Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Master T: Toronto Mike'd #462

Episode Date: May 9, 2019

Mike chats with Master T about his years at MuchMusic as a VJ and hosting Xtendamix and Rap City, his post-Much life and work at RX Music.

Welcome to episode 462 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, Camp Ternasol, StickerU.com, and our newest sponsor, Capadia LLP. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com, and joining me is longtime MuchMusic personality and current director of media production at RX Music Live,

Master T. What's going on, Mike? How are you, man? Do you mind if I call you T? Call me T. I was going to say, may I call you Master? Yes. You know, that royal baby was just born. They called it Archie, but you're supposed to call it Master Archie.

Did you see this? Yeah, well, yeah, apparently. And the baby's a Taurus, and I'm a Taurus as well. So you're royalty. Kind of. I'm waiting for my invite. Listen, on Toronto Mike, you're royalty, okay? That's how it works.

Awesome. I actually, I'll bet you don't remember, but we met. I was at the, Ed Conroy organized, I think with Joel Goldberg, they organized like a much music reunion, Christopher Ward. All right. It's for his book. Yes. For his book.

And I was there and I got to meet you there, but it only took a few more years to get you in here. So thanks for being here, man. Oh, it's a pleasure. I know it took a minute, but, uh, I'm real glad to be here. Do you get tired of people asking you where roxy is um no because you know uh like i'm just so surprised that they would actually ask for about a keyboard so and uh roxy's fine roxy's my wife uh so so uh yeah um but yeah roxy you know the crazy thing was

roxy used to get mail, you know, because, you know, back in the day there was no level of social media. Right. But this was, this letter was addressed to Roxy, not even me. So is Roxy, you really, are you married to a Roxy? No, well, you know, I was just making sure I didn't mishear that. No, no. Yeah, no, it is my wife, but she is the voice of Roxy.

Gotcha. Okay, because later in the show I'm going to play a clip that we get to hear some Roxy. And so you're still married to the voice of Roxy? I'm still married to the voice of Roxy. And Roxy produced two kids, so yeah. Okay, good for you. Roxy's not messing around. So when you're at City Limits with Christopher Ward, I have some clips from that I'm going to play soon.

And you're referring to Roxy. You'll hear it when I play it, but you drop the name Roxy, but the Roxy that you're dropping this name Roxy, but it's not applying to the keyboard. Is that because your girl's name was Roxy and this name was always top of mind? I'm going to play these clips.

You've got to refresh me on the clips. Maybe it was just because with Christopher it was just, because I mean with Christopher, it was just like, you know, there were so many crazy characters that we used to do. And, you know, maybe it was just that name that worked at the time that, you know, and then Roxy actually got a full-time gig. I got to, maybe I'll play it right now.

Let's do this and then we'll kind of go chronological. But this is early days anyways for you. This is City Limits, right? Here's a first clip of you on City Limits. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Moses Palace. We got a big show for you tonight. My name's Tony Bastoloni.

We got a young kid you're gonna love him this kid's big he's hot he's hot down in Canada downtown Canada that is young kids named Shecky Shecky okay kids Shecky Warwick let's hear for Shecky Warwick it's the next clip where you drop the Shecky Warwick. Let's hear it for Shecky Warwick. It's the next clip where you drop the name Roxy.

But I did not. Oh, yeah. Ignore the sound you hear, especially in the Periscope. I see it's the auto shop getting tires swapped out. Usually I turn off my ringer, but oh, my gosh. What am I doing here? So that's early days, right? You at city limits. And we're gonna again we're gonna pick this up at the beginning and go chronological but uh let me play the clip

from city limits where you drop the name roxy and then i gotta thank somebody for helping me score these uh rare clips here so this is you dropping the name roxy in very early days of you at the 99 i guess 99 queen and uh oh there he is ladies and gentlemen tony basiloni and thanks check you named Roxy in very early days of you at the 99, I guess, 99 Queen. Oh, there he is, ladies and gentlemen, Tony Bazzaloni. Thanks, Shecky, baby, thanks. Hold on, I'm not finished yet. Young comedian from downtown Canada. But, oh, next week we've got a big one for you, that Roxy chick.

She was hot. Hold on, I'm telling you, that's hot stuff. She's going to be here Friday night. Come on up here, Roxy, baby. Let them look at you. Don't you look good? Yeah. Okay, next week, Fridayxy, baby. Let him look at you. Don't you look good? Yeah. Okay, next week,

Friday night, Roxy. Okay, later. That can't be a coincidence, right? Yeah, well, the Roxy then, he is kind of weird now because I think her name is Tina. She was doing

that character of Roxy, so maybe I just bit Roxy from there and carried it over. I think you've always liked the name Roxy. I think that's it. And yeah, maybe I just bit Roxy from there and carried it over. I think you've always liked the name Roxy. I think that's it. And yeah, maybe I affectionately called wifey Roxy.

But yeah, it worked. So a lot of sleuthing though to discover that the name Roxy has been following you everywhere. So I want to thank somebody right now because I could not have come up with all the great clips we're going to hear in this episode without the help of Mr. Retro Ontario, Ed Conroy,

good friend of the show, and he's going to come up later in the episode, but I want to thank Ed for helping me with some of this audio here. Wow, I mean, it's a blast from my past, that's for sure. So thank you Ed for shaking me up here and just hearing those characters. And it was crazy because we

used to do them, at that time I was a videotape operator at MuchMusic. Right. And Christopher Ward used to have all these crazy skits and ideas. And we'd finish our shift at, I forget what it was, like 5 or 6 o'clock, and Christopher would say, Hey, can you guys come back? And we'd come back and stay there sometimes until 2 in the morning

doing these characters and producing Mike Hayden, doing the editing, and Christopher Ward with all these skits. And it was a lot of fun. And this is at 99 Queen East, right? Queen East, yeah. Yeah. And good, because later I'm going to play some more audio you probably haven't heard in a long time about the move from 99 to 2 days.

You know what that's like. I just had a visual of that one, that's for sure. So recently I had Murray McLaughlin on the show, and he's of course married to Denise Donlan. And I think at the time we were booking your appearance, and I think I mentioned Master T was coming in because I knew you worked with his wife. And then he started talking about your brother Basil.

So your brother Basil also worked at the city. And then he started talking about your brother, Basil. So your brother, Basil also worked at the city. Yes, he did. He started there and he's still there to this day, whether it's called Bell Globe Media this week, I don't know what it's called, but he's,

he survived all the little envelopes. He's still working as a cameraman there. And you know, it's too expensive to buy him out now. Oh, he probably, he probably knows that. He gets Ubered everywhere and I feel like doing this shoot.

No, I don't feel like doing this shoot. But yeah, he's still there. And you know what? He's an amazing cameraman. And that's one of the reasons why he's probably there teaching all these young cats how to actually, you know,

what's that? It's a gel. It's a gel you put over there to do this or whatever that is. Who got there first, you or whatever that is who got who got there first you or basil um big bro basil was there and he was working at uh city and i was working at um mtv channel 47 at the time and um i was a videotape operator there and you know my brother said you know come on over and i'm like no i don't want to come over there you're my brother i don't need to be around in your space. Yeah, I want my own identity.

And then when Much Music, you know, was going to be launched, there was a job for a videotape operator, and I went for it, and I got it. And, you know, my mind is based on all my skills and talents as a videotape operator. And I actually got it, and I started their inception, which was, what was it, 1990? Yeah, one of those.

No, 84. My bad, 84. Do you remember who was on the air back in 84? Like, can you remember? Like, Christopher Ward, of course. Yeah, all the originals. J.D.? J.D., J.D. Roberts, Erica, Mike Williams.

Right. So was Kim Clark-Championess there? Or did he come a little later? He came a little later. By the way, do you know how he's doing? I heard he had a serious operation. Yeah, I think he's doing okay. It was a while ago, but I know he's doing all right now.

I saw in his post he wrote that he might never speak again. Like, this might take his voice forever is what I was reading. Yeah, like, so I know. So I hope he does all right, but we might never. It's terrible to think somebody who made their career, you know. But anyway, I just wondered if you had an update and we're all rooting for him. So this is obviously a real reason because the last time I was around was a few years ago. So, you know, I'm sad to hear that.

Yeah. Man, you talk about history. I mean, it's scary, you know, the history that he can drop just right off the top of the dome. It's just like, you know, such a memory bank. And even when he used to do interviews, his preparation was just incredible. And you have something in common with him because you're both born in England. Yes, the UK.

We actually took a trip to England. We were doing... This is when the whole electronic trip... Trip hop? Trip hop was happening. Portishead? Portishead, that whole thing. And we journeyed to... Where were we at? Trip Hop. Portis Head. Portis Head, that whole thing.

And we journeyed to, where were we at? We're in Bristol. We're in London. I think we went to Manchester and Liverpool. So, yeah, we were bouncing all around. And that's one of the areas I got to see Kim really prepare. Because we don't travel with a whole team of researchers. It's like, you know, you show up.

Right. And you better be prepared to interview somebody. And I don't want to speak for you, but I think that sounds fun, like that you got to kind of get your hands dirty in different parts back then. Like when I talk to people, and I'll have people on,

like Joel Goldberg, for example, who says hi to you. Hey, what's up, bro? And it's going to tie in nicely to the Great Lakes beer I'm going to give you in a minute. But like when I have him on like joel goldberg for example who says hi to you hey what's up bro and it's going to tie in nicely to the great lakes beer i'm going to give you in a minute but uh like when i had him on or ziggy's been on a couple of times and people like that or even christopher ward it sounds like back in the day at you know 99 queen east and then 299 queen west part of the joy at working there was that you got to do all these different things like one moment dwight drummond is like a security guard he's telling me in the next minute he's picking up a camera

and he's filming, and then he's in a video shoot that Joel's filming a Maestro Fresh West video, and Dwight's getting in on that. Like it just sounds like you get to do a bunch of different things. Well, you know, that is the Moses way. That's pretty well what it is. I remember when, you know, obviously when we hit 299, we'd have tours come through there all the time,

high school, businessman. And I remember there was a Japanese contingent that came through. And they were, like, I was standing there and Moses points to me, he goes, yeah, there's T. He's a cameraman and he's a host. And I'm like, hey, how are you?

And yeah, you just, you know, that's, that's how it, uh, that's how it worked. And, um, you, you know, you clearly weren't afraid to work and, um, you know, and, and he gave you that, um, creative license. Um, and, you know, that was really important for me. And, you know, even when I, you know, presented to him, uh, I actually, uh, shot, um shot an actual pilot for my show. And I gave it to Moses. Directly to Moses? I gave it directly to him. And the thing was, Moses, he had what was an open-door policy.

He actually expected everyone to probably bring a videotape or a demo tape to him every week. But he had an open-door policy. In fact, when I was there, my time to go and check in with Moses was usually around after 8 o'clock. And I just knock on his door, and I come in and have a chat with him. And, you know, I mean, some of our memorable moments.

I remember he's like, look at this. I'm like, yeah, what's that you're eating, Moses? You know, and it looked like a leaf with rice in it. And he goes, it's a leaf with rice in it and he goes it's a leaf with rice it's Japanese thank you Moses thanks for schooling me baby but yeah no I gave him my videotape

you know pilot of a show of a you know a dance based show with Roxy the keyboard and everything we shot a pilot downstairs in the basement and Moses was like you know yeah you go ahead but the basement and Moses was like, you know, yeah, you go ahead. But the thing was, he was after me for a couple years before and I just didn't want to be on the air. I just just didn't want to be.

And, you know, when you talk about this whole like open door policy and trying different things, that's the only environment where it's possible for a guy who's like a tech guy, like a camera guy to to be at some point to become like a full-fledged on-air VJ. Like, you know, you mentioned the bell word earlier. So like that can't happen today, right? No, no, you better have some level of, you know, degree or, you know, your dad's the president or something. It just doesn't, yeah. I mean, but, you know, in a different world, excuse me, in a different world, I think, you know, now you know now you know uh the accessibility of you know people being bloggers

and you know doing a podcast and doing all these other things you know our entry levels in terms of you know getting to the media yeah so it's definitely changed but you know um with moses it was a matter of like you know a lot of people you know obviously ziggy off of uh you know she was on switchboard right um you know there was there's other people that, you know, obviously Ziggy off of, uh, you know, she, she was on switchboard. Right. Um, you know, there was the, there's other people that were, you know, on switchboard who ended up being, uh, you know, broadcast, um, you know, uh, news, news, news broadcasters and everything. So, um, yeah, it was just, it was that environment that Moses, uh, kept up and, um, you know, and it was, it was good. It was, it was a lot of fun. And, but, you know, I'd already done, you know, a bunch of different IDs and, um, you know, I'd already done a bunch of different IDs

and all these things with Gord McWaters, who is now the, I think he's the VP, Director of Space Network. But we had worked together. And so that's how all these little vignettes had happened. And then Moses,

I guess, kind of saw, like, hey, what's this guy doing? And come on the air. You must want to be on the air and i'm like no i'm not pretty enough and so so i i had my own insecurities as to why i didn't want to go on the airwaves but yeah but in the eyes what's also great about the moses environment going back there is that uh you were you like i think he he you know he didn't want everybody nowadays everybody's got like uh you know everyone's got to be like a model. And there has to have a certain kind of like look, I'd say, aesthetic, if you will. But back then you could have character, personality, like you can get in front of the camera.

You had a look that was real. You look like Toronto. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, and, excuse me. And, yeah, so you're basically saying that I'm not handsome, I'm not a model, Denzel Washington type. But I know what you mean. Better looking than Denzel.

Thank you. You know what? That's what Moses' vision really was because I was so caught up in the fact that, yeah, I look this way and, you know, I don't feel like, you know, I can go on the airwaves. And I remember having a conversation with him when he, you know, when he gave me the green light for the show. And he said, well, you know, I said, well, what do you want me to do?

You know, like he goes, go up there, shake your lugs, just be yourself. And I'm like, okay. And from there, that was for me, it was just like, that was a go. And so I could, you know, be around the music that I loved, and was passionate about, and, you know, I could bring these different crazy characters, because I was a frustrated actor, so, you know, he gave this creative license, and, you know, to this day, I, you know, I thank him, he's, you know, perhaps one of my biggest mentors, you know, to this day, because he really, you know,

he saw something in me that I could never would have even seen. And to this day, people stop me just, you know, the black communities appreciative of what I've done and just people in general have been really appreciative. So it's, you know, it's a blessing. I can't wait to play 99 to 299. It's coming. And I remember I'm one of the few people who's seen the video so we won't be able to see it

on this show so shorts are killing me Ed shared it with me Ed Conroy and his rule was you can use this audio on your podcast but do not upload the video anywhere that was like the orders I got you're safe

I want to thank our newest sponsor on Toronto Mic'd. Capadia LLP. Capadia is an accounting firm that sees beyond the numbers. So yesterday, my guest was Jamar McNeil. He's the, I call him the new Roger Ashby. He's got, that's a great gig. Imagine you come in from Chicago and they say, okay, you're now co-hosting with Marilyn Dennis. That's a good gig, right. That's a great gig. Imagine you come in from Chicago and they say, okay, you're now co-hosting with Marilyn Dennis. Right. That's a good gig, right? Oh, for sure.

And, you know, I watched a little bit of that interview. And, you know, as you said. Was it upside down when you watched it? Somebody told me it started upside down and then it flipped. No, it looked fine on my end. But, you know, the fact that he comes in here and, you know, he had to keep it under wraps that, you know, he was, he's gonna be

the man but i knew it because john donabee spilled the beans came on the show said told me everything you know roger's last day is in december this is what's going down so when i had jamar the first time i'm like jamar like i'm trying to you know confess i don't like these games you know these games right obviously you're here to replace roger and roger will be gone by the end of the year but jamar did a very good job. His employers at Bell would be very pleased to know he refused to break that news here. So,

but this, now he's back yesterday. He wants to continue the job. Good for him. He thought it was too early to, yeah, to piss off the boss. So he's a smart guy.

So the offer I made to Jamar, I make it to you as well. This is awesome. So the people at Capadia, this is an accounting firm. They're all accountants, CPAs, public accountants, but they see beyond the numbers. Like, they can talk to you about different business things, what makes sense for you from a tax perspective or financially. You get the same offer Jamar got, which is a free 30-minute consultation with Rupesh Kapadia. This is great, man.

If you have anything going on, this guy's like a rock star. He's a rock star, this guy, Rupesh. I had the best meeting with him on Friday. You just get a no cost to you. You get to tell him some ideas you're floating and what makes sense, and he'll give you his professional advice. Like I said, he sees beyond the numbers. That's for you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I always ask for fun facts from this, from Cabedia. And the fun fact I got is that all Canadian taxpayers over 18 years of age can receive a basic amount of $154 for climate action incentive on your tax return. So most people don't know about this. So if you're over 18 and you haven't filed your tax return, you can file to receive $154 plus other credits from the government, even though you don't have any Fantastic new sponsors. Looking forward to the partnership. I got some goods for you here, too. I almost called you Tony, but I don't want to ruin the... Your real name's Tony.

Tea comes to you naturally. There you go. I love a cup of tea, too. I should go brew you some. This is a case of craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. It's for you, but you'll see I took one can out of the case here because I wanted to give it to you here personally

because I want to know if you recognize the person on the cover. Here, let me pass it over. You can kind of gander at it. Do you know what we're looking at there? That's Cowboy. That's Cowboy. Cowboy from Electric Circus. You got it.

And his son is a big-time baseball player. He's got two, actually, because Dalton Pompey, his son is a Blue Jay property who's in Buffalo right now, but he's got another son, Tristan Pompey, and I don't know what team drafted him. I've got to look it up. It's not the Blue Jays, but he's going to have a major league career.

And they were probably born with biceps and pecs. Cowboy still looks good. I hope Cowboy's getting some money on this bad boy. This is great. That I have no comment on. You'll have to speak to my representatives. I certainly will. I can tell you this.

The guys at Great Lakes Beer reached out to Kenrick. I don't know if he got his blessing or whatnot. And he loved it, like apparently. And even his sons have been tweeting about it. That's funny. So this is the, if people aren't watching on Periscope, this is the Electric Circus beer. And I don't even...

Go ahead. I was going to say, I don't even think there's any cans left at the retail store. Like I got a case delivered to me yesterday. And to me yesterday because I said I need to give Master T a can of the Electric Circus. I won't even be drinking that. I'll probably frame it. I've kept one just for the studio. I will keep that. Maybe on my final episode I'll pop it open, which they would not like.

Because their big thing is freshness. You can check dates on these things. It's super fresh and that's their claim to fame. pop it open, which they would not like, you know why? Cause their big thing is freshness. Like they're, you can check dates on these things. These, these are, it's super fresh and that's like their claim to fame. So thank you Great Lakes Brewery. T if you're around on June 27th, there's a big event at Great Lakes Brewery is TMLX3. That's the Toronto Mic'd listener experience.

Everyone who can hear my voice is invited. Lowest of the Low are going to play. Your first beer is on the house. Hopefully we get Mother Nature cooperates and it's a great night. But everyone, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 27th, check out Great Lakes Brewery. You said you were a meat lasagna man. Yes, I certainly am. And look at this.

Wow. Palma Pasta. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. That's your, it's frozen, so you're going to have to thaw that thing in the fridge

for 24 hours before you pop it in the oven, but I'm promising you this. You're going to tweet at me after you eat that lasagna. You're going to say, Mike, that's the best lasagna you ever had.

It's fantastic. I'm excited. Thank you, Palma Pasta. That's palmapasta.com. They, of course, cater events. They catered my wedding. I'm excited. Thank you, Palmapasta. That's palmapasta.com. They, of course, cater events. They catered my wedding. Fantastic Italian food. You can also find them on Skip the Dishes.

Skip the Dishes has Palmapasta now, and I appreciate that. And I have to give you some gifts here as well from stickeru.com before I get to $99 to $299. So, T, this is a Toronto Mike sticker. Thank you. Let me know where that ends up. You can tweet it at me or something. Yeah, I'm thinking.

And this is, where's that going to go? I can't wait to find out. But a Toronto Mike temporary tattoo. You're the first person to get this. You're the first man. My first tattoo. So there's no ink on you. There's no ink on me.

Oh, you're the last holdout. I don't have any ink on me either. See, we're both holdouts. And here's a nice Toronto sticker, but that's from StickerU. Actually, it's from, I'll give you that one too. It's from these guys, StickerU.com. They do. Just gifts, Mike.

Stop with the gifts. I need a bag now. It's true. I should give people like a loot bag like you get at those parties. Well, there you go. Should you hook up a sponsor for that? Yeah.

Contact me if you're out there. So, stickers, labels, decals. I got a decal back here they provided. So, tattoos like you see there, magnets and more. Any size, shape, or quantity. You go to stickeru.com to make your customized stickers, and you can order one or you can order as many as you want.

They're fantastic people. They're in Liberty Village. So thank you, Sticker U. You got your lasagna, your beer, and your stickers. And now we're going to go in the time machine. This is fun. On this day, 40 years ago, this was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, 40 years ago this week. Let's see if there's any flashbacks happening with Master T. I was a fool to ever leave your side

Me minus you is such a lonely ride The breakup we had has made me lonesome and sad Peaches and herb. Big tune, big tune. You know, I wasn't born then, but... See, I know you're lying because I was born then. Okay, all right, all right. You know what? You know, this song for me was, you me was back in the day as a youngster.

We would have basement parties, and this is when you get your little dance groove on. Is this in Canada? Yes, I was in Canada. This would be in Kitchener through my high school days at that point. And if someone had a little basement party and there was a cute girl you'd see, they would be in the basement.

And then it was really dark in the basement. I'm not sure where the parents were, but it was just a wonderful time to have a slow dance. I think it does sound like a makeout kind of song. Oh, it certainly is a makeout song. You'd be talking all bullshit, whispering in ears and trying to get your work done. But yes, it was a wonderful experience. I remember flashbacks. Peaches and herb, man.

40 years ago, man. Wow. So we're in the time machine because that's brought to you by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for almost 40 years. If you want 15% off any regular priced watch battery installation, just mention you heard about them on Toronto Mike. Go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com for a location near you. Their newest location is now open in Richmond Hill,

and they're going to replace my mom's Fitbit band broke because Fitbit bands suck. I don't know if you know this. I never wore one, but they fix any jewelry and watch issues. Go to Fast Time. I almost don't want to shut down this jam. I'm kind of digging the vibe right now.

I'm digging it but I'll have to call my wife on this one. Sorry. We have to be. There he goes. Bye bye. Nice and elegant. Let's play 99 to 299 and then talk about that. I'm at 99

Queen March music soul scene Gonna shuffle down the line to 299 Now this is the place to be That's my man on security Grab your chips, put your dip on your lap I'm gonna give you a tour with my much music man This is audio, come on in and see 24 hours of sweet melody

Meet the switcher, Mr. A.V.O. Gonna make myself flip, let's go, go, go Here's me, my friends, where the videos roll What else can you see? Rock and roll to soul G5's a machine that puts the words on the screen As you can see, that's me, Master T Is that the first time you can see that's me Master T is that the first time you ever called yourself

Master T pretty well yeah yeah it was because I wasn't sure what I was going to call myself

and then it was that's the birth of Master T we witnessed right there yes it was and you know

my wife Paula who actually helped me write that song. And then the groove, I think we produced a groove. And Dave Murphy was on guitar. And it was one of those early things where, you know, I was very vested in much music and having lots of fun and again it was working with global waters and we produced that video and it was like just used as a promo video but it really took off so it's by promo videos that internal only or did

it actually air on much music this uh yeah that aired on much music. A lot. So probably way too much. But yeah, it aired a lot. And I went to Moses because we needed a little bit of a budget for studio. And he was like, yeah, go ahead. And yeah, we produced that. I think the studio was Bookworm. These guys used to work there as well. And yeah, we did that.

And when it bounced out on the air it was like one of those things where like moses was very much about you know um self-promotion you know like it should you know again come from in-house and uh and it was just something that you know surpassed the promo team at the time and um you know promoting you know promoting much music and it was very simple and you know very cheap and as you know as we used you know, promoting much music. And it was, you know, very simple and, you know, very cheap. And as, you know, as we used to call it back then, like cheesy comedy. No. And, yeah, so again, you mentioned Gord McWater.

So you made a bunch of shorts, I guess, back then? You would do these, like... Yeah, I did the one, there was the, what was it? Bates Motel. And,el, and we did that one. I did the spy character running around the city. And these were all promos. And what we had them, because I was a cameraman working with Gord at the time, and we would have these, well, they were called field days, which was on a Friday.

And, you know, field days were just, you know, you could do what you want. You could, you know, take the day off off or you could come in and do some promos and most people took the day off. Me and Gord, he was such a very creative guy and I was his little actor and we just partnered and worked really well together and it was a lot of fun and then that led to you know that's other things shout out to kenny who says when he started as a cameraman on music plus i guess uh he says

that you were a studio cameraman and much music so shout out to kenny uh that early days working tech uh you know and then you do these things like this where you get in front of a camera like 99 to 299 and another groove we're going to get to in a little bit here but of course but uh uh you were also doing stuff like in the city like i got a note here that you were um you were in police academy three uh yes i was were you so you was it just a stunt double or that was yeah i was michael winslow's stunt double and uh a friend of mine kim soltarski um who i went to school with at Mohawk, he was working on there as an AD. And he said, oh, we're looking for a stunt double for Michael Winslow to ride these jet skis. And I'm like, okay, I've never been on one.

And these jet skis were the ones where you had to go fast enough to bring it up from the water because the blade was in the water and you kind of would rise. And they were super heavy. Is this on Lake Ontario? Lake O. Wow. Lake Ontario. And so I'm there. And then this guy who just, the stunt director who just finished doing the Bond movie, you know, he comes to me and he says, have you ever been on one of these bikes?

He's from the south. I said, no, I've never been on one of these things. Well, you know, take the time and then the shallow end over here and ride the bike. I'm like, okay. So I'm going around and I'm zipping around and everything's great. Everything's great. And so then it comes down to, you know, shooting

the actual scene. And the scene was we're all kind of like merging together and, you know, we're doing this chase scene there's a helicopter shot going and um we do the shot uh and everything's going okay everyone seems to go i drop because i'd been on like you know the water was the water was smooth so i was really good but then you know once you know once all these ripples were going through like it was just like i was going through this crazy thing so then uh the stunt double we did this like

three times and i'm realizing i'm sweating now because this is costing a lot of money the helicopters can only go out there so uh so much and then um so then they said look you know the director came to me and he said okay what we're gonna do we're gonna put you on the outside of the back on the outside right here and you you ride just go just go just go and I just like I held on to dear life and I'm going I'm going I'm going and they finally got the scene

but yeah and for two weeks I could taste Lake Ontario oh man oh my god it was disgusting and that's probably when it was really dirty

oh thank you they've done a lot of good work oh they have to clean that up thank you I'm just I still wonder about this you know

this growth out of my ear and this growth coming from my lungs you're right because I'm a child of the 80s this, you know, this, this growth out of my ear and this growth coming from, from my lungs. You're right. Because I'm a child of the eighties. We were warned, just don't go in that lake. Oh yeah.

Right. And then nowadays, I mean, I've been in the lake, like there's parts of Lake Ontario now where they're like, this is cleaner than the beaches in like Brazil or whatever, which I don't know if that's a high bar or not. I don't think so.

But my point is it's safe to swim in Lake Ontario, parts of it now. It was never safe in the eighties. No, it wasn't. And you know, the crazy it now. It was never safe in the 80s, man. Oh, no, it wasn't. And you know, the crazy thing about that whole shoot was I was supposed to have another day.

I had two days and then there was a third day and I told the director, I'm sorry, I can't make it. And he goes, oh, man, I'm going to miss you. And I gave that day up because I promised to go on the set

as an extra for Ian Thomas' video, Harmony, which featured the whole SCTV crew. Because his brother's Dave Thomas. That's right. And he was there. John Candy was there. Eugene Levy was there.

And it was just, you know, they couldn't have paid me enough just to be around them. And these guys were doing skits the entire day and it was just a blessing to see the late John Candy. These guys were just making jokes up. It was incredible. And Basement Dweller

is a listener of the podcast and he says, what was it like appearing in an episode of the original and vastly superior incarnation of Street Legal? Oh.

I didn't even know. Like, this is a... Well, you see, I was a frustrated actor and so I had an agent and, you know, occasionally when I needed a black person

not to shoot somebody, you know, they'd come in. Well, we would get stereotypical roles, and it probably still happens to this day. Oh, yeah. I've heard the Public Enemy song, Burn, Hollywood, Burn. And they sing about how, yeah, prostitutes, maids, pimps, and hoes, I think is what they I mean, so after a while, I just said, you know, can't do that one. Yeah, I can't do that one.

And that street legal, I forget what I was doing in there. But I think I was just a student, I think. But it was actually a lot of fun. And I think Street Legal is coming back, right? It came back and it's gone. Like it came back and it got canceled. Oh, wow. It's done.

They still cancel things? Apparently. Apparently, you got to be. Yeah, you're right. Yes, I just Street Legal. That was a lot of. Yeah, you're right. Yes, I just really love it. That was a lot of fun in my acting day. Oh, man. And I also got told, Ed actually pointed out the fact that you're in the opening for the

Power Hour. You have a cameo in the Power Hour opening? Yes, I did a little bit of flash in there. They wanted some heavy, heavy stuff. All right. So you had a taste of some on-camera stuff back in the day. And then also the movie, The Believers. That was hilarious.

So, yeah, so was that too. Cool. Cool. And then we already did the 99 to 299. And, of course, you talked about Moses' open-door policy. And in that video, which I can't show the video, but we can talk about it, is that you got people like Kim Clark Chapness and Erica M., Christopher Ward,

uh, Mike Williams, Lori Brown, and a brand new guy, uh, Steve Anthony. That's right. Can you share any,

uh, memories of these cats? I just mentioned like Steve Anthony has been on the show a couple of times and Christopher Ward's been here, but, um, Michael, Mike Williams is still holding out.

Like I cornered him a couple of times and he says he's really busy or whatever. He's a gray beard now or whatever.'s called gray dread or whatever but uh anything memories of these uh these early day much music uh vjs well you know the good thing was i was i was you know still a cameraman throughout you know you know for a number of years so i would be the guy you know setting up shots you know for all the vjs um you know and it was just you know, setting up shots, you know, for all the VJs, um, you know, and it was just, you know, as you, as you mentioned before, that everyone came with their own unique personality. And I think that's one thing I, I, I watched and I, and I looked at, and I think of what it was, I didn't realize it, but I was just kind of gleaning from all of these guys doing their thing, you know, and they all had something unique to present. And, um, um and but the biggest thing they all researched um or or they

would you know naturally just know uh you know about the subject and and that like i really took that in because you know i mean uh jd he was you know phenomenal researcher um christopher ward beyond um michael williams also as well and then you know people used to at the beginning used to kind of like you know dog out Erica or whatever but Erica had her own level of you know research and her own level of she wasn't flaunting her you know cuteness she was just cute and you know

guys with you know normally just like a magnet but she also presented something that was really strong for women back then as well just the fact that she could be sitting here and holding court um and and and even though you know with steve like steve was just like you know sometimes you go to steve and you go okay like that's just beyond wacky steve like i i don't get it um okay okay i'll do it with you whatever but uh but yeah it was uh it was a lot of fun to watch these guys. And now you look at it,

you can just see the impact that Much Music has had on a bunch of different generations. Well, you're looking at one of those generations right here, man. We'll get to that later, the impact. Let's get your groove on here, man. Let's play and talk about this jam, the Much Music Groove. This is Tim Clark, champions. We want to find out what the man in the street thinks about the new Master T smash hit. Basil, Basil, where are you going?

Basil? Basil, where are you going? Basil. Basil. Now, you've got to remember, there's all kinds of amazing visuals to go with this. Absolutely. Right. It's a visual presentation. You're walking up arriving there right now. Yeah, you do the play-by-play.

That's what we can do. There we go. I kick it in now. There we go. I kick it in now. Here we go. That's Steve Snare on drums. I love it, man. Post-best. Get on up and let's move to the Munch Music Groove.

Get on up and let's move to the Munch Music Groove. Get on. And now for videos that are tasty and new. Munch and the Munch guys. Unbelievable. The fact I'm about to drop on listeners that you'll corroborate here is unbelievable to me, but I'm told this is true. Is this the very first hip-hop video ever entered into the MuchMusic database? Can you believe it? I don't know if that says anything for hip-hop in Canada, but yes, it was the very first video.

Wow. And, you know, again, my good friend Gordon Waters, my wife Paula and she ended up writing it and we ended up creating a band.

It was Master T and the Super Hip 3 and my wife was in it originally but then we, it was Steve Vogt

on guitar, sorry, on drums. Dave Murphy, we used to call him Low Tide, he was on guitar. Dave Murphy, we used to call him Low Tide. He was on guitar. Richie Baby.

Richie was bass. And I was the master, too. I was the vocals. And again, it took us literally working different shifts and whatever. It took us about six months to produce that video. Wow. We'd grab people here, we'd grab people there, and it just took a while, a whole long time.

And again, I wish I could share the video, but on that note, okay, I'm told at some point in the 1990s, the master tape, the much music groove master tape vanished. Yes, which everyone thinks I have, but I had nothing to do with it. the much music groove Master Tape vanished yes which everyone thinks I have

but I I had nothing to do with it I you know I just think they were just probably archiving it you know it's gonna turn up

somewhere some I'm told okay this is kind of exciting I wish I had a drum roll here but okay so by the way at the time

when this Master Tape vanished funny Master T's Master Ta tape i like that okay apparently there was like uh some viewers and there was like some people started to question if this even existed like i was like did this even exist this much music groove like it became the thing of like hushed legend like yeah i'm told ed the aforementioned Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario I'm told

he has the master tape like he's uncovered it I guess he had access Moses gave him access to some stuff because he's doing some work

with Moses now at the Zoomerplex where you'll find Ziggy and Joel Goldberg and all these cats but I'm told

I'm told we've found the master tape, which explains how I got a copy of this video. So this is exciting, right? I mean, I have it on VHS because my mom, thank goodness, taped everything I did, most of the stuff I did. So thanks, Mommy. But yeah, there's a lot of mysterious talk about that video.

Was that 1987? No, no. When was that? Yeah, it could have been. Yeah, it could have been because I wasn't actually fully on the air. So it was around that time, yeah. Yeah, 1987. I'm just thinking timeline.

So I guess that's before like Walk This Way, unless that's just not counted as like a hip-hop video because Aerosmith is in it i'm just trying to think of like really much music yeah well you know it's funny because um you know at the time like we you know we were a band like we were trying to get you know we were trying to get a record deal like i put together a package and i would give it to you know i'd give it to um you know these from Warner and Sony and the various labels. And because we recorded more stuff as well, because we ended up doing a benefit for Hurricane Gilbert at the time in Jamaica. And so we put on a benefit concert.

And I said to the guys, oh, do you think we can maybe do four songs in about, you know, three weeks as a band? And they were like, okay. So my wife is part of the band and we, we rehearsed and everything.

And we ended up doing a show, a benefit show with the twilight zone at the time. But when I started shopping it, shopping it around, you know, I remember going to this one label and there was a Scottish A&R guy there. And I, I forget his name,

but yeah, you know, he's saying, Oh, I like that Master T I forget his name, but, you know, he's saying, I like the Mastatino Super Hip 3, but do you think you can try to make it sound a little bit more like a Maestro Fresh Whiz? I'm like, no, this is what we do. Okay, is there any way you can swing it around to try and sound like a Maestro Fresh Whiz? And I'm like, no.

And that was it. Like, maestro was huge at the time obviously you know massive and um you know labels you know they don't want to deviate you know it's like you know get me another maestro come on hurry up well it's funny so yeah so yeah so we uh but you got it like that track did appear on the soul in the city lp right like it actually got pressed into and we were played like we got played so much so much music because i mean it was a a massive promotional video of course for the network um everybody was in it um so you know we you know we didn't miss uh anything you know right right down to moses closing the video out yeah man i guess uh if you want to like do, it's a good bar bet I think to have a bet with somebody like

what's the first Canadian hip-hop video to enter into Much's library and maybe that's the qualifier. It's the first Canadian hip-hop video, right, so that's great. So Run DMC and Aerosmith are disqualified for being American and so the Maestro Wave comes

in 89, because I know when Ledger Backbone Slide, he goes, it's 89, y'all, not Beethoven's Fifth or Sixth, so I can't screw that up. And you're in there in 87. That's just tremendous, man. Yeah, it's crazy. And before I leave these early days of much music,

we've talked a bit about Moses, and we'll talk about him again, but any recollection of what it was like with John Martin starting, like John Martin in the early days of much? Yeah mean for me i wasn't you know around john uh that much i mean he was you know obviously he was definitely there um but you know he had you know he had a core group of people that you know he connected with and and and worked with but i mean his his vision in terms of what he did while he was there was incredible. I think he opened the gates of what much music really was

from the days of dealing with city limits and everything else and then coming over to Much. So his legacy is entrenched. Is it true his office was across the street at the pub? See, I was going to miss. Not the fryer. Ziggy's already done it all, so don't worry. No, she has.

By the way, that's interesting. I find interesting about John Martin, he's no longer with us, but you can't, you know, defend his honor. But some people come in, Christopher Ward, and it's great glowing praise. And then people like Ziggy have a different take on John. I don't think Ziggy had a good John Martin experience. No, she didn't. It's funny because she brought it up at Christopher

Ward's book launch. That's what tipped me off to pry a little here. For me, like I said, I wasn't around him that much, but I did know if you had to meet him, you had to meet him at the Friar and Firkin. And that's where he did his thing. He had his phone there and that's how

he conducted the day-to-day. Until they banned smoking, I guess. Yeah. No more. No, then it had to change. All right, so fantastic, that much music groove. And now I want to talk about extend a mix. But, there's always a but, Tony, you know that.

But first I want to, because it's May, this is May, and if you have kids between the ages of 4 and 14, this is the time to... You got to get them into summer camp now. Like, this is summer camp registration time. Originally, we were going to just talk about Camp Tournesol in March and April. But we're extending it into May. Go to campt.ca.

That's the Camp Tournesol. Or camptournesol.ca if you're smart enough to know how to spell turn us on uh it's a little french for you but go to camp t.ca and check out the overnight programs and the day camps this is french camps these guys have the biggest french camps in the gta they've been doing it for decades they're fantastic and uh when you do register your child for a Camp Ternasol camp, use the promo code Mike2019. Not only does that save you some money, but it tells Camp Ternasol that you heard about them on Toronto Mike. And it really helps the show.

So if you enjoy the real talk and having people like Master T come in to... Imagine that. Master T comes over for 90 minutes. We get to talk about much, what he's up to now. It's amazing. Help the sponsors. Go to camptea.ca. Check out the French camps.

Thank you, Camp Tournesol. Here to get us into Extend-a-Mix. Let's play Extend-a-Mix Ethos, we'll call this. Ah, yeah! Mastiff has arrived in the Extend-a-Mix crib. Beautiful people. The beat keeps on grooving here on Extend-a-Mix. Ethos will call this. That's a little taste of Xtendimix, and because I want to get you really warmed up for some Xtendimix talk, here's the intro and some Roxy. Cut, cut, cut. Tell me something.

You can play bass. You can't play a bass. You can't play a drum. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody shake your hand. Can't touch this. These sounds lead the way. Ah, yeah, Cool Cats. We're going to be dropping a powerful and unbelievable extended mix because it's an all-request jam.

So you know what you got to do. You got to come on in. You're funky. I'm on a mission. Yeah, what's up, Cool Cats? How you doing? Master T has landed in the extended mix crib Woo-hoo!

Feeling too, too good Let's check in with the lovely and talented You know her You love her Roxy, Roxy, what's up, baby? It's an all-request weekend jam, T You know it, we are This is your show, Cool Cats

This is where you get to program the musical vibes. I've got all the letter requests. I'm going to be dropping them out throughout the show. But you can still fax us on the fax line, area code 416-591-MUNCH, area code 416-591-MUNCH. Also, Master T's vibe line is open, 1-800-265-MUNCH,

1-800-265-MUNCH. Also, I've got to tell you about, in the spotlight, we have a tribe called Quest man wow what happens if I fax

that number right now is that still active what about that vibe line I wonder what happens if I call the vibe line you probably owe money or something

they probably try to sell me like a cable package or something like that but man just bury me man I'm going to just shut up and listen to master t talk about the origin of extend a mix and that's a show a lot of people my age and a little younger

and a little older probably come up to you and want to talk about i'm sure well i'm i'm emotional like i was just listening to it i haven't heard it in uh you know i haven't heard that in a while um but um you know the the the origins of it was of it was I came to my wife and I said, I've got this idea. They've given me the green light to do a three-hour show, which is kind of primarily dance. And I've got this idea for a keyboard to record a voice. And I was going back and forth, back and forth.

And my wife said, okay, whatever. I was going back and forth, back and forth. And my wife said, okay, whatever. So the good people at... I had a keyboard. Roland. Roland W30 at the time. And you had to stick in the disc and everything.

And you had to record each sample individually. And if you messed up, you had to go back. So there was times when I was recording my wife's voice. And we'd have to do it. Record until like 1, 2 in the morning. So if the fifth one was screwed up, did'd have to do it to like record till I won two in the morning. So like if the fifth one was screwed up, did you have to go back to number one? I'd have to go back. I'd have to go back.

Yeah. I'd have to go back and record them all. And maybe it was, you know, there was something there that, you know, some techie could have gone and done it in a couple of minutes. But for me that I had to go back and do them all again. So my wife is getting upset. So, um, so yeah, so we did the, you know, the, the the the concept and uh and the show and um you know you know once you know moses said go ahead uh and then we my wife and i actually cut the intro that intro that you heard there um we we cut the intro with um all the different musical sounds that i

wanted people to hear because i just didn't want it to be you know you know just straight up dance music at the time you know it was for me if it made me move if you were in a club and you listen to reggae music I wanted you to hear reggae and at the time if you listen to world beat as it was you know called at the time was world beat it was hip hop it was rap it was you know

not so much pop but and then there was just three hours of you know just me. And I think the biggest thing was being, who maybe was a little egocentric at the time, I wanted the fact that you couldn't come in and fill in for me. That's smart, man.

So for me, it was a matter of like, and no one ever filled in and filled filled in and did did my show it was always master t um you know that was gonna that was gonna host the show and uh so yeah so you know when the show went up you know it it launched and bounced out very quickly because after two weeks the um the head of sales you know came up to me and was smiling and i'm like what are you what are you smiling at me for he's. And I'm like, you know, what are you, what are you smiling at me for? He's like,

Oh, I'm very happy. And I was like, why happy? Well, you're going to have a new sponsor. Um, you know,

Mars bar. I'm like, Oh great. Okay. That's cool. You know, like for me, I was like,

okay, what does that mean? And then, you know, then I, you know, I went around and find out, you know,

how much that, you know, how much that really meant too much music. So then in my own mind, they said, Oh, I have a certain level of value here now. So these are things... And you can't be replaced

because your brand is too intertwined to extend the mix. You can swap out the parts. Exactly. And it wasn't about branding even back then. Now it's all about the brand and the synergy and everything else. You know what I'm talking about. It's about owning your brand and not letting bail. Well, at the time,

it wasn't Bill Chum, but whoever, you own your brand. You own Master T's brand. Right, exactly. So, you know, so it launched and it jumped out

very, very quickly because I just think it was just all the elements because I was, like I said, I was a frustrated actor so I brought characters. I brought my Scottish cousin.

Well, that's okay. Earlier, you did the Scottish accent. Yeah, that was T. McGee. You have the best Scottish accent. Like, where does did the Scottish accent. Yeah, that was T. McGee. You have the best Scottish accent. Like, where does that come from?

You know what? I had a soccer coach who was Scottish, Mr. McLean. And every time, you know, I'd go there and I'd be playing

and he'd go, what are you going to do? And he'd go, I'm running, I'm moving out to the left of the score. Look, get the ball

and score, pop it in the net. And then I was, I could understand him, you know, barely. And then, you know, sometimes he, you know, at one point he lost his teeth. So then it was I was I could understand him you know barely and then you know sometimes he

you know at one point he lost his teeth so then it was like really hard to understand I come on the sideline and he's like move the ball move the buckle

I'm like so so that's where the Scottish but you know it's funny because I actually had people you know because back then it was writing letters and one guy was like

you know I'm really offended by that Scottish character I got a question sorry you know, because back then it was writing letters. And one guy was like, you know, I'm really offended by that Scottish character. I got a question. Sorry, you finish your story there because here's my thought. It's okay. 100%. It's okay in my opinion. Who am I? In my opinion, it's okay for Master T right now to do a Scottish accent.

Like that's a-okay. But if the Scottish guy comes in here and wants to do some patois, a Jamaican accent, okay, let's say, I don't think that's cool. Tell me what your thoughts are on this and if I'm being overly politically correct here. I mean, you know, the guy who actually sent me a letter and I actually called him, you know, he said, you know, what if people went out there and white people and did blackface? Oh. I was like, hello?

Wasn't that done? And also, I think that gentleman's missing. I have a, and again, I want your opinion on this, but I feel like if the group is oppressed or was oppressed, then it's not cool. So it's not cool to go at, for example, even a woman or people of color or homosexuals or any oppressed group. This is not cool. But if you go at white males, white heterosexual males, that's not an oppressed group. So it's all fair. All fair. Tell me what you think. You know, going back real talk here yeah yeah i mean i'll i'll i'll

i'll agree with you but i mean i think there's still a level of um you know frustration that people you know not a lot of people um and most people got it um i had a lot of scholars people you know would come up to me and say man that was just an amazing uh accent because it was based out of fun it was uh right but i think you know it went a little far maybe for some people was when i had the kilt on cultural appropriation they call that now yes exactly so um you know and you know but to me i i've seen it done everywhere else before and i was just like this is just uh one of my characters and i also had other characters um taurus t who was uh you is Taurus T, who paid homage to Barry White. And he was just like, oh, yeah.

Taurus, Taurus T, I'm the love god. I want to share all my love with you. And the amazing thing was, actually, I got to do that character with Barry White. He actually cussed me. Really? Well, yeah, he kind of gave me a little bit of a slap on the wrist, but he ended up doing the character with me.

That's amazing. I feel like Barry White would have had a good sense of humor about it because he did the Simpsons episode where they had to get the snakes out of... Yeah, but he got probably a lot of money for that. For the one I was doing. That's the difference. You're right. For the one I was doing with him, I put on this shirt and I said,

hey, you want to do this with me? And he's like, you know, a lot of people wouldn't do this. You should have faxed me this information before. I'm like, okay, sorry. I got a question about making money in a second, actually.

But, uh, I'm going back to the electric circus beer here because I have a question about, was it back to back? Did, did extend a mix? Cause it's all foggy in my memory bank.

Did extend a mix air back to back of electric circus at some, for some stretch? Um, you know, that in your memory bank. Yeah. I mean, what happened?

I was on from like a three-hour stretch from like, I don't know if it's three to six or something along those lines. And Mike Williams' Soul in the City was on. And then, but you see, the thing was, Electric Circus was always on City. So it didn't go national until later. Right. So that's where, you know, so you would see it,

I think it came on in the afternoon. Right. So that's where, you know, so you would see it, I think it came on in the afternoon. Right. So you would see it on City TV, you know, whatever, other channels. But it wasn't until later on that it actually became on much. So, you know, so it really, you know, the two didn't really, the only conflicting thing we used to have was sometimes was guests. So, you know, sometimes. Because they're in the building and you would share. Well,

yeah. What would happen was, you know, we'd have, we'd have a particular guest and, you know, they would do, you know, electric circus or they would do my,

my show. And then, and then at one point it was just a matter of, I changed my format to just being like no dance and just being all, you know, just, just urban, just a R and B because there was a shift

around the 90s somethings 93 or 4 and i changed i changed the format up did you ever hear the uh speaking of the of cowboy kenrick pompey did you ever hear his uh 12 inch single uh summertime summertime did you ever hear this i i remember it, and I haven't heard that in a while, but I do remember when it came out. If we have time at the end, if you want to hear it, I'll play it. I got it. So just let me know, okay?

But let's play something else. This is another flashback for you, so get ready to go back to 1994. Actually, hold on one more second. I've got to hit the right button. Here we go. Serious grooves. Pumping mixes.

It's time to bust it out. Dance Mix 94 from Much Music and Quality. Kicking off the hottest grooves on 16 jamming tracks. I like the moment, moment. I like the moment, moment. I like the moment, moment. Yeah, I like the moment. Non-stop wicked vibes featuring Enigma, Goodman, 2 Unlimited, Max, Bizarre 8, Salt-N-Pepa, and more.

Dance mix 94, 16 fat tracks guaranteed to groove the dance floor This song still holds up That's my tune right there Robin S I love that song Dance Mix 94 The major album of the year It's out everywhere You're like the face of these compilation discs

These dance mixes. Yes. Like this predates Big Shiny Tunes, right? This is, and you're like, did you rep all these? Not all of them. I did, I think it was about three or four of them. And what happened again was the fact of the connection. The show was, it just jumped out the gate and was was was so popular

and and hits and hit the masses and then they said oh we're gonna um we're gonna put this we're gonna put this connection with uh this compilation with your show and um you know and there was some grumbling for me because i'm sitting there saying well you know i'm you know i'm a host of the show but if you know really and truly if you of the show, but if, you know, really and truly, if you put my face on something to, to represent something, I, I'm, if it's Michael Jordan blowing his nose in the Kleenex on television, he, he needs to be compensated to do that. Right. And, um, so there was, you know, there was a bit of grumbling on that level.

Um, but, uh, it was with, um, well, it was mostly, it was mostly with much because, you know, they were kind of like, Hey, well, you know, this is part of your contract. And I'm like, no, it really isn't. And we didn't really have lawyers. No, we didn't really. We didn't have lawyers. So it was a matter of like you kind of had to work within like what is in this for me? And for me, it was actually a friend of mine said to me, he said, look, um, get your, get your picture taken and put it in the, um, the insert of the, uh, the, uh, the album. So people will recognize

and identify you. You're already doing the, I'm already doing the promos. Um, so, you know, but when they pick it up physically, they can go, Oh, that's master T from much and dah, dah, dah, and have that connection. So it was almost like building, you know, building, building my brand, um, you my brand again. And then with that, we ended up... Remember, there's no downloading. And this record ended up being the workout tape for people. It ended up being the dance thing. Yeah, I'm assuming it sold big numbers in this country.

Well, the ridiculous thing is I just know, I just kept getting handed, you know, gold, you know, platinum, double platinum, triple. Like, I actually have, I don't know what year it is, I can't remember, I think it was maybe

Dance Mix 93 or 4. I have a diamond. I was presented with a diamond plaque for one of the Dance Mix. So, you know, I'm in an elite group of, you know,

Brian Adams, Celine Dion. Right. And I'm like, you know, sitting there going like, you know, I'm in an elite group of, you know, Brian Adams, Celine Dion. Right. And I'm like, you know, sitting there going like, you know, there's a part of me that's going like,

yeah, if I had like 10 cents on this damn thing, you know. Well, yeah. So I'm, it's, I just,

I mean, it's sort of like in The Wire, which is my favorite show of all time. There's a, they're talking about the guy who invented chicken McNuggets. Okay. And these guys are talking about, I bet you he's like a billionaire, and like how rich is that guy the guy

invented chicken mcnuggets and then the uh the other guy uh gives him like a reality check like he just got he got a salary from mcdonald's he's some guy working in a basement he invents it mcdonald's gets rich that guy just gets the salary like and it's sort of like, I guess you're at much, and they're putting you to promote these discs. They're probably making a mint, and you're probably not seeing a dime. And it sucks, but you sort of like, them's the breaks, you know what I mean?

Yeah, you know, and thanks for depressing me. No, I mean, you know what? I'm sorry, man. Yeah, thank you. But after a while, you realized what you were doing, and I mean, we know what? I'm sorry, man. Yeah, thank you. But after a while, you know, you realized, you know, what you were doing. And, you know, I mean, we got to tour the record. And, you know, and that was, we went right across the country. And, you know, we got to, and I'm sitting there now to this day, like, you know, we're promoting a dance compilation.

We're going to clubs all over, all over the country. And, you know, and I think that's also, it kind of fit into what, you know, what I looked at myself as being was the fact that I always wanted to connect with people. And, you know, this gave me, you know, a lot of leverage and just really kept my profile up. You know, obviously to this day, which is, you know, which I'm really happy and blessed for. So, you know, you kind of took it like, yeah, you know, the thing about much music, everyone thought, you know you kind of took it like yeah you know the thing about much music everyone thought you know and you know thought that every one of us were millionaires and every one of us were making a million million dollars a year and i could tell you now and i'm not breaking no news nobody was paying a million dollars okay but that wasn't the thing it was it was more so

it wasn't even about the money it was just just about, you know, you being part of something that was really culturally unique. Amen, man. Like part of, I call it real talk, but sometimes I like to peel back the curtain and just show here's the wizard, here's the lever he's picked. Because you're damn right about that. I had Steve Anthony on here and I won't say the number.

You got to listen to Steve Anthony. But he says the salary, he got it much. Okay. And I'm thinking, like, okay. And I'm trying to do like a little inflation adjustment and I'm like, still like rather underwhelmed. So it's, but the cultural imprint on a generation or two of us Canadians back in a day when there was no streaming you know there was no downloading there's not even an appster yet like we're getting our music from two three sources okay you're getting it from your local radio station you're getting it from much music and you're getting it from your buddies who are like you got to hear this and pass it on a cassette like that's your three sources right you know and much music seeing people in much music like i i i thought

sloan was as i i would you could have told me sloan was uh as big as aerosmith in terms of like the cars they're driving the house they're living in and then you grow up and you get a reality check at some point like the guy talking about the chicken mcnuggets but man i'm sure there's a whole bunch of people they see master t on the street and they're thinking roxy they're thinking about when they you know life was simpler they didn't have a mortgage and kids and they could just like dance and enjoy. Man, simpler times, man. You're like a walking nostalgia factory. Yeah, you know, and definitely that's what I get now.

And I mean, even going back to those days, I mean, like I said, you know, I would be doing hosting events and I'd be going to clubs. And, you know, so I was definitely being compensated for those things. hosting events and I'd be going to clubs and, you know, so I was definitely being compensated for the, for those things. Um, but yeah, I mean, now I look at myself, um, you know, as, uh, you know, I could be a greeter at, uh, at Walmart, you know, because every time I go to Walmart, it doesn't matter. My local Walmart, uh, in Vaughan, uh, you know, it's, uh, people, people recognize me and it's so funny to watch, you know, the reactions, you know, I mean, women, you know, they'll usually come up to you, hey, hey, man, what's up? Men are just like, you know, they get kind of nervous. It usually takes their wife.

I'm nervous right now, man. Yeah, but it's funny because men are just like, hey, man, I remember watching you, man. And, you know, I remember you came to my high school, man. And I said, yeah, that's cool. You know, and you realize, you know, what it really means to them. And, you know, that's, them. And you can't beat that. I mean, that's just such a gratifying feeling. It really is.

And with great power comes great responsibility. Do you carry this? Basically, do you treat this as the precious gift it is? Or does it sometimes feel like a bit of a hassle because you get the fame without the Rolls Roy in the driveway you know what i mean like at least the trade-off typically especially in the usa is yeah you're gonna be famous and everyone's gonna bug in walmart but you're gonna drive off in a bentley you know what i mean you know i uh you know i got over that um you know i think i had to get over that fairly early because you know

but actually it was funny because like i'd always buy and i still do buy used cars and um you know there's a point where you know the car would get to a certain point and then my wife would be like it's time to change the car and i'm like if people looking at you going master to you should not be driving that particular car that's true you got like an image too yeah so i'd step up and get i get a i get another car you know corolla this time yeah corolla. We're stepping up here, honey. So people would look at me and just like, why is he in that little car? What's going on with him?

He's like, oh, he must be broke. Oh, the poor guy. He needs some cash. But it's not about that. And to me, I'm like, hey, you know what? I'm driving a car. And people see me in a U-Haul. Yes, I'm moving shit.

I'm moving stuff. I'm in a U-Haul. Yes, I'm moving shit. I'm moving stuff. I'm in a U-Haul. So, um, yeah. So, you know, people will make those, you know,

make those, you know, levels of, uh, assumptions. I mean, people said, you know,

uh, there was this thing where a blog or something, you know, where, you know, where is Master T and, you know, post the sightings of Master T.

And, you know, somebody saying like, you know, they saw me in a value village and said, yes, I shop and, and,

you know, I thrift. Uh, it's like, Hey, what's up And I said, yes, I shop and I thrift. Sure. It's like, hey, what's up? Before it was cool. Yeah, before it was cool. And before when you literally, my wife from high school, she's always done it from back, back, back in the day. And back in those days, you had to literally look to the left,

look to the right, and sneak in. Because people were like, oh, my God, you had to look to the left, look to the right and like sneak, sneak in because people were like, oh my God, I saw me shopping at the thrift store. You know, oh, they have no money.

They can't buy real clothes. So, yeah, but, yeah, it was, now it's just like, oh my God,

I'm going to thrift. I'm going to thrift store and I'm going to pick up some stuff, some cool stuff. Yeah, it's, what's his name,

Macklemore. It's his phone, the thrift shop. Yeah, the thrift shop. Oh yeah. Now everyone's in there in there see i think what's happening now with those of us who are you know good solid uh savvy smart people is i think uh what's coming to fashion is authenticity so i think there's something fucking punk and cool about the fact that master t drives a used car and master t shops at value village like i think that's come around to be, that is real and it's something's cool about reality.

Instead of this, you got Instagram and they show you like, okay, they put this filter on it and they Photoshop this part and they made the waist smaller here and the boobs bigger here. And it's like, what's real anymore? Like we're all craving reality, I think. Yeah, and so we create a reality show around it.

So, you know, I mean, yeah, I mean, reality show around it so you know i mean yeah i mean you know it's like people like i said people have seen me in thrift stores does that mean every piece of my clothing is thrift no um but uh you know but but i i have gone you know and um you know it's really not it's really not a big deal and yeah but i've never bought a used car i've never bought a new car because i don't want to hold to lease it. I don't want to do I don't want to have a monthly It makes good economical sense. And when you talk to Rupesh and you get your half an hour with the

accounting genius there, he'll tell you other ways to get money. Yeah, it makes sense. He's smart. I like making cash. Unfortunately, I can only give you the beer, the stickers, and the pasta. I'm leaving rich. I'm leaving rich. I'm leaving rich.

You're leaving rich. So let's get you to full-blown VJ status. This is exciting. So you're doing extended mix and you're doing different things at Mudge. Of course, you started as a tech guy, like a cameraman. And then suddenly, how do you get the tap on the shoulder? And it's like, okay, Master T, you're a full-blown VJ now. Yeah, well, you know, I avoided it.

Because, again, the Much Music Groove was big and everyone thought I wanted to be a VJ and I just didn't want to be a VJ. So finally, actually, I'm going to put together a demo. I put together this VJ demo tape and it was terrible. I was trying to be what I thought a VJ should be and it just did not work. And so I did like three segments and everything. And I remember my wife looked at it and my friend who did some editing as well, Dave Murphy.

And they were like, you know, man, we know you, T. Like, that's just not you. And I scrapped it and I just did another one. And then they said, yeah, you know, here's your, you know, here's your VJ license. So, you know, I took that, and then, you know, then it's like, bang, you're thrown into it. And, you know, it was, yeah, it's nerve-wracking

because, you know, it's all live. And that's the other thing that people forget. You know, we appear in because, you know, it's all live. And that's the other thing that people forget, you know, you know, we appear courts certain things, but the majority of much when he would go on his eight hour, you know, eight hours, eight hour cycle was, was alive, was a life cycle. So, you know, you're up there and just like, you know, you have to do some level of prep and you, you know, you've got to be engaging and entertaining and fun.

So yeah, it was good. Let's get to a little of that fun here. I've got a few clips. Actually, earlier, you mentioned in one of the clips, maybe it was Stenomics? Anyways, you mentioned Tribe Called Quest, but let's hear an old clip of you as a VJ. They've had a 10-year career, and they have taken hip-hop to the highest of heights.

They've had a 10-year career, Oh, yeah, I got a technical issue. I've never had that before, but let's see if it plays out. You know what? Okay. It's a tribe called Quest. Okay, so I apologize. I have no idea how that happened. But let me just go jump quickly to Backstreet Boys and then talk about it. Okay, we're going to take an email question.

Hello, Munch, and of course the Backstreet Boys. I just have one simple question for the boys. Boxers or briefs? Thanks a bunch and lots of love. Michelle G. from Pickering, Ontario. It depends on whether I'm sleeping or not. Okay, let's just go with right now. Right now? Not that, you know, I wouldn't know it, but I'm sure it'll be.

Boxers. Boxers for Kevin. Backstreet boxers for Howie. Backstreet boxers for Howie. Boxers. Boxers. Boxers. Briefs.

Ah! So there's the famous boxers or briefs of the Backstreet Boys so a lot of people chimed in I'll give some love to Liam Dixon

right now because he said that he always thought you were one of the best interviewers on Munch and that you never asked a dumb question so let's talk about

some of these interviews you did you did a Tribe Called Quest there you got Backstreet Boys when they were at the height of their powers and there's another artist so we're going to let brian gerstein from property in the six introduce this other artist you interviewed

hey master t brian gerstein here sales representative with psr brokerage and proud sponsor of toronto mic 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 has arrived. I just completed one as homes are moving again. You can also call or text me at 416-873-0292 if you're interested in the upcoming gallery

and mall condo redevelopment. Master T, March 6th, 1998, was a date I am sure you are very familiar with. You happen to have an exclusive interview with Madonna, who personally selected you on her promotional Ray of Light album tour. As Madonna's first and only visit to the Much Music studios, how high did this rank in your career highlights and who else did you interview that moved the meter for you great question is that really her is that really her first and only interview uh madonna did there um yes wow i recall yeah it was and um and the fact that she came in and it was a live interview um and she'd never done that before like actually sit around you know

um you know doing a a live intimate interview um it was it was it was a big highlight for me it was very very nerve-wracking um because um uh you know my boss at the time double d denise donlan you know she's like tony have you watched everything that we've done with madonna like you know any location interview said no denise i Madonna? Like, you know, any location, any of you? I said, no, Denise, I haven't. And, you know, because at that time I was actually focusing on the Wednesday, which was Casey and Jojo from Jodeci. Right. They were on my show, The Mix.

And I was focusing on that. And I said, Denise, I can't do anything until I look at, you know, you need to look at these tapes. I said, Denise, I don't want to look at these tapes. you need to look at these tapes. I said, Denise, I don't want to look at these tapes. And so we'd go back and forth because this is a huge, huge thing riding on the network. And Madonna's interview was on the Friday.

And so at one point, okay, I went in, listened to the ray of light at home and I turned my lights off and listened to it. And Denise had always directed us. When we're doing the intimate interactives, we were, we were like, you know, traffic cops. We were guiding the whole process. But and then when Madonna came in, actually, I was in I was getting I was getting makeup, you know, nothing like a shiny brother. So I was getting my dust on my face.

And I saw Madonna kind of with a whole troop of people walk past and she kind of waved at me. And I said, OK, good good that's a good sign and then when she actually got into the studio and show our environment you know when i got in there i realized she's in my house right i realized like you know you're in my this is my crib this is our house this is exactly that's exactly it and so when she got you, when she got in there, she was, you know, she was, you know, so vulnerable by the first, first break because she's like, how do you do this? You know, all these people asking you questions,

people talking in your ear and this is happening, this is happening, this is happening. And I said, you know, this is just, you know, part of it. And, you know, and she was, it was just, and I could tell at one point she was testing me because, you know, I said to her, I said, I mentioned could tell at one point she was testing me. Because, you know, I said to her, I mentioned something about her record. And she said, have you actually listened to it? I said, yeah.

You know, and I said, of course I've listened to it. And we also shared both her daughter and my son were both born right around the same time. And so we're both becoming fresh new parents. So there was a lot of things that I wanted to connect with her as a real person. I totally relate to what you're saying right now. Because I've done this. I don't get Madonna on my show. But I don't want Madonna on my show.

I want Master T on my show. That's the difference. But yeah, basically, it was your house. She was the guest. And you were large and in charge, so to speak. And it sounds like she wanted you to do the interview? Yeah. I mean, what happened before was there was a lot of names bouncing around.

Because obviously, it's Madonna. And she was on Warner. And there was, Denise was up for it. I know Terry David was in discussions. Everybody wanted to do it and honestly, I really didn't want to do it. I mean, I appreciated what Madonna did but I wasn't some crazy fan.

Which is why you'd be perfect to do the interview. Yeah. She's like a fanboy all over. And they actually interviewed Jewel and they were like, you know, impressed with that interview and I think they sent her,

you know, they sent her some, you know, some video and she said, yeah, you know, I want this guy to do it

and so that was, you know, that was, you know, really awesome. Yeah, it was cool. I mean,

because, yeah, again, it was Madonna and, you know, it's interesting because after the interview, it was like, I just, because, yeah, again, it was Madonna. And, you know, it's interesting because after the interview, it was like, I just, it was just like all of a sudden,

people recognize you, but then people really recognize you. I mean, she's, that's just, I mean, there was Madonna and Michael Jackson. There was no one bigger in the pop planet. Yeah, she's iconic. Wow, and she's still putting out music. Oh, yeah, for sure. Now, it's a live interview with Madonna on TV, okay

So this is real talk here You must have had a list of things you can't talk about Did you have a list of the things at the company? I need to know the truth here Yeah, no, I'm going to break it down At the time I can't remember anything that we couldn't really talk about with her

Honestly, I think she was really open. I mean, we did talk about a bunch of different things. I do remember interviewing J-Lo, and we had a list of things we couldn't talk about. And she was actually going through the breakup with Pete Diddy, or Puffy, or whatever. I was going to say, which one, right? Yeah. Pete Diddy. And so, yeah, so it was like, absolutely not, do not talk about him at all.

And, you know, and there was also discussions like, you know, don't really talk about her, her butt. So, yeah, so there was, today she'd say,

please talk about my butt. please. Yeah. It was just like, how old is she now? 50? No, no,

she's not 50. She might be. She might be 50. But she still looks amazing. Yeah, of course. Of course. Now,

you're working for much. So you're like a hired hand and that's why you got to play by their rules, right? Fine. But let's say this is your own show, okay? Would you let a guest give you all these things they don't want to talk about, which are things your listeners or viewers want you to ask about? Like, how do you have J.Lo on and not ask about the breakup she's currently going through?

Or at least somehow some tactful way of kind of like asking about how she's doing with that or whatever. Like, if it was your show, would you play that way? And I have a reason I'm asking this, but I'm just curious. You know, to this day, I mean, I've always had that level of respect for an artist. So, I'm not TMZ. And I've never been TMZ and much music was never TMZ. So for me,

I don't really want to know what you do really and truly. I mean, everyone else might want to know, but that's not something I'm necessarily interested in. Even now when I'm hosting RX Music Live,

I still have that level of respect for... Yeah, that's a bad example, actually. You're right. Because I, me too, I don't need to know about your marriage or your kids. That world I don't need to know about, to be honest. But that's a bad example. Let's pretend Erica M, okay? Let's say she says that she's tired of talking about much music, so she'll come on your show as long as you don't talk about much. Just hypothetically speaking, that kind of a thing, which is actual, that's not, in my opinion, that's not a private matter. That's a big part of her public life that should be fair game, I would think.

Yeah. I mean, I would, you know, I would have to ask her off camera. Why don't you want to talk about why you're actually here? She's tired of talking about much. She's tired of talking about much. But this is, anyway, it it's it's not yeah i was just curious because i uh done this a long time and every once in a while i'll get a very reasonable request like if you don't mind i don't want to talk about this but it's always something like you said something tmz ish and i'm happy to

not do that if it's within reason or whatever but if it has if it's something like if if if and this is an example listeners will know but if dave hodge is coming on and he says, I don't want to talk about the pen flip. Now I'm going to ask you about the pen flip. And you can say what you want to say because you control the words that come out of your mouth. But I'm going to ask you about the pen flip. Yeah, no, I get you. I mean, it's like even when we had a list with Luther Vandross and, you know, and, you know, there was, you know, there was definitely talk about his sexual orientation and that was, you know, please don't ask anything about

that. And I'm like, Hey, I'm not going to ask anything about that. You know, it's, uh, you know, I mean, yeah, to me there's a fine line, you know, and, and, and I don't want to necessarily feel uncomfortable and I don't want to make the person feel uncomfortable, you know? uncomfortable and I don't want to make the person feel uncomfortable, you know? And, um, and it's funny cause I think you can get things, uh, out of an interview in different ways. Um, because J-Lo did mention, um, uh, you know, Pete Diddy that, and, and,

and Entertainment Tonight pulled a clip from it because I went around it and, you know, asked some other questions and, and they made some, you know, they rolled it out on Entertainment Tonight. And, um, so, you know, ask some other questions and, and they made some, you know, they rolled it out on entertainment tonight. And, um, so, you know, there was something there. So, um, yeah, I think when you're having a real conversation with, um, with people, I think once they become comfortable, they'll have a real conversation and share what they want to share. So who is your all time favorite, uh, interview that you, uh, hosted?

Wow. All time, all time, all time favorite. I mean, there's a few that have been really great interviews for me. Quincy Jones was amazing. A reggae artist, Burning Spear. Who else? Sade,

because I'm in love with Sade. Well, I have a love for Sade. It's okay to be in love with Sade. Yes, I'm in love with Sade. I'm in love with Mishimi, so it's okay.

Oh, you love Mishimi? Yeah,'m in love with Mishimi so it's okay you love Mishimi Mishimi's beautiful yeah those are definitely those are some those are some big ones you know

who else yeah Barry White was another one I mentioned right yeah but there's there's been a lot of you know

there's been a lot of artists that I've managed to you know and it's usually something I get back from them as well you know there's been a lot of artists that i've managed to you know and it's usually something i get back from them as well you know it's just this is a level of a connection you know that for me i just want you know my my own vanities i just want you to remember me if i saw you again would you would you remember me right some of these some of these people have you know they've seen me like hey what's up t and uh that's's it for me. I don't want to go over dinner. I don't want to go over drinks with you.

I just want you to have some level of memory. And you hosted Rap City for, what, 11 years? Yeah, it was probably shorter than that. But yeah, I was more so the host and producer. I hosted some of it for a little bit. And then it was more about producing and this is after Mike Williams had left.

That was his baby and I was almost reluctant to do it at first because I mean I'm like I'm not Mike and so when I did, I was still doing DeMix and I was also hosting and producing that. So yeah, I did that as well, which was great.

Now, Much Music dealt with lots of, especially in the Denise Donglin era, there was lots of important topics that were discussed in Much. Let me just play a little clip and just ask you about that. We are going to deal with school violence today on The Real Deal. It was great because it really showed that much music cared about the fact that we're not only playing videos, we're also showing that we care about our audience. Let's talk about solutions.

We have to find the root causes of all violence in order to solve it. So that's you talking. Yes, The Real Deal. That was Phil Donahue. That's right. So it wasn't all just you know dancing and uh you know i mean i realized because you know one of the things i did have

the opportunity to do when i was at much i went to a lot of community events i went to a lot of schools and and you know and spoke um i did a lot of community-based uh activities. And one of the things I actually talked with a young guy by the name of Derek Luis. And, you know, I had a store at the time called T's Crib. And he came to the store and we were talking about, you know, all the stuff you're doing. And I said, well, you know, especially with the young cats out there, I really want to try to do a talk show that really gives them a voice.

And I went to Moses, I said, hey, Moses, I got this concept, and then Denise Tallon was there as well, and they said, okay, yeah, let's do it. And the real deal was based as a youth issues talk show, and it was really important for me to not only give the youth a voice, but to have them, if there was a police officer sitting here, And it was really important for me to not only give the youth a voice,

but to have them, if there was a police officer sitting here, I wanted them to be sandwiched by the youth. I wanted them to feel like, you know, it's not opposing, it's everyone sitting harmoniously together. And to share, you know, like, hey, if I got to be for a police officer, if I got to be for the, you know, someone, you know, you know, whoever, a lawyer or whatever, it's going to be, it's not going to be over back and forth or across from each other. It's going to be going to turn to them and say, hey, you know what?

This is what's bothering me right now. And we did, I think, about six episodes, and it was, you know, sponsored by the government and I had a lot of parents especially when we dealt with gun violence and this was back in the day a lot of parents would come up to me and really thank me for putting that show together

and putting it out there and it gave parents the ability to actually have conversations with their kids so yeah, I was real proud of that. the ability to actually have conversations with their kids. So yeah, I was real proud of that. Just a little Lauryn Hill here because I got to ask you about this farewell. Okay.

Well, first of all, what happens? Why do you end up leaving much music? Well, you know, a couple of things. I think I was probably, without even knowing it, I was probably ready to leave or actually transfer to something else, which I thought I was going to do.

When Much Vibe was coming on, because we had contributed so much to the actual licensing process in terms of they had to base it on Soul of the City in terms of what Michael had done and what I was doing as well in terms of the, they had to base it on Soul of the City in terms of what Michael had done and, you know, and what I was doing as well in terms of black music. And then they got, you know, got the license.

And I thought that, you know, hey, you know what? Hey, I'm cool. Take me off the air. Let me run Much Vibe. I think I deserve that. And, you know, they said, well, you know, Much Vibe is just, you know, it's a digital and there's not really much things here. We're just going to play videos. And so I said, well, you know, much vibe is just, you know, it's a digital and there's not really much things.

He was going to play videos. And so I said, OK, fine. And, you know, then it was a matter of it was time to just it was time to move on. I didn't necessarily know it. And I also think they were going through their own tweeny based programming and, you know, who they wanted to reach out to. And I was probably becoming, not becoming, I had become an expensive VJ. So for whatever I was getting paid, they could probably pull in a good two or three VJs for my salary. Trust me, it wasn't huge, but they could pull in a few more VJs and appeal to a younger demographic.

But I also know they lost a whole bunch of different people that used to move with much music as it grew. A lot of the university-based kids at the time, kids coming down to high school, they were just dumped, which I thought was always very wrong. Because, you know, because years of much music prior, I would run into grandma, meet the grandma's daughter,

and I'd meet the daughter's kids, and they were all sitting there watching much music. There was always something for everybody. And then, you know, for whatever reasons, you know, they ended up ended up changing but but you know when it was time to go you know i had to you know suck it up as a big boy and um you know say my goodbyes but i wanted to leave on a strong you know strong strong path and a strong uh goodbye And at the time, Lauren was, she was actually wanting to do an open performance

somewhere. And Katie Ann, somebody in the community that I knew, she was trying to book her. And she said, look, I can't get her, but, you know,

reach out to her. And I'd already interviewed Lauren a few times. And it was just back and forth. I don't want you to go through the whole process, but it was a long process. And then we both kind of made. I don't want you to go through the whole process, but it was a long process. Sure.

And then we both kind of made this deal. And I said to her, I said, well, so you're going to come? She goes, yes. And she goes, I don't want you saying anything too much music about me coming there. And if you do, I don't come. And I said, okay, I'm with that. And, you know, much music, they were like,

oh, can you, can you, can we promote her? I said, if you promote her, she's not coming. And they're like, come on now, you got to at least say it. I said, nope, she's not going to promote her she's not coming and they're like come on now I said nope she's not going to sing and this is also when she was doing that whole unplug thing so she wasn't performing any of her hits she was just doing all this

spoken word material but at the same time it was still Elle Boogie, it was still Lauryn Hill and she came to bless me and say goodbye. And that was a great honor. Which is amazing. I mean, your farewell party and you got an exclusive live performance by Lauryn Hill.

That's pretty awesome. That's almost as awesome as Lois de la Lowe playing my event at the Great Lakes Parade Hall. Wow, that's a big deal. That's amazing. And I think you're being very kind there. And I think that you're right. You've been at MuchMusic a long time. You're a veteran VJ, if you will, senior VJ, if you will.

And you're right. Your salary was probably too big. But what I get confused of, and I hope you help me out here before I get you out of Much and then talk about everything you've done since, I just want to know timelines. Like, is Moses, is it still Chum? chum like who i get confused with the timelines here like well walk me through that a little bit you know essentially yeah when you know when it came down that hey you know i'm gonna move on i went to moses and moses was like hey i'm like i'm out of here as well and um so

you know and he was always you know my biggest advocate he was my biggest supporter and um and you know at that time it was like At that time, I had to just say, hey, you know what? Yeah, this is it. I got to move on. The years after, it wasn't as easy because if you piss in the toilet in a public washroom, it's, hey, Master T, how are you?

Look, can you wash your hands before we shake hands? It was something where I had to deal with, you know, something that was a part of my life for such a long time. And, you know, about a good year and a half to two years, it wasn't easy. Because I had to find myself. I had to find my own identity. I had to find Tony, probably, and just find out who I was again. So how did you do that?

First of all, have you found Tony? Yes, I think Tony's here with me now today. And Tony and Master T are two different things. It's funny. Support. I mean, my wife has been incredible. The level, the level of support she gave me and, you know, the struggles I went through. And I'm sure, not even sure, I know I went through a depressive bout, you know, because I just, it was just, there's just so much on you.

And it's just like, you know, and i was just literally tired and you know to a certain point burnt out uh and um because every day you're doing something like there's one point i'd come home on a tuesday and go honey i'm flying to australia on a thursday to interview beastie boys come back and uh you know i'm doing a vj shift and i'm hosting this and i'm doing that and you just you're just going you just you just don't stop. And that lasted for like 17 years. And it went by like a year. It went by so quickly. A lot of fun times, a lot of fun years.

But I had to find out my identity again. I had to find out who I was and what I wanted to do in this part of my journey. So tell us some of the things you've done since Much and I'm dying to know exactly what you're up to now. I know I dropped a hint in the intro, but... Well, since Much, I mean, I did,

a book came out, Much Master T1VJ's Journey, Dalton Higgins penned it, as well as my wife, Paula. And, you know, that kind of documented, it was semi-autobiographical, but just gave people insight in terms of my interview process and, you know, that kind of documented, it was semi-autobiographical, but just gave people

insight in terms of my interview process and, you know, sitting down with the Madonnas, Dr. J's, Snoop Doggs, you know, sitting down with these guys and, you know, what I, you know, what I went through. So that was, that was cool. And I did, my wife and I did two documentaries for Sun TV. Also, what else did I do? I worked for a FIBA TV, which was a black network. I was doing that. And then landed where I am currently. I've been there almost five years. It's actually my fifth year coming up at RX Music. And I've been here for, yeah, been there for five years. Now, there was one, a movement, I want to say, that you were involved in for a while

that I'm personally very interested in. Hashtag give them back to Moses. Was that right? Yeah, give them back to Moses. Can you tell us a little bit about frustrations viewers have with the current incarnation of Much Music, or Much, I guess they call it now they took the music out of there i think and what give them back to moses was about well you know i would i was actually approached by dominic shulo um and uh you know he it was you know they i don't know

how it came up but he said i want to come up and do an interview with you about uh you know just talking about much and then the next thing i see is this promo, this thing that came out. And I'm like, huh? You're the face of another campaign. Yeah, this campaign. But, you know, I also think it was, you know, I think it was a bit of, you know, an ego thing for Mr. Moses and I. Mr. Moses was just like, yeah, you know, they still want it. They still, you know, it could still happen.

And I really believe that, you know, in a different form, that there's still a generation that would back it and there's still a generation that would support it. Because, like you said, people have mortgages. People have kids. You know, so the programming could change. But the other thing is all the artists, they're all growing up too. They're all getting older.

So it's part of it. I just interviewed Snow. I've interviewed Maestro. Maestro just turned 50, looking amazing. And all these guys are all growing up, but they're still doing it, and they're still passionate about it. And what they believed in at 20-something is totally different than when you're 50 years old you know i see maestro with uh with his kids um

you know coaching him uh football yeah and uh karate and uh so you know so we all have something you know different um you know to you know to you know to the to present to the table and that's one of the things we even just doing rx music live. It's something where for me now, I'm interviewing a lot of young cats that have never been, never had sit down interviews with, with, with a personality or, you know,

whether that's young camera, you know, sitting down talking about the music and talking about their careers. All right. Be very specific, very specific. But what RX music is like, is this a digital, like, like what is RX music? what rx music is like is this a digital like like what is rx music

well rx music is um they curate uh music for um some of the biggest you know companies uh throughout um yeah throughout north america um so they they create custom music uh play. So that's anything from Cheesecake Factory to Hard Rock Cafes to Marriott. And they've been around for 20 years. And when I started with them, and I'm still doing it, I'm a music consultant. So I've got clients that I program the music for. And it's great because if you love music, which I do, you get to be around music, but yet you actually connect with a client and you're creating something specifically for their brand and working with them. Which is, it beats working for a living, you know what I mean?

Like it beats working on like an assembly line or whatever. Well, you know what, for sure. And I mean, I like working. And it was actually my wife and I presented to Gina, our CEO. We said, hey, I've got this idea. I think I got a little bit of juice. People still might recognize me. I know you guys have the back end in terms of what you do

in terms of the custom programming, but let's try to bring it to the forefront and bring interviews back into place. So that's how RX Music Live really been going for the last one. And that's why I'm playing Wyclef here, like speaking of Lauryn Hill. Because coincidentally, by the way, and you caught a bit of it, but when Jamar McNeil was on yesterday, we kicked out the jam. So he said, here's my 10 favorite songs of all time.

And then we played them and talked about them. This was one of his jams. So complete coincidence. But I think I have it loaded up. And why am I playing I have it loaded up. And why am I playing? I always like this. I'm sorry, man.

We're going to stop the show and do a little jig here. He's one of your past guests, right? Yes. We've had Wyclef. We've had Snow. We've had Cardi. Now you can't say Cardi anymore. You gotta be more specific now. Cardi B.

Because now they're like, oh, Cardi B. Yeah, Cardi B. We've had Wild Rivers, we've had we've had... Vance Joy? Vance Joy, there you go. A lot of great alternative rock folk. Lila Bialy, jazz.

So yeah, we've had a lot of artists come through. And I think it's amazing because I'm around a team. Because teams are cool. Collaborations. Collaborations. And I have a young team around me. I have my production know um production coordinator regan he's uh my right hand man and uh he's you know helps me coordinate but the thing is from the team i learned i'm learning from them

like i'm learning from these young cats in terms of you know just just moving a different way and you know and embracing what they're and embracing what they're doing but it's also important too for me that you know i'm involved in a company that you know is didn't look at me as a dinosaur you know there's a lot of questions as to why i was there it's like what's wrong like again why is t here he's got to be a millionaire why is he sitting next to me all right yeah and i felt very awkward in the beginning i really did um and then i think they realized that, you know, and not just from doing RX Music Live, but I think they realized that I'm a pretty down to earth guy. And, you know, I'm, and I want to share my knowledge. If you want to hear it, I want to share my knowledge with you

if you're interested. So I have conversations with all kinds of young cats in there about the music that they're producing. And I challenge them. I said, you know, you've let me listen to six songs. What are you doing with it? Okay.

You're going to put it out. You're going to do something with it, you know, you know, and because they're coming from a different generation, different levels of expectation. And so, you know,

if I look at it as being, you know, Papa T, excuse me, Papa T, I like that. I look at it as being, you know, Papa T. Excuse me. Papa T, I like that. Maybe I'm Papa T at RX Music. But, you know, I do share. And I think, too, you know, sharing with a lot of these younger artists,

like I said, that have never had a sit-down interview. And, you know, they'll come to me after, like, man, you ask real questions. Right. And I'm like, yeah, because I want to know who you are. And I want people that are going to watch this to know who you are. And yeah, so I look at that as the value

that I still have. What I hope we don't lose sight of is that, you know, I don't care how smart you are or how passionate you are or how capable you are.

The one thing you cannot teach is experience. Like there's, I hope we don't become some ageist society that discards the value of having been there, done that, learned. We broke the eggs so you can enjoy an omelet, essentially. Master T's broken a lot of eggs, man. A bunch of eggs.

These cats are hungry, right? I've broken a bunch of eggs. And I mean, and that's the thing. And, you know, that's why, you know, and I got to shout them out. I got to shout out my man Craig. I got to shout out Fab. I got to shout them out. I got to shout out my man Craig. I got to shout out Fab. I got to shout out Kyle. I got to shout out Room Joom.

Sam. Andre. And if I miss anybody, slap me. And Gina. I have to thank these guys because we're all moving. Actually, when we went to, we covered the Junos. And we went down there as we rented an Airbnb. I've never rented an Airbnb.

So we're going to stay in an Airbnb. I mean, all of us? Make sure I got my own room, okay? And so I'm not sharing with nobody. So we get the Airbnb. We're there, and then we invited people to our Airbnb for the Junos. And at one point, I'm saying, it's going to be challenging. Craig actually brought it up, and I said, it's going to be challenging. You know, Craig, actually brought it up and I said,

it's going to be tough to get these people in here. And it was a roll. We had like, by the time we were done, we had 16 artists roll through our Airbnb. Bring me along next time.

We can do the take till you do your thing and then I take them to the next room and do my thing. This is sounding like a plan. It's the start of a beautiful business relationship,

T. I'm telling you. Make sure you got some... Oh, hey. Palma Pasta, Great Lakes Beer. We got you covered, man. I'm telling you. Make sure we got some... Oh, hey. Palma Pasta. There we go. Great Lakes Beer. We got you covered, man.

And we'll get a whole bunch of RX Music stickers. We got the accountants. You know, if you need to buy a new venue, we got Brian from propertyinthesix.com. You break your watch or your jewelry. You got lots of jewelry on. We got Milan and Fasta. We got you covered.

Man, I love what you're doing at RX Music. Like, I think it's fantastic. And five years, you said there? Yeah, I think it's like next month. I think it's my fifth year. Good for you, man. Crazy. Good for you.

And thanks so much for doing this. This is a dream come true. The claw, the claw. The claw? Is that the Kawhi Leonard claw? Are you a big Raptors fan by any chance? Oh, huge. Tonight it's over.

The Raptors are going to do it tonight, baby. I love hearing this, man. Tonight it's over. The Raptors are going to do it tonight, baby. I love hearing this, man. Tonight. I'm ready for tonight. My boy and I, the whole night is just watching our Raptors and we're going to,

you know, get to the conference final with the Bucs and maybe find me. I don't want to jangle. Let's get past Philly first, right, bud? Yeah, yeah.

Lock down Philly and move on. And, you know, we talk about, you know, you're in love with Sade, I'm in love with Mishimi, but we must, I don't know about you,

but I got the biggest man crush on Kawhi Leonard right now. I'm like, this guy's unbelievable. He is unbelievable. And you know, and it's just what he exudes and just what he puts out there.

He gives it his all. You know, so yeah, I love watching him. He is a cool cat. He's just so good, man. Yeah, he's a nice guy. Let's do this tonight.

You gotta get him in here. Would he fit? I got a low ceiling, man. I don't know. You can cut something out for him. He's just so good, man. Yeah, he's a nice guy. Let's do this tonight. You've got to get him in here. Would he fit? I've got a low ceiling, man. I don't know. You can cut something out for him. And that, that's where I'll cut it over. If I could, I'll do whatever it takes to keep him here, right? And that brings us to the end of our 460-second show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Tony, my friend Tony here, Master T is at Master T TV. So Master T TV, they got the two Ts in there. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Property in the 6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Speaking of Raptors, Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Camp Turnasol is at CampTurnasol. And CapadiaLLP is at Capadia. It's Capadia. It's tripped years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away.

Because everything is rosy and gray. Everything is rosy and green Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who