi? Akadi, yeah. Akadi, Akadi. Now, okay, now I do a thing here where guests come back to kick out the jams. So I'm thinking specifically of Stephen Brunt now,

who's a Hamilton guy. So he comes in and we do what we're doing now, which is like a deep dive, right? So you do 90 minutes deep dive, but then he comes back where we play and discuss his 10 favorite songs of all time. This is one of Stephen Brunt's 10 favorite songs of all time. Wow.

favorite songs of all time. Wow. And a little teaser. Later in the show, I'm going to play this song by another artist you worked with. So that's a teaser for everybody listening at home. But... Oh, deep water Five bass parts on this song.

Anytime you want to chime in with some pop-up audio there, do it, because that's the stuff we can't listen to at home, right? I stand with arms wide open I've run a twisted mind I'm a stranger In the eyes of the maker So of course we're listening to Daniel Lenoir's The Maker from his debut solo album.

So tell me a little bit about you helped you worked on that of course yeah yeah it was kind of we made this in conjunction at the same time we were making the Neville Brothers Yellow Moon record that's that's why you're gonna hear Aaron Neville in a second sing right yeah so this actually is before the Dylans. I'm actually out of order. It's actually, yeah. There goes my idea. Yeah, we had finished this record, and then Dylan had come in. The best laid plans of my cement. It's a gorgeous song, The Maker.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. People kind of took this as a religious song, and I never thought of it as a religious song. I never thought of it as a religious song, but a lot of Christian people think it's quite... He's talking about religious stuff. Well, the maker, I guess, that would be like an almighty or whatever. To you, who's the maker in your mind? We call Dan the maker.

Dan is the maker. I thought so. By the way, later we're going to do some Neil Young. I like the name of that album by Neil Young as the way he would think of the name Lenoir, like the noise. as the way he would think of the name Lenoir, like Lanois. I don't know. Yeah. Brother John Have you seen the homeless daughter? How often do you hear from Dan?

Not too often. He's off in his own little world, making his own little records these days. I'm up here and he's kind of floating around, I think Los Angeles or somewhere. Oh, here it is. Some Aaron Neville. Yeah, beautiful, huh?

Yes. And you're calling Burlington home now, right? I'm actually Toronto-based. I'm just close to the hospital. Five appointments a week. No fun to drive back and forth. I can imagine, man. So five times a week, because you have to finish this treatment, obviously.

When does the treatment end? It's going to be another six months. I'm happy. I'm ready. Man, cancer's a bitch. Yeah, it is. That could be the name of your next book. It could be. I'm ready. Now, I didn't bother playing, but what work did you do on...

Here's an album a lot of guys my age love and adore here, REM's Automatic for the People. What did you do for that album? You know, at that time, that was still in New Orleans, and Dan had bought this kind of mansion in the French Quarter, and I'd turned it into a full-blown studio that everybody could stay in and sleep there and kind of like a workout of and it was a private studio and that's you know

dan would do his projects i'd do mine and another guy malcolm burn who kind of produced a couple of records in there but um ended up that we we opened the studio up dan went off to make another u2 record and uh it would have been act on baby at the time and uh so he left me in charge of the studio right so uh so we invited you know we opened the doors to a bunch of people and rem got uh drift uh this place was available and they wanted to come out and check it out so it was really a writing session uh to start with on on automatic for people but uh some of the tracks got used on the record like the new orleans instrumental and stuff like that so um and you also did some work on monster too right yeah monsters was a another one where the management office had called me and said can you come in and just work with the band

alone you know they work with scott lint who's a great guy, but they wanted just some time alone without any kind of other people kind of like helping them with their songs kind of thing. Here's a question from Basement Dweller. He's a listener of the podcast, big fan of yours. And you already mentioned this name, so it's perfectly timed here. What was it like working with Malcolm Byrne

on Chris Whitley's amazing 1991 album living with the law and to what extent did he contribute to or did you mark contribute to his third album uh terra incognito right yeah um well malcolm burn was was asked to produce uh the first living with the law record and um know, it actually started with Dan and Chris because Dan met Chris in New York through a friend, Karen Kuhn, a famous photographer. And so ended up, they cut this track called Leavenworth. And so they just kind of cut like the two of them

direct to a dat. And so that kind of got Chris a deal, really. And so, but Dan didn't want to produce his record because he you know he's had other things going on at the time so uh he suggested malcolm burn to produce it and so uh malcolm you know he was already in new orleans and you know i was there and he said you know malcolm asked me can i help make the record and so and it kind of worked out good because i just come off the road with daniel amwa and we used his road band uh daryl johnson and ronald jones and uh bill dylan was uh was around so bill that crazy that record is a lot of that crazy guitar works

is all bill dylan and so and all the dobro work is chris and so yeah it was a really amazing record and uh you gotta you know he that was kind of like his you know kind of opening the door for for his career and then years later um he asked me uh chris had asked me if i would help him make another record which would be terra incognita which uh we made in oxnard california in this beautiful old kind of cinema. Nice, nice. Now, I'm going to get to some Iggy Pop. I want to play some Iggy Pop. But first, a couple of quick hits here.

What did you do for Peter Gabriel? Peter Gabriel was, they were working on the Us record. And so Peter came through New Orleans. And, you know, Peter really loves horns and stuff like that, you know, from like the horns on Sledgehammer and stuff like that. Sure. So you have these horn players in New Orleans that have a specific sound. So there's a song called Washing of the Water

that I brought in a bunch of these horn players, and we tried this technique where they would just blow air through their horns, like this kind of cool sound. So that was kind of like how I kind of got to work on Peter's record. Amazing. Amazing. Now, we're going to play some Iggy Pop, but first this is a broadcast to all the parents listening who have a child between the ages of 4 and 14.

So this is the time. What are we? Mid-May. You have to do this now. So moms and dads and grandparents, you literally press pause on this podcast and take care of this business. You need to put your kid in summer camps. And the best camps, and I strongly recommend, you send your child to Camp Tournesol. These are the GTA's largest French camps.

They have been, you know, servicing children in the GTA for tens of thousands of children in the GTA since 2001. So go to campt.ca. They have programs for your child. Your child is francophone in French immersion or has no French experience. They have overnight programs and day camps. Campt.ca. They have a new camp called Love My Planet, which is an eco camp. And they talk about how to reduce your ecological footprint. And there's interesting experiments and upcycling projects.

It's really fantastic. If you're going to sign your child up for a Camp Ternusel camp and you should use the promo code Mike 2019. It lets them know you learned about them on Toronto Mic'd but it also saves you $20. So Mike 2019. Go to campT.ca One night out in L.A.

I met a Mexican With a budget girlfriend Who I thought was a man That took me to the alley To have a little chat Can't believe the corners To rip this sand mat In Wild America

Wild America Wild America Wild America Iggy fucking Pop. Oh my gosh. Okay, so tell me you worked on American Caesar. Yeah. I've made two records with Iggy, one American Caesar and one Avenue B.

But this one was the first one, and this has got Henry Rollins on it, this track, so it's like he's a trip, too. I can imagine. So what's Iggy like? Iggy is, you Iggy is he's an intellectual. He's really smart and he likes to talk about current events and stuff

like that and he's quite opinionated. But it's a shame because he's considered the grandfather of punk rock or whatever. But he's an amazing lyricist, you know, like he doesn't get any credit for like how amazing his lyrics are because, you know, it's like he's the only guy I know that can, you'll do three takes in a row

and every take will be completely different lyrics, but every one was just as good as the last one. Wow. So how do you decide which is the master? Like, what is that? That's the thing it's difficult you know like so yeah you've got to pick one that kind of works for you know the best best thing for the song man oh man yeah like uh iggy pop so this is uh the song by the way we're listening to is wild america i think that's probably the cut on american caesar that got the most airplay, if you will. Not that I'm just playing the hits here, because I'm not. A lot of the songs I chose

after reading your book, and I liked the story you shared about it. It's all mixed up here, but there's lots of stuff coming up. Iggy Pop got no fat on that body, right? He's a lean machine. I said,

do you do yoga? What do you do to stay trim and he's like no i don't exercise at all he just does these like chinese breathing exercises where he brings takes these deep breaths and then pushes the oxygen to his hands and to his brain and so it's it's it's you know later on in life after i started doing yoga i found out these breathing exercises are you know like they do help they're the real deal yeah oh man i'm all turned around on it now that's uh man if it works for iggy it works for me yeah iggy pop man uh let's let's talk about uh an album i said that right album yes historically i say uh for some reason you know the word pablum yeah okay album like i stick an l like i don't know man it's uh i don't know i have no excuses

i'm working on it though so there's an album by uh the tragically hip called day for night and i love this album i mean that's my favorite band of all time. Okay. So we're going to spend a little longer on this but let's start with a track from that album. interesting and sophisticated refusing to be celebrated. It's a monumental big screen kiss.

It's so deep it's meaningless. One day you'll just have been quit, and that'll be it. Just then the stripper stopped in a coffin fit She said, sorry, I can't go on with this Yeah, that's awful close But that's not why I'm so hard done by 1993, you are, this is you,

is this the first time you're solo as producer? I mean, with the bigger bands, I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I produced a bunch of local New Orleans acts and stuff like that, but this was my first big kind of record for sure. Wow. Now, how was it, like like how were the tragically hip um great guys you know they're we just hit it off you know because it was like a you know we liked all the same kind of music and stuff but um but with this track that we're

hearing is like you know these guitar sounds that you're hearing, you know, they're big and heavy and thick. You think, wow, this is like the, the guitar sound was a little tiny cigarette box with a little speaker in it. And I just put a mic on it and that's, that's the sound. So it's like, you know, you think, oh,

these big, huge Marshall, you know, but there's a small little tiny, you write that great sound, especially in the headphones. So hard done by. And that's the reason I, I decided, you know, there's so many bigger hits, I suppose, off, tiny. You write that great sound, especially in the headphones, so hard done by. And that's the reason I decided,

you know, there's so many bigger hits, I suppose, off this album I could go with. But I'm like, no, because I... Yeah, this one's satisfying in the headphones, isn't it? Really, yeah. So hard done by. And so, like, is that just trial and error to come up with that sound?

Yeah, yeah. This record, you know, it was very much experimental for them, you know, and I'm, you know, because I kind of, you know, not that I grew up with Brian, you know, but, you know, I was in that camp with them and with Dan and they had these certain techniques of how to come up with sounds and make sounds and be more inventive about making records. And so I applied that, some of those rules to this, this record with them. And especially with, uh, um,

Johnny Ray, there's, uh, you know, the drum treatments on, on a couple of tracks that, oh, Faye. Yeah.

Yeah. Johnny Faye. Yeah. I heard Johnny Ray. Oh, sorry. Yeah. That's okay.

I know Johnny Ray too. Sorry. Yeah. Billy Ray, Johnny Faye. They're all good. Anyways. So, yeah, so he he he really dug like what i

was doing helping him like with drums and and kind of these treatments and stuff like that so uh you know usually all of their their other records are straight ahead rock records but this one is a slightly darker record for them and a little you know a little moodier it's a little moodier and a lot different sounds than they're used to and kind of, you know, with Gord, you know, singing, I think these songs kind of work better for this kind of treatment.

A lot of hip fans will point to this as their favorite album. I think it's on the heels of their biggest commercial success too. So I don't, like I always wonder about, is there any, not interference, but like somebody like a,

and I'm trying to get my timelines right, he was just on the show, Jake Gold. Okay, right, yeah, Jake. Like so, is there any, not interference, but somebody like a, and I'm trying to get my timelines right, he was just on the show, Jake Gold. Okay, right, yeah, Jake. So what involvement with you as the producer of this album and Jake Gold as sort of manager of the band who is always looking out for the best interests of his clients or whatever. I just wondered, for Day for Night, which is a fantastic album, but it didn't sell fully completely.

I wondered how much pressure there was for like fully completely i wondered uh how much pressure there was for another fully completely which is like a hit laden oh you know at the time i had thought i'd ruined their career by making such a you know left turn record for them you know the record company didn't like it and you know like it's like what are we gonna do with this there's no singles like you know like it was like uh it was it was you know shocking you know like here i am this is my first big chance at making a record and and uh nobody likes it and so it was it took time for people to soak in and for people to like it and i think you know even with the hip fans i think in the beginning they didn't know what to think of it you know it was like uh like what is this this isn't the you know beer drinking rock and roll

we want you know right but i think it sunk in and uh it became kind of like you know they're more artsy kind of more tasteful record now like as i mentioned earlier with the kick out the jams i mean here's a jam i'm gonna play play now from that album which gets kicked out, I would say, often. It might be the hip album, some hip song that gets kicked out the most. Okay.

But, like, a dirgy kind of... Right. You know what I mean? So, a song like this, which is a... Well, let's hear a bit of it and then we'll talk about it. It's got that great build-up there.

talk about it. It's got that great build-up there. I had this dream where I relished the fray And the screaming filled my head all day It was as though I'd been spit here Settled in into the pocket of a lighthouse on some

rocky socket Off the coast of France dear It's also a song that sort of doesn't have that traditional, like, verse, chorus, verse kind of... Right, yeah, yeah. There's nowhere to... Most songs, I know, verse, chorus fade down or whatever, but this one you sort of... Yeah, it's an abstractual arrangement on it, for sure.

Yeah, it's an abstractual arrangement on it for sure. But I think this one was kind of discovered a little bit in Kingston at their rehearsal studio. So we started off there and that's kind of how it all started. We brought it to New Orleans and kind of like reformed it kind of thing. It's interesting that a lot of hip fans and Canadians actually point to, you know, oh, the hip were on Saturday Night Live. Okay. Dan Aykroyd introduces them.

This is like a moment. And the two songs, because they played their two new songs off the new album, but it's your album. Yeah. Right? So we're hearing this and we're hearing Grace 2. Grace 2, yeah. Another great hip track.

But you're right. It's not the same kind of i would say mass appeal kind of hit hit stuff you would hear from like fully completely or like little bones or whatever exactly yeah yeah it's like um it's rock but it's it's uh it's kind of a a different angle and a feel for it for sure so did somebody like it did was there any uh through the process you mentioned the record company didn't like it because there any uh through the process you mentioned the record company didn't like it because there weren't any hit singles or whatever but uh they sure were in this country but that's another story but uh like jake gold for example like i

just wonder was there any uh tampering i knew uh you know jake was a full supporter of the record and he liked it you know it wasn't until you know we had the meeting with the record company mca and they're like looking at us going what did you do you know like what is this like how are we going to sell this or like you know record companies essentially it's a business right and so they have to make money and so they need something that they can make money with so you know when you hand them an art record or something kind of not the same as what they're used to, then it's like, you know, it's kind of like they don't know what to do with it.

It's worth noting that this album did get nominated for a Juno Award, right? For you. You got a producer nomination. Yeah, I was nominated for Producer of the Year for sure. Cool. Cool. I don't want to fade down Nautical Disaster. This song,

I mean, it has a whole different resonance since Gord passed away. Okay. But it, yeah, it still kind of makes me,

like, there's an emotional aspect to the song. Even listening to it now talking to you, it's, just something about it makes me

sad and, like, it really evokes emotions in me and I wonder how much of that, though, has to do with the

tying it to gourd's passing so yeah i think i think he did deliver quite quite the emotional vocal on it you know it was uh it's these vocals are alive right off the floor you know like so he didn't overdub any vocals on this record these these vocals were you know we cut this record in a particular way that you know they didn't want to do take after like do a bunch of takes of the same song they wanted to play a set of the whole whole record and then just pick which is the best one from each set and every day we know for two weeks we were you know still doing these two sets and i was getting a little spooked at the time that I didn't have really good full takes

because there was great verses and great endings, and so I had to kind of pull a little manipulation and cut some stuff together. So you took, like, okay, this first part was perfect, but in this different cut, that lasts. Different take from another day, yeah. So you would mix and match, if you will, to get the perfect version. match, if you will,

to get the perfect version. Exactly. Interesting, interesting. It's funny that, you know, as I shared with you here, actually, let me do the Bob Dylan, because I was going to say, what I was going to say, there is my two favorite bands of all time are the Tragically Hip and Pearl Jam. Oh, wow.

And there's a Vedder song coming up, just a little teaser. But first, I promised we'd come back to bob dylan so let me actually let me yeah so this the album i think i did it there actually an album is time out of mind this is the uh the 96 bob dylan uh album and and and he did that with uh with with danny am i allowed to call him dan or do i have to call him daniel lenoir like would it be okay if i call him dan uh yeah i call him dan that's a you know you can call him dan i don't know if i'm allowed to call him dan okay so this

is an album of course with dan and yourself uh and let's uh hear something from it and just talk about recording it and then i have a question for you from brian gerstein so let's play till i fell in Love with You Till I Fell in Love with You Well my nerves are exploding And my body's tense I feel like the whole world

Had me pinned up against the desk I've been hit too hard Seen too much Nothing can heal me now but your touch I just don't know what I'm gonna do I was alright till I

fell in love with you now in your book, you talk, I want you to share some stories about this particular cut because it had a different title, right?

Yeah, this is called Doing Alright. Right. And in the book, it's actually almost confusing because when I read the book, it's all about doing alright?

Doing alright. Doing alright. And then it's like, wait, oh, yes, the reason my Google searches are suffering here

is because this song got renamed Till I Fell in Love With You for the album. But tell me a little bit about recording this cut with Bob Dylan. As you can hear in the headphones, it's kind of a strange brew. In the headphones, it's like Brian Blade is on your left ear and Jim Keltner is on your right ear. So it's like twin drumming going on so it's got this kind of like cool kind of groove happening

but this song it went through a couple of different chapters and it kind of came you know we started the record at the Teatro in California and Bob couldn't work that close to home so we ended up going to Miami to Criteria

studio and so we were in this big spitty room and it was like uh I felt bad because it didn't sound as good as I was as the teatro did and so um but this particular song uh uh right down to the very this is the song that was the last song that I was dealing with, like at the mastering, you know, like, you know, he was still tampering with the song from the very end.

So this one really, I think he was really attached to. So it was, you know, I'd get phone calls in the middle of the night asking me to, you know, change the arrangement of the song. So it was pretty bizarre. Well, they should have let you work during the day maybe.

Yeah, exactly. Edits were okay in the day. This was a big success for Bob Dylan. Like, this album was a monster. I mean, in terms of even, like, Grammy Awards, it won three Grammys, including Album of the Year. Yeah. That's how I got a Grammy.

Right. Yeah. Man, and even again, what's this, yeah, this album was a monster, but let me bring it down

because I want to play, I want to play a question from Brian Gerstein. Brian is a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. He's at propertyinthesix.com. The next voice you hear is his. Propertyinthesix.com

Hi, Mark. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mike. Now's the time to contact me for a free home evaluation if you're considering selling your home and are looking to buy during the busy spring market, which is underway. You can also call or text me at 416-873-0292

if you are interested in the upcoming Gallery and Mall condo redevelopment. Mark, you famously worked with Bob Dylan. In 1998, accepting the Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind, Dylan said, Mark Howard, can't forget that. We got a particular type of sound on this record, which you don't get every day. Dylan was 55 as I am this year when he wrote the bulk of that album. And it makes me feel like time is just slipping away as the years fly by for me too. So it is more relatable than ever for me now. How did you feel when Bob threw those accolades at you?

Great question. Okay. Now, I searched high and low for the footage because I could play it right now. Okay, right. Yeah, yeah. Because that's amazing that Bob Dylan at the Grammys is accepting an award.

And he says, as Brian says, he says, and Mark Howard, can't forget that. We got a particular sound on this record which you don't get every day. Like, how does it Brian says, he says, and Mark Howard, can't forget that. We got a particular sound on this record, which you don't get every day. Like, how does it feel when, I guess, where were you watching at home? Like, were you there? No, I was actually mixing the on-air performance that he was playing at the Grammys. And so I was there with my wife. She was nine months pregnant.

Oh, wow. And so it was kind of a crazy time. nine months prior to, and, uh, so it was, it was, it was kind of a crazy time. And, you know, it was that, that particular Grammy, um, performance had like a, a, a thing that never happened on television before. And it changed the way television is, is broadcast. Uh, so this guy just kind of jumped out and, and took a shirt off and it said soy bomb i remember this of course on his on his chest right and so they didn't know if this guy was going to blow himself up or what was you know or like i don't know a monica sellis thing or something yeah yeah you know i'm in the truck mixing mixing the on-air thing and this is going down i'm like pressing the button get that guy

off the stage get that guy off the stage you know like and so uh so it was it was it was quite a bizarre event and right and i don't know if you've ever seen, you've gone to look at it now, they've edited that out of there. And so it's no longer there. You can't see it anymore. No soy bomb. But, you know, later on that night it was funny because there was like a big Sony party.

And so, you know, I go up to Bob and, you know, talk to him. And he goes, hey, did you hear I said your name on TV? I said, yeah, thanks, Bob. It was awesome. Well, hopefully you had the VCR recording at home. Yeah, I've got a copy of it. Man, you know, on YouTube you can find lots of stuff. And you can actually see some of, like,

one of his acceptance speeches from that night. I guess he made three of them or whatever. But that one with your name in it, I couldn't find it. But I'm glad you've got a copy of that. That amazing so i guess to answer brian's question uh like is there some valid like how does that feel to have somebody like like bob dylan like this is a like i said one of the biggest artists on the planet he's winning a grammy which which is a big deal for dylan to win a grammy and he's calling you out by name yeah it was uh you know i was in the truck when i heard it and so i was like and everybody cheered you know in. Yeah, it was, you know, I was in the truck when I heard it. And so it was

like, and everybody cheered, you know, in the truck. It was, you know, it was a feeling of gratification. You know, it was, it felt great. It just really felt great to have him say my name and everybody, all my friends hearing it. And so it was, it was like, you know, one of those moments in life that you're, you're being appreciated for your work. Amazing, amazing. Now, to keep it chronological, I think I got a question here from Basement Dweller. Basement Dweller says, again,

how important a role did studios such as Kingsway and the Converted Movie Theater in California where Willie Nelson recorded Teatro play in the ultimate sound of the finished product. So let's talk about Willie Nelson here, if you will. So you guys, he called his album Teatro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just, it happened that way because,

you know, we cut the record at the Teatro. It's like a big, you know, 1940s Mexican porn cinema that I converted into this like, you know, lush kind of studio and i took out all the seats and put the studio in the whole center and it was like a it was kind of a crazy playground for musicians and instruments and so willie came through there and we just cut his record in two days and and uh but um the the studio uh the particular sound of that record is that room. And same with Kingsway.

That's why I move around a lot, because every record I make is in a different room, and that contributes to the sound of each record. That's a man who enjoys Mary Jane. Willie. Willie, he'll like, yeah. And he's going strong.

I don't know what he is now, mid-80s, I think? Yeah, yeah, I think he's just gone 81, maybe. He's going strong.

Now, I teased this earlier, so let me play, so of course, if Dan's going to produce your, I'm calling him Dan now, if Dan's going to produce your album, then Willie Nelson can record this song. guitar solo Oh, oh, deep water

Black and cold like the night I stand with arms wide open I run up the street line I'm a stranger In the eyes of the maker Of course, that's a cover of Daniel Lenoir's The Maker, which we played earlier. So what's it like for Daniel?

I guess I've got to get him on the show, but he's producing a guy covering his song. I always wonder if that changes anything for a producer. No. It's funny enough, this actual track is actually the original version that the band is playing on top of so it's uh it's got the same bass lines and all that oh yeah yeah yeah a bit of a trick yeah totally but uh but no aaron in this version no aaron he doesn't show up yeah

exactly this is emmy lou harris yeah i was gonna ask yeah emmy lou harris of course wow Yeah, exactly. This is Emmylou Harris. Yeah, I was going to ask. Yeah, Emmylou Harris, of course. Wow. It's a nice touch, though, to get that juxtaposition of Emmylou Harris with Willie Nelson's voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a beautiful mix. It's a really nice song I'll bring it down Not rapid fire

But I have to pause and play some Eddie Vedder In a moment I'm contractually obligated to do that Tell me about Marianne Faithfull What was it like producing her Vagabond Ways Marianne is She, what was it like producing her Vagabond Ways? Marianne is, she's amazing to work with.

You know, she's like working with the queen. You know, she's very proper and, you know, very well spoken. And so it was a kind of a cool record I made with her because she had got songs from Roger Waters. And she picked a Leonard Cohen song, and Elton John had wrote a song for her for this record, and so I think it was kind of a particularly, kind of like a nice balance between covers and these new songs and stuff like that, but yeah. And your buddy Bob, Bobby D, Bob Dylan,

I know that Marianne Faithfull gives a lot of credit to Bob Dylan for her working with you. I have a quote here. So she says, Bob has had a great influence right to this day. I see him quite often. It was Bob who told me to go to Mark Howard for Vagabond Ways. He actually said to me, I was so proud. You know, Marianne, people like us with funny voices, you have to be very careful who you let produce you.

That's a great quote. That should be your business card right there. And what about Red Hot Chili Peppers? What did you do with the Red Hot Chili Peppers? I was just finishing mixing Marianne's record in London at Metropolis Studios, and I got a call from my friend Louis who was their manager

and said, you know, the band they just want you to come in and help them flush out these new songs that they got and so I said, okay, yeah and so I flew back, you know, from London after I mixed and they came to the Teatro and so it was just a band by themselves. There was no guitar techs.

There was no nothing. It was just like the band and they set up their own gear and we went through all the songs they had for Californication. Which was a monster comeback album, if you will. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was amazing and John Frusciante was freshly back from his small little drug problem and so yeah, so it was amazing for them. You know, like this was the first time they had all played together. And I was, you know, I wasn't sure. But man, once they kicked in, it was like they'd, you know, played like that for years, you know.

And that's a big, like I said, a monster album. Now, finally, Danny, let's get on some of the U2 fun here, right? Because speaking of teatro uh some of uh All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2 was recorded with you and uh Daniel Lenoir at the teatro yeah yeah yeah you know that U2 records take a long time you know they start with no songs and so it started kind of like uh you know at the teatro with with some ideas and then they went away for a while and then they came back midway and you know like they've got like the record kind of you know kind of you know kind

of there and still working on different choruses and different ideas and then you know they came back again and so finally the record is you know you know they got this record at this specific kind of uh kind of junction and and then they go to play it for Jimmy Iovine over there at Interscope, and Jimmy's like, man, this is fantastic. This is really great, but everything's programmed, and where's U2? Hello? Where are they? You're fans. They're not going to get this.

So it was kind of a funny incident that, you know, they had to kind of go back there and put Larry and Adam on there and make it U2 again. Right. That's great. Now, I promise this was coming. I stand head in hand, turn my face to the wall. If she's gone, I can't go on, feeling two-foot small.

Everywhere people stare, each and every day. Each and every day I can see them laugh at me And I hear them say Hey, you've got to hide your love away Hey, you've got to hide your love away Of course, that's Eddie Vedder recording a Beatles song for the I Am Sam soundtrack. Now, tell me about your interactions with Mr. Vedder.

So, yeah, it was the same kind of thing. I get the phone call, you know, that, you know, Eddie and Sean Penn are good friends, so it was like,

but they had invited a bunch of other people to all do Beatles songs for this, for this film. Like Sarah McLachlan too, right? Yeah,

Sarah, Blackbird, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly, so it was a bunch of people that did some beautiful

tracks for it, but yeah, so I got the call, do a track with Eddie, and he picked this song. And so we were scheduled to do it on a certain day. And so we're supposed to start at noon, and he doesn't show up. And I'm like, oh, man, what's going on? I get a phone call like an hour after that. He's like like i'm at the hospital i'm like oh man because i was surfing off the coast by the airport here in la this

morning and cut my toe off and so i said oh man like i'm sorry like you know like we'll we'll do it another time or something he goes no i'm gonna get sewn back on i'm coming in the studio and so uh so yeah like a couple hours later he hobbled through you know through the door with a big you know he's a gamer yeah yeah so and and and he played everything you know he played the bass the acoustic guitar tambourine the harmonica and so it happened quite quickly sure i mean and he uh i'm glad to hear the toe was sewn back on i thought we were gonna get this exclusive it it's got nine toes exactly yeah but uh you know i had said to him at the time like i i was working at this uh place called the paramour i had turned this uh 1920s movie star estate into my uh into my studio

and i made records with lucinda williams there and worked a little bit with tom wakes and weights and stuff but um so i said uh i said eddie like uh what do you think about making a record here with your band you know like it's great big room and he goes yeah this is amazing he goes but you know we can't make records in these kind of places because you know you know it's people are going to go missing you know i'm going to go surfing every morning it's like he goes we need a dark rainy place to make our records and i said all right man well you gotta know yourself man yeah and then he then he he had said uh you know we were done and he said you want to hear something from my new record i

did a solo record in hawaii and on ukulele and i'm thinking oh man is it gonna be like don ho you know like because ukulelesuleles, they sound like Hawaiian. But he blew me away. He played me this record that he made, and it didn't sound... The man who... The man... The man who we'll soon forget.

I can't remember. Anyways, there's a massive cut off that album. But it sounds incredible, and there's nothing Hawaiian about it at all. He's playing a bigger kind of guitar on on it but uh man yeah ukulele yeah he had like a it was a bass ukulele he played or something yeah he loves that ukulele yeah yeah so and it sounded awesome they got a really great sound on it and he had a great song and so i thought wow this is pretty cool very cool now you mentioned this guy so let's hear a bit of this and talk about Mr. Tom Waits. I could park a tour for you, Sal.

Things are cold, you can't get in the car. The band is dope and it's a money tune. Dancing, baby, with the seven-mile blue. Things are pushing out the rafters like hell. Dip, dip, dip down there at the Hush Hotel. Jumping right out of a seat. Hush! Man. Not exactly radio friendly, but... It's a bizarre one.

He kind of came to me with this four-track cassette recorder he'd been doing in the bathroom late at night. He was doing these mouth rhythms like... And then hitting the pan. Just like pans and so it was like I ended up using these tracks that he cut in his bathroom

put the vocals on top there's a line in there where he goes at the hush hotel and so it was like I'd actually had to, he had a hotel name where he'd stayed and they wouldn't let him stay there so I took this word hush from later in the song and stuck it over that He had a hotel name where he'd stayed, and they wouldn't let him stay there.

So I took his word hush from later in the song and stuck it over the name of that hotel. That's funny. So this is called Metropolitan Glide, the jam we're listening to. What kind of guy is Tom Waits? Tom's a particular kind of guy that can't explain himself a lot of times. If he wants you to make his vocal louder, he won't say, turn it up. He'll just say, put a little more hair on it.

Like, oh, hair. Here's the hair button. Gotcha. Or it'll be like, drums sound a little beige. I'm like, oh, beige is bad. Bad. Whoa. I better make him sound exciting.

And then if a song was cut right away and it was the first take and everybody knew that was the take, he'd say stuff like, that one came out of the ground like a potato. Done. So there's always these analogies that he had. It's crazy.

Now when... What's the actor's... This is a terrible mind blog I'm having now, and my phone's way over there, but when... Who's the actor who won the Academy Award for playing the Joker in Batman? The Australian guy who died way too soon.

Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. It's terrible. I feel like I should do a quick Google search. Anyway, everyone knows who we're talking about. The character... Heath... Yes,'re talking about. Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger. Thank you so much, because that would destroy me if I couldn't pull that name.

That's a big name. Come on. So he apparently, and if you look at the video evidence, it must be true. But the way he portrays the Joker, Heath Ledger, is based on Tom Waits. Oh, wow. Yeah. I don't know if you've seen The Dark Knight. Have you ever seen The Dark Knight?

So, okay. If you ever, by the way, great movie. If you ever catch The Dark Knight, don't think of it as like a comic book movie. It's too good to be calling like a superhero. It's a good movie. So, yeah. And if you watch old footage of like, I don't know,

Tom Waits on Letterman or something like that. Right. Yeah. So I just wondered like, now that you haven't seen The Dark Knight, this doesn't make sense, but I wondered if, how spot on was Heath Ledger's Tom Waits impersonation for the Joker.

I hear a bit of the Joker in there. Yeah. Like the Flintstones, you know, you know. Like that donk. It's sort of like some of that avant-garde like Frank Zappa stuff that like it's just not

it's not structured to be a radio-friendly song. It's just it's out there. Here's a radio-friendly song. another day breaks and the last one's gone you dig deep just to carry on oh you dance paid off But I don't feel gone So you slip out the back And you're moving on Yeah

I can never figure out How to make a case That it's done A mile too far for grace She wants to know, can I replace This tired world with sad delays Says you're on a bridge, you know, and you're getting there fast Put it in the past, put it in the past

This is a race that I hope you come last You're on a bridge, you to nowhere and you get that far Man, Sam Roberts. Okay, I got so many questions. This is one of my favorite parts of the book is like the whole story of Chemical City. Right. And you're in Australia?

Australia. Byron Bay, Australia. And much like the great Eddie Vedder, Sam likes to surf? He's a big surfer, yeah. Big fan. Tell me about recording Chemical City with Sam Roberts. Okay, well, it kind of started off with a meeting with him.

Truthfully, I'd never really heard of him before. But you also never heard of Lois the Lo, so I think you're in a different stratosphere. Yeah, I'm in a bubble of my own. But he was opening up for the Tragically Hip in Los Angeles, and I was there working away, and so I just popped over to say hi to the boys of Tragically Hip. So I met with Sam there,

and so he's looking for a producer for his next record, and so I talked to him, and he, you know, he'd met with like five other producers at the time, and so, you know, I was talking to him, and I was telling him how I work, you know, I don't work in a normal fashion, and he said, you know, that sounds pretty good, and, but he, you know, he was really adamant about you know um making his record in a warm climate and where he could surf and and so i i told him you know i said there's this place in australia it's called byron bay it's like got seven surf points and it's like it's it's the place where we can make the record. They speak English and, you know, like we can do it in January, you know.

And so we got really excited about it. Right. And so, you know, we started talking about other stuff. And he just kept coming back to it. He's like, you think we could do Australia? Like, yeah, why not? And so I ended up leaving that show. and then he said can you come to montreal and meet with me and so by the time i got to montreal i'd found like a couple of locations

that might work in byron bay and one of them was this old church it was like a bed and breakfast and had like eight bedrooms it was like a big church with a big room and you know it was like perfect for making a record and right so i showed him that he goes wow that's amazing i'm like yeah it's kind of cool right and so he goes let's do it that's that's that's you know we cut a bunch of songs in in uh in montreal and just after that it was like let's just go for it and so you know i'm talking to the a and r guy at the uh at the record company he's like there's no way I'm going to send you guys to Australia to smoke weed and surf. I'm like, hey, well, it's what he wants.

He's going to go to South Africa and he's going to write the rest of the record. He goes, you only have three songs now. I said, he's going to write the rest. You've got to trust him. And so Sam talked to him and convinced him that this was is the only way because sam had a little uh credit because that first album from sam roberts was a was a big hit yeah yeah a lot of big singles on it yeah yeah it was an indie record the brother song and oh yeah yeah

yeah so um so you know like it you know you know tells the a and r guy you know he's going to finish the record in south africa while he's visiting his uh family that lives there and stuff and yeah so you know so i fly to australia and i get the house and or the church and stuff and so uh sam's supposed to arrive in a couple of days once i got everything set up and sam lands and you know you know i pick him up from the airport and i'm talking to him and saying like hey so how did it go uh with writing the rest of the record and he goes well that's a problem i like what do you mean that's a problem he goes well i said what you you left all the songs there you forgot them or like like what what happened and he was like no it wasn't that

he goes i didn't do any oh like oh man you got no song like nope and i said all right we're gonna roll our sleeves up tomorrow and we're gonna like see what you know he had he had the little seeds of songs and little bits and like i made a big chart and like i made notes and okay we got this piece and we got that piece and we kind of pieced it together and this particular track that you know that you just played to nowhere yeah bridge to nowhere was uh one of the first ones that we kind of came up with and it was like like you know i didn't have any percussion instruments and i just get a box and put rocks in it. So you can hear that, that sound on there.

And so I was having to invent sounds a little bit for it. And, but, um, you know, like Sam, we did like two weeks, just me and Sam kind of,

you know, you know, uh, building these songs. Yeah. And, uh, and then his band came in.

And so, um, during that first two weeks sam played everything and it was amazing like sam is you know his first record he played everything so and then his band came in and uh they're all of his buddies from high school and and so it was like suddenly i'm not getting you know the great stuff that i was getting out of that out of Sam so right so uh I felt like I was kind of slightly kind of you know it was hard harder to kind of get takes out of these guys but it eventually kind of we got you know most of it done now are you personally are you proud of uh

Chemical City like the finished product uh I'm happy it got finished again it was like another A&R guy flew to Australia I hated it it was like oh god what are we going to do outside of Bridge to Nowhere which was a Canadian radio hit without a doubt I heard it all the time on for example

102.1 or whatever but I guess they wanted more hits yeah yeah they wanted more hits and you know sam was like it's a concept record you know yeah and so they they didn't go for that and so it was it was it was a bit of a battle and it was like uh you know we you know we you know it was a it was a tough road for both of us me and sam and i think uh you know eventually uh i i feel i feel good about what happened you know even though the uh i guess the record label didn't didn't quite like it yeah yeah but you said you heard the same thing with day for night but i think the difference is and i'm not no i sam roberts i got a lot of time for sam roberts i because i because i watched the

hip in concert a lot i happen to have seen sam roberts several times live in concerts he opens up he opened up a lot for the hip yeah but uh i or day for night is aging well i i don't know if uh i don't hear a lot of chatter about chemical city but uh you know hey they just uh went uh gold did it yeah it just went go oh good oh good i'm sad rupert sam roberts sounds seems like a good canadian boy speaking of good Canadian boys, here's how I want to, well, we'll wrap up at the end, but how I want to close the musical segment with a good Canadian boy. I want to,

I want to play a song from Le Noise by Neil Young. And then let's talk about Neil. Okay. Thank you. Nothing left for me Some see life as a broken promise Some see life as an endless fight They think they live in the age of darkness They think they live in the age of light. It's an angry world. And everything is going to be all right.

Yeah, it's an angry world. Yeah, it's an angry world Neil Young, Angry World from Lanoise. Tell me about working with Neil. Neil's a cool guy. I really got along great with him. But he's got some kind of quirky work rules too

so Neil's is that he only works three days before the full moon so anytime if you're going to do any work your best work is going to be done three days before the full moon so we started three days before the full moon

and then stopped and then you've got to wait for the next full moon so uh you know neil would go to hawaii in his time off or whatever and try to write more songs for the record and so it was a it was a it was an interesting thing it took six months to make a an acoustic because of this moon rule right yeah yeah exactly it's like these creative geniuses have to be a little eccentric yeah yeah exactly and if they weren't creative geniuses we'd call them crazy but yeah they get to be eccentric because they're successful okay so how does he end up working with daniel lenoir and yourself in the first place um you know i'd made a lot of records with all these great people and that was my one wish to make a record with Neil Young.

And I thought, there's no way it's ever going to happen because Neil has got his own camp. He produces his own records. Right. And so, but Dan and Neil had the same manager at the same time. So I made this record with Dan called Black Dub, and each song had a video attached to it, so, and it was performed live right off the floor for the film, and so Elliot Roberts was the manager, and he showed Neil these little videos that we had been making, and so he goes, I want to do that for my next record, I want to make an acoustic record and I want to film each performance.

And so that's kind of how it began. And so it came in, you know, like just with acoustic guitar and it was just supposed to be like all acoustics, you know, like, and then so it suddenly turned into these crazy dubs and... Right, it's kind of trippy, like, especially again, and I'm like repeating myself,

but in the headphones especially because the way it bounces, right? Like it's kind of trippy. Like, again, I'm like repeating myself, but in the headphones especially, because the way it bounces, right? Yeah, there's all kinds of crazy dubbing going on. Like, I spend a lot of time in Jamaica, and I got like dub boxes, and so I take little samples of it and then repeat it, and so echo it, and so it worked for this particular sound that we got.

Now, of course, the title of the album is Le Noise because of how, you know, you say he spelled out Lenoir, I guess, Le Noise. Right. The record was supposed to be called Hitchhiker. And so all the T-shirts were already made that said Hitchhiker on them. And then the last moment they changed the name to Le Noise because it was a running joke at the time and that when Neil would text Dan, he would put LeNoise because Dan told him people would always say his name wrong

and say LeNoise instead of Lanois. Instead of French, right? Yeah, it's a French thing. So it was a joke. They changed the name and so it became LeNoise. And that cut, Angry World, that ends up, does it's a French thing. So it was a joke. They changed the name, and so it became Le Noise. And that cut, Angry World, that ends up, does it win a Grammy? I don't think it was Angry World. What was the Grammy?

Yeah, it was another, well, the deal was if the record won a Grammy, if the record won a Grammy, Dan would get another $50,000. And so he wins Song of the Year, right? Which goes to the songwriter. Yeah, it goes to the songwriter. Not the producer. So Dan said, well, we got a Grammy for it. Where's my 50 grand?

And they said, well, that was for Neil. Oh, come on, Neil. You could have paid up. I feel like Neil squelched on that bet there. Well, yeah, it was his manager he's got that okay well neil if you're listening and hopefully you are uh you owe 50 maybe you'll get a cut of that yeah exactly all right and that story and a million other great stories about all the musicians we talked about and many more i couldn't make this like a five-hour pot i I just cherry-picked some artists, but there's so much out there. But again, this book is called

Listen Up! Recording Music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, R.E.M., The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits, dot, dot, dot, by Mark Howard with some writing assistance from your brother, Chris. And it's fantastic. And people, do you care where they get it

or just that they should find it somewhere? Yeah, like you can get it on Amazon or get it from ECW Press. And I think there's, I just listened to the, they did the audio version of it. And so I just listened to that. Who does the voice for that? Is it just a voice actor? Yes, like a voice actor.

I can't remember the man's name, but he did a great job. And he, like, I had asked him early on if, uh, like, you know, like when I tell stories, I put on Tom's voice and I said, can you put on,

you know, different people's voices? Right. Cause you're a voice actor. And so he did. And it's, it's pretty funny that he's got Dylan's voice and, uh,

Tom's and, you know, like characters are pretty, pretty cool in the book. Well, so you, you wrote the book, which is great. People should check it out. But your biggest claim to fame, as far as I'm concerned, is beating stage four melanoma cancer.

Yeah, that's the biggest winner ever. Man, and again, it spreads to your liver, your spleen, your brain. Yep. Man, good for you, man. Honestly, that is such a great story. And just to remind people, May 22nd, you're at the Horseshoe Tavern with Michael Barclay. That's 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., so great.

And then again, you said the Mark Howard and Princess Margaret Cancer Center Grand Concert is in Hamilton? Oh, it's the Cancer Free Concert. I did the Grand. Okay, you're right. Sorry. The Free Concert, which is like the sequel, the happy? It's the Cancer Free Concert. I did the Grand. Okay, you're right. I'm sorry. The Free Concert, which is like the sequel,

the happy sequel. Yeah, Cancer Free. The Cancer Free Concert is in Hamilton June 1st. Is that what you said? And if people wanted to go to that, where do they go to? So that's in Hamilton. They're calling it the Music Hall,

which it's also called the New Vision United Church. It's right beside Hamilton Place. And so I'll be doing a book signing there also between 6.30 and 8 p.m. before the show. And so people will be able to come in and buy a book, and I'll be able to sign it for them. Amazing. Yeah, so don't miss it.

It'll be great. Here's the band you never heard of, Lowest of the Low, by the way. Rosie and Gray. Very nice. But on our way out here, and I regret not putting this in my notes, is Joni Mitchell a nice woman? Joni is amazing.

She's an amazing storyteller. She's the only, you know, Bob did it and so did Neil, but they go on for hours and they just have all these stories of all these things that happened and robert plant too and it's it was it's amazing to get hear their stories so mark i have a rule where like i i've been saying no to guests who want to do it by phone i'm like no if you're not here i'm not i'm not interested i'm gonna make an exception for joni so if if Joni wants to be on Toronto Mic via phone,

I will do that, Joni, if you're listening. Thanks so much, man. Thanks for coming by and fielding all my questions about these great artists you've worked with. That was amazing. Yeah, yeah. It was nice to listen to all these tracks again. And that brings us to the end of our 465th show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mic. Mark, are you on Twitter? No. No, can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mark, are you on Twitter? No. No, Mark's not on Twitter. Don't look from there. There's other Mark Howards. That's not this Mark Howard. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery

are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Big game tonight. Woo! Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. Sticker U is at Palma Pasta Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR Sticker U is at Sticker U

Camp Ternasol is at Camp Ternasol and Capadia LLP CPAs are Capadia LLP on Twitter See you all Sunday when my guest is Farley Flex and Monday when

Raptor fans take note, Leo Roudens will see if he can fit in the studio. Bye for now.